Help Yourself to God

Is Christianity more about doing or being? I think that it is possible to pull off an external version of faith while still lacking the inner muscle.
If you march to a beat where the drummer is not the Son of God calling you to follow Him so you can be with Him, then it’s time to choose a new pathway.
How many times do you hear true faith defined as having a personal relationship with Jesus? Yet if we examine the amount of time we are investing in sitting at the feet of our Lord like Mary versus serving in the kitchen doing busy work like Martha, we might be unpleasantly surprised.
I think we believers make a big mistake when we try to substitute doing things for God over just being still and spending quality time with God.
Compiling ministry miles like they pad our badge of honor will never satisfy our ailing hearts like just walking with our God in the cool of the day.
As a matter of fact, this is why so much of what we do in the name of heaven actually lacks divine power because we haven’t invested enough heart to heart time in God’s presence.
As a shepherd, I haven’t always taken very good care of the sheep. I mean, I feed them a big meal at the service and then I send them out without allowing the proper time to digest the dinner. How can we be holy in a hurry? How can we really take in what we have been fed if we have rushed the process and gulped it all down in a single bite?
Maybe this weekend, before you leave the table, take the time to let the truth penetrate to the inner depths of your heart and soul.
Bring a notebook. Take a walk with God. Be silent. Slow down and see what the Spirit has in store. Believers have been suffering from indigestion for long enough.
Sit down and stay a while.! Chew your food. Enjoy the company and see if you don’t come away feeling healthier spiritually than you have in a while.
Prayer is the key ingredient if we are serious about stoking the fires of our spiritual connection. But praying is not just a one-way conversation where we monopolize the time by doing nothing more than reciting a shopping list that we hope God will deliver upon.
We speak, and then we listen. When was the last time you heard Jesus speak to you through the Holy Spirit? I’m not talking about using the Bible like a Magic 8Ball where you ask yes or no questions and then let the pages fall where they may. Jesus promised that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. But have you ever tried to communicate to somebody who is already out the door as you are opening up your mouth?
We brag about our multitasking and we compete with other Christians in the, “Who can look the most exhausted when it comes to presenting ourselves before the body of Christ contest?”
But doesn’t the very Bible we submit to promise us that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and not appear as if they are about to pass out?
Fire up doesn’t equate to burn out. And just carrying your Bible around brings you no closer to the One who wrote it than having your smartphone in your pocket allows you to talk to the friends you say you care about.
Remember Eli’s instruction to Samuel when God was calling out in the night? He told the young boy to reply by saying, “Here I am Lord. Speak now for your servant is listening.”
Stop treating God with the same nonchalance you give to the flight attendants when they go through their speeches about what to do in an emergency on an airplane.
You know when the passengers really perk up? When the flight is in trouble, and the lives of those sitting in the seats depend upon following directions.
Any chance of experiencing abundant life this side of heaven is strongly linked to listening and obeying the Master! But you can’t pass a test you didn’t study for, and God is here to tutor us any time and anywhere we ask. What are you waiting for?
Christian artist, Kathy Troccoli, will be with us at The Lighthouse Church this coming weekend.
She will be in concert on July 22 at 6 p.m. and July 23 at 9 and 10:45 a.m. No tickets are necessary. Bring yourself and as many friends as possible.
One of Kathy’s songs is called, “Help Myself to You.” The lyrics go something like this:
“Gonna close my door; Gonna shut all the lights; Want to be alone; With You at my side.
Tell me all those things; That I long to hear; In that still small voice; Whisper in my ear.
To be alone with You, Jesus; It’s such an honor for me.
Pour your life into me; Fill me with Your glory; Let Your love consume me
Oh, to be at this place; It’s an act of Your grace, And there’s nothing that I’d rather do
Than to help myself to You.”
Rather than trying to impress. Rather than looking to stand out and fit in. Rather than going with a consumer mentality. Why not go to church to be with Jesus?
Why not go to church to be Jesus to those around you? Jesus is able to give individual attention to a whole host of individuals at the same time and miracles happen when we forget about ourselves, concentrate on Him and live a life of worshipping the One who made you to help yourself to Him.