To call children to rise up and walk in a lifestyle of love and obedience as “Sons and Daughters” of the King
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Keys of the Kingdom: Day Thirty- Five
Love #3
Let’s go one step further. There is no such thing as love without commitment. Now what does that mean you ask. Good question. Well commitment means you will hang in there no matter what, if you are hurt, or feel ignored or are sick or happy or sad or betrayed whatever. Alot like the type of promises people make when they get married.
The problem is not every day is a sun-shiney happy day. Some days are nasty and eveything goes wrong. What do you do then? Give up and grumble and complain and say “I”M outta here?
Matt 18:7 says that stumbling block will be inevitable, in other words you can’t avoid them. People WILL hurt you and it is often the little things that bug us. You don’t stumble over boulders when you walk but little stones. Has something someone did caused you to sin…like your brother peeeed all over the toilet seat! How did you respond to him? Yeah right, I guess I shouldn’t have yelled at him and called him a pig. Or your sister ate the last of the potato chips AGAIN. AAACH
See the little things, you Have to forgive in your heart otherwise your heart will grow cold and hard towards them…but NOT only them, it grows cold little by little towards God. You cannot start to think nasty thoughts about someone, (even if they deserve it) because little by little you will grow cooler and cooler to God as well.
1 John 4:20 look it up. Does it sound harsh? But it’s true isn’t it.
You may not like what someone has done but according to this verse you can’t stop loving him/her if you say you are a son and daughter of the king. Love is a choice not a feeling. It doesn’t mean you have to be all mushy towards that person, but it does mean showing them the kind of love we talked about in love #1, the same kind of you would show yourself.
The Kingdom of God will not be seen on earth, or God’s glory seen, unless we are committed to one another and show love. A lot of us will stumble over the little things and the enemy loves to whisper into our ears and blow these little faults out of proportion.
“Your brother went into the bathroom and peed on the toilet seat cause he knew you were going in to have a shower next, and was mad at you for eating those chips. Why don’t you go downstairs and see if he has some of his pizza pops left and eat those as well. He deserves it!”
BALONEY! Don’t let the enemy take you on those kinds of rabbit trails!
The people through whom the Kingdom of God is seen on earth are those who are able to overcome the obsticles of each other’s faults. They help one another become what God has called us to be…together the living body of Jesus on earth.(1)
Action: Ask God to show you a way to show your commitment to your family this week, no matter what. Agree in your heart to stand together no matter what wave hits you!
(1)Francis Frangipane: idea from The Three Battle Grounds, pg 54
For 3 weeks from July 21 to August 10th in Canada we are taking extra time to “consecrate” ourselves in a deeper way to God. Wait a minute WHAT is consecrate? Glad you asked.
If you look in the dictionary consecrate means to “with all our heart set yourself apart to worship God.” So what we are sayin is that deep in our hearts our desire is that there is - NO GOING BACK – WE PROMISE TO BE TOTALLY DEVOTED to love God and to love each other as well. Do you remember what the greatest commandment was?
Look up Matthew 22:36-40 and fill in the blanks
________ the Lord your God with all your heart and your _________ as _________.
Have you ever gone to a wedding ceremony? I have many times. What happens there, besides the groom getting to kiss the bride? The bride looks gorgeous and had spent all sorts of time and money to look her best. She was all dressed in white and the groom was in a fancy tux of some sort.
See a wedding ceremony is very important to getting married; you have to have some kind of ceremony in order to have a marriage. It can be a small wedding with only a few witnesses or a HUGE wedding with all the flowers and music like you see in the Sound Of Music. It is a time where the people that are getting married tell every one there, “we belong to each other and we promise to love each other forever…NO TURNING BACK- WE PROMISE TO BE TOTALLY DEVOTED to each other, NO MATTER WHAT. BUT this promise is only the start of a life of living together in a whole new way. The couple is set apart from all other people and the Bible says they are now “one flesh”. You can’t get closer than that!
In the Bible there were a group of people that were set apart to worship God. They were called the Levites. Let’s go check out what set them apart and how that can apply to you and your family.
Levites – Who are they and what did they do?
Deut 10-8-9 tells us how the Levites were set apart from every other tribe of Israel. God chose them to be his special servants and to lead worship. They didn’t have any inheritance (land that belonged to them) in the Promised Land, because God Himself was their inheritance. Wow! That meant that they had to trust God for all their needs.
They took care of the tabernacle or temple, and the priests, who were a special part of the tribe of Levi, were responsible for the sacrifices and offerings and spoke blessings over the people.
Why did God set this particular group of people apart?
Open your Bible and look up Exodus 32:1-26. What happened here?
Here we read the story of the time the Israelites sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf. When Moses came down from the mountain he was stunned when he saw that the people were running wild totally out of control., ESPECIALLY after God had just before given them the 10 commandments and had spoken to them! So he stood at the entrance to the camp and called out with a loud voice, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me.”
And what happened? All the Levites came to his side. They had to take a radical stand to follow God. It was this obedience and faithfulness that earned them the special privilege of ministering to the Lord.
So how does this apply to you today? There are a lot of things in our nation that look like the people at the foot of Mount Sinai with the Golden calf. Many people and situations are totally out of control and are running wild. Just take a look at the newspapers. Because of this we have felt God say as he did in Joel 1:16
“Gather the people, Consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders. Gather the children and nursing babes…” So this call is not only for the older people but for kids and teens as well.
ACTIVITY
Materials needed:
Masking tape
Bowl of water
We’re going to take part in several actions now, which symbolize this call.
