tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5529365993866431111.post2651509081441615549..comments2023-04-30T04:57:11.101-07:00Comments on A Great God and Good Coffee: Making Things Too HardErick Reinstedthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17687593837022660081noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5529365993866431111.post-70712029688683983542013-05-09T12:59:34.662-07:002013-05-09T12:59:34.662-07:00Hi Amy! Thanks for reading and commenting. I agree...Hi Amy! Thanks for reading and commenting. I agree with you to a point. I do believe He pursues us and corrects us and chastens us to bring us back onto His path . . . but there is a whole lot of pain and thorns in there, and we may not always stand up to the devil (i.e. put on the armor of God that we may stand up to him). Even as Christians God allows us our choices, and yes, absolutely, if we wander He seeks to bring us back, but that can't be a reason to get lazy in keeping vigilant and sober (and I am not saying in any way that you are saying this) and live thinking we can do whatever we want and He'll bring us back and take care of us. Too often we can wander into our own plans and ways and while He never leaves or forsakes us, He won't bless those ways either, nor necessarily provide in them. The main context of what I felt He showed me was in feeling like there are many things ahead I believe He has called me to be in which I feel completely inadequate to deal with, or to know what to say in, and yet, as long as I know it is Him I am following into them and not myself inserting myself into them, I don't need to worry---He will provide where He leads. He will give me words. He will give me ways. He will make His will work out in and through me. I simply need to follow and trust. I don't necessarily believe that if I took off on my own and sought some speaking engagement He didn't lead me to that He would bless that effort or fill my mouth with His words, but if I know He has called me to do a service for someone, and I am following Him into it, then He will fill me with His words. Not sure if all that makes sense, but maybe it helps clarify what I was sharing and the context of it.Erick Reinstedthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17687593837022660081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5529365993866431111.post-26755778881406737182013-05-09T12:09:36.620-07:002013-05-09T12:09:36.620-07:00As I read this I had the childlike revelation that...As I read this I had the childlike revelation that it is even more simple than you say. For you say, "If I stray off the path He is leading me on then I become responsible for my own provision and protection and I am completely dependent on my own resources and ability, and I am alone and vulnerable in the dark woods and deep thickets of life. But, if as a good sheep I simply follow my Good Shepherd ..." But we are not good sheep! We are prone to wander and our Good Shepherd knows that. So, if I stray off the path He is leading me on, "His rod and His staff, they comfort me." They comfort me because they are used to guide me back to the path! Get it? Just as our Good Shepherd has taken it upon Himself to guide his sheep, so He has taken it upon Himself to keep His sheep with Him. What joy that I do not have to depend on my own fickle focus or weak will to follow Him -- Christ in me does it all! "For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03268849975538109522noreply@blogger.com