Beginning to Sink

Matt 14:30 But when he(Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me".  (KJV)

There is nothing in this world as tragic as someone who has sunk.  Someone with a world of promise and yet is a public mess, someone with pockets full of finances and yet they're are broke, someone with a body full of talent and yet is it spent. It's one of the greatest tragedies.  You cannot hide the fact that you have sunk. Everyone knows you are at the bottom.  Your clothes are soaked, you have seaweed in your hair, minnows wiggling in your pockets and you couldn’t hide it if you wanted. 

But my blog is not about people in total despair, my blog is about people who are in the "process" of sinking. They might be a working buddy or a treadmill girl friend.  They could be on the song team at church or the boy scout camping committee.  College level or 20 years as a CPA, stock broker or local laborer it doesn’t make any difference, they are sinking. A person sinking is very difficult to identify and yet they may be very dear or near to us. Their shoes are soaked, their stockings may be wet and yet we fail to even notice that in life, or faith, that very near person is sinking. 

In the above scripture, at least Peter was smart enough to yell to Jesus, ‘Save me, Lord.’ There are some interesting factors about Peter and how he started sinking that may help you or someone you love.

First.  Peter began to sink b/c of his personality... like most of us,he had some personality traits that weren’t always an asset to him.  The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:2 that we are to be humble and make allowances for each others faults because of our love.

Second, Peter began to sink in familiar settings....He knew the lake, the surroundings, the people, and he knew his boat, but still the water was rising.  Make sure you look around at those most familiar to you and lend them some love if they are struggling.

Third, Peter was on a permitted path...Jesus was the One who told him to come. Yeah, people sinking are not always rebels. They may be 20 years on their chosen career, their dream job or favorite position. They may have 37 anniversaries behind them.  It is the path they took yet they are sinking.

Fourth, Peter began to sink because of fear. Fear is crippling, paralyzing. If you see someone in a battle with fear take them to the side, help them.
Fifth, Peter was a loyal disciple and he still began to sink. Rookies or veterans alike can sink. There was no doubt of Peter’s great love and loyalty to the Lord. He was no beginner.  He had done yeomen’s service to the Lord and yet, there he was slipping under.

Last, this one really gets me - Peter sank while his friends were near.  Yep! There he was right near his buddies, 11 of them in a boat. There is not one mention in the scriptures that indicate that any of them began to help him when he started to slip into the water.

So, keep a sharp eye out for your friends and buddies or your other partners and pals.  Some of them may be sinking.

Spreading

 This blog is about are you as[preading or trying to spread problems

Beginning to Sink

Matt 14:30 But when he(Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  (KJV)

There is nothing in this world as tragic as someone who has sunk.  Someone with a world of promise and yet are a personal mess, someone with a pocket full of finances and they are broke, someone with a body full of talent and yet they are spent.

It is one of the great tragedies of life to see someone sunk. It is very difficult to hide the fact that you are sunk. Everyone knows you are at the bottom.  Your clothes are soaked, you have sea weed in your hair, minnows wiggling in your pockets and you couldn’t hide it from a blind person if you wanted.  People who have sunk in life are easy to recognize.

But people who are sinking thats a different story. People who are sinking are very difficult to recognize.  They might be a working buddy or a treadmill girl friend.  They could be on the song team at church or the Boy Scout camping committee.  College level or 20 years as a CPA, stock broker or local laborer it doesn’t make any difference they are sinking. A person sinking is very difficult to identify and yet all the time they may be very dear or near to us. Their shoes are socked and their stockings may be wet and yet we fail to even notice that in life, or faith that very near person is sinking.  In our scripture Peter began to sink and I have to hand it to him he at least was smart enough to yell to Jesus, ‘Save me, Lord.’

There are some interesting factors about Peter and how he began to sink and maybe some or one of them may help you or someone you love or know.

First.  Peter began to sink b/c of his personality...now everybody knows Peter like most of us had some personality traits that weren’t always an asset to him.  The bible tells us in Ephesians’ 4:2 that we are to be humble and to always make allowances for each others faults because of our love.

Second, Peter began to sink in familiar settings....He was a fisherman from youth and he knew his boat but still He was sinking.  Make sure you look around at those most familiar to you and lend them some love if they are struggling.

