Monday, August 11, 2008

True or False

Am I seeking life the way I want it? Or seeking life the way the Lord wants it?

This week in the chronological reading, I read a lot of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet of God to Judah. At this point most of Judah has already been taken into captivity to Babylon. The Lord prophesied that due to their hard hearts and rebellious attitudes that Judah would go into captivity. Yet the people did not want to believe that God would do such a thing.

I’ve been like that. The Lord warned me over and over not to do certain things. But I didn’t want to believe that a kind and loving God would let anything happen to me.

During Jeremiah’s time, the rebellious people wanted to live the good life. Do whatever they wanted, when they wanted and be merry in their rebellion. So they refused to listen to the prophet the Lord sent telling them the truth to repent and turn from their wicked ways. They chose instead to listen to the false prophets who told them that the captivity would be short. It was just a brief period—not 70 years as Jeremiah spoke from the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:16-17

16 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the LORD.

17 They keep saying to those who despise me,
'The LORD says: You will have peace.'
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts
they say, 'No harm will come to you.'

Because they listened to the false prophets, they had false hopes. False dreams. They wanted peace so bad they deceived themselves into believing it was from the Lord.

I have had desires I wanted so bad that I thought it had to be from the Lord. Surely it would come to pass. I listened to teachings that satisfied my flesh and gave me hope—false hopes that is.

I sought the Lord earnestly seeking HIM for what I wanted. I used HIS word to try to manipulate my way. But I learned a hard lesson—God cannot be manipulated. Everything that was false was cut out from under me. I was left barren. All the hopes and dreams I had crashed. Smattered. Shattered. The only things left in my life were what was from God—including the hurt.

I had to be pruned to a stump to see what was false. I had to make a choice—follow what was true or follow what was false.

I chose to follow truth and allow the Lord to reshape me and teach me HIS truth.

I learned that the Lord wants to give me life and give it more abundantly. (John 10:10) But I learned that an abundant life does not mean material things. Because I listened to false teaching, I sought after more material things and did not seek first the Kingdom of God. (Matt. 6:33) I thought that by being a godly person I would experience financial gain. (1 Tim. 6:5) I wanted to be relieved of debts and wanted money fast. What the Lord taught me is He is my gain. I am learning step by step how to live the way He wants me to live. I must be a good steward over what is entrusted to me.

This financial lesson came to me three years ago. It was a very painful lesson and now I certainly try to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I want a correctible and teachable spirit. I want to keep my heart bent toward what is True and put aside what is false.

Let’s heed the warnings spoken by the prophets of old. Let’s ask for a discerning spirit to hear what is True and not take in what is false.

Lord, I seek You this day as it is the day You have given to me. Lord, I pray that by Your Holy Spirit that You reveal what is truth. Lord, I pray that all the false teachings be revealed and I not accept them as truth because my flesh desires comfort and ease of life. Lord, I pray that You guide me on the path that leads to You. Lord, may my life be a life lived in the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I pray my life will point to Your saving grace—Jesus Christ. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Engrafted by His Grace—



Shonda

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Note: For more on the chronological readings, visit Bev. You can join us at any time.

7 gracious comments:

Nicole said...

Amen Shonda! I too have heard sermons that have talked about how God wants this and that for me, and I too have believed lies, because I have wanted a life of no hurt, pain etc. I have repented and all I want is Jesus and His truth. I have heard that Jesus cares more about our journey than our destination, and more about our character than the pain we may feel along the way. And the cool part is that He loves us so much, and hurts with us when we are hurting and in pain. We serve an awesome God.

I want to embrace every point that I am at in my life, and be content with what the Lord has given me at every given moment. It's all for His glory, and He knows what He is doing. I don't. Any good others see in me is Christ. In and of myself I am a sinner and have no good within. I have had to come to this realization. Up until recently I had believed that I was a "good" person, and that without even realizing this, I believed that there was good in me. What I have come to know (not just in my head but heart also) is that any good others see in me is because of Christ. I am a sinner to the core. Thank goodness I have a Savior, and thank goodness we all are the same...sinners saved by grace on this beautiful, yet at times painful, journey to become more like God's son, Jesus!

*I wrote a post about head and heart knowledge back in April called Jesus's Perfect Love, and about how as Christian we should be praying that the Lord reveals lies to us so that they can be replaced with truth*

I am so glad that the Lord is revealing lies to you just as He is to me. I rebuke Satan in both of our lives, and pray the blood of Jesus over our hearts and minds. In Jesus Name. Amen!?!

Blessings and prayers, my dear friend. I am so glad I am on this journey of faith with you. You are a blessing and spur me on.

Nicole

marine's words said...

amen,marina

Anonymous said...

Better a stump of Truth than a tree full of the world. He prunes and He tends His wonderful seeds of Truth planted in you as you blossom in the fullness of Grace. Something powerful to reflect on this evening. Love, Annette

Chel said...

Girl did you hit the nail on the head or what? "my flesh desires comfort and ease of life"....and how! What a beautiful prayer, I will use it as well.

Have a blessed evening,
Chel

GammySel said...

Shonda-
Have you heard of Voddie Bauchman? He has a sermon called Multigeneration Promises- something like that-I have a link on my blog to the sermon. Anyway- in there he talks about a slot machine God- how we pray- and we gather thousands to pray with us over this one thing, and then it does not come to pass. So we go to a theologian to tell us that obviously it is not of God, so maybe we should be praying something else!

It is a great sermon- but ties right into what you are studying in Jeremiah!

Have you started schooling yet?
Blessings
Your Siesta
Angie

Joyfulsister said...

Hi Shonda,
Thanks for dropping by my blog, Your comment made me smile *U*. I also read this wonderful post. My husband and I know the importance of having a discerning spirit, so many false prohecies also came our way and when we have no peace about what was said we don't pursue or go ahead of God. I know what you mean about being pruned and learning the hard way. But praise God that through that pruning our eyes are opened to see clearly the things of the Lord. That is why we always need to seek ye first kingdom of God. Thank you for this important reminder and truth. Hugz Lorie

Lisa Smith said...

I love the deep questions! I pray God would reveal deep truth to us even hard ones.

I really love the post about Blooming Dreams too. It's a topic I ponder frequently. My latest question is "What is my legacy?" I am trying to truthfully evaluate what more I could be doing to lead others to Christ. Do I take the easy road? All too often, the answer is yes. I want to embrace my cross as Jesus did. Ah, more thoughts for another post...