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I Kings 19:3-4 - And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers."
· What Not Trusting in God Looks Like. Elijah isn't having one of his better days in the scripture text above. Maybe you can relate with Elijah? He had just experienced a spiritual high. He had defeated the 450 false prophets of Baal. God had honored him by sending fire down from heaven and consuming the water drenched sacrifice after Baal didn't answer the false prophets. Jezebel then threatens to take Elijah's life and he flees. What is with that? I really don't understand Elijah's actions here. He had defeated the 450 false prophets of Baal by trusting in God and now he is going to flee. I would like to ask Elijah a few questions: "Why not trust God one more time? Why did you flee?" Elijah had shown his faith so many times by trusting in God. He was used by God to raise the dead. He knew he had a special relationship with God. So why did Elijah become such a wimp? He runs away and hides and now he wants to die. When have you not trusted God? How did you feel afterwards? You will want to remember that awful feeling. Why? So that you don't have to feel it again. So that it motivates you to stay faithful and not wimp out. · When Do Opportunities Not To Trust God Usually Come? What does your not trusting God look like? Have you experienced any spiritual highs? If I were you I would be careful because I have observed that right after a spiritual high comes a testing of your faith. This usually will result in a spiritual low if you aren't prepared to battle against this test. Not trusting God can come in many different ways of testing or trials. The word "beware" is used 14 times in the New Testament. That is a pretty good indication that we should be on guard as we walk through this life. We have an enemy who seeks to devour us. · When Trusting God There Will Be Times When It Looks Like You're Losing. One must always remember no trial is able to defeat you and your God. You must keep the faith. When it is looking very dim for you that is the time to draw closer to God not run away from Him. You can never lose by keeping your faith in God. NEVER. Think on This: All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all that I haven't seen. Ralph Waldo Emerson Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Ps. 23:3 - "He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake."
The father was quite shocked. So he asked his son, “Why would you want to do that?” He said his son looked at them with a straight face and said, “Because I am sick and tired of taking orders from you and mom. All I ever hear is it is time to get up, hurry and eat your breakfast, get to school, do your homework, do these chores, you have to be home by midnight and it is time to go to bed. I am tired of taking orders from you all.” His dad asked, “So you joined the Marine Corps so you would not have to take orders?” I don’t know about you but just writing this story has me laughing, my side hurts and tears are running down my face. I crack up every time I remember that story.
I believe that some of our life “paths” that we choose can be more difficult than other paths. Now I could be wrong here but I think choosing the Marine Corps may have been a little harder than living at this young man’s parent’s house when it came to receiving orders. I am not saying the young man made the wrong choice by choosing the Marines because some of my greatest learning experiences have come from enduring difficult struggles. If he stayed in the Marines I am sure they changed him for the better. However, I would imagine those first weeks of basic training were difficult especially since he didn’t like his mom telling him it was time to awake. Some times in life we try to take the easy path or the path with the least resistance and that might be okay but I can testify that the real lessons of life are learned when we are exerting all our strength to keep our heads above water. One important thing to remember is this that because you choose a path of righteousness doesn’t mean safe sailing. If you look back to the early disciples and apostles many of them died because of their decision to travel on the path of righteousness. James was beheaded, Peter crucified upside down, Paul locked away in prison the last years of his life and the Apostle John was exiled to an island.
Choose a path where you will be able to use your God given talents. I would not choose a path to simply make someone else happy. I did once when I was 14 years old and can tell you this after a month I kept asking myself, “What in the world have I done?” (I am not talking about doing something for a day or a week to make someone happy of course we would do that. What I am talking about is something that will take years.) I counseled a man one time that became a dentist to make his father happy. He said after his fifth year of being a dentist that he was calling it quits. He said, “I can’t do this any longer.” He felt as though he had wasted over tens years of his life doing something to make someone else happy. When you choose a path choose one you love and you will enjoy your journey.
Look at people who have gone down the wrong paths and learn from their mistakes. There is nothing in the rulebook that says you can’t learn from another person’s mistakes. So Do Yourself a Favor and Learn From Others. Learn from those who have done things correct and learn from those who have made mistakes. Which paths have you chosen if you look back now may have been a little harder than necessary? Yeah, I know we all have a few of those paths that we are not proud that we have walked, but the key is we don’t keep walking on them. Think on These: A person can save himself from many hard falls by refraining from jumping to conclusions. Everyone is capable of making mistakes, but fools practice them. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Mt 15:22-28 -…."Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." 24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." NASU
The Sadducees tried to trap Him with the usage of an Old Test. passage (Deut. 25:5) that says, "If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother." Then they ask Jesus whose wife will she be after they all have been resurrected? You can see the looks on their faces like we have Him this time. Then Jesus tells them there will be no marriage after the resurrection for we will be like angels. Now you can see the mouths drop open and they don't know what to say. Every time Jesus has an encounter with any of the Israelites he will never be bested by them.
