Let’s face it, in this day and age, Christians, all sorts of them, are concerned with what the will of God is for their life.  I heard it said many times that the number one question people ask there pastor is “What is the will of God in my life.”  Many teachings, sermons and books have been written on this subject but yet sometimes people seem to miss it or are just confused.

When it comes to the will of God there is an expression in the Church today called “an open door”.  People say that the way God leads you is by opening a door.  He will open up a door to a relationship he wants you in.  He could open up a door to the right job he wants you to be in and so on.  I agree that God does open doors to lead you but what Christians do these days is forget there is an enemy out there who also “opens up doors”.  How blind and naive can we be thinking that there isn’t an enemy out there seeking to trip us up?  Just because we see something that is open does that really mean it’s from God?  Does it really mean that God is actually the one opening that door?  I doubt it!  We are called to test everything according to 1 John.  We shouldn’t be just grasping at everything in the air and claiming that it was God that opened that door.  To show my view on it lets take a look at Jonah, one of my favorite stories.

Jonah was told by God to preach to this nation called Nineveh because there wickedness had come up to Him (Jonah 1:1-3).  Jonah, instead of listening to God sought to not do what the Lord wanted and tried to flee from God by trying to relocate somewhere.   Don’t we sometimes try this?  Come on let’s be honest, we all have done that in one way or another, whether we care to admit it or not.  So here is Jonah, he has in his mind that he can escape God so he thinks to himself “Where can I go to escape God?”  Jonah chooses to go down to the docks and pay for a ride to Tarshish.  The reason he was going to Tarshish was because it was so far in the opposite direction of Nineveh.  He probably thought God couldn’t reach him over there.  This is where things get interesting if you extract the life principles out of the situation.  You ready?  Ok here we go.

Jonah was able to find a ship that was actually going somewhere he wanted to go.  Can’t we view this as an open door by God?  Or do we think that God is going to force us into something?  If God was in the business of forcing people to do something then couldn’t God have sent down lightning and burned up the ship before Jonah even got on it?  Also the text says that Jonah paid the fare for the ride on the ship.  I’ll improvise a little but what happens if Jonah went to the captain of the ship and said “How much is a ride?” and the captain said “20”.  Jonah then, could have reached in his pocket and pulled out the exact amount.  Jonah had the money.  So here is the stage I am trying to set and for you to picture.  Jonah finds a ship that will take him to a place opposite the place God wanted him to go and he actually had the money for it.  Wouldn’t a Christian today say that his means where met and God opened the door because he provided him a ship to go to Tarshish and provided the money for him?  But in essence this isn’t what God wanted him to do.

This is why we must test everything that comes our way.  We shouldn’t form conclusions in our minds and think that God is going to work your situation out the way you think it should go.  God’s ways are not our ways.  To jump and grab everything claiming it was God is wrong because it could not have been from God.  You may not see it now but later on you will, just like how Jonah saw.  God let him go his way for a little while there, but then God stopped Jonah dead in his tracks.  I pray we be wise and knowledgeable about God so that we don’t fall into something that will hurt us and think that it was God.  I also pray we don’t go down a path claiming it was God because you thought he opened up the door.  Test, test, test!

-WitnessScott

⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

-Ephesians 2: 4 – 5

We all hear that we need grace and mercy but do we ever actually know what that means?  What exactly is grace and what exactly is mercy?

Grace is God giving to us what we don’t deserve and mercy is God with holding from us what we do deserve.

We are all in need of God’s grace AND mercy.  Mercy, though, can be a little tricky and misused.  This doesn’t mean you can do anything you want and not feel the repercussions of it.  It doesn’t mean you can blindly sin and get away with the consequences in this life.  It doesn’t mean you can go out and steal something while at work and think “oh well, God will have mercy on me and not have my Boss fire me because he caught me stealing.”

Many Christians raise their fists to God and cry out in an outburst when something like that happens.  Believe me, it happens.  See, what many people don’t realize, or the people that particularly believe in the pseudo-western-world-Disney Land-Christianity, is that God has set some rules.  In the Bible it clearly states, you reap what you sow.  If you reap of the flesh, you’ll sow of the flesh.  If you reap of the spirit, you’ll sow of the spirit.  Christ’s mercy is Him not saving you out of the bad choices you made or by acts that are displeasing to Him but Christ’s mercy is Him saving you from eternal judgment and death – hell.  This is what Christ came to do on the cross: to save you from hell.  Mercy is God saying, “I paid for her/his sins and by doing so I give them eternal life.”

