"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

GOING HIGHER WITH GOD, BE SURE YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE CORRECT VOICE

Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV) "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.  And everyone that heareth these sayngs of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain desended, and the floods came and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." 

We all want to "go higher" in God. Over the years in an earnest zeal for God I am ashamed to confess that I have not always prayed and fasted enough to be sure the voice I listened to was God, or the accusing voice of satan saying,  "You never do anything for God, everyone will get credit but not you you are faithless."

Satan will prompt Christians to "go higher", to do some wondrous thing, just throw caution to the wind, surely you have enough faith.  Don't take the time to fast and pray.  Quit being a wimp, just do it.  God does not bless wimpy Christians." Does this sound familiar?  No one wants to be a hindrance to the Kingdom of God.  Remember anything that satan asks you to do for God is for your FAILURE, the thing that you do will be as the man that built his house on the sand, the rains will come and wash it away, there is no foundation built  in God.

So we throw caution to the wind thinking we are doing something for God, because being praised and being exalted feels so good so it must be for God right? WRONG! God has gotten NO glory, only you.  Suddenly there you are exalted high up, holding tight to a precipice, no where to stand, just hanging there, no foundation under your feet, a slippery crumbling slope.  High up so you can be seen, yes, but there is no Glory for God, only you with shame in your face that you let satan fool you, well let's not give him all the credit our pride got in the way and sadly we listened. 

But where is God, oh, did I forget to bring Him with me up here?  Surely he knew to follow me here.  Then I realize God does not FOLLOW,  He LEADS.

When we listen to what satan has to say he is playing on our greatest fear, and that is the fear of failing God.  Remember the fear of failing God IS NOT FROM GOD. 2Timothy 1:7, KJV "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." 

Oh God, help me get down from this place forgive me for letting myself be deceived by the voice of satan.  Forgive me that I did not take the time to fast and pray to be sure that the voice I heard was Yours.  When God asks us to do something for Him, he will lead us into a time of prayer and reading His WORD for guidance and for assurance.

God, help me get down from this place where I let satan lead me, please put my feet back on Your  Foundation, on solid ground which is the Rock Christ Jesus.

Yes, God's WORD does encourage us go "go higher", but that comes as we spend time getting instruction from God in His WORD.  Spending time on our knees, letting His Holy Spirit lead, guide and instruct us.

"Going higher" in God does not promise us fame or wealth in this present world.  Our heart's focus is to see souls come to  accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives because of His death on the cross for our and their sins.  We pray for them, help disciple them in the WORD and help them grow in God and in their faith.  We encourage them to live lives that will be pleasing to God, so when the trumpet sounds they will hear it and be caught up with Jesus in the air, and forever live with him in the new heaven and new earth that is now being prepared for those that love Him.

When we "go higher" in God we seek to exalt only His Holy Name, never our own.  God sees and knows our efforts to glorify Him.  The world may never hear us intercede for souls at the midnight hour when we have been awakened by The Holy Spirit.  Will never know the hours we have spent studying His WORD.  May never know when we have given an uplifting word or phone call to someone that desperately needed to be reminded of God's love for them at that exact time.

Precious reader, we all want to do our very best for our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.  We must always remember it is not just the "famous" or "great" men and women of God that will have crowns to lay at Jesus feet, but also we who are just "worker bees" in His Kingdom will also have crowns to lay at His precious nail scared feet.  he will look at us with His eyes of pure love and he will  say to us, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Matthew 25:11 KJV 

And so shall we always eternally be with Him.



Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

4 comments:

Aunt Angie said...

What an INCREDIBLe post!!! God must be exalted-glorified in all our attempts.

Praise God for your ability to write what HE SAYS and articulate His heart to us.

I am so glad I stopped over here!!

Unknown said...

Well said Gloria, I needed that today. Thank You.Love You, Wilma

tiffany @ tea with tiffany said...

Strong voice of truth you have. Thank you. I'm so glad I found your blog. I see my friend Angie is your friend too. Great!

May God keep us all humble and focused on HIM and FOLLOWING HIM through prayer and fasting and the Word.

God bless you and your family!

Tiffany

Anonymous said...

I stumbled on your blog. Thank you so much for posting this; I needed it.