Poetry Sunday ~ The Voice of the People

Jer. 17:23 “But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.”

The Voice of a People

We are a divided nation separated by complexion

Giving different people their own little section

We’ve taken blood and changed the dominant hue

To suit what’s befitting in all that we do.

Changing the prism that reflects joyous light   

Cannot be undone because day turns to night

Believers are the ones who bear this burden

To stand as one as all people are hurting

Sharing the Word through love can we change

the hearts of men for hatred we’ll exchange

Caring for people as we plan to take action

The light we emit gives strength to our traction

As your soul grieves God shoulders the pain

For nations, for men, the living, the slain.

Go into the world, be the difference, the spark

Bring light to a people that dwells in the dark.

*author's note: this poem is a repost

and worth it! 

Justified

Isa. 28:12 “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”

Justified

Do you want to know how I come up with my blog topics? Believe it or not, I pray. I wake in the morning and pray for all the sick on my prayer list, then I ask God’s guidance on what to write for the day. I don’t always get a reply on what I’m to write about so I might skip that day as I wait, patiently!

After prayer, I open the news of the day, open facebook also, to find a plethora of topics but usually one topic will stand out a few times and God lets me know, write about THIS!

I so wanted to write about my niece getting her purse returned, after losing it somewhere sometime during her day, by a young black gentleman after he had found the purse on his way work, and returned it to my niece at ten thirty in the evening when he returned home.

My niece cried because she was so happy to not have to renew her license and cancel all her credit cards and she thanked the young man profusely! She even gave him twenty dollars of the fifty that had been inside. I’d also like to add that this was in Baltimore, Maryland. The place you only hear bad stuff about and never the good stuff. 

As I continued searching for a blog  post, a few things stuck out and THAT is what God wanted me to write about, while my nieces story is a beautiful one God wanted me to know that there is something more important to write about at this time and maybe, all of the stories will mesh together? I’ll have to finish this before I know. 

Getting it right with God is a struggle all Christians go through and at times I never feel worthy enough of His love. I’ve already blogged about that one in a feeling unworthy post. But let me say this first and foremost, I AM WORTHY of God and that is all that matters to me. 

I loosely call myself Christian because all Christians are not the same. These days they are drinkers, self-righteous, judges of all. I do understand that we are ALL different and on different paths. Jesus (NT) himself didn’t choose perfect people to carry his ministry, and God (OT) certainly didn’t pick perfect people that He created to do His work. Nope, He picked the most imperfect people He could find; maybe that is why He chose ME to be a writer. For some reason He had faith in me and that I’d carry my testimony/His ministry to His people. 

Ecc. 9:7 “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.” 

Ephesians 5:18 ESV “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

Proverbs 20:1 ESV “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

You see, God has called us ALL to carry His ministry. Not to drink, get drunk, whoop it up and praise God or claim to be His all in the same stinking drunken breath. 

We justify what we do so we don’t feel so bad but the only one who is going to judge us for allowing ourselves to be led astray is our One and Only Savior. We ALL walk a dimly lit path, we find the Light but then get led astray by all the inhumanity in the world that gets us unsettled so we turn to drink to justify the reason we’re sitting alone in the dark with a bottle in our hand. Some find the Lighted path only to continue on struggling to stay on the very straight and extremely narrow path.

As I walk the path, for ME, I do not believe in the drink and be merry babble. For one, you’re not drinking to be merry, you’re drinking to get drunk, bottom line. It makes you feel good, it unfurls your twisted tongue, it has you allowing your loose lips to sink ships. Thoughts are free to roam the wilderness and usually, the wild is not a place to be alone because you’re bound to get bit.

When a person comes to Christ, he (or she) is new to Christ and struggles daily to get it right with God. I understand that they’ll still drink it up, curse like a sailor, call themselves Christian just so they fit into a society over running with Christians but they have yet to learn the true meaning of the word, Christ-like. Christ was not a drunk, and I think He knew the right words to use so as not to come across as a liar and hypocrite. 

