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Monthly Archives: August 2014
Heartlamp
Heartlamp
Zephaniah 1:12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’
My heart is troubled, for I am seeing those in the circle of influence that God has given me becoming hard hearted, and yes even complacent as the prophet Zephaniah speaks of here. God has been putting people before me that are angry with society, angry with life, even angry with God. He has been putting before me those that place everything higher on their priority list than their relationship with God. He has been putting before me those that are complacent in their faith or lack thereof. He has been putting before me those that are all but uttering the words of denial…….my heart is troubled. I am not perfect; I have experienced all of these traits at some time in my life except the denial of God. Even at my lowest points, pinnacles of sins, I knew I was sinning but Satan had me convinced of the temporal pleasurable pursuits of it. I hang my head in repentant shame for all those paths I ran; ran from God into sin.
The book of Zephaniah is a prophecy book of God’s impending judgement on the sins of Judah. It is a book that uses the term “the day of the Lord” more than any other book (Judgement Day). I don’t know how you could be breathing and not see the similarities of how steep our nation is in sin. We live in a double standard spineless society that seeks to please everyone and bends the truth to fit everyone. We have lost the ability to say, “wrong is wrong” and uphold the moral laws that originated on two stone tablets. God will hold us accountable for all our actions at a future time determined by Him. Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Oh how I pray that God will use me to encourage you to draw closer to Him. My prayer is that you respond with a humble repentant heart that seeks to abide in Him. My prayer is that you focus on your relationship to God more than any single other pursuit in life. There is nothing else in your life that has eternal consequences. Judah was being judged for their pursuits of idolatry too; their pursuits of “stuff.” Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. Pray to God today to show you what stands before Him in line; ask Him to reveal it to you and to give you the heart and strength to put Him first. A humble heart before Him will be a changed heart through Him. He knows your heart; his lamp brings to light every, single thing.
A pill or the Gospel?
John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Many of us this week have been affected when one of our stars fell with Robin Williams committed suicide. He was truly one of the greatest comedians ever, and brought laughter to us when we may have needed it most. Laughter is many times the best medicine for whatever troubles us, but even the one who was so gifted, battled inner demons that brought about addictions and depression resulting in suicide. His smile hid an inner indescribable pain that only a few knew. I have heard the argument of which came first, which fed the other, the addictions or the depression. I have been open about my struggles with anxiety and depression, for I have seen how many people seem to want to hide it. I do understand that only others with these struggle can comprehend these struggles. Over and over again I hear “I don’t get it”, but to those that share your struggle, it is an open door to share and encourage each other. I look back at my life before Christ with all the partying in so many ways; I do believe I too was hiding my problems and self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. By the grace and mercy of God I walked away from that lifestyle when I was set free through understanding what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. That does not mean I still do not struggle with anxiety and depression, it means that I deal with it differently than hiding from it by any means of bad habits; I go to God with it in prayer and his Word. He is allowing it in my life for a reason; that reason may be for me to see my need for him in my life; you cannot do life alone.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. What is worry anyway? Worry is truly about a future event that may NEVER happen anyway. This worry can lead you down that dark road to depression and means to cope with that worry. Depression can be described as a dark cloud looming; many times it lies on the horizon and seeks to cover the sun. What disperses clouds; what do meteorologists tell us day after day? “When the sun finally burns off the clouds or the fog”. Light dis-spells darkness; the two cannot co-exist at the same time and place. When the darkness rolls in, and it will, you must seek God in prayer and his Word to strengthen the Light living inside of you to burn through the clouds. Depression is fought in the Word of God!!!!!!!! I fully understand there is clinical depression, and modern medicine has a pill for everything, but you must seek help; you cannot do life alone, and Satan’s dark cloud will seek to rob you of the joy of life. If you battle depression, if you are unhappy with life, seek FIRST the only thing that can eternally change you; the Gospel. True change only begins with Jesus Christ. You may find a pill that makes you feel happy for your time here, but your soul needs the Healer to last an eternity.
Lemonade
1 Corinthians 2:3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
My desire was for God to awaken me early this morning, and he did. My heartfelt prayer was for a renewed spirit and relationship, and he provided in a devotional that put me exactly where He wanted me in his Word. I am coming off a vacation of healing time; the mental strains turned into physical ailments that shut my body down. The vacation did not serve any purpose of dealing with the stresses, but only time to rest, heal, and regain strength to press forward. In my prayer time this morning I realized how much of the world had crept into my life; I prayed for it to flee and my relationship with the Lord to move to a state of abiding.
If you have followed this ministry, you have heard me for years telling you of the importance of starting your day with God. I have been failing in what I have been preaching for a couple months; the strains of life took their toll to the point I could not get out of bed. That is why my request was for God to get me up early this morning; and what a renewed feeling to spend time with him before the world rushes in. Let me quote Oswald Chambers from this morning; “As Christians we are not here for our own purpose at all— we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same. We do not know what God’s compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him. We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again. The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.”
There is a strength found in starting your day with God that can be found by no other worldly means. There is a weakness found without it, that no other worldly means can provide to strengthen. I laughed the other day where someone said they wanted to wear a shirt that said LIFE, and stand on the street corner handing out lemons. Life is hard, and you cannot do it on your own. God uses all these tough things in life to draw you closer to Him. You will not find the answers on your own; the answers to life’s problems and questions are found through Jesus Christ and his Spirit in his Word. Go to God today with a humble prayer to seek a closer relationship again, and respond to what he shows you. You never know; He might be handing you lemons so you can make lemonade together.
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