A Very Important Message That Speaks To My Heart And, I trust, To Yours..

By: Andrew W Roebert

Email: andrew@alivetogod.com

Website: www.alivetogod.com

INTRODUCTION

God has a unique purpose and destiny for each one of us. Within each one of us HE has placed something of great value. Something that was designed and breathed into us, which was meant to be used by God to touch and reach others. At the same time God is at work within us, so that what He has placed and planted within us can grow, develop and bloom into all He intended it to be. Our greatest happiness can be discovered when we do what God has called us to do. When we are fulfilling the destiny and purpose that He has placed within us, we can discover a place of fulfillment and happiness. We should not become restless, discontent or dissatisfied. When we pursue what is not part of what God has placed within us, it can destroy us and those around us. We should remain faithful to what God has called us to do. Be what God meant you to be!

TESTIMONY

I have always known that God has placed within me the desire to encourage other people. I am an encourager at heart. In fact, I do not enjoy confrontation. I prefer to encourage and inspire people, even though sometimes confrontation is an essential part of life. If I operate in this God-given gift, it brings the greatest joy and fulfillment to my life. If I decided that I would rather correct or admonish people, I would soon run out of steam and get discouraged. When I operate in what God has called me to do, I thrive, I make progress and I take ground. When I do what comes naturally to me, because of what God has placed within me, it is easy. It is not a battle or a struggle.

I have discovered that the best thing to do is to be faithful to what God has called me to do and to operate in line with what He has placed within me. If I do this, I am strong. But when I try to be what God has not called me to be, it saps the very life out of me! When we try to be what we were not meant to be, it is usually destructive. If we take what was not intended for us, we usually have to spend our lives fighting to keep it!

SCRIPTURE READING

Judges 9:7-13 When Jotham heard about this, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem! Listen to me if you want God to listen to you! Once upon a time the trees decided to choose a king. First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’ Then they said to the fig tree, ‘You be our king!’ But the fig tree also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing my sweet fruit just to wave back and forth over the trees?’ “Then they said to the grapevine, ‘You be our king!’ But the grapevine also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the wine that cheers both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’

In this story Jotham was speaking to a group of people who wanted to be something they were not intended to be. They wanted to take something for themselves that was not intended for them.

1. DON’T TRY TO BE SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT

In this parable we see a story about not trying to be something we are not. How often we wish we were more like someone else. Perhaps we even wish we had another person’s anointing or calling. Maybe you wish you could just be more like someone else and we end up striving in our own strength to lift ourselves up and elevate ourselves. In this parable the olive tree was asked to be king. The fig tree was asked to be king and the grapevine was asked to be king. They were not designed to be kings! They were designed to be an OLIVE tree, a FIG tree and a GRAPEVINE! Trees were never designed to be kings. Trees were designed to be trees.

Years ago there was a Pastor whom our family knew. He was a good Pastor who enjoyed Pastoring. But his wife felt he could be so much more. She wanted her husband to be in the ‘big-league’! She pushed and pushed and pushed for her husband to be something he was not. It eventually destroyed them, their ministry and their marriage. Be comfortable in your own skin, in your own anointing, in your own gifting and in your own special purpose in God! Develop what God has placed in you and don’t try to be something you are not.

2. NOT EVERY OPPORTUNITY SHOULD BE TAKEN

In the parable above, each tree has the opportunity to respond. In each case the tree asks the question: ‘Should I?’ When we get offered opportunities, we should ask ourselves if this opportunity or promotion is in line with the peculiar and unique gifts God has given us. We should ask ourselves if this is what we are actually called to do! A better position or more recognition may seem like something very attractive, but would it be the right thing and what would the costs be? Can we expect God’s blessing when we operate outside of the unique and special calling God has placed on us? Often the deciding factors are things like power, wealth and honour. Perhaps we should also ask the question: ‘Should I?’ Perhaps we need to carefully examine our hearts and our own secret motivations and intentions of our hearts. We may be risking more than we could gain.

Judges 9:9 They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I……’

Also note that the Olive Tree REFUSED the opportunity to be something it was not, even though being the king would have been something more than just a tree.

3. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR NATURAL, GOD-GIVEN TREASURES

God has placed treasure within you. This treasure is something unique and special. It is exactly what those around you need and are longing for. The greatest joy and blessing in life is to be useful to God and useful to others.

Judges 9:9 First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’

‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people?’ Why would we give up the very thing that was placed within us that would be a source of blessing to both God and man? What God has placed within you was designed to be a blessing. Don’t underestimate what God has placed within you.

The King James Version of this scripture says is more insightfully:

‘But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

There is something rich and ‘fat’ about what God has placed within you. It is of great value. It would be unnatural for the olive tree to give up this great asset. In the same way it should be unnatural for us as Children of God to give up that special dimension that God has placed in us. God knows best about what He has placed within you and I.

4. DON’T BE TEMPTED TO LOOK OUTSIDE OF WHAT GOD HAS PLACED WITHIN YOU

There is often a temptation to look outside of what God has placed within us. Perhaps this is just one of those human traits. We always think that the grass is greener on the other side and so we are tempted to look outside of what God has placed within us, assuming that something else would be better. There was once a story told about a man who worked with scorpions. He loved to work with these dangerous little creatures and he would always try to save them. Often he would get bitten by the very creatures he was caring for. One day someone came to him and said: ‘Why do you continue working with scorpions when they bite you?’ He responded and said: ‘Why should I stop doing what comes naturally to me just because the scorpion does what comes naturally to it?’

