What Will You Be When You Grow Up?

When you were a young person, do you remember being asked what you wanted to be when you grow up?  A teacher, a doctor, a fireman – like your dad or your mom. As you grew older. Perhaps your resolve became more defined as life opportunities came your way or they evaded you. The reasons why you would or could achieve your dream either presented themselves or never materialized. Perhaps your interests changed – or perhaps possibilities that you never thought possible presented themselves. Life is complicated and can be unpredictable and our dreams can be elusive – sometimes reality but very often just dreams.

However – when you factor in your faith – well there is a much bigger question than what do you want to be.  That question is – what has God purposed you to be.

the Lord said “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  - Jeremiah 29:11

The Lord spoke those words when Israel was taken captive by Babylon.  Our takeaway from that promise is that God has a plan for us too.  As Life unfolds – good things and bad things befall all of us – but still, in the midst of it, God has a plan and a purpose.

Do you remember the Apostle Paul’s story? Paul said ..... 

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord - Philippians 3:4-8

Paul was born into a family of Pharisees. His future was set. Or at least he thought it was and then he met Jesus on the road ad Paul – the Saul – pursued what he considered his purpose. But then – seemingly our of nowhere- Jesus shows up!

Now you might be thinking  “But that was Paul – perhaps the greatest of the Apostles - what does that have to do with me?” Well ……. , let me suggest that it has everything to do with you.  

When you were born again – God set your feet on a different- eternal path. A path that leads to a life that you will live along with your natural life.  To live that life – to be what God has purposed us to be - He has gifted each of us to accomplish our role in the Body of Christ on this earth.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. – 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Those gifts are exercised as we are salt and light in the place on this planet wherever God has planted us.  And beyond those gifts, God has called some of us to places of leadership or perhaps better said – specific places of service.

Christ himself gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, {WHY?} to equip his people for works of service {that He has purposed for them}, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-13

Some of those people are called out to serve full time in those capacities and some are “part time” or bi-vocational. Having 2 vocations does not lesson the significance, giftings or the specific calling.  It is just that the context of service is different. In all cases those positions are recognized, acknowledged and confirmed by the Body of Christ and are not merely established by “self-declaration”.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. - Matthew 7:15

You might be tempted to discount how God might use you – knowing that you have “feet of clay”

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? - Romans 9:21

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. - 2 Corinthians 4:7

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. - Zechariah 4:6

In Christ we find our eternal purpose and identity!

I wrote a song some time back about the nature of the people that God calls  – 

Give a listen and then look to God for what He has purposed for your life – like me – you might be surprised.

The Life Of A Preacher Man

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

Serving God Without Conditions

It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket— to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted— not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Have you ever known someone who had to have things go their way or they would withdraw from whatever was going on?  It might be a game, work, ministry, or perhaps a relationship.  Or maybe you are that person. If we live our lives as Christians in that way, we have a conditional faith? Demanding that things go our way if we are to comply with what God has called us to.  

I visited a remote village in Southwestern Haiti some years ago, Donglise (Dawn gleece).  The pastor was not well.  Neither was I, but I went anyway and I prayed for him.  Not to just be healed but that God would give him the health he needed to do what God had called him to.  To serve God, it is not important for me to be completely healed of my infirmities, although that would be a good thing.  I asked that God would give me the strength I need to accomplish His purposes through me.  And if He does nothing, some would say it is because I lacked faith.  I say it does not matter I will continue to serve in spite of it. Do you remember what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth?

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 

What conditions do you have to go and do at the Lord's bidding?

[We] can do all things through Christ who strengthens [us]. - Philippians 4:13

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

Don't Be Satisfied With Less Than God's Best

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

As I write these devotions, I have begun to see a thread that runs through them .. Coincidentally, it is the same thread that runs through the Bible.  God has called us to a life of faith and holiness.  We cannot achieve that life on our own.  And even when we are born again, even though we are “awakened” to the reality of spiritual Truth, we continue to struggle with living a life of faith and holiness.  

We make excuses for our failings, and unfortunately often resolving ourselves to and becoming satisfied with some lower level of faith and holiness that God never intended as a sort of self-defined compromise.  When you talk to other Christians, even those that you might consider “more spiritual than most”, you should never think that they are immune to that struggle.  None of us are like Jesus, but all of us should want to be and one day will be.  

So should we be content with our not being like Him yet?  God forbid.  We are on a spiritual journey.  We must keep our eyes fixed on Him, and press on.  And so my friend, let me encourage you to press on in your faith with confidence that 

He who began a good work in your will be faithful to complete it. 1 Philippians 1:6  

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am" ― John Newton  

Join with the Apostle Paul in this resolve!

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14

Think about it – Believe it  - Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Your Speech Reflects Your Heart, Your Heart Reflects Your Faith

Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart….For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile [someone] … —Matthew 15:18-20

If I will take an honest look at myself, becoming fully aware of my so-called innocence and putting it to the test, I am very likely to have a rude awakening that what Jesus Christ said is true, and I will be appalled at the possibilities of the evil and the wrong within me. But as long as I remain under the false security of my own “innocence,” I am living in a fool’s paradise. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest  

Our old nature does not go away when we are born again, but when we are born again, we no longer have to live in subjection to our old nature.  We have a choice.  But, because it is a choice, we can choose poorly and allow the old nature to dominate us. One of the sure-fire ways that I can tell where a person is spiritually is by listening to what they say and how they say it. 

