Narrow road, part 2.

I don’t even know quite how to start this entry.  My heart just wants to share with you what I know about this road.   The only thing I can do is try to express it as God has taught it to me. 

Matthew 7:14 says ” small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life.  The path is difficult and only a few will ever find it. ”  

So.. small gate.  I don’t know about you, but in my “evangelical education” I had been taught that this small gate represents the point at which we accept Jesus and His gift of salvation.  It is no small feat..  what Jesus does here.  A sinner facing an eternity in Hell apart from God.. is redeemed.   The Holy Spirit enters into the heart..  and a life is changed.  Other lives will likely  be changed as a result of this heart coming to know the Lord. 

But.. what is after salvation?  Where do we go once we pass through the small gate?

The small gate opens the door to the Narrow Road.  The road is so narrow we may miss it if we are not careful.

We  (hopefully) enter into a living loving relationship with Jesus that needs to include discipleship and learning God’s word.  I say hopefully here because ( unfortuntately) not every saved person gets discipled.  Or they are discipled sporadically.  Or incorrectly.  Or ( the list can go on and on.)  The thing here is.. if proper discipleship happens at this point, a person can go directly from the small gate onto the narrow road.  But often there is a detour.

At the point of salvation, we admit our sin, and our need for a Savior. We ask forgiveness, accept the free gift of eternal life and we are ushered into God’s kingdom.  Angels rejoice!!!  Other saved folks cry and clap and sing and praise God!  

Here is the hard part.  Just because we are saved, we don’t stop sinning.  

Jesus IS in our hearts!  But the old man just doesn’t want to die so quickly.  ( This is the point at which the narrow way might be missed or ignored.)   There WILL be trial and a time of refining  .There must be a time of learning and growing in God’s word, and in godly character.   I firmly believe that the length and method of this… has something to do with us.   God will provide the education, the revelation,  and the  Instructions.  We must be willing and we must participate.  When the Holy Spirit brings it up, we have to look at it , recognize it, confess it, and receive His peace and forgiveness.

We have a choice here, again.  God will NOT go against our will.  He won’t.  But we again have a choice.  We can choose the way of the world..  we can fall back into habits that have already proven they don’t work.  But.. they are familiar to us and there is a comfort in the familiar. 

Or.. we can seek God in the trial.  We can choose the narrow road over and over again until transformation happens.

We can face our flaws, our character defects, make amends and grow in Christ.  If we choose Him each and every time.

 

 

 

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A narrow , very straight road.

We have all heard the scripture from Matthew that says ” the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”  ( Matt 7:14)  –  I guess I am one of the people who has always sort of known that I was on it.  Whether I wanted to be or not.. and sometimes I have to admit I resented it.   My heart knew what this was even  before I knew Christ.  My life has been one of that person who “always got caught.”  If I broke a rule along with 20 other people, I was the one “they” saw.  I always knew that I could step off this unseen path if I wanted to, but the chances were great that there would be a price to pay if I did.  Sometimes it was worth it.  Other times it wasn’t.

As an adult in a deep relationship with Jesus, I see something in the narrowness of that path that I guess I missed before.   I can only share my own experiences here.. but what I have learned is this.  This straight , narrow path is one of deep and wide blessings.   As I have walked it with the Lord, He has led me to face so many of my own demons and shortcomings , “lacking” in my own character, and personality flaws that were the result of a series of trauma and wounding, and yes, even my own sin, in my younger years.  Satan wanted to leave these things in place so that I felt hemmed in, resentful and hindered  by the narrow road.  Lies.  All lies.

But, God.

He was there.  He is still there, with me, leading and guiding me , healing my heart and making me into the daughter He intends me to be.  I have to be willing to be obedient, and cooperate with Him each step- and face each thing He reveals to my heart, no matter how difficult.  But there is huge blessing on the narrow path.  It does lead to life and peace.  Stepping off it, not so much.  Staying on it.. there is everything I could possibly need or want. My heart’s desires are met and exceeded.  There is so much joy to be had , for the longer I walk this path with God, the more light He sheds into my very spirit.  There is no fear in His perfect love.

Would you let Him lead you on the narrow path today?  The first step is to surrender your life and all control over to Jesus.  This is actually the easy part 🙂  Jesus paid a high price for your soul , on the cross.  He died , so that you might live.  His part in this is done.   The second part is learning to walk that out with His help.  This part is up to us, to cooperate with Him.  

