Previously, we talked about dying to ourselves. God is always teaching us so I wanted to share how he taught me through a string of events. When God wants to show me something he usually does so by multiple teachings or times. I guess he sort of keeps showing it to me in different ways. Maybe through his word, devotionals, people, God can use anything or setting to teach you something. I had been wearing these old glasses with scratches on them for a while so for my birthday I received a gift certificate for new glasses. I was excited to get better glasses to see, the scratches were annoying me. I went and picked out frames and after the eye exam they told me I needed bifocals. They told me I could go with the line or the progressive, the 3 dimensional ‘deal’. Ha, so I went with neither and got my glasses right away, but I had this area where I couldn’t see 2 to 4 feet in front of me very well with or without my glasses. So after awhile I thought man how annoying is this and I just spent 300 dollars. I finally decided to go back and get the progressive. It took two more weeks and when I went to pick them up I was excited, they explained that my eyes would have to adjust for a while, up to 2 months. I said, great all I’ve been through, how hard could it be to get used to. It was a little harder then I thought at first, every time I moved my eyes it was blurry. After about 4 to 6 weeks it got better but was starting to hurt my eyes and head and I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to end. Then finally after about 2 months, it’s pretty much all gone and I can see. About 2 weeks after I started with the progressive I was studying this devotional on truth based on scripture John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. On this certain daily devotional I get, you can go deeper or go to studies that relate. So I went a little deeper and ended up looking at a scripture James 1:22-27, ‘But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you’. It also had a catchy commentary with it from Forerunner; ‘In essence, James describes a person who sees the truth from God's Word and responds by using it. He sees himself as an instrument of God to be used, even spent, in service to Him and His people. He holds the feelings and well being of others to be as important as his own. Unlike the myopic person, he sees beyond his comfort zone, following the example of Jesus Christ.’ This devotional, the scriptures and the commentary really spoke to me and stayed with me all day. I was thinking about what God has done in my life and was thankful that even though I have a long way to go I was humbled and thankful for what has happened. That night I was just sitting there thinking about the scripture and 2 more came to mind that I thought added to this for me. In the commentary it says, he sees the truth and uses it and wants to be used by God and holds feelings and well beings of others as important as his own. John 15:10 ‘When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love.’ I John 3:18 ‘Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God’. What was being spoken to me was how important it is to see the truth from God’s word, abide in Jesus and his love and act upon the truth, obey love and help others. Like James says, don’t just read the word do what it says. So the next morning I was looking at the study and commentary again thinking about the verses and then I realized how important the great commission, Jesus’ command, is in helping each of us do this. I realized it was sort of like the blurry glasses, I had on and not seeing things properly. What I mean is how much God has taught me and been able to serve and help but also I realized I have such a long way to go in a lot of areas, very humbling. So I shared this with some people close to me but the lesson wasn’t over yet. A few weeks after that, as I was reading in Mark 8 and this scripture hit me, Mark 8:22-25 ‘When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now? The man looked around, “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.’ This scripture really spoke to me about how God opens our eyes to him and his ways as we grow. How important it is to stay close and abide in him to learn and see his lessons and that it will also take time and happen different for all of us, a process. It also spoke to me again about my glasses and that it took time for me to adjust to them, and how important it is to have others around us to help each other grow and see things through other people eyes and what’s on their heart. But the lesson still wasn’t over about 2 weeks after that, I received a text from a guy I meet with, with a scripture from Mark 8. I was going to a leadership meeting at our church so I didn’t read the scriptures till later. At the meeting this guy spoke on Luke chapter 15 and tied the whole chapter together, which really spoke to me. We got home late and I remembered that I still had to read the scriptures from my friend. I have been in Mark 8 a lot before, a few years back I had some major decisions to make in my life and walk. We were being tested by losing a lot of things in our life but we were also being blessed spiritually. One of the scriptures I went to a lot was Mark 8:14-21, we had to decide were we going to follow after Jesus