Finding our way through the wilderness

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Day 4

 Don’t Worry

   

   So we have just started out on our journey and we are feeling pretty good. We know we have a long way to go before we make it out of the wilderness and crossover to our promised land, nevertheless we are still optimistic.

   So we are traveling along fine and then what happens? We are sidetracked by the problems of our daily life. We remember that the electricity bill, the gas bill, and the mortgage or rent is due. We also remember that just like last month we are going to have work hard to scrape up the money to pay all of these things to avoid them being cut off or being evicted.

   So we decide that we are going to camp out in this area of the wilderness for the next couple of days. Just long enough for us to take care of these things and then we will pick up where we left off.

   We must not let the cares of this life halt our progress, because the enemy is constantly attacking. We must continue to move forward pushing to become closer with God.

  This is not to say that this life stops, because we all know that it doesn’t. While it would be wonderful for bill collectors and landlords to say to us they are going to take a break from charging us, we know that most likely this is not going to happen. (I say most likely with hope that one day this will come true *smiles*)

  So we since we know that life isn’t going to stop and we know that we have to keep moving forward, the question is how do we balance both and be successful? Jesus tells us how in the scripture. He says it simple and clear, do not worry.

   Worry is defined by the dictionary as to be or to make anxious. If we were to think back to a time when we were anxious, we would remember that during that time we could not think about anything other than the thing that was the cause of our anxiety. This is why Jesus tells us not to worry because when we do our focus is shifted off of Him. He says seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and then all of these thing shall be given to us as well. So when we have our focus on Him we can rest assure, because like Allstate says we are in good hands.

   Does this mean that we live in this world care free? The answer is no, in my humble opinion. This means only that we have faith that God will provide for us throughout our days. However, remember what the author says in the book of James, Faith without works is dead. This means that while we have faith that God is going to provide for us, we utilize the opportunities that he gives us. In other words we cannot sit around all day waiting for God to put food on our plates and clothes on our back, we must use the abilities that He blessed us with to obtain these things.

   So as we continue to move forward remember not to let worrying halt our journey, for God has promised us an abundant life and we can’t let anything stop us from reaching it. Like the songwriter said if His eye is on the tiny little sparrow, then I know he watches over me.

   Tomorrow is a day of rest, but I encourage you to go to church if you had not already planned to do so. If you are looking for a church to attend I invite you to attend my church Faith Memorial Baptist Church. The pastor is Dr. John W. Peoples. And we are located on 3117 North Kelley Ave. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Until Monday, God Bless

                              James Anthony Love

Finding our way through the wilderness

Matthew 6:19-21

New International Version (NIV)

Treasures in Heaven

    ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Day three

Where do our treasures truly lie?

       As we make our way through the wilderness, walking side by side with God, we must realize that with every step that we take we are moving further away from the world and all of its material things.

       Yesterday we talked about letting things go so that we can move forward, noting that there are some things that we have to cut out from our lives in order to keep progressing in the right direction.

       Today we are going to talk about other thing that can stunt our spiritual growth and that is our worldly possessions.

        Living in this great land of America, we are taught that in order to achieve true happiness you have to strive for the American dream. In this dream we have a huge house(s), fancy cars, powerful friends, perfect spouse, and adoring children. Again having any of these things is not wrong or immoral in the eyes of God, because God wants us to live an abundant life. It is in the pursuit of these things where we can lose sight of our promised land.

        In this scripture Jesus is teaching us not to put our faith in worldly things that can be taken away from us within a blink of an eye. He is saying okay you worked are to get that brand new car or to own that brand new house, I ‘m proud of you. However don’t let any of these material things define who you are, because that car can be stolen or wrecked beyond repair. That house can be destroyed easily by fire or natural disaster. What does that say for us if we store all of our hope in things that are swept away so easily? When the storms of life come our way we are going to be uprooted like a poorly planted tree. So Jesus is telling us to store our treasures in heaven. Where they won’t grow old and rot away, in heaven where a thief cannot break in and steal our treasures away. We should store our treasures in heaven where they will reside with our heavenly Father for eternity. The funny thing is that once we start to do this the more blessed we become. 

         However, if you are like me you are wondering how does one get treasures in heaven? Well I believe that the treasures that Jesus is talking about is the privilege to spend eternity in heaven with our heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ. I don’t know about you but I can’t think of a greater treasure than that. We can earn that privilege by repenting from our sins and confessing that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and that no man comes to the Father but by Him.

