#8 | “We The Church” | I Will Not Settle - Series
We, the Church of Jesus Christ, are the hope and a safe place to come together regularly as a Body. Jesus is the Head of the Church, and we can know of His ways, in how to live with purpose, even in the face of a tumultuous and chaotic culture, that we face today. His Church, as we are aware, is a place to come together in prayer and thanksgiving, and receive loving support for our very lives. We can stand in unity with one another and feel His presence when we worship and honor Him as our King.
The Bible is very specific about the fact that moral decay and breakdown is an End Time Phenomenon. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come” 2: “ For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3: unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, 4: traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5: having the form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away!”
In 13: Paul says “evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
So in 14: Paul encourages us to continue in the things which we have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom we have learned them.
As we examine ourselves in these difficult times, we can fully know how we stand with Him in these times. Do we carry our own baggage with us? Do we own any similar worldly characteristics?
Are we secure in knowing we are following God, fully surrendered and yielded to His Spirit?
Do we still keep one or more of our old ways and do not turn from them?
I have been sensing I need to clean up some of my own stuff I have been carrying around. I am searching for those areas that are not so obvious, and for those choices I have sadly settled for. How are they impacting my life? In this time it’s critical to examine our hearts for all that may be negatively impacting our walk.
Asking my Lord to reveal those areas in my heart that are not pure and holy…
But as the series title of this blog reminds me, “I will not settle”.
That has been in my heart for months, but unfortunately I still believe I have done that at times…
When we settle for….. fill in the blank, we also ignore His call to fulfill our purpose. To walk into our destiny means we have to put off the old man and learn how to live out our days His way. This takes time, maybe fasting, and standing fast in our convictions that are written in His Word. Putting away the worldly things.
As I write this I'm certain we know people that are not yet following in God’s ways, and continue to live their lives by their own choices and in their own strength. We know that because Paul has written about them as listed in the beginning of this blog.
We may even believe we are doing life His way, but could it be we are not really doing so fully? Is there some self-deceit in our lives we are overlooking? What tell tale signs are there when we are not?
For me it’s all of my life that suffers when I try doing life my way. If I get out of His order for my life, life becomes hard to navigate, stress enters in, and frustration for me is over the top at times. Is there peace? Is there joy, the joy of the Lord, which is our strength? Do we work harder at our everyday tasks, do we give less time to prayer, and less to helping others as well? There are those times when, I believe, God will get our attention if we will not “look” and search our hearts for the agendas, and/or motives, in which we are living for Him. I’m not saying it’s easy to live for Him, but do we want Him to do what He does to correct us?
I have my moments when I’m overwhelmed, and I retreat a bit. Just being honest. He already knows our hearts so it’s a time we can come before Him and talk about these thoughts, behaviors and wrong agendas with Him.
Right now I believe most of us are in a state that we need to be open and transparent before Him. We may internalize how we feel or have questions we want to ask Him about our situation. We can always ask but we may not have an answer right away, or it may not be the one we are hoping for. But we can still ask Him and He will answer at some point. AND He will not let us stay there. He will work in us to move us forward and beyond it.
I know that He has our best in mind. He is well able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).
I also think about: can we stay humble before the Lord or will it take Him to humble us? His way may be much more taxing on us, and might be the more difficult path than doing it His way from the start. Praising and worshipping Him will help us to stay humble because it causes us to recognize He is Lord of all!! And we are not.
His plans will go forward, with or without us partnering with Him. His Kingdom reigns forever and ever, and His plans are His plans forever. Once I could recognize and receive that truth I became more secure in His love and kindness, to take care of me and my family. But also realizing that pain and hard times come to all of us, and we grow in Jesus and in His Grace because of those times. We can embrace them as best we can and know in our hearts we will be victorious in Jesus, because of His blood that was shed at Calvary. He has given us everything we have need of. We can receive all of it by faith. We know He came to give us life and life more abundantly.
And of course eternal life.
In these times of demonic activity we can still have His peace. I believe this is a new day to become bold as lions and speak His truth. And with the loss of Charlie Kirk, I believe there will be many who will do just that. Truth is under attack but will not hold back if we lean into Heavenly Father and can speak it boldly when we have a situation to do so. We do not have to be ugly or brutal about it. We can still do it in love, but firmly and with courage. Not to back down if challenged.
There’s a lot to learn I believe, in these last days, but I’m believing for us to stand together as a church. To do greater exploits than we have done in the past. To surrender ourselves more to His plans, and to be confident in Jesus and available to His call. To follow Him even in a greater way. We have a race to run and we can receive the prize if we do not give up!!
Those people with characteristics that Paul wrote in 2 Timothy are here around us. We know we do not wrestle against flesh or blood so we need to put the whole armor of God on daily and come against the enemy. We can pray against any harm that he may try to bring against us. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He fights our battles.
Having written here about the warfare, and those people that Paul had written about in 2 Timothy, we can still pray for those we know that are bound by sin. We can still believe that they come to know Jesus as well.
Until Jesus comes back we can occupy until He does. I want to continue to work for the Kingdom, knowing it may be uncomfortable much of the time. But then again in my own life it’s been uncomfortable for a little over a year now. I used to be so organized and have a schedule each week to do my plans. But God has interrupted most of those plans starting last spring. But what I have found is that those plans could be adjusted, and some weren’t even that important in the big scheme of it anyway!!
As I stated earlier I need to continue to come before Him and yield my heart, thoughts, my body and spirit to His. Align myself with His plans and know He’s got it all!!
