Obstacle Course of Life

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Many Christians seem to have been taught that in order to grow in our relationship with God we have to find our way though a number of challenges. I often hear things like "The higher you go with God the bigger the devils". The devil has already been defeated. He has no authority over us. He has no permission to work in our lives and the only way in is to break in to try and destroy us; take us off the path God has for us. I do not know about you, but I am in Christ and He won that battle a long time ago.

I do not believe that we have to go through bad things to grow with God. We have to go forth obeying His voice and as we do we grow as Holy Spirit teaches us all things. Does life here on earth present us with difficulties and even more? Yes, we are living in earthen vessels while we are still here walking out our salvation.

God is with us as we go through each difficult time. We learn through each of them and Holy Spirit uses them as opportunities to teach us. Our walk with God is not an obstacle course. The pain and suffering was already had for us by Jesus so we would not have to go through it.

Many of my challenges have been the result of poor choices. And those choices were made by me as I used my own understanding instead of relying on God to guide me. Smooth sailing in my life occurs when I let Him lead me. But as much as I want that, my own head and desires get in the way often. I can even convince myself that I heard from Him. When the results are not good I realize it was me and not Him.

Father God, thank you for being there for me every time my poor choices or even the choices of others put me in a bad situation. Thank you for being there with me and guiding me out of the mess. Help me to listen to Holy Spirit instead of my own mind. Show me the path I am to follow and help me to stay on it. In Jesus name, I pray.

Corrections

Our walk with Jesus is filled with course corrections.

Discipleship

Discipleship is not a course we take.
It is a walk we make.

Experience Jesus

Are you connected to Jesus because of how much you know about Him? Or is it an intimate connection because of the relationship you have with Him at a personal level? It is not about our knowledge of Him because of the stories we have been told and the books about Him we have read. It is about what He has taught us as we have actually walked with Him. Jesus wants us to experience Him on a daily basis.

Go Deep

God doesn't want you in the kiddie pool any more. He wants you to go deeper.

Ponderables

Every day or so I get things to write own and ponder about at a later date. Some end up being messages on this blog. Others are just left on pieces of paper all over the place. So I have decided to make them part of this blog. In addition to my weekly post I will be dropping a short ponderable from time to time. (and yes that is a legal word. LOL)

Complaining

Philippians 2:14-16 NLT
Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ's return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.

Everywhere I go people are always complaining about something or someone. Often it centers on the political situation in this country. It seems everyone has a better way for things to be done. It is so easy to look at a situation and think we could do a better job.

It even happens in churches. The congregations complain about the leadership. The leadership complains about the members that aren't volunteering to help. Sometimes the complaining is even about other churches as one is compared to another.

How can we be Christ centered and complain about anything? The enemy loves to see us in conflict with each other. He loves to see us in competition with other groups of believers. The more we are wrapped up in petty stuff, the less we are focused on what God has for us to do. After all, how can we hear God when we are so wrapped up in earthly situations?

We should be spending our time with God instead of keeping on top of the latest news. We should be asking Him what our next step should be instead of listening to the current gossip in and out of church.

I believe God wants us to be the best we can be. Sure we are not Jesus. But we have Holy Spirit living in us. It is this fleshly self we need to die to. Next time you want to turn on the news or listen to the latest gossip, pick up His word instead. That is the news we need to be focused on. Do that and the complaining will cease.