The great banquet!!

The Parable of the Great Banquet(Luke 14:15-24)

It was compared to the kingdom of heaven, and as we all know God has prepared a banquet for us in heaven, us christians, and what are we doing? We are leaving the invitation and getting caught up by things that really shouldn't matter to us. A lot of us are caught up by the glamour and glitter, the things that don't matter. Caught up by chasing what we want and not understanding that in walking with God, He will provide all we need. A lot of times we start out right, we start out following the will of God for our lives and then somewhere along the line we fall out and start following personal interests contrary to the will of God. Those interests don't have to be wrong in our eyes; but the words of the Lord's prayer we so often say is our judge "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". A lot of times we start out right, but due to difficulties we encounter, we change our perspective to accomodate those difficulties. We attempt to make things easier in the long run, by closing our eyes or our ears to the obvious, by adopting the see, hear and speak; not no evil but against some evils.
Could it be that we are missing out on the feast being prepared for us in heaven? A feast we have known about right from the day we gave our lifes to christ. Could it be that we could be missing out on the day we have most certainly been invited; to go seek out something of more value to us than Him?
Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few and that many are called but few are eventually chosen.
I look around me and within me and sometimes it makes me really sad, I constantly check the state of my heart, my motives and the reason behind all I do, checking to see if it is God-driven or me-driven. I look around and I see the opposite of what Jesus Christ commanded us (to go and be a light to the world that they may see and glorify our Father in heaven), I see articles about the church, the body of Christ trying to conform to the world and while I would like to stand up and scream out, these words quietly whisper to me "he who says he has no sin should cast the first stone". And i don't know whether these same words stop us a lot of times from speaking out but then I know this now, it is one thing to judge and it is an entirely different matter to stand for what is right.
Where is your heart? Where is your mind? Where do you lay your foundation? Where do you store your treasure?

Two passages to share which I pray summarises all

Col 2:6-8. Walk in what you received at the beginning, hold unto it. He who follows the will of God is seen as one who builds his house on a rock (on a strong secure foundation)

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Matthew 10:32 & 33. Acknowledging Him does not mean just saying He is God, but acknowledging all He stands for.

³²"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

You hold the invitation in your hand, what you do with it is in your hand as well. The time is now, not tomorrow, not yesterday. It is right now, everyday.

Let my light so shine before men, that they may see Christ in me,
Christ in me and not me myself, because I can do nothing,
Because I was a wretched sinner, made whole by your love,
Made whole by your grace and in you I am made strong.
Not my will but yours be done, teach me your path, So i can walk in it daily.

My prayer tonight, my prayer for you. You have been given the invitation, come share in the joy of the Lord...


Jaidi...

Do not compromise being good!!!

There come times when I get tired of being good, tired of trying to live right, and am not talking of falling back into sin, am talking of putting yourself out there for people. The ones you know and the ones you don't. Times when you are just tired of it all and want to be left alone. Something someone said or did, or didn't say or do. It is annoying the first few times and then it gets tiring.
Remembered a passage this morning, searched for it and thought to share it this morning.

Galatians 6:9-10

9. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Just a thought, I don't know what everyone is going through at the moment, but if you do get tired, think of a man crying at the Garden of Gethsemane, while His disciples slept, think of a man sweating blood this morning, for you and for me, for no other reason than this; there was no one else worthy enough for that purpose.
We are representatives of that suffering, representatives of the results of that suffering. So people let us not compromise being good at all times, not for our sakes but for the sake of He who came down to die for us, who came down to save us. Today, tomorrow and always, everywhere we set foot, as we do have the opportunity.

Now some may ask like I do, What of me?? I have problems too, how come no one ever sees my problems and my needs? The bible says whatever you sow you reap, and that we should do unto others as we want them to do unto us. Now I say, God sees, he hears your cry, he understands your need and He is working to sort you out in His time. "Let God use you to sort the need of others and let God worry about who to choose to sort out your needs when He sees the time is right".

It is hard I know but it is possible. When I think of how hard it is right now, I remember Joseph, it took a while but the good he did, in potiphars house, all the hard work and the labour, got him in jail. He never gave up, he did not compromise being good, he helped paharoah's cup bearer and was forgotten, he did not compromise being good. At the end he was remembered, at the exact time he was needed. I dont know if y'all thought of this but if he had come out of jail at any other time apart from when he did, He would not have become the prime minister of Egypt.
Truth is you never know. You never know when the good you do today will be rewarded of if it ever will be, what is for sure is that when it is, it is usually no ALWAYS worth the wait.

