Gifting vs. Character

You must mature in your giftings and your character. If you grow in your giftings and not in your character...you will fall on your face, you will make it about you, and you will try to steal God's glory.

[fuel] cell bible study

When God Seems Distant

We have all gone through times in out lives when it seems that God is nowhere to be found. We feel dry, we feel like God is a million miles away. It is like you wake up one morning and all of your spiritual feelings are gone. You pray…nothing happens. You meditate…nothing. You confess every sin you can think of, you ask every person you have ever possibly wronged to forgive you…and still…nothing.

The bible says that God will never leave you or forsake you, (Hebrews 13:5)

Okay…God, where are you at then? The truth is that God is always with us. God is always watching over us.

It is important to state that sin will separate us from God. God even turned away from Jesus when Jesus took on the sin of the world. But it is even more important to say that just because God seems distant, or someone tells you that they don’t feel close to God that there is rampant sin in their lives. Job’s friends are a good example of what not to do. We cannot look at others and judge why they are going through what they are going through…we can only be there to support them and to remind them that they are not alone.

God will use distance to bring us closer. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. The test of any relationship is distance and silence. To mature your relationship, God will test it with periods of seeming separation—times when it feels as if God has abandoned or forgotten you.

God called David a “man after my own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), yet David frequently complained about God’s apparent absence. Read Psalm and you will find David saying: “Lord, why are you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you most? Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Why have you abandoned me?” Did David doubt that God was there? I believe that David was simply expressing what he felt. God promised not to leave us of forsake us…but God did not promise that we will always FEEL his presence. In fact the bible says that God sometimes hides from us. (Isaiah 45:15)

So what do we do when we don’t feel God’s presence? We do the same things that we do when we do feel God’s presence.

• We tell God exactly how we feel
• We trust that God keeps promises
• We focus on who God is – God’s unchanging nature (per Job)
o God is good and loving
o God is all-powerful
o God notices every detail of my life
o God is in control
o God has a plan for my life
o God will save me
• We remember what God has already done for us
• We encourage each other
• We pray for each other

I go east, but he is not there, I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. But he knows where I am going. And when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent. Job 23 8:10

I got my email back

I was able to get in touch with Yahoo! and get my account back. I still do not know who did this to me or why.

I want my identity back.

I just sent an email to myself asking whoever has taken my identity to give it back. I have canceled my credit and bank cards. Now I am waiting on hearing back from Yahoo!. If whoever is doing this does not give back my identity before I find out who it is, I am going to look into pressing charges.

AUGH!!@!@@!$!@#$!

My Email has been hijacked!

Someone figured out my Yahoo! account password and hijacked my email. I have sent a message to yahoo. Please pray that I get this resolved soon.

I don't know if some is just screwing with me or what. But as a precaution I have contacted my bank, changed all of my passwords. This totally sucks. I feel so very violated. What kind of person would do such a thing.

Hopefully this is just some error on Yahoo!'s part or some misunderstanding.

Death and Birth of a Vision

I receive an email newsletter and the one that I received today totally amazed me. It speaks to what God is doing in my life right now. God gave me a dream of having my own successful business. I thought that would come from the place where I was working...things became very evident that that was not the way it was going to happen. I am so very excited to know that this business venture has died for a purpose.

Here is the text of the email:

Wednesday, March 16, 2005
by Os Hillman

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ~ John 12:24

Almost every significant thing God births He allows to die before the vision is fulfilled in His own way.

• Abraham had a vision of being the father of a great nation (birth). Sarah was barren and became too old to have children (death). God gave Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age. He became the father of a great nation (fulfillment).

• Joseph had a vision that he would be a great leader and that many would bow down to him (birth). Joseph's brothers sold him to some merchants and he became a slave. Later he was falsely condemned to spend his years in prison (death). God allowed Joseph to interpret the dreams of the butler and baker and later the king, whereupon, he was made a ruler in the land (fulfillment).

• Moses had a vision of leading his people out of the bondage of Egypt (birth). Pharaoh as well as his own people drove Moses out of Egypt after Moses' first attempt to relieve their bondage (death). God gave Moses signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh to free the people and bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land (fulfillment).

• The disciples had a vision of establishing the Kingdom of God with Jesus (birth). The very ones He came to save killed Jesus, and the disciples saw Him buried in a tomb (death). God raised Jesus from the dead, and the disciples performed great miracles until the gospel had spread through all the world (fulfillment).

• A grain of wheat has a "vision" of reproducing itself and many more grains of wheat (birth). The grain dies in the ground (death). A harvest springs up out of the very process of "death" in the ground (fulfillment).

Has God given you a vision that is yet unfulfilled? If that vision is born of God, He will raise it up in His own way. Do not try to raise the vision in your own strength. Like Moses, who tried to fulfill the vision of freeing the Hebrews by killing the Egyptian, it will only fail. But wait on your heavenly Father to fulfill the vision. Then you will know that it was His vision when He fulfills it in the way only He can do.

© Copyright 2000 Os Hillman. www.marketplaceleaders.org
To contact author: os@marketplaceleaders.org

Audio Blogger Working? - Part 2

Audio Blogger Working?

A new chapter.

I resigned today. Wow...I'm not crazy really. This is a good thing. I had decided a while back that I was not going to work towards taking over the business from the owners. I decided that I need to do my own thing. I talked to Jim this morning and resigned. I left feeling good about myself and I am excited to see what God has in store for me next. I indended to give my notice (as much as they wanted), but Jim decided that it was not needed. So things have went a little faster that I had planned. I left on good terms with no hard feelings. Jim wished me luck and said to use him as a reference. He suggested that I look into going into the ministry. He reminded me that for the three years that worked for them, I have never once wavered in expressing my wanting to serve God. There have been many times in the last three years that I didn't want anything to do with God, I was so spiritually dry. Praise God that it was the good times that Jim remembered. Praise God that I am not dry anymore.

I took my last paycheck to the bank this morning after I left work. I came home and paid my bills and transfered money to savings. I have a small stash of cash that will carry me for a little while. I am going to focus this week on reducing my bills, redoing my budget and reworking my resume. I am still working on my business plan as well. My business was a long term goal, but I think it might be time to move this to the forefront. I have spent the morning calling the utility companies and asking for them to reduce my bills. My washer and dryer rental went down by $10, the electric company waived several past late fees that I had been charged and my ISP gave me partial credit for last month...I was without service for several weeks because of a bad modem. I have also talked to Nathan about carpooling to church...MCC is on the South side of Austin and is about a twenty minute drive each way twice a week. I also have some friends who use my washer and dryer. I am oing to ask that they pay $15 a month. I will give them a key and let them pick a day. This is still cheeper than what they would pay at the laundry mat and they can come and go as they please without having to worry about their clothes getting stolen.

Yeah...so I am excited...a little nervous, but excited. God has never let me go hungry...He always supplies.

Evening At Rondah's

Tonight after the POD Group I hung out with Rondah and showed her how to start a blog.

Rondah said WOW