GOD’S PART - OUR PART

Luke 9:56 NKJV “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

When bad things happen we may be tempted to wonder if God is trying to teach us something, but if that was true we’d all have a degree by now! Actually it’s one of the lies Satan whispers in our ears to try to make us doubt God loves us. 

We may well learn something from the hard things that happen along the way, and when they do God is so gracious He says He will turn them round for our good, but it’s not God’s best way. He gave us an easier way to learn! 

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 

In the New Covenant, God says He has given us His Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, and His inspired Word to teach, rebuke, instruct and guide us. It doesn’t say He gives us sickness and disease or any other sad thing to teach us, which is reassuring.

Jesus made it very clear that if anything in our lives is being destroyed, whether it’s our health, finances, relationships, or whatever, it’s not God who is doing it but the devil. Jesus tells us that He came to give us life more abundantly, that God wants us to be in health and to prosper in all areas of life, but the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). 

Jesus then tells us He’s overcome the world and given us His peace, His victory, His name, His grace, His Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome by the blood of the Lamb. So often though, we just pray and ask God to do something and wonder why He doesn’t, when He has already done His part, and given it all to us to use, through Jesus.😊

Our part is to speak to the mountain and tell it to be removed, to declare the end result of victory in our situations, to resist the enemy, to take our authority over him and bind his activities. We need to draw the line in the sand and say, “No more, no further!” God says His grace is enough, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to do it.

So be encouraged today to take a stand and find someone who will stand with you in agreement and tell the enemy to take his hands off your life, or the lives of your loved ones, and know God will back His word when we believe it and stand in faith. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Jessica Fadel on Unsplash

MUDDLED UP!

Luke 10:38-40 NKJV Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving…

We recently had our family visit from Australia which was wonderful. We welcomed them in, made them feel at home and listened to all they had to tell us. How would they have felt if we’d welcomed them in and then ignored them? I think you can guess!😊

It’s great to welcome Jesus into our lives, but not so good to then go off and ignore Him to do something we feel is more demanding of our attention! That’s what happened to Martha. She welcomed Jesus into her house but she was more concerned about what she had to do and prepare than in actually sitting and listening to what Jesus had to say. She had her priorities all muddled up!

Colossians 2:2-3 NLT  …I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Mary made a better choice. She’d realised that Jesus had all the answers and she wanted to know what He had to say! She was willing to be told off by her sister because she recognised what was most important at that moment, and that was to listen to Jesus first. Everything else would have to wait!

So this is a nudge to us all if our priorities have been muddled up lately. Let’s make a decision as we come to the second half of this year to spend more time listening to what God has to say in His Word and in our prayer time, and give the Holy Spirit room to show us the wisdom Jesus has for the days ahead. It’s our call - let’s choose to sit and listen.😊 Amen.

Photo: SixteenMiles Out on Unsplash