Few There are the Find It

Things I learned on my way to Lewisville – Day 2

Few There Are that Find It

Matthew 7:13&14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

What a day Tuesday started out to be.  My laptop was not working like it should be and I needed to have reports ready for an 8:30 call.  This was end of quarter and I needed to be on the road, headed to Lewisville.  I decided it was best to stay at the house and get my numbers together so I could give an up to date report for the morning logistics call.  I called the IT support team to see if they could help me with my laptop and they told me to go ahead and bring it by the Plano office.  By the time everything was taken care of and I headed on my hour long drive to the warehouse, it was about 9 AM.  I pulled on to the freeway and drove for a few moments and remembered how bad the traffic had been the day before.  I was west bound and while there was quite a bit of traffic, it was moving at the posted speeds.  I looked over at the east bound side and noticed there were very few cars.  In fact, the 4 lanes looked almost bare compared to the west bound side.   Once again, as with the day before, I heard that small still voice getting my attention.

“Debbie, this morning’s drive is a great illustration of the “narrow road” mentioned in the Bible and the few there are that find it”.  I thought about that and looked straight ahead, then to the side and in my rear view mirror; all of us, filling up 4 lanes of highway, going in the same direction.  It was like we were playing follow the leader but the line of traffic was so far ahead I was not sure who the leader was.  My heart became saddened by the image that was now painted in my mind.  The image of thousands and thousands of people all headed down life’s highway but headed in a direction that is a destination of destruction.  I was reminded of Proverbs 16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

The Lord began to bring people to my mind that were lost and headed in a way that seems right to them.  I looked again to the east bound lane and the picture of “few there are that find it” screamed out at me.  Few there are that find it; why???  Why is there so few on the narrow road and so many on the wide road?  The Lord spoke, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.  My people have become so entwined with the rat race and the fast, cluttered pace of daily routine that they do not take time to care about the lost.  There is no sense of urgency among my people.  There is little or no discipleship and the church has become so complacent and worldly that the lost world is confused and bewildered.  Many of them know there is something missing in their lives but when they see “Christians” they see people who say one thing and live another.  They see people who can’t get along among themselves and who fuss and fight over nonessential differences.  They see people who are so compromised that there is very little or no difference in their lives.  They don’t believe we have the answer because so many of us are walking around like a question mark instead of an explanation mark.  Most “Christians” cannot defend their faith or even share what they believe and why they believe it.   Divorce among proclaiming Christians is as high as or higher than the lost world.  Fathers have disengaged and the family unit is falling apart.  Mothers have left the home in search of “fulfillment and gratification” while relinquishing her role at homemaker and care taker of her children.  So called “believers” have traded the truth of God’s word for a lie of convenience and self-gratification to the point that they do not have time to care about those on the wide road because they are too busy trying to run each other off the narrow road”.

I heard the Lord as He described the current day condition of His people.  I realized again that God’s perspective is so much clearer than mine.  He is not lulled into thinking “things are OK in the USA” and He reminded me “to whom much is given, much is required”.  Being on the narrow road is not a free pass to forget those on the wide road.  Romans 10:14-17 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Heavenly Father, please put a burning desire in my heart to see lost people come to know you.  Help me remember that it was for the lost that you came and gave your life.  I too was on the wide road and had it not been for your undeserved grace and mercy I would be there today.  You loved the world so much that you sent your only begotten son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.  Father help me remember that we are called to be salt and light to a dark, hurting, broken world.  Help me remember that your Holy Spirit does the drawing and the convicting but we are called to do the telling, the living it out, the bearers of the Good News.  We are to cover our feet with the gospel of peace and take that message to a world in ciaos.  Father, give me kind of love you have for those on the wide road. 
In Jesus Name, Amen

