ENOUGH FAITH TO FINISH

2 Kings 13:18 “Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped.”

King Jehoash wept over Elisha who was on his deathbed. He used the same statement Elisha had used of Elijah in 2 Kings 2:12. Saying “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” was recognition of the important role Elisha played in the defense of Israel. Israel’s strength was not in chariots and horses, but in the power of God displayed through His prophet. King Jehoash, though a wicked king, was not ignorant of the great loss Elisha’s death would bring to the kingdom. Jehoash had inherited a weakened kingdom from his father and was undoubtedly aware that he needed a miracle to defeat Syrian forces.

Though he recognized the mighty ways in which Elisha had been used, Jehoash was not known for serving God. 2 Kings 13:11 says that he did evil and continued in Jeroboam’s sins, the worship of the golden calves. But who do desperate people come to in desperate times? The man or woman of God; the church, or people in the church; a godly neighbor they know prays; a friend who’s been witnessing to them for years. They know you have a hotline to God. Jehoash recognized that God had used Elisha mightily in Israel, therefore he wept over the coming loss.

But in the midst of his despair, God handed King Jehoash the opportunity of his lifetime. The opportunity to terminate the Syrians once and for all was at hand. Elisha responded to Jehoash’s words by giving him specific instructions of what he was to do. Jehoash was to take a bow and some arrows. Elisha then put his hands momentarily on the king’s hands signifying the power of God moving through the prophet of God into Jehoash to perform this great feat. Then the king was to shoot an arrow out the window in the direction of the Israelite territories held captive by Syrian armies. When he did this Elisha explained the action by saying that the arrow represented the victory God would give to the armies of Israel over Syria at Aphek.

Unfortunately, Jehoash lacked the faith to fully obey the prophet. He become half-hearted in completing the tasks that Elisha laid out for him. He stopped short. Jehoash took a golden opportunity and turned it into a lost opportunity because of a lack of faith.

Have you ever suffered from a lack of faith? God wants you to believe for bigger and better things. Have you ever found yourself stuck in a cycle of unbelief? Perhaps you have felt or even responded like Jehoash from time to time. Not necessarily by living in wickedness, but in lacking in faith in the way he expressed in front of Elisha. Perhaps our zeal is all but quenched and we are struggling and just going through the motions.

While looking at this story it cannot be stressed enough that throughout God’s Word we learn that the victory in any battle that God’s people are in will not be won through physical, intellectual or political might, but by the power of God. It requires great faith to achieve these victories.

Jehoash lost his opportunity because of unbelief, will you? Be challenged to stretch your faith. Our God is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine.

FIRST OF ALL

1 Timothy 2:1 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.”

C. H. Spurgeon was one of the most popular and successful preachers of Victorian England. His Metropolitan Tabernacle drew thousands each Sunday. Often hundreds would stand outside in the street hoping to catch a bit of the Baptist preacher’s message. One day a group of young seminary students came to visit the church they had heard so much about. When they entered the huge building, they were met by a gray bearded gentleman they took to be the janitor. He offered to lead them on a tour through the facilities and answer any questions they had.

They walked through the sanctuary, stood in the pulpit, and looked down from the balcony. When they had seen just about everything and asked every conceivable question they could come up with, the old gentleman asked a strange question, “Would you like to see what heats this church?” They weren’t really that interested in touring the coal cellar and furnace room. But just to humor their host, they followed. They went down a narrow stairway to an area beneath the pulpit. As the gentleman opened the door, he said, “Behind this door is the secret of this great church. Everything that happens upstairs starts down here. This is where the fire in the pulpit begins.”

The old man, actually Spurgeon himself, opened the door to reveal several dozen people on their knees in fervent prayer. The great preacher would always insist that the secret of any church, big or small, was the prayers of the people. It was Spurgeon who said, “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”

Jesus knew that prayer was first. You need to simply read the Gospels to realize that he prayed often and before every critical juncture in his ministry and life. The early church considered prayer a priority. Nearly every important event in the apostolic church was preceded by prayer meetings. Did Jesus and his apostles know something that we need to know?

What comes first—prayer. The text uses four different terms for prayer. All four are related, but each has a different shade of meaning. We can learn something from each. Together they reveal the nature of prayer and the proper attitude of prayer. The first term is “requests” or “petitions.” This term would have been used for bringing needs or wants before a king or higher authority. The second is “prayers”—the most common term for praying. It simply means asking. These two words remind us that prayer is coming before the King of Heaven and asking. Prayer is not the same as talking to ourselves, thinking positive thoughts, or wishing real hard. It is asking of God.

The next two words in the list, “intercessions” and “thanksgivings” offer insight into the proper attitude of prayer. Intercession refers to asking in behalf of another. Serious prayer is unselfish prayer. The highest form of prayer is going before our God for others. “Thanksgiving” is always involved because unless we are grateful we likely don’t understand whom we are talking to. The very fact that our God offers us an audience before his throne is reason enough for thanksgiving.

Paul, in instructing young Timothy, sets the tone for this early church. Today, our means in every aspect of our life should be the same. First of all, pray. Keep your minds on spiritual things and focused upon the God that makes everything possible. It is where everything begins. It is where everything ends.

IMAGE OR INTEGRITY?

1 Chronicles 10:4 “Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me. But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it.”

In the latter days in the life of Samuel the prophet, his sons were appointed to leadership. While Samuel waned in strength, his sons walked in sin. So all the elders of the people of Israel gathered and said to Samuel, “You are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us such as all the nations have” (1 Samuel 8:4)

From the very beginning of their search it was apparent that the children of Israel were concerned about their appearance. They were different than the other nations. The Israelites were disgruntled, disappointed, and disillusioned.

They did not like their image. When foreign traders would come to the marketplace in Jerusalem, they would ask the merchants selling their wares, “Where is your King? Who is your leader? What does he look like?” The Israelites were sick of saying, “Our king is no-other than the One True God.” “Where is he?” “He’s invisible.” “Where is his statue?" “We are forbidden from making an image of Him.”

