Feeling Lonely

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Hosea 1:2-3

In reading Hosea, I get the feeling of loneliness. Imagine the solitude of being a man of God only to have a household so full of evil. The strength and encouragement God must've given him must have been powerful through faithfulness and obedience. I know that this act of obedience has other purposes in God's plan but today I'm connecting to Hosea on the personal level. Feeling alone is from the devil because God is always with us.

I feel alone too. Some things are going on in my life other than work and ministry that's leaving me tired and unsatisfied. This is obviously all from the devil and he's trying to tempt me into thinking I deserve something. I don't deserve anything other than death so I'm so happy that God blesses me with His grace. So why am I feeling like this? Because I'm human and I'm designed for loving relationships. I know and feel God's love but I think what's happening is that I'm becoming fat and greedy; I want more and instead of getting filled from the Spirit I'm looking in the wrong places for it. Yes, wrong places can even by my family. This isn't saying I cannot love and be loved this way; what I'm saying is that my faith and relationship with God is built on His love through all things. Following Jesus means to love unconditionally by allowing Him to fill our cups, not our brothers & sisters on earth.

Heavenly Father, so great is Your Name! I was feeling terrible this morning, like no one loved me. That's why You sent that email, that's why You gave me extra quiet time this morning, that's why You gave me this scripture to dwell upon. You know me well and I want to know You more and more each day. Thank You for touching my heart! You love me, this I know, for the bible tells me so... Amen!

Beyond our Calling

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD... Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God."

2 Chronicles 26:16-18

Sometimes we like to go beyond the call and do more than asked. One could argue that Uzziah was just helping out the royal priesthood by burning the incense but when you look at the motive behind it, it wasn't out of sacrifice but out of selfish intentions. He felt that he was righteous enough to overrule God's calling for His people. God called the priesthood to do that and not him. And we are in danger of doing the same thing today. Our LORD has given each and every one of us an assignment but sometimes we get prideful to where we feel like we can do another's calling too; maybe we think we could do it better even. We glorify God by doing the best at what He's called us to do. We steal His glory for ourselves when we go beyond our calling; because now it's all about what we can do, not Him.

This is an important message for anyone3 serving in ministry. We all get caught up in serving, doing what is asked of us but forgetting what it is that God's asking of us. Knowing our purpose in life, our calling, helps keep our direction clear. In this season of my life I'm so in tune with my calling and trying to identify where all the other pieces fit. I realize how some things just don't align and it's clear what I need to do in order to be obedient. Not that these things are bad, it's just not my calling and I cannot be so prideful to think I can handle it. That's where confusion begins and I start challenging God.

Glorious Father God, thank You for placing clarity in my life. Showing me where my calling is and how pride can slowly take over if I don't align myself to Your Word and promises. I pray that You grant each and every person a desire to seek out their purpose and to define it. Standing on Your Word is so sturdy; that's where we all need to be. I love You Father God, along with Your Song and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Faith Muscles

"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed...

Isaiah 5:3-5

What more could God have done to show His people how to worship Him? Could He have offered more rules? What about festivals, traditions or ceremonies to show God's glory? There's absolutely nothing more that God could've done other than sacrificing His own Son for the sake of all people... and that's just what He did! The mighty God of all creation knew that giving more wouldn't result in obedient children, it was to take away and strike them hard so that their hearts would have a chance to refocus and turn back to Him. God had to do this in the New Testament also; He had to sacrifice His Son Jesus so that men would scatter to their towns and eventually return with faith & obedience.

We all get complacent and fat off the blessings of God. I remember saying not to long ago that life was going great and I had no prayer requests or things I'm struggling with... whoa, how the tides have changed! As part of our growth process we need all kinds of seasons. An athlete doing bench presses pushes hard gathering all the strength he has followed by rest. This is repeated many times but the interesting thing is that it's during the rest where we grow. The hard pushing forces our muscles to go beyond what's normal and increases its limits, not ability. Our ability increases as we rest and restore. Our faith will grow too by how we3 persevere throughout our struggles, how much faith we call upon and how much we trust. It doesn't matte the outcome or circumstance but how we get there that either increases or decreases our faith muscles. God will grant us rest in between these storms. Our faith muscles will grow if nourished properly but shrink if neglected. I guess the saying is true, "trials don't build character, they reveal it!"

Heavenly Father, help me build my faith and not get lazy and fat over Your provisions. I need to draw closer to You more than ever so that when trials come I will be able4 to handle it with faith. And I welcome the seasons because I know the testing builds character, perseverance & faith with all seasons are stewarded properly. I think You my wonderful Father, Amen!

Loving the Underserving

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Titus 3:3-5

This reading is teaching me to remember where I came from and what He did, not what I did. We all have a testimony, a story that shows how God takes a sinner like me and washes us clean by our Lord's sacrifice on the cross. God saw how evil and disgusting our hearts and minds were but yet still chose to sacrifice His Son for our sake. This unconditional love that God blessed us with needs to be given onto others by us. There's going to be a lot of people we run into that's so undeserving of our best but, as God did for us, we cannot focus on their circumstances but instead who God created them to be.

