LIVING IN THE WILL OF GOD AND PLANNING WISELY

^“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:13-17, NJKV)

William McDowell’s song entitled “I Give Myself Away” should be the solemn pledge of every child of God. As Christians, we should live our lives in such pursuit and surrender to God as if our very breath depended upon fulfilling His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). We should never plan for the future without first consulting with the Maker and Sustainer of life. I believe that God takes pleasure in us coming to Him to ask for His guidance and direction prior to making any plan for our lives.

Let it never be said of us that we are living independently of God’s guiding words of wisdom. Beloved our very life depends on God’s divine power to give us life. I love uttering these words, “I Give Myself Away, so You can use me”; the words from that song are like medicine to my soul as they reflect Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he penned, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NKJV). What a heart-felt anthem of holy surrender and a powerful expression of renewed abandon to the cause of Christ!

Back to one of my favorite songs! Listen to the lyrics of William McDowell’s famous song of surrender; I pray that they minister to you as they have often ministered to me:

I Give Myself Away

Verse 1:
Here I am
Here I stand
Lord, my life is in your hands
Lord, I’m longing to see
Your desires revealed in me
I give myself away

Chorus:
I give myself away
I give myself away
So You can use me
I give myself away
I give myself away
So You can use me

Verse 2:
Take my heart
Take my life
As a living sacrifice
All my dreams, all my plans
Lord I place them in your hand

What a beautiful lyric, “I Give Myself Away.” The epistle of James offers a powerful warning to those who think they are in control of their lives. As one author says, “Presumptuous living is dishonoring to God. When we take God for granted we rob Him of His due credit. How seldom we acknowledge that our every breath is an undeserved gift from Him! Let’s live every day with that on our minds, and make every plan contingent on, “If the Lord is willing.”

May I encourage you to live a life of complete dependence and surrender to God! I am praying for you “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age ” (Titus 2:11-12). Plan wisely and continue to live in the will of God for your life. God loves you; I love you and remember that the best is yet to come!

TIME: OUR SHARED COMMODITY PART TWO

What about your soul and that of your love ones?

If you read my entry yesterday, you may have realized that I spoke about time with a sense of urgency. As I stated yesterday, this blog is not meant to be a source of indictment nor is it in anyway intended to bring condemnation or sorrow. It is simply my personal reflection on life and I just wanted to lovingly share my heart with my friends from around the world. You are more than welcome to write your comments, if God has been speaking to you through the few words that have penned.

God’s Common Grace

According to God’s providence and His common grace, we all share this great gift called time. As mentioned earlier, after Christ, time is perhaps one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given to mankind. What you do with your time speaks volume about your take on life. When you think about it, we all have been allotted 24 hours in a day to do what God has planned for us to do for the time that we are on this earth. As long as we have breath, we have the opportunity to hear and to share the good news of Jesus Christ. God gives man time to repent as the gospel is being shared around the globe. How loving and gracious is our God? Paul was right when he wrote, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

What have you been doing with your time? What is your personal philosophy on life? How are you spending your time on this side of eternity? How is your relationship with God and your fellow man? What is your God-given purpose in this life? As I study the Scriptures, I have discovered that “life is short; it is my responsibility to make my life count for God and His kingdom agenda, and that when it is all said and done I will have to give an account to Almighty God.” I like to tell people that “life is good but eternal life is better.” That is my philosophy on the journey called life.

The Preparation

As I prepare to spend eternity with my Creator it is my desire to grow in wisdom. I know that most of us do not spend most of our time thinking about eternity. Most people spend their time worrying about If you focus on what you’re going through, chances are you’ll never get through it. Another way of putting it, God can use and redeem hard, difficult times; and the difficult processes in life to produce Christ-like character in us. We’re reminded of this in Psalms chapter 90, verse 12. Listen to these words, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (NLT). So my friends, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV).

View Eternity in Perspective

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God “has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their [our] hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” I pray that the Lord would help us to have the right perspective on life while focusing on what is most important in light of eternity. King David says it well in Psalms 20:7, "Some trusts in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." During these perilous times, we cannot depend on our limited understanding and we cannot afford to trust in our human efforts to earn our way to heaven. I encourage you to "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. (Psalms 37:3-7).

By the way as you spend your time with others, please share the hope of eternal life with them as well! God bless you as you become a good steward of your time!

