Finish what you started

Written and published by jean-Louis Mondon

Original written January 2017.

For the last few days I have had this thought going through my mind. Usually it means that the Lord is trying to tell me that it is worth looking into it, elaborating after consulting him of its importance, meditating on it and most important double checking like a Berean in the Word where this concept is found, the context of when, to whom and why it is addressed and if my own life experience and application of this biblical principle when guided by the Holy Spirit has contributed to my own spiritual growth.

Before the Lord saved me 53 years ago, my life was a mess. It was what seemed to be a succession of random, haphazard events and circumstances over which I didn´t have any control. My emotional and selfish reactions only made it worse. Whenever I tried to correct the situation ended up in more failures and one thing that brought me down more than anything else was the feeling of waste and utter desperation at finding some self-worth because of the total lack of positive and constructive accomplishments to look at and be proud of. Everything I touched and every relationship I had turned into one more proof that my  existence on this earth was a curse from an unjust and vindictive god that hunted me down and punished me for the simple fact that I was born without asking for it or having anything to say about the matter.

Needless to say, this kind of attitude doesn´t contribute to accomplishing much in life and the feeling was exacerbated when I compared myself with my friends, neighbors and all the great heroes  out there that receive the adulation and honor for their accomplishments and contribution to society. I wasn´t sitting on a pile of ashes, I was buried under the ashes of the death dealing blows of a self-incriminating conscience piled on the top of more judging and condemning by the society in which I happened to be born. 

Now, this is not wallowing in self-pity on my part, I just wanted to set the stage for demonstrate the extraordinary saving power of Jesus-Christ through love, mercy and grace He has for anyone who knows he or she is soul-sick, lost, hopeless and helpless with no way out and no one to turn to, but in a last act of desperation turns to the God that unbeknownst to him/her was faithfully and patiently waiting for the child to acknowledge his/her lost condition and come home to his real, loving Heavenly Father.

To summarize the above, I never finished what I started before I was 23 years old.

Then, my life started changing because I met the God who never changes, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End and everything in between, accomplishing what He said He would do, as I trust more and more in His transforming power. As I was reading the Word, I encountered some encouraging verses such as:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philipians 1:6 

The Lord completed the mission His Father entrusted Him obeying Him even though He knew what agony and torture He would have to bear on our behalf. In John 10:17, Jesus declares: The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”…

If the Lord obeys His Father in all things, should we not do our best to obey Him if he commands us to perform a servant´s duty that he has made us adequate to fulfill, gifted and empowered us to do. After all, the Word says that we are His disciples if we keep His teachings. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31,32, then comes John 13:

 

 

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

 To be continued soon

https://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2024/08/continuation-of-my-2017-finish-what-you.html

Jean-Louis

The Seasons in the Life of a Christian- Brokenness - Purification & At the cross - Chapter I. (4,5)

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com
(To read the preceding and following chapters, click on the left lateral bar on the numbered chapters under the title "The Seasons in the Life of a Christian" - Brokenness.) (Read next chapter) 

4. Cleansing through the fire of affliction

However, salt before it can be used, has to go through the process of being made pure. As soon as salt gets in contact with humidity, its inherent absorbing quality, just like a sponge sucking in water, causes it to be polluted by whatever impurity is in the water.
Talking about salt again, but this time in the context of people causing believers to sin, Jesus clarifies the issue of purity when He says:
“For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. ” (Mark 9:49-50).

 How is the Lord going to make the salt in us pure? 

Although born again believers are not priests from the line of Aaron or Levites from the line of Levi, a valid answer might be: through the fire of affliction. Malachi 3:3 states:
“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”

According to 1Peter 1:6-8, the apostle declares: ” In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials, so that the authenticity of your faith— more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,…”

 
Do we have peace with one another?

Peace in the body of Christ does not just happen. Paul in Ephesians exhorts us to make every effort to keep unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. We already have unity if we are in Christ, the hard part is to keep it. Isaiah 48:17-18 states:
“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea”. 

Our Lord Jesus gave us a new commandment, “That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). I believe that a great deal of what is hindering the work of God in our communities stems from the lack of the bond of peace in the Christians’ relationships, between spouses, parents and children, Christian brothers and sisters and churches of different or same denomination. (Here I am not talking ecumenical unity, but of the unity of the Spirit between true followers of Christ). Is the water of our city brackish? Is the relationship among Christians in our city one of love, peace and unity or are we trying to cover up the lack of reality in our lives, the hurts, discord, bitterness and resentment with our Sunday smiles?

Following the example of the prophet Elisha, how could we make the city water that came from the spring (the inner spiritual flow) sweet and the land (our lives) productive again?