Tired of the relentless queries, the Israelites wanted to change their image. They wanted someone they could brag about. They wanted a face they could imprint upon their currency. They wanted statues to be carved in his image. And God gave them someone who would fit their profile. The people wanted a particular image to be fulfilled, and God granted them their wish.

The people were fascinated by the physical image of Saul. They didn’t seem to be concerned at all about what was on the inside of Saul. Everything may have been together on the outside, but there was something wrong on the inside.

Sometime later in Saul’s reign, Samuel had instructed Saul to go to Gilgal where Samuel the prophet would offer sacrifices confirming Saul as King of Israel. But after seven days of waiting, Saul became impatient because the people were scattering. The man, who was chosen because of his image, now is overly-concerned with his image, and therefore he presided over the sacrifice though he was clearly commanded not to.

Later, Saul disobeyed a direct command of God to completely and totally annihilate the Amalekites. Saul disobeyed God, and the scriptures show us that God rejected Saul as King. From the very start of Saul’s reign, God makes it evidently clear that integrity matters more than image. Saul failed to keep the commands of God and his actions clearly demonstrated the inward condition of his heart. And from that moment, God began the establishment of a new kingdom. And so, God commissioned Samuel to go and anoint a new king, which would one day rule where Saul was seated.

There is little doubt that we live in a society that loves hype. Image is truly everything in the world. Everyone wants their own flag to wave. Many want to be seen as great even if their private conduct is anything but. We must remember that God has called us to represent him with excellence and integrity. Remember, when your image matters more than your integrity, you will be tempted to settle for hypocrisy. Be on guard so that you will choose that which matters most over that which looks the best.

OUT OF THE ASHES

Ezekiel 1:2-3 “On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel.”

Listen to the first three verses of the prophecy of Ezekiel and notice how he tells time. “In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (It was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin) the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel.”

He didn’t tell time using the Jewish names of the months. Through Israel’s history, many had told time by the number of years since the Exodus, but Ezekiel didn’t do that either. He numbered time beginning with his exile.

Have you ever had an event like that in your life? Have you ever experienced a time that was so intense, so powerful, and so unforgettable that it made you almost forget about the other years through which you had passed up to that time? Ezekiel knew a time like that.

Perhaps your moment has changed your life and your perspective. Maybe it has created doubt and skepticism in your heart. Maybe, someone hurt you. Perhaps you failed in one area or another. No matter what it may be, these events can cause us to view life through a dramatically different, sometimes jaded, viewpoint. That period of pain and disappointment in life can become your frame of reference for every other future event. Therefore, we can become so steeped in the pain and bitterness that we feel as though that is where we belong. We can justify our present attitude and outlook based on one, relatively small, period of our lifetime.

What do we do to rise out of such a mindset and see fresh hope and light in our life? We can remember Ezekiel, who in the midst of tragedy saw a new vision of God. Ezekiel realized that, as long as God is involved, there is always hope. As long as God’s people seek his will, we need not sing a song of despair.

Ezekiel knew that God had not abandoned his people. He knew that God’s will had become difficult to discern for a season, but he had not abandoned those he loved. The resurrection of Christ is a reminder to us as well…we who stand here on this side of the cross…that God has not abandoned us either.

There is no doubt that certain events will change us. They will change our thinking. They may even change our present circumstances. But God has not changed. Just as God brought a new people out of the ashes of slavery in Egypt; just as God restored the nation from the ashes of Babylonian exile; just as God sent his Son to earth to raise humanity from the ashes of sin and death; so God is at work still, and will raise us from the ashes of pain, disappointment, sin, and even tragedy to become whole again. Don’t allow one portion of life’s journey to forever determine your eternal position. Live in hope. Rise from the ashes of your difficult situation and see God’s ultimate plan for your life.

BASIC TRAINING

Jeremiah 6:16 “This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

If you were to ask football poll experts which high school team was the best in America during the 90’s they would no doubt name the team coached by Nick Hyder in Valdosta, Georgia. During that decade, Hyder’s teams won more games than any other team. They were named national champions four times and they won more than twenty state championships.

At the beginning of one of their practice seasons, a young aspiring coach went to Valdosta to watch Coach Hyder in action. He wanted to see what kind of practices the coach conducted, hoping to pick up a few game-winning tips. He found the practices were well organized but boring to watch. They involved little more than hours of drills in blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, and kicking – the basics of football. The new coach thought to himself, “This is a lot like a Pop Warner practice – just a lot of hard work everyday on the basics.

At the conclusion of the week, the young coach went to coach Hyder to thank him for the privilege of watching his practices. He said, “One thing I don’t understand, Coach. You spent all your practice time this week doing things your players should have mastered years ago. Are you in a rebuilding year?

“No,” Coach Hyder replied. “This is a veteran team. In fact our offensive line will average more than two hundred and sixty pounds per man this season.” “Wow,” said the young coach. “Then why all the emphasis in practice on the basics?” Coach Hyder answered, “Do you want to know the secret of my coaching success? That’s why you came isn’t it? Let me tell you. The winning football teams always do the basic things the best – blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, and kicking. The more talented the athletes, the easier it is for them to get away from the basics. But it’s skill in the basics that wins games.”

How true that is. Take a look at any set of statistics for winning football teams and you’ll likely find that the teams with the most yards rushing, the best tackling, the best blocking, the most completed passes, and the most skillful special team play are the ones winning the game. It’s very rare that a fluke play wins a game for a team that is losing statistically in a big way.

What is true in football is also true in every other sport and also in every area of our lives. We must never lose sight of the importance of the basics in our life and more importantly in our walk with God. When we stop doing the basics it is so much easier to slip and fall in our walk with God. When we stop doing the basics it is easier to fall into error and be deceived. When we stop doing the basics it is easier to fall into sin. When we stop doing the basics it is easier to lose our relationship with God. When we stop doing the basics it is easier to begin to think like the world thinks, act like the world acts, and look like the world looks, which is always contrary to the Word of God. When we stop doing the basics we are putting ourselves at risk with the Lord.