Please, let us not mix up or think we know what mercy or grace is.  These two gifts are the life bread of Christianity.  There your hall pass, your lunch ticket, the thing that saves you in the end.  All in favor of grace and mercy?

We experience all kinds of hope: hope for the future, hope during uncertainty, etc.  But as a Christian, our hope should never flee.  “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6).  Christ’s followers placed their hope in him while he was walking on earth.  And then, Christ was crucified and laid in a dark tomb for two days.

I’m sure you can imagine the trials of hope and faith that the early believers were going through during those two days when Christ’s body laid lifeless in the tomb.  Although they were uncertain, God was certain.  He was raised from the dead on the third day to prove once and for all that death has been defeated.  Through his death, we find forgiveness and will also be raised from the dead, since death has been defeated for those that place their hope and faith in Christ.

Readers, I’m not sure what your struggle is in life.  Perhaps you are going through a difficult trial in a relationship, laid off work, cannot find a job, suffered a loss, financial difficulty, etc.  But realize this: that our hope should never be defeated as long as our hope is placed in God.  Our hope not only in that God will fulfill His promise to us of eternal life, but also our hope for that certain blessing that we wait for through petitioning to God.  I don’t want to be the one to state the obvious, but if God can raise the dead to life, then surely he can fulfill anything that we ask of Him while we are alive.

I am not preaching a wealth and prosperity message.  Because this caveat applies:

Our hope is not to be placed in what God can do, but in his character and identity

What does this mean? Simply put, our hope is in God but we must also recognize God’s will for our life.  Meaning, His moral will, that He desires us to be sanctified above all else and that He is always looking to strengthen our relationships with Him.  Therefore, we do not receive everything that we ask for because God has another plan.  And this pleasantly opposing (to our flesh), yet superior plan helps us to better understand the identity and character of God the Father.

Hopefully this message of hope is not only relevant as we celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits (aka Easter), but also as we go through trials that require hope.  Philippians 4:13 says “I can do anything through him who gives me strength.”  Does this mean that we can “ace this school test” or “knock a job interview out of the park” because God gives us strength?  Highly doubtful.  But I believe what Paul is teaching us here is that there is a secret to complacency, contentness, and confidence in this world: putting our hope not in this world, but in the identity and character of God and in the salvation of Christ.

-Mark

What does it mean to be in a relationship with God?  I’m not questioning if you are in a relationship with God, but we shouldn’t be so quick to placement judgment on others as if they are not in a relationship with God for some reason such as lack of sanctification.  After my recent post on Churchianity vs. Christianity, I began to think more deeply on the mission of the church in today’s era and how many Christians are manipulated into a twisted view of Christianity.

Within the emergent church, there are many “christians” that claim to have a relationship with God.  I am not denying the fact that they are, but I do want to be emphasize the importance of Matthew 7:22-24:

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

It becomes clear that the christians that will be rejected are the ones that are not putting the words of Christ into practice.  Therefore, many christians must be convinced that they are in a relationship with God, but this relationship happens to be false.

But then we get 2 specific examples in the bible of men that sought the heart of God above all else.  The first is Peter who clearly was a Godly man; the apostle of the apostles whom Christ gave the responsibility of holding the keys to heaven.  Clearly Peter was in a relationship with Christ.  But then Christ prophesied that Peter would deny Christ three time:

“Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” – Luke 22:34

Peter did in fact deny three times that he knew Christ.  The remarkable thing is that although Peter committed a great sin three times, Christ gave Peter three opportunities to repent of that sin:

“The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” – John 21:17

Christ forgave Peter and gave Peter more kingdom authority then what he had prior.  The difference between Peter and Churchians is that Peter clearly went out into the world and did the work of God to advance the kingdom.  Peter was in a true relationship with God and although he made three big screw ups, God gave Peter three opportunities to repent of that sin.

