You the Lord and Who?

 

Pro 11:14  Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.  ESV

 

 

 

I don’t need to go to church, I don’t need to read the Bible, I don’t need anyone to help, I can do anything all by myself. Do you know anyone like that? Maybe to some degree you are like that…actually if we are honest with ourselves I think we can say that on some level we all are guilty of feeling this way. We have Jesus, and that is all we need.  Get out of my way because here I come.

 

While it is true the with Christ in your life there is nothing that you need that He will not provide………but read that statement again, there is nothing that you need that He will not provide.  One of the things that we overlook is the fact the Christ is constantly working in our lives. HE works out in the open where we can see, but He also works behind the curtain, where we have no idea what is going on. One of the most important things the Lord does for us, is to move people in and out of our lives, at a time when we need them, and they need us. Think of it as a huge clock, each wheel, arm, cog, and axel totally dependent on the other. There is not one piece in that clock that can fail to work, there is not one piece that can reach its full potential on its own.  This is how the Lord keeps us from failing. We stay together, we stay in sync, and we stay safe.

 

When we come to the highly popular idea that we do not need to go to church (I used to be one of those guys) we are setting ourselves up for failure. Church is not a place to go to hear a book report, punch your attendance card, then head back out into the world. It is a place of safety, it is a place where you can recharge your batteries, and most importantly find guidance, strength, and true friendship. Church is a building where we can find the living body of Christ inside. To say we do not need it is to rob ourselves of one of the safety nets that the Lord has provided us.

 

To say that you do not need to read the bible, is the equivalent of saying I know how to build a space shuttle, so I do not need the directions. Christ told us He would send the great counselor after He left the world, and He did just that. He sent the Holy Spirit, to reside in each of us. You will never hear the counsel more clearly that when you are reading the Word of God. Within the word you will find the counsel you long for, the direction you need, and the conviction to carry on, even when the rest of the world tells you to stop.

 

Most importantly, when we say we can do this all by ourselves, we would do well to remember God himself saw, and stated that it was not good for us to be alone. You can read throughout the Bible and see many examples where God specifically brought people together to go out and spread His word. Why do you think that is? We are not meant to walk alone, even with the Lord at our side, we need earthly help. The encouragement that can only come from a friend, the intimacy that can only come from a spouse, the guidance that can only come from a mentor, the call to righteousness that can only come from an enemy. We cannot walk this world alone, and this is what this scripture is reminding us of. Alone we will fall, but with God,  Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the love and support of friends family, and a solid Church body at our side, we surround ourselves with the safety that can only come in numbers.  To borrow a phrase from our lovely Government we truly become too big to fail!

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

Straight Not Easy

Isaiah 45:2  "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron,

 

 

The KJV reads “I will make the crooked places straight” to read this passages it is easy to see that the Lord is promising to make the high places reachable, the crooked places straight, break down barriers, and cut through excuses. Many people read this and think, “oh yeah, I am in!” I follow the Lord, and the Lord will make my life easy……..sorry to be the one to break it to those people, but that is not what was just promised in this passage. Another idea taken out of context is the idea that the Lord just promised me to take me where I want to go on this easy new road…….yeah…..here again….no so much!

 

There is no doubt that the Lord will make the way clear by leveling and straightening the road, but He did not promise that He was going to remove all of the obstacles along the way. He said He would break down barriers, and cut through bars, those would be things that we might not be able to do on our own, however the day to day stuff, the interactions with others, the hard choices we make, the difficult times, and seasons of doubt. Those are all still there, and they are all still ours. Furthermore, often once the path does become clear, it becomes very evident that where the path leads, is nowhere near where we wanted to go. 

