Are You Hiding?

1 Samuel 10 What would it be like to become the first King of Israel? To practically be thrown right into the job. Saul was told by Samuel that he would be the king. It wasn't because God wanted a king but it was because the people of Israel wanted to be like all the other nations. But Samuel didn't want the Israelite king to be like the kings from all the other nations where they made their own rules. He wanted Saul to answer to a higher authority - God. Saul starts out pretty good, but he struggled with insecurity, jealousy, pride and other things throughout his reign. In 1 Samuel 10, we see the first signs of his on/off again allegiance to God. He goes from being inspired boldness to uninspired weakness, all in one chapter. Samuel tells Saul that the Spirit of God will come upon him. And just as Samuel had said, the Spirit does come upon him. Saul meets up with some prophets and he proceeds to speak the words of God along with them. Very commendable and bold. I think that he was coming off of a spiritual high after being with Samuel and hearing all the things that Samuel told him. He was ready and prepared to receive the Spirit. If you are a church leader this is much like what we experience after we get back from a leadership conference. We are hyped and excited about new possibilities God is revealing to us. But this spiritual high ended for Saul. When Samuel was ready to announce Saul as king to the tribes of Israel, Saul hides among the baggage. People had to go look for him and drag him out. Stop for a second and think about that. The bible does not linger on this and it is easy to read right past the significance of him hiding. It would be like the President of the United States hiding backstage and refusing to come out when it was announced the he won the Presidency. Not a good sign of things to come, that's for sure. Maybe it was Saul's fear of the unknown. Like I said at the beginning, he was pretty much thrown into the job. Maybe it was because he was afraid to fail or look stupid in front of his peers. Saul went from allowing the Spirit to reign in Him where he boldly spoke of God, to allowing his insecurities to cause him to cower among the baggage. I can't help but see the parallel in for our lives today. Sometimes, when we are faced with something difficult, we hide, we don't act, we don't go for it like we should. Often, things look impossible to us. We think, "How can I ever get through this?" When things look impossible, I challenge you (and me) to rely on HIM to pull you through. Don't hide from something God is calling you to do or from something that looks impossible. These situations are the perfect time to rely on Him because then you will see Him move and your faith will become stronger.

Encourage one another...Please!

Read James 3:1-12

Small things control larger things. Many examples are shown in James like the horse being led by the bit, the ship led by the rudder, and the flame from a spark. What is interesting to me is this passage about the tounge starts out by talking about being a teacher. That by being a teacher we are judged more strictly. This hit home to me because as a member of the Worship Team at my church, I am a teacher by my example and my words. Just think of the things that you are a leader of. Everyone is a leader of something. My life, choices, and words affect others and can affect them spiritually. While I am not responsible for their individual spiritual decisions, my words and actions can be encouraging or damaging. I tell my kids all the time to make the wise choice in all kinds of situations. It is up to us to make the wise choice to affect good by what we say and do. Hebrews 10:24-25 says:

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

What a great responsibility to spur each other to love and acomplish awesome works for God. Let's encourage one another! Let's actually tell each other how awesome they are doing in their efforts to serve God. We all have a part to play in the body of Christ and sometimes we can become discouraged and tired of doing what God has called us to do, especially if we don't hear encouragement from others. A thank you or a praise from our friends can be just the encouragement that helps us recharge and continue on in our commitment.

As for me and my tounge...I've got some splainin to do! lol There is no doubt that my tounge is "a world of evil amoung the parts of the body" (James 3:6) Being aware is half the battle. Let's work on encouraging one another!

God is Moving

God is moving in our church and bringing people into our doors. An exciting thing that we should celebrate is people that are taking the next step to come to know Jesus Christ.

Also, …Let's be comfortable with the lost behaving like they are lost. Let's not get upset when they are not "rockin out" to our cool church music, or saying "amen" to our messages. I too often get concerned about these kinds of thoughts. "I hope they are enjoying the service" or "I hope they like the music" or "I hope they like the message"… Well God revealed to me today that maybe HE doesn't want them to like the message or mucic, etc. Maybe God intends to confront them with HIS word which is not always comfortable. Let's pray for life change, not that people would like us. The Bible already told us that we wouldn't be liked if we are preaching about Jesus Christ.

Completely Saved From What

"Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." Hebrews 7:25

Saved completely from what? I believe that we need saving from our own selves. We are our own worst enemy. Overcoming the hardness of our own hearts, greed, grudges, anger, jealousy, selfishness, disappointment....fill in the blank....Ecclesiastes 11:9 says, "Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement."

I think Hebrews 7:25 is saying that the short comings that we think we have are there because we hold onto them. We don't allow God to prune us of them. I like how the verse says that Jesus ALWAYS LIVES TO INTERCEDE. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners is interceding for us. If that is true why do we still have hardened hearts? Because we hold on, we don't let go. Sometimes we refuse to let go, because we are so comfortable. We can't let go because Satan is constantly reminding us of our failures, or how we've been victimized, or who has rubbed us the wrong way, or how everyone else has it better than we do....again fill in the blank.

Satan doesn't attack us because of who and what we are in our lives right now....NO! He attacks us because of WHERE we WILL be in the future and WHAT we WILL do for the Kingdom of God IF we BELIEVE that we are completely saved. Completely saved from the hardness of our own hearts. Why is it so hard to free ourselves from our own shortcomings? The Bible says that "all a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart." (Proverbs 21:2)