Isaiah 51
“Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Who are you listening to? Who are you following? Who are you seeking? These are three distinct questions you must answer as you walk through daily life. How do you answer the first question? Who are you listening to? The text book answer for a Christian blog is Jesus Christ. Jesus certainly should be the answer His children give, but we should also be able to answer the following question, how do you listen to Jesus Christ? You see listening to Jesus is a process. It is not the magical flip your bible open and look for the scripture that pops up, put your bible down and sometime next week or next month when you are dealing with difficulty flip it open again. This approach is not what Jesus has in mind. It just doesn’t work that way. Jesus is looking for a relationship. A relationship that is filled with daily involvement. So stop dropping your Bible and hoping a powerful message pops out and start studying it and begin having meaningful deep conversation with Jesus. Open your Bible to the book of John and begin studying a chapter a day. Read and meditate on the Words you are receiving. Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you. Pray to Him all day everyday. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to lead you through each and every situation. Even the little things you ask. Especially the little things! Then when God speaks follow. You are not in the relationship Jesus desires for you, if you are not following Him when He speaks to you. If He is not speaking to you, then evaluate your seeking of Him, and your worship of Him. Jesus will require you to surrender your heart. He says for us to look at the rock in which we have been hewn, look to the hole from which we were dug. In doing so we will realize how small we compared to Jesus Christ, but yet He loves us personally. He is the rock of our salvation and we were formed by His mighty hand from the ground He created. Yet He desires a relationship with you and I. Praise Jesus! As you follow Him seek Him with all of your heart. I think of it like following directions to a destination. As you follow the turn by turn directions and you are told to look for the blue house on the left, your attention and your focus is on finding the blue house on the left. You must find it so you can make the next turn. We can’t get distracted by the green house on the right if we are looking for the blue house on the left. If we do we may fly right by the blue house on the left. What am I saying? Well it is pretty simple when you are seeking Jesus and studying His Word and you feel the lead of the Holy Spirit and you begin moving, seeking Him and here comes your friend that has studied the Bible three times four years ago and they start telling you what they believe God is doing in your life, then RUUNNN. I mean Really? Just say to yourself, “Not the green house on the right crazy, the blue house on the left,” and move on. Don’t get me wrong Godly counsel is important but only after you have ask them to pray about things and they have listened to you and your heart and sought the wisdom of God, then they can offer up some Godly wisdom. Anything else is a green house on the right. Listen, follow and seek today! Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy
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Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, Let us consider one another, what an awesome command. Basically, the scripture is saying put yourself in their shows, and do so to spark love and good works. I wonder how many times a day we have the opportunity to live out this scripture and fail to do so. Understand that the scripture says we have to do more than just consider their point of view, we have to consider it in such a way that we stir up love and good works. Basically, we have to choose to love them and to do good, more than we love our own feelings. That is right! I have to use that oh so difficult word, SACRIFICE. You see when dealing with people, all kinds of emotions and issues are going to be ever present. We can be driven by these emotions and circumstances or we can be driven by the love of Jesus Christ and allow His Word to direct our lives. The latter brings about peace and produces good works. The former brings about hardship and disobedience. It pushes people away from the love of God and thus hinders the kingdom. When our actions are not checked with the feelings of those we deal with, and the Word of God is not directing our steps, we can only expect pain and suffering. When we consider others and love others because Jesus said to, we can expect the end result to be peace and joy. Joy may have to cometh in the morning, but it comes. Joy comes because of sacrifice and obedience. I did not list examples today because the situation really doesn't matter. If it does, then you are focused more on circumstance than Christlike obedience. Follow Him unconditionally today. Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy 1 Chronicles 16:8-12
8 Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! 9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! 10 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! 11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! 12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, Sing to Him. It is a command written many many times in the scripture. We are to sing to our Lord and Savior. What is that you say, but I can't sing. Well God did not say, if you sing beautifully then sing, if not find something else to do. Now I am not saying I am about to sing a solo at church Sunday; however, I must sing to my heavenly Father as we worship! I don't have to try to be the loudest in my section, but I have to sing. I don't have to sound eloquent or even in tune, but I have to sing. Why? Because God said to, period, case closed, end of story. It is important because it is an act of worship. But it is not just at the church house that we should sing praises to Him. We should have a song in our heart all day long. It certainly makes for a better day. As you head to work or home put on some praise and worship music and praise God with all your heart. Not only should we praise God in song but the scripture tells us that we should meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works. We should think about the wonderful things God is doing in our lives and we should meditate on these things. The word meditate means, to think deeply or carefully about something. We should spend time deeply and carefully thinking about what God is doing in our lives and the lives of those we love so dearly. We should spend time thinking about His wondrous works revealed in His creation. The next night the stars are beautifully arrayed just sit for a while in awe of your Heavenly Father. Gaze into His canvas and just be amazed at the beauty of His masterpiece. As you go about your day to day talk about the wondrous works of God and tell those around you of His powerful works. Let His power and His might be your mouthpiece. He is mighty and He loves you and desires your heart. Tell the world. They need to hear what He is doing and you need to tell it. In the process all are blessed. Finally the Word says to devoutly praise Him. To be devout means to be totally committed to a cause or belief. We are to devoutly praise Him. We are to be totally committed to praising Jesus with everything in our heart. Give Him you whole heart, let Him have every ounce of you. You will never, ever regret it. Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy 2 Corinthians 4:16
