It has been a couple of days since I have been able to spend some time with my Lord in the morning so He woke me up at 4am this morning. Yesterday was a hard day for me with two “whiny” boys, Tom being one of them… :) I went to bed early because I was so weary from it all and from trying to keep my mouth shut and be patient, loving and kind… and I honestly didn't really do that great of a job! I guess the Lord knew I needed this time with Him :) So, once again I am reminded to “keep my eyes on Jesus”!
Here is part of today’s Oswald:
The Servant's Primary Goal
2 Corinthians 5:9 – “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
“We make it our goal. . . ." It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only "to be well pleasing to Him." It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval from his Conductor.
I love this!! Who are we looking to for approval!? If it is not our “conductor” we are off track! And then the True Vine devotional talks about how hard it is to be the “musician” and bear much fruit without Jesus:
The True Vine:
“This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit…” (John 15:8)
Much fruit—God asks it; see that you give it. God can be content with nothing less; be you content with nothing less. Let these words of Christ—fruit, more fruit, much fruit—abide in you, until you think as He does, and you be prepared to take from Him, the heavenly Vine, what He has for you. Much fruit: herein is my Father glorified. Let the very height of the demand be your encouragement. It is so entirely beyond your power that it throws you more entirely upon Christ, your true Vine. He can, He will, make it true in you.
How true is that!! First, that we can’t do it without HIM, and second the HE CAN and WILL make it happen in me! Only YOU Lord can do these things!
Today’s “Intimacy with God” study was on John 2:1-11 when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding. She brought up an interesting point regarding how “devastating” it was for the bridegroom to run out of the wine since he was responsible for it!! And she focused on his need for “more” of something. Her questions were: What was the first step to bringing a resolution to this problem (or need for more)? It was to “go to Jesus”. What did Mary command the servants to do? “Do whatever He tells you”. Oh, how easy it is for us to MISS these very important steps!! Most of the time we try to fix things ourselves and after many failed attempts hopefully we finally turn to Jesus! But when we finally do go to him, do we then listen and obey his instructions to us? In this story the servants had to fill SIX water jars that contained 20 t0 30 GALLONS of water! This was certainly NOT an easy task! They did not have running water easily accessible to them but had to WORK VERY HARD to follow those instructions. Not only that but I am sure these instructions did not make a lick of sense to them! They needed WINE not water! But these were very “good” servants because, not only did they fill these jugs with water, but they filled them “to the brim”!! They didn’t stop part way, doing a mediocre, half hearted job, and they didn’t try to make sense of His instructions but they did the best job they could do and filled the jugs all the way to the top! Wow. What a wonderful example of an obedient servant these guys were to us. And the coolest part of this story is that THEY were the ones who witnessed the miracle! No one else knew that it was “water” they were bringing to “the master of the banquet” (except maybe Jesus and his disciples) so they were the ones who were the witnesses of Jesus’ first miracle. How cool is that? And how typical of Jesus to not want to impress the “leaders” or the “important people” but focus on the “servants”… the ones who are usually behind the scenes and don’t get much attention. That is SO like my Lord!
So, to make this applicable to me, what do I need more of? Besides “Jesus”…? I guess more of the fruit of the Spirit, His Love, compassion, kindness, patience, wisdom, discernment…Ok, I guess I just need more of Jesus and His Holy Spirit which gives me all those things! And what are His instructions to me..? Well, if the last few mornings with Him are any indication… I would have to say that I need to ABIDE in HIM more, keep my eyes focused on HIM and surrender myself. “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Oh Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning to spend time with you! I soooo needed it!! Lord, without YOU I can do nothing. Help me to look to You for all things, abiding in You and doing ONLY what You tell me to do. And thank you for your patience and forgiveness for all the many times I am unable to accomplish Your instructions to me. I love you so much my Lord. More of You and less of me! In Jesus name, amen!
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