Third, Peter was on a permitted path...Jesus told him to come....yea people sinking are not always rebels they may be 20 years on their chosen career, their dream job or favorite position. They may have 37 anniversaries behind them.  It is the path they took yet they are sinking.

Fourth, Peter began to sink because of fear. Fear is crippling, paralyzing, if you see someone in a battle with fear take them to the side, help them.

Fifth, Peter was a loyal disciple and he still began to sink. Rookies or veterans alike can sink. There was no doubt of Peter’s great love and loyalty to the Lord. He was no beginner.  He had done yeomen’s service to the Lord and there he was sinking.

Last, this one really gets me! Peter sank while his friends where near.  Yep! There he was right near his buddies, 11 of them in a boat and there is not one mention in the scriptures that indicate that any of them even saw Peter beginning to slip in the water. Keep a sharp eye out for your friends and buddies or your other partners and pals.  Some of them may be sinking.

Might

I want to encourage all of you in your faith to day. There are so many detrimental factors slapping at our faith and love of God.  In Ephesians it tells us to 'be strong in the Lord and the power of His might'.  It doesn't say be strong in yourself, or be strong financially. There is no hint of positioning yourselves in the economy through your mutual funds or to go to the gym and exercise your body for the strength you will need to face the stresses of this world. It really is quite simple what the Good Book is telling us to be strong in. Not yourself, but, 'be strong in the Lord' 
  You are to block out all the things in your life that would replace God as your leaning post.  God is the one that your strength is to be found in. When you nurture your love of God, when you know and understand the power of His Word, when you can say "yes and amen" to His promises and know they are sure and when you can claim the blood of Jesus and all it benefits.....that is the strength you are to have.  Only the Lord can provide that.
 Only God can foresee the future and prepare you for it.  Only God can carry the weight of worldly news and concern. Every other type of strength will collapse. Dollars collapse to financial rumors, bodies fall to sickness and diseases, minds collapse to worry and fear, automobiles collapse to rust and ruin and under the right conditions everything in this world that we hold dear for security will fail us. But God's strength, praise the Lord, gets stronger as the leaning on it gets heavier. (Psalms 49 is an awesome chapter about what to trust in and what NOT to trust in.)
It says the 'power of His might'. To me that is really an awesome statement.   How much power is in God's might? If you told me God has might I would say that is enough to keep me. Yes, He is mighty, Amen...but the Bible adds this adjective - 'power' - to the phrase. That helps you realize the full force of His might...and that's a powerful thought.

Borrowing Stuff From God

John 14:12-17
12 "The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father.
14 Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!
15 {Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit--} "If you love me, obey my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you.
17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.(NLT)

Sorry to make the word of God so small.( I feel a bit funny when God's Word is little and what I'm writing is in bigger print!) There are three things in the above verses that I want to blog about, but since the scripture is considerable for a blog, I had to use a smaller font.
I titled this 'Borrowing Stuff From God'  and I mean it. Really!

In this wonderful chapter in the book of John, our apostle explains that we borrow from God Himself three very powerful things.  You might want to look at it another way and say, God lends us stuff to empower our faith levels. Whatever way you think of it, there are three wonderful things.

The First is v.12, we borrow God's Divine providence so that he can work through us...I call it borrowed activity. God himself will work through us to do his will here on earth and more specifically his work in our familiar circle of life.

The Second, thing that we borrow, or God lends us, is "Borrowed Authority" v.13-14. A Christian's true efforts and work is never his own, it is God working in and through him/her.  When we begin to think it's our own, we basically defeat every opportunity of success and sabotage the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Third thing we borrow from the Lord us is a 'Borrowed Presence'.  The Lord lives in us. The apostle Paul said 'filled unto the goodness of God,' in Eph 3:19.  The one who does this is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The Bible tells us that He will be "another Counselor."  I like the old translation better, the word is 'Comforter', but we should understand it in its original meaning. It comes from the word fortis, that is, "to make strong,' and com means 'with.' someone who stands with you and makes you strong.
So there, you can read the verses on your own, think on these three points and be blessed by God's Word.
As a Christian, the things we borrow from the LORD bring Him glory and fulfil our heart's desire to be used by Him. Awesome, huh?

