compromise?

This past weekend, while away in Charleston, I went to see a movie. A movie, that quite honestly was raunchy and I would not recommend. However, even in my error of going, the Lord seemed to use it to question my heart and it’s intention.
The movie was about an election where the final deciding vote came down to one man and what he would choose. When the candidates discovered that this man would decide their fate in the election, they began to court him in order to swing his vote their direction and a competition to win his heart began to ensue. In wanting the vote and approval of one man, both candidates began to compromise on their beliefs, their character and their integrity. The entire movie was about how these two men forsook everything that they had stood for, believed in and testified to in order to get the approval of one.
Sitting in that theater, the Lord quietly asked me the question, that I will ask you today. A question that for most of us, we will deny and say no to, but we will be dishonest if we do. A question that if we answer yes to, will cause us to have to reevaluate everything and redirect our choices, our love and our hearts. A question that will challenge our faithfulness, our integrity and our heart.
What is the question? ……Would you sell your soul for the approval of one man?
While these candidates compromised everything for this one man, I had to question my own heart and see if that was true of me. Do we sell our souls, our values, our beliefs, our convictions, the truth…ever, for the approval of another man? We know what is right, what we believe, what is true, what we value, but we compromise in order to please another.
This could happen at work, compromising in order to please our boss. Or at home, compromising in order to please our husband or wife. At school, to be accepted and liked. All of us at some point choose to compromise who we are for the approval of another. We sell our soul to please another man.
As I watched on the screen and became disgusted with what I saw, the Lord began to show me that my heart was just like those men. Willing to compromise to please another. And therefore, had become an idolater in the process. For when you put anything or anyone before pleasing God, you have given it the place God alone deserves to occupy and have raised up an idol in your life.
Scripture is plain to say in Gal 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” That if we are seeking to please men, we are not His bondservant. Wow, now that hurts.
So to answer the question….will you sell your soul for the approval of one man? I had to answer both yes and no. Deciding that from this time forth, I would not compromise to please any man. Not family, not friends, not anyone. No, I would no longer sell my soul for the approval of another man.
And Yes…I would sell my soul for the approval of ONE MAN, Jesus. That my heart’s cry was that I would desire to love and please Him alone. This is no easy task. So as of today, I have begun to ask Him to accomplish that work in me. To make me love Him and want the approval of Him alone, selling my soul for Him alone and to Him alone, not compromising for anyone else. Selling out to Him. I have not arrived, nor have I got a bead on how to accomplish this, but I am quite sure the Lord will do the work in me, if I will comply. Will you join me in selling your soul to the ONE MAN and selling out for Him? Instead of being compromisers to be a man pleaser here?



ALL FOR YOU

readying the way

As we prepare for worship on Sunday, the Lord has reminded me that there was a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, used to prepare the way of the Lord. Do not misunderstand….I am NOT saying I am that voice. But I do believe that as we move towards what the Lord has for us on Sunday that He has a message for us to dwell on this week. A message to prepare our hearts to meet Him corporately on Sunday. And that we should not come to HIS house unprepared for what HE wants to do, but that we ought to heed what the prophet said and prepare the way for the Lord to come and do a mighty work.

Isa 57:14-15 says;
14 And it shall be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove {every} obstacle out of the way of My people."
15 For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell {on} a high and holy place, and {also} with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

If we are going to encounter the Lord and be prepared for a mighty work from Him, then we have to prepare the way over the coming days and remove the obstacles out of the way for one another. For many of us, there are things standing in the way that will keep us from hearing, seeing and experiencing God this week. Yet, if it is the desire of our heart to experience Him, then we must be compelled to deal with the obstacles so that we GET all He has for us.
Part of that dealing is that we prepare our hearts to be revived by Him because we understand our need for Him. Understanding our need for Him comes from a humility that wants to do nothing but make much of Him. He dwells with those whose hearts are fully given and whose desire is to make much of Him at all times.

So, this week, would it be possible for us to humble ourselves, not talk of our needs or problems, but perhaps focus on just making much of Him all week. Talking of His goodness, His faithfulness. Using our down time to bless Him and to worship Him. As we make much of Him, we are preparing the way for Him to come, removing the obstacles and reading our heart for what He wants to build within it. Be intentional…just talk of His greatness and what He is teaching you.
And then get ready…for as a body of Christ, if we will join together, He will descend in a cloud of glory on us corporately and show us great and marvelous things that we have not conceived or dreamed of.
I am looking forward to it.
Join the Journey….
ALL FOR YOU

wrecked

The events of recent days have brought me to a place this morning of leaning into the Father, perhaps more than ever. There are two things that happen when you get to that place. You GET to SEE Him very clearly-if you wipe the wax from your eyes and allow Him to give you eyes to see AND you SEE yourself very clearly. Both have become evident to me in the last few days.

First, The Lord reminded me on Wed night while praying of 1 Kings 18. Random scriptures brought to mind are typically a stirring of the Spirit for me, so I immediately went there and was confronted with the story of Elijah. These verses are precious to me…They have been verses that I have clung to over the last months… truths that He is PREVIOUS, PROTECTOR and PROVIDER. Over recent months, God has proven that these are attributes that are not just on pages of Scripture, but truth we can lean on…I had no idea why He took me back there on Wed, but today, I know.

God is Previous. Today…in the midst of yucky circumstances with the wreck…He had gone before. From changing cars, although I WISH it had been mine that was wrecked, we might have all been injured had that been the case, to David fixing the lights on the trailer. The Lord spoke this morning and said He is our rear guard. And I am quite confident that the lights in the rear were a guard against further injury or damage. Even to the messages we heard about storms and Jesus being in the boat. He was previous in writing truth on our heart and the hearts of kids.

God is Protector. While my heart wishes that he had protected the car from damage, we can not deny that He protected ALL of us….keeping the other vans from wrecking in circumstances that we still aren’t sure how that kept from happening. And that we all walked away without injury from the wreck…and not just us…but others too. Not to mention that He held off the rain and protected us from the storm while we awaited the tow truck.

God is also our Provider. And though circumstances seem rough in the repair and management of the car, I was reminded by the Father that He has already shown up big in being Previous and Protector, that we can trust Him in the Provision as well. He provided the car the first time and He is already at work to grant provision again. And so I will pray that He provides…

From beginning to end…in His Previousness to the Provision…we can see God if we will look up instead of looking at the circumstance.

This is where I failed yesterday. Instead of immediately being thankful and grateful for His previousness and Protection…and trusting His provision, I merely was aggravated with what happened. But for some reason there was a lesson we/I needed to learn. Part of that lesson began with seeing God and not the circumstance. And that lesson led to seeing my own sin. My heart was not quick to be thank God for His protection or that He had been previous…but instead was frustrated. I was not quick to see where He was at work. And while I was sat in a car, the kids that were with us leaned into the Father. The kids led….

I was frustrated with the circumstance, but the kids circled up and prayed….something I did not do. They went from van to van and blessed the Father. They then began to talk of the sermon from the night before about Jesus being in the storm… and in the boat with His disciples and how Jesus had been with us. They immediately ran for truth and practiced what they had heard. I was so proud of them. Glory was given immediately and the Father was pleased. They had a life lesson….and passed.

Me, it wasn’t until this morning when I heard the Father say….you have yet to thank me…that I humbled my heart and got past my own pride and got facedown in the shower to thank Him. There was a list…a long list of things to be thankful for. The Lord-even in my sin-was still busy providing and proving His love. And I was humbled once again at His great heart to move us towards Him.

ALL FOR YOU