HillThread ~ Supporting Missions

2 Chronicles 20:12
“We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.”

I don’t have a twelve step program, but here’s seven steps that have often helped me when seeking God’s guidance:

1. Clear the channel. Repent and receive forgiveness. Sin hinders communication with God. Confession and repentance show our willingness to set aside our selfishness and be open to God.

2. Be patient. “Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27: 14) “No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame.” (Psalm 25:3) Don’t give in to self-generated urgency. Wait for God to open doors and direct your path.

3. Be aware of and beware of external pressures. These usually result from our present circumstances, or from those who are trying to impose their agendas on us. Sift all advice through God’s Word.

4. Watch out for internal pressures. These can be triggered by fear or loss or exaggerated expectations. Don’t try to manifest God’s direction on your own.

5. Persist in prayer. “Pray all the time.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) God’s goal is to mold us into His Son’s likeness, and prayer is one of His tools. Prayer is not for God’s benefit, it is for our benefit, development, and maturity. He already knows what we should do; and as we persevere in prayer, He will reveal it to us at just the right moment.

6. Search the scriptures. Read, study, and digest God’s Word. It is and will always be an unfailing source of guidance and wisdom. It cuts through the clutter in your life and helps you to filter out what is not of God.

7. Wait for peace. “Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other.” (Colossians 3:15) Peace is the deciding factor after going through the other steps. Peace is the verification that we are making the right decision, don’t proceed without it and don’t lie to yourself about it. You’ll know when you have it.

Related Text:
Acts 17:11

John 15:13-15
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Friendship with God is maintained through continual study and meditation of God’s Word. It is impossible to be God’s friend apart from knowing what He says. We cannot love God unless we know Him, and knowing Him is possible only through spending time with Him in prayer and spending time in His Word. “He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word.” (1 Samuel 3:21)

Gos still uses the same method.

While we cannot literally spend time all day reading our Bibles. We have school and work and daily responsibilities that require our attention. But we can think about His Word throughout the day, recalling verses we have read or memorized, mulling them over in our minds, understanding how we can apply them to our daily lives. This is meditation. Meditation isn’t some difficult, mysterious ritual practiced thousands of years ago; it is focused thinking and it is a skill that anyone can accomplish.

Thinking about a problem over and over again is called worrying, thinking about God’s Word over and over again is called meditation. If you’ve ever worried about something, then you know how to meditate. simply change the focus from the problem to the solution. The more we spend time with God, the less we have to worry about. The more we meditate and study God’s Word, the more we will understand it.

To cultivate a friendship with God, start by practicing conversation with Him and continually meditating on His Word.

Related Text:
John 15:5-12
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9″As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

Psalm 42:1-2
“As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?”

Panting is a word that brings about images of longing, yearning, and desiring.  When we pant for something, we seek it, long for it, thirst for it, wait for it, see it, know it, love it, hear it, and respond to it!  Panting for God means desiring more of Him in our activities, thoughts, and desires.  Most of all, panting for God means that we want more of God’s company.  Too often in our rush to perform for God, we fail to simply enjoy His company.  Yet we were created to be dissatisfied and incomplete with anything else.

In ‘Secrets of the Vine’, Bruce Wilkinson writes, “I made three simple commitments to God:

1.  To get up earlier and read my Bible
2.  To write a page in my spiritual journal
3.  To seek Him until I find Him

I still remember the first line of my spiritual journal: ‘Dear God, I don’t know what to say to you.’  Each day, I read what I had written.  On every page, I saw why my busy Christian life left such a bland taste – I had become an expert in serving God, but I remained a novice at being His friend.  But I stayed with it.  By the middle of the second month, things started to shift.  His presence entered my room.  My rambling journal entries gradually began to change as I listened to God.  His passion for me, His purposes for my life, began to rise from the pages of my Bible.

That was more than 15 years ago.  The pleasures of abiding – and the extraordinary benefits – have redefined God’s work through me.  I see fruit of the Spirit everywhere I turn.  Yet none of it is a result of my working harder.”

Fill up your soul today at the fountain of God – only He can quench your thirst.

Related Text:
John 4:13-14

Psalm 106:15
“So he gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.”

Frank Sinatra sang, “The record shows, I took the blows and did it my way.”  Sometimes God will let us do things our way, and then let us deal with the consequences.  When we insist on having or getting or doing something that He in His wisdom has withheld from us, it’s like God says “Okay, I warned you, but have it your way.”

The Bible says that because the Children of Israel:
1.  ”forgot His works,
2.  did not wait for His counsel,
3.  lusted exceedingly,
4.  tested God . . .

He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:13-15).

That is the formula for spiritual barrenness.