Be certain to never fall into the trap of believing that your life is beyond the basics. You may be at a high spiritual level with God, but be on guard against prideful complacency. Keep your edge and your focus on the little things that will sustain your spiritual strength for the long haul.

FROM SEASON TO SEASON

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

We serve a God of seasons. We see it in creation. God created the four seasons that are based upon the rotation of the Earth as it orbits the Sun. The seasons change as the earth moves, but the sun in our planetary system remains constant, and everything revolves around it.

In many ways we see the signature of the same artist in our lives. Much like the earth, our lives should revolve around the Son, Jesus Christ. Our lives will change, and we will enter and exit many seasons, but the Son remains constant yesterday, today and forever.

God doesn’t measure seasons with clocks and calendars, but through truth and revelation. Whenever God gives you a fresh word, you’ve just stepped into a new season. But just like our scripture says, to everything there is a season. Every aspect of our lives is as to a season. And there is a purpose for those seasons. There is a reason for the season. There is a purpose for the process.

There are seasons you didn’t want to go through. But through those seasons you learned some things. And you wouldn’t have learned them if hadn’t gone through some things. There are seasons you’ve gone through, that you don’t know why you had to. But there is a reason for that season. And just because you are going through some stuff, or have gone through a rough season, doesn’t mean God is finished with you because “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” It’s not just any old work, but a good work. You’ve just stepped into a new season.

Stepping into a new season brings new changes. Change is inevitable. It’s going to happen. We look outside at the world around us and notice things are different today than they were 10 years ago, last year or even yesterday. Each season is different than the others. Some are meant for things to grow and others for things to die off. In some seasons the days are longer, in others the night.

Some times it seems your days, your mountaintop experiences with God last a long time, but then there are those seasons when the nighttime seems as if it will never end. In those long nights when the tears seem like they will never stop flowing, it might have taken a little longer, but the morning did come, and the tears ceased and joy returned to your spirit. But God gives us revelations and truths to propel us into new and different seasons. Why? Because we are creatures of habit and if he didn’t change things we would become complacent in one place.

I am convinced that we will never move on to the next season of our life until we are able to learn the things that God is trying to teach us. In this, we face two choices. We can be open to the voice of the spirit. We can desire to hear from God and to be transformed by his truth. We can allow his leading to make us into person we are destined to be. This choice will lead us into the next season or higher level of our life. Or, we can be rigid and stubborn. We can spend all of our time complaining about our present circumstance. We can lose sight of God’s sovereignty in our life. This choice will keep us bogged down in apathy and indifference and may rob us of God’s best plan for us.

Remember, God is a God of seasons. Life moves from one season to another. Be open. See God’s hand in every season of your life. Allow him to do in you everything that he desires. You will find yourself getting the most out of every moment of your life.

CARRY YOUR CROSS

Mark 8:35 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

There’s the story of a soldier frantically digging in during battle as shells fall all around him. Suddenly his hand feels something metal and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross. Another shell explodes and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the foxhole with him and he looks over and sees an army chaplain. The soldier thrusts the cross in the chaplain’s face and says, “I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?”

This moment in scripture demonstrates a critical moment for Jesus and his disciples. Whatever the disciples might be thinking, he knew for certain that an inescapable cross lay ahead. Jesus had to teach Peter and the others what Messiahship really meant, because Jesus’ role as Messiah stood in stark contrast to the first century Jewish ideas of Messiah. As time went on, it became clear that this dreamed-of greatness would never come about naturally through the passage of time, for they came under Assyrian rule and Babylonian rule and Persian rule and Greek rule and Roman rule. They began to believe that it wasn’t likely that someone would simply emerge politically. More and more they began to dream of a day when God would intervene in history and unveil the Messiah. They had dreams of a Messiah being ushered in by God in a nationalistic, conquering style, in which the perfect reign of God would come about through a great military struggle.

The Messiah that Jesus was prepared to be was not what they were expecting. That’s exactly why Jesus laid it out as plainly as he could: “If any want to become my follower, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” Self-denial is not easy. We all have things we want. We all have goals, but Christ is clear that when we choose to freely follow him, we must first deny ourselves. That means you can’t always do what you want to do. This means that you will face tough, life-changing decisions that need to be made in the shadow of the cross, and not the desires of the heart. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be deprived of joy and happiness; rather it means that you find fulfillment and joy and happiness through dedication to Jesus Christ. Denial of self is placing yourself in the hands of God at all times, no matter where his hands might lead you.

Jesus also said, “Take up your cross.” In other words, pick it up yourself. He didn’t say, “Grab hold of a cross to provide protection.” He didn’t say, “Wear this cross as a fashion statement.” He said, “Pick it up.” This means that there is a choice. Christ had a choice as to whether he was going to pick up his cross. He could’ve said “No,” and we have a choice whether to pick ours up and bear our cross.

Bearing the cross is a choice. It is a voluntary form of sacrificial obedience that identifies us completely with Jesus Christ. Bearing our cross is not making the best of a situation or circumstance. It is something we deliberately take up and bear. We don’t usually like that, for we would rather wear a cross than bear a cross.

The cross is an emblem of Christianity that holds special meaning for every one of us who identify with Jesus Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it speaks to us of Christ’s tenacious determination to do his Father’s will by dying for us on Calvary. The cross is all about making a choice. The cross is about discipline, hard work, obedience, and commitment. It isn’t easy, but it draws us closer to Christ and makes us more Christ-like, for never has a symbol of such pain and torture been resurrected into a symbol of ending love and hope.

If anyone wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ, let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him.

THE ACCUSER DEFEATED

Revelation 12:11 “And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony.”

When I was a young Christian I belonged to a church that worked through control and fear. Fear that we would miss the mark, fear that we weren’t saved and so on, In hind sight I can see that the leaders didn’t have a good concept of the love of God themselves and were just projecting that into their congregations.

The enemy, Satan, is the accuser of the brethren. He causes us to accuse one another in order to bring division, and also he attempts to divide us away from God by making us feel we are not good enough, or we don’t fit the mold, or God could never love us. He does this in order to convince us that we, in some way have disqualified ourselves from the race. There are two basic reasons that we were created - 1) To have fellowship with God and 2) To be a representative for God on Earth and to show his glory.

Through the fall in the Garden, Satan was able to break the link and he interrupted the plan. But in and through Jesus God has restored the potential to fulfill these callings again. All who have been born again through Jesus can again experience the reality of fellowship with God, and the privilege of showing off his kingdom, and demonstrating his glory.

Satan fights against all who walk in these callings in different ways and at different levels. He deceives the unbeliever by binding their minds from the truth of the gospel, which would restore them to God. The primary message that God communicated to man through Jesus is “I LOVE YOU". The realization of God’s love for us was lost when our soul was awakened to the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. It was at this point that our soul became susceptible to the accusations of Satan. Until we are secure in God’s love we are vulnerable to attack from the enemy because our confidence is in ourselves. When our confidence is transferred to God’s love, which is expressed in Jesus we are made secure.

No wonder the enemy wants to accuse you all the time. He can’t stand the fact that God in Jesus is covering you in his glory. Although God’s love endures forever, many of us go for long periods of time feeling separated from his love, because of the accusations leveled against us by the enemy of our souls. I am reminded that even in the most severe storm the sun is still shining above the clouds and the truth is that the clouds will roll away and the sun will shine on us again. We just need to remind ourselves that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Remember, our confidence is in the blood of the Lamb - not our own strength. Remember the enemy’s war is waged with words of accusation and our war will be won with words of testimony of what Jesus has done for us. The glory of God is about to breakthrough from behind the clouds. He loves you and it is an explosion of this love that will set you free again.

CALLING ALL WHO ARE SICK

Mark 2:17 “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Once there was a church that had prayed fervently for God to give them growth. It happened that one Sunday at worship a known prostitute entered the building and took a seat in the back of the building. Everyone ignored her. After hearing the sermon, she felt the call of the gospel and responded. The preacher and the congregation didn’t know what to do, much less say. After a very long and uncomfortable silence one well respected man in the congregation stood up, breaking the silence, and suggested that they all pray. He prayed, “Oh Lord, we know that we have prayed that this church would grow and that we prayed that many would hear the gospel and believe. But when we prayed we didn’t know that you would be sending such sinners as this. Don’t you know that we don’t allow people such as this in our church?”

Have you ever heard a star athlete or other famous individual say, “I don’t want to forget where I came from” or “I want to give back to the community”? Sure you have. It’s a pretty common saying among the privileged in our society. It’s touching to see NBA superstars feeding the hungry on Thanksgiving or movie stars that help clean up depressed areas. It’s a sign that they acknowledge that they are blessed and that they have something to offer. I can’t imagine Lady Gaga taking up a collection to help pay for Justin Bieber’s new yacht. That would be ridiculous because, he obviously doesn’t need assistance in paying for things like that.

As Christians, we too have been given something of great worth. We have been introduced to the love of Jesus. We have been touched by unbelievable mercy. We realize just how much he loves us and how much he loved us while we were living as sinners. That’s what we have to offer. Although we should desire to lift up our fellow believers, it would also be misguided to only share our experiences with the saved. You see, there is a world full of “sick” people. Some are physically sick and many more are spiritually in need of a healing. Christ left us with a non-negotiable mandate to reach out to the lost – to share the facts of hope and renewal to all who don’t know Christ.

But here’s the thing about “sick” people -- they are sick. They won’t be whole. They won’t look as we think we do. They won’t live like we think we do. They will come from places that we don’t want to go. They come to us because of our mandate. We should look for them because of our mandate.

Beginning tonight, I have the honor of being a part of the greatest evangelistic event that I have ever seen - “Blink – The Door”. Over the next eleven days, thousands will give their heart to Christ. We will see people from all walks of life come forward to accept Christ. Why? Because they are sick and in need of a physician. This is their moment. It is their opportunity to become well and find the love and acceptance that they so desperately need.

As believers, we must put away all preconceived ideas and notions that cause us to look upon people and see them as anything short as someone who is loved by God. The easiest way to do so is to remember that the only difference between them and me is that I was sick and have already been touched by the great physician. Remember the example that Christ left for us in scripture. He sat down to eat with sinners. Because they needed him.

Be on guard of your heart. We should welcome the most sick and the most hurting into our midst. They may spill their drinks on our seats. They may write their girlfriends name on our walls. They may be viewed as the “riff-raff” of society. They may even remind us of where we came from. I hope they do.

WORTH THE FIGHT

Genesis 32:26 “But Jacob panted, I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Unlikely as it may seem there are many people who wrestle with God everyday. Some win and some lose. Those who win arise from their experience with a stronger, fuller, faith. Those who choose to refuse God’s will in their lives, walk away as losers. As Christians we can reflect on Ephesians 6:12 which reminds us that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." As we wrestle with this we should resolve that we will not let go until we are victorious and receive our blessing from God.

Sooner or later, no matter who you are, the Lord is going to speak to you. Perhaps he comes in the silence of the night. Perhaps his words leap from the pages of a manuscript and embrace you or they simply ring in your ears. The call is for every child of God to "come home"

When Jacob asked the Lord for a blessing before he went home, he wasn’t asking for a material blessing because he already had that. What he wanted was the confidence of knowing that God’s spirit was with him. In essence he said I’m going home, "but I can’t go home like this," without your presence in my life.

Remember, up until that point, Jacob’s life was filled with short cuts and cheating. He was deceitful in so many ways. The very moment described in our scripture is brought on because Jacob is fearful that Esau will destroy him due to an earlier transgression committed by Jacob in which he tricked Esau out of his birthright. On so many other occasions, Jacob would have ran away to hide. He would have looked for the shortcut – the easy way out. But not this time. There is a profound amount of resolve in Jacob’s cry. “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Even Jacob, “the deceiver”, knew that there were no quick fixes to God’s blessings.

