Forgivness

I was watching a movie today, and the main characters had so many things going on..
The thing that stuck out was that one of the main characters could not forgive.

It started to make me wonder - How many of the blessings in life do we block by being unforgiving?

The Our Father has a portion in it that says "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".

Why would Jesus feel the need to put a line like that in what is to be our example of how to pray...?

It goes to show you the power of forgiveness.

We block what God can do for us by not forgiving those who have wronged us....

We block God, because we want from God what we are not willing to do in return....

God cannot move for us when we do not met him halfway. We meet him halfway by doing the very thing we ask of him - forgiving others the way we want to be forgiven...

My question to you is what doors in your life do you think will open up when you forgive everyone who has ever hurt you.....

Cleaning out the camp

Last we spoke we talked about your camp: making sure that your camp is supposed to be your camp and purging it of people who aren't supposed to be there.. Speaking of people who aren't supposed there - How do you know they aren't supposed to be there?

Now we can get all deep and spiritual about this and say the Spirit will reveal to you whose supposed to be there and who is not... That's all well and good... We do get to a point where the Spirit guides us and directs us. But how do we distinguish between us (our carnal selves) and the Spirit?

Firstly, we have to make sure that we know God's voice. We know his voice by reading and understanding his word. 2Timothy 2:15 Says: Study to show thyself approved. Now if you've grown up in the Church like I have, you are very familiar with this verse but may not understand it. On the surface it's very simple: Study means to devote time to acquiring knowledge. So the verse on the surface means to devote time to acquiring the knowledge to show thyself approved. Approved? Approved for what.... Approved to be able to teach others about God... You can argue that no formal education is needed in order to do this. But I present this to you If no formal education is needed, why did the Apostles, leave everything behind and travel with Jesus before they embarked on their own journeys? This is because they did not know all that they needed to just as we do not know.

Secondly, we have to make sure we have our own understanding of God's word. Many of us have grown up in or around the Church in some shape form or fashion. Me, I went to Catholic School. But it wasn't until I got older that I came to the realization that what I knew of God's word, is what others taught me based on Their understanding, but I didn't know it for myself. Not knowing it for myself, left me open to all types of interpretations of it. Some of it good, some of it bad, and some of it indifferent. There was no way for me to know what was truth and what wasn't. There are still things in which I do not know, but I have gained a better understanding of the Word by reading it and praying on it...

Thirdly, we have to constantly stay in the word. Just like with everything else, we go through stages in order to grow. We start off as babes, then grow in maturity until we become "Adults". *Disclaimer.. Age does not always mean you are an adult* Just like having been saved for 5+,10+, 15+ years does not mean you are a mature believer. A mature believer has studied the word and have an understanding for themselves, yet they understand that there are always things that they can learn. A mature believer understands that they have to read the word daily and meditate on it day and night. A mature believer understands that the things that they absorb through their senses directly affects their way of thinking which directly affects who they allow to be in their camp.

Our camp changes as we mature. This is because we by nature associate ourselves with people who think like us, act like us.  If we are operating on another level, those who are no longer on the level with us, nor who are willing to be pulled up by us and along with us, will be weeded out. Some of them will leave, but most we will have to let go.... Being able to do this all comes from the renewal of our minds ( Staying in the word, understanding the word, and hearing God's voice.)

Whose in your camp?

 Jacob means "Trickster" and he spent his life living up to it. He however, encountered a bigger trickster in his Uncle Laban. He tricked him into marrying Leah before Rachel even though all Jacob wanted was Rachel. Laban then tricked Jacob into working another 7 years for Rachel. When Jacob finally said enough is enough he had worked for Laban for 20 years. Jacob was ready to go. He was ready to pack up and leave. When he got ready to leave, he went to Laban and let him know he was leaving. Laban convinced him to stay. He offered him anything he wanted. Jacob recognized that Laban had all he had because he was connected to Jacob. When God blessed Jacob, Laban received a blessing as well.... Long story short, Jacob, in the middle of the night, packs up his wives, his children, his servants, and all of his possessions and left. When Laban realized he had left, he traveled after him. The reason that Laban was chasing after him was because one of Jacob's wives had gone into Laban's tent and stolen his gods. Jacob did not know that the gods were in his possession.(Genesis 31:15-49)

The reason I bring this particular story up is because it goes to show you that the actions of those in your camp affect the overall outcome of things as much as your actions do. We see this throughout the Bible. Adam went through it, Moses had to wander 40 years because of it, Joshua went through it... Even Jesus had to deal with betrayal in his own camp. Why do we keep finding examples of this throughout the Bible? We find it to let us know that not everyone who is connected to us has our best interests in heart. It is to let us know that we have to be very careful who is allowed to move with us. We have to be careful because as we see in the case of Jacob, a member of his own camp, his inner circle, brought with them foreign gods. They did this knowing that the God of his father Isaac and his grand-father Abraham was the only God that they served. They also did this without telling Jacob....

