I was standing in the shower at the cabin and I
became very grateful for the hot shower after doing some construction outside (during
which I had gotten very sweaty and dirty).
While standing there, I realized an important milestone:
It had been at least twelve years since we had replaced the heating element in
the water heater; something that we used to do every other year if not sooner.
The water heater is electric and generally
takes less than three minutes after the electricity is turned on for the water
to go from well-water cold to (almost) scalding hot. And over the years it has
been a very faithful appliance.
But, for whatever reason, every spring when my
father-in-law and I would open up the cabin, we would inevitably burn out the
element and have to replace it.
Basically the problem happened due to user
error. We would fire everything up BEFORE the water heater was completely
filled with water; which we had drained when we closed up the cabin for the
winter.
I am
guessing we replaced at least ten elements before we decided to write down and
follow instructions every spring.
Shortly after my father-in-law died, I decided
that it would be prudent to write down instructions for how to open and close
up the cabin. This way other family members would learn from our mistakes.
So, I assembled a "Maintenance
Notebook" that would have all pertinent information; especially now that
he had gone to heaven.
In the notebook, under the section
"OPEN-ing the cabin for the Spring/Summer" I wrote in BOLD letters:
"VERY IMPORTANT":
·Confirm that the WATER
HEATER breaker is turned off!
·This will prevent
burning out the element.
NOTE:
Gene and Tom had to learn the hard way over several years.
·ONLY AFTER THE WATER
HEATER TANK IS CONFIRMED TO BE FULL OF WATER CAN YOU TURN ON THE BREAKER FOR
THE WATER HEATER.
·If these instructions
are ignored, the water heater tank will need to be completely drained and then
the element will need to be replaced.
Needless to say, this has proven to work
because (to my knowledge) not once has the element had to be replaced over the
past twelve years...
Or else my brothers-in-law who now open up the
cabin each year may just be smarter than Gene and I were.
In other words, those who opened up the cabin
each spring and closed it up each fall were successful when they followed the instructions…
And learned from others’ mistakes.
So how do we apply this truth to our everyday
lives? Where is the “Instruction Manual” for our everyday lives?
I’m glad
that you asked; or at least thought about asking…
The Bible is filled with pearls of wisdom
written by men who had gleaned wisdom from their mistakes. Story after story
has been written down to show what happens when instructions are followed.
And, story after story has been written down to
show what happens when instructions are NOT followed.
One person who did this was King David. He wrote down instructions for his
sons to follow so that they would learn from his mistakes and avoid them.
David wrote in Psalm 1:
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so, But are like
the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the
righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Simple instructions and yet none of David’s
sons followed them.
And the results were that they, too, had their
“elements burned out” because they didn’t do what they were instructed to do.
One of David’s sons, Solomon, after not
following instructions and messing up, wrote down for his sons what he had learned from his
mistakes.
Solomon had at least one thousand women who were connected
with him; and also had wealth beyond belief.
And yet it still wasn’t enough for him to be
satisfied or to be happy.
Or to keep him from making the same mistakes.
So he wrote down wisdom that he received for
the Holy Spirit so that others who came after him wouldn’t make the same
mistakes. The Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were two of these books.
He concludes near the end of his life:
“Remember now your Creator in the days of your
youth, Before the difficult days
come, And the years draw
near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:
Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14)
My friends, the Bible is full of great
instruction that (when applied to our lives) can save us from burning out.
The Holy Spirit wants to breathe fresh life
into the words written so very long ago so that they can be fresh truth and
instructions for each and every day of our lives; not just spring and fall…
Where should you start?
Start by grabbing a Bible, sitting down, and
ask the Holy Spirit to instruct you.
When you first start reading the Bible it may
not make complete sense to you; that is why you need to ask Him:
“But the natural man does not receive the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians
2:14)
The Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father to
help you understand the instructions. This is true for those who don’t yet know
Him:
“And when He (the Holy
Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of
righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of
judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:8-11)
This is
true for those who have already received Jesus as their Savior and have
surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ:
“I still
have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to
come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and
declare it to
you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that
He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John
16:12-16)
God wants to instruct us; He simply wants us to
ask Him…
Because it is amazing how well it works when
you follow the instructions.
Last week I had surgery to repair the meniscus
on my right knee. Too many sleepless nights and painful years had taken me to a
‘fork-in-the-road’ of decision that it was time to get it repaired.
