God's Vessel

2 Timothy 2:20-22 (The Message)

20-21In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.

22-26Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.

APPLICATION:

Don't let the dents of life or the shape of your vessel hold you back from the greatness you were created for. No matter your past choices or mistakes, you can become/be a container God uses to bless others. God loves ALL of you. You were created for a purpose and have a specific use in God's greater plan. God doesn't mess up and is greater than all else. He makes GOOD come from what others intended for evil. Even dented, outdoor trash cans have a very important part in the greater plan. Choose today to become a container that God uses to bless others just as you are where you are.

Keep your SHINE on!

"A Little Bite of Bread" God is watching us

God is watching over us! The other day as we were pulling into our driveway, we noticed our new neighbor sitting in his truck with binoculars next to our drive. We stopped and asked him if he was okay. He was quite embarrassed as he was explaining that he was watching his cow which was due to calve. He explained, I have no children, so these cows are my babies and I just need to watch her until she has the calf to make sure that she does not have any trouble. He was out there all day and even after dark keeping his eyes on this cow. This may seem silly but as I watched him, I thought about how the bible says in Job 34:21 “God watches where people go; he sees every step they take. and is Psalms 139:7 “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! NLT As I thought about this it gave me such a beautiful picture of how God watches over us. Like my neighbor did not crowd his cow but sat back at a safe distance and watched with his binoculars, God never crowds us. He sits up in the heavens and watches at a distance and then gently prompts us if we need to move, change or turn. He is such a gentleman, He asks us to seek Him instead of being and pushy and forcing himself on us. When we choose to come closer to Him, James 4:8 says “…He will draw near to you.” When we choose to seek Him, He says we will find Him. My neighbor’s cows are not the ordinary auction cows but they are show cows and the loss of one cow would cost him a lot of money but that is not why He was watching the cow. He was watching the cow because he has put a value on that cow that was worth much more than money. He valued her because in his heart she is one of his children. He wanted to ensure her safety and well being as a father would a child. In James 1:18 the bible tells us “He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession”. You see, we sometimes think for some reason that God is too busy to help us, we are too bad to be loved by God, we are so ordinary that God would not even bother to notice us out of the crowd but that is all wrong. God created each and every one of us. He had a plan in mind to be with us throughout our lives and He made a way that even in our sin we could still maintain our relationship with Him by providing the perfect sacrifice for us. We are a prized possession that He sits back at a distance and watches continually. We are His children and He wants to make sure that we are going to be okay. While my neighbor was embarrassed to express his love for his cows, My God is never embarrassed or ashamed to say He loves me and He loves you. Praying you that as you go through the day today, you can feel the eyes of our Father watching you.
Linda

"A Little Bite of Bread" I was a stray onceMonday, February 8, 2010 3:54 AM

I Was A Stray Once

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to spend time at Camp Allen . I love that place. The cabins are nestled in the woods on the lake. They have a porch with chairs for you to sit and watch the sun rise and set on the lake. Because this is a private facility and because it is not anywhere close to a residential area it is the last place you would expect to see a stray dog. This morning though, there was a stray dog show up. He was scared, hungry and very dirty. I spoke to him and he ran away. Later, while we were eating on the porch, he showed up again. We started to throw little bites of bread to him and he was very happy to gobble them up. I could not stand it, I wanted to pet him so bad but he was way to scared to let me get close. I went to the bottom step and started throwing the little bites of bread each time making each piece a little closer than the piece before. He had to choose to take a step closer or to run away because of his fear of people. The last two bites, I set on the step next to me, and he very cautiously came and ate them watching me the whole time. If I flinched he would jump back, watch and then slowly move in again. This was the beginning of a relationship with this little guy. I took off for a walk in the woods and he followed, at first at a safe distance and as the time passed, he would get closer and closer till when I came back and sat at the picnic table, he was daring to get close enough to sniff my legs and put his nose in my lap. It was so sweet. I started asking God, what is the message you have for me in this dog?

As I thought about it, I started thinking that the same way that I have slowly thrown little bites of bread out to this dog so the Lord has slowly thrown little bites to me. I was a stray, looking for all sorts of ways to find the food to nourish my soul, looking for safety and security in isolation and fear and anger, looking for peace through addictions and escape.

Then the Lord started calling in little ways like the Psalm says Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him. He threw little bites of bread that slowly pulled me into his presence and there, I found that the bread was sweet and the peace was real. When I was first saved, to experience the peace and safety of the Lord was a mysterious thing I thought only possible for those who served the Lord. I thought they had that ability because they were good enough and they had something special that I could never have. I thought I would never be good enough for him to listen to me when I prayed and for him to help me with my problems and my life. I am so thankful, He knows my every thought, and He continually put me in the right place at the right time for the right person to throw me one more little bite of sweat bread and it would give me a little more hope, a little more faith, a little more of the truth. He threw me just one little precious nugget at a time to keep me following Jesus, with hope and expectation that I would get one more little bite of bread to nourish my soul. You see, If I would have taken that dog a bowl full of food and set it out there and walked away, the dog would have eaten and run away. There would have never been a chance for a relationship to develop. If God would have given me a full dose of bread, I would have eaten until I was full and run off into my woods again never being able to develop that sweet relationship that gives freedom. If I would have tried to force myself on the dog, I would have scared him away or gotten bit in the process of trying to develop a relationship with him. If when Pastor Alan preached the message that spoke to my heart and drew me to say Yes, I want Jesus, in a manner that was forceful telling me I had to take the bread that he was feeding to me, I would have run away never to return and would have lost that chance to have hope in my life. If the teachers that I have learned from, ever tried to force the message that God gave them to give to me, in a way where I was backed in a corner with a choice to take it or else, the possibilities are that they would have been bitten and I would have run away again. Instead, God has used these teachers to give me one little bite at a time, in such a sweet and loving way, always accepting me and loving me even when I was dirty, scared, and broken like this little dog.

