Salt of the earth

Establishments often serve pretzels or salty peanuts or some other kind of salty snack foods with drinks while customers wait for their main course to arrive. This generally has the effect of making the customer thirsty.

Salty snacks are often available in bowls on a table or at a bar. They are free, but they are given with the motive of getting the persons to drink faster and to spend more.

Jesus talked about how we are to be the salt of the earth.

“You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his flavor, with which shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”  Matthew 5:13

Living by God’s grace, we have faith to believe that Christ is our all-sufficiency. We receive acceptance from God and we actively love others because the Holy Spirit lives in us.

Being the salt of the earth will cause those we meet to become thirsty for the Water of Life; Jesus Christ.

God Bless!

Worrywart!

On average, a person living 80 years will spend 26 years sleeping. Men will spend 45 days getting ready. If you’re a woman, you’ll spend 136 days getting ready.  On average, a person will spend 115 days laughing (some people rarely laugh), 6 months waiting in line, 20 weeks being put on hold on the telephone and 38.003 hours eating.

Many things we do are necessary, but worrying all the time is not one of them. Worrying over things we cannot do anything about is a time-waster because it does not accomplish anything positive. Constant worrying damages our health, causes stress and disrupts our sleep. Lack of sleep causes weight gain and a weaker immune system. Worrying can cause hours of unhappiness and raise anxiety levels.  A person who worries about everything is less enjoyable to be around. Worrying can become a bad habit and can lead to anxiety and depression. We can literally become a worrywart or a misery addict. Are you worried yet? 🙂

I spent years worrying about all kinds of things.  I was probably one of the biggest worriers I know.  I wasn’t happy with this bad habit and I’m sure It didn’t make me a joy to live with under the same roof.  I can say ‘Thank you Lord” that I am not anything like I once was, (I still have my moments ) but it has meant going through this wilderness experience for those changes to take place deep in my heart. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there is a shortcut to break the habit of worrying.  It takes weighing and considering the information.  Taking your thoughts captive and determining to not go down the negative thinking path.

There is a difference between worrying and seeing the need to overcome a problem.  Having a need to overcome a problem isn’t the same as worrying about the problem.  Worrying is a state of anxiety.  It’s not an active state of mind.  It’s a passive state of mind.  Overcoming a problem is active and that’s normal and healthy.

Usually, worrying is about what ifs, worst case scenarios and pessimistic predictions. What ifs are not the same as what is. Imagined worst case scenarios and pessimistic predictions are usually far worse than the actual outcome.

Why do we imagine the most horrible things? If the worst did come, not only would we have to face it…but we would have tortured ourselves hours or days before the worst came! What if the worst didn’t happen at all? Well, then we spent a lot of time anxious and fearful for absolutely nothing.  Sometimes we have problems that we are unable to overcome by thinking it through.  There are difficulties in life where a solution isn’t readily available. Yet, we do not have to face the problem alone or make ourselves sick with anxiety.  The Lord offers a better way.

Let’s look at what Jesus commands us regarding worrying.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than clothes. Consider the ravens; they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:22-26)

We are told to cast all our anxiety on God because he cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7

We are warned that “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” Proverbs 12:25

God expects us to think through situations and to handle them responsibly.  God doesn’t want us to be miserable, anxious and stressed out over possibilities. He wants us to lean on Him. He wants us to live in the here and now and He wants us to be aware of His constant presence.  We are to cast our cares on our Father and ask Him to help us. He wants to help us. He loves us.

God Bless!

I Didn’t Sign Up For This!

     Have you ever wondered why things are not going great in your life? I must confess that although I had ‘heard’ that in this life it rains on the just and the unjust, in my heart I expected life to be easier being a child of God. When the promised trials and tribulations came, I felt deep down inside a real abandonment.

So many of us have picked up the idea somewhere along the way that once you become a Christian, everything in life will improve. Well, that’s true…but just not in the ways you may have expected!
My definition of an ‘improved life’ was a life free of stress, health problems, and financial strains and so on.

We hear so many teachings of health and prosperity awaiting believers. If people turn to God to get ‘things’ sorted in their life, they are just as likely to turn away from God when ‘things’ don’t go the way they wanted; when the promised trials and tribulations of life come along.

God certainly can bless His children with financial gain. He certainly can heal them completely. In the scriptures we see many examples of both; however, God also knows our heart and the number of hairs on our head. He knows what we can handle. He knows what will help us and what will cause us to move away from Him.