Mentally, this surgery recovery time has been
difficult for me. No, not more difficult than any of my other surgeries. But it
took longer than I thought it would. Part of this was because prior to surgery,
my surgeon said that when he had this surgery, the next day he was on a bike.
Cathy
jokes that perhaps when he sat on the bike, his wife said to him; "Hey,
get back to bed; you shouldn’t be doing that!"
The surgery did go very well and after two
days, because I had a lot of meetings and because I didn’t really have any
pain, I went back to work.
But at the end of the day, my knee swelled up
and made it difficult to walk or be comfortable so I decided that I needed to
work from home; which, with technology and a great staff, should have been easy
to do.
I say; ‘should have been’ because I really
don’t like depending on others to take care of me or to do things for me. And
because at work there were many fires that needed my attention and I was stuck trying
to run the world laying in a bed in one of our guest rooms with my leg packed
in ice and propped up as I tried to let my body heal.
And, to make matters worse, a squirrel was
outside chewing on the soffits just outside the bedroom I was in! I knew how
quickly a squirrel could damage a house and my mind went crash!
I wanted to let the staff try to do their jobs,
but in-between emails, texts, and phone calls, I had way too much time on my
hands to think and mentally get off track.
So, as I lay here writing this, I must admit I
don't trust God as much as I think I do. Oh, I have trust for others, but I
still look to myself to get stuff done. I trust my ability to work and my
brains to complete tasks.But, my trust is really in me;
not in God.
This was driven home to me when a coworker sent
an email to me that said; "Tom, will
you stop playing superman and take the rest and time necessary for your body to
heal, please?!"
As I pondered his words, I thought about the
theme message for our church.
Every year at church we have a theme message as
a way to get some direction as to where we believe God is leading us as a
congregation. Some of the themes in the past
have been "joy", "simple devotion", and
"thriving".
The theme is then woven into messages throughout
the year sort of an anchor cornerstone for reference to what
"prophetically "the Lord is saying to us as a congregation.Occasionally, I will hear that other congregations have
the same or similar theme for their church as our church does… which makes me
sit up and ponder what He is saying to the larger Body of Christ.
This year our theme is; “A Year of Increasing Trust”.
When I first heard of the theme I didn't think
about it because I think that I do trust God…which basically means: ‘confident expectation of something or
someone; hope, to rely upon’.
He has been faithful over and over and over
again. He has been our provider and confidant. He has proven David’s words from
Psalm 37:25 which says; “Once I was young,
and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandonedor
their children begging for bread.”
But the theme is trust that is “increasing” which
basically means: ‘to make greater, as in number, size, strength, or quality; enlarging;
augmenting’.
This is about increasing trust in HIM for:
finances, healing, others to do the work that I need to get done, in the team
in my life.
Even as I write this I think about all the other
times I've had surgery and wondered when I would be able to run the world all
by myself again. I thought about when I wondered when my hands would finally be
able to work again, when my ankle would finally work again, when my shoulder
finally work again. Today all of them work excellently.
Do I trust that God's presence is enough? What
has God promised? What is the problem for you personally? What has He promised
us as His children? What is the potential? What are the problems, giants,
walls? How do we discover and obey God’s strategy?
What can I do to increase and trust? How will I
study, meditate on, and obey God's word? What will I pray against? Say, "I
trust you Jesus”; and then ask.
No, this was a new opportunity for me to trust
God for everything.
Let me say that again: everything!
He wants ME to INCREASE in my trust in Him. To
look to Him. To believe Him.
He doesn't want me just talking about who He is
and what He can do for others.
He wants me to simply trust Him to increase my
trust in Him.
Trust Him that He will do the work.
Trust that He will bring the increase and show
His faithfulness once again.
“Godanswer you on the
day you crash,
The name God-of-Jacob put you
out of harm’s reach,
Did
you ever wish they could be there in a moment when you needed them? Did you
long to see them face to face? To sit down and ask them questions you faced? Have
you ever cried, longing for them right now?
How
about God? How many of you feel as though He moved away? How many of you have
sought His address?
Did
you ever wish He could be there in a moment when you needed Him? Did you long
to see Him face to face? To sit down and ask Him questions you faced? Have you
ever cried, longing for Him right now?
