Keeping Our Spiritual Focus

I was reading this morning in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and the thrust of the chapter was the need for God’s people Israel to be obedient to His leading and his word. He was particularly pointing to those who had experienced both the discipline of the Lord and the blessings of the Lord. He uses the words “carefully obey,” love and serve Him with all “heart and soul,” “be careful,”  and “commit yourselves wholeheartedly to His word.”  The choice is ours and that’s what He says in verse 26, “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse.” 

My prayer today is “Lord, with your help and your strength, I will commit my way whole heartedly to you. I will be careful to not be distracted by the things of life. I will keep my focus. When I’m tempted to look at other things, I will keep my focus, my steps, my path directly upon you.”  I can only do this through your leading by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Father, fill me, lead me and use me.”

Peace and God's Leading

For years I have always believed that when we make decisions to do something, having peace of mind is the litmis test of God's leading. However, as I have journeyed with Jesus these past 38 years, I have come to the conclusion - that thought may not be entirely accurate.

Certainly, God promises His peace to us. Both the peace with God (Romans 5) and the peace of God (Phil. 4:6-7). We want to send people on their way with God's peace. Jesus would say that when leaving his disciples and they perhaps wondered about their situation, he would say "my peace be with you." (John 14:27)

So.. don't get me wrong, I am all about peace. However, I also believe there are times that God calls us to do something that is outside the box of our comfort zone, perhaps what some might call an "open door of opportunity" and our flesh has great fear and we need to receive encouragement to follow through.

In the Old Testament, Joshua was called to lead the people Israel into a new land. A new leader heading in a direction they had never journeyed before. God says to them, "Be bold, banish fear and doubt for the Lord your God is with you where ever you go." (Joshua 1:9).

In the New Testament even Jesus, in the garden of Gesthemane, looking ahead to the cross, prayed earnestly, in agony and asking God to "if possible" remove this cup from Him - yet He submitted Himself to the Father's will. (Luke 22:39-46).

This morning, (and this is what led to my blog), I was reading how the Apostle Paul had a door of opportunity opened to him by the Lord, yet due to circumstances that surrounded Paul, he confessed he had no peace in his heart, and thereby turned away from that opportunity the Lord had given him. (2 Corinthians 2:12-13)

I have no judgment upon Paul, because I know how much our Lord loves us and Graces us and how mightily He used Paul. However, even Paul turned away something that the Lord had seemingly put before Him.

The life of a Christ follower is not always easy (I also read the next two chapters of 2 Corinthians), and I think that many over the centuries had a vision from God yet turned away due to the circumstances that surrounded them.

My thoughts then today are - hang in there, persist, be bold and strong, know that Go is with you and will never leave you and forsake you and fulfill that vision that He has given you!

Thankfulness and Blessings Come From A Prepared Heart

Well, with Thanksgiving just one week away, I'm reflecting upon a passage I read this morning from James chapter 1.

 In this chapter, James writes, "21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls."

James is sharing with us that we need to get rid, remove from our lives, be done with, all the filth and evil in our lives. I believe the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2 & 3 writes in a similar manner. He writes in chapter 3 about "putting to death" the old man.  

However James (and Paul too) writes that we should humbly accept the word God has planted in our hearts. As we make our way on our spiritual journey, having received Christ Jesus as our Savior, God has planted His word in our hearts - we need to make sure that our hearts are prepared much like you would prepare the ground for planting things.

My wife and I recently planted some Canadian chrysanthemums in our front yard, along our sidewalk. Years ago we would have dug a small hole, threw them in, and called it good. However we have learned that the key is the soil preparation for these new plants. We dug our hole, put in black humous soil, followed by some manure, followed by top soil, all mixed in and added some miracle grow as we then planted each chrysanthemums. 

I believe that we need to be as diligent in preparing our hearts for God's engrafted, or emplanted word. Sometimes we just live our lives on auto pilot. We don't get rid of the stuff in our life that can hinder us and lead us to a poor conditioning of my heart. 

I recently helped someone with their email account. They couldn't figure out why it wasn't working properly for them. So I set out to help. I asked for the password and the person "sheepishly" replied, "it's foul."  So I typed in "foul" but that didn't work. Then I was told, "know the word is foul, crass, and bad."  I was told the word was XFXG!!. This person was a believer. I said, "I think it would help your Christian walk and faith if you changed your password.

Imagine, every day checking email to type in something that is of the old nature, the old man which is something we are daily to do away with. Jeremiah says we need to remove that kind of thinking from our lives and hearts. He calls for removing the "foreskin" of your heart. That's the picture of the filth that we allow into our lives.

But if we will prepare our hearts to have the right soil, and by preparing I mean reading the Word, meditating upon the Word, praying, praying for others, sharing with others, and living an obedient life, then both James and Paul tell us that the Word will have deep roots and give us  stability in our lives.

When we properly prepare our hearts for God's Word, it will flourish in our life and we will truly enjoy a thankful, blessed and better life.

How's the soil preparation of your heart going today?