Jacob's story is a warning to us.... We may have people who are in our camp, in our inner circle, who have brought idols into the camp. Idols can be money, fame, power or even other gods. We may not even know that they are there and we wonder why things are not going the way that they should be. From time to time, we have to take stock of those around us.. We have to make sure that our camp is not with us just because of the blessings they are receiving, but that they are with us because they are supposed to be with us. We have to make sure that they are not bringing idols or false gods into the camp.  I have found in the reflection of my own camp that there are people who don't always have my best interest in mind and have had to be cut loose in order for me to move onto the next level. I have also found in my own camp that there are people in which I thought might not have had my best interests, but in reality, were just coming from a different experience.

My challenge to you is to pray on it, then take stock of your own camp. There may be people that have to be let go... And don't be afraid to do this from time to time....

Who God is to me....

The Lord is my shepherd my rock my salvation The reason why I smile even when having a rough day He is my example My light and when I can't go any more His is the wings on which I soar.

Faith is our Currency

Faith is a funny thing.... We can lose it just as easy as we gain it. When things are going rough, our faith has a tendency to dissolve.... But what if, just what if, when we lose our faith when we stop believing that it's like shredding our paycheck. What if when we lose our faith, its like throwing a million dollars into the ocean?

Matthew 17:20 says that if we have faith like a mustard seed that we can say to the mountain move and it will move... Luke 17:6 says the same thing but with a sycamine tree instead of a mountain... What did Jesus mean by this? In Matthew 17 the apostles were trying to drive out a demon from a kid, however they could not. No one could figure out why... Jesus explained that they had no faith; because they had no faith, they could not drive the demon out. They didn't have enough currency.... 

Whenever we believe, it's like depositing money in the bank. The more we deposit, the more we have to draw on. When we believe something is going to happen, it does.. Not necessarily in the manner in which we want it to, but it does happen. We have to be careful not to hit a point where we're only living pay check to paycheck i.e. living off of God's grace. God's grace is sufficient yes, but after some point you get tired of living paycheck to paycheck. You get tired of just barely making it.. You get tired of not having any extra for rough times.... After a point, you get tired and your faith starts to waiver... When you don't have faith, you don't have currency and when you don't have currency you cannot "buy" anything. God's hands become tied because if you feel as if he can't do something or won't do something then he will not/cannot do the thing is which you need.... Not that he won't move - but that it makes it harder for him to move...

How much Currency do you have? Do you have some saved up or are you living paycheck to paycheck? 

Have you lost faith?

I find that when things are the toughest that it's the easiest to lose faith. I know I can only speak for myself, but when God does not move as fast as what I want him to, I can at times develop this sense of discouragement. It is at this time I need to be reminded of where He's brought me and where he is bringing me. It is at this time I need to be reminded that God is God and everything happens with his time....

Speaking of his time, we are not the only ones that have had to wait on God's timing. David had to wait 40 years before becoming King... 40 years! In the meantime, there where things that God had to work out in David so that when he became king he would be a great king. If it hadn't taken 40 years we never would have had the Psalms. What's special about the Psalms, well the ones written by David, is that they are still relevant today. How you may ask? Well, Psalm 23 starts with "The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want".. Have you ever noticed that when our eyes are focused on God and the things of him that things seem to be a bit more peaceful? Not that everything is going right - but that we have an extra strength to draw from so things appear to be easy.

What makes the story of David encouraging is that if God moved fro David, he will move for us. David - even in all of his trouble, never stopped relying out to God. Psalm 46:1-2 says "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Psalm 18:2-3 says"
is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised... There are many more Psalms where David has said the Lord is his rock etc... David, while at times complained, he never lost his faith and even once he became King praised God so hard that he danced out of his clothes... (2 Samuel 6:14, 20-23)....

My question to you is that in all that life has dealt you, do you still believe that God is going to fulfill everything that he has promised? Do you still believe that he will never forsake you? Do you believe?

I encourage you to not lose faith even in the midst of terrible things. 

Where do you draw your strength?

There are those of us who have moments to draw strength from when things get dark. When the night seems the shortest, when everything goes wrong, we have personal experiences to draw our strength from. We've seen God move and work things out, but what about the people who have not seen God move... What about the people who don't know who he is... 

What do they have to draw on? Where is their faith? 

Do they place their faith in man, only to build up walls later on because so many people have left them who should have been with them through thick and thin? Do they place their faith in how much money they make.. only to have their world shattered when they lose that job or have to take a pay cut? Or do they place their faith in themselves, only to be limited by what they can do?

In your moment of utter chaos... Maybe not even utter chaos, but uncertainty.... Where do you go fro direction....? Where do you draw your strength?