Welcome to our September edition. This will be an insightful edition. Those of you that read my articles regularly, know that I am grateful to the Lord for the talent He has given me and my men to do our job. I completely believe and feel this. There is nothing religious about this statement. We each have our gifts. I was fortunate enough and blessed to find mine because I did not start out pursuing landscape. I need to say this because without saying it, my next statement might seem a bit egotistical, and that is not my intention at all.
When it comes to hardscape, e.g., building walls, laying pavers, there are plenty of companies that can do that. I can see the talent at some of my clients’ homes, and I really appreciate it. The hardscape is very nicely done. Where my profession falls, in my opinion, is with the softscape. This is the statement that might seem conceited, but it’s not. I truly believe that what we offer as a company is unique, in that we can do both hardscape and softscape at a level that other companies are unable to do. I am truly grateful for this skill.
We started this job in February 2021. It is now approaching 2 1⁄2 years, and I am really pleased with the growth. In looking at the pictures, let’s consider the progression. In the first picture you can see we are building the wall. The clients inherited a backyard, and half of it was useless. However, with some imagination we came up with a purposeful application for them. By building the wall, we stabilized the soil and clearly made a divide from the upper and lower portion. Please see the video. From there, we added pavers on the lower area, and now we have a small patio/bistro area. This was just one part of the job, but it was an important part.
Here we show the rest of the yard and the growth of the plants, which really compliments the hardscape. The hardscape and the softscape (plants and lawn), when done correctly, are the perfect marriage. It makes all the difference. The job took about 3 1⁄2 weeks to complete. In today’s dollars it would be in excess of $65K. We also built a retaining wall with treated lumber on the plant/lawn side. That whole area sloped down toward the fence, and we needed to build it up by adding multiple yards of soil to bring it to grade. If you scan the QR code and listen to the video, I continue to explain the work. Finally, the waterfall was built by another company who is local to Auburn.
Click on the QR code below to see a video preview of the yard.
Please watch the video introduction to my message here:
Anything we pursue in life has the potential to enslave us, but pursuing Christ frees us; why?
Adam and Eve’s disobedience caused them to lose the Holy Spirit, just as we do when we sin. Sin causes a break in our fellowship/communion with the Lord. Similar to an argument between your spouse or your child. Until amends are made, and forgiveness enters the relationship, separation remains. It is no different with God. However, forgiveness carries a heavy price tag on God’s end.
To forgive my wife or her to forgive me requires a heart-to-heart conversation. For God to forgive us brings Him back to the cruelty of the Cross and His Son hanging there, saying, “Father forgive them for they no not what they are doing.” God’s Kingdom runs on principles of holiness that cannot be violated. Our longings and desires have been corrupted even with Christ in our lives. We must learn to honor and love God, which is our created purpose. We do not understand that because of sin’s effect on our life. We cannot love God as such because we love ourselves too much. Hence, we are naturally absent of God’s presence, but through repentance and placing our trust in Christ, we can again enter into the relationship we were created for.
When we pursue our passions absent of Christ, we can find contentment, but it is short-lived. As time goes on, we find we need more. More money, achievement, praise, challenges, etc., and our life becomes driven. If we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit comes, which is what Born-Again means. However, the Holy Spirit is jealous of us, and He wants no other gods in our lives. We’ve all heard the saying that three is a crowd, well that’s very true for us. So He starts to mess things up in our life. The things that we used to enjoy and thought were necessary must go. We learn that we made little gods out of them, seeking fulfillment from them. As we pray and read our Bibles, we begin to find the peace we have longed for. So, as we make purposeful decisions to seek Him and forsake our past “lovers,” our sense of well-being grows. Yet, make no mistake, it’s a fight between light and darkness, between Truth (Freedom) and deception (enslavement), and we decide who wins.