A great lesson should be taken from this account. It can be so tempting to run away – to throw your hands up and say, “It is way too difficult”. Maybe you have been tempted to settle for something short of God’s ultimate plan. Perhaps the struggle has seemed just too tough and not even worth it.

The key question that comes from Jacob’s wrestling match with the Lord is, “Are we willing to put in the time and fight for what we desire from God?” You must first determine if the things that God has spoken into your heart are significant to you. You must decide if you really want them and if you believe that God is the one who can give them to you. Once that realization has been achieved, you must set your heart to be persistent. It takes true faith to be persistent. Let us have the faith that pushes us to press on in expectation that God will bless us when we seek him.

DO YOU KNOW HIM?

Hosea 4:6 “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.”

Do you know God? There is no more important question in all of life than that very question...Do you know God. It is the secret of true success...the source of wisdom beyond our understanding...the strength to endure in hard times. It is the one thing that should demand our constant attention and the focus of our lives. It is of more value than power or position. Yet nothing is more needed in Christianity today than knowledge of God.

Hosea was called to prophesy to the nation of Israel because this quality of life was lacking. The sins of the nation came from the absence of it. The people had been destroyed because they had rejected it. And the people of God today are no different. Look at the church today and you have to agree that the lack of the knowledge of God is the cause of wavering spirituality...inconsistency between the walk and the talk of believers...ineffectiveness in prayer...and even social righteousness, the way we act toward others, those outside our "group".

What does it mean to know God and to live with knowledge of him? To experience the kind of relationship with God that he meant for us requires us to open up our innermost being to him just like he revealed his innermost nature to us. In fact the word intimacy means "proceeding from within - inward - internal.”

And so knowledge of God is more than an accumulation of facts. It is more than ideas about him or some broad concept we've developed. Knowledge of God involves the total person: intellect, emotion, and will. And the beginning of our knowledge of God and our relationship with him comes when we know that we are known by him. Our understanding and our awareness of God are met in response to our being known by him...absolutely and thoroughly.

We should be willing to open ourselves to God. He knows are innermost thoughts and feelings anyway. A vain attempt to hide from God will only lead us into spiritual darkness. Just ask Adam and Eve. And knowing him openly will drive us to a life of integrity in him. Integrity is consistency of behavior. It is consistency between what we believe and what we do. If we are Christians and we claim to know God, then his character and his commands should be intertwined with ours. Knowing God requires integrity and a consistent life of faithfulness. And what it boils down to is obedience. Obedience is the secret of a growing knowledge of God.

Hosea addresses the lack of both intimacy and integrity in Israel. And what is said is just as true for the world today. We must strive to live in a daily intimate relationship of being searched and known by God. Opening ourselves up and daring to be real with God is very difficult for us, but it will truly lead to a life of peace and fulfillment.

The good news is...God always makes the first move. Every discovery about God and his nature is just our response to his revelation. The people of Israel were destroyed because of a lack of teaching by the priests about God.

Today we do not lack the information. Guard against a lack of knowing him as he has revealed himself to us. Our knowledge and our relationship with God begin with Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...no man comes to the Father except through Me"

SOMETHING GREATER

Hebrews 11:10 “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

I read a story about a man who was dying. He asked his Christian doctor to tell him what was waiting for him on the other side. The doctor struggled to think of something. Just then, his dog, which he had locked in the basement, began to scratch at the door. And the doctor told the man; I never let my dog in here. He has never been inside this room. And yet, he is scratching eagerly at the door. Why? Because, he knows that I’m here in this room. And the same is true of heaven. We don’t know exactly what waits for us there. We may have descriptions and ideas, but our minds aren’t even capable of comprehending it. Yet we ought to yearn and desire to go there. Why? Because we know that Christ is there.

This story rings true, not only of our final destination in heaven, but also of every stop along the way. No matter what our course in life, be it storm or calm, peace or trouble, sickness or health, no matter what we go through, we can look forward to tomorrow with joy, because we know that Christ will be there with us. Surely he is the one who said, Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (NKJV)

When you look at the story of Abraham leaving his home in Genesis you’ll notice something. Wherever Abraham goes, God meets with him. And I’m sure that this was a big part of the reason that Abraham was able to venture into the unknown. He wasn’t going alone, but God was going with him.

The other reason that Abraham was willing to live in a tent and not make a permanent home is that he knew God’s plan was always greater than his own. He didn’t want to settle for this old world. He wouldn’t settle for the pleasures, and wealth, and security of this life for one reason: he knew there was something better. He knew that he would be foolish to sell out for so little. Not that this world has nothing to offer at all. Sometimes this world seems grand. It is, after all, the handiwork of God. But it pales in comparison to what is ahead.

This life, especially our life in Christ, is much more grand than when we were dead in our sins. However, it’s only the gateway. The next world holds beauty and grandeur that is up to now incomprehensible to us. We can become convinced that things like wealth, and fame, and power, and knowledge, or anything else in this world is the climax of our existence. However, we would be selling ourselves short. It isn’t that we give up and forsake this world, and miss out on something. On the contrary, we reject the pull of this world, only because we know that something far greater waits for us on the other side. The great author and thinker C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” And this is precisely the thing we must realize. We were not made for this world alone. And the things that we need to have true satisfaction are not found in this world. This world cannot bring us fulfillment, because we were not designed to be fulfilled in this world. We must look for something more than this world has to offer. We must look for something we can never find here. At that fulfillment will only come when our focus is not on this world, but on the next. And then we will find not only fulfillment for this life, but the life to come. When we understand the purpose for this life as a journey, it becomes so much easier to find joy in all circumstances, because we know it’s not here forever. We, like Abraham must look for the city whose builder and maker is God.

CONTENTMENT EQUALS GAIN

I Timothy 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

John Ortberg, a Christian author, lives in Chicago with his wife and three small children. As you might guess, when they go out to eat, there is only one place they ever want to go, "the shrine of the golden arches." He said his children seem to be convinced that they have a McDonald’s-shaped vacuum in their souls.

