Another Tip

Pursuing Jesus Above All

Psalms 63:1, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." (NIV) There is a tale of an elderly woman in the church who served the Lord for years. Instead of seeking the help of others, she did most of the work herself. She was head of women's ministry, taught Sunday school, sung in the choir, was on the prayer team, and counseled the pastor on a regular basis. She was tired, worn out, and longed for heaven. Yet, because there was still so much work for her to do, she feared that she would never die. Eventually she did die. I guess God wanted His job back.

Nevertheless, from the perspective of most, today's successful leaders, whether in the Christian world or secular, are much like this woman. Somewhere between her calling and service to God she took over, rushed ahead, and set her own agenda. It happens to the best of us. In our service to God we can easily slip into pursuing ministry instead of pursuing Jesus, and miss the purpose of our existence. The same is true in every facet of our lives. The pursuit of happiness, opportunity, or even being a good parent, can get in the way of simply pursuing Jesus.

What are you pursuing? What is it that you really want? Is it a successful career that you covet? Is it to be a preacher, minister, evangelist, musician, a doctor, or to author a book? Maybe it's a spouse you're dreaming of, or the desire to be a mom that you're longing for. Whatever your dream is, it's a God-given dream. In addition to giving you the dream, God has also given you what it takes to make your dream come true. We don't arrive at our dreams by our own efforts, nor can we make them come true all by ourselves. We get there by pursuing God.

I have found in my own life and ministry that when God reigns in my heart, blessings and opportunities pour down faster than I can make them happen myself. The best way to get where you're going is to surrender your dreams to God.

We are always in a hurry. God never is. While He has given us the vision of what we are to become, it may not be a reality in us yet. We have to let God work in our lives until we are ready. The dream is not what needs shaping. It's us. God often prepares us for our dreams through adversity in our lives.

Don't be discouraged if your dream seems unreachable. No matter what your circumstances are, God is at work shaping and preparing you for it. You and I may achieve some sort of success by our own pursuit, but it will never satisfy us like pursuing Jesus and waiting on Him to bring our dreams to pass.

When God alone is our true treasure, reward, and prize; when He is all we long for, seek after, love and adore, then He gives us the desires of our hearts. Only then are we ready to fulfill our purpose. No other person or thing can satisfy us like Jesus or prepare us for our God-given dreams. What are you pursuing?

Dear Lord, You know the dream I have tucked away in my heart. You know how I've longed for it to become a reality. I trust You today. I give You permission to work in my life preparing me for that dream. While You work, I will simply pursue You and be satisfied until my dream is a reality. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Today give God permission to shape you for His purposes. Determine to pursue Him instead of your dream. Then, as God reigns in your life, watch how He pours down blessings and opportunities that can only come from Him. Are you ready to fulfill your purpose in life or does God still have some work to do? Are you consumed with pursuing opportunity or Jesus? Who will accomplish your dream faster - you or God? Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (NIV) By: Micca Campbell

Hope this is a blessing.
Pass it on!!!
Sondra Wills-Thomas

Trial By Fire

(Archived from Speakers Podium)

I Peter 1:7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

Gold tried in fire, in the Bible, is a symbol of faith tested by suffering. See also Job 23:10. In the context of both verses, the suffering referred to is involuntarily, that is, it is something that happens to the person, beyond his control.

We all know that anything that is tried by fire can actually show its real substance and worth. Though it may be affected by the fire, burned beyond recognition, charred and appear damaged does it literally mean that it is totally destroyed? Can anything good come out of a fire? It all depends on how you look at it.

I Corinthians 3:13-15. Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. This passage is talking about the judgment seat of Christ. This isn't the judgment of unbelievers, but the rewarding of God's saints. We know that because of verse 15 - everyone at this judgment will be saved. God will test our works by fire, and our reward will depend on how well our works stand up to that fire. Paul lists three things that will withstand fire, and three things that will not withstand fire. Michael Fischer (rev)

Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. These things are used as examples for us. None of them is of any value to God - He uses precious stones to build His city on, and He uses gold for pavement. Do these six things literally stand for something specific in our lives? Probably not, or else Paul would have told us, but Paul told us everything he knew that might be useful to us as Christians -Acts 20:20- And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.

But these six things that Paul lists can be useful to us, because they can remind us of the kinds of things God is concerned about. The kinds of things that will be brought up at the judgment seat of Christ. The kinds of things we ought to be attending to in this life. I am not saying that these things definitely mean what I'm about to say they mean. What I want you to get out of this message is a set of reminders, so when you think about this verse, you'll remember what's important to God and what isn't important.

Gold: I Peter 1:7

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Gold can remind us of faith. The only things that please Christ while He walked among us were great faith and great lack of faith. Do you want to please Jesus, and if so, how? Great faith is of great value in the sight of God. So-so faith never even gets mentioned.