If we spend hours on social media, hanging out with non-believers (our friends who do not value God), and maybe two hours a week at church or reading a devotional, guess who wins? The world does. Whoever we spend the most time with influences us the most. We must make purposeful decisions to add to our faith, and as we do, righteousness, peace, and a sense of feeling good about ourselves grow. If we choose to go our way, we will not change. Then we are back to feeling insecure about ourselves, empty and depleted. Feeling good about a bad decision is virtually impossible if you are genuinely born again. God’s hand is on you, convicting you, calling you to return to Him. Even if you have never accepted Christ, you can be experiencing these feelings because Christ is calling you out of the world unto Himself.
There were very few people God recognized and used in the Old Testament because of our sinfulness. We find that these people were prophets and a few kings. They were people who feared God, and they had this reverential fear of God in common. Because of our affluence, many of us live as though we do not need God; most of our needs are met. We believe in Him but are not desperate or dependent upon Him. We do not read His Word or pray daily; for example, we thank Him for our meals. If we are having a difficult day, we might pray. The expression “to walk with God,” as in “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis:5.21-24), means a frequent dialogue with God, as one has with a close friend or spouse.
I love Creation; it reminds me to dialogue with my Heavenly Father. There are these tiny birds I see during my work day and how detailed they are in their plumage; or when we travel east on the 80, I see the vastness of the mountain ranges, and it all speaks to me about a God who is detailed in His making and vast and grand in His powers, and I tell Him so. Taking note of all these things helps build my faith in the hard times. Another example is when we clean our homes. That can become one of the most intimate prayer times as we ask the Lord to clean our soul and remove the sins that cling so easily. Or when work is frustrating, ask the Lord for wisdom and endurance to see it through, just as He, Christ, completed each daily task the Father had for Him. If you ask Him to open your eyes and heart, many circumstances can become a prayer.
For those of us who are married, do you remember when you were dating your spouse; was there any such thing as talking to them too much? And when we were apart, we were always thinking about them. That is precisely the relationship God is wanting with us. A love relationship. If we would only believe that this is exactly how God feels about you and me. He does not care if you are “somebody.” Understanding and believing this, don’t you think you would read more and seek to know the God that loves you so? There is no grandeur privilege in the world other than to “walk with God.” Insecurity comes because we were never meant to be disconnected from God. But because we are, insecurity entered man’s heart, but from the beginning, it was never meant to be so. Christ came to reverse that.
Psalms 139:17-18
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee.
The Lord constantly has us on His mind. Unfortunately for us, life can turn into routines. We go to work, we come home, we take the kids to football, dance, or cheer (as it is in my family), come home, have dinner, take a shower, go to bed, and wake up to do it again. The routine of life can, if allowed, make our walk with God routine as well. We can become stale in our seeking. We maintain this spiritual routine until a trial or a crisis strikes, and the seeking becomes desperate. We begin to understand how fragile our world is. We are not as insulated as we thought, so we learn that it doesn’t just happen to the other guy but also to us. Through these crises, we learn to prioritize what is essential, and now it’s not about my agenda but His. How many of us can attest to this? Tragedy or crisis, as it were, takes the “dust off” our relationship with God, and we re-appreciate what we have been blessed with.
How can we prevent the routine of life from collecting dust on our relationships, especially our walk with God? I don’t think we can completely. I think it’s human nature to do so, and we need to go through trials and defeats for those experiences to change us and become the impetus for us to grow and seek Him. They help us cut the strings of human relationships that keep us from trusting God solely. Let me share some critical verses from Jeremiah, the prophet.
Jeremiah 17:5-6
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited (a picture of what happens to our soul).
I am a little concerned that as we live life on the foundation of our faith, to love the Lord with all our heart gets diluted because of these relationships not only with them but with activities, schedules, and or business, and soon, almost without knowing it, we have drifted and our foundation is weak. Our “faith” can quickly become a mixture of good deeds and religion( religion is like staying married, but there’s no love). As such, this “spiritual cancer,” I’ll call it, grows going undetected, and no bells are going off; in fact, we are mostly enjoying life. Kids are good, marriage is good, and there’s money in the bank, but then, as we think back, we remember days when we felt God’s presence more and prioritized Him more; what happened? And instead of addressing it as we should, we dismiss it and keep moving forward, unaware that our spiritual cancer is growing. What can we do?
Psalms 119:9-12
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse (or anyone) his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
First, confess it to the Lord and then understand there can be no compromise between activities, schedules, etc., and reading the Word. I read my Bible during lunch daily; at times, lunch is at 5 p.m. The day has been so busy that I could not stop, but my time with Him is non-negotiable. So whether it’s at noon or five is not the important part; the important part is that I spend time with my Father daily. Next, we must acknowledge that our work (or business) can make us feel needed and important. It’s kind of a fake phobia. We need to acknowledge that and repent. Nothing is more critical and needful than when God calls you into a relationship with Him; that’s paramount to anything else we do or will ever do. Do you believe this? Most of us don’t, and that’s where the problem lies. What did God tell Joshua, and do you think it applies only to Joshua or us?
Joshua 1:8-9
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make — thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
***I know that He is not just speaking to Joshua but to all who follow Him and want to conquer their carnal man or woman and life in general. We also want to go through our lives sensing His presence and being His light in our world. Therefore, ask yourself what activities, actions, or thoughts are taking you away from Him. In Bible times, the Kings would make alliances with other kings when they perceived that the enemy King coming against them was stronger than them. Judah’s Kings did this constantly, which offended God greatly. However, a few Kings, like King David and King Hezekiah, for instance, trusted God. Even when the odds were ridiculously against them, they’d trusted, and God delivered. Because of their trust, God was able to be God, which allowed the nation to experience His love, provision, and protection.
Isn’t that the point of difficulty that we demonstrate and teach our family that God is faithful? As they grow up and face their difficulties, they will have a legacy from their parents of God’s faithfulness. What better “life education” can there be? Our lives are continually telling a story; what story is your life telling? Do we make alliances to self-promote with decisions/ people that do not fear God? Or are we trusting the Lord to promote/provide for us? It’s one or the other. It cannot be both.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (so cool that we have the opportunity to be just like this tree).
The heat and the year of drought are the things that cause the tree to spread out her roots in search of water, making the tree stronger. When strong winds come, and they will, it stands because it has dug deep into the earth in search of water. As with us, adversity is meant to deepen our relationship (our roots) with the Lord. Through His Word, He waters us. So we too can be planted by rivers of water if we choose to be. This enables us to prosper during the hard times. Remember the last Vida, we are the ones who determine how close to God we want to be and how close He is to us (James 4:8), and then there is this warning….
James 4:6-8
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (humility, the most incredible jewel one could seek. For in humility one truly begins to see the greatness of God).
Submit yourselves, therefore to God (come under His authority), and “then you can” resist the devil, and (who will flee?) he will flee from you (for now, through submission, you have Power on your side).
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
Jeremiah 17:9-10
The heart is deceitful above all things and — desperately wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Praise the Lord that He loves us enough to search and try us. Without that, we would be lost in our deceptions).
And because this is true of every one of us, there is a prayer that we need to pray and be prepared for God’s answer.
Psalms 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (never lose the desire to pray this prayer earnestly and to repent when God puts a loving finger on us.
God’s words to a church He was concerned about:
Revelation 3:14-17
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth (as in bad-tasting water or temperate coffee when you want it hot).
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and need nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (this is the effect or fruit of pride).
As much as it hurts to be in God’s crucible, it is one of the safest places on all the earth. In one of the more difficult times of my life, when the pain was intense, God gave me a couple of visions. One was of cattle being branded. Though the branding process was painful for the cow or bull, it gave it its identity. It wasn’t a stray; it belonged to a specific ranch that provided for its care. The following vision (without me saying what I just said) would seem extremely cruel. The pain I was living with was extreme; my heart was breaking for my eldest daughter, who had left the home and gone to Mexico with a friend. She had stopped going to church and wanted to chart her course. Both were too young for such a venture, and I knew satan wanted her. I prayed constantly, many times through tears.
