GPS Too

I have the worst sense of direction. You could put me in a room, blindfold my eyes, spin me around, take off the blindfold and I couldn’t get out of the room! Okay, that’s a mild exaggeration, but you get the picture. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) were made for people like me. People who need to move around, get places but need some guidance.

I love GPS because it guides me to where I want to go. It is fast, efficient and rarely makes a mistake. I always travel with a GPS, especially when I’m going someplace I’ve never been before. It knows where I am, it will show me the route I’m going to take, how long to my destination and if I want to take the scenic route, that’s an option. My GPS will even tell me if the stop light I’m approaching has a speed camera system. How great is that?!

As much as I use my GPS, I find that I don’t use my GPST (God’s Positioning System Too) as often as I should. I do not always inquire of the Lord before I make a decision. Not just big decisions but all decisions. I have found that if I make a “small” decision without my GPST, I can end up getting lost and causing myself big problems. But still, I don’t always use my GPST.

My GPST is with me all the time. I never leave home without it and still, I fail to use it as often as I should, which is everyday. What is my GPST? It’s the Holy Spirit. He is always with me to lead and guide me into all truth. He never guides me wrong, He is fast and effective, and will never lead me wrong.Do you make decisions without using your GPST? If so, it’s time for us to start using the person Jesus left for us to use as our guide. Maybe, we wouldn’t get so lost and so far off track and save ourselves some heartache and headaches.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13

Housework is Never Done

When I was a little girl my siblings and I had to do chores on Saturdays. We couldn’t do anything fun until our chores were done and our work passed our mother’s inspection. We cleaned on a routine basis, so when my mother said, “we’re having company”, we didn’t have to clean up, we just had to straighten up.

What’s the difference between cleaning up and straighten up? Well, when we cleaned up we had to move furniture, wipe down walls, do the windows and baseboard, vacuum the carpets and sweep the hardwoods, do the stairs and dust everything. When we were done the house smelled like Pine-sol, Spic and Span and bleach.

Straightening up was simply putting surface things back in order. No need for cleaning materials. All we were doing were putting away toys, putting books and magazines back in their proper places and making sure there was nothing on the floors.

When was the last time you had your spiritual house cleaned? Many people want to look like they follow God through Christ, but they are not willing to put in the time and effort to allow the Master Cleaner to go through their hearts and minds with His cleaning materials and clean their houses versus just straightening them up themselves so they look like a Christian.

God uses His word, fasting, prayer and meditation as His cleaning tools. In its current state, would your heart pass God’s inspection? Are you ready to be cleaned or, do you only want to be straightened up?

Romans 12:1 – 2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Just my view of things.

Let them Grown Up!

I am still amazed by parents who treat their grown children as if they are three or four. You can’t live your grown children’s lives for them. You must allow them to strict out on their own and live the life they were destined by God to live.
 
Ephesians 6:4 says, “Parents, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” If you have raised your children to the best of your ability there is nothing left for you to do to help them make it in the world. Raising our children to be our children and not our friends is paramount in child rearing. We love our children too much JUST to be their friends. We must show them the way, teach them right and wrong and not leave them to their own devices and through patterns without steering them in the right direction.
 
A note to all my friends who have grown children: You do not have to reap what they have sown! Stop putting yourself out because they have made a bad decision. Stop making excuses for their bad behavior and stop lowering your standards in order to accommodate them! THEY ARE GROWN! Let them stand or fall by their own actions!

Doubt

One day I was watching the Hercules cartoon. Hades wanted to stop Icarus, one of Hercules friends, from going to a dance. Hades imps were trying to figure out what to do in order to stop Icarus when Hades said, “I got it. I know just who to send.” 

In the next scene you saw a big cobra going through the streets of the city making his way to Icarus’ house. When the snake got to the house, all he did was stand in the door way and cast a shadow on Icarus, hissed once or twice and left. The snake didn’t touch Icarus, didn’t say anything to him and didn’t threaten him in any way, but the normally overly confident Icarus was reduced to a scared coward hiding in the corner.

The name of the snake was Doubt.

Doubt can cause you and I to act just like Icarus. We go from being fully pursued that God can do all things, to questioning God’s ability meet our needs.

In James 1:6, God’s word says, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

Doubt is the exact opposite of faith. You can’t see either faith nor doubt but, if you are in Christ you must have faith. Doubt comes into our minds to make us think that God can’t provide what we need.  Doubt comes to make us think that we’ve done something wrong that is going to make God turn his back on us. Doubt also comes so we don’t please God because in Hebrews 11:6 God’s word says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

You can’t have both doubt and faith. It’s either/or. Please choose faith.