Others May, But You Cannot

I pastor friend of mine Rob Edwards has a blog and posted this old tract. I used to carry it around in my wallet to remind my of the type of relationship the Lord wants me to have with him as well as to “keep me in line.” So I thought I would share it with you:

Others May, But You Cannot:

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other people or measure yourself by other Christians. At times, He will let other people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into a deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or may have a legacy left to them, or may have luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory which can only be produced in the shade.

God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He may make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. But if you absolutely give yourself to be His child, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot.

Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways that He does not seem to use with others. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.

Rev. G. D. Watson
1845-1924

The Lord is Good!

Talk to you soon – Don

 

Let’s Just Have a Conversation

I just watched the movie “The Big Kahuna” (2000) starring Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey; which was very entertaining. It’s about 3 salesman off on a sales trip to market their product, two are veterans and one is a young believer.  There is a quote from the movie the struck me as very interesting. it takes place towards the end of the movie when these three characters have a conflict over what is valuable, who is good and who can be trusted. The older salesman played by DeVito challegnes the young Christians judgement of the harsh, blunt older salesman (Spacey) who is greatly offended by the beleivers position. DeVito’s character says:

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or ‘How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down’. That doesn’t make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are – just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it’s not a conversation anymore; it’s a pitch. And you’re not a human being; you’re a marketing rep.”

What do you think? What can we learn from this observation? How many times have we found ourselves entering a conversation for the purpose of our agenda and end being “a pitch man” for our cause?

I am trying to be a person who can have a conversation becuase I want to know what the other person says – not because I want to tell them something, or “sell” them something. Lord help me listen.

 

Fast Times on Earth

We live in a changing world – it is changing faster than we can imagine. I recently updated our House2Harvest Network site and added a social networking site to attempt to keep up with the times. To illustrate this – take a look at this presentation called “Did You Know 3.0.” This changes the way we think, know and understand. Imagine, there is not a piece of information out there (unless it is hidden from the public – and even then it may be available) that you cannot access in less than a few minutes via Google, Wikipedia etc.

Here are a few videos that explain it all better than me. As you watch these short videos, consider how it is changing your life, relationships, business and ministry. What adjustments do you need to make in what you do on a daily basis?

Something to think about! Enjoy the videos . . .

Did You Know 3.0:

Did you know 2.0

What do you think?

 

What to do with the New Year?

What a Christmas! We had all four of our daughters and their kids together. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and that your New Year will a good one. Even in these uncertain times, we can have peace and joy in Jesus and the fellowship that we have with one another.

Here we are all together on our front porch:

Our Family Christmas 2008

Are Your Ready to Be A Blessing Where You Live?

This coming year may prove to be a challenge for many. It will be a great opportunity to become true friends with those in your neighborhood whom you have never really met. There is an Indonesian proverb that says something like this:

“It’s better to be hungry and with friends than alone and fed.”

As times get tough here are a few suggestions that will help you be a blessing where you live:

• Get to know your neighbor – ask them how they are doing in these changing times and pray for them.
• Open your home for folks in your neighborhood to get together to see what the common needs are and see how you can help one another.
• Coordinate opportunities to assist those in your neighborhood who may be suffering due to hard times, job loss etc. Don’t wait for the government to do it! Let’s truly reveal the love of Jesus to those in need.
• Set up a time to gather believers that live in your neighborhood together in your home to pray and seek the Lord’s will during these coming hard times.
• Be a source of hope in times of trouble. Be ready to share your relationship with Jesus with others as times get hard.

May you have a great New Year!

 

Off to Dallas to attend House Church Conference

Tomorrow morning I head off to Dallas, Texas to attend the 2008 National House Church Conference. This is going to be a great time of building relationships and networking with simple church folk. I will be facilitating the Missions Track (3 sessions) along with my friend Steve Lyzenga. We will then host a roundtable discussion that will launch a network called House2Harvest Network. If you want to know more about this you can read the dialogue we have been having at the House2Harvest Missions Weblog.

Talk to you when I get back!

 

My first Blog

Well I did it – I went and started a blog. I will not try to bore you with my adventures of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or inflating the mundane to the level of extravagance. But I will be sharing my thoughts and ideas and may even teach a bit. This will take a while to get started so – let’s see how I handle the blogging world!

I can’t do much today though – I am going to be spending the day with my wife of 35 years. We are going to go see a movie and just spend the day enjoying one another’s company.

Talk to ya soon!