Those years were long and painful, and my steps were heavy as I sought God for her. I asked God why the pain was so intense. I was not the only parent struggling with their kids. He returned to the cattle branding and showed me an operating room. Here’s the part that seems cruel. Job (Old Testament) went through his crisis, which on the outside seems very cruel of God until you read the end of the story. That experience is what made Job. He kept his integrity and never once profaned God’s name, which satan bet he would.
So, in answering my question about the intensity of the pain, He first showed me an operating table. On that table, I had no shirt on, and the surgeon had a hot iron in his hand. He took that iron and placed it firmly on my chest. The pain was so intense my mind blew up with it. I could not think. I jerked, screamed, and tried to get up and flee the pain, but I was firmly tied. The pain lasted for what seemed hours until finally, through exhaustion, I succumbed to it, and numbness set in.
When the surgeon removed the brand, I saw it was in the shape of The Cross, and then the surgeon removed his mask and, with eyes of the deepest love, looked at me, and I saw it was my Lord, and then I woke up. I lay in my bed for some time, trying to understand. Did it take this much pain to make me His? I never got an answer, so I went to the Book of Job to see if I could get some insight. I saw that God never answered Job, either. However, through it all, he experienced God in such a tangible way that he would not have gained such intimacy without it. I think any of us who have had periods of suffering and remained faithful to God would agree. If intimacy with God is the goal, then no price is too much to pay. Do you believe this?
After this period, His presence became so much more real to me. My experience gave me a deeper appreciation for what Christ suffered for me and whose sufferings were beyond human experience. I was good with not getting an answer; I didn’t need one. So, like Job and many of us who undergo hard trials, the trials and hardships refine us, making us stronger and more committed. It is also important to note that our personal experiences, good or bad, do not define God. In other words, God is not good because I am having a good day, and conversely, if I am having a terrible day, God does not suddenly become a bad God. God is always righteous and loving regardless of what I am experiencing, and in so believing, I, too, maintained my integrity before God. Through His Word, God defines Himself, and the suffering He endured for us all is more than sufficient to forever keep Him out of the arena of human judgment. Finally, after three long years, she came home with stories of Divine protection, and I just wept. That experience has turbocharged my prayer life and has put steel in my soul.
Revelation 3:19-20
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and repent (because He loves, He chastens and rebukes; it’s for no other reason than to purify us and draw us closer to Him).
Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart), and knock (that conviction is God knocking, don’t ignore it): if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come unto him and will sup with him, and he with me (repentance opens the door to sweet fellowship with the Lord).
Job 42:1-6
Job’s Humility
Then Job answered — the LORD, and said,
I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withheld from thee (that’s amazing; not even our supercomputers can know our thoughts).
Who is he that hideth (as in concealing his sins) counsel (as in giving advice) without knowledge (this is Job rebuking himself; he earlier on held God in judgment) therefore have I uttered that (which) I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. (Earlier in the passage, God said this to Job, so now Job repeats God’s words back to himself, realizing how blind he was).
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.
Before trials and tragedy, we credit ourselves with a certain amount of knowledge; however, after encountering the Lord, we realize how little we know. This blindness, or lack of spiritual sight, is because of our sinful nature. If we yield to it, drifting from God begins as our consciousness becomes a bit more seared (calloused). If we continue down this road, as many have, it can and will lead to backsliding. Eventually, we can wake up one day to find that we don’t believe in God. It can become that serious. I’ve talked to plenty of people who have said I used to go to church and believe in God, but I don’t anymore.
They allowed their disobedience, which may have started as a hurt, to fester until it became so bad that it became a wedge between them and God. Satan then used that to remove faith from their heart. Once that happens, it’s just days before they decide to walk away.