Don’t look for reasons to stop doing what comes naturally to you. What God has placed within you is a part of His very character and personality. What God has placed in you will reveal something of God’s nature and personality to others. We must deal with the temptation when it comes. We will be tempted to look outside of what God has placed within us, but when we are tempted we should even hold our calling tighter.

5. WHEN WE STAY WITHIN OUR GOD-GIVEN GIFTING, GOD HEARS US!

Judges 9:7-13 Jotham climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem! Listen to me if you want God to listen to you!”

The lesson is that we should be faithful to what God has called us to do. The reward is that when we do this, HE will be faithful to listen to us. If however we will pursue and take that which does not belong to us, we can get to a place where God does not hear, listen or harken to us. This is for me such a serious warning. Don’t try to be something you are not or were not intended by God to be and in this way you will stay connected to God. Be something that you were not called to be and there is a very real chance that you will experience a disconnect with God and this can lead to destruction.

I once heard someone say: ‘If you take something that does not belong to you, you will have to fight for that thing for the rest of your life!’ and then on top of that is the real likelihood that you will NOT enjoy closeness with God! BUT, if we will stay within our God-given calling and gifting, we can know real fulfillment and a sense that we do not need to fight to hold onto what we have and we can enjoy the knowledge that God is with us and that He hears us when we call!

(These notes may be shared with others)

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

THE MOTHER OF ALL SINS

by the late David Wilkerson

I could list a whole catalog of sins that believing Christians practice, but none of them would come near to the sin that I want to talk about. The mother of all sins—the one that gives birth to all others—is the sin of unbelief!

I am not speaking of the unbelief of a hardened sinner. The unbelief of reprobates, agnostics and atheists does not move God at all. No, what angers God more than anything else is the unbelief and troubling doubts of those who call themselves by His name! His children who say, “I am of Jesus,” and hold doubt, fear and unbelief in their hearts grieve Him more than all others!

How seriously does God take this sin of unbelief! Jude warned the church with these words: “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

Jude is reminding believers of God’s attitude toward unbelief! He is saying, “I am bringing to your remembrance God’s utter hatred for unbelief among His saved people. Having saved the people, afterward He destroyed the ones who did not believe!”

Beloved, I believe that God has called me to put His church in remembrance of this same thing! “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). God may no longer destroy His people physically as He did in the Old Testament but His judgments on our unbelief today are spiritual and they are just as severe.

Unbelief is just as destructive today as it ever was. We may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we do become stiff-necked and bitter! The ground does not open up to swallow us but we are swallowed by troubles, stress and family problems. Fire does not come down and consume us but our spiritual life is destroyed.

Many of us are guilty of the mother of all sins and we do not fear it. We do not take our unbelief seriously; in fact, we live as though God winks at it.

And yet it is the one sin that opens our body and spirit to every other sin known to man.

Source: Pulpit Series Newsletters

Note from Val: Absolutely true! May the Lord increase our faith daily.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided” (Exod. 14:21).

The Israelites were standing on the shores of the Red Sea and the situation looked impossible. Behind them came the powerful army of Egypt. In front of them stood the sea. There was nowhere to go and human wisdom had no answer. And, worse, a strong east wind blew all night to add to their misery. The sand got in their eyes, their noses, their ears. What else could possibly go wrong?

Are you in that kind of situation today .. in your life, your marriage, your job? You don’t know where to turn or what to do. You cannot go backwards or forwards and the strong winds of circumstances are buffeting you.

Moses trusted the Lord to make a way and He did. The very wind that was causing them so much discomfort was, in fact, the instrument God used to blow a path through the waters. That is why it had to be a strong wind!

Will you trust the Lord with your problem? Kneel on the shores of your Red Sea and acknowledge His sovereignty in the strong east wind that is blowing in your life.

Completely surrender your heart, and life, and will to the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to do it “His way”.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Val

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

Caring For One Another

“that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.” – 1 Corinthians 12:25

A body that is torn, bruised and sick is an unhappy body. We know that from our own experience. When one part of our body suffers, the whole body reacts.

That is why we take good care of our physical bodies and make every attempt to heal our wounds.

The same holds true for the Church, the Body of Christ. When one member suffers, the entire church suffers. When one member is honored, the entire church glows with satisfaction and joy.

When schism tears believers apart and brings anger, confusion and pain, the entire Body is disturbed.

The solution is that every member cares for one another, without showing preference or ignoring those who hurt, who are difficult and despondent. Happy members make a happy church – and vice versa.
Are their suffering Christians in your fellowship? Take care of them and you will enhance your part of the Body.

Is there someone you can telephone and encourage today? Do it.

Val Waldeck

Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

Taking One Another To Court

“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?” – 1 Corinthians 6:7

Did you know that lawsuits between Christians are not acceptable behavior in God’s sight?

In His opinion, it is tantamount to telling the world that the people of God are incompetent to handle their own affairs, and that their God is unable to resolve their personal and business issues.

What if the matter cannot be resolved the Biblical way? What if the “other Christian party” refuses to listen, co-operate or repent?
Rather than have the world mock God, it is better to accept the loss and be cheated. That’s what the Word says.

The honor of God’s Name is at stake. Woe to Christians who cause the world to stumble and lose confidence in God because of their behavior. It is not a light thing in God’s sight.

This is radical teaching, but it is God’s way.

Val Waldeck

Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional