God's Greatest Desire

"One of the teachers of religious law... asked, 'Of all the commandments, which is the most important?' Jesus replied, 'The most important commandment is this: "Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." The second is equally important: "Love your neighbor as yourself." No other commandment is greater than these.'" (Mark 12:28-31)

Have you ever wondered what brings God the most pleasure? 

The out-flowing desire of a person who has been redeemed is to know what pleases Him. After all that He did for us in saving us from a life of sin and separation from God, and then eternity in hell still separated from God, it only makes sense to have so much gratitude in your heart that you want to do something for Him.

What do we do? I've seen many a Christian struggle to please God, struggle to do what they think might please Him, but they never sense His smile of pleasure on their lives, and they still feel far away from Him.

But God never saved us so that we can struggle through our life to please Him. Where in the bible does it say the whole point of His redemptive plan was for us to struggle through life trying to please Him?

According to the passage above, there is something far more important to God than being, as I heard one man put it, "human doings"...

 Loving God pleases God

Didn't He save you so that you could be reconciled to Him? You aren't just a slave -though that in and of itself is a pleasure- but a friend of God, a child of the King, a bride of the most perfect Bridegroom you can imagine, free to enter His presence with boldness, hear His voice, sit at His feet, watch Him work, a welcome member of His family.

The whole idea of the word reconcile is putting back together two lives that were separated by offense (sin). Who did the offending? You and I. Who did the reconciling? Jesus Christ! 

The greatest request He asks of us is simply, "love Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then love others the way you wished to be loved."

Loving God is more than just a feeling

The word for love in the Greek is love in its strongest form. It is an unconditional love, a love that you choose to do. It means that God will not always do what you expect or desire, but your love for Him does not die. It does not waiver, but it is a simple, trusting kind of love. You love Him for Him, not what He does. And that requires that we know Him.

How do we love Him?

1. With all your heart

    

     Heart: The central part of you. When you love Him, you love Him willingly and wholeheartedly. He becomes everything to you.

"Those who know God have great contentment in God." -J.I.Packer (Book, Knowing God) 

2. With all your soul

      Soul: The seat of your emotions, appetites, passions, desires, senses. When you love Him, your desires, passions, etc. become centered on Him. He's the reason you want what you want, your deepest pleasure are the things that bring Him pleasure.

"Those who know God show great boldness for God." -J.I.Packer (Book, Knowing God) 

3. With all your mind

     Mind: Deep thought, it's exercise -imagination, mind, understanding, thoughts, intellect. When you love Him, your thoughts reflect who He is, your imagination is not filled with images that displease Him, you think about His ways, His words, what He must think. "What is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable..." becomes the topics of thought. (Phil. 4:8)

"Those who know God have great thoughts of God." -J.I.Packer (Book, Knowing God) 

4. With all your strength

     Strength: Ability, might, power, strength of body and mind, mental and moral strength, energy. When you love God, everything you do is for Him, your morals, what you deem right and wrong, what you do is all for Him, and if it can't be done for Him, you don't do it. The focus becomes His glory.

"Those who know God have great energy for God." -J.I.Packer (Book, Knowing God) 

 Loving God means...

Everything I am and everything I do should be a reflection of as love for God that is deeply seated in my emotions, my will, my thoughts. My appetites, my desires, my secret longings -all should be for Him. My abilities should be used for Him, and if that's impossible, then I should not use them at all. My morals, my standards, my lifestyle, should all reflect who He is. What I do, how I do it, all my actions should be taken with a conscious awareness that He is watching me and with a desire to bring Him pleasure. What I think about, what I strive to know -yes, even that- should reflect Him in His glory. That love for God gets poured into the way I treat others, too. I start to treat them in the same way which I desire to be treated, with the same love I receive from God. In other words, it's all about HIM! 

...Do you live life that way? 

Where does it all start?

Simple. You won't love anyone you don't know. He wishes for you to be deeply acquainted with Him. He wishes to show you Himself. We need to approach Him as a sovereign and know that already He has done everything necessary for us to know Him: He's removed all offenses, forgiven all sin. All He wants now is that you know Him. 

He knows you and isn't ashamed to have you come close to Him! J.I.Packer, in his book, Knowing God, says this: 

"What matters supremely... is not...that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it -the fact that he knows me, I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters."

