Tag Archives: Personal insight

The right tool for the job

Posted on January 12, 2015 by | Comments Off on The right tool for the job

toolsHaving the right tool for the job is incredibly important. I will admit that I am not as mechanically inclined as many of the men who go to church with me. I can’t listen to a car engine and know what is wrong, beyond brake repair and replacing an alternator, I’m not much good under the hood of a car. That’s fine with me and it doesn’t bother me that I lack those skill sets needed to be a mechanic. My Lord has given me other skills that I am thankful for and have been able to use to help others within our church, our families, and immediate neighbors. Whatever you do, whether it is auto mechanics, carpentry work, computer repair, or crochet, having the right tool for the job is extremely important. It often makes the difference between a well-done job with pleasing results or a patch job to get by.

The right tool: the Lord’s toolbox

I’m nothing special and it is the same with other Christians; we each have abilities and skills that complement one another. Think of the practicality of the local New Testament congregation as a toolbox for the Lord. Each member brings special skills, abilities, and talents that only they may have. When we think of a toolbox, most of us have several types of screwdrivers, a hammer or two, pliers, wire cutters, and some wrenches. Each tool is specific in its role and each tool has a purpose that the other tools cannot fill. If the tools were interchangeable and could all do the same jobs, we would only have that one tool. There would be no need for a toolbox full of tools. Paul had to discuss this very issue within the early church at Corinth: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

I know I have written about this very topic often; it is a very important topic that too many Christians either do not take seriously or do not understand. God has a specific purpose for each of us and He wants us to be completely surrendered to Him so that we can do that purpose. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is having to explain this concept; some members of the church were focused on the bigger, more visible aspects of the church ministry and were less concerned with functioning within the skills, abilities, and talents they possessed.  Paul uses the imagery of the human body to explain that not everyone in the church can be a pastor or deacon, but that the other positions in the church are just as important for the church to be able to work as a whole. Just as having a toolbox full of screwdrivers wouldn’t help a plumber much, having a church body that’s missing youth workers, Sunday school teachers, and others to allow it to successfully carry out the mission that the Lord has set before all churches.

The right tool: you have a unique roll

It is often hard to understand, especially when you’re a young-in-the-faith Christian, exactly where you fit in. You may even ask yourself what could I possibly do that someone else hasn’t or isn’t already doing? I know that I have asked that question often in my own life more than once. It is easy to get caught up in emotion during a revival or missions conference and to “surrender” to our own sense of wanting to do something for the Lord. Sure, the heart may genuinely believe that you’re doing the right thing, but soon you discover that it’s not going like you had hoped it would. For a while, I thought I was supposed to be a missionary and I tried and tried, but no matter what I did, there never seemed to be any progress made. I had to learn through experience what Paul meant: If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him (1 Corinthians 12:17-18). It didn’t matter what I called myself, what matters was what God had designed me to be. God had a distinct role for me to fulfill in His ministry. God had given me a specific set of abilities, skills, and talents that if I were truly surrendered to His will in my life, I would be able to use. Paul wrote, For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29). When we are using the abilities, skills, and talents that the Lord has given us to support the local ministry, we never need to be ashamed or embarrassed to do what He has set for us to do. In effect, we allow ourselves to become the right tool for the job.

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When others minister to us

Posted on January 5, 2015 by | Comments Off on When others minister to us

helping-handFor me, one of the hardest things I have had to do in my walk with the Lord is to accept it when He uses others to minister to my needs. I am pretty sure that I am no different from anyone else when it comes to accepting help. One of the hardest things to do is to allow others to minister to us, especially when it is within our own family or church family. There are times we will need others to minister to us, and we must be willing to allow ourselves to be ministered to. The same verses that we, as Christians, use to show the need to minister to others actually show the attitude we should have when others minister to us.

Accepting help from others

When others minister to us, we should realize that their help comes at the leading of the Holy Spirit and is an act of obedience on their part, as the Holy Spirit directs. We must give thanks to the one ministering to us and to the Lord for the blessings we gain. The apostle Paul explained this to the Christians living in Thessalonica, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Sometimes it is difficult to be thankful when we receive a blessing at the hands of someone within our family or church. It is hard to admit that we couldn’t take care of a problem or issue ourselves; while it is easy to pray to the Lord about those needs, it is quite another to accept the Lord’s provisions especially when it comes at the hands of someone else. We should take on a spirit of genuine thankfulness from the heart; not fake or based on deceit. Paul also wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:19-20). When others minister to us, we should not seem callous, or dismissive of their efforts. We should also genuinely be thankful to the Lord and not be dismissive over the Lord’s blessings.

