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 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
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