I recently asked someone to see Jesus in each person you meet. It's hard because you see all the junk that has surrounded them over the years; poverty, addition, anger... just to name a few. But who are they? They are our neighbors that have gone through some rough times. But we need to see them as people who God loves and desires for them to be have a relationship just like us. And the really enlightening thing here is... that person may be more in tune with Jesus than we are! God may have clearly touched and fellowshiped with these servants and have chosen to live with less (but more really). We can never go into a situation with the assumptions based off of circumstances rather direction stemming from the Spirit of God.

Father God, thank You for loving the undeserving. I'm reflecting today how nothing I do can ever earn my way into heaven. I can be the most giving and generous person in the world but that won't be good enough. But You, in Your white robes chose a rotten dirty sinner like me to share in Your kingdom. How amazing is that?! Thank You for loving me the way a father loves his child; unconditionally. In Your amazing grace I pray Father God, Amen!

Separation from God

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

Amos 8:11-12

God is warning the people through Amos that He will silence Himself to His people. He will no longer encourage, correct and fellowship with His people because they have turned away repeatedly no matter how many times He's rescued them. A famine from God's mighty Word is far worse than being without food or water. The bodies may die here on earth but if our souls do not have our Maker to sustain us then we will perish for eternity.

This frightens me incredibly. I reflect back on my own life, how I have a difficult time comprehending how I lived without Jesus in my life. How did I ever live? I didn't, I just existed long enough to learn how to love and be loved. Just this thought of being separated from our heavenly Father is making me feel sick and lonely... but I'm encouraged by the fact that God's promise is to never leave us nor forsake us; that nothing will ever come between us and the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Savior!

Heavenly Father, forgive me for taking for granted that I have access to Your mighty love every single second of my brief life. I pray that I steward each second well; that I learn to realize this fellowship is not a privilege but a wonderful gift and should be treated that way. I love You and never want to be apart! In the wonderful name of Christ Jesus I pray, Amen!

People Are Impure

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Titus 1:15-16

You are either for God or against God; there's no grey area or happy medium. Some may even say that non-believers can be nicer than believers and that should count for something; but it doesn't. The truth is plain and simple, we are all sinners and deserve death but it's by God's grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we are saved. With this said, the purity spoken in this verse can only come from the Holy Spirit. When full of the Spirit, we are not ourselves but one with the body of Christ where darkness cannot co-exist with Light. We see and perceive all things the way God sees it, as He desires and designed it to be. He doesn't see an empty piece of paper but a master artwork that will come from it. He doesn't see a tree but rather the material used to build a magnificent boat. Same with us, He sees the beginnings or pieces of His body working together with others to be His masterpiece. God's sacrifice enabled us to be pure; without the Holy Spirit nothing is pure.

This is so wonderful to understand no matter who we are and at what level of maturity we're at. It's all done through the cross and no other way. I've been eager to grow in faith and knowledge but that is just a piece of it. I need to constantly purify myself with the blood of Jesus to honer God. How do I do this? This needs to be done in the most basic ways... wear the fruit of the Spirit constantly. It takes no studying or training, it just takes a heart to apply it.

LORD God and Father, thank You for blessing us with Your mighty Spirit, who guides, counsels and fills us a fresh daily. Help me LORD to invite the Holy Spirit within me daily without hesitation. Capture my soul and never let go so that I would honer You by heart, not performance or resume3s. Thank You for Your beautiful counsel! In the precious name of Christ Jesus I pray, Amen!

Godly Encourgement

I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

2 Timothy 4:2-3

Hearing what we want tot hear, it makes us feel good and refreshes us but just that alone isn't Godly. Our charge is to encourage biblically especially when it's against our desires because that's when we'll grow in faith. We all need encouragement to keep fighting the good fight but we also need correction when we've gone astray. We are being reminded in this passage that worldly encouragement leads to self-promotion and pride; Godly encouragement keeps us focused on the Word of God.

This weekend's sermon by Pastor Elwin was so awesome. It was truly the Spirit encouraging the body by speaking about "Encouragement." Reading my scriptures today I was quickly reminded that there's a Godly encouragement and there's worldly encouragement. My season right now has some great encouragers around me because I'm in a season of change. Do I continue as Frontlines Director or not? Do I start up a new small group or not? Do I enroll to seminary or not? Through this I need to recognize the different encouragement because it's easy to follow the path that's is easiest or that I agree with. Real encouragement may mean to rebuke and correct so I must also be willing to take the long, hard path.

Heavenly Father, I am so blessed by all Your wonderful children who encourage me by Your Spirit. Forgive me for encouraging according to worldly standards and strengthen me to boldly correct and rebuke in Your name. I humbly submit all my wants and pleasures to Your desires and encouragement. Help me to discern what's truth so that I can be us3d by You to advance the wonderful kingdom of Glory! Amen!