I wish I had 550 years of experience walking with the Lord, but I thought last night, "I just need to use what I have, and I have the Holy Spirit who has an awful lot of experience." I think 550 years gives you, among other things, the benefit of seeing yourself in a similar situation 1000 times and seeing yourself make the wrong decision 1000 times and finally saying, "It's not worth being dumb one more time." So last night I hauled myself out of a self-piteous mood and salvaged the night and my sanity. It felt good. I've been there before and know the danger of being stupid on purpose. And I know the joy of being joyful in the Lord on purpose. I choose joy.
So, if we're seeking something from the Lord and waiting, we have the choice of how to wait. We can wait with joy or with the other thing. We can relax in knowing the Lord is in charge and you can't rush what's in His hands, or you can get into a depressive, religious punk. I think if we asked God how we should suffer or wait, He would say the default setting is "Joy and Hope." We mess with the settings too much. If we are really striving for the right stuff and seeking Him in prayer and the Word, when we put those down, there should be joy and abandon in His pleasure in us.
I used to ruin myself in Germany, basically get myself into a bad mood and make myself, and family, suffer because I wasn't being useful enough for the Lord. What a dummy. Given the weight of a dying world and our striving to serve Christ, plus all the things of life and family and non-functioning things we own, the joy of our salvation has to shine through or it is all a sham and a shame. I see more & more that surviving the waiting and preparing for the race for the prize is joy, not, religious, self-imposed melancholy and guilt. I think 550 years of experience following Christ would prove this right, but here we are grunting along getting old and grumpy and when the Lord is saying, "Bring your heart to me and seek me, and now rejoice," we say, "but it seems more religious to be grumpy."
So this morning I was reading in Micah and was reminded of the great things the Lord said through him. And in all of those verses, the message to hold on and wait on the Lord.
Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
And salvation came. The angels said, “Rejoice,” so rejoice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjaVfT6eBuw
LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE Chapters 6 & 7
Copyright 1994 Daniel G. Kachikis
The story has been removed from the blog as of June 2015 and is now an e-book on Kindle. The Amazon link is
So, if we're seeking something from the Lord and waiting, we have the choice of how to wait. We can wait with joy or with the other thing. We can relax in knowing the Lord is in charge and you can't rush what's in His hands, or you can get into a depressive, religious punk. I think if we asked God how we should suffer or wait, He would say the default setting is "Joy and Hope." We mess with the settings too much. If we are really striving for the right stuff and seeking Him in prayer and the Word, when we put those down, there should be joy and abandon in His pleasure in us.
I used to ruin myself in Germany, basically get myself into a bad mood and make myself, and family, suffer because I wasn't being useful enough for the Lord. What a dummy. Given the weight of a dying world and our striving to serve Christ, plus all the things of life and family and non-functioning things we own, the joy of our salvation has to shine through or it is all a sham and a shame. I see more & more that surviving the waiting and preparing for the race for the prize is joy, not, religious, self-imposed melancholy and guilt. I think 550 years of experience following Christ would prove this right, but here we are grunting along getting old and grumpy and when the Lord is saying, "Bring your heart to me and seek me, and now rejoice," we say, "but it seems more religious to be grumpy."
So this morning I was reading in Micah and was reminded of the great things the Lord said through him. And in all of those verses, the message to hold on and wait on the Lord.
Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
And salvation came. The angels said, “Rejoice,” so rejoice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjaVfT6eBuw
LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE Chapters 6 & 7
Copyright 1994 Daniel G. Kachikis
The story has been removed from the blog as of June 2015 and is now an e-book on Kindle. The Amazon link is
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