VIMBLOGS

Francis Chan - Powerful!!

2011-09-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Don't Despise the Day of Small Things by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

2011-09-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

This bible study really ministered to me.

I remember the excitement in my boyhood neighborhood when somebody began to build a large home on a vacant lot at the end of our street. A concrete truck rolled up to pour foundations, and for several days we could hear the sound of vigorous pounding as carpenters framed the walls. Then everybody left. I never knew why. Not another nail was pounded. The frame stood winter and summer--as long as I lived there--a house of sticks and little more.

Some of God's projects stall, too. Five centuries before Jesus was born, the Israelites returned from exile to find Jerusalem in ruins and their beloved temple destroyed. With great enthusiasm they set about rebuilding it. However, Zerubbabel the governor, got little farther than laying the foundation before opposition set in. Neighbors fought the project tooth and nail, finally succeeding in getting a restraining order to halt construction (Ezra 4). Enemies mocked. Supporters became discouraged. For years the site stood silent.

Failure. Zerubbabel felt like a failure. Oh, there were plenty of other things to do. Zerubbabel set to work building his own wood-paneled home. But his grand dream had fizzled.

He was probably like the rest of us when failure looms. What little self-confidence we have ebbs away. We seal ourselves from more pain by denial. We meet further effort with skepticism. We protect ourselves from getting our hopes too high again. We look at the ground rather than the sky, at the past rather than the future.

And then one day a man of God, Zechariah, began to speak words that pierced Zerubbabel to the heart and filled him with fresh hope: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel," came the message. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." Zerubbabel could feel his heart pounding as the message continued. "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple, his hands will also complete it" (Zechariah 4:6-7).

The project had seemed like an immovable mountain, Zerubbabel thought. But now with God at work he knew he could finish the temple.

The final words of the prophecy jolted him. "Do not despise the day of small things. Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel" (vs. 10).

He had despised that early start. How weak, how insignificant, how naive he had been. Yet, in spite of all that, God had been in those beginnings.

How often our efforts for God are attacked by the enemy. We can get so discouraged we don't even want to try again. But God delights in taking the insignificant and making something out of it. Down through history we can see the pattern:

Moses' rod that delivered a nation from Egypt (Exodus 4:1-9),
The jawbone of an ass that in Samson's hand killed a thousand Philistines (Judges 15:14-16),
Five smooth stones that felled the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17),
The handful of meal and a jar of oil that sustained a widow through years of famine (2 Kings 4:1-7),
Five barley loaves and a couple fish that fed a multitude (Matthew 14:13-21), and
The mustard seed Jesus said would become a great tree for birds to find shelter (Matthew 13:31-32).

What little thing, what dream, what false start, have you despised? Your small church, your tiny Bible study, your hopes of ministry for Christ? Do you despise your failures? Don't. Surrender them to the God who delights in taking human weakness and showing His strength. Take another look at your discarded dreams, this time through God's eyes:

"Not by might, not by power, but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6). Oh, by the way. When I went back to my old neighborhood, someone had finished that house at the end of the street. It's beautiful.

Living in the Future

2011-08-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

I do not know about you, but I have been snagged by the snare of dreams. I am living in the future more so than today. My personal ambitions and the need to be successful can easily cloud every thought. This is not to mention the plan God has for me. I am coming to realize that today is the only day that counts. If we really trust God, do we really need a five year plan? Would we not end up in God’s best place if we surrendered each day to Him?

I have been paralyzed for to long. This “living in the future” or always dreaming about the future has cause me to become stagnate in my “today“. I may never have my future and I will never see my yesterday again. Today is what life is about. If we trust God for today we should not worry about tomorrow. Matthew 6:25 says,

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

This may seem easy or even like common sense to some. However, we all are guilty to some degree. Some may say worrying and dreaming are different. That may be the case sometimes, but if you really examine your heart you will see that vast majority of the time worry or anxiety is right there in the midst. When God gave the children of Israel manna from heaven, it was good for that day. When God kept Daniel safe in the loins den, or the 3 Hebrew boys safe from the fiery furnace, that was good for that day. Any other day could have had a completely different outcome.

The point is if we are meditating on our future more so than we are living our today, something is off. How is it we can be praying about our future, but run the kids off today? How can we go to church and have a good time in the Lord, but hate being with our family? How can we say we trust the Lord if we live in the fantasy of your future while ignoring the reality of today?

The answered is simple, we are side tracked by the American dream, personal ambitions, and our 5 and 10 year plans. Really what we are looking for is purpose. We need to know and want to know our purpose… Our purpose is the same, to know God and to do His will today!

Today is the day of Salvation! Not tomorrow. So lets stop dreaming about tomorrow and make the most of our today!

If we take our minds off ourselves and begin to focus on the Kingdom of God today, we could rock this world!!!

Am I Good Enough?

2011-07-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Am I Good Enough?

We are living in a culture where it is hard to separate who we are from what we have. In addition, we are bombarded with images that have been enhanced, photo shopped, and edited. We as a society are spending more and more time in front of our computers and televisions. As we surrender to this movement we have become slaves to an ideology that says we are not good enough. Subsequently, we have to buy more things, cast an image, and even have surgeries just to feel normal or accepted.

As a Christian should we be bound by these same temptations? Do we have to look a certain way in order to feel accepted? How important is the image we portray? Should we care less about the world around us?

This is where my favorite book of all time comes in. The Search for Significance is by far the most influential book I have every read and it addresses these questions and more.. I know as a Christian I should say the Bible is number one. In reality it is. The Search for Significance is chopped full of scriptures and biblical principles. The benefit to this book is that, it harnesses God’s word in such away that it really addresses the issue of self-esteem and self-worth. This book would not have been at all possible without the Bible. Thus, the Bible is the source of it’s power.

Before reading this book, I was very insecure BUT DID NOT KNOW IT. I was bullied as a child, and had a very rough upbringing. Whether with words, actions, or circumstances, I was always told I did not measure up and that I was not good enough. Additionally, I was called names that implied the same or worse. I did get random words of encouragement, but it was never enough to take on the giant that was growing before my eyes. This giant became so big that I began to put up walls. I put up these walls to protect myself. I began to hurt people because I was hurting. I ran from love and I trusted no one.

Thank goodness God had a different plan for my life. I had a professor assign this book for a reading assignment. I dodged the reading as usual. However, when they began to talk about it in class it began to minister to me. At that point I new I must read this book. It took another year or so before I actually picked it up and read it. Boy, was I in for a surprise. I had an encounter with God every time I read. He began to change me from the inside out. I have recently began to read the book again, because my self-worth has been shaken many times over the pass three years. Yet again, I am feeling His presence, love, and changing power.

I really believe The Search for Significance could do the same for you. Therefore, I highly recommend it. Please let me know what God does in your life through this book.

God is Good!

2011-06-18T11:10:00.001-07:00

All of the time God is good!