He said the kids always want the same thing. And you know what it is, the same thing your kids want and my kids want and it’s a combination of the food--about which they really don’t much care -- and a little prize. It’s not much of a prize, really, just some cheap little plastic thing. But in a moment of marketing genius, the folks at McDonald’s gave it a particular name. They call it the Happy Meal. It is "the meal of great joy." You aren’t just buying chicken McNuggets and a tiny plastic toy. You’re buying happiness.

He says that every now and then he tries to talk them out of it. He tells them to order whatever they want and he will give them a dollar so they can buy their own toy and everyone will come out ahead. But the chant goes up, "We want a Happy Meal. We want a Happy Meal." Other customers stare at the heartless father who won’t buy his kids the meal of great joy.

So, he buys them the Happy Meal. And it makes them happy, he says, for about a minute and a half. The problem is that the happy wears off. He says that you never hear of a young adult coming back to his parents and saying, "Gee, Dad, remember that Happy Meal you gave me? That’s where I found lasting contentment and lifelong joy. I knew if I could just have that Happy Meal, I would be content for a lifetime, and I am. Thank you. There’ll be no need for therapy for this boy. ” In fact, the only one that Happy Meals bring real happiness to is McDonald’s. You ever wonder why Ronald has that silly grin on his face? Twenty billion Happy Meals, that’s why.

Now, you would think, kids being fairly bright these days, that sooner or later they would catch on to this deal and say, "You know, I keep getting these Happy Meals and they don’t give me lasting happiness, so I’m not going to be a sucker any more. I’m not going to set myself up for disappointment any more." But it never happens. They keep buying Happy Meals and they keep not working.

Now here’s the question, only a child would be so foolish. Right? Only a kid would be so naive as to think that contentment could be acquired through some kind of external acquisition. Right? But the truth about human beings is that as we grow up, we don’t get any smarter; our Happy Meals just keep getting more expensive. And the world around us tells us that happiness is always just one more Happy Meal away.

The Old Testament sums it up in the word Covet. An unquenchable desire for more. Galatians 5:20 calls it “selfish ambition.” The Greek word literally means “to grasp for more and more.”

Why does scripture warn us against wanting more and more? One obvious reason is because it damages our priorities. When we want something more than we want anything else, including God we have a problem. Our priorities are out of whack and when our priorities get rearranged we fall into many traps. We run after the wrong things and stop pursuing God. Stuff becomes the most important things in our lives. Our priorities get rearranged.

Well what’s the cure? How do we become content people and put an end to this obsession for more? Or at least make an attempt to curb it. We need to realize that stuff is not going to fulfill us. Happiness is not found in the accumulation of things. Of bigger houses, bigger cars, better stuff. In our souls, we know that things can’t bring happiness so how come we still look for fulfillment in those areas?

If we are caught up in coveting, in driving for the accumulation of things, at some point we have to ask ourselves the question, why? Why are we trying to get it all? What do we think it will bring us? Why do we work 12 hour days, all to accumulate things?

The Bible says the secret to contentment is to focus on Christ and to seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will take care of itself. Make a decision that you will serve the Lord instead of things. He will make you truly happy.

DELAYED BUT DEFINITE

Daniel 10:13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”

Mankind has the propensity to endeavor to work out his own problems. Rather than "Pray and Wait" our life’s motto seems to be "Pray and Work", or in the case of some "Pray and Whine". We often take a lack of immediate response from God as a sign that God is either not listening, or not caring.

Our scripture tells us that Daniel had been given a series of visions regarding the end of the world as we know it. And, as is often the case the visions were not easily or readily understood. So, Daniel began to fast and pray to the Lord regarding the significance of these visions. Eventually, God sent an angel to Daniel who said "I am here to tell you what is written in the ’Book of the Future’..." (v. 11) But there was a waiting period between Daniel’s prayer and the answer. The passage tells us it was 21 long days.

If there is anything of which I am sure, it is that God has an ultimate plan for our lives. Even when the answer seems to be delayed, it is for a purpose. We must walk with in faith and understand that not even our greatest adversary can frustrate the will and plan of God. Why, then does God permit the delay? Why not simply render the opposing forces powerless? Why not set up a "hot line" from heaven to earth, whereby we can achieve instantaneous results?

Waiting is often very difficult. I had some great friends recently that received a negative (yet inconclusive) report on the health of their son. Additional tests were scheduled but were several weeks away. Then they had to wait even longer for the results of the test. My heart ached with them as they just waited for an answer. I know them well. They prayed and their faith was amazing. The waiting was still very difficult. In the end, God proved to be as faithful as ever.

Though it may be hard to believe, there are positive aspects to waiting. It causes us to mature in the faith. It brings patience. It will help develop confidence in God. Thank God that he does not offer instantaneous answers to all prayers we pray. If he did, we would be in a mess. Never forget that only God knows the beginning from the end of our lives. Some things that we may desperately want today could lead to disaster tomorrow. Sometimes, his mercy can be found in a delayed response to our prayers

Someone asked the question "If God knows what I have need of before I ever ask, why must I ask?" The response was "Because God knows what we need the most is time spent with him in prayer."

God’s ultimate plan for our life is that we wait patiently and confidently upon him. We must be as Paul, when he wrote in Romans 4:21 "And being fully persuaded that, what he has promised, he is able also to perform." Be on guard of your heart so that you never call into question the integrity of God. He has promised it --- he will bring it to pass. It may be delayed, but it is definite.

A TRUE TESTIMONY

Acts 23:11 “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

In a book by Grant Jeffrey called "The Signature of God" he recounts how the Apostles died proclaiming the resurrection. These men who knew Jesus personally never denied their testimony about him, despite the threat and the reality of death. These men possessed an absolute unshakable personal knowledge about the truth of life, death and the resurrection of Jesus. Each of them paid the ultimate price to prove their faith.