I got this from here and you can visit the site, I pray it will bless you as much as it is currently blessing me.

There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Your sake." Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ " (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.

Now the question is...Where are you at the moment?
Are you lost or confused? Have you tried your best(your best i said) God wants you to be but failed time and time again?
Do you have questions needing answers? Or do you have answers needing explanations?

When in doubt just wait, wait on God. He sees the whole picture, He knows and He is ever willing, ever faithful to guide and to show you the way, He is always willing to give you your daily bread, not what you think you want, but what He knows you need.
We all know the scripture "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God".
Ask God for your daily bread, and its not just about the food you eat, its not just about the jobs you seek, its not just about the blessings you need for you, family and friends. It is also about the answers you seek; your calling? your vision? your service? It dont have to be for tomorrow, but for today.
Give us today our daily bread, the Holy Spirit to guide, comfort and keep us, His words to sustain us, the fellowship we need to grow, the strength we need to hold on. Where He leads, I leap, where He guides I follow.
2 Peter 1:10-11 says "10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Be eager indeed, but while in doubt and even after you are sure, ask God for your daily bread; everyday.

Leave it all to Him...

Today in the world we see people (by people I mean all of us), judging the world by the things they do, looking down on them. Calling everything they do wrong, bad, unholy and the like. Everything they do is bad and they are sinners, everything apart from the things we do along with them. I read the above stated passage and I thought about what they all do. They go to clubs to dance, have their nights out. We look at them and condemn them but because we can't do all they do, we go home, listen to the same music and try as much as possible to not have as good a time as they are having. Just using that as an example, there are countless others. But then how are you and I different?

Ephesians 2:14 - 21(NIV)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=55&chapter=2&version=31
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners'
16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"[d]

What am I trying to say here? We look at the world as christians and all it holds, the music, the partying, the dressing and while we claim to condemn them, we secretly love them. So how does that give us the right to condemn them? This brings to mind something I wrote some time ago, something the above passage makes me remember, something about life and love.

LIFE and LOVE

You look at the junkie and see a drug addict,
I see a person trying to shut out his world,
The heartache, lost job, child abuse.
Shutting out with drugs cos he don't know better.
You look at the prostitute and see her vices,
I see a young girl, trapped by the conditions around her,
A poor broken home, inability to get a job,
We look down on them,
And to make ourselves feel better We call it Life
Condemn the sin but not the person
That is love.
Seeing the wrong in you,
Before checking the wrong in others,
That is love
Something we all know but often never show,

I see the parable of the good samaritan,
Acted out almost everyday,
But acted without the samaritan involved.
By me and by many others around me.
Voicing out love but never showing it,
Both to God and man,
To our brothers, Even brothers in Christ
To make ourselves feel better
We call it Life

Imagine the Son of a King,
Not a king on earth but the King of all,
Come down on earth to walk with men,
Born not of a palace, not by a midwife,
Born not even among men, but amidst animals.
You see the junkie, prostitute, the murderer,
You see sinners, call them evil,
I see the baby in the manger,
Born to a tearful, grateful mother,
Born to a joyful father, Who was not even the true father,
Born to a joyful open heaven
I see the baby in the manger,
Born to die that we all can live.
That is Love!!!

You see the junkie, prostitute, the murderer,
You call them sinners, call them evil,
I see a Son forsaken by His Father,
I see pain, borne because of love.
Truth be told at that moment,
The moment our Saviour screamed out "It is finished"
He was a prostitue, a thief, a liar, A junkie, rapist, call it, think it,
The very embodiment of sin.
At that moment people,
what He was, what He did,
That is Life!!!

As you can see there is nothing new under the sun. What we see in the world today has gone on before now, back in the day. Now my question to y'all is this. If with all this going on back in the day, christians were able to do the great things they did, what are we doing today? You don't have to let your shadow heal the sick, you don't have to be Peter, you don't have to do a dissapearing act like Phillip. All you have to be is what God wants you to be.

A long while ago I would have said condemn the sin and the person,
Not too long ago I would have said condemn the sin and not the person.
Now all I say is, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and might.
Leave it all to Him, He sees, He knows, He hears. Just trust, obey and follow.