Tag Archive for 'God'

A God Directed Life!

by Jonas Harley | August 17, 2010

There is no doubt you want God to direct your life. I’m sure at some point in your life you have echoed what the psalmist said, “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4).  There are countless people and organizations that are gladly willing to offer you advice and guidance for your life. I want to submit to you that a God directed life never falters and I will biblically prove it to you in Proverbs 3:5-6. In order for God to direct your life you must follow these three commands.

You must trust in the Lord with all your heart (3:5a) – The key word here is trust. It means confidence, to cling to, to confide in. You will never follow someone who you do not trust. You will not place your entire trust in a person whose character you have no knowledge of. A good leader will be trustworthy among his or her followers. The reason many Christians struggle with allowing God to direct their life is due to the fact that they do not know their God very well. Ashamedly, many Christians have a surface and academic knowledge of God, but when it comes to making life altering decisions they struggle in trusting Him with all their heart. If you want to live a life that is directed by God you must take some time to establish a biblical view of God. Your trust will be in proportion to your love for God and your love is in proportion by your knowledge of God.   

You must not lean into your own understanding (3:5b) – The key word here is lean. It means to support one’s self, to rely, to prop up. A good illustration of this key word is observing someone on crutches. When you choose to not trust in the Lord with all your heart your natural default is to trust in your own knowledge and wisdom (understanding). Wow! It’s scary to think that if you fail to trust God you will naturally depend in your own ability and judgment to make decisions! God says you are fool! Proverbs 12:15 states, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes…” To lean into your own understanding is an act of self-confidence that communicates there is no God! Remember, a God directed life never falters. You must depend and lean into God’s wisdom and understanding that is found through Scripture and in prayer.

You must acknowledge Him in all your ways (3:6a) – The key word here is ways. It means road, course of life, journey. It covers every area that life brings your way. God cares and loves you so much that He wants you to recognize (acknowledge) Him in every area. This keeps you on the right path, functions as accountability, and serves to keep you focused. When you are acknowledging God in all your ways that results in a God directed life!

Now, here is the best part. If you obey these three commands that are stated in Scripture, there is a promise that follows. God will direct your paths (3:6b)! This means God will make your paths straight. In other words, you have the blessings of God directing your life! God is your guide! A God directed life never falters! Amen!

  • Share/Bookmark
Post a Comment: 1 Comment

How to Keep God First!

by Jonas Harley | May 4, 2010

This past Sunday (5/2/10) my church celebrated 208 years of existence! What an honor to serve in a ministry that has faithfully preached and boldly stood on the truth of God’s Word for over two centuries! During the afternoon service my Pastor, Chuck Woodruff, preached an excellent sermon on how to biblically and practically keep God first place in your life.

1) Plan- Creating and executing a plan is vital if we want God to have first place in our life. We are very good at doing this when it comes to our vocation. Teachers develop lesson plans, coaches design game plans, students carry around day planners, financial planners…well uh…plan out our financial goals. Whatever career path we are in, it requires some form of planning in order to be effective and meet deadlines. Planning is the tool that assures that we keep and meet our top priorities. Planning greatly relieves the pressure. Planning gives us direction. Someone has well said, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Why is it, when it comes to keeping God first in every area of our life we fail to plan? How often do we wake up in the morning and HOPE to have time to read God’s Word and pray? How often do we miss church because we fail to plan? How many times do we neglect family devotions because we fail to plan? Perhaps the reason we don’t have God first in our life is because of a failure to plan to keep God first. We must plan our day around God, not God around our day. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”   

2) Prayer- One of the reasons God gets the “backseat” in our Christian life is because we have committed to things that may not be in His will to begin with. In other words, we are overcommitted, too busy! Someone may be thinking, “Well, 2 Corinthians 9:8, says God’s grace is sufficient in all things.” That’s true; however those “things” must be in the will of God. Spending quality time (that takes planning too!) in prayer asking God’s will in a matter is how we keep God first. We must stop assuming that every opportunity that presents itself must be committed to. Too many good things will keep us from the main thing! Pray! James 4:13-15, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” (see Proverbs 3:5-6).          

