![[pulsating cross]](astar2.gif)
Planting God
Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It is a good time to remember the greatest gift of all. Sunday I heard a great sermon, here is a line I stole from the preacher.
"If God had to deal with our circumstances He would always answer with Jesus"
Whatever your circumstances is, Jesus knows what to do. And if you're struggling, well, maybe this will help.
Planting God
The direction of your faith
is a result of your will
The question Jesus came to ask is
Where is your faith?
When we operate on our own freewill
without God we are left to our own wisdom
It is me against the world
My faith is in myself
the wisdom I have chosen is mine.
BUT, when I surrender my will to God
this is where believing comes in, I believe God
not me
then I have chosen the better portion
I have changed the direction of my faith
It is no longer misplaced
it is where it should be, in God
It is no longer just me against the world
I can say...
... with confidence,
{13:1} Let brotherly love continue. {13:2} Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. {13:3} Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. {13:4} Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. {13:5} Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. {13:6} So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Hebrews 13:1-6
It is a contradiction to say
God gives freewill to those who submit to Him
God gives freedom to those who submit to Him
submission by definition is a laying down of the will
it is choosing His wisdom over mine
This is true humility
It is when we pray, not my will but yours
This is the sign of faith in God
a purposeful surrender of my own freewill
This is when I latch onto God and abandon myself
this is when I die to me and live to Christ
Obedience comes by faith
Meditate on that for awhile
If we are caused or compelled to believe
then faith must come by obedience
If God forces us into submission it is no
longer faith but slavery
God wants us to lay ourselves down
to become bondservants servants by choice
He wants us to come willingly.
God wants us to operate in faith
so He can deal with us in grace
Grace is God's offer of unmerited favor
by definition a gift
If I do you a favor and ask nothing in return
have I not given you a gift?
If we will believe Him
He will move mountains for us
But oh, how little is our faith.
and how little of God's grace to we receive
Are you waiting for God to make you do something
He won't, He's waiting on you
You may not be able to let go of this thing
that has hold of you
but if you will believe
He will deliver you from it
He will reveal Himself
and the truth will set you free
Faith, it's so simple a child has it
it's so difficult that theologians can't define it
Spiritual words are that way
because they are words of the heart
When that decision gets all the way down into your heart
faith takes over
because it is from the fountain of the heart
that faith springs forth
it is from the good soil
the seed of faith takes root
And the seed?
the word of God
Where is your faith?
if it is in the right place
your harvest will be God
what you sow this shall you also reap
for out of the mouth the heart speaks
as faith is supplied from the heart and applied with the mouth
The direction of your faith is a matter of your will
What will you plant in your heart today?
Plant Jesus, the Word of God
N Rocky Chambers
