Adversity

Yesterday, Isaiah 30:20 says   ²⁰ though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink………………………

 Today I am reading and come to 2 Corinthians 17 for our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

It is comforting to know that my troubles are small and won’t last very long.  It is cool that my reading this morning is a tag off of yesterday.  You can’t plan this stuff.  So as I sit here and ponder the last part where it says “won’t last very long” That could actually mean a couple of years which is not very long if you live to be 80.  It could also mean a couple of days as well.  It is all in the Lord’s timing not mine.  Since we are just a mist in His eyes ……………

James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

So after all of the above … I think it is safe to say that if you are going through some crap.  No one knows how long it will last but it will produce a glory that will outweigh and outlast anything you could imagine.  That is a good thing!

Be blessed today and walk as Sons and Daughters of the King

Wait for Him

Isaiah 30:18-20 (NLT)
¹⁸ So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. ¹⁹ O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries. ²⁰ Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.   ²¹ Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

So I am reading this morning and I am reminded that I need to wait for Him.  Some many times I don’t want to wait.  I want the situation that I am in to go away and the sooner the better.  I will catch myself getting in the Lord’s way instead of waiting for Him.  The lie is I Know better than you.   (anyone had that train of thought lately?) That kind of thinking gets me in trouble every time.  What is that Kind of thinking called?

The next part is the comfort knowing that as He brings me into adversity and suffering He will reveal the teacher to me and with my ears and his voice I will hear “this is the way you should go”  but only if I wait for Him and not get ahead of the one who leads.

I am listening to a song called Pursuit and the song just wrecks me.  All I keep hearing is “I will pursue you,  I will pursue your presence!”  I have to think Just like I heard the other day If I am glorifying Him in everything I do it is the same as pursing him in everything I do.  Just where I have been the last three to four weeks. 

Be blessed this day and wait for Him!

Do you Glorify Him?

John 17:1 After Jesus said this; he looked toward heaven and prayed:  “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  I have been watching a lot of Jesus Culture since I have been back from serving on quest.  It has really been Powerful.  Last night I was watching Encounter 2013.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAzZV0LU4nw

I think I heard one of the simplest messages I have ever heard.  It starts at the 58.35 minute mark and goes about 6 minutes.  He talks about making our walk with Jesus simple.  WE as man try to make it hard.  The truth is that whatever you do glorify Jesus.  Wherever you work glorify Jesus.  How you eat glorify Jesus, When you drive glorify Jesus.  When you go to the store Glorify Jesus.  When you get up and go to bed glorify Jesus.  Whatever career you choose, doesn’t matter if the Lord brought you the job or if it is something you chose, Glorify Jesus.  If everything that you do glorifies Jesus, your actions, reactions, words and your thoughts it will all be good.  Doesn’t mean you won’t have trials

Every thought, every action, everything I do,   I want my life to Glorify Jesus.  It is really that simple.  I am sure I have heard something along those lines before.  Last night it made so much since.  I am in a different place now

Lord, Today I want everything about me and what I do to glorify you.

I will pursue you,

I will pursue Your presence.