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Blog Week 12 day 77-83
Hey everyone!
It was Seth’s turn to blog for week 12 but unfortunately he got sick and wasn’t able to get around to it. So I have had a quick review of that weeks reading and I am going to write a short post to fill in for him. So, sorry its late!!
From reading days 77-83 I felt God highlighting to me in scripture verses to do with having a heavenly perspective and things to check in our lives to make sure we can maintain having a heavenly perspective. I was very challenged and inspired reading some of this and I hope you will be too!
Perspective: A way of viewing things
Heavenly perspective: A heavenly way of viewing things
Prov 11:18 Evil people get rich for the moment,
but the reward of the godly will last.
When I was reading this verse I was reminded that our life is so short. It says in scripture it is just like the length of a breath to God. It can be hard not to look at life and worry about everyday hardships and situations. But over all what do we want our lives to speak of? We have don’t have long here (maybe 100 years if we’re lucky!) but we do have an ENTIRE ETERNITY with God. It says here that by living a godly life we can store up reward that will last! Our salvation and walk with God is even more important than all the riches and success we could gather here on earth. This scripture got me thinking "What should my day to day life look like? What are the things I am prioritizing that wont matter in the end? What can I prioritize so that I can be fully effective for eternity while here on earth?"
Hungry for God’s word
Luke4:4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone."
Another version of this verse in Mark says, "But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Here Jesus shows us just how vital God is to our survival. Starving for food and for water, Jesus says clearly that that is not all we need to live. The voice of God is just as important to survive. I have heard in a teaching before that God gave us food and eating as a picture of how we should need the word of God. You need fresh food and a balanced diet to keep you healthy and well nourished. It’s the same with God and His word. We can’t live off of what he spoke to us a long time ago. He wants us to hunger after him for fresh food, refreshment and satisfaction in the same way we eat a healthy diet.
Psalm 63:1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Here in Psalm 63, David is in an almost starved condition. Like food, David needs the Lords presence to survive. He THIRSTS for it. He LONGS for it. I love this psalm because it shows how David has a heavenly way of viewing things. He sees that his life is not made safe by riches, buildings and food. The most important thing he is driven by is his love and need for God. God can provide everything else! I found this challenging because I can often forget throughout the day how important it is to spend some time seeking God. I can often think, “I will later”, or “I’ll just finish this first”. But I’m reminded that God is the beginning and the end, the provider, protector and everything we'll ever need. He is the only one who can give us life for eternity, and he deserves my attention more than anything else.
I believe that by prioritizing time in God's word and treating it more like food which we continually need, we will be more effective and more engaged in our day to day living. We will also be ready for God to move and ready to hear him speak.
Waiting on God
Psalm 62:5-8 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.
I want my life to look like this! David absolutely depended on God for everything. He saw clearly the greatness of God. He saw his problems in comparison to God. Rather than trying to sort out all situations on his own, he would always ask his Heavenly Father for help. He found his safe place, his rest, and his safety in God. By waiting on God, he had a heavenly perspective. It is his time with the Lord that allows him to know God as his strength and his safe place in a real way, even amidst the hard situations in life.
Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Jesus often left his group to spend time with God...and he was God! If one of the most important things to Jesus was spending alone time praying, it should definitely be one of our most important things too! It is in God’s presence that we are changed, whether its through praise or worship, alone time or praying, things always seem to look different after spending time with Him. I feel very challenged to start prioritizing my prayer time and my time alone with God. If we want our short lives to speak of God, like Jesus, it means finding time to be with Him.
Numbers 26:64 Not one person on this list had been among those listed in the previous registration taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” Not one of them survived except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
Joshua and Caleb were the only two spies sent to look at the Promised Land who had a right perspective. The rest of the spies who looked at the land God had given them only noticed how strong and powerful the people living there looked. They looked logically and rationally and became fearful. This piece of scripture reminded me how important it is to look at things in comparison to God, not through our human eyes only. God is so great and so powerful, NOTHING compares to him! Our problems just don’t seem as big when we give them to God. Joshua and Caleb had their eyes on God, and so the people living in the land just didn’t seem as scary to them. Because they had the right perspective, the Lord honoured them and allowed them to pass to the Promised Land.
Obedience to God
Though God honored Joshua and Caleb, the people around them thought they looked ridiculous and stupid. From an earthly perspective, what they were saying simply didn’t make sense! Following God means sometimes doing things that just don’t make sense. It also means we just have to trust that though we don’t get it, He knows better than we do!
Luke5: 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!
Simon was an experienced fisherman who had been working hard all night. It would have been easy for him to not let the nets down because he already “knew” that there weren’t any fish out. However following Christ means following him even if we think we know better. He took action and he was blessed from his obedience.
Luke 3:7-8 7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.
Let's make sure we are not a generation of people that “assume were safe”. Instead, let's prove, by the way that we live, that we have turned to God! That means following what Jesus did, and being obedient and diligent to the tools God has given us to know him better. Like Joshua and Caleb, we can see things the way God does. Let's not look at circumstances from a natural point of view or fear will determine our conclusions. By prioritizing prayer and time in the word, we will be able to see God move in ways we didn't think possible!!!
Thanks for reading guys,
Jenny:)
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