The second example that I want to use of a man that sought the heart of God is David.  David was so close to God, that God made a promise to David that his throne would never perish (from the bloodline of David came Christ).  Yet, David screwed up by taking a census of Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 24:1) to prepare for a war and by doing so, it became evident that David was relying more on the number in his army rather than the power of God.  God was angered by David’s decision, yet gave David three choices to choose from to place judgment on David’s pride (in the old testament, sin had to be atoned for):

“Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’  So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” – 2 Samuel 24:12-13

God knew what David would choose and had mercifully given David an option that involved the least harm to his kingdom by his enemies, and rather placed their fate in the hand of God (2 Samuel 24:14).  70,000 people died from this and David, being a man of God, asked God for the punishment to fall on him, not his sheep (2 Samuel 24:17).

The point that I’m trying to make is that when we are following the moral will of God by seeking after his heart, going out into the world and not hiding within a church, and seeking sanctification, we are in a real relationship with God.  Although we may screw up, don’t let satan convince you that you are unworthy, and you stop approaching God.  Rather, recognize that even men that were the closest to God screwed up, yet God not only gave them opportunities to repent but also gave them more heavenly blessings after repenting. We may all be at different places within our walks with God, but Philippians 3:15-16 makes it clear that we are to live up to what we have attained and God will eventually reveal his wisdom and knowledge to us.  Therefore, it is the inclination to go after the knowledge and wisdom of God and put Christianity into practice that leads to the real relationship with God.

For those that hide within the walls of a church, do not convince yourself that you are not the ones mentioned of in Matthew 7:22-24 simply because you write a check once a month or go on a missions trip once a year.  Christianity is a lifestyle and therefore, going out into the world should become our lifestyle.

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” – Matthew 9:37

Let’s model our life to the lifestyle of the biblical men.

-Mark

I’ve been to some churches over the past few years – mostly due to relocating or visiting a friend’s church.  I’ve been to Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominational churches.  Recently, a friend of mine was talking to me about her experience as a worship leader for quite some time at a non-denominational church.  It took her 4 years to realize that her church was not really living up to the original function of the Church in Acts.  She briefly mentioned that the church would go on annual missions trip and seldom participate in some other outward reach programs.  But for the most part, she was not content with this version of a church, which hides behind its own doors (except for a few times throughout the year).  Another interesting piece of information is that this church would outcast those that left or disagreed with some aspect of the organization as if this church were the only part of the body that had it right, and thereby creating its own “kingdom” (or bubble).

What stuck with me the most from the talk was that she believe that many of these non-denominational emergent churches were practicing Churchianity rather than Christianity.  Reflecting on my past church experiences, I realized how true this was.  Denominations tend to have more outward reach programs through the help of its denominational affiliations with non-profit organizations and such, probably due to their sheer size.  As for non-denominations, first, I’ll tell you why I think this inevitably occurs within this breed of churches.  Then in a future post, I’ll tell you why it is Churchianity and not Christianity. DISCLAIMER: I am speaking generally, not all non-denominational churches are Churchians rather than Christians.  This difference occurs most likely due to sufficient funding, or a lack of caring about funding…as you will see.

I say inevitably occurs because the organizational design of non-denominational churches is set up so that the incentives of the leader/owner at a church are not aligned with that of what a business needs to survive: profits.  Non-denominations do not receive stipends from the parent denomination (such as a Baptist Church), since they do not have a parent denomination.  Moreover, most non-denominations are not funded properly either because there is no endowment which supplies a sustainable cash flow in perpetuity or because there are not enough people to supply sufficient funding (non-denominations are not affiliated, so many people may feel their is no legitimacy to these churches), This lack of funding is the misalignment of incentives.  Non-denominations need a cash flow to survive, yet they are not getting it.  So like any other business owner, the product or service needs to change so that they can attract more “customers”, which will hopefully supply the business with a sustained cash flow.

So what do these non-denominations do?  Like any other business, they need to target their product or service toward  a core audience so that they can be very efficient with a target audience then very inefficient with a broad audience – this is when the marketing comes in.  So you begin to see services that are marketed mostly toward a younger audience through the pop-worship rock, lights, sound, lasers, etc.  They target their messages toward that demographic.  They even go so far as to limit who can go to certain services, as if the Church of Acts had such segregation…(or as if the kingdom is segregated).  Granted, some pastors actually have a genuine heart to reach a certain sociographic and don’t change their service to become more efficient and receive better funding.  Even in this case, as you will see, this is still leading to a toxic view of what Christianity is…so even these pastors are not blameless (1 Timothy 3).