 

I say these things not to discourage, but to encourage you. You see God is with you, He is working right now on your behalf, but you have to have faith that if He has left something in your path, then it is something that you can deal with, overcome, and destroy.  If you see where you are heading and it is not where you wanted or expected to go, you have to realize that what you thought would bring you happiness, will be eclipsed by the true joy that the Lord has in store for you. To give you some examples. I am a pretty fit guy. I try to eat pretty healthy, go to the gym regularly, and lead a generally healthy lifestyle. I expect that I will have a pretty healthy life to come…..nope, wrong answer, despite my best efforts I have found that I still have health issues, ones that will require even more effort on my part. Not exactly what I had planned. I have a friend that started off with a degree in psych, and is now a lawyer for a non-profit, a friend that went to school for engineering, and is now a Minister. You see God made the road straight, but it is still a though road, and the destination changes to where He needs you, not where you want to go. 8 years ago, I would have laughed had you told me that I would be writing this today. Yet, as it stands now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

 

All of this is to simply say that we cannot afford to live on our timeline, by our rules, heading to our destination. God will straighten the path, and clear the “impossible barriers” but then we must walk by faith. Knowing that anything left in our path, we can handle, any difficulty we come up against is nothing more than The Lord leaving the light work to us. When our lives don’t go the way we planned, it is not the Lord making it difficult, it is the devil trying to knock us off the path. Living by faith, is not just saying “oh sure I believe in the Christ. You see…..even the devil believes in Jesus Christ. Living by faith is not just saying I trust in God, as we continue to fight against His will. Living in faith is standing in front of the Goliaths of the world with nothing but a sling. It is walking square into the difficulties in our life knowing that not only will we survive, but we will be victorious. He has brought the high places down, He has straightened the crooked places, and broken down doors, and cut the bars…now all we have to do is walk in faith, and if we can’t walk, then we crawl, and if we can’t crawl, then Christ himself will lift us up and carry us. Know this, God did not go through the trouble of straightening the road, only to make this life harder on you. He did not send His Son to die for us, only to turn around and say that you are not worth the trouble. You are important, you are loved, you are needed, and you are stronger, faster, and more worthy than what you give yourself credit for. Take on the hardships that come, walk through the season of doubt. Know that even though you might not have seen yourself going in the direction that path might lead….that is exactly where the Lord needs you…..and yes, yes you can do it.   

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

If It Is Not Good

1Thessalonians 5: 16-18 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing,  18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 

 

 

Give thanks, and rejoice? Pray without ceasing? I know I can hear some of you now….really Brian? Do you know the year I have had? Do you know the struggles, the disappointments, the tragedy, and the fix I am in right now? You are saying that I should still give thanks? I should still rejoice? I am telling you unequivocally, yes give thanks. At the moment when you think you have nothing to give thanks, is the moment you should realize there is someone (most likely in the same town, if not neighborhood) who would love to trade places with you. In all things, at all times, give thanks and rejoice. Think of the years that Joseph spent in jail (for a crime he did not really commit no less), think of Noah and the doves that came back with nothing to show. What about Paul in Prison? Time and time again throughout the Bible we see people in dire positions. Things are not looking good, as a matter of fact most of the time they are looking pretty grim. Yet we do not see despair, we do not see isolation, we do not see  then throwing in the towel, or starting up a pity party. No, we read of them praying, singing songs of praise and worship, we see them giving thanks for their lives, even though it is not the way they want it to be right then…….and there it is, the bottom line, and the brass tack. All of them had a couple of things in common, they were not where they wanted to be, but they had faith that it was not where they would end up. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works for the good in the lives of those who love Him. Do you know what that means? If it is not good, then God is not done. That my friends is a cause for eternal optimism. What can’t we endure for a short while?

 

Time is something we created. There is not an eighth day where it is written that God created the 24 hour day. I am convinced that it is one of the biggest hindrances to our relationship with Christ. You see our time is nothing to Him. As a result it seems like we are always “waiting an eternity” when it is really just a blink of an eye.  The storm you weather now is worthy of thanks. For it is that storm that will draw you closer to the Lord. Now I am not by any means saying that God makes bad things happen to us so we will love Him more. That would make the Lord a pretty petty God. However bad things happen in life, by our choosing, by our actions, the actions of others, sometimes we really can’t see why. If you survive it in one piece will largely depend on if you believe this is the end or not. I remember when I was a kid, and a F was the “end of the world” then later when a girl dumped me, that was “the end of the world” later in life the loss of a job, or a missed promotion was “the end” Until one day it finally clicked, this can’t be the end, because this is not good. That tells me two things, it is going to get better, and no matter how much this hurts, it will not last a lifetime. That my friends is worthy of thanks. And you can bet I was praying through the whole time, then praying some more after just, to say thanks again.

