Passing The Buck

Now it is ordinarily an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir. However, it was not until the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year that Moses addressed the Israelites just as the LORD had instructed him to do. (Deuteronomy 1:2-3 NET)

Taking 40 years to do an 11 day journey should have raised a few red flags in the Israelites minds. It should have made them say even after the first year "hey, why is this taking so long, what are we doing wrong?" Instead, they complained and grumbled about their circumstances. Instead of going to God and asking why is this happening to us, what are we doing wrong, they chose instead to curse God, to complain against God, they chose to pass the buck and blame someone else for their problems. When you start blaming someone else for your problems, you will remain where you are at and you will never see that problem fixed. Had the Israelites chose to work with God, it probably would not have taken 40 years to do an 11 day journey, but they had the wrong attitude, they had the "woe is me" attitude. Yeah, we see how that really worked out for them. God is always there to help us with our problems, but He will only do so if we will work with Him and stop complaining all the time. It is not wrong to go to God and explain your situation to Him, in fact He wants us to come to Him with out problems and then ask Him for help. After we do this, we need to start praising Him for what He is going to do and we need to stop complaining and grumbling.

Take Away: The next time you have the opportunity to make a choice where you can take the responsibility yourself or pass the buck, choose to take responsibility for your own problems, make a choice to stop having a victim mentality and say, "God, this is my problem, not someone elses, and I ask you now to help me fix this," then start praising Him for the answer.

Rules and Regulations

For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts 15:28-29 NET)

This was part of a letter that was put together by the Jerusalem Council (a groupd made up of the apostles and elders) during the first century. The reason for this was the Jewish converts were imposing their laws and traditions on to the new Gentile converts and this was causing unnecessary burdens on the Gentile converts. The Council came together, got direction from the Holy Spirit and put together this letter (Acts 15:23-29) which states that the only rules that need to be followed were abstaining from meat that has been sacrificed to idols, meat with blood still in it, meat that has been strangled, and sexual immorality. That was it! However, we humans, doing what we do best, started making up our own rules on how to be a Christian, such as what we can and can not watch, do, say, or whatever. Jesus didn't come to place burdens on us, He came to give us freedom. If we followed what the apostles and elders and the Holy Spirit decided during the first century, there would be freedom in the followers of Christ, and most likely a lot more followers of Christ. If we stop placing our human regulations and rules (albeit some with good intentions but still humanistic) on ourselves and others, and we let God direct our conscience and hearts on what we as individuals should and should not do beyond the letter of the Jerusalem Council, we would be walking in such freedom and have a more intimate relationship with Jesus.

Take Away: start allowing God to guide your heart and your conscience by allowing Him into more and more of your life...it is then you will experience the freedom He willingly died for.

Drifting Away

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Hebrews 2:1 NET)

Have you heard the expression, "if you don't use it, you lose it?" In other words if you don't continuously use something, you will slowly forget and eventually have to be taught all over again. For example, I learned German in college, however because I never practiced it over the years since then, I lost what I learned. Now that I need to learn German, I have to start all over again from the basics. This is the same with God and His word. If we don't pay attention to what He is telling us to do in His word and if we don't continuously do what He is telling us to do, we will eventually forget, and we will slowly go back to our old ways of thinking and our old ways of living. If we want to see changes in our lives we need to pay close attention to what we are reading in His word and we are to continuously put into practice what we have learned so that we wont drift away.

Take Away: Take time out each day to read His word and put into practice what you have heard. 

Finding Everlasting Rest

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 NET)

Self help books seem to still be the thing in our culture today. "You can find inner strength and peace by following these 10 steps" is the general on going trend in our society, and each time one of these books or speakers tries to push a new strategy for finding inner peace, it pushes people further away from the One who can truly bring lasting rest. Jesus said "come to Me and I will GIVE you rest." Jesus wants us to come to Him when we are down, He wants us to come to Him when we are burdened with things we can't seem to handle. He wants us to come to Him because He knows He has the rest we need. So many times do we go to our friends and family for comfort and for peace and for answers. Not to say that they can't provide comfort and peace and answers, but those that they do provide are not long lasting because in a few days we are back to being burdened. However, if we start making a habit of going to Jesus, we will find the rest, the everlasting, true rest that only He can provide. Jesus is our sole provider of everything that we need. He is the constant that never changes. He is the One who provides answers, He is the One who provides comfort, compassion and rest when we need it.

Take Away: The next time you are feeling low, burdened, don't know what to do and you feel anxiety welling up in you, when you can't sleep at night or your thoughts during the day are on your problem...go to Jesus, lay those burdens at His feet and receive the rest He so freely wants to give you.

