Happy New Year!
God is good! To all readers of Believing, Loving & Obeying God Blog, I want to say Thank you for reading over the last year. It has truly been a great experience. I will resume my postings soon. My desire is to write to you only what God instructs and that is just what I plan to do. I know that we are well into the first month of the New Year but I want to place this question here for you to think about.
There is a scripture that reads... "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)
We all have something that may not be going exactly as we want but are we willing to forfeit our soul to get relief from it? Is it really worth it? Do you think that perhaps God would or is using that very thing to get us into a place that will ensure our place in eternity? I am just asking. I was thinking about it. The resolution of some things seem so hard to wait for and we may want to go out and fix that thing ourself but in the process we "forfeit our soul....."
The Hebrew definition of Forfeit is below
2398 chata' khaw-taw' a primitive root; properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn:--bear the blame, cleanse, commit (sin), by fault, harm he hath done, loss, miss, (make) offend(-er), offer for sin, purge, purify (self), make reconciliation, (cause, make) sin(-ful, -ness), trespass.
Now, I know the scripture says "gain the world," but I want to look at that as 'getting what you want when you want it rather than waiting on God to give your release or relief from it.' (I truly didn't plan to type any of this so I know it's God.) This is what the world does, they go after what they want and worry about the consequences later. I use to live in the world, be wordly minded, whatever you want to call it so I know this is true.
We know Paul had a thorn ~ see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
"or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
If Paul could think this way despite whatever was going on with him, so can we! Yes it may seem hard. But no matter what it looks like, how it feels, how tall it is or whatever, we can put our trust and hope in God. This is what He says He will do for us "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:3). Lord do this for us today as we put our hope in you right now. All things are possible throught Christ Jesus. We have struggles often but God has provided a way of escape for us, the question is, will we travel the way of escape? Will we delight ourselves in Him so that He will delight Himself in us? Will we indulge and appreciate the liberty that has been given us by our Father God? Will we believe that He is the GREAT I AM and He will do all that He said?
We absolutely must deny ourselves, when the desire for something tries to overwhelm us, we must remember what God spoke in Exodus 20 ( You can read it in its entirety but I am going to reference the first four verses.)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
This post is for me too, let's purpose in our heart, mind, and soul to do better. Let's understand that as children of God everything is not meant for us. We should concern ourselves with that which is eternal, glorifying to God, righteous and holy. We gotta do right. We gotta be right. We gotta be all that God wants us to be NO MATTER WHAT. Don't let anything stop you. Whatever tries to get in your way, speak the Word of God to it, its our most powerful source and resource in this life. If you not using it, don't know how to use it, ask God and He will help and direct you.
Let us pray for one another for our personal battles sometimes vary, don't judge, don't try to figure out what someone else is going through, if God wants you to know, He will reveal it to you, then its your place to pray. Pray until something happens. Love and trust the Lord. Let Him use you to advance His Kingdom in the earth realm, in your life and in the life of others to whom He would charge you to usher into another place. Whatever you do, do it to the GLORY of God. For He is worthy of all the glory and honor.
Look at this picture...When you call God, He is gonna answer. He has equipped you with what you need in order to live and not die.
Credit: Free images from acobox.com
Believe, Love & Obey God.
~Tanika
There is a scripture that reads... "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)
We all have something that may not be going exactly as we want but are we willing to forfeit our soul to get relief from it? Is it really worth it? Do you think that perhaps God would or is using that very thing to get us into a place that will ensure our place in eternity? I am just asking. I was thinking about it. The resolution of some things seem so hard to wait for and we may want to go out and fix that thing ourself but in the process we "forfeit our soul....."
The Hebrew definition of Forfeit is below
2398 chata' khaw-taw' a primitive root; properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn:--bear the blame, cleanse, commit (sin), by fault, harm he hath done, loss, miss, (make) offend(-er), offer for sin, purge, purify (self), make reconciliation, (cause, make) sin(-ful, -ness), trespass.
Now, I know the scripture says "gain the world," but I want to look at that as 'getting what you want when you want it rather than waiting on God to give your release or relief from it.' (I truly didn't plan to type any of this so I know it's God.) This is what the world does, they go after what they want and worry about the consequences later. I use to live in the world, be wordly minded, whatever you want to call it so I know this is true.
We know Paul had a thorn ~ see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
"or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
If Paul could think this way despite whatever was going on with him, so can we! Yes it may seem hard. But no matter what it looks like, how it feels, how tall it is or whatever, we can put our trust and hope in God. This is what He says He will do for us "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:3). Lord do this for us today as we put our hope in you right now. All things are possible throught Christ Jesus. We have struggles often but God has provided a way of escape for us, the question is, will we travel the way of escape? Will we delight ourselves in Him so that He will delight Himself in us? Will we indulge and appreciate the liberty that has been given us by our Father God? Will we believe that He is the GREAT I AM and He will do all that He said?
We absolutely must deny ourselves, when the desire for something tries to overwhelm us, we must remember what God spoke in Exodus 20 ( You can read it in its entirety but I am going to reference the first four verses.)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
This post is for me too, let's purpose in our heart, mind, and soul to do better. Let's understand that as children of God everything is not meant for us. We should concern ourselves with that which is eternal, glorifying to God, righteous and holy. We gotta do right. We gotta be right. We gotta be all that God wants us to be NO MATTER WHAT. Don't let anything stop you. Whatever tries to get in your way, speak the Word of God to it, its our most powerful source and resource in this life. If you not using it, don't know how to use it, ask God and He will help and direct you.
Let us pray for one another for our personal battles sometimes vary, don't judge, don't try to figure out what someone else is going through, if God wants you to know, He will reveal it to you, then its your place to pray. Pray until something happens. Love and trust the Lord. Let Him use you to advance His Kingdom in the earth realm, in your life and in the life of others to whom He would charge you to usher into another place. Whatever you do, do it to the GLORY of God. For He is worthy of all the glory and honor.
Look at this picture...When you call God, He is gonna answer. He has equipped you with what you need in order to live and not die.
Credit: Free images from acobox.comBelieve, Love & Obey God.
~Tanika
Great to see you back, Tanika! Awesome word! Thanks for sharing it. As always, I need some time to think through all you wrote here. Love that!
ReplyDelete