 

Oh yeah, I know it is easy to say, but hard to do, it is hard to find the voice to give thanks when the boot of life seems to be crushing your windpipe ….but let me ask you this, what have you ever received in life for free that was worth having?  Your home?  Your spouse? Your job? Life takes a lot of hard work, so why would we think that our spiritual life would be a walk in the park? The closer you get to the Lord, the harder the devil will work to pull you away.  I offer up this challenge, your next hardship, perhaps that is right now, give thanks, give thanks that it is not worse, give thanks that it is short lived, you pick what to be thankful for, but give thanks, then pray, offer up your troubles, give Christ the chance to show up, let Him know that you depend on Him, and then here is the hard part…… rejoice. If for no other reason than you know that the end of this storm must be coming. Make it a point to rejoice. Yes I do know how hard that can be. I have been there and done it……and I want you to know, it will work. God is not a liar, Christ will not leave you, the Holy Spirit will not subside. If it is not good, He is not done, and that is a huge reason to rejoice, pray, and give thanks.

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ

 

Expectations

1Johnn 3:1  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

 

 

We are all called children of God, we are assured of that throughout the Bible. Let us not confuse being children of God, with being perfect like the Son of God.  AS we surface form the Christmas season, and embark on a new year, we should take time to really look at where we want to go this year. It is the time of the resolutions that will last all year…or maybe a month…or maybe a week…..or maybe they have already died. When we look at things we want to change about ourselves, and the world around us this year let us make it a point to resolve things that we see to be imperfections, not necessarily what the world tell us are imperfections. We would do well to remember this verse. We are children of God, and the world does not know us.

 

It is important to remember this verse because what the world sees and what we know to be true often tend to be different things. The world tells us that we are fat, and that it is the upmost important thing to get skinny so that we might be accepted. However God loves fat people, just as much as he loves skinny people. The world tells us that to be successful we must become rich, but here again God loves the rich, as much as the poor. The world tells us that being popular, and outgoing is important, yet we know that the meek shall inherit the earth. As we ponder the coming year we would do ourselves, and the Lord the most justice by resolving to change what the Lord tells us is important, and not worrying too much what the world sees.

 

You see the Lord does not care if you are fat or thin, yet he does hate the sin of lying. The Lord does not care if you are successful in the business world, but He cares deeply in the success of your relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. God is not too concerned with how outgoing you are, He Himself used a man with a stutter  to free a nation. He does care how outgoing you allow the Holy Spirit to become in your life. You tell the world these truths, and you will be laughed at, but you see their expectations are not the same as yours, for they do not know you, and they did not know Christ when He came.

 

When Christ came to Earth it was expected that He would be a King in every sense of the word. It was expected that He would arrive in style, with His birth shouted from the rooftops, and His entrance into this world marked with a festival of epic proportions. Yet He entered this world in much of the opposite fashion, so the world could not see Him. Much in the same way this year, the world expects you, me, all of us to rally to the call of the same old lame resolutions…the perfect image, the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect life, they will expect you to resolve to be the perfect worldly person that they think you should be. As always we have a choice to make, will this be a year of conforming to the world, or to God? Will we strive to make this life better for now, or will we work to make our lives and the lives of those around us better for eternity?

 

My resolution this year is to make it through the Bible twice. Of course when I share my resolution with some folks they ask why…or my favorite…for what? That is ok though, they do not know me, the One who does, knows all too well why, and for what. As you kick off this year, what shall you resolve to do? Will it be to make simple changes that effects your life today and tomorrow, possibly the year? Will it be the ones the world expects? Or will you step out in faith, will you make it a year that your resolution can impact eternity? Many will not understand, and they will not expect it, but that will be ok, the world does not know us, because they did not know Him.

 

 

God Bless,

 

Brian Thetford

 

The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22

 

The Workweek With Christ