Jesus, thank You for how you love us so!  You gave your life for us.  There is no repayment possible for this.  You don’t ask sacrfices or offerings.  You just want our hearts turned to You- and want to teach us what it means to die daily so we can have abundant life with You.  it’s not just for eternity, You have it for us today.  Help us , God, to learn to receive all that we need, from You. 

In His name-

Amen. 

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NO she didn’t! *Yes, I did.*

Hi. If you have stumbled onto my blog, welcome. If you already follow along, welcome back. There is a chance you might be here because you noticed something yesterday and you are curious. That’s OK! 🙂 Here it is:

I cancelled my Facebook account.

I only notified family and handful of people before I did it. I have been discussing this with God for over a year. OVER A YEAR. This is so silly. I know full well what my spirit feels like when He wants something from me. I even tried negotiation. I closed my single acct and opened a joint one with my husband. Who used it most of the time? Me.

I woke up in the morning and before I had prayer time- I checked Facebook.

I installed it on my phone and checked it at stoplights. Facebook.

I shoved it under my napkin at dinner and checked it when my family wasn’t looking. Facebook.

Ridiculous. There are more productive things to do at stoplights, like pay attention to traffic. 🙂

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE staying in touch with people. My sisters were freaked out at first. “HOW WILL WE FIND YOU??” “Umm… CALL ME!” 🙂 I love them.

So, for now, I have gone cold turkey, the lights are out and Elvis has left the Facebook building.

Lord, let my attention be more focused on You , than on anyone or anything else. Thank You for patiently loving me as I learn to just be led by your Spirit more and more. In Jesus’s precious name- Amen.

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Can you hear me now??

It’s time for Science Projects. This is fun and awful at the same time.. my kids love putting their presentations together (we finished up the experiments a few weeks ago) but it’s stressful because typing has to happen,things have to be printed, corrected and re-printed ( PROOFREAD,PEOPLE!) boards have to be designed and decorated, rules have to be adhered to and it all has to be presented just right or they get points off for things. My kids are creative and bright, and they have great ideas.. but they get really hyper and excited about this stuff. This is GREAT because I had rather them be excited about doing it than bored or unmotivated about it. I don’t want to squash their enthusiasm. However, they have to listen to instructions or things won’t be done correctly.

“Did you hear me ask if that section is done yet?” “Wait!! Don’t glue that there yet! THIS has to be there first!” “Wait, don’t CUT that out yet!” ( re-printing happens) This is how things generally go on the “Day of Assembly” which has been today. Things go much more smoothly when they listen well, get all the information and then follow directions. Sometimes, there is a lot of TALKING happening , and not nearly enough listening. When talking overrides listening.. well, mistakes happen, things get done incorrectly, Dad and I tend to gain grouchiness and lose niceness, and the overall experience just doesn’t go as well. The kids have be reeled back in, deep breaths have to be taken, and we have to go back to the place where everything got messed up and start over. The thought always runs through my mind that listening better before taking action always yeilds better results. It just works better for everyone involved.

“He who has ears, let him hear.” Mark 4:23. The New Living Translation says “Anyone with ears to hear should listen, and understand.” Did you know that there are at least NINE scripture references like this? God has to remind His children over, and over , and over, and over again that He “gave us ears to hear, we should USE them , listen to the instructions, get UNDERSTANDING, and then act. Even as adults, we don’t want to listen. We don’t stop to get deeper understanding before acting. We act out of the flesh and according to wordly wisdom before taking the time to stop, meditate on His word, listen in prayer, and then act. No wonder He has to say it so often! We don’t listen!

Maybe we talk too much. Even in prayer, I think one of the hardest things to do is to just quiet my mind and my mouth, give the time to Him and just listen for His voice. When I DO take the time to do this, though, everything goes so much better. I have confidence in Him. His presence has given me peace even if things are in turmoil around me. I am reassured of His love, and I might even get some wisdom, or an answer or two to a prayer or concern that I have had. I notice that the more time I take to listen more than I talk, the more of those spiritual blessings come from His heart to mine. Eventually, I see that I have grown as a disciple. Keeping my mouth closed more and my ears open more has proven to be a win-win for me and pretty anyone else around me. Can’t beat that. 🙂

Father , help us to learn to listen attentively to Your voice. We need the wisdom, guidance and direction that lies in wait for us in the ” still small.” Thank You Lord, for being everything we could ever hope for or desire. We pray in Jesus’ name- Amen.

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