Monday, February 16, 2009

IN THE HANDS OF THE MASTER GARDNER-LESSONS FOR TRUTHFILLED LIVING

part 2:
TEACH ME JESUS TEACH ME!


Luke 6:46-49 (Amplified Bible)
46Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you?
47For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like:
48He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or [
a]founded on a rock.
49But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great.

The word LORD simply means Master.
When we (you & i) call upon Jesus to be LORD over And in our lives--this means we give Him Full Authority over And in our lives. We (you & i) belong to Him, And that we Are obligated to do Whatever He says-And to Do it when And how He says.
To call And accept Him as your Lord and then to fail to obey Him is absurdly contradictory!
To merely profess acknowledgement of His LORDSHIP is not enough.
True Love And Faith involve And are governed by obedience to Him.
We (you & i) don't really Love Him And we don't really Believe On Him if we don't Do exactly what He says.
**Please note, in Galatians 3:19-29, that Paul explains and reminds us that following the old testament Law of Moses will not bless us but curse us. It is based on people following a perfection of behavior, not of the New Law that Jesus gave us which is to Love unconditionally.
In verses 10-12 Paul concludes that the Law of Moses was only able to curse men, not bless them, for absolute, total obedience is required of the Law on every particular. The Law was not based upon belief by Faith, but upon perfect behavior, something people are incapable of doing. (yes, i know this is a controversial topic, and while others discuss and argue over which is right-I'm going on to do what Jesus told us to do). Amen.
**
My friends, my sisters and brothers let us be teachable as long as today Is today! Amen.
To be an active listener to His Holy Spirit and to those whose paths we cross is part of our learning and teaching as we continue to Journey with Jesus each day In is name, Amen.

We are told over and over again by Jesus, and many of His followers, Not to be concerned about our future. Do not Fret! He says, Do not worry, or be consumed by worry; do not fear And do not be afraid, For He is With us. He says to us time And time again.

It is easier said than done. But what I have learned is that, if you start with One Day, one problem, one concern and hand it over to Him; each day thereafter, each concern, each problem -after that initial one- it will be easier to leave all with Him in prayer.

He is a great Friend to each person that calls on Him to be one. And in turn we are to be His Friend. Now we cannot be a friend to Jesus as He is to us-we are not perfect, nor are we without sin as He is. But to learn the importance of being changed into the type of person that resembles Him is positive growth and not stagnation. This is a large part of being a true believer And follower of The Way He lived, died, and resurrected to give us.


I have come across some people that do not understand what that means. To have a relationship with Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. And to allow it to grow. Maybe they have not been taught that this is a main point to being a believer And a follower of Jesus.
There are many believers, but not all of them follow Jesus.

Then there are some that claim to follow Jesus, but really are playing games and do not really believe in His Name- which Is To be saved and washed in His blood. They will not totally turn their lives over to Him and let Him Be LORD in and over their lives.

IN both, being converted is a key that is a missing desire in their heart. And many are not even convinced let alone converted.
A relationship with Jesus is strengthened and grows just like any other relationship that we have with a person.

If you do not have a truthful and growing relationship with yourself And, If you don’t know how to be a good and true friend with other people then, that may be the reason that your relationship with Jesus – that your friendship with Him is shallow and lacking.

Search out the truth as to why you don’t know how to grow in It with Him.

How do you treat the people that you call friends? Do you ignore them until you have some good news about your own life? Do you call or email or even send a greeting card just because? Do you call on them when you only have problems or some gossip? How we treat each other is how we will treat Jesus and our relationship with Him.

Look at it this way, do you have any friends that often tell you when you do catch up with them, you say= “where have you been? I’ve called a few times and did not hear from you?”
And they say something like this – “oh I’ve been busy, that’s why I have not returned your call or called to check on you.”
Have you ever said that statement to someone you considered a good friend?

I am a firm believer in =”you will make time for what you really want to do!”

How much time does it take to return a phone call? You know they are making phone calls and rec’ing them.

See, what these people don’t do gives you much truth about yourself and them.

That statement says a lot about the person that speaks it. They are so self-centered and can see nothing beyond their personal issues—Or--they really don’t consider you as good of a friend as once implied by them. Or, they really don’t know how to be a good friend and what they give you is all they know - Or they have grown and don’t know how to tell you that many of the interests they had in common with you are no longer there.


But in order for people to tell you the truth—they first have to tell themselves the truth And accept it. The Light shines on them a bit too brightly, they fear the truth.

Is this the same thing that happens with you? When you feel Jesus calling you to come a little closer to Him—to come a little deeper into His love for you—His Light shines brighter on you—are you fearful of shadows? Is too much of what you are trying to hide being revealed when He does this?

Have you ever helped out a friend either with your time, your energy, or with your money, only to watch the person drift into a place of non-communication?

Think of Jesus, and how we pray to Him for strength, for help of every kind—but yet so many don’t communicate with Him daily. So Many do not go to Him daily with the small things, withthe large things, with the troubles, and with the Joyous times--To Share with Him our day.

This is why many people’s relationship with Him do not grow, or are not even created. Too many people expect Him to do all the work and they just reap His rewards. He does not work that way.

Do you have friendships like that? Have you examined the people in your life and put them in their proper places-for example, every friend is not a good friend-not a trusting friend.

Some of our friends expect us to do all the work and they reap the benefits.
Not that you may be keeping tabs—as keeping a list of who has done what for whom—is not a good thing to do if you are selfless in your giving as taught to us from Jesus. But don’t these people really make you wonder about their integrity? Do you begin to wonder about your own integrity?

They make you start to really see ‘who’ they are underneath the clothes and the hair and the cars and the job and their business. I hope they make you examine yourself also.

Have you ever noticed that there are some people in your life that call upon you when they have troubles, trails and need? They seem to call upon you when they have gossip or whining about their lives? Think about this in regards to how you treat and see your friends-Do you treat others this way? They ‘have time’ for this type of conversation but nothing deeper than the shallow.
Is that how you treat Jesus and your relationship with Him?

Is your relationship with Jesus only one when you need something from Him? How do you feel when people treat you this way?

Do you ever just call on Him and ask nothing from Him but to sit in His presence?




Do you call on Him and ask Him what can you do for Him today, since you have given All your lack, your shortcomings, your mistakes, your wrongs/sins, your need to Him.

If He is taking care of All your 'stuff' then you have time to Work for Him as He directs us to.




I think on the fact that any of us can make time to do what we want to do--when I have had a person tell me they just have been too busy to call me or return a call. I have come to know that I value friendships Much differently than a lot of people I know. The expectation I have from friends is much higher than they have for themselves and others they consider friends.

Their definition of a good friend is really nothing like mine. The word friend-has many different levels as it applies to each of us. We have friends that we know we can rely upon. We have friends that are not trustworthy and those that are. They are all not the same and should not be the same.

We have friends that have not grown as much as we have in many respects to being an adult. Many still act like they are in high school. Many are not on a Spiritual Journey with Jesus. Many are not saved and Jesus is not Lord over them and in them.
But they are still my friends. I have learned to use the Gifts of The Spirit a lot in these friendships.

I have come to know Why God has cut some people out of my life and pushed others back to their true respected places concerning my life. If any person or anything is in God’s way concerning His Will and His purpose for my life—then He will take care of it in His timing. And I thank Him for this for His namesake! Amen.

And I love it when He comes with His pruning tools and I gladly move out of the way and accept what He says needs to be pruned! Amen. He will also show you that true person that you disregarded as nothing and insignificant to your life-that person who is hidden behind a larger leaf or branch that is really pretty but is sucking your dry.

God is The Master Gardner-Jesus is Also the Master Gardner.

Who is at work in Your garden? Who is tilling your soil? Who is using ‘what’ to fertilize your ground? What are you allowing others to plant in your garden? On top of these questions—What are You using to till, to fertilize, to plant, to weed, to prune in your own heart—as many times we attempt ‘to fix ourselves’ — by ourselves!

