James 1:2-4 “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles
come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know
that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it
grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and
complete, needing nothing.
Dr. Sproul explains that almost all of us started our
Christian walk with enthusiastic gusto; to later have our development arrested
and frozen as it reached a point of difficulty that signaled a plateau where we
get stuck. We have a tendency to make a running start in certain enterprises
and get all involved and engrossed in what we are trying to learn, achieve or
do, but as soon as we run into an obstacle or we reach one of those difficult
plateaus where we are temporarily stalled, there we quit – thinking that we've
reached the limit of our ability and can go no further. We start, but we don’t
finish what we started. But, the only way to advance in any enterprise is to
persevere through that level, so that we can get beyond those roadblocks and
move ahead. The higher we go in our attempts to master a procedure, the easier
it is to get better and better because we grow and mature by experience. Life
is a learning experience. We learn how to make it across plateaus.
Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful
pearls, who,
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and
bought it.”
All of us are called to
please God. Those who are serious about pleasing God are not casual about their
pursuit of the kingdom
of God . They storm the
battlements of the enemy until they break through the strongholds because the
pressing into the kingdom
of God is the passion to
possess the King’s Domain, even in ourselves. Pressing beyond the points of
paralysis on plateaus, where things become so difficult that we stop. Remember
the zeal, passion and fire of discovering Christ, but then we have to learn how
to adjust to accommodate unbelieving friends, family and acquaintances to reach
them at their level. Also learn to adjust our goals downward when we've
plateaued and cooled off, until we've reached the other side and start advancing
and ascending again. What pleases God is someone who signs up for the duration
of the journey; someone who prays every day that “Thy Kingdom come and Thy Will
be done.”; someone who spends their life seeking the kingdom of God
in daily living. The American Theologian Pastor Jonathon Edwards said: “The seeking
of the kingdom of
God is not something that
unbelievers do. The seeking of God is the chief business of the Christian.” It
is a life-long enterprise and pursuit. To be a disciple is to come under the
disciple of someone more mature; to go to a teacher to get over our periods of
stalling plateaus; a teacher on the other side of that plateau, who could help
bring the student/follower across the threshold and into a new liberation and
freedom. The same is true in spiritual life and growth. Jesus Christ is the
King of kings and the Lords of lords. Live in the presence of your King, under
the authority of your King, and for the honor and glory of your King.
Matthew 6:8-13 Be
not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have
need of, before ye ask him. After this
manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen.
In Christ, Brian
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