No one understood this better than the apostle Paul; before his conversion to Christianity he had been part of the Sanhedrin council. He shared that part of his testimony in his writings and in his speeches: But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question (Acts 23:6), Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee (Acts 26:5), and Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee (Philippians 3:5). As a Pharisee, he never had to worry about his physical needs being met. But when he became a Christian and fully accepted the Lord’s plan for his life, he no longer had access to the financial resources he once had. His role as a missionary prevented him from working so he had to wholly depend on the Lord to provide for his needs. I can imagine that at times Paul felt ashamed and embarrassed that in his newfound faith he was humbled and had to depend on the Lord for everything where before, as Pharisee, he never had a want or a need that he could not meet on his own.

One of the hardest things that we have to do as Christians is to learn how to receive answers to our prayers and needs at the hands of others. Again, the writings of Paul gives us an insight to how he approached being thankful for what others did do for him. He wrote to the Christians in Colossus and to those in Thessalonica, We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you (Colossians 1:3), and We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1:2). As a missionary, Paul is demonstrating the attitude of gratitude we are to have towards others. We are to give thanks to the Lord when others minister to us. The Lord moves in the hearts of His children and will use our brothers and sisters in Christ to minister to us. As mentioned earlier, the apostle Paul, a missionary, often depended on the gifts and the ministering of others in support of his ministry.

There are times in our own life where we will have a real need – maybe it is a physical need, maybe it is a need for encouragement, or maybe it is just knowing that someone else is praying for us. God uses His children to minister to the needs of others; He uses others to minister to us. It is important for us to remember that we see throughout the New Testament a principle of people and churches moving, as the Holy Spirit leads, to meet the needs of others who are hurting or are in need: Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea (Acts 11:29). Again, Paul wrote on this very subject to the Christians living in Rome: For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things (Romans 15:26-27) and Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 13Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality (Romans 12:10 & 12:13). Paul is writing about the emerging characteristics of Christians – which are the same characteristics that we see today. Our churches are filled with women and men who are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be a blessing to others.

Don’t question the motives

By nature, I am a cynical person. I was not raised in a Christian home and for much of my time in the military, I worked in the military justice field. Both of these influenced the outlook I have held for so long. I’m not proud of this and it is something that I pray that the Lord will help me overcome on a daily basis. While it is not as bad as it once was, I have a problem questioning the motives of others, especially when they’ve done something that ministers to a need. Before I began to ask the Lord to help me in this, I would easily assign them hidden motives of trying to atone for guilt, trying to buy my friendship, or whatever motive my mind could come up with.

I never understood how bad this habit had become it was until one afternoon in 2007, I felt the Lord moving within my heart. There was a family in our church that had fallen on hard times and the Lord had laid on my heart to buy them some groceries and to pay their utility bill. I went to the city hall and paid the utility bill, which was easy enough. I went to Kroger, bought the basic groceries I could think of that a family of five would use, and went by their house and put them on the front porch of the family’s house. The next Sunday, I was approached by the gentleman and was asked all the things I normally muttered to the Lord in private – why did I do that? What was I expecting in return? How much was it going to cost him? At that point, I saw myself for what I was in the situations I similarly experienced in the past; by my very nature and mindset, I was unthankful, I was full of pride, and I was unwilling to be genuinely thankful when the Lord used others to minister to me. Just then, it hit me that from that point forward, I should never question the motives of someone that seeks to be a blessing to me out of obedience to the Lord; instead I needed to remember the words of Jesus: And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). Even if their reason for helping us is simply “doing it because it is what the Bible teaches…” we are to be accepting of their efforts because the Lord has told them that just offering us a hand because it is what they’ve been taught to do as a Christian is still doing it for the right reason. James wrote, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:15-17). Just as when we are moved by the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of others and we understand that it is the demonstration of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to help others, when others reach out to minister to us, they are also are acting out of their faith in the Lord. And for that, we must recognize their living faith and a tender heart and rejoice and give thanks to them and to the Lord for meeting our needs.

