Reading With the People of God #10 Kingdomنموونە

Focus of the month: (Kingdom)

7 Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, 8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, 10 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”.

- 1 Chronicles 17:7-14

The Narrow Path or the Ditch: You Choose

I believe that there are times when, in order to truly be encouraged, we must hear the truth without the “spoonful of sugar.” Let's face it: each and every one of us has, at some point in our lives, loved truth as long as it didn't require any change on our part. Or perhaps I'm grossly overstepping, and I am the only one who has ever experienced not wanting the cold, hard facts of truth but rather something in the middle. A more grayscale shade than the stark difference of white vs. black. Our Heavenly Father does not deal in half truths or grayscale, it is either truth/life or deception/death. This is precisely the mindset we must adopt as Jesus accepts us and grafts us into Him. The Holy Spirit begins His work, immediately transforming us. Transformation can not happen without the cutting away and dying of the old to allow the new to truly take root. This happens through the convictions that God's Word does within our thoughts, our actions, our very character and who we think we are. If we see the convictions of the Holy Spirit as something to bring forth shame and condemnation then we miss the beauty of what and Whom is at work within us. This, in turn, dictates our actions and behavior to be self-focused, self-driven, self-sufficient, and, in doing so, cut out the greatest gift of all, a relationship with Jesus Christ. Without His life source, this choice begins to harden your heart to His still, small voice, closing you off to the very source of all good things: choosing death instead of Life! It is narrow or broad, dark or light, life or death. When we proceed in our own understanding and our will, we allow flesh and deception to guide us. The harsh yet beautiful reality is we ourselves have nothing good within us outside of Him. This can not be softened to make it more palatable. Honest and regular self-reflection with Jesus through His Word and prayer keep us yoked to His life source, keeping us under His protection. Free from ego and pride, making sure our old sinful man stays where he should, nailed to the cross. When we fall into the ditch (notice I said ‘when’ not ‘if’), we take hold of God's unlimited grace, repent and grow stronger within Him. This transforms us. Without this continual transformation, ego slips in. We drift. Pride deceptively takes root, and the inevitable fall that comes from this compromise brings forth devastation.

I don't want to be devastated, but, if that is what it takes to shake my faulty foundation to get my attention at just how far I have drifted from my Lord & Savior, bring on the earthquake!

* Primer contributed by Ardena Hamill, Celebrate Recovery encourager