Sunday, October 21, 2012
Jailing Jesus
There is one thing, as Christians... thats easy to fall into..
It's something we all struggle with from time to time... We wonder why people make the decisions they make and we turn straight to the Word of God... And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with Looking to the Bible for Answers-- in Fact it's important that we do-- but it's when we look there and only there and we don't open up our hearts to what God is telling us.
We have an idol in our lives and it's The Bible.
Now, I am not saying The Bible is bad. No way! No how! I think it's important to read and get to understand God for who he is and the characteristics he possess. While the stories are deep and ever changing and the life lessons are numerous and outstanding... We cannot think that The Bible is the only way God talks to us!
If the Bible is the only way God talks to us, that's saying WE have the power, he doesn't. That's saying, we are inControl, he's not. Why? Because if he only speaks to us in the Bible, then that's saying if we aren't reading it we can MUTE God.
How many know that this concept simply isn't true! God doesn't stop talking when we stop reading-- while it's important to read the bible to know the many voices-- we can't limit God.
We learn in the Bible to discern the voice of God from Satan. But if Satan can speak without the Bible and so Can God, we just need to read to know his voice-- not so we can "force" God to tell us things, but so we can open up our minds to the things he wants to say... Softly.
As we get deeper into our faith we start to feel like we fail when we forget to read the Word... And it stinks... But it can't be a ritual. We must get to Know God so we can let him work in and through us...
We cannot book God into the Bible and contain him in the pages! He is BIGGER. We cannot keep him captive. We must set him free so we too may have freedom!!
When is the last time you had a question about moving somewhere or if you should buy something or if you should give something or if you should take a job or turn down a job or have children ?
I am going to Guess God didn't say in the pages of the Bible "Move to Hawaii, or Have 15 babies, or Take that Job." No, he answered you specifically in prayer... But also because you know the word and can hear his voice...
This might be confusing-- and I hope it came out the way I intended-- for this is the message I am trying to reveal:
Don't make the bible more important than the God who wrote it.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Thief of Blessings
Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled. “Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.
“But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”
Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.”
“No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.
Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other. All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.
Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”
Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”
Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!” (1 Kings 3:16-27 NLT)
How Practical today for me to read!
I was praying for wisdom and figured King Solomon was a Great place to start, but God had a different problem in my heart he needed to bring to my attention.
I have read this story a thousand times-- as a matter of fact-- it's one of my favorite. God challenged me to look not at the surface but deeper, to think about the two women-- not Solomon like I originally thought.
The two women are a prime example of how Life is. Both Women were blessed with a child-- but the depiction here is showing that the child in itself is the blessing. One woman let her blessing die and tried to steal the other. To me, she represents Evil, represents Satan.
Satan, is a thief who comes in the night, just like this woman, to steal our blessing that God has given us... That God has kept alive.
A lot of times, we are given something and if we aren't in constant prayer, we can lose our grip and Satan will snatch it away.
At first, the woman who the baby truly belongs to... Is hurt and mad and goes to Solomon to have the issue resolved. She wants her baby back... She knows the truth... She knows the blessing is hers and she is going to fight for it...
I believe the baby was taken away because it was the most important thing in her life in this time. She put her baby above all else... Even above God who gave her the baby, the blessing.
See, God allows Satan to take things that we put above him... So we learn that only God is what we need.
King Solomon, acts as a Godly figure in this scene... When the women come to him, the woman whose baby it is asks for the baby... But then when he says cut the baby in half... She realizes what's truly important.. That the blessing lives... That the baby lives... Rather than her having it... She gives up Her blessing... Because she wants to see it grow up... Not die.
But the woman who represents Satan, doesn't care about the blessing, she just doesn't want the woman to have it... But she doesn't truly want the baby... That's how Satan acts. He doesn't want the blessing of God, but he will take it from us and destroy it, just so we won't have it.
The moral of this story for me... Is that God will allow satan to take something Good away from us, if we make that Good thing more important than God.
Our blessings should never be more important than the one that blesses.
Not only that, but as soon as the woman In her heart said "take it." Solomon knew, And gave it back to her.
When we give God his blessing back and choose him over the blessing... Over the thing we care about the most... He gives it back. He always gives it back to those willing to sacrifice on behalf of him.
Have you been handed something dead by Satan that God said would Flourish? Have you looked Closely at the blessing or have you just accepted it for what it is? Do you love the blessing more than the one who blesses?
Re-evaluate your heart and God will give your blessings life and hand them back to you.
My problem: I love the money I make, and I have a hard time giving, but I. Choose to give because the blessing isn't more important to me than the one who blesses and I know that he has already promised me I will be prosperous-- I just can't let Satan put something dead in the place of my hope.
“But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”
Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.”
“No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.
Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other. All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.
Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”
Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”
Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!” (1 Kings 3:16-27 NLT)
How Practical today for me to read!
I was praying for wisdom and figured King Solomon was a Great place to start, but God had a different problem in my heart he needed to bring to my attention.
I have read this story a thousand times-- as a matter of fact-- it's one of my favorite. God challenged me to look not at the surface but deeper, to think about the two women-- not Solomon like I originally thought.
The two women are a prime example of how Life is. Both Women were blessed with a child-- but the depiction here is showing that the child in itself is the blessing. One woman let her blessing die and tried to steal the other. To me, she represents Evil, represents Satan.
Satan, is a thief who comes in the night, just like this woman, to steal our blessing that God has given us... That God has kept alive.
A lot of times, we are given something and if we aren't in constant prayer, we can lose our grip and Satan will snatch it away.
At first, the woman who the baby truly belongs to... Is hurt and mad and goes to Solomon to have the issue resolved. She wants her baby back... She knows the truth... She knows the blessing is hers and she is going to fight for it...
I believe the baby was taken away because it was the most important thing in her life in this time. She put her baby above all else... Even above God who gave her the baby, the blessing.
See, God allows Satan to take things that we put above him... So we learn that only God is what we need.
King Solomon, acts as a Godly figure in this scene... When the women come to him, the woman whose baby it is asks for the baby... But then when he says cut the baby in half... She realizes what's truly important.. That the blessing lives... That the baby lives... Rather than her having it... She gives up Her blessing... Because she wants to see it grow up... Not die.
But the woman who represents Satan, doesn't care about the blessing, she just doesn't want the woman to have it... But she doesn't truly want the baby... That's how Satan acts. He doesn't want the blessing of God, but he will take it from us and destroy it, just so we won't have it.
The moral of this story for me... Is that God will allow satan to take something Good away from us, if we make that Good thing more important than God.
Our blessings should never be more important than the one that blesses.
Not only that, but as soon as the woman In her heart said "take it." Solomon knew, And gave it back to her.
When we give God his blessing back and choose him over the blessing... Over the thing we care about the most... He gives it back. He always gives it back to those willing to sacrifice on behalf of him.
Have you been handed something dead by Satan that God said would Flourish? Have you looked Closely at the blessing or have you just accepted it for what it is? Do you love the blessing more than the one who blesses?
Re-evaluate your heart and God will give your blessings life and hand them back to you.
My problem: I love the money I make, and I have a hard time giving, but I. Choose to give because the blessing isn't more important to me than the one who blesses and I know that he has already promised me I will be prosperous-- I just can't let Satan put something dead in the place of my hope.
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