TIME: OUR SHARED COMMODITY PART ONE

My writing this blog this morning is not in anyway intended to bring condemnation or sorrow. It is simply my personal reflection on life and I just wanted to share my heart with my friends from around the world. Please comment if God has spoken to you through what I have been thinking about lately.

What many think of as something to take for granted, time is our shared commodity. Apart from Christ, time is amongst one of the greatest gift that God has ever given to mankind. Think about it, billions of people around the world enjoy the benefit of having 24 hours in a day to do what God has planned for us to do for the time that we are on this earth. Moses wrote in Psalms 90: 10-17, where he reflected upon that precious gift called time. He writes:

“10 The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 15Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil. 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.”

What have you been doing with your time? Do you know that your life is on a clock? Solomon says that “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). Could it be that you are running out of time as I write this blog? The scripture says in Hebrews 9:27-28 “And as it is appointment for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 27 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

If you are like me, you can see that time is short. Moses said it well when he said that “…We finish our years like a sigh.” When the time comes for you to die, will you be ready to meet your maker? It is said that every human being have the same opportunities on earth. If you have not given that a thought go to the cemetery and look at the engraving on every tombstone. Sobering, I know! They all have the same engraving. The date of birth; a dash; and then the day of death (e.g. 09/21/1950 –10/23/2011). While the day of birth is important and brought joy to a mother and father as well as to other family members. The day of death, however, brings much grief and sorrow in the lives of many. Moreover, the dash in between those two dates, the memories of the time spent together can either bring more joy or more sorrow depending if the deceased lived a life that honored God.

“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” This is my prayer for you today. Tomorrow, I will continue sharing my thoughts with you on what you can do with the remainder of the dash in your life! Until we connect again, I am praying for you! Have a blessed Monday and make a difference in someone else’s life!

THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN

“TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, Amplified Version).

Oh, that we would take the time to think about the greatness of our God and the grand purpose that He has in His infinite wisdom and knowledge for us. Today, I must echo “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 1:1). If the Preacher were to preach or write a message to the Church, he would say to us that there is a purpose for everything under heaven. Solomon would say to us “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil” (Ecclesiastes 5:1, NKJV).

There are many things that we can learn about our roles in this life. The following is my take on what we can learn from our individual roles through the lens of Scripture. Whatever role you may be playing in this stage of your life, you can only find your significance in fulfilling your responsibility. It is not a position to hold or a title to carry but it is your God-given responsibility. Let us take the time to enumerate your importance in God’s plan. You may be a father, a mother, a husband or a wife, a daughter or a son, a community leader or a pastor; whatever your function in society you are significance to God:

Fathers are indispensable to God because they are the leaders and priests in the homes.

Mothers are significant in God’s plan because they carry, give birth, raise and nurture the hearts/life of the next generation of leaders.

Husbands are essential because they, like Christ, are the sanctifiers of their wives and children.

Wives are of great virtue because they complement their husbands and are an ornament of grace to their own husbands.

Children are a blessing because they bring honor to their parents and teach them the responsibility and value of caring for the human soul.

Circumstances are inevitable because they teach us God’s unfailing love even when we are not loveable.

Trials are important because they teach us patience, how to surrender wholeheartedly to God with joy in our hearts, and how to depend on God’s immutable character and faithfulness.

Pastors play a vital role in God’s eternal plan as they are charged before God and the Lord Jesus Christ to be the watchmen, overseers, and shepherds of our souls under the Lordship of Christ.

God is of utmost importance because He is the Awesome Creator, and Sustainer of all things; the Source of all knowledge; the sovereign Ruler and Judge of all things to Whom all man must give an account to in the end. He is indescribable and worthy of all praise and adoration.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

You think about that!

The Journey to Victory

The desire to connect is a universal human desire and a critical component in every human endeavor is trust. Our trust in God and the belief that the people that are closest to us have our best interest in mind, are the foundations to spiritual, emotional and relational maturity. Believe it or not, the greatest challenge of the contemporary world is the spirit of fear that pervades almost every human soul. Plague by fear most people never take the step of faith to fulfill their purpose and dreams. Proverbs 29:25 states, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe” What is keeping most people from fulfilling their callings? Fear is that spiritual impediment that is crippling and keeping many from walking in their divine calling—the only place where victory is certain!

