Take a minute to stop and think. If God were to ask you at this very moment, "What shall I give thee?", how would you respond? Would you ask for health? Would you ask for prosperity, or that new home or car that you've been wanting for so long? Would you ask for long life? STOP. It is very important that you be completely honest with yourself and think about how you would answer that question.
God came to Solomon in a dream and said, "Ask! What shall I give you?" Solomon replied, "But I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?" God was pleased. Because he did not ask anything for himself, God granted him wisdom beyond that which any man had ever seen, neither before nor after Solomon. God then granted him wealth beyond that which any man had ever seen. Remember, God will not give you anything before you are ready to receive it. God first granted Solomon wisdom. He needed wisdom, not just to judge God's people, but also, to be able to handle the blessing of wealth. He was still a "little child". Had God blessed him with wealth first who knows what direction that may have led him in. But God is too wise to make a mistake. There was a purpose to Solomon's wealth.
Solomon used his wealth to redistribute wealth to God's people. Solomon had established the world's first organized economy. His wealth was used to put people to work. He empowered God's people. He was able to do what no other king was able to do; keep peace between the 12 tribes. It was under his leadership that all of Israel prospered. After the death of Solomon, Israel regressed. The people went back to their tribal ways. Without the wisdom of Solomon, Israel's organized economy collapsed.
Solomon's desire was to be blessed so that he could in turn be a blessing. God blessed him with everything he would need to carry out God's purpose. Do you want to be blessed or do you want to be a blessing? Right now, God is asking, "What shall I give thee?"
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Take Off The Fig Leaf
GOD WILL NEVER GIVE YOU ANYTHING BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE IT!!!
GOD WILL NEVER GIVE YOU ANYTHING BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE IT!!
I am not just talking about physical things, but spiritual blessings as well. He continues to amaze me with the things that He gives me when I listen to Him, not just with my ears but with my heart also. You cannot truly know the things in your head until you know them in your heart. God has opened my heart to some things about myself today that still have me in awe.
We have all been hurt many times in our lives. If we would allow God to open our eyes to all the things that hurt us, but we tried to shrug off, we would be amazed. Much of who we are, much of how we interact with the people in our lives, unfortunately, has been dictated, unknowingly, by our past hurts. The people closest to us have the ability to hurt us most. Subconsciously, we keep them the furthest away from who we really are. They can probably tell what your favorite color is, or your favorite food is. They may be able to tell how you may react in various situations. What they don't know, is why. We live in a society that stresses survival of the fittest. You cannot divulge what makes you weak, what makes you vulnerable. It's easy to allow people who are not close to us to have glimpses of who we are. They are not close enough to us to hurt us. The people closest to us? That's another story. We do not sit down with a plan of how to hide things from them. It comes naturally. Self preservation. In hiding our hurts, the driving force behind much of our behavior, we deprive the people closest to us the opportunity to know us deeply. They only get to know what we allow them to know and we leave them to piece together the rest based on their own perceptions.
In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first thing they did was realize they were bare. The closest person to Adam was Eve. The closest person to Eve was Adam. In effect, when they put on the fig leaf, they were hiding parts of themselves from each other. The parts they felt were most vulnerable. Sound familiar? Then they even tried hiding from God. They tried to hide their mistakes, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities. But God said come out from behind the fig leaves. He made coverings for them. In essence, He was saying to them; Confess your wrongs, confess your hurts, your weakness, your vulnerabilities. Be transparent to Me. Take off the fig leaf. Let Me cover you with My righteousness.
On the cross, Jesus was laid bare. There was nothing to hide his nakedness. He was naked for all to see. He took on all of our nakedness, all of our sins, all of those things hiding behind the fig leaf. In return, He covers us with His blood of righteousness. We no longer have to hide. No longer do we have to wear fig leaves. He wants us to see that it is okay to be naked. It is okay to be transparent. Allow the people closest to you to see the person behind the fig leaf. Allow God to see the person behind the fig leaf. It is only then, the He can truly cover you with His righteousness.
