MATTHEW

I'm in Matthew today, and what a blessing!  So many things jump out at me that it is hard to pick just a few, but here are a few: 1) DREAMS-  In the process of bringing about the birth of Christ, God used dreams when He spoke to Joseph.  Mary had an angel come personally to her, but Joseph had God speak to him in dreams.  Four times in Matthew chapters 1 and 2, we see that God spoke to Joseph in a dream, and in each time, Joseph obeyed the dream from God and did exactly what he was told to do in the dream.  Today, we do not have dreams like that, but we do have the Holy Spirit of God who indwells us to impress upon us (and sometimes very strongly) what we ought to do in a given situation.  We also need to learn to "take heed" and obey these impressions from the Holy Spirit.  This is God's way of directing our path!  We may forgo the dreams, but we cannot forgo the direction that God wants to give us in life.  Had Joseph possessed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, no dream would have been necessary, but it is nice to see for our sakes, we can see that God was speaking to Joseph. 2) POSITION OF PRIORITY- In Matthew 6:33  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  Our problems come when we get our priorities out of whack!  Not, all of our priorities... just one of them.  GOD!  You see, when we have family or work or church out of proper priority... the problem is always that we have God out of His rightful priority in our lives.  His place is number one!  When we have number ONE out of the right place in our list of priorities, then all of the others items are automatically out of place and thus the confusion and complications of our lives arise.  But, when we put GOD in the number one position, as we should, then HE aligns all of the other items in the right place.  For He has promised to give us all these things.  Praise God! 3) LEARN BY WORKING- Anyone who knows anything, knows that you learn best by doing than being instructed in a classroom.  Hands on training is always the best.  It is the classroom on the job.  The best of both worlds in instruction.  Now, Jesus knew this a long, long time ago.  He says in Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;"  A yoke was for labor, it was for working!  Jesus is saying that the best way to learn about Him is to work with Him!  That is why we ought to teach a class, witness for Him, run a bus route, work in the church, etc.  It is to "learn" of Him.  You can sit and soak and sour in any church.  But to blossom into God's best for your life, you need to go to work with Jesus and learn of Him! Well, so much for today!  Hope you have a happy and blessed day!