I’ve been on this post for one in a half months now… the weather has since then had a dramatic change and can no longer lay out in the park to ponder.. so this Christmas Eve 2017, this is my gift to you! 

Life can be easily entangled by all the media, gadgets and gizmos that it can literally consume our soul hindering our Spiritual connection with God.  Our abundance of channels, whether by technology or physical presence, gives us access to shows, social media, sports and merchandise that the one most crucial channel, our spiritual channel, becomes static or turned off.  I have come to the point in my life that my spirit can get so overwhelmed with such things that I have to establish hiatus in order to focus on my spiritual hiatus.

Hiatus – meaning to break a continued cycle, a gap, opening or slight pause. 

My first thoughts when I realize I’ve reached this point of spiritual exhaustion are this… “How can I even start or continue to hear your voice Jesus when I allow all these distractions in between us?  I want to see my prayers to not only be answered, but to be powerful.  But how can that even happen unless I’m properly responding to you?  Why is it at times in my life I allow a hiatus into our relationship?  Obviously I’m spiritually drained because I allowed everything else have first dibs on my energy, knowing if my spirit is renewed and refreshed by you on a daily basis, the more energy and hope I have to keep going.”  Can you relate?

I’ve seen it way too many times, people asking for prayer but not willing to make changes in their own life, not willing to take time to connect and identify what the root cause really is.  The same problem occurs with most Christians; they don’t tap into their spiritual connection with God like they should.  They do it enough just to get a ‘buzz’ to feel good about initiating a connection… but that’s where most usually stop… they initiate but don’t actually connect.  It’s almost like knowing someone who you see and walk by every day, you come into contact with them for just enough time to say hi, how are you doing and bye, all in the course of six seconds.  I have often stopped and prayed, “God, I’m sorry for treating you like another passing hi & bye.  You are much more, you are the only true Mighty God! Please forgive me of my negligence.”

We really need to put aside all of our daily distractions and focus on Christ in our life instead of going to Him when things get rough.  Jesus loves and truly does want a relationship with us.   He doesn’t just want to be someone we quickly say hi to … He wants to be walking with us and sharing His love.

The famous distraction we allow to interrupt is our excuses.  I get it! I get it!  We all have things to do, school, work to put food on the table, children to look after, and apparently there just isn’t’ enough time?!   This is where I respond with…”WAIT! WHAT? Your making an excuse of why you can’t “fit” God into your schedule?  The Creator of the universe? Jesus, who died for your sins so you can live free from the bondage of shame and guilt?  You can’t or you won’t?  That’s the real question… This is the same God who gave us the moon and the stars to govern the day and night… that made time possible.

I call these excuses the Hazy Cloud.  It’s like the American way of connecting with God… and I must say, it’s not only lazy but a very dangerous position to be in.  You may have heard of the lukewarm Christian.  How many of us are willing to reflect on our own lives and actually admit that we have been or are a lukewarm?  From personal experience I compared myself to other Christians and considered myself good, because there’s certainly a lot of other people out there that live terrible lives, but then there’s also a lot of people that have the same mindset but by the standards and comparisons they live by, they are no better off than the other person.  It seems like there’s always this outwardness that we are most concerned about that we never stop to check into our souls to see if any maintenance needs to be done.  I know my problem has been the worry of being viewed as “to spiritual.”  If we focus on our spiritual awareness,  new focus and relationship with God, the likeness of Christ will begin/continue to be manifested on who we really are inwardly giving us the freedom to express our true self in Christ outwardly.

The reason for my hiatus is to avoid being in danger!  We enjoy fruit.  There’s also the fruits of our labor.  But the most important fruit, is what we produce as a believer in Christ.

John 15:1-8 (NKJV)

The True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will^[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Yikes!  Okay… if you are in Christ and do not bear fruit… you are taken away.  Go ahead, take that in… just pause and chew on this truth… It’s not my opinion but the very Word of God… go ahead and open your Bible… it’s in your copy to… hopefully it doesn’t have a lot of dust on it, if it does then you’ll always continue to ponder when your in situation and God seems far away.  In the Christmas Eve service this morning, Pastor Marcus Mecum put it this way, there are times in our lives where situation after situation we feel that God isn’t there to turn to, fight after fight we ask where is God?!  That’s why He gave us His Word.  It’s God breathed scriptures, we can find out what God is up to if we are to abide in Him… in doing so He will abide in us.

Abide – obey, observe and follow

I desire to be the fruitful bearing branch.  I desire to be God’s best.  That involves daily meditation.

Psalm 1:1-3  (NKJV)

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

 

Take a time out and ask yourself these few questions just to get your mind reflecting.

1. What is meditation
2. Should I meditate
3. What things do I meditate on that I could give up to take that time to connect with God?

Tangent

Romans 12:2

² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I had the privileged of watching the Detroit Lions play against the Cincinnati Bengals today at Paul Brown Stadium, of course luck was on the Bengals side as Detroit continuously dropped the ball or were to busy being penalized.   I heard the words “do not conform to this world” spoken in my head over and over again as I watched the fans from both sides.  It’s not the fact that football is evil, it’s the fact that I watched how fanatic people can be.   I wondered how much time they spend ‘meditating’ on sports.  It’s the American sport where all the fans can be their own “expert” of the game.  I walked around hopping from one seat to another as it was only me.  One guy I stood next to repeatedly muttered in what sounded like a mix of southern and jersey accent the old phrase “ya gotta be kidding me,” as he went on to share his expertise with those in earshot.  Then my thoughts played out… what if more of us were more concerned about our meditation in God’s Word… God’s play book if you will.  I get it, people want to connect with others, football is one of the biggest ways to connect, but it come to my mind how many may treat their team as an idol, or whatever they put their mind and thoughts to the most.   God’s Word is our play book, or if your a big movie buff.. it’s our script.  Most importantly… It’s alive!  It’s real and it’s a life style.

How can I put more precedence in my life with God? Less sports?  Less Netflix? less excuses?…. what’s your niche that might need to be changed?

 

Matthew 7:13-29

The Narrow Way

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because^[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I Never Knew You

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Build on the Rock

²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

²⁸ And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, ²⁹ for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

This verse hits home, I sure hope it does to you.  What do you want to be remembered for?  I’d hope people would say I was one that enjoyed and loved helping others versus he was a great sports fan or movie goer.  My reflection of what God things is most important than what you or anyone else thinks is first most important.  Because if I worried about what you or anyone else thought of me first, I may never be satisfied with who I am in Christ.  I desire to have that rock foundation that I may never be withered or blown away.  I desire to know God, so that I may also be known by Him.  So many times I’ve had to stop and think, if you take away the Cross and what Jesus has done for us… what do I really have left… what do I have to live for?  Just to be on earth for a short while and thats it?  Not to exciting to me.  There’s more beyond than what our eyes see on this earth… and it’s revealed through the spirit.  We have the opportunity to tap into that channel through our response to God through His Word.

I need my mindset to be cleared.. I need anything that’s making my spiritual channel static to be removed so my reception from God comes in clear.  At times it may be blank… but daily we have access to our script, our play book…. His Living Word.

Philippians 4:8

Meditate on These Things

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

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