Thanks for reading - I believe we are now beginning a new season in Him. As our Pastor at Reimagine Church, Pastor Kris preaches from the pulpit at times “Buckle your seatbelts!!!”
We may be in for a new and challenging ride.
Blessings,
Lucy Barretta
The On God Blog
The Bible is very specific about the fact that moral decay and breakdown is an End Time Phenomenon. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come” 2: “ For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3: unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, 4: traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5: having the form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away!”
In 13: Paul says “evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
So in 14: Paul encourages us to continue in the things which we have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom we have learned them.
As we examine ourselves in these difficult times, we can fully know how we stand with Him in these times. Do we carry our own baggage with us? Do we own any similar worldly characteristics?
Are we secure in knowing we are following God, fully surrendered and yielded to His Spirit?
Do we still keep one or more of our old ways and do not turn from them?
I have been sensing I need to clean up some of my own stuff I have been carrying around. I am searching for those areas that are not so obvious, and for those choices I have sadly settled for. How are they impacting my life? In this time it’s critical to examine our hearts for all that may be negatively impacting our walk.
Asking my Lord to reveal those areas in my heart that are not pure and holy…
But as the series title of this blog reminds me, “I will not settle”.
That has been in my heart for months, but unfortunately I still believe I have done that at times…
When we settle for….. fill in the blank, we also ignore His call to fulfill our purpose. To walk into our destiny means we have to put off the old man and learn how to live out our days His way. This takes time, maybe fasting, and standing fast in our convictions that are written in His Word. Putting away the worldly things.
As I write this I'm certain we know people that are not yet following in God’s ways, and continue to live their lives by their own choices and in their own strength. We know that because Paul has written about them as listed in the beginning of this blog.
We may even believe we are doing life His way, but could it be we are not really doing so fully? Is there some self-deceit in our lives we are overlooking? What tell tale signs are there when we are not?
For me it’s all of my life that suffers when I try doing life my way. If I get out of His order for my life, life becomes hard to navigate, stress enters in, and frustration for me is over the top at times. Is there peace? Is there joy, the joy of the Lord, which is our strength? Do we work harder at our everyday tasks, do we give less time to prayer, and less to helping others as well? There are those times when, I believe, God will get our attention if we will not “look” and search our hearts for the agendas, and/or motives, in which we are living for Him. I’m not saying it’s easy to live for Him, but do we want Him to do what He does to correct us?
I have my moments when I’m overwhelmed, and I retreat a bit. Just being honest. He already knows our hearts so it’s a time we can come before Him and talk about these thoughts, behaviors and wrong agendas with Him.
Right now I believe most of us are in a state that we need to be open and transparent before Him. We may internalize how we feel or have questions we want to ask Him about our situation. We can always ask but we may not have an answer right away, or it may not be the one we are hoping for. But we can still ask Him and He will answer at some point. AND He will not let us stay there. He will work in us to move us forward and beyond it.
I know that He has our best in mind. He is well able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).
I also think about: can we stay humble before the Lord or will it take Him to humble us? His way may be much more taxing on us, and might be the more difficult path than doing it His way from the start. Praising and worshipping Him will help us to stay humble because it causes us to recognize He is Lord of all!! And we are not.
His plans will go forward, with or without us partnering with Him. His Kingdom reigns forever and ever, and His plans are His plans forever. Once I could recognize and receive that truth I became more secure in His love and kindness, to take care of me and my family. But also realizing that pain and hard times come to all of us, and we grow in Jesus and in His Grace because of those times. We can embrace them as best we can and know in our hearts we will be victorious in Jesus, because of His blood that was shed at Calvary. He has given us everything we have need of. We can receive all of it by faith. We know He came to give us life and life more abundantly.
And of course eternal life.
In these times of demonic activity we can still have His peace. I believe this is a new day to become bold as lions and speak His truth. And with the loss of Charlie Kirk, I believe there will be many who will do just that. Truth is under attack but will not hold back if we lean into Heavenly Father and can speak it boldly when we have a situation to do so. We do not have to be ugly or brutal about it. We can still do it in love, but firmly and with courage. Not to back down if challenged.
There’s a lot to learn I believe, in these last days, but I’m believing for us to stand together as a church. To do greater exploits than we have done in the past. To surrender ourselves more to His plans, and to be confident in Jesus and available to His call. To follow Him even in a greater way. We have a race to run and we can receive the prize if we do not give up!!
Those people with characteristics that Paul wrote in 2 Timothy are here around us. We know we do not wrestle against flesh or blood so we need to put the whole armor of God on daily and come against the enemy. We can pray against any harm that he may try to bring against us. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He fights our battles.
Having written here about the warfare, and those people that Paul had written about in 2 Timothy, we can still pray for those we know that are bound by sin. We can still believe that they come to know Jesus as well.
Until Jesus comes back we can occupy until He does. I want to continue to work for the Kingdom, knowing it may be uncomfortable much of the time. But then again in my own life it’s been uncomfortable for a little over a year now. I used to be so organized and have a schedule each week to do my plans. But God has interrupted most of those plans starting last spring. But what I have found is that those plans could be adjusted, and some weren’t even that important in the big scheme of it anyway!!
As I stated earlier I need to continue to come before Him and yield my heart, thoughts, my body and spirit to His. Align myself with His plans and know He’s got it all!!
Thanks for reading - I believe we are now beginning a new season in Him. As our Pastor at Reimagine Church, Pastor Kris preaches from the pulpit at times “Buckle your seatbelts!!!”
We may be in for a new and challenging ride.
Blessings,
Lucy Barretta
The On God Blog
Posted in I Will Not Settle