         Lastly, look at the scripture twenty-one. It says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

         If our heart is still connected to this world there will be no room for Jesus. We will be stuck wandering through the wilderness like the children of Israel. Before we take another step let us clear our hearts of all worldly things, so that Jesus can take domain of it.

Please continue along with us on our journey tomorrow, until then God Bless.

                        James Anthony Love

Finding our way through the wilderness

Matthew 5:29-30

New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Day Two

Moving Forward

Yesterday we discover that in order to find our way out of the wilderness we must first recognize that we are indeed in the wilderness.  Recognition is the first step towards salvation. So when acknowledge that we are indeed lost in a spiritual wilderness, we know that only God can create a path to get us to our promised land.

Now that we have taken that first step where do we go from here? The only logic answer would be that we move forward. However, sometimes moving forward is easier said than done. One of the hardest things to do when you accept Christ into your heart is to move forward, because in order to move forward you have to leave some things behind. This causes us to become complacent in our relationship with God, which in turn sets us back even further in our journey. This is true because the closer we are with God the harder the enemy works to cause separation. The good news is that God gave us instructions on how to move forward after we have taken that crucial first step.

Let’s examine the scripture from above.

In this text Jesus was giving what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  Here Jesus is telling the people that he did not come to abolish the Laws that the people lived by but He came to fulfill them. He goes on to tell them to expand on the laws i.e. not only should you love your neighbor but you should love your enemy as well.

In our text He says if your right causes you to stumble then gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Now I don’t think that Jesus meant literally for us to cut off body part that we believe are causes us to sin. No as for most of His teachings He spoke in parables and riddles so that you would have to truly study the word to gain an understanding in to what He was trying to say. This again goes with what we say early with God giving us free will he wants us to search and find him on our own accord.

So what does this scripture have to do with our topic of moving forward? I’m glad you asked.

Here Jesus gives us a perfect road map how to move forward on our journey out of the wilderness. When He says if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. What He means is that when we start to move forward with our relationship with God we are going to have to cut some of things that may yield your forward progress. Because once we decided  to walk with God we have to separate yourself from the world. Again this is a hard thing to do, but in order to move forward it has to be done.

While it can be almost anything that can hinder us from moving forward, some of the more common roadblocks are angry, resentment, lust, envy, hate, and an unwillingness to forgive. These are the things that we want to cut away from our live so that we can start moving forward.

In the same token we also have to cut ties with some people, things, and places if we truly want to find our way out of the wilderness. Because some people are content with living in the wilderness and some things that we done before we started our journey can make us turn and walk in the opposite direction of our promise land. And to be real, some places we just don’t have any business being at if we are truly inviting Jesus into our hearts.

So in order to start moving forward towards our promised land, let’s cut away some of the things that are holding us back. We can do so by giving it all to Jesus. Whatever is hindering us from moving forward give it to the Lord and I promised He will take the burden.

Please continue along with us on our journey tomorrow, until then God Bless.

James Anthony Love

                           

Finding our way through the wilderness

Isaiah 43:19 (KJV)

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

 

Day one

              First of all I would like to thank and welcome you all. As you probably know this is our first entry in our seven week series entitled: Finding our way through the Wilderness.

If allow, let me give you are brief overview of the subjects that we will be studying. Each day, excluding Sundays, we will take a scripture from the bible and attempt to apply it towards our everyday lives. We will utilize scriptures from both the Old and The New Testament.

 This study is in conjunction with the Lenten Season, so it will coincide with the same Forty days which are February 22, 2012 to April 7, 2012.

It is our prayer that through this study we find enlightenment as well as fulfillment. As we navigate our way through our spiritual wilderness to get closer to our Lord and Savior. It is also my personal hope that souls would be converted to the kingdom of God as a result of our study.

So I would asked you that  if you know anyone that is lost in the wilderness of life please direct them to this publishing so that they journey with us to the promised land. To God be ALL of the Glory!

Our first topic is going to be: Recognizing that you are in the wilderness.

It may sound simply but in order to navigate our way out of the wilderness, we must first recognize that we are indeed in the wilderness to begin with. This is easier said than done. Because when you think about a wilderness you think of a desolate, sad, and lonely place. So when we relate this to our spiritual lives we think of same things loneliness, depression, and sadness. We feel like when we are in this place then we are in our wilderness. While I do believe that during the hardships we come closer to God, I also think that it is during the times that we perceive everything to be alright that we find ourselves wandering in our spiritual wilderness.

