3 Words in 1

I’m Gonna sit at His feet, and be Blessed
The Spirit, led Jesus into the Wilderness
Ye, which are spiritual

 

I’m Gonna sit at His feet, and be Blessed

I was sitting out on the back patio; it was so quiet and peaceful. The lights of the housing surrounding the small lake, reflected off the water; like something on a postcard. One would never dream, that just a short distance from here, there is all kinds of violence, murder, rampages of shooting and all kinds of robbery. It is happening on a daily basis; just going to the gas station or the mall, can become a tragic event; lives changed forever, in a moment. But for a brief time, there was a quietness, and a lull in the vivid activities of the day.

An old song came into my mind; it comes from way back. “I’m going, where the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary shall be, at rest. And all of the saints of the ages, shall sit at His feet and be blessed.” The tears came, as I thought about how it’s going to be one day. No more heartache, no more worries and no more tears. I share some of my journey, often for the purpose of hoping to help someone else. These past few weeks and months, have been some of the hardest yet. People are so angry; they’ll run over you literally, in a heartbeat. So impatient, so pushy, so rude and concerned only with self. So out for money; not truly caring for little people.

Where do we go; who do we turn to. It was mentioned lately, how so many of our old songs, had such a great message. I go to the Rock. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me ‘hide’ myself in thee. A really old chorus came to me; I just steal away somewhere and pray. Where did we go, in the days of our past; before we had so much entertainment; not even a good car or the price of a bus ticket. How did we escape; we couldn’t run away, there was no place to run to. Learning to lean, learning to lean, I’m learning to lean, on Jesus. What did it say? I need more power, than I’ve ever seen, I’m learning to lean, on Jesus . A place to go; away from toils and cares of life.

Remember when we used to talk about sitting at His feet. I’m not trying to be cold or judgmental; but, enough of all of this running. So many are just running the aisles and jumping, or singing something that just says the same thing, over and over. But, what about those times, when we just had this really intense desire, just to sit at His feet, and let Him minister to us. I will never forget, the first time I ever went off into the woods to pray. I just knelt down on some pine needles, and began to talk to the Lord. I knew, that this was the only prayer room many had, who came before me. I can see today that’s it’s hard for many to find that quiet place alone with Him. But I have to make room for it; I can’t survive all of this trouble without it.

Sitting at His feet; can you imagine what that must have been like. The gentle carpenter, the one who loved like no other. Someone to care, and someone to share, all your troubles, like no other can do. He’ll come down from the skies, and brush the tears from your eyes, you’re His child, and He cares for you. To weep before Him, and tell Him all about it; or to truly worship Him, just because of who He is. I want to be where Jesus is; I want to feel His presence and watch as He walks among His people. Can you imagine, stopping a funeral march, and handing the person back to their family.

Sitting at His feet. Where just touching Him, brought relief, and pure joy. I’m going there; I gonna just sit at His feet, and be blessed.

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The Spirit, led Jesus into the Wilderness

“The Spirit, led Jesus into the Wilderness” to be tempted of the devil. I am aware today, that this scripture, blows some of our theology, clear out of the water. What this writer and even another one said, was that the Holy Ghost, led our Christ, into the desert for the express reason of allowing Him, to be tempted and tested. As I was coming up, people seemed to avoid talking about this incident. Oh, we read it, many times throughout the years; but, that’s about it. For some reason, we just could not see that the Holy Ghost, would lead a person to a place where they might be tried.

We are such finite people. If we were ever taught one thing in days gone by, it was that we would never understand everything there was to know about God. One of the first things we were taught, was that much about Him, was a mystery; and we never were going to know it all. Reminds me of an old song we sung, “We will understand it better, by and by.” Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand, all the ways that God would lead us, to that blessed promise land, And we wonder why the test, when we’ve tried to do our best. I didn’t know I was going to share that song until now. But doesn’t it fit? Doesn’t it explain how we are feeling?

God allowed some things to happen to Job. I think, that as we study and go deeper into God’s Word, we’ll find that He allowed a lot of things to come about. If I’m real, it seems to me, that the more I admit how little I know, the more the Spirit wants to share things with me. Some people do not get that attitude; it’s our human ego and our flesh that causes us to think we know so much about God. Some things are of the devil; no doubt about that. Some things are from nasty human spirits also; for sure that is true. But we will not be destroyed by it; not if God allowed it. Depending on God, seems like a weakness to many; it takes a lot of heat, to break that.

