"Preach the word; be ready in and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2. As of late the Lord has been speaking to me about the value of being prepared so we can live from Gods perspective and not from a circumstantial perspective.
From a young age we are taught many subjects in school, from history to math, and I hadn’t really thought about why these were so important until now. Many, if not all students ask themselves at some point, "when will I ever use this?," I'm here to tell you all you learned in your days of schooling was to prepare you for your life ahead, so that you would be prepared in and out of season for the tasks set before you. While we are learning, whether it be a trade or what we see as simple book knowledge, we don't often grasp the value of the information at hand. But think about if a mechanic had no idea what he was doing when he opened the hood of your car. Now anybody with enough time and deductive reasoning can figure out how to solve a problem, but wouldn't you much rather have a skilled person working on your car so it takes the least amount of time? Tradesman go to school and sit as apprentices under skilled men of whatever specific field and sometimes they learn things that just seam pointless, but it prepares them so that in and out of season they will be ready for whatever may come their way. Take the military for example, every soldier is trained in hand to hand combat but rarely will they ever have a chance or even need to use the skills that they've learned in this arena, but when that rare situation occurs those soldiers are very glad they were prepared for such an encounter.
All of this being prepared can be viewed the same in the Kingdom of God. Some of us read the bible very reactively; when an event happens in our life or we are burning about a specific subject we want to read about that and only that. But as Paul tells Timothy, we must be prepared in and out of season. We ought to be reading the word all of the time so when a specific situation arises we don't have to scrounge around searching out where there is something in the word to encourage us in our time of need. A perfect example: in the western world we teach about persecution and that it will come and to know Jesus is with those who are persecuted. In our western society it is not very common for people to be persecuted for their faith, but when this does come those that have been taught about how God views it will not react to the circumstances because they know how God views this and that will lead them into the correct action.
Being prepared is why it is so important to study. You don't want a doctor who skipped one of their classes simply because they didn't see how it was useful to be diagnosing you. It is the same with the Bible, it is not smart to skip over parts or books you think are irrelevant. The word of God is relevant to all of us and it is relevant to every event in our life, so to be prepared is of great value. My challenge to you is to better know the word of God so when troubles and trials arise you are already equipped with God's perspective on your situation.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Rest
As the second part of this three part series I've felt the Lord give me the topic of rest. God has been teaching me and bringing me back to the basics of what rest really is. In the western mindset we view rest as something you do that is relaxing and takes your mind off your 'job,' it lets you focus on yourself and not have to worry about the other stresses in your life. This view point puts a lot of emphasis on the beloved weekend, viewing days off as the prize or goal of your work week. But it always seems we start to do some type of work instead of the rest we had so longed for. I think man was never intended to fully do nothing. Take vacation for example, how many times do you hear the phrase "I need a vacation"? Only to return from the longed for vacation and need another vacation. We take time off to fulfill our western perspective of rest and then we don't rest. We work in the yard on a day off or on vacation we go hiking, etc... I think we need to redesign our view of rest.
On the seventh day of creation God rested, but we know God never stops doing anything, because He holds all things together, Colossians 1:17. Therefore God never fully rests, but He still calls it rest in Genesis. It's time we start to re-define what rest truly is. I believe rest is a state of being and not time to focus on yourself or relax.
How do we get to this state of being is probably the question you are asking right now. There are very few things Jesus gave formulas for in the Bible but one of them was on how to not worry. Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we seek first the kingdom and His righteousness then all of the previously mentioned things in the scripture passage will be added unto us. I take this to mean that if I seek a relationship with the Holy Spirit and I seek to do God’s will and not my own, then I will be at rest in God because I will not have to worry about anything. Many of us hear the phrase, "Be still and know that I am God." But how many of us actually take time to be still before God in our spirit and know that He is God? Knowing He is God is not stating that Jesus is the almighty living God, it means you acknowledge Him as the sovereign ruler of your life, that He has it all under control and that He knows what to do in every circumstance. When you know these things you KNOW that He is God and you have nothing to worry about.
Why is this important? Because if we are not seeking His kingdom and acknowledging Him as God, we will worry about our provision and start to seek out how we can solve our own problems and not what God’s will is for our life. Worrying is also a sin, in Matthew 6:25 Jesus says "do not be worried about your life..." When Jesus tells you not to do something that is a command. When you do the opposite of a command it is disobedience, which is sin. Self-centeredness is also a sin, Jesus never intended for us to be focused on ourselves; we know He is going to provide for us and therefore all of our concern should be for others, being self-centered is literally centering on yourself and our true center should be God and not ourselves. Even self-confidence is a sin, so many people will say they have high self confidence but if we are taking confidence in ourselves instead of God it is a sin because, again, we are looking inward and not toward God.
