Being Content with What you have and Where you are

“--- I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” Philippians 4: 11-12.

Do you find yourself miserable because of certain life circumstances that you find yourself in? Are you worried constantly at how you will manage things? We are living in difficult times and as such there are many people who are having to do with very little. Others are faced with health issues that limit what they can do. The question is how are you handling the situation that you find yourself in?

A few years ago I was meditating on the word of God in prayers concerning certain difficult situations in my life. I was miserable because I needed certain things to change as well as wanting more materially. Obviously I was looking at life from a worldly perspective as opposed to God’s perspective. Suddenly I received a revelation that all I needed I already had. I had been so focused on what I did not have and forgot to appreciate what I had, which in reality was all that I needed.

Many times we miss the daily joy of life because we are too focused on what is not or are engrossed with worries for tomorrow. We want more to fill the emptiness in our lives instead of filling the space with Christ. Christ warned us against worrying about life issues like food, clothing, shelter amongst such because life was much more than that, Mathew 6:25.

Worry has many ill effects, apart from robbing us the joy of living. Instead of living for the moment and accomplishing what we can with what we have, we tend to forfeit what we have in pursuit of what we do not have. The reality of the matter is that if one is not thankful of what they have now, they will still not be thankful when they have those others things that they desire.

Paul in his epistle to the Philippians, shows that he had overcome this problem by learning to focus on Christ and alludes to the fact that he “can do all things through Christ who strengthens me“ Philippians 4:13. Indeed scripture states that Jesus is “ the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12: 2) and in all things we should focus on Him and avoid being overwhelmed by circumstances surrounding us.

Paul was content because he saw things from God’s perspective. He focused on what he was supposed to do and not on what he felt he should have. He had detached himself from the nonessentials so that he could concentrate on the eternal.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/460463_being-content-with-what-you-have-and-where-you-are#ixzz1JNPWi6lW

Wait Upon God and Do not fret

Jesus encouraged us to persist in calling on the Lord through prayers without quitting until the issue that troubles us is fulfilled, Luke 18: 1-7. Waiting on the Lord renews us as we rest and the Lord does the work for God “the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary” Isaiah 40: 28.
Waiting upon the Lord requires faith. Faith that God is who He says He is and He is able to meet the need in question. Scripture says that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”, Hebrews 11:6

We also need to commit the thing that we are praying about to God and trust that God is able to bring it to fruitation. David in Psalms 37 implores on the believer to “commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to Pass” Psalm 37: 5.

Our waiting must be in God alone. Many times we say that we are waiting on the Lord but in reality we are trying to do things our way. Isaiah writes that “---those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” Isaiah 40: 3.

When we do this God will come through for us “ For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him” Isaiah 64:4.

Why God waits before acting:

1) Waiting on God makes us focus on Him than on our desires. God uses our waiting time to teach, refresh and to renew us. This is why the Psalmist calls on us to “delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” Psalms 37:4. To delight in the Lord entails us knowing Him better and appreciating His great love for us.

2) God uses the waiting time to stretch our faith. This is the time we will know the condition of our heart. God is never late the way we understand lateness, for a thousand years in God’s sights is like “yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night” Psalm 90: 4. Many people confess their faith in God until that faith is tested. Our faith is meant to grow as we understand God even more.

3) Our motives may also be wrong when we approach God for something. The waiting period helps us adjust our motives to fit with God’s will for the situation.God is more interested in our character development than in making us happy therefore “wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalm 27: 14.

4) The circumstances of what we ask for may not be right. For example one maybe praying to get married when they are not ready. The words of the wise one say that “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life” Proverbs 13: 12.

5) The waiting period reminds us of God’s sovereignty and the fact that without Him we are hopeless. Jesus said that He was the “Vine” and we are the “branches and “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. --- for without me you can do nothing”, John 15: 4, 5.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/442164_wait-upon-god-and-do-not-fret#ixzz1JNMsahs9

Have you entered the sabbath rest?

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” Hebrews 4: 9-10.

Have you ever felt like the Lord was calling you for a conversation and when you obeyed you knew He was warning you or reminding you of something? Well that happened to me not long ago when I was feeling disturbed in my spirit but did not know why. I tend to be like apostle Peter sometimes, where I do mighty things in the name of the Lord but get overwhelmed when I take my eyes from the Lord and view my circumstances from a carnal mind and start drowning.

Let’s face it, the ways of the Lord are hard to fathom and only our faith in Him can sustain us. Sometimes one feels like the Lord does not take cognizant of time or has forsaken them and in the process worry unnecessarily. Jesus reminds us that “which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Mathew 6: 27. This is where I was when the Lord called me for a conversation.

Sometimes the Lord closes certain doors in our lives that we perhaps previously found our self worth in. He makes us to be totally depended on Him living on a day to day basis. In the process God teaches us to trust in Him and to receive from Him. The Lord may do this by removing you from a place of comfort and move you to a foreign place away from your security. The challenges may be many but it is in this place that you learn to depend on the Lord for your sanity.

As believers we always claim to be depended on the Lord and it is easy to say that when we are financially alright, we are healthy, our relationships are working well, our children are doing what we expect of them among such issues. But what happens when such securities are taken away from us? Will our actions be compatible with what we say we believe? The only way we can know is when we are tested by having such confidence taken away from us.

According to scripture “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him’ Hebrews 11: 6. In the midst of our trials our faith conditions us to know that God is able to see us through and that He holds the key to our deliverance. It will be in the midst of these challenges that the Lord proves to us that He is all we need in the long run, for "He is".

James writes “ Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -and tremble!” James 2: 18-19. James is saying that our faith will show in our works. It is not enough to have an intellectual assent about God, for even demons do that, but the truth of what we believe in will be manifest through our thoughts and conduct. And sometimes it is in our trials that our faith is proved.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/367661_have-you-entered-the-sabbath-rest#ixzz15CG0w5O4

The Act of Forgiveness

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” Mathew 6:15-15.

Many times I hear people exhibit in anger wishes for death or some form of evil to someone who has hurt them or committed some heinous crime against them or their loved ones. We live in a world where everyone talks of their rights. People are quick to rush to court to enforce their rights and therefore the element of forgiveness in line with scripture requirements is laughable. We say that people should pay for what they did and when someone gets a sentence that we feel is less than we anticipated we cry wolf. It seems in this era of rights people are more vengeful and they want to draw the last blood. They vow to never to forgive the person for the acts committed against them. This kind of response I have heard with both Christians and non Christians alike.

For further reading go to http://relijournal.com/christianity/the-act-of-forgiveness/