3) Proper Perspective- It’s not easy to keep the proper perspective in life when we are too busy or don’t know what the proper perspective is. John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Ok, this will sound really simple, God is the Creator and we are the Creation. Therefore, we lose all prerogatives (rights) to determine how we are going to live our life. As the verse clearly states, we must decrease (humble ourselves) Why? So God can increase (be magnified). When we have this perspective in mind our practice will reflect a God first life!      

4) Prompt- God loses first place in our life when we delay in doing His will. Delayed obedience is disobedience. We must obey and stop wasting precious time that we can’t get back. Ephesians 5:16, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Also see Ecclesiastes 12:1; Colossians 4:5; James 4:14.

5) Persistence- Distractions keep us from focusing on the finish line. Have you ever walked down midway at the state fair? Talk about distracting! It’s very hard to get through there without stopping to look, buy, or taste something!  Isn’t the Christian life like that? If we want God to have first place in our life we must eliminate the distractions and keep our eyes on the prize! Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

6) Passion- We are always faithful, dedicated, and committed to whatever thing or person we truly love. Think about it…why do athletes play through severe pain? Why does a boyfriend drive many miles to see his girlfriend? Why do employees work long hours to get that promotion? When we truly love something or someone decision making isn’t that hard anymore. We need more Christians who are very passionate about serving God Almighty that everything else in life takes a backseat. Take a few moments and check what you are passionate about? This exercise will quickly reveal your priorities. For example, if you had to choose between attending your church’s Sunday worship service or play in your ballgame, which would you choose? Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer panteth [longs/desires] after the water brooks, so panteth [longs/desires] my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

God can and will have first place in your life if you execute these 6 biblical principles!

  • Share/Bookmark
Post a Comment: 5 Comments

Overcoming the Fear of Man! (Part 2)

by Jonas Harley | March 16, 2010

What I absolutely love about studying and preaching the Bible is that God gives me solutions to my sinful condition. For example, I am a planner and organizer I love having all my “ducks in a row” and know where I’m going. So it is very easy, even natural, for me to live by sight. But God says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that He wants me to live by faith! So that is a sinful problem. I feel more comfortable living by sight than by faith, because that means I’m in control and have say in my destiny. However, because God loves me and knows all about my fallen condition He gives me the solution in Hebrews 11 about living by faith and how to do it. Do you see what I mean? For every area of sin that you and I have, God has a biblical solution that we must apply into our daily living.

With that being said, in my last post, Obeying the Fear of Man, I listed several items that take place when you are more concerned about what other people think about you rather than what God thinks. This is sin and greatly hinders your spiritual influence to the people around you. So what is God’s solution to having victory over the fear of man (commonly known as peer pressure)?

Turn back to Proverbs 29:25. It states, “…but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”  What does that mean?

In order to biblically overcome the fear of man you must focus on placing your trust in the Lord. The root of this sin is a lack of complete dependence (trust) in God alone. Because you are designed to place your trust into something or someone, by default you will seek to please man, hence why you obey the fear of man (peer pressure) at school, work, church, etc. How do I know that?

In Hebrew poetry a statement that is made in the first line is then repeated, expanded, or contrasted in the second line. Also known as Hebrew parallelisms. In this verse we have an antithetical parallelism, which simply means the two statements contrast each other. Therefore, this means a fearful person that is consumed with what others think does not trust God. Here is the biblical solution… 

1) Biblically overcoming the fear of man is possible! God wants and longs for you to place your trust in Him by (1) knowing that ungodly fear does not come from Him (1 Timothy 1:7). Being consumed with what other people think is not something God wants you to be concerned about. This is ungodly fear. (2) Acknowledge that only God can provide true security (Ephesians 1:6). The word “safe” means to be set on high, exalted, in a safe place, to be unreachable by others.

The summer of 2008 my wife and I vacationed in the Philadelphia area and we had the wonderful opportunity to visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell for the very first time. When we approached the Liberty Bell I noticed the it was carefully roped off, under careful watch by surveillance cameras, and well-protected by security guards. The bell was set on high and truly safe. This the picture God wants you to understand when you place your trust in Him! Security in the Lord removes the intimidation of man. As a Christian you are accepted in God’s eyes (Ephesians 1:6), why do you want or need man’s approval? 

