IMPATIENCE

 I was praying this morning for patience. And God knows we all need that! Monday through Friday my wife and I travel 132 miles daily. We witness aggressive drivers taking over the roads and the funny part is that the ones who pass us up end up beside us or we pass them up due to traffic.

We are all taught to be aggressive in life, which can be good for many. I have always said that if you want to move up in your occupation, you must learn every part of the skills in your profession, from the cleaning department to the management. I believe every job in life is a simple step and you must take it as such. (a step towards leadership). But focus is a common failure. And the enemy of focus is impatience.

The funny thing is that I was praying on this and the Lord led me to scripture of when the Israelites were led by Moses to the promised land but impatience caused them to make irrational decisions.

Remember when the Israelites were impatient with Moses? The kicker is that although God chose the Israelites to be a blessing to other nations, they had much to work on as individuals. One of those things was patience. In one particular story, their impatience caused them to do something so bad in the sight of God that it made God want to destroy them. Let’s take a look at the story of the “Golden Calf”.

Most of you may already be familiar with this story. It’s found in Exodus 32. Moses was the leader of the Israelites at the time. And I want to make one thing clear. We can pray for others, seeking direction, healing, a prophetic word for them, but they must be ready to receive from the Lord.

Moses was on mount Sinai speaking with God. In the eyes of the Israelites, Moses was taking too long to come down from the mountain and so they told Moses’ assistant Aaron:

“Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” - Exodus 32:1

Sensing their impatience and of course being outnumbered, Aaron gave in to their request and used their gold earrings to make them an idol in the form of a golden calf.

That made God angry and He was prepared to destroy them. Thankfully for them, Moses convinced God to relent from his anger, but in the end, they were still punished. About 3,000 of them died because of actions stemming from impatience (Genesis 32:28).

The lesson that stands out in the story of the golden calf is that our impatience could cause us to lower our standard and make rational decisions. In the case of the Israelites, Moses’ delay led them to find an idol to worship instead.

We may find ourselves doing similar things because we are impatient. We may go back to our old way of living when we don’t experience the benefits of being a citizen of God’s kingdom soon enough.

Once I was working at a local church and I started to feel like I was taken advantage of. That caused me to consider a former business opportunity that I was very familiar with. The former business was filled with wonderful people and recognition, but because I was impatient, I dropped the ball and fell out of line with where God wanted me to do. Then I was encouraged by people to begin my own ministry which I did, but still I was still out of Gods order. And boy did I pay the price. But thankfully I came to my senses, asked the Lord for forgiveness and then God spoke to me about being still.

So, beware of letting impatience cause you to settle for less. Philippians 4:6-7; “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. 7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].”

Word!

FOUNDATIONS - Part 3

 Foundations has been challenging for my wife and I in sharing it with you all. I know that some of you have been waiting for the answers to how to set a good foundation, which I’ve emphasized that it must be a Godly foundation.

But let me share some questions to stir up your thinking real quick;

 What does God’s word say about:

- How we should discipline our children?

- How we should manage our finances?

- How we should resolve a conflict?

- How we should communicate with one another?

- Where we should go to church?

- What values should we instill in our children?

These questions are so important in your life that I encourage you to seek the answers in God’s Word. I remember when some of my friends would say to study it. My response was study what? Have you heard that children will never appreciate their toys because they don’t pay for them. Well, the same goes with the scriptures. You won’t appreciate it until you seek it yourself!

I have learned to appreciate Gods word by watching His promises manifest in my life. Am I saying that everything is perfect now? No! But as they say; inch by inch is a cinch. As a Christian, I guarantee you that you will be at war and receive some bumps and bruises along the way.

Agreement is one thing that I can say that has truly helped my wife and I in our marriage. It can save you some grief, time, hurt, making life a little easier. Even in the failures we have come to an agreement, we evaluate the situation, reset and keep trucking.

Amos 3:3 says it like this: “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” If we can’t agree together, we can’t have a successful family.

You see when children see us lower our standards, they follow the example that is before them. Standards like morals, ethics, and habits, are established by the authority of the home. It becomes custom in a household when there is agreement.

Having a standard that is already set by God makes it possible for us to unite and move forward in the same direction; it allows us to find a place of agreement that supersedes our personal preferences and opinions. Speaking on opinions let share another important standard in our home.

My wife and I believe in creating a “Safe Harbor” of our home. We understand that some will disagree. We also know that due to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which was the final sacrifice we know longer need the altars made of wood or stone. But the significance in God’s presence is what interested us.

A very simple, practical way that every family can begin to build their house on the Rock of Christ is to build a “Safe Harbor.” A safe harbor is considered safe for a ship, as in wartime or during a storm at sea. Also a place or situation that offers refuge or protection.

I use the example all the time where we are born into a canoe going through a river and occasionally, we hit some rough rapids in life. But we mature into a boat where we marry and gain responsibility but can still be rocky. Then eventually becomes like a ship that is hard to sink but still has vulnerabilities. But in all these examples we oversee steering whether it is a paddle or rudder. Our homes must become Safe Harbors for those who we love.

In our home my wife understood the spiritual importance of altars back in the day. Of course, we don’t need altars due to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. But its significance reminded us of when the Lord would have our patriarchs build altars. Focusing on the spiritual not the physical sense. You see, all the Biblical Patriarchs built altars to worship God. It is where we saw the family altar, of a place where we meet with God on a regular basis. It’s a place where we meet regularly to pray together and share a Scripture together. It may be the living room, or the dining room. It’s a place where we worship God together.

Understand that worship doesn’t have to be for a long time, it can be for just 5 or 10 minutes. It is not about the time more than it is about the intimacy with Him. You can one Scripture verse to simply thank God for His provision and blessing over our family.

And unlike the altars that Noah, Abraham, Moses and David built, it doesn’t have to be made of stone. It can be the family sofa where you gather to share Gods word. It can be chairs around the family patio over a barbeque on Sunday. It can even be sitting on the floor!

But wherever it is, the family altar is where the family vows to meet God on a regular basis and build their safe harbor (home) on His wisdom and His ways.

I challenge you to fill your home with His love and presence by way of worship music. We personally have a playlist for our Alexa and set a group named Living Area, so that it can play music on all Alexas in our home.

Believe me, there will be some resistance from time to time. But in time radical transformation of your home will happen when you put God’s word and wisdom at the center of family life. The challenge is for the next thirty days, begin a family altar in your home. Gather around with your family members and spend five minutes building on the foundation of Christ:

5 minutes praying for one another.

5 minutes reading a portion of Scripture together.

5 minutes worshipping God together.

For some of you, that can be every day; for others of you, it may be on weekends only. I’m not going to tell you how to do it, but just do it. Five minutes on a regular basis over the next thirty days – I guarantee you will begin to heal family strife and marital conflict. Just watch how fast you grow closer together, even as you grow closer to Him.

Remember that we live in a dark world with paths that will try to mislead us, but Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” God’s word provides illumination to walk without stumbling…

Word!