That will not work. You will end up pulling up the plants that you need, and replacing them with pretty weeds that will strangle the life out of your garden. Many times we will kill off the good bugs and replace them with the devouring kind that take all and leave nothing.

Many times we treat our friends the same way And we allow them to treat us this way. Strengthen your relationship with yourself first. Love yourself-it creates better days for you if you do. Every where you go-you take you with you. Know your boundries and enforce them for yourself and toward others.

Is this why so many people do not understand how to have a relationship with God through Jesus? Is this why many of these relationships suffer a stunted, rotting growth?

Your garden, your soil, your ground are all speaking about your heart.

Sometimes we may have allowed certain people front row seats of our life—when they really needed to be in the balcony or even out in line trying to purchase a ticket. Many times we move people into important places in our lives by mistake.

We need to examine ourselves every day in order to know why we do what we do—in order to stop doing what is slowly killing us And remove what is a barrier, a hindrance to our Spiritual growth And maturity—in order to see the truth behind our motives.

I pay attention to where He has placed those that He has pruned or pushed back and I begin to see what kind of friend they really are to me And I to them. It is cause to examine myself and see some more truth about myself. Teach Jesus TEACH!!




Many of our relationships are one sided friendships—The kind in which you give and expect more than others do. Are you doing that with Jesus?
And by Growing in my Relationship with Jesus all this gets clearer and stronger to me every day. It is not about who is wrong or right — it is about clarity concerning the people in my life and how they relate to me. I don’t’ like fooling myself – lying to myself about anything or anybody.

These types of people also are not willing to share with me All my Joyous times of praising God for what He does for me and through me. A lot of people get jealous when God blesses you. You call on them to share in your praise of God and they are burning with fleshy jealousy and envy.

The difference now, is they have made It very clear to me who I really am to them and just how important I am to their living.

It saddens my heart that they cannot see past their fears and troubles and the daily grind of life to enjoy All the other things that God gives us to EnJoy. Especially each other. Amen.

We are to Pray for our friends, no matter if they are close to us or not--whether they ahve caused us pain and hurt or not. We are called to forgive and pray for those that hurt us.

Do you know these types= Some call to catch up on your business-your life and tell you nothing about theirs and then they hang up. You know those people? Some call to tell you everything they are doing then hang up. Do you know these people? Pray for them.

They always ask about you and those in your home, they ask about other friends and what is going on in their lives—then once they compare themselves with all of you all—then they are satisfied and are ready to get off the phone. Some friends require us to be patient and long-suffering with them-just as we ask of Jesus to be with us.

Not everyone does Jesus call a friend—I know we need to pay attention to that truth!

Examine yourself and your expectations from your friends.

Examine how you see your relationship with Jesus and notice if you are being one-sided—always calling on Him only to take, take, take from Him—never giving selflessly.

He made us each, to accomplish so much—specifically that no one else can accomplish.

May God continue to help those of us that desire to be the kind of friend that Jesus is to us all. May He help us move past ourselves into the maturity and strength it takes to be a friend in good weather and stormy weather.

Let us Pray: Dear God, we come to you in Jesus’ name, to ask You to please continue to give me an understanding, caring, and compassionate heart and help me to learn how to be the type of person, the kind of friend that Jesus is to me. I see I have neglected my friendships with other people so how could I have a strong sound relationship-friendship with Jesus. Lord forgive me, for I was caught up in my own life and became selfish. Thank You for pruning those branches and weeds out of my life—thank You Father for showing me where each person belongs in my life And their value. Thank You for the Gifts of the Spirit and the definition of UnconditionaLove so that I see my goal to grow toward—that Will give You All the honor and glory through my life. In the name of Jesus, my friend Amen.

God honors Friendships-Numerous teachings in the Bible show us this.


~on feet of peace,
ALWAYS SEEKING TO ENCOURAGE!
Resting In His Faithfulness,
One Day At A Time By Faith.
Joshua 1:9

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