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45

In other words, your speech will eventually reveal your heart.  We often make excuses for our old nature.  “That is the way our family is.” “I was just kidding.” Actually we don’t have to make excuses for our old nature.  It is what it is.  It will never get better.  It can only be replaced with our new nature.  If our heart is yielded to the Lord then what comes out of our mouths will reflect the Spirit of God.  Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (Read Galatians 5:16-25 to understand the contrast).  

We are all vulnerable to spiritual relapses, but the traits of our old nature should not be the dominant characteristic of who people think we are, what they have come to expect of us and how we behave toward others and the Lord.  We must stop making excuses for what we know is wrong and does not honor God.  Our mission in this life is to reflect Jesus, to glorify God, to proclaim the Gospel through the living out of our lives.

In his poem ‘Sermons We See’ Edward Albert Guest wrote "I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day". 

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil -  Proverbs 4:18-27

You can’t do that on your own. Since the day you were born again you have been on a spiritual quest. But success is found only by faith and submission to the Spirit. 

 Think about it – Believe it  - Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

How To Live The Sanctified Life

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

 When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God. Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him.”  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest 

 There are two parts of sanctification.  The first is at the point of salvation, when you are sanctified – “set apart – declared holy  ”  by the work of the Spirit and your faith in Jesus. The first was the point where you confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.  The second is a daily progression of yielding your will to God’s will. Becoming one with Jesus.  Choosing obedience to the Father’s will and rejecting the will of your flesh – your old nature.   Both aspects of sanctification require your unconditional submission to God.

Satan would have you focus on your failures and not your faith. Convince you that you will never overcome the demons that haunt your life.  That you will never be the person that you know you should be – that you want to be.  The truth of the matter is that you can’t be that person by trying more or harder  – but by trying less.  You were first sanctified by faith, not by works.  You are called to live by faith and not by sight (or works). Sanctification is a supernatural phenomenon.  You yield your life and the Spirit does the work.  You could not be righteous through self-effort before you were born again and you cannot be more righteous through self-effort now.

 “Purify My Heart” Maranatha Music

 Purify my heart Touch me with Your cleansing fire Take me to the cross Your holiness is my desire

 Breathe Your life in me Kindle a love That flows from Your throne Oh purify my heart Purify my heart

 ....

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

More Of Jesus - Less of Me

Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

There is an old hymn that describes what our attitude should be with regard to our past, our present and our future.

“Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me, after Thy will While I am waiting, yielded and still

Search me and try me, Master, today! Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, As in thy presence Humbly I bow

Wounded and weary, Help me, I pray! Power, all power, surely is Thine Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway! Fill with Thy Spirit 'til all shall see Christ only, always, living in me.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!”  Adelaide Pollard , 1906

All of us have things in our past that we regret.  Satan, the god of this world, would have us cling to those things, so that they would define who we are today and limit what we will be in the future.  But Jesus has overcome sin and the grave. (1 Corinthians 15:17) In Him we have new life. (1 John 5:12) Old things are passed away. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  We are forgiven, in Christ. (Ephesians 4:32) 

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. - Romans 8:29

It is Jesus that defines us now. We should not let our sins in the past be a wall that we cannot move beyond.  Oh Christian, I want to encourage you to renew your confidence ... draw closer to Jesus .. say, once again that your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness - you are forgiven through and by faith in Him.

He who says he abides in Him [Jesus] ought himself also to walk just as He [Jesus] walked. - 1 John 2:6

And that we must do by faith not our own will power.

“So turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” 

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

Tempted To Lose Your Witness

Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust.’ - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

When you read those words, does it seem right to you?  I mean shouldn’t you be shown kindness?  Shouldn’t people that treat you poorly be dealt with – divinely?  Wouldn’t that make you feel better?  What did Jesus have to say about it?

But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. - Luke 6:27-31

If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE. - John 15:24-25 

Most of us will agree that concept is good .. but when you are being treated poorly how do you feel .. what is it in you that you must control?  I sometimes say, tongue in cheek, ‘I don’t want to lose my witness’ .. what I am really saying is I don’t want to act on what I am feeling and wanting to do.  You know what?  It’s too late at that point.  I have already missed it (the mark).

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. - 1 John 3:15  

We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. - 1 John 4:19-21  

You see it is the attitude of your heart ... the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).  You don’t have to act on your sin to sin.  Thinking that so long as you didn’t do what you were thinking has stopped short of sin is not right thinking.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.'  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. - Matthew 5:27-28  

Remember David on the roof?  He had already sinned before Bathsheba ever entered his house.  Pretty high standard isn’t it.  A standard that cannot be achieved through determination .. will power .. or won’t power … but only by the power of God in us.  Are there things in your life that you have been accommodating? Pretending that they didn’t matter .. Get your heart right … do not sin … James says that sin begins in our heart when we are tempted (James 1:12-15).. that is where it must end … It is only when we are spending time in the Word and with the Lord will we be able to stand against the temptation, but … that is another devotion for another day …

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone