Great post from Jody Early on WHY we serve God. I find myself fighting this inner battle more as I get older which probably means I did ALOT of things for the wrong reasons in the past. Thank God for GRACE and for PROCESS!
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
God is more concerned about WHY we do something than WHAT we are…
This is so true. I never desire to be someone substitute for actually hearing from God themselves. Yet, I find myself falling into this same trap even as a Pastor. How many books have I read, or podcasts listened to, or conferences attended in order hear from His servants ABOUT my Lord (even though they were good and helpful) in lieu of actually hearing FROM my Lord at the same time?
Are you hearing Him today? or are you choosing to close your ears?
Total time in prayer this week: 4 hours
At the end of a long week, I sat down to spend some time with the Lord and as I began to read, I was floored by this devotion.
“Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit.”
Those who know me, know that stubbornness and self-will are VERY apt words for describing my personality and I find myself VERY convicted this morning about how much I’ve indulged those attitudes and allowed them to betray Christ Spirit and love in me. They have affected every relationship around me and even I repent for the pain they’ve caused even to my Savior’s heart; I must also repent for the good they’ve driven me to…..
You see, Chambers IS right. If my righteous acts are motivated by a “self-willed determination to be godly” then they mean NOTHING! I think that’s what Paul truly means in 1 Corinthians 13, when he says:
“If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not LOVE, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not LOVE, I gain nothing.”
If what we do in our lives towards others and towards Jesus doesn’t come from a love-based oneness with Him, then it falls woefully short. It doesn’t matter how much we achieve or how much recognition we may garner, it means nothing if it doesn’t come from a loving personal relationship with our Savior. That’s a hard truth for a driven, strong-willed, overly ambitious Worship Pastor….
“but ONE thing is necessary…”
In a world of SO MANY things, we need to be reminded that only ONE thing is necessary….. in Luke 10, we find the story of Jesus’ dinner at the house of Mary and Martha. When Martha vents her frustration over her sister’s lack of help with the dinner and preparations, Jesus respond:
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing necessary…”
I find it amazing that Jesus didn’t chastise Martha for complaining or tell her a parable about serving with gladness. He instead cut to the core of Martha’s real problem. She was hiding the confusion and turmoil of her heart with work, spiritual work. And what Christ says to her is that she needs to do the very thing she was calling her sister out for. Martha needed to sit in the presence of her Lord and hear him speak truth and life into her heart. She needed it more than anything else, we all do. We hide it in work, in recreation, in other problems but our MAIN PROBLEM is the same as Martha’s.
Our hearts are troubled over many things and we need to remember that ONE THING is necessary: to find restoration and respite in the presence of our Lord.
My prayers are becoming longer but more simple. Jesus was right, there is only one we need and that is to be connected with a God who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Are you anxious today? Is your heart troubled by many things? If so, stop, and make time to sit at the feet of Jesus and drink in His presence and His peace.
Total time in prayer this week: 2 hours
Praying for Sunday
How often do you pray for the Worship Service you’re going to attend this weekend? Do you expect God to move, expect lives to be changed and then pray for that? I was thinking about this as I was praying and driving to the hospitals this morning. It occurred to me that maybe GOD COULD DO MORE if WE EXPECTED MORE. By that expectation, I mean pray to that end, that His Spirit might move and melt hearts, break down addictions, heal wounded lives and relationships. Something to think, and pray about in the next 36hrs before most of us will sit in church again.
Total time in prayer this week: 2 hours
Prayer, Sanity, and Invisible Bugs…..
So there’s a small chance that I’m going insane…… I kinda think its this whole prayer thing that’s to blame but I’m pretty sure that if you say prayer is driving you insane you can’t be a pastor anymore. I can already hear you thinking, “Joe, you’re just being dramatic.” and you’re right. But last night I came out of the bedroom at midnight to announce to my wife that there was SOMETHING in our bed, dirt, fiberglass, invisible bugs keeping me up! There really wasn’t anything in our bed. You, of course, already knew that; I just wish I had known it. So she graciously helped lint roll our mattress and soothed my crazy soul till I could sleep.