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Posted in Discipleship, My Walk, Our relationships with other Christians

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God has a plan for your life

Posted on December 22, 2014 by | Comments Off on God has a plan for your life

bible_and_candle_krx5God has a plan for your life. No one has ever been born by accident or without any sort of desire by the Lord. Before any of us were even born, the Bible teaches Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself (Isaiah 44:24). Within the teachings of the Old Testament there are a handful of verses that also adds to our understanding – as Christians – of how God has a plan for each of us even before we are born! Even before the birth of Jeremiah, the prophet, God already had a plan for his life: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). Although God did have a plan for Jeremiah, it is important to understand that Jeremiah had to be surrendered to the Lord’s will before he could understand what God had planned for him.

God has a plan for all Christians

Just as God has a plan for every person ever conceived, God has a plan for every Christian who will completely surrender to His will. When I was a young-in-the-faith Christian, there was so much about my new-found faith that I simply didn’t understand. As I have shared many times, I was regularly attending a church that did have sound Bible preaching, but there was no discipleship for those, like me, who didn’t come from a Christian family. As the pastor would teach about great men of the faith such as Moses, Abraham, Billy Sunday, and even Billy Graham, I had no idea where I fit into God’s plan. All I knew was that I wanted to be used by God but I wasn’t sure if God even had a plan or purpose for my life. What I didn’t know was a simple lesson taught by Jesus himself during His earthly ministry: For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey (Matthew 25:14-15). What I didn’t understand was that I had not demonstrated to the Lord that I could be trusted with even two talents. I didn’t realize that I had not been faithful in doing the things that God had already called me to do.

God has a plan for all Christians that begins with us demonstrating we can be faithful in four simple things that all Christians are called to do. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a Christian for two weeks or two decades, there’s no spiritual growth or other things that God will place in front of you to do if you’re not being faithful in these four basic areas of Christian service. These four areas have always been a part of His plan have been the same for those who lived in the days of the Old Testament and for everyone that has lived since the times of the New Testament. This shouldn’t surprise us because the scriptures teach us, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8) and He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting (Habakkuk 3:6). God’s plan has never changed and never will.

The four basics we all must do

After 2006, when I became serious about my relationship with the Lord, I began to pray daily and read my Bible with a new intensity that I had never had before. Not sure where to start in my Bible reading, I began in Proverbs, reading a chapter each morning before I began my daily routine. What I began to learn from my Bible study, the sermons of the pastor where I attended, and from the leading of the Holy Spirit is that praying and studying the Bible were two of the four things that God wants those who love Him to do. Over time, I learned that the other two things, bearing witness to others of Christ’s love and the willingness to worship God alone, when done with a servant’s heart, is where true obedience and spiritual growth begins in the life of a believer. We cannot expect the Lord to use us in any ministry or lay on our hearts a specific calling if we are not faithfully doing the very basic things of our faith. Do you want to be more than a pew-sitter within your church? Then you must be faithful in the things that God has already called you to do.

We are to be willing to read and study the Bible

David, the psalmist, wrote Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalms 119:11) and the apostle Paul left the instructions to Timothy, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Both men understood a simple truth that Paul understood well: For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). It is through our personal reading of the Bible that we truly begin to learn of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His will for our life. Regular Bible reading bears fruit and is never a waste of our time and effort. As inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). When we truly study the Bible on a daily basis we are opening the door for the Lord, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, to truly make and mold us into the Christian that God has called us to be.

We are to be willing to have an active prayer life

When I first became a Christian, the extent of my prayer life was in giving thanks for the meals I ate each day. After the decision was made to become more serious in my walk with the Lord, my prayer life had to change as well. I asked the pastor of the church I was attending in Carbondale the best way to do this and he offered me perhaps the best advice I ever received on the topic of prayer: Don’t worry about them – just talk to the Lord as if He is in the room with you and don’t be afraid to pour out your heart and soul to Him. This is similar advice to what the apostle Paul wrote, And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear (1 Peter 1:17). God doesn’t compare the prayers of Christians to one another but he judges our prayers according to the contents of our heart. As I have studied the psalms there’s a consistency to David’s writings. He is completely open with the Lord in all of his psalms. He tells God how he is feeling, the fears he has, the sorrows and pain, and even the joys he has. I believe that too many of us treat the Lord as if he doesn’t already know the content of our heart and we pray what we think He wants to hear from us.

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