Beyond Mere Existence!

Somehow this morning, I have this image in my mind of someone wasting their time trying to feed a dead horse instead of moving out to feed all the starving ponies.  Human nature is amazing to me. We all have that part of us that hates to break a familiar routine!  I mean, what is it about us that we hate to leave the familiar even when it is sooooo lifeless and doesn’t fulfill any part of our being?  Clinging to something that doesn’t offer a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction can lead us to a place of comforting our existence instead of living a life of accomplishment.  Anyone who has ever studied Psychology knows that stress is considered to be the spice of life.  We need a little bit of pressure to help us feel ALIVE!

Feeding a dead horse doesn’t take much effort at all.  Just show up!  Put down new hay and just pretend you don’t see that the other from yesterday is still there.  Press it down so there’s room to pile on more.   Now walk away and feel like you have done something profitable.  You will not even have to shovel away any OUTPUT (lol!), dead horses don’t produce any.  No fuss and no mess.  Easy as pie!  You didn’t even have to break a sweat.  What a life!  You’ve got it made.  But wait...  What about your feeling of accomplishment?  Where is that zeal you used to have?  Where is that feeling of knowing you really made a difference?

Now, on the other hand, getting outside that fence could be quite unsettling.  Oh the faith that it’s going to take to conquer the land of the “unknown”.  Wow!!  You’ll have to believe God for something you cannot see.  You will have to trust God more than ever before.  You will have to take God literally at HIS word.  What a thought!  What an idea!  I mean, letting yourself be put into a place of total dependency on God...  Why that’s like ……..that’s like ….living a life like people in the Bible!  Why that’s absurd isn’t it?  No, it isn't absurd at all...  It’s called living for God instead of existing for God.    Living for God will always lead us into situations that place new demands on our faith.  Existing for God rations the faith obtained long ago from past experiences hoping to have enough to get by.

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina

A Matter of the Heart...

One of my favorite things to do is sit and talk with elderly people.  I find their detailed accounts of past experiences captivating!  A few years back, I sat and listened to a man in his ninety’s tell me all about the life that he had lived.  He told me of his long career working for Pepsi and how he had spent many of his days traveling different roads to different towns.  He had me convinced that his memories of yesterday were vivid and accurate.  Wow! The changes that he had seen throughout his life time... Imagine in ninety plus years, the development we call progress that had taken place.  His contrast of the past and present didn’t seem to have any bias nor did I detect any negativity or bitterness about the changes he’d witnessed.  He just recollected what and how it used to be but he never disputed that the present was any worse or better than the past.


I am not saying that he didn’t miss the “good old Days".  I am saying though, that it seemed to me that he was clever enough to be able to adjust himself to his environment for the sake of survival.  I got the impression that he wasn’t the kind of man who would just lie down and die because life refused to stand still to please his sentiment.  Through the years he moved with the movement.  When things became modern, he bought modern.  Do you know what I mean?  He bought a modern car and put in a phone.  He bought a television and many modern appliances for his wife.  He took advantage of what was made convenient and kept living his life for God.   He understood that his devotion to serve God was a matter of the heart and not a matter of what was available.

Through the years sin took advantage over the phone, the television, and even cars (gossip, sexual immorality, drunk driving, etc.).  It doesn’t seem like the enemy has left anything out or alone.  Yet in all these things, the old man had prevailed against the enemy in his walk with God.  How?  HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS DEVOTION TO SERVE GOD WAS A MATTER OF THE HEART AND NOT A MATTER OF WHAT WAS AVAILABLE!  Our choice to follow Jesus will always be based on our desire for Him more than a desire for what the world offers.  There will always be enticement and there will always be avenues to sin.  The fact remains: we are still drawn away more by what’s in our heart than by what’s in our face!

Loving U Like a Sister,

Regina

Are You Sure You Know What You're Doing??

Have you ever tried to explain a personal revelation from God to someone else?  Unfortunately, I have tried many times.  I have learned that there is power in revelation but only to the one God intended on directing!  I remember years ago when the Holy Spirit directed me to home school my kids and I tried to help our family and friends understand what I was doing.  I gave reason after reason as I was trying to convince them that I was doing the right thing.  The problem was I wasn’t sure why God had led me to home school but I was sure that HE had.  Now all of these several years later I understand perfectly! God gave back so much during that time with my kids that had been lost in previous years of sin.


Being led by God is very difficult to explain to another.  We have all probably heard the phrases a time or two:  "I felt led" or, "I just don’t feel led!"  How many times have we heard it abused or misused by someone not wanting to accept responsibility for peculiar behavior or lack of desire? Yet the fact remains that HE does still lead His people in and out of places and positions.  He lays things on our hearts and draws us in ways that can cause us to feel foolish when we explain them to others.  He moves and deals with us.  He burdens and, at times, consumes us.  All this is better than those seasons where we kind of think He might be ignoring us!

Are you in a season of being led but finding it hard to explain?  Trying to explain the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life to other people is wearisome, to say the least!  Being led by God is stepping out in faith not sight. How can we make someone see what we don't see clearly yet ourselves?   Even the things God allows you to see wouldn’t make sense to other people.  So what’s the solution?  Be led by God and learn to give an account only to those of whom it is required.  We all have people in our lives that are over us in some way or another.  I call them Kings but don’t go around kinging everybody!  lol!!  When you have really searched out the will of God with fasting and prayer, He will come through. 

What has God led you to do?  Do you feel moved?  Has God put something on your heart?  Has He compelled you in any way?  If you are waiting for everyone to understand it before you move then be prepared for misery!  Doubt brings along frustration but peace always hangs out with faith.  I would rather be at peace with God than have the approval of a bunch of people who cannot direct their own life, much less mine!

Loving U Like a Sister,
 
Regina