Wednesday, March 12, 2008

He won't let me be...not today.

2:10 PM by Christi Bowman

I'm having a rough day today. I feel overwhelmed. I am not the same person I used to be...I am changing...being renewed. The new me, though, continues to live on, at least for a while, in the same space as the old me...and I am feeling claustrophobic. The things that used to be important just aren't anymore. I try to do some general house cleaning, and I find myself just wanting to give it all away. The more I exist in what I have, the more it sickens me. I want so badly to put the house on the market, and just walk away.
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness,^[b] for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Yesterday I read Lisa Black's blog, about children in nothing but rags...they NEED a new set of clothes and 1 new pair of underwear. Children in another part of the world are living in deplorable conditions; and Americans, we concern ourselves with buying bigger houses because our stuff outgrows the smaller one. We live in excess, while others simply struggle to survive. Where is the justice?
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
I fear what God is going to say to us as Americans...I believe that God is merciful, but we are going to have A LOT to answer for.
Luke 16:15b For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

We as Christians are called to depend on God.
Luke 14:33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
His way is the best way, and we fight against it, and we don't believe it...or we don't see how it can work...but He wants us to trust Him...for our own good. He tells us to walk away from our things because they take us farther from Him...and He is a jealous God. He knows that as long as we struggle for things that are highly esteemed among men we will be worn out...our struggle to fit in never ends.
Matthew 11: 28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
He created us...He knows what we are created for...and he has told us what to do.
Luke 12:22-3422 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things^[c] shall be added to you.32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I was reading Seth Barnes blog...and in an old post ,under the Spirit is on the move, I read about a pastor who actually raised a woman from the dead.

In 1998, the wife of the district secretary contracted AIDS and died. Pastor Rego takes God at His word, he tells the following story of praying for a coworker's dead wife in Always Enough. When asked how he can do something so radical, he says, “I open the Bible and do what it says.”

I WANT TO OPEN THE BIBLE AND DO WHAT IT SAYS!! It is telling me to walk away from my stuff...to sell my house...to take my children and show them what the Kingdom of God is all about.

On another friends blog (thanks Elysa) I got this thought provoking quote...and I leave you with it:

"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go... With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."

J. Hudson Taylor

4 comments - Permalink -

Christi Bowman

Email:

Google Talk:

Archives

Site Feed

My Blog Roll

Causes

He won't let me be...not today.