Hide it under a bushel

Hide it under a bushel

Remember the old song you use to sing as a child,  Hide it under a bushel, NO,  I'm gonna let it shine, hide it under a bushel, NO, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

God's word in you was never meant to sit dormant. 

Matthew 5:14-16 says:

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

If we try to hide God's presence or never speak of our intimate relationship with him how will unbelievers know what it's like to enjoy a living relationship with Christ.  You can't hide a city on a hill.  It's light at night can be seen for miles and miles.  If we live for Christ, we will shine like lights, showing others what Christ is like.  God's purpose for some of us might seem small: perhaps He will call us to help only a few people during the entire span of our lives. 

His purpose for others may be seem huge but regardless of the size of our calling, we were all created to shine.  It's Like a battery in a flashlight.  When the flashlight starts to get dim it means the battery is losing its energy.  You can buy rechargeable batteries and simply plug them back into the power source and it will once again shine bright.  Same is true with the body of Christ.  Our light is to shine brighter and brighter. We have to stay plugged into the word in order for that to happen.

The word says that Gods word is a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet. Psalm 119:105

He illuminates the path for us and then our part is to shine.  Staying plugged in is our part, the shining belongs to God.  The world needs God's light more than ever now, so let's not let our batteries grow dim.  Stay connected to the Word and let's let our light shine.

On Purpose

On Purpose

If you’re anything like me then you might occasionally find yourself reflecting on how you’ve got to where you are in life and if you’re living on purpose.  It’s inevitable that everyone will experience, at least to some degree, what it’s like for the waves of life to carry you somewhere where you didn’t intend to be.  However, our awareness of our God-given purpose will help right the ship sooner rather than later and allow us to get back on track so that we’re living more productive, purpose filled lives.  Many think that the more heavenly minded you are, the less earthly good you will be.  However, Paul would disagree with that based on what he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Colossians 3:1-4.  This is in The Message translation:

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

We’re told to look up and get our eyes off of the things going on right in front of us.  We need to be alert to what is going on around Jesus because that is where the action is.  We too often compartmentalize Jesus or give Him a certain place in our schedule or lives; when really He should be at the center of everything we’re doing so that all of the action and everything else going on is peripheral to Him.  The best way that we can keep living on purpose is to keep church (the church) as a central part of our lives since that is Christ’s body on the earth.  The local church is where your purpose lies whether you know it or not, and the only way to live out your purpose is to stay connected to where it’s found.

Special messenger

Special messenger

“PAUL, AN apostle–[special messenger appointed and commissioned and sent out] not from [any body of] men nor by or through any man, but by and through Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and God the Father, Who raised Him from among the dead–”

Galatians 1:1 AMPC

Special messenger, I want to talk to you about being a special messenger. 

Whenever a sender of a package or a Note or a messege gives the messenger or deliverer of the messege, the special messenger has the messege in their possession for a time but it doesn't mean it belongs to them. They simply are delivering it to the intended recipient the sender wanted it to go to. 

Paul realized that everything that he had received was from God and that he was simply acting as a messenger To get it to God's intended receipents, mankind.   Every word Paul spoke, every treasure that came into his hand was merely meant to pass through Paul and into others. 

We are called to be special messenger for God to get all of God's promises, every life freeing word, every penny that passes through our account, every material thing was given to be given. When we realize our role as messengers, there will be greater things that will pass through our hands. 

We need to have a revelation that is found in Psalm 24:1

“THE EARTH is the Lord's, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it. [I Cor. 10:26.]”

Psalm 24:1 AMPC

When we do, it is easier to just be a messenger and not think we are suppose to keep everything in our possession. 

Be an open vessel to be used and a pipeline open to flow all of God's blessings to His people. 

“He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much.”

Luke 16:10 AMPC