As a hopeful follower of Christ attempting to view the world from a higher perspective...
You might scan the news headlines from any source, periodically looking for some sense that godly wisdom and moral standards have gained a slight foothold somewhere in the world - looking for some sign that there's reason to hope for a world caught in increasing moral decay to begin to change its course.
I think the odds are that you won't find it in any way that gives reason for any assurance that an overwhelming surge of godly morality is overtaking the hearts of the majority of human kind. Too many are willing to follow the path of their own hearts rather than choosing the discipline and submission to follow a path of obedience to Christ. This isn't new, it's an old slow spiral of individuals choosing to follow whatever they will other than what they were created for...
But the fight for the souls of mankind isn't over, the battle's not lost... because our God has a hero waiting in the wings right this very minute! It's a mighty and fearsome soldier that He's placed certain powerful, yet perhaps hidden gifts and talents into. It's one that He's taken down some rough roads - training to learn patience, obedience, understanding, submission and compassion. One who's very uniquely qualified for a particular mission to save the lives of a particular group of people God has in mind - one that He's patiently counting on to move...
...you.
"Mighty man of valor!" - I've been greeted this way out of the blue by brothers and sisters in Christ more than once - You should be too. It took me by surprise every time, but it shouldn't have. The Lord was telling me something - In each of us, men and women bearing the spirit of the Living God and submitting ourselves obediently to His leading - we are nothing less. He was calling me to wake up, assume the identity that He's given me... and move.
Our own hearts at times might try to persuade us that we're victims based on the world's own standards - similar to Gideon hiding in the wine press. But like Gideon, we were selected by God to live in this very day and according to His intention that we would be conquerors in it. Like Gideon, we conquer not by our own power, but we conquer by the power that resides with and within us. And as for the world's standards, in the end the world will cease to exist and it's standards with it. The only standards and perspective that will remain, will belong to the God who made us conquerors with Him. The enemy would try to convince us that we're not ready, that we're just weak, unqualified or unable - and in our own strength and leading that may well be true. But being obedient, following His leading and allowing His to be the strength, power and wisdom that we walk in, we allow Him to make us conquerors with Him...
Judges 6:12-16 (NKJV)
12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
Our God's counting on you and me to rise up obediently and to respond to the hope, power and promise that He's placed in each of us - to rise up like Gideon and follow Him wherever He would lead and to simply conquer through our obedience to what He directs.
He's called you - you know He has. He didn't create any of us without purpose and plan and He didn't create any of us to stay on the sidelines or to be victims. You may not see yourself as a conqueror, but then your not seeing what your Creator sees. Gideon didn't see himself as a conqueror either, but look what happened when he responded obediently and trusted what God told him. If you don't know, check it out in the book of Judges. It was fantastic and it's history. Now, what's He telling you in that still small voice? He's called you - and you know it!
What's He called you to? He knows, you might know and you'll know for sure when you respond and just follow His leading. Your mission may just be simple acts of kindness where you are - showing "them" Jesus' heart and spirit. It may be something more adventurous and exciting, but whatever He's called you to, following Him and walking with Him is what you were created for... and the time is now.
There may come a day after Christ returns, when He asks us to account for our intended mission and our response to His call to that battle - when He could have made a difference through us in the world that was failing - when there was still time to speak through our lives to souls that were precious to Him. In that day, we may be seen by Him as selfish... or submissive to selflessness like Christ. Obedient or...
In that day, I pray that we and our children stand safely and faithfully marked by Christ as His own to be claimed. What we do now while we wait, claiming Him, may make all the difference for "them", whoever and wherever they may be. Let us be found faithfully working to the last moment, allowing Him victory He intends through our lives.
God saved the King - He is risen! Now we're called to rise up... and conquer through Him for His glory!
Move.
Maranatha - "Come Lord Jesus, come"
You might scan the news headlines from any source, periodically looking for some sense that godly wisdom and moral standards have gained a slight foothold somewhere in the world - looking for some sign that there's reason to hope for a world caught in increasing moral decay to begin to change its course.
I think the odds are that you won't find it in any way that gives reason for any assurance that an overwhelming surge of godly morality is overtaking the hearts of the majority of human kind. Too many are willing to follow the path of their own hearts rather than choosing the discipline and submission to follow a path of obedience to Christ. This isn't new, it's an old slow spiral of individuals choosing to follow whatever they will other than what they were created for...
But the fight for the souls of mankind isn't over, the battle's not lost... because our God has a hero waiting in the wings right this very minute! It's a mighty and fearsome soldier that He's placed certain powerful, yet perhaps hidden gifts and talents into. It's one that He's taken down some rough roads - training to learn patience, obedience, understanding, submission and compassion. One who's very uniquely qualified for a particular mission to save the lives of a particular group of people God has in mind - one that He's patiently counting on to move...
...you.
"Mighty man of valor!" - I've been greeted this way out of the blue by brothers and sisters in Christ more than once - You should be too. It took me by surprise every time, but it shouldn't have. The Lord was telling me something - In each of us, men and women bearing the spirit of the Living God and submitting ourselves obediently to His leading - we are nothing less. He was calling me to wake up, assume the identity that He's given me... and move.
Our own hearts at times might try to persuade us that we're victims based on the world's own standards - similar to Gideon hiding in the wine press. But like Gideon, we were selected by God to live in this very day and according to His intention that we would be conquerors in it. Like Gideon, we conquer not by our own power, but we conquer by the power that resides with and within us. And as for the world's standards, in the end the world will cease to exist and it's standards with it. The only standards and perspective that will remain, will belong to the God who made us conquerors with Him. The enemy would try to convince us that we're not ready, that we're just weak, unqualified or unable - and in our own strength and leading that may well be true. But being obedient, following His leading and allowing His to be the strength, power and wisdom that we walk in, we allow Him to make us conquerors with Him...
Judges 6:12-16 (NKJV)
12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
Our God's counting on you and me to rise up obediently and to respond to the hope, power and promise that He's placed in each of us - to rise up like Gideon and follow Him wherever He would lead and to simply conquer through our obedience to what He directs.
He's called you - you know He has. He didn't create any of us without purpose and plan and He didn't create any of us to stay on the sidelines or to be victims. You may not see yourself as a conqueror, but then your not seeing what your Creator sees. Gideon didn't see himself as a conqueror either, but look what happened when he responded obediently and trusted what God told him. If you don't know, check it out in the book of Judges. It was fantastic and it's history. Now, what's He telling you in that still small voice? He's called you - and you know it!
What's He called you to? He knows, you might know and you'll know for sure when you respond and just follow His leading. Your mission may just be simple acts of kindness where you are - showing "them" Jesus' heart and spirit. It may be something more adventurous and exciting, but whatever He's called you to, following Him and walking with Him is what you were created for... and the time is now.
There may come a day after Christ returns, when He asks us to account for our intended mission and our response to His call to that battle - when He could have made a difference through us in the world that was failing - when there was still time to speak through our lives to souls that were precious to Him. In that day, we may be seen by Him as selfish... or submissive to selflessness like Christ. Obedient or...
In that day, I pray that we and our children stand safely and faithfully marked by Christ as His own to be claimed. What we do now while we wait, claiming Him, may make all the difference for "them", whoever and wherever they may be. Let us be found faithfully working to the last moment, allowing Him victory He intends through our lives.
God saved the King - He is risen! Now we're called to rise up... and conquer through Him for His glory!
Move.
Maranatha - "Come Lord Jesus, come"
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