Through this marketing clutter, caused by targeting a certain sociographic, the target audience becomes manipulated into Christianity: the topical message approach does not let people respond to all possible convictions, the deeper truths of Christianity are usually not spoken about so those that have accepted God usually haven’t weighed the cost of accepting Christ (Matt 21:44), the modern worship that makes God the object of a sappy love song distorts the image of God, God’s divine order is not upheld which means that there is no divine presence at the gatherings (1 Cor 11:10).  Therefore, what is felt is hype and emotion which is created through the marketing and is being confused with “God”; the whole message of the Bible gets lost.

As I said earlier, the saddest part is that some that run such services genuinely have good hearts.  But unfortunately, truth within your heart is different than acting on that truth (Galatians 5:24-25).  They do not realize the toxicity of topical messages;  They do not realize that there is no divine presence when God’s divine order is not upheld, therefore, they are confusing hype and emotion with truth;  They do not realize that most modern worship displays God as your boyfriend/girlfriend;  They do not realize that the little cash flow they receive is most likely a coincidence due to strategic marketing than a blessing due to preaching truth and going out into the world; Etc. (and the list continues).

Satan twisted scripture to try to deceive Christ; how much more would he do it for us that are not Christ?  If only we could go back to the Church of Acts.  The Church of Acts was designed by the Gospel according to Jesus, who taught the disciples while on Earth with him.  Even 2000 years ago, Christ said in Luke 10:2 “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  The same is true today.  Why are churches still creating their own kingdoms, dismissing those that leave, and not going into the world often?

The message you receive at a church should not be your primary food, nor the worship your only time of worship.  Church supplements what we lack individually.  Individually, God gives me my daily bread through reading and I receive the joy of God through worshiping.  Individually, I cannot have fellowship with myself – this is why I need church.  Individually, I will confess that I am weak and rely upon others’ strength to go out into the world as a group to help the needy – this is why I need church.

Unfortunately, the message and worship are only times that many “Christians” actually receive or praise throughout their week.  This is why topical messages should not be and why worship should be taken seriously.  Sanctification comes by understanding more about God through His word.  Topical messages do not reveal the deeper truths of God (such as sanctification!) because most of His wisdom is intertwined throughout many verses and is revealed by Him through conviction, not by topics.  Furthermore, a pastor speaking on a topic opens up the congregation to point their finger at the pastor.  For instance, if a pastor speaks about sacrificing money spent on yourself and I see him eating at a restaurant or going to the movies, he clearly hasn’t avoided the presence of evil, the blamelessness that he should uphold, and the message he preaches to his congregation!

The design of the Church of Acts should not be spoken of briefly, so please check out what it looked like in this post: The Church of Acts.

-Mark

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:12

Let’s face it, in this particular verse Paul isn’t saying that we enter into the spiritual battle, he states that we are in fact in a spiritual battle whether we like it or not.  If you do not know this because you never realized it or you just ignore the fact that you are, I can probably tell you that you aren’t winning the battle.

When we are in conflict with someone or some circumstance we aren’t warring with humans or flesh.  We shouldn’t be saying “Oh if this person would just act this way everything would be fine”.  It is not the person who is causing the strife, it is the spiritual forces behind them.  Now I am not saying there is a demon behind every bush but what I am saying is if we are in conflict in some way, the bible teaches us that we are warring with principalities.

We should realize this spiritual realm and recognize it as being real and very important.  We have an enemy out there that wants to trip us up and basically have our head.  There are angels and demons fighting constantly behind the scenes in our life and to prove this point take a look at this scripture in Daniel.

Daniel received a very disturbing vision from the Lord which left him terrified.  He was so shaken that he fasted and prayed for 3 weeks.  As he became so weary he fell to the ground and an angel touched him and comforted him.  The angel then stated in Daniel 10:12-14 ” Then he said to me “Do not be afraid Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.  BUT the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days, then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”  It is clear that Satan and his demonic forces actually held back this prayer from Daniel.

