Life Journaling: Distractions

Today my reading was in Jeremiah 13-15 and John 15. Jeremiah 15:16-20 says:

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.

(...Jeremiah digests, delights in and speaks Gods words to the people for their own good...)

¹⁷ 

I did not sit in the company of revelers,

    nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
    for you had filled me with indignation.

(...He doesn't participate in the sin they are performing, he is set apart and God has filled him with wrath...)

¹⁸ Why is my pain unceasing,
    my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail?

(...Jeremiah, like any human in his situation is questioning his pain and asks why his wounds are not healing...he wonders if God is really protecting him; if he is there with him. He asks God if he will let him down and leave like a river that runs dry...)

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
    and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
    you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
    but you shall not turn to them.
²⁰ And I will make you to this people
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
    but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
    to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord. 

(...God  assures Jeremiah that He is there and will protect him, but that persecution will continue. As long as Jeremiah knows that the Lord is with him, persecution doesn't matter...)

John 15 talks about the vine, and the branches that reside in it bearing much fruit. Like Jeremiah, we must abide completely in the vine to have Gods full protection as well as to bear much fruit.

On my run yesterday, the word God gave me was distraction. He showed me that even ministry work, and "good works" like service etc. can all be a distraction, hence not a good thing, if they are keeping us from working on our relationship with him. God never asks us to do anything that will take away from our time with him. So if we are feeling too busy to have our morning quiet time, we must look at our activities, even the ones we "do for The Lord" and see which ones are distracting us. Many of our works are ours to do, and God blesses our efforts, but if our efforts are not bearing fruit, we must look at our intentions and motivations. Satan will allow us to do ministry work alone because he knows it will lead to burn out and lack luster fruit.

At our church recently, the women have been discussing and studying the effect of spiritual health on the body, both emotionally as well as physically. I can see that if we are struggling with any type of health, we must first look at our spiritual health. The root issue will most likely be there.  Do we feel Gods complete love for us, do we know he has our backs, do we trust that he has done the job completely, do we think that without our efforts something will fail and God won't work there? Nothing in ministry depends completely on us, if we feel an event or ministry will fail if we don't do our "job" we are wrong. If it is truly our job to do, God will give us the time, strength, ability, motivation and desire to do it how he needs it to be done, but not at the expense of our time with him. Isn't that amazing??!!  We serve an awesome, gracious and merciful God who only wants the very best for us.

Life Journaling: Straight Paths

My life journaling passages for today, May 26th are Proverbs 1-3 and Romans 7. As I was reading, several verses were being illuminated to me.

First was Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and knowledge." -This must be the first step in our relationship with Christ, right? We must have that deep reverence and awe of His greatness and power! He is, after all, the "Great I Am!" I think the fear of the Lord is minimized in the western prosperity gospel that is preached in some places.

Second was Proverbs 1:23, "If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;  I will make my words known to you." -We must be willing to receive correction from the Lord, knowing that He knows what is best for us. If we are available to be corrected, we can receive outpouring of the spirit, which has often been turned down to a trickle because of our stubbornness. 

Third was Proverbs 2:4-5, "if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." This says that we must seek to understand the fear of the Lord... 

Fourth was Proverbs 2:7-10, 

"he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

   he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ guarding the paths of justice
    and watching over the way of his saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
¹⁰ for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul..."

To me this says that when we walk in the path God has for us, we will be seeking justice; our paths will be guarded. It also says that we will understand righteousness and justice and equity, which are called the "good path." So, when we search and seek to understand the fear of God, like searching for something as precious as treasures, we will understand and fear the Lord while finding the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God, which we will understand is righteousness, justice and equity, will help direct our paths of justice and the Lord will be watching over the way of His saints. 

Last, from Proverbs 3:5-6, 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths."

We must have God's understanding, and God's heart then we can pursue paths of justice. Only then will we be in God's will and will have God as our shield.

There are so many more great verses in these first three chapters, but these were the ones that hadn't stood out to me before. It probably looks a lot like proof texting, but, I didn't read these chapters with the intention of proving anything about fear of the Lord and it's link to straight and just paths... I came to the conclusions I came to while reading :)