A Little More Hearing

So often I have heard someone preach or speak on the scripture Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," but I want to take a moment to break this down a little more.

I remember watching a show on TV one time (a documentary type show) and there was this archeologist who loved Biblical archeology. The oddest thing was this man was an atheist. He didn't believe in God or that there even was one and yet he respected the Bible for its archeological accuracy. He read the Bible on a regular basis, studied it, analyzed it and yet he still didn't believe in God. How could this be if faith comes by hearing?

I had heard it preached a couple times to put the Bible on CD and listen to it all the time and your faith would grow. Read the Bible aloud, they would say, and your faith would grow, but yet this man was not the first person I had seen or heard of that read the Bible, heard the Bible, and yet still had no or little faith.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this, but it irked me at the time. So, after meditating on this scripture and after some good teaching, I thought I'd explain it. It's been a few years since then, but I have a blog now, I can write about it. :)

"Faith comes by hearing..." Okay, so faith comes by hearing, but by hearing what, "and hearing by the word of God." Hearing comes by the word of God, but it doesn't say what I'm suppose to be hearing. It's not saying I am suppose to be hearing the word of God to have faith, but that hearing comes by the word of God. If you are confused, you are not alone. So what are we suppose to be hearing? We are suppose to be hearing the word of God!! The LIVING word of God. Jesus is the living word and revelation comes by the Spirit of God. Don't believe me, read John 1:1-5. When you are filled with God's Spirit, and you read the "written word" or logos, God speaks to you personally through the Spirit, or gives you a "rhema" word. So, faith comes by hearing... Hearing what? The living, breathing word of God from the Holy Spirit, and hearing comes by the word of God..., hearing the living word comes by reading the written word.

In order to do this you need to be born again, you need to be able to hear the Spirit of God within you.

If you need help on what to believe, this is a good site. Take some time to check out the weekly sermons too! If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section and I'll get to them later. Don't want my post to be too long ;).

He Who Has Ears

In Revelations chapter 2 & 3, the word of God says three times in each chapter, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (NKJV) or a more clear version, "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches"(NLT).

This is not just a word for the churches at the time, but a word for the churches of today. God's Spirit is constantly moving and speaking to the churches of each generation.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8) but that is speaking of his character, not necessarily the way he handles or deals with each situation. God will never lie, think adultery is okay, or condone sin no matter the circumstance, but just as with each new decade we hear new music coming out of the secular world, there is new music coming from heaven. We could never possibly know all there is to know about God, and just as the angels are constantly amazed by the new revelations they receive from God, so are we!

The question now is are your ears open? Can you hear what the Spirit is saying to the church? If you were unaware of it I'll let you know; the church is you if you are a believer in Christ. God is speaking to His church by His Spirit, but not everyone is hearing what He is saying. When the Spirit speaks, he will never contradict his word, he will never go against it, so keep your ears open and be a person with the ears to hear.

Wow! Forever!

It has been forever since I posted last on my blog, but no worries, I have finally figured out my life! Haha! No, not really. I mean, who could possibly have the time to figure out their life. Not me at least. Anywho, I will be up to par soon enough. Figuring life out and getting a more put together schedule. I will say that the more I am at school, the easier it is becoming to find time, because now I know how much time I need to work and study. Life is good, God is better!!!

A Need Met

As I was getting ready for the ladies meeting at church Friday morning, I managed to step into something wet on the carpeted floor. Since I was a rush and it just looked like a little water, I dismissed it and changed my socks. I left with my children and went to the ladies meeting.

It was, of course, a wonderful meeting. One of the ladies, however, was having a difficult morning. Her house had flooded that morning and people were working on her house while she was at the meeting. We all gave her comforting words and talked about how God gives us joy in even the difficult and tiring situations.

I rode home with a friend and we talked about the carpets at the apartments where we lived, and I mentioned how I needed to shampoo my carpet (again) thanks to my little hurricane of a daughter who enjoys making the biggest messes she can.

When I got into my apartment, I took my shoes off and walked towards the kitchen and again stepped in a wet spot. I was momentarily confused as to how whatever little thing my kids must have spilt in the morning could still be there. I look closer and I realize the carpet is soaked!! I start inspecting and I find my kitchen, bathroom, carpet in the dining room and living room are soaked!!

Oh no! My house has flooded too thanks to a burst pipe from the hot water heater. I yell for my husband and he calls the maintenance man down. An hour later he shows up, no fault of his though, but that is another story. He fixes the pipe and calls a guy to come and try to save the carpets.

A half hour later, a white van pulls up and the man goes to work slurping up all that water with the big vacuum in his van, (this of course is after we have to move all of our furniture). During this time, my daughter has been at my moms since that was the only way to keep her dry (she had already rolled in the wet carpet and was laughing when we first got home). I went to check on her and a little while later my husband told me that after our carpet was dry (the pad and all) that the man had to shampoo the carpet!!

Really? He had to shampoo it??

Perhaps I am the only one who saw the irony in this or even God's little blessing/joke. I said I needed to shampoo my carpet, so my Father in Heaven hired someone to do it for me, no charge to me! Of course I had to scramble to move all my furniture, I can't access my living room till after Tuesday, but hey, at least I'll get a professional carpet cleaning out of the deal. I can live with that :).

