Last night as I was reading the portion for the day.. I was challenged in s many ways..
I am usually quiet : phyisically , less talk, more mind work and observation and as a result I think a lot. Thus I get stressed over little petty things. But I have ölearned to depend upon the Lord and to let him be my Peace....
There were times I would actually get suíck because of my thoughts. At the age of 13, I was on anti-depressants.
But I am a new creation in the Lord as I learn to depend upon Him daily: Believe me: It is a process. And so I agree with Paul or may be better I undersatnd what he is talking about when he says that:
Learn to control your body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;
It makes a lot of sense. Contol means there is no extreme , just moderation. And a we all know : too much of everything whether good or bad is always bad.
So I am not only reminded but also challenged to do better , learn better, live better not like the Pagans but like the Word Of God tells me so. For some of us ther is no difference between us and the Pagans: We move around with so much doubt and burden hanging around our shoulders and we forget that we serve the Kings of Kings who says: Peace I have given you: NOT as the World does ....Halleluyah. The Peace that surpasses all Human Understanding: Peace Perfect Peace: The peace that cause youu to break out in song. All is well, It is Well with my soul: Amen
One of the things that shroud my soul is how knowing God has been transferred to People, Doctrines and sects of religion: It is okay to get attached to your pastors : people that feed you: but remember as Paul says: When you reject instruction, you do not reject a human being but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit: our comforter, friend and helper.
My favourite bit has got to be :
'and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.' 1 Thessalonians 4:11b-12
This has got to be the simplest bit of text ever to understand. One of those that you read: and you cannot addd or subtract anything.More like : Well said.
Need I say more:_ Paul: Well said and thank you.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Follow Me
In trying to catch up with the marathoners, I have been reading 1&2 Kings concurrently with the Gospels. It has been a wonderful experience and I have learnt a few things.
In both 1st and 2nd Kings we see that most of the Kings did not obey Gods laws that had been given to them. For the once who tried to obey, there were some few things lacking. One King who really jazzed me in the way he did his things was Jehu (2 Kings 9&10). He was an aggressive leader and in a way reminds me of Joshua. He did good but the disappointing thing about him is found in 2 Kings 10:31...he was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sin of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.
Fast forward....The New Testament. Luke 5:11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left Everything and followed Him(Jesus). Verse 27 of the same: After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow Me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him.
What I gathered from this is that to follow Jesus HE requires that we leave everything. In 1&2 Kings we see the consequences of not following God. In this case, what He required was for the people to worship no other apart from Him, to offer sacrifices to no other but Him, which is still a requirement NOW...the greatest commandment of all.
For me, following Jesus does not necessarily mean I leave my job and all that I do but to check my priority list. What's number one in that list. If it's not Him then I have some letting go to do or some serious reshuffling. See, the Bible says I seek first the Kingdom of God and all those other things will be added to me. If my number one is not God then I have misplaced priorities...this means I'm seeking all others first and expect things to work out alright for me. Nah, that's not how it should be.
I had to do this reshuffling a couple of days ago when I realized that my priorities were messed up. Look at it this way, in 24 hours of a day, how much do you spend with the one who has blessed you with that? The King of Kings who does not require that we wait for a particular time of the day to talk to him or to go to some field somewhere to seek Him. I mean He is available all the time all we got to do is get our minds of some things and focus on God. Engage Him in our activities and for whatever we gotta do, we do WITH Him and that's when we will say we have a relationship.
Maybe I have minced my words a little but you know what I am trying to say. Get your priorities right. And as you ponder on that Read Mark 10:17-31
Bless You!
In both 1st and 2nd Kings we see that most of the Kings did not obey Gods laws that had been given to them. For the once who tried to obey, there were some few things lacking. One King who really jazzed me in the way he did his things was Jehu (2 Kings 9&10). He was an aggressive leader and in a way reminds me of Joshua. He did good but the disappointing thing about him is found in 2 Kings 10:31...he was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sin of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.
Fast forward....The New Testament. Luke 5:11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left Everything and followed Him(Jesus). Verse 27 of the same: After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow Me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him.
What I gathered from this is that to follow Jesus HE requires that we leave everything. In 1&2 Kings we see the consequences of not following God. In this case, what He required was for the people to worship no other apart from Him, to offer sacrifices to no other but Him, which is still a requirement NOW...the greatest commandment of all.
For me, following Jesus does not necessarily mean I leave my job and all that I do but to check my priority list. What's number one in that list. If it's not Him then I have some letting go to do or some serious reshuffling. See, the Bible says I seek first the Kingdom of God and all those other things will be added to me. If my number one is not God then I have misplaced priorities...this means I'm seeking all others first and expect things to work out alright for me. Nah, that's not how it should be.
I had to do this reshuffling a couple of days ago when I realized that my priorities were messed up. Look at it this way, in 24 hours of a day, how much do you spend with the one who has blessed you with that? The King of Kings who does not require that we wait for a particular time of the day to talk to him or to go to some field somewhere to seek Him. I mean He is available all the time all we got to do is get our minds of some things and focus on God. Engage Him in our activities and for whatever we gotta do, we do WITH Him and that's when we will say we have a relationship.
Maybe I have minced my words a little but you know what I am trying to say. Get your priorities right. And as you ponder on that Read Mark 10:17-31
Bless You!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)