2 Words in 1

The Carpenter

The Lord, our God, is the Carpenter of the entire earth.  Everything that was, is, and will be was built by the words of His mouth.  Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, came to the earth as a Carpenter.  He built a foundation upon which we, the believing ones, stand today.  He is also building His Church using every tool He has to accomplish His purpose.  The Lord knows when His Church needs a Hammer to beat down falsehood. He knows when to use the Screwdriver to reinforce His word.  He knows when to use a pair of pliers to hold and secure us in place and any other tool He needs, He won’t hesitate to use. He has access to them all.

The Lord as Carpenter knows when to remodel, repair, demolish and start anew.  When you see Him making changes in His Church, rest assured that He holds the blueprint.  He knows how He wants His House to look and He will spare no expense to accomplish that purpose even if He has to pay for renovations with His own life, which He did.  When you hear the saying that the, “Lord is doing a new thing”, true to being a Carpenter, a demolition must take place first.

Marvel not when things seem out of control around you.  It’s going to look a mess before it gets better but don’t lose heart.  The Carpenter is on His job and He is a Finisher.  Be patient with Him.  Perfection takes time.

Preparation builds Maturity

David took down a lion and bear before he stood in front of Goliath.  How many of us have ignored the lions and bears in our lives and stand before our Goliath ill prepared?

The small battles in life are but training grounds for the greater ones to come.  Surely our lives will be met with conflict because Paul admonishes to use the weapons of warfare.  There will be battles in this life that we are to overcome and they will vary in intensity depending on our skill and precision in warfare.  God won’t give you more than you can handle but to war on a little scale of warfare for your entire Christian life says a lot about one’s spiritual growth.

David would have never stood before Goliath with his crude weapons of warfare had he not have wielded them in a lesser degree of warfare in private.  In other words, those lions and bears are the warfares we face in our wilderness seasons.  They are the things we battle against within us when we are driven to places of character testing but if we can’t overcome those, how shall we stand before an enemy of our people if we can’t defeat the enemy within?

I often say, “You will know your maturity in the Lord based upon the battles you are facing.”  If your battle is over someone talking about you, that says a lot about what you can and cannot handle.  Where you are in the Lord is where you are in the Lord, that fact is undeniable. Saul couldn’t stand before Goliath because his own lions and bears were very much alive but David’s were dead.  He killed them in the wilderness which made him ready for an even greater battle.  You want to do great exploits for the Lord?  Kill your lions and bears.

 Delisa Lindsey