I often think about what it must have been like back in Jesus’ day. Here He was gathered around a table with His twelve chosen, knowing He was going to His death. When they took a drink of wine, did they all yell out, “Let’s finish off the bottle.”??? I seriously don’t think so; it was not a merry event to celebrate.

In the course of the Last Supper, Jesus divides up some bread, says a prayer, and hands the pieces of bread to his disciples, saying "this is my body."[metaphor] He then takes a cup of wine, offers another prayer, and hands it around, saying "this is my blood [metaphor] of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many." ~ source Wikipedia

The church is the way it is today because people divided up what was right and what was wrong; what was/is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Some churches look down on the homeless and only reach out to the parishioners in need, not everyone in need. Some churches look down on homosexuals by judging them and letting them know they are not right with God because you know, God made them judge and jury of the people. Divided the churches are.

Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I myself CHOSE to get my life right with God and follow His Son to the cross and weep prayerfully at His feet. We are not called to judge others because we feel they are beneath us, we should judge ourselves, our actions, our ways, our character, and virtues, only then should we call ourselves Christ-like. 

This post didn’t end the way I intended but it did help me see that there are good people out in the world trying to do what is right, whether FOR God or because of God. Goodness is all around and as soon as we stop justifying our negative actions and living the way WE want, we’ll see the good in the world or the world will never change.

God bless you all!

God In Me

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

When people meet me for the first time they look past my outer beauty and see something they might have never known or seen in someone before; they see God in me. To a non-believer they’re seen scratching their heads in wonder, wondering what it is about me that makes me different. Then I speak, if I did not carry God with me, I will leave those people scratching their heads but as soon as I speak they see it, that thing that makes me different, they see God in me. 

Eph. 4:22-24 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

When attending Church, people have a tendency to walk out the door still the same person who went through those doors. If we have an ounce of faith in what was said behind those doors we will walk out renewed and wear a different layer of clothing; a new man.

We can read and believe until we’re blue in the face but if putting on a new spirit does not renew you then you have missed the gift that God has given you of being a new person in Christ. We’re not the same, we’re different and non-believers can see Christ in you.

If you walk out of those church doors and are the same beer drinking, hate spewing, judgmental person then you are missing the message being delivered and not learning to live with Christ in you. People will then see you as a non-Christian and as such you contort the very meaning of deliverance that Christ brings to the world. You’re setting up shop of becoming known as a hypocrite who knows the Word but doesn’t know Christ. 

Phil. 2:1-5 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We can’t live like we know Him if we don’t make an effort to get to know Him. Reading the bible is not getting to know Him, attending church is not getting to know Him; living with him in us is the only way we can feel the personal connection to Him that causes us to be renewed in the spirit. 

Here’s an example of what I mean. When you read To Kill a Mockingbird, do you know Atticus, do you know Gem and Boo Radley? No, you read about them but you don’t KNOW them, they can’t live vicariously through you by just reading about them. Let’s say you went to Harper Lee’s house, does that mean you know her? You read her book, visited her house so does that make you an all-knowing friend of hers? Not at all, you have to have years and years of a relationship with her to even KNOW her. 

When we go to our mother and father’s house we know them. We know where they put the forks and spoons, we know where the spice rack is, we know which bedroom is theirs; we know because we lived with them throughout our life and have taken all that we learned from them with us out into the world. 

If our father has passed away, we still carry him with us and we still see him in little things like an old hammer he used or an old song he used to listen to; we smell him in different foods and colognes because he is living in us because he is with us in spirit.

This is the difference in reading the bible, going to church and saying we KNOW God. We cannot know God unless we live WITH Him. We carry Him with us out into the world because He defines our world; He IS our world. 

If we read, believe and go to church we cannot in all good conscience come out and spread the word saying we KNOW Christ, we have to LIVE with Christ to say we know Him. In all we say and all we do with all that our Father has taught us over the years can we carry Him to the world.

