"Sure, you do, Errol".
"None that I am aware of, Lord".
"And THAT is the problem".
My philosophy is that we get to go round and round our own personal Mt. Sinai, in our own personal wilderness, until we get it. We wave at the little desert critters that we have befriended along the journey, as we make our laps around the mountain. They give us little packages to drop off to their critter relatives on the other side of the mountain. We make so many laps around that mountain, that we become a courier service comparable to the United States Postal Service.
WHY? Because we do not get it! What is IT? Anything that distracts us from our duties as a servant! Our job, our function in God's Kingdom, is to be servants. NEWS FLASH, I know. But, that is what we do.
Second New Flash! God blesses His servants. BUT, ONLY IF THEY SERVE!!!!
And since He will not override my free will, He sends me around the mountain over and over and over...WAIT! That's not true! If I possess free will, then I am CHOOSING to go around that mountain over and over, until I CHOOSE (there's that word again!) to be obedient and trust God enough to lay whatever it is that stands between He and I (finances, jobs, failing marriages, just feel free to enter your own issue that you SAY you trust Him with, but your actions prove otherwise!).
We worry when He tells us not to. We try to fix it and it only gets worse. And sadder still, we are oblivious to the fact that our attempts to "fix" the issue with worry (sounds stupid when I put it that way, huh?), declare we have faith in God to save us, but not to provide for us or to heal broken relationships.
Question...what is the point of serving a God that can give you eternal life, but cannot feed you or heal you? The answer is, there is no point. Your relationship with God has reverted back to religion. And God is not a happy camper around religious people! (SEE: Pharisees)
We make our issues, the cares of the day, a god that we place above our Lord! Jesus explains in the Parable of the Soils that the cares of the day (bill paying, bill collectors, broken hearts, broken homes, etc) chokes out the purpose and steal the Word of the Lord from our hearts, before it can grow deep roots and take hold of our lives.
And God LOVES me enough to frustrate my efforts to function outside of His power and His provision to force me to rely upon Him.
I call it the "Fram Oil Filter Theory". We can be obedient to that first commandment and pay Him now, or we can suffer from our own inadequate efforts and pay Him later.
I'm taking my wallet out now, Lord! I'm laying my cares at the foot of Your throne. It never works when I try to fix it, anyway! I know how that movie ends, when I am the director. I understand that You may have a different outcome in mind, than I do. But, Your word declares that You always have my best interests in mind, even if I do not think so.
Let Your will be done, Father.
Let Your will be done.
WHY? Because we do not get it! What is IT? Anything that distracts us from our duties as a servant! Our job, our function in God's Kingdom, is to be servants. NEWS FLASH, I know. But, that is what we do.
Second New Flash! God blesses His servants. BUT, ONLY IF THEY SERVE!!!!
And since He will not override my free will, He sends me around the mountain over and over and over...WAIT! That's not true! If I possess free will, then I am CHOOSING to go around that mountain over and over, until I CHOOSE (there's that word again!) to be obedient and trust God enough to lay whatever it is that stands between He and I (finances, jobs, failing marriages, just feel free to enter your own issue that you SAY you trust Him with, but your actions prove otherwise!).
We worry when He tells us not to. We try to fix it and it only gets worse. And sadder still, we are oblivious to the fact that our attempts to "fix" the issue with worry (sounds stupid when I put it that way, huh?), declare we have faith in God to save us, but not to provide for us or to heal broken relationships.
Question...what is the point of serving a God that can give you eternal life, but cannot feed you or heal you? The answer is, there is no point. Your relationship with God has reverted back to religion. And God is not a happy camper around religious people! (SEE: Pharisees)
We make our issues, the cares of the day, a god that we place above our Lord! Jesus explains in the Parable of the Soils that the cares of the day (bill paying, bill collectors, broken hearts, broken homes, etc) chokes out the purpose and steal the Word of the Lord from our hearts, before it can grow deep roots and take hold of our lives.
And God LOVES me enough to frustrate my efforts to function outside of His power and His provision to force me to rely upon Him.
I call it the "Fram Oil Filter Theory". We can be obedient to that first commandment and pay Him now, or we can suffer from our own inadequate efforts and pay Him later.
I'm taking my wallet out now, Lord! I'm laying my cares at the foot of Your throne. It never works when I try to fix it, anyway! I know how that movie ends, when I am the director. I understand that You may have a different outcome in mind, than I do. But, Your word declares that You always have my best interests in mind, even if I do not think so.
Let Your will be done, Father.
Let Your will be done.