Some of us, have been struggling. It really is tough, to think that the Spirit would allow certain things to come our way. We’re doing everything we can to follow Him and listen for His voice, and then, we end up in some kind of trouble; big trouble. Here is where surface folk get lost; we have been led into a certain situation or some kind of trial and it’s supposed to all be the fault of the devil. God just wouldn’t let these kind of things happen, to good people. God trusts us. We need to get that. He knew us, even before the foundation of the world, and called some of us, before we even took our first breath of air on planet Earth. We can argue with this all we want; but, go back and read the first line of this post. The Spirit led Jesus to a test.

I found myself wondering, just what message the Spirit wanted to get over in this post; I think I know. As I said, many of us are still having a hard time accepting that God has brought some things about in our lives. This idea, that God is not going to let anything bad happen to you, is a weak wind of doctrine. Yes, God doesn’t lie, He doesn’t tempt us, He doesn’t go against His word; all of that. But He will allow someone or something to do it for Him; if it brings about the work He wants done. God took down the hedge that was around Job; otherwise, the full trial would not have come about. Ask Job, if it was fun. Some trials, make us think we’re alone; we’re not, and we never were. There is an escape; it’s up to each of us, to find it.

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Ye, which are spiritual

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” Galatians 6:1.

As for many of us, it took a lot of years, for us to learn, that being religious and being spiritual, were not the same thing. I often wonder, that some of us, were much more tenderhearted and loving, than we thought we were. We might have seen a lot, but we just didn’t look for the bad in other people; we were taught to look for the good, not always being condemning, and that is what many of us did. It kind of makes me cringe a bit to say it, but perhaps, some of us were very naïve too. We just expected people, to be who they said they were. I think we were very kind.

For reference, I looked up another translation to this particular verse. It simply said, “Ye who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit.” There is an innocence to being a new born babe in Christ; whether you are still just a child, or an older adult coming to the Lord. There’s this trust issue. I can’t help recall, that Jesus said we should be like little children. They just try to take things at face value; they don’t know how yet to mistrust; they haven’t discovered, that not everyone, is who they say they are. I can still remember, how confused I was as a little boy, growing up in the church. I saw those who were so loving and warm, and I saw those who were harsh and even bitter; I thought something must be wrong somehow. It was.

Many years back now, there was a man that said something I found very harsh; he sounded bitter about it. He made reference to a group that he and I had once belonged to. He stated that the reason that they, as a fellowship, had truly not restored more people, was that they were not spiritual enough. I felt offended; I had been a part of the group for a long time. It was years further down the road, before I was to come back to that subject. Whether I wanted to consider it or not, I had to think about what I had heard before. Was that true. If it wasn’t, then why had so many not been restored as the scripture so clearly said they should be. Why not?

I’ve had reason lately, especially since we’ve been watching certain events unfolding around this world; to ask questions. It seems quite evident, that when you teach people, especially children, for many years, that they are to just accept what they’re told and not ask questions, they most often don’t. Especially, if it is about religion; and even today, about politics. We learn what our parents and grandparents teach us. It never occurred to us, that they were wrong or somehow, misinformed. We thought, that people who loved you, didn’t tell you wrong stuff. I’ve since learned, that many of these folk, were simply just repeating, what had been taught to them.

It’s my understanding, that true spirituality, does not come from self. One must believe that there is some Power, something greater than just us, that is at work in our world and our universe. Some higher level, than the plane we are physically on, has contributed to our depth. It’s true, one can also be spiritual, and it not be from the Holy Spirit; there are other spirits that are at work also.

But, the fruit of the Spirit, comes from the Spirit. On our own, we likely won’t choose to be meek to people; those who do, are a bit rare. It’s our nature, to be out for ourselves; to show partiality, to manifest respect of persons; to promote our own. Spiritual people, seek God.

Only the Spirit in us, can genuinely restore others. The flesh, doesn’t even try.

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Robert Blackburn