It all depends on Him. We can't love Him without knowing Him, without knowing He knows us, without knowing, ultimately, that He LOVES us! 

"We love Him, because He first loved us." -1 John 4:19

Where is your trust?

"How can I rest in You and be at peace when storms keep coming my way, God? It seems like every time I settle down another one comes and I'm on my feet again." That question was one that I asked God this morning.

Sometimes, I pull out my journal and instead of closing my eyes to pray, I write a prayer to God. Mainly because it is so hard to find the words when I'm just talking. At the end of the prayer, I closed the journal, opened my bible to Jeremiah and began to read. I began in chapter 16 and read through to 17.

A passage grabbed my attention that I had underlined in purple and gold on one or two of my previous read-through's.

"This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness in an uninhabited salty land." (Jer. 17:5)

Why do we have such a hard time being at rest when hard times happen? Here is what we tend to do with tough situations:
1. Putting your trust in man- Sometimes the first place you and I turn when things go wrong is another person. We run to a friend, mom or dad, sister or brother, someone we respect and trust, and ask for their advice. That is not a bad thing to do, but it shouldn't be the first thing we do!
2. Relying on human strength- Often, I find myself trying to be strong and last through a tough situation. I try to figure out what I can do, and then try to do it. Maybe its a problem I encounter that I think I have the ability to fix, or maybe I've already tried to fix it and it isn't working and I'm plain frustrated... But it's human strength I'm trusting in, not heavenly strength that comes from God.
3. Turning your heart away from the Lord- And then, after these two things don't work, the frustration mounts, and we blame God, and think that He could have been doing a better job, when all the while, we weren't even looking to Him to do anything at all about it!

The results are that we won't bear any fruit, we don't have any hope about the future, and our life loses it's true meaning.... Read the verse again. Could all of that be because God wished it upon us? No way! It is because we were basically cutting off the supply of help that He would've sent, had we done something very important...

"'But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." (Jer. 17:7-8)

What brings God's blessing?
1. Trusting in the Lord- Believing Him capable, seeing Him to be bigger than all of our circumstances, abandoning all other resources. He's at the center, before our eyes, and we trust Him, taking Him at His word, believing His promises.
2. Make the Lord our hope- It doesn't matter how hopeless life itself becomes, He is our hope. He stays and endures through every storm. We run to Him for solace, seeing Him as the Ray of Sunshine on a stormy day, the Anchor when waves beat upon us, the Fortress when enemy forces attack. He is our only hope of life and survival.
3. Make the Lord our confidence- He becomes the reason we take yet another step in life forward, upward, becoming more and more like Christ, on the offense against the enemy. We can keep walking, keep fighting, because He is our strength that holds us up, He is the one all our chance of victory depends on. Because of Him, we know we will win. It is no longer a mere possibility, but a promise of victory. He is our promise of victory!

...The result is that we are fruitful in every single circumstance. Life's ups and downs don't throw us off course, threats don't worry us. All because He becomes the reason we keep going, He becomes All!

But, Christian, so many of us try to look like we are doing that all the time, but God wants your HEART! The next couple of verses strongly state this:

"'The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.'" (Jer. 17:9-10)

Your outward appearance doesn't cut it with God! He searches our hearts, looking for right motives. Earnestly desiring that we love Him unreservedly. Because if we don't, when those trials and hard circumstances come, the first to go is that "good" appearance we had. Yes, your outward actions matter to God, but they don't always show what God sees. God sees all the time where our heart really is, and it's those hard times, those trials, those difficult storms, that reveal where our hearts really are.

Are we making the Lord our hope and confidence? Are we trusting only Him, abandoning all other resources? Is He your hope?

Give Him your all, worship Him alone, and you will find, as I have, that in Him is all the rest and peace we need for every circumstance. 

This Demands My All

As I sit here, preparing to write a post that I know I must write after praying and talking with God, I find that there is no adequate way to begin this. Let me just get to the point...

I have been reading in Jeremiah for the past couple of days and this morning was so struck by how hurt God must feel when His beloved people turn from Him to worship other "gods". Stick with me here... I imagine that most of you who call yourselves Christians probably read that sentence and said to yourself, "nope, that's not me. I haven't gone and worshiped another god." But let me keep writing about God's heart to you for a second and then I'll explain...

