Give Yourself Fully to the Work of the Lord

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I Corinthians 15

The words that stood out to me was 'work' and 'labor'.

I guess it's something I have not heard preached very often in churches. I hear how 'easy' life should be because of God's promises. Now don't get me wrong, there are lot's of promises and by faith and prayer we will see them answered. However, it's not a sit and pray, you just relax and here you go Santa kind of life in Christ either. We are called to go into all the world and that can truly be work!

So in verse 58 we are told to stand firm, let NOTHING move you. ALWAYS give yourselves FULLY to the work......because you know that YOUR labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Fully is Abounding in the KJV – in the concordance it means – be in excess...superabound or excel...be better...increase

Sounds to me like we are to go above and beyond, get out of our comfort zone, out of our home, out of our church building. We are to be so full of God and His Word; His Love, His Mercy, His Forgiveness, His Joy and His Peace - these are the works of God (Isaiah 32:17NKJV) that overflow in us and we should be displaying them in our workplace, in the grocery store, where we volunteer, etc.

Now let's look at 'work' in Strong's – task, employment, a deed, action, that which is wrought or made, a work. #2041 érgon from ergō, "to work, accomplish") – a work or worker who accomplishes something..

Employment – this is necessary to survive today. Men need to have jobs, employment so they can provide for their wives, their families, their parents as they age. Singles need employment so they can move out of their parents homes and begin their lives. Employment is not a BAD word, God expects it of us and where He puts us can be a mission field.

So, if we are to fully....work – we need to quit complaining and making excuses .God will not ask us to do anything He won't equip us for - then we need to make sure we are doing the Works of God (Isaiah 32:17) People should see a difference in us,not 'preaching' but actually 'living' the Word.

When you put yourself on God's throne, ….you are so good because blah blah blah ...and throw God's name in here and there, you talk about prayers that were answered with a pride of how God favors YOU – yet you do not admit when your prayers are not answered the way you have prayed them (at least not yet) and how are you treating your spouse, your parents, your employers and employees with honor – seeing others as better than yourselves ( Phil 2:3) These are things you need to go before the Lord with, to make sure you are 'working' according to God's will.

When I work or volunteer I need to make sure I'm focused on God and not on self. I can tell you, that when I get focused on self it can lead to listening to gossip and sometimes joining in, It can lead to focusing on a pain here or there and my thoughts take a wrong path.

I have been told they wish they had more volunteers like me. Do you know what they are really saying? They wish they had more volunteers that do their work as unto the Lord. Because when you do that you aren't focused on building yourself up but your focus is on honoring God and I believe you do better work.

The word 'labor' is toil #2873 - laborious toil, involving weariness and fatigue.

We are to give it our all for the Lord. He will renew our strength and He will give us the rest we need. I don't know about you, but when I'm working for the Lord, it is a labor of love, I want to touch people, through the work I'm doing, for the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe this 'labor' is not a bad weariness (one where we are doing things for self) but it's one where you are so full of the joy of the Lord and you are shining for Him, that you really have no idea how tired you are until you finish your work. Once your work is finished you feel great but are looking forward to resting at home. You have a sense of accomplishment and are thanking God for the day and now for your time to relax. This is kind of hard for me to explain, but a weariness from doing God's work is not the same as the weariness from doing things for selfish reasons. My husband summed it up for me this way - you have a clear conscience at bed time.

Do You Pick and Choose?

When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

Ezekiel 3:18-21

Have you ever left out part of God’s Word or sugar-coated it so the person you were talking to would not feel bad?                                                      

I know I have and then the Lord began to work on me. If I believe God, then I must know His Word and if I know His Word I must speak it as Truth – all of it!

He does not say, oh it is okay if you add to my word here and say don’t worry about it God will forgive you. God may forgive them but you are commanded to tell them what His Word says. Then it is their decision to continue in the sin or follow His Word.