What a Beautiful Picture

Artwork by Phyllis F. Ducey of pfd Original Artworks

Imagine that you are the artist of a beautiful painting.

Close your eyes as you picture the paintbrush in your hands as you glide the paint covered bristles over the canvas.

Picture in your mind the masterpiece that lays before you. Throw out any thoughts that may try to persuade you that you can't paint, we are imagining here.

Now imagine someone comes up to you and your beautiful painting. You are standing there in awe at the creation before you and this stranger comes to you, looks at your painting and says, "Wow, that is ugly!"

What!! You have poured your heart into this creation; you have cried over the beauty that came out of you; you are in complete and utter love with your creation and so very proud of its beauty and yet someone has told you that it is ugly. They have stepped on your beautiful creation.

Now, once again, imagine God, our precious Father, standing before his most beautiful creation, mankind. Imagine God, Abba Father, standing before you, his beautiful masterpiece. He is remembering when you were in the womb. He can see the paintbrush of creation in His hand as it swayed back and forth forming your every limb. He can remember the hidden details he weaved into His artwork, the details of a beautiful voice, artistic talent, dance, sewing, sports, etch. He remembers how He gave each of those special details to you. He can vividly remember the stroke that gave you the talent of painting yourself, and He says to you, "This talent is yours, I gave it to you. When a student learns something new from their teacher, that knowledge becomes theirs."

God is standing in front of you now admiring His beautiful masterpiece. He is in awe at what you are able to do with what He has given you. He loves every detail that makes up His original plan for you. If you dance, than He is dancing with you, amazed at the love that pours from your body and can't help but ask, "Who taught you to dance this good?" If you draw, He is watching each pen stroke and saying, "Wow, how did you learn how to do that?" Why though? Why would God, the Creator and author of all things, be asking such a silly question? It's because every talent you have is one He gave you, but what you do with it is entirely up to you. You are an awesome, amazing, and beautiful piece of artwork that should never be looked down on, and your talents should never be taken away from you. God gave them to you to be yours and to choose to use them for Him.

Why Worry?

God is well aware of our needs.

Matthew 6:25-34 tells us not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear but rather seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you, or as the NLT says, "Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need."

Our Father knows when we need food, He knows when we need clothes, He knows our needs. Our Father desires for us to bring our wants to Him, and to have faith (knowing He will) for what we ask, but our needs are another story.

"Seek Him first, and all these will follow." What does this tell us? Does it tell us to spend hours pining away for money to buy groceries? Does it tell us to strive and worry about whether tomorrows needs will be met? No, it tells us to "SEEK GOD FIRST," or in other words, "SEEK GOD!" Don't seek your needs, they will follow if you are seeking God.

When God shows up in your life because you are living to see His face only, the blessings can't help but show up too! When you seek God, all else follows. Your needs are met and beyond, and your wants will even begin manifesting before you ask because your Daddy knows your heart.

When you run to Him, run to Him, run to Him, RUN TO HIM because you want Him, then He will lavish your heart's desire on you like the loving and doting father He is. When you SEEK HIM, all gifts pale in comparison. You will be like the little girl clinging to her daddy with a new doll in her arms, a doll that would be worthless if daddy wasn't holding her too.

The Elbow of Opinion

What is it that people say, "An opinion is like an elbow; everyone has one?" Technically, that's not true, not everyone has elbows, but it is true that everyone has an opinion.

The differences in our opinions is what makes us so great as a race, but when a person becomes caught up in everyone's opinion than failure is the only end.

God has brought me through a lot of opinions in my life to bring me to the place where opinion no longer matters, all that matters is Him.

In life, we all come across "opinions" that have no place in our lives. God will always direct us in our paths, but other people may not like the path you are going on. God may tell you to leave a place when everyone else wants you to stay. You may tell them that God told you to go, but sometimes, they won't listen.

Many Pastor's and Preacher's will talk about this very thing in the context of witnessing calling it "the fear of man," but this fear extends beyond the world and into the church.

God has put a calling in each of us. Sometimes it takes us a while to know the full extent of our calling, but most of us know what we love to do and know a wide view of our calling. For example, a person called to evangelize may know that, but they may not know they are also called to evangelize in many other countries. God shows us things as we are ready to see them. Other people, however, don't get to see what God shows you. They may not know you are called to worship, lead revivals, start a youth movement, or bring in the new wine. Others see only what you have done and then they draw their own opinions based on that.

When a Pastor or leader is lead by the Spirit, they can see what God has put into you, but there will be many people who will not be able to see. Matthew 7:6 says "Don't throw your pearls to pigs" (NLV). When God shows you something precious such as your calling or the next step in your walk, don't share it with people who will reject it or refuse to understand it because, in their opinion, that is what you should not do. Jesus had to rebuke Peter because Peter did not want what Jesus was saying about his death to come to pass. If Jesus had listened to Peter than the story of our lives, and our deaths, would be very different.

God will always direct our paths, but it is up to each of us individually to heed his direction, and to ignore the opinions that try to sway us from our path. Keep your heart open for good direction and council, but watch out for the dirty elbows.