Here is chapter 22 of my upcoming book, HOW TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Actually, the chapter numbers may be a little different once the book comes out, because I am pondering if I should delete a couple of chapters. This chapter contains part of my testimony and the rest is in my first book, MY JOURNEY WITH GOD. I pray it will encourage your heart to go all out for Jesus no matter how old or young you are.
Chapter 22: You Are Never Too Old To Start Serving God
“And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty and five years.” Genesis 5:21-24
“Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” Psalm 71:18
One day I was pondering how old I was, 46 years at the time, and thought to myself how I wished I had learned all that God was teaching me now when I was younger. I thought I could have given so much more of my life to God if only I had started younger. God immediately told me that age does not matter. He will use whoever will let him. That morning I read in Genesis about Enoch. It said that Enoch lived 365 years but he did not start walking with God until he was 65 years old.
It does not matter how old you are. God has a plan for your life and if you earnestly seek him, he will reveal it to you. If you will let him, God will use your life to change the world.
It was about a year ago, in the month of May, I was almost through with my first class at Faith Bible Institute and decided to write my Pastor an email thanking him for bringing Faith Bible Institute to our church. I also shared with him how much I was learning and what God was doing in my life. I remember it was a Friday evening. The next morning I checked my email and saw that my Pastor emailed me back. He was encouraged to hear what God was doing in my life and said he would really like it if I could share this during testimony time one Sunday evening. While I was getting ready that morning to go run my errands, I was talking to God about how I should respond to my Pastor. I wasn’t able to come to the Sunday night service and did not foresee this happening for some time. While I was talking to God about this, I clearly heard God say to me, “You are not going to just tell the Sunday night service, you are going to tell the world. You are going to write a book.” I could not believe what I just heard, but I was excited because I have always told God I wanted to shout from the rooftops what he was doing in my life. Right after God told me this, thoughts started flooding my mind. I sat down with a pen and paper and could not write fast enough of what God was bringing to my mind. God gave me the title of the book, My Journey With God, all the chapter titles and much of the content. After the weekend was over, I had typed out twenty pages of my first book. As I reflect on this a year later, I believe God gave me this message in exactly this way, because every time I would doubt that God told me this, I would remember that Saturday morning and think to myself there is no way that I made this up. I am not a writer and have never wanted to write a book. I believe it was my “burning bush,” so to speak. No one could tell me that this was not from God. My Pastor often says, “Don’t doubt in darkness what God made clear to you in the light.”
You are never too young or too old to serve God. Earnestly seek God every day with all your heart and he will reveal to you his plan for your life.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S
After proofing this chapter today, I realized that it is a message that needs to be heard because too many of us are still fighting battles that only the Lord can fight. No wonder we always fail. Won't you sit down today and just spend time with God and let him fight for you.
HOW TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE - Chapter 19: The Battle Is The Lord’s
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” Joshua 1:2-3
“And all this assembly shall know tht the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47
The battle is the Lord’s. The battle is over for us. We have everything we need to live a victorious Christian life, because God is all we need. The battle is the Lord’s.
“The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14
God has taught me that all I need to do is obey him and he will take care of the rest. He will take care of all my needs. He will point out sin in my life that needs to be dealt with. He will give me things he wants me to have and take away things he doesn’t want me to have.
I used to be a very miserable Christian. I would go to church and listen to the sermon, and then come home and try to change myself. I always felt defeated. I always felt beat up. I don’t do that anymore. Now I go to church and listen for God’s voice in my heart. I wait to hear from him. I don’t make any changes unless God tells me to. I don’t try to change myself anymore.
If there is something in your life that needs to be dealt with, God will point that out to you. I remember one sermon in particular where the preacher was talking about rejection and about not getting bitter when you have been rejected by someone in your life. I couldn’t recall a time where I was rejected in my life, but then at the end of sermon, I felt God saying to me that I was the rejecter. I was rejecting one of my children. Not openly, but in my heart. I never realized this until God pointed it out to me. I immediately asked God to forgive me and to love my child through me. That afternoon when my child walked through the door, I felt this overwhelming love in my heart and I knew it was God loving him through me. This is how God works in our lives. We don’t need to do anything ourselves. He takes care of everything.
