"Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offering on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices." (Ezra 3:2,3 NIV)
Throughout our life, we have our ups and downs. There are some points that are really good for us and then there are the points that are really bad for us. The excitement of birth, the pain of death. The joy of victory the agony of defeat. We go through wonderful and glorious times in relationships and then we suffer through broken engagements, only to repeat the cycle, hoping that at some point the next one will be the last one. It is when we are down and our souls are weary, when trouble comes and our heart is burdened, then, it is time for a restoration.
What is restoration? According to Noah (Webster that is) restoration is: 1.the act of restoring; renewal, revival, or reestablishment. 3.a return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition. Restoration is therefore, the restoring or reestablishment of something (or someone) to a former unimpaired condition. If we are going to restore the church from within, we have to begin by restoring ourselves. How do we go about restoring ourselves?
The first step of restoration is to include God. We must include God in everything that we do. How do we include God in everything? The first thing is to reestablish our relationship with Him. We accomplish that by repenting ( read earlier blog) and releasing our burdens upon Him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matt 12:28 NIV). Release what you are burdened with and give it to God. Get on your knees, or raise your head, or do whatever you do when you pray and say something like, "God, I have problems, I have burdens, take them from me and You deal with it." It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be easy to ask for help. God is waiting for you to come to Him so He can give you rest from your burdens.
When we repent and hand our burdens over to him, we move into the second step. We must recommit to Him. We must make a commitment to serve Him, and to accept Jesus as our savior. We must commit everything in our lives to Him. "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will not fail." (Prov 16:3) We commit all phases of our lives to Him. Whether it be at work, play, (I know a softball team that before they take the field, will pray and commit the game to God) and especially in your relationships, make sure God is involved. Regardless how trivial you may think the thing may be, if you commit it to God and commit your life to God, everything that is done will help with the restoration process.
When we commit to God, we must put God first in everything. God has to be first, not second, not third, and definitely not 9,736,471. God must be first above your work, play, and your family. I know that’s a tough one to swallow, have God ahead of your spouse, and your children, for some, above your work. If you commit to God everything, first and foremost, all of your needs will be given unto you. People say, "Don’t let anything or anyone come between you and your spouse." I say, "There is one person that needs to be between you and your spouse, God." To give you an analogy (one that may appear to contradict my "put God first" statement, but doesn’t when you actually apply it) (Thanks Pa). If you put your spouse between you and God, He can reach His arm around your spouse and rest His hand on your shoulder. If you put you between your spouse and God, He can reach His arm around you and rest His hand on your spouses shoulder. If you put God between you and your spouse, He can put one arm around each of you and bring you together. Because God is between you and your spouse, He is placed higher than your spouse. Yet, God will not do anything to destroy your marriage covenant, for He established marriage.
Once you recommit and place God as your primary commitment, you must refocus your life. The primary thought process in refocusing your life is this statement from Max Lucado, "It’s not about me, it’s about Him." (Which is also the title of a blog entry of someone absolutely special to me - one who knows what patience (patients) is all about). Realize that what you do is to glorify God and not bring glory to yourself. One example of doing what would appear to be God’s will and only ends up glorifying yourself is: Protesting the closing down of a pornographic adult store, while demanding that your picture be taken, placed on the front page of the newspaper, with your name and everyone else who protests with you, so the whole county will know who is against it. The focus isn’t on God, it’s on yourself. While protesting against sin is something God wants us to do, to do it and to boast on yourself, so others know you’re doing it, is wrong. "Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Matt 6:1 NIV). Remove the glory from you and give the glory to God.
The Israelites knew the importance of having a restored relationship with God. When they were allowed to return to Jerusalem, from captivity, the first thing they did when rebuilding the temple was to rebuild the altar. They built the altar, before they began to build the Temple. In today’s society that is the equivalent of building the pulpit, and then build the church around the pulpit. They wanted to have communion, with God. They wanted to feel the presence of God. So before they began any rebuilding of the Temple, the first thing they did, was to restore their relationship with God. They knew that in order to restore their "church" they needed to include God in all that they did. Let us learn from them. Before we begin anything, let us include God in all that we do.
Have a blessed week
Daniel G Vandenburg
This is a 3 part series of the message that I gave in a Sunday morning worship service on March 4th.
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7 comments:
You commented it is tough to swallow putting someone first over your spouse. Allow me to relate a true story.Many, many years ago my wife and I were in Sunday School and the teacher was explaining how important it was to make God your friend. My wife was shaking her head no and the teacher, "Don't you believ that God should be your friend." She said, "No". I was shocked, after all this was the person that had led me to God. But then she added, "He is my best friend". The teacher said he thought her husband should be her best friend. She informed the teacher that her husband was just a good friend. Boy, talk about letting the air out of one's balloon. But she re-inflated it when she said,"he is second to God in my life." My ego about went through the roof, I was second only to God. Then I realized it is a two-way street. My wife has got to be and is second to God in my life.
God has given us many years together because of something we did. Yes, we put God first before either one of us and first and center in our family.
