When I was in Jr. High, I remember my homeroom teacher telling us this story. She had a lot of wisdom. She had raised a family and owned a farm plus was a school teacher for many years. She was kind and gentle. She never raised her voice, but she certainly could speak from soft to firm in seconds. You knew when she meant to be serious about something!
She told us about this young lady who was asked to dinner at the family home of the young man she was seeing. This was early on in the 1940's. She said the young woman doted over what she would wear and how to fix her long hair for the evening. She wanted to look good and wanted to impress the young man's family. After arriving and being seated for the meal, the food was served. The young woman was so self-conscious that she picked the food up in very small pieces. She placed the peas on her fork and ate each piece one at a time.
Our teacher stood up and gave a long look around our classroom. She said, " the young woman did not impress anyone. She was trying to be someone she was not." She went on to say, "The young woman did not win the young man's heart. Although she cared very much for him, she never saw him again."
Well, I thought a long time on that story and how that young woman could think she could impress anyone with just fixing or adorning one's hair and by wearing a certain outfit or dress! But the other thing I think about was that she picked at her food. That would give the hostess the idea that she, the young guest did not like what was served!
I have continued to think on that story in the past few years. I remember my teacher and the day she shared that story. I think on how so many are swayed by those commercials that they have to be a size 4, or have blonde hair, or weigh one hundred pounds and look like a model. I think of the young men who are swayed into believing they have must drive a certain vehicle to look good to young women. I think how many must believe that they must drink a certain beverage to be an adult.
But maturing is more than clothes and food. Maturing in God is knowing Him and what He desires for each of us. Maturing is acting on the Word and have truth stored up in our hearts that He is always with us and He never fails!
God gave us His Word to know who we are and what we have. He gave it to us so we could be with Him for an eternity. Jesus said, “if you have known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
We are to know the truth. We are far more valuable than just people who exist. We are heirs of the Most High God. It is God Who wants to have one heart with us. He shares with us in detail what His thoughts and plans are. He does not keep any secrets. He gives us His wisdom to instruct us and to guide us. Jesus was a lover of God’s Word. He knew it and He spoke it. He lived it and so should we. Jesus was continually after the Father and His business. He made the Word His priority and so should we.
WE are to know God! We are to truthfully know that He created us!
Psalm 139:13-16.............13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be. NIV
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits--
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. NIV
Proverbs 23:15-16......15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad;
16 my inmost being will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right. NIV
So am I speaking right things that will cause my innermost being to rejoice? (Prov. 23) Ask yourself, is your innermost being rejoicing? If right things are being spoken, that is truth of God's word brings rejoicing, then we should be rejoicing, right?
I do not know about you, but I desire my heart to rejoice all the time. I desire this temple of the living God to be strong. I want it to built through the wisdom of God. It is by understanding the word that establishes my temple. I become the wise woman who is strong. I increase in strength. It is by wise counsel that we will wage war. I do not want to be the fool, the one in "error", I desire to be found with God.
If I am radiating the glory of God, I am in the right place at the right time. I do not have to guess about it. I just know I am where God desires me to be.
So, are we radiating with the glory of God? Do our faces shine in the dark? Is there a glow about us that is life to others? Psalm 90:17..........17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands. NKJV
Paul Manwaring
wrote in his book “WHAT ON EARTH IS GLORY?”
from Chapter 16 and pages 201-202, “Instead of being made to fit to a
certain mold, we are made to freely discover who He made us to be through the
exchange or relationship with Him, by which He awakens our hearts and stirs our
desires for the things He made us to do. And when our assignments flow out of
this partnership and passion, they do
not feel like duties or heavy burdens. There is nothing that will give
us satisfaction, pleasure, and energy like being and doing what God dreamed us
up to be and do.”
We must be those who have the heart of the prudent that acquires His knowledge. Each of us have the ability to give life or death. It is in the power of that little tongue and those that love it, will eat its fruit.
We are to be what God had on His mind for you and for me. Let us not pretend to be someone or something we are not. Let us not try to live up to another person's expectation. Let us glory in Him, and find our pathway growing brighter and brighter to the full light of day. Let us find that narrow path that causes us to have a one to one relationship with HIM! John 14:6-7..............6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." NIV
Let us always be seekers of God and find Him, for He is always close by. May we speak like Jesus did, "you know him and have seen Him."
Father, in Jesus name, we make a commitment to know YOU. We make a commitment to seek those things which are above. YOUR thoughts and plans reveal to us what YOU created for us. They are not found in the things to groom our hair, or in the clothes we wear but what character we reveal in our heart. Today, we "know the real thing". We can expect life that is above and beyond our dreams or expectations. YOU sent Jesus that we can have life abundantly now in this lifetime. We say with our mouths that we have our beginning in YOU God. Today, we have in You our lives and we are light to men. Today, with the Word of God, we are that light that shines bringing glory and honor to YOU our God. Father, we desire to be those who pray. And that when we pray, it is YOU who listens from heaven. We seek to find YOU for we search for YOU Lord with all our hearts. We carry the same authority as Jesus did. And as we do we create the momentum that will carry us forward into the life filled with the blessings of God. We give You much thanks for giving us the ability to enjoy our share of the inheritance of the saints in light. It is YOU Father who is at work within us willing and working Your own good pleasure. It is You Who furnishes us with Your courage and strength to move ahead to receive ( James 1:17) every good gift and every perfect gift from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace comfort our hearts and establish us in every good work. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17) We pray that the Word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified. (2 Thess. 3:1,3,5) The Lord is faithful who will establish us and guard us from the evil one. Thank You Lord for Your goodness to us. Amen.
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