Verse of the Day: Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.... —Exodus 33:13
Memory of the month: Isaiah 41:13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Today's reading: GENESIS 25-26 MATTHEW 8:1-17
Be the Exception
One writer wrote about the clay on the potter's wheel and said, "God the Potter has the clay upon His wheel—but something happens. It’s marred. It’s ruined. Did God make a mistake? The problem is not in the hands of the Potter. The problem is in the clay."
Stop right there. God knew what was in the clay before He ever plopped it down on the wheel. If there is a pebble in the clay, did God not know it? Of course, He did. He chooses the clay each of us is made from and knows what will happen with every molecule. God does not make mistakes-He makes us different. Each of us will fire differently in the heat of the kiln He uses.
Reading the old and new testament, we see the fire in the hearts of those who sought after God. We read Isaiah and hear Him talk of God's power and glory and coming salvation. We read Paul and hear His heart for the work of the Gospel as he works to see as many as he can come to a saving knowledge of Christ and grow as deeply as they can. The heat in their lives for God jumps off the page.
Why is this heat so foreign to some and so evident in others? One writer laments the missing fire in the writings of today and longs for more.
Our eyes on the fire of someone else has always been a problem. Our eyes on what they seem to have attained is a basic human fault. We want what someone else has-remember-'thou shalt not covet'?
Back up and get your breath. It is a natural human reaction. It is one of many Jesus died to fix. God knew it was in your clay and has provided for you, personally to be able to overcome these types of feelings.
It all comes down to you and God alone-no one else can build a holy fire in your heart except the keeper of the flame. It is great to read good books and listen to good teachers and preachers but this is time still spent with your eyes and ears and heart not totally on God-any attention on any voice but God's-done in great desire as it may be-is not time spent in His presence alone. I remember folks who would travel great distances and make such great effort to get to the next engagement of a great teacher and learn deep things. But none of it takes root until the Holy Spirit and you sit and consider it together.
It is not the fire of the individual Paul or Isaiah of which we read-it is the fire of God in their lives. Both men had faults just like us.
James 5:17 says Elijah was a man just like us.
The question is not how can I have that fire those people had. Don't sit and wish for it. Don't beg for it.
Get up and down on your knees and walk into God's heart where the fire exists. Tell God you are ready to see with His eyes and feel with His heart. Tell God you are willing to see His compassion for the world down through the ages-that you want to soar with Him. Sit still and think about God-who is right there. This is not crazy. It is meditating on the person of God with His guiding you. This is not just thinking 'on' God but thinking with God.
God will give you no more than you can handle but He will give you all you can handle at one time. God wants us to use the mind of Christ and welcome the Holy Spirit to invade our evey sense and thought.
This may sound like a stretch to a lot of people but think about all the books being written on how to know God and be a better Christain-how to find the will of God in your life. Answer me this, "Who knows better what you need outside of God Himself?"
Those of you who read a lot-do you spend that amount of time quietly listening to God for guidance? Why not? If you spend 15 minutes a meal, three times a day feeding you body which will live seventy-plus years, do you then spend 45 minutes a day allowing God to feed your eternal soul?
We all have the same number of hours in a day and we find time for that which is most precious.
How precious is your time with God? How much do you want it? Are you afraid? We have not been given a spirit of fear but of a sound mind(2 Timothy 1:7).
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
This faith is not from within as the world teaches. It is a gift from God. We cannot earn it; it is divinely placed in our hearts. Take it-go on-take it-step out of the boat-if you start to sink, do what Peter did-cry out to Jesus and He will lift you up and out.
I am not pleading with you to listen to me. I am pleading with you to listen to God. There are so many people listening to so many voices today who have the 'answers'-there is only one voice with the Way, the Truth, and the Life-please ask Him-please.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive me when my choices take my attention away from you. I sit in Your presence and wait and listen. Tear away my impatience.
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