Doughnut anyone?

 

It all started when I decided to drive past when the "Hot" light was on.

That's when I heard the Lord say, "Dan, Stop in and pick up one dozen hot glazed doughnuts!"

Yep, I said it right.

The Lord told me to stop.

These are the times when Moses loses his speech impediment, and Gideon does not need to have a fleece on the lawn merry-go-round. I mean, let's not make God speak twice when He tells you to stop for doughnuts because we all loudly cry out, "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth thee!"

I was on my way home, when I received "The Call" and immediately I obeyed, pulling my car into the drive through lane. That's when God finished laying out the parameters of the assignment.

"I want you to get one dozen hot and glazed doughnuts and take them to a widow lady, that shall remain nameless, and give them to her from Me."

Wow...

I was stunned. Not that He would ask that, but that I was about to be a part of something way bigger than just a normal doughnut purchase.

I have to admit that the smell of those hot doughnuts in the cab of my truck drove me to near insanity as I made my way to that ladies house. I pulled up in the driveway and I knocked on the door.

After a minute or so, the door opened and there she stood. Her eyes were red and puffy and it was immediately obvious that this sweet lady had been crying her heart out. She looked very surprised to see a visitor, let alone a visitor with a dozen hot glazed doughnuts.

"Bro. Dan" she began, "I was not expecting any company, I am so sorry for the way I look." She lowered her eyes to the front steps, "I was just lying down and crying to the Lord about how much I miss my husband".

I said, "Sis, I was just driving down the road when the Lord told me to stop and get you these doughnuts. I guess He wanted to comfort you with a food that truly does comfort."
As I held out the box to her she glowed, " Those are my favorite doughnuts Bro.Dan!"

"Isn't that like our Father?" I asked. "He knows just how to speak our language of comfort!"

I drove away and praised our God. I praised Him because He truly does see us in our hurts and pains. He truly does deliver His comfort to us in the way that we need it the most!

Jesus was talking to the disciples just before the crucifixion. He was telling them that it was better that He go away from them. They were confused. What could be better than having God in front of me?

The answer was to have God IN me!

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" ~John 14:16

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." ~ John 14:26 

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:" ~John 15:26 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." ~John 16:7 
  The world is desperately searching for peace.

The definition of true peace is:

 

"THE PEACE OF JESUS PRESENTLY IN YOUR LIFE"

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
                                                                                                       ~John 14:26-27

The world is searching for and attracted to peace. It is to a God created, God shaped vacuum that is impossible to fill with anything but Him!

I was reading these passages this week and the passage found in John 10:10:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." ~John 10:10 
Life with Christ is very much like a doughnut. Sweet to the taste and delicious to others around us, but lived in our own strength can have an emptiness in the center.

I used to be so worn out trying to "make something happen" for God. There was a time when if I did not see the results that I thought I should be seeing, the answer was just to work harder. Every Sunday be a super bowl type of mentality. It was my strength and if things went the way that I thought they should God was blessing and if the results were under par to me, then I had not worked hard enough.

The funny thing about it is that in all actuality it was my strength. Would God really produce anything that was under par? Really Dan?

So one day I read John 10:10

Where was the abundant life? Was this it? Was the abundant life really a life where I was constantly out to prove to the "Divine employer" that I was a good employee? I showed up at more events my church had than any other member, or that I worked harder for Him than any other slacker? Really?

I thought that His yoke was easy and His burden light?

John 10:10 speaks about the abundant life. Jesus is saying that He came to fill our life with His!

Like a doughnut and a doughnut Hole!

Complete sweetness!

The abundant life He is talking about is found in the sufficiency of Christ!

The Christian life is not about a book or a building, it is about the living Christ expressing Himself through me!

If you gauge your success in the Christian life by how many chapters you read or by how many events you attend in a building and fail to allow the living Christ to express Himself through you then and only then are you failing to be who God made you to be.

I do not minimize church attendance or scripture reading. These are awesome tools that God gives us to utilize, but they were never to be used as the standard. Can others truly see Christ in you? (This is a question that others are supposed to answer about you, and not you answer about you)

I think if we could survey this one, it would be surprising as to what we would find. I can guarantee you that the times others would reply "Yes" would be the times that you were completely surrendered to the Father and finding your sufficiency in Him.

I have been privileged by the Lord to go back with doughnuts to that widow's house each time that the Lord has told me to stop. Each time it was right after she prayed and asked the Lord if He knew where she was. One particular time she said, "I knew you were coming today Bro. Dan because last night I had a rough time...God is sufficient!"

I think I will end this post with the recommendation that you stop for a doughnut today and while you eat it, thank Christ for His sufficiency, and then ask Him who He would have you share some comfort with!


Climbing with you,
~Dan