It would be very vain of me to say, I am God; it would be smug of me to say, I am Jesus; but it would be truth to say that God is IN me because I’ve known Him my whole life and the Spirit of my Father dwells within my soul.

Rom. 12:1-2 “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Tuning Out

Rom. 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

It is quite sad that so many are working hard to bring people to God yet turning them away from Him unaware. I’ve been tuning people out for some time now but still, that doesn’t keep me from observing their behavior. The negative aspects still have a way of seeping in when I least expect. I’m not offended as much as I’m saddened at their inane actions while claiming to be children of God. Human beings are a sad lot.

I see why people are turning from God in record numbers, not just because they don’t believe in the first place, but they are being deceived and that can lead to a falling away of forming any sort of belief system.

It’s confusing when people are touting that they KNOW the truth but don’t LIVE the truth. People boasting of their love of God but are visually so filled with internal hate for everything. People seeking the truth are then led to believe that you can do no wrong and the bible then becomes a laughable joke. They see people practicing not what they are preaching.

I’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t live in God’s world, we live in a political world and man uses the bible as a footstool to base their belief system on and of course, the non-believers are not going to stand for the word Bible or God in their vocabulary. Everyone is too busy seeing the left and right or the wrong and right of things, not the God things. Their focus is NOT on God but the world.

Rom. 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I realized something last year; that I had raised my son in a Christian household and when he turned eighteen; I realized his beliefs were not the same as mine. Sure I tried to instill all my Christian beliefs into him but there came a backfire when he said to me, “I don’t believe the same things as you.”

A shocker right? Wrong! I realized (an awakening of sorts) that my son is not my property, he is God’s property. It was my job to teach him in the way that he should go but in the end, he is his own person and can form his own ideas/beliefs. He hasn’t turned from God, he’s just drinking in all the foolish lies people spout and forming his own opinion. Wow, how did that happen, he turned out to be his own being? He doesn’t do the facebook thing because, “There is no good in that place.”

This is what is happening in the world today. We try and shove OUR belief down people’s throats and it backfires, people are not buying what we are trying to sell. To a believer you’ll get an AMEN sometimes but to the non-believer you get tuned out. You are turning them AWAY from God instead of TO God.

I was taught as a child that you don’t discuss money, religion and politics because it causes disagreements, arguments, and division. It’s not a law to abide by but it is a non-formal moral code that humans have supposedly grown accustomed to, you’d think.

I think of facebook as a gathering of friends. It would be no different if it were everyone sitting around in the park at a picnic table sharing food and family fun. What I don’t expect is to be hit (and hit hard) with a barrage of political crud, religious buffs (who know everything, BTW) and gabfests on money. Oh wait, the only time money is brought up is when people are sharing the abundance of the amount they have, which is almost NEVER! So why not hold the religion and politics to the same stature? You’re among friends, act like it!

I’m starting to think that these folk don’t have a moral code that they live by. They just want to point out that they are right and you are wrong. It makes me want to tune out and turn away from the very people I’ve come to know and love. Facebook has become a cesspool for the arrogance of society; taken away (or lost in the crud) is the fun-loving, God embracer. Oh they’re there, but far and very few between. My newsfeed is down to about five people now, a much more POSITIVE flow of the GOODNESS in the world.

This is what is happening in the world today. People are tuning out and turning away; tuning out from the hypocritical society, the political garbage and turning away from God. Guess what, people can actually THINK for themselves. They don’t need YOU to tell them what is wrong with the world, clearly showing them where YOUR focus is, and it isn’t on God!

My only saving grace is turning away from the world and tuning into God. God is my refuge; He’s not my platform, I don’t use Him for gain, I use Him for comfort. He is my Soul Food!

Let me let you get back to your political propaganda, your regularly scheduled program. I’m tuned out of Social Media and I’m tuned into God.

Pss. 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

AMEN!