He is our Father and He wants what is best for us to grow up spiritually. What God wants to give us is a ‘relationship’ with Him. Not a religious lifestyle, but a real day-to-day relationship.

     In some ways, I had behaved like a child. I wanted life to be a certain way and when I didn’t get my way, I got upset. I can’t tell you how many times I literally griped at God! . I still marvel at his patience! He could have struck me down with a bolt of lightning! Sometimes I half expected him to!

There have also been times in my past when I have pulled away from God because I didn’t get my expected answer to prayer; I wrongly believed that He wasn’t there for me or didn’t care about my needs. So, I reasoned, if God didn’t want to help me, I’d do things my way. Some people pull away because they get angry at God.

There are instances in the Bible where the Jewish people wanted ‘results’ from their prayer and when God didn’t respond the way they wanted Him to, they resorted to idol worship instead. When they were unfaithful to God (playing the harlot with false gods), God removed His hand of protection from them. It wasn’t because He didn’t love them, but a Father who loves His children must also love them enough to discipline them when they go astray.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37)

Can you hear the sorrow in our Lord’s words? Can you imagine the heartache in His heart for His children? He knew that they would continue to suffer because they would not humble themselves and return to Him. They were hard-heads with hard hearts.

Children do not generally like or appreciate discipline. Who wants to stand in the corner when they could be playing instead? Who wants to clean their messy room when they could be out riding their bike? Who wants punishment? Discipline does not make a parent popular with a child! Yet, a good parent has to put their foot down for the sake of the child.

     When things went bad for the Jewish people and they were in trouble with their enemies, God told them to turn to their idols and pray to them for the protection they were seeking. He was showing them their folly. His sarcasm was an indication of the hurt He felt at their betrayal of Him. Yet all the time, He loved them and longed to receive them back.

He is still like that today! He is still the loving Father who is waiting for His Children to return home. He doesn’t want us to return home so He can punish us or lecture us, but so He can love and bless us.

The most precious blessings in life cannot be purchased. They aren’t available in a half-price sale. Joy in the things of this world cannot be retained, because it is human nature to want more; something new and improved.

Happiness does not come from the things here on earth because they are unstable. You can have a good job but be made redundant. You can have a new car or house, but they become an old car or an old house. You can have good looks, but you cannot stop aging. You can make sensible investments but still lose all in a bad market.

What about religion then? Self-sufficient righteousness is also in vain. You can do all the works to be religious, but even that will not satisfy. If you do not know the Lord, knowing about Him will not satisfy your heart. Rituals do not replace knowing Him.

Pleasures do not satisfy long-term either. Even sin is pleasurable for a time, but then comes the consequences of sin, the guilt and the regrets.

The most precious blessings come from a relationship with God. He is faithful and constant. His love for us isn’t dependent on the economy, a job, material wealth, or anything the world has to offer.

I once believed that the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” meant that if I was really good…that would please God and then He would give me the things I wanted or desired. What I am happy to discover is that the verse really means that the more a person knows God, the more they will love Him and the more He will change the desires in their heart to match the desires He has for them!

His desires for us are infinitely better than any desires we could want for ourselves.

God Bless!

It’s Okay to Ask!

 I woke up one morning this past October and while I was moving around, I heard the following in my head.

“You have not because you do not ask.”

“You do not ask because you’re afraid I will say no.”

“You’re afraid to want what you cannot have.”

“You’re afraid you will upset Me by wanting ‘things’.”

“So you discipline yourself not to ask.”

So, I wrote it down.  I told my husband.  I wasn’t sure if what I heard was just my mind or if this was from God.

We had been in the Wilderness without knowing what God was planning for our lives.  Our plans had been erased.  I had spent years imagining how things would be when my husband finished school.  When things didn’t happen the way I thought they would, first I became bitter, then I became afraid to ask.

I had always placed my security in money, jobs, assets, and so on.  I had to learn to have security in Him only.  Happiness does not come from the things below…they are unstable.  God is faithful.  He is always with Me and will never leave me or forsake me.  He cared for the children of Israel in the Wilderness.  All they had to do was love Him, enjoy His care, trust Him and obey Him.  So, while we (you and I) are in our Wilderness, that’s really all we have to do. 🙂

When I didn’t ask in faith that God would provide,  I was implying that my loving Father was really a hard, mean Master.  I now know that He has met every need we have had and He will continue to.