By letting the Lord cleanse us (the bowl or vessel), and purify the salt in us as we gladly accept the purifying fire of affliction and trials without bitterness. The quickest way for salt to penetrate hard, unproductive soil is to be diluted and poured out on it and that is just what we Christians can do with our tears. 

Father, according to your Word in Psalm 56:8 your servant David asked you to put his tears in a bottle. May we see your hand in our affliction and accept its purifying purpose for our lives. We, your church, ask you through the power of your Holy Spirit to create in us a pure heart, release our tears that you have collected in these broken vessels and pour them on the dry and hard hearts that they might be softened just as your rain falls on the just and the unjust to soften the earth and causes things to grow.

5. The level ground at the cross
Then, the farmer must level the surface of the ground (v.25), so the seeds willall start germinating at the same level to make sure that the final crop will be as even as possible. We all have to start at Ground Zero:

 “at the cross where we first saw the light

and the burden of our hearts rolled away

 it was there by faith

we received our sight…”

Our Lord Jesus was crucified between the two thieves. But actually the thief that turned to Jesus and cried out to Him for help was himself  in the center of the battleground between two attitudes and choices that were represented at Calvary. The first one of bitterness, cynicism, mockery, empty bravado from the thief who rejected the precious gift of life, and the other one of forgiveness, indomitable courage, total acceptance of His Father’s will from the Lord Jesus who is and has the gift of eternal life. The ground was most fertile at the foot of the cross where it had been plowed by the soldier’s shovels who dug the hole and was watered by the blood of the sacrificed pure Lamb of God and the water of His tears mixed with the salt contained in His body. The ground was the same, the tears, the blood, the gift equally available to each one of the thieves, but one chose life in forgiveness and the other one death in bitterness. For us, the choice is still the same today. 

“Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” John 19:34.

To be continued. Next Chapter: https://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/the-seasons-in-life-of-christian_1116.html

The Seasons in the Christian’s life (Brokenness) - Introduction

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon.

http://thelightseed.blogspot.com

(To read the next chapters, click HERE)

I am posting this message in answer to a brother's question: "Jesus talked about 4 types of soil (heart conditions). If 3 of the 4 types are poor soil, how does one go about plowing?"
For a companion poem "The wounds of my friend Jesus", please click here: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2011/06/wounds-of-my-friend-jesus.html

LESSONS FROM THE THRESHING FLOOR

O my threshed people and my afflicted (son) of the threshing floor!What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel,I make known to you. (Isaiah 21:10 NASV)

The Seasons in the Christian’s life

(Brokenness)

My intention in choosing the subject of this message was to provide from the Scriptures some understanding into the meaning and purpose of suffering in the Christian life.

Since my adolescence, I have reflected on the origin, the meaning and purpose of suffering in my life and that of my fellow men.
Perhaps, each one of us has pondered the same thing in the midst of unexpected adverse circumstances. This search for answers is valid, but could lead to a horrible frustration reaching a deep state of desperation if we do not find an answer that makes sense. As our pastor told us in last week’s sermon the correct question must not be: “Lord, why do we suffer, but what for? I believe that if we can find the answer to the latter, we will be able to accept all circumstances in our lives with a new positive perspective, knowing that we can trust in our God who loves us, who has a plan for our life and who gives us everything we need to grow in Him.

King David in Psalm 25: 4,5, asked the LORD:
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Further on, the same Psalm declares in verse 14: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
Through much study of the Word of God and through personal experience, I have found satisfactory answers to my quest and have concluded that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life and that it is essential for our growth. This theme is highly present and visible throughout the Bible both in Old and New Testament. This is what I would like to share with you today.

BACKGROUND
In the Bible one of the most important places is Mount Moriah. According to Genesis 22:1-2:
“God did prove (or test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”.
On the same Mount Moriah stood the city of Jebus, the Jebusite stronghold renamed Jerusalem by King David who conquered it. It is the same site on which King David offered a sacrifice to avert a plague that God sent upon the Israelites because of David’s disobedience when he ordered his captains to take a military census. The Bible relates the event in 2 Samuel 24: 16-25: 
And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel”.

Years later, according to 2 Chronicles 3:1, 2:
“Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan (or Araunah) the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign”.

Finally, we come to the supreme sacrifice which occurred in the very same place, in Jerusalem, where the unblemished Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ offered himself to be crucified on the cross as atonement to wash away our sins, obtain forgiveness, salvation and eternal life for those who repent and believe in Him. 

INTRODUCTION
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2).
Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
²⁴ Does the ^[a]farmer plow ^[b]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ^[c]turn and harrow the ground?
²⁵ Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cummin
And ^[d]plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ^[e]area?
²⁶ For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ^[f]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
²⁸ Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ^[g]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.(Isaiah 28:23-29). NASB

To be continued. Next Chapter: https://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/the-seasons-in-life-of-christian_23.html