Finally, (3) focus on pleasing God in every area of your life instead of pleasing your peers. When your trust is in the Lord you are now FREE from the bondage of acceptance! You are now FREE from the fear of man! God now has your full attention on Him (Psalm 118:8).

2) Biblically overcoming the fear of man is promising! Notice how this verse is stated, “…but whoso [whoever, anyone, any Christian can do this! You qualify!] putteth [places; puts] his trust [confidence] in the Lord shall [will] be safe [secure; set on high].”  Wow! This is a timeless and eternal promise directly out of Scripture.

You can biblically overcome the fear of man by placing your complete dependence in the Lord. One exercise I encourage you to perform is to look up several verses on trust and apply them. I will get you started…Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 34:8.  Let me know what you find and learn!

  • Share/Bookmark
Post a Comment: 5 Comments

Incorrect Views of God

by Jonas Harley | February 22, 2010

A.W. Tozer once stated, “What comes to our minds when we first think about God is the most important thing about us.” He also went on to say, “Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.”  

Another has said, “One of the greatest obstacles to a meaningful relationship with God is a false concept of what God is like.” 

Believe it or not, but there are many Christians who hold an incorrect and unbiblical view of God and it is impacting the way they live their life. Here is a brief list of some common ways Christians incorrectly view God (note: many unbelievers hold these views too, but that is expected because they are unsaved). 

1. Santa Claus – Have you ever “treated” God as if you could sit on His lap and rattle off your list of wants? You very quickly can develop a mindset of entitlement and expect God to give you whatever you ask when you want it. It is very easy to fall into this type of living because of your pride and failure to biblically understand who God is.  

2. Rabbit’s Foot – Many Christians view God as a good luck charm that they have to rub in order to earn God’s favor. For example, you may think, “I didn’t read my Bible today, so I guess God will have to punish me with a bad grade on my test.” This incorrect view really reveals a life that is full of fear and self-dependency. 

3. Aladdin’s Lamp – This is like treating God like a genie. You “rub” the lamp and wait for Him to appear to grant you 3 wishes. In other words, when you want something special to take place you send up a quick prayer that is self-centered. For example, “God, if you allow me to score a goal in my game today I will definitely serve you with my whole heart.” You only need Him when there is a wish to be granted. 

4. Jack in the Box – This is where you attempt to control God by turning the crank the right away and then God will appear. For example, you “turn” God’s crank by reading your Bible, attending church, and being good and in return you think that will make you some spiritual faithful servant of the Lord, but in reality you are very dependent on your own works to be accepted by God. This is done out of duty rather than pursuing a relationship.  

5. Old Friend – In this view God becomes “old news” and not exciting anymore. God is now distant. Did you ever have a childhood friend that you did everything with and now several years (or decades) later you hardly have contact with that friend? Are you doing that with God? You use to be on fire for God, you use to be right with God, you use to be a faithful servant, but now your relationship with God is “old news” and just kind of causal and laid back. 

6. Man Upstairs – This is where you make God seem remote and disinterested. God’s doesn’t care He’s just the man upstairs. For example, you may say or think, “God is probably with someone else and doesn’t have time for me.” OR “God is probably busy using someone else and He doesn’t really need me.”  

7. Scrooge – Very often you tend to view God as a boss who is very hard to please, very demanding with no love. For example, it’s easy to think, “God seems hard to please. He gives me all these commandments and they are hard to follow.” You view God as having a stern look with no rewards and He does not want you delighting in Him. 

8. Crutch – This is where you “add” God to your life to areas only where you need Him. God starts to become your buddy or pal. For example, everyone wants to be accepted and well liked so people will do almost anything they can to become a well-rounded, likeable, qualified person so they will add God or “faith” to their life (or resume) to be able to relate with others better. How tragic! God is not your “crutch” He must be your life and all! 

9. State Trooper – Here you tend to look at God has a “getcha god” who is always looking for something wrong and is not willing to forgive. He is only concerned about the sins you commit. He never honors or blesses the righteous things you do. You view God as non-relational and just there for punishment. 

The Bible, God’s Word to man, is where you must gain a correct and biblical view of God. Then you must live your life reflecting Him so others can receive a right view of God.   

  • Share/Bookmark
Post a Comment: 12 Comments