Build

Well, we started a journey yesterday...a group of 16...to read the bible in 90 days...a lofty goal to say the least....but a goal that surely would please the Lord and also be a worthy feat for a lifetime. But as I was introducing this to the girls yesterday...and looked around and saw their precious faces...some I had know for years, some were neighbors, and some I just have know passing in the halls of church...and some I knew faces but have never taken an opportunity to know their stories....I thought it is amazing that God chose this group as he did and has joined us to pursue jointly one focused goal.... to advance forward one day at a time on the same journey...he has given us a group for accountability, for support, and for encouragement so that we can help each other succeed.

Yesterday was day one....we are to read only 12 pages a day...for 14 weeks...but do you remember hearing about the tower of Babel...at that time in history all language was the same...and becasue all were united in language...it provided a bonding strength of all men of the city when they were focused on the same earthly goal ...nothing that they planned to do would be impossible becasue they were united....they made bricks llll the forces were too grand to stop a movement. They made bricks, baked them thoroughly, and used tar for mortar to build themselves a city and a tower that would reach to the heavens...
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower and said: "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come let us go down and confuse their language so that they will not understand each other...and God scattered them from there all over the earth. Genesis 11: 5-8

As I read that I thought there is so much truth in that one story. (I know there is truth in the entire bible...) But when we are united on any front...we gain strength....and forces become grand...and momentum peaks. It is when we try to take things on ourselves that our stand is weakened. We hear a lot about accountability...we fight it....wanting to keep our own business private.....and also it is a pride thing as we want to desperately to be self sufficient...but accountability is a good thing....if we are accountable to folks who have God's values and standards and a true concern for what is right and best ....it keep us focused...the city and tower were not being built to glorify God but to glorify themselves....

When we choose to do something that is glorifying to God, and we engage others to pursue a Godly purpose....He will not be the one who breaks up the group....but you can count on someone else who is against God to make as many waves as He can to tear down what is being built in glory to God.
The minute we choose God....the war is on. That is why, we as Christians need to support one another, to love one another and encourage one another.
There is spiritual warfare in every cranny of our our life. But if we remain united....God will give us strength to fight and overcome the obstacles that are before us and be victorious.

So what are we building in our lives right now....is it a tower that gives us personal pleasure or a tower that glorifies God. Are we building relationships that are favorable to God...are we building legacies that give God the credit for our accomplishments, for our successes? Are we building Godly values that will
be passed on for generations to follow? Are we building fences to keep others out and ourselves isolated? Are we building self serving monuments that will call attention to ourselves or are they a reflection of the God we worship?

Everyday we are accountable to God whether we recognize that accountability or not. His is our ultimate judge. It is hard to do the right thing....so many times our selfish nature has such a pull on us that we waver from the track that we know is the good one to be on. So God send us friends, and mentors and family to be our accountability group. But we must be willing to step into that group and allow them to counsel us according to Godly truths.

Being accountable to someone is in fact recognizing that we do not have all the answers....and we are weak at the knees without support....and we are not so confident that we do not think that we need other people...we can sure try to go at life alone....but it is an effort that ultimately leaves an empty void behind.
Successes are temporary...and hollow...and are without heavenly purpose or Godly acclaim.

God did not make us to be islands...he is all about the relationships....and caring for one another...and hurting with one another and rejoicing with one another.
he is about bonding friendships and joint desire to seek him and His will for each of our lives. We need each other.. we need each other to remind us of the love and commitment that God has for each of us...that he has a purpose...and he will not leave us stranded without any help...he will enforce and reinforce and incorporate his ways, his guidelines and his wisdom adn his grace into our lives if only we will be willing to submit to the journey that he has prepared.

This little group that I met with yesterday just filled my heart with gladness....we will succeed but it will be because of the accountability that God has
positioned before us. Accountability can be just one other person or a group of others....but what is important is that the one or ones you have chosen to be accountable with line up with a Godly heart of doing what is right in the eyes of God not what is easy...God is watching what we are building....if it is for His glory he will continue to let us build and even make way for our permits... but if it is not...he will not bless the accomplishment....no matter how grand it may look from the outside...For it is what we build from the inside, from a heart that is in tandem with God... that seems has the greatest potential of success.

Remember nothing is impossible for God...and if we are building for His glory....he will see us through.

Dear Lord....watch as bake out bricks and build our lives....and if you see that we are building for the wrong reasons or building with the wrong materials....please tear down our defenses and help us to see your way as the better way....and begin building again accordingly. Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in...for His glory will shine through.

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