I'm tired of not obeying

The past several months the Lord has had me into what I suppose is a Refiners Fire.  If you have been there you know it is quite painful to the flesh.  It started with me telling Him that I wanted to experience a move of God, a Revival.  He showed me too much to fit into this blog, so perhaps it will all come out later but summary would be this:  A revival starts with repentance.  Usually we are drawn out into the “wilderness” and God deals with our flesh.  I cannot pray for revival unless I pray it start with me.  So I asked the Lord to begin showing me my true self that I might begin the repentance and refining process.  One thing He showed me is that I am lukewarm and I don’t truly follow His word.  I call myself a “disciple” in word, but If I line up my life with HIS WORD I am fooling myself.  (He said it a little kinder than that!)

Matthew 25: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

I had to ask myself how many hungry people I have fed lately?  How many strangers I have welcomed?  How many prisoners have I visited?  I used the excuse that maybe that was not my “call”.  Great excuse except for the fact that I never heard God call me to feed myself this morning, yet I ate anyways.

Matthew 22:39 says that I am to love my neighbor as myself. . .So I guess that means I am called to feed those who are hungry even if I didn’t receive a personal text message from God inviting me to do so.

I have been convicted by the fact that I am a great "studier" of the Word but not a very good “doer”.  I read Isaiah 58 and memorize Isaiah 58.  I can even look it up in the Hebrew.  Does all of that matter if I don’t do what it says?  I heard a great message by Francis Chan.  He compared our bible studies and scripture memory to a parent asking a child to “clean the room”.  The child memorizes that request, translates the request into Greek, and even calls friends over to discuss what if would look like if he/she cleaned the room. . .but never actually DID WHAT WAS ASKED.  Wow!  That convicted me! 

So I am trying to share 2 months of God’s heart in a short blog and I can’t.  But here is what I want to ask any Christian reading this.  Christ calls us to lay down our lives and pick up His.  He says if you love Me you WILL OBEY MY COMMANDMENTS.  Not just study them.  So I am going to take up the challenge to live as a disciple (by His grace).  I have some upcoming opportunities to serve the homeless, visit the elderly, share the GOOD NEWS.  My plan is not to buy peanut-butter and crackers to hand to those in need but to offer them my best.  This will include home-cooked meals and perhaps time out in the cold to serve them.  I would like to go to the prisons as well but haven’t found a resource to allow this yet (please contact me if you know of one!).  I am asking anyone who lives in my area to join me!  If you live elsewhere I challenge you to ask God how you can start a life application movement of His word in your area or find something already going and join in.

Email challenge@angelaasbill.com if you would like to join me in any way. Baking, helping financially, or attending to serve.

Luke 14: 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.