Direction

I have been reading Jonah this week and have been thinking about direction.  Jonah heard from God and then decided that he was going to head in the opposite direction.  He let his emotions drive his decision jumped on a ship and ran.  There is a verse that really stuck out for me in this book, and I believe it is a good reminder as I walk out each day.

 "Those who cling to worthless idols

   forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

 I have included it in context below as it is part of a much larger prayer that Jonah prayed as he struggled with his decision and eventually gave into God's will.

   “In my distress I called to the LORD,
   and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
   and you listened to my cry.
³ You hurled me into the deep,
   into the very heart of the seas,
   and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
   swept over me.
⁴ I said, ‘I have been banished
   from your sight;
yet I will look again
   toward your holy temple.’
⁵ The engulfing waters threatened me,
   the deep surrounded me;
   seaweed was wrapped around my head.
⁶ To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
   the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
   O LORD my God.
 ⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,
   I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
   to your holy temple.
 ⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols
   forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
⁹ But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
   will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
   Salvation comes from the LORD.”

Fishers of Men

^{I take heart in the fact that Jesus accepts me right where I am.  His love is pure, unchanging.  He cannot love me anymore or any less than he already does because his love is pure.  He loved me way before I chose to love him.  He does not force, persuade, or hard sell.  He simply said I so love you that  I am willing to take on your sin, suffer on a cross and die. Death could not hold him and a promise was fulfilled.   I am thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for me.} 

^{Fishers of Men}

^Invitation

^{Contemplation}

^Decision

^Action

^{Mathew 4:18-22}

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.  they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Expectations

I snapped this shot while traveling up the Amazon last June during a mission trip. I thought of it today while I was reading the news letter from the missionary Orchidy Boyd that I have been working with. I will be traveling back this June to help with an outreach to several villages farther up river. The part that excites me most is the outreach is being planned in partnership with the village that Orchidy has been ministering to.  Members of the Yagua village that she has been working with will be traveling with us, sharing Christ with their neighbors along the river.  Really it is no different than us reaching out to one another in our own home towns.   Inviting a friend to church, encouraging a brother, offering to pray for a person in need.  My prayer today is that I would allow God to use me wherever I am, and in whatever I am doing.  I pray that I would treat my own town like a mission field, and that I would not let my own expectations cloud God's prompting in my life.

Ephesians 3:5-7

⁵ which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.  ⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

Walk With Him

What does it look and feel like to be in sink with God, to walk with Him, to hear His voice, to experience breakthrough?  This has been tumbling around my brain for the last few weeks.  I have come to the conclusion that it feels personal, life altering, intimate.  Feelings that you did not think you had flood into your life, and you find yourself caring and loving in ways that you can't otherwise explain.   My prayer today is that I would seek God in the normal, in the everyday, and even in the mundane.  I pray for the ability to be still, the ability to wait, the ability to listen, and the ability to hear.

In what way is God asking you to walk with him?

It may come as a whisper

Walk with me

Match my stride

Stop, be still

Listen, for I am speaking

Move

Move as one

Match my stride

Walk with me

Cowboy

At the age of 4 and 5 I spent many cold winter afternoons dressed up like a cowboy riding fiercely on my spring powered wonder horse rounding up stray couch cushions, and saving a little sister in distress.  My black lab was my constant companion and stealthy lookout, always at the  ready but cleverly disguised in a prostrate position beside the fire.  My steed was well seasoned, he had been put out to pasture years earlier, but my father who had a keen eye had snatched him up for a fraction of his value at a neighborhood yard sale.  He was faded, squeaked, creaked and popped a bit, but to me he was the fasted thing with four legs and springs.  Cowboys had a super hero quality for me, they were self reliant, tough, and always caught the bad guy.  

Years later I watch as my boys play out their super hero fantasies.  Cowboys occasionally show up but more often than not they are accompanied by ninjas, pirates, and the ever present Jedi. 

While painting this I thought about how much my perception of a hero has changed over the years.  My hero is so much bigger, stronger, and mightier than anything I could have ever imagined as a child.  He has real power and authority.  He can walk on water, command the wind and the waves and is gentle and scary all at once.  He promises eternal life and was willing to suffer to insure I had the opportunity to be with him.  He will never let me down, walk away, or fail to show up.  He is the one constant in my life that I can count on. He is three in one, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

I have discovered over the years that I was not meant to ride alone.  I need God to be at the center of my life and it is my prayer that he will grant me the faith to allow him even more control, for it is only when I am willing to let go that I can truly belong to him.

Ephesians 1:11-12

In Christ  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession,  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will  so that we, who were the first to set our hope  on Christ,  would be to the praise of his glory.