Those Boring Names

If you've ever read some of the first half (+) of the Bible, called the Old Testament, then chances are that you hit some sections where it's just name after name, family after family, or child after child. If you are like me, after reading about 4 lines you think, "I can't do this; it's pointless anyway." Next thing, you find where the end of the listing is and pick it up from there.

When serving overseas I plan on telling Bible stories which are crafted in a way that can be easily remembered and re-told Right now I'm working on "crafting" my first story, The Tower of Babel, which is located in Genesis 11. I started backtracking and reading a little before to make sure I know what I'm talking about and to tell anything that may be important to the story. What do ya know, I hit a few lists of names from Noah's children and the descendants. Right away I was like, "Whoop, fast forward!" Then it hit me. While training in Dallas someone told a story about how they were teaching & quickly going through a list of names thinking that it it really wasn't important and was going to bore the people. Later, the listeners came by and all of their questions were revolved around the lists of names and the genealogy.

Those lists of people's names aren't just insignificant names, they are people who really lived and which boil down to Jesus' blood line as well as ours. Each person played an important part in certain key events in history which boil down to us and to Christ sacrificing His life for you and I so that we can spend eternity in God's presence. In our culture here in the states, sometimes blood-line family stuff isn't very important to us because, well, we're all mixed and for the most part only care about those folks in our families in which we have some personal contact. In other cultures, though, there is a greater importance and focus on the family and its history so these lists aren't just random names, but they lead up to Christ and to you and I. Not to mention, it's fulfilled prophesy that was told early on, which was fulfilled later in the Bible, making it not just some book.

So next time, maybe read and reflect on those boring lists of names. : )

Continued from Yesterday- God's Will

In continuation from yesterday's blog on knowing God's will/desires for us:

*God's will is revisable. If the plan/idea changes and you end up somewhere else, for whatever reason, you are there because that's where God wants you to be, in that moment. He has a perfect will for you no matter where you are at in life. There isn't a "second best" either, you are where you are at now. Don't worry about His plan for your life, but more-so HIs plan for you today.

*We can't intentionally be disobedient to God's will when we clearly know what it is. You can't do something and think, "God will fix this and put me back on track."

Some great questions that I came across , which you should ask yourself, were:

1. Is it scriptural? What does the Bible have to say?

2. Is it advisable? What do your advisors (counselor, minister, elders, parents, wise friend, etc.) say?

3. Is it providential? What do the circumstances indicate?

4. Is it reasonable? What is your sense telling you? (God's reasonable. He's given you the Holy Spirit to help.)

If His will isn't clear:

1. Wait

2. Wiggle some doorknobs. Go an adventure to feel it out.

3. Look for "blocks." Ask if the door is closing/opening for a reason. What reason? What's happening here?

4. Continue to pray and ask.

A couple of verses on God's will:

*Eph 5:13- "awake o' sleeper"

*Col. 4:12- be a servant

*Col. 1:9-12- bearing fruit; this comes from reading scripture, prayer, encouragement, etc.

*Rom. 8:27-31- Love Him. Ask Him.

*Rom. 12:1-21- Sacrifice. Be transformed. Be humble. Use your gifts. Love and hate what you should. Serve. Joy. Hope. Pray. Do good.

*Matt. 18:12-14- It's God's will that no one goes without Him. Everyone's valuable. No one should be lost or left behind.

*Eph. 5:15-17 Be wise. Make the most of every opportunity.

Those are just a few but The Bible is full of other verses that are straight forward on what His will is. Heck, that's what The Bible is, it's our guide. Be in it; such good stuff! I'm not saying that I know anything, but what I do know is that, for now, for today, I'm where I should be and the future isn't something I need to stress about. After all, life is like a scroll.

What do the folks do if they don't have access to a Bible, or one that speaks in their language? How will they know what God's will is for them?

Knowing God's Will

Recently I had this conversation about knowing God's will and whether or not we come up with stuff on our own or if God is specifically leading us in a particular direction. I did some Bible studying and some internet searching just to see what other people had to say on the subject, although I already had my thoughts on it. This is a two-part blog. Here's what I've got:

*You can't "find" God's will. You just live and his will kind of finds you. Be concerned about serving God today than finding God's will for tomorrow.

*Some things aren't clear and there isn't necessarily a "will" for everything but God's given us principles & guidelines that we use for practical daily life. Living using/following those is his "will."

*God's plan isn't hidden or elaborate, it's all right there in The Bible for us. His will is:

-Be saved

-Pray

-Trust in Christ alone

-Read His Word

-Worship

-Give

-Sacrifice

-Disciple (yourself & others)

-Put off sin and put on righteousness

-Put away things that hold you down spiritually

-Fruits of the Spirit

-Grow, change & mold towards holiness like Christ

-This list could go on and on. See The Bible.

Being a visual learner I quickly came up with this tree idea of how God leads and/or doesn't lead us. It helped me but may confuse you.

Branch #1: We make a decision to do or not do something and God gives us the freewill to do so. He takes that decision and uses it to do great things and glorify himself and clearly you can see that His hand is all in it.

Branch #2: We make a decision to do or not do something, again, God has given us that freewill. Things just don't go well and they continue to not go well. This can be 2 different things; either, clearly that is not a path that God wants you to go down and you need to make some serious changes OR you should continue to go down it because that's Satan attacking a good thing that will/is glorifying God. No matter what here, God can use these trials/temptations for his glory in the long run.

Branch #3: God is clearly taking you down a path and you know so because the Spirit has shown you certain hints or spoken to you in a way that is so clear (through reading scripture, other people, dreams, visions, maybe even audible). You follow this path. Typically Satan jumps on this leading and of course it can either go down the tubes or God's totally all over it and Satan doesn't show his face (yeah, that doesn't happen). In all things, God wins.

Branch #4: For some reason (okay, well because of Satan), sometimes we go down the wrong path on purpose. We know something's wrong but we still make the decision to do it. From the get-go this is not God's intentions for you. Here you can go two ways again, either you allow God to enter and change things around or you continue down this path which leads death.

*Whatever God's will is, it is good.

*God's will is for everyone. It's about the body (The Church). It's The Church's responsibility to help one another find their place.

*His will isn't given in a map form (I'm quite guilty of this). It's given like a scroll, where one thing at a time is shown at a time that He thinks is best. Once in a while he'll show us a little peak into the future but for the most part it's a day-by-day thing.

To Be Continued...