Distracted heart - Fractured Faith

Sermon Synopsis - 28/06/09

Hebrews 3 :10-11

¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation,

and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,

and they have not known my ways.'

¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,

'They shall never enter my rest.'

No doubt, the Israelites were proceeding towards the promised land. But their hearts were wrong. Theirs was an incomplete, interruptive connection to God's heart. Yes, they knew the God of their forefathers, but failed to perceive His ways.God's own chosen priveleged people were always distracted. Therefore they never completely conquered the Promised Land and strife never ceased.

An eternity with the Creator King is the final rest that is kept in store for His precious ones. But while on this earthly tent, God still provides His rest through His manifest presence in our lives. A presence that brings forth an overflowing peace, providence, presence, blessing and guidance which empowers us to fulfill His will.

A gracious God, grieved at heart fails to release His rest on His children when He finds their heart distracted.

The greatest deceit of sin, is to make believe that its ok to 'keep in touch' with it, as long as you don't 'fall' in it.Eventually,it hardens our soul, makes it insensitive to God and progressively drags you away from God.

You may have been warned against falling in sin. God's voice today is to stop you from even looking at sin.

- Fix your thoughts on Jesus -

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. Hebrews 3:1[NIV]

We glorify God in our actions and words most of the time. But not always in our thoughts. The thought life of a person provides the design map for the production of sin. A wavering mind, a negative thought life, an unchecked emotional imbalance and immoral thinking are all signs of distractions. Sooner or later we become vulnerable for a wide range of spiritual attacks.

We can prevent this, when we let Jesus rule our thought life.

So how does happen ?

- Through Repentance

So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts" Hebrews 3:7[NIV]

When we repent, we turn back to God. It is not a one time activity that we did on the day of our salvation, rather it is an act of willing submission that needs to be done everyday, whether we're doing it for the fifth of the fifty fifth time.

Repentance gives us a mind set that is always looking at God and depending on Him.It reassures that we are indeed hidden in Christ.Repentance needs to be a lifestyle for every Christian.

Instead, we try doing different things like, getting on a meaningless 'deliverance' prayer spree, talking with lots of people about our problems, trying to serve God for a few days, attending expensive spiritual confrences and seminars. We try all this in vain to connect to God's heart. Nothing moves His heart as much as the silent sighs of a repentant heart.

-And Dependance on Him

So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God [unbelief had shut them out] Hebrews 3:19[Amplified Bible]

Many of us claim to depend on God, but deny that in our thoughts and actions. The result is evident in our lives, our heart gets distracted and our faith gets fractured.

To be able to depend on God to meet our needs, dreams and aspirations is our greatest strength. But the evil one, makes us believe that it is a sign of our weakness. And he offers a lesser and destructive source of strength called 'stubborn will'.

We can still have conversations with God, serve God, be loved and appreciated, but if we are going to depend on our stubborn will to complete things. We'll be nothing but pathetic, weak and unsatisfied wanderers.You'll see a temporary high, when things happen as you think and say, but your stubborn will promises much and performs nothing.

Only God knows your potential, because He designed it, and only He can show you how and where to use it.

We were created for His intentions. So when we begin to live for His intentions, He will provide us with the Faith and the Focus that we need to be able to enter His rest.

Get your heart connected again.

From Danger to Refuge

From Danger to Refuge

Every period of transition makes you a little uncomfortable.And it is common to think that what you're going through is the most difficult phase of your life. But the truth is, that in every step up ; your journey has its own share of trouble and pain.

In the previous stage of transition in my life, I spent the entire time, in denial. Unable to accept the things that were happening.Until then, I was in control, I chose what I wanted and did. The very thought of stepping into a life, that was way different from my aspirations put me in tremendous anxiety.

Yet another transition now, this time; its not denial but reflection.

And I just made a very frightening observation...

I have been living a very dangerous life.


DANGER #1 Instead of drawing a sense of fulfillment and joy out of my relationship with God, I have been using broken and cracked pits, even some 'spiritual' ones that I've made for myself.

My longings are the most powerful part of my personality. It drives me forward, shapes my thinking and fuels my enthusiasm to stay alive.