When God called Moses to deliver the children of Israel, Moses tried to do it his way at first.  He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, but instead of consulting God, he took matters into his own hands by killing the Egyptian abuser.  Before he did, the Bible tells us that he “looked this way and then that . . . ” (Exodus 2:12) – but he never looked to God.  He was more concerned about audience response than God response.

God had to teach Moses that his orders came from God.  After Moses dug a hole and tried to hide his deed, God allowed it to be exposed.  Why?  To show Moses that by doing things his own way, he couldn’t even keep a single soldier buried in the sand.

The subject of following God’s will and plans for your life is a slippery slope.  How do you know, and how can you be certain.  This is not something I (or anyone else besides God) can tell you.  This information must come from God, and it becomes known when you are abiding in God’s word and maintaining a close relationship with the One who loves you so much.  Make up your mind to live your life God’s way.  We an’t just pretend to be Christians.  We must be obedient to God, we must read the Bible and actually live out what it says.

Related Text:
James 1:19-25

Exodus 33:14
“God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

Knowing when to say “when” can save your life. Self-deceit is the hallmark of a person experiencing “The Martyr Syndrome.” This is a person who believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have to be involved in everything at their church and serve in every capacity. This just cannot be done, eventually you will succumb to stress and resentment.

If you’re going to survive, you’ve got to discover your own pace – not be driven by what people may or may not expect of you. Look out! Fatigue is dangerous; when it walks in, faith walks out. Furthermore, when we’ve burned out, we’re attacked by old enemies we’ve already conquered.

The person who is experiencing “The Martyr Syndrome” more often than not begins to forget why they are serving in the first place. They forget that Jesus is their focal point, and they get wrapped up in the “job” instead of being wrapped up in the one who died for them.

Step back, take a look at why you do what you do, and ask God to help you decide how to make the best impact for Him. Sometimes, doing more doesn’t do any good.

Nurtured and rested people are much more effective in every area. Their relationships with God are stronger; their families are happier; their health is better; they live longer than the martyrs. Why? Because they’ve truly found the place of rest.

Related Text:
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Proverbs 8:12
“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment.
I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.”

No matter how great our cause, when we push ourselves beyond the limits designed for us by God, we suffer the same results as those who burn out in any other pursuit.  Those of us who are classic work-a-holics must learn how to make stress work for us instead of against us.

Here are a few insights learned from experience:

1.  Many people don’t know how to handle life any other way than being under a constant blanket of stress.  (When our only tool is a hammer, we tend to see every problem as a nail.)  You need to acknowledge that stress is like emotional adrenaline to you – which is why you keep creating it and even craving it (as crazy as that sounds).

2.  When you sit in a chair and you hear the legs begin to crack, common sense tells you that if you don’t take your weight off of the chair, you’re going to be on the floor pretty quickly with a big thud.  Use your common sense to heed the telltale signs of your health cracking and the stress taking over so you don’t begin to crack yourself.  When we crack under the pressure, we greatly diminish what we can do for God or anyone else.

3.  Learn prudence.  The word prudence means “careful management”.  A prudent person becomes a better manager of their time, their energy, and their God-given gifts.

4.  Identify your stressors.  I know a lot of mine, have you identified yours?  Change the ones you can, and start accepting the ones you can’t – such as other people.  Learn to adapt to any stressor that can’t be changed so that the stress they create motivates you instead of burying you.

5.  Most importantly, spend more time with Jesus, who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Related Text:
Proverbs 8:1-14

Ezekiel 22:30
“I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one.”

Mr. Kimball, a Boston Sunday school teacher, began visiting one of his students at the shoe shop where he worked as a clerk. Eventually, Mr. Kimball led his student to Christ. The year was 1898 and that student’s name was Dwight L. Moody.

Twenty-one years later, D.L. Moody, now an evangelist, visited London and a great spiritual awakening took place. F.B. Meyer, a local pastor, went to hear Dwight L. Moody preach and his life was transformed. Later, F.B. Meyer went to America to preach, and in one of his meetings, a student named J. Wilbur Chapman came to Christ. J.W. Chapman became active in the YMCA, where he met and discipled a former baseball player named Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday became a great revivalist, and in one of his crusades in Charlotte, a group of businessmen came to Christ. A year later, they decided that their city needed another crusade, so they invited Mordecai Hamm to be their speaker. After 3 weeks, Mordecai Hamm left town discouraged because his crusade only yielded one convert to Jesus Christ – a 12-year-old boy named Billy Graham.

One Sunday school teacher just trying to be a good teacher of the Word started the chain reaction that eventually brought Billy Graham to the loving grace of Jesus Christ! One person – just one – can make all the difference in the world.