I Choose God, You Choose Sin

Phil 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”

I’m targeting this post to all the non-believers who think I chose a fairy tale belief just because ‘some men wrote it thousands of years ago.’ These non-believers are so quick to point out the wrongs with the Bible but are rarely heard exclaiming what is right with the Bible, which makes me think they have either read the bible and didn’t understand it or are just commenting and following what other people have told them, not basing their opinion on any scientific fact or any truth whatsoever.

Here’s the thing, you choose not to believe whereas I choose TO believe. I don’t judge the non-believers but they sure go out of their way to judge Christians for their beliefs. When the non-believer reads something like say, the Noah story where God flooded the earth and had Noah take two of every animal onto the ark; they choose to not believe this testimony. I’ve always been curious too but that’s as far as it went when I was a child but since the advent of computer technology (I had to dig through numerous books at the library before Google) I can dig and find answers more quickly now and have a CHOICE on what I believe. NB’s choose not to dig and just take everything at face value and judge.

Here is one comment on Yahoo that saddened me:

“What would jesus do? well if your jesus cant stop children from being raped in his own house of worship, what good is he? if your jesus is powerful and can do things why didnt he make that shooters gun jam, or have the bullets miss the people that got killed in his church? and if your answer is because of freedom of will and he does not not intervene, then why do people pray to him for help when someone gets really sick or if they survive a car crash they thank "god" for saving them. or when something really good happens they look up in the sky and say 'thank you jesus'. it makes me sick how if something good happens its because of the grace of god, but if something bad happens he didnt help because of freedom of will. christians are delusional.”

2 Thess. 2:11 “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

I was going to correct all the grammatical errors in that post but it just speaks volumes as to the type of non-believers out there. I HAD to capitalize the first sentence because it drove me nuts but the gist of society is in this person’s voice. THIS is what is wrong with America today! (not grammar Nazi’s)

As we as a nation have turned our backs on God, why do people (non-believers) cry when HE turns His back on humans? You see, I don’t feel in any way shape or form that God has turned his back on us. I don’t feel that because a sick and deranged evil man unleashed gunfire on a church was in any way a time for God to step in and say, “Hey wait a minute, not in MY house!”  Earth is his House too, so why hasn’t he stepped in to wipe us out completely? The same reason He let Adam and Eve live after he commanded them NOT to eat of the tree of life or they would surely die, he had compassion on his creation. Maybe this is God’s compassion on us thinking maybe we’ll see the error of our ways.

Why do people pray to Him when they are sick? Because we KNOW the power and healing of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? Not only because of the words of man because of the sincere depth of knowing Him personally, yes through his words to us but more importantly Him IN us; there is a difference.

Did God stop satan from offering the fruit to Eve? No, He didn’t and we now live with the repercussions of sin. When I see people rioting, I don’t think, “God, why don’t you stop them?” I more on the lines think, “Satan is in full swing.” When I hear the cries, “Black lives matter.” I think, “ALL LIVES MATTER!” Society is the remnant of satan and we’re living in times where Jesus doesn’t matter because of all the luring satan has done to human beings!

People CHOOSE satan over God, plain and simple. When they choose to rob, they’re not doing it for God; when they choose to kill, maim, torture they are not doing it for the love of God. Just as Eve chose satan and his delicious fruit, we as a human race have chosen what satan has to offer instead of what God has to offer.

When you say I have chosen a fairy tale to believe, you are assuming my life is shaped by a book and by words alone. I’m here to tell you, my life is shaped by God as a Spirit dwelling in me; sure I read the book, the Bible, yes I love the Words in the book but it isn’t who I am and all that has shaped me. I am filled with the Spirit of Christ first and foremost. My God has led me to this juncture in my life and it is to Him I give the Glory, not man and his hate.

I won’t judge you for choosing sin and satan or choosing nothing at all as long as you don’t judge me for choosing God! 

*author's note: I will not capitalize satan!

1 Thess. 2:13 “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

Good Friday ~ Passion for Christ

Isa. 53:5-6 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

It comes as no surprise that as I wake and rejoice in the day, the day that the Lord and Savior died for me, the world goes on in its ignorant, hate-filled manner.

