Monday, February 13, 2012

Distraction = Destruction


Our Young Marrieds small group is reading a book, His Needs Her Needs by Willard F. Harley. Its preface tells about Harley’s early encounter with a friend whose marriage was in trouble and came to him for advice. The friend’s marriage ended in divorce anyway so that sent him on a journey to discover what counsel could have made a difference in the outcome. His answer theorized that if you could associate “a feeling of love, to a person”, then that could be the difference.That is a great concept. Many have called it the best marraige book ever written with over one million copies printed internationally in over 15 years.
As Christians, we automatically associate those same feelings of love with our heavenly Father. “A feeling of love with Abba Daddy.” The Bible is the number one most printed (over any other publication) in the entire world. The Bible is revered as the inspired Word of God. Yet, why is the world currently in a downward spiral? That is the question that has me troubled. Morals, values, character, leadership, government, marriage, the family unit, etc.
What is the first commandment? (Jesus)“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with your whole soul (your life) and out of and with your whole mind (your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.” -Mark 12: 29-30 AMP. 
He is a jealous God because he wants you to have THE best and your obedience of Him is what avails Gods best for you. A practical application of this, is to respect God and those in authority over you. The other gods have become the distraction of the one true God. There is a reason that this is the first commandment. It is because God knows any other god (lower case) will side track us (ie: power, money,  people, objects, hobbies, ablity, etc.). The enemy uses them as distractions. Distraction will take us down a path of destruction. There are scriptural references that attest to that. And that is no theory. It is Truth.
Jer. 25:6; 35:15, Luke 4:8.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Navigator


We have been asking the Lord to show us how to relay the person of the Holy Spirit to individuals in terms so that they can understand. One day He simply replied, “Navigator.” Upon thinking on this, I kept coming back to the GPS (navigation) system in cars and on cell phones. The “nav” system works as a compass based on a map. The Holy Spirit works as a guide (navigator), based on God’s Word (The Bible), hence the expression, “the Bible is a guidebook for life.” 
Alan and I were in New York over the holidays. When Alan returned our car into the rental office, he had to walk back to the hotel. He used the “nav” system, on his new phone for the first time, following the map to get back to the hotel. A few days later we were getting in our last few hours before catching a cab back to the airport. Bags already awaiting our return in the lobby office, a cab had been pre-arranged to pick us up at the hotel at 3:30 pm to take us to the airport. Getting maximum enjoyment while in Brooklyn, we cut it a bit close in returning to the hotel. 
Upon realizing our dilemma of possibly not making it back in time, we kept asking people on the street how to get back to our hotel. We were frantic. I’d had a muscle injury in my leg before going on the trip, so I was nervous about re-injuring it by walking faster than my leg was ready to go. I was being pressed to hurry. We did get back in time. 
Later, however, we realized we’d had the capability to find our way back, all along. We had not yet gotten accustomed to using this new feature available to us. The map had been right there in Alan’s pocket. The “nav” system. All we needed do was USE IT! How many times have you, in a moment of panic, reacted without realizing what you needed (or something comparable), was available to you all along? If you’d just had the pressence of mind and taken a moment to recognize it.
The Holy Spirit is like that too. He is already there (within us), poised and ready to help. All we have to do, is Power up. He is the POWER; our Empowerment, our Compass, our Guide, our Helper, even our Navigator. Just as you tap onto the screen to summon the “nav” feature on your cell phone, so do you tap into the power of the Holy Spirit by simply asking Him for His help. When we get accustomed to using this supernatural empowerment available, it becomes second nature to us.
That empowerment can’t be much use or help to us if we don’t not use it. As Christians, we need to use this precious, God-given gift of the Holy Spirit. He is there as Navigator to get us through the stormy waters of life; marriage, work situations, financial decisions, parenting, and other relational issues, etc.  “But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all truth (the whole, full Truth). For he will not speak His own message; but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come.” -John 16:13 AMP