It is not that we don't Believe that GOD will continually keep HIS Promises to do GOOD FOR US; where we abandon GOD, is when we find out how PAINFUL THE GOOD is going to be.  Is our Prayer today a longing of the SOUL from a heart that has no words?  Or is it ASKING of many words, without heart?  Do we "Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)?  If in our Prayers we discover there is nothing within us that this world can satisfy;  maybe we were MADE FOR ANOTHER WORLD.

Do we put our "guilt" and "fear" before the LOVE and MERCY of JESUS?  Is it easier to tell a stranger about the LOVE OF JESUS than it is our own family or friends who may have known us in our "OLD LIFE"?  Is it true that a "...Prophet is without honor in his own town, among his  relatives and in his own home..." (Mark 6:4)?   Do we let satan use the "greatness of our sins" to keep us in our place?  Or can the GREATNESS OF OUR SINS be used to show THE EVEN GREATER GREATNESS OF JESUS' FORGIVENESS?   If we have REALLY EXPERIENCED the LOVE AND FORGIVENESS of JESUS, don't we want everyone to know the same PEACE?  GOD does not desire anyone to be lost (2 Peter 3:9)!  Are we so fearful that we won't even put a JESUS LOVES YOU bumper sticker on our car, bicycle or grocery cart, because we might do something wrong?  DO WE LET THE GREATNESS OF OUR SINS, KEEP US FROM TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THE EVEN GREATER GREATNESS OF JESUS?   WHERE'S YOUR BUMPER STICKER?

Jabez cried out, "Oh, that you would Bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let YOUR hand be with me, keep me from harm and pain" (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).  THIS IS A POWERFUL PRAYER.  Enlarge my territory is not a request for land and material wealth; it was about his relationship with GOD.  Jabez wanted more of GOD, he wanted to go beyond the "natural boundaries" of man, and into the "Spiritual Freedom" of a deeper Relationship with GOD.  "Keep me free from pain".  Sometimes Pain is used bring us to GOD, when everything else fails.  Perhaps Jabez was asking that his territory be increased in such a way that he would be Blessed with such Integrity and Purity of Heart that he would seek ALL OF GOD for THE LOVE OF GOD and not FEAR OF PAIN.  JABEZ knew what is was, TO BE BLESSED BY GOD.  Have we come to the time in our life that we want to Pray the JABEZ PRAYER?

Occasionally (I wish I could say, Frequently, but it would not be true) we meet someone WHO GLOWS.  In their mannerisms, speech, actions and greetings they have no hidden agendas, hypocrisy or pretense.  Their eyes light up like "windows of the Soul",  where nothing is concealed  and  they do not pretend to be something they are not.   Their Benevolent smile lets us "share" in their Peaceful Harmony.   They are THE LIGHT in the World of Darkness.  Ephesians 5:8, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the LORD.  Walk as children of light."   Through them, GOD shows us more than "Goodness", HE lets us experience RIGHTEOUSNESS.   FOR THIS WE GIVE  THANKS.

There are times when we TRULY GIVE THANKS.   It is a time of intimate pleasure and contentment.  It is a time when we realize GOD'S commands are the gift of HIMSELF TO US; and our Obedience is OUR GIFT OF OURSELVES TO HIM.  It is a time of "clear conscience" where Love is perpetual and instantaneous; a time when awareness is more than enough.  A time when words aren't enough; and all we can say is, THANK YOU.  James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above..." 

We "Think" we "Think", but we only "choose" from existing alternatives.  Some where, we became no longer "Creative" and "Original"; our minds molded and cloned in the image of the "world".  We speak with our "worldly" wisdom, only exposing our "ignorance".  We can not comprehend the absence of time, so we call it Eternity.   And in our finite "Prison" everything must have a "beginning and end" leaving no room for THE INFINITE GOD.    Our "wisdom" rejects the "Eternity"  in the human heart to where we cannot fathom the "THINGS OF GOD", (Ecclesiastes 3:11).   A person without the HOLY SPIRIT cannot understand the "things" only discerned through the SPIRIT (1  Corinthians 2"14).  We become so "Wise" we ask, "WHERE DID GOT COME FROM"?   Isn't that like asking, "What does the color Blue taste like; or What does the wind look like?  Maybe it is true, The "wiser" we become the "DUMBER WE GET".  

When we decide we are going to be "Meek" and "Humble", we are at the HEIGHT AND GLORY OF OUR OWN PRIDE AND SELFISHNESS.  WE DECIDED and therefore we will do this under our own power.  MEEKNESS AND HUMBLENESS is a Fruit of the SPIRIT and therefore a quality of the Heart (1 Peter 3:4).  When we Recognize our Sinfulness, the burden of self-righteousness is overwhelming.  This is where we willingly and preferentially submit, and depend, on GOD in all matters of life and wisdom.  WHEN WE ARE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT AND TRUSTING GOD IN ALL MATTERS, IS WHEN IT IS NO LONGER, ALL ABOUT US.   DO WE SAY, "IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM"; BUT LIVE LIKE IT'S ALL ABOUT US?

 

In the "conversations of our mind" do we find ourselves repeating "Scripture", either in whole or part?  Have we found ourselves, while talking with others, responding with Scripture, again, either in whole or part?  And we did this, not to impress nor to emphasize a "point", but because it was the "perfect" response or statement.  Many times we could not "quote" the Book, Chapter or Verse, but we knew it was GOD'S WORD on our hearts.  2 Corinthians 3:2, "You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men".  Have we ever  thought that our lives, our speech, our love may be the ONLY BIBLE SOMEONE MAY READ?

 

REAL TREASURES are those choices we have made, or actions we have done, that let us experience TOTAL HARMONY, PEACE AND LOVE.  We store our TREASURES in a Sacred Place where they are never tarnished.  These TREASURES are times of Reconciled intimacy with JESUS and ONE ANOTHER; times when there is no rejection to GOD or HIS WORD.  Matthew 6: 20, "...but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven..."  These TREASURES break down the walls of hostility and remind us of the time HE purified and restored us in HIS HOLINESS, and we became TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  THESE ARE THE REAL TREASURES FOR THIS WORLD AND BEYOND.

We take for "granted" that which we have not done without?  And only when we are "broken and contrite" is anything enough.  A morsel of food becomes a feast, a stranger becomes a friend.  Here, "we REMEMBER from where we have fallen...and we begin to do the works we did at first" (Revelation 2:5).  Only when we are CONTRITE, do we accept the teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  ANYTHING IS ENOUGH AND NOTHING IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED.