"Strange Happenings, Thats Strange" Series

The Ultimate Decision

July 30, 2014

Chase loves to go to the Post Office with me each day. Sometimes when we mail out books or letters we will stand in the line that never seems to move. People huff and puff and well, go postal. That is until Chase stands in your line. In every young mans growing into maturity there is one staple - The Three Stooges. So it is no wonder God uses Chase all the time to break the ice in line. I think Chase can sense the tension. He wants everyone to get along and to be joyful. Chase does not have a lot of go to questions but one is “Dad are we going to watch Three Stooges tonight”, I faintly see a few smiles amongst the lynch mob. Then Chase says, “ I have an uncle in Cairo, he is a Chiropractor” or “Strange happenings, that’s strange. Nuk, Nuk, Nuk”. Finally the lynch mob is no more and people have been broken out of their dead serious mentality. Somehow joy has come back into the world through an Autistic young boy. Many times in life we just take life too seriously. Joy can be very elusive when we are serious all the time.

If you were to walk down a street in a major city you would not see much joy. Maybe one out of fifty would be smiling. Now go to a small town and you probably wouldn’t see a hundred people but probably 5 out of 10 would probably be smiling. Why is this?

The pace at which we live our lives has a lot to do with the joy we have. If we hit the ground running in the morning and don’t stop till we go to bed at night it is very difficult to have joy. The more we SLOW our life down the more time we have to find that elusive trait called Joy. Joy is IN the Lord. How do we get to know the Lord?

Psalm 46:10 “Be Still and know that I am God”

Right now approximately 70% of the population at work is downcast, mad, bitter and without hope. Their job is the same, the boss is already yelling or the pressure is smothering. If you are the boss please pray that the Lord would give you the wisdom to be a joyful leader not a tryant. Jesus is the ultimate leader and creator of the universe. You would never see Jesus going around at a frantic pace. You would never see Jesus showing favoritism, telling off color jokes, or demanding more than a person could give. Jesus was always accessible. Jesus started out his morning very early in prayer. Do You?

If you don’t start out early in the morning with prayer it is not the same as praying in the car going down the road in traffic. When we put God first even though we think we have many things to do God will bless that many times over.

Also the more we slow down, get in a quiet place and pray the more we are able to sense the Lord's voice. The lees we are in God’s word, the less we pray then we will have a hard time distinguishing the Lord's voice and the voice of the evil one. That little tug in your heart or that voice of conscience is not your conscience it is either God or the evil one.

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE LISTENING TOO.

John 10:3-5 “....and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Sheep are skittish, not very smart, have poor eyesight and NEED TO BE LED. We are just the same. It doesn’t take much to get us off course. Those of us who have been saved by the grace of God have realized that we are not smart; we are one step from falling and can’t see what’s out in front of us. We know that in order to lead a spirit filled life we

NEED TO SUBMIT TO GOD, NOT BE PROUD SO WE CAN BE LED, NOT BE THE LEADER.

We are all on a journey and hopefully we will all come to the realization that in this life we need to be led by Jesus. We can do nothing good unless Jesus is behind it. Are you willing to slow down and BE STILL even when the world tells us to speed up? Are you willing not to fire back a volley of venom when someone fires one at you? Are you willing to let God be not only God of the universe but your God also? When we are finally called home we will see the perfect plan. In the meantime we need to be led by the Shepherd or else we will fall into traps of many kinds. Let the Lord lead, listen VERY CAREFULLY to the voice of Him, Our Savior and Lord.