Commitment to Contentment

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you. ~Psalm 9:10 (NLT)

Here is a thought to ponder in light of last week's post. Everyone has different sleep patterns, but for the majority of us, the day is often represented by how we feel in the morning after waking up. The night before usually greatly affects the day ahead, both in physical strength and mental stability. God wants to fill our minds for the expanse of the entire day, because whenever he is not filling us, our minds are being occupied with other, less important things. One of the most solid ways to reach that goal of preparing yourself for a day that is productive and can be endured, no matter what, is to kneel before the Lord prior to anything else during your day. In this way we can imprint a renewed awe onto our minds, acting as a picture of the strength and magnificence that God provides and as something that will last as long as it is held tightly to. God gives a persistent spirit to those who search him out on it, and he can and will be everything you need to get by, even during the hardest of times. The ONLY thing that ever keeps us back from such a 24-7 lifestyle is our complacent spirit and forgetful attitude--when we dedicate our early hours to things of lesser value than our true deliverer. God is ever consistent; and considering that we are not, he will always be the best option we have to look forward to.

"Those who kneel before God can stand before anyone." ~Lecrae

Desiring God--All Rights Reserved!

For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. ~Psalm 47:2 (NIV)

Here is a video sermon by Paul Tripp about restoring the awe of God, which he expands more in his recent book called Dangerous Calling. It's about 13 minutes if you want to check it out, or just glimpse the notes I took from it below (...or both!).

• Basically, we shouldn't be looking at the Gospel as something we have believed in, put our trust in, and now restrict to giving out to others--the Gospel being renewed in us is a humbling need of ours every single morning.
• Don't be a Pharisee and think yourself more righteous than anyone else--more righteous than the sinner you are (myself included, not to sound too harsh). It's easy to look past our own faults when there is so much we can be pointing the finger at around us.
• "No one gives the law more perseverantly than a person who thinks they're keeping it, and no one offers grace more tenderly than a person who thinks they desperately need it."
• The prayer of humility:
1. "God, I'm a man in desperate need of help today."
2.  "I pray that in your grace, you would send your helpers my way."
3. "Please give me the humility to receive it when it comes."
• Our awe of God should support and define every aspect of our lives/decision-making.
• It doesn't have to look all "spiritual", the awe of God is placed in all creation.
• Ministry is about giving people back their awe of God.
• "I know it's very hard, in ministry, to give away what I don't have."
• A great personal mission statement, of sorts: "Every worship song, every Sunday school class, every meeting of mens'/womens'/youth group ministry, every time the Word is taught, every time a sermon is preached--should be designed to rescue people from all the other 'awes' that have gripped there heart and to reclaim them once again for the awe of God."
• "The more familiar things get, the less they command my awe."
• "It is easy to replace the awe of God with the awe of creation (and self).

How to get back on track with keeping God in his place is very simple, but not often seen.

1. Lower yourself (get on your knees). Pray and wait for the blessing of Godly inspiration again.
2. Regurgitate sound teaching and remind yourself of the various beauties of God's creation and awesome attributes.
3. Confess to others that you are desiring to admire God as when you first believed and have them support you in it.

The title of this post (if you were curious) just has to do with the last second or two of the video which entitles it to the organization called "desiringgod.org".

Righteous Faith, Dude!

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. ~Romans 4:9-11a (ESV)

How is faith the same as righteousness? Well, if we can agree that we are all sinners and can never make ourselves good enough to be in God's presence, then we can also say that it's only by having faith in God's grace that we are able to be with him. We are not righteous people, but through our faith in Christ, God chooses to see us as righteous. Now, there are certain things God gives us in the Bible that act as signs or seals to show whether or not we truly have faith, (even if some of them are a bit out of date). But, as Paul explains in the passage above, let us not get these signs and "covenants" mixed up to be more important than they really are. Circumcision can't save you, only Jesus can.

THIS IS THE SECOND POST FOR THIS WEEK

I am attempting to catch up for a few missed posts a while back, so the post below this is new to this week as well. 

 

Go In Faith

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ~Exodus 3:1-4 (ESV)

 

In this passage, we find Moses going about his normal day when all of a sudden he sees something different. When he decides to turn aside from his normal path in order to give the bush a better look, that's when God calls to him. I am attempting to draw a parallel here to our lives. For "some reason", God usually doesn't just tell us where to go or what to do. I believe he waits for us to go first, then he gives us direction.

Maybe God's will is for you to make a right decision based off of his principles, not to wait for him to reveal exactly what he wants you to do before doing anything. Basically, don't just stand at the door waiting for a road map--as long as you start walking, God will provide you with direction and companionship. Another thing to remember: nobody who "go's" should ever be ready, and if you ask any missionary, they will usually say that they were scared to get started. God doesn't want us to be fit to go; instead he wants to be the one we can brag about when he gives us all the confidence we need once we are out the door. Here's a bit of a conviction: if you believe that God has called all his children to "go" in whatever way that may be, then consider, prayerfully, the way you can "go", and don't wait "for years" just expecting the opportunity to pop up--simply go!

Fear & Trembling

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one...There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ~Romans 3:11-18

What is the fear of God? How is fearing God different than fearing the guy with a gun? Well, fearing God usually involves something awe-inspiring and far above us. We should obviously hold fear if we were ever to be on God's bad side, and we should fear for those who are on the path of separation from God and his vital, all-encompassing companionship. But there is something more to fearing God than just these things.

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” ~Mark 4:39-41 (ESV)

And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ~Mark 5:31-33 (ESV)

And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ~Mark 5:15 (ESV)

 In each of these situations, the power of God through Jesus was at work before the eyes of those around him. If I saw Jesus working something amazing right beside me, or, much less, through me, then I'm pretty sure it would be a scary thing realizing the divine power I would be standing before--in the presence of God. If I had no faith at that point, I'm sure my fear would be more selfish and I would want nothing to do with the man, but believing in God beforehand would likely only strengthen my awe of, fear toward, and respect for the God of the universe.