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On To The Prize by Renee Hibma (Paperback) - Lulu

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SECRETS REVEALED

Mark 4:21-23

21And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? 22“For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

I've been thinking a lot about verse 22.  In all my years in the church, I have never heard a positive twist on this verse. The connotation to this verse seemed to always be as a warning that we better behave ourselves or everyone will know about it..."all hidden things of darkness will be revealed". Another thing that always went with this typical sermon was, "Be sure your sins will find you out".  

As I've been meditating on this passage the last few days, I've been thinking about the goodness of the Lord.  I now look at this verse as His REWARD for us.  It no longer threatens me or has a negative connotation for me. It tells me now that God will reward us for our secret worship to Him.   His glory will be revealed through us as we put Him first in our "secret place".  Openly, our love for Him will flow from us.  The GOOD things will come to light, not just the bad things. Our "hidden" times with Him will come to light. You won't have to work at letting His love flow from you, because it will be revealed.  It will come to light.  It will flow from you "super" naturally. 

We've all heard the phrase, "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching"(CS Lewis).   That's what this verse says to us.  Everything comes to light.  Everything is revealed.  All those GOOD things we do when we are all alone in secret come to light.  All those times we spend with God.  All those times we secretly do something for someone without them knowing.  All those times we pray for others in secret for their hard life situations.  God is revealed because of our secret times with Him.  But more than that. When He says nothing will be hidden or secret in our lives that will not come to light, that means He will reveal US and who WE are in Him.  He won't just reveal Himself through us. He will reveal the good in US, so He will be glorified and magnified.
We are His workmanship.  We are His handiwork. This is not to show us off.  People are people.   They are judgmental, fearful, distrusting, etc.  They see US, then God in us.  I must decrease, and He must increase.  God uses us, His vessels to accomplish His work. People have a need to respect someone, and in these verses, He is working that out.  He will ultimately be glorified and people will be drawn to Him.

Mark 4:24-25

24And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.25“For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

He says it will be measured back to us...and more. That excites me! His reward for us on this earth, in this time, for such a time as this is to reveal Himself through us to others for His Kingdom purposes.  The good things of our hearts, the good things of our time with Him will be revealed to the world to change, not only us, but those we come in contact with. They too will be changed from glory to glory, from faith to faith because of our secret times with God. When we grow in our times with Him and His Word, we will cause others to grow. It's His Word.  It's His Truth.  We are His vessels of honor.  It ALL comes to light..all that good stuff. Be encouraged.  You are maybe now a best kept secret.  But, your hard work...study, prayer, gifts, talents, love, grace, mercy.....will all be revealed. All your GOOD secret stuff will bring glory and honor to our Father and build His Kingdom.

FERTILIZER

Did you ever notice that when things are going good and seem to be progressing in different areas of our lives, something happens to mess things up?  There seems to be a monkey wrench thrown into the mix to screw things up from progressing the way you anticipated. Your mind is going one direction. Your heart is going one direction.  Your anticipation is going one direction.  All of a sudden there's a halt. All of a sudden there's a roadblock.  All of a sudden you are blind-sided.  I sure hate that!  But, none of it takes God by surprise.

There are many well-meaning people in this world that get involved in ways that seem right to them. They think they are helping.  Their motives are pure.  Their love for us is deep.  They just want to help us out in our situations.  That's part of being a human being, I guess. They just don't know all the facts.  They may not know how delicate of a situation you may be dealing with.  They just may think they can fix things and help things work out because they have experience.  But every situation is different.  Every person is different.  So hearing the Holy Spirit when wanting to help is of utmost importance when we involve ourselves in other's lives.

You believe you've heard from God and are trying so carefully to take each step only under the direction of the Holy Spirit.  You want your flesh dead.  You want to hear clearly.  You want your spirit-man to reign, not your emotions.  Then something happens to muddy the water.  You've surrender things to God.  You've asked for His direction. You've laid your dreams and plans at His feet.  Somehow things get changed through pure motives and the best laid plans of mice and men.

Sometimes it's just CRAP!  Yes, CRAP!  A pile of stinky mess is laid in the middle of it all.  You wonder what in the world is going on!  You wonder why did God allow this to happen!  You wonder how is God going to fix this!  Here, again, it's all about listening to the Holy Spirit at every turn.  He will mend it all.  He will fix it all.  But we have to ask for wisdom, discernment, and sometimes courage to deal with every aspect of the situation.

What the devil meant for evil, God will turn it for our good!  That's why I titled this "FERTILIZER".  No matter what "CRAP" the devil tries to pile on anything, it's "FERTILIZER".  It will cause maybe a sudden stop of progress, or cause a delay, but SUDDENLY, new roots and sprouts will spring forth. There will be more powerful and quicker growth...just the opposite of what the devil wanted.  That's the good news!  Bring on the FERTILIZER!  God will work all things out for my good and His glory!  He tells me that ALL things work together for my good.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.