Vaccum Cleaner

I got home from doing some chores and Karen said the vaccum cleaner was not working. Now if you know Karen she isn't crippled or mostly feeling uninclined when it come to fixin things.  she will give it the once over then the, going over then the parts catalog, say a prayer, then a more meaningful prayer, then she will say a desperate prayer then start rebuking the devil for trying to steal our money by breaking our stuff, then when she has gone through all the binding and loosing she will just plain get on the Lords back and tell him to get it working.  But today the prayer loosed not mechanical motion, the Lord wasn't in it and the vac lay still on the floor motionless.  Karen said there is something wrong with the cleaner.  I don't know what it is it was fine the other day.  So I pugged the lifeless dirt sucker in.  I hit the button and it went on then off.  I checked the plug and hit the button and it went on and off again. I hit the button and took some of its parts apart and then hit the button but there was no life in our vac.  We tallked about how many years we had the cleaner and what a job it had done for us.  I hit the button thinking the compliment would surely draw a performing response...nothing!  We sat there for a minute and I took the bag out.... again, I took the filter off....again, then I turned it upside down and spun the thing that goes around under there and it was free as the wind...the wire was not loose and the plug was still in and there lay are lifeless hoover.....Tornadoless and ruined.  Karen said I shook it and I got it to work, so I gave it a little shake nothing. Livi didn't think I did it right so she came over and showed me how she did it and we gave it a real hard shake...and on came the Hoover like it was Jesus coming out of the Tomb... I turned it off and then I came back and turned it on and it fired right up.  Karen turned it on and on it went sucking dirt and crumbs from off the floor.  We turned it off and came up stairs and then we snuck down stairs and snuck up on the cleaner and I hit the on button and....Wa la.... it came back on again and it is still working since we gave it that great big shake.
Sometimes life and church is like that...We work better after we have been given a good shaken.
The Vac was dead.  We were ready to send it to the big junk yard in the sky.
Sometimes things just need a good shaking!

Rest

Rest and relaxation are so important that God put them in the Ten Commandments. God tells us to rest every seventh day. If you’re not taking a day off every week, you’re breaking one of the Ten Commandments – and you won’t be as effective as you could be in ministry (or anything else you do).

Jesus reminds us in Mark 2:27 that the command to take a Sabbath is for our own benefit: “Man was not given for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was given for man.” God gave us the Sabbath to help us to rest and restore. Our bodies need it.

Jesus modeled this in His own ministry, and we need to model it in our ministries.

*Relaxation: We need to take time to enjoy life.

Mark 6:31-32 says, “Because so many people were coming and going that they didn’t even have a chance to eat, [Jesus] said to them, `Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’” (NIV). In other words, Jesus said, “Fellows, you deserve a break today. Come to the desert and we’re going to rest.”

Jesus modeled this God-created need to rest and relax. I’m more and more convinced of the importance of balance in ministry. All areas of our lives need to be balanced. There is an ebb and flow in ministry, a time when you give out and a time when you receive, a time when you work and a time when you rest. Ecclesiastes says, “There’s a time for everything in life” – to laugh, to cry, to build up, and to tear down.

The Bible says in Matthew 11:19 that Jesus came enjoying life (Phillips). You don’t hear many theologians talking about that verse. They talk about Jesus the old sourpuss. Have you noticed on TV that the media always shows Jesus with a sour, dour, very serious face? But the Bible says, Jesus came enjoying life. He survived stress by enjoying life.

God wants you to do that. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “God richly gives us everything to enjoy” (NCV). As we use it for His glory, we also get to enjoy it at the same time.

Balance is a key to stress management. I constantly remind myself to --

* Divert daily – Take a mini-vacation every day to recharge. Catch ur breath

* Withdraw weekly – Take a day off every week. you gotta chill.
* Abandon annually – Take an extended period of time off every year. Campfire here I come.

Jesus rested regularly because he knew God designed us to need rest, but also because he was being obedient to the commands of God.
*passing along a note from Rick Warren to the pastors, maybe it will help you.