Friday 23 February 2018

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! ESV

  Reading through Psalms 111 I see a great example of what fearing the Lord looks like. This psalmist is giving respect to the Lord giving Him praise and proclaiming how great our God is. That paints the fine line between actual fear and respectful (quote unquote) fear. James 2:19 also gives a good example of the line between fear and respect: You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe- and tremble! Which leads me to the second half of psalm 111:10  A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.<NKJV> Fearing the Lord doesn't mean shaking in our boots. In our fear or respect of Him and the work on the cross we have no reason to be afraid like the demons do who tremble for Gods love has been poured out on us.



Ephesians 5:15-17 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”


I can picture Paul after having written these verses just thinking to himself need I say more" And doing a mic drop with his pen. I mean, I read this and it's so point blank it's hard to really even say anything other then what it says. He tells us to walk circumspectly or carefully. I translate that to Don't be reckless and foolish, but walk in the wisdom the Lord blesses you with. He also tells us to redeem our time . Pretty much use it wisely and the best way to use it wisely is to know the will of our Heavenly Father. Asking the Lord, seeking His will being fixed on Him making sure we spend time in the Word . With that being said, it's easy in this setting to do this with all this counsel at hand 24/7, the accountability. Knowing that you have eyes on you almost at all times. The real test is outside of this training and we end up back in our old lives. When we're in the world but not of the world. Not under the eyes of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ but under the eyes of the world where we think we may be able to let a few "quote unquote harmless things slide. I've been subject to this reckless behavior and had been fooled and I crashed because I didn't walk carefully and I didn't make the best use of my time and the days are evil and I allowed that evil to draw me in. So I say take heed to these words and dont only know the will of the Lord but seek after it with all you have .




Friday 9 February 2018

Joshua 10:9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night.

I just want to take a moment and grab some surrounding context. Gibeon made peace with Israel. Another king named Adoni-Zedek heard of all that was taking place and decided to get ten other kings to come help lay siege on Gibeon. It’s at this moment when Gibeon is being attacked that the people call out to the Israelites for help and they come to their aid. “Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night.”.There is not a moment in this where I think that Joshua looked at the Lord and said to Him “ Man, can we take a break? I’m exhausted!” I don’t believe for a second that Joshua went before the Lord with that request. Joshua had just received a word from the Lord “ Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” I believe that Joshua was filled with zeal ready to fight for the Lord even after marching all night. In II Timothy 4:6 Paul is boldly talking about how he is already being poured out as a drink offering. He states how he has fought the good fight and have finished the race having kept the faith. I see in the life of Paul how hard he ran, how zealous he was. How hard Paul fought the good fight of faith is challenging. And as I see how Joshua received his marching orders and marched all night long and then suddenly came upon the attacking army and he was instantly in battle. I know for a fact that I have not been like Joshua in this situation. I’m over here just taking rest when I should be hoping for more opportunity to be poured out. I don’t want to hold anything back. I don’t want to reserve anything. I want to be able to state boldly as Paul did. “I am already being poured out.” I know I have been holding back and I know I have more to give. I want to be poured out so that I may be refilled just to be poured completely out again.

Application: Share this IBS with one of my teammates and ask that if they see me slacking and not allowing God to use me, not allowing myself to be poured completely out that they would set me aside and remind me of this.
I Corinthians 3:12-13 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

Recently, I’ve been praying to be more Eternally minded. I’ve been wanting to recognize more the cause and effect of my actions and the implications they have for eternity.I’ve truly been wanting to be more spiritually minded and have my eyes pointed towards Eternity, and not just that of mine, but to fix my eyes on that of others. Just these past two weeks , God has been showing me a little more how to keep my eyes fixed on these things in a healthy way and He used these verses to do it. I love how in this chapter, Paul talks about how him and another Co-laborer (Apollos) work together. One to sow seed, another to water but Paul also recognizes that it is God who gives the increase. It is so easy; at least for me to lose sight of who is actually giving the increase. Though I am building on a foundation of Christ, I’m afraid that a lot of that labor was with wood, hay and straw because it will become clear; for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sore it is. I want to recognize more, God’s power giving the increase and build upon the foundation of Christ precious materials that will last in the Day that I may read my reward in heaven and cast it right back to the feet of Jesus.

Application: Today I will ask God to help me disciple a young boy named moses and pray that as I spend time with him that Jesus would be right there with us and the Holy Spirit would guide as we spend time with one another.
Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.

How shall we escape? Prior to verse three, the author of Hebrews is telling us of how every transgression and disobedience has received a just reward. I’ve seen first hand the destruction of sin, as I’m sure most of us have. I certainly don’t want to head back there, but I can also see at times in my life some sort of complacency creeping in and accompanying the complacency is a lack of urgency. This leads to a loss of passion and zeal. I must give the more earnest head to the things which I have heard lest I drift away.Give earnest head to what? How about to Jesus. A man that spent His life serving others and being submissive to God all the way to the cross. So that our sins may be placed on Jesus and the father having to turn away from Him, forsake Him. Not for anything He had done but because our sin was covering Him and God could no longer look upon Him. Jesus taking our punishment. Don’t neglect so great a salvation. I no longer want to walk in a manner that is lacking in passion because I neglect this great gift God has given us.

Application: Grab one of my teammates and share this with him and pray that God would stir in our hearts stoking the fire that is already within us and breathing passion and compassion into our lives.
Psalms 8:4 What is man that Your are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

A humbling verse indeed Psalm 8:4. What is man that you are mindful? What is man? Disobedient, selfish, cruel, angry, bitter, envious, sowing discord,  all around foolish and easily decieved. II Timothy 3: 2-5 is a large list of what man is like without Jesus. What is man that God should visit us? That He is mindful of us? I think to how forgetful I am and how much i’ve been forgiven. We have a God who has given all things into our hand. We have a God that loves us and gives us purpose; even through all of our filthiness . God sees us for who we can be with Him; With His Spirit, growing more and more into His likeness as we seek to be more like Him and less like our wretched self. And even still I look to how I want to see things in more of an eternal light and seeing people how God sees them.

Application: I will write down this verse on a piece of paper and keep it in my pocket to help me memorize this verse.