I also realize now that He is like a good Master who sends his servant to town with money to do His business.  He tells the servant, do this and that and here is a little extra for you.  Use this to get yourself something nice.  He loves me and He loves you!  He wants us to put Him first, but he also wants us to have some blessings.

I want to tell you about a time that the Lord blessed me.  Firstly, let me say that I didn’t get blessed because I’m a perfect person or because I deserved it.  Sometimes, the Lord just loves to bless His children…like we love to bless ours when we are able.

On this occasion  I was getting ready to go work to clean a lady’s house and I was just talking to Jesus as I was getting ready.  I said, “Lord, you know, I only have 2 pair of jeans now and they really aren’t very comfortable.  I’d rather wear dresses, but mine are dresses that a person would wear to the office and not to run around in or clean houses in.  So, if you want me to have a dress, you’ll have to provide it because you know that I really can’t afford to go out and buy one.”

When I got to work, I cleaned downstairs.  I then came upstairs to start painting their hallway.  The house owner came around the corner with this fuzzy/sweater dress of many colors.  She was holding it up.  She said to me, ” I can’t wear this and the colors aren’t right for me.”  I think they’ll work for you.  I said to her, “Are you giving it away”?  She said,” I am giving it to you if you want it.  Go over to the mirror and hold it up and see what you think.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather! Only hours ago, I had casually mentioned to the Lord that I could sure use a comfortable and casual dress to wear during the day.  The dress was pretty in my sight.  It was in really nice condition.   It was a dress that she had purchased in one of the nicest stores in the area.  It fit and I wore it to bible study that evening.  After the ladies in my bible study asked about the dress, I was able to share with them how the Lord had answered my prayer.

My prayer wasn’t a fancy prayer or a lot of meaningless words.  It was only in the form of a simple conversation you might have with a friend.    It isn’t about what He gave me or even that He always gives us everything we want.  It’s just about the fact that we sometimes forget that our Father loves us and that He loves to delight us.  Sometimes He sends us small reminders, but they have a way of bringing joy to the heart.

God Bless!

Me in my blessing dress!

If Only…

For so much of my life, I believed I could be happy, IF ONLY.
I’ll reach back and share a sampling of  my ‘IF Onlys’ over the years.

If only I could stay with Grandma all the time and not have to only see her at weekends, I would be happy.
If only Dad wanted me, I would be happy.
If only I wasn’t so skinny, I would be happy.
If only I had straight teeth, kids wouldn’t make fun of me and I’d be happy.
If only I had a straight nose, I’d be pretty and then I’d be happy.
If only I hadn’t been abused.
If only I had been raised in a normal home.
If only I had my own room.
If only I could keep taking ballet lessons.
If only I had security.
If only I hadn’t had to move so much, I would have made lifelong friends.
If only I had a good education (stable) then I could have become someone and made big money and lived how I wanted to live.
If only someone would love me.
If only I didn’t have to stress about money.
If only I had been stronger, maybe I could have coped.
If only I made more money then I could put my kids in a better school and neighborhood and they would be happier and I would be happier.
If only I can party, I won’t feel unhappy and I’ll forget my troubles.
If only I had a place to live.
If only I didn’t have to worry about money.
If only I manage to make ends meet, then my kids can stay in a good school.
If only I wasn’t lonely.
If only I had someone to love me and share my struggles.
If only I had been able not to worry about being alone and just been able to focus on the needs of my kids.
If only I had gone back to church.
If only my choices hadn’t hurt my kids.
If only, we didn’t have to worry about constantly paying taxes.
If only we didn’t have to refinance our home so that we could keep our employee working.
If only we can sell our house and move to the States, we will be happier.
If only we can see my kids and my granddaughter and my Aunt, I will be happier.
If only my husband could find work, we’d be okay.
If only my husband would get his PhD, he could find a good job teaching and we’d have a good income and that would make us happy because we would not have financial pressure.
If only I didn’t have to deal with the stress of selling everything and our house.
If only I wasn’t going to be so far away from my family.
If only we didn’t have our dogs, things would be easier.  It would be easier to find a rental in the UK.
If only I didn’t have to leave the UK because of immigration laws.
If only God would make everything work out easily.
If only my husband would find a good paying job.
If only I felt better and wasn’t sick so often.
If only I wasn’t getting old.
If only someone would hire me.
If only I knew what to pray for to make things right.
If only I knew what to pray when I don’t  have a clue what to pray anymore.
If only I knew what God’s plan was, then I could accept it and move in that direction.
If only I stopped searching for my happiness and contentment in circumstances, people, things, beauty, clothes.

Maybe you also have a list of ‘If Only’s?’

God chose my parents and my ‘lot’ in life., but I wasn’t finding it easy to be thankful for the good things along the way, because I was always focusing on the bad and wanting things that I thought would make life better.

One day, I heard a friend’s sermon and suddenly I understood that I had been unable to see the good or be happy because GOD had not given me the ability to be content in the things I was pursuing.

I was shocked when I read that it is GOD who makes us able to be content.  I thought contentment was something you found when everything worked out the way you wanted.

Ecclesiastes 6

6 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: ² God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

³ A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial (i.e. he has not lived his purpose and no one cares when he dies), I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴ It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. ⁵ Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— ⁶ even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

Then I began to put 2 + 2 together.  I started to see that the reason I wasn’t finding happiness in my efforts was because I couldn’t.  It wasn’t possible to find lasting happiness in those things.  Temporary enjoyment yes, but never lasting contentment and what really stunk was that the more I enjoyed a temporary happiness, the more painful it was when it didn’t last.  Kinda puts a damper on things.

Maybe that’s why some people give up trying?  Maybe that’s why some people run from love?  Maybe that’s why people become depressed?  Maybe that’s why some people drink? Maybe that’s why some old people are full of bitterness while others are sunny and sweet?

So, here’s where I discovered it wasn’t POSSIBLE to find lasting happiness in the things that everyone in the world chases after.
In Romans 8:20-21 Paul explained that creation (which includes you and me) was subjected to futility.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Futility: uselessness, pointlessness, ineffectiveness, senselessness

I’d say that all the things I chased after, each time, left me feeling that they were futile when they didn’t work out.  They didn’t give me lasting contentment and they always left me more unhappy and frustrated.

But now I understand that the things I chased after (things of this world) were deliberately made to make me dissatisfied so that I would seek God for my contentment!

If I could have contentment in the things I chased, why would I bother to seek God?  If I didn’t seek God, how would I come to accept the gift of my salvation?  So, it’s because He loves us that he made creation ‘futile’, so that we would be saved and we would still have free will in the matter.  Pretty wise really!

If God is the one who gives us the ability to know good in whatever our circumstances and He is the one who gives us the ability to be content, then why should he bless me with contentment when I seek contentment from the things rather than from Him?  Why should he bless me with contentment when I was pursuing idols?  The things we devote our attention to; the things we chase after with our heart, they are our idols and they do not have the ability to give us the gift of contentment.

It reminds me of a place in the Old Testament where the Jewish people were told to ask their idols to rescue them in their time of torment.  Actually, He is making fun of their idols and in a sense being sarcastic.  After all, they were unfaithful to Him after all He did for them, so He had every right to point out their folly.  Right?

So, when I step back and I look at what is most important to me, it is this:
To know God deeply; to live for Him so that when I meet Him, He’ll tell me “well done”.    I want to learn His wisdom for life and turn my attention away from mankind’s wisdom.  I want my children and granddaughter to know Him too.

I want you, the reader, to find contentment in Him, so that no matter what your situation is in life, you will be able to be content in it, and your contentment will not rest on pursuit of things the world chases after.  Things that leave you high and dry.

What He has been doing in my life and in my heart is hard to put down on paper.  It’s just so much to tell, but know this much…I have a sense of contentment now that I haven’t had and a deeper understanding than I ever had of why the world is going the way it is.  He is giving me contentment and understanding.  There is a real joy available to you for the asking. Just seek Him like you seek things and you’ll find Him.

God Bless!

Riches to Rags to Riches

The past few years have been stressful and I have longed for normalcy and routine. Just a boring, predictable life with enough income to pay the bills and maybe have a little fun…like in the good old days…before the economic downturn.

My family and many of my Christian brothers and sisters have felt the impact of higher prices, few jobs, and no rise in incomes.  “Tightening the belt” has been a hot topic of conversation.  Many times I have heard that people are ‘suffering’ and barely making it, living paycheck to paycheck.  None of us is getting any younger, we are watching the American dream dry up, wondering if we would live to see better times.  Most of us accept that these are the last days and things are going to go from bad to worse, yet armed with that knowledge, we still feel we are suffering, nonetheless.