He's given so much -even the life of His own Son- because He loves us that much! He went out of His way to win us by dying a horrible death on that cross so that our sin can be removed, -and then we turn around and worship other "gods"? How much grief He must feel! How rightfully jealous He must be over His beloved! 

He is better than the best lover on the whole earth! He pursued us long before we ever even thought of Him. Even when we were His enemies, He sought to win us. Imagine that day when He payed the ultimate price -His own life- knowing that in doing so, He would win you and I to Himself to be His and His alone... His precious bride that He would live with for all of eternity. He arose victorious over the grave, knowing that in doing so He could give sinful humanity new life in Him...

And then that day came that you and I, dear Christian, received Him and became the bride of Christ. We became united with Him. He finally won the heart of His bride. What joy He had, what pleasure! Because in you and I receiving Him as our personal Savior, His purpose was being fulfilled. We became His! His heart's desire was fulfilled! 

But then, along comes that lie from Satan, "He can't really give you all the pleasure you want. He's not really enough." ...And how many there are of us that believe it! 

You might be thinking, "I know that I haven't believed that lie!" But let me challenge you, you may not remember Satan telling you that lie. You may not even remember the moment you believed it and thought those things to be true. But if you are chasing after something or someone other than God, you HAVE believed that lie! 

Look at your life, dear Christian! Are you satisfied? Do you find yourself wanting more and more in this life? Are you content where He has you? If everything you do have were taken away from you, and every person you thought loved you turned on you, would you still be satisfied in God alone? Can you picture yourself giving everything up for Him were He to ask you? Would you obey without a thought for your own life?

Do you feel like your life is being lived to the fullest right now? In Jeremiah 2:5, God says something very sad about His people, "'...They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves." Is your life "down in the dumps," so to speak? Maybe it's because you aren't worshiping God ALONE! According to that verse, you become like what you worship. 

If you worship God, His character will very evidently be seen in your life! 

But, can I be specific here? I hesitate because some of you will be offended at how specific I'm being. Let me do a bullet point list of some of the "idols" American Christians worship, ok?

• Rock stars/music -Those who worship this become sensual in their behavior and rebellious. I don't have time to get into why that is true, but this is something I've seen in the lives of people I've ministered to or come across in ministry.
• Movie stars/movies/TV/sports heroes -Those who worship this become lazy and live their lives to be entertained. Their ability to rationalize becomes tainted by fantasy. They start to imitate the movie stars/sports heroes they look up to.
• Appearance -Those who worship this are obsessed with diets, eating disorders, excessive exercise. They sink lots of money into their wardrobe, or their household items, cars, accessories, etc. (It may not be all of the above, but it ends up being at least one of them.) 
• Video games/fun/games/amusement/sports -Those who worship this live from one excursion to the next, or from one "high score" to the next. They have very little sense of purpose and don't live for anything beyond themselves.
• Friends/social life/social media/boyfriends/girlfriends -Those who worship this spend more time away from home or on social media than living real life. They are always concerned about what others think of them. Their joy and satisfaction comes when more friends come into their lives. Their happiness is completely dependent on what their friends think and what they are going to be doing with their friends.
• Religion/standards -Those who worship this care more about what they look like to others than what God sees in their heart. They are legalistic, and they tend to look "good". The only problem is, they are focused on performance and appearing holy to those around them, and sometimes even to God, but are fooling themselves, because God sees past their outward into their heart. 

...I could go on and write 10 times the size of this list. These are only a few compared to the many idols that Christians in America worship. These are maybe the top 6 that I can think of that I am finding extremely common among Christians. I'm not saying that all of those things are wrong, let that be between you and God if you should stop doing some of those things. But I am saying that these things listed above have a strong tendency to draw us away from what really matters to God.

Now, let's be honest here. Do you see the character of Christ lacking in your life? Do you see the fruit in your life that comes with worshiping something other than God? Is your life looking more like one of those "idols" than like Christ?

What pain we cause God when we start to look to those things to give us what ONLY HE can give! 

Something that really struck me in Jeremiah 3:19, was God passionately expressing His heart for His people that turned away from Him. He says this: "'I thought to myself, "I would love to treat you as my own children!" I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land -the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me "Father" and I wanted you never to turn from Me.'" 

Now I hope you are asking yourself, "What do I do?" as I did when I read these things...

Here is what God Himself says in Jeremiah 3:12-15: "...My faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against Him by worshiping idols... Confess that you refused to listen to My voice.... Return home... for I am your master.... And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding."

He wants you, dear Christian to be honest with Him about where you are! Don't run away from Him in shame! Approach Him and name those idols to Him. Tell Him you want to worship them no longer! Let Him take the place of "Master" in your life and guide you with knowledge and understanding. Let Him satisfy you! He loves you and wants you. 

He has never left you and never will. Ah, but let us not take advantage, for in doing so, we grieve His Spirit! Let us set aside our fleshly desires -die to ourselves- and make Christ our ALL! He deserves it, for He died for you, and this demands our all! 

"...For Life and Godliness..."

This morning, I was spending my time alone with the Lord, and asked Him, "where do you want me to spend this time?" I had been meditating on 1 Peter, but for some reason found myself in the first chapter of 2 Peter. I got stuck on verse 3 and couldn't seem to leave it to read the rest. I took out my pen and began to write one phrase at a time...

"According as His divine power..." 

It is God, not man, that has all the power that we need. It's all about Him and what He can do. His power is divine. Nowhere else but in Him can we find it.

"...hath given unto us..."

This divinely powerful God reached down from the heights of heaven and gave something to man. It was something that already happened -a one time transaction. This divine miracle takes place in every life that receives Christ by faith. What did He give?

"...all things that pertain unto life and godliness..."

That "lack" we often find in ourselves -that inability to live right with God 100% of the time- is not God's fault. According to this phrase in scripture (God Himself said it!), we already have everything -all the tools we need- to live our lives in a godly way. We have it. He has already given us everything we need. It's ours, at our fingertips. And if you're not living a godly life it isn't because God forgot to give you what you need, it's because you're not using the resources He's given you! But how do we use them?

"...through the knowledge of Him..." 

You can't expect to know how to use His tools without knowing the One who made them! So many Christians get this backwards. I've heard so many Christians use the word "try" when it comes to doing a "better job" in their walk. We "try" to act godly, we "try" to have better lifestyles. But, Christian, can I ask you a question? 

...Where is God in all of your "trying"? Who gets the glory if you succeed (which you won't truly succeed if you're just "trying")? 

As a dad teaches a son, God wants to teach us to see life as He sees it.

The key to success in your Christian walk is NOT trying! It's knowing God and walking with Him! I don't mean knowing about Him. I know about a lot of people. But then there are a select few that I know inside out, and they know me that way too. We are real with each other. We know each other's secrets. That is the way it's supposed to be with God! Are you real with Him? Have you ever let Him get real with you? He wants to let you see what He sees when He looks at your life and what He thinks! You can't successfully live your Christian life if you're not getting to know the One who designed the tools you are supposed to be using.

And then as you get to know Him, He empowers you to live your life according to HIS calling for you. What is that calling?

"...that hath called us to glory and virtue." 

We tend to think of all the things we were "meant to" do or be, when it plainly says He's called us to glory and virtue! What glory is it talking about? His or ours? Certainly not ours! We don't have any to talk about! It's His. And He wants His glory to rest on our lives -that glory that comes when we let His face shine on us- as it did on Moses' face when He came down from the mountain where He spoke face to face with God. And where does that virtue come from? Jesus Christ! It is His character God wants to shape our lives after. He is meek, humble, selfless, tenderhearted, just, gentle, and I could go on! His whole life was lived for the glory of the Father. We should seek to be like Him. 

...After reading this verse and meditating on it, I know that I know that I KNOW that CHRIST -knowing Him personally, letting HIM be your greatest Influencer (I think I just made up a word! :) ), letting HIS heart for you be your motivation for life and godliness- is the only Way to be the kind of Christian we are meant to be! Seek Him, seek to know the Father who sent Him, and let Him influence how you live by the power of His Spirit! 

It's Just Too Hard!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Gal. 5: 22-23)

I should just leave those verses there and hope that a passerby reader might stop and ponder those words for a few moments.

Recently, I was pondering Colossians 1:11 where it says in the middle of a long prayer, "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." I had just failed again getting frustrated at a situation that was going on, and went to pray about it when this verse came to mind. One phrase reverberated in my mind: "Patience...with joyfulness." God was telling me, When your patience is being stretched, you're supposed to be joyful about it... 

What? How is that even possible? I'm sorry, but having your patience being stretched out beyond what you are used to is just too hard! Ever thought that way? Ever told God, "this is way to hard! Why are You making me go through this?"

I mean, think about it, when something pushes your button -maybe someone cut you off while driving, maybe someone called you a mean name or criticized you for the way you did something, or maybe you're just being made to wait on someone, or on God's perfect timing for something- what is your first response? Not joy! (Unless you're some kind of superhuman.)

So, as I was meditating on that simple little phrase, "Patience... with joyfulness," it suddenly hit me that those are two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit! You can't have patience, and you definitely can't have joy in your patience, without walking in the Spirit. He produces that patience and joyfulness that we need for those situations when we are under His control, walking in complete surrender to Him.

Do you live under His control? Walking in the Spirit should be like breathing. You really won't be able to live your Christian life to the fullest without the Spirit being in control moment by moment, just like you really can't live physically without air. Don't expect to be able to produce that fruit without every moment depending on Him!

Just one more thought that hit me... Why would those things be the fruit that comes from the Spirit? Because those are characteristics of who He is! God would not tell us to let Him influence us to have love, joy, peace, patience, etc. pouring out of our lives unless the influence is from One that does those exact same things.

Get to know Him, dear Christian and let Him impact your life to make you that patient, loving, joyful, etc. Christian that you are meant to be. :)

A Secret Weapon

As I sit here, getting ready to share with you the biggest thing God has been doing in my life lately, I must start by being real. It is so easy to sit back on a morning when I feel no battles, no struggles and just live like I don't think I need God. Other days its so easy to worry about life and think about every detail of everything and wonder if it's going to be ok. Still other days, I find myself listening to Satan’s lies and believing him even though I know they aren’t true.

Do you find yourself doing those things too? Why does Satan lie to us? Why is it that life seems"easy" one day, and then the next is the hardest ever? Let me help you out with this… It’s simple, really. He wants so badly to get your eyes off of the eternal One and onto your own temporary life, which will be so quick to end. He wants you to think that this life matters way more than the next. That you are of first importance. He wants you to forget that your life is over in a moment, and if you’ve done nothing but live for you, you’ll have no crown to cast down at the feet of the King of Kings, no reward or trophy to give to Him in worship before a mighty throng. He wants you to forget all of that. He wants you to live for the here and now, so that you will be cheated of a reward in heaven that could be great.

Has he succeeded? That is something you know the answer to better than I do.

Some of you are probably feeling discouraged. Some of you are riding on a high of “everything is going well.” Some of you feel like giving up on your walk altogether. Some of you are walking with Jesus at this very moment. And that is all part of the Christian life. We all go through each of the seasons I just mentioned! I’ve gone through every one of those many times.

Let me tell you of a key to lift you when you're down, a key to help you stay close to Jesus, a key to encourage you to NOT give up. The key is something you wouldn’t naturally think of to do. It’s something you and I don’t naturally even want to do. But it’s simple and it takes faith. The key is praise.

Recently, I had just come home from teaching a lesson, and got down on my knees to pray. My mind was swirling with all kind of things that I knew needed to end up at the feet of Jesus and out of my hands. I was discouraged, I was distracted with life, and my eyes were not where God intends them to be- on Him.

I began to pray and ask God’s Spirit for help, and He whispered, “praise God.” I was silent for a while, trying to think of things to praise God for. As things came to mind, I praised Him. “Oh, God, you are holy. You are the Creator of the Heavens and the earth. At Your glance the earth trembles, at your touch the mountains smoke. You know the number of stars in the heavens. You are so great, yet somehow You love me….”

On and on I went until a peace washed over me. Why did a peace wash over me? My focus shifted from someone who cannot be depended upon to get things done and to do everything right (AKA me) to the only Person in the whole universe that CAN!

If you read through the Psalms, you would see how often the Psalmist emphasizes the need for praise. He talks about entering God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise. (Ps. 100:4) He encourages those who fear God to praise Him! (Ps. 22:23) If you are seeking Him, you’ll be praising Him too. (Ps. 22:26)

Hebrews 13:15 says this: “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.”

Praise is a choice you and I must make every day to lift our eyes and our hearts up to God, to look into the realms of heaven where He is seated on His throne, even when we are all out of feelings. It is when you choose to use your mouth to adore Him. It is not because God needs it, it is because YOU do!

God won't fall out of the sky if you and I don't praise Him. God won't have a pity party and start thinking He must not be so great because nobody has told Him He is great. That is not why we need to praise God. Yes, ultimately God will get the glory and His name will be magnified in ways we do not expect when we praise Him. But the reason you and I need to do it is for our own good.

You see, we are in a battle... Our victory is dependent on how much we have confidence in our Commander in Chief. If we forget how awesome He is, how powerful He is, how capable He is of handling our lives, how in control He is of our "out-of-control" lives, how already He has won the battle that is raging constantly, how His voice alone can do powerful things -He needs only speak the word and it is done, how incredibly loving He is of our unlovable selves, how merciful He is even though we make so  many mistakes... (and I could go on!) ...don't you think if we don't keep that in mind every day, we will put our weapons down and surrender to our enemy, we will give up before we've hardly even begun?

That's why you and I DESPERATELY need to praise Him! We can't afford not to! We can't afford to go one day without praising His name! It is a secret weapon and Satan hates it when we use it.

Do you want to be a man or woman after God's own heart? David got that privilege. God Himself called David a man after His own heart. What do you think the key was? He was constantly turning His heart to God! In the Psalms, you can see how David is constantly pouring His heart out to God, and always ends up praising Him. I truly believe that there is no coincidence there.

How can you be a man or woman after God's own heart if you don't adore God for who He is?

It's impossible! The two are inseparable. You will become like the one you worship. It's true. Look around you at the world. They worship their "idols": rock stars, movie stars, anyone who's famous, and then start trying to look like them.

That is how we should be with our amazing God. No, not trying to be God, but letting our heart become a reflection of who He is because we worship Him.

Look at what happens when we worship God: "Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in light of Your presence, Lord. They rejoice all day long in Your wonderful reputation. They exult in Your righteousness. You are their glorious strength." (Psalm 89:15-17)

When we truly worship God -which calls for a heart that adores Him, not just a mouth that's willing to say whatever- we will walk in His presence and rejoice in Him all day long! That's not something that should only happen sometimes, that's something God has given us the privilege of taking part in every day, should we choose to do so!

Oh, Christian, we can't afford to go without praising Him! Turn your heart and your eyes onto Jesus in praise! It is a secret weapon that we must use every single day to fight off Satan's many attempts to discourage us or to make us forget what really matters! And it works! When all is going well, praise God. When all is not going well, -yes, even then- praise Him.

"Nope, Not Gonna Do It!"

Have you ever said that to God?

What I am about to write about, I write only because God is telling me to. This is an area that I still have a long way grow in, so as I share, please don't think that I am speaking as one who's already learned it. Understand that I am on this journey too, so as I put some words onto this screen that are going to be somewhat hard to take in, it is for my benefit, as well as yours.

A couple of months ago I went on a mission trip to Central America. I believe that God had me on this trip to answer a prayer of mine that I had been praying for several weeks: "God, impact my life so that my life will impact others!" I found out soon enough that God didn't have me there so that I could have an impact (although I did have the pleasure of being used by Him), but so that He could impact me.

While I was there, I had the pleasure of working with a missionary who had a passion for God unlike anything I'd seen before. He had the boldness to speak into the lives of the people on the team, including mine, about things that made us uncomfortable.

On one day in particular, he spoke to us about obedience. And he said something that really convicted me. "You know why we disobey God? We disobey Him all for the sake of staying comfortable."

God pointed out one thing in particular that had been on my mind for a long time. It was this area of baptism. (Which is a whole other subject I'll have to write about sometime...) :) I was saying no up until that moment. I started wrestling with God, saying I didn't want to obey Him in this particular area because it could be embarrassing.

As I was arguing with God about it, He said something very sobering, something that completely caught me off guard. "You are willing to obey me in anything but this. But I can't use you if you say no to me." As the story goes, I did end up obeying God and experienced the blessing that came with it.

But let me ask a question... Why can't God use you if you are saying no to Him?

