This
morning I have had varying densities of thoughts moving through my mind. It
amazes me how often my mind travels to the material concerns I face each and
every day and then I am reminded that “if God is for me who can be against me”.
However I am sadly a man that needs to combat “unbelief” in this area of my
life. But I certainly understand that this is the area that needs
strengthening. My prayer is that God would be glorified in and through my tussle.
The comfort of a steady income is something I hanker for, but it has eluded me
for some time. And then I am reminded that God cares for those who belong to
him and all those who have His Spirit. God’s elect will never beg bread. This
then is the lesson that must become cemented into my mind. In hindsight and
through the throes of life I have been taught this lesson over and over again. Without
having to depend upon the Lord for my daily bread is a place I would never want
to find myself. There will come a day when the nagging voice of unbelief will
have run its course, but until that day arrives we must all learn to walk by
faith.
Consistency
is the key to our success. Over the past two years I have had a number of
pullets (chickens) and even they like uniformity. Give them variation and they
will very quickly prove that they are not to be messed with. After a constant
supply of laying pellets I decided to try and save some money and feed them
rice, and mealie meal (cooked maize) and within a few days they no longer were
laying any eggs. From thirty eggs a day to zero was the lesson. I have
subsequently put them back onto the original diet and they are yet to lay any
eggs. But I am hopeful that they will soon begin to produce what they once did.
If not all they may be good for is the pot.
The
Word of God sustains all of creation. The rain falls at God’s command and then
the grass grows. It is God who gives the increase and not our cunning schemes.
We like to believe that we are in control, but who can add a single inch to
their stature? It is obvious that we will find ourselves in one of two camps,
Independence or Dependence upon God at His Word. I have by the grace of God
seen enough in my life to understand that it is God who decides the fate of all
things, including the outcome to our lives. You needn’t look further than the
children of Israel and their journey through the Wilderness to understand the
importance of our faith towards God. Even though we play our part in receiving
His blessings we must learn to rely on Him at all costs. One may ask how am I
able to reconcile the two variables, dependency upon Him and playing our part.
It is rather simple, when God speaks, obey! We must bare our hearts to Him, it
is imperative that we cry to our God and Father, the only true God that cares
for His children. Where it often becomes clouded is for us to learn to tell the
difference between our needs and our wants. Our wants are often our enemy as
they hinder our growth in Him.
There
is another truth that needs understanding for obedience to work itself out,
which is; “I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through
the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:20-21) – This is where the rubber
hits the road hardest for all who desire to live Godly in the finished work of
Calvary. The Apostle Paul was once Saul, a man obsessed with the first
covenant, a law according to works but now saved into a better covenant, the second
agreement which now abolished the first; Jesus having paid the price for sin
once and for all. This is a truth that Paul was not taught by some institution
but he received it directly from God. – “For I would have you
know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it
through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12)
– However all that which he had become through his lifetime was now shattered
and he now knew that he needed to realign his thinking and put the “Old man”
down. I wonder how many times after the call, from the time of his conversion,
did he have to remind himself that he had now been crucified with Christ and
had been called to die with Christ? A man that God used mightily way back then
and yet he still speaks as he penned most of the New Testament. And just as he
had to learn to live by faith and not by his application to the law, so too
must we learn to follow suit.
It is imperative for us to understand this call
and to die to our old natures. If not we will continue to make the same
mistakes over and over again just like the children of Israel as they journeyed
through the Wilderness for forty years instead of a couple of months and sadly
with most of them not entering the Promised Land. We have been called to die
with Christ! It is no longer about our want but about His will for our lives; “And
those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires.” (Galatians
5:24)
We must learn to take up
our cross and follow Him. Every Child of God has the potential to accomplish
this quest in and through the grace of God which is readily available for all
who come to the “throne of grace” with confidence as we learn to draw from it
in time of need. God give us the resolve to live at the feet of Jesus, Amen and
Amen!
Signing off
Tyrone
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