Using myself as an example, I find myself drawing closer to God in my time of need only to wander away from His presence after He has restored my joy. I’m hesitated to say that this is human nature because this is a term that can be used so loosely, but that is what it is. Our Gracious and Loving Heavenly Father gave us what we coined Free will. God wants us to choose him by our own will even though He loves us regardless.

So with these thoughts in mind one can see that when we get caught up in our daily lives whether it is our jobs, family, friendships, or other relationships, we tend to move further away from the presence of God. It is during these times that we are in the wilderness because away from God we are lost because He only is our safe Haven.

Now know that you can be totally invested in both the things that I mentioned above and God, However it is easy to lost focus when you put any one of those things before God. The enemy will cloak your eyes from the truth and by the time that you realize that you have separated yourself from God you will be so discontent that you will think that all hope for reconciliation with God is gone. I know this from firsthand experience. Thankfully the Good News is that nothing can Separate us from the Father, for He gave us a bridge named Jesus and He is waiting and willing to reconnect us to our Father.

So we now know that whether we are in a great place in life but still feel spiritually empty or if we are struggling in life and in our relationship with our Father, the first step to finding our way out of the wilderness is recognizing that we are lost. Once we take that first step God will begin to work in our lives. He will not deliver us completely per se, because as we will see there our lessons to be learn in the wilderness. However, we will feel His presence and know that we are moving in the right direction.

Please leave your thoughts and comments. If you would please also click on the like box on the right side of this page for our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finding-our-way-through-the-Wilderness/113808122078984 where you can find updates on this blog through Lent.

You can also email me at jamesanthonylove@gmail.com

Please continue along with us on our journey tomorrow, until then God Bless.

James Anthony Love

 

Lukewarm

Lukewarm

Revelation 3:15-17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

The dictionary defines lukewarm as showing or having little enthusiasm, interest, support, or conviction. Sadly I can use all of these words to describe my relationship with our Lord and Savior. Yes I confessed that He died for my sins and yes I know that He is the Son of God and no one can enter heaven except by believing in His Name. I can recite to you all of his miracles that He perform during His time on earth. I can speak to you about the Sermon on the Mount, His prayer in Gethsemane, and I can even discuss and attempt to decipher His parables. I can give you the bible’s chronicle of His life from the immaculate concept to the gruesome details of His crucifixion to Him rising on the third day and defending death and sin.   Still I am lukewarm at best.

You see as I read Revelation chapter, as always I suggest you read the entire book, I well had a revelation. The more that I read the more I realized that the words written for the church of Laodicea were words that meant for me also. I am so caught up in my on life and my own progress, or lack thereof, that I have become lukewarm. God is now a secondary thought in my mind. I praise Him when something good happens, and I pray to Him will I need something or when I feeling depressed. Both of these things are the right thing to do, but what is missing is the constant praise and admiration, not because want He done or what he is going to do, but just because He is God.

Then is there is His commandment that He gave to all of his disciples, Go Forth and preach the Gospel to all of Creation. I cannot remember the last person, non-Christian, that I have talk to about the awesome power of Jesus Christ. I have missed so many opportunities because I was afraid to step outside of my comfort zone and tell someone about His Greatness. I lied to myself and said that people can tell by the way that I live my life, However in reality I know that this isn’t the case. I try to treat people the way that I want to be treated and I try to be a good and just person in all of my dealings, but that is not enough. Because we know sadly many good people may be left outside of the gates because they did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I have to tell people with my voice not only my actions, about all that God has done for me.

So after I read this scripture and went through the four steps of grief, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, and Depression. I finally made it to Acceptance and I realized that I was given this word to read so I can go from being lukewarm to hot and stay there. I also realized that as verse nineteen says He disciplines and rebukes those that He loves. This is why He is so Great, because through Jesus we have the chance to repent and turned from our wicked ways. Only a loving God would be so gracious and what a loving God we serve.

I know that there is a large gap between lukewarm and hot however I am committing myself to continue to grow towards my goal each and every day that I am blessed with. Because on His return I want him to say well done my good and faithful servant not because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

I do not know if you are in the same situation that I find myself in, but if you are I invite you to take this walk with me. We can support and comfort each other on this journey. Please leave your comments and your encouragement. You can email me at jamesanthonylove@gmail.com or find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jamesanthonylove

God Bless,

                  James Anthony Love