I strongly believe that each and every one of us, as members of the body of Christ, are called to do something to advance God's kingdom. He has placed something inside of each of us that is meant to be used to show people how amazing He is. He designed each one of us, so it only makes sense that He would not only put something in us, but He would also be the one to call it up out of us.
Has there ever been a time when you did something and it felt like it was what you were born to do? Maybe it is to sing, or to speak publicly, or to care for others, or to fight for a cause, or to be an intercessor....the list goes on and on. But my question is, after you came into a relationship with Jesus have you ever felt like He was showing you something about yourself that somehow you already knew, but you just never realized? I know that may sound confusing, but sometimes when God calls something up out of us for us to do, there is this feeling inside the says "'THIS' is why I am this way....He put this in me to used for His glory". And once you begin to use the very things that God put in you there is such a feeling of fulfillment that comes along with it. For some, it is a lifelong calling. Whatever He has called you to do, you will do forever. But for others, it is a like a stepping stone process. He is calling you to do this, so He can get you to a place to do the next thing....and then the next...and then the next. Each thing He calls you to may pull another new thing out of you, or teach you something new so you can be used on a higher and deeper level.
If God has taught me anything over the past year, it is this.....Sometimes He needs to use you from the shadows so He can teach you to be humble. Sometimes we can get so caught up in wanting to be in the spotlight that we forget why we are doing what we do. It's all for Him! It's all for His glory. It is not for our own recognition, it's to for our own gain and it's certainly should never be by our own power that we do what God has called us to do. And sometimes, even with the best intensions, we "think" we have to be in the spotlight to be used. That we would be so much more effective if we had a mic in our hand and an audience of thousands. But that is not always the case. Time and time again God has used men (and women) without them being in the spotlight. He has done miraculous things with people whose names are barely known. So for me, when I felt God pressing it on me to begin to write I had not idea it would to impact the amount of people that it has. I began to write as a healing process from the divorce I was going through. I began to write to help others who may be hurting like I was hurting. I began to pour out the words that He put in me having no idea that a year later He would be putting new things in me daily to go write. And He has taught me that in a year these words would reach people in over 20 countries and be read over 7,000 times without anyone except my immediate friends even knowing who I am. And I know this was done to humble me! God knows that I was once in the ministry and I once desired the recognition too much. And I am humble enough now to say that. But surrendering to Him and being used from the shadows has been one the best things that has ever happened to me. I want to be very clear though....the only reason I am being used it because I surrendered who I was to Him and let him humble me through correction. This opened me up to follow in the direction He wanted to point me in. To use the gifts He has put in me to glorify Him. I know I may not be in the shadows forever, but for now He is using me and teaching me and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Like I stated earlier, God wants to use us all. The manner in which He wants to use you is between you and Him. Invite Him to show you what things He has put in you that only He can pull out of you to be used for His glory. It might take some humbling, it might take some stepping out, it might take moving out of your comfort zone....but it will be worth it!
God, Thank You that you actually want to use a messed up person like me. Thank You that You trust me enough to represent You and show others the power of Your life changing love. Holy Spirit I pray today that You will show others their God given value and gifts today, and change hearts so they will allow God to use them to bring light into the lives of those around them. I pray that you will keep us humble as we are being used.....reminding us that it is because of God that we are usable, and it is for His glory that we are being used. In Jesus name, Amen
Friday, May 29, 2015
Thursday, May 28, 2015
The Roots Keep The Tree Standing
As I've stated in one of my blogs before, a few years back I had an amazing opportunity to go to Alabama with a team of great people and help clean up the destruction left behind by the tornados that hit down there. Many times since then God has brought me back to that time to teach me, remind me and humble me. It was a great time of serving and helping others, but it was also and eye opening experience of how fragile life truly is. However, today God once again reminded me of things I saw during that time and spoke to me through it.
One of the memories that is forever etched into my brain is the sight of all the trees in the area and how it looked after the storm hit. And recently after a storm came through my neighborhood I was once again reminded of what I saw that day. And what I saw was whole trees taken right out of the ground and tossed around like they were nothing. Trees that had been standing for more years than the neighborhoods around them. Some where ripped right out of the ground, and some were still standing. What was the difference between them all? Their root system. It didn't really have much to do with the part of the tree we could see sticking up out of the ground, it had everything to do with the part of the tree you couldn't see. When the storm hit, that was the most important part of those trees. And recently when a bad storm came through my neighborhood, a tree that had been standing for many many years that looked strong and healthy was pulled right up out of the ground in front of my sister's house. Again, from the part we saw every single day, the tree looked strong and healthy, but it was amazing to see how small it roots where after it had been ripped out of the ground and they were exposed. I remember standing there looking it and thinking "I can't believe it stood this long!". The tree was huge. It had many nice strong healthy limbs, lots and lots of green leaves and a nice big round healthy trunk, but it had the smallest roots. I was so shocked. Why now? Why after all this time did this tree finally get ripped up out of the place it had stood for so long? Because this was the perfect storm to get this tree to fall. Without the proper root system any tree that has stood for years can fall if the storm that hits has all the right conditions. It might stand through many many small storms, but it will only take that one perfect storm to get it to fall. But those trees that are rooted deep, those trees that have been growing in the right conditions whose roots spread out into the places we cannot see....those are the trees that won't budge under any storm. Yeah, they may have had their leaves stripped off more than once, they may have been shaken by many huge gusts off winds and pounding rains, and they may have even lost a few limbs along the way....but in the end, the tree still stands!
