Whatever work you have ahead of you this week, embrace it with a posture of dependence on God. We can work, and work, and work, but are we really going anywhere when our depends on us? Let your work begin with prayer, and the little you could have done turns into the MUCH God can and will do!!!
Take a moment today, let go of your schedule, to-do lists, and whatever you’re doing and pray. Just pray! Pretty simple and easy, but will you stop what you’re doing, to take the time to bow your head and lift up your voice and accept this challenge?
That’s up to you…..
“pray without ceasing,”
1 Thessalonians 5:17
““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7:13-14
Imagine in your minds a picture of a 4-lane highway, this highway has plenty of space for everyone to ride on. This highway has exit after exit of restaurant entertainment options. This highway is nice, it makes you feel good and it’s the one you want to go down, because it’s comfortable.
I’m with you, our human nature screams out for that comfort and that’s a battle we all face everyday. Where do we begin to turn off this wide path? Is there another way? Will I be able to do it?
Picture this, as you drive down the highway of comfort you see something on the side of the road that grabs your attention. You pull over to look and you get out of your car, you see that this object is a shovel. What could this shovel be used for?
TO DIG! Where there was nothing before, this shovel creates a new path, a path that takes pain, sweat and hard work but this path is full of new adventures, growth and daily learning more about the shovel. The shovel is Jesus, the shovel is His Word, for Jesus is the tool sitting on the side of our lives at times as we pass by day after day on the highway to self pleasure and fulfilling our appetite for comfort.
Jesus is that tool that remains there no matter how many times you drive by, He remains faithful and steadfast in His love. He wants you to stop, come close to Him, spend some time with Him so He can show you this wide path that seems good in our eyes, it’s not even close to the best path to take! He opens us up to see a purpose, a calling, and a mission greater than our comfort! He shows us when we surrender ourselves and our comforts before Him and embrace the life He has for us, He is the shovel in front of our lives creating in us and before us a NEW path, a dirt road that has every bump and boulder you could find, a path that isn’t smooth, but it’s the difficulty of the path that makes walking it so worth it!!!
Move from the highway today.
Stop driving and go to the shovel, which is Jesus.
Embrace the NEW path He has in store for you!!!
“Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.”
Psalms 5:3
“Desire without knowledge is not good—how much more will hasty feet miss the way!”
-Proverbs 19:2
Two different aspects of our lives of followers of Christ:
Desire: the passion and enthusiasm one has to live their lives for God
Knowledge: the information or “truth” one gains through diligent study, focus, and seeking out to learn more about God and His truths
The main question I have for you today; which one of these areas do you find yourself living with more and leaning towards in your daily life? Is it more desire, a fire to get up and get after it, or is it knowledge, spending more time in study and learning? Both aspects are greatly needed for our Christian lives but one by itself always turns out to be no good without the other. These two qualities are a tag team, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. Hold on, let’s look at this verse from Proverbs a little deeper.
It says here; “desire without knowledge is no good.” Why would that be? So often we can find ourselves running through this life with the idea of “faster is better,” because if you have more “desire” you’ll be able to get more done, serve the Lord even greater right? Not so fast!!!
Desire is great but still it needs it’s tag team partner of “knowledge.” And it says exactly why here in Proverbs, “how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” The word “hasty” is meaning; “done or acting with excessive speed or urgency, hurried.” If we go go go and don’t take a second to slow down, we can find our flame of desire that has been burning at all time high’s experiencing something called, “burnout.” Have you ever heard a sermon or went to a camp, conference, those unbelievable moments of experiencing a spiritual high where you are on the mountain top and so fired up to go and serve the Lord with all you have? Yeah, I’ve experienced those moments too but how does long does that fire keep burning? Usually, not too long because there is no fuel to keep the fire going.
That’s where knowledge comes in, knowledge is the fuel to keep our desire fires burning at a high level. Knowledge is found when we step back to reflect, spend time with God in His Word and in prayer. In those moments when we seek God, His Word and presence brings knowledge to our lives, truth-filled knowledge about who He is, how He feels about us, truth that fills us up when we reach those burnout moments when our desire is getting weak.
Knowledge is like throwing kerosene on the fire that your desire has produced, when we find ourselves in moments where we want to give up, we’re too tired, we don’t see why the daily battle is worth it. SEEK KNOWLEDGE from the Lord. He provides for us truth that gives us all we need to battle against the weakness we face, it shows us that the purpose and calling God has given us is worth it. Knowledge is the fuel to keep your desire fire burning!
We can take off running the race God has set before us with all the desire in the world but without knowledge, God’s truth, we can find ourselves running in the wrong direction all too often. Knowledge of God directs us and keeps our eyes in the right direction to make an even bigger impact for His Kingdom than we could ever do without Him!!!! Seek the balance of desire and knowledge today, just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it never gets old, only better and better!!!!
Here’s an example of how truth-filled knowledge of God’s Word can reignite the flame of desire that may be running low in your life.
‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ‘ –-Galatians 6:9
DON’T GIVE UP!!! KEEP PUSHING FORWARD AND SEEKING GOD DAILY!!! YOU MAY NOT SEE IT NOW, BUT IF YOU DON’T GIVE UP AND KEEP DOING WHAT IS GOOD, THE HARVEST WILL COME!!!!
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