We need to live in a place of rest and not look at it as a place that is waiting for us at the end of each week. I challenge you to look at your life and see how you can change your perspective on rest so you are living for the kingdom and not for yourself. If you are still and know that He is God you will be able to have complete confidence in God and know that He is going to fully satisfy those needs and completely provide for you. If you would like to chat about this subject or simply have any questions please email me at Cbergus@gmail.com.
On the seventh day of creation God rested, but we know God never stops doing anything, because He holds all things together, Colossians 1:17. Therefore God never fully rests, but He still calls it rest in Genesis. It's time we start to re-define what rest truly is. I believe rest is a state of being and not time to focus on yourself or relax.
How do we get to this state of being is probably the question you are asking right now. There are very few things Jesus gave formulas for in the Bible but one of them was on how to not worry. Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we seek first the kingdom and His righteousness then all of the previously mentioned things in the scripture passage will be added unto us. I take this to mean that if I seek a relationship with the Holy Spirit and I seek to do God’s will and not my own, then I will be at rest in God because I will not have to worry about anything. Many of us hear the phrase, "Be still and know that I am God." But how many of us actually take time to be still before God in our spirit and know that He is God? Knowing He is God is not stating that Jesus is the almighty living God, it means you acknowledge Him as the sovereign ruler of your life, that He has it all under control and that He knows what to do in every circumstance. When you know these things you KNOW that He is God and you have nothing to worry about.
Why is this important? Because if we are not seeking His kingdom and acknowledging Him as God, we will worry about our provision and start to seek out how we can solve our own problems and not what God’s will is for our life. Worrying is also a sin, in Matthew 6:25 Jesus says "do not be worried about your life..." When Jesus tells you not to do something that is a command. When you do the opposite of a command it is disobedience, which is sin. Self-centeredness is also a sin, Jesus never intended for us to be focused on ourselves; we know He is going to provide for us and therefore all of our concern should be for others, being self-centered is literally centering on yourself and our true center should be God and not ourselves. Even self-confidence is a sin, so many people will say they have high self confidence but if we are taking confidence in ourselves instead of God it is a sin because, again, we are looking inward and not toward God.
We need to live in a place of rest and not look at it as a place that is waiting for us at the end of each week. I challenge you to look at your life and see how you can change your perspective on rest so you are living for the kingdom and not for yourself. If you are still and know that He is God you will be able to have complete confidence in God and know that He is going to fully satisfy those needs and completely provide for you. If you would like to chat about this subject or simply have any questions please email me at Cbergus@gmail.com.
Unity
I have had a few things burning in my heart lately that I feel need to be expressed in some medium. It will be a three part series of what the Lord has been speaking to me about in recent weeks and months and has been transforming me. My prayer is that in you reading this it will spark something inside of you that will start the same transformation in your heart and will lead you to a deeper relationship with your Savoir.
As you can probably guess from the title of this post the first part will be on unity and the power it has for us as believers and the necessity it is as a whole community of Christians wherever you are. Unity is of the utmost importance. if you are running a three legged race and one of the people you are partnered with suddenly starts to walk out of rhythm and tries to start doing their own thing it will throw the whole group out of sync. Just like it takes practice to get in sync with those you are tied to, it takes practice and perseverance to be unified with one another. Jesus knew unity would be one of the most important aspects of the whole body if it expects to function, so important, that in John 17 after he prays for the disciples, his first prayer for 'all believers' is "... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." That is VERY intense unity if you ask me. Jesus was one with the Father, knowing his every move and only doing what he saw the Father doing, Jesus wants the WHOLE body to be like that!
Now picture the whole body of Christ in a three legged race, running for the prize in each their own way. They are stumbling over each other and yelling at each other, telling one another their way is right and to follow them. In this way we actually end up with a lot of people who are offended at each other and it results in complete disunity. How do we unify ourselves with one another if everybody is following their own will? Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter 4:3, to keep the unity of the body we must be at peace with one another. I don't know about you, but honestly this hasn't happened very well throughout church history. There are constant church splits, arguing over doctrine or theology which almost always ends in one group of people splitting from the other. Which is where we get denominations from, the root of denomination is divided nation, that is NOT unity. From the looks of it, we have not done a good job of listening to the teaching of Paul from Ephesians 4:3 or done a good job uniting ourselves as Jesus prayed.