I remember when I was eight years old and my grandmother passed away. I thought the world stopped when someone died. “How can the cars be going down the street? How can people not know my grandmother died? Why does everyone ignore her death?”

It was pretty easy to figure out. They didn’t know her. They knew of her but didn’t know her or the sacrifices she made to her grand-kids even as she suffered with cancer. I see now why people act the same way they normally act even though they know this is the day that Jesus died for us. They know OF Him but don’t allow their lives to stop or change BECAUSE OF Him.

This is seen in the morning’s traffic, the morning twitterfeed, the daily facebook posts; nothing has changed and everyone is still the same person they were when they went to sleep the night before. The only thing that changed was the day. It’s a new day, it’s a Friday, same old same old.

Just as I had a passionate love for my grandmother, I also have a passion for Christ. Sometimes this scares people, intimidates them or has them so filled with guilt they steer clear of this ‘crazy lady who is TOO passionate for Christ’. Too passionate? Imagine that.

I am not different than you; I love, I hurt, I cry, I laugh but to me there is so much more to living and breathing that I can’t and won’t allow any ounce of hate to exude from my body. What kind of Christian would I be if I looked at today just as any other day; a person who knows OF Him but doesn’t allow a portion OF Him to seep from my veins?

I won’t apologize for my passion for Christ, just as you shouldn’t be concerned with NOT being passionate for Christ. We’re all allowed free will and what we do is different in all ways shapes and forms.

I’m not popular because of my love for Christ, as a matter of fact I think I’m UNpopular because of my love for Christ. Again, I won’t apologize for my ways because my ways are not your ways.

I look at today as a small sacrifice of not doing what I’d normally do and throw off all mundane chores or actions and focus, focus on Christ who did more than ‘just’ sacrifice His very life for me. Yes me!

He suffered, He bled, He cried in pain, He writhed and squirmed as he was beaten and finally He was hammered with long nails to a cross, for me! If I’m passionate about Christ it is because I understand that while the world goes on after someone dies, the world goes on after His death also, but I feel as if I’m there crying at His feet awaiting for Him to rise up in three days. My grandmother never had the chance to rise up and forgive my sinful nature, only Christ could do that and He DID! What’s not to be passionate about?

I think of a time when Jesus was making his way to the hillside to be hung. I think of all the people cheering and screaming out, “Crucify him!” I would be the woman who makes her way through the crowd and approaches this Messiah and offer Him a towel to dry his brow and wipe his face offering him water to drink.

While Jesus had believers standing in the crowd, some never claimed to know him. Some stood in the background and looked on, while others were weeping. I never was and never will be one who walks with the crowd, I will always be the one who goes against the grain and does something unexpected. This is who I am.

While the earth shakes and trembles at His words, ‘It is finished’, I am unmoving and waiting at His feet. I’m not surprised that others are not as passionate about Him, it has been going on for centuries and nothing has changed. The world still goes on and we live for the next highlight of a posting day, all because they know OF Him but won’t be changed BY Him.

Matt. 26:40-41 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Lent: Day Thirty-five ~ Salvation

Joshua 24:15 (NIV) "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Salvation

I have good news for you, people. The past couple of weeks I’ve written about the renewal of your spirit, I talked about serving the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, praise and worship of the Lord and so many other richly rewarding posts, but today I bring great news, Salvation! It is free, not earned, nor bought or achieved by any works that your physical body can do, it is FREE, given with the blood of the cross.

I may come off a little crass in saying serve, praise, worship and be a part of a church. I think I make it sound like that’s your only way into heaven. It is not so, all these posts are for the committed Christian who understands what it means to serve our great and mighty God. We don’t serve because it will BRING us closer to God; we serve because it helps us FEEL closer to God.

Jesus calls us to be more than a mere Christian in word. If you call yourself a Christian you need to know what it means to be Christlike ie. a Christian. But if you’re a non-believer and searching for the peace within your body and feel that there is a higher power governing you, you need to meet my friend Jesus Christ.

