Whose way?

It is written that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY is always in control (Ephesians 1:11) though HE may not engineer a struggle, one cannot happen without HIS permission (see Job chapters 1 and 2). Although the LORD may allow trouble to come from an outside source it is never without a cause (Proverbs 26:2). The MOST HIGH always has a plan and HIS intent for allowing something difficult is always to achieve a necessary good (Genesis 50:20).

GOD’s ways are not our ways, HE does not think like we do, and HIS thoughts are light years beyond our capacity to comprehend (Isaiah 55:8-9). For that reason, we are told to live by faith, that is to trust the LORD’s wisdom, power and love.

I know that, yet I still find I must remind myself of that when things look bad!  The way I remind myself is by running to GOD and pouring out my heart to HIM.  Then HE whispers (impresses on me) a verse or reminds me of a time HE delivered out of trouble. Whatever HE says stills my soul and returns my peace.

“This I recall therefore I have hope, it is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed because HIS compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is YOUR faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).

“The LORD is good to them that wait for HIM (to work), to the soul that seeks HIM. It is good that one should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD…For the LORD will not cast off forever, though HE cause grief, yet HE will have compassion according to the multitude of HIS mercies.  For HE does not want to afflict or grieve” (Lamentations 3:25-26, 31-33).

But as a loving FATHER HE must discipline the one HE accepts (those who have come to HIM through JESUS Hebrews 7:25, John 1:12-13).  The LORD does it for their profit that they may be partakers of HIS holiness. We are urged not to despise the discipline of the LORD. No discipline at the time it happens is fun but hard and painful nevertheless afterwards it yields (produces) the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who are exercised by GOD through their struggles (see Hebrews 12:5-7, 10-11).

It is through our struggles that GOD pleads for us redeeming us from our own sinful nature (Lamentations 3:58).

Disciple from GOD will continue until the child learns.  We as parents do the same with our children. If a child refuses to change though disciplined, harsher discipline must follow.  In that way they cause their own troubles.

“they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way” (Judges 2:19).

“Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices” (Proverbs 1:21).

We are told in Isaiah 58:13 that IF we stop going our own way, stop trying to find our own pleasures and stop speaking our own words it is then that we delight in the LORD. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord: and HE shall give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

Hugs

Sharon

Details

Sometimes we think we know best, and we rush ahead with our own ideas.  But like these little guys, we can sure mess up things with our limited knowledge.  How much better to go to GOD the only One who has all the facts for directions.

After a major surgery in the early 80s, I lost a lot of blood.  It was the 1^st of two surgeries they had to quickly return me to the OR to stop the bleeding. Though terribly weak and out of it, my doctor wouldn’t give me a blood transfusion but stayed by my side overnight.  At 1^st it didn’t make sense to my family, but little did they know.

At that time safeguards had not been put in place and there was a rash of incidences from tainted blood.  It was discovered that people with Aids had been donating blood and people getting that blood were getting Aids. Praise the LORD for my doctor’s wisdom, and that safeguards are now in place!

With the great loss of blood, I was extremely weak and having a hard time regaining my strength just to function.  The doctor told me to start walking.  That didn’t make much sense to me, but it surely couldn’t hurt, I slowly began walking.  Each day I would walk a little further and would go at a little faster pace.  It got me outside and the fresh air was good. 

Living out in the country, I walked down a dirt road lined with weeds and wildflowers.  From time to time, I would stop and pick a wildflower or a weed that caught my attention.  Then, as I continued on my walk, I’d closely examine it.  No matter if it was big or small, the intricate tiny details of each design and the mixture of colors always amazed me. GOD sure knew what HE was doing! 

Apparently so did the doc, for I slowly regained my strength.

Since I like to read in the Bible until something speaks to me, I read 15 long chapters of detail, after detail, after detail (from how the tabernacle was made to specifics on different kinds of sacrifices), those details didn’t seem to apply to me at all. So, I asked the Lord, “What am I to learn here?” (Exodus 35:4-Numbers 10:20 2).

The word DETAIL came to mind, as did the word commanded (which is repeated 48 times throughout those chapters). GOD was definitely interested in the DETAILS. HE had given clear cut directions in how to do each project. It was just as HE took precise care, down to the smallest DETAIL of each of the vast array of brilliantly colored wildflowers HE had made, and the astounding capabilities (that scientists are not able to reproduce) that HE built into the minute mosquito.

Therefore, it is easy to detect, GOD is always concerned with the DETAILS.

In those chapters, GOD had commanded things to be done in a specific way and HE made sure it was recorded, that the ones doing the work, did everything just as HE commanded. That is, until we get to that last chapter.  In that chapter, two men chose to one up GOD (to do something more than GOD had said to do).  And GOD was thrilled, right? NO!

Nadab and Abisha were like Cain.  Although Cain had the example/ the pattern, of how GOD wanted things done, he thought his idea was better, so did things his own way (Genesis 3:21, 4:3-7). GOD did not accept Nadab and Abisha’s sacrifice, just as he had not accepted Cain’s.  The fact is, their action was so offensive to GOD, HE immediately killed them.

Extreme?  It might seem so on the surface, but throughout scripture we find that when GOD is beginning a new work, HE sets standards and consequences so that the ones following after will know the right way to do things (Acts 5:1-11).

But how does this apply to you and me?

JESUS was perfect and never sinned, and we are told to fix our eyes on JESUS the Author (leader- HE leads us in the way we should go), and Perfecter (the ONE making us perfect or complete) of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2-3, 7:25). 

