To "perform" or to "minister" that is the question.

I heard someone say today that they "perform" to an audience of One. Something just didn't sound right to my ears nor rang well with my spirit.  So being the studious student that I am, I of course Googled both definitions and set to pondering.

To "perform" is to "adhere to the terms of (as in a contract); to do in a formal manner according to a prescribed ritual; to give a rendition of; to carry out an action or pattern of behavior; to give a performance; to play".  To "minister" is to "to give service, care or aid; to attend, as to wants or necessities; to contribute, as to comfort or happiness".

Knowing the difference is crucial in these times & days ahead.  To perform is to go through the motions without opening one's heart & life.  It is to just do with no feeling or thought.  To minister is to open one's heart & life to be poured out like a drink offering.  Jesus didn't peform the act of sacrifice; He ministered as the act of sacrifice.  Jesus gave up everything He was & had so that we could be reconciled back to God the Father....no performing there.

This leads me back to the question God asked me in church last week...."Why are you here?"  Why do we go to church week after week?  Do we go to "perform" or to "minister" to that audience of One or are we there to be seen among men?  Are we there to give service, care & aid to those in the body of Christ?  Or are we there to give a rendition of being Christians?  Are we there to minister as in to attends to the wants & needs of the Father or our own stinking flesh?

Cutting questions that each of us has to examine & look at with a sincere heart & spirit.  I know I have been examining my own motives, heart & spirit lately.  I encourage you to do the same.  Why are you going to church?  If you are not going....why aren't you?  Are you performing or ministering?  Who is the one you are ministering to....your flesh or God when you do or don't go?  

I learned how to worship God when I first started this journey.  I learned to hear His still small voice & to move accordingly.   I was so head over heels in love with God & couldn't wait to get into His presence.   But then I allowed man to talk me into thinking I wasn't having a true & honest relationship with God.  I allowed circumstances & the actions of others to make me question everything I knew was true & right.  I have been calling out to God that I want what was lost between He & I by allowing man in & pushing Him away out of doubt & fear.

While walking on my treadmill the other night I cried out once again to God.  I realized I can't have the relationship of the past because that is where it belongs in my past.  I can have a fresh new & mature relationship with Him now.  A relationship of honesty of heart; a relationship that has weathered the storms of trial & the days of triumph.  I have come to realize I am still hungry for His amazing presence, to read His wonderful Word, I am still desiring to sit before His feet to learn His heart & needs, I am still desiring to minister to Him & Him alone; ministering not performing to an audience of One....the Only True One.

Ask yourself the cutting questions, answer them honestly, get before God & pour out your heart & life to Him.  If you want to save your life, give it totally away to God & He shall preserve it.  Matter of fact your life will be all the richer for it.  Oh yes, there will be trials & tribulations....hard times & heart ache, but the investment of yourself in to Christ is totally worth it.  Especially on the days when you can honestly see where your life has been & how it has grown in Him.  As for me, I have a walk to do not only on my treadmill today, but with my Savior helping others.  Have a blessed day.

Time Flies When You are Having Fun

Time flies when you are having fun, guess I missed something there.  How things have changed since my last post.  Yes I am still alive, yes still struggling a bit with who I am in Christ and all He desires to do in me.  I haven't posted since January.....haven't felt compelled to write like I was.  Have fallen in the "routine" of work, home & church....a rut.  But as a wise person told me tis better to be in a rut rather than a grave as a rut has a way out in the ends whereas a grave is just a whole with only one way out & that is up.

Still single, still living with my two rather large & hairy roommates.  Not much has changed geographically and externally.  Internally things have been shifting and shaking....more shaking really.  God has me in a place where I am sorting through the junk in the closet of my heart.  I am coming more at peace with being single, sorting through some forgiveness issues and learning to de-clutter my heart.  I am still a hard hat zone...a work in progress albeit the progress might seem slow to some, it is right on target with my Beloved Lord.  Pray my beloved friends that God's will will prevail in this life I keep trying to claim as my own.  That I will get the desire to write again, as I know folks really do hit on this blog from time to time and some actually stick around to read it.  Again the disclaimer....this isn't an educational blog from the perspective of everything can be found in books and has been scientifically proven.  The purpose of this blog was and still is to journal my own personal journey with the Lord in the hopes that someone might be in the position I was in and it would give them a bit of hope.  Well must dash, must get ready for church.  I am teaching again, part time.  This morning's lesson is "Living Confident in Christ".  Seems He has me teaching on topics I need to learn the most.  Truthfully some days I am confident in Him and secure in His love, other days not so.....guess I needed a reminder and so do my fellow brothers & sisters in Christ.  HUGZ & be blessed.

