Joshua 7:10-11, [God said to Joshua], “Get up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned, they have violated my covenant…they have stolen and they have lied…That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies.”
God can do anything, but he will not align himself with sin, it is against his nature. I want to be a man completely devoted to Him and his purposes. I must devote myself completely to the ways of God. When Israel was divided (some were for God and some were for themselves – and thus against God), God stopped blessing and protecting them. I don’t want to be a divided man. My desire is to live for him 100% thus more and more sin must be removed from my actions.
I cannot do this alone.
In Joshua 7, Joshua needed God’s divine revelation to search out the sin in the camp and then they purged themselves of the wickedness. There is no difference for me. I must ask God to search out my heart, reveal the sin and confess it so I can be freed of it. There may be much more to fully getting free but if I continue to seek him I too will be victorious over my enemies.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Get the Full Inheritance
Joshua 17:17-18, “But Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh-"You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out."”
The Israelites never really moved into their full inheritance, I don’t want that to be the same with me. In some cases they got it but didn’t completely drive out the people, in other cases they didn’t get the land at all, and in some cases they just settled for the small they had.
God has a plan and an inheritance for me. He has an inheritance for me on this earth and one in heaven. If I want ALL he has for me, I have to exercise my faith in my actions. I’m going to have to sacrifice to get it, I’m going to have to pray, fast, memorize scripture, work hard, labor, have quiet times of silence before God, live as a servant in my house and many other things.
I do not know of one time in Scripture when someone is just sitting around waiting for God to do his will. This is not including the times when ONLY GOD can bring about the answer (Example: when the Assyrian army had surrounded Jerusalem and was going to destroy it but Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and God wiped out the attacking army.).
I want to lay hold of God’s kingdom in every way possible.
Matthew 11:12, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
The Israelites never really moved into their full inheritance, I don’t want that to be the same with me. In some cases they got it but didn’t completely drive out the people, in other cases they didn’t get the land at all, and in some cases they just settled for the small they had.
God has a plan and an inheritance for me. He has an inheritance for me on this earth and one in heaven. If I want ALL he has for me, I have to exercise my faith in my actions. I’m going to have to sacrifice to get it, I’m going to have to pray, fast, memorize scripture, work hard, labor, have quiet times of silence before God, live as a servant in my house and many other things.
I do not know of one time in Scripture when someone is just sitting around waiting for God to do his will. This is not including the times when ONLY GOD can bring about the answer (Example: when the Assyrian army had surrounded Jerusalem and was going to destroy it but Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and God wiped out the attacking army.).
I want to lay hold of God’s kingdom in every way possible.
Matthew 11:12, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
Friday, March 2, 2007
He can be counted on
In Christian-speak this would be translated, “He is faithful”. Before I get into the story I want to talk about that word, faithful. Dictionary.com defines it as (I like definition #2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faithful “true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.” and #3, “steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant”. I suppose until you actually EXPERIENCE his faithfulness you really don’t understand what it means. I used to hear people talk about it all the time in some esoteric sense… but now I get it.
Some common uses of faithful that help me grasp a better meaning of the word: faithful friends, faithful husband, and faithful worker/servant.
God is steady in his allegiance to me. He is always FOR me, even when bad things happen, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
He is true to his word, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Heb 13:4
He is loyal, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;” Isa 49:16
So the story begins. I call it a “God story”. I call lots of things “God stories” but they have one common thread to be given such a name: only God could do what was done.
Back in October, I found out my mother in law (who rents in town) was going to lose her place due to the owners selling it. My wife and I rent a two unit complex from the owners in Palo Alto, CA but have the benefit of living in the small unit and renting the large one, this saves us some money but about this time our 6 month old was making our one bedroom a bit cramped. My wife and I had been looking to move out of state (another story) but realized it was God’s best to stay here in SB so when this situation came up with April’s mom, it seemed a natural time to move into the big house. I prayed a lot about this decision (big decisions, no matter how “natural” take prayer) and felt confident it was the right choice so we made arrangements for the family in the main house to get another home. God quickly provided for them (they were Christians) and gave us an exit date. About that time my company told me my sales weren’t good enough and I was about to be out of a job.
Ahh, I see… new baby, more rent, and about to lose a good job in Santa Barbara. The God story was brewing. I knew that God knew my situation. He would have to provide. This is all nice on paper but at the time, I went though quite a crisis of faith. What did I really believe? Who was my real provider?