As someone has correctly pointed out, hypocrites and martyrs are not made of the same stuff. Men may willingly die for what they believe to be true...even at times if what they believe is actually false. But no one will die willingly for something they know to be a lie. Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus, committed suicide. Only John, of the other 13 Apostles, did not die by homicide, a martyr. Yet, all the others died horrible deaths proclaiming to have seen the resurrected Christ.

It is not so important how the apostles died. What is important is the fact that they were all willing to die for their faith. If Jesus had not been resurrected, the disciples would have known it. The fact that all of the apostles were willing to die horrible deaths, refusing to renounce their faith in Christ is tremendous evidence that they had truly witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Many staked their very lives on the testimony that they have seen the resurrected Christ. Would sane people willingly die horrible deaths, for a lie? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? What do you believe? Do we know why we believe? Are we willing to die for what we believe?

We may never be asked to physically give our life for our faith. We are, however, asked over and over again to die to ourselves. Living by faith requires great sacrifice. It requires that we let go of everything and cling to God, to his will, and to his ways. It is one thing to say that we love God with our whole heart while holding on to ideas, possessions, and people that make us comfortable. It is quite another to relinquish it all in search of a deeper relationship with God the father.

There is only one thing that would ever bring us to that point – it is a true revelation of Christ for ourselves. Like the apostles who walked with Christ, we too have seen his wonderful works and have experienced his life changing impact upon our lives. That is what ought to strengthen our faith and empower our resolve. By living daily in the realization of God’s immeasurable love we are driven by a desire to give it all away for that life that lives for God and him alone. Once we are touched by his hand, we should know that there is nothing that can ever replace or duplicate that experience.

Let our hearts be moved by a willingness to lay down our lives, our wants, and our interests in the pursuit of God. Rely on the knowledge of who he is to push you and encourage you in your faith. Then you will have the strength to lay down your life only to gain it eternally. That’s a true testimony.

DEEP RESTORATION

Isaiah 61:3 “… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

God cares about where you are hurting. Jesus quoted this passage from the prophet Isaiah to describe his mission. He came to bind up the brokenhearted. He is here to release captives from emotional prisons. He is here to let people know that the favor of God rests on them. He came to comfort those who are mourning a loss and experiencing grief — whether you are mourning the loss of a person, your health, a marriage, lost finances or any number of things. He has come to restore you to a place of wholeness and place a crown of beauty on you. The places where our lives are in ashes, he has come to bring the healing oil of gladness. Where there is mourning, he has come to place on us a garment of praise. Where there is despair and hopelessness, he has come to make us as strong as an oak tree which he has planted. And his ultimate purpose is that we might be displayed as trophies of his grace and goodness. He has a plan in mind to bring about our restoration, healing and wholeness. This is the desire and heart of God for us.

What this means is that there is hope for those of us who have areas of brokenness in our lives. It means that God cares about those wounds and wants to heal us. It means that his Holy Spirit has the power to make us whole. We all have inner wounds that were brought about by the battle of life. All of us have been wounded in some place and to some extent. It is part of living in a fallen world where good and evil exist conterminously. It is not possible to grow up in a fallen world without accumulating some wounds, and we need to understand that God cares about our wounds.

What are we to think about this and how are we to respond? We must know that God meets us in our brokenness. Many times people distance themselves when someone is having serious problems, but God draws near. He wants to meet us at the place of our pain. Being wounded is not weakness. God sees our need and responds to it without condemnation. God is concerned without condemning. And he offers to heal our brokenness if we allow him to go there; if we invite him into the place where we were wounded.

Most of the time we try to keep those wounded places within us private and hidden. They become a burdensome secret — a place that no one is allowed to see. Healing comes when we let Christ take us by the hand and walk with us back in time to revisit the frightening and hurtful event that have wounded us. Perhaps in your life there are several. The choice is to keep it all locked up like a giant tomb inside of us, or we can allow Christ to unlock the door to the tomb, open it and stand by us as we see the ugliness of what is inside that tomb. Together we look at what we have been trying to hide. He walks into the tomb and empties it. Thankfully, God does not look at us and say, “Just get over it!” He deeply cares about us and wants to bring restoration to our heart and mind.

That is what Jesus wants to do for you. When you have time that you can spend in quiet, private prayer, invite him to come with you to the place of your shame and disgrace. Invite him into the memory and the emotion of what wounded you. Feel him near you, as together you visit the place where you were hurt the most. Let him be your champion as he speaks words of forgiveness and restores your dignity. He will ultimately take care of those who have hurt and wronged you. Let him heal the wounds that life has brought. Don’t be afraid to show him all of it, for he is already aware of what took place.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Judges 14:3 “His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me."

Potential is a great thing. Young athletes are often given huge amounts of money based upon their potential alone. Some of them turn into superstars, but many more crash and burn under the immense pressure of stardom. You see, potential in and of its self, is worth very little. If it goes undeveloped or if it is partnered with a lack of discipline and poor decisions it will become a great “might have been”.

Samson was a child of promise from God. God gave Samson’s parents specific instructions on raising Samson and if you read Judges 13 you will find that they were obedient to God up to the time Samson was born; but later on they began to tolerate some things that should have not happened. Those little subtle things can grow into big problems.

Samson was dominated by his attraction to women. Women were his flaw. He would see a beautiful woman and he wanted her. He could care less if she was a foreigner whom God had commanded the Israelites not to marry. He could care less if she was a prostitute. He could care less who she was. The devil knew what to tempt Samson with. Samson had been leading Israel for 20 years when Delilah came along; and after 20 years Samson had still not learned how to conquer his lustful eyes.

Not everyone is dominated by lustful desires. Some people are dominated by lying, others by cheating, and others by stealing, etc… Whatever sinful things dominate you, are you willing to change? Are you willing to get rid of that junk? If not, you are in danger of becoming a “might have been”.

The driving force in Samson’s life was pride. He knew that God had given him special power through his following of his Nazarite vows. He used his power from God in a selfish and prideful way. Now you may be wondering why God would allow that to happen; but I want to tell you that God allows us to make our own decisions.