The things that I long for, do 2 things to me ; they give me a great deal of personal satisfaction and challenge the growth and maturity of my spiritual life.

One of the things that I long for, is to communicate God's heart through the written word.Though, I am nothing but a terrible amateur; each time I finish a writing piece, I feel so elated and blessed. But recently, I was wondering, what if I can't write ? what if someone stops me from writing ? what if a career comes in between ? what if I stop receiving that divine spark..???

Will I still be happy and satisfied..?

Was I wrong in enjoying the fact that I can write ? Ofcourse not. What was wrong was depending on that for fulfillment.

We all have foolish strategies disguised as noble motives, that we depend on, to fulfill God's plan for our life. Instead of finding our security and significance in God, we try to find them in our own efforts.

Jeremiah 2:13 (CEV)

You, my people, have sinned in two ways-- you have rejected me, the source of life-giving water, and you've tried to collect water in cracked and leaking pits dug in the ground.

Are you depending on anything else like a good career,a bright academic record, a fruitful ministry or a happy relationship for fulfilment ? Then you are living a dangerous life.


DANGER #2 I sometimes get caught up pursuing lesser goals than God and His Glory. Many legitimate objectives of my life (like education, excellence ,missions or even service) sometimes override the priority that I give for God and His honor.

Charles Colson, the one time assistant of President Richard Nixon, went to prison due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Later he surrendered his life to Christ Jesus. He is famous for his unique ways of presenting his clear grasps on God. In his book Loving God, he writes, "There seems to be a desire in many of today's Christians, to be more interested in finding themselves than in finding God."

Eccl 3:11(NIV)

...He has also set eternity in the hearts of men...

I think that the thing which brings more pain to God is the fact that His children settle for superficiality.I have God in my intelligence but the world is in my heart. This is evident when I sometimes compromise on my eternal goals.When I think that I am the centre of God's plan, instead of giving His will priority over mine.

It took me some time to understand that God's will and plan is not just the 'best'thing out there, but it is the only thing that will establish my identity. If I end up doing anything else, my life would rot away and I'd just be an unsatisfied, unhappy wanderer.




What if God were to say to you today, that the goals that you have for your life, are not in His mind ? Will you be able to take that ?





DANGER #3 I don't find worth in who I am but in what I do.

While I was evaluating my Christian life, I realized that my condition is not bad enough that I need counseling, but also not good enough that I can call it an abundant life. "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). I react with anger or guilt or spend my days in fear and anxiety. I am not the kind who can say with Ezra: "The joy of the Lord is my strength".

Thus came the painful realization, that I was really paying lip service to God but depending more on my ego strength than spiritual power to progress ahead in my journey.I never experience satisfaction or devastation either. I am just holding myself together. How different is my life from the rest of the world?
God bases your worth not on your performance, but in who you are in Christ.When we assimilate this , we'll have the joy that was meant only for His children. A joy that will never decrease.

Colossians 2:10(NKJV)
...and you are complete in Him...

.

Do emotions of worthlessness take over you often because you don't perform very well? Instead of learning from your mistakes, do you think that your life has no value at all?

Such a thought pattern, will allow a huge range of negative emotions to take over . Remember your worth is in, who you are in Christ.






DANGER #4 Not knowing God enough that we can understand His magnificent love.

Recently in a communion service, God confronted me about my nature of grumbling. The words that brought me to my knees was this, "Grumbling and Complaining is a symptom of ungratefulness."

I asked God for forgiveness and told Him that I'd rather not have anything at all than to be called an ungrateful daughter. I said, "God, teach me to love you enough".

But recently, the Master taught me that I cannot manufacture love towards Him. My love towards Him is a consequence of His love towards me, "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19). Selwyn Hughes says, "Our problem is not that we don't love God enough, the problem is that we don't realize How much God loves us".

In the fiction, The Shack, William P Young writes; "So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing".

We don't usually doubt God's power or His authority. We all know that He is Almighty God capable of doing mighty things in our life. But during periods of exhaustion, we don't doubt his power but His love. If the devil can succeed to make us believe that God does not love us enough, then you're already in his track, with time he'll be directing your life and influencing your decisions.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

..pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Do you spend enough time getting to know God ?