1. Have someone in your family draw a “line in the sand”, with masking tape and ask, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come and step over the line in an act of dedication to God”.
Don’t automatically step over the line but ask yourself are you ready to totally follow God and obey Him no matter what the cost?
If you are not ready now, God knows, and He values your honesty. But keep on with the devotions during this time and maybe later on you will be able to make that stand.
Take the words of this song by Brian Doerksen and declare it as you cross over the line.
Today, I choose to follow you
Today, I choose to give my “yes” to you
Today, I choose to hear your voice and live
Today, I choose to follow you
As for me and my house, we will serve you
As for me and my house, we will spend our lives on you
Today
2. Purity (set up some basins with water and a towel)
Another character trait of the Levites was that they were true to God and avoided sin. This heart attitude made them what they were. Outward purity was required as well and when they washed it was a picture of what was happening in their hearts.
A time of consecration is also like getting your “inside home”, or your heart, ready for a special guest. This Special Guest, Jesus you want to have stay. What are the dust bunnies in your inside home that need to be cleaned out? What are the things you have hidden “under the bed” in your heart?
So let’s wash our hands together in these basins to show that we like the Levites want to have our hearts and hands clean before God. (Wash hands) As you do, pray this prayer and wait for God to speak to you. We are asking God to show us anything in our lives, our families that does not reflect the Kingdom of God.
Ps 139: Search me Oh God and know my heart, try me and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
Confess anything God brings to mind and then pray the following prayer:
LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART (my thoughts) BE ACCEPTABLE IN THY SIGHT O GOD. Ps 19:14
THIS consecration call is also to ask God to help all Christians, as “living stones” come together to each do our part so that Canada really be a place where God’s Glory can be seen. Also our prayer is that we understand more that Jesus is the corner stone and that all we really need to do is to rest and trust in His promises and act on what He shows us to do. You can do the same for the country that you live in.
Over the next while I will be posting things that have to do with “commitment” and “living stones” and stories of God’s glory. If you have any stories or thoughts in these areas please send them to me at kkarise@shaw.ca
Love #2
O.K. so we talked about the importance of love, especially that loving God and each other was VERY important, so important that Jesus is going to look at how we showed that kind of love to each other as proof that we are sons and daughters of the King.
We also talked about how we are living stones and how the “body of Christ is supposed to work together in unity, and that how we show love to one another is one way that the world, or people around you, will believe. John 17: 21 in the amplified Bible says it this way.
That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.
“One” here means that we are united, and in agreement, not having squabbles or getting our noses out of joint because we didn’t like what someone else did.
If unity and love is so important do you think that the enemy would try to make sure that this didn’t happen? You BET! He knows that when Christians are picking at each other they have no witness at all, JUST the way he likes it.
Each one of us have been hurt by someone at some point. Maybe they picked on you and called you a nasty name. Maybe they didn’t show up when they were supposed to. Maybe they lied about you, or shoved you so you fell and hurt yourself. Lots of possibilities! The thoughtlessness and cruelty of someone else can hurt us really bad. BUT we have a choice to forgive them or to hold onto that hurt. When we hold onto that hurt we grow bitter. Bitterness is unfulfilled revenge.(!.) When you hold onto that hurt, you know what happens? Your heart is robbed of the ability to love. The bible calls it “growing cold”
Matthew 24:12 (NIV)
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
Hmm. Jesus knew that would happen so he warns us . He knew that is would be harder and harder to show love. He Himself had lots of opportunity for love to grow cold in His life. Think about the ways people treated him! But even on the cross Jesus says, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”
ASK the Helper to show you where you have allowed bitterness to come into your heart, and where your love has gone cold. Repent…remember that is to change you way of thinking about the situation that Hurt you…
Man that may be hard but it is IMPORTANT
Then Ask Jesus to help you forgive the person that hurt you.
Then Thank God for allowing this situation as an opportunity to grow in love, as we only learn how to love our enemies if we have had situations where nasty things happen.
Listen to this song as you pray:
(1) Francis Frangipane, The Three Battle grounds (C) 1898 Advancing Church Publications
As far as Love being a Key of the Kingdom we have spoken about that before but we haven’t talked about it whole lot and yet it is one of the MOST important keys!
Do you remember ever reading Jesus’ answer to what the greatest commandment was? Look up Mark 12: 28-31
In this verse it tells us that when we love God we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Let me ask you a question. Do you love yourself? Sometimes you may not be too pleased with some of the things that you have done, we all are. But do you dress yourself…feed yourself; give yourself a drink when you are thirsty? Do you entertain yourself?…These are all loving things. Do you teach yourself, or go shopping or to the movies, those are extras but pretty nice things. Well these are the kinds of things the helper will prompt you to do for others as well. Remember a few weeks ago we had some postings on Children at risk? Well these were the kind of things that they needed right? (If you forgot, go back to the entries for June 3 and 7, 2008)
It is interesting to see what Jesus talks about as the behavior of the Son’s and daughters of His kingdom when he comes back. Lets have a look at Matt. 25; 35-40
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
37-40″Then those ’sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ Matt. 25: 35-40 ( The Message)
Whew that is incredable isn’t it. We need to ask the Helper to give us Kingdom goggles and then obey when he promts us to do any of these things. It’s not hard is it to give someone a dirnk of water when they are thirsty or smile at someone as you walk down the street. THAT is how you bring God’s glory (or presence) to the world around you. Make a point this summer to be a carrier of God’s love wherever you go!.
My Daughter Kitty in Africa with Rosanna building a mud hut for a family with AIDS
Answer: 29″The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.‘There is no commandment greater than these.”