Stop & Go Faith

Things I learned on my way to Lewisville – Day 1

Stop & Go Faith

Hebrews 12:1&2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

2 Tim. 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

Phil 3:10-15 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
The last two weeks of March was end of quarter for our customer and I was required to be in the Lewisville TX warehouse.  The drive from my house is about an hour and I must admit, I was grumbling and not looking forward to that drive.  I told myself and the Lord every reason why this was ridiculous and unproductive but I was required to do it so I did.  As it turned out, the Lord had something in mind when He set this whole thing up and as He usually does, He taught as I drove.
Day one was crazy.  It was a Monday and anyone one who knows me well knows Mondays are NOT my favorite day.  This is partly because I try to pile a weeks worth of chores & activities into my weekend so I am usually exhausted when Monday roles around. 
So off I go and as I pulled out and noticed the amount of traffic I was going to have to deal with I grumbled.  I was reminding the Lord that I could already be on my computer being productive but no, here I was in this rush hour traffic.  I would get started going good then all of a sudden brake lights would light up the road and we would start slowing down.  Just as we were almost at a stop, the traffic started moving again and I hit the gas only to have to hit the breaks again.  Stop and go, stop and go, stop and go.  Suddenly as I sat there waiting for the traffic to move again I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, “Stop and Go, Stop and Go.  This traffic is allot like your faith walk.”  I took a deep breath then exhaled whispering, “I should have known You had a lesson for me today”.  I was reminded that my walk with the Lord was exactly like this traffic.  Going along fine, seemingly walking in His will then all of a sudden something happens and I’m moving at a snail’s pace or not moving at all.  On fire one day and cold as ice the next.  Depending on Him as my life’s source one day and trying to do it on my own the next; living in victory one day and back in shackles the next. 
As I thought about what the Lord was showing me I realized how true it was and began to ask why; why was that the story of my faith walk?  Why was I not consistently running the race with endurance; pressing toward the goal, fighting the good fight?  Was it a lack of trust, love, dependency, belief?  “Partly all of these,” He replied, “You are not seeking Him first in all you do. Your faith walk is a picture of your lack of seeking Him and putting Him first.  You get so caught up in the daily demands and doing your will that you often allow Him to be crowed out.  He becomes a back seat passenger instead of the GPS system that guides and directs every turn.  You do not live as if you are desperate for His guidance and dependent on His presence; you live as if you can take it or leave it.  You want Him there but at a “close distance” in case you need Him but you do not want Him to come in and take over every thing that makes up your life; your being; your very next breath.”
I tried to take it all in and realized every word was true.  I take the Lord for granted and I expect Him to do His part whether or not I do mine.  I want the benefits of His blessing, protection, guidance but without having to seek Him for it.  I want to know Him and have a relationship with Him but don’t take the time required to develop that type of closeness and intimacy.  If I am to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, if hiding His word in my heart is what keeps me from “stop and go” faith then I MUST make that my priority.  I can not let days go by without as much as a glance in His word.  I must hunger and thirst for Him and His truth.  I must put Him in His rightful place as the very center of my being; seated on the throne of my life.  He must be the ultimate “love of my life” and I must not forget what He has done for me.  He loved me, bought me & sought me before I ever knew He existed.  He has been the one person in my life that has loved me like I dreamt of being loved and He desires that I love him back; that I seek Him first and that I have no other gods before Him.
Once again I realized how much like the children of Israel I am.  An entire generation of them lived with stop and go faith and they died without ever receiving what He had prepared and promised them.  I do not want that to be the legacy I leave my children and grandchildren.  I want to have a faith that presses on, runs the race and fights the good fight.  I want to know that I have been faithful and not ashamed.  I want to get on the gas and live out the rest of my life as if there were no brakes when it comes to following Christ; no stopping, no looking back, no regrets….full throttle ahead.
Father,
Thank you for loving me and using everyday life to teach me the lessons you have for me to learn.  Thank you for not condemning me but making me aware of the areas in my life that do not please you.  Thank you most of all for wanting intimacy with me and for seeking me on the days that I have not thought to seek you.  Father, please give me the strength and the desire to make the changes that need to be made.  Make me willing to obey you and love you like you so deserve to be loved.
In Jesus name, Amen.