GOD WILL NEVER GIVE YOU ANYTHING BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE IT!!
I am not just talking about physical things, but spiritual blessings as well. He continues to amaze me with the things that He gives me when I listen to Him, not just with my ears but with my heart also. You cannot truly know the things in your head until you know them in your heart. God has opened my heart to some things about myself today that still have me in awe.
We have all been hurt many times in our lives. If we would allow God to open our eyes to all the things that hurt us, but we tried to shrug off, we would be amazed. Much of who we are, much of how we interact with the people in our lives, unfortunately, has been dictated, unknowingly, by our past hurts. The people closest to us have the ability to hurt us most. Subconsciously, we keep them the furthest away from who we really are. They can probably tell what your favorite color is, or your favorite food is. They may be able to tell how you may react in various situations. What they don't know, is why. We live in a society that stresses survival of the fittest. You cannot divulge what makes you weak, what makes you vulnerable. It's easy to allow people who are not close to us to have glimpses of who we are. They are not close enough to us to hurt us. The people closest to us? That's another story. We do not sit down with a plan of how to hide things from them. It comes naturally. Self preservation. In hiding our hurts, the driving force behind much of our behavior, we deprive the people closest to us the opportunity to know us deeply. They only get to know what we allow them to know and we leave them to piece together the rest based on their own perceptions.
In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first thing they did was realize they were bare. The closest person to Adam was Eve. The closest person to Eve was Adam. In effect, when they put on the fig leaf, they were hiding parts of themselves from each other. The parts they felt were most vulnerable. Sound familiar? Then they even tried hiding from God. They tried to hide their mistakes, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities. But God said come out from behind the fig leaves. He made coverings for them. In essence, He was saying to them; Confess your wrongs, confess your hurts, your weakness, your vulnerabilities. Be transparent to Me. Take off the fig leaf. Let Me cover you with My righteousness.
On the cross, Jesus was laid bare. There was nothing to hide his nakedness. He was naked for all to see. He took on all of our nakedness, all of our sins, all of those things hiding behind the fig leaf. In return, He covers us with His blood of righteousness. We no longer have to hide. No longer do we have to wear fig leaves. He wants us to see that it is okay to be naked. It is okay to be transparent. Allow the people closest to you to see the person behind the fig leaf. Allow God to see the person behind the fig leaf. It is only then, the He can truly cover you with His righteousness.
The Ultimate Purpose
As a young child, the one thing I feared most was making my father angry. My father was a stern disciplinarian. He had no problem " taking his belt off". I remember times when he would call me to come in the house. He would never call you unless you were in trouble. He would stand in the doorway. He wouldn't block the entrance, but he would just kinda get in the way. I would walk past him. Just when I would think that everything was okay, he would pluck me on the back of my head. For whatever reason, that seem worse than getting beat with the belt, which would eventually happen after the pluck on the head.
As I grew older, my father no longer seemed like such a big man. I was an athlete, not very big, but strong for my size. I no longer feared my father. After all, what could this little man do to me? I got too big for my britches, as my mother used to say. I stood up to him from time to time. I became rebellious, free from the fear that used to keep me in check. I realize now that I did not have a great deal of respect for my father, at least not during that period of my life.
When I got older, when I really started to come into manhood, my attitude towards my father changed. Circumstances and situations in my life caused me to see life from a man's perspective. Before that, I saw life through the eyes of a child. There was nothing that I wouldn't do for my father because I had learned to love him. I had grown to the point that I wanted my father to ask me to do things for him. It took some time for me to get past the guilt I felt for all the disrespect I had shown him. He understood. He may not have liked the way I acted, but he understood. He never held it against me. He forgave me before I knew that I needed forgiveness.
Funny how my relationship with my earthly father parallels my relationship with my heavenly father. For all of my life, I have heard preachers talk of being obedient, "living right", paying tithes, and everything else that comes with living a "saved life". I had to learn for myself that what Jesus wants most from me is to love Him. Without love for Him, everything that I do is corrupt. I realize to some that may seem a bit extreme. But I had to ask myself why? If not for love, what are the reasons that I do anything in the name of Christ? Fear of consequences? Because He told me to? Because I expect something in return? Any reason other than "because I love Christ" is impure. God knows my motives better than I do. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason is still wrong.
