Fix Your Eyes Upon Jesus

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."

Hebrews 12:2-13

Good evening friends, tonight God has pushed me to share a bit of testimony on God's discipline, and while it's not always fun to share our failures, it is my sincere prayer that in doing so God will use it to help some of you out there who may be struggling a bit or feeling distant from God. I've shared a lot of testimony as of late on the incredible things God has been doing in my personal life, and while this is a hard one, it's a great example of His love for us in correcting His children when we go astray. I should begin by stating the problem, at least from my perspective, as it is how God spoke to me that there was a deeper issue that I was blinded to. For about the last week or so I have been feeling increasingly distant from God, like I couldn't hear Him or feel Him in my heart, like I was alone. For the life of me I couldn't put my finger on it, I was still praying, still searching His Word, and still seeking His will, but things weren't right. It had gotten bad enough I was to the point of tears, and was just so frustrated at not being able to understand. God had blessed me with the job, even picked up some side-work, and school has been going well, so what gives? Sure I had been working pretty much around the clock, waking up at 4 am for work, finishing at 8-830 or so each night, with just enough energy to share God's Word before passing out, but wasn't all this a blessing? Experience has always showed me that when we feel distant from God, the problem is never that God has left us, but rather that we have put something between ourselves and God, we have left Him. With that in mind I had been praying for a few days now that God would close the gap I had created and show me what I was doing wrong, what I was doing that had gotten between He and I. Today I was finally able to sit down to do my homework for week 3 of school, and amidst reading, taking an exam, and realizing I did not have the time to finish an assignment in time for the midnight deadline the lightbulb finally went off. Now what I am going to say is  probably as glaringly obvious to everyone else as a gorilla standing in line at the supermarket, but sin has a funny way of blinding the sinner: I didn't have a clue. I had been putting God and His calling to ministry, in the form of school in this case, behind work; simply put, of all the things I could have done, I was essentially committing idolatry by putting the pursuit of money above God and His will. It not only affected my school work, but also my focus during prayer, during writing these messages He gives me every day, even in my ability to worship Him as He so rightly deserved in Church on Sunday. It was an epic fail, one in which God could have just let me run with, it's what I deserved for turning away from Him. He didn't though, He didn't abandon, He disciplined, corrected, as He does for all of His, and why: because He loves us, and He refuses to lose even one of His sheep. The lightbulb went off, and in an instant I was convicted, convinced, led to repentance (no more side-work: there is most definitely such thing as working too much!), and what's more, refreshed, God refreshed me, and I just couldn't be more grateful for it. I know that was a bit to read, but goodness if even one of you might see you are not alone in struggles, or has a lightbulb moment of their own and comes to repentance from whatever has been keeping you from a close relationship with your Heavenly Father, as well as the incredible joy that comes when that relationship is restored, than all the more glory to God for using all things for His good, even bumbling fools like me. Goodnight friends, God Bless, and praise God for His perfect love for us, that He cares enough to use whatever it takes to produce a harvest or righteousness and peace in each of His children, as many as would confess with their mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the grave; Amen and Amen and Amen 🙏🙏🙏