I can’t count how many times I have cried over the past couple of years.  How long I have carried bitterness in my heart because my life was getting harder and nothing made sense anymore.  The way I felt cheated out of the promise that ‘someday’ things will be better.  Now I had to accept that, just like everyone else I was talking with, I would have to work hard jobs, with no real chance of advancement and no real raises in income until I was too old to work or I simply kicked the bucket.  How depressing it all seemed to me.

A few months ago, I was inspired to read Ecclesiastes….a book written by the wisest man who ever lived (not counting Christ of course).  He had it all.  He admits that if he wanted this or that, he didn’t deny himself.  He went for it.  He had women, music, gardens, palaces, and whatever he wanted, but when he got to the end of his life he concluded that everything he had pursued to satisfy his curiosity or desire, was a chasing after the wind, a waste of the time he had been given.  All these things he thought were important, he couldn’t take with him.  He was going to die.  He was immortal and he was going to leave them to someone who didn’t do the work to gain them.  He was entirely focused on self-gratification and figuring out how to be satisfied with life and all it had to offer.  In the end, the old wise man discovered that he had been chasing the wind because self-gratification by way of things…was really a distraction that did not in the end, satisfy.

If the only meaning of life was self-gratification, then it was vanity. I found it all very relevant for today.  I had noticed when I was out and about that everyone was working and achieving and building and striving for things and I too had wondered the point of it. Stop for a moment and look around.

Things we chase after on this earth are really a distraction from what is lasting and precious.  We have before us two choices.  To chase after everything the world offers, and try to be satisfied, or to make God the center of our life and to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Not long after Ecclesiastes, God brought my attention to the story of Exodus. I used to wonder why the Jews, after witnessing so many amazing miracles, could be so ungrateful.  When they were slaves in Egypt, they cried out to God for freedom from their bondage.  God heard their cries and sent Moses.  God had a plan.  Yet, even after watching God at work with all the plagues; something wasn’t right with the Jews.  Even after God gave them their freedom to take their belongings, gold, silver and clothing from the Egyptians and to walk away from captivity, something was seriously wrong with God’s people.  Even after crossing the Red Sea on dry land and watching their enemies drown from the other side, something was majorly wrong with the Jews.  I was sure that if I had seen what they had seen, I would have never behaved so poorly in the Wilderness.  I wouldn’t have had to be there for 40 years while God sorted out my thinking.  I would have been full of praise for Him…right?  I no longer see the Jews the way I used to.  I think I understand them far better now.  Let me explain…

No one enjoys bondage.  No one wishes to be forced to labor for someone who rules over them.  We love our freedom.  If we read the scriptures, we can see that although the Jews were in bondage in Egypt, there were some things that weren’t so bad.  They had meat to eat.  They probably had shelter at night.  They knew they would have food and water the next day.  There was some sense of security even in that bondage.

On the day they left Egypt, they were likely filled with excitement and joy.  Finally, their prayers had been answered!  What an amazing day!  Not only were they leaving, but they were leaving with abundance.  They were heading to a land of milk and honey;   a better place, a place of their own.  They would no longer be slaves living in fear or lacking the freedom of choice.  They were free!

I’m guessing they didn’t plan on a hot desert.  They probably didn’t think much about living conditions.  They probably didn’t expect to be eating manna day in and day out.  They probably didn’t know they would run out of water.  They probably didn’t like the idea of having to fight battles to get to the Promised Land.  I’m guessing that they were expecting to have an easier ride, and when things didn’t go as they thought they should, It didn’t take long for the natural sin nature to expose itself.  They looked back from where they had come and they asked Moses why he brought them to the desert to die.  They didn’t expect things to go from what they felt was bad  – to what they felt was worse.

And the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the children of Israel said to them, Oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!  For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!

Exodus 16:2-3

Have you ever felt that way?  I sure have over the past few years.

After my husband and I made the decision to sell up and move to England to be near his father…I began feeling overwhelmed.  When we were in the process of selling our home and possessions and watching all that we bought go for pennies on the dollar, I began to feel disconnected from my once comfortable life.  I kept wondering what had possessed us to buy all the stuff in the first place. We had bought more than we ever used.  We bought things just because we liked them.  Not because we needed them.

The move overseas with our three dogs and the struggles we experienced felt like we were going through one trial only to come to another.  It felt like we were in an airplane circling an airport and we couldn’t get permission to land.  I just wanted to land!  I’m a terrible flier! 😉

After a while, we began to wonder what to do next.  Nothing seemed to be working.  But with the Lord, sometimes, we just have to wait to get the answers.  We just continued to move forward hoping that God would help us sort things eventually.  The only thing we were armed with was the knowledge that Jesus declared that he would never leave us or forsake us.  We didn’t know how things would happen, but we knew he would continue to meet our needs. What was causing us so much discomfort?  We were being weaned from the things of this world that our natural sinful nature had valued so much.

