answer

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl. Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. (Psalm 86, NRSV)

Lord listen to me!

Hear me when I call out to you!

Have you ever felt like God wasn’t listening? Like all of your pleas and prayers were not being heard?

It is hard when it seems like everything in life is closing in around us. And when we call on the one who said He would always be there for and it feels like He isn’t listening or taking our call..

But He always does hear us and listen to our call. He will never let you go to voicemail. Even when it seems He isn’t there He is. And He will never leave you.

God always answers…

Fruit of the Spirit

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26, NRSV)

Are any of us led by the spirit?

I ask this because even the most pious Christians I know are fornicators, they have impure thoughts, have idols, and are a part of strife, and factions, they get jealous and angry and quarrel with others, they play a part in dissensions, and are envious, get drunk, and carouse. So if even the best among us do these things, how do any of us have hope. And one could go as far to say Jesus might have done some of these, and we can say for certain that He was angry, because He turned over the tables in the temple to drive out the money changers. Well, but that was righteous anger! Uhm, the reading above does not distinguish and simply says anger.

But if you are led by the spirit you will not do these things. You will produce the fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is…

Not the Fruits of the Spirit are. Love is the fruit of the Spirit, which is made complete in joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All of these are what love is.

So love God and your neighbors, and live in the fruit of the Spirit.

worthy life

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, NRSV)

Lead lives worthy of the Lord…

Easier said than done. How does one live a life worthy of the Lord?

How does one fully fulfill the calling you received from the Lord?

You live in God’s knowledge, not the worlds.

You follow spiritual wisdom and understanding from God.

You love God and others more than yourself.

So center yourself in Christ and follow after him!

reaping

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:14-16, NRSV)

So was it the Son of Man, or was it one like the Son of Man?

Who is the one who does the reaping?

Because the one who sat on the cloud didn’t do what he wanted, he listened to the angel coming out of the temple.

And with one swing of the sickle, the one on the cloud reaped the earth…

Does it matter who it is? Are you ready for the reaping?

Heirs

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:12-25, NRSV)

We are not slaves but are a part of the household.

We have been given adoption by God and called heirs with Christ.

God is our Father. We were saved by the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

So cry out to God your father and know that Christ is your brother!

wolf or sheep?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSV)

You will be known by your fruits…

Fruits are what you produce, what you do.

You can’t judge a book by its cover or a person by if they go to church. You can go to church and not follow Christ.

Does your life show the example of being a follower of Christ?

Does your life show the love that He showed for humanity?

Don’t be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, be a sheep and follow Christ.

wheat and weeds

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, NRSV)

We, as children of God, are wheat.

And the weeds are the children of the evil one.

God sows us into the world and the evil one sows evil into the world.

But to try and remove the evil from the wheat will cause the removal of some of the wheat before it is ready.

The only way to have the wheat be fully ready is to let it live with the weeds, knowing that when the harvest comes the wheat will be removed from the weeds and taken to be where God has always intended for them to be.

So know that God has a plan and the weeds will not live forever.

Let your joy show!

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalm 65, NRSV)

Praise is due to God for all of the wonderful things He has done for us. And that praise is a joy to us.

It is not a task we begrudgingly undertake. It is one entered into with joy and gratitude for all God has done for us.

So let your joy show and praise the Lord!

shall not return…

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:10-13, NRSV)

God’s word goes out and will not return empty. It will accomplish what God intended for it to accomplish.

Meaning, with you or in spite of you, God’s will will have the effect God was looking for.

So know that God’s word works in and through our lives and will accomplish what God needs it to and it will not return to Him empty or before it has accomplished what it needed to.

laid bare

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. (Hebrews 4:12-13, NRSV)

There is nothing we can hide after the word of God has been introduced.

It is a fierce two edged sword that separates soul from spirit!

And everything is laid bare, standing naked before the Lord.

Once the word of God has come in there is nothing that we can keep from Him.

He knows all of your deep dark secrets, and He still loves you.

So let the word of God have it’s way in your life and know that will produce the best life ever!