John 11:1-3
“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’”

Mary and Martha sent someone to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus and. because they showed faith by making the journey to Jesus, Jesus responded.  The miracle wouldn’t unfold for several days, but the timer was set by God right when the appeal was made.

Do you ever wonder where your prayers go when they leave your lips?

“…there was silence in heaven and another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden pan with the prayers of all God’s people.  The angel put this off God’s people.”  (Revelation 8:1-4)

Why was there silence in heaven?  Because heaven pauses to hear the prayer of people like you and me: “the prayers of all God’s people” went up to God.  The awesome truth about prayer is that our words don’t stop until they reach God.

Jesus is our way to God.  He communicates to the Lord on our behalf.  ”For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”  (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

Take note that the friend who went to Jesus on behalf of Lazarus said, “Master, the one You love so very much is sick.”  He didn’t base his appeal on the imperfect of of the one in need (Lazarus), but on the perfect love of the Savior.  The friend didn’t say, “The one who loves you is sick.”  Instead, he said, “the one You love is sick.”  There is a huge difference there.  None of us can love Jesus more than He loves us!

The power of prayer doesn’t depend on the virtue of the one who prays, but on the unchanging love of the One who hears.  Aren’t you glad??  It means that we may be deeply flawed; we may not understand the mystery of prayer, but prayer doesn’t depend on our perfection, but on God’s love.

So pray with confidence when you pray, and believe that your words are heard by God, who loves you so very much.

Related Text:
John 11:1-44 (Yea, it’s 44 verses, but it’s the story of Jesus raising Lazarus.  It’s amazing!)

Proverbs 3:27-28
“Never walk away from someone who deserves help;
your hand is God’s hand for that person.
Don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time”
or “Try me tomorrow”
when the money’s right there in your pocket.”

Beware of the someday trap – you know, the way we all rationalize our inactivity by thinking “Someday when I have more money or someday when I have the time or someday when I’m through with school.”  This is the trap that Solomon describes in Proverbs 3:27-28.  It’s a very easy trap to fall into because it’s so easy to believe that we really would love to serve or to help, but we just don’t have the resources.  God will provide the resources, what He needs is a willing heart.

God pours his blessings into pipes, not pots. (if you don’t understand that saying, message me and I’ll explain it.)  As long as we constantly dwell on what we don’t have instead of what we do have, we will never feel that we have enough to give to others.

don’t wait until you can afford a “big” gift.  Instead, do what you can with what you have now.  Take a box of groceries to a needy family.  Turn the clutter in your cupboard into the answer to somebody’s prayer. (do you realize, no matter where you live, that your town has a hungry family in need of help?)  Better still, give away something you really want to keep.  Generosity develops character, crucifies self-centeredness, and helps us become more like Jesus.

Instead of measuring your generosity with that of your peers, measure it by the Macedonian church – the most impoverished church in it’s location.  ”Though desperately poor . . . they gave . . . far more than they could afford! – pleading for the privilege of helping out . . . this was totally spontaneous . . . and caught us completely off guard.  What explains is was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us.  The other giving simply followed out of the purposes of God working in their lives.”  (2 Corinthians 8:3-5)

Walk toward those who need help and offer your hand.  Always be moving toward generosity and remember that God have us such a great gift, and Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.

Related Text:
2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Luke 24:39
“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Jesus could say to Thomas (who was doubting that this was really Jesus) “Touch me.  Look me over from head to toe.” Can you say that?  Do you dare let people get close enough to see your strengths and your weaknesses?

All of us who are the Church, we must let people look over us “from head to toe” and see if we are real.  That means taking off the masks, getting rid of the religious facade that hides our struggles, and saying to the world “Look me over from head to toe. I’m real.  I struggle with my kids, or with my spouse, or I battle with my attitude and my temper.  I worry about my bills.  I don’t always read the Bible and pray as I should.  But God has made a difference in my life, and what He has done for me, He can do for you!”

Ghandi once said, “If more Christians were like Christ, I would be one too!”  Unfortunately, the ones he met preached love, but practiced discrimination.  they taught the new birth, but they perpetuated the same old system of poverty and despair that enslaved multitudes of people.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11) The word translated “good” in the original Greek means “winsome or attractive.”  Do we make Christ attractive to others, or do we act in a way that makes people want to run away from Jesus?

Related Text:
John 11:1-16  -  Pay close attention to verse 16.  Jesus wants to go see Lazarus, but the disciples are scared about going back to Judea.  Thomas steps up in verse 16.  Just like Thomas, we have our days of strong faith and our days of weakness.  Don’t be discouraged.