relationallychallenged

Monday September 26, 2011

Fresh water is so refreshing on a hot day. Especially cold clear flowing water. The first time I went up Montezumas Well north of Camp Verde it was a very hot day. It seemed like 105 even in the higher elevation of Camp Verde. We parked our car and walked up a narrow path to an overlook of Lake that is formed by the two springs. Over a million gallons of water come from the springs daily and the water is used for irrigation. Although you wouldn’t want to drink from most springs until they are filtered, it was definitely a wonderful feeling to get our throats quenched by the cool water we saw.

God was speaking to the Israelite nation and to us when He talked about two sins that the nation of Israel and we have committed. He says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13 NIV). God describes Himself as living water that we are free to drink from, but the sin that we have committed is forsaking or rejecting the living water. In the new testament, Jesus in John was speaking to the Samaratan woman and talked about this living water. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10, 13, 14 NIV) The first sin is that of turning our back on God and the living water He is able to provide.

The second sin He defines is that of digging our own cisterns the have holes in them and can’t hold water. Cisterns were dug out places that would catch rain water that could be used for various things. The problem with cistern water is that it was dirty and didn’t smell the best. What God was concerned about is that we had turned away from a him and had begun to trust in our skills and our selves to handle our own problems rather than turning to Him to give us the living water.

On this journey, it is sometimes easier to turn to ourselves and our made made cisterns to fix our problem. But are we really fixing our selves and our problems or are we just making matters worse by relying on ourselves rather than experiencing the living water that our Lord wants to freely give us?

Thursday September 22, 2011

There is a terrible thing I have to admit and very few people know about this, not even my mother, but here it goes. I was five years old and my dad took me to Flagler, CO, a town 11 miles west of Seibert to get some groceries. I still remember the store and especially the candy shelves under the check out counter–they only had one because it was such a small grocery store. Dad was checking out and I was eyeing a seven-up candy bar ($.10 to be exact). I didn’t ask dad to buy it, but I snuck it in my pocket and walked out without paying for it. I felt so guilty because I had never done anything like that before. The stolen candy bar was like poison to my soul and I could hardly wait to get home. As soon as I got out of the car, I ran next door where the neighbor lady was standing and I gave her the candy bar and told her to give it to her kids. The guilt was unbearable. Every night for the next three weeks, I put a paper on my desk and asked God to write on it telling me what to do. I asked forgiveness every night, but never knew whether God had forgiven me or not because of the guilt I experienced. Needless to say I never stole like that again, a lesson learned.

What I learned later in life is that God does in fact forgives us of our sins if we confess them to Him. He has made forgiveness available to us for any and all sins, but in order for us to actualized that forgiveness we need to confess or recognize that what we did was wrong and bring it before Him (I John 1:9). I ran across a passage in Isaiah that puts a greater perspective on our sins. He (God) says, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25 NIV). Not only does He forgive us of our sins, but when He forgives us of our sins, He remembers them no more. NO MORE!!!!!! He doesn’t remember the candy bar that I stole over 55 years ago and if you have asked forgiveness for your sins, He doesn’t remember your sins either. NO MORE!!!! He wants us to respond to others that come to us and ask forgiveness in the same way that He forgives us (Ephesians 4:32). If they ask for forgiveness, we are to forgive them and remember their sins no more. NO MORE!!!! So the phrase “I will forgive you but I will never forget” is contrary to how God forgives us and how He wants us to forgive others. HE REMEMBERS THEM NO MORE.

On this journey it is so healthy to cut away all the baggage of the past sin and run the race that is set before us.

Wednesday September 21, 2011

I remember ss a little child wanting to plant a garden. Everyone in the little town of Seibert, Colorado seemed to be into gardening and I with my sister would sit on the back steps of our old house and eat tomatoes picked off the vines with lots of salt. I can still taste those red ripe tomatoes. When I was old enough to be apart of the process, my mom and dad let me do the planting. Before we could plant, we had to dig up the soil and break up the clods of dirt including picking out the weeds we had turned over before we could plant the seeds. We planted corn, beans, carrots, peas (I hated peas and could care less about planting peas), cucumbers, and watermelon. As a child, I thought that when I went out the next day, I would see the plants start peeking up through the soil. No such luck. Not the next day or the next or the next. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the roots had to begin to grow in order for the plant to grow. Without roots, the plant would have no way to nourish itself with water and nutrients and would never grow. The underneath the soil growth was critical for the above the soil growth to occur.

As I was reading in Isaiah, I saw this principle when he says, “Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.” (Isaiah 37:31 NIV). How many of us would love to see fruit being produced in our lives but we often become impatient with the process of God wanting to work first on our root system. You see the root system of our lives are qualities in our lives that are developed through trials and problems we experience every day (James 1:2-4). We live in a society where we want instant fruit. Instant money (credit cards). Instant relationships (match.com). Instant stuff (loans). We have gotten away from having to work for something and saving up before we get our desired thing. What Isaiah is saying is that true fruit and growth takes time and it starts internally with in us where no one sees. What is God seeking to develop in your root system for future growth and fruit? Are you being patient in allowing this root system to truly take root so that you can see fruit being developed upward?

On this journey, fruit is an outgrowth of the internal structures that have been allowed to develop in the quiet times and alone times of your life. Take the necessary time to allow your root system to grow to support the fruit you want to see being produced in your life.