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last week's message All of Kim's messages FROM PEOPLE PLEASING TO SERVING GOD (PART 3) (and loving people!)
Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
--Exodus 3:13-15 (English Standard Version)
Let God be God. As I was thinking about what to write for this article the thing that kept coming to my mind was to let God be God. The only way that we can truly become God pleasers and, therefore, servers of people is to live for God and not for people. God will show us how to serve people the best way for them and for us. Work in your spiritual life as if God is your boss, and people are the clients. In order to do that, we must learn to ask our boss what to do (pray). We must read the memo’s he has sent out about his will (read His Word). And, we must learn how our boss works (listen to his voice). We need to learn how to work with him in order to get the best out of our experience. We should hang out with him as much as possible to learn from him and allow him to mentor us. Work hard for your clients, but you, ultimately, want to make your boss happy. We want to make people happy and help them to grow in Christ, but we should always be concerned if God is pleased with what we are doing. From Him comes our recompense, paycheck or bonus. Our reward does not come from man but from the Great I Am. And so who should we be pleasing? I want to work for the one who will provide not only what I need, but brings me great Joy just knowing that He is everything. And so, though, we work hard to serve people well and make them happy, there may be times we must leave them displeased with our services. If in our corporation, in order to make a client happy we were to lie about the services offered, put down our boss, gossip about our co-workers, steal ideas from others or steal time or money from our boss, just to name a few, that would then put us in bad standing with our boss and eventually he may decide to not spend any time with us at all. In most cases, however, we are to do what we can to do the best of our ability, to make all of our clients happy and want to spend time with our boss, too. We don’t only want them to come back and use our services again we want them to make it a way of life, just as I hope that you do too. And, unlike a real business we are called to an even greater example of how hard we should work to show our service, our love. We need to try to measure up to Jesus.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
--John 13:34-35 (English Standard Version)
We are given free will to follow the God of Abraham, or we can choose to follow another way, of the world. We can choose to go to another company, if we so choose. I have questioned my walk with God very deeply. I have looked at some of these other thought processes and ways of looking at God and life. I have always come back to an understanding of finding a true relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Bible. There have been things that I have had to really wrestle with…such as, God’s sovereignty and my daughter’s illness and mine. Was I going to really believe that God has control of it all or not? But, through a relationship with Jesus Christ I have found true Peace and Joy knowing that God’s truth, though sometimes hard to accept, is actually freeing. He really does love us and wants the best for us, but we have to cooperate with Him. And, notice I say cooperate…there is much work to be done. Acceptance is different than defeat. Ask God what he would have you do. And, if you ask with a humble heart and really mean it, get ready for the ride. Even if it seems that you can’t do anything…let God decide that for you. Let God decide what he has on His “TO DO LIST” for you to do. He may ask you to do things that you do not want to do, such as clean up some things in your own life. In my experience, he will not move you forward unless you are willing to do the first task he asks you to do. At one point in my life the Holy Spirit ask me to do crafts for three hours a day. I argued and put it off for months as I was busy with my own agenda. I was also having a rough time in my relationships. When I would pray about these relationships, I would hear, “Craft three hours a day!” I had no idea how that could help anything, but I finally did, and found, to my surprise, so much more respect from others for doing my own art and pursuing my own gifts and that is what I was looking for was more respect. God always knows what is best for us, even if it does not make sense to us. He also knows what is best for others. So just as he may tell you to help someone. He may tell you to leave a situation alone. He knows that it is best if you don’t talk to that person right now. And we need to accept the assignment that our boss gives us, even if we don’t care for it. Remember our Joy is in Him, not always in the actual work he asks us to do. God sent His Son to bring you into his righteousness so that he could be with you. He wants to do what is best for you. He loves you. He wants to be your Joy and your Peace.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
--Romans 12:2 (English Standard Version)
Below I have added footnotes from www.biblegateway.com regarding the scripture at the beginning of this article. Exodus 3:13-15. I believe that with all of these references and just the meaning of the words in this one reference that we can see the Father and Son as One and being “I AM”. May studying his word bring you closer to Him. Footnotes: a. Exodus 3:14 Or I AM WHAT I AM, or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE b. Exodus 3:15 The word LORD, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, “to be” in verse 14
****************************************************** A couple of notes here, if your spouse is not supportive or does not believe in prayer, God will give you the strength and blessing that you need to take care of your chronically ill child. If you are a single parent, you have a very difficult job. God will also bless you with what you need. Please write to me, if you can or find support. I pray that you will press into Jesus and let Him carry you and your child. If you need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, please follow this link http://www.hopeontheinside.org/getwithgod.html If you are not sure, I want to encourage you to find freedom, rest, salvation, wisdom and love. These things are freely given by God, if you will only freely accept Him…His Son. These are tools that I could not have lived without in raising my children. I pray that you will tap into these incredible gifts for parenting that God has to offer you. But, first you must receive. **************************************************************** If you feel overwhelmed and need some support please write to the email address below or go to the Forum on this site. If you are raising a chronically ill child, please send me an email at findingtruejoy@yahoo.com and tell me a little about yourself, including your age and the age(s) of your children, if you don’t mind, so that I can know more about you. ******************************************************************* Kim Dillhoff lives outside of Portland, OR with her (supportive) husband of 22 years and two children, still at home. Alex (16) and Katie (13).[here is the link to Katie’s poems that she wrote awhile ago and allowed Hope on the Inside to print. http://www.hopeontheinside.org/KATIESKORNER.html.] Kim, also has a son, Rob (25) who lives near her. Kim and Katie both suffer from Fibromyalgia (FM) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Kim also suffers from Myofacial Pain Syndrome (MPS). She was diagnosed in 2000. Kim has been a Christian most of her life. But has followed Jesus’ teachings much more closely, in order to have a personal relationship since 2002. She feels blessed that God has set her in a family by blood and of Christian sisters who support her, and her family, with prayer and love. |