By Jan 1 my job was gone. I took the first week of the year to pray and fast and the hunt was on. It took me 2 more weeks to even get a temp job. Yikes, not to mention the temp job was paying about ¼ the amount of cash I needed to stay afloat. Wow, this was getting bad. On top of this, I felt God was leading away from sales (which pays the most money) and I was wondering how I was going to earn anything good in this town if I wasn’t doing sales!
Feb 5th I got a call from a company I never heard of asking me to interview for a job I’d not applied for. A friend referred me to a coworker who referred me to a sister company and one of the VP’s had called me. On the 7th, the day of my interview, I got a job offer from a different company which was much too low, but it was more than I was making doing temp work. I was stuck in a conundrum: do the best for my family and take the higher paying job (which was a type of sales position) or do the honorable thing and not take a job I would have to quit as soon as possible. I on the morning of the 8th, I called the company (not sure what would really happen with the interview on the 7th) and told them it wouldn’t be right for me to take the job since all I would be doing was wanting something else that paid more. They thanked me and 5 seconds after I hung up got the offer from my current employer: it was all the money I needed, and an offer of a big raise in 6 months (Which I did not ask for!).
Now that I’m working there, I love it. It’s a good company and just what I need to be doing right now: a good challenge.
The thing I kept clinging to was this: the story of when Jesus PUT the disciples in the boat and sent them across the sea of Galilee. In Mark it says he “saw them straining at the oars.” Jesus knew what was happening when he put them in the boat without him. He saw them in their situation and it was then he performed a miracle, he walked on the water to them. I needed that miracle in the midst of my storm and I needed him to walk on the water for me. And he did, he was faithful.
Some common uses of faithful that help me grasp a better meaning of the word: faithful friends, faithful husband, and faithful worker/servant.
God is steady in his allegiance to me. He is always FOR me, even when bad things happen, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
He is true to his word, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Heb 13:4
He is loyal, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;” Isa 49:16
So the story begins. I call it a “God story”. I call lots of things “God stories” but they have one common thread to be given such a name: only God could do what was done.
Back in October, I found out my mother in law (who rents in town) was going to lose her place due to the owners selling it. My wife and I rent a two unit complex from the owners in Palo Alto, CA but have the benefit of living in the small unit and renting the large one, this saves us some money but about this time our 6 month old was making our one bedroom a bit cramped. My wife and I had been looking to move out of state (another story) but realized it was God’s best to stay here in SB so when this situation came up with April’s mom, it seemed a natural time to move into the big house. I prayed a lot about this decision (big decisions, no matter how “natural” take prayer) and felt confident it was the right choice so we made arrangements for the family in the main house to get another home. God quickly provided for them (they were Christians) and gave us an exit date. About that time my company told me my sales weren’t good enough and I was about to be out of a job.
Ahh, I see… new baby, more rent, and about to lose a good job in Santa Barbara. The God story was brewing. I knew that God knew my situation. He would have to provide. This is all nice on paper but at the time, I went though quite a crisis of faith. What did I really believe? Who was my real provider?
By Jan 1 my job was gone. I took the first week of the year to pray and fast and the hunt was on. It took me 2 more weeks to even get a temp job. Yikes, not to mention the temp job was paying about ¼ the amount of cash I needed to stay afloat. Wow, this was getting bad. On top of this, I felt God was leading away from sales (which pays the most money) and I was wondering how I was going to earn anything good in this town if I wasn’t doing sales!
Feb 5th I got a call from a company I never heard of asking me to interview for a job I’d not applied for. A friend referred me to a coworker who referred me to a sister company and one of the VP’s had called me. On the 7th, the day of my interview, I got a job offer from a different company which was much too low, but it was more than I was making doing temp work. I was stuck in a conundrum: do the best for my family and take the higher paying job (which was a type of sales position) or do the honorable thing and not take a job I would have to quit as soon as possible. I on the morning of the 8th, I called the company (not sure what would really happen with the interview on the 7th) and told them it wouldn’t be right for me to take the job since all I would be doing was wanting something else that paid more. They thanked me and 5 seconds after I hung up got the offer from my current employer: it was all the money I needed, and an offer of a big raise in 6 months (Which I did not ask for!).
Now that I’m working there, I love it. It’s a good company and just what I need to be doing right now: a good challenge.
The thing I kept clinging to was this: the story of when Jesus PUT the disciples in the boat and sent them across the sea of Galilee. In Mark it says he “saw them straining at the oars.” Jesus knew what was happening when he put them in the boat without him. He saw them in their situation and it was then he performed a miracle, he walked on the water to them. I needed that miracle in the midst of my storm and I needed him to walk on the water for me. And he did, he was faithful.
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