Wednesday, February 17, 2016

God Has Never Stopped Moving!

Genesis 1:1-2 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

I'm listening to a series of CDs by an evangelist who spoke at our church recently. The first message was When God Moves. As usual, this is part the preacher's message, partly paraphrased, and partly my thoughts. It even fits right in to our study in Revelation. I'm certain there is a reason for all this. Any italicizes words are his.

Sometimes our lives as believers can seem to be in a funk. Maybe we have become stagnant...in our lives or in our churches. As Jeremy Prochazka stated, we might proclaim, We need a move of God. Then he followed that statement with this nugget of truth: It's not that we need God to move; He is always ready to move. It is we who have moved on, on our own, in our own way. 

I think about God giving Israel a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to guide them as they left Egypt for their long trek to the Promised Land. As long as they followed they were well protected and cared for. These pillars were always out in front for guidance, although when they crossed the Red Sea with the enemy behind them, the pillar of cloud went behind while the pillar of fire stayed in front...protection at one end, guidance at the other. 

God has always been moving. Since the day He began to create, He through His Spirit, moved. Jesus hasn't stopped. If He had there would be no continuation of Christianity. There would be no continuation of persecution, for His name's sake. There would be no evangelists, pastors, and us as disciples to carry on God's Word! His Spirit keeps us going. 

Brother Jeremy went on to say that we who have received Christ are called followers. Why? Because He is moving! If He's standing still we aren't following. If we follow we will know we are in the will of God. Can you honestly say you following Him?

I'd forgotten some of this message. Or had I, because just before he would say more I was forming thoughts to write that were similar. As followers of Christ we are called to share the Gospel like Jesus shared. If you like or love something, you will want to tell others about it, right? Why is it that sharing Christ is so unappealing to so many hearing it? What nerves does it touch? Does it bring up guilt, knowing we have made a lot of mistakes in our past? 

Or maybe we like who we are without Christ and are determined to believe life without Him is okay. What nerves does it touch? 

I have said this before, and Jeremy said it too: Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8) Give Him a chance.

Jeremy started out his message with the story of Jesus when He was 12. The family had gone to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration. On their way home Joseph and Mary realized they'd not seen their Son for awhile. He had lingered at the temple. They returned to find Him there...learning and asking questions, to the amazement of the others...and His parents when they arrived. Always about His Father's business, always in His will. Always following His Father's guidance. As we should.

It is pointed out in the scripture for this account that every year they went to Jerusalem. Jeremy points out how mundane that could become, a routine. Every year... After awhile, what happens? It becomes the same old thing. We may leave church after we have fulfilled our religious obligations, but Jesus may linger there and we won't recognize itIt's losing our sensitivity to the Lord. That's dangerous. We lose sight of Him. We've moved on but He has lingered. We are no longer following Him...we're off doing our own thing 
while He's about His Father's business. We're not in His will anymore.

But...He will organize your circumstances so you can find Him again. That is a wonderful, encouraging thought. I'm so thankful He loves us so much that He would provide another way...even through suffering, which was yesterday's blog. Amazed at how things are so tied together these days. 

If we follow Christ, we are in His will. Brother Jeremy added just as Jesus grew from a Child to a Man, we as believers need to grow in our walk, our faith in Him, following Him. ...as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1Peter‬ ‭2:2-3‬) We start out our walk slowly, taking small steps, feeling stupid, listening and learning, taking it all in, making mistakes. Then suddenly confidence happens. It's like "we get it." But we still do not stop growing. We never do. In time we will be ready for the meat of His Word. Just keep following. And know that God loves you so much that He WILL organize your circumstances to bring you back to Him. 

Maybe our country and churches need to turn back to seeking Him. He longs to move in our midst. But you know what, we have sought our own desires and ways, not His. It's all about me! It's all about us. It's all about how big we can build it or the success we can have. It's no longer all about Him. So we may very well be recognizing it with world circumstances, without really knowing it's God we are missing. He's been pushed aside for too long. He's not in this anymore.

Oh my...then Jeremy ends with the question Jesus' mother asked when they found Him in the temple. It about sums up the world circumstances and the questions people are beginning to ask about where God is in all that is happening, the violence, evil, disasters: So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? ... (Luke‬ ‭2:48‬) Is that what people are asking, Why, God, have You done this? Why will You not do something? (Like the friend and his email to me.) His answer: He was about His Father's business...while everyone else was about their own.

He is always moving, doing His Father's business. It's where we are supposed to be. Why have we sometimes stopped paying attention? Has He or Christianity become a routine? Linger with Him awhile. Follow Him more closely. 

John‬ ‭12:26‬ ‭- If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.


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