Here is another example of how God dealt with me about something that wasn’t right in my heart. The preacher’s sermon was on Psalm 139, especially the last two verses, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” I asked God to do this for me, but nothing came to my mind at the time. Then that afternoon while I was ironing and listening to Joyce Meyer speak about keeping secrets, God brought something to my mind. Joyce Meyer said we shouldn’t keep secrets in our heart because they will hurt us. We need to get them out in the open, so we can get healing. So we can be free, because the truth sets us free. God then brought to my mind my dislike for someone. Outwardly I loved her, but inside I really disliked her. I didn’t tell anyone and really didn’t know until today what to do about it. At first I thought God wanted me to talk to her about it, but I didn’t get any peace about that. Then God told me what I needed to do. He said I needed to forgive her and that is what I did. I forgave her. I felt a lot lighter after that. I don’t have to pretend to like her anymore, because now I do like her because I forgave her. Now I’m going to let God love her through me. What a wonderful feeling of release that was.
If you try to battle something on your own, you will fail. I was watching one of Joyce Meyer’s programs the other day, entitled “Get radical,” and she said something that I wrote down word for word because I believe it was the missing puzzle piece to what God has been trying to teach me. Up to this point, God had taught me that I couldn’t or shouldn’t do anything about my problems, and all I needed to do was “stand.” I did understand that if I did something, then it would be my flesh, but I still felt there was more to it, and after I heard this program, I knew I had the missing puzzle piece. Here it is in Joyce’s own words. “If we have an area of disobedience in our lives, something that’s really, really a struggle for us, trying harder is not the answer. The answer is to get to know God better. The more we abide in him, the more time we spend with him, the more his power is released through us to accomplish his will. That’s what’s so absolutely amazingly wonderful about the new covenant. He undertakes to do through us everything that he asks us to do and our number one job is complete surrender. Don’t focus on your addiction, because anything you focus on will become bigger. If I focus on my weaknesses, then that’s all I’m going to see. I need to focus on my strengths and trust God to strengthen me in my weaknesses. The first thing we need to do is hate sin and love righteousness. God leaves weaknesses in us, so we depend on him. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. You don’t try harder to quit sin or that addiction, because that puts me right back with me trying to do it rather than leaning on God. I may be able through trying harder to get a little bit more successful, but if that weakness is still there, it’s going to show up somewhere. So the thing is to get to know God better, to lean on him more, to trust him more. Our job is complete surrender, spending time with him, loving him, loving his word, knowing his character.”
The battle is the Lord’s, so you need to focus on him and not on your troubles, or your addictions, or your weaknesses, or your circumstances. The more you focus on your troubles, addictions, weaknesses, or circumstances, the bigger they will become. You need to give them to God and then focus only on him. Spend time with him. Get to know him and how much he loves you. Thank him for his goodness and mercy. The closer you get to God, the bigger he will get in your life. The closer you get to God, the more you will be filled with his power, the more you will be filled with his Holy Spirit which will enable you to obey what he puts on your heart to do. The closer you get to God, the more you will realize that it’s not you doing anything. It’s God doing it through you. Also, the more time you spend with God and realize just how much he loves you, and feel his goodness and mercy toward how he deals with you, the more you will fall in love with him and you will want to obey what he puts on your heart to do.
There is another reason why God wants us to keep our focus totally on him and to be totally dependent on him for all of our needs and that is so that pride doesn’t sneak in. God hates pride and we need to be careful, because there is a danger when God accomplishes great things through you that pride will sneak in because you might start thinking that these great accomplishments are your doing. But when you keep your focus on God every day and are totally dependent on him for all of your needs, you know it’s not you. It’s all him. It’s him working through you. He gets all the glory and you get him!
The battle is the Lord’s, so continue to do what you are doing. Continue to talk to God, read and study his Word, cook, clean, play, go to work, and know in your heart that the battle is the Lord’s.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9(a)
HOW TO LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE - Chapter 19: The Battle Is The Lord’s
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” Joshua 1:2-3
“And all this assembly shall know tht the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47
The battle is the Lord’s. The battle is over for us. We have everything we need to live a victorious Christian life, because God is all we need. The battle is the Lord’s.
“The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14
God has taught me that all I need to do is obey him and he will take care of the rest. He will take care of all my needs. He will point out sin in my life that needs to be dealt with. He will give me things he wants me to have and take away things he doesn’t want me to have.
I used to be a very miserable Christian. I would go to church and listen to the sermon, and then come home and try to change myself. I always felt defeated. I always felt beat up. I don’t do that anymore. Now I go to church and listen for God’s voice in my heart. I wait to hear from him. I don’t make any changes unless God tells me to. I don’t try to change myself anymore.
