I Blew It!

As an ex coach and the assistant principal I take special interest in our sports program. At today's baseball game I got swept into the fervor of the game and began to argue with the opposing team's coach. He was complaining about the umpire's calls from the beginning of the game and I forgot that we are Ambassadors of Christ and called to act accordingly.

Geez, being raised in Brooklyn in the 60's and the attitude that comes along with it is hard to shake! Both teams played a great game and had a great day playing. We won in extra innings 8 to 7 but I lost the opportunity to take the higher road and back off a bit. While in my mind it's just what we do, we root, cheer, geer, raz and just have a good time but if taken too far it can become something really unwanted and that is long term bad feelings.

Thank God for the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus! Thank God for the Grace of God to do better next time. See and do! I also blew it yesterday.....I'll share that tomorrow.

Grace and Peace,

Ed

http://www.urcs.blogspot.com/

God is looking for you!

Prophet Kim Clement sent me this e-mail today and I wanted to share it here.

When we understand that God is in search of man (us), more so than man in search of God, our spiritual experience is greatly enhanced. What does this mean in terms of communication? Over and over we try to hear God’s voice to find direction in our lives, and we spend countless hours in search of Him, only to find out that He was always close-by, but because we didn’t recognize Him, we ran.

We consider God mysterious and almost unattainable, but the great mystery is that God is actually in search of you. So how do I draw His attention? How will He know where I am, and what are the ingredients needed to assist Him in “finding” me? People would be offended at the thought of God “trying” to find them. Is He blind, deaf or unable to know His own created being?

Throughout Biblical history, we find that God “reveals” Himself to man. God continuously visited Abraham, and the obvious ingredient that drew God to him, was FAITH. Think about friendship for a minute. Would you go uninvited to someone’s home? Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable knowing that they in fact wanted you there at a specific time, and took the time to ask you over? How do we invite God? It’s faith in praise, prayer, sacrifice, obedience and other unselfish acts that invite God. The key, however, is knowing how to respond to revelation, because God reveals Himself more than He shows Himself - there is a difference. To reveal means to unveil something that was at first intended to be private, to divulge the meaning of making known something previously concealed or secret.

In other words, when prophetic revelation takes place, your mind has never experienced it before, therefore, you have entered into something strange and new. With this in mind, you have choices to make, to reject or accept it. Most people operate by fear and reject the unknown. It takes perception and faith to embrace something that you sense is right, but intellectually you are unsure of.

When God created Adam and Eve, He left them in the Garden to begin the journey for mankind. During that period, their understanding of God went from what they had experienced to what they had heard, from a complete stranger – the serpent Satan. Misrepresenting God, the serpent said to them, “God knows that in the day you eat of the fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you will BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil.” So his proposition was that they could “be like God,” having more power due to their new perception.

Unfortunately, their new sight blinded them to God and opened their eyes to themselves. God came to visit them one day and was rudely interrupted by a retreating Adam. No longer was God welcome, because Adam could only see one thing; that he was naked and afraid of God. His perception of himself was lowered to, “I heard your voice and I was afraid because I was naked.” He saw himself naked. Good God, I don’t blame him! God searched for Adam – Adam did not search for God.

God, in the form of man here on Earth, Jesus Christ, searched for man. He found His disciples and called them to Himself and yet Philip tells Nathaniel, “We have found the Messiah.” No. REVELATION IS NOT AN ACT OF MAN SEEKING GOD, BUT OF HIS BEING SOUGHT AFTER – AN ACT IN GOD’S SEARCH FOR MAN. Israel’s history originated with the initiative of God, not the efforts of man. Yet Jacob wrestled with God, sending Him an invitation to come to his house and experience him. God responded by giving Jacob the honorable and noble name, Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have PREVAILED!

Jacob did not search for God; he struggled with God. We all struggle with God, because we are so determined to know more about Him, so that we can have more power, when we should rather just experience God and enjoy Him. God reveals to Jacob his true name, Israel, because that is what God experienced when he found the true person in Jacob. However, when Jacob pleads to God, “Tell me your name, I pray,” God replies, “Why is it that you ask about my name?” I find this interesting because it’s almost like God is challenging Jacob about his motive in finding out God’s name.

Revelation should not be rejected because of it’s being incomprehensible. That which is incomprehensible must not be considered UNREAL. Prophetic revelation is not merely an act of experience, but an act of being experienced, overwhelmed and taken over by Him. It is impossible to believe that trials and troubles are a waste of time and worth nothing.

Now that I have been through three decades of walking with God, I am convinced that trials and troubles are only revelations in disguise, because I have discovered glorious truths about myself that eventually became part of my makeup and my expression. Character has been built with strength and virtue, which only paints my soul with delightful colors. Trials are part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles, for if they do, they will be disappointed; for none of our predecessors have been without them. Note the patience of Job and remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he was rewarded as the “Father of the Faithful.” Note the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, and you will discover that none of those whom God made vessels of mercy escaped the fire of affliction.

I have been through a season of trial and I’m excited to find out what God found and experienced in me during this period. As human beings we value pleasure far above friction and stress. I hate anxiety. It is the cause of so much unnecessary stress and ungodliness. The Bible teaches us to be anxious for nothing. Anxiety is a thief. It robs you of your dignity, and positions you so that you are constantly on the lookout for an alternative to God.

To hear more from Kim go to http://www.kimclement.com/

Grace and Peace,

Ed

www.urcwc.org

Watch and Pray With Thanksgiving!

Many of us are very mindful of the temptations in our life, but we must have a Biblical focus in our watching. We sometimes focus on our inward failures, which cause us to experience great depression and defeat. If we use our temptations and failures as motivation to focus on Christ and to cry out to God for His powerful grace, we will receive hope, strength, and forgiveness instead of being overcome with discouragement. By focusing on the Lord’s ability to deliver us from temptation and to cleanse us of sin, discouragement and defeat can be replaced with thanksgiving and rejoicing.

And, if Satan cannot succeed at discouraging us with our own failures, he will often try to discourage us with the victories of those who oppose God. There is a time to be a “watchman on the wall” and to cry out warning alarms because of the attacks of the enemy. However, if this is our single focus, we will tend to be anxious because of the “progress” that the enemies of the Lord are making. Scripture specifically tells us, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb” (Psalm 37:1–2).

Watching and fretting is what Satan wants us to do, because it keeps us defeated and discouraged, but watching with thanksgiving leads to joy and encouragement. Scripture states that we are to bring to God every detail of our need in earnest and thankful prayer. (See Philippians 4:6.) In order to watch with thankfulness, we must see the bigger picture of God’s power and purposes in what He allows.

For example, we may watch as various Christians walk away from the Lord. However, instead of becoming discouraged, we can be thankful that God is big enough to reach down and bring them back to Himself. We can thank Him that “he hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. … Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him” (Psalm 103:10, 13). We can also thank God for the opportunity to demonstrate our love for Christ and fellow believers by praying earnestly for their spiritual condition and trusting God to work in their lives.

We can watch and pray with thanksgiving, knowing that Christ is our source of deliverance from that which would ensnare us. (See II Peter 2:9 and Colossians 4:2.) Lack of thankfulness to God often springs from an anxious, troubled heart and leads to many other sins. (See Romans 1:21.) Let’s purpose to watch and pray rather than watch and worry, giving thanks to God in all things, because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. (See I Thessalonians 5:18.) Remember, Christ has already won the victory!

Grace and Peace,

Ed