“There is only one secure foundation: a genuine, deep relationship with
Jesus Christ, which will carry you through any and all turmoil. No matter what
storms are raging all around, you'll stand firm if you stand on His love.”
Charles Stanley
I have been going through some trials recently and have
found that at times in my fleshly self-will I stray a little, sometimes a lot,
from the foundation I have in Christ. In these trials so often I find that the
Lord is chiselling away at the parts of me which are hindering my walk and
worship of the Master Designer/creator. At these times when I should come back
to the scripture and hold fast to the word of God and the manifestation of the
word in Christ, I find myself listening to my own thoughts or listening to the
distracting voice of the enemy who uses my weaknesses to blow me a little until
I find myself not standing strong on the foundation of my relationship with
Christ.
Often I wondered why was it that I so easily stumbled off of
this rock, why was it that I so easily listened to the stupid lies of the
enemy, it was then that the comforter reminded me of the passage in the gospel
of Luke where Jesus is talking about the tree and it’s fruit and how out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. How when our heart is full of these
lies and the uncertainties that the enemy puts in our way to stumble us we find
that our mouth speaks these thoughts and anxieties and sometimes we hurt others
because of this.
Now we may think to ourselves well, I have been memorising
passages in the bible and have been learning different things in the word
through classes or bible studies and these things are on our hearts, so why do
we still find our mouths saying these things and our minds thinking these
things. Well Jesus covers this too. He asks “why do you call me Lord, Lord and
not do what I tell you?” In this he is
really asking if you know that I am Lord then why do you find it difficult to
do that which I instruct you to do. So often in our times of bible study we
read and study and learn yet it stops there. There is no part where it reprograms
our hearts, where our heart and mind connect and our heart gets that update
that we need. He compares it to the man who builds a house upon a rock. He says
that those who hear the word and do as it says, are like the man who “dug deep
and laid the foundation on the rock.”
I find that so often I have begun digging the foundation and
have started to lay the foundation but have become lazy or distracted and so
the building is not so strong or sturdy and when the trials come I let the
winds blow and the water hit and the house begins to fall. I thought that I had
placed the word deep in my heart, but instead I had heard the word and accepted
it as truth but on the way to my heart another thought or idol got in the way.
This is something that the Lord has been teaching me on a number of occasions,
and to be honest after writing this I will probably forget it again. I am like
the Israelites, who were known for their consistent inconsistency to wander.
The lord is teaching me to focus on Him and Him alone, and as hard and harsh as
that can be, I am always in his mercy and once I am rid of the idols that cause
me to stumble I will finish digging the foundation and will plant my heart deep
in the word.
I hope and pray that this message has helped you as much as
it sorted my spaghetti junction of thoughts and redirects you to God as it did
to me. May the Lord renew your passion to dig deep into the word and put your
feet firmly on the foundation of your genuine relationship with Jesus Christ,
and we will be able to say with all certainty that this foundation “will carry
you through any and all turmoil. No matter what storms are raging all around,
you'll stand firm if you stand on His love.”
Grace, mercy and peace
A learning growing brother in Christ.
ref Luke 6
