When we are weak

Sometimes, like tonight, I want to write my blog, but I’m just so tired I consider skipping it. How often though, as soon as I start to write, the ideas start flowing. God is good that way.
2 Corinthians 12:9 – 10, But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When we are tired, when we are heartbroken, when we don’t know which way to turn in order to improve our struggle, that is when Jesus can do His thing and use us. If we know exactly where we are headed; if we know exactly what we are going to do when the next crisis hits; if we are in control all the time, Jesus can’t work through us because we are in control of ourselves. There is no room for Him when our own selves are in charge. Paul wrote most of the New Testament and God used him greatly. If anyone had the right to boast about being righteous, it was him, but he chose to be humble.
We cannot call ourselves believers if we are dependant on ourselves doing things for God.
Galatians 2:15-16, We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know a person is not justified by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Romans 4:4-5, Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
If we only follow the law we are not going to get anywhere, except that we will receive our wages. Say, for instance you aren’t a believer, but you tithe, you will receive the blessing which is on tithing. If you keep the law you will receive the blessings that come with the law. They won’t take you anywhere near heaven though. The only way to be justified before God is by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our sins.
James 2:14 – 18, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it doesn’t have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
To me this is quite clear that if we want to be called Christians, we have to be saved by grace and we have to live out our faith practically. James is saying here that we can’t just tell someone, “Bless you sister or Bless you brother,” we actually have to dig into our pockets and help people who are in need. Here he is specifically speaking about a brother or a sister, in other words, fellow believers. In my opinion we are not obliged to just give money, or even food to every beggar on every street corner. There are people who beg and have some serious agendas. Simply giving to beggars just encourages them to beg, but that is my opinion. We cannot, however, just let other Christians go hungry and poorly clothed if we can do anything about it.
But whatever we do, we need to do it out of our weakness so that the Holy Spirit can lead us and work through us. This applies not only to giving to the needy, it applies to every aspect of our lives. If we can start being more and more dependant on God and less in control we are going to start living the lives we need to live.

Are you good enough for God’s Kingdom?

Are you good enough? Do you measure up? Measure up to your family’s expectations, to the media’s propoganda,to the worlds standards? No, you don’t and you never will. You never will because the criteria keeps changing. As soon as you’ve got something perfected something new of different appears. You will always be too short, too tall, too thin or too fat. You will have too little compassion or too much. You will be under qualified and the next moment overqualified. You are not going to win, not ever, if you are trying to be part of the world’s system. You can’t, and you aren’t supposed to.
Rather try being part of God’s system. The rules are a lot different. Obviously you will fit into the world system even less then, but the rewards are far greater than anything the world has to offer.
In my study Bible it gives the conditions of entrance into the Kingdom of God:
Humility, Sympathetic Service, Perseverance, New Birth, Endurance, and Faith and Love. Now these are definitely not character traits that the world puts much store by. These are often interpreted as signs of weakness and aren’t supposed to take you far in any business pursuits. Humility will be seen as allowing people to walk all over you and you are supposed to be able to look after yourself and fight your own battles. Sympathetic service is also just not putting yourself first. After all you have to make provision for the future and you have to look after your own interests above all else. If you don’t who is? Perseverance isn’t something you have to do. Sell out to the highest bidder. Don’t be loyal, don’t stay with any job, product or idea that doesn’t put you first. New Birth? Well that’s just listening to the mumbo jumbo that gets preached in some churches and that stuff is so old fashioned. Endurance is called striving and once again looking after your own interests. Not persevering in hardship, but continually striving to get to the top. Faith and love definitely don’t fit in unless it’s faith in your own abilities, your intellect, your money. And love has to be carnal love.
So why does the Kingdom of God look so different to the world? Because the devil is in charge of the world.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Ephesians 2:1 – 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
So in what way is it going to profit you to follow the Kingdom of God instead of the world?
Daniel 2:44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.
Daniel 7:14 And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God consist in talk but in power.
Luke 1:32 – 33 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
2 Peter 1:11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you and entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
You will never be good enough for the world but you will always be and have always been good enough for the Kingdom of God. Jesus died so that you could get your citizenship of the Kingdom. All you have to do is confess Him as Savior. No waiting period, no entrance exam, no screening. Just give him your heart.
And if you are already serving Him and you are a part of the kingdom you are going to be able to testify of its goodness. The world is going to be able to see that you look different, speak different, and live differently to the rest of the world because you have made the better choice.