Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Feb 9, 2007 1:25:34 GMT -5
LEAVE IT CLOSED
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55: 8, 9
King James Version
Have you ever tried to open a door when God closed it? I have and if you think about it and are honest you have too. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to open a door that God had closed. He already had given me a better way to do it, but I’m stubborn and I thought that I could figure out a way to do it my way. Guess what! It didn’t work and it will never work because His ways are much higher than our ways.
I am a perfectionist and I want everything in order and I don’t like changes. I remember when I was in college and would be taking a speed test for typing, even though I wasn’t looking at the typewriter I knew automatically I had made an error and would erase it and start over. It’s no wonder that I didn’t make good grades on my speed tests in typing class. In my word processing classes if I made just one error I would delete everything even if I already had three or four pages and start fresh.
My professors used to get so upset with me because I did that. However, I had been conditioned by friends that I needed to do things the right way or I was not contributing anything to the world. Looking back, I realize they were not true friends or they would have been encouraging me instead of criticizing me. Do you have closed doors in your life that you are trying to open? If God has closed them, you will never be able to open them. Ask Him what He would have you do instead because it is sure to be a better way and a more productive way to do it.
One of the most important doors He has closed to those who claim to be Christians is associating with the crowds we used to run with before we were saved. When we make a commitment to Jesus that involves letting go of bad habits, people who will lead us astray and all things that hurt Jesus. A pastor friend of mine said in his sermon one time “I have been in the ministry for over forty years and I’ve seen over and over again people who had a bad habit trying to change the people they used to associate with before they were saved. It didn’t work and it will never work because they will pull you down every time especially if you are a baby Christian”.
We need to keep the doors closed on our past but we also need to open the doors in our hearts wider so that Jesus can deposit more of His unconditional love and compassion in them. Then, and only then will we be able to love others as He has commanded us to love them. Loving others is not an option; it is a commandment from Jesus. Do you love others as He has told you to love them?
Joanne Lowe
February 9, 2007
joannelowe8@bellsouth.net
joannelowe.blogspot.com/
www.heavenwardbound.com/
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55: 8, 9
King James Version
Have you ever tried to open a door when God closed it? I have and if you think about it and are honest you have too. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to open a door that God had closed. He already had given me a better way to do it, but I’m stubborn and I thought that I could figure out a way to do it my way. Guess what! It didn’t work and it will never work because His ways are much higher than our ways.
I am a perfectionist and I want everything in order and I don’t like changes. I remember when I was in college and would be taking a speed test for typing, even though I wasn’t looking at the typewriter I knew automatically I had made an error and would erase it and start over. It’s no wonder that I didn’t make good grades on my speed tests in typing class. In my word processing classes if I made just one error I would delete everything even if I already had three or four pages and start fresh.
My professors used to get so upset with me because I did that. However, I had been conditioned by friends that I needed to do things the right way or I was not contributing anything to the world. Looking back, I realize they were not true friends or they would have been encouraging me instead of criticizing me. Do you have closed doors in your life that you are trying to open? If God has closed them, you will never be able to open them. Ask Him what He would have you do instead because it is sure to be a better way and a more productive way to do it.
One of the most important doors He has closed to those who claim to be Christians is associating with the crowds we used to run with before we were saved. When we make a commitment to Jesus that involves letting go of bad habits, people who will lead us astray and all things that hurt Jesus. A pastor friend of mine said in his sermon one time “I have been in the ministry for over forty years and I’ve seen over and over again people who had a bad habit trying to change the people they used to associate with before they were saved. It didn’t work and it will never work because they will pull you down every time especially if you are a baby Christian”.
We need to keep the doors closed on our past but we also need to open the doors in our hearts wider so that Jesus can deposit more of His unconditional love and compassion in them. Then, and only then will we be able to love others as He has commanded us to love them. Loving others is not an option; it is a commandment from Jesus. Do you love others as He has told you to love them?
Joanne Lowe
February 9, 2007
joannelowe8@bellsouth.net
joannelowe.blogspot.com/
www.heavenwardbound.com/