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seenare temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Do not lose heart, focus on the inside and not the outside. You see, if we are seeking Jesus Christ and living for Him the things we are battling and struggling with should not be our focal point. Instead, we should look at what the Word of God and our relationship with Jesus Christ is doing on the inside. Our focus should be on how we are being transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life. Jesus is powerful and true and He loves us through our afflictions as He molds and shapes us. What we go through today builds eternal glory. However, we must look and focus on the things which are not seen. Our focus can't be on the temporary things. We must spend our time and energy on eternal things. As children of God we cannot lose heart. But what does losing heart mean, what does it look like? Losing heart has many faces, but I believe it begins with negative "self talk." When we say things to ourselves like, "this is never going to work out," or we convince ourselves that no one cares, we lose sight of the spiritual work that Jesus is doing in and through us and thus lose heart. When our thoughts are centered on circumstance and not on what Jesus can and will do, we are not focusing on the inward man. Negative thoughts require positive attention. Positive attention begins with prayer. Prayer builds the inner man and establishes a spiritual focus. We must grow spiritually. As this happens our circumstance just becomes another classroom where Jesus will teach us to walk worthy of His grace. We learn that the Hand of God is far greater than what we are facing. We learn that Jesus is always at work and He is preparing us each and every day to handle each and every day. Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy Do you believe what you read in the scriptures? I mean do you really believe what you read in the Bible and expect it to come alive in your life? Romans 8:28 states, "28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." So if we believe that what is written in the Bible is infallible and true then what ever we are going through will all work together for the good according to those who are called. As we deal with this scripture we must examine the prerequisite...do you love Jesus? If we love God then ALL things work for the good. All really does mean all. However, we must not confuse all things working for good with us being happy about our storm or get tangled up with feeling guilty because the storm you are going through or have been through has you struggling. The bible uses words and phrases like perseverance and endurance, fighting the good fight, finishing the race because the storms of this world will require you to fight with all your power and depend on the power of almighty Jesus to finish. They very well may be overwhelming at times. As we look back on our life there are storms and struggles that we know changed us and many around us. It does not say the storm is positive, it says that God will use all things to do positive things. We are different because we weathered such a storm. Look at this blessing, in Romans 8:26 and 27, "26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. When you are struggling gain confidence in knowing that the Holy Spirit is praying for you. I will leave you with that thought just meditate on it for a while, the Holy Spirit prays for you.
Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 NKJV
What does it mean to you for you to number your days? Seriously, what do you think of when you read this scripture? Here the psalmist declares that the practice of numbering our days will profit us a heart of wisdom. Matthew Henry says of this scripture, “We must live under a constant apprehension of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death and eternity. We must so number our days as to compare our work with them, and mind it accordingly with a double diligence, as those that have no time to trifle.” If we really understand that we have so few days here on this earth, then we must not allow them to lay waste and accomplish nothing for the Kingdom. What am I doing today that has an impact on the kingdom of God? What am I doing today that will change the lives of those individuals that are under my influence? Have you ever sat down and really ask yourself who is under my influence? How am I influencing them and how am I dealing with my life as they watch and learn? How am I walking today as they watch and learn? I think about the mindset of this week as we approach our first service in our new church home. There are things that we must do to prepare for our first service and we will work diligently to be prepared for worship from sound to media projection to Sunday School preparation to baptism. We will work hard to be prepared because our days are numbered Sunday is coming. I wonder if we are doing the same things in our hearts and our souls to prepare for the influence that we will have on the souls that God has placed in our lives? You see today I will touch some people. Today, I will make an impact on someone’s life. Today I will point someone towards Jesus or away from Jesus. Today, I will walk worthy of the calling and today there will be people watching and learning. Today, I must count my days and realize that I don’t have much time on this earth and I cannot waste today. I must reach for Him and make sure He leads and directs my every step because you are watching and being influenced? I will embrace this day and give Jesus my very best. My question to you is, who will be watching you today and what will they see? Will you count your days today and give God your very best? Lock arms with me and let Jesus work through us. Reaching for Him, Brother Big Daddy |