The Better Part, week #5

 

Here are this week's FB posts.  I pray they will touch you, as God touched me.

The Better part, Day #29:

Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

Joh 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I had a short debate with an unbeliever- or should I say, a believer in a 'creator' that 'we can't know' but 'loves us all equally', but not a believer in 'God', 'Christianity', or 'religion'. I gave him some time since he seemed well thought, but in the end he had to say goodbye with one of Satan's oldest lies- questioning my faith by questioning my service. What he doesn't understand about the Holy Spirit (at least on page out of the book of things he didn't know) is that He gives each person a UNIQUE ministry that fits with the INDIVIDUAL gift He gives us. Don't let Satan and his truth-deprived followers convince you that you're no good because "you aren't helping the homeless" or any other such nonsense. As Pastor Jack Hibbs said today, the Holy Spirit will lead you to the ministry right for you.

 

 

The Better part, day #30:

Php 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK about these things. (emphasis mine)

I have mentioned the comfort I have drawn from various recent sermons on serving where God put me. But contained in these lessons- most particularly in those of David Jeremiah- is the concept of FOCUSING your mind on service and obedience to God. Now, if you were in my head, you would realize that a preponderance of my brain cells are trained to be UNfocused. This, then, is a big problem for me- bigger when the comfort side of those lessons tempt me to a "see, you're okay right where you are" attitude. And indeed today, something happened at work that could have totally tempted me to give up this post b/c of my being unqualified to talk about focus. But that's what 'serving where you are' is all about- Only someone with a tendency to un-focus could be heartfelt about just how important focusing is. Nice try, Satan, but I'm posting it anyway!

 

 

The Better part, Day #31:

Psa 119:Resh

153

Consider my affliction, and deliver me,

for I do not forget Your law.

154

Plead my cause, and defend me;

revive me according to Your word.

155

Salvation is far from the wicked,

for they do not seek Your statutes.

156

Great are Your compassions, O Lord;

revive me according to Your judgments.

157

Many are my persecutors and my enemies,

yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.

158

I behold the transgressors with disgust,

because they have not kept Your word.

159

Consider how I love Your precepts;

revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.

160

Your word is true from the beginning,

and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

Today was one of those "wake up to the endless drudgery of work" mornings, and knowing how the Lord feels about that, I asked Him to refresh me. The first thing on my morning reading was this passage. Note vv 154, 156, and 159- the "revive me" parts. You want to see how quickly God can answer an earnest prayer? Well, 154 -"according to Your Word"- was answered in the reading. 156- "according to Your judgments"- came on the ride in as I listened to Michael Yousef preaching on Colossians 3:23- "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters"- which covered that one. And finally, the lovingkindness part was delivered when a co-worker told me that her daughter in law was veeeeery close to making her a new grandma! All atheist arguments about "coincidences" and "chemical reactions" fall flat against this kind of love!

 

 

The Better part, Day #32:

Gen 16:2 And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

As Charles Stanley talked about this story and the motivations behind Abraham and Sarah's actions, I thought to myself how much this story tells us about GOD'S motivations.

- He's not motivated by time. He didn't care if the couple were 100 or 200, whether it happened today or 20 years from then.

- He's not motivated by societal norms. It made not one bit of difference to Him that Sarah's barrenness made people 'look down on her'.

- He's not motivated by our sin. He didn't throw the couple away because they decided to jump the gun.

- He's not motivated by impossibility. He makes the possible impossible and vice versa.

- He's not motivated by our plans, or our conception of His plan. Sarah thought He needed a "helping hand", but He didn't.

- He's not motivated by our doubt. When the two angels later came and told Abraham that the baby would arrive in one year, Sarah laughed- and then denied it. But guess when the baby arrived?

-He's not motivated by our pride. The Hagar/Sarah conflict that followed Ishmael's birth didn't change the timetable one bit.

He has a plan for our lives. And He'll accomplish it, right down to the second.

 

 

The Better part, day #33:

Just a simple quote, as best as I remember it:

"My heart breaks for those who look in the mirror in the morning and see only one person- instead of themselves and the person they COULD be through Jesus Christ."- Pastor Jack Hibbs

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day #34:

Another quote post...

"I wanted to be known as a 'friend of God', too... My logic was, God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever... and with all the Old Testament people (who were special to God) and all the New Testament people- if I wasn't that close to God, there wasn't something wrong with God, there was something wrong with ME." -Anne Graham Lotz

Point being, we should all be seeking to know Him better. If we keep asking, seeking, knocking, we should be getting closer to Him. And if we aren't feeling Him as a friend, perhaps we're not SEEKING Him as a friend.

 

 

The Better part, Day #35:

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 

 

Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Two verses this time, because I have a nitpicky disagreement with Charles Stanley this morning. He was explaining the "conundrum" of the Trinity when it is not named AS SUCH in the Bible. One thing he said was, there's no philosophical A,B,C,D,E to explain it. I disagree. We are made IN GOD'S IMAGE- and if we have, in our imperfection, a mind to determine, a body to do, and a soul to inspire, why would God not be a much greater version of the same?

Then he said, "Is there an example in nature? No..." and I disagree there as well. Do we not have the sun, which we cannot look upon, but casts its light even through the clouds? Don't we have the earth, which we have physical connection with, which gives us all we need to live? And don't we have the atmosphere, which even Christ described the Spirit as 'like the wind'?

You ask me, the Trinity is evident anywhere you look!