In some of my past blogs I wrote about not being focused. So I tried to focus on being obedient, on "living right". What I didn't see was Jesus, standing on the sideline saying, "What about me?". I needed to be reminded that this walk isn't about me, or this blog, or anything else that I may have thought. This walk is about Him. It is about getting to know Him, getting to know what it really means to love. The only way to know what that means is to know the source. The source of love is Jesus. Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I may not sin against thee." John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So if the issues of life come from the heart, and I hide the Word in my heart, and the Word is Jesus, then I become filled with Jesus. I become filled with the love of Jesus.
This is my purpose. I had spent so much time looking for my purpose, that I lost sight of Jesus. God's ultimate purpose for us is to be conformed to image of His son, Jesus Christ. In order to be conformed to His image I have to know that image. I have to know Jesus. I have to focus on getting to know the person of Jesus, the love of Jesus, and the God of Jesus. The more I get to know Him, the more of Himself He deposits in me. The more I am like Him, the less I am like me. The more I get to know Him, the more I love and trust him, the more I submit to Him to the point that I no longer have a will of my own. My will becomes His will. I have come to realize that my purpose in life is to become a vessel to carry out the will of Christ.
As I grew older, my father no longer seemed like such a big man. I was an athlete, not very big, but strong for my size. I no longer feared my father. After all, what could this little man do to me? I got too big for my britches, as my mother used to say. I stood up to him from time to time. I became rebellious, free from the fear that used to keep me in check. I realize now that I did not have a great deal of respect for my father, at least not during that period of my life.
When I got older, when I really started to come into manhood, my attitude towards my father changed. Circumstances and situations in my life caused me to see life from a man's perspective. Before that, I saw life through the eyes of a child. There was nothing that I wouldn't do for my father because I had learned to love him. I had grown to the point that I wanted my father to ask me to do things for him. It took some time for me to get past the guilt I felt for all the disrespect I had shown him. He understood. He may not have liked the way I acted, but he understood. He never held it against me. He forgave me before I knew that I needed forgiveness.
Funny how my relationship with my earthly father parallels my relationship with my heavenly father. For all of my life, I have heard preachers talk of being obedient, "living right", paying tithes, and everything else that comes with living a "saved life". I had to learn for myself that what Jesus wants most from me is to love Him. Without love for Him, everything that I do is corrupt. I realize to some that may seem a bit extreme. But I had to ask myself why? If not for love, what are the reasons that I do anything in the name of Christ? Fear of consequences? Because He told me to? Because I expect something in return? Any reason other than "because I love Christ" is impure. God knows my motives better than I do. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason is still wrong.
In some of my past blogs I wrote about not being focused. So I tried to focus on being obedient, on "living right". What I didn't see was Jesus, standing on the sideline saying, "What about me?". I needed to be reminded that this walk isn't about me, or this blog, or anything else that I may have thought. This walk is about Him. It is about getting to know Him, getting to know what it really means to love. The only way to know what that means is to know the source. The source of love is Jesus. Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I may not sin against thee." John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So if the issues of life come from the heart, and I hide the Word in my heart, and the Word is Jesus, then I become filled with Jesus. I become filled with the love of Jesus.
This is my purpose. I had spent so much time looking for my purpose, that I lost sight of Jesus. God's ultimate purpose for us is to be conformed to image of His son, Jesus Christ. In order to be conformed to His image I have to know that image. I have to know Jesus. I have to focus on getting to know the person of Jesus, the love of Jesus, and the God of Jesus. The more I get to know Him, the more of Himself He deposits in me. The more I am like Him, the less I am like me. The more I get to know Him, the more I love and trust him, the more I submit to Him to the point that I no longer have a will of my own. My will becomes His will. I have come to realize that my purpose in life is to become a vessel to carry out the will of Christ.
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