Monday, February 16, 2015

Living For Less? - Stretch Out Your Hand




“We all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them. We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and says to us, “Arise from the dead….” When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to “arise from the dead” and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we “get up and get going.” God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, “Arise from the dead…,” we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, “Stretch out your hand” (Matthew 12:13). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.” CHAMBERS

Do you have dreams and aspirations in your spiritual life that remain unfulfilled?  Maybe you think that life, decisions you have made, actions that you did or did not take in your past, have pre-empted those things that you imagined would happen in your life as a Christian.  Maybe you have resolved yourself to living for less.  In a sense, you have judged yourself and sentenced yourself to a life that is far from what you imagined.  Jesus is saying to you “Stretch out your hand”.

There is nothing too hard for God.  He is in the business of restoration. Many years ago, some neighbors of our gave us an old vanity. It was beaten and battered.  I bought a refinishing kit and when I was done, the vanity was beautiful.  When our neighbors saw it, they asked if they could have it back.  We did not give it back, but the point is that they lacked faith that the vanity could ever be more than what it was.  But I saw the potential in that old piece of furniture.  I made it into something beautiful and useful.  In the same way, God can do that in your life.  You may have dreams and hopes that seem impossible in this point in your life.  You believe that you have gone past the point of no return.  But your problem is one of faith … you lack faith in God .. you are trusting in yourself and have decided that your hopes and dreams are a lost cause.  That is not true.  Trust God and stretch out your hand. ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

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