Our Bible Study is not really the emotional type of Bible study I am used to. I am used to Beth Moore or maybe Priscilla Shirer, both of whom I really enjoy. I am used to drawn out prayer requests that involve a lot of tears from folks (a lot of the time they are MY tears)..and I really like those emotional Bible Studies because, hey, we all need times where we can just unload what is on our hearts. When you can do it with a group of fellow believers that you know will be praying for you, well, all the better I say!
But Roger started by teaching us the complete history of the Church. I have been a Christian for 11+ years and never once heard the History of the Church. Then we moved on to simply studying the Sermon on the Mount. What I like about Roger is that he teaches us a lot of principles. What I am about to write here is what I gleaned from the last Bible Study I attended a few weeks ago. It was simple, yet life changing for me, and I feel like it could be life changing for someone out there reading as well.
In discussing how Jesus used the Sermon on the Mount to teach principles, Roger brought up how our lives are a spiritual journey with no destination until we die. During the journey, a lot of us Ask God for things, the way children often do, with a deep longing for the actual thing we are asking for. For the sake of this blog, I am going to ask you to think of something you have asked for. Something that you have really prayed for....something you just wanted God to fix. Maybe a problem that you couldn't find a solution to.
A lot of times we go a step further and we Seek things out. Roger put it best when he said Seeking actually puts "feet to our prayers" because we are doing the action of looking. Also, seeking implies that you do not see something, but still, you have faith and you are willing to look for it. For whatever reason, maybe one of you reading can explain it to me, this next part is what I felt was so life changing: If you choose NOT to seek, your journey in life with most definitely be SAFE. You will do your routine, you will go to church because that is what you do on a Sunday morning, and you will even go to Heaven because you have given your life to Christ. But if you choose not to Seek, you actually missed the journey God had planned for your life. So you actually got the joy of knowing Christ and getting to go to Heaven, but you missed out on God's plan because you decided to play it safe! I don't know about you, but this has me thinking about my problems and my mind is swirling thinking about solutions so that I can SEEK out the next thing I am supposed to do! Go back to the problem you thought of earlier...are you truly seeking or do you believe there is no solution? That God just can't handle this one or maybe you think He doesn't want to????
And, according to Rogers Bible Study, the next thing you have to do is KNOCK. You arrive, but YOU have to step through the door. It isn't enough that you asked for it. It isn't enough that you went out and looked for it. But you have to physically put your "knuckles to the door" (Roger's words, not mine), knock, make an effort, make a choice!!! There's my word again...choice!
I saw this online the other day, which may or may not make me the only blogger mixing Johnny Depp and Jack Sparrow with Christianity (we love Jack Sparrow in our house!). And I hope I am doing justice to what our Pastor was saying. Like little kids, we all see a problem and will pray and pray and pray for it to be fixed, but how many of us take that next step of faith in seeking the journey God has planned for us? Isn't it EASIER to play it safe? I believe most of us are caught up in some type of fear, where, playing it safe in our fear that we KNOW is way easier than stepping out, seeking, putting our knuckles to the door as Roger says, and making an effort to improve things. We would rather remain safe, a victim to our circumstances, than take a stand in our faith, in Christ and all He has done for us, all He wants to do for us, and change things.
Satan will give us ideas, fears. Oh how he would love to see us in that position of forever asking and asking and asking. Don't you just bet Satan has a field day every time one of us decides to play it safe? Every time one of us sees a little bump in the road and takes the safety route? Everytime one of us asks and asks for help with a problem and gets frustrated and a bad attitude with God because He isn't answering our problem. But what if God wanted us to see that our attitude was part of the problem? That, in deciding to play it safe, we stuck ourselves in a position, God didn't leave us stuck in a position.
And while Satan will give us ideas, thankfully I serve a God who can recreate us and do amazing things. Heck, He even takes our problems and turns them into amazing blessings, if only we ask, seek, and knock.
