One step at a time

Ever built a wall - our neighbours built a wall between our properties years ago and just this month it has decided to become our very own "leaning tower" with incredible cracks and 45 degree angles but amazingly is still standing - just goes to show just how well built it must have been,

Good old Nehemiah built a wall too - convicted by God to re-build the walls of Jerusalem after he, along with many who were exiled to Babylon, returned to Jerusalem to re-build the city walls in around 440BC.

They had a pretty tough time of it - with heaps of opposition and lots of drawbacks the walls finally were finished.

Nehemiah was prime leadership material. He risked his life when he first approached King Artaxerxes, the wild and notoriously violent king of Babylon who already had avenged the murder of his father Xerxes by killing the alleged perpetrator Artabanus and his sons.

He was a wild king and usually not known for his compassion and understanding but here we have Nehemiah, the cup-bearer to the king approaching him, after much prayer and fasting, to get permission to return and build the walls of the city.

Nehemiah had a vision that he wouldn't forsake but more importantly he had God's leading and he also had the guts to take that BIG step. So with God and his goal on board he achieved the seemingly impossible.

Re-building the city walls must have seemed like an impossible task at first, but see how the work proceeded and how Nehemiah organised everyone to work on their own part - taking little steps and little bites of the cherry they received their reward.

Everyone did their own job. One chore at a time - one brick at a time - one stone laid upon another's foundation - not looking at how their neighbours were progressing - just concentrating on where they were working and giving their part of the wall their 100% concentration.

When their section of the wall was complete to their satisfaction, each worker was then able to move on to another section where the work was moving slower or was more complicated and so together they were able to complete that section.

And so it moved on and on until the wall was completed. Did they have troubles? Did they have persecution? Oh Yes indeed.

Many of the workers were called upon to act as guards to curtail the advancing snipers and neighbouring armies that were just as determined to stop the wall from being built.

Like Nehemiah and his crew when they first looked at the job at hand we are stunned by the enormity of  making a difference for Christ in this topsy turvy, violent, crazy, cruel and seemingly always fierce world.

But looking at it through the eyes and wisdom of God nothing seems impossible. I reckon we need to approach this huge task the very same way that the wall-builders of Jerusalem approached their seemingly impossible job. One task at a time.

What tasks are you involved with for Christ at the moment? Maybe helping at a youth group, a retirement home or teaching Scripture at school. Do your job at hand as unto God - do it with all your might and power - give it your very very best.

Don't compare yourself to others who look like they are doing the 'lions share' of the work - don't look down on others that seemingly do less than you. Concentrate on the job at hand and do it well for Jesus.

When it is done, then move onto the next task and then the next until a difference is actually made.
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When Jesus left earth and went to Heaven to be with His Father He left the handful of His followers with a gigantic task which was building that great soul-winning church.

When they started they must have been overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the job at hand - then like Nehemiah's crew they were persecuted and the persecution was extreme and often very gruesome, yet they built their church piece at a time.

The members were scattered due to the intense persecution, but were they silent? Of course not. They spread the Gospel of the Good News of Jesus across the globe.

Paul wrote in Acts 20:24 "I don't care about my own life. The most important thing is that I finish my work. I want to finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do - to tell people the Good News about God's grace." (ERV)

Notice Paul didn't say "I don't think I will ever finish this job" or "Oh NO! Peter is doing a far better job than I am"  or even " I'm running out of time and so much to do I will have to work faster and smarter". None of those - instead it was  "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" 2 Timothy 4:7 (ERV).

Paul didn't see the end result of his work for Jesus - He was just content to work where he was commanded and go where he was sent.

That is what Christ commands of us just one step at a time - obeying his commands working within His will exactly where he has placed us.

So let's take a lesson from Nehemiah, Pray hard and often and keep your nose to the grindstone. Don't be swayed by what people are saying or doing.

Worry about obeying God just where you are and give everything you have to the project at hand.
Let the Lord take care of the rest.

God bless you this week.

Holding the tongue and controlling the temper

Omar N. Bradley aka Brad, was a highly distinguished senior officer of the United States Army who saw distinguished service in North Africa and Western Europe during World War 11, and later became General of the Army.

