Comfort zone to Alter and Field!
Verse for Today: Saturday, September 08, 2012
Genesis 8:18 – So Noah came out (from the ark), together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.
There is a time to rest by faith, but it is followed with a time to go out to work by faith. It is the Lord who administers rest for us and dwells with us as we rest under the cover of the ark of safety and salvation. But when salvation is fully appreciated, it brings forth a challenge to go out and put the faith into practice. There is the assurance that the same Lord who gives us rest in His grace is with us to give us grace in our work for Him. Noah had the fellowship of his family as he rested and is now able to enjoy the fellowship of his family as he begins to worship and work. But it is important to see that before we start to work for the Lord, we must present ourselves as living sacrifice at His alter so that He can have all that we are and have to put to His use. The work that Noah did was a reflection of the worship he had where Noah was fully the Lord’s before it is demonstrated in what He did for the Lord. In all of this, Noah was a wonderful example to his family who saw the genuineness of his faith and so they followed him in worship and work. Today Noah speaks to us about enjoying the rest, worship and work that are part of God’s design for us. We are not to dwell in the place of rest forever, but to come out to publicly worship the Lord and to pour out all that we are and have to Him in the work which then becomes worship. It is worth noting that all the energy Noah had to work came from the Lord. The land was the Lord’s and the seasons were His, along with the opportunity to work. Above all, Noah was the Lord’s as He redeemed His soul and body form the wrath through the ark. Noah came out of his comfort zone to worship and work. It is a challenge for us to come out of our comfort zones to worship meaningfully and work with full commitment for the Lord. As we worship and work for the Lord, He meets all our needs according to His riches.
Dear reader, are you locked up in your comfort zone of education, covetable employment, successful business, desirable quality of life, amassed wealth, popularity and prestige? It is time to come out of it all and demonstrate that you belong to the Lord with all that you have. It is time to surrender yourself to the Lord to do what He wants you to do. It is time to use all your energy to work for the Lord in planting character, relationships, family and testimony. It is time to fetch the water of life and irrigate all that we plant for the Lord. It is time to use our efforts at weeding and pruning our vineyards so that the Lord will get crops out of our gardens. As we plant for the Lord, He will meet our needs from it. This was how Noah, Abraham, Paul and others served the Lord. Today we are challenged to give up our comfort zones for greater blessings which enlarge over a period of time. If we continue to sit inside the ark, we would not enlarge our territories. It is time to sense the time to know that our safety ride is over and that it is time to start public worship and toil for the Lord. Spiritual progress and prosperity awaits us as we worship and work for the Lord. Our Lord will enlarge our territories and bring greater fruitfulness in our lives and ministries as we toil for Him by faith. When we thus worship and serve the Lord, we would not find weariness, but will have the thrill of expectancy.
Luke 9:24 – For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
Thought for Today
Those who worship the Lord and work for the Lord by faith will reap by faith.
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