May I Be Your Servant....

Lord...you call us to be servants, but the world wants to teach us anything but servanthood. We live in an all about me society. We are inundated with television, billboards, magazines, books that tell us that if its not about us that something has went strangely array. We slowly start to fade away from our calling into a world that slowly sucks the life out of us. It's time as Christ.-followers to stand up for the victory that has already been won. He calls us not because of our abilities...but despite our abilities. He is essentially saying that "You can be strong and courageous because I am with you. Victory isn't about your abilities, your strength, your skill, your armor, your gifts, or your dedication: it has to do with my presence. You can be strong, BECAUSE I will be strong in you." I know that in a world of uncertainty I find solice in the fact that I am not able to fulfill His calling....but he is able to complete His calling in and through me...through His ability not mine. We see all of our flaws, all of our weaknesses....but He sees what He has created us to be. I wish I could see the same picture of me that He sees. For He sees me so different than I do. I see a heart that wants to be used, a heart that wants so much to make him proud....He sees a heart that He is already proud of...and I didn't even have to do anything to earn it. Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. I find so much joy in the fact that everything that He created he spoke into existence....but Genesis 2: 7 "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." Do we comprehend that? Do we comprehend that everything else God spoke into existence, but when it came to man, He formed us, sculpting us and then He breathed the breath of life into us. To me that says that He touched me and then his lips touched mine as they breathed the breath of life into me. I have been created for such a time as this. He has called me to serve and I will rise to the call.

So Are The Days of Our Lives...

Gosh, who could forget that old soap opera, Days of Our Lives. Perhaps its still on, and Bo Brady and Roman Brady are still confused about who they are. Isn't it funny how you can watch a soap opera and not see it for years and you turn it on again and the same things are happening today that happened 5, 10 even 20 years ago. Life seems to be alot like that. I wonder if its because we didn't get the lesson learned the first time around. I read scripture and I find it interesting to read that what is happening today, happened back in biblical times. Life just seems to go through the same processes over and over again. We live, we learn, we don't learn so we do it again until we do learn. So are the days of our lives. Our days are numbered...our time to make an impact for the name of Jesus draws shorter with each passing day. I think that we all should have a slow moving hourglass to see everyday....so that we get a constant reminder that time is running out. And what are we doing with that precious gift of time.

Lord Help Us.....

In Daniel 10, Daniel had a vision and in this vision "A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to them.

It's the next part of that story that really had me thinking. It goes on to say "But" the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. It took twenty-one days of spiritual warfare for the angel to get to Daniel after his plea for help. Do you know that "plea or plead" is mentioned 12 times alone in the book of Daniel. And that there are only 12 chapters in the book of Daniel.

We fail to see the war that is being waged because of our prayers....and once our prayers are answered we soon forget the answerer of our prayers. I'm reminded of a similiar story in 2 Kings 6, where Elisha and his servant are surrounded by an army. As the servant panics, Elisha is calm and says to the servant, "don't be afraid, those that are with us are more than those who are with them." Just to give you the gest of the story.....it was only Elisha and his servant....as far as the servant knew. But because of Elisha's faith and prayers, God had sent an army that filled the hills with horses and chariots. And Elisha prayed to God that the eyes of his servant be open, so that he may see. And when the Lord opened the servants eyes....he saw that the army of the Lord was far greater than the number that had surrounded them.

We see a world that seems to be outnumbered by an army of terroists, economic failures, political corruption, and uncertainties......but yet I think we fail to see the vast army that God has sent to fight for his believers. Open our eyes Lord...help us to see.