Until Next Time ~ ~ ~ Selah,
Kathie
Thoughts?
Category Archives: Questions
Wrong, Following
Hello Friends, What a lovely Tuesday it is here in Lower Alabama and I hope it stays lovely to the end of the day and this post.
With that said, I offer this caveat: if this post goes as I suspect it will it shall not be a favored one for persons easily offended.
Blunt and to the point is on its way to this page I think.
Every day, day after day and night after night the people of this world shout with clenched fits thrust upward that GOD is wrong, and they are right.
How do the peoples of Earth do this?
Sin.
Every act of adultery says GOD, You are wrong!
Every act of fornication says GOD, You are wrong!
Every act of homosexuality says GOD, You are wrong!
Every act of gender confusion (as it is termed) says GOD, You are wrong!
Every lie, every theft, every covetous thought, every murder, every rape, every malicious word, every calloused action, every unholy thought we entertain, and every ungodly act we perform says GOD, You are wrong!
GOD, You are wrong!
How could we?!
How could HE?!!
How could He not immediately drop us all into Everlasting Torment?
Do you ever wonder that or are you still of the mind that your sins are not that bad?
That was me for many years.
So I can’t fault you for it, but I can tell you it is wrong and deadly.
What’s the answer?
Repentance and FOLLOW JESUS.
And that my Friends brings me to another convicting string of thoughts.
The Disciples of The Gospel, found in Scripture, FOLLOWED JESUS. Even when they were not physically in His Presence, they followed Him because they did what He instructed them to do. Read the Gospels and you will see what I mean.
What Would JESUS Do? Do you remember that saying? It was written on bracelets, plastered on billboards, and voiced from pulpits. Even today we are told to “love like JESUS”.
But are we given practical steps to do that?
And how could “man” give us practical steps to love like JESUS anyway?
What does man know about loving like JESUS?
The Disciples FOLLOWED JESUS.
Are we getting that? They FOLLOWED.
What does follow mean?
What do you take away from this?
I see the Disciples literally following JESUS around all over Judea, wherever He went they went.
And when He gave them instructions to go and do they went and did. i.e. get the colt. Prepare the upper room.
And we might say, Well, we don’t have JESUS physically here with us, we can’t follow Him around.
Is that true?
Do we have HOLY SPIRIT living within us?
Can we not follow HIM? Can we not be guided by Him?
John 14:26 and Acts 1:8
It’s a NEW picture playing on the screen of my mind too.
But I like it!
I am eager to see how He helps me consistently FOLLOW JESUS.
I figure it will take some time to get this revelation seated and consistently operating but I want it!
That’s it. That’s what I came to say.
Oh wait, I need to tie these two points together, don’t I?
In SIN we say, GOD, You are wrong. This means one thing: we are NOT following JESUS.
Terribly offensive, isn’t it?
BUT GOD has made a way —
Until next time ~~~ Shalom, Kathie
Nebuchadnezzar(s)
Worship.
We talk about it. We go to places of worship as we call them. We sing songs of worship, as we call them. I wonder does GOD call it worship? Do you ever wonder that too?
But are we worshipping The One True God? And how can we know if we are or are not?
What is worship anyway?
All good questions. Can we answer them here? I don’t know, but we can seek answers here for sure.
Are you familiar with the story of Nebuchadnezzar, his statute, and his demand of the people in the plain of Dura? If you are not I hope you will use the link above and read Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel.
There were three (3) Hebrews in the province of Babylon named, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Those were their Babylonian names. Their Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, respectively. (If you are interested in a little more about their names, click HERE.)
So what was going on in Babylon?
Nebuchadnezzar. Poor guy. He was so messed up but GOD loved him -and he was not even a Jew. Chapters 1 through 4 of Daniel tell the story of Nebuchadnezzar. I am thinking he finally got it right and I am thinking we might get to meet him in Heaven. I am hoping so.
But I’m off point.
In Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar is so full of himself, that he had a statute of himself erected and he demanded to be WORSHIPPED.
That set me off on this trail.
Nebuchadnezzar, in my humble opinion, was set on controlling the people. And that meant obedience. I mean you can’t control the people, unless they obey you. Can you?
It seems to me man is never satisfied as long as he wants to control other men (please understand this includes women too – as all mankind). There’s just something about people that causes them to want to control other people. And it causes so many problems. But I’m slightly off-point.
Worship.
We can attend a song service, sing every song, raise our hands, and jump a pew, but if we are not yielded to consistently, daily, obeying GOD, we are not worshipping Him. Instead, we just may be worshipping the traditions of men.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah understood obedience. They understood that bowing down before that statute was an affront to The One and Only Holy Holy Holy GOD. And they refused to do it.
Worship. I made a note in the margin of my Bible.
True worship is yielding to the CONTROL of GOD.
Am I yielded to being controlled by GOD?
Daily, consistently?
Am I ever growing more and more obedient to Him?
Am I more and more obeying what I read in the Bible, practicing the commands and precepts found there?
Practicing them in my home? Practicing them in public?
More and more times are coming to afford us opportunities to choose to worship (obey) GOD or the traditions of men.
Today we can examine ourselves and we can pray, for ourselves and each other. Not a one of us is exempt from the distractions, snares, strategies, and traditions set in place by the evil one. Let us guard our hearts and all our senses so that we will grow more and more obedient and thereby worship our GOD with every breath. 1 Peter 5:7-9, Proverbs 4:22-24
It’s not the music. It’s not the song. It’s not the sermon. It’s not the place. It’s OBEDIENCE.
Nebuchadnezzar wanted to control the people, he lusted for worship. And from the majority, he got it. There are many Nebuchadnezzars in our world, sometimes they are people, sometimes, just things.
WORSHIP GOD.
Only HE is worthy.
HE is the ONLY safe One to worship.
The only safe one to unconditionally obey.
Until next time ~~~ Shalom, Kathie
For HIS Name’s Sake
Shalom, Kathie