Someone Has Poisoned the Water Hole

I praise God for planting me where He did. Don't know if anyone got today's message, but I surely did. I pray will honor His mouth piece Pastor Turner for giving a hard but oh so needed word today. When Pastor Turner started to read God's word in Exodus 15:22-27 I heard God speak, "Someone has poisoned the water hole."

In Exodus 15:22-27, the children of Israel had been out in the wilderness 3 day & they found no water. They came to Marah but they could not drink the water because it was bitter....hence the name as Marah means bitter. Moses cried out to the Lord seeking what should be done as the children of Israel started to grumble. The Lord showed Moses a tree & when Moses threw the tree into the water it became sweet.

Our lives as Christians are wells that others can come to & drink from. "How well is your well?" is the question I heard the Lord asking me today. Many things have occurred in my life over this past year. Many circumstances & situations have come my way that could make me bitter or better. I would love to say that it has all been better, but there were some pretty bitter things that have occurred....whether Father filtered or just slings from the enemy.

Bitterness is like poison to your soul, it's a bad taste in one's mouth & spirit. It can cause you to isolate & miss out on the sweetness of God & others in your life. God showed Moses a tree......a foreshadow of the Cross. When Moses put that tree into the water it became sweet. When we put the Cross in the midst of every bitter circumstance & situation.....when we put Jesus in the midst....it can become better & sweet again. When people become bitter it is because they are focusing on the circumstances & neglecting God in their lives.

The purpose of the wilderness is to have a face to face encounter either with God, with the enemy or with yourself. God led me into the wilderness for an encounter with Him and myself. He led me into the wilderness to teach me to trust Him & Him alone. But He also led me there to have a face to face encounter with the weaknesses in me. The weakness of bitterness that has poisoned this well & that has the potential to poison those that drink from it.

Jesus on the days leading up to & the day of His Crucifixion was wrongfully accused, mocked, & abandoned. He was denied 3 times by one of His trusted disciples & friend. He was beaten, bruised & killed for no just cause according to man's law, but God had a plan much higher then man's. Jesus could have become bitter before His death, but He instead counted it all as joy for what was set before Him. Why didn't He become bitter? Because He had the sweet communion of the Father & with us. He had God's plan & purpose before Him of being the redemptive Lamb.

My weakness is I focused so much on the not so fair circumstances & situations that have happened in my life so much so that I neglected God. I couldn't understand the "why" behind what was happening. People failed me left & right so I naturally thought God was going to fail me as well. People I thought were my friends abandoned me, so naturally I thought God was going to do the same. But wonderful Father He is.....He loves me so much so that He will not leave nor forsake me. He loves me as I am but also loves me enough to cause me to change.

Father, I pray not only for myself, but those who's well may be bitter today. I repent for neglecting You & our relationship. I repent for not believing that You wouldn't leave me & for not trusting You to take care of me. Forgive me for seeing You the same as the others in my life that had failed & abandoned me. Jesus I invite You once again into this life I keep trying to call & claim as my own. I invite all that You accomplished on the cross into the midst of my situations & circumstances. Holy Spirit help change what once was bitter into something now so sweet. Change this once bitter well into something sweet that others can drink from once again & be drawn to the Living Waters of life that feed it. Let my life lead others not to bitterness but to betterness in Christ alone. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Reconciliation

There have been several times in my life where God has called me to go and seek forgiveness from someone who has wronged me. Logically to the human mind it is the "offender" who causes the break in a relationship that should assume the responsibility for reconciliation. But God has put the responsibility upon me and I never could quite fully understand the "why" factor.....until this morning.

I am going over my Sunday school lesson, God & Bro. Walker have asked me to do in Bro. Walker's absence. It is on the Supremacy of Christ....from Colossians 1:15-29. It was in verses 19-20 I got my "why" answer...."For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him (Christ) to reconcile all things to Himself (God), by Him (Christ), whether things on ear or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His (Christ's) cross."

All the fullness of the Father dwells in Christ and it is by that Fullness that indwelling the Father chose/chooses to reconcile sinners to Himself. It is the fullness of Christ or one could say God dwelling within me by the Holy Spirit that chooses to be reconciled with the one that offended me. God can't help Himself. He created man for relationship and He provided the Lamb to ensure that relational bond remains between Himself and man. Wow if that doesn't give one pause to ponder and a reason to worship I don't know what does. What love the Father has for us His children....He made provision for us long before we were created. Let us be continually reconciled with not only the Trinity, but with one another. Hugz & blessings.