God Works in Mysterious Ways

Have you heard this before? God does things in ways we don't understand sometimes. Some of the spiritual principles found in the Word of God can confound and confuse, but God wants us to be familiar with the way He works so that we can conform to His way of doing things and accomplish His will here on earth as it is in Heaven. It's like trying to get a one year old to understand why it's dangerous to play in the road. We just have to accept the fact that Father knows best! That's faith! Mic. 4:2 suggests we go to the house of the Lord so He can teach us His ways because in Hos 14:9 we find that the ways of the Lord are right! And in Is 55:8-9 God says that His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts, (unless of course, we have the mind of Christ>1 Co. 2:16 Amp. Here are some principles of what has been called "the upside down kingdom" #1. Jesus says to give and then it will be given to you>Luke 6:38 #2.Be a servant and then you will be the greatest!>Matt 23:11. #3. Be humble and then He will exalt you> 1 Pet 5:6 #4. Believe and hope for what you do not see regardless of the circumstances and then you will see what you hope for!>Heb 11:1 #5. Seek God's kingdom, a right standing with Him and His way of doing things first before material things, and then you'll get everything you need.> Matt 6:33 #6.Lose your life for the Gospel's sake and then you will save your life!>Mark 8:35... And that's just to name a few. Rather than clawing your way to the top of the ladder, stressing out, killing yourself (or somebody else,Ha!), God says essentially to not worry, trust and obey, prefer others over yourself, and He will take good care of you! Prov 3:5 exhorts us to trust in and lean on the Lord with all of our heart and not rely upon our own understanding. His Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom! We will live for eternity and the fruit of our faith will be rewarded eternally>Heb 10:35-39. Our faithfulness and obedience will be rewarded in this life too>Matt 10:29-30. This passage is "what I'm talkin' about"-*Rom 11;33-34 "OH THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES AND WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNFATHOMABLE ARE HIS JUDGEMENTS AND UNTRACEABLE HIS MYSTERIOUS WAYS. For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has ever been His counselor?...For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. TO HIM BE GLORY FOREVER! Amen." My prayer: Show me Thy ways O Lord, and teach me Thy paths.

Stumbling Stones

I want to share with you today a great concern that I have in my heart. It is the fact that there are people in this world who make it their mission in life to defile and corrupt others. Jesus addresses this subject in Matthew. He speaks harshly of those who make others stumble and sin. In Matt. 18:1-7, He talks about children in their innocense and how He admires their trust. He also mentions that it is important to care for them. He says that the way we treat them, is how we are treating Him. He takes it personally! In vs 7, He then mentions the fact that it is inevidable for temptations to come in this world, BUT WOE to those people by whom they come. He says that, (vs 6)>It would be better for this person who tempts and corrupts "little ones", to "have a great millstone hung around his neck and be sunk to the bottom of the sea". Wow! Jesus sounded angry! (A righteous anger.) I am reminded of a friend's son who was corrupted by their neighbor. The man would invite the 12 year old over to their garage, give him alcohol to drink, and Lord knows what else, year after year. Now the son is grown and has a very sad life. He has a son out of wedlock, involvement in drugs and heavy drinking, the mother of his child is in prison, and you might can imagine what his life is like. What happened? I know that instead of a godly influence, the "devil in disguise" defiled him, and he then made poor choices because of the evil baggage he carries. It really breaks my heart because he is such a good-looking guy, smart, and from a well-off family. He certainly "had it all" from the world's point of view. BUT, no one took the time to regularly impart God's love and godliness to him like the neighbor who made the concerted effort to impart evil. Could a godly influence have made all the difference. I think so. I saw him recently, before "all hell" broke out in his family. I felt that the Lord wanted me to speak strongly to him to do things God's way and that he would be blessed. As I was speaking to him I wondered if I was getting too strong and personal with him, but I was deeply concerned in my spirit. He agreed with me and yet didn't take the necessary action to follow the Lord. It almost seemed too late. Well, soon there after it was. Major damage came into his life that will never be completely redeemed in this world. I want to strongly exhort all who read this blog to take time to be God's love and hand extended to the young, the innocent, and the babes in Christ. If we are not kind, reaching out and caring, then I believe that we will be held responsible to some degree. Consider the heart of our Shepherd> in Matt. 18:11-14, we see that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost." He says that it is not His will that any would be lost or perish. We prove our love for the Lord by reaching out to others with His heart of love. Kindness and caring go a long, long way in encouraging others to follow Him. Love is more powerful than evil! Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). We will never fail as we allow the love of the Lord to flow through our lives. Let that be our mission. This is my prayer: Forgive me Lord where I may have caused someone to stumble in some way. Please help me to love and reach out to others as You want me to. I want to make a difference in someone's life for good! Thank You for Your mercy and for Your grace that enables me to be a blessing to others!

GPS

I have gone on a few trips in the car this past week to Tampa. I was fortunate enough to be able to experience looking for my destinations with a GPS>global positioning system. I don't know how in the world I ever found myself around in a strange town without it before or for that matter, found my way home! I began to think about what a blessing the GPS is! Although at times while I was following the directions the lovely lady on the GPS was giving me, I became panicky! It really didn't make sense to me that I should follow her directions at that point. It looked like to me, and it was a matter of fact, that I was going in the opposite direction of my destination. I hung in there... low and behold...I arrived at my destination! The GPS knew of detours, one way streets and ramps that I did not know of. Immediately the Holy Spirit revealed to me this fact>when God leads us in a certain direction, and it doesn't look like the direction we think is right, we then tend to look at the circumstances and panic. Rather than trusting God's ability and knowledge to get us to where we should go, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands and stop or veer off course. God works in ways that we naturally do not>Is.55:8-9, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, says the Lord...". Since God loves us, has all knowledge and wisdom, and we have limited knowledge and wisdom, shouldn't we have enough sense to know that we need the HSGPS (Holy Spirit Global Positioning System)? We may not get to our heavenly home without it! And if we do, it may be a laborious and frustrating journey. In my next posting, I will reveal some of the different ways God works. This knowledge encourages us in times of confusion when we need direction and the circumstances don't "line-up". In Haggai 1, the prophet of the Lord was rebuking the people of God for doing things their way rather than His. As the story progressed after evaluating their situation, they repented, followed the Lord's directions, and were encouraged by the prophet with these words>Hag.1:13 "...I am with you says the Lord". Isn't this the most important thing in the world? The Lord's presence and goodness will be with us as we follow Him. In Ex. 33:14-15, the Lord told Moses that His presence would go with him and He would give him rest. Moses then said to the Lord, "If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here." In other words, Moses asked God to not allow them to go ahead without His desired direction. Let this be our prayer and passion>God, keep us with You! Don't allow us to indiscriminately or intentionally live our life without You! You are our everything! Be our Commander, Master, Lord, and God!