WHEN GOD BUILDS

When God builds

Children of the Most High God, who seek His face and undying love,

We can be thankful that God is the God, not only of second chances, but many, many chances.  God is wise.  He “is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

He makes a straight path for us and beckons us to follow.  

Lord, we look to you to lead us where you would have us to go.  Yes, we will follow, Father.  Our soul says, yes, Lord.  Yes.  Lead us down the pathway to build us into a strong-house of holiness and righteousness.  Amen 

My brothers and sisters, know this that you may be a more effective vessel:  God does not build upward until the foundation has been firmly laid. 

“Be still” and allow Him to be the Foundation of your life.  Yet, understand that when He is your foundation, you must be able to stand upon Him in holiness, righteousness and fear of who He is.  You must...Be still and know that He is God. 

When God builds upon us, He only adds what the framework can support.  Many feel secure in their actions because they have placed God as their Foundation.  “The LORD of hosts is with us,” says the psalm, but as my Foundation, inside of me, God wants to build upon me.  

How strong am I?  God wants to strengthen me and build upon me so that my walls don’t come tumbling down again and again.  Ask yourself, have I allowed God to strengthen me and remove my weaknesses; not just patch me up or add support systems; but remove them from my life?  Have I allowed Him to build my house and not just trim my hedges?

When God says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” He is not simply giving a command.  He is painting a picture; constructing a bridge; and defining a relationship.  This is how I operate!  Watch me! Watch what I can do for you.  Watch my power.  Look at how the mountains and your foes tremble.  

Today, we see Christians that are not equipped to stand upon God. We are surrounded by Christians who have no true Foundation.  They lack humbleness, holiness, righteousness, and fear of God.  They would rather fear man.  They don’t know how to be still and know that He is God.  As a result, we prevent God from moving on our behalf.  We prevent God from building upon us; blessing us and transforming our environment.

Being still is not just a physical act or an act of obedience.  Being still is an act of faith, holiness,  vulnerability and fear of the Lord.  It removes the fear of what man can do to you.  Being still allows God to move things for you…to move you closer to Him and closer to His plan for you, because you have allowed Him to be your Foundation and construct your walls.  To know that He is God, you must remove self and trust in His power and His glory.

Psalm 46, is not just a song about what God can do.  He is trying to increase our faith.  He is trying to show us, like He showed Abraham.  If you fear me and withhold nothing from me, I will provide for you.  Look!  There’s a ram in the bush.  God is demanding a show of faith!  Watch and wait on the Lord and see what I can and will do for my children!  I will fight your battles!  It is Me the adversary defies!

Your faith tells you that only God can do the work in you and around you that needs to be done.  Being still for God is not a practice; nor is it a ritual.  To turn it on and then turn it off is unequivocally, by all definitions--a ritual.  You use it when you want to and feel that it is needed to appease your god.  Quite the contrary, being still is the outcome of bearing the fruits of His Holy Spirit; peace, long-suffering, faithfulness, self-control. 

Galatians 5:22-23  (NKJV)
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

BE STILL.  BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING

Philippians 4 (NKJV)
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
 ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Obedience can lead to righteousness, but it does not always lead to holiness.  Holiness comes from change within; a transformation from the Holy Spirit.  Being still becomes an instance where the action does not bring about the change; the change brings about the ACTION of being still.  Yet, being still is not the final process that God is trying to achieve.  It is the beginning of things to come if you only have faith!  

BE STILL and KNOW WHERE YOUR HELP COMES FROM

The physical act can not change you if you haven’t allowed God to break down those barriers keeping Him from building upon your faith. And when God changes you, you walk in stillness and live in stillness.   Knowing where your help comes from; being anxious for nothing.   No one has to tell you to be still.  You might be driving, but you’re being still.  You might be running, but you’re being still.  Because you have peace of the Lord, that passes all understanding.

Being still comes through repentance, humility and complete dependence upon the Lord to take control of your life and guide your path.  You humble yourself, knowing you can do nothing without God. 

Learning how to be still comes with learning WHO God is and who you allow Him to be in your life.  We can not confuse discipline and conditioning with ‘being still’.   These are rituals within the church that did not put fear of the Lord in the hearts of Christians; it only added to their religion and false righteousness. 

We can not assume that being physically still demonstrates, instills or teaches reverence to God, nor is it the only way to hear His voice.  One demands obedience and one surrenders all to truly love God for who He is and become holy inside the Holy of Holies.  God can tell the difference. 