Blaming God is the lazy man’s way out. To not wrestle with pain and disappointment or seek counseling is to do a massive injustice to the love that put Christ on the Cross for us. We are only seeing our pain and not His. We need to see His; we need to see that His pain far exceeds anything that we would ever go through. If you have a hard time believing this, read all four gospel accounts of the day leading to the Crucifixion and the day of, and then read Isaiah 52, a prophecy of His Crucifixion. Just because we do not understand is not cause to walk away; we need the Lord. We are at our own expense being too myopic.
Father God,
We cannot see the effect sin has on us, and we don’t know without You revealing to us through trials the effect of our sinful nature, our rebellion, and our pride. We need to be sanctified by You. Humble us, Father, and create a church that loves You and seeks to love You first, before anything, and then let us become Your light, arms, and voice.
Amen,
Your son by Grace, Arthur
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And hereby, we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God (being) perfected: hereby know we are in him.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (God’s peace, unlike the world’s peace, which is circumstantial, is different because God’s peace is relational. In other words, even in your worst days, you can have peace because He has promised never to leave us, and He’s promised even to make the hard things, the wrong things, to work them out to our good. A promise that only an Omnipotent God can make and to the degree we believe Him will be our peace).
1 John 2:15-17
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (a desire to attain and hold to the world’s values as opposed to God’s keeps us separate from Him and calls one’s faith into question).
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
What is lust, and why is it so strong? And I’m not just talking about the opposite sex, but as the verse states, the lust of the flesh, which is the body’s carnal appetites, the lust of the eyes, that which comes into our eye gates and the pride of life, that which strokes our ego. The scriptures break lust down into these three separate categories, and within each category are many examples. If I sought to list them all, this would become the longest Vida yet (I will not, so don’t worry).
Simply put, and regardless of which category the lust is in, lust is a form of worship. Lust wants to compete and replace our relationship with God. If it succeeds, for that period of time, we have dethroned the Lord Almighty and enthroned our new ruler, and from being a son or daughter of the Most High God, I have now become a slave to a thought or a passion. I don’t know how many of us realize this is what happens. It first affects our relationship with the Lord, and then the repercussions happen in our work, the family, and life in general; it all becomes affected. It is super important to understand this is not maybe what happens; no, this is absolutely what happens.
As a side note, it’s interesting that if you passionately seek after the Lord, you become more and more free; however, if you seek after anything else, you become more and more a slave. This is proof that we were made by God, for God. Our ideal life is to abide and dwell with God continually. Simply put, He is Our Life, nothing else. Though our flesh continually draws us away, the Fear (Reverence) of God keeps us close to Him . Another way to understand the fear or reverence of God is that my greatest fear is to be without Him.
I am just scratching the surface of all the things we lust after, except I am being more honest. We don’t call it lust because that gives our wants a negative connotation. Instead, we say, “ I desire this, or I want this,” but make no mistake, it’s lust. The only exception is if we say I would like to have that, it would be nice, but …. don’t want to spend that much money, or it would be nice, but what I have will do, or I need to save more money first. This level of desire is not lust; we are still in control. It’s just a want, but I don’t have to have it to feel good about myself or impress others. That’s the difference. We don’t go into debt to buy something we can’t afford because we want it. Bad financial decisions are usually caused by lust.
What empowers lust? I bet we would get all kinds of answers, but truthfully, we are worshippers. We want what we worship. Our emptiness causes us to be beholden to the object of our affection, and it can be an endless pursuit as each “god” fails us. Why do we do what we do, or why do we want what we want? Do we think it will make us happy or feel wanted or important? I wrestle with this as much as anybody. Running a landscape business, having people call me saying I’ve seen your work and read your articles, could you see me? What a great compliment. I want to find a phone booth and change into my Superman outfit (which is tricky now because there are no phone booths :).
