Stay at Your Post

I was thinking today about the body of Christ and God's purposes and plans for each of us.  God has no step-children, we are all called to take our position in the body and to serve.  I've met many throughout the years that always seem to be jumping from one church to the next or one ministry to the next or even from meeting to meeting, looking for a new experince, a new revelation or a new touch from God.  I've been slow to speak regarding this type of behavior, watching and looking to see the fruit it produces.  One of the ways that God causes us to grow is to put us in relationship to others, to serve with others and often others are quite different than we are: they think different, believe different and talk different!  This is a great way for God to teach us humility and patience.  What will we do when a sermon rubs us wrong or a brother or sister corrects us, or maybe misunderstands us?  Will we stay at our post (where God has called us), or will be become critical or offended and jump ship.  God has called us to faithfulness and service.  When the Lord adds us to the body he gives us service assignments and tells us to be faithful until death!  No jumping ship, no abandoning of our post; we only leave our assignment when we get orders from Jesus.  He is the Captain of the Host and he knows exactly where he wants us.  Wordly thinking can cause us to want things easy, or to want things to always go our way and if it does not, we will take our ball and go somewhere else to play whether the Lord is leading or not.  It is difficult to see those who don't take their place and get busy with God's plan for their lives, always searching for a new thrill or a new experience.  We don't have to chase down new experiences if we are in the Father's will for our lives.  Each day will be full of His prescence as we step out in obedience to Him.  Jesus said the kingdom of God does not come by observation, for the kingdom of God is within.  God lives in us and is always ready to move on our behalf or to give us strength to step out in service or to share the gospel.  Paul said it way: "But the righteousness which is of faith speaks in this manner: 'Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, 'Say not in thine heart who shall descend into the deep?’ (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what does it say? 'The Word is near you, even in thy mouth and in thy heart', that is, the word of faith which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:7-10).  We don't have to go very far to experience the life and word of God, it is in our heart and in our mouth if we choose to believe.  It is certainly ok to go to special meetings and go where the Lord leads us, but we need to be careful not to become discontent where we are and leave our area of service.  When we stand before the Lord He won't ask us about how many services we went to or how many miracles we saw or how many goose bumps we had, but He will ask us if we fulfilled His purposes, plans and pursuits for our life.  Anyone that knows me knows I love miracles and I love the Holy Spirit and I love God's prescense; but I want to be faithful to Him and what He is asking me to do and to stay faithful to the call on my life.  Besides, I want to see the Lord work in my everyday life and not just in other ministries and ministers.  I desire to step out in my daily experience and see the Lord move.  Just today I witnessed a miracle from the Lord as he healed a brother's back!  I love it and I expect to see more and more as I stay the course!  God bless you!  Brother Brad.