Archive for September, 2010

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church . . . —Colossians 1:24

I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.

Now, the decision that you have is to determine if you are in a place that God has complete control.  Have you surrendered Lordship today?   Today?, you ask, sure today.  This is something that we as humans struggle with everyday.  In every decision that you make are you/we going to surrender to what God’s will/thoughts/decisions/purpose would be for us?  You may have done a great job of surrendering yesterday but what about today?  Are you serving yourself or are you serving Christ?  Are you glorifying yourself or Christ?  Are you a hard unripe grape that is not allowing yourself to be used or are you a grape that is ready to be made into wine to be poured out into peoples lives so that they can see Christ through you.

I just received news that my best friend’s long time friend passed away this morning and as I talked with my friend I was so blessed to see him live his beliefs.  I know that he is definitely feeling a loss but he kept that in perspective.  Let me give you a quote to show you what I mean…”It just really stinks for those of us who didn’t get to go with Him.”

Wow!  What an outlook on life.  What an understanding that this time is temporal.  The drama, the stress, the high points, the low points are all temporary.  In the Bible the Apostle Paul teaches us this:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
¹⁶So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

How often do we look at our life and the circumstances that are consuming us and rejoice that our soul and our heart are being renewed every day.  That the trials that God allows to enter our life are preparing us for our time before Him.  That Jesus is working in our situations to make us more like Him.

If we remembered this more do you think that we would handle things differently?  Would our responses during loss, bills, wrecks, or any other of our everyday struggles be handled with a little more thought and security?

Security?  Yes; security.  See thats what Jesus provides for us.  He has promised us that no one can separate us from Him once we are His and that everything that happens in our lives is useful by Him for good.  Now that is security.  That teaches us that He is in control.  I hear so many Christians that focus on the economy, or who the President is, and are so disgruntled by these things when even though I think those things are important as well as a Christian I can rejoice in the fact that I don’t live under this economy I live under God’s economy.  And the President although the highest authority in this country is not the highest authority in this world: God is.

So as I go back to my friend and his outlook on his friend’s death I am excited to watch Christians live their faith.  That is someone who has had Jesus change his perspective!

Has He changed yours?

God Bless ~
Pastor Tyler