god's provisions (this all came from a few recent conversations/ podcasts/ and books I am in right now)

so our life together as a family, we are discovering, has been scripturaly (sp?) sound. Not in the sense that we have been faithful and followed God's Word in our time together... that would be wonderful to report, but unfortunately, our human nature constantly gets the best of us.    I mean... we, like so many others, knowingly or unknowingly, have begun to realize how this whole "life with God" thing plays out.

What I mean is this:  I am beginning to realize that a lot (dare I say most) people who really don't understand the truth and nature of God and His promises view Him more like an ATM machine.  How so?  "Dear God, please give me this: __________."  Maybe not in those exact words, but that is the essence of their hearts and therefore desires.   Mindy and I have been talking about this a lot lately.  The reality that if you REALLY understand God's scriptures there are a few "harsh" realities:

#1- Lest we be mistaken, God doesn't "NEED" us to bring Him glory.  In other words, when people say, "I led someone to the Lord..." or "God has given me all these gifts, so I can bring glory to Him..." then that person is representing that they misunderstand the VERY truth of who God is.  If you read the scriptures carefully, God will be glorified REGARDLESS of our choices, actions, motives.  In fact, we, more than often, get in the way.  My dear brother Matt Chandler said it best: "EVERYONE will bring glory to God whether they like it or not.  Either as a trophy of His grace and mercy, or as an object of His justice and wrath."  And I don't think he (Matt) is just referencing those that would flat out deny God & His glory.  I think, even more so, he (Matt) is referencing those religious legalists who that think THEY brought someone to God or THEY are bringing glory to God through what they have or have been blessed with.  What a joke.  God will, indeed, USE us to achieve those things, but he doesn't NEED us.  Don't confuse the two.  Instead, I need to be grateful that I/we may be "elected" by Him (yeah I said it) to be in just the shadow of His master plan.

#2- NOWHERE is it written that life with/ following God is going to be free from hurt, heartache, troubles.  EVERY apostle in the bible who sacrificed and followed Jesus had it end BAD for them.  Heads cut off, crucified upside down, boiled in oil... I mean BAD stuff.  Why do I mention this?!  Because I am tired of clueless "believers" (myself and my own will too at times) complaining when things go bad.  GLORIFY HIM IN ALL THINGS.  What did you think you were signing up for??  Heretics that preach the prosperity gospel are fundamentally incorrect in their doctrine (follow God and your bills will be paid, your health will be good, etc.)  What do those people DO when life goes wrong?  Becasue it WILL.  LIFE IS TOUGH.  We, as believers, are not exempt from it.  We get the PRIVILEGE of glorifying God THROUGH it all.  ALL OF IT.  Likewise, those that would pull "verses" out of the bible to prove a point/ preach God's desire for us to be HAPPY, prove their absolute simplistic and incorrect view of God.  The bible wasn't written in "Chapters and Verses" originally.  MAN put those in hundreds of years after the bible was written.  Therefore, there is NO divine inspiration in SINGLE verses or CHAPTERS, only in the books.  So, books of the bible are to be read and therefore dwelled on HOLISTICALLY.  Which is why a verse like "God will give you the desires of your heart" is a DUMB thing to write/ base a whole world view of God on (inspiring millions of false teachings and writings).  There IS truth in that verse, but not on its OWN as so many "prosperity" teachers/ believers tend to use it.  The bottom line is:  God is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness.

So back to our family life:  Here is what Mindy and I are realizing- Our family is going to glorify God one way or another.  We pray that it is though consistent focus and faith in Him.  Secondly, life is going to CONTINUE to suck at times.  The sooner we realize that fact, and prepare to count ourselves BLESSED that we can be trusted to suffer well and in turn praise Him mightily in all seasons, the sooner this family will be truly in tune with the very truth and nature of who our GREAT & and LOVING God IS.

I have no idea if this all made sense, but it was on my mind and so I cracked open my skull and poured it out.  

Lane