You see me, now you dont.

Luke 17:10

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.

Before I knew Christ, I must say, I got everything done that I wanted to do and I got it done well.  I wanted to do the things that I knew no one else would want to do.  And when I did them with a smile on my face and in a close to perfect way, I was all ready for the big thank you from everyone who had seen what I just performed oh so well.

But I read this and it is telling me I am an unworthy servant and that I was suppose to do whatever it was in front of me as best I could with a smile on my face no anyway. Unworthy? Not valuable, not praiseworthy, undeserving, and worthless? I guess this figure God in the sky knows something I don’t…Hello? Did you not see what I just had to go through and I did it with a smile. I did it so well. I made them so happy and thankful.  I wanted to do this for them. I put them way before myself and never thought twice of how it would make me feel.  You know what, it was gross.  Come one, who would want to do something like that. It wasn’t for fun. It was for them! You try doing that. You get down on your knees and do something that makes you so bellow everyone else. I don’t see anyone else doing what I did with a smile on their face, they look disgusted. (oh how wrong I was)  And now you are calling me unworthy?  Do you know how long it took for me to make these thoughts I have and how big my heart needed to be…boom. He said now you stop right there.

He let me know right there that the thoughts, the good intensions, the heart that was made to love these people and be selfless enough to do this act for them, has nothing to do with Jordan Cole, but has everything to do with that figure you were talking about, yes, God who is not just in the sky but everywhere, just to clear things up.

Wow, so you mean, it has nothing to do with me why I wanted to help those people.  And that the duty I did wasn’t so I could show how precious and needed I am? But should be grateful that you have allowed me to be able to help.  And say I am an unworthy servant; I got to do something for this body of Charts even though I could have been tossed into the lake of fire for being the sinner I am.  I get to do all these things even though I am not grateful and unworthy to, but my Master gave me the chance to give back to Him, by doing His work here on earth.  Its not about me. Or I. or myself. I am not even worthy to be doing this work, but I get to so I will complete the duty that I was told to do.

Now that I am a Christian, I need to let God show me that I am unworthy and its not about how needed I am, but how needed He is to even allow me to do things for Him.

Application:

Today I will look for opportunities to serve Him unnoticed.

  

Its not about the Thank Ya's.

Luke 17:9

Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

As a servant of Jesus Christ, I don’t believe that He says thank you after I do a task He sets before me.  For one its really not me who did it anyway, yea I allowed Him to work through me, but He doesn’t need to be thankful. If anything I should be thanking Him for giving me the opportunity to do the task.  How about the task now life as a Christian?  He gave me the opportunity to accept that job, who am I to no say thank you to Him? Truly all I want to hear that the end of whatever it is I got to do for my King is, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Application:

Today as I serve I will not do it looking for a thank you, but for a good job in all tasks set before me.  Not doing it for man or God, but God for.

No MO COFF

Luke 17:8

Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?

How far as servants in finishing the job do we need to go until we can then look on to our own needs. What is great about the master we serve, our Lord Jesus Christ is that we don’t need to worry about when or what we eat and drink.  As long as we suit up in the armor of God, ready for duty, do as He leads you to do, He will make sure you are being blessed with everything your heart needs along the way.  Seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all else will be added on.  Strive to complete the tasks our God sets before us and worry not about your needs for they are already being taken care of.

Application:

Today and for the rest of the week I will fast from coffee, allowing myself to not drink something I want.  And when I think I need it, know that it is Him I am putting first to serve and not worrying about what I think I need.

Again and Again but No MORE!

Luke 17:7

Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?

If I had a servant, that would make me his master and I would assume he loved to serve me, he would get the things done assigned to him, putting me first out of respect for that is his place.

Jesus Christ came on to this earth as a man, and being God, or Master, He to show us what we are actually suppose to do, humbled Himself to the possession of the lowest servant.

Here we have our God who has all above us and is all above us, take the place to serve us, to show us how it is done.  How to be a child of God.  Usually we have the master talk through directions for the servant to follow, but Jesus didn’t just talked, he walked, healed, washed feet, and then actually died for us.

What kind of master are we serving? A master that dies for us, for we messed up so badly and got so off track as servants He picked us up, set us to the side and finished the job for us.  Not only did He have us eat before Him, He finished the job and more some to show us how to do it.