As I think about how I felt so worthless, so incapable of being accepted and loved, how I felt so unworthy of Gods love, I remember the scripture where the woman wanted Jesus to heal her child Matthew 15:26-28 (New King James Version)26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
I am so comforted by this scripture because even though Jesus was calling her a dog, He was moved to help her because of one thing, she was willing to take the crumbs that were dropped from the table and she believed that just getting the crumbs were enough to bring her the deliverance that she was needing. Her faith in His ability was enough to save her. He was so moved by her faith that He told her LET IT BE AS YOU DESIRE. She not only got to receive the miracle of healing for her daughter but she was able to receive what her heart desired, a crumb from the masters table that told her, even if she was a dog, she was accepted by her master and a crumb from Him was more than enough.
Today, I pray that if you have not found the sweet taste of the bread of Jesus, that you would cry out to him and ask Him to come into your life and let you taste the sweetness of the bread of life. If you have accepted and tasted the sweet bread, I pray that you will continue to seek not only the little bites of bread that He is throwing to you but also to seek the wonderful relationship that waits for you as you slowly draw closer and closer and that you will one day, trust him enough to lay your head in His lap just as this dog eventually laid his head in my lap. If you are still in a place where you feel totally unworthy of His love, His blessings, His peace and His presence in your life like I once felt, I pray that you just keep taking one more step forward and know that the more time you spend with him, the more those feelings will fall away and the more you will begin to feel like you do belong and that you do not have to be good enough to be loved and accepted, you just have to accept Jesus who was good enough for all of us! If you are one who feeds the bread, I pray that God will bless you with the right pieces of bread to throw and that He will help you to keep the pieces big enough to satisfy the hunger pains but not so much that there would be no need for more.
I am so thankful to be able to look at a stray dog and see how God loved me so much. I am so thankful that when I was so scared and so lost that He wanted so much to touch me that He threw me on little bite at a time in such a loving way where I wanted more and more. I am so thankful that through the bread, I was able to draw close enough to begin to learn to trust and believe and have hope that Jesus could truly wash my sins away and lead to me a place of peace and quiet rest in Him. I am so thankful that as life happens and I get scared and want to run again, He does not flinch but tells me just believe that the crumbs I am feeding you are more than enough.
Blessings to you my friend,
Linda

Abundant Branches

 

Ezekiel 17:5-6 (English Standard Version)

5Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters. He set it like a willow twig, 6and it sprouted and became a low spreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs.

Ezekiel 31:6-8 (English Standard Version)

6 All the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
7It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.

THINK ABOUT IT:

This tree resembles your life. Your branches or boughs reflect where your roots are planted and His unending abundant waters. Every choice you make, person you encounter, thought you have is reflected in your "boughs". Are you firmly rooted in Him? Are you growing? Are your branches a host to the "birds of heavens"? Is your life giving "birth" furthering His Kingdom? God created you for greatness. You are His portal to bring Heaven to Earth so others may see His beauty through you and come to know Him.

A Positive Answer

God has a POSITIVE Answer:


You Say ... God Says:

YOU: It’s Impossible.
GOD: All things are possible.
Luke 18:27

YOU: I’m too tired.
GOD: I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28-30

YOU: Nobody really loves me.
GOD: I love you.
John 3:16; John 3:34

YOU: I can't go on.
GOD: My grace is sufficient.
II Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 91:15

YOU: I can't figure things out.
GOD: I will direct your steps.
Proverbs 3:5-6

YOU: I can't do it.
GOD: You can do all things.
Philippians 4:13

YOU: I'm not able.
GOD: I am able.
II Corinthians 9:8

YOU: It's not worth it.
GOD: It will be worth it.
Romans 8:28

YOU: I can't forgive myself.
GOD: I Forgive you.
I John 1:9; Romans 8:1

YOU: I can't manage.
GOD: I will supply all your needs.
Philippians 4:19

YOU: I'm afraid.
GOD: I have not given you a spirit of fear.
II Timothy 1:7

YOU: I'm always worried and frustrated.
GOD: Cast all your cares on ME.
I Peter 5:7

YOU: I'm not smart enough.
GOD: I give you wisdom.
I Corinthians 1:30

YOU: I feel all alone.
GOD: I will never leave you or forsake.
Hebrews 13:5