I’ve have a few friends who say they won’t serve such a cruel God, who maims and kills and destroys but they see all His blessed goodness and would rather call the goodness by another name. Can I ask you something? When you were a kid and you defied your mother and she disciplined you, did you hate her? Did you turn away from her? Stop loving her? No, not often.

God is like that. When we sin, sure He disciplines us but by His saving grace we are forgiven. That is not to say that once you become a Christian you carry on like nothing has happened spiritually to you. You don’t drink booze, lay around reading and believing, sin and keep on sinning some more because God will save you.

I know a few people who will believe in God and all the testimony in the Old Testament but won’t believe Jesus is the Son of God. They’ll believe God parted the sea, they’ll believe he wiped out humans on the earth and saved the animals via Noah, they’ll believe a man resided in the belly of a whale, but they won’t believe in the Immaculate Conception?

“Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief.” ~ John Calvin

To be Christian, you believe that the blood of Christ was shed for you, a sinner among men. You’re not going to become a Christian just because it is a phase you’re going through. You’re going to become a Christian because you feel empty inside; you feel like something is missing and you sense that there IS a power out there that can fill the emptiness. Salvation! You become saved by grace from carnal sin by the hanging on the cross of God’s Son.

Christians are called to serve the Lord. We feel a need to do good, help others, attend church, praise and worship; it is part of our spiritual Christian growth. But to others who don’t know Him who want to know Him, salvation is yours for the asking and receiving. God extends His hand out to you, sends a comforter by way of the Holy Spirit, and washes you in the Blood of Christ so you too feel changed spiritually.

When this happens to you, you no longer hang onto just reading and believing. You want to take ACTION, not because it brings you closer to heaven, or brings you closer to God, but because you can sense the power of God in you and this new spiritual growth calls out to you and propels you into action. You crave being closer to God! All the reading and believing in the world will not bring you into a closer relationship with God, action FOR and TOWARDS God, will.

Through salvation, the will of God becomes evident. You won’t miraculously stop sinning, but you have a clean slate FROM your sin to begin anew. You will STRIVE to be Christ-like meaning you recognize any and all of your sin and bring it to Jesus. Only He can wash away the unclean sin.

Yes, we are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God but salvation is the saving grace, through Jesus Christ. Read and believe this, you CAN taste heaven and see what awaits you. You CAN drink from the cup of salvation and walk eternally with Christ himself. You can take this to the heavenly bank and cash it; God awaits YOU!

“If you have to be reasoned into Christianity, some wise fellow can reason you out of it! If you come to Christ by a flash of the Holy Spirit so that by intuition you know that you are God’s child, you know it by the text but you also know it by the inner light, the inner illumination of the Spirit, and no one can ever reason you out of it.” A.W. Tozer

God calls us to DO His work

^ BigStock photo ^

Rev. 3:15-16 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

God calls us to do His work

Have you ever woken up on a cold brisk morning, felt the comfort of the warm soft blankets surrounding you wishing you could rest for the day right where you are? Sure  you have. Nobody feels like waking up and embracing the cold, getting wet, or facing yet another back-breaking day at work. Rest, you just want rest.

We work because we have to; it puts food on our table, a roof over our head and gets us to the next day where we do it over and over again. Kinda mundane isn’t it, but you get rewarded with food, warmth and comfort. The necessities of life are what carry you through your day-to-day life. Without them you’d be homeless, right? Day after day you trudge along, reaping the rewards, sometimes the smallest of rewards but you know your work at the end of the day was worth all the toil and trouble.

Here lies the difference between a mere believer and a Christian/follower of Christ; a believer believes, has faith and reads his/her bible. A Christian is one who works for God, strives to be Christ-like, and WORKS to be a better person. A believer wakes up, eats, takes a nice hot shower, goes to work, comes home, eats, and rests knowing he paid his dues to society.

Isa. 2: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

A Christian wakes each day and glorifies God. He/she begins their workday for God. “Lord do with me what you will,” they say. Whether in the workplace where every person surrounding them becomes an opportunity to shower them with God and do His work; He’s in the boxes you stock on shelves, He’s pushed out in the inkjet printer you use, He is the guide at your fingertips as you type. God is everywhere to a Christian!

