There's Work to be Done!

God did not save us just to warm up a pew bench on Sundays. Oh no, He saved us to have intimacy with Him and to work with Him in the beauty of His holiness. When He said, "Be ye holy" it was not a request, but a commandment. And God doesn't command us to do anything that He won't empower us to do.

He gave us Life that we may LIVE for Him. There’s work to be done.

The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Luke 10:2

Let us labour for our Master and, in due season, we will reap our harvest!

Praise report

I do have a very exciting praise report, in case you can’t tell from my title!

Mitchelle was to come to church on Sunday morning, but she text messaged me while I was in Sunday school that she couldn’t come, because her mother needed the car. But Mitchelle had her heart set on coming to church (smart girl), so she made it for the evening service instead.

She was very happy to be in church that evening and really enjoyed the preaching. We closed the service with the Hymn When we see Christ and when I turned around, Mitchelle’s eye were teary and she was barely holding back those tears!

I will make a long “post” short, but later that evening, I had an incredible discussion with her. Mitchelle is concerned for the salvation of our friend / co-worker, Virginia!! I have to admit, I was just floored with her statement, but definitely thankful. We both agreed to pray for her salvation! In fact, we agreed to pray for Mario too, Virginia’s boyfriend.

It gets better. Mitchelle admitted that since she got saved she feels unexplainable joy in her heart, and that she’s also a lot more sin-conscious. She said she prays more often, and that it “feels different” – she now KNOWS her Heavenly Father.

It gets even better. I had been convicted for a couple of weeks that I hadn’t told Mitchelle about baptism. I laid my conviction before the Lord and He heard my prayer. Mitchelle told me that prior to her grandfather’s passing away he “turned protestant” and got baptized. She wanted to know more about baptism. I didn’t even have to open the subject, she brought it up herself. Amen!! I explained to her from the Bible that Jesus Christ gave us two commandments after salvation: Baptism and Communion. Lord willing, she just might get baptized this summer!

Mitchelle is one of my closest friends, and to see such a turn-around with her makes me look up to Heaven and cry “who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” Ex. 15:11. Amen, Lord Jesus.

Don’t quit, keep on sowing

One of the easiest things for any of us to do when it seems like nothing is going our way, is for us to just give up and QUIT on God. That's right, just "throw in the towel" and walk away. What is really ugly is that the enemy will always be there, ever ready to pat us on the back and console us with, "you have good excuse to quit, you did your best”.

The one thing giving up will NOT give you is peace. The decision to quit on God will haunt you till the day you repent. You will be plagued with what might have been had you only persevered and waited on the Lord.

We have a race to run and we are running for an incorruptible prize. If we are going to make it, we must ENDURE to the END. It takes great effort to be a winner. As Paul said “and let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, IF we faint not.” Paul wanted those he was addressing in his letter to the Galatians to know he realized the struggles they would have to face, and that they might even get tired of living right. He, however, wanted to admonish them to "keep on keeping on" for God: he wanted them to "stick with it" and keep on sowing the precious word that they might reap and bring lost souls to Christ.

“Keep me as the apple of the eye”

In Psalm 17:8, King David asks the Lord to:

"Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings"

Doesn’t that make for a wonderful prayer? Asking the Lord to hide us as the “apple of eye!” To be the apple of one's eye is to be very precious or dear to that person. That is what we should be striving for, reaching for, to please our Savior above all else, so He will look upon us as the apple of His eye!

In Proverbs 7:2 we are told to "keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye." In other words, WE are to obey God's teachings in the right way and to keep His commandments as the apple of our eye. His commandments are to be precious and dear in our sight. If we heed to God’s word, He just might keep us as the “apple of his eye”.

Not to mention that the second part of the verse “hide me under the shadow of Thy wings” also makes for a beautiful prayer!

The sin of ceasing to pray for others

Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you. 1 Samuel 12:23

What an amazing statement! This quote is from Samuel as he was giving up his position as judge over Israel, now that the people rejected God’s reign. Of course, we know that King Saul had been anointed and confirmed as ruler over Israel, as per the people’s request.

Samuel's words are interesting: he considers failing to pray for others to be a SIN before God. Most of the time, we would consider failing to pray for others to be a slip-up when we get too busy. Our attitude towards prayer means that prayer is the first thing dropped when we are pressed for time, but suddenly remembered when we are desperate. Samuel had lived his entire life with God, and his attitude towards prayer is much more serious; failing it was a sin in his eyes.

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:1) is what the New Testament says, but how often do we miss the importance that people such as Samuel and, more significantly, our Lord put on prayer.

While we may not be called to lead a nation, keeping Samuel's seriousness about prayer for others is a good idea. That verse in Samuel has really struck a chore with me, needless to say, I have let down many people by ceasing to pray for them, and may have even sinned before God.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Psalm 119:9

Praise the Lord

Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

That would qualify you and me! In fact, some people say that I have TOO much breath in me, because once I start talking, I can’t stop!

I read the last chapter and verse of Psalms today, and got really convicted that I waste so much of my breath on meaningless discussions, whereas, I could be praising the very God that put breath in me.

Why should I praise the Lord?

Of course, you mean other than because the Word of God tells me to (re-read Ps. 150:6), and besides the fact that Christ died for my salvation.

I want to praise my Lord because when I do so, I find it draws me closer to Him. It feeds my Sprit with joy and peace. I also find I smile more often when I praise and worship Him. It's even contagious. Ever noticed how when one person starts praising the Lord in church, it doesn’t take long before everyone starts talking about His goodness.

So question is, why NOT praise the Lord.

Ever the same all sufficient Savior

2 Corinthians 3:5 ~ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.

The word sufficient means to be adequate or equal to the task or need. In Jesus Christ, God has provided a sufficient sacrifice and Savior. Not only is Christ a sufficient Savior, but He is also "able to save to the uttermost" (Heb. 7:5) and to keep, "that which is committed unto Him" (2 Ti 1:12). Christ meets every physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of our life.

We have many incidents of God’s sufficiency in Christ recorded in the Gospels. Every miracle in the Gospels not only met an immediate need of the person but also speaks to us of God’s ability to aid and help us in our lives. As He was then, so is He now. Jesus has the same love and compassion today as He did for the suffering in His day. I love the words of our Savior in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

Christian, He’s ever the same all sufficient Savior. Try Him, won’t you.

Hebrews 13:8 ~ Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.