Category Archives: work

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit

Posted on by
Reply

Zechariah 4:6  Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.
Even though there was a shortage of supplies and interest to rebuild the temple;
the temple will be completed, not by military strength or by man’s own power, but this work will be done by God himself through the Holy Spirit as he works through Zerubbabel as he leads his people to rebuild the temple.
Zechariah 4:7   7 ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘”

Every enormous obstacle (mighty mountain v. 7) will be leveled.
With God’s help, Zerubbabel will put on the top stone or finishing touches on the temple. With God’s help, this seemingly impossible work will be finished.

Everyone will see that God did it. So God gets the glory not man
The same in your situation. As you walk with God, and seek his direction, and allow yourself to be led by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will empower you to do the work that he has called you to do. By His Spirit every obstacle will be removed. 
This will be done for God’s glory.

Bread of Life

Posted on by
Reply

After the feeding of the five thousand (John 6), the crowds were going to try to make Jesus their king (v. 15). Jesus withdrew to a mountain and the disciples headed toward Capernaum. Jesus went to the boat later that night walking on the water (v. 19). Once in Capernaum, the crowd that followed was there at the feeding of the five thousand; they were seeking Jesus for more physical food. Jesus tells them that they should be seeking the spiritual food that comes down from God and gives eternal life. The crowd also wanted to know what kind of work they were supposes to do to get eternal life. “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’ (v. 29)” The only work they had to do was believe.

The crowds begin to boast how their fathers ate the manna the Moses provided. Jesus corrects them by reminding them that His Father was the one who provided the manna (v. 32). The true bread is the bread that comes down from heaven. Jesus now makes his first “I am” statement in John 6:35. He calls himself the “bread of life” who came down from heaven to do the Father’s will. Jesus said in verse forty, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” The Jews grumbled about this statement because Jesus was claiming to come down from heaven. Also, Jesus was clearly claiming to have a unique relationship with God and claiming to have attributes of God by raising people up on the last day (v. 40).

The only access to God is through believing in Jesus and by doing this you will receive eternal life. Christ is the spiritual food that nourishes the soul like regular food is for the physical body. Jesus is the only bread that can satisfy your soul. Whenever you try to satisfy your soul with anything except Christ, it will leave you feeling empty and unsatisfied.

I’ve been thinking????

Posted on by
3

Work has been real slow, so I have had a lot of extra time on my hands. Some people are probably thinking, “I wish I had extra time right now.” There is always something to do (I have no trouble keeping busy), but when work is slow it gets me thinking. This can be dangerous. I start questioning or wondering if I should be doing something different. Should I continue on doing the same type of work, same ministries, ….same town…. the list goes on and on.

Tonight I was thinking about the different men of faith, who made a mark for Jesus in this world. The list of these men could go on and on, but the one who I was really thinking about was George Muller. If you haven’t read about him, I highly encourage you to look him up. This man was a man of prayer. He had strong faith that God would provide for him. He started a bible institute and many orphanages without ever soliciting for money. He would pray and God would answer. My favorite story of his is when there was no food in the orphanage. He had the kids sit down at the table to pray (remember no food), and as he finished praying, there was a knock at the door. It was the baker. God told the baker at 2am to bake some bread for the children. Right after that there was another knock at the door. The milkman’s cart broke down in front of the orphanage. The milkman wanted to give the kids the milk, so he could work on his cart. Again, God had provided for him.

The verse of Scripture that motivated George Muller to start the orphanages was Psalms 81:10 “…Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” In context, the passage is talking about Israel. Israel is worshiping other gods, so God reminds them that He is the one who brought them out of Egypt. God says if you open you mouth wide, I will fill it. The picture that I get here is of a baby eating baby food. The only thing that the baby is thinking is “give me more food”. So his mouth is wide open awaiting whatever his father has for him. Since his mouth was open wide, his father was able to fill his mouth with good things. Sadly though, Israel did not open their mouths for their heavenly father to fill it with good things.

What if we “opened our mouths wide for God to fill it”?
What if we prayed with confidence?
What if we had faith that could move mountains?
What if we were really willing to be used by God?

Think of what we could do.