You are right when you say it is tough to put someone ahead of your spouse but it becomes easy, worthwhile and glorious when that someone is GOD. May you always share in God,s richest blessings.
Thank you for your blog entry. I am not sure why your above gentle reader does not understand that restoring ourselves to God first is imperative to restoring the church. My 14 y/o was reading the comment with me, and also agreed that it made little sense. Self restoration has to happen before anything else. How can the church be restored or move forward if it is filled with empty shells of people. We make up the church, if we are not restored, then the church remains in a state of rubble. As to your marriage comments, a marriage covenant is one of God's greatest gifts. He makes the covenant with you. Marriage without Him leaves you dry and thirsty. Never should anyone come before God in our lives, and as long as we get that right then all the rest will fall in to place. Matthew 6:33" Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you."
Christopher, don't you think you came on a little strong? Not very polite to be hitting on Daniel's new ladyfriend. And, since you're such a genius, you should know how to correctly spell the word. You don't think Daniel could satisfy her huh? Take a look at his previous posts. I think he did a pretty good job of satisfying the ladies in the bedroom. The one thing I question though is that he has just met her since his last blog and they are already talking marriage. Come on...i've heard of love at first sight, but that's a little ridiculous don't you think? Christopher, find someone else to pick on. If Daniel's really as bad as you say, I'm sure she will find out on her own in time. In the meantime, I doubt you'll find anyone who would want a person like yourself, unless you had alot of $$ to pay her. Matthew H.
Dan, are you writing under Christopher's name just to get a response from people and have them say what a nice guy you really are? If not, I don't know why someone would hate you so much and lash out like this at you, much less make a pass at your future wife. There's got to be another explanation, maybe one of you could fill us readers in on who this Christopher is and why he would hate you so much. Sue
Hey "smlnjk". I'm glad you put God ahead of your wife in your marriage. Just wondered where your children fell in that line of reverence? Diane
I will address the issues that have been brought up. First of all, something was brought to my attention that I never really thought about. A couple of months ago, I was challenged, why I don’t post the negative comments. So I started getting some really obnoxious comments and some non-issue related comments, but comments that attacked my character. When I posted them, they weren’t posted to bring sympathy to me, nor were they posted to bring those that care about me out of the closet to defend me. They were posted to show what type of negative comments I would receive. The personal attacks have gotten way out of hand, and from now on, any personal attack will not be shown, they will be deleted and ignored. What was brought to my attention was I was basically boasting in my persecution by showing what was going on. That was unintentional and wrong of me to do that. For those who felt sorry for me, I ask for your forgiveness, (I never meant for it to turn out this way)and to turn your wrath away from those that have done these things to me and love those who persecute you. I am truly sorry for the pain that I have caused any of you. And if I caused any of you to stumble and turn away from God, please come back to Him, don’t hold anything against God for my foolishness.
Now I will address everyone’s concerns: Matthew, thanks for responding to this person, he was out of line, and I don’t appreciate what he did, especially going to Jennifers page, that upset me more than anything that he ever did to me. Sue, you put me in a delicate situation, if I strongly deny it, then people will question me, why is he strongly denying it, if I don’t address your question, they will assume I did, so here is my response; those that know me, know the type of person I am and those that don’t know me, will believe whatever they want, regardless of what I say, in other words, if you want to believe I did, I can’t stop you, but I don’t need the pats on the back to make myself feel good nor would I ever hurt those that are close to me. Diane, you were the one that asked a question pertaining to the blog, though, I admit, you didn’t ask it of me, you asked it of smlnjk. But, because it was in reference to his children, it is easier for me to answer that question. Where did his children fall into line of reverence? As one of his dearly loved children, that’s right, he is my dad, I know the type of relationship he had with me and my many other brothers and sisters, some of which weren’t his. He’s been married to my stepmother for around 30 years or so. The one thing he can say about his relationship with her is that if it wasn’t for God being between them, they never would have made it this far. Scripture is clear when it comes to the relationship between a husband and a wife, “In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself.” (Eph 5:28). When a person makes a marriage covenant before God, they are no longer 2 individuals, but they become one person, “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’” (Matt 19:4,5). How does this answer your question? It doesn’t because your question was on the children. But, this response shows how two individuals need to approach marriage, they become 1 flesh. Therefore the place of honor is equal unto themselves, and one of the greatest commandments, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” (Matt 22:37) You are to love God above all things. Now onto the children, this is what scripture says about your children and your love, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;” (Matt 10:37) I knew God was first and foremost in my dad’s life. The biggest problem people are having with placing God first in their lives is they don’t fully understand it. It’s not a hierarchal ladder such as President, Vice President, Speaker of the House. . . etc. It is God encompasses everything. He is to be involved in everything. First and foremost, before seeking anything God and His will and commands must be understood. Through his relationship with my stepmother, I got to see his relationship with God. Because of his relationship with God, I understood his relationship with me. I have a picture on my blog, under my comment section, that can best illustrate this example. There are two people sitting there and a figure bringing them together. At least that’s what I see. I hope this helped. Have a blessed day Daniel
AMEN
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