Arise,
shine… —Isaiah 60:1
{CHAMBERS}
“When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the
first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to
help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there.
Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a
moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not
continue to lie down doing nothing. […] Drudgery is one of the finest tests to
determine the genuineness of our character. […] It is the utterly hard, menial,
tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is
instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine.
Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest
example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, “If I
then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet” (John 13:14). […] When the Lord does something through us, He
always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now
every believer’s body has become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians
6:19).”
{ELGIN}
God will not make us obey and step out .. we must choose to obey Him .. What
God asks you to do will be contrary to the desires of your flesh nature. It may not be glorious … it most likely will
be mundane … You may never stand before thousands like a Billy Graham … you more
than likely be called to kneel before one, like Jesus. I shared the other day that the Lord had
given me Galatians 6:2 as a command to focus on for this year … more correctly,
from this year on …. “Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of
Christ.” Reference Matthew 22:37-39 to
read the “law of Christ”. Martie and I
sat with a woman the other day and listened to her as she poured her heart out
for over 3 hours. The whole while, I was
reminding myself of Galatians 6:2. I
mean most of us are willing to give someone a few minutes .. but three
hours? When I was talking with the same
woman about repairs to her home a few days later she commented on her visit to
our office. She told me that she was
talking to her friend about it. She told
her friend “These people listened to me talk about things I have not ever
shared with anyone for over three hours!
Where did these people come from?
Why are they here?” I told her
that we are here because God sent us here.
I told her that we are here not to merely help the houses but primarily to
help the people that live in the houses.
That help is more than sheetrock and paint … nails and lumber … it is
meant to bring comfort from the God of all comfort … Laying our lives and
livelihood down in Alabama and coming to Texas does not mean we are heroes … it simply means
we are obedient. We have some dear friends
who told us that they “live simply so others can simply live”. A wonderful model for us.
God
has a purpose for each of us .. has equipped us each for those purposes. Our responsibility is to walk in obedience by
faith. Micah 6:8 “What does the Lord
require of you, O’ man. But to do
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. God does not actually say “Go” by yourself ..
He says “Come to where I am” So …. what are you waiting for? Arise and Shine!
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