Don't just sit there! Work harder!

Today's devotion from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "Pursuit of His Presence" spoke to us as a family. We can't just sit back and wait, not all the time anyway. Probably not even most of the time.

Here's a bit from the devotional:
"'We just need to get out of the way and let God work. After all, we can't do anything anyway. He's the One who is in contol.'

Have you ever heard anyone say things like that?

I am sure you have. In fact, if you're like most of us, you've said them yourself. At the time, they probably sounded very good. Very religious. Very humble.

But let me warn you, that kind of attitude can also be very dangerous. It can leave you sitting passively while the devil tears up everything around you. It can leave you in tears, begging God to fix a situation for you when He was saying all along, 'Take care of it yourself! I'll back you. I've given you My name. I've given you My authority. I've given you My own faith. Now, use it!'"

Interesting. Especially since I just said something somewhat similar to the whole "I am just going to turn it over to God, sit back and let Him take care of it." Sometimes religious thinking sneaks in there and we have to shake it off and get rid of that stinkin' thinkin' all over again.

What makes this all the more interesting is tying it in with last Friday's sermon on "Strict Training". We read from 1 Corin 9:19-27. Verse 24 says that all runners run but only one gets the prize; verse25 says that everyone who enters the race goes into strict training but I think it was verse 26 that spoke the most to me "therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air".

We need to fight with a purpose and enter into strict training (strict training doesn't come from having a hardcore drill sergant barking orders at you. He can bark all he wants; if you have no self discipline it doesn't matter what he tells you to do). Strict training comes from you; it is a strictness that you put on yourself, a self discipline. Remember, we are not to run aimlessly; we are to have a purpose, a reason for doing what we are doing.

Paul said that he would be disciplined. How? It tells us in Mathew 22:37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul". There you have it. Pretty straight forward.

The woman with the issue of blood didn't just sit back, 'get out of the way' and wait for Jesus to decide when to heal her. She made a plan, she set her mind on her healing and she purposed to get it done. She decided who, when, where & how.

We, as christians, need to stop being so passive; we need to get aggressive in the things of God. Christianity isn't ice cream cones, rainbows and pretty unicorns under a sparkling morning sun with us sitting in the dewy grass holding hands as we sway back and forth and it most certainly isn't doing our own thing Monday through Saturday, become righteous and pure because we graciously give God a few minutes on Sunday morning. Going to church each Sunday doesn't make you any more of a Christian than sleeping in a garage makes you a car. It takes more than believing to be a Christian; the demons believe too. They, however, don't submit themselves to God. So, we need to submit to Him but, we don't sit there like a wimp and wait for Him to tell us to do something. He has given us access to His power and authority, and now, we need to be aggressive enough to plug into that power and authority, and actually use it.

Come on girls, do you really like passive men, a man who will stand by and watch someone mistreat you and harm you? Or, would you rather a man who will aggressively defend you and come to the aid of your honor? We, as Christians, need to be aggressive as well - to restore God's honor in a time where honor of anything has fallen to the wayside. We don't need to sit on the sidelines and wait for God to tell us exactly what to do; press into His word more, His presence more and pursue Him, aggressively (like the woman with the issue of blood - I doubt she was sauntering down the road thinking "I'll just walk down here and IF God chooses to heal me than Jesus will walk by and it will be close enough that I can reach out and touch Him." No she pushed, crawled and shoved her way through multitudes of people to get to Him, knowing that if she could even just touch the hem of his garment she would be healed. I have never once read where she said, "If it be Your will that I be healed..."

Anyway. All this to say that we need to stop being so passive in our beliefs. Have a purpose in what you do. Have faith and chase after a God that wants no harm to come to you; he just wants you to love Him and chase after Him harder tha you chase after the loves you have in this world.