So now Im saved and I have this bible in front of me to show me how to do it, how to live and serve God.  I now have the manual to walk talk you name it whatever I need to do, is listed out how its done right in front of me. I can now be the best servant. Yet I’m not.  In fact I do the opposite. I call on my master to finish the jobs I have before me and have Him serve me before I serve Him, and rarely do I thank Him for doing so.  The best master hands down. He does the work that He has assigned for me because I get all caught up in myself and say I cant do it and that I need help. And He is right there, never took His eyes off me as I went to work for Him out in His back yard. Never even went outside because He wants to make sure I am okay. And when there is a weed that wont come up in His garden, I give up after a few tries, getting dirty and hating it.  I sit down and pout, and not seconds later He lifts me up brushes me off. Puts my hand the weed with His and we pull it up together. My master I love because He loves me so much more. I should not have Him have me eat first, I want to serve Him until all jobs are done.

Application:

Today already a familiar trial has come up, and I have given up once again, even though He is standing over me trying to get me to stand without pulling me up completely, knowing I have knowledge and strength to get back up by myself. Well I want to for the rest of today and this week, not give up and turn to the old lie I once believed, but to have the truth He has given me and have Him watch me get through it with what He has told me and not have Him do the work and pull me up.

Havin Faith Brotha

Luke 17:6

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

What can God not do though you, if you think that He can do it, even if it is the tiniest belief?  If you have any faith, and it may even may the smallest of faith, but if you have any what so ever, God is going to jump up and down, shaking the universe, ready to do work through you because of it.

Jesus is saying here if you have the faith of a mustard see, a tree will uproot itself and plant itself in the ocean, what happens after that, I don’t know, but come on, a tree will obey you if you believe that God can uproot itself and re plant in the sea.  Doesn’t that sound insane to believe? Not to God. In fact, if you truly believe that He can do that, and I am talking without a doubt He can do it, and it is for some reason a part of His will, well watch out because a mountain of mulberry trees might start a small island somewhere in the pacific.

Just the smallest bit of faith in God and He will do something you wouldn’t ever think possible with it.

I knew He was going to find me a place to live in Mass for the 4 months I had before coming to potters field.  I needed to stay close to the Calvary Chapel Boston, but had no place to live. I also needed to live somewhere for free. I knew He was going to, it was going to glorify Him if I stayed, and it was a part of His will. I got a call from a guy from the church saying I could stay at His sisters house that just moved and was trying to sell it, needed someone to live there till it was sold to have it occupied.  Yup, God. Had faith. He did serious work with it. Be watchin out for that new island of mulberry trees.

Application:

I have faith that I will have the money to finish out pfr..Tomorrow I will call my dad, knowing that God has a good amount of money coming back from taxes for me going towards tuition.

Kids in Kenya

Proverbs 31:7

Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

Well this brings a closing to the last blog that I posted.  Ending verse 6 that reads, give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; leading to verse 7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.  After hearing how God spoke to everyone else’s heart about verse 6 and how He is implying that the one who are in anguish can be healed of their problems physical problems with a little taste of alcohol, but now their poverty and misery can be even be forgotten.  He is now leaning on how kings and have the poor and needy can have their emotional problems being solved.

            Our King of all Kings I know never needed alcohol to lift up His spirits or need it to excuse Him out of physical, which is so inspiring.  I have countless times have used substances and abused substances to bring me out of darker moments.  Now that I am on a path set out before me by this same King, I will strive to do the same.  I want to be able to never have to use any substances to bring me out of misery other than His own everlasting water.

             Heading to Kenya where I know there is misery that wants to be forgotten and they aren’t as lucky to have drugs to get them though. I hope to bring the same everlasting water that has so much love in and through it, into their lives that has been brought into mine.

Application:

Today and for the rest of the time before I leave for Kenya, I will pray that God starts setting up hearts there to hear the truth and love we have to share and that their lives will not need substances to bring them out of misery, but have God to turn to.

Cutting Deep

Proverbs 31:6

Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish,

Go ahead and give it to them, let them be healed like you so are. Ha, what a joke, but how I did it so often. Rough day smoke a blunt, got things on the mind, clear it by smoking a joint, have to go do something like work, that’s not important, get high my friend.  What about, your dad not loving you the way you want, get high and go to lunch with him. Feel and do as I do. How it works for me so good. I would pass the J like Bob Marley no problem, solved all my worries heartaches headaches and lifeaches.

But wait. The high is gone and I’m coming down. Reality boom struck me right in the face. And my face feels it.  All my worries back, and even more so, cause time has dragged on and I’m still in these tangles.  And what? All the people I got high are wanting more, cause it only lasted for a short time. Ok yea…here…get high. Now that the grass is gone, what to do?  How miserable.  It didn’t help me…its not helping you…but I don’t want to accept that it’s losing its power, or realize it never had power, so come on you still can get high. A victim I was to this plant.

God knows He is the only one who is an everlasting drug. You take Him in you will always have Him there. He never leaves better yet He never left. Stop giving non-sobering substances to those who are looking for answers, the truth. Give them Jesus. Now that I have Jesus how great He is to share. I’m now a slave to the answer to the problem and not just a victim to the potential solution to the symptom.

God used someone to show me the answer, now its my turn to offer what people are truly looking for to solve the questions of their lives.

Application:

Take time to thank God and be great full He had someone show me the cure to the problem and not just offer a for second solution to the symptoms. 

For the kids

Proverbs 31:5

Lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. 

When I got wasted from whatever substance the night brought, and lost my sense of what was truly right from wrong, and had others who were searching for the right, the truth, trying to fit in, trying to do what was cool, even if it was wrong, to do what I did cause I made it seem like it was the thing to be doing.  It happened. More than once.  I can remember countless times when people who were looking up to what I was doing, male, female, older or younger, followed me cause they thought I knew what I was doing and where I was taking them.

I said it was ok to do.  I helped them go down the wrong path.  But why? Because I didn’t necessarily think what I was doing was bad, I just knew it wasn’t good.  Going against what society told me to do.  Going against what my parents warned me of.  Going against Gods way.  Someone had to show me this way to be this way.  There must be a pattern.  Someone at some point had to start it cause I just didn’t out of the blue want to go against what was right. It was already right cause its what I knew to do and be true.

In the beginning of my life where I was searching for answers, who to be.  I wasn’t getting drunk, but I didn’t know the law, the real right way to do things.  So I looked to see what it was, what was taking place in front of me. Searching for truth and running into a group of people who were doing things that just weren’t correct. In fact it was the opposite and I didn’t know to question it. I just did it.

We as Christians need to teach younger people to learn to test what is said and shown, even if it is from their own parents. Not to question whether or not they are wrong, but to see if what they know and were taught is right.  If something deep down inside is saying, “woah this just doesn’t seem right.” That could be God trying to protect them from a lie.  I need to start by training myself to test all spirits.

Application: I need to go through out this week testing things that are said to me, even questionable thoughts, and bring them back to the bible to test them to see if they line up with what God says is the way.

Closer To The Truth

Proverbs 31:4

It is not for kings, O Lemuel- not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to drink beer,

When I first became a Christian, I continued the habits I had from the world, drinking and smoking pot, nothing changed as far as not being sober minded.  I thought I didn’t have to, or didn’t need to, but mainly I didn’t want to.  I wasn’t ready to start new.  But one day I did. It took around three months of having the Holy Spirit in me to finally have me stop putting substances into my body making me not sober. He needed me sober to have me do His work.  And it wasn’t hard.  In fact, I loved it. I was finally pulled out of the fog I put myself in and was able to think in a clear manner.  I could understand how the fog made me not see the path Jesus was laying before me, but once He did His great work of making me sober, I started to see where I was going and I wanted to go fast.

            You cant go fast when your not sober. I tried for so many years to say it didn’t affect my capability to function at my best potential.  How ignorant I was.  Once I was sober I everything about me functioning in the world started to pick up, my cognitive, emotions, and physical life were all so different. It made me want to cry, cause I felt like I held myself back for so long now.  I didn’t need to cry, God was there telling me I had time now to do things right and it was bright clear stable path ahead.

Great kings and rulers need to be sobered minded. And my Great King and Ruler is sober and was and always will be. You wont find a scripture in the bible saying Jesus drank or did anything to make Him not sober.  And like most peopling who have Kings you want to be just like them and following their example. So now that’s what I am doing. Being sober, like my King, Jesus Christ.

I feel as if God wants us to also see that wine and beer made both of man, things of this world can make you not sober, corrupt and brought to think not straight of the Spirit.

Application:

Today I will write down all my thoughts that aren’t sobering to the Spirit and shut them down with scripture to bring me closer minded to Christ.