Stepping Out In Faith, Part 2

I want you to think about something. Is it easier to walk with your eyes open or your eyes closed? Try walking around the entire room as fast as you can without jogging or running. Now this time close your eyes very tightly, no cheating, no looking, and walk around the entire room just like you did before. You moved much slower the second time around, didn’t you?

If you had someone in the room with you, you may have started listening to their voice(s) trying to instruct you. They probably told you which way to move, but your progress was very, very slow. If you listen to the voices around you, one may tell you to go right, another will tell you to go left, somebody else will say that there’s a chair right in front of you, and you might respond to ALL the voices that speak to you. Many times we’ll start to pay heed to the voices around us because we feel like we need to hear a Word, and there’s plenty of people around who want to give us a word like, “Turn to the right; you’re about to hit something,” or “Stop!”

See, if you had someone in the room, you responded to those voices, didn’t you? The only problem is, none of those voices was the voice of God. It’s just the voice of carnal-minded men and/or women in your life who are speaking as if they’re some sort of authority in regard to your life. “Turn to the right. Oops, no, there’s a wall to the right.”

Walking with your eyes closed, you tend to run into things. You’re likely to trip. When walking with your eyes closed, you’re prone to listen to the voices around you. Do you understand? You’re listening to all the voices around you because you want some direction; you want wisdom, but you don’t know how to get it. You think that all you have to do is listen to everyone else say, “Turn left and do it quickly,” Then you do it, but you do it with a little distrust because you have begun to realize that you can’t always trust what everyone around you is saying.

When we’re walking blind, that’s when we’re the most susceptible to listening to the voices, and those voices oftentimes will run us into a wall, a ditch, or trip us up. The prudent man considers well his steps.

The way to walk in the promises of God is to move forward with your eyes open. God is calling you to move forward from wherever you are. You can identify whatever area of life you want to; it may be just one specific area or a variety of areas in which God is calling you to move forward.

What steps are you willing to take in order to get there? Not what are you willing to give up or willing to sacrifice. See, as long as you look at Christianity that way, it will remain a chore and a hard thing. When you keep your eyes open and on the prize, it’s an easy thing!

The Hebrew’s writer, probably the Apostle Paul, said, “Be not entangled in the things of this world that come in and are encumbrances on you; be not entangled with the sins that so easily trip you up (paraphrased).” The way to do that is not to focus on sin, the way to do that is to focus on the promises; focus on the prize; focus on the goal! That was Paul’s key; he was focused on the prize. That is what empowered him to walk with purpose with every step.

Some of us are stressing and straining, and probably half of you who are reading this right now think you’ve been wrestling with the devil. You haven’t been wrestling with the devil; you’re wrestling with yourself! Some of us have even been wrestling with God! I submit to you that the devil is not your worst enemy, your own carnal mind is!

This is such an important topic, I want to continue to develop it a bit further. I hope that those of you who live in the greater Cumberland and Hoke County area are able to join us this morning at Cliffdale Christian Center. Sister Vickie, Zach, and I just returned from the Dominican Republic and are excited to be with our CCC family once again. We hope to see you there!

~ pg  

Opportunity Knocks, Part 4

Why is there such discontentment in the Body of Christ? It seems that so many are not content. Let’s look at Philippians 4:10-13:

¹⁰ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. ¹³ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now there is something to be said for wanting to pursue success and not stagnate; I’m not necessarily talking about that. I believe we are to progress in life, and we are to go forward with a high level of gusto. We’re to live life to the fullest. But I have also learned that there is something to be said about learning to be content no matter what state we’re in, knowing that it’s only a season, and seasons come and go. Part of our success is learning to be content no matter what state we’re in. Sometimes I think that we put ourselves in a state of misery. And we sentence ourselves to that state because we fail to be content no matter what situation we’re in. Thus our life becomes a hotbed of misery, frustration, and malcontent.

And if we’re not careful, it affects everyone around us: not only ourselves. Paul says in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in regard to need for I’ve learned in whatever state I am to be content.” He’s not saying that it doesn’t matter to him if he has food to eat or a place to sleep, but he’s learned to be content, understanding that God is with him no matter what situation he finds himself in.

I can say this regarding my own life: I’ve lived in tin shacks in Haiti where it’s 110º; I’ve lived with no electricity or indoor plumbing, and I was just as content in that situation as I am now that I live in a beautiful home. Contentment ought not be based upon what we have. That is the world’s way of thinking, and it’s become pervasive in the Church as well. Christians often base their contentment on what they have. “If I could only have this, or only have that. If I could have enough money to do this, if I had enough money to pay my bills, I’d be content.” No, you wouldn’t!

I used to think the same thing. Now I’d be happy to give away a million dollars. Bill Gates committed to give a billion dollars to charity. Guess what? He is not worried about whether his mortgage is going to be made this month. God doesn’t want us concerned with whether or not we’re going to be able to pay our bills. That is a state of frustration and discontentment. Chill. You need to chill. You need to trust and obey. Look around you. Hear the voice of the Lord. God may be saying, “What do you have”? We keep telling God what we don’t have. We tell Him our perceived need. The problem is that when we do get it, we’re still not content. Why? Because our need is much greater than things. Our need is greater than stuff. Our need is Him, and when we find Him and grow in His knowledge, we come to understand He’s already provided all that we need.

This leads to a greater sense of contentment. We are discontent because we have our eyes on things. Paul says in Philippians 4:12, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. And in everywhere and in all things I’ve learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” It makes no difference. And then he says the now infamous Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Here’s the point, and I believe that it is at least part of the essence of that passage. When Paul says he can do all things, it doesn’t mean that he could physically do every single thing. What it does mean is that he could do everything that God had created him to do. Why? Because Paul understood that everything he needed in order to do what God created him to do was already his. It had already been made available to him. He simply needed to know how to turn on the tap.

And that’s where many of God’s people are missing it today. They’re not walking in the overflow because they don’t think they can do all things. Christ enables us to do all things. You are able to do everything that God has called you to do. He has already seen to it when He made available to us all things pertaining to life and godliness. Now it’s either true, or it’s not! He’s either given us all things, or He’s a liar. If He says he has given us all things pertaining to life, then it’s there. It’s mine. It’s available to me. I just need to be able to get it from the unseen realm into the seen realm. And I don’t do that by fear and discontent; I do it by faith, through trusting and obeying Him.

~PG