This is wonderful Phil. Thank you. I also can't wait for the next part.
Jackie
At 02:49 PM 2014-03-11, you wrote:
>When I was in Bible college, my roommate told me one day that he had
>a fish tank at home but it was empty. I told him to bring it back
>to school, we'd fill it, and I'd pay for the fish. He set it up one
>day, filling it with water, putting the brightly colored rocks in
>along with open geode rocks, pronounced ge odes, which the
>dictionary defines as a small, hollow, usually spherical rock with
>crystals lining the inside wall,
>They sparkle like diamonds and are beautiful, and he had castles so
>the fish could swim in and out of the little houses and a soft light
>over head along with the water pump to keep the tank water
>oxygenated. The only problem was, we never bought any fish. I
>begged my roommate time and time again and that I'd would buy the
>fish but I guess he didn't want to take care of them so we just
>never bought any fish for this nice fish tank.
>
>Our part of the 4-plex we lived in had the washer and drier so every
>weekend, guys from the other three parts of the 4-plex came right
>through our front bedroom, which was in the living room, and three
>guy bunked upstairs in two different bedrooms, and after loading
>their clothing into the washer, they'd come out and talk, or read,
>in our living area as they waited for their laundry. The fish tank
>always came up in conversation like this.
>
>I might be stretched out on my bed, my roommate working at his desk
>at something, and after moments of long silence, the guy would say,
>"Hey, you guys. Where are the fish in this tank." My roommate or
>I, would look up and say, "Oh, there in there. Just keep
>looking." Minutes passed. "I don't see any fish." One of us would
>reply and say, "Oh, they like to hide among the rocks and
>castles. Just keep looking." Sometimes this ruse, or deliberate
>deception, would last for 15 or 20 minutes until they'd realize,
>there really were not any fish in the tank. Then they'd wonder,
>"Why do you have water in this fish tank and no fish living in it?"
>
>I compare this to the average Christian life and relationship with
>God. I wonder if you agree. Most of us, even as born again
>Christians, try our best, even when things are going poorly, to act
>the part of a Christian. Some people refer to it as performance
>based Christianity. Oh, we would never admit to such behavior in
>our relationship with God but in all my ministry years, pastoring,
>and before that, traveling to churches around the country as a guest
>speaker, it's common in the Body of Christ, and lest you think I
>boast, I identify such thought behavior in my own life all the
>time. Why? Because the truth is the only thing worth
>believing. Many times the Lord will call it to my attention by
>saying in my mind/thoughts, "What are you doing that for? I'll tell
>him why but then He will say, "But I've already done that for you so stop it."
>
>For example, a few years ago, I was praying two hours every day. I
>had a list of 60 people, or more, for whom I prayed but when I broke
>it down one day, that meant only 2 minutes for each person. I
>thought that was a puny amount of time to be praying so I switched
>to praying in tongues for the same amount of time in order to allow
>the Lord to sort it all out. One day, after walking from our deck
>into our living room, going to get a drink before I returned to our
>deck swing and my praying, I heard a voice in my head say, "What are
>you doing?" Well, Lord," I began, "I'm praying, you know, for these
>60 people and for everything else you want me to pray about. You
>know, I'm an intercessor so I'm doing what intercessors should be
>doing." He said, "I never told you to pray 2 hours a day." I took
>the hint and stopped the 2 hour per day ritual.
>
>This all reminds me of Elijah running from Jezebel. After the
>greatest victory of his ministry, calling down fire from Heaven and
>slaying 850 evil prophets single handedly with a sword, a woman
>threatens to kill him and he literally headed for the hills and
>finding a cave, he hid. depression set in. You know the rest of the
>story. God asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah." The old
>prophet figured God hadn't heard so he explained it to Him in detail
>and even said he was the only prophet left in Israel to preach to
>the people His Word. He didn't know God had 7000 other's throughout
>the country doing exactly what Elijah was already doing. God
>invited him out to the opening of the cave to give him an object
>lesson. The wind blew so hard, it split boulders. That's a pretty
>stiff breeze if you ask me. Then there was a mighty
>earthquake. Take my word for it; you don't want to be cooped up in
>a mountainous cave during an earthquake but that's where Elijah was;
>exactly in the wrong place and thinking the wrong way about
>God. Then we also learn there was a fire. What burned in this
>mountainous fire? It appears Elijah was above tree line so was it
>just the air, or rocks, or ground that caught on fire? Then God
>asked him again what he was doing in this little cave. Elijah
>didn't change his mind set and answered in the exact same
>way." Why? Because he felt God had let him down following his
>greatest sermon ever. Of course, Elijah found out God was far from
>done using him. How did Elijah know? Because each event, the wind,
>the fire, and the earthquake, the Bible says, "but God was not in
>the wind, or earthquake, or fire." Then where was God if that
>wasn't Him in each of those amazing miraculous events? God was in
>His quiet still voice where Elijah, due to his discouragement, fear,
>and depression, had forgotten just to listen for the Lord's voice.
>
>So, what does an empty fish tank have to do with any of this? Have
>you ever felt, as a born again Christian, that you have everything
>but what you truly need from the Lord? I mean, we have the Bible, a
>source of great doctrine, theology, and peaceful comfort. We have
>prayer so we can commune personally with the God of the universe
>even if He is busy, you can leave a message and he'll eventually get
>around to calling you back. Jesus is our friend now even if we have
>no personal friends with whom we can fellowship. We have Christian
>broadcasting to listen to when we just can't take it any longer. We
>know, or at least are pretty certain, what little money we put in
>the offering plate is going to multiply and pay all our
>bills. Right? Sure, the Bible says so, at least that's what the
>preacher says in his sermons. We have the promise that nothing is
>impossible with God yet we have physical issues that are right down
>monotonous and at other times so painful, we spend most of our time
>crying. If that isn't bad enough, it feels like we might just die
>from it all. Look it up. Elijah was suicidal. Read it for
>yourself in 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19. Yet, with all these pretty
>things to brighten up our tank, even fresh air pumped into the cool
>water and a light overhead to show us the way, we are flat out empty
>inside of real life. So how do we get it. I'll talk about that next time.
>
>Phil.
>Living His Name
><http://www.SafePlaceFellowship.COM>WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.COM
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