I will be a faithful and wise stewardship with my lamp burning

From: Nov. 28- December 4, 2006 Study: # 471

TOPIC: “I will be a faithful and wise stewardship with my lamp burning” Luke 12:35-48 No one likes to be whipped. The Word is for all of us, to help us to grow as a Church. The least we can do is to get to know ourselves. We have to be better administrators of our lives. If something the devil is always scheming against us is to tie us to this earth with something that is distant from God. Verse 22 We must not live anxiously, let us open our eyes well because we sometimes become bound to this earth and we live tied to it and when we realize it, instead of being in a good spiritual level of search, we find it difficult to pray, to read the Word, etc. If there is something the devil wants to do against us is to tie us up but the Word will keep us with opened eyes. If God takes care of a crow that does not sow or reap (Vs. 24), then that same God will feed us, so we must have a complete dependence on Him. The word says: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning…" We must be prepared for when it is necessary to start running. If we don't have our waist girded when we have to start running we will trip, we won't be able to do things right because we will become entangled with our own feet. If our lamps are not burning one cannot see in the darkness. If we know how to light our feet correctly, nothing or nobody will be able to make us trip. We must be careful because we forget that Jesus is coming for the second time to pursuit the church. Our lamps need to be constantly burning in order to light our feet and to avoid to trip over. There are many things that can make us trip and tie us here to this world. Let us learn how to rest completely in God and seek for the higher things and not those of this world. Colossians 3:2 Sometimes, as the years go by, instead of coming closer we draw far away from the knowledge of the Scriptures. For this we must watch. To watch means to pursuit something we want. We are people sent to this earth for God’s purposes. Those who watch do it even in the second and third guard. Let us be watchful even in the most difficult moments when everything is dark. The devil wants to tie us up with things that seem to be natural for us. When we stop to watch over we can be diverted with things of this world, material things, etc. God didn't call us for that but to look after people. For what reason does God have us here, to be amused, angry, gossiping, etc.? How valuable are we to God? Let us not change what we have of God for anything in this world, because that will separate us from Him. We must seek deep inside of ourselves. We are waiting for Jesus. We are sometimes so wrapped up in this world that we forget that we are waiting for the prompt coming of Christ. We don't know if He will come in the second or in the third watch and as believers we must wait and be prepared each day. Let us begin to seek for what it is necessary to fix in our lives because soon there will be a wedding. Revelation 19:9 We must be faithful and wise stewardships. Luke 12:42 How difficult it is for men to be faithful! For this reason we must seek for everything that comes from God. The people of God must be prudent. Those who are wise are very careful about everything because they are watching all that surrounds them because God has made us stewardships of the gifts of his grace, of the wellbeing that God has given to us as the Church. We are wise stewardships knowing that the wiser and faithful we become nobody will knock us down because we will live according to all that God has put in our hands. Those who profess to be stewardships of God are those who are placed in the house of the Lord and give his portion to the people. As the Church we should watch to see things

the way it is necessary for us to see them. Working with human beings is the most difficult thing when we are stewardships of the Lord. We have the privilege of working with people. God’s people have to live through all type of sufferings because we work with people, for this reason it is necessary to give our best as wise administrators. We are soldiers that work as churchwardens, we are formed in sufferings, to suffer for those that we love and are in our care. We are disciples, we form lives. Jesus spoke to the disciples to be careful with materialism and greediness. When we become attached to the things of this world our thoughts are in our own circumstances and not in God’s. If the servant stops watching the second and third guard, for not waiting on the Lord we will begin to lash the Church because we weren’t able to watch. When we open our mouth not to do well we throw dirt on what is sacred. We have formed our spiritual life in the altar, then, how can we toss dirt to sacred things when we have been called to be churchwardens of this gospel? We sometimes whip as we please and we forget that we have to have waist girded because soon we will have to start running. When we stop being stewardships thinking that the Lord will not come soon we begin to eat, to get intoxicated, to defend ourselves, to sleep, tossing dirt to the church of God. The churchwarden takes care of everything he has and is careful of what he can’t or should not do. Verse 46 The Lord will punish and will put with the infidels those who were called to be churchwardens and have unfairly used the privileges given by God. That servant knowing the will of God did not prepare himself and for this reason he or she didn't give the measure they had to give. For this reason their lashes will be duplicated. God has given us privileges and has called us to do His will. The more privileges we have the greater the responsibility. As stewards we have more responsibilities. To pasture is a gift with a lot of privilege and responsibility. The more honor the greater the responsibility. There are long hours of silence and tears. If we will be accountable before God we have to be good stewards. Those who are called to be stewards have to be well prepared in the Word, love the souls, and surrender to them until worn out. We will find support on our knees. It is not doing our own will but knowing how to do God’s will. By not doing it lashes will be duplicated and these are not good for anyone. Those who have gotten to know the will of God just as it is revealed in the Scriptures have a great responsibility of obeying it. God doesn't need our help but rather for us to surrender completely to Him. To those who have been given much, much will be demanded from them. It is such a great privilege to be called by Him. Amen.