Go for it

John 1:35-39 NIV

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”  

This will be short. Too often we can say what we don’t want but we don’t know what we do want. When we know what we want we can pursue it. The disciples were ready for more. They recognized Jesus as the teacher and followed him. They spent time with him and then knew him as the Messiah- the deliverer. 

The thing is to know what you want and pursue it. We all have different wants. They are ours. No one can dictate what we want. When we spend time with God we find more - we get more. So in your pursuit, pursue him and watch as everything else falls into place. Go for it. Don’t let anyone distract you from your dreams. More later.

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You. . . and him

Jeremiah 7:23 NRSV

“But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”  

We are going to back into this. I was reading in 1 Chronicles the  assignments, including the temple assignments, for each family of Israelites. Within the family of Levites they had assignments to assist overall assist the descendants of Aaron( the priests), and among their assignments they stood every morning thanking and praising God. The priests had duty in service to the Lord. The skilled temple musicians provided the music. 

The assignments went on and on, the gatekeepers, the treasurers, officers, judges, military, the leaders of tribes, those who were skilled in building the temple, assembling the pieces in the temple. and it goes on. Everyone had a role to play and it worked because everyone knew their assignment.

Now, each of us has an assignment given by God for our gifts and talents. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about the jobs we may have,  or what we do in those those jobs, but what each us bring to those jobs. 

You see, you are still you. The gifts that God gave you for your assignment are still your gifts. We get our assignment from God and when we follow - all is well. It all works. So we listen, we follow, we watch what God is doing in our lives. There is no need to covet another’s gifts. It’s how my pastor, F.G. Sampson used to say, “Don’t let anyone out you you.” Blessings of joy on this day. more later.

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Wait On It

Habakkuk 2:1–4 NRSV

“I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.”

In the three short verses of Habakkuk we see his complaints to God and God’s answer. Go back and read all three verses. Habakkuk knew who to complain to- God. Not mankind. and he expected an answer. 

God’s answer- write the vision and make it plain on tablets. There is still a vision for an appointed time. Listen, that was God’s reply to Habakkuk. What it says for us is first- We can complain to God, we can lament, take our issues, our hurts, our disappointments, our disillusionment. And then expect an answer. 

Next- we wait on an answer. When we wait - things happen. Yes, there are times that it doesn’t look like what we expect, but our expectations pale in comparison with what God has. Waiting on him does not mean doing nothing, but moving as he moves. That’s trust. It breaks through those barriers of pride, thinking that we know all the answers- we don’t. But it sets us up to receive in areas outside of ourselves. That’s a hard thing for all of us. 

Now, I tend to write down what I hear. I journal. That’s me. But there is something about writing down what you hear and watching when it manifests. 

Man, I learned a beautiful lesson the other day. To “Go expecting good things.” Don’t get me wrong. I learned that long ago when I first went to Israel. My pastor, Doc, said, “Go expecting what the Lord has for you.” I did. When I returned home I kept that idea. Ah, but along the way, through crazy times, I began expecting the same old, same old, the negative. Even now, I’m forever teaching to move away from the negative- yet there I was. 

My son brought me back. He helped me to get back on track. To expect good things, positive things. No negativity. My my. 

There is still a vision for an appointed time - wait on it. 

Bottom line, we can tell God where we are, we can wait on him because the righteous live by faith. There is an answer.  enough for now.

Get Up

1 Kings 19:1-9

19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.  

After all that Elijah had done Jezebel so frightened him that he ran and wanted to give up his life. When he was at his lowest (v7) an angel appeared and had him to eat. Listen to the second beckoning to Elijah “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”

Elijah went on the strength of that food forty days and forty nights. 

Everyone knows what happened next when Elijah was at the cave. But this got him there. He had to receive what he needed in order to carry on. 

There are times that we are able to do great feats, get things done, move big things, make big ways . . .  But with all of that - there comes a moment that we feel we have failed. Life so throws us off that we want to give up. Something so terrifies us that we think giving up - walking away is the only way.  

So I’m pulling verse seven - get up and eat. Get up from where you are in your down moment, get up to receive what God has- that’s the nourishment you need. You don’t know what the journey looks like but you will make it. 

It’s something about getting up from our misery to receive from God. It’s shifts our thought and undergirds us for the journey. And the journey is doable as receive that nourishment. 

Listen, trust, follow. We continue watching what God is doing. We don’t do it alone. Enought for now.