Have a seat Martha

Have you welcomed Jesus into your house (heart) but have forgotten to set at His feet and learn of Him? Have you found yourself busy about the details of life and all it's worries and forgotten your First Love? Have you placed works and obligations as top priority when it comes to your Christian walk?

I will be honest with you, giving place to the Martha mode is not out of reach in my own life. I can fall into Martha mode very easily if I am not careful. Worries, distractions, busyness, being very disturbed about things, turmoil, they all can come crashing in on me if my priorities get all messed up. During those times I can just hear the Lord saying to me, why are you exerting so much time and energies into things that are only temporal? Why do you trouble yourself the way you do? Come, take a seat and set with me and learn of me. Be still and rest in me for this is what is beneficial and for your advantage. This is what is necessary for the well being of your life (now and for all eternity).
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10: 38-42)

I believe the lesson to be learned here is more than just servants-v-worshippers. Jesus is not saying that Mary's are greater than Martha's because one worships and the other serves. Those who truly love Jesus will delight in worshipping as well as serving. I believe that this is a lesson of the heart. We have to ask ourselves, what is the condition of my heart? Am I distracted and worrying about things or am I at peace and resting in Jesus?
I also believe that this is a lesson that when we find ourselves in the Martha mode to not become bitter toward the Marys but to learn of them and remember that what she is doing is the good part and what is necessary. It is for her good and not her hurt. And we (Martha's) need to do likewise and have a seat and learn of Jesus. May we not forget about the more important things like sitting at the feet of Jesus and making Him our First Love. (Rev. 2:4)

Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7: 8-11 (8) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

(9) Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

(10) Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

(11) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Our Heavenly Father is faithful in providing for His children. Whether we have a financial need, a spiritual need or a physical need God will always provide.
His Word says: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19).

According to the above scriptures in (Mt. 7:8-11) it seems to me that it is just a matter of asking, seeking and knocking. I like to think of it this way: Believe that when you ask something of your Heavenly Father you will receive, trust that when you seek Him you will find Him, and have faith that when you knock the door shall be opened unto you.

I would like to share with you a testimony of what I would consider a miraculous provision by God in our life. A few years ago we received a shut off notice in the mail from the electric company. All the monies that we had in our account was fifty dollars. Not nearly enough to pay our electric bill. We have made it a habit to daily check our accounts just in case of some mathematical errors by us or even the bank. And with all the fees now-a-days you just never know when they are going to withdraw monies- Ugh! For a week we did this and there was the balance of fifty dollars every time. We had about a week left now before our electric was going to be shut off. I had decided that this time I wasn't going to fret or worry about it. If the electric got shut off then it got shut off because there wasn't a thing we could do about it. God knew and we knew that we hadn't been negligent with our monies. So I continued to believe, trust and have faith that God was in control. After all, He has said that He would take care of our need. So that was final and I stood with my faith in my Heavenly Father!
About five days prior to our electric being shut off we looked at our account once again and would you believe it, our balance said $550. We thought, "Oh my goodness! How in the world did that get in there?" There was no record of a deposit. How can this be? We waited until the day before our electric bill was going to be shut off before we touched the money, because we wanted to make sure that it wasn't a glitch in the system or a bank mistake. Normally if it's a glitch in the system or a mistake by the bank they catch it and get it fixed pretty quick. Four days had gone by now and there set the $550 still in our balance.
What did we do, you may ask? Well, we thanked our Heavenly Father (the Great Mathematician) for His miraculous provision for us and used it to pay our electric bill. And we even had a little extra left over. We were so grateful that we couldn't stop praising God and thanking Him for providing for us. We still praise Him and thank Him even today in believing, trusting and having faith that He will continually provide for us.
I know that there are other miraculous testimonies out there about how Your Heavenly Father has provided for you. I would love to hear them, so please feel free to share them. As God's children share and testify of the blessings of their Heavenly Father in their life it will cause our faith to grow in Him.

The open door of opportunity

Isaiah 55:6-7 (6) Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

(7) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

I believe that there is a period of time that the Lord will keep an open door of opportunity before us so we can escape from the dark basement of sin in our lives. Come out of the sinful darkness of sexual immorality, cowardliness, unbelief and faithlessness, murderings, lying, sorcery and idolatry and come into the Light (Rev. 21:8). For there is coming a time when the open door of opportunity will be shut and it will be to late and some will sadly find themselves left in the darkness knocking on the door wanting to be free. But sadly, once the door is shut the opportunity for escape is no longer available.

The Holy Spirit will draw and knock on our heart's door calling for us to come out of the darkness and into the Light. And there is a time frame for each individual to answer His call.

It will be to late for some. The Word of God is full of references in the scriptures concerning this. For example the Foolish Virgins in Mt. 25. In Luke 13:25-27; others came knocking on the door for the Lord to let them in but the Master would not open the door unto them. It was to late for Esau; Heb. 12:7. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14. In 2 Thess. 2:10-12; this is the great apostasy where men will be deluded and believe a lie and not the Truth. It was to late for all of these people. The open door of opportunity for them had already been shut.

There will come a time when the Holy Spirit will stop drawing and He will shut the door and leave. David would not have prayed such a prayer in Ps. 51:11; Take not your Holy Spirit from me if it wasn't possible for that to happen.

But I have some good news for you my friend! The Word of God says that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). If you have found yourself entangled in sin's darkness and you are being convicted of this then I can assure you that the Holy Spirit is still drawing you, and there is an open door of opportunity in front of you. It is not to late for you to reach out and walk toward the open door and leave the dark basement of sin in your life. So yield to the Holy Spirit's drawing today and move in a new direction and rise up out of that dark cellar of sin and don't look back. He is drawing you today my friend! It might be to late for you tomorrow.

Today is the day of salvation!
Don't miss your open door of opportunity!