Okay, get a drink or a snack this is going to take a few minutes..... :)
But, this is a big revelation that I learned and it changed my life! Many ask about Depression and other issues and there are many solutions in the "world" but many are very costly and are not solutions they are bandaids and some are just exchanges for other issues. The only thing I found that helped was going back to the drawing board and fixing my foundation. There is one way!! JESUS, and that is the answer to any question. There are many ways to say it. What can make a person cleaned, healed and complete (Nothing but the blood of JESUS).
Lately there has been alot of talking about what makes a person a christian. (CHOICE) What makes a church minister? (Obedience and Honoring God's leading)Expectations of people in need to be ministered to by others, and especially the church. What is expected of people who have been ministered to? How can you minister to others when you can barely lift your head and take care of your family and/or yourself? (Because you are strengthened by Christ, who is in you; and you are sharing the burden with Christ, like a team of oxen with a yoke){If you choose to accept His invitation to allow him to carry your burdens in several scripture, and you renew your mind} Christ tells us that if He brings us to something, He plans on bringing us through it!! AMEN..
Well talk is cheap, unless it is about you and its TRUE!!! and all talk and no action is just noise.
Our walk with Christ is to be personal first. Read Genesis and see how Adam talked with God and God spoke to Adam, before He gave him Eve. And then they CONTINUED their relationship, but now God also talked to Eve. Look at the other "gifts" they received. Eve was given the gift of having Adam to share his knowledge of God with her since he had KNOWN him longer. Knowledge is just not to puff you up and to dangle in front of others to make yourself look superior. If you KNOW it, you should be able to SHOW it! If you are unwilling to share your knowledge, you may have a pride issue, as that knowledge was a gift from God, it was not because your brain is bigger or faster than someone elses. God REVEALED that information to you for a reason that will help others.
If we think about the Bible like a parachutte, it really makes this pretty clear. Para is where we get our words preparation from.
The Bible helps us prepare for......... what God has planned for us to do. Your gifts and talents are to equipped you to be..(famous and worshipped??) I hope not the only one that is designed to be worshipped is God. When are designed to guide people to the father. That is what Jesus did, "I am doing my fathers work". He talked and taught everyone that wanted to know, Samaritans, Tax collectors, adultresses, Jews, gentiles, whoever would listen and choose to submit to the Fathers Will.
How smart would you look jumping out of the airplane with your parachutte closed??? Saying to yourself, "Oh, it is easy to put up, and I have heard how to do it, I will wait til I get a little closer to the ground and really need it." Well, what if it does not open, and you need the back up, if you wait to long you won't have enough time. Most people would check their chute before they board the plane. As soon as they jump from the plane you begin working with your shoot and you have learned how it works which strings do what. You do not wait to "figure it out when you need it".
I think of my Bible in much the same way. I want to know all there is to know about this awesome book that contains the words my Lord and Savior actually spoke to people who were inspired to write them. Peter was a real person, one with some issues in his personality and seems to struggle with pride a bit. But, he walked with Jesus!! Man I want to know everything I can learn about Peter, so when he writes about Jesus I can see him as if I were looking through Peter's eyes. You do not get that clarity without studying. You can spend years studying all the biblical languages, translation, history and all the related things to truly understand the things that are written in the Bible. Or, you can pray and have God reveal the things you need to focus on and learn to be prepared for you life. For him to bring people into your life to teach you, challenge you, and prepare you to know Him more and to truly understand what you are reading and how to apply it to your life. It is not good for man to be alone, I think God meant that for more than just why he gave Adam a help meet. I think that is why he calls us to work together with other believers. Churches are usually gatherings of like minded believers to minister and work in the work of the Lord. Churches can be like a parachute that is left uninflated too. All the people working in one direction, can make the "CHURCH" successful and available for those who need Christ to run in like a fortress. Those that are using their Bibles and eating at the banquet table of the Lord and are regularly speaking with their Lord and Savior, receiving the love and encouragment that they need are then equipped to help others. A full functioning church looks like the parachuttes we had in school.
We raise our hand to the Lord and praise Him and in doing that we make a place for people to come and find the Lord. We do not have to go drag them in. We do not have to promise them temporal sollutions to their problems. When they truly want the Lord, they know who has him, and where the churchs that look like the inflated parachutte, welcoming them in. But, remember doing the parachutte, you do not stay in the center, you come in, enjoy the air a couple of times and then you find a place along the edge to help raise and lower the parachutte for others. If you are having trouble raising and lowering the parachutte the others there will help you. But, you have to tell them you need help and that you want them to help you.
It is the same way with the Church, You have to tell people that you are in need, they are busy focusing on those running into the parachutte and in praising God, talking to Him and listening to Him talk to them. Be willing to pray about the situation first, and wait on the Lord to direct the steps to talk. Talking to God and asking Him to reveal what you really need is the best way, in many situations something spiritual is at the root of the issue. We are to be looking to God for our sustaining, not our spouses, family, friends, even the Church is not always the source of our assistance. Many Biblical Christian Counselors will point you to scriptures as part of their therapy. They are able to give convential methods too, but when you really need a localized connection to the Lord it is a good, safe and confidential way to gain the renewed perspective and direction you need without having to become vulnerable to strangers. Sometimes the trial is going to be used to teach and purify us. We usually are not willing to wait, we want to know, we want control but God is in Control and we must learn to wait on Him and then look for your comfort to come, you may be surprised who he sends with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
If you are needing, or wanting to KNOW the Lord, or needing or wanting to talk and hear the Lord talk to you. Stop what you are doing and pray right now. If you are part of a church, take a step in Faith and talk to someone there, or email me or post a comment here and I will help you get your parachute open and work to find a group in which you can join in and see others coming to find the Lord, and enjoy hollering WHOA HOO!!! This is what life is all about.. Sharing the awesome Lord and Savior that can heal, comfort, change, renew, inspire and will some day be coming to collect His believers!!!
I want to be in that number, when the roll is called up yonder!! Don't you???
Our First Coffee Break Service in the Refinery at Faith Baptist Church, Youngsville, NC