Maybe you too are in a transition like me, with a head full of dreams and a heart full of God. I encourage you to wait, for a moment and receive some inner strength from the Source. My dad often says, "If you have one full day to cut a tree, spend half a day sharpening the axe".

The greatest privilege in my life, is to be able to be picked up by God and given the grace to receive Him into my life. When I received Christ Jesus as my personal saviour, He did not just give me something to make my life better, but I received Christ Himself to think, feel and choose in my life.

But most of the time, I fail to experience the life that He wants me to have and depend

on my foolish strategies for fulfilment ,
on my lesser goals for honour ,
on my performance to evaluate my worth and
on my own capacity to love my Creator God.

This kind of living is dangerous, because it makes me a candidate to a whole range of negative emotions that could take over any time.

So I've decided to

depend on my relationship with God for fulfillment ,
to never override my goals for God's glory and honor,
to evaluate my worth based on who I am in Christ,

and to enjoy every moment of life feeling cherished that God loves me with a love that I can never imagine.

Enjoying my lessons!
Callie

A Happy God for a Happy New Year

(This entry is completely inspired by the New Year 2009 message given by the Senior Pastor of Philadelphia Church Villivakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India)

The Background

Because the people of Israel continued in sin, God sent them out in 2 exiles from the Promised Land ; Israel and Judah. The former conquered by and deported to Assyria around 721 BC and the latter by Babylon around 586 BC. Babylon was much gentler, in a way that they deported the people in 3 groups at three different times, approximately about 606 BC, 597 BC and 587 BC. By this time Judah was virtually empty and temple totally destroyed.

But the exile ended and there were 3 returns to match with the 3 deportations during 537 BC (50,000 people under the leadership of Zerubbabel), 458 BC (1800 people under the leadership of Ezra a priest). Around 444 BC Nehemiah returned with a few craftsmen.His chief concern was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which had been destroyed, without which the city was vulnerable to attack.

Under the leadership of dynamic Nehemiah, the construction of the entire city wall was completed within 52 days in spite of severe opposition and interferences. Since the people were gripped with the fear of attack they preferred to live outside the cities, so the next task for Nehemiah was to gather the children of Israel to live in the now fortified cities.

"When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities. - Nehemiah 8:1"

At the Feast of the Tabernacle Ezra reads the law publicly from his wooden pulpit from the daybreak till noon.

With this much of background information we can now proceed further to understand the specific counsel God wants to give His children for the new year.

"Then [Ezra] told them,...And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold." -Nehemiah 8:10

When God is happy we are Happy

We want 2009 to be easy, comfortable and packed with pleasant surprises. We want it to be happy and successful. Since our God does not raise spoilt children, he gives us victory only if we labor and work.To work through hardships, exhaustion, hard taskmasters and high levels of perfection; and for this we need strength; tremendous strength and energy.

And from where are we going to get this energy??

A joyful heart can produce a lot of strength to enable us to finish the tasks set before us,but ordinary joy is short lived and based on circumstances.That is why God gives us a share of His own joy. For that to occur, He expects us to satisfy the yearning of His heart so that He could channel His joy in our life,and let loose the fountain of everlasting energy to empower and enable us throughout the year.

• 1) We have to participate in His holiness.

"The governor ruled that they could not eat from the holy food until a priest could determine their status" - Nehemiah 7:65(The Message Bible)

We cannot partake in a communion with God, in a thriving fellowship with the Most Holy God without holiness. We need to constantly evaluate ourselves with Jesus Christ as our High Priest to check if we fulfill the standards of God.

God longs for the holiness gene to be seen in His children. It is my personal conviction that Christians are devoid of power and success today because we fail to meet the standards of Holiness that God wants us to keep.

• 2) We need to be eager to seek His will in all our decisions.

"And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the Urim and Thummim."-Nehemiah 7:65(NKJV)

The breastplate of the garment of the priesthood held the mysterious stones called the Urim and the Thummim.These transliterated Hebrew words mean "Lights" and "Perfection". Together their names mean "perfect knowledge". These stones were meant to assure the priest that God would reveal His true judgment to him. Hence the Urim and Thumim is a sign that the priest can confidently expect the Lord to resolve the issue.