If there is something in your life that needs to be dealt with, God will point that out to you. I remember one sermon in particular where the preacher was talking about rejection and about not getting bitter when you have been rejected by someone in your life. I couldn’t recall a time where I was rejected in my life, but then at the end of sermon, I felt God saying to me that I was the rejecter. I was rejecting one of my children. Not openly, but in my heart. I never realized this until God pointed it out to me. I immediately asked God to forgive me and to love my child through me. That afternoon when my child walked through the door, I felt this overwhelming love in my heart and I knew it was God loving him through me. This is how God works in our lives. We don’t need to do anything ourselves. He takes care of everything.
Here is another example of how God dealt with me about something that wasn’t right in my heart. The preacher’s sermon was on Psalm 139, especially the last two verses, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” I asked God to do this for me, but nothing came to my mind at the time. Then that afternoon while I was ironing and listening to Joyce Meyer speak about keeping secrets, God brought something to my mind. Joyce Meyer said we shouldn’t keep secrets in our heart because they will hurt us. We need to get them out in the open, so we can get healing. So we can be free, because the truth sets us free. God then brought to my mind my dislike for someone. Outwardly I loved her, but inside I really disliked her. I didn’t tell anyone and really didn’t know until today what to do about it. At first I thought God wanted me to talk to her about it, but I didn’t get any peace about that. Then God told me what I needed to do. He said I needed to forgive her and that is what I did. I forgave her. I felt a lot lighter after that. I don’t have to pretend to like her anymore, because now I do like her because I forgave her. Now I’m going to let God love her through me. What a wonderful feeling of release that was.
If you try to battle something on your own, you will fail. I was watching one of Joyce Meyer’s programs the other day, entitled “Get radical,” and she said something that I wrote down word for word because I believe it was the missing puzzle piece to what God has been trying to teach me. Up to this point, God had taught me that I couldn’t or shouldn’t do anything about my problems, and all I needed to do was “stand.” I did understand that if I did something, then it would be my flesh, but I still felt there was more to it, and after I heard this program, I knew I had the missing puzzle piece. Here it is in Joyce’s own words. “If we have an area of disobedience in our lives, something that’s really, really a struggle for us, trying harder is not the answer. The answer is to get to know God better. The more we abide in him, the more time we spend with him, the more his power is released through us to accomplish his will. That’s what’s so absolutely amazingly wonderful about the new covenant. He undertakes to do through us everything that he asks us to do and our number one job is complete surrender. Don’t focus on your addiction, because anything you focus on will become bigger. If I focus on my weaknesses, then that’s all I’m going to see. I need to focus on my strengths and trust God to strengthen me in my weaknesses. The first thing we need to do is hate sin and love righteousness. God leaves weaknesses in us, so we depend on him. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. You don’t try harder to quit sin or that addiction, because that puts me right back with me trying to do it rather than leaning on God. I may be able through trying harder to get a little bit more successful, but if that weakness is still there, it’s going to show up somewhere. So the thing is to get to know God better, to lean on him more, to trust him more. Our job is complete surrender, spending time with him, loving him, loving his word, knowing his character.”
The battle is the Lord’s, so you need to focus on him and not on your troubles, or your addictions, or your weaknesses, or your circumstances. The more you focus on your troubles, addictions, weaknesses, or circumstances, the bigger they will become. You need to give them to God and then focus only on him. Spend time with him. Get to know him and how much he loves you. Thank him for his goodness and mercy. The closer you get to God, the bigger he will get in your life. The closer you get to God, the more you will be filled with his power, the more you will be filled with his Holy Spirit which will enable you to obey what he puts on your heart to do. The closer you get to God, the more you will realize that it’s not you doing anything. It’s God doing it through you. Also, the more time you spend with God and realize just how much he loves you, and feel his goodness and mercy toward how he deals with you, the more you will fall in love with him and you will want to obey what he puts on your heart to do.
There is another reason why God wants us to keep our focus totally on him and to be totally dependent on him for all of our needs and that is so that pride doesn’t sneak in. God hates pride and we need to be careful, because there is a danger when God accomplishes great things through you that pride will sneak in because you might start thinking that these great accomplishments are your doing. But when you keep your focus on God every day and are totally dependent on him for all of your needs, you know it’s not you. It’s all him. It’s him working through you. He gets all the glory and you get him!
The battle is the Lord’s, so continue to do what you are doing. Continue to talk to God, read and study his Word, cook, clean, play, go to work, and know in your heart that the battle is the Lord’s.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9(a)
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