ok

Psalm 110:3c Your vigor will be renewed each day like the morning dew.

Good to know when you're 59 & up to your armpits in life.

Psalm 110:5a The Lord stands at your right hand to protect you.

Good to know when you're doing stuff that the devil, & some people, can't stand.

so...

Our lives are constantly having a ripple effect on the people around us. The questions is, are the ripples ones we set off, or ones from God.

it's all Him

Psalm 108:13 With God's help we will do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes.

2 Corinthians 13:4 Although Jesus died on the cross in weakness, He now lives by the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak, but we live in Him & have God's power...

It's not us that make things happen in our lives. In reality, it's all Him.

stregth thru weakness

2 Corinthians 12: 7b So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time He said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It makes sense to abandon ourselves so much to God that He is able to move us into areas that are "out of our depth" or put us "in over our head."

In so doing, we HAVE to totally depend on God to make things happen in our lives, & keeps us from getting prideful & arrogant about how we "get things done" with our "God-given abilities."

I've been living this particularly with the establishing of Christ Chapel's presence in downtown Macon. I'm totally dependent on God to make things happen downtown because I'm R
EALLY in over my head with all this.

God's gonna have to pull this one off. I'll be who I am (well, actually who He created me to be), do what I do, but God's the One who's favor makes things happen.

It's kinda nice to be in this position - I'm just responsible for being who I am - God's responsible for the results.

I like that.

I shoulda done this decades ago.

favor & a lack of trust

Psalm 106:24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn't believe His promise to care for them.

After all the Jews had been thru with God - sending Moses to them, the plagues that freed them, cross the Red Sea on dry land, the drowning of Pharoah's army, the giving of the law @ Mt. Sinai, & all the other stuff they experienced with Him - after all that, He says, go take Canaan, & they don't believe He'll take care of them.

And we're just like them. We live lives smack dab in the middle of His favor & we don't have any faith or trust in Him. When He says, "I want you to do this," we say, "you want me to do what?!!!"

Why can't we learn to just say, "whatever..."

I mean, what do we have to lose? If we're wrong, we just look stupid. Goodness knows, we look stupid enough, anyway, doing some of the stuff we do.

What have we got to lose by just following what we believe is God's leading & direction?!

Who knows? Maybe it will lead us into a "pleasant land" like the Jews were offered.

********

I also read in 2 Corinthians 11 where Paul recounts some of the things that have happened to him as a Christ follower.

In view of the fact that we're such prissy fat-cat Christ followers, driving out SUV's & getting pouty if our latte isn't quite the temperature we like, you might understand why in some ways this passage always makes me laugh just a little.

Would any of us be Christ followers if just ONE of these things happened to any of us?!

2 Corinthians 11:23b I have worked harder,

been put in prison more often,

been whipped times without number,

and faced death again and again.

24 FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.

25 THREE TIMES I was beaten with rods.

ONCE I was stoned.

THREE TIMES I was shipwrecked.

ONCE I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

26 I have traveled on many long journeys.

I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers.

I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles.

I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas.

And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. (dan note: I think this is the worst thing to have to face)

27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights.

I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food.

I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

30 If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.31 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying.32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the city gates to catch me.33 I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall to escape from him.


Like I said...

true focus

2 Corinthians 10:17b The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.

control

Matthew 10:39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

This is one of the 4 verses God gave me 2 years ago as I walked into the adventure He drawn me into called downtown.

I've boiled this verse down to the thought "don't cling to your life"

I can tell you how many hundreds of times God has gently reminded me of this verse, or whispered that bullet to me - "don't cling to your life"

I was clinging to a lot of things I thought were important - things in my life that I took refuge in. And time & time again He would whisper, "don't cling to your life - don't cling to that thing you think is so important. Let it go, because I (as in God) have something else for you."

And just because I'm downtown doesn't mean this is the "destination" for me. This is just a part, a season in my journey & adventure with Him. I have to keep my heart & life open to whatever He has for me. I can't anymore cling to downtown than I could cling to anything else in my life as I moved toward downtown.

God dreamed a dream for our lives. It's far more amazing & scary than anything we could imagine or dare to dream. The trick to getting to live it is to let go of control of our lives. Easier said than done, but still key to God being able to actuate His dreams for us.

So, as I continue to walk this adventure with Him downtown, I reminded - don't cling to your life.

As we all live our lives, let's not cling to them. Change will come. God will introduce something new & different into our lives - probably something kinda scary & something we don't think we can do on our own. But as it says in the second half of verse 39, "if you give up your life for Me, you'll find (your life)."

I'm finding that life He dreamed for me. He's leading me into who know what? We'll see.

I've said all that to say this - I'm livin' the reality of what it means & what it's like if you "don't cling to your life."

Therefore, I can say with integrity, "don't cling to your life"

Let Him have complete control & go with the life He dreamed. It's worth it.