What was the Jew’s biggest problem?  They wanted things.  They wanted to indulge their sinful nature, but God wanted to give them something more valuable.  He wanted to give them spiritual things.  He rescued them as they had asked.  He didn’t abandon them, He was with them.  He provided their daily bread – manna.  He gave them the Law so that they would know right from wrong, but they didn’t value what God valued.  They weren’t interested in spiritual things.  Their sinful nature ruled them so much that all they could think of was ways to satisfy themselves.

When Moses went up to the mountain and brought down the law, they were already worshiping a golden calf.  It didn’t take them long at all to turn from God and to fall into idolatry.

When I think of gold, I think of wealth.  We know that wealth can surely get in the way of a spiritual relationship with God.  It’s not that wealth is bad, but that mankind, left to his own devices, can fall pretty deep into sin.  Wealth generally goes hand and hand with greed and greed causes great sin.

They were worshiping a golden calf.  Out of sight, out of mind, Moses was gone. Their leader had been gone too long, so they took matters into their own hand.  They turned back to Egypt.

So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot.  You know the people that they are set on evil.  For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’  And I said to them, whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me and I cast it into the fire and this calf came out. Exodus:32:22-24

Many of my Christian friends have said that they have been suffering and feeling under attack, struggling to get by over the past couple of years. Many have suffered illness. I have struggled too.  I have cried, thrown tantrums and griped at my Father in Heaven about our situation.  I have felt physically sick and emotionally depressed.  It made no sense to me that we made the journey, yet we were stuck in the wilderness. I have groaned and complained as loud as the Hebrews did.

Can you recall when things were better?  When you could go to a movie or take a vacation or do something nice for yourself without worrying about money or the loss of a job, etc.?  I believe our sinful nature goes through withdrawal.  When the flesh has what it desires, we are probably sick spiritually, but do not know it.

We unwittingly feed the flesh what it desires when we focus on the things of this world, and when we go through withdrawal, we react by becoming angry or hurt or miserable. The flesh is a powerful thing.  The desires of this world are meant to appeal to the flesh and they sure do!  They go hand in hand, but the things of this world are not from God. This is why we must crucify the sinful nature each day.  It’s an ugly thing that fights to be in control and it demands to be satisfied.

Our choice is the same today as the Hebrews in their day.  We can want what pleases the sinful nature or we can want what pleases God, but we cannot do both. I don’t mean to imply that we can never do anything fun or nice for ourselves.  It’s just important that our mind is fixed firmly on Jesus and on heavenly things to come and not consumed by the things of this world, which are temporary and which distracts us from Him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John 2:16

Consider Haggai, the prophet who gave God’s message to the Jews.  They had been released from bondage in Babylon and eagerly began rebuilding the temple, but 2 years into the project, they began to walk away from the work of the temple and became distracted with their own material needs and their economy.  The temple sat unfinished for 16 years.  God sent a prophet to give them perspective.

You have sown much and bring in little.  You eat, but do not have enough.  You drink, but you are not filled with drink.  You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.  Haggai 1:6

Believers are bondservants to Christ who paid for us with his blood.  We have been brought out of Egypt (the World) and we have been set free from the bondage of sin and death (slavery to the desires of the flesh).

In our lifetime, it’s been a fairly comfortable time, compared to the days our grandparents lived.  Over the past few years, with the economic downturn, many of us have started to find circumstances a lot more difficult.  Many of us haven’t been able to enjoy ourselves the way we used to with shopping or going out or having a night at the movies, or buying new clothes or buying loads of Christmas presents…whatever we did to feel good. Since the monster hasn’t been fed, it has reared its ugly head in protest at the withdrawal.

For he that sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:8

I believe the Lord is calling his Church to turn their attention from the world back to Him.   He’s asking us to stop chasing the wind, and to put Him back in his rightful position at the center of our life, the center of our home.  We need to stop indulging the flesh and to stop allowing it to rule us.  We need to stop feeling cheated over the loss of things that have distracted us from Jesus and be glad that He has faithfully loved us even when we have been busy living in the world.  We need to thank Jesus for our salvation.  Take heart!  No matter how difficult life gets, the world can never take away your salvation

Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  Galatians 5:16