Toil Isn’t Worth It

Ecclesiastes 2:20-23- “So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²² What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? ²³ All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.”

I was re-reading Ecclesiastes 2 tonight, as I did this passage really stuck out to me. A lot of times I tend to stress and despair about work, worrying about things and building up stuff. The thing I got from this passage is, why stress and worry about work? What do I get for all my toil and anxiety? Nothing. Matthew 6:27 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” It just kind of made me stop and think about things. I’m not saying I’m going to quit trying and quit doing an excellent job which surpasses all expectations, I’m just saying it made me think.

Deaf (Gal 2:20)

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20, NASB)

As I was driving to G8 this morning knowing I was going to share the gist of yesterday’s post, I was really contemplating the effects of being crucified… being dead to myself.

Dead men…

• … don’t have any rights to get stepped on
• … don’t have any expectations to go unmet
• … don’t have any fears to bind them
• … can’t worry about yesterday, today or tomorrow
• … can’t compare their lives to those around them
• … can’t carry the weight of the world
• … can’t believe the lies of the enemy

… and as I was enumerating this list, God said something kinda funny but poignant.  He said that dead men can’t believe the lies of the enemy because “dead men can’t hear” and I kinda laughed, but realized that is HUGE!  This is a big deal because not only is my enemy a LIAR, when I am dead – I CANNOT HEAR HIS LIES.

This is a good test.  The devil and his minions are always lying about me, who I am, how I will be, what I will or will never be, etc.  When I can hear the lies – then SOME PART OF MY FLESH HAS CRAWLED OFF THE CROSS.

Daddy, may I always be deaf to the lies of my enemy and my spirit be in tune with yours.

Galatians 1:10

^{Today I am reading in Galatians 1. Paul is explaining that he was called to preach one gospel and one gospel only. Saying that he was amazed at how quickly the Galatians were turning from that gospel to other false gospels. Then a few verses later he is explaining how God revealed himself to him and transformed his life of living as a religious zealot. Sandwiched in between is verse 10…}

¹⁰Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

It seems like this verse is sort of shoe-horned in here. Why did Paul put this in right here? Is it ever ok to want to have man’s approval? If so when? We are told by Jesus that we cannot serve two masters…God or money…this verse also indicates that we cannot serve Christ and try to please men. Maybe the word “try” is a big word here. Is it ok to please men or not? I am just thinking…

Wind and Waves pt. 3

Well I am trying to find the Spiritual difference between the wind and waves.  You probably cant have one without the other in terms of the physical, at least out on sea.  Once again though there are verses that reference one and not the other.  Sometimes the wind is a good thing others it is not.  Sometimes the waves are good and others they only cause destruction and need to be told to quit.  What is the difference with them?  Is there one?  How does this pertain to our lives?  I am still looking but today these are the questions I have.  I have read a lot in scripture today about this subject but it only leads to more questions that I don’t have answers to yet.

God owes us nothing

HE doesn’t, He doesn’t owe us anything.  And for us to think He does is to walk in pride.  To often we get caught up in our situation and what going on around us and how it is affecting us that we lose sight of  Him.  That whole “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..” thing,  and the one about ” Let us fix our eyes on Jesus….”  It’s all is about Him.  Not us and whats going on with us.  HE doesn’t really care, He cares about the heart.  He has no problem taking us through hellaous circumstances just to get our attention and say “Hey, look at Me, it’s about Me.” 
Man, Father has just exploded this in me last night and it carried on into this morning.  Part of me thought, is it just for me, and He said “No, post it” .  So….. 

