There must come a time

There must come a time where I (we) stop telling the stories of other and we start living our own! Not that we would ever dare to stop telling the Gospel story, for that is where the power of God lies. This was the Apostle Paul’s legacy; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

Everything we do must revolve around the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! I have notice throughout scripture that the accounts of Godly men, often spoke about their exploits, even though they were intertwined with the accounts of others.

Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? It was Moses’ was it not? It most certainly was! And yet under the unction of God the Holy Spirit he pens many great accounts involving himself. God was please to record his faithfulness and to record it for us so that we can learn from his example. With the intent for us to now follow in his footsteps.

When we continually refer to others and their accomplishments I think it excuses us of similar exploits. We say he was a great man of God and we are just simple men; there is nothing we can do that can compare, really! Are we not covered by the blood of the Lamb, are we not the children of the living God? At the very least we have it in our power to close the door praying with humble intent, with faith in our God and saturated with hope. The Apostle James has this to say, pay careful attention to it; “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” (James 5:16-17)

We admire men and woman with penned stories of their great undertakings and we are impressed by them, it is time like never before to look at our own lives as we begin to model them after Godly men. We must become doers and not hearers only! “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22) - We must cry out to God for His favour in order to achieve exploits that will be well pleasing to Him, which in turn will bring Him honour and glory.

I’m tired of the negativity, the lack of faith I see ruling my world and people’s opinions that breed unbelief. What will please my heavenly Father? What will bring Him glory? What will silence the enemy? We have already proved from scripture what we could be doing to improve our relationship with our God and Father. My thoughts are drawn to Hebrews chapter 11. Faith in action is what is appreciated by God and we know that lukewarmness is frowned upon by the Lord; “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:16-19)

Money and our standing in the community is the enemy, it gives us a false sense of security! Chasing a dream of retirement on an Island and the like is also the enemy. We must repent from such mind-sets and begin to apply ourselves with zeal towards the light. Wherever we see His light (God’s instruction) let us learn to run to it and not from it. Forget the rationale of the mind and all its trappings. More often than not they are the enemies of the cross.  

What must we become in Christ? We must lose our lives in order to eventually find them! Do you see it? Is it beginning to resonate, God’s ways are different to the worlds traditions, when we learn to walk by faith trusting in Him, He will then reward us, not necessarily with money but with the fruits of the Spirit, which are; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25) – There is a new way of life for the Christian, why have we been so hoodwinked? The majority of us have got it wrong, God help us to see this clearly!

But before we make another mistake let us affirm the only reason we have been perceived by God is because we have been covered by the blood of the Lamb, we have been sanctified by what the Lord Jesus has done for us on an individual level. Salvation is all of God and it is a free gift! But because we have freely received we must begin to freely give to those in need. True Christianity is about laying down our lives for others and this must become a way of life for us all. I realise that this thought in itself can be daunting, it scares the living daylights out of me at times but I am convinced it is the way for the Christian. Our God will come alongside and supply all that is needed. Christianity is all about trusting God and we no longer have to implement our own to plans. When we put something else in place of faith, just in case it doesn’t pan out, we prove one thing, our unbelief!  

Why then are we still so caught up with our own lives? It is obvious we haven’t understood the call of salvation and the way of our Master. Bad teaching has played its role but we also have our own agendas that we continually contend with and this is why we keep rehashing the stories of others instead of writing our own stories whereby we glorify our God.

The writer of Hebrews pens stories about men and women who God honoured by mentioning them, some by name and others by deed. Nevertheless they pleased God; we must diligently begin to sanction that we live by faith. Forget the lies of this world and the opinions of the gainsayer. We must make it our goal to please our heavenly Father by trusting Him in every area of our lives and until this happens we will continue to feed that void in our lives. It is no more than unbelief, which feeds our anxiety!

Where must we start in rectifying that which the cankerworm has eaten? Firstly, let us dress for battle; let us put on the whole amour of God – read Ephesians chapter 6! How often have I put time aside to fast and pray? “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36-38) -Today may be a good day to start! We all have many unsaved members in our families and it may well be a worthy time like never before to start crying out to our God for their salvation!

Time is short and the curtain is drawing shut on those who will not respond to the free gift of salvation, but while we have breath there is still hope! When God shut the door to Noah’s Ark there was no more hope for those outside and they all drown!

Signing off

Tyrone