As believers in Jesus Christ we have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. We don’t all have the same gifts, but all Christians have been given gifts. Although these gifts are from God, we can misuse them when we allow the flesh to win over the Spirit.

During the entire time of Samson’s rule as judge over Israel, the Philistines (the enemy) were never removed. Samson would fight them off if they made him mad, but beyond that he just let it go. Whatever it is that hinders you as a believer, do you just let it go or do you have victory over it? If you are a New Year’s resolution type of person, but never make it past February; then you are a “might have been”.

What would Samson had been if he would have thrown off those sins that held him in bondage? What would Samson had been if he would have used his gifts from God for God instead of getting himself out of a fight?

Are you a “mighty servant” of the Lord or a “might have been”? God has placed within each of us unlimited potential to become everything he has destined us to be. Don’t partner your potential with negative traits, wrong attitudes, and questionable decisions. Be something great for God.

PUT BACK TOGETHER

Jeremiah 18:4 “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

The process of working clay into pottery is truly a lot more detailed and complicated than many of us know. It is a long process of working, shaping, baking, painting, and re-baking the clay. But even more amazing… that is only half of it. Before the clay can ever be worked by our hands, the clay itself needs to be prepared.

The clay that comes out of the earth is very raw and filled with imperfections. If you were to take clay right out of the ground, form it and fire it, most of it would either crumble or explode because the imperfections inside of it. In its natural state, clay is not ready to be made into anything. The clay must be filtered, softened, and left for a long while to resettle and become the smooth and pliable clay that you and I would recognize. Then it is placed on a table and beaten with a wooden mallet. The Potter does this to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped in the clay. If he doesn’t, the air bubbles will form a pocket that will produce a weak spot and cause the vessel to be fragile and unusable, or in extreme cases, explode when it is being fired in the kiln.

Clay in its original state is worthless to work with. In its natural state, clay is not ready to be made into anything. Now, in our scripture, the analogy is spelled out for us quite clearly. All throughout the bible this same illustration is clear. We are the clay, and God is the potter.

Like the clay, we are worthless in our natural condition – in our natural state. We are not ready to be made into anything. However, God is able to see the vessels that we can be, therefore, he begins the very long process that will bring us to a place of usefulness. He begins the way any potter begins with clay, by digging us out and washing us clean.

Just like any potter, if during the spinning process, the pot becomes mis-shaped, the potter does not throw the clay away and start fresh with a new piece. How could he? He has already invested too much time in salvaging the clay from the soil and preparing it for use. He is a very patient potter, always seeing the finished work of art before it is actually completed. He is willing to wait on the clay. Always working with it and not against it to bring it to the place the potter wants it to be.

That is the main lesson of our scripture text. God took Jeremiah, the young leader to see the potter’s shop. He witnessed the failing of the clay, the misshapenness and imperfections, and he saw the potter instinctively reach down and reshape that flawed clay. The clay would rebel time after time and go its own way. But the potter did not give up on it. He kept working with it, kept building it up, and kept picking it up every time it fell.

The potter stops for nothing. No matter how much we resist. No matter how much we rebel. No matter how much we want to go our own way. The potter does not throw us away. He continues to work with us. He is always working to bring us to the place that he has called us to go. He knows that in time we will be made into something beautiful.

TRUE WORTH

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

It seems that when most people think of God coming to them and saying something, they think of him saying something about what is wrong with them. They often associate the voice of God with a guilty conscience. But, more often, the voice of God comes to announce our extraordinary worth to God and his plan to use us. This personal worth is inseparably tied to the fact that we were made by God. And our worth to God started before we were born. We have worth because we were born in the mind of God before we even entered our mother’s womb. We were valuable to God before the world began — because already we had begun in his mind and imagination. We are the product of his creativity and love. That is something that can never change or ever be taken away from us — indeed, it is the only thing we cannot lose.

What concerns me about the way we talk of self-esteem today is that it seems to be tied to our abilities. We tell children: “You can be whatever you choose to be!” Of course, this is not true. I will never be able to dunk a basketball like Lebron James or throw a football like Peyton Manning. There are many things I cannot do, and the things I can do are often not as good as other people can do them. That reality dawns on children sooner than later, and so the questions is: Then what? The truth is, you can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be everything God wants you to be. That is where your identity and self-esteem must be grounded or it will eventually fall apart.

The American culture places extreme value on outer appearance. We value youth, beauty, athletic ability, intelligence, education, wealth and fame. But what happens when you have it all and lose it. What happens when Superman becomes a wheelchair man? What happens when a supermodel gains some super weight or gets super old? What happens when a super intelligent person has a stroke? What happens when a superstar ends up in jail or addicted to drugs? What happens when you have a super career and lose it? What then? Where do you get your feelings of esteem and personal worth, when everything on which you have based your value has vanished?

An accurate view of yourself comes from an understanding of God’s view of who you are. When God told Jeremiah that he valued him and had plans to use his life, Jeremiah protested that he was only a child and could not possibly be of value to God. But the Lord said, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you” (Jeremiah 1:6-7). God had plans for Jeremiah that Jeremiah could not understand. Jeremiah saw himself as having no value, but God saw him as having great value. His value was not how he saw himself, or even how others saw him. His value was in how God saw him. You may not seem like much in your own estimation, but it is who you are in God’s eyes that matters. The kind of self-esteem that says, “I’m worth something because I am doing well and others look up to me” is a black hole from which many people never escape. If your feelings of self-worth are based on how you see yourself, or how others see you, then you are hooked to the wrong star. You will spend your life climbing the ladder of success only to find it was leaning against the wrong building.

Inscribed on your life is the name of your owner. He has made you with his own hands and written his name across your life. Your value is found in that inscription. You belong to him and he wants to use your life. He has made you and you are his. You are unique. You are special because you are special to him. No one else can take your place in his heart. And neither can anyone else take your place in this world.