This quote below explains my heart’s desire for today and
every post, I share. Each post is personal to me, and I try my best to “re-express
truths” that God is teaching me.
“Strive to re-express
a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that
same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing
to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle,
experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the
time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to
someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and
struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from
someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to
state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you
will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone
else.” My Utmost for His Highest.
I heard a story of some people visiting a military school,
and they noticed several students on their hands and knees assessing the
courtyard with pencils and clipboards in hand. They asked a senior student
walking by, “What are they doing?” The
senior replied, “Each year the upperclassmen ask the freshmen how many bricks
it took to finish this courtyard.” The people asked, “So what is the answer?”
The senior replied with a smile, “One.”
As I think on that little story I am reminded of myself. Too
often I try on my own strength and knowledge to solve all of life’s problems. I
get on my hands and knees, exerting all kinds of energy to uncover the
solution, when if I just stepped back and sought wisdom from above the Lord
promises to help me, lead me, and guide me.
The Lord has recently done just that for me. I became aware
of some major struggles in my life that were holding me back spiritually and
causing anxiety. I was simply blinded by my own vain attempts to do things my
way that I failed to see the root of my struggles.
What was the root of my struggles, my anxieties, and my
problems? One simple brick.
The fear of the Lord. A foundational truth that is paramount
for believers in Christ- to fear the Lord.
I have struggled for years trying to lay this brick of
truth. I first struggled in my childhood with how could I fear a God that I loved so much. I
grew to understand that fear meant respect and moved on from there thinking I
had that brick fully laid. I deduced that I loved my earthly Father, I
respected my earthly Father, and as a child I feared my earthly Father when I
disobeyed which led me to obedience. So, the same is with my Heavenly Father. I
am supposed to have love, respect, and fear for my God because it is for my
good. It pushes me on towards obedience. It keeps me from death.
To fear the Lord is of utmost importance. And while I
understood the verse I didn’t fully live it out. This put a crack in my
foundation that has led me to the sin of pride which has branched off into emotional insecurity, the need for people’s approval and their validation, in turn making them my god. I unknowingly
feared man more than god. Such a dangerous and exhausting way to live.
When we fear man more than god, when we serve the creature
instead of the Creator we are walking with one foot in the door spiritually speaking
and one foot out. We are lukewarm. We
are full of fear, nerves, and anxiety. We may attempt to live boldly for Jesus,
but if we can’t proclaim that to someone when the rubber meets the road for
fear of humanly rejection then we are letting people be our god.
This happens daily for most of us. We are commanded in Romans
1:17 that the righteous are to live by faith. When we live un-righteously we
are suppressing the truth to the world around us. You see the righteousness of
God is revealed to the unbelieving world by your faith! Romans 1:17 says “the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” Does that make sense?
Your obedience, your faith, reveals FAITH to others. It reveals salvation that
comes through Christ.
Romans is very clear in 1:21-24 “For although they knew God,
they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in
their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise,
they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling
mortal men. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to
impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.”
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie. They
worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. Romans 1:25
paraphrased.
Romans then gives a list of sins that are happening all
around us. And while you and I may not be participating in this list of sins
are you giving your approval to those who are? Look at Romans 1:32 “Though they
knew God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,
they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) Yes! We are
called to LOVE one another (Romans 13:8) but in your LOVE check yourself. Are
you loving them on towards death? Or are you loving them on towards LIFE
everlasting? When you approve or don’t say anything for fear of being labeled “judgmental”
you are bowing to the creature instead of the creator. And sometimes that
creature or false god is what others think of you and sometimes that creature
or false god is yourself. We need to ask ourselves the question, “Who is my God?
Who do I live for? Who am I most concerned about pleasing?”
Is the word of God saying we need to arrogantly, rudely and
obnoxiously start proclaiming people’s sins to them? No! We are to listen to the voice of our God, go where he leads, speak his truth with love
and courage, all the while praying for courage to not fall into the sin of desiring
man’s approval over Gods approval.
If you take it a step deeper we are truly acting more for
our own good than our neighbors. We don’t say anything or stay silent on a
subject because we selfishly don’t want to be rejected. That is loving ourselves
more than our neighbors. We say we are loving them and accepting them, but that
is often not the case. We are scared people pleasers who fear rejection from
man, hurting our image, over God.
Here is the deal and hopefully the closing;
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are only justified by his grace through
the gift of Jesus Christs death on the cross. Through redemption, through our
Savior we are made new. We are not perfect, but we should never abuse his
kindness and grace.
Personally, here is my scripture prayer to help me say
goodbye to insecurity and hello to fearing God.
I want to take “You shall have no other gods before me”
seriously.
“He drew me up from
the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making
my steps secure. (Psalm 40:2) “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely.
(Proverbs 10:9) Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul
delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; (Isaiah 42:1) “I am hidden with Christ
in God” (Colossians 3:3) “I am never alone. God is always with me.” (Psalm
9:10) I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the
hand and keep you;” (Isaiah 42:6) “Because you are precious in my eyes, and
honored and I love you!” (Isaiah 43:4) “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
and my servants whom I have chosen.” (Isaiah 43:10) “I have not been given a
spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” (2Timothy 1:7 “Cast off
the works of darkness, put on the Armor of Light.” (Romans 3:12) “We make our
aim to please him” (1 Corinthians 5:6-9) “O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait
for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.” (Isaiah
33:2) “He will be the stability of
your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord
is Zion’s treasure.” (Isaiah 33:6)
Lord, as I live for
you each day, as I parent in your name, as I walk this world as your child, I
pray that I will seek to only serve you. I pray that I will not seek anyone’s
approval other than yours. I will fail and make mistakes, but help me to only
care what you think and to give myself grace and room to grow. I pray you help me to not seek validation for
my strengths, weaknesses, or decisions from anyone but you God. You know me
inside and out. You created me in my mother’s womb, you know my every desire. Let my every decision be
based on your word. Amen.
Below is a free printable card of the verses above.
