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Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. 6 Recognize Him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.

Showing posts with label dependence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dependence. Show all posts

Friday, December 20, 2019

The Desert

The desert is a place where God “tests” his people. To see if they will obey him or not. Are they trustworthy? 

It is a place where He deals with issues that hinder the true believer from hearing his voice and walking in his ways. As long as we trust in our own understanding as long as we believe we know what to do, God cannot fully (bless) support our activities (the activity isn’t the issue). If we take credit (pride) we prove our untrustworthiness. 

His desire is to fellowship with us intimately. To share His inmost heart, what He thinks and how He feels about everything and everyone around us. If He can’t trust us, He is unable to share as much as He would like to. 

He is the truth, the way, and the life. Can God trust me with great insight and spiritual understanding? Humility – seeing who I am really. Dependence: seeing who God is…savior, Lord. God is the only source of wisdom and understanding. I don’t need principles of life; I need the Author of life. I don’t need things to make me happy. I need the joy that comes from making God happy. Am I committed to the journey? Do I walk according to what I already know? Do I believe that God will hold me accountable?

Are God’s priorities my priorities? (What did Jesus read out loud at the beginning of His earthly ministry Luke 4:18)

We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Set the captive free. Mend the broken heart. Declare the acceptable year of the Lord. God wants to give me His heart (love) for those I come in contact with. He wants to tell me what He thinks and how He feels about all of those around me. Can He trust me? Lord I want to be trustworthy, Amen.

The vision to travel all over the world and take pictures for you, the promise to give me a wife and family motivated me when I saw them as goals that would fulfill me. Make me happy? Complete me? Activities? Jobs? Careers? What is God’s will? The promise motivates obedience. As we try to obey, God shows us all our weaknesses. All our sin that hinders. 

You purge us of pride, selfish ambition, selfishness, and self-centeredness. As we try to build our own reputations, as we try to secure our own comfort and security as we try to be happy and successful. You show us life. It’s in you, not apart from you. It’s not in acquiring knowledge of life principles that we find all the things we think we need. Apart from you, everything is vain and empty. Life is found at your feet in humble dependence. Eternal treasure is gained in trust and obedience.

Friday, August 21, 2015

The Self-Help Christian Industry

Self-help Christianity emphasizes understanding principles to live by, that are expounded in the Bible. It is a path with a promise... "Walk in my ways and it will go well with you" (Jeremiah 7:23 )

We learn these principles from preachers and teachers that are well taught in the practical wisdom passed down to them. We all have some (practical wisdom) to give if you have been "born again".

The love and hope of the one who trains up his child in the way he should go, as he passes down the lessons he has learned, rarely brings about the hoped for result. Why?

Knowledge puffs up. What does that mean? Practical wisdom separated from its source, becomes something we begin to trust in. We see it as our own. And it is. It is wisdom we have acquired. It is wisdom we have operated on. It is wisdom that has blessed our lives. Because we have trusted it and acted upon it. We are accountable. If a man knows to do good and doesn't do it. That is sin.

If we know knowledge puffs up what are we to do. Your testimony reeks of biblical principles. God has met you where you were at. He spoke to you and made His wisdom known to you. I like to say, "He sharpened your axe". Certainly speak of the wisdom He has imparted...

Oh wait, do you have a testimony of what God has shared with you? Or are you just a student of practical wisdom?

Either way, the first part of Jeremiah 7:23 is what we all need to understand.
"But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you."
"Obey My voice" is a present tense imperative, progressive verb. You only hear Him in the present "here and now." That is when you should obey.