Don’t
you wish you could sit down with Him and know what He really thinks about
things: What He wants you to do ,or to get answers to decisions that you need
to make?
Jeremiah
33:3 is God’s Phone Number:
“Call to
Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do
not know “.
God
speaks to us through the Holy Spirit in our spirit and I am grateful for that. But
this week I wanted to meet with Him face to face. I wanted to know where He
lives so that I could be with Him, not just to hear from Him.
“Let Everything Else Go” by Phil Keaggy speaks
to this desire:
“Oh I can't
wait to see you Jesus, face to face, Nothing in this world can take Your place. All the pride of man laid low, And all his works of gold, Nothing can compare with what You are, Let everything else go…”
The
cry of my heart this last week has been to see God face to face. I had some
decisions to make, areas I need Him to change; and I found myself literally
crying wanting God to be with me, to answer me.
And
then I realized that hearing from Him is our agenda; but being with Him is His
agenda. He, too, wants to meet with me.
So,
where does God live? How do we really get in touch with Him? First; let’s look
at God’s past address.
In
Exodus 29:42-46 we read that the tabernacle in the wilderness was the dwelling
place of the Most High God. In it we see a physical picture (type) of the
spiritual reality.
But,
because God has perfect order and man messed up, God moved to a new address. Fortunately,
He has left a forwarding address: It is Isaiah 7:14 and John 1:14
“So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A
girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a Son and name
Him Immanuel (God-With-Us). (Isaiah 7:14 MSG)
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own
eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” (John 1:14 MSG)
Where
is God’s perfect address? He dwells FULLY in Jesus
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9 NKJV)
Even
though God lived in a perfect home in Jesus, He wanted His estate to be
distributed. He wants to dwell in more than One.
For
that to take place, there had to be death. The death of Jesus assured an inheritance
for the Sons of God. God had to once again give up His home.
Fortunately,
He has left a forwarding address:
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve
told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so
that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth.
The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him,
doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been
staying with you, and will even beinyou!
I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little
while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am
alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely
that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.
The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who
loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will
love him and make myself plain to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about
to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”
Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If
anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love
him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my
words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father
who sent me.” (John 14:17-23 MSG)
Where
is God’s address now? He resides in the hearts of those who have received Him
by faith and have been born again.
“Or
didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy
Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what
God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of
property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So
let people see God in and through your body.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20
MSG)
He
resides in Christians. The Apostle John wrote:
“But as many as received Him, to
them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name.” (John 1:12 NKJV)
Considering
that, how do people see God reflected in you? Can they find Him in your life? The
world is stumbling in the darkness trying to find God and we are the light
(Matthew 5:14-16).
If
we answer honestly, we must admit that our lives don’t always show that He
lives in us. So much as it is dependent on us, some people may have trouble
seeing who God is when they come to our “house”.
Fortunately,
God is building a new home. He is going to move again, only this time it will
be a permanent residence with NO FORWARDING ADDRESS And, He will take His
family with Him.
Where
is God’s permanent address going to be?
“Now I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also
there was no more sea.Then I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying,
“Behold, the tabernacle of Godiswith men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with themand
betheir God. And God will wipe away every tear from
their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall
be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)
Isn’t
that exciting? Some day we will live with God face to face.
When
all the world we know has passed away we will be able to get up each day and
say: “Good Morning, Dad”
How
do we know it is for all of us? Jesus said to His disciples:
“There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t
so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And
if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can
live where I live.” (John 14:2-3 MSG)
You
might be thinking; “That’s great for the future, but what about today? Where
can I go today to hear from Him TODAY?”
Well,
He has taken of that. He has given His Holy Spirit who is a member of the
Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). He is available to meet with you wherever and whenever you need Him because He, through the Holy Spirit, dwells
in you!
And
He will talk as a representative of the Heavenly Father:
“However, when He, the Spirit of
truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His
own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things
to come.” (John 16:13 NKJV)
It
is exciting that He wants to dwell in EACH of us through His Holy Spirit and ALL
we have to do is ASK Him:
“This is the core of our preaching.
Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul,
God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s
it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him
to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God
setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything
right between him and me!” Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like
this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what
a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the
same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who
calls, ‘Help, God!’ gets help.” (Romans
10:9-13 MSG)
We
can know that God dwells in us if we have asked Him to dwell inside of us. He
will never move away. We won’t have to look for His address. He will be there
when you need Him.