When No One Else Is Watching

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, (Colossians 3:22-23 NET)

Everyone one of us, in some form or fashion, has a job to do, whether we are getting paid to do it, or we are doing a volunteer job, or we are simply doing something because it needs to get done. The Apostle Paul is telling the Colossians that no matter what you are doing, you are to do it with enthusiasm, you are to do it as if you are doing it for God, which, in reality, you ARE doing it for God. How do we know we are doing this with enthusiasm? You will know if you maintain the same enthusiasm when no one is looking. Its easy to do things with excitement and enthusiasm when people are watching, especially our boss, or our pastor, but when they walk away and you are there alone, are you still doing it with enthusiasm and excitement, or are you complaining and murmering? Its easy to maintain the enthusiasm if it is something we want to do, but what if it is something you really don't want to do, or something that someone else could do but you were the one that was asked? No matter what we do, no matter who asked us to do it, we are instructed to do EVERYTHING like we are doing it for God.

Take Away: the next time you are doing something (even though it may be something you really don't want to do) and no one else is watching, remember that God is watching, and maintain that enthusiasm like you are doing it for God.

Godly Patience

For God alone I patiently wait; he is the one who delivers me. (Psalms 62:1 NET)

Patience, something that we all pray for at some point in our lives for ourselves or possibly for someone else. But do we really know what patience is? I'm not talking about regular patience which most of us think is just sitting and waiting for something. I'm talking about Godly patience. The Hebrew word for patience in this passage is duwmiyah, which means stillness, quiet, a state of tranquility. What King David is saying in this passage is that he is waiting on God with patience, a patience that has a good attitude. That means when you are asked to be patient, you need to have a good attitude to go along with it. This can be difficult at times, especially when we need to be patient at the grocery store and the wrong price on an item is in the computer and someone has to go back and get the correct price and we are already 5 minutes late for our next meeting, or while driving in traffic we the slowest person on the road is in front of us, or waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles and the person ahead of you doesn't have the correct paperwork, or when we are on the phone with Verizon talking to someone in India who we can't understand, or when we are putting in a kitchen sink and a hose breaks...you get the idea. When we are able to be patient with a Godly attitude, there is nothing that will shake us because we will be walking in peace, we will be walking in a trust in God that no one or no thing can dislodge.

Take Away: the next time you have the opportunity to be patient, ask God to help you be patient with a Godly attitude, one that is full of trust in Him that He will take care of the situation and then make your mind up to walk in peace and trust.

Dynamis Power

So that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully (Colossians 1:10-11 NET)

Sometimes doing what God wants us to do, to live in a Godly way, to do things the right way, seems difficult at times. There are times where we think we just don't have the strength to do it. If you try to do it on your own, then yes, you do not have the strength to do it, in fact, you are set up to fail...on your own strength. But God will never have us do anything that we can not do because He is the one Who gives us the strength. In fact that strength is already inside of you. The Apostle Paul says that "we are being strengthened with all power." The word "power" in the Greek is dynamis. Dynamis means miraculous power, power for performing miracles. This same dynamis is used when describing the power to raise Jesus from the dead. Think about it, the same power (dynamis) that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power (dynamis) that is inside of us. Dynamis is inside you, inside me, inside every believer! So yes, you, on your own, do not have the power to do anything, but with God's dynamis power inside of you, you do have the strength...He has given you that, all you have to do is trust and believe.

Take Away: the next time you feel weak and don't have the strength to live the way God wants you to live, stop relying on your own power, and ask God to strengthen you with His power, His miracle working power!

Needs and Wants

And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 NET)

If you have a need, God will supply it. If He has called you to do something, He will supply what you need to fulfill what He has called you to. He is the supplier of all of our needs. What He is not is a supplier of all of our wants. We may think we need something, but it is really a want. This is where a lot of us get confused. We can't distinguish between a need and a want. A need is something we can't do without, like air to breathe, food, water, etc. A need may be something that is necessary for us to fulfill the call God has placed on us. A want is something that we desire, but can live without. For  example, you may think you need a 70 inch TV, or you may think you need the Ford F150 Raptor, or you may think you need the $500 dress at Macy's, but these really are wants. And when we pray to God to get us the Raptor, or the $500 dress, and He doesn't give them to us, we get mad at Him, but what He is really doing is protecting us and teaching us the difference between wants and needs. I'm not saying that God won't ever give you what you want, but He will always give you what you need. 

Take Away: Ask God to help you separate needs and wants.

Your Way or God's Way

You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O God, are my fortress. (Psalms 59:9 NLT)

We, as Christians, have a resource that no one else has, and that is God. He is always there, always ready to help. Sometimes when He gives us help, we don't like what He is asking us to do, so we try it our way...and get results we really don't want. King David knew Who had the answers and Who had the help. He knew where to go, and he knew what to do, and that was to wait for God to rescue him. King David knew that God was his strength and he knew that God was his fortress. King David knew that God was the only One to help him. David didn't even trust himself! Part of that help is waiting, and sometimes that is worse than the problem itself, but it is what we have to do if we want the help of the Almighty, the help of the Creator, the help of God who will not only give us the answer, but the answer that will be long lasting.

Take Away: the next time you need help, call on God, know that He is your strength, and then wait for Him to answer.