I WILL BE STRONG!

Psalm 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,

7 for he is our God. We are the people he watches over,  the sheep under his care.

  Oh, that you would listen to his voice today! 8 The LORD says, "Don't harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. 9 For there your ancestors tried my patience; they courted my wrath though they had seen my many miracles. 10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, `They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.' (NLT)

Read Psalm 95

When we read the Old Testament and the history of the Israelite's we see a people who made plenty of mistakes.  What we should also see is ourselves, and the many times we have refused to do what God is telling us.  In this Psalm, there is a call to be different from the early people of God.  We have a new opportunity, by the power of the Holy Spirit to be obedient.  We have to make a choice, a choice to make God proud and not angry.  Everyday we are challenged to choose.  We must choose to please the Lord Jesus, and not our flesh.  We must choose to please God, and not satan by our nasty attitude and behavior.  We have a choice of whether we are or are not going to sin against God, and if we are going to rely on the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to make the right choice for Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the Lord looking down and shaking His head at me saying, “How many times must I give her this test?”.  I want to pass the test, and I WILL NOT be weak and subject to my flesh.  The Word says that greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.  Do you believe it?  I know sometimes we don’t act like we do; BUT today make the right choice that shows that you do!  Declare that you will NOT be in the “they” that refuse to do what the Lord tells you (v10).  Declare that you WILL BE strong in your discipleship, and walk in all that the Lord has for you!  

Jesus thank you for helping us, strengthening us, encouraging us, and teaching us.  In Your MIGHTY name we pray, AMEN.  

Burst, Torn Into Pieces & Spilled!

I don’t know about you, but when I have tried to do things before I was ready, or even before others were ready for it, it has felt like all my plans burst, my life was torn into pieces and all the ugliness of the situation spilled onto others around me.  See I was trying to do a new thing, push a new idea, or do something new and I was not new.  The bible says that God makes all things new.  The word makes is in the active tense.  It is the “act of making”.  Everything in your Spirit man is immediately made new when you truly accept Jesus in your heart.  But true conversion of ALL of your mind, will & emotions takes time.  Over time your mind & thinking becomes renewed, you learn how to keep your emotions in check, and you surrender your will to God’s will for your life.  This is an ongoing process that keeps your life growing, making things fresh and new from day to day. 

BUT, when we get ahead of God, when we become zealous for things that are not for this time, and when we are trying to prove something, we can potentially try to do a new thing with an old mindset, old intentions, and old willful emotions.  When our old tries to do the new, it can get messy.  The Word of God says it best this way:

Matthew 9¹⁷ Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. (AMP)

What God does in our lives, He wants to last and bear fruit.  He wants our blessing to be a blessing.  He wants how we have been comforted to allow us to comfort others.  He wants us to show that love He has shown us to others.  The Lord wants our freshness in His Spirit to be preserved so it can last…..so it can be spread. 

Wait on God to change you.  Wait on God to make you new.  Only He knows your process.  His work in you will be perfect and complete.  Messy lives can burst and spill onto others, and also tear hearts to pieces.   Don’t be messy, wait on God’s timing, it is always perfect.  His love will make all things new in your life at just the right time.  It might not feel like it, but it is what it is, you will see if you wait.

James 1⁴ But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. (AMP)

Philippians 1⁶ And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (AMP)