Faith not Fear

Luke 12: 22-28

22)Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,

what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on.

23) For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

24) Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

Of how much more value are you than the birds!

25) And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life?

26) If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

27) Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you,

even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28) But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith...

Have you been anxious this week about life? Have you spent time wondering how you're going to pay the bills; pay the mortgage; about how much your taxes may go up; about the future?

I have!!! I've spent time worrying about my business - what can I do to build it? How will I pay the bills? About the future and what it will bring... About my Mom and sister and what will happen to them!

But in the midst of all I worry about, God has nudged my heart to stop worrying about today; stop worrying about my own needs, for He has that covered!!!

Instead, He is calling me to go do his work to help others who have needs and worries - be the arbiter of change in someone else's life -

• Through prayer for their needs, not mine!
• Through sharing a smile, a moment or two talking about their problem and not mine!
• Through investing in His Kingdom by investing in someone else's financial need and not mine!

I don't mean to make this sound easy - its NOT!!! Its our nature to think ME FIRST, ME FIRST - WHAT ABOUT ME???

But Jesus tells us clearly - don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will wear!!! That's not your job - its God's! Instead, we need to focus all or thoughts and actions on serving HIM!

If you think about your life honestly, you and I are very blessed! Sure, there are things that are uncertain - but we are very blessed!!! We often don't know how it happens, but things seem to work out...

We're very, very blessed and fortunate! Look instead at those who have not been so fortunate! Who don't have as much as we do - whatever that may be!

Think about what Jesus said to his disciples after washing their feet:

John 13: 13-17

"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

I have been blessed - its my job to go out and share that blessing with others...

Father, help me to serve You and You alone as I go out and seek to serve others...

The Rock

As I was reading this morning's devotions at http://frcliveonline.blogspot.com/2008/11/rock-devotional-for-thursday.html, I started to think about what the ROCK means to me...



For me, God is my Rock - He is the foundation of my life. If my life shifts off-center, it means I have shifted away from God, because He is the center of my being!



I can always tell when my life shifts off-center, because I feel it! I feel lost, a bit disconnected - and sometimes I can't even identify why!



I sought His word this morning to guide me to what I'm doing or am not doing and came across these scriptures:



Ezekiel 11: 17-20

"This is what the Sovereign lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.

They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them;

I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

They will be my people and I will be their God."

Scattered - that's how I feel this morning...

I need to find my ROCK and rid my life of the things that have shifted me away from Him!

1 Corinthians 15: 2

"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.

Otherwise, you have believed in vain."

Otherwise, you have believed in vain - wow!!! It's not enough to say you are a God-Follower... You have to live the life of a God-Follower.

Its time for a reality check - what am I doing? Where am I going wrong?

I'm not sure but what I do know is when you have moments like this, even greater prayer and time spent in the Word is needed.

"Father, help me to see where I have shifted off-course and guide me back to You, my Rock and Foundation!

In Jesus' name I pray..

And I thank you Lord, for always hearing and listening to my cry!"

We've been talking this week at my church about ensuring that our lives are built strong - on solid ground/foundation and with the strongest materials - ensuring our lives are founded on God's word and centered on that...

As I was praying this morning and trying to center my life on God, I thought about the fact that each morning, my devotions are just that - a time to try to center that day correctly, to center my whole focus on God so that as I go forward during the day, that basis I established in the morning will guide me through...

Some days I follow through well; others, not so much! Those days that are not so good made me reflect and really ask myself the key questions we discussed at Church:

Who am I listening to?

Who am I following?

Who do I trust?

Basically, what is my real foundation - what are my real goals for life? I know what I say they are -but am I living that?

Hmmm.... The answer to that last question comes to me very quickly - I don't think I am really living it! If I were, why am I so dissatisfied with things about myself?

There's so much I know I want to see changed in my life, and I don't mean things outside of me - things inside of me! I pray about it, but am I opening my heart to God's work to transform me - am I letting go of the wheel - or am I fighting Him?

Who am I really following? God - or the material world? Am I really motivated by God or am I motivated by stuff...

Do I show God's love and power to others around me or do people see someone just after the same stuff they all are - nothing new, nothing different; just one of the same!

Every year, people usually make New Year Resolutions. They take some time to analyse the past and plan and prepare for the new! Businesses also have planning time - time to reassess the past, see what has been working, what hasn't and plan how to go forward!

Being a Christian is very challenging, because I think as a Christian, your reassessment and planning needs to happen each day and needs to be vested in God's word...

Each day, one day at a time, we need to take time each morning to review how we served or how we failed our Lord the day before...

We need to plan and prepare how we must go forward that new day - and we need to PRAY with our whole hearts to God for His strength and His power to take charge in our life that day - and then, we need to let go and let God!!!

"Father, I know I fail you constantly... I know I want so badly to be a good steward and to really live a life centred completely and wholly on You!!!

Some days I do okay Lord, but I have a long way to go to let go so that You can transform me and use me for your kingdom and for your glory!

Today, Lord, please help me to let go of the wheel! Take charge today Father - transform me, melt me, mold me and use me to share Your love to each person I come into contact with...

Guide me in every situation so that everything I do is Your will and is pleasing to You...

In Jesus' precious name, I pray...

Thank You Lord, for this day!"