The guests at the festival could take turns spinning a life-sized spinner and playing the giant 40 x 80 square foot board game. I noticed that from the photo the artist didn't paint in the pictures of the children either doing their "good deed" and going up the ladder or making a poor choice resulting in sliding down, down, down the chutes to only sit and wail at the bottom of the slide from once again messing up in life.
That game is just way too reflective of what seemed to be the yo-yo mentality that I used to live as a believer. I grew weary of trying to do good deeds which gave me a temporary fulfillment and then other times messing up because of my human nature which caused me tears and focusing on my guilty conscience. So you could say I decided to get off that life-sized board game and play by the rules that are due a son of God. Joy wells up inside of me when I focus on that! Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father's GOOD PLEASURE TO GIVE YOU THE KINGDOM.
I'm delighted that I have recently discovered that real life for the believer does not have to mirror this disappointing board game. I've discovered and have a revelation that God is NOT waiting to push me down the chutes of despair when I make less than holy choices. I'm glad I've discovered that God wants his children to be going from glory to glory and not up ladders and down chutes. I have a healthier view of myself and am reminded from Psalms 16:3 "As for the godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are the excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight."
I'm glad that experience is NOT based on my own righteousness but ONLY by what Jesus has already accomplished for me by his death, burial and resurrection on Calvary. God has already judged the world and sees me just-as-if-I'd (justified) never sinned. He holds nothing against us so I don't have to wait for Him to feel the need to shove me down that slide. That IS GOOD NEWS!!!
But what about those problems we are all experiencing? Well, I want to challenge us today to ask God to give us His perspective of those problems.
If you have taken in the most rudimentary class on art, one of the first things they teach you either for painting, drawing or photography is perspective. There is the focal point of your work of art and there is the foreground and the background. When you begin your portrayal of your artwork you must choose what is called a vantage point. This to put it simply is from what advantage you want your focal point to be seen. Do you want your image to be show from a bug's eye view or a bird's eye view?
Well, the same is true when it comes to our problems. Good News! We get to choose our vantage point. God wants us to pray in the spirit and then expect to receive from him his perspective of the particular situation.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand)".
Are we viewing our problems from our earthly vantage point where the problems look looming and cast an ominous shadow upon us OR are we expecting to see this situations from where we are seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heavenly places?
I'm also reminded of the scripture in Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Just this week I came across a great quote from Greg Laurie:
Small God--big problems. Big God--small problems.
It just that simple. We need to humble our selves or another word for humble is to agree with God's Word about who He is and who we are IN CHRIST. Do we choose to see our problems from our earthy vantage point OR mount up with wings like eagles and soar far above the storms of life? When we ask Him to give us His perspective on our situation then we can use our authority given to us by Christ (Matthew 10) to cast down the powers and principalities that hinder us from accomplishing God's will in our lives.
Enjoy this song by Chris Tomlin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxPG_mRHDs&feature=related
How big is your God? My God is Mighty to SAVE!!!!
