teach

Is your jello sticking to the wall yet? Psalm 32:8 Part 1: Instruct

BlairCreekmore
Are you adding your own nails to make i
stick? How is that working for you?

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. ” — Psalm 32:8 (NASB)

Do you feel like you are trying everything and nothing is working right? Are you like me and you want to know where to go next, what to do? Am I on the right path? These days we have Google Maps to talk to us and to say turn right or left in 1.1 miles. But what about our life? Are you throwing jello against the wall to see what sticks? Are you adding your own nails to make it stick? How is that working for you? Are you are going in all directions, picking up everything you can, to see what works. Is the stress relieved, has peace and joy returned? Don’t you wish you had someone to tell you in 1.1 miles decide to do this or not to do it? Psalm 32 tells us that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will do just that.

Psalm 32 reminds that God will instruct, teach, and counsel us.

Instruct means to provide understanding, insight, show what to pay attention to, show what you need to focus your mind on. The instructor is passing on his wisdom, knowledge, expertise, skill in order for the person to be successful in what they are doing. The concept of the expert instructing the apprentice is illustrated here. The expert imparts not only knowledge, but skill and wisdom. It denotes the concept of the instructor being circumspect or seeing everything in all directions and being able to tell you what you need to highlight and/or give attention to. The one instructed will become wise, prudent, skillful, have incite regarding the situations, and be able to discern what to do and when to do it, This wisdom and knowledge is not from the person but is a result of the instruction.

Do you feel like you are flying blind? Have you gotten somewhere and don’t know how to land?

Have you ever put something together and ended up with ‘spare’ parts(scary!)? Or tried to skip some of the instruction steps in a Lego build only to have take it a part and backtrack to where you went off on your own? Do you feel like you are flying blind? Have gotten somewhere and don’t know how to land? Now I know sometimes we try to ‘shortcut’ the directions. But what usually happens is we have parts left over or we reach a point where we need to redo to make the parts fit properly. Either way, we have wasted time and energy. The finished product may not work the best or worse yet, not work at all. I usually end up with frustration, stress, disappointment, anger (lot of negative thoughts!). When someone instructs us it is like reading the directions. If only I had followed the directions. If only I had humbled myself to receive instruction.

“But when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.” — Proverbs 21:11 (NASB)

The word ‘wise’ is the same word for ‘instruct’ used in Psalm 32. It is a verb, “sakal”, which means there is ‘action’ required. There is also a link to the person doing the instruction and the one receiving instruction. There has to be a relationship. God knows just how to instruct us, but we need to be willing to be instructed. God is the only one with complete circumspection of our life. Without His instruction we are throwing the jello against the wall. Without God’s instructions we tend to focus in all directions, with no purpose. We lack understanding and knowledge of what is going on in our life and why things are happening to us. All our efforts are in vain. We may feel like our thoughts are overwhelming us to the point we cannot “think clearly’. Without clear instruction, energy is spent to keep the ‘plates spinning’ in our life with no victory in sight. We tend have the same dramas repeated over and over in our life.

“When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.”– Psalm 32:3 (NASB)

The result was forgiveness, preservation and
deliverance. God’s living waters of forgiveness
could flow in his life.

David wrote Psalm 32. It is described as a ‘contemplative happy’ song. However, in the beginning David is not happy. David describes how sin was ‘heavy upon me’. The weight of the sin was draining his ‘vitality’. He describes his body as ‘wasting away’ . It wasn’t just because of sin, but because he ‘kept silent’ (Psalm 32:3) If you keep sin silent and hidden, it will devour you physically, mentally, and emotionally. David describes how blessed and fortunate he was when he did not keep his sin hidden, but acknowledged it to God. (Psalm 32: 5). The result was forgiveness, preservation, and deliverance. God’s living waters of forgiveness could flow in his life. This forgiveness opened the doorway of David’s heart and soul to be instructed by God and the Holy Spirit.

Sin made it so that David could not hear, understand, and obey God’s clear instructions. The relationship was blocked. The same is true of us today. When we have sin that we have not confessed we cannot hear God’s voice clearly. We are numb to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us to Jesus Christ. We cannot hear instructions clearly. We read the Bible and lack understanding.

