FLINT FACED MEN: FROM FLINT TO TIN

Praise the Lord everybody! let everything that has breath praise His holy name!! For God alone is worthy to be praised. I am so grateful to God that He exposes our shortcomings. He does not allow them to continue to fester like an old splinter, possibly leading to a major infection in our spiritual life. God gives us the opportunity to avoid having to amputate that part of our lives that are festering. He does this by showing us where it is, then Gives us the chance to heal, whether it be through repentance, or just stepping up, and reaching for the next level in Him.

The other day God began to deal with me about one of my shortcomings that had begun to fester in me. He started by reminding me of the following scripture.

Isaiah 50:4-7           4) The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.  5) The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.  6) I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.  7) Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

I once wrote an article called "flint faced" men. I was inspired by the above scripture. The article was about men such as Noah, Abraham, Daniel, David, Joseph, Isaiah, Job, Paul, and the list goes on and on. They were men who were determined to serve God. Were They perfect men? No, but they were fully persuaded that they were going to serve the Lord, in season and out of season. They were not influenced by environment or circumstance. I used to like to think of myself as one of them, but now, looking back over the past few years, I realize I've been more like Tin then flint.

Flint is a very hard stone that is not very malleable, which besides being used to provide the spark to start fires, some used it to fashion daggers from, it can take a licking and keep on ticking.
Tin is weaker and a lot more malleable, it can be easily molded to conform to different shapes. I find myself being influenced more and more by the distractions of the world, and anything that my flesh is attracted to. I have subconsciously let my relationship with Christ be shaped by my flesh and not by the Holy Spirit. Paul warned us in Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It is so easy to allow the world to wear you down, and like a small drip, drip, drip, of water over years can lead to a large sinkhole, and also carve out grooves in rock. Paul lets us know that the best way to combat this is to have a renewing of our minds. David said in Psalms 119:11 - Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. We keep our minds renewed by Keeping Gods word fresh in our hearts and minds. The key word here is "fresh". Sometimes we find ourselves slacking off in our studies as the years go by, after the 5th or 6th times of reading the Bible from cover to cover you begin to think you can ease up a little now, or maybe you just memorized a couple of popular scriptures and feel they should be enough to see you through. To keep Gods fresh in our minds we have to continuously stay in it, not trying to remember some old bible study from years earlier where all the scripture kind of fades all together into a bunch of miss quoted scripture. How can you get any power out of that?

A "flint faced" man does not conform, he is constantly in touch with who and what he is in Christ, and he remembers what Apostle Paul taught in Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Gods word is all of these things. The word of God is alive and active and because it is alive it has the ability to appear to mature as we mature, revealing it’s deeper truths to us as we become mature enough to receive it. We can’t stand on our early revelations of Gods word. We must continue to study to show ourselves approved as He guides us to the levels we are called to be in him.

So if your Flint Face is starting to turn you into the "Tin man." Or whatever your shortcoming is, remember that God wants to bring you up, not take you down.

God bless you all, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

THE CONSECRATION OF BROTHER DARRELL

Praise the Lord everybody. Let everything that has breath, praise His holy name!! God is great, and greatly to be praised! I will bless the Lord at all times and His praises shall be continually in my mouth.

This has truly been a time of reflection and introspection for me. God has been dealing with me about a lot of things lately and I've had to make some painful admissions. One of those admissions is the fact that I have begun to slip recently when it comes down to our special time together.

For years, every Tuesday and Friday I have been fellowshipping with God, which I have been calling "consecrating," but God has been dealing with me about my so-called "consecration." To me, fasting means just turning your plate down and mortifying your flesh as unto the Lord, but you continue to do your normal daily routine.
In my opinion, consecrating meant more, It meant not only mortifying the flesh by observing some sort of fast but also ceasing all your other activities of daily living and spending quality time in the presence of the Lord. The dictionary says the act of consecrating is; dedication to the service and worship of a deity. I was dedicating that day to the service and worship of God, but now I find myself doing more "fasting" and less "consecrating". I find myself more and more carrying on my usual everyday routine and spending less and less time in prayer, meditation, and worship.

God began to Bring back to me the words and life of Jesus who said in Luke 9:23+24  23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Jesus was telling His disciples and us today that to be His followers we have to commit our lives to Him daily, daily forsaking our old lives and living every day in consecrated service to God. In truth, we can not pick and choose which days we will be consecrated and which days we will not. God was letting me know that the things I do when I call myself "consecrating," I should be doing every day. Does that mean we have to be walking around all day looking stern, trying to convey a pious attitude, no, The Bible tells us in 1st Peter 1: 7,8,9  7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Yes, the joy of the Lord is our strength. But our joy should be in Him always, we need to stop trying to replace it with worldly joy when we feel the world is having what seems like more fun.       jesus was living a consecrated life every day. Jesus tells us in John 4:34 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Jesus said this to His disciples after they saw that He appeared tired and hungry, and they had been emploring Him to eat. I'm sure Jesus was tired and hungry, but I'm also sure that even in that, Jesus found joy and contentment. Paul states in Philippians 4:11-13(NIV)  11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  

Part of our daily consecration should be that as soon as we open our eyes in the morning we should give thanks and determine to do God's will that day, that should be our sustaining force throughout the day, fasting or not. I am determined to daily live my life "consecrated," in service and in the worship of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. PLEASE KEEP ME IN PRAYER.

God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall