It Just Is- In His Word
Sometimes things happen in life, we try to overcome them and do it all by ourselves but something I have found is tht I cannot do it alone, life needs God and people who are ready to help me through life! This blog is taken from bits and pieces from writing from 12 years ago mixed in with the theme I am focused on this week. Sometimes you just have to accept that life just is the way that it is!
Those are the words to a song my teens have on a Christian CD. It continues on
to say “Oh Lord I need your help”!
We can
say this about pretty much anything in our lives; we need His help. Even when it means getting rid of the things
that hinder or bind us. Those things we are told in Ephesians 4 to put away. Whether
we are old Christians or newborn Babe’s in the Lord we are all guilty of
carrying something around we need to get rid of. For me it is usually worry. I
worry about what I am going to do tomorrow, what will happen if I don’t start
home school on the right time, what other people will think if I do something,
if I spent too much money, should I buy that new pair of sneakers or just stay
with the comfy ones I am wearing… I could go on all day!
I don’t
worry about all these at once, but I have used them as an example of what a
wide variety of things we can get caught on in our quest for the peace that
passes understanding and joy unspeakable.
We can’t do it by ourselves; we need the Lord’s help.
Like
climbing the mountain this summer, I could not do that alone; I needed the Lord
right there beside me directing each careful step so that I would not slip up
and find myself sprawled on the ground. I had to listen to my body and the Lord
to know when to stop and rest, when to breath and when to hike. I could have
chosen to listen to the word of doubt I heard from myself at the beginning, but
instead I chose to walk in faith believing that I could do this feat.
There is
always going to be another mountain to climb, another issue to resolve and the
only real way we will be able to overcome the addictions and anxieties of life
are with the Holy Spirit, God on our side! We can thank Jesus for leaving a bit
of Himself with us that we can activate when we believe in Him.
So, I
say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your
sinful nature craves. The sinful nature
wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the
Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature
desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not
free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the
Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires
of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity,
lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery,
hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,
dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like
these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of
life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:16-21
When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the
LORD their God—everything the LORD had sent him to tell them- Azariah son of
Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah,
"You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go
to
They didn’t believe the truth. By the way, they were carried off
to Babylon.
Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful
arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s
presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was
nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to
him.
Isaiah
53:1-2
“I am the vine; you are the branches. He who
abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is
withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and
they are burned. If you abide in Me,
and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done
for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you
will be My disciples. John 15:5-8
Jeremiah
and Isaiah are both full of passages that show us when God’s people did not
listen to the message given. They tried to do everything their own way, as they
saw fit, with out God’s direction. When they chose to do things their own way
their worries and troubles only followed them to captivity of some sort. We
need to listen to the Holy Spirit and know that what He says is what we must
do. We need to know that the preacher preaching is truly listening to the Holy
Spirit and obey the voice of the Lord. The only way we can do that is if we
personally know the voice of the Lord.
It is
our choice to believe or not, to listen to God or not.
How do
we know His voice? Jesus said His sheep will know His voice. So we must become His
sheep and follow Him, read His Word daily. Often as we can we need to pick it
up or listen to a download or cd of the Word being taught or the plain Truth
itself! Our God is able to help us achieve all the things we need to do if we
would just trust Him, listen to Him and follow His steps.
When we
bring a message of trust and faith we get met with so much opposition. “Why are
you stepping out into the deep water? Who do you think you are Peter walking on
water?”
But God
knows where He is sending you, whom He is telling you to share with, and what
He is telling you to do. That is all that matters! So we need to stop worrying
that even those closes to us may second guess our decision to stay, to go, to
preach, to sing; if God is for us no one can stand against us anyway!
“So why
should I worry, and why should I fret? I’ve got a Mansion builder who ‘ain’t’
through with me yet...” as the old song says.
I
challenge us all to stop worrying what people thing, say, or do and put our
eyes totally on Him today and do His will, not our own.
Think
about it, its about overcoming fear with the Love of the Lord! Perfect love casts out all fear. This includes
fear of failure and falling back into the mud we just pulled ourselves out of when
we cleaned up our lives. We can trust God and those He gives us to be our support
system. We cannot do it on our own, we need Him and His people, but that’s okay
because God’s got this!
Dear Heavenly Father, we make this our prayer today. Help us to keep our eyes,
our minds and our actions in line with Your Word, Direction and guidance. Help
us to stop worrying about everything and how it will work together, just to
trust that You will work it all together for good. In Jesus name. Amen.
Suggested reading: Isaiah 53:1-12, John 15:1-27, Jeremiah 43:1-13, Luke 4:1-42,
and John 16:1-33