I don’t know about you but I don’t to be held accountable for the blood of someone I did not tell the Truth to. I believe that is why so many churches are asleep today, why we are not seeing the power God says we have.

This is not an easy step to take but with God’s help we don’t have to worry or fret because He will give us His Words at the right time and He will protect us.

““I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:4-12

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. II Thessalonians 3:3

I can profess to know God, to have faith in His Word but am I walking my talk?

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:18-19

Demons believe but they do not fear the one True God so they keep sinning, ignoring the Word of God. We as believers, walking in faith, are called to know God’s Word, when we know God’s Word and have a relationship with him (making the changes we need to make during our lifetime) we are able to help others grow in their faith and show it by their deeds.

Satan is pretty slick, he will come in and say ‘everyone is doing it, even those in the church, so why should you lose out on the fun?’

The Bible is pretty clear on what God hates, this is just one passage of many.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,  idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 

Now I don’t know about you but I have had to repent of several of these things and more than once! That is why I believe we are to tell the Truth in love. We are not to beat them over the head and neither are we to tell them  it’s okay because their circumstance is different (if  it’s in the Bible it’s not okay!).

Too many believers want people to feel sorry for them so their ‘sin’ is lost in the emotional.

They talk bad about another person, telling things they should not be telling and usually leaving out the part they played in it. They have the poor me syndrome and that is not from God! We are anything but poor once we have accepted the Lord as our Savior, repented of our sins and started on our faith journey.

But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:17

I know this will seem harsh to some of you, but if you are believers you can’t pick and choose what you want from God’s Word.

 I want to speak the Truth in love, and then it is up to them to make the choice according to what God says. Neither I nor you can make that choice for anyone, not our husbands, our parents, our children, our friends….but we can search God’s Word and ask Him for wisdom on how we are to act and speak so they will be drawn to God.

So make sure when the Lord has you speak to someone, write about something, whatever He tells you to do – make sure you are doing it with God’s love, with a true concern for them to know what God has to say.

Whatever God says to do or not to do something, He will always give you the strength and the way, we are never alone.

How many times have I not spoken Truth to someone, or shared my faith. Now to listen to God and see how to do this in love, not in fear, not in Bible beating, but in genuine love because you want to see them blessed by their Father. Because you have your Father’s heart to see them saved and not suffer the consequences for a bad decision – a sin.

If you get attacked, let it go and trust God, love them and pray for them.  It could be the Holy Spirit working on them, making them uncomfortable and you are just an easy target. Again, love them and pray for them.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up      Luke 18:1

I’m grateful for the people that spoke truth to me and never gave up praying.

It’s never too late to repent  -  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death 2 Corinthians 7:10
 Let Jesus release you from those chains!

Life or Death?

For the longest time I chose death and didn't even realize I was doing it !!!

Challenge - What do You Speak?

I put this on my Facebook status today and felt the nudge to put it here too. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, besides the old saying, 'when you point a finger at someone, there are 3 pointing back at you"!

But stop and think about what you have been speaking to your children, your spouse, your neighbors, your 'Christian' brother and sisters......and compare it to what God says we are to speak and how we are to treat the people He created, the people that He does not want to perish.

I sure don't want my tongue (words) to look like this!

Facebook status (please add me as a friend if you're on facebook)

‎"The tongue weighs practically nothing, but so few people 


can hold it." I put this challenge out to you (and myself) think


 before you speak, do you speak mean things to others 


about your spouse (disrespect), do you speak lies about 


other people or expand on their prayer requests (gossip), do 


you say hateful things about or to people that are different 


from you......I could go on and on. Speak life, it could 


improve your marriage, your friendship, your workplace,


 the persons life you just met today.......it will change your 


life, your attitude and your walk with your Father God! 


Speak life!

and as I was looking for images I found this next one and as a cat lover I just had to add it  :-)

Looks like my Scruffy and his 'tongue' when he is hungry or mad at me for ignoring him. 


Have an awesome day!!