As you can see we are involved in this battle and it is real.  We shouldn’t be so lofty and think “oh Satan, what’s the big deal?”  He is a big deal!  The Bible states that he is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

The next time you get into an argument at work with your boss;  The next time you get into an argument with you mother-in -law;  The next time you’re in a fight with one of your siblings;  Remember who you are really fighting and battling – you aren’t fighting with them, but with the forces that are behind them and that are pulling the strings, looking to trip you up and get to you.  Also remember this: the only way to fight the spiritual is through prayer!  Not reasoning with them or making them try to see your point – that’s God’s Job.  We can only fight for people and circumstances through prayer.

Last night as I was praying, I realized how often I was repeating the same points.  I was quickly convicted because I realized that the repetition was an underlying lack of faith.  Using this example, if you can imagine faith within a glass, then my faith only filled up less than the rim.  If my faith were full (although building faith is a process), then putting a request before God should only need to be done once since at that point where my faith is full one request would be sufficient.

And then I also realized my words were many.

“When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.” - Proverbs 10:19 (this verse is not specifically referring to prayer, but to all instances in life when you have the opportunity to speak.  Therefore, I used it to refer to prayer.)

I became convicted again.  Because of the verse above, I realized that not only the repetition was a result of sin (lack of faith) but also realized that I am speaking to the God of the universe.  He is in heaven, I am not.  I was not frugal with my words – and this was a lack of sufficient fear.  If my fear of God were full (although building fear is a process that parallels our understanding), then my words would be few since at the point where my words are many, I forget that I am rambling to the God of this universe and sin is bound to be present through my loose tongue (See Fear of the Lord).

So I took a step back and slowed down.  I tried to remember the real reason why I was praying.  It was beyond a request and beyond my redundant ramblings.  God knows my heart before going into prayer.  Unfortunately I took my own route of praying and decided to avoid the recommended prayer framework – the “Our Father”.  And then I realized that all that i want to do is reveal my heart to the Lord so that I can build a better relationship with Him.  But what can I possibly reveal to God that he doesn’t already know?

Since God recognizes that we are in our weak states until the resurrection, maybe he wants us to reveal our hearts to Him not because he needs to know, but because we need to edify our faith.  I’ll admit – the repetition, although not perfect, builds my faith and allows me to rest contently knowing that I spoke all that I had on my heart.  Had I not rambled, my prayers would have seemed unfulfilling due to my lack of faith.

Therefore, I realized that by praying we are strengthening our spirit and building our relationship with God.  Although this may seem obvious, it’s really not so obvious.

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

Joshua 1:8

We live in a day and age where success is expected of all people.  The world tells us that money is the key to success.  It even screams at us that success is labeled as having a nice house on the water or a white fence and a family with a dog.  This isn’t success in the eyes of the Lord; He is looking for something deeper.

What God cares about first and foremost is our character.  Who we claim to be, how we handle our relationships and how we handle every situation that comes to us.  Wisdom, knowledge and discernment is needed to accomplish a Christian life that is pleasing to the Lord.  You may ask “Ok, that’s great but now how do I live the life, make God honoring  decisions, and please Him?”  The answer is the Word of God enables you to do so.  Now you’re thinking “Oh common! A book?!  Can it really do that?!”  I tell you – yes it can.

All I say is to take steps of faith to make this book, the bible, a number one priority in your life.  Well now I bet someone may say “What about worship? I need to worship, I need to sing and play an instrument for the Lord.”  Worship is an important part of Christian living but I tell you the Word takes higher place.  If you have an hour for the Lord do not spend that time worshiping, instead spend it reading the bible.

Right before this passage, God appoints Joshua to lead Israel into the promised land because His beloved servant, Moses, has died.  This is a huge task that Joshua needs to fill.  The Lord assures Joshua to remain strong and courageous numerous times, He also tells him that He will be with him wherever he goes.  Now note that this is not the only thing God said to Joshua to help him with this task.  God also tells Joshua to meditate day and night on scripture so that he will be prosperous and have success.

We have to make the steps to read and meditate.  God can give us strength and courage.  He can lavish His presence  on you but He can’t force us to read.  I can’t stress it enough how much the reading of scripture benefits the Believer, this passage should help you realize it.  I pray that if you don’t, that God then will reveal it to you through His Holy Spirit.  Make the effort to set time aside throughout the day to have the chance to sit and mediate on scripture.  This will birth a fruitful, Christian life.

