First-someone spilled coffee all over my Bible. Second-I didnt want to rip the pages so I let it dry. Third-The pages stuck together when it was dry. Fourth-I had to peel them apart. Fifth- one of my peeling adventures ripped a hole in the page.-Sixth-I freak out. What scripture did I just destroy?! Seventh-I read it. Eighth-here it is...
Jeremiah 47:6-7= Now, o sword of the Lord- when will you be at rest again? Go back into your sheath, rest and be still. But how can it be still when the Lord has sent it on a mission? For the city of Ashkalon and the people living along the sea must be destroyed.
Ninth- It spoke to me.
As followers of Jesus Christ- we have a mission and I believe that mission is to be "The Sword of the Lord." Now, when we find the courage to do something in faith- to take a risk- to fight for Christ-is this not exactly how the world responds? They say "calm down","that's dangerous," "thats stupid," "you are too young.""you are not qualified.""take a chill pill,""rest and be still,""go back into your sheath,"stay in your comfort zone." But how? How can the world expect us to do this? To tell God no? To calm down? Be still? There is nothing to be still about and yet we do it. We listen to all that crap. We have a mission from God and somehow we allow the world to dictate our actions and it pisses me off-especially since I havent been able to block all the shots the world throws. What pisses me off even more is that the majority of those comments have been spoken by my "christian" friends. Every time I get excited about something, everytime I have an idea, everytime I feel called by God to do something in His name- I shouldnt do it because "its dangerous, its stupid, you need to calm down, rest, maybe you should go to sleep." and I am freakin sick of it! Maybe I should go to sleep?? REALLY?? Are these people following Jesus? Do they really want to see God move? Im not trying to offend anyone- but if it does- maybe you should think about it.. Didn't Jesus ask the disciples "WHY are you sleeping?" So why should I? why should we? why are so many of us? We say we follow Jesus.. follow Him where? To sleep? Doubt it. Ive had people tell me- "this Jesus thing is just a phase. youll be normal again." Please. Right there- they want us to go "back into our sheath." Why is it so easy for them to mock us? To say crap like that? Because we are too busy being the Butterknife of God instead of the sword He wants us to be. I think we are too passive- myself included- I think we are nowhere near as aggressive as God is calling us to be. Do we really understand what it means to save a soul? To change a life? What did it mean for us? For me- when God changed my life- it meant everything and it means the same thing to people all over the world. How can we be okay with inactivity? So we dont know that person- they die and go to hell. How can we be so unaffected by that? God is. Im sure it breaks His heart to watch us watch the people who He loves and has known since before they were born die and suffer for eternity for the sake of our comfort. We wouldnt wanna lose any freakin sleep over it would we?
So what is our mission exactly? I say we break the butterknife mindset-throw away our sheath, and be the sword in the hand of God. Yeah- battle is dangerous and war is costly-we may be exhausted at the end of the day, and o Lord Jesus we might even lose some sleep- but we will never win a victory for God until we are willing to fight. Everyone has a different sheath- like a sheath holds a sword- we are held back by our labels, by our weakness, by our sin. But God is stronger than all of that and when He wants to use us-"how can we be still?"
"The city of Ashkalon and the people living along the sea must be destroyed." I agree- not in the literal way that was referred to when this scripture was written- but in the way of our flesh- the part of us that lets us give in when the world rains discouragement and lies. I read this and I can easily apply it to today.. I think we need to be destroyed. We need to be destroyed to make more room for God. All we do is get in the way of what He wants to do in this city- in this nation and in this world. We need God to destroy us, to break us, to strip us and then to rebuild us with more of Him and way less of us. The only way we are going to see the Kingdom of God advance in our lives is if we let God destroy us so that we can destroy this City for Him.
Jeremiah 47:6-"...But how can it be still when the Lord has sent it on a mission?"
What would happen if you stood still in battle? 1) you die. 2)you miss out on all the action. hhmm...