God sees what we are facing in all directions in our life and He knows what is ahead of us. God created us and knows our talents, strengths and weaknesses. He knows how to instruct us. The Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us to Jesus and His forgiveness. When we confess our sins and ask for the forgiveness that Jesus Christ provided for us through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, the relationship is fully restored. The sin that was blocking the flow of God’s instructions in our hearts and minds is removed. The relationship between the instructor and the apprentice is restored. Jesus becomes not just our savior, but the Lord of our life. The word of God, the Bible, becomes our blue print, our instructions, that we can understand and receive in our hearts and mind.

Where are you looking for instructions regarding your life? Who is instructing you? Do you have ‘hidden’ sin that is blocking your relationship with Jesus?

Prayer:

Dear Jesus

I acknowledge my sin (___________________) to you. I acknowledge my immoral thoughts and actions. I confess my transgressions. I confess that my heart has rebelled against you and your Word. I ask for forgiveness of my sins. I ask for you to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). I accept the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross to cleanse me from sin. I desire Lord Jesus to have my relationship with you restored. Holy Spirit please guide me in the instructions of God’s word. Bring to my remembrance all that God’ has instructed. (John 14:26) I pray that my heart and spirit will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit guidance and conviction of anything that is hindering my relationship with Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:5) Amen

I have all the equipment….. What’s the plan?

BlairCreekmore1 Comment

I have all the equipment– I just need a plan

Do you spend all your energy on getting the equipment, but have no plan? I have a friend who has multiple gym memberships and she actually uses all of them! Well, she is helping me with a workout plan. In planning to start an exercise program, I took inventory first:

  • Elliptical-check
  • Free weights- check
  • Exercise ball- need to get out of the garage but check
  • Exercise mat- needs cleaning but check
  • Cute exercise outfit-definitely check

By nature most of us, including myself, feel constricted by the word ‘planning’. It means that we may have to carry it out! It takes time, energy, and commitment. However, we also realize that to achieve anything, planning needs to occur. We plan our vacations, we plan our career goals, we plan our day. I admit some plan more than others, but we usually have some idea. Like most of you, with the New Year, I have been praying and setting all sort of goals. I have begun to realize that this desire to plan comes from God.

God is a planning God. He had a plan when Jesus was born in the manger. Thankfully, God had a plan for our redemption and salvation. In the very beginning, with the story of creation, we can see that God has always had a plan.

From the story of creation, there are seven things we can learn about plans.

7 Plan Concept

  1. Plans usually fall apart unless God is in the center. Genesis 1 says that “In the beginning was God… ” God was at the center of creation. Are you doing what you want or what God has called you to do? Even if you don’t have a plan, God does.
  2. Plans don’t constrict…. they release. I used to think that plans inhibit creativity. God is a creative God. God’s plans saved time because there was no ‘do overs’. He created fish after He created the oceans. He created birds after He created the sky. Because God had the environments in place, He was free to be creative in the embellishments. Like decorating a room, once the walls are up and painted, you can get to the fun part.
  3. Plans need a date on them. Something about the concept of time motivates me to act. God added the time concept when He created the earth. On the first day…on the second day…. on the third day…
  4. Plans require action. Plans don’t do any good sitting on a shelf. God in creation spoke it into being. He took action. The Spirit of God moved…..
  5. Plans need to be flexible and stay on point. Planning can be boring. Having flexibility to enjoy the journey is needed, but don’t loose sight of the ultimate goal. The end result is not the only goal. The goal also includes the things learned and created along the way. God said after each day, “He saw that it was good”.  God did not stop until His plans were completed.
  6. Plans require partnerships and accountability.  God walked with Adam in the garden of Eden. God brought the animals for Adam to name. God made Eve to be Adam’s partner. Neither could do it alone. God partnered with Adam and Eve. Who are you partnered with? Who are you allied with?
  7. Rest comes when the plans are complete. On the seventh day, after all the work was done, God rested. He did not rest until the plan was done. God had the strength and power to complete the task and finish strong. We will also if we turn to Him.

Ok, Now where in the garage did I put that exercise ball?!?