The Pharisees and scribes were once again complaining about His disciples eating before they washed their hands. Jesus has been defending His disciples against the lunacy of the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus was trying to get away from this group of guys and the best way for Him to do that is to separate Himself from them. He goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon which is a trip of 30-40 miles easily and let us not forget they were walking. We have all been tired in our life and wanted nothing more than to get some quiet rest and that is exactly what Jesus wants, but there is a woman who wants His help.
First, Jesus doesn't even answer her request. He says nothing. He just keeps on walking. The disciples have had enough of this woman. They want Jesus to send her away, get rid of her. Why? She keeps shouting at the disciples because she has a sick daughter. You have to use your imagination here. What were the disciples saying to her? Most likely in some polite way get out of here lady, can't you see we just want to be alone. We need some down time. We are tired and need to rest. Second, Jesus goes from not even answering her to giving her an answer you really wouldn't want to hear. Jesus says, "I was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." WOW! What about that for an answer? You want to talk about getting a bucket of cold water thrown in your face. I wasn't sent to help you (Gentiles) I was sent to help the lost sheep of Israel. (This will change after Jesus' resurrection. The apostles are told to "go and make disciples of all nations," (Mt. 28:19). But look what she does? She is not even fazed by His answer. She draws closer to Him and bows down and says, "Lord, help me!" Third, Jesus' answer is shocking and, one we would not expect Jesus to give. He says to her, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Ouch! Now that has really got to hurt. The "children" are the Israelites, the "bread" is the miracles that He and His disciples have been doing and the "dogs" are the Gentiles. If Jesus made that type of a comment in the USA today He would be called a racist. Now some people may have stood up and said, "Fine if that is the way you want to be so be it." But not this lady, she keeps her eyes fastened on Jesus and she says, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." She is saying, You want to call me a dog. So be it. I have been called a lot worse because of my daughter's condition. She compares herself to a dog and then wins this verbal confrontation with "even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master's table." In other words, "All I am asking for is one miracle for my daughter." Jesus knew she was a mother who was on a mission and she was willing to be ignored, yelled at by the disciples and insulted but none of that would matter if her daughter was healed. Jesus pays her the highest compliment that can be paid to anyone when He says, "O Woman your faith is great; …"
The reason Christians ignore being treated harshly is the hope of hearing Jesus say, "Man or woman your faith is great enter in My faithful servant." Think on This: As a Christian stay on the straight and narrow you will be glad you did. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Gen. 41:50-51- Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." NASU
In prison he reveals the meaning of dreams to a butler and a baker. When the baker has a dream Joseph will interpret it. He will die exactly the way Joseph interpreted his dream. Joseph will interpret a dream for the butler and when it happens exactly the way Joseph said the butler doesn’t help Joseph like he said he would immediately. He will use this knowledge later to help Joseph to be freed from prison and to make himself look good in the eyes of the Pharaoh.
When no one is able to interpret the dream the butler remembers Joseph can interpret dreams. He is brought in and he reveals the dreams and their interpretation. The meaning of his dream is Egypt is about to experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. God has given Joseph the ability to reveal and interpret the dream of the Pharaoh, and because of this the Pharaoh places him second in command over all Egypt at this time.
Joseph says, "God has made him forget…" So what about you, can you say I have had my share of troubles? Have people lied about you? Have you been sexually harassed or physically abused? Have you been in prison for a crime you didn't commit? Have you been cheated by family members? Have people been jealous of you or your accomplishments? If you are able to answer "yes" to any of these questions then let me ask you one more question.
If you are having trouble forgetting your past hurts ask God to help you. He helped Joseph and He will help you. We can see when Joseph had his first child this was changing him. Children have a way of changing us all. You may be like me and too old to have children, but there are other ways you can have a Manasseh moment. You have to find the one that works for you and let those past hurts go. Think on These: It is far better to forgive and forget than to hate and remember. We are like beast when we kill, men when we judge others and God when we forgive. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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