“LEAN NOT!”

 Proverbs 3:5-6                    (KJV)

“5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and “LEAN NOT” unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge HIM, and HE shall direct thy paths.”

When my first insurance office was opened in the mid-1990’s, a dear friend created me a FAX COVER SHEET with the above Scriptures on it.  I was operating at such a pace at the time that I was unable to SEE the lesson GOD was trying to get across to me!  

I still have to BE STILL and “LEAN NOT” on doing what “I think” is best!  My thinking should be the LAST thing I rely upon when making decisions about what direction to take.  I seemingly constantly take a course that leads me into turmoil, but JESUS is always waiting for me to TRUST IN HIM!!!

“LEAN NOT” should be plastered on my mind before I get out of bed every morning!  TRUST in the LORD comes before “LEAN NOT” in Scripture!!!

“DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING!”

 Philippians 4:4-7                     (ESV)

“[4] Rejoice in the LORD always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The LORD is at hand; [6] “DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING”, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN TO GOD. [7] And the PEACE of GOD, which surpasses ALL UNDERSTANDING, will guard your hearts and your minds in CHRIST JESUS.”

Speaking only for my life, it seems that “the enemy” tries to convolute my thoughts and my emotions with the cares of “this world” by allowing me to “perceive” what might be in my future and causing me to get my EYES off of WHO holds my future?  When I place anything other than what GOD has for me into my future it always causes me fear and anxiety, character traits of Satan.  

ALMIGHTY GOD is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and HIS PEACE (John 14:27) is available to us when we keep our EYES focused on HIM!  The focal passage this morning plainly tells us that for us to “DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING”, rather to “REJOICE in the LORD always; again I will say, REJOICE”!  We have a difficult time BEING ANXIOUS when our EYES are fixed on JESUS!  Keeping JESUS on the THRONE of our lives is the PERFECT prescription for having PEACE!

There is NO OTHER way to have PEACE in our lives than to rely on the PEACE of JESUS!  “DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING” will be easy to do ONLY when we keep our EYES ON HIM!!!

“TRUST IN THE LORD!”

Psalm 37:3-4                                 (ESV)

    “[3] “TRUST IN THE LORD”, and do good;

        dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

    [4] Delight yourself in the LORD,

        and HE will give you the desires of your heart.”

It is AWFULLY easy for a simple minded person (such as myself!) to see “HE will give you the desires of your heart” and ignore the previous verse!  “TRUST IN THE LORD” comes BEFORE “HE will give you the desires of your heart” for a reason, and that is for me to SEE that until I get my priorities straight and “TRUST IN THE LORD”, I will not receive the desires of my heart!!!

“HUMBLE YOURSELVES!”

 1 Peter 5:6-7                         (ESV)

“[6] “HUMBLE YOURSELVES”, therefore, under the MIGHTY HAND of GOD so that at the proper time HE may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on HIM, because HE CARE FOR YOU”

Peter, formerly known as Simon, was known in his past to be one who acted almost impulsively, doing what “he thought” needed to be done!  Remember when JESUS was being apprehended in the garden, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants.  In John 18:11 it is recorded “So JESUS said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the FATHER has given ME?”  Peter had a difficult time grasping what the disciples were CALLED to do, probably because he was so set on doing what “he thought” was appropriate!

Years later Peter writes in this letter to “those who are ELECT exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” for the readers of the letter to “HUMBLE YOURSELVES” under the MIGHTY HAND of GOD so that at the proper time HE may exalt you!  It wasn’t as if Peter was instructing those reading the letter with no experience what he was writing about.  Peter was writing about what GOD had REVEALED to him through the trials and tribulations he had experienced in his walk!!

“HUMBLE YOURSELVES” isn’t something that most of us readily submit to, nor is it something that many people are comfortable accepting!  Even through the trials and tribulations that I have been subjected to in my life I STILL have to instructed to “HUMBLE YOURSELVES”!  Either that, or GOD can do it for me!!!

“Hear, O LORD!”

 Psalm 27:7                       (ESV)

      “[7] Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;

        be gracious to me and answer me!”

“THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED!”

 Mark 9:42-48                         (ESV)

Temptations to Sin

“[42] “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in ME to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. [43] And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. [45] And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. [47] And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of GOD with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, [48] ‘where their worm does not die and “THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED”.’”

JESUS had a way of saying the precise point HE was making with the precision and exactness that transcended what mankind had ever experienced!  In the focal passage of Scripture above, when JESUS tells us “THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED” it is stating that the torment will not lessen for eternity!  The pain from NOT surrendering to HIS call will not reduce when we are consumed!  We will never burn up, but will burn ETERNALLY, FOREVER AND FOREVER!!!

We CANNOT fathom the GRUESOMENESS of the punishment that hell will bring with it.  If we could, we would most likely stand before everyone proclaiming that they MUST turn from their ways and surrender to JESUS!  We can’t imagine ETERNITY with GOD, but we certainly don’t want to think about a place where “THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED”!!!

“JESUS SAID UNTO HER!”

 John 4:25-26                       (ESV)

“[25] The woman said to HIM, “I know that Messiah is coming (HE WHO is called CHRIST). When HE comes, HE will tell us all things.” [26] “JESUS SAID UNTO HER”, “I WHO speak to you am HE.””

One of my favorite Messages of THE BIBLE is in John 4 when JESUS meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and OPENS her EYES to SEE her lostness, and eventually her salvation and transformation.  She couldn’t SEE this at first, but when her EYES were OPENED she was able recognize that her deliverance from the captivity of her past and poor choices was being addressed only when “JESUS SAID UNTO HER”, “I WHO speak to you am HE”!  

The woman at the well wasn’t what most people would consider an upstanding woman.  She had been married FIVE TIMES (John 4:18) and the man she was living with at the time she wasn’t married to!  And why did JESUS send HIS disciples to go find food leaving HIMSELF to be alone with her???  One would think that a “man of GOD” would not subject HIMSELF to any temptation that would arise from the situation that presented itself from the situation. However JESUS wasn’t a “man of GOD”, HE IS GOD and HE knew that the woman at the well needed to be addressed in private and that was taken care of by THE CREATOR!  JESUS “knew” what she needed, even though she was yet to know herself!

When “JESUS SAID UNTO HER” what HE did, the woman’s life was totally and completely changed!  When JESUS told her “I WHO speak to you AM HE” the MESSAGE was plain that HE was THE MESSIAH, the ONE WHO is the CHRIST”!  

HE, JESUS, is still THE CHRIST, but HE hasn’t OPENED the EYES of a lot of people in “this world” yet.  Until “JESUS SAID UNTO HER” that HE needs to be alone with you and HE removes ALL encumbrances, you probably won’t listen to HIM, but this woman DID listen to HIM!  The woman at the well was CHOSEN, even though she wasn’t the ideal candidate for THE KING OF KINGS to be addressing!  When “JESUS SAID UNTO HER”, she was moved to listen, because she was speaking to THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES!!!

Why is it that we find ourselves TOO BUSY when JESUS speaks to us???