Over the past few months I have been overwhelmed by the leading of the Holy Spirit. There is a call for us to come higher, to mature and give more of ourselves to God. This call requires a response not by word but by action. Sometimes I find giving God more of me or stepping out deeper in faith is overwhelming.
In order to manage this overwhelming feeling and to navigate through the tornados of life to climb higher with the Lord, I have been trying to learn to take selah moments. A selah moment is taking time to pause, reflect, assess, and then respond. I would like to invite you as the reader to use this time as a selah moment. Let's pause, reflect, and assess your walk with the Lord. So I pose the same question I have been contemplating for the past month:
Are you building to last? Are you building your spiritual life to last?
The word build has been used a lot within our church over the past few years. We call our Bible study Building in the Spirit, and we have also spent a lot of time on the topic ‘building a strong spirit.’ The word build is defined as, ‘to construct (something) by putting parts or material together; or to make, become stronger or more intense.’
So are you constructing your life to last? Are you building your spiritual life to become stronger so that you can overcome daily challenges with God; not with sin? Do your daily decisions and what you spend your time doing help you end your day connected to God? Are you as passionate and determined for the things of God, or are you now just going along with the form of Christianity denying that God is living and powerful?
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus teaches His disciples about building themselves on the right foundation. A person who builds himself on a rock is a person who hears what God is saying and does it. Jesus calls this man a wise man, he is able to stand in every type of weather and not fall. A person who builds himself on sand is a person who hears what God is saying and does not do it. Jesus calls this man a foolish man, he is unable to stand in bad weather and will fall.
Question: Are you a wise man or a foolish man? Are you building yourself on the rock or on the sand? Are you hearing what God is saying, and doing it; or are you hearing what God is saying and not doing it?
It is the action of doing or not doing that determines whether you are building to last. Let us not be ignorant to the enemies devices. Many have been a part of the body of Christ and have fallen away for this very reason; they built wrong. They heard but did not do.
We must think soberly so we do not fall into the same wrong pattern because let's be honest, it can easily be done. In 1Corinthians 3:10-11, Paul informs the church of Corinth that as a wise master builder he has laid the foundation, but he then warns them, ‘let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’
Let us hear the same warning today, ‘take heed how you build on your foundation.’ For your only foundation should be Jesus Christ and what He is saying because anything else cannot stand against the arrows of the enemy. We must build our spiritual life to be able to stand in every season. Regardless of how things may look or feel, we are called to trust and obey. There is no other way to STAND in Jesus.
Selah
BY CHARLENE-KERR-SPENCER
References
Definitions: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/build
Images: Pixabay.com