Author: GL Woods

What’s Your Response?

/ GL Woods / Leave a comment

There’s a lot said when you give a gift to someone.  I personally want the gift to be meaningful to the receiver or something that’s of use to them.  I know that hasn’t always been the case when I’ve received gifts.  Sometimes I’ve thought aloud in my head while raising my eye brow in complete stupefied-ness… “not that I’m expecting something from you, but if this is it, not receiving a gift would have been better.!”  A gift can say a lot of how the giver actually values that person.  Of course some may have the lack of money as a reason, but we will get to that point soon.

While reading through Genesis tonight… and I’ve read it plenty of times before, but tonight I got stuck on a certain part.  Chapter 4 talks about the harvest when Cain and Abel offered gifts to God, Cain cultivated the ground and Abel became a Shepard.

3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

I can already visualize Cain’s response to this whole scenario.  I remember through life when someone, let’s say a student for example, was asked to do something.  So they do it with enough effort to get them by, just doing it to do it, because they were asked.   It says Cain presented SOME of his crops as a gift to the Lord.  In other words he didn’t really put much thought into the quality of his gift or making it an abundance.  It wasn’t much of a sacrifice from his own stash.  In his mind he was probably thinking… well it’s God… He doesn’t need much.  While Abel, thoroughly thought about the gift he was giving, he found appreciation in his own gift to God.  He found value in his relationship with God and wanted to show it by giving his best portions.  Some people may think, what a waste.. think about the woman who poured perfume on Jesus feet.  She also gave her best.  She didn’t go find the cheapest, she wanted to show Jesus value by giving a sacrifice of what she had.  How we respond and think of others really does matter, especially when it comes to exalting the most high.

I enjoy cooking food, especially when I’m feeding others.  It also gives me gratitude when I’m able to give them the first helping or the best portion of the meal.  I have no problem taking the less desirable.  May not have been that way when I was younger… but through life’s lessons, I can relate when other’s have given me the least likely portion of the meal, while they were in a rush to get the best portion, and they were the ones who invited me over in the first place….”Ouch”.  I can tell you from that experience I never did care if I ever went back.

But it doesn’t end there.  Due to Cain’s response to God, destruction awaited him.  Keep this verse in mind for instance found in James 4:17 “17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (NIV).  James, the brother of Jesus even knew that if our heart isn’t in the right place, it’s going to show.  It’s going to show in how we respond to people, behave in secret and the things we partake in.  Who are you really?  Ask yourself that question.  Do you find value in giving the best to God?  Or do you find it to be a waste?  After all God did create the universe.  Meditate on this: Matthew 6:26-27 “26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? (NKJV).”   I’ve come across a lot of people who believe the resources of the earth are easily wasted…but God created the earth.  So many have limited God to the likeness of man kind.  God loves us enough to provide.  Yes we are also stewards of God, but we are His creation.  We personally take special value and care of our own creations do we not?  Continuing on….

6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

Right off the bat God warns Cain about what is about to come due to the result of his action towards Him.  I never want to pretend to be God, but I do understand if I felt rejected by something I created… things aren’t going to look so promising for that creation anymore… can you relate?

There have been times, even recently, where I have not responded the best to God in my circumstances.  There’s times where we may be angry at God, but then there’s times where that anger because corrupted with selfishness, bitterness, resentment, doubt, lack of hope and you can keep going.  I’ve been in positions where I made God in my own mind out to be Cain himself.  Someone who does just enough but doesn’t really care or hear us.  That can open the doors to many other sins.  But God’s not limited to human boundaries.  No He is indeed the great I AM!  But again, God tried to warn Cain.  Be careful, what you have done has now opened a gateway that can ultimately lead you to destruction.

8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[c] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.  9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?  “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

Not only did Cain’s response open the doors of other sins to consume his mind, but it affected his own family.  He ignored God’s warning and murdered his own brother.  Devastation can play out in so many ways when we don’t take our relationship with God seriously.   Have you ever taken into consideration how much your sin affects, not just your life but those around you?  It really does make a whole world of difference.  Adam, Eve and their son Cain, the World’s First Sinners!  The first dysfunctional family.  I hope this puts your response to God and sin in your own life into perspective.

I always wondered, did Cain think that God wouldn’t find out about his brother being killed?  Or was he just playing stupid like some students do when they don’t want to confess to their teachers or parents?  He knew if God found out, punishment was well on it’s way.

13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[d] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[e] east of Eden.

I’m thinking Cain learned his lesson well after being kicked out, having a mark on his body in fear of others wanting to kill him and having the thought play out in his mind for the rest of his life of the last time he saw his brother, killed by his own hands.

All this, because Cain’s response to God, his love for God and his value of God, wasn’t where it should have been.  I personally see we are often run dry because we don’t give God enough time of day to show our sincere value and appreciation of His love.  We have so much to be thankful for.  I’m happy I don’t have to live a life of guilt and shame.  I’m thankful Jesus shed His blood for my own soul.  And because of the importance of who God is, is the reason why we need to respond to others with love.  The same love and gratitude God gave us.  You know sin has it’s devastation… but Love is?????? Greater than anything.  It’s even greater than fear.

What is your response?

