Do You Know Where You Are?

In the malls they have these maps to guide you to the store you wish to find. Before you begin to move you must find the dot that says "you are here." Amazing Grace is so much more than going from lost to found. God by grace, "...made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) We are in an elevated position of victory right now. That is a fact. The work has already been accomplished. Our faith simply makes true for us personally what has already been done. We are above the things that trouble us. Many of us just have to learn to believe what the Lord has done. We have a far greater benefit than safety from hell. That is important, but we have been placed in the position to win over everything that attempts to hinder us. Yes, we do have to continue to fight battles. However, we are doing so from a position of strength. Knowing where you are means everything in the Christian life. We must expect to win over all the things we face. Work it out!

Look Back & Learn

Katrina revealed some glaring weaknesses in our systems of relief. We have been supportive in providing help all over the world when disaster strikes. The people of New Orleans suffered for five days without any type of relief. The people were basically abandoned without food, water, medical care or any of the basic things that are necessary to survive. There is no doubt that the devastating combination of events made this catastrophe somewhat unique. The failing levees after the severity of the storm itself complicated things exponentially, but surely a way to drop water and food to the people that were trapped in the city could have, SHOULD HAVE, occurred. Maybe this type of systemic failure will never happen again, but we know that if we do not learn from our mistakes they can be repeated. Perhaps there is a catastrophic event that has occurred in your life that revealed mistakes that you must not repeat. Whenever we look back at a thing if we do not learn we waste our time. Don't let your painful experiences be wasted. Learn the lessons well. Work it out!

The Lost Practice

"When I feel myself growing dry spiritually, when I don't sense that cutting-edge anointing, or when I need a fresh encounter with God, fasting is the secret key that unlocks heaven's door and slams shut the gates of hell. The discipline of fasting releases the anointing, the favor, and the blessing of God in the life of a Christian."(Jentezen Franklin)
Pastor Franklin has hit on something here that we should re-familiarize ourselves with. Many Bible characters benefited greatly from denying themselves food for a short season to see some spiritual goal realized. Esther, Daniel, Elijah, Moses and even Jesus Christ practiced the discipline of fasting. Our spiritual lives will be enhanced and stubborn problems will be moved when we fast. Work it out!

Meeting Problems With Prayer

"Jesus Christ is the healer of all diseases, the Conqueror of all enemies, the Deliverer from all sin. If our failures teach us to turn afresh to Him, and to find in Him the grace He gives to pray as we should, this humiliation becomes our greatest blessing." (Andrew Murray)

Consistent Living Brings Predictable Results

The central themes of our faith have not changed. We need to give our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to read and apply the Word of God to our lives. We need to lean on the strength of the Holy Spirit. We need to have consistent fellowship with other believers. When we do those things we will grow and when we do not we will have trouble. It is really not complicated at all. Are you doing those things? Work it out!

Draw Near

When we draw near to God He has promised to draw near to us. That is a powerful promise that we can certainly count on. The question would be, how do we draw near to God? The first thing would be to withdraw, or pull ourselves away from the hustle / bustle, the noise and the many distractions that fill our modern lives. Then we focus on worship. God seeks those that worship Him in spirit and in truth. Finally, and this is the thing that is hardest for us, we wait. We tend to want instant contact. We are looking for quick spiritual elevation. Some sort of microwavable connection is what we want. Well, "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength..." Drawing near to God requires at least these three things: withdrawing from other things, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, and waiting upon Him. Work it out!

You Are the Temple

The basis of everything that is good comes from an intimacy with God that we carry on in the depths of our being. This is something that is hard to articulate, but available to all of us. We are spirit beings. We connect with God, who is Spirit, in the center of ourselves. We need to cut off the multiplied levels of external stimuli to practice this. It takes a quiet place to sense this in the early stages. It takes an intentional calming of ourselves and our environment. Through our knowledge of God, we will begin to feel the sweet vibration of His peace. He desires to lead us in every area of life from that sense of peace. His peace is not dependent upon things being peaceful. We can learn to be centered in His peace with confusion raging all around us. Obviously, it takes time to develop this awareness. The compass for the accuracy of our understanding this leading is always God's Word. The Bible is a lamp unto our feet. What we also need to understand is the Holy Spirit working in our human spirit. Knowing Him from the inside - out takes life to a higher place. Work it out!

A Changed Life

I can remember when a dramatic change was just expected once a person gained a true relationship with Jesus Christ. The power of that union made a significant impact on the recipient. It seems that now we do not have the same expectation. As a result we see people come into a worship setting and make themselves at home there. They may pick up a few of the common customs of the church family, but nothing else changes. They use the same filthy language as before. They continue with addictive lifestyle patterns just as before. They go to the same ungodly places as they did before. They handle difficulties with the same dysfunction as before. Something is wrong! We are enfolding people in our churches without properly introducing them to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible directly indicates in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The Lord Jesus Christ changes lives for the better. We cannot expect or accept anything less in our modern experiences. Have you seen a change in yourself since your relationship with Christ was formed? If not, you may want to examine what you really have. Work it out!

What Are You Waiting For?

What is it that you need to turn over to God right now? There are many people that can remember things that God has done for them in the past and they rejoice over those things. Others have great hopes for what God will do at some point in the future and get really excited about those brighter days. Those perspectives are both valid, but if that is all there is a key element is missing. God is looking for you and I to trust Him with our current conditions. If you need strength for something today, God desires to give it to you. If you are searching for guidance concerning a right now problem, God has answers for you. If you need deliverance from a substance or behavior, trust the Lord and He will be your freedom. He is not just a "way back then" or a "someday soon" God. God is waiting to help you now. What are you waiting for? Lean on Him for whatever it is that is in your face right now. Work it out!

Wasted Time And Energy

Don't waste time making judgments about other people. There is no law that says someone else should respond to a situation the same way you would. There are vast differences in the backgrounds we were developed in and that greatly colors how we do things. We are now looking at life through the filters of our unique experiences. The bottom line is we don't know why somebody else does what they do. We don't have enough information to make a proper judgment. Pure love, complete knowledge, and an understanding of what we were made to do are the reasons God is the only qualified judge. Let's make the most out of our lives and let God judge everyone else. Work it out!

SHINE

Jesus said that we are to be light in this world. Light does not just accept the environment it finds itself in. In other words light does not adapt to darkness by becoming darkness. Light changes the environment of darkness by simply shining. The power of light is the ability it has to show darkness something different. That implies that we must learn to embrace things about ourselves that make us different. Too many people force themselves to blend in. We can choose to be who God has made us and live daring to be different. Work it out!

Look Back and Move Forward

You can look back, think back, laugh back, and talk back; but you can never go back. I had a great weekend at the wedding of a childhood friend. The following day there was a neighborhood celebration. It was good seeing people that I played "Hide and Seek" with now with children too old to play those types of games. The graying, balding, weight spreading, limping and hopping were evident signs that what we remember from those three streets are simply that, memories. The wedding was dramatically Christ centered. So many of us have made and are making comments about our personal faith. God is so good to us. Through all the twists and turns of life it seems in one way or another we have grabbed hold of what matters most. I hope we keep enjoying stories and photos of the past, while we get all we can out of the here and now. May the grace of God through Jesus Christ be the fountain we constantly draw from. Work it out!