He wrote the following on his retirement:-

"I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinions"

I reckon Brad had it pretty much nailed when he said that - especially in the light of reading James 3. James has some pretty straight forward, right between eyes, things to say to us about holding our tongues and controlling what we say, when to say and even how to say!

Just how amazing is it that mankind can control a host of astounding technical problems and even microscopic organisms and have mastered the art of controlling even the most tiniest cells of the body to react to our will.  Even wild animals have been brought under control. In Nigeria for example, some men can even control wild hyenas to obey their commands and yet....

James 3 tells us that no one can control the tongue. The tongue will never and can never be totally 'tamed' - in this life anyway.

James also tells us that the tongue "is a restless evil, full of deadly poison" - WOW! if that's not laying it on the line - I don't know what is?

I can vouch for everything James is saying. Just when you think you are walking in faith and in the spirit of God, WHAM!! some little thing happens and you lose it or you find yourself saying something to or about someone and the poison starts dripping!

We are powerless, just like James tells us, to control our tongues. James uses the illustration of a ship to get his point across.  How large a vessel and how strong the winds and gales, yet they are controlled by such a small rudder in comparison to their bulk.

Another comparison he uses is the horse - such a small bit in it's mouth can make the whole animal obey the will of the rider. So it is with our tongues. Such a small part of the body but how big it boasts and just how hypocritical it can be.

One minute we are all sugar and spice and everything nice and then we can turn and be completely the opposite, cursing and tearing down reputations and characters. James tells us in verse 10 that this should not be.

Praise God that James does not leave us here but goes on to tells us about wisdom - he explains that there are two types of wisdom - 'earthly' wisdom  and 'heavenly' wisdom.

'Earthly' wisdom tells us to 'go for it' no matter the cost - if someone wrongs you, tell them! - If you have to hide the truth to better yourself then do it - you are the creator of your own destiny - you are the one that can make yourself  grow better and better. If people around don't like what you are saying or how you are acting, then they are ones who will have to change.

Such 'wisdom' James tells us, does not come from heaven but is of the devil. Selfish ambition, waking over others, acting out of envy or jealousy, putting yourself above everyone and saying just what you want when you want to say it, is exactly where we will find "every kind of disorder and every evil practice."

All this and more from our tongue - no wonder James says it can never be fully tamed.

But then James goes on to tell us the 'other' type of wisdom and praise God he does and doesn't leave us to ourselves here.

"Heavenly" wisdom of course comes from a close encounter and personal walking with our God who created us. As believers grow in grace and love, we can use our tongues to build up and bless others rather than to curse and tear them down.

In the workplace we can be supportive, helpful and encouraging, putting others first and making ourselves the lesser.  James tells us that this WISDOM comes from God. It is 'pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."  We are told to be 'peace-makers - sowing in peace and raising a harvest of righteousness."

Sounds absolutely nothing like the what the world tells us today. The tongue is completely out of control and ruling our falling world. The tongue displaying the state of  human hearts. We alone can and never will control the tongue. ONLY God and his spirit living in us can we achieve the goal of controlling our tongue.

Our speech has such great potential for good. By learning of Jesus, we can use our words wisely by focussing more and more on the inner life of Christ in us and less and less on the tongue itself. In other words focussing more of the tongues source than on it's outflow.

Will that eventually control our temper and our tongue? Maybe not - we all fail and fall but the amazing truth is that God knows all about our frailties and failures and if we are truly repentant then we can certainly move on and press on with Him.

So we can have the choice of two types of wisdom here - 'earthly' wisdom telling us to 'go for it' no matter the cost, or 'heavenly' wisdom where our tongues are controlled by He who created us characterised by peace, love, sincerity and consideration.

So what are we left with here? What does your tongue reveal about the state of your heart? We can't control our tongues on our own - Pure speech only comes from the Pure Saviour and He and He alone can keep working in our lives to overthrow the sometimes evil thoughts and words that emanate from our frail lives.

Give our hearts and lives to Jesus right here right now along with our tongues - repent of those times when our tongues have got the better of us and we have fallen. Put it right with those we have hurt or damaged along the way - hard to do but vital to keep walking with Jesus.

God bless you this week as you hand your speech, thoughts and motives to the only one who can control our tongues and give us Heavenly wisdom.