I enjoy looking at Facebook and my many Christian friends share wonderful insights and encouragements..Some of them I save in my account and some I share on to others. I want to share this one with all you ladies and gentlemen to focus your gaze on the Shepherd. Be blessed with all HE gives to His own sheep!!
Have you ever locked yourself out of your house or your car? Do you get that feeling of Oh, No! How stupid can I be?? Your day is halted, right there and nothing will move forward until you get a key! In Bible times prisoners were kept in chains with a great lock and key for a closure. Huge heavy chains that were too heavy to carry out to freedom. In the Carol, ‘O, Holy Night’, we hear, “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.” Slavery has always been a part of the human story. Some say more so today than any other time with all the human trafficking that is experienced all over the world. But no key needed there! Chains will be broken by His NAME!! We can do all the social and political actions, and maybe make some difference, but it is going to take His NAME to finally break those chains and stop oppression. And who bears His NAME? CHRISTians bear his name, and only when the people in the church who claim the name of Christ change hearts and attitudes will those chains be broken.
I have had the privilege of international travel, and not only do I hear racial bigotry, but nationalistic bigotry from one country to another. I have seen a lady refused entrance to a hotel because of her nationality while they were checking in a man with a prostitute. I have heard from the mouths of fellow CHRISTians slurs against bordering neighbor countries. We should be different. We need to break those chains of superiority in our own hearts and look at others with the eyes if Christ. Caring, compassionate, loving eyes break chains, heal and show Christ. No key needed when Christ breaks the chain!! There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain!
My husband’s cousin is married to a fellow from Puerto Rico and recently she got to visit her father in law there. He had lived through the hurricane of 2017 when there was great devastation, many deaths and much of the island went without electricity for months. She was touched by the spirit of the people to recover and signs that even creation was reviving on it’s own. She posted a picture on Facebook of a tree that had been broken by the winds down to the ground, but was sprouting new growth up to the sun.
Have you been hit by the strong winds of life that has stalled much of your spiritual growth? Have you by circumstance or personal choice let the forces around you deaden your heart towards the things of God? Are you letting the things that are socially acceptable yet against biblical truth bend you to their forces? After failing God miserably, David cries out to God in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a pure heart, O, God and renew/revive a right spirit in me” Our God is a god of renewal and revival. He is the “sun” for our spirit that allows us to grow once again despite the storms of life. We can experience revival in our lives when we cry out for His “sun and water” to begin that new growth. Are you ready to begin new growth? Are you ready to be revived? Are you ready to cut away the dead clutter of your sin? Let the Saviour clean out all the dead leaves and branches of your life and be revived to really live again, in Him!!!
I call the GPS in my car “blind faith”. I put an address in it to a place I have never been before and then just follow the map and voice as “she” tells me where to turn and when I will arrive at my destination. This is amazing tool on our modern cars and phones that somehow through bouncing signals off of satellites or towers, knows where I am and where I need to go. Only a few times has she lead me wrong and I have ended up on a dirt road at a dead end in the mountains or some such. But even then it is usually just a little bit off. Sometimes I think I know better and take my own way and then she says to me, “recalculating, recalculating” as she gives me a new route from where I have gone away from the original directions. I have never been totally lost and have always made it to my destination.
How much more does the Lord want to lead us to our divine appointments that HE has charted out for us! He knows where we are and where we need to go. He knows the roads and routes that He wants us to take and the experiences along the way. And when we think we know better and go another way He is always willing to “recalculate” and get us out of our wayward messes and back on the path He has charted out for us. And unlike my GPS, He will never leave us stranded on a dirt road with no place to go. In John 12:26 Jesus said, ” If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” It is not satellites and towers that we need to guide us through life, but the supernatural grace of God that directs us.. Why is it harder to trust the God of all creation, than it is to trust a “techy” device? If you have strayed in life looking for your intended destinations, God will always steer you back to His path if you allow Him to “recalculate” and bring you to Himself. He knows where you are and where you need to go!
Sometimes life seemd to be a chain of setbacks and disappointments. We don’t achieve what we have been striving towards. We don’t get the job, get the promotion, are misunderstood, or fail at something even when we try our best. We feel like a failure and wonder what to do next. I have felt that, have you? Recently I was listening to a young person telling me about a failure they had experienced even after much prayer and preparation. They felt that God was leading them in a certain way, yet they could not achieve what was expected. I was able to share a truth that someone had shared with me. “God is not surprised at the outcome and God is not disappointed with you.”. Do we feel sometimes that we have let God down? That even when we pray and try our best that God thinks less of us when we falter? Good news!! If we are walking with the Lord, He is right beside us going through the same things and He is not let down ! He see us, through the blood of His own son, and we are precious to Him in Christ. He says “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest……….. Take my yoke on you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 He is yoked to us, beside us, carrying the load also. If our way is blocked in one direction, He will lead us to another path with His easy yoke and light burden. Exchange your personal disappointment with God’s abundant pleasure in you and be encouraged. God is not disappointed in you. You are His precious child!!