Rev G

Whirlwind

/ GL Woods / 1 Comment

No I’m talking about the weather, life can be just the same.  Looking back on the previous blog I can only shake my head and grin with a light ha….and a low….wow…look how the tables have changed.  I’m no longer in Nebraska.  I’m in a one bedroom apartment in Cincinnati.  I have different jobs, churches I’m attending and other new opportunity & experiences coming about.  My life I can say… has been… 100% adventure.  There has been many instances where I stop and ask God… so what now?  It’s been taking sometime to understand exactly what I’m doing here… but when you allow God to direct your path as He should be “the light unto my path,” you can guarantee life is going to come at you with many unknowns & uncertainties.  I will admit it’s been rough, uneasy, extremely uncomfortable, I’ve had my ups and downs… Do I know exactly what will happen next.. of course not, neither do you.  Most of the time we can predict our day to day activities… when we’re settled in, but even then life may throw a curveball at you…this one seemed to have had a direct hit to my face.  I cannot predict what will happen 5-10 years down the road.  I can pursue and ready myself for such things that I believe will happen, but it seems my plans have always been shifted by God’s unique design… “His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.”  The reason for this blog was simply because of a verse that I just read about Peter telling Jesus that he shouldn’t talk a certain way.

Mark 8:31-33 (NLT)

31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man[a] must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.[b]

33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Isn’t that how we often treat life most times?  With the understanding of our human brains.  It’s okay not to understand what God is doing.  Walking by Faith and not by Sight doesn’t come easy.  Like Peter I need to take time out and carefully discern my thoughts.  Our enemy Satan wants us to limit our thoughts on God’s ability to work in our lives, to believe that not all things are possible with God, or in Peter’s case telling Jesus that He shouldn’t be doing certain things like predicting His death.

I’ve let to many things & people who lacked that trust in Christ influence my own thoughts.  I refuse to let my thoughts be isolated in the walls of a church building.  As God’s ambassadors and disciples, we’re suppose to let Him lead us… where He wants us, to reach whoever He wants us to reach, to serve where ever He wants us to serve.

This post to me feels like whirlwind, I’m not sure I can express all the things I want to say or feel.  It’s been a long hard road, but with obedience to following the Holy Spirit out of faith and not by my own understanding, there is a time, like all the other times, where I’ll be able to look back and say… ahhhhh…. so that’s what He was doing and why!.

Life is to short to be afraid and live in fear, God is in Control, always has been and always will be!  It’s hard to see it in times like this one that I’m in, so many mixed emotions and confusions and the whole waiting part…. times I feel like it’s unfair… But I cannot deny I’ve got where I am today with the Lord’s help….

(The Lord works in mysterious ways…. yep! – Blues Brothers)

 

Tea, BBQ & Jazz

/ GL Woods / Leave a comment

image1 (2)      That’s the theme on my porch this Sunny Sunday afternoon while listening to Nebraska’s NPR’s classical, jazz and talk radio station.  It’s the simple things in life I enjoy.  Sunny patched cloud sky, chirping birds, watching people as they ride their bikes & those driving on by slowly with a friendly wave.  That is until the rain, hail, lightning & thunder storm hit about quarter to two…bout time my pickup got a wash, guess my chances of mowing the lawn will have to wait.

After a long week of fasting, I simply get to watch God’s demonstration of beauty & power as the dark clouds, flashing lightning and crackling thunder stroll in.  You don’t have to go far to find evidence of God’s existence… who else can control what happens in the sky, make the trees, plants & green grass grow?  God alone.   Reminds me of the seeds I enjoy growing… let me retract that…seeds I enjoy planting, again only God can make it grow.  Huge pumpkins and mammoth sunflowers have always been my favorite seeds to scattered along the ground.   I appreciate watching a simple grow into something beautiful, enormous and produce a bountiful harvest in such a short time.  

         Reminds me of Adam “15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” Genesis 2:15  (NLT).  I get to plant it, water it, fertilize it, prune it & harvest it… but I cannot give it light or give it warmth, only God can.  Our lives are so similar to those tiny seeds.  Whether being a baby and growing into an adult, or spiritual speaking, when we first accept Jesus, which God makes possible through others “tending the garden” on this world, only then is it possible for the seed of faith to be planted in our hearts.

This brings me to the scripture in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9.   “6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building” (NLT).

Planting a seed in the ground, and a seed planted in someone’s soul have much in common. Both seeds are planted into darkness.  When this darkness is exposed to the seed and water, a new life begins to take place.  When tended by watering, fertilizing & pruning results in unimaginable growth.  Our exposure to God’s Word and allowing time to be saturated in His presence is important for growth, this is our watering, fertilization and where things in life that need to be confronted, exposed and pruned.  Though there are many things & people “weeds” in life that try to influence and choke out our growth as mentioned in Matthew 13:24-29.  We can rest assure that our obedience to build our relationship with Christ and our actions to speak with love will result in spiritual fruit being evident in our selves and to our neighbors.  I remember the earlier stages of my faith when I experienced what Paul called the “transforming of our minds.”  The problems of the world became smaller, my purpose and love for others became bigger.  The troubles of this world began to no longer surprise me as Jesus already said “In this world we will have trouble.”  Over the years this realization has calmed my soul, I no longer get upset or overly worried as I used to.  Began to see things in a different light, others began to see it to.

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT).  

I wish I could have seen a redwood tree grow… I still yet have to see one in person, but to imagine that it also started off as a small seed.  How much more important are our  ives to God than the redwood tree?….Truth!