Hearing from God's Word

I can hardly believe how God's Word is speaking to me each day.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe – Hebrews 12:28

Commentary: The Scripture is clear that God has a fierce love for us. So fierce that He will shake anything that tries to compete with Him. Why do many of our plans come into opposition? Could it be from the One who will not allow the deceit of success to carry us away from Him? This is not to say that God is against success – He wants to bless His children. But He knows where false worship will lead us and will shake everything until even success takes it’s place under His majesty and glory. He will bring us back to the first commandment to have no other gods but Him.

Was success getting in the way of complete worship of God? If I am honest, I would say yes. Not totally - but even a little is too much. Even though it was false, I know I held onto security in a job.

Monday July 26, 2010

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. – John 15:4

Commentary: This is both sobering and liberating! To experience a growing, vibrant spiritual life with Jesus is not just an intellectual exercise. Nor is it and exhausting series of good deeds. It is in remaining in the vine that our fulfillment comes. From the vine comes knowledge and good works, but now it’s from a position of having experienced God’s love and acceptance. We must resist the urge to do things to get God’s acceptance. He is offering us a resting place with Him with amazing results.

The neat thing about this is that I was really concerned today that we were "doing more" than we should. I was running errands and so was Greg and for a minute I thought that maybe WE were doing too much and not letting God. Then I talked to Krystel and she was telling me about an email (although fictitious) about a poor woman who died and when she asked God why He did not help her, He asked her why she did not take advantage of all the programs He put into place. Now - these programs are clearly governmental (and very scary) but I think that when used properly can be a great assistance to those who need them.