We all need to make important decisions this year in our different ventures. God is happy when we wait in His presence to receive His counsel. When we completely depend on God's strategy to bring us success; God is glorified.He is happy and rewards us more than our efforts in all our endeavors.

• 3) We should worship Him in spirit and truth.(John 4:24)
  

"And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground."- Nehemiah 8:6(NKJV)

How many times have we 'brushed' our way through worship? Do we consciously enjoy and surrender yourself every moment that we spend in worship? Does our worship depend on the style of music and the worship leader or does it depend on a heart overflowing with gratitude? How many times have we just carelessly used the profound "Hallelujah"? True worship is not dependent on any person or the musical arrangements, it is birthed out of a continuous connection to the heart of God.

Worship is not an act that lasts for 45 minutes every Sunday morning rather it is a lifestyle. A lifestyle that honors God and brings pleasure to His heart.

• 4) We must be attentive to His voice that can be heard in His Word.

"Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law." - Nehemiah 8:3

We all have mental blocks in our life. These things stop us from achieving our true potential. God's Word teaches us more than just the obvious. He who has ears let Him hear. It is not just a Book of Law but a manual that can be used to maneuver our life. However few of us have learnt how to use this Book for more than just a 15 minutes skimming in the morning. Not just reading the Word, but understanding and consuming the Word helps us break our mental blocks and pushes us forward.

(I don't know the source of this)

God's word

1. Determines our thinking.
2. Thinking determines our emotion.
3. Emotions determine our decisions.
4. Decisions defines our action.
5. Action determines our habit.
6. Habits determine our character.
7. Character determines our success.

The question is, how many of us pay close attention to the Word that it can help us think??

• 5) We must take steps to protect ourselves

"And I said to them, “Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors; and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station and another in front of his own house.” -Nehemiah 7:3

Gates were critical to the defense of an ancient city. The gates of a city normally opened at sunrise, but Nehemiah ordered Jerusalem's gates to be closed until the sun was high.This extra precaution would have discouraged the enemies from mounting a surprise attack at sunrise.

Nehemiah also ordered the citizens of Jerusalem to organize a civil defense, with people taking turns standing guard at night outside their own homes. This was a clever strategy indeed as people would have been more alert to guard their own homes instead of guarding a general part of the city.

Though God watches over us, He expects us to be responsible children so that we can protect ourselves. People would complain less about fractured families and dysfunctional homes if only the family as a whole would participate in protecting themselves.Family prayer, Family devotions, accepting each others' mistakes; all go a long way in helping achieve this. If a consistent family prayer operative is powerful in a house, no deception, no evil scheme can prevail over them.

A family that stays together and prays together delights God greatly and His rewards to every member of such a family is overwhelming.

• 6) We need to realize every moment that our life on earth is transitory in nature.
  

"Also day by day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast for seven days; the eighth day was a [closing] solemn assembly, according to the ordinance." - Nehemiah 8:18(Amplified Bible)

The feast of the tabernacle is a representation of the believer's tabernacle state in the world. True Christianity will render us strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

It is important to be successful so that we can be contagious Christians. Happiness and success helps us to reach out to others effectively. If a successful entrepreneur speaks about the Jesus, people will listen. If a successful student calls Jesus his best friend, many will want to know more. If a successful manager speaks out his faith, then a great harvest can be reaped in the workplace. If an effective teacher manifests Jesus in his counseling, many troubled young people would be on the right track.

When we seek success not just to make our life more comfortable instead we passionately labor for success so that we can transform our environment into mission fields; God's heart overflows with joy and rewards us hundred times more than what we can ever imagine.

To make our Master happy we need to live a life that considers all the wealth and fame earned on earth trivial compared to the enormous glory kept in store for eternity.

Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous 2009!!

References:

Nelson's Study Bible
Unlocking Bible Omnibus - David Pawson
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary of the Bible
Ilumina Bible study tools.
The Amplified Bible
New King James Bible
The Message Bible