Don’t give God a Black Eye!
I have been struggling the last several days in regard what to post on the BLOG this week. What I see over and over and what the Holy Spirit is speaking to me is “Get back to basics.”
Well, Molly, what are the basics in the Kingdom of God? They are quite simple, really, but you would have had to have walked through “the message” of the Word to get what I am trying to say. Most people I know don’t even have a clue about their Father in Heaven and what really is in the Word. Jesus came to set us free indeed! Praise God! But, then there is the MORE of God that we seem to be missing…but it is the little things, the things that we tend to overlook that are really important.
There is an instance in the Word that needs to have a more in-depth look. It is found in (Matthew 7: 21-23). Jesus makes it clear that you can cast out demons and do wonders in His name but do you really do the will of the Father in Heaven? He tells us that those who do that, practice lawlessness. They are pretty harsh words….but I have learned just what He was saying by walking through it….
After we have gone to our churches on Sundays and worshiped however we see fit, I see people who appear to walk the walk and talk the talk of the Kingdom but yet they are not “doing God” at all. What is happening? God trained me on the back side of nowhere in this very area so when and IF I passed all the testing, I could be of benefit to Him and the Kingdom. But, it wasn’t easy and it still isn’t easy.
God is clear in HIS Word that if you are faithful in the little, He will give you more….Now I know people who actually go and rebuke Satan and take authority over the Devil in far off places but their personal lives don’t mirror Jesus at all. What do you mean by that, Molly? The God I have come to love and adore requires that I be congruent in every facet of my life. God requires that I align myself with HIS Word the best I know how. Of course, this also depends on how much revelation I have at the time on a particular thing. For example, the Bible teaches to let your ‘Yes be Yes’ and your ‘No be No.’ Anything apart from those two answers is from the evil one (Matthew 5:37).
I deal with so-called Christians all the time but what they do doesn’t line up with what they are saying to people. It doesn’t line up with their Bible thumping, hand raising, tongue talking worship. I wonder is it just me that feels this way? Am I out of joint? I always check myself first.
We wonder why we don’t see as many miracles in the Body of Christ today. It is because we are not being obedient. We, for the most part, have a fluff theology without any power because we can’t be faithful in the little and we are not being congruent in our thinking, our speaking and what is really in our hearts.
Something is going to have to change if we want the more of God. I find that people are not being taught “how to walk with God”. I mean, come on. “What wouldn’t Jesus do?” Well, He wouldn’t tell me He was going to do something and then not do it. He wouldn’t NOT help the beggar on the side of the road when he is holding up a sign “Please, help me.” He wouldn’t scream and yell. He wouldn’t steal. He wouldn’t do a lot of things we allow ourselves to think are covered under HIS GRACE. We make excuses and think anything goes. Nothing could be further from the truth. We serve a very detailed God. If you are in doubt of that, look at the book of Numbers in the Word. He is very detailed. Again, Jesus says in Matthew 5:18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” We serve a God who pays attention to the little things. If we are faithful in the little things, He will give us more.
We, on the whole, are being mislead. When our personal lives suffer, we wonder where God is. Then He says, “Well, did you follow through with the last task I gave you? Were you too good to do what I told you? Why didn’t you tithe when you were taught about it? Why do you keep saying “Yes” to people when you know you are more than likely not going to follow through?” God is more than a “Feel Good Religion”. Until we actually get taught about what God does require of us, we will keep hitting our heads up against a wall while we tell ourselves we go to church and love God but then wonder why things happen to us or don't happen for us.
The Old Testament is a foreshadowing of things to come in the New Testament. The Old Testament will really tell you about your Father in heaven. Folks, God does not change…ever. This fact alone has been a comfort to me. He will never be wishy-washy with me. I can always count on Him and lean on Him. That gives me great comfort. He is solid like a rock…..but He is also a disciplinarian. But, again I need that.
Don’t tell people you are going to do something and then turn around and not do it. I would say that in the last ten years of my life, I have tried to always let my "Yes be Yes" and my "No be No." I don’t tell people I am going to do something if I know I will not follow through. Years ago, someone told me, “Molly, don’t give God a black eye.” In other words, we make God look bad as Christians when we behave any old way: when we don’t pay our bills on time, when we don’t take care of what God lets us have (homes, cars,children, money). God wants more for us than what we have got right now but unless we are willing to “do God” His way, we will never enter into His rest for our lives while we are on earth.
I will not be the one to make God wear a big, black patch over His eye to hide the fact that I am not what I am saying I am. Your biggest battles will be fought and your biggest victories won when NO ONE is watching. Make no mistake about it: God is watching and what you do in secret will be rewarded openly…it will come from your Father, not any man. Stop being a man pleaser and start being a God pleaser.
Do God.
Molly