Sunday arrives. We did our work throughout the week and Sunday arrives in flaming fire! There may be no sun but it arrives; it is our day of rest. Do we sit at home on Sunday because it is the day of rest, no, we go out in numbers and worship the God who gave us a fruitful week.

Jer. 7: 13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

A Christian doesn’t attend church to show everyone, “Look at me, I’m here. Look at my new shiny shoes. I wore my new dress. Hey, look at me!”

No siree, a Christian wakes on Sunday, puts on his jeans (possibly from the dirty laundry) puts on his/her tee-shirt, same old sneakers they’ve worn all week to the work place then heads off to visit his family and worship with them sharing their love of God.

You might say, “What? You go to church looking like THAT?”

I might say, “Does God care what I wear? If the people there are judging me for my clothes, they NEED to be there, to learn the Truth! God doesn’t care what you wear! He cares that you’re THERE!”

To a Christian, a church is a family of Christ. You might rejoice in another building in another state, but to you, your brothers and sisters are rejoicing in a building somewhere out there praising the same God that you praise. The believers are sitting at home, tucked under their covers awaiting the sun to shine in their window so they can trudge on yet another mundane day. “I wake, I have faith, I read, I believe.” Such an empty life.

A Christian has a spirit-filled, God-filled life to live. Sunday is our payday, our reward for all of our work we did throughout the week. We get to celebrate the day by rejoicing in all the blessings the Lord bestowed upon us throughout the week with our family, our brothers and sisters and most importantly, with our Father!

Can you imagine a Buddhist calling himself a Buddhist but never doing the work of a Buddhist? Can you imagine calling yourself a Jehovah’s Witness, never doing the work required to BE a Jehovah’s Witness? Then why do Christians call themselves Christians when they don’t feel the need to do the Lord’s work for Him?

Rom. 16: 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Did you know that upon doing a word search of the word WORK, there are 964 entries in the Bible? Why is that? Because it is asked of ALL Christians (not just some of us) to do the Lord’s work. He calls to us, we are honored to act.

Pastor said something like this, “Do you know why the atheist are gaining strength in society; Because people calling themselves Christians don’t look Christ-like. They are demeaning a faith by their gossip, drinking, cursing and sinning.”

Even churches across the world are separated; teaching/preaching one thing then doing another and it confuses those who are seeking the One true living God. Yes atheist are searching for SOMEthing to believe in. Believers are searching too, but they sit at home forming their own truth.

Let me ask you this. Back when Jesus came into the world, do you think people sat at home in the comfort of their beds, READING the Bible or did they wake, embrace the cold or heat and walk miles and miles to HEAR the gospel, from the Messiah who was delivering the message? They sat around in groups of listeners, thus forming the first Christian Church, becoming the first Christians.

Jesus is the CHURCH that they went to for comfort, a message of hope, of promise, of everlasting love. They couldn’t get THAT from their safety net called home. They LIVED for Christ, strived to be like Christ, sinners were now accepted in Christ.

Jesus chose sinners to carry on His work. But He DID require them to WORK. Yes you are saved by the blood of Christ, but remember that blood was at a cost, Jesus’ LIFE on the cross. HE did that for you, what do YOU do for Him?

As you seek out to BE a Christian, don’t demean the name of Christ and Christianity. Call yourself a ‘believer’. When you seek out a church that delivers Jesus’ message, and you listen intently as the Truth of the Word washes over you and is filling your soul and you praise the Man that died for you, when you LIVE for Christ, not sin, THEN call yourself a Christian.

“On Christ the solid Rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand…all other ground is sinking sand.” ~ a Sunday worship song

Are you standing on the Rock or on sinking sand? Think about it. I think about it everyday; and I’m STILL not done my work for Him.

Praise His Holy name!

Rom. 8: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Col. 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

To be continued…