JESUS was, and is, very GOD; the ONE who threw the stars into space, that ONE who said “Let there be light and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).  JESUS is the brightness of GOD’s glory, the express image of HIS person and HE upholds all things in the universes by the word of HIS power (Hebrews 1:2,3).  By seeing HIM, we see FATHER GOD (John 14:9-10).  Yet, while on earth, in HIS human body, JESUS our all-powerful, all wise Creator, said not one thing HE had not first heard GOD the FATHER say; nor did JESUS do anything that HE had not seen the FATHER do (John 5:30, 6:38, 8:16, 14:10).

That is what HE asks of us (Romans 12:1).  Huh? I have to check out everything? That is a bitter pill.  It goes against our culture, against the way we think here in the USA. Our motto seems to be, “I will do it my way!”

Yet, are we greater than our Master? (Matthew 10:24,25a, Luke 6:40).

What about you? What about me?  Do we go to GOD with our own ideas, expecting for GOD to act, calling it faith?  The word says, “Faith comes by hearing a hearing by the word (rhema- that inner word spoken in our hearts) of GOD” (Romans 10:17).  We actually need to hear what GOD says on the subject before we can have faith.

 Isaiah 45:11 “Thus says the LORD…ask of me concerning…and (then) you can command the work of MY hands.”

The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY says, “I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 29:11), those plans go down to the DETAILS.  Step by step HE will lead us.  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in ALL your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct your path. Be not wise in your own eyes…” (Proverbs 3:5-7a).

Looking unto JESUS, the Author and Perfecter of my faith.

Hugs

Sharon

Which way?

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own WAY; and the LORD has laid on HIM the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and HE will have mercy on them, and to our GOD, for HE will freely pardon (Isaiah 55:7).

Why?   There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25).

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY WAYS,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY WAYS higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9).

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.  This man was instructed in the WAY of the LORD; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the LORD, knowing only the baptism of John.  And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the WAY of GOD more perfectly (Acts 18:24-26).

The word perfect in the Greek means complete, so Apollos didn’t have the complete knowledge he needed.  There were some facts that he needed to learn.  So here we see a man of GOD who was instructed in the WAY of the LORD, knowing only the baptism (teaching) of John.  What was that teaching?

Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on HIM which should come after him (John), that is, on CHRIST JESUS (Acts 19:4).

Therefore, we know that Apollos, who knew scriptures well, believed that the Messiah was coming.  That belief is the Old Testament gospel- that is what saved all the Old Testament believers.  They believed in GOD’s promise of a messiah… looking ahead to the time the Messiah would come.

The WAY of the LORD is that HE would send a Messiah.  But, Apollos didn’t know that the Messiah had already come.  When he was instructed in that truth, the complete gospel that the Messiah, JESUS had come and died for our sins, Apollos believed.

JESUS said to him,” I AM the WAY, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by ME” (John 14:6).

In the Old Testament days, they came to GOD and were saved through JESUS by believing JESUS (the Messiah) would come.  Today we come to the FATHER and are saved through believing JESUS the Messiah has come and did die for our sins and was raised up to glory and is coming again (Hebrews 7:25).

The WAY of the LORD is that HE our Mighty GOD provided a WAY for whosoever will to be forgiven and live eternally with HIM (John 3:16).  We don’t have to earn it we simply must believe it. 

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD (Romans 6:23)

That is why the early church, before they were called Christians, were called the WAY (Acts 9:2, 16:17, 19:23, 22:4, 24:14).

Looking unto JESUS who is the WAY.

Hugs

Sharon

HE will direct

…you will be told what you must do  Acts 9:6

What you FEEL is not always REAL. What is REAL is not always RIGHT. What feels NATURAL is not always HEALTHY. What is POPULAR is not always BEST. What you THINK is not always TRUE.- Rick Warren

So, what do we do?  Draw near to GOD (with expectation, whisper a prayer) and HE will draw near to you (James 4:8).

Although the following words substantiate Rick Warren’s, they go further as Oswald Chambers speaks out on how GOD speaks to us.

“The LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand…” (Isaiah 8:11). There is no escape when our LORD speaks. HE always comes using HIS authority and taking hold of our understanding. Has the voice of GOD come to you directly? If it has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which it has spoken to you. GOD speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but (in your heart and mind and) through your circumstances.

GOD has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, “I know that this is what I should do” — and suddenly the voice of GOD speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance.

Often we show our ignorance of HIM in the very way we decide to serve HIM. We serve JESUS in a spirit that is not HIS Spirit and hurt HIM by our defense of HIM. We push HIS claims in the spirit of the devil; our words sound all right, but the spirit is that of an enemy. “HE…rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of Spirit you are of’ ” (Luke 9:55). The Spirit of our LORD in His followers is described in 1 Corinthians 13.

Have I been persecuting JESUS by an eager determination to serve HIM in my own way?  (Cain brought an offering he thought was best not what GOD had required and GOD did not accept it -Genesis 4:5.  Aaron’s 2 oldest sons brought a  strange unauthorized fire before the LORD and they died before the LORD-Numbers 3:4).

If I feel I have done my duty, yet have hurt HIM in the process, I can be sure that this was not my duty. My way will not be to foster a meek and quiet spirit, only the spirit of self-satisfaction. We presume that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the Spirit of our LORD— “I delight to do YOUR will, O my GOD…” (Psalm 40:8).

The great point in Abraham’s faith in GOD was that he was prepared to do anything for GOD. /Oswald Chambers

“One primary reason why so many of us are still troubled, still making little forward progress is because we haven’t yet come to the end of ourselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and thus interfering with God’s work within us.” AW Tozer #tozer

Are you, am I, ready to move when GOD nudges us ahead, even when we think our way is better?

Hugs

Sharon