Build it and He will come and come and come…

Have you ever come to the realization the way you are living is not leading to life but actually feels like darkness has entered?  It’s not the abundant life the bible talks about or life-giving to the people around you. It’s not the life you hear about at church or the one you imagined you would live.  

Do you ever think, “I want more of God but I don’t know where to begin.”  Or even laid in your bed in the dark of the night and pondered about your day and said out loud, “Why did I say that or Why did I do that?” There is no perfect person in this world.  Even the person we perceive as a strong Godly person makes mistakes.  The beauty of the Lord and Savior is today your life can be rebuilt.  So many people get stuck and truly don’t know where to begin to change their life because they feel there are just too many areas that need changing.  Maybe for the first time, you are hearing negative, ugly words coming out of your mouth.  Maybe you have become aware that you are judging people in your mind daily.  Maybe for the first time ever, you are aware of things your hands have been doing that embarrass you now. Maybe your feet have walked in places that you know God would not approve or your eyes have looked at images, movies, and tv shows you know down deep in your heart you should not be watching.  These are the areas that are broken in our lives as it relates to our spiritual walk with God.  Until these areas are repaired, do not expect to experience the real joy of the Lord or to ride on the heights of the land or feast on the inheritance of Jacob (Gen 28:13-14, Gen 35:10-12).  Let me pause and reiterate the inheritance of Jacob that is ours to inherit: land, innumerable descendants, and blessings from the Lord.  We deprive ourselves of this inheritance if we chose to remain as we are.  We deprive our children. We must choose to create a new us; to build a better you. In doing so, our lives will be enriched.

So, where do you begin if you don’t know where to begin.  First, above all, we must receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I know this can be a scary phrase for those that have lived most of their lives in sin but we, the people, the sinners, are the very people Jesus died for on the cross.  We are the very people Jesus loved so much that He sacrificed His life so that we may receive the gift of salvation.   Maybe Jesus already lives in your heart and you are saved but you know there are areas in your life that you need to rebuild.  Start with one of those areas to rebuild.  As Christians, we have to remind ourselves, we do not need to reach perfection to call upon the Lord. It’s quite the opposite. We call upon the Lord in our sin, in our imperfect life, and in our need for broken pieces of our life to be repaired. For me, I find one area of my life that I feel is broken and I look up the antonym of that word and then I take that word and look up all the scriptures about that word and start reading those scriptures.  I study those scriptures and learn how to specifically change in that area.  Then I pray and ask God to help me as I rebuild this area in my life. And, oh yes, remember Field of Dreams and Ray kept hearing “build it and he will come?” People thought he was crazy when he actually plowed his cornfield to build the baseball field. His wife was skeptical at first and his brother in law couldn’t see what Ray saw.  Yes, this.  This will probably happen to you. Family and friends may not understand your desire to rebuild some areas of your life but do it anyway. Can I tell you a secret? The reason you even see an area in your life that needs rebuilding is God has opened your eyes. He wants us to live a life in abundance but we have to change some areas of our life to experience this life in abundance.

​As we invite the Lord to rebuild areas that are broken, we will see our joy return; we will become aware that the arm of the Lord is not too short to save. No longer will the Lord’s ears be too dull to hear us.  No longer will the Lord’s face be hidden from us because of our sins.  All this happens because we invite the Lord into our brokenness; to rebuild us.  And don’t forget it opens the gate wide open for us to receive the inheritance of Jacob: the land, the innumerable descendants, and the blessings of the Lord!  
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Build it and He will come and not only come once but when we build a new us, He will come and come and come.