It is easy to loose focus in this season that I’m going through – 2 months left till I graduate from business school with an MBA, school loans so insanely high that it would be a shame to even mention the debt, have not received a full-time job offer yet, no idea where my wife and I will relocate to, etc.  It would be nice to have an answer to these questions and it places a toll on me when I see those around me who do not acknowledge God receiving job offers and are in less debt than me.  It also becomes very easy to place all of my effort into a job search to catch that dream MBA job where my finances and geographic relocation hardly seem to matter.  The more time and effort I put into the job search, the less time and effort I place into my relationship with God.  What is my remedy?  Remembering that God is my inheritance, not a job.

What does it mean to say that God is my inheritance?  The things of this world will pass away, perish, or spoil and a job these days is kept on average for 2-5 years.  Remembering that God is my inheritance keeps my perspective not on the things which hardly matter, but The Thing that only matters.  Remembering that God is my inheritance keeps my perspective not on the dream job with the attractive compensation, but on my duty to serve Christ and to give to the needy (when I start making my income again!).  Remembering that God is my inheritance keeps my spirit strong throughout each of the job rejections that I receive and helps me to remember God’s plan for my life, not my desires for my life.

Now that my desires are in submission to God’s desires for my life, my fear of being unemployed after graduation for sometime subsides because by acknowledging and seeking God’s will for my life, my trust in God is being strengthened.  Therefore, my faith is being built because through my trust, I know that God will provide and that His plan is better than mine.

Recently, I realized that I was coming close to testing God.  Similar to how we do not use grace as a license to sin, we also cannot use God’s provision as a license to sit back and relax while God throws us blessings.  I have a solid opportunity on the horizon that I would love to have – it is pretty much my dream job.  I’m pretty close to receiving a full-time job offer.  I was placing all of my eggs in that basket – and this is how I realized that I was borderline testing God.  Since God provided in the past for me, He would provide again.  And if this is the door being opened, then what more did I have to do then to sit back and wait?  I quickly realized that God’s will is usually the opposite of what I expect – not because God is not faithful, but because my heart is yet to be aligned with God’s.  By my lack of action and my new mentality, I was acting as if I had the job already when in reality, I didn’t.  I see this as testing God.  So what did I do?

Please read this article How to Choose When You Don’t Know What to Choose.  I was convicted because I was not doing what the bible tells us to do.  Moreover, I was not doing what I preach.  If you have read the article, Ecclesiastes tells us to have more than one ambition, goal, task, etc. (whatever you want to call it) because we don’t know which God will choose to succeed.  This was my mistake: I stopped putting effort into the job search before I even received an offer, simply because I thought that this job was a sure bet!  So I found another opportunity that I am currently pursuing so that I can be sure to fulfill the teaching in Ecclesiastes.  Although I still have yet to receive an offer, I can now rest assured, knowing that since I am fulfilling my responsibilities, God will fulfill his promise of security.

Remembering that God is my inheritance brought me to this point of deep conviction and new direction, through reflecting on the Word of God.  If anyone out there is a reader and is interested, I’ll update the post when I hear any news on the job front!

-Mark

“As a deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”

Psalm 42:1

How is your life going?  Did you obtain all your dreams and still feel something is missing?  Did you search out all the pleasures of this world and still feel an emptiness?  This void in our hearts can be filled only by Christ.  You can chase after all the things of this world and in this world but there is nothing that can satisfy your soul than an intimate, sanctified relationship with God.

Have you ever been really thirsty at one point and know that the only thing that can quench it is a glass of cold water.  Milk won’t do it, soda or some type of juice won’t do it either.  Water is the only thing that hits the spot, and boy does it hit the spot.  We are designed and made for the presence of God to dwell in our souls, filling that emptiness we feel inside throughout our life.  You can have fun and try to fill it with other things like relationships, materialism, and just plain sin but there is nothing that can compare to the water that is of the Lord.

Jesus states in John 4:14 “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  The filling that Jesus gives to us as we come to Him is beyond anything we can ever imagine.  We will no longer look for another thing to fill us up, He is all we need.  So make that step.  Maybe you never tasted the water or maybe you have and slipped away for a period of time.  This is your moment to come back to it, this is your time to taste it like you never had before.  Come to Him who calls us and draws us in.