We just have to be obedient for today; that is all we are accountable for. Each minute asking God to give us grace to make the right choices. Each right decision builds on the one before it. Soon, godly habits are formed and a life that honors God is the result. To finish the race -by and because of His great grace. To walk in His embrace and love because He first loved us. It's not complex; the walk of obedience is quite simple. Easy however? I would not necessarily describe it as easy...unless we daily know His love, His power, His inheritance (that's available to us this minute-today!!! Incredibly enough!!) and not just know it in our heads BUT access it with our lives through prayer. No life will ever be the same when we learn to live with our full access pass to "every spiritual blessing in heavenly places" like Ephesians says. There's no time like now to obey, gain access, and walk in the divine enablement He created us to walk in. Let's be the divine appointment He has called us to be, live as He's called us to live today, and "redeem" (properly use) the time we've been given to make His heart known today in our homes and to our world. Like one wall in Bend says, "All we have is now." As far as obeying, that is as far as you can take it. Obedience now produces a life of great grace and an eternity laden with mind-blowing blessings.
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Have you ever watched a little kid learning to ride a bike? Have you noticed that where their vision goes, thus goes the bike? There have been multiple crashes in our household due to this tendency.
What about a teenager learning to drive a car? “Look farther ahead!!” is something I often am heard saying when instructing my teen in this endeavor. For some reason, it is the natural thing to look 5 feet in front of the car instead of as far in the distance as can be seen. The result is often erratic driving-the culmination of many knee-jerk reactions to immediate,impending problems on the road-instead of cool, calm responses to distant adjustments needed for the road ahead. It is the same way in life. What we keep our eyes on effects our choices and the direction we take. Hebrews 11:27 gives us a picture of this same thing going on in the life of Moses. “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt. He was not afraid of the king. Moses kept right on going because he KEPT HIS EYES on the one who is invisible.” Though he was being chased down by those who wanted to take his life, he kept His focus on the One who had called him. Who (or what) am I keeping my eyes on? Who (or what) are you keeping your eyes on? Will we keep our eyes on what is chasing us (which is usually driven by fear)? Or will we keep our eyes on Who is calling us (where we are usually being beckoned by love)? Let’s be like the heroes of faith! “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down...let us run with endurance the race that God has set... We do this by KEEPING OUR EYES ON JESUS on whom our faith depends from start to finish...” Hebrews 12:1-2 Let’s adjust our focus today to only keep in view that which we truly want to pursue! Let’s pursue and respond to His Love that beckons and not react to the fear which chases... Ezra 8:21-23 “And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all
of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, ‘Our God protects all those who worship him, but His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him.’ So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.” I love the book of Ezra because in this book we see some amazing things transpire. We see in Ezra 7:6 and several other references that, “the king gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the Lord was on him.” A couple of verses later (9 and 10) we see that Ezra, a scribe, was able to live with “the gracious hand of the Lord upon him” because he studied the word, obeyed it and taught it. So, over and over again we see in the life of Ezra incredible, miraculous provision in unique ways because he lived simple obedience. In the scripture portion quoted above from chapter 8, we come to a point in the story of the life of Ezra where he has essentially put the ability of God to the test. Ezra, out of obedience, was leading a group of exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem to set up a religious education system. Ezra had told the king of Babylon that he and those traveling with him, about 2000 men and their families, would not need any protection along the way. Now, the way they had to go took some time (about 4 months) and was over many miles of land that had “unfriendly” people along the way. Ezra refused protection from an earthly king. He instead chose to trust God. The result of this choice is seen a few verses later in Ezra 8:31 and 32, “And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. So at last we arrived safely in Jerusalem…” Do we know what God has promised us? Have we taken the time, like Ezra, to study out the word of God so that we know what is rightfully ours? Are we able to ‘put God to the test’ so to speak in the areas that He has apportioned to us? Do we know where to turn when we feel like our faith is being put to the test? When we have need do we shake our fists at God and lean on our own devices and methods? Or do we remember, like Ezra, where our HELP comes from? Do we then fast and pray and get our heart right and remind ourselves in prayer what God has promised us…and then rest in His divine provision on His divine timetable? When we learn to live the journey this way, we then can proceed, like Ezra, from Babylon (the place of confusion due to mixure) to Jerusalem (the place of peace) with only a short stop at the Ahava Canal (the place that means ‘I will subsist’). Let’s no longer live in confusion or subsistence but walk unashamedly and boldly to the place of peace in our lives. Let’s live the Word; let’s obey the Word; let’s live in the abundance the Word provides! And let’s live in Peace!! Knowing our Provider and walking with Him and with His “gracious hand” being on our lives! And expecting His miraculous provision in unique ways in our lives! What are my “heart enemies”?
“Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their aims.” Ezra 4:4, 5 Here we see listed two enemies of the heart, discouragement and fear; these come at the people of God to keep them from their work. Do we see these as enemies to the work of God in our lives? Do we recognize these as tools in the hands of the Enemy to keep us from accomplishing what God would do through us? Do we understand and take note of what it is that causes our hearts to start to respond in these manners? Is it someone’s words that send us in this tailspin? Is it circumstances? Is it relational conflict? Is it the rebellion of a child? Could it be the negative influence of peer pressure? So often, life happens at such a rapid pace that we don’t even notice what is going on inside of us. Do we understand and make corrections when we begin to notice trigger reactions rather than wise responses happening in our lives? Do we notice the indicators of fear? Do we understand the evidence of discouragement as it manifests within us? Does our focus change inward? Do we stop in our tracks rather than complete the task God has assigned us? Or do we continue in faith in the midst of the attack? What is it that causes some to continue to build in the midst of discouragement? What about in an environment of fear? A vision that gives hope in the midst of crazy circumstances and malicious words is one key that enables us to build despite the enemies at bay-both internal and external enemies. In Ezra, the people were called to rebuild what had been destroyed, the Lord’s temple. The enemies of Judah didn’t want them to rebuild because that would give evidence that they were again gaining strength. God calls us today to build our lives as we respond to His love and walk in obedience; to build our homes through sacrificial love; to build community through sharing our resources; and to build His church through using the gifts He’s given us. Let’s take a moment today to stop and ask God to cause us to see our hearts through His eyes and to make any corrections needed. Let’s choose to let Hope anchor our souls. And by His grace, may it be said of us today that though our Enemy TRIED to discourage and frighten us (see the verse above), we continued responding to God’s great love and grace over our lives! And we continued to BUILD and we walked by FAITH!! Fear and Discouragement had no grip over our lives!! |
AuthorShanda Harris is a lover of Jesus, dedicated wife, mother of 6 and the Women's Pastor at Epikos Church in Bend, Oregon. Archives
March 2018
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