No Service No Connection
Psalm 37:23 NKJ
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.
The Lord Himself delights in his ways!
MSG. Stalwart walks in step with God;
his path blazed by God, he’s happy.
If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;
God has a grip on his hand.
So who can be this good or stalwart man or woman, in whom the Lord delights?
Anyone who decides to follow God and live for Him...If you’re willing to walk in relationship with God, God is certainly willing to walk in relationship with you!
Someone might say well I don’t know where I’m going. God does!
Someone might say well I don’t know what I’m going to be going through. God does!
Someone might say well I don’t know where my destination might end up or how I’ll even get there. God does and God has the best, the safest and the easiest route to get you to where your going and keep you sustained while your going!
And with God included and involved on your journey, abundant life will be a continuous option for consumption available all along the way! Not like a carrot tied to a pole held out and dangling in front of you with no way of getting, but physically and tangible to partake, touch, feel and enjoy!
Yesterday my phone was acting up. It seems as though there was a malfunction with it. One minute it was fine the next minute, the screen said no service connection.
No matter what I did, the phone wouldn’t work! My physical location was of no importance, because where I was there should have been plenty of signal available.
So I went to my provider and they reset some things and reinserted my SIM card, which is all my personal data and my service and my relationship with my phone was re-established.
Service was always available, there was never a question about the service from the provider. My device or my ability to connect to my service provider was the problem!
Illus. By Abraham Shanklin
In the Secret Service
A gentleman was in front of a preacher coming out of the church one day. The preacher grabbed him by the hand, pulled him aside and said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." The Pastor questioned, "How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?" He whispered back, "I’m in the secret service. "
For some Christians, that would be their security clearance and relationship status of their spiritual walk with Jesus and His Father!
Illus. From Preaching now newsletter
SERVICE REQUIRES ACTION
A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into pits."
A mathematician calculated how deep the pit was.
A news reporter wanted the exclusive story on the pit.
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen my pit."
A fire-and-brimstone preacher said, "You deserve your pit."
A Christian Scientist observed, "The pit is just in your mind."
A psychologist noted, "Your mother and father are to blame for your being in that pit."
A self-esteem therapist said, "Believe in yourself and you can get out of that pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist claimed, "Things will get worse."
"Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.
Spiritually to often the opinion of others affects what we may think. But our choices to act on our own opinion, is truly what keeps us from being connected to our Heavenly Father our constant provider!
Our ability of choice and free will is what makes our relationship with God so unique. Of all of God’s creations, and there are so many amazing creations even still to this day have not even been discovered, we humans are the most unique and His greatest creation.
Because we are His only creation, created in His image! It’s no wonder God has provided so much for us and is constantly so good to us!
If God has called us to do something or we are going through something in our own life, we can count on our Heavenly Father (our heavenly service provider) to maintain, protect and take care of us, if we are willing to stay connected to and believe that He will!
Will there be test? Yes there will be test! As with all test, comes the possibility of reward for passing the test!
Genesis 22:1-14 NKJ
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Illus. 2019 IAC Publishing
Let us not forget, It took a total of 25 years for the promise of God to Abraham to be fulfilled. The promise was that Abraham would become the father of many nations through his own son.
When God made this promise, Abraham believed it, despite being quite old and his wife having attained the age of menopause. After 15 years of waiting for the promise, God visited Abraham again and assured him that the promise would be fulfilled in due time.
It took another 10 years after the reassurance for Abraham and Sarah to give birth to a son who was named Isaac.
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the [a]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the [b]lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, [c]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
*God is still on the throne!
*God is still able to provide!
*God still wants to meet and provide for your every need just as He did for Abraham!
*Marge is not in charge of your destiny!
*God is in charge of your Destiny now and forevermore if you will allow Him to be!
The only thing God required from Abraham to pass His test was what?
Trust, that’s right Trust!
What is required for you to pass the test you will face in life?
Trust, that’s right the same thing required from every other person God ever helped through their need on the way to their Miracle!
Why should we place our faith and trust in God? Because God’s Love, knowledge and concern for us gives us more than ample reason to have faith and trust Him with the outcome of our lives!
Psalms 139:13-18 NKJ
13
For You shaped me, inside and out.
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath.
14
I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.
You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;
Your works are wonderful;
I carry this knowledge deep within my soul.
15
You see all things; nothing about me was hidden from You
As I took shape in secret,
carefully crafted in the heart of the earth before I was born from its womb.
16
You see all things;
You saw me growing, changing in my mother’s womb;
Every detail of my life was already written in Your book;
You established the length of my life before I ever tasted the sweetness of it.
17
Your thoughts and plans are treasures to me, O God! I cherish each and every one of them!
How grand in scope! How many in number!
18
If I could count each one of them, they would be more than all the grains of sand on earth. Their number is inconceivable!
TBS.
“Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil”
That’s because with Gods help i won’t stop in the middle I’ll keep on walking,
and as I walk Through the valley I will be sustained,
and as I’m sustained I will be strengthened,
and as I am strengthened I will eventually once again rise to soar again with eagles wings to the miracle of my reward God has waiting for me!
Illus. By David Parks...MAKING SERVICE A JOY
An amusing story was told to me by the manager of a New York hotel. The great Paderewski occupied a suite there a number of years ago during one of his seasons at Carnegie Hall.
It was the master’s custom to practice for a couple of hours every morning on the magnificent instrument that he had brought with him.
On the third morning of his stay an angry lady stormed into the manager’s office and said, “Someone is hammering on an old tin can piano every morning across the corridor from me. This is the third day. It is driving me mad, and unless you stop it I shall leave immediately.”
The astonished manager remonstrated, "But madam, that is Paderewski himself!" The lady nearly fainted with surprise and said, "Paderewski! Oh, that’s different. Of course I had not the slightest idea. I adore good music. I am an excellent musician myself. Please say nothing at all about it."
The hotel man was much amused to note that thereafter, for the remainder of Paderewski’s stay, the good woman kept the door of her apartment wide open and entertained a party of friends there every morning while he practiced.
What was the difference? She wasn’t aware of the connection to and the proximity of someone she adored as well as the availability and access she could have every single day for her enjoyment.
Like the woman, sometimes we hear but don’t realize the beauty of the unforced rhythms of grace that Jesus offers to us on a daily basis!
Help us to become ever increasingly more aware of not only what Jesus went to the cross to accomplish for us, but also all that Jesus stands ready to deliver and give us as well at this very moment and every moment of our lives!
Amen?
