Summer Heat

Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Coming out of summer, there was a heat wave sweeping over much of America. Throughout the America’s the fervent heat of the summer sun came along as expected with the season.

The change in climate happens regardless of whether someone wants it to change or not. Some years are hotter than the past, while others bring more rain and cooler temperatures.

Just like the seasons, our lives continue to change by the year. We grow older, maybe wiser, and our bodies more feeble.

Does the threat of change cause anxiety in you?

Depending on the reference, change can inspire hope or incite fear, it comes down to who or what you believe.

If you think the world happened by a random set of circumstances and all was left to chance, fear is a plausible reality. I would be very fearful if I thought I was just a product of my environment, if my life was nothing more than a random set of mutations and the ‘universe’ could snuff me out if deemed necessary, I might looking over my shoulder in constant dread of what might come.

Some attribute length of days to luck and others to providence. Where is your trust?

Are you Lucky?

I don’t believe in luck. Luck is random. Luck is to believe your life is like a spinning wheel with a hope that your number comes up as if you won the lottery. Those who place their hope in luck set themselves up for disappointment.

You cannot believe in the sovereignty of God and luck at the same time, the two concepts are in juxtaposition to one another.

The Lord is at work in our world, and in ways we cannot see. He raises up the righteous as well as evil rulers and places them in positions of power because He is purposeful in everything He does. Consider Pharoah, during the time of Moses and the exodus from Egypt, the Lord placed that man in that position for a reason. The Lord didn’t reach into his soul and harden his heart against Moses, Pharaoh was loved by God as was Moses; the difference was Moses was obedient to God and Pharaoh wasn’t.

The Lord knew how Pharaoh would react because Pharaoh loved himself more than he loved the prospect of trusting in God. It was by God’s actions that Pharaoh hardened his heart and thus led to his own demise. If the Lord places a man full of pride into a position that invokes pride, He is simply allowing someone to be who they want to be.

Exodus 9:16 “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

The Lord works as He pleases. Nothing above, below, or on this earth can dissuade the hand of the Lord. He is Sovereign.

Because the Lord is in control, we need not fear. Change is encouraging to those who know that God’s hand is moving, it means something is on the horizon. When the Lord upends our reality we must not focus on our circumstances as much as we should keep our eyes on the Redeemer.

The Lord has always led us His people and He will continue to lead them til the end.

Psalm 40:5 “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us–none can compare to You–if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.”

If we only knew the ways that God intervenes in our lives we wouldn’t waste another second of life concerned about the future.

Worldly Schizophrenia

I once met a guy who had been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. If your not completely aware of this diagnosis I have a brief definition:

Schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

Why I this significant?

In my interactions with people on the streets I’ve encountered many who have been diagnosed with this ‘mental disease’. A majority of the cases seem to be directly related to drug and alcohol abuse or childhood abuse that was never resolved. An element often overlooked in many mental disorders is the spiritual attacks people undergo. Those who dwell in a homeless environment tend to sleep very poorly and are continuously bombarded with darkness and gripped with anxiety, couple this survival environment with chemical dependency and you have the formula for trouble.

Coming out of a Covid-19 society, many have exhibited these schizophrenic tendencies. The ER’s at the hospital are absolutely full of people depressed, broken, suicidal, and wrestling with all forms of personal attacks; I can only imagine how much more difficult it is when living homeless.

Handling Uncertainty

Understanding what makes people so vulnerable is a step towards growing in strength and security. I will make a plug here for a program I am quite familiar with called Freedom Session. If you have a history of abuse, failure, or any point of change that turned for the worse, Freedom Session will guide you through the necessary healing and restoration that God wants to do in you.

Isaiah 55:12 “You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

The promises of God are to restore that which the enemy has corrupted. The first step to healing begins with a humble heart that is ready to receive. You don’t have the capacity to heal yourself, trusting the Lord for your healing is much more difficult than you might think. I’ve known so many men who have wrestled with trust in relationships—what begins with a decision to follow Christ progresses as the Lord brings healing through each step of restoration—it is imperative that the trust relationships continue to grow.

Finding people who are trustworthy is a sign of growing in wisdom.

Hebrews 12:25-29 “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain., since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”

This world will continue to be shaken by the Lord. If you are firmly established in Christ, the shaking will make you more holy because you will learn to draw near to Him, it will not ruin you. God’s people need not fear as change occurs, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, or as the natural disasters continue to grow, you will find that you are secure in Christ. The consuming fire of God burns away the chaff of this world and leaves the wheat—God will reveal the bounty of His harvest.

You are that harvest if you have trusted in Him.