Some of us were taught that we must show reverence to God when we enter a church and there must be complete silence in the sanctuary.  We could not wait until we got out of church to release the tension and express ourselves, as if we left God in the church building.  Well, perhaps we did. This is not to say that we do not honor God within the sanctuary, but we must teach Christians to acknowledge the presence of God within them at all times; in everything we say, feel and do.  Not just to leave Him, in a building, or after allowing Him to have some of our time.

We are God's temple. Reverence for God does not begin or end inside of a church or during prayer.  Respect and reverence for God should be continual within our being; for we are One.  Hearing His voice becomes automatic, because we are One.

If you don’t see any change.  If you don’t see God moving after you have been still, it’s because of your expectations; your emotions; and your heart still belonging to you.  You expect that after you’ve held the stance of stillness, God will count it as righteousness and reverence; then, comply with your wishes.  Will He listen? Yes, He will listen for He is a compassionate God.  Will He answer? Yes, He will answer because He is a patient God.  He will tell you everything you need to hear.  However, He is still waiting on you to KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.

The chief priest of Israel could not go behind the veil and enter into the Holy of Holies unless He was consecrated and clothed in holiness—set apart from the world.  He lived in fear of the Lord.  If he did not do so, he knew that the holiness of God would destroy the filth and sin he carried, along with him. 

Jesus’ sacrifice for us ripped the veil to allow us, to not only get close, but to abide in our Father and He in us.  Yet, our Father, still requires holiness within us, upon us, and around us.  “…and you shall be holy; for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:16 Leviticus 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7; Leviticus 20:26

Leviticus 11:44-45 (NKJV) ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. ⁴⁵ For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

It is our relationship with Christ within us that gives us access to our Father.  He is the door.  It is Christ’s holiness and worthiness that creates in us a clean heart and a steadfast love.  Taking upon the character of Christ gives us a holy and righteous identity; wherein we share a relationship with God and He can say that, we are His child, and He knows us. 

When you know Him, you have a relationship of love; your fear and respect spring from the love of who He is as your Father; He is love; a love so powerful and wondrous that it demands to be respected and revered for its awesome magnificence.  Like a deer, you stand at attention, when you hear His voice; be it inwardly or outward…you are still.  You are still, because there is no other like Him.  You are His and He is yours.

Some people physically stand still, but their heart is still trying to race ahead of God.  However hard they try to resist, their heart and mind still tells them to keep going on in the direction they want to go.  Their mind is still in the world.  They’re holding their breath because of their expectations.  But, when God says, “Be Still,” He means, know that I am God, because I am the air you breathe!  I give you life! …and without Me there is no race to run!

So, what does all of this have to do with God building upon us?  Everything.  We want to choose the times that we are still, so God can not build upon us and show us what He can do.  This is our weakness.  We relate being still to the physical, when it is the spiritual.  We can not equate obedience to holiness.  As Jesus would say, we "still lack one thing."  We do not know who God is because we have not given ourselves completely to Him.  We have made Him a part of us.  We are not One.

 

We use God as a stepping stool when we want to reach something.  We step on and off of our Foundation.  God can’t build on us if we aren’t rooted, grounded, and anchored.  And what He does build, is torn down or falls down because our frame is too weak; then, we want to blame others for our ruin. 

We don’t know how to truly be still and allow Him to take control of our lives.  He can not increase our faith because we’re holding on to self.  We don’t want to be truly vulnerable to have a complete relationship with Him.  We still want to keep ties and a relationship with the world. Most often, it is because it helps us relate to others who are still of the world. We fall to temptation and fear because we allow things and people to come between us and God.  We are still looking for gifts in the world, instead of the gift God put inside of us, His Holy Spirit.

 Father, teach us how to be still and know that You are God.  Reveal to us those areas in our lives in which we are still trying to control; that prevent you from building upon us; areas that have led to poor judgment in our lives; and poor judgment of areas, in the lives of others. 

Help us to move beyond simply obeying You into greatly loving You for who You are.  Help us to move beyond practicing reverence and rituals to living in fear of separation from your presence within us.   

Even so, Father, if we say we love and appreciate You for who You are; we must also love and appreciate how you have made us and what You have given us; accepting that you do not make mistakes, Father.   

Those fleshly sins, in which we struggle, Lord, are meant to separate us from You.  Through Jesus, You gave us a way to die to the flesh and conquer sin and temptation.  Jesus, help us to abide in you! 

Help us to accept and celebrate who you have made us to be.  May we accept the work you have put before us with joy and gladness; returning the love You are so worthy of, Father.  Be our Foundation.  Build upon us; removing our weaknesses; so that we may stand upon you rooted and grounded, with holiness and righteousness.  Amen

By the grace and mercy of God,

your servant,

mishael