Do you remember the Bible narrative of when the disciples thought they would perish in the storm at sea? They woke up Jesus so He would save them. It seems that Jesus was their final resort in their panic. We find in the narrative that it was not until the boat was nearly flooded, that it was evident they believed they were in great peril and decided to wake up Jesus. Is this how we respond?
If we are honest, we are usually slow to call the Lord when we need help. We need to realize that we are not as capable as we think when we deal with the challenges and situations of life. When we try to manage our lives based on wisdom, etc., we usually get into a mess.
I like how Hebrews 4:16 encourages us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We can be confident that He understands our predicaments and is ready to help us in our time of need. He gives us grace, His enabling ability. He helps us endure and gives mercy, wisdom, and His power to overcome. He guides us. He gives us peace and brings His calming presence amid the raving storms.
When we are overwhelmed with circumstance and unsure what to do, call on the Lord. Do not make Him your last resort but the first person we call upon. Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.”
Copyright @ September 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Trust in the Lord! Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.” We are to trust God on all occasions. Each day, we should look to the Lord. Our confidence in God should be habitual. Trusting in the Lord should be the normal way of the Lord for us. We should consistently trust the Lord.
The Lord is sufficient and ample to supply all our needs. He can take care of our emotional needs. He can care for our physical needs. The Lord has laid down His life and given us His precious Holy Spirit to lead us and teach and so we know is more than enough for our spiritual requirements. In addition, He can take care of our relational needs. The Lord is sufficient. He is El Shaddai more than enough. We cannot look to people to take care of our needs we must look to the Lord. The Lord is unlimited. People are limited in everything. People are insignificant when compared to God. We need to pour out our hearts to the Lord in continual trust. Depend upon God to perform all things for you.
Psalm 62:5 “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” The Lord is our only hope. If we realize that everything we need comes from the Lord, then we will trust Him. Our expectation must be in the Lord and nothing else. If God saves our souls, why should we be concerned about Him not taking care of everything else? The Lord is our only prospect of what we need. He is the only possibility for help. He should be our only choice. The Lord is the only plan we need. We do not need plans A, B, and C. When we fix our hearts on the Lord, we trust Him. The Lord is our source. He is the source of safety, deliverance, and security. God is the source of all the power that is called for in each situation we find ourselves. Let me exhort you to wait upon the Lord and trust Him. There is enough in God for all of us.
Copyright @ August 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
The effort we put into something equals the results we will have. If we put little effort into something, we will gain very little results. Our effect or outcome will be minuscule. If we exert great effort, we will have an enormous outcome. If we read our bible just a little, it will have little impact and effect on our lives. If we just have a quick prayer now and then we will only see things happen now and then. If our involvement is minute, we will not have a great impact. We will be unresponsive, unmoved, and unconcerned. If we are not truly involved in church, then we become indifferent. Our attitude and mindset affect what we receive. What is important to us is to make time for. Effort and diligence bring results. What kind of results are we having in our lives? Are we earnest in accomplishing things? What are we striving for? Are we diligent and earnest about the Lord? Do we put every effort into obeying Him? God wants us to spend our efforts on things that will last forever. When we are committed to something, we put all our effort and diligence into it. We are either committed or we are not. There is no such thing as levels of commitment. Paul put enormous effort into spreading the gospel and he had great results. God wants total commitment from us, which means we put all our effort into our walk with the Lord and serving Him.
Maybe it is time to make a fresh commitment to the Lord. Maybe it is time to put forth more effort into the things of God. We need to commit unreservedly to the Lord. We need enthusiasm, passion, zeal, and excitement. We need an all-out effort in all that we try. Let us make a fresh declaration of commitment to the Lord to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, commandments, and judgments, and to hearken unto His voice. If we fear the Lord, have reverence for Him we make all our effort in all that we do, we will be committed. Our commitment and effort are daily in our everyday lives. It is time to get the slack out of our lives. If we look at the early believers, in the Book of Acts, they are our example with their zeal, faith, joy, commitment, and obedience. I Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours.” Paul is exhorting the believers, giving them great encouragement, to persist constantly, diligently, and vigorously, in their course. Let us do the same today, be committed and make an all-out effort in everything that we do.
Copyright @ August 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
James 1:22–23 (NLT) "But don't just listen to God's Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror." It is not enough to receive the Word; we must also respond to the Word of God in active obedience. The command is clear: "Do not merely listen to the Word….Do what it says. We must become or keep becoming a doer of the Word, not just a hearer. Too many people want to hear this minister or that minister, and they go from hearing one sermon after another but never put into practice what they hear. We must live according to the Word of God daily. Romans 2:13 (NLT) "For merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight." The Word cannot just be something we know or quote but something that we live by and carry out.
We cannot just hear about forgiveness, but we must forgive others. We must forgive those who hurt, offend, and treat us unkindly. We cannot just hear about loving one another; we truly must love one another, seeing others as valuable. We cannot just hear about being kind and compassionate but must be kind and compassionate to those around us. We cannot just hear or know about not lying but be someone who does not lie.
