Bear Fruit

All is for the glory of God,

"Bear fruit worthy of repentance." Mt 3:8

John the baptist gives this message to the hypocrites. We aren't meant to simply show outward forms of reptance. If we have come seeking grace then our hearts must be right before God. Do not simply seek the good things from God. Now this does not mean that we have to work for forgiveness, but if we repent (meaning we choose not to continue in sin) then that decision should show through in other areas in our life. If it doesn't then how sincere could our choice have been?
Do not simply seek good things from God. We are to be refined by fire and if we are only seeking for good from God then we will not be able to pass through the flames. We are meant to turn our lives over to God and if we are not continually doing that then our repentance is not true and will not bear fruit.
May heaven fall upon you.

Bad Habits and Behaviours

Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. -Ephesians 5:11

Get alone with God. Get a real vision of who God is. When God shows you something; you see clearly. When God does something in you; you see clearly...if you're going to go after something. Go after God and get a word from Him. THAT is what will make you press on; even when things get hard. -gh (ha! I quoted you!)

Now, here I have a Bible verse and a quote. They may seem unrelated, but trust me, I'm going to tie them together so close you won't be able to separate them. Everyone has habits that they know (or maybe don't know yet) that really aren't good and are completely fruitless. In fact they can be so destructive that they cause a lot of problems in the persons life (or in other people's lives). Ok...an example, well, one thing that I seem to commonly be hearing is that sometimes parents will insult their kids. This is something that is completely fruitless. I think some parents think it's motivating or they're just taking their frustration out on their kids (I don't know. I don't get it), but what they are doing is hurtful and only results in bad by-products.
What is my point in all this? Well, bad habits need to be changed, but in order to do that you first need to have a revelation of the problem and see if clearly. No one is going to stop insulting their kids unless they realize it's a problem. Second you need to see what has caused the problem in the first place. Now you might think this is even more obvious than the first thing, but I think this is really where we need revelation from God because sometimes habits or bad behaviours start deep. For example, my behaviour of verbally 'attacking' a certain member of my church does not stem from some kind of complicated situation with some sort of complicated solution (like they would have me believe). At the root of the problem is the fact that I have really been hurt by leaders in my church and they do not have a clear perspective on the problem (there's a good chance I don't either). Now, they keep complaining that I'm saying inappropriate things to them, but all I'm trying to do is sort out the problem and get them to stop hurting me and I really don't know any other way to express how it is that I'm feeling.
So my solution is to keep seeking God for revelation. Revelation on what the problem is and revelation on how to best solve it. Now, step by step I have been getting revelation. It is a really long process because instead of having my leaders actually explain what they mean to me I have to pray...and pray...and pray about it so that I can understand what they are saying so that it actually has use to me. Now, since I have more clarity on their thoughts eventually I can talk to them and say, 'I think this is what you think and this is why I think you are wrong. And you're right about this, but you're wrong about this aspect of it.' And hopefully that will resolve that part of the problem, but the solution would be entirely impossible if I were not seeking God for revelation and help on how to stop doing the things that I am doing wrong. Once I know specifically what it is that I'm doing wrong then I can use that information to find a better way of saying things.
Example: Instead of saying 'I feel judged by you' (which is not the same as saying 'I think you've judged me in these ways'. Which I specifically did not say) I can say 'I feel hurt by you because of...' And maybe, just maybe that approach will open their ears to hear what it is that I actually have to say.
May God move this mountain. ;)

Fig Tree

Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
So I was talking to Beck today about the whole fig tree story (Mark 11:20-25; cross reference Matt 21:18-22) in the Bible. Apparently her dad had a revelation about it last night. So she figured I should talk to her dad about it because of everything going on in my life. So I sat down and listened to what her dad had to say about it.
Her dad connected Luke 13:6-8 the parable of the fig tree to when Jesus cursed the fig tree because with cross referencing you can tell that it happened around the same time (Beck correct me if I'm wrong). So in the fig tree parable the fig tree is meant to represent the pharisees who though they should be producing fruit are not. They have been given time to become fruitful, but season after season they are still not bearing fruit when they should be. Jesus cursing the fig tree shows His frustration with them and also that their time will come to an end soon. Even though He didn't curse the pharisees directly I still think that the parable connected with this curse was a sign that their time was coming to an end.
Now her dad also connected in the bits after the cursing of the fig tree where Jesus makes this seemingly random comment about moving mountains and forgiving people. Now moving mountains doesn't have to be a physical thing. It can be God clearing out a problem in your life. Either way, it shows how powerful prayer can be. And I forget the rest so I'll need to talk to Beck about it again. :P
May heaven fall upon you.

Humility

Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
So I found another quote that made me think:

But here Peter addresses the core issue, the foundational problem to lack of humility, the source of self interest: anxiety, the worry that if we don't watch out for ourselves, nobody will. -So you want to be like Christ? by Charles Swindoll p 141

This stood out to me because it really made me realize that I don't need to worry about whether or not I am having my needs met because I should be seeking Christ to have those needs met. If I'm not seeking Christ for my needs then something must be fundamentally wrong with my relationship with Him. And if I am having my needs met by Christ (and yes this means taking responsibility and having a job like He has asked you to) then I don't need to worry about myself. Which means that I can focus on helping others have their needs met by Christ because Christ will have already met all my needs. That really puts new meaning to the word humble. The humble are those who are secure in themselves because they have had all their needs met by God and out of that they are able to serve others without concern for themselves. If your need for love, value and attention are met by God then you won't find yourself trying to stand out and get that from others. And you won't settle for things that just aren't good enough (like dating someone who really isn't the best thing for you, but might make you feel good sometimes). God is our provider and He is the only one who can satisfy our needs. Once we are secure in that then we can seek Him for our needs and serve Him like we were meant to. Praise God for revelation.

May heaven fall upon you.