Praise the Lord we are still standing! For the past several months I've been growing in grace with an amazing group of women. Our journey has taken us through a spiritual warfare study. It was not the typical Ephesians 6:10, put on the whole armor lesson; instead, we learned to wage war daily against the ungodly attitudes that rise up in us. Whew, this has been a challenging and convicting leg of the journey. Our study concluding in Matthew 5, The Beatitudes. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying...blessed are... ( Matt 5:1-2). At this point in His ministry, Jesus had reached the pinnacle of His popularity. The setting for the sermon On The Mount is a hillside near Capernaum, and took place over a course of several days in front of a growing crowd. So as Jesus started His discourse, He began to describe the characteristics of people who belong to the kingdom of heaven, answering the question who on earth are we? Or better yet, Who are earth should we be? It is clear to me that if today Jesus were to post the Beatitudes on Instagram and FB, the likes would be few and the follows even less. But we should not be surprised because, Jesus was radical in His thinking. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts - Is 55:8-9. He makes it clear that as believers who we should be on earth are not people whose primary pursuit is power, popularity, prominence, or prosperity. The blessed life He describes has nothing at all to do with any of the aforementioned things. This blessed life He describes is a spiritual state of being filled with such an abundance of joy, peace, comfort and intimacy with Him it surpasses what was normally attributed to any human experience. Interested in living that kind of blessed life? Journey with us over the course of the next few posts to discover, how to live that blessed life and to discover who on earth we should be as we examine the Beatitudes. desiring to live the blessed life, Diane I am so glad we are still on our way to becoming the people of God that He has called us to be, created for His glory. We are all a work in progress (Being confident of this very thing , that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ - Phil 2:6). Sometimes, however, along the way we lose perspective, making choices, allowing things and personal pursuits to hinder our efforts to live out our divine purpose. We have to be reminded: we didn't choose the Lord, He chose us. We were chosen by Him for divine and eternal purposes, not for our own agenda ( Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain - St. John 15:16) and (According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love - Eph 1:4). God has not only chosen us but He has set us apart, and continues to set us apart from the mundane, the ordinary and temporary things that have been consuming us in order to produce through us things that have eternal value. Because He has ordained us to bear fruit, we should not be surprised when frustration with the material life sets in, or when the voids and vacuums in our lives can't seemed to be filled by the very things we have pursued. He is in the process of chiseling us, crafting us into vessels fit for His use (But now O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou our Potter, and we are the work of thy hand - Is 64:8). When the chiseling gets uncomfortable, and it will get uncomfortable as God uses difficulty to build character into our lives, just know that we are in the hands of The Divine Artist who is in the process of creating masterpieces to portray His glory (For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them - Eph 2:10) and ( He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold - Job 23:10). We have been chosen for this journey. We will be chiseled through our circumstances. We are being crafting into masterpieces - portraits of His glory. On our way together, Diane p.s. this week spend some time meditating on St. John 15:16 and consider the implications this verse has on your life. Being chiseled? Be encouraged, the Divine Artist is creating a masterpiece, and you shall come forth as gold! Enjoying the journey? Invite a friend to join you. Just joining us, read previous post to catch up. Subscribing helps you keep pace. Distraction, discouragement and doubt meets us all at some point along the way. Although we have not turned back, we certainly have been tempted at times to give up. Remember we are on this journey not just to make it in, but rather to live out the purpose for which we were created (just for His glory) and to experience the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10). The enemy's job ( and we do have a spiritual enemy - named Satan) is to discourage our faith, rob us of our joy and to destroy our testimony. That's why we must keep our focus (...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith - Heb 12:1b-2a). We are encouraged to remain determined to keep going even when we feel like giving up. Yes this faith journey, and specifically the track we have chosen is demanding, and may seem impossible, that's why we must keep looking to Jesus. Our eyes must be fixed on Him (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth - Ps 121:1-2). The moment we take our eyes off of Him and begin to focus on our feelings we are destined for trouble. If we are truly going to live for His glory, our faith in who He is and what He is able to do in us, for us and through us must supersede our feelings. This kind of faith is radical yet practical. It's the kind of faith that requires us to fix our eyes on Jesus and challenges us to stop operating based upon how we feel or what we think; instead, we are challenged to respond to life's situations based upon His promises and His principles (Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thine ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths - Pro 3:5-6). In other words, we no longer say or do things just because we feel some kind of way, but we look to Jesus the Author and the Finisher of our faith for His wisdom, His perspective, His way and His words. Did I mention that this journey gets difficult and would challenge us to change? Will you stay the course? I pray you will. How can we keep our eyes fixed on Him even in the midst of difficulty? We have to learn to call on His name. Truly there is power in the name of Jesus so say the name! Get comfortable calling on His name. When you are confronted with drama, anxious about anything, frustrated with everything, or irritated about something, fix your eyes on Him and say the name. Traveling with you, Diane P.S. practice calling on His name this week when you are faced with difficulty, frustration, or irritation before you react. #Say the Name Just joining us? Check previous posts to catch up, and if you have not done so already, please subscribe to keep pace. Yes, every journey does have a beginning. My journey began with a conversion experience at the age of 14, followed by an almost immediate deviation from the straight and narrow. Our spiritual journey begins when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior (If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved - Rom 10:9). I chose to travel down the road of rebellion instead of the path of righteousness during my teenage and early young adult life. Except for the deep ache in my heart that I would feel when I was not under the influence, there was very little evidence of my salvation. (But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us... Eph 2:4.) Because of His grace, love and mercy the Lord began to draw me back to Himself. When the Lord begins to call you to Himself, nothing will be able to sedate you or satisfy the ache in your heart for purpose in your life. I don't know your story, but I wholeheartedly believe that you are on this site, not by accident, but rather by divine appointment. This journey is not about religion, but relationship. The Lord is calling us, and continues to call us into a deeper relationship. A relationship with a real and Almighty Awesome God, who loves us with HUGE love (...that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God - Eph 3:17 -18.) So my prayer for us is that we will get delivered from religion, with all of its rituals and things done out of mere habit or just because that's what we were raised to do; and instead, ushered into intimate relationship where we begin to experience the HUGE love of Christ. I pray also that we will learn how to love Him back (Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment - Matthew 22:37-38). And so, our journey continues as we learn to: live out our purpose, experience His love and love Him back with passion. Until the next time, Diane P.S. Imagine how our relationship would change if we began to see the Word of God as a love letter instead of a rule book. If you would like to receive a personalized love letter written from the Word of God (and it is a personal relationship) send a request from the contact page, put love letter request in comment block. Welcome back. Just joining the journey? Check the June 2014 post to catch up. Committed to the journey, but have not subscribed yet? Subscribe to keep pace. My desire and intent is to post weekly. So why the journey? This Living just for His Glory journey has to do with one thing-Purpose. Purpose is a word we hear all the time, often in connection with the word destiny. Statements like: "I was born for this purpose, this is my destiny "...or "I don't know my purpose...", are familiar, if not personal to us all. Purpose is simply the reason for something or someone's existence. Destiny is the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of actions. We are on this journey because we were created by the Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory (Even every one that is called by name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea I have made him. - Is 43:7) and (Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God - I Cor 10:31). The real purpose for our lives is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. I am still in the process of learning how to live this purpose out in my daily life, that's why the journey. Learning to live just for His glory is a lifelong process. We are inclined to attach our purpose to what we do rather than who we are. The Lord is first and foremost concerned with who we are (our character). (For whom He did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren - Rom 8:29). Our destiny is be like Jesus, and God the Father is committed to do whatever is necessary to make us look like Him! What we do ( our works) should be motivated by and an outcome of who we are. Living just for His glory is learning what it really means for it " to not be about us but to be about Him ". Even as we take the tenth selfie of the day, Living just for His glory is the process of learning how to make Him the subject of the portrait, and us and all our stuff the background. Radical, I know, right? Still committed? I hope so. Privileged to be on the journey with you, Diane P.S. The next time you go to Church, and do I hope that means Sunday, but that's another post on another day, try this: Put all your attention on lifting up Jesus (worship), don't focus what you like or don't about your hair, wear, don't even focus on your cares. From the time you step into the House make it about Him. Try to even to resist the temptation to read the text that comes while you have the Bible App open. It's been about us all week, let's make Worship about Him! |
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