However, before the vanity train goes any farther down the tracks, I remember that I am the adopted son of the Most High God. What more importance could I want? What greater title could I have? Every other compliment, title, or invitation pales in comparison. If being the adopted son/daughter of the Most High God doesn’t suffice every single need to be significant, meaningful, and loved, then nothing else will. To be filled, no want of any kind, to have peace, and to feel that you have finally arrived, what more could a human soul want? And to have all this answered in the person of Jesus Christ, you have arrived; now keep growing.
2 Peter 1:4-8
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And beside this, — giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (this is the reason for our trials, for without them how would patience, temperance, kindness grow. We lift weights to develop muscle and strength; the same is true with trials and hardship; it forces us to go deeper into God’s Word.
We were created in His Image (Gen. 1:27), meaning He in-dwelt us before sin entered, but once sin entered, He left, and in an instant, everything changed. I’ve shared this before, but imagine the void that Adan and Eve must have felt. We feel this when we do not seek Him or spend enough time in His Word. From Adan and Eve till now, man has always searched for his significance. Yet, in not acknowledging the God of the Bible as His Maker, significance has alluded him.
Psalms 32:3-5
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring all day long.
For day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer (if you are experiencing this, God is after you to bring you home to Him). Selah.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah (we were born in sin and our sinners by nature, but by humbling ourselves before Him, seeking forgiveness for our actions and our pride, we are now working with the Spirit instead of against Him).
If you have never thought about what makes you tick, what I’m saying may sound foreign or too complicated to you, but it is true. If you have to have something or become someone other than who God has made you to be, that’s worship. That thought or object has become your answer to the emptiness inside. However, it will fade. True and right worship is the Adoration of the Lord (submission is a form of worship). To worship Him, who alone is worthy, is to bring healing and wholeness to our very being: our spirit, soul, and body. It completes us. It is that powerful, and it’s that important that we ensure that God and God alone receive our adoration.
Corrupted worship is, as I just mentioned when we assign our need or want to a thing, person, or thought over and above the Lord, even if it’s ourselves. Are you doing this? We all do it unless we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, for He is the only one who can make us sensitive. We probably never considered worship in these terms—the Tenth Commandment of the Ten deals with this.
Exodus 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
To covet is the carnal equivalent of Worship. It is to desire or to passionately want something selfishly. If allowed, it can and will take the place of worshipping God. However, only God is worthy of such a desire, for only He can fulfill our desire correctly and make us better for it. We become blessed, and I can prove it. This is how we were intended to function and live life.
Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed — man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (A living soul first. The Bible does not emphasize the body or the mind but our soul or being, for it is with our soul that we have fellowship with the Lord—a heart-to-heart connection. Via God’s breath, life came. They were spirit beings first. They were fully formed, but it was His breath that brought Life to them as us. He is the Breath of Life, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. When the BREATHE of LIFE leaves, what do you have? Your soul becomes empty without life, and a desperate search to find meaning begins. Without Christ, we have existence but not life. However, fulfillment is possible with God, who is the essence and creator of life. Zoe is the Greek word for life, which involves the Spirit.
John 6:33-35
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life (Zoe) unto the world.
Then said they (the disciples) unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Have you ever eaten and come away from the table not satisfied? The apostles understood hunger and sought Christ for bread that would allow them never to hunger again. Yet the hunger Jesus was talking about was another hunger. The food they ate was for the body’s hunger, but it did nothing for their soul, the hunger Jesus came to satisfy. He was teaching them to discern between the two hungers. To see spiritually is to understand one’s need for Christ but also why we do what we do. Our need stems from this inner hunger; without wisdom, we believe temporary things, cars, money, jobs, and each other can satisfy us. It does for a time, but Christ is for Eternity. Amen
So how do we become full?
James 4:8
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you….”
