Good morning! Brent didn't know I was going to sneak in here and visit a bit in his absence...I was away from my computer for a few days and just read the last couple of entries.
Brent (were I to ask him) probably wouldn't admit to me that I was one who had let him down though I know that I have, whether he remembers so or not. I know that I have - both directly and indirectly. Even harder to realize and admit is that I have way too many times let Christ down, He whom I call my Lord and King yet fail to treat any better than a distant stranger when I get busy with daily work and living.
The photograph that Brent posted of Pastor Tito and me took me by suprise. Why? I can't place where the shot was taken. That in and of itself doesn't really bother me except that I know that it points to a bigger issue for me. Much of the trip to Peru that I was so fortunate to share in December receded from my easy-access memory after the scare with Brent on the flight home. I am troubled and ashamed to say that the fear that gripped me over those hours has overshadowed the rest of the experience, and I do not want to let it erase from my mind the lessons and good things shared. Satan is so good at using our weak points to his own maximum advantage and sometimes we - I - make it too easy for him. I do not want to be defeated so easily and sometimes choosing not to be isn't as obvious or easy as it should be for a Child of God.
I have to ask myself why this is and I know that the main reason is that my focus has not been on Jesus my Lord but on myself, and on getting done what I feel I need to get done so that I can be in a better position to serve Him. When I look into my own heart I know that these are often just excuses or rationalizations. Too often I find myself looking to Him as Jesus the Comforter for whatever is troubling my soul...and that is a role He takes on without a doubt; but that can't be the extent of my relationship with Him, I owe Him so much more than that.
As we approach the celebration later this week that marks the greatest event in human history and the thing that sets Biblical Christians apart from other faiths - Christ's triumph over the grave after making the ultimate sacrifice for each one of us personally - I challenge us to closely examine our motives for doing what we are doing at home, at work, at church and with our families and friends. As we do so, pray that He will show us where our motives are flawed or misplaced, and how He would have us reshape them. Pray that He will give us the faith that we should have, that would allow us to act like Laura does in the presence of satanists, or the way BJ did when he heard the Lord say "go".
Where are you letting Satan defeat you? It is sad that we let him do so at all, but even sadder when we don't even require him to use heavy artillary.
In Christ,
brad
P.S.
Please do keep the team in Mexico in your prayers this week as they step out in obedience.
posted by Pray for BJ @ 10:15 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Thank you, Brad for sharing. God bless you on making yourself transparent before God and us.
Brad, don't be so hard on yourself. As one who has had to face life threatening and altering health issues, sometimes one just must conclude what Jesus wants us to be doing is concentration on ourselves. You underestimate the effects of your walk with Him and His light that shines from within you. Not all the souls that need to be saved are across international borders. Some are sitting next to you in the pew, some are exercising next to you at the gym, one handed you your lunch today, the nurse that administered your test, and others cross your path each day. Some are called to venture out across the miles, others are not. The Lord uses us but is more than capable to change lives without human intervention, ie. Moses and Saul of Tarsus!! It is we who are in desparate need of Him, not the other way around. We all need to grow more in love with Christ which results in good works. But our good works don't always result in a closer love of Christ nor do they define who He is in our lives. It's nice to know that you are human, like the rest of us. Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
6But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Heb 3:1,6,12-14
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Brad,
You and Tito are standing in front of the Arab resturant in Chiclayo. It is where we stopped to let the Bowie's visits their friends. You ordered goat meat for lunch. And the policeman chased you down because you were walking around with your camera around your neck.
Walker
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