But if you want that kind of faith, take careful note of one thing in this verse: your faith will be tried. If you think you have great faith, and you haven't been through some trial that tested that faith, then there are two possibilities: either your faith isn't ready for a sore trial, or your time of testing hasn't come yet. Be assured, it will. It's never anything we can look forward to. But for those who have come out the other side of that trial, their faith will bring praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ.

Silver: Look around you and you'll see some silver. It's on the heads of some of the saints, the ones who have served the Lord for a long time. Silver reminds us of faithfulness. Endurance. Staying with the faith over the long haul is very important to God. Consider what Paul said about faithfulness in II Timothy 4:7-8: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:

None of us can say that. Why not? Because none of us have finished our courses yet. Just remember, there's a reward for those who keep on keepin' on. For those who don't... we'll hear about them later in this message.

Precious stones: Malachi 3:16-17 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

The precious stones represent the fruit that you bear for Jesus, especially the souls you bring to Him. God has an agenda for your life, and He has things He wants you to do, and has equipped you to do, like it says in Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

I can't understand people who think it's hard living for God. He doesn't make you figure out your own life's plan. He's already got it all planned out for you. He's given you the gifts and talents to do it. He's ordered your life so those good works will be right in your path. And if you do them, you'll be rewarded for it! How much easier can it get? God couldn't have made it any easier for us. He's already done all the hard work. It's like following a trail through the jungle: somebody had to make that trail the hard way, with a map and a machete, but all we have to do is follow the path, and God will reward us at the end of it.

Wood: Wood is not valuable like gold or silver. But it certainly isn't useless stuff. You can make a pulpit out of it. You can make paper out of it and print a Bible. You can warm your house in the winter with it. Or you can build a house with it. What does the Bible say about building houses? Psalm 127:1 - Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Wood can remind us of the houses we've built, and they may be very nice houses, but the Lord didn't build them. That is, the things that we do, that are good things to do, but aren't what God called us to do. For instance, (I've used this example before) giving lots of money to missions is good, but if God called you to be a missionary and you gave lots of money instead, that was disobedience and it will be burned up as wood.

Hay: Hay is what you feed to animals; it is useful only as it is used up, and whatever isn't finished off, is of no value. Hay can stand for the good things we started to do, but they are of no value because we didn't finish them. God doesn't give partial credit on His final exam. If He called you to do something, and you started but didn't finish, will that profit you anything in eternity? What did Paul say to the Galatians in Gal 5:7-8?

Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. God is not a God of incompleteness. God is a God of all or nothing. Don't leave your good works unfinished. In the context of this message, hay is the opposite of silver, because incomplete good works are the opposite of faithfulness.

Stubble: Stubble is the leftover reeds and stalks after grain has been harvested. If you've ever seen a corn field in late autumn, you know what stubble is. It is completely useless. Stubble would represent the time we wasted on Earth, doing things that accomplished nothing for God. I'm not talking about sin; if we are saved, our sins have been purged by the blood of Jesus, and we will not be judged for them. Stubble is empty works. Wasted time. Idle pursuits. Vanity of vanities. As an example, the time we spend on personal hobbies will probably be stubble.

Does that mean we shouldn't do anything just for the fun of it? No, God never gave any such command. But if that's where all your time and effort are going, that doesn't leave much that God can reward you for. If you aren't putting God first in your life, you may end up in front of the judgment seat of Christ with an armful of stubble and not much else. And just as hay is the opposite of silver, stubble is the opposite of precious stones, because empty works are the opposite of fruitful works.

So there you have it. Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. What kinds of treasures are you laying up in Heaven? If you're seeing a lot of wood, hay, and stubble in your account, the time to change things around is today.

Tried by Fire

Do you think God does not love you
When you're passing beneath the rod?
Do you grow a bit discouraged;
Think the road is most too hard?

Oh, my brother, do you not know
That our Father has a plan
By which to purge and purify
And perfect this race of men?

Think it not strange, said brother Peter
When come the fiery trial;
It may come in fierce temptations
That will call forth self-denial.

It may be in deepest sorrow,
Sad bereavement, or in pain.
Your friends may all forsake you;
God will work it for your gain.

The trial of your faith, said he,
Is of value more than gold.
His fire is burning out the dross
From His chosen and His called.

Let us stay right in the furnace
Though the flames seem hard to take.
God, in His Love, is sending them
That he a perfect vessel make.

He is calling out His remnant;
Seed with which to plant again.
He must test and try each vessel,
Those to find who will remain.

Would you like for him to use you?
Would you like to add your voice
To this new day trumpet sounding?
Then the fire must be your choice.

If any dross or stain remain
Then the gold cannot be pure.
It will not reflect His image
And you never will endure.

Go through, as faithful Abraham,
For he proved his love by test;
Climbing up old Mount Moriah
On God's altar laid his best.

Think of those three Hebrew boys;
They loved God with all their hearts;
Yet each was tested by the fire
Nor from it's pain refused a part.

God saw He could count them faithful
In whate'er their lot might be.
He wants to prove the same of you
So from His testing do not flee.

--Poem by Reba McMurry

Pass it On

Sondra Wills-Thomas

October's Speaker's Podium"