Cathy’s Corner

 

Don’t Hurt the Lord

 

“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip.” (John 14:9).

 

Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us – astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be – it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask—“Lord, show us the Father…” (14:8). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.

            “Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1, 27). Am I hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.  

                                                                                                            Oswald Chambers

 

            My prayer is to be simple because I need discernment. It’s not that hard sometimes to discern between good and bad, most of the time it’s pretty obvious. But how do we determine what to do when it’s good and good?  What’s good and what’s best? I want to do what God wants me to and I want to be obedient, but sometimes I’m not sure what it is He wants me to do. I know it’s not Him and it’s me. I want to see the evidence where He is using me but I don’t.  While I have others who may tell me what they see, I’m guilty of wanting to be fully aware of what God is doing in me. That’s where my unreasonable and unbalanced expectations of Him come in. I don’t want experiences to block my way and I don’t want to dwell on my experiences. I truly do not want to hurt the Lord. I guess I am because my heart is troubled and I’m struggling with different things in my life right now. I don’t want my questions to be unsound or unbalanced. I do believe in Jesus and His attributes and I know He is guiding me right now. I just want to be simple and be able to discern the best from the good and then do what God wants.

 

 

Have a great day in the Lord!   

 

Cathy’s Corner

 

            I was reading in my Bible when I stumbled across this at the bottom of the page in the commentary. I really like what it said and wanted to share it with you.

 

            God’s Work In Our Lives – All people possess an inward desire that their work should have meaning and permanence. If man’s work is not to be lost in the vastness of eternity, however, it mush conform to the work God has designed for man. This work for the present day can be known only from God’s Word.

            According to the Word of God, the initial work of God is for us to believe in Jesus Christ. Apart from entering into this vital relationship with God, man cannot even begin to work for God. After coming to know Christ, the new Christian discovers God’s program for the present from the Scriptures. It is, first of all, His work in the Christian himself. Regeneration is only the beginning of God’s work in the believer. It actually introduces a process of becoming like Christ which God promises ultimately to bring to perfection. The Christian’s cheerful obedience to God’s will as revealed in His word helps speed this work along.

Second, no Christian can overlook God’s work in the world. Jesus’ command to spread the good news of the gospel to all men appears near the end of all four Gospels and at the beginning of the Book of Acts. God’s method is that men proclaim the gospel and that the Holy Spirit convict.

            Finally, God’s work is in and through the church, the organism ordained by Christ for this age. God works in the church through the spirit and through spiritually gifted people to strengthen and bless it.

 

What struck me was that all men possess an inward desire that their work should have meaning and permanence. How many “good” people do we know or know of that are doing good things, help people and truly want to make a difference in lives? But it is all in vain and lost if it doesn’t conform to the work God has designed for us. If we don’t read God’s Word and follow His guidance then we really don’t know what it is we are supposed to do for Him. And if we don’t have the relationship with Him that we are supposed to have with Him, we can’t even begin to work for God. Once we have that relationship with Him, He works in us and through us and regenerates us for His purposes. That’s only the beginning. He then begins to conform us to become like Him. Now that’s the hard part - all of those things we go through where He is shaping and molding and making us like Him. Just think of how hard you have to work to mold and shape a piece of play dough into what you want it to be. You pinch off a piece here or there, you smash it into the table to flatten it, you roll it, bend it and all kinds of things until you get it to be what you want it to be, that perfect piece you created. It’s not easy being made into His image.

God wants to use us to tell others about Him and spread the good news of what He did for us. He tells us to go and tell and it’s up to Him to convict the person we are telling, not us. He uses the church (the people) to serve His purposes. He gifts us each with different gifts and talents to be used by Him so that He can strengthen the church and bless it. I just love how God has it all worked out and how we all fit together in His master plan. We are all being used by Him and are all being made perfect and in His image if we have a relationship with Him. What a blessing it is to know how God works in our lives.  

 

Have a great day in the Lord!