The Journey (The Chapel 2/16/14)

The Journey

We are all on a journey. The Christian life. The life of following Jesus.

Thoughts for the journey...

1) It is a journey.
I love road trips... I love the process of getting there. Sometimes I want to hustle right to the destination.
Its a process. The destination isn't reached in one day, or one sermon, or one month, year, etc. It takes time. High highs, low lows. Rejoice with those who rejoice...

Striving for perfection. It is a process. Romans 12 Renewal of our minds.

Philippians 1:9-10 ESV
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV sanctification
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:12-14 ESV
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Are you not satisfied with your walk? Be thankful. The dissatisfaction you may feel in your heart could be the very desire God birthed to bring you to Himself. Be thankful you are dissatisfied as it would be horrible to be sitting in a pew each Sunday far from God and not caring. There may have been a time in your life where you didn't care... isn't it great that you care now?! Brother Boniface.

Enjoy the process. Enjoy the journey. Take time to look around at the scenery and appreciate where you have come in your walk with Him. Remember and be encouraged by the fact that this is a journey.

2) Part of the journey is self-discovery.
Man doesn't even know His own heart. The heart is deceitful and wicked. But God knows our heart and He tests it.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?   “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Proverbs 17:3 ESV
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.

Our heart is a vast landscape that we do not even understand. There are peaks and valleys and hidden places that only God sees and we ourselves don't recognize. There are unexplored territories that we have never visited, but they are clear and visible to the Lord. He has always seen them and is familiar with them.

What the Lord has been revealing in me...
motives behind seemingly godly desires on the outside. Desires that when looked at under the surface are evil and self-seeking. Desires for my glory and not His, though I proclaimed them as godly. My selfish desires were motivating so much of my life.
Yuck. And God sees it all
It said that it took God days to bring them out of egypt, but 40 years to get Egypt out of them so they could occupy the promised land.

3) Everyone around you is on a journey too.
Are you patient with the process or journey of others? Just as they need to be patient with you?
Paul talks about how we are at different places in our journey with the Lord.

Galatians 6:2 ESV
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Do we criticize each others shortcomings or praise the areas of growth?

Romans 14:1 ESV
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Romans 15:1-2, 5-6 ESV
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4) Are you willing to let God have His way in the journey?
Are you willing to get into the trunk and put Jesus in the drivers seat?

5) We don't go it alone.

Its nice to know that we don't go it alone.

He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. It puts me at peace knowing that I am in His hands and nothing can snatch me out of His hands.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

John 10:28-30 ESV
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”