KEVIN ELWORTH LIVE

Proverbs 16:3- “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” I remember memorizing this verse when I was in high school. I used the old KJV to memorize at that point, but the verse has never left my thoughts. Why would you not want to commit to God everything you do and see your plans succeed? A great recommendation by the writer. But this verse hinges on the one just previous to it, and it’s the one that got me thinking this morning. Prov 16:2 says, “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.”

God’s not going to bless something that we are committing to Him if our motives are not pure and right.
Most of you know that my prayer for a long time has been that God would show up and do something extraordinary in the lives of the Mexican people, specifically university students in Zacatecas. But I have to evaluate that plea. Why do I want God to show up and do something extraordinary in the lives of Zacateanos? (Don’t worry about trying to figure out how to pronounce that, you can only say it if you are one). Beyond that what about the other places we are and minister? My plea doesn’t change for places like that either, but is my motive pure and right, that God gets all the glory and it doesn’t matter about me at all or am I looking for attention and recognition that God did this through me?
You’ve got to make the same evaluation. Where does your motive lie? Because if it’s in the wrong place than it doesn’t matter how much you commit to the Lord, He’s not going to bless it!

My apologies for the lack in content recently. I’ve been super busy working on some stuff for the next few weeks. This morning as I sat down to clear my head and beg God for His power on me to get through the day, He reminded me of Ephesians 3:20 . I don’t know about you, but I struggle quite frequently with confidence. Do I have what it takes to do this? Do I have the endurance to get through it? I don’t know that my confidence issue will ever go away, but what I do know is that as long as I have willingness, God has power and if I can stand up in front of that crowd, He will be the One empowering me to do what I never could in the first place.

What’s God want for you that’s beyond your ability? Rest in Him, He can do it, but you can’t. He will empower you to do what you could never do. NOW GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING

I started this year on a trek through the bible. The Lord put it on my heart to really dive in deep to His word this year, so I started by reading it in the first 100 days of the year. Awesome thing to do, if you’ve never done something like that you should. Check out youversion.com for help with organizing a structured read like that. After my 100 day read I was going to read the New Testament every 30 days for the rest of the year, but that never happened. It’s funny how we schedule things like that and then find that it’s not exactly what we need.

So to change pace and to be more fitting to some of our current situation, I started reading through Joshua last week. By far one of my favorite books in the bible. I read chapter 3 last Friday which talks about when the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and I came across this verse, “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, follow them. Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you”
I’d never noticed that verse before. Man can you imagine what it would have looked like if the Israelites decided to protect the Ark and make it follow them? What a disaster that would have happened.

How often is it that even though we’ve never been this way before that we take it into our own hands and lead the way? And then I wonder what would happen if we truly allowed God to lead the way as He wants to in our lives, what would be different and how much more would be and He be blessed?
We’ve got to let God be God and lead us into places we’ve never been. Like where we need faith that we’ve never had to have before. And when we need to depend on Him like never before. There are a lot of “like never befores” that are going to happen in our lives if we are going to follow Him, but that’s just it, if we follow Him, He’ll lead us exactly where we need to be.

Cris and I watched Invictus the other night. We had already planned on renting it, and then someone at Starbucks told me how great of a movie it was so I rented it that very night. Great story, very motivational, and I love movies that are based on true stories. Throughout the movie you keep hearing Morgan Freeman, who plays Nelson Mandela, quote parts of the poem Invictus. The last two lines of the poem are I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

I was thinking to myself, man those are good lines, very motivation, and encouraging to keep at it. No matter what people put in my way, I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul. But as I kept thinking about it, that is completely wrong and I would have to say that we are neither master nor captain of anything about our lives. Paul wrote in 1Cor6:19-20 that we have been bought with a price, a very high price and we do not belong to ourselves, we are Gods! (I realize that these verses are talking more about sexual immorality, but the precept still applies we are not our own)

In case your interested, here is the poem, read it yourself, let me know what you think.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Final thought today. If you’re going to get through this crisis of belief no matter how great or how small it is, you’ve got to trust God completely with it. Another verse that God recently brought to my mind was Romans 8.28. If we allow Him to, God is going to receive all the glory through whatever your situation is. In thinking about this verse, I thought you know it says that all things will work together for good but what it doesn’t say is for whose good all things are working together for. I mean think about it, all things didn’t work together for the good of Peter when he was nailed upside down to a cross for failing to turn from his faith. But what it did work together for good was for the glory of God. He received immense glory through Peter’s faith and His kingdom was advanced. You know in the end it may very well work together for your good, you may come through your crisis and God will bless just like He did to Job when he walked through such an intense fire. The bible says that God blessed Job with twice what he had before. Either way you’ve got to make a decision, why are you in this? Is it really worth the fight? and If you start the fight will you be able to finish it?