Unity is important as you can see from above. We can't be the body Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 if we are in disunity. Paul gave us a picture in that passage that one part of a physical body can't function as a different part of a body, i.e. a foot can’t be a hand and a hand can't be a foot. But imagine if we all knew who we were as part of the body of Christ and acted like what we were called to. Instead, each person wants to do their own will and not combine with the other parts to complete one task; example: a foot knows it is a foot but wants to do the job of a hand. A person may know who they are called to be but not want to move in the calling they've been given. The body must know who it is AND function in untiy. Solomon gives us a great picture of what unity looks like as human beings with the visual of a chord in Ecclesiastes 4:10-12. The law of multiplication is amazing, one of the many reasons God continues to amaze me on a daily basis. If you have one chord it can hold its own weight, but if you have two chords they can hold four times the weight, three can hold nine times the weight. Imagine the work we would get done as a full functioning unified body, going for the same goal and doing it in unison.
I hope this has inspired you to seek unity among those you are around. I wish I could include all of the verses that are written about being unified with one another. It truly shows the importance of treating each other with the same kindness and love that you show to God. If you have any more questions or would like to simply talk about how you can become more unified with those around you feel free to email me atCbergus@gmail.com. My heart is to see the body walk in true unity with one another, caring and loving each other just like Jesus and the Father did on earth and continue to do in heaven.
As you can probably guess from the title of this post the first part will be on unity and the power it has for us as believers and the necessity it is as a whole community of Christians wherever you are. Unity is of the utmost importance. if you are running a three legged race and one of the people you are partnered with suddenly starts to walk out of rhythm and tries to start doing their own thing it will throw the whole group out of sync. Just like it takes practice to get in sync with those you are tied to, it takes practice and perseverance to be unified with one another. Jesus knew unity would be one of the most important aspects of the whole body if it expects to function, so important, that in John 17 after he prays for the disciples, his first prayer for 'all believers' is "... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." That is VERY intense unity if you ask me. Jesus was one with the Father, knowing his every move and only doing what he saw the Father doing, Jesus wants the WHOLE body to be like that!
Now picture the whole body of Christ in a three legged race, running for the prize in each their own way. They are stumbling over each other and yelling at each other, telling one another their way is right and to follow them. In this way we actually end up with a lot of people who are offended at each other and it results in complete disunity. How do we unify ourselves with one another if everybody is following their own will? Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter 4:3, to keep the unity of the body we must be at peace with one another. I don't know about you, but honestly this hasn't happened very well throughout church history. There are constant church splits, arguing over doctrine or theology which almost always ends in one group of people splitting from the other. Which is where we get denominations from, the root of denomination is divided nation, that is NOT unity. From the looks of it, we have not done a good job of listening to the teaching of Paul from Ephesians 4:3 or done a good job uniting ourselves as Jesus prayed.
Unity is important as you can see from above. We can't be the body Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 if we are in disunity. Paul gave us a picture in that passage that one part of a physical body can't function as a different part of a body, i.e. a foot can’t be a hand and a hand can't be a foot. But imagine if we all knew who we were as part of the body of Christ and acted like what we were called to. Instead, each person wants to do their own will and not combine with the other parts to complete one task; example: a foot knows it is a foot but wants to do the job of a hand. A person may know who they are called to be but not want to move in the calling they've been given. The body must know who it is AND function in untiy. Solomon gives us a great picture of what unity looks like as human beings with the visual of a chord in Ecclesiastes 4:10-12. The law of multiplication is amazing, one of the many reasons God continues to amaze me on a daily basis. If you have one chord it can hold its own weight, but if you have two chords they can hold four times the weight, three can hold nine times the weight. Imagine the work we would get done as a full functioning unified body, going for the same goal and doing it in unison.
I hope this has inspired you to seek unity among those you are around. I wish I could include all of the verses that are written about being unified with one another. It truly shows the importance of treating each other with the same kindness and love that you show to God. If you have any more questions or would like to simply talk about how you can become more unified with those around you feel free to email me atCbergus@gmail.com. My heart is to see the body walk in true unity with one another, caring and loving each other just like Jesus and the Father did on earth and continue to do in heaven.
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