The Little Things

I heard someone thank God for 'the little things' at prayer meeting earlier this week.

Sometimes a little phrase like that can get the wheels turning in my little head.

The more I think about it, the more blown away I am. God isn't interested in just the big picture. He is interested in every aspect of His children's lives. He is a loving and wise Father who cares deeply about even the little things.

In 2 Kings 6:1-7, the prophet Elisha is with some men who are cutting down trees for lumber to build with. One of the men was chopping away, and his axe head flew off and fell in the water. He was very distressed about it because he had borrowed the axe from someone. Through His prophet, God caused the iron axe head to float so that the man could retrieve it and return the borrowed axe. Cool, huh?

I have a friend who related a story about one of the little things God helped him with. He had a relative visiting, and he thought of a picture that she might have liked to have. When he went to get the picture out of the file he had been keeping it in, it was gone. He knew he had seen it there just a short time ago. He said a quick prayer, "Lord, I know she would really like this picture, please help me find it." (Something to that affect) Just then, a book fell from the top of the filing cabinet where it had been precariously sitting. My friend bent over to pick it up, and low and behold, there was the picture he had been looking for. Wow.

God is faithful in even the little things. If He is faithful in the little things, how much more is He faithful in the big things. We can trust our Wise Father with everything. We simply need to humble ourselves and obey Him. He will see to our needs, and even our wants (Matthew 6:31-33).


God is AWESOME!

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

In His word, God promises so many good rewards to us. Of course, in order to receive a reward, something must first be accomplished. That is why most of these promises are conditional. The "If, then" promises. I cannot live my life with the goal of pleasing myself and others, and expect to receive the fulfillment of God's promises in my life.

I'm not talking about salvation. Salvation is free and it is eternal. It cannot be earned and it cannot be lost. (John 3:16, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 3:3)

What I'm talking about is rewards. We can earn and lose rewards.

The 'good works' that are talked about by King Jesus and the Apostles...what are they?

If we live our everyday lives with the goal of glorifying and honoring God and the motivation in our hearts for whatever we do is to bring glory to God, then I think these are the good works.

Jesus Himself said that if we love Him, we will obey Him. (John 14:15) In our love for Christ Jesus, we will not be able to avoid bearing fruit in our spirits. (Galatians 5:22-23).

If we continue to bear fruit, we will continue to grow and the Holy Spirit will take us deeper and deeper into an intimate relationship with our creator (Colossians 1:1-12). We will be accomplishing the goal of abiding in Christ. If we are abiding in Christ, then we will overcome. (John 16:33)

There are great rewards for the ones who have overcome: Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:26, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 3:21.

It does get hard sometimes. We cannot give up just because it is hard.

Press on.

Overcome.

Unexpected

So much of the time, when God does something, it is something completely
unexpected.

Nobody saw it coming. They were on the look out for a mighty warrior king to
come and wipe out the Roman Empire and establish His kingdom right away. Instead,
they get this guy from Nazareth, which apparently is not known for producing the best
and the brightest. (John 1:45-46) Not only was he from Nazareth, he was the son of
Joseph. And everybody knew that Joseph's wife was pregnant before they were married.
Scandalous!

One of my favorite examples of the unexpected things God does is in the book of Acts. In Acts 9:1-17, Saul had just finished asking permission to hunt down and
imprison, or even execute those 'belonging to the Way'. This, of course, lead to Saul's famous conversion experience on the road to Damascus, which in itself was something completely unexpected. But there was something else. I nearly missed it, but when it hit me, I was blown away.

The Lord visited a man named Ananias in a vision. He told him to go to Judas'
house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. (I thought it was
pretty cool how Jesus gave him directions.) He told him that Saul was there praying and had seen a vision of Ananias lay hands on him and he regained his sight.

Ananias seemed to get a little indignant with the Lord, though. He recognized the
name Saul of Tarsus. Ananias had heard of Saul. He had heard about what Saul had
been doing to the saints in Jerusalem. He might have been harboring resentment and
unforgiveness for Saul in his heart, maybe even hate.

Jesus responded gently to his protest. He told Ananias that He had chosen Saul to
bear His name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, and that He would
show Saul how much he would have to suffer for His name's sake.

Ananias went. I think when he heard Jesus tell him that Saul would suffer, it
made him feel better.

When Ananias got to Judas' house on Straight Street, he walked in and saw Saul
there. Who knows what went through his mind when he saw him, this man who had
imprisoned and executed his fellow saints. The air was probably thick with the tension of the moment.

Ananias walked over to Saul, and in an act of pure obedience to the Lord, he lay
his hand on Saul. As he did, something happened, his facial expression changed. He felt warm tears rolling down his cheeks. The realization had hit him. The full impact of what Jesus had done washed over him. He became overwhelmed with it. He fell to his knees next to Saul and said, "Brother Saul, ... " (v. 17)

Two hearts were healed that day on Straight Street; Saul became a new creature in
Christ, and as for Ananias, the Lord Jesus taught him how to forgive in a very unexpected way.

God is AWESOME!