Deceive here means to cheat or deceive by false reasoning. The deception comes from thinking we have done all necessary by listening to the Word on TV, by CD, on the radio, on tapes, in bible study, or at church when listening to the Word is only the beginning. We need to hear and do the Word. By being doers of the Word and not just hearers, we align ourselves with the will of God and allow His transformative power to work in our lives. Through this active obedience, we can live according to His divine purposes.
Copyright @ July 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
Are individuals important to you who do not know Jesus? Are you concerned for their well-being? Do we have a heart of compassion for the lost? Do we have attitudes and actions that compel people to the Lord or distract them from the love of Jesus?
All people have great value to the Lord God. Sin is what separates people from the Lord. Jesus came and gave His life so we could be reconciled to God. When we accept what Jesus did for us, we can have an intimate relationship with God. Jesus did not die for just a few. Why do you think He tells the story of the shepherd that looks for the one lost sheep?
Individuals who do not know the Lord are hopelessly lost. When a sheep is lost, it cannot help itself; it still is lost until someone finds it. Just like when you lose your car keys, keys they do not find themselves; you must diligently search for them. So, there must be deliberate involvement to help rescue the lost.
II Peter 3:9 “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.” Jesus also says Luke He came “to seek and to save what was lost.”
Are we standoffish, impatient, or uncaring of people who are not like us, maybe have troubles in their life? Do we remember our condition before we came to the Lord and how it was when we were lost and perishing? Weren’t you rejoicing when you were found? We need to care about others and do what we can to reach out to the lost so they can be found.
Copyright @ July 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
We try to find the answers to our situations, circumstances, obstacles, or whatever we are facing with human methods and wisdom. The answer is not in human methods or wisdom. The answer is in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in godly wisdom which is a comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God. It is in God’s grace.
We all face things daily. So how do we handle the situations that arise in our life? In the power of the Holy Spirit. We call upon God in prayer. We ask Him to intervene in our life and the crisis or whatever we are facing. Lord, stretch out your hand of power. We need to call upon God and wait in His presence. The boldness that we need to go beyond ourselves in intimidating situations comes only through the Holy Spirit. He lifts us above them.
Romans 8:26 “ So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.” The Holy Spirit helps in our weaknesses. We are in a continual state of weakness. We are not just occasionally weak. We just do not have what it takes. We do not have what it takes to understand things. We do not have what it takes to bear trials and troubles. We do not have what it takes to restrain from certain desires. We do not have what it takes to do great and glorious things. If we are left to our resources we will fail. But the Holy Spirit comes to help us and continues to help us. He is here to help us walk or live in this world. One example of our weakness is that we do not even know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit is here to help us with that also.
We need to come to the fact that everything must be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. We need the Holy Spirit to supply what we need. Zechariah 4:6b” Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. “
Copyright @July 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
The most important things in life are seeking and keeping our focus on the Lord, obeying the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to change us. Once the Lord is the center of our attention, then we will not let our imagination rule us, make assumptions, or consider the physical things we perceive around us (circumstances). If we continually concentrate on the Lord, everything is subject to change. In the Lord, we can walk over circumstances and situations. We must always be in Him. Acts 17:28a “For in Him we live, move and have our being. . .” When we glance or gaze at circumstances, they overwhelm us and we lose awareness of and appreciation of the Lord. We cannot be concerned about the circumstances but must incessantly maintain complete trust and reliance on the Lord. When obstacles arise, ask the Lord what do you what me to learn in this? What needs to be changed in my life? When we attempt to reckon with circumstances, obstacles, and situations in our life, instead of relying on the Lord and allowing Him to work, we are immediately overwhelmed and headed for trouble. We must understand that God can engineer our situations. God is a God of sudden. We need to rest in the season that the Lord has us in. If we become frustrated, God’s grace and enabling ability cannot work. If we are trying to change the circumstances or solve them, God’s grace is not working. If we allow God to change us in the circumstances, we will have victory.
Not only must we focus on the Lord but we must also allow the Holy Spirit to change us. When we concentrate on our relationship with the Lord and what needs to be fixed in us, we will not be critical or judgmental of others. We all have faults and none of us is perfect. When we are critical, we are placing ourselves in a superior position. There are always facts in people’s cases that we do not see or know anything about. Often, we call our criticism “analyzing the situation”. Criticism will continually pop up if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to change our nature into the image of the Lord. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in individuals because it is only He that can reveal what is wrong without hurting and wounding. We all can have situations with people that bother us and we do not believe their actions are appropriate. We need to give them to the Lord. Ask the Lord what needs to be changed in me. What should I learn from this? The one thing you can do for the other person is to pray for them. Pray in the Spirit. Pray the Word of God in Ephesians 1:16-19, Ephesians 3:14-19, Philippians 1:9-11, and Colossians 1:9-12. We can also pray something like this: “Lord, There are things I do not agree with or understand and if my concern for ____________ is valid, I trust you to work in ___________ and to lead _________ into what you know is the truth. I leave it with you. I will accentuate the positive not the negative. I thank you Lord.” It is time for us, the body of Christ, to grow in the ways of God. As we grow in the ways of God, we will have freedom and independence from circumstances and people.
Copyright @June 2023 Carol Wright/Oasis Worship Center
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