I regularly hear people (God’s people) talking about how bad their circumstance is, and God needs to hurry up, or just tell me what to do to fix it, or I’m just ready to be done.  It’s always an attitude of, I can’t take any more of this heat God so you need to make everything better.  NO, He doesn’t, it’s when we get to that point that we can actually start to become teachable.  But only if we don’t give up.  Chandler nailed it in his post about “The wind and the waves”.  God didn’t care about the storm,  He created it.  He’s not going to be scared of, or worry about something He created.  The whole time He was looking at the disciples (and seeing that their faith was lacking), He allowed the storm to teach them something.  Well He does the same thing with us.  I have heard it said that if there are problems in your life or things that aren’t prosperous or not going good, then you must have been in sin, or God is punishing you. NO, not true.  There are times where our sins will lead to problems in our life, however God’s is still using those problems to root out the sin in our lives.  No matter what, HE is always using our situations to change/grow/stretch our heart/faith, and therefore doesn’t care a whole lot about the situation.  He just cares about what other impurities/crap are in the heart that He can get out.  Why, to draw us closer to Him, to make us more like Christ.  God knows the situations going on in our life, He allowed them to happen, so why do we keep asking Him to stop them.  If He does and our heart wasn’t changed, then it just going to happen again.  Because it’s not about us being happy, comfy, cozy.  James, 1:2, Count it all joy.  That scripture means just that. Count it ALL joy.  In these hard times, HE is making us look more like Jesus.  IF,IF we let Him, and not do everything we can to change the situation just so it’s over. 
Just imagine if the disciples had used their authority and faith to calm the storm or to just not even be bothered by it.  Maybe they all would have got to walk on water.  Or if there wasn’t a storm at all, and they just walked around the lake/sea, then they never would have had the testimony of when Jesus and Peter walked on water and when Jesus spoke to the storm and it stopped.  It’s usually in the desperate times that God does amazing things, and if we didn’t go through it, then we would never see those things happen.  Our testimony would be lacking those amazing things, sure we would have other things to say like, “I have always had money and been blessed and I have never gone through hard times.” but really.. that probably won’t minister to many people, since they can’t relate to that. 
Well I’ll stop there.  I’ve got be honest and say that I don’t know exactly what I wrote here.  I was just listening and typing.  I’ll go back through it and read, just so I can get all that He want’s to show me.  I hope no one takes offense to whatever was written. If so, you’ll have to take to HIM about it.

Stretching the Truth

Have you ever told a story and embellished just a little to make it sound better?  You ever tell most of the truth becasue “what’s the difference?”  I certainly have done these things.  Abraham and Isaac did a bit of it, too. 

I was reading Genesis 27 this morning (Jacob takes Esau’s blessing) and have been having a hard time recociling in my mind Jacob’s deception.  Holy Spirit showed me that it isn’t that different from what his father and grandfather did.  So, like I mentioned in an earlier post, the sins of the father get carried down.  Abraham and Isaac both deceived others regarding their wives being their sister.  Look at the growth of the deception from generation to generation.  Abraham tells a “half truth” as Sarah was his half sister.  Isaac tells a full on lie as Rebekah isn’t his sister at all.  Then we move to Jacob.  He moves beyond lying about who someone else is and decides to lie about who he is.  The first two did it to save their butts and Jacob does it to get stuff.

I guess Dad is trying to show me that even the little things that I do and say matter.  The things I allow in my life today can manifest in bigger ways in my children.  My job is t protect them, not to set them up for failure or struggles.  I know I tend to stretch a story for no reason.  Whether we caught 5 fish or 4 doesn’t really make a difference to the story, but one would be a lie.  Interestingly enough, my sister told me this weekend that God is dealing with her on this matter.  She tends to embellish.  I wonder what the big man is up to.

Papa, please forgive me for the times I have stretched or ben the truth; the times I have lied.  I know that is not the man you have called me to be. You have called me to be a man of truth in the big stuff and the smal stuff.  You have called me to be a man of character and integrity, even when “it doesn’t matter”.  I repent of lying and ask that you keep all lies from my mouth.  Help me to stop in mid-sentence to ensure that I always speak the truth. Protect my children.  I cut of this sin, right now in Jesus name.  This ends with me and goes no further.  I love you, Daddy and I thank you for showing me these truths in your Word.