Eleven words, that’s all. This is the answer to the whole human experience. However, it is essential, in fact, critical, that we understand what this impactful verse says. Let’s start with this question: Who draws nigh first, us or God? We do, so then it IS UP TO ME. I determine how close to God I want to be or how close I want Him to be to me. If we ask where’s God, why doesn’t He answer my prayers? Who left? Now, because we are called to walk in faith, there may be times that we don’t feel Him. We are doing all our disciplines, not “backsliding,” but He’s still quiet. We are now purified in the Refiner’s fire; continue seeking Him. This is what the rest of the verse says.
James 4:8
“…. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
So our Father is not just a Father, but a King with requirements for coming into His presence. If human Kings have these requirements, how much more the King of all Kings? America’s idea of God is this kind, older, grandfather type sitting back on a lounge chair and sipping his favorite heavenly drink, enjoying the waves he’s created. How about adding to that that He is a Consuming Fire? He hates all sin, why, for sin/lust deceives, steals, and destroys lives that He loves, and it distracts His creation (us) from falling in love with just Him. How would seeing God as a Consuming Fire change your approach to Him? Would it engender a Holy Fear and a Holy obedience? Would He change from a God sitting in a lounge chair to a God whose Glory and Throne fill the Heavens, and His approach to us and us to Him is only tempered by The Cross?
Hebrews 12:28-29
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved (it cannot be overthrown), let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
For — our God is a consuming fire.
So many Christians say I am waiting for God to call me as if the first steps are up to God. As we read, they are not. He provided the way at a great price to Himself, so now walk in that way, go through the narrow gate (narrow as in constricted, can’t bring the world with you). As you start your journey, know that He seeks to purify you as gold is purified in the furnace… It’s going to hurt. The furnace will make all the selfishness, bad temper, pride, anger, and jealousy come to the surface. When we see that in us, we can say, “God, I hate this in me; I don’t want it. Take it away, and I repent of my carnality. Or, we can continue to blame others or circumstances and gain nothing from the trials.
He always knew that carnality was in us, and he still loved us and died for us despite it. So, will we repent and ask Him to change us, seek humility, and stop justifying our sins? No sleeping with our girlfriend or boyfriend, drugs, parties, or alcohol. No lying or cheating to get ahead, though everybody else does it; will we be different? We come clean from our ways of promoting self and seek Him with all our heart, reading His Bible and talking to Him to have the strength for the day.
Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek — me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart (as the King, He has every right to expect a whole-hearted commitment).
Psalms 119:9-11
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse — his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
This is what the proper fear of God produces in our life. We become diligent and disciplined in seeking the Lord. The fear of God causes us to prioritize our time. We see and live differently. That which does not bring me closer to Him is limited or eliminated. The fear of God is a requirement for our growth. It causes us to seek, pray, and read. “He’s God, and I am not” is a good saying to remember. We leave the corrections and changes to Him. Know that His conviction is not pleasant initially but done in absolute love. There is no self-effort on our part that we can do to become right before God, none.
We are not capable of making our hearts Holy. It’s a fool’s effort if we try. Nothing short of Holiness,
despite His love, is acceptable. God will change our hearts and minds via His Holy Spirit, and He will present an acceptable son or daughter to Himself. He’s the only one that can, and hence the importance of our faith in Christ, for he alone has paid for our sins, and He alone can sanctify
us and present unto Himself a Bride without spot or wrinkle.
Ephesians 5:25-26
Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it;
That he (Christ) might sanctify (to make Holy
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
Father,
Thank you for this study; let it go deep inside us and from it cause a fear/reverence that causes us to say no to those things that would hinder your work of Grace in our life.
Thank you, and Amen.
Your Son by Grace,
Arthur
If you’ve come this far, take a look at our book on Amazon
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Thanks!
Arthur Navarrette
Vida4U.com is the website where all past Vida’s are archived. In addition to the weekly devotionals, the yearly inspirational writings featured in December’s House2Home Magazine are archived under “Faith Talk.” Please use this site for your benefit and refer your friends to it as well. If they would like the weekly series emailed to them, they can send their requests to Arthur@Vida4U.com.
