Connecting the Dots....

Have you ever found yourself suddenly with so many challenges and puzzling situations that seem to be overwhelming you? Or perhaps if you are the type who prays, and when you begin to pray to God about these situations there seems to be so many of them to be prayed for that you even begin to tire in the place of prayer, because you don’t even know which ones of the many challenges you should begin with. If you have ever found yourself in any of these situations, then you are not alone.

Lately, I have had series of giant-sized challenges fly at me at very high speeds, and with each challenge before me, I pray and ask God to help me connect the dots between the challenge and His ultimate plan for my life. I ask Him to give me the wisdom to see the relationships between various pieces of information I have, and to enable me take intuitive steps that lead me to His truth and wisdom.

I have realized that the solving of puzzles or many problems in life is often a matter of connecting the dots. Many times all the clues are there for us, but we have not made the necessary connections. It then becomes important to learn to look for the bigger picture, and then see patterns emerge from there.

Sometimes, however, we may even have to go beyond the dots in order to connect them, as the infamous exercise of “connect these dots without lifting your pen” teaches us.

According to Laurie Beth Jones, in her book Jesus in Blue Jeans, “people hire consultants to see the patterns that they themselves may be too close to see. Diagnosticians connect the dots between different tests and medical data. The act of neurons leaping from one synapse to another constitutes the act of thought itself. If the dots are not connected, a thought does not occur.”

When Jesus Christ took all the laws and the prophecies and explained them in simple stories, he was connecting the dots for us. As He speaks, through the Bible we begin to see the pattern emerging of God’s love.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).”

Jesus taught us to connect the dots, and so I must.

Happy Valentine's Day!

¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. ²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Courtesy of Biblegateway.com

God's Blessing of Integrity.

Integrity is a word that interests me a lot. I believe that it’s closely akin to honesty or having a sense of truthfulness. The word integrity “comprises of perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures and principles,” this is the way Wikipedia (the free internet encyclopedia) defines it. The ninth edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary has it as, “moral uprightness, honesty, wholeness or soundness.”

There is an old saying that, “if having a good reputation is like gold, then having integrity is like owing a goldmine.” At the same time, I believe that integrity is the result of having our lives well integrated around the truths of God’s Word. It is written in the Bible that, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them (Proverbs 11:3 -NKJV).”

Now here’s how the Almighty God cautions us with His most Fatherly advice, He says that, “He's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously - take God seriously (Micah 6:8 The Message).

This is probably what King David must have discovered when he said in Psalm 26:1-3, “vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the LORD; I shall not slip. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.” David was expressing himself here before God - his maker, in all sincerity and without arrogance. This is a great a challenge for me indeed, and may be for you too. Can I frankly express myself before the Almighty God – who sees and knows everything – in such a manner as King David in the above passage of scripture? If not, then I must aspire do so by the help of God.

I believe that from the foregoing one can easily say that integrity is a matter of truth, faith and courage – such virtues that lead to strength and stability in the life of a person. I believe that this is part of God’s plan for you and me today; in the face of changing times He wants us to remain stable, guided by our integrity and unswerving in our adherence to His Word. A life of integrity is a blessed life.

Uche

http://houseofvirtue.blogspot.com