Fear and the Green Lantern

Last night, I had the opportunity to watch the movie, The Green Lantern. The plot of the movie tells the universal truth about the power of fear. According to The Internet Movie Database, the film tells the account of “A test pilot [who] is granted a mystical green ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers, as well as membership into an intergalactic squadron tasked with keeping peace within the universe.” However, the ring cannot work to its fullest unless Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) the ring bearer can harness the courage to overcome the spirit of fear that has haunted him from his childhood. Although the movie has a clear message on the power of fear to render ineffective human will. The Green Lantern rightly informs us that we cannot fight fear with fear, and that we can only overcome fear and evil with their opposite, which is faith. Though not articulated in the movie, as I watch the story line unfold, I was reminded of the power of faith “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

A Measure of faith

Every believer has the potential to fulfill his or her purpose. “For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” According to Romans God gives varying measures of faith to his people. Paul says that we ought to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Friends you already have what it takes to walk in victory. “This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.” I John 5:4

The Bible: Not an option—It is indispensable

Several years ago, I made a commitment to set measurable goals when it comes to my spiritual development and my growth as a Christian. Proverbs 18:15 “The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline writes: “We must once again emphasize that the ingrained habits of thought that are formed will conform to the order of the thing being studied. What we study determines the kind of habits that are formed, which is why Paul urges us to focus on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious.” (64)

Several significant steps must be taken if one desires to grow spiritually. First of all, it is important that everyone understands that spiritual growth does not happen in a vacuum. It takes time; it is hard work and demands a tremendous amount of practical application. Yes, I know what you maybe asking, what does a spiritual plan look like? What are the components that should be included within such a plan?

In my limited knowledge and understanding, I believe that there are four key principal ingredients in a person’s spiritual diet that can affect above all else, his or her spiritual life. These four ingredients all relate to the person’s interaction with the Scripture. While many may list spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, worship, fellowship, service etc... I believe that the Holy Bible—apart from Jesus Christ—is God’s only mean of communicating His plan of salvation. It is in the annals of Scripture that we learn the proper way to practice every spiritual discipline. There is something very insightful about that statement. Especially when you realize that the Bible is God’s love letter, His basic instructional manual for humanity [Basic Instruction before Leaving Earth]; wherein He wrote it to us, sharing His thoughts and His heart with each one of us.

May I submit to you that every believer needs to have a high view of Scripture in order to experience a vibrant and fruitful Christian life! A high view of Scripture demands that the Bible be read, studied, meditated upon and that its truth or principles be applied in our daily lives. Friends, can I encourage you to read the Bible daily. I challenge you to “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” Joshua 1:8 in the New Living Translation. It is my prayer that you are being challenged and motivated by the teachings of Scripture daily, so that you can grow up to be the man or woman God desires for you to be. So read, study, meditate and apply the Scriptures in you life—you will never be the same.

THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH!

Are you experiencing the joy of Lord? Or have you been living in a state of fear? Christians are increasingly being crushed by the weight of life’s greatest challenges. No matter who you are—pastor, Christian leader, teacher, businessperson, or homemaker—you are personally called to be an ambassador for Christ. No matter what you are going through do not allow fear to get a hold of heart. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). May I encourage you to embrace God’s grace for the journey—His grace is sufficient for you.

Fear has no place in your life and it is possible to allow the Holy Spirit to give joy in the midst of your trial. It may be that you have a fear of the future; not knowing what tomorrow holds but you know the One who holds your tomorrow. God promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you—He is right there with you and your fear is nothing but unsubstantiated fear. You can conquer fear by placing your faith totally on God, circumstances come and go but God is immutable. So be of good cheer my friend, it is going to be all right because God is on your side. God is for you, He is not against you and He loves you so much that no circumstance can alter His eternal love (Romans 8:37-39).

Here is the biblical principle to conquering fear. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). It is possible to allow the Holy Spirit to cheer us up when we are down. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “…Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I urge you to ask the Spirit of Joy to fill your heart with joy today. Here is a biblical example of how to do that! The apostle Paul, in the midst of a fearful experience, calls for the people to, “Keep up your courage.” (See Acts 27:9-44 for more details). God bless you as you are being renewed with the joy of the Lord—unspeakable joy and full of glory!