and the blessing he was giving or were we going to chase after worldly things? Were we going to focus on the lack of money that we were used to or trust Jesus and find out what he has a head for us? When I looked at the scripture that night the whole chapter just sort of spoke to me in a different way. The chapter starts off with Jesus doing this huge miracle, feeding 4000 people with very little food. Then right after Jesus does this, the disciples seam to be in a place of disbelief or loss of focus. Jesus gets on them for their hard hearts and not being able to see or hear properly. They couldn’t understand his ways. Then Jesus heals the blind man in 2 stages in front of the disciples, I think to teach them to see or perceive spiritual truth will be a process. Peter then gets a revelation from God that Jesus is the Messiah and that understanding could only come from God. Right after that, Jesus tells the disciples he is going to be killed and 3 days later rise from the dead. Mark 8:32-33, ‘As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then he reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” This is an interesting scripture because we know Peter wanted to do the right thing but didn’t have a spiritual understanding yet about Jesus and the kingdom. We can read this and see Peter and the mistake he made we need to understand we will also be tested with times where we are not yielded fully to the Lord or have our heart in the right place or seeing things correctly. We could think we are making a decision to protect someone or help but get in the way of or oppose someone who is doing a work of the Lord. In the last of this chapter Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower you must deny yourself and follow me. Give up your life, lose your life and gain me and something better.” I think what is important for me is to be humble and have my heart in the right place with the Lord to be able to see spiritual truth and what God’s heart is for us and others. But not only be able to see the truth, because all believers of Jesus has the Holy Spirit and most all can reads God’s word, but also apply the truth and do what it says with love and humility. Easier said than done I think, for all of us. 1st John 3:18 ‘Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.’ Sometimes I think the works we do, which is important don’t get me wrong, may become a little more important to us than the people, the body of Christ, and the love we have for each other. Mark 8:15 "Be careful," Jesus warned them, "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod."
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Seeing and growing
Previously, we talked about dying to ourselves. God is always teaching us so I wanted to share how he taught me through a string of events. When God wants to show me something he usually does so by multiple teachings or times. I guess he sort of keeps showing it to me in different ways. Maybe through his word, devotionals, people, God can use anything or setting to teach you something. I had been wearing these old glasses with scratches on them for a while so for my birthday I received a gift certificate for new glasses. I was excited to get better glasses to see, the scratches were annoying me. I went and picked out frames and after the eye exam they told me I needed bifocals. They told me I could go with the line or the progressive, the 3 dimensional ‘deal’. Ha, so I went with neither and got my glasses right away, but I had this area where I couldn’t see 2 to 4 feet in front of me very well with or without my glasses. So after awhile I thought man how annoying is this and I just spent 300 dollars. I finally decided to go back and get the progressive. It took two more weeks and when I went to pick them up I was excited, they explained that my eyes would have to adjust for a while, up to 2 months. I said, great all I’ve been through, how hard could it be to get used to. It was a little harder then I thought at first, every time I moved my eyes it was blurry. After about 4 to 6 weeks it got better but was starting to hurt my eyes and head and I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to end. Then finally after about 2 months, it’s pretty much all gone and I can see. About 2 weeks after I started with the progressive I was studying this devotional on truth based on scripture John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. On this certain daily devotional I get, you can go deeper or go to studies that relate. So I went a little deeper and ended up looking at a scripture James 1:22-27, ‘But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you’. It also had a catchy commentary with it from Forerunner; ‘In essence, James describes a person who sees the truth from God's Word and responds by using it. He sees himself as an instrument of God to be used, even spent, in service to Him and His people. He holds the feelings and well being of others to be as important as his own. Unlike the myopic person, he sees beyond his comfort zone, following the example of Jesus Christ.’ This devotional, the scriptures and the commentary really spoke to me and stayed with me all day. I was thinking about what God has done in my life and was thankful that even though I have a long way to go I was humbled and thankful for what has happened. That night I was just sitting there thinking about the scripture and 2 more came to mind that I thought added to this for me. In the commentary it says, he sees the truth and uses it and wants to be used by God and holds feelings and well beings of others as important as his own. John 15:10 ‘When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love.’ I John 3:18 ‘Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God’. What was being spoken to me was how important it is to see the truth from God’s word, abide in Jesus and his love and act upon the truth, obey love and help others. Like James says, don’t just read the word do what it says. So the next morning I was looking at the study and commentary again thinking about the verses and then I realized how important the great commission, Jesus’ command, is in helping each of us do this. I realized it was sort of like the blurry glasses, I had on and not seeing things properly. What I mean is how much God has taught me and been able to serve and help but also I realized I have such a long way to go in a lot of areas, very humbling. So I shared this with some people close to me but the lesson wasn’t over yet. A few weeks after that, as I was reading in Mark 8 and this scripture hit me, Mark 8:22-25 ‘When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now? The man looked around, “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.’ This scripture really spoke to me about how God opens our eyes to him and his ways as we grow. How important it is to stay close and abide in him to learn and see his lessons and that it will also take time and happen different for all of us, a process. It also spoke to me again about my glasses and that it took time for me to adjust to them, and how important it is to have others around us to help each other grow and see things through other people eyes and what’s on their heart. But the lesson still wasn’t over about 2 weeks after that, I received a text from a guy I meet with, with a scripture from Mark 8. I was going to a leadership meeting at our church so I didn’t read the scriptures till later. At the meeting this guy spoke on Luke chapter 15 and tied the whole chapter together, which really spoke to me. We got home late and I remembered that I still had to read the scriptures from my friend. I have been in Mark 8 a lot before, a few years back I had some major decisions to make in my life and walk. We were being tested by losing a lot of things in our life but we were also being blessed spiritually. One of the scriptures I went to a lot was Mark 8:14-21, we had to decide were we going to follow after Jesus and the blessing he was giving or were we going to chase after worldly things? Were we going to focus on the lack of money that we were used to or trust Jesus and find out what he has a head for us? When I looked at the scripture that night the whole chapter just sort of spoke to me in a different way. The chapter starts off with Jesus doing this huge miracle, feeding 4000 people with very little food. Then right after Jesus does this, the disciples seam to be in a place of disbelief or loss of focus. Jesus gets on them for their hard hearts and not being able to see or hear properly. They couldn’t understand his ways. Then Jesus heals the blind man in 2 stages in front of the disciples, I think to teach them to see or perceive spiritual truth will be a process. Peter then gets a revelation from God that Jesus is the Messiah and that understanding could only come from God. Right after that, Jesus tells the disciples he is going to be killed and 3 days later rise from the dead. Mark 8:32-33, ‘As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then he reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” This is an interesting scripture because we know Peter wanted to do the right thing but didn’t have a spiritual understanding yet about Jesus and the kingdom. We can read this and see Peter and the mistake he made we need to understand we will also be tested with times where we are not yielded fully to the Lord or have our heart in the right place or seeing things correctly. We could think we are making a decision to protect someone or help but get in the way of or oppose someone who is doing a work of the Lord. In the last of this chapter Jesus says, “If you want to be my follower you must deny yourself and follow me. Give up your life, lose your life and gain me and something better.” I think what is important for me is to be humble and have my heart in the right place with the Lord to be able to see spiritual truth and what God’s heart is for us and others. But not only be able to see the truth, because all believers of Jesus has the Holy Spirit and most all can reads God’s word, but also apply the truth and do what it says with love and humility. Easier said than done I think, for all of us. 1st John 3:18 ‘Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.’ Sometimes I think the works we do, which is important don’t get me wrong, may become a little more important to us than the people, the body of Christ, and the love we have for each other. Mark 8:15 "Be careful," Jesus warned them, "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod."
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