Well, the first answer is obvious. God uses people when they do His will, plain and simple. His will is that our lives are a display of who He is and draw others to Him. So if you are saying no to Him, then you are saying no to His will. And how can He use someone like that?

My next answer is a lot more sobering than the first one... I just read it this morning, and as I did, my heart cried out to God for forgiveness for the many times I've said no to Him.

Ephesians 2:2 says this: "You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil -the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God."

So the second reason God can't use you is that, by saying no to God, you are saying yes to Satan. And the bible clearly states that you can't serve two masters! Let that sink in for a moment.

What areas have you said no to God? Oh, I'm not just talking about the big things, either! Some Christians who are really passionate about the work of God step out and do great works in public, but then, behind closed doors at home, secretly do things they know God has explicitly said for them not to do.

Or maybe it is as simple as going back and making something right with someone you've hurt. It could be that God's Spirit told you to get out of bed this morning to spend time with Him, and you said, "No, I'd rather be sleeping right now." Or maybe He wanted you to stop whatever you are doing to "give a cup of cold water to one of the least of these My followers"  (Mt 10:42), and to that you said, "no, I'm too busy." Or maybe, like me, its this area of baptism.

But have you ever thought that every time you say no to God, you are giving Satan room to work in your heart? Do you want that?

Samuel told Saul, "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft..." (1 Sam 15:23) The minute you say no to God, that is acting contrary to His will. And the moment you do that, you open the door wide to Satan and in effect are saying, "Come on in!"

What a sobering thought! I don't know about you, but the thought of having someone who hates my God and hates me working in my heart doesn't sit well. Oh, Christian, be so careful that you never say no to God!

Our hearts should be in a constant attitude of surrender to Christ. We should be "followers of Christ", which means that we shouldn't just name our name with His, but let Him be the ULTIMATE influence on your life. Everything He says goes. Everything He does we imitate. Everything He beckons us to do, we do.

Oh, how God has been hammering this into me! A song that brought me to tears during my time in Central America was the last verse of "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus." The words of the song include these two phrases: "Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back."

What if you are the only one in your family that spends time alone with God because He's asked you to? What if you are the only one that actually wants to serve God? What if you are the only one who gets down and gets your hands in the dirt in order to serve because God has said for you to? Or what if God has given you some mission that it seems no one else in the world is called to?

The comforting truth that I find over and over again in the book of Ephesians is this: We have been united with Christ. Ephesians 2:4 says this: "For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus." 

That means that He will NEVER leave your side. He does not command us to do things that He Himself would not do. When He beckons you to do something, He leads you into it, which means HE is the first one that steps into that unknown territory!

All over the book of Ephesians it talks about how you and I are IN Christ, we are ONE with Him, we are UNITED with Him. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, by default, you have become a part of Him, never to be saparated again! He completes you. He seals you with His Spirit.

Do you believe that? Then step into obedience. Don't sacrifice your potential to Satan who hates you! Don't do that! Give it all to God. Die daily to your self and choose the life Christ calls you to! Be faithful in the little things, not just the big ones.

Everything matters to Christ. When you do dishes for Jesus instead of because you have to, that matters to Him. When you encourage a brother or sister in Christ out of love for Jesus, that matters to Him. When you share your faith with a lost person, that matters to Him! It all matters in the end.

But, here's when it gets dangerous: Crossing the line into legalsim. If we focus on obedience, rather than the One we are obeying, it's rubbish. When we obey the law, and not the Lawgiver, its worthless. When we are serving out of duty and not because we are grateful to Christ for everything He's done and we love Him so much, it's worthless!

That's why we MUST be followers of CHRIST! We must seek to know HIM before we seek to know His will.

It's all about being with Christ. Galatians 2:20 says this: "My old self is crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

That sounds like a relationship, NOT a drudgery. He's dead to himself because Christ loves him so much that he can just trust Him with everything. See how that works?

Go to Christ and let Him be the one who influences EVERY aspect of your life. You will not be disappointed, because He promises that His followers will produce fruit! (John 15)

Every day we have this choice to obey God or to say no to Him. And there will be times when you and I fail. But don't let your mistakes be an excuse to stop following hard after Christ. Rather let them be what drives you to Him. He is our only hope, dear Christian, because it is His work on the cross and the grace of God that enables us to do what we cannot otherwise do!