Don't Flap - Soar

"He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall.
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and and not faint."  Isaiah 40: 29 - 31 NKJV

Things may have been difficult lately. You may have had no energy to cope with the endless pressures  around you. You may have even felt like shouting the: 'Where are You lord?' syndrome. But tough times don't last - tough people do! You need to stand on your foundation which is, 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' Jesus lives in you (if you've asked Him too.) He is in your heart, your life, your hands, your fingers, your feet etc etc.

But at times of tiredness and being battered by life's storms, it's hard to realise this. But don't confess that you're at your wits end or you'll receive that. Instead confess, 'I am receiving power to overcome; the Lord is increasing my strength.' But how? Well, firstly, we need to rise above the worry and anxiety by taking action and we can do that by waiting on God. Let's look at our text today:

Verse 31 tells us, 'Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.' You need to be one of 'Those', as you do this, just focusing on Jesus and pouring your heart out to Him, He will give you the necessary strength to cope with things. But waiting is difficult. We usually want things, NOW! However, life with Jesus is not always like this. He wants to give you rest. He wants to comfort and build you back up again. He wants to bathe the wounds that life has passed your way. Let Him and then: 'They shall mount up with wings like eagles.' Have you ever seen an eagle in flight? it soars and hardly ever flaps. It mounts itself off and soars above all predators and birds that try to hassle it. We can learn a lot by studying this. God wants to have you mount up on eagle's wings and soar above every problem that has come or will come your way. Remember, don't flap - soar.

Then we read, 'They will run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.' Have you ever done any running. It can hurt until you're at your peak fitness and when you are, it can still hurt some more. However, God is saying that as we wait on Him, we will run and not become weary. In other words, waiting on Him can take you to new heights, giving you the strength to tackle whatever comes your way, because waiting on Him, spending time with Him and resting in Him will bring you to peak, spiritual fitness.
Give it a try, today! Don't flap - soar!

Get Rid of the Baggage

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us; looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame  and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
                                                                                                                Hebrews 12:1 - 2 NKJV

I remember my army days where we had to do 10 - 15 mile bashes. That's what we used to call route marches. We would be dressed in full kit, with a weighted pack on our backs, plus a heavy weapon and we had to march, on our own, from A to B. It was sheer pain, especially at first and the thought to throw off a piece of the heavy kit, was so tempting. Anything to relieve the constant struggle.

The Christian life is often described as a race. Check out 2 Timothy 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 9:24. It can seem so competitive at times but that's only because we make it seem that way. To be a Christian is not easy. As soon as we start, we are faced with our enemy, the devil, who will do anything to prevent us carrying on with this life and will put every type of temptation in our way in order to bring shame upon us.

If the Christian life isn't hard, why then do we have to run with endurance, the race set before us? Of course the Christian life is hard but that's where our endurance needs to kick in. The devil doesn't want us to succeed. He can't have this type of life and the blessings that come with it, so he'll try all he can to prevent us from enjoying it too by putting temptation in our way. Think of Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), the serpent tricked her into staring, longingly at the fruit on the tree, until she couldn't stand it any longer and ate it. That was when sin was introduced into the world. It's no different today. There are temptations all around us and we need to deal with them as they crop up, or enter our minds.

The one sin that repeatedly defeats us is the one that the enemy will tempt us with. It can be alcohol abuse, adultery, homosexuality, pornography or a host of other things. This may be the one that we struggle with and the one that we need to address by getting rid of this baggage. It's a weight that is holding us back. It ensnares us, prevents us from reaching our goal. We need to lay it aside. How? By looking and focusing on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (V2). Easy, no it is not but is is achievable as we admit we need help and we throw ourselves on His mercy. You see, He is dedicated to taking this burden from us (Psalm 55:22 and 1 Peter 5:7) because He cares.

Today, let Him set you free from the weight that ensures you so that you can run with endurance:

Lord Jesus
I need Your help. As I come to You now, please set me free from the weight of.................. and help me to run with endurance, by keeping my eyes on You. I ask in Jesus' Name . Amen
And if you have never given your life to Jesus, why not do it now:

Lord Jesus
I ask You to come and live in my heart. Please forgive my sins and fill me with Your Spirit, and be my Lord and Saviour. Amen

Respect

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert; and came to Horeb - the Mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn'. So when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses.' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then, He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is Holy ground.' " Exodus 3:1 - 5 NKJV.

Horeb or Sinai as it can be called, was the Mountain of God. It was set in what is called, the back of the desert, because it is a wilderness, dry and dusty. It as no accident that Moses approached the Mountain of God. God had planned it that way. When we approach God, things begin to happen and change! And things were certainly going to change - big time, for Moses.
Moses saw a bush burning near to him. Now this was nothing unusual in such a hot and dry place. However, this was different because the bush was not burning up and it also began to talk. Moses realised that it must be God. Can you imagine such a thing happening to you? Wow, what would you have thought?

The Hebrew term for such a happening as this is called a Theophany - This is an appearance of God or god, to a human being. A divine manifestation. Theo indicates God. In this case it was the Angel of the Lord, possibly the preincarnate Christ The flame of fire was the Glory of God's presence - the Shekinah, which transformed everything and everyone it touched.

As Moses drew as near as he could, the Angel of the Lord told him to take his sandals off as he was standing on Holy Ground. In the East, removing one's shoes or sandals, is a form of respect.
We should always respect God in all we do and never take His name in vain. Moses here was only allowed to draw so close to God. But James tells us to, 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you' James 4:8. It would have been too consuming for Moses to get any closer.

As we draw near to God He will draw near to us, especially if we are in a dry state spiritually and feel like we're in the back of the desert. However, we need to submit to Him. Give Him our all. He will then guide us through whatever we are struggling with. He requires our love, our life, our all and total respect.This is not a game we're involved in. We are dealing with the Most High God. The Almighty God. He is on Holy Ground but through our friend, Jesus, we have permission to approach the Throne of Grace boldly. Hebrews 4:16.

Are you feeling dry and rejected, as if you've been left on one side. Take a look at our text in verse 4, it says 'So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called' In other words, when God knows He has your attention He will call to you.
Give Him your attention and see what happens!

Dead to Reaction

"Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts." 
                                                                                                                        Romans 6: 11 - 12 NKJV

As Christians we are to be Dead to Reaction. Dead men don't react and therefore, neither should we because we have died to sin and been made alive in Jesus. So when sin tries to get the better of us, we need to deny its existence. Die to it. Very difficult I know. But with practice, we can do it. When we are faced with something that may cause us to lose our peace, we need to remember that, Dead men don't react. We are dead to reaction.

James tells us: 'You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.'  James 1: 19 - 20. New Living Translation.

A complete overhaul is required to allow us to get into the place God would have us be. It takes training and self-discipline. It doesn't just happen overnight. We as Christians, are a work in progress. An athlete doesn't become a great sportsman and medal winner straightaway. He has to take charge of his body and pound it into shape until he is at his peak fitness. It's the same for us.

Paul says: 'I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.' 1 Corinthians 9:27. New Living Translation.
This takes self-discipline; self-denial and self-control and we'll fail miserably at times, even though we may have been Christians for many years. The thing is, we're not perfect yet. Perfection will come when we're standing face to face with Jesus on that wonderful day in Heaven. Until then, we need to get into practice. Learning to be dead to reaction causes the devil all kinds of problems. He schemes to get us into things we shouldn't be involved in and when we stand tall and are dead to the reaction he would expect, it completely throws him and he has to come up with something different. He'll never stop trying hassle us so we need to take action to combat the attacks. Being dead to reaction is a great way to start.

Be ready and Alert

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  1 Peter 5: 8 NKJV

I was watching our cat this morning as he sat on the window still. Even though he was looking rested and content, he was fully alert to what was happening in the garden. Birds were feeding on the lawn, gulls were flying over head and wood pigeons and other birds were perched in our tall Sycamore tree.
At any moment he would have been ready to pounce, if the window would have been open. You see, he's conditioned, a bird, mouse or a slow worm would stand very little chance if he was up close to them. He's doing what is natural to him.

When we go out, he has this built in clock which tells him when we will return home. He sits and waits for us at the gate. When it's meal times he knows. He doesn't wear a watch, his inner sense lets him know the time is right. He's conditioned and alert to what is going on around him.
We could learn a lot from a cat's behaviour. they know when it's time to rest and they'll take the time to do this. They are curious animals and walk around looking into whatever takes their fancy. However, they're careful how they go about it. Their conditioning is what we need to think about.
God has given us all we need to live in this world today. However, if we don't read the Word of God, we will suffer from lack of knowledge. Conditioning ourselves means, getting into the bible and feeding on the promises God gives us. That should be the natural thing we should do. Then when we meet up with a situation, we will know how to address it, with prayer, quoting the scriptures that we need, thus taking action against the devil's attacks.

Vigilance - being on total alert is how we should live 24/7. That as Christians, is the natural thing to do. But it's difficult to be fully alert if we're too tired because we haven't rested enough. This may be because we've taken too much on and are finding it difficult to work, run a home, go to church and try to be involved in as much as we're asked to do there. A cat is conditioned, it knows when to rest but it remains on full alert because it pays attention to its needs.
Are you doing too much, whether at work, in your leisure time or at church? Do you need to cut back a little? When we're tired, we leave ourselves open to attack and we can end up snapping at our loved ones and generally not flowing with God the way He wants us to.

Don't just re-charge your batteries so you can face another day. Analyse if changes can be made to the way you live and work. Your health needs it. Your spiritual health too. Do something about it so that you can be fully alert!

Distractions

"Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."  Ephesians 6: 16

Hazel Howard says,'The devil uses distractions to stop you from worshiping.'  And he will do, by firing his darts at us to try and get our minds off God and put our minds on worries and fears.
Kenneth Copeland says, 'He fires at us to get us to take our attention and focus off God, making us feel other things are more important and fearful.'

Many times we decide we're going to get close to God and have a quiet time with Him. No sooner have we started when the telephone will ring or someone will knock at the door. It's all sent to distract us from spending time with our Father.
I think it was Kenneth Copeland that said that the devil fires SCUD missiles at us. When you break the word SCUD down, it means, 'satan continually uses distractions.' This is very true, if he can cause a diversion between us and God, he will go for it, big time.

We have to take charge of our minds as we focus on God. many is the time when I've been at prayer when something has popped into my mind that is quite important. Except if there is a disaster happening in your home, nothing is more important than being in prayer' listening to what God has in store for us, or just taking the time to listen or worship Him. The devil knows that and like a snake, he'll crawl into your situation and try to disrupt and distraction you from doing what he knows you want to do.

Discipline is required to overcome times such as these. We have to take authority and kick the devil out of the situation before he takes over. We have the authority that Jesus gave us to do this. Stand on the Word and put the shield of faith to work.

Make sure that today, you read and put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6:13 -18. You need to be dressed in His armour. Let's face it you wouldn't go out to the supermarket naked, would you? Well, don't go through your day spiritually naked. Dress in the Armour of God.

Don't Grieve The Holy Spirit

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." 
                                                                                                          Ephesians 4: 30

How can we grieve the Holy Spirit. Well, anger to start with; the kind that makes us lose control and completely makes a mess of your testimony. Many unbelievers don't read the bible but they do look at Christians. What do they see in you?
Next comes gossip. We can gossip in a prayer meeting by bringing too much information about someone into the group. Praying for someone's problems, yes, but not giving out their life history because you feel concerned about them. Bob Gass says:

'The trouble with gossip is not so much that it is spoken as an intended lie, but that it is heard as if it were the absolute truth.' Therefore, watch what you say.

Ephesians4:31 -32 says:
"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice"

The Holy Spirit is very sensitive and He's easy to grieve. Anger, losing your temper, shouting out in frustration, being unkind, holding a grudge and pointing the finger at people are such things that grieve Him.
Do you keep a record of people's wrongs? What I mean is, think of those who have done wrong to you over the years. They may be family, friends, neighbours or even work colleagues. Have they offended you. If so, have you forgiven them? God expects us to:

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him (her), that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven, forgive your trespasses."  Mark 11:25 - 26

Strong words indeed but words that we need to take on board. We must forgive people who have done us wrong, even if it's difficult to. You may say,"I will never forgive him." The thing is, that is grieving the Holy Spirit and God will not forgive you your sin until you do. It is also a vow that needs to be broken. Forgiveness can do this. You will owe that person nothing when you do.

Who or what is on your record of wrongs today? God is highlighting what he wants you to do. He will help as well. Get on your knees and repent of your feelings. Give it to Him and feel the rush of the Holy Spirit come to excite and heal your feelings. Have a great day.