God's Will For You!

November has been a busy month!  Helping my son's family settle into their new home has keep me on the road.  As well as celebrating with my daughter's family the baptism of their oldest.  Planning, shopping and preparing Thanksgiving dinner for 24 people.  And yesterday (11/25/12) my husband and I had the privilege of listening to our son speak on Living Quiet In a Loud World in his church, you can hear it at Waterfordwired.org.  He spoke from Mark 1:21-39, Jesus was just starting his public ministry and he was busy!  He began teaching, casting out evil spirits, healing people, yet after resting his body, instead of getting right back at it the next morning, he went off by himself before anyone else was awake to pray.   The Big Idea from the message was, Seeking quiet gives us opportunity for:
1. Perspective, clarifying what God wants us to be doing.
2. Learning, being taught from God himself.
3. Listening, really being still and listening to God.              

I am struck this morning that I have so much to be thankful for!  So I want to linger here in Thanksgiving, not run head long into Christmas yet.  Just be still and gain some perspective on what God's will is.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Did you catch that?  God's will for you in Christ Jesus is to be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.  There is a quote attributed to Dwight L. Moody that says, "I have noticed this, that when a man is full of the Holy Ghost, he is the very last man to be complaining of other people.  He loves everybody too tenderly.  He loves even a cold church, and is anxious to lift them up and bring them to a kinder feeling and sympathy."  

When you and I take the time to be with Jesus we gain perspective on God's kingdom and our place in it.  I can experience Joy because he saved me from sin and called me his child! (1 Peter 1:17-19, "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to your from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.")    

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The Joy of the Lord is your strength."  JOY is part of the Fruit of The Spirit.  Spending time with Jesus changes your perspective by giving you Joy when you view your current struggles in light of eternity.   2 Cor. 4:16-18 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  Remember, Joy is not being Polly Anna happy all the time.  It is being content in any and every situation, doing everything through him who gives me strength.  Remembering that whatever happens to you has really served to advance the gospel.  (Phil 1:12) "The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached  and because of this I rejoice."  (Phil. 1:18)  Joy is having faith in God's plan and purpose for you!

God has been teaching me about JOY the entire month.

Next, PRAY continually.  This too is God's will for you.  To stay in contact with God.  Tell him your sorrows, let him comfort you.  God wants to hear your desires.  He knows what your heart desires, "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted, you encourage them, and you listen to their cry"  Psalm 10:17.  "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."  Col. 4:2.  He wants you to pray for your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your enemies, your church.  His will is that you talk with him.   

Finally, GIVE THANKS.  No matter what circumstances you are in, God is near.  You are reconciled to God in Christ.  You have the fruit of the Spirit in you!  When you remember that God is faithful, you can give thanks even in very bad places, with very lame people!  God is watching over you, even when it seems like he is far from you. Take time to be quiet and read his word, give yourself the joy of hearing from God.  " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him"  Col.  16-17.

Magnify Christ by serving him with Joy, Praying always, giving Thanks that he is faithful.

Seasons-Winter

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under heaven:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

As the season changes from fall to winter, I am reminded again that I don't want winter to come.  I don't like the cold, the dirty snow, the lack of vegetation.  But there is nothing I can do about Winter, it comes whether I like it or not.  

The teacher writes in Ecc. 3, that there is a time for everything a season for every activity.  Seasons were created for good reason.  Winter has its purpose.  The fields rest (except for winter wheat, which is already getting a head start for next years harvest), the bushes are pruned, the weeds in the garden die back, but winter is cold and dark, nothing I long for.  

I have found myself to be in winter.  Some call it "the dark night of the soul", "the wall", "a crisis of faith".  It is a place that is very unnatural to me, I am one who chases after God refusing to left out in the cold.  I sing with the Psalmist "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord".  Yet even when I am there I feel the cold, dark, Winter in my soul.  Have I left God?  Has He left me?  Why am I in the unproductive season of Winter?

In Psalm 88:13, "O Lord, I cry out to you.  I will keep on pleading day by day.  O Lord, why do you reject me?  Why do you turn your face away from me?  And in verse 18, "You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend."  Sounds like the cold, dark, lonely, Winter.  

I refuse to believe that God has rejected me.  I know that He is love.  I know that He wants to reveal Himself to me through His Word.  I know that Christ Jesus died for me, so why am I in the dark, cold, Winter?  

Spiritual Rhythm, Being with Jesus Every Season of your Soul. by Mark Buchanan.  Nearing Home, Life, Faith, and Finishing Well, by Billy Graham have helped me to see the value of Winter.  Just as my lot in life is chosen by God with all its joys, accomplishments, beauty, irritations, trials and difficulties:  Psalm 16:5 says, "Lord, you have assigned my portion and my cup-you have made my lot secure", so too He has allowed this season to come for His purposes and my good.  

Mark Buchanan says " when Christ dwelt on earth, he certainly had such moments, and he sought both the consolation of his Father and the companionship of his friends to ease his dread and his sorrow.  "Will no one stay awake with me?"  Jesus asked.  Sometimes, I think, he still asks it.  Is it possible that in this winter of yours, when you desperately need Jesus to stay with you, he's just as happy for you to stay with him?"  

Could it be that in my business of relationships and service, I wasn't spending the time with him that he wanted?  The Shepherd of my soul, wants me to yield to him and come along side him.  To just stay awake with him, to be content beside him.  

Billy Graham says, "True joy is derived from depending on the Lord Jesus.  He is the One who supplies our strength in weakness, "for when we are weak, He is strong", (2 Cor. 12:10)".  Remember "the righteous will live by faith" (Hak. 2:4, Heb. 10:38).  Graham teaches that when you are friendless and lonely focus on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-3), encourage others and pray for others (Heb 10:24-25), and continue to study and meditate on God's Word to present yourself to God as one approved (2 Tim. 2:15).

Winter is a time of different work, a time to prune back, a time to prepared yourself for the spring.  A time to focus on Christ and wait.  There is a calm in Winter, you can't do all of the work of summer, you have less responsibility.  You have time to look back and remember how you have experienced God in the past.  You have time to think ahead to what will come.  And you have time to enjoy being in his presence today and trusting Him.

The Winter is a the place where I can't survive without faith.  I don't feel His presence, I don't see His face, yet I still believe He loves me and I know that Spring will come, because he is in charge of the seasons.  

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful"  Hebrews 10:23.