I'm not writing some revelatory thing today. I'm not saying something that you may not already know. But I am trying to remind us all that it's all about our roots! Our roots in God are THE thing that will allow us to stand through any storm. Your roots will be a direct reflection to the growing conditions YOU have allowed yourself to be in. Planting yourself in the word, in Christian fellowship, in a good prayer life and avoiding the things of this world that will damage your roots...that is what it's all about. Devotion to a relationship with Christ and making sure you are planted firm in ONLY Him. Just like a tree can't have roots in loose rocks, or exposed above the ground, or in loose weak soil and be expected to stand strong, we also can't have our roots mixed up in all the wrong things and expect to weather the storms that come our way. One thing about a tree that is 100% true, it is going to have to go through some storms in it's time...and so will we. How we handle those will be a direct reflection of how we have prepared our root system.
Colossians 2:6-7 says "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving". You might be missing some leaves or even a limb or two when the storm calms, but if we do as God's Word says and root ourselves in Him and establish our faith in Him, then we can make it through the storms of life. I know this because He has carried me through some tough ones. Some of which have been humbling because on the outside "my tree" looked strong and healthy, but deep down my roots were not. But only God has the grace, mercy and love to look past the things we have done wrong and allow us to change it all today for the better! If you know your roots are not deep in Him, then let Him give you the direction and correction needed to change your life before a storm comes along that is just to much for you to stand through.
God, Thank You that You are THE source of our strength. That You want to bare our burdens and carry us through the storms of life. Please help us learn to root ourselves in You and not the things of this world. Thank You for the storms that You have helped us through, even when we didn't realize it was You. And Holy Spirit please help us listen to You for direction and correction in our lives so we can stand strong IN CHRIST through any future storm that may come our way. In Jesus name, Amen
One of the memories that is forever etched into my brain is the sight of all the trees in the area and how it looked after the storm hit. And recently after a storm came through my neighborhood I was once again reminded of what I saw that day. And what I saw was whole trees taken right out of the ground and tossed around like they were nothing. Trees that had been standing for more years than the neighborhoods around them. Some where ripped right out of the ground, and some were still standing. What was the difference between them all? Their root system. It didn't really have much to do with the part of the tree we could see sticking up out of the ground, it had everything to do with the part of the tree you couldn't see. When the storm hit, that was the most important part of those trees. And recently when a bad storm came through my neighborhood, a tree that had been standing for many many years that looked strong and healthy was pulled right up out of the ground in front of my sister's house. Again, from the part we saw every single day, the tree looked strong and healthy, but it was amazing to see how small it roots where after it had been ripped out of the ground and they were exposed. I remember standing there looking it and thinking "I can't believe it stood this long!". The tree was huge. It had many nice strong healthy limbs, lots and lots of green leaves and a nice big round healthy trunk, but it had the smallest roots. I was so shocked. Why now? Why after all this time did this tree finally get ripped up out of the place it had stood for so long? Because this was the perfect storm to get this tree to fall. Without the proper root system any tree that has stood for years can fall if the storm that hits has all the right conditions. It might stand through many many small storms, but it will only take that one perfect storm to get it to fall. But those trees that are rooted deep, those trees that have been growing in the right conditions whose roots spread out into the places we cannot see....those are the trees that won't budge under any storm. Yeah, they may have had their leaves stripped off more than once, they may have been shaken by many huge gusts off winds and pounding rains, and they may have even lost a few limbs along the way....but in the end, the tree still stands!
I'm not writing some revelatory thing today. I'm not saying something that you may not already know. But I am trying to remind us all that it's all about our roots! Our roots in God are THE thing that will allow us to stand through any storm. Your roots will be a direct reflection to the growing conditions YOU have allowed yourself to be in. Planting yourself in the word, in Christian fellowship, in a good prayer life and avoiding the things of this world that will damage your roots...that is what it's all about. Devotion to a relationship with Christ and making sure you are planted firm in ONLY Him. Just like a tree can't have roots in loose rocks, or exposed above the ground, or in loose weak soil and be expected to stand strong, we also can't have our roots mixed up in all the wrong things and expect to weather the storms that come our way. One thing about a tree that is 100% true, it is going to have to go through some storms in it's time...and so will we. How we handle those will be a direct reflection of how we have prepared our root system.
Colossians 2:6-7 says "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving". You might be missing some leaves or even a limb or two when the storm calms, but if we do as God's Word says and root ourselves in Him and establish our faith in Him, then we can make it through the storms of life. I know this because He has carried me through some tough ones. Some of which have been humbling because on the outside "my tree" looked strong and healthy, but deep down my roots were not. But only God has the grace, mercy and love to look past the things we have done wrong and allow us to change it all today for the better! If you know your roots are not deep in Him, then let Him give you the direction and correction needed to change your life before a storm comes along that is just to much for you to stand through.
God, Thank You that You are THE source of our strength. That You want to bare our burdens and carry us through the storms of life. Please help us learn to root ourselves in You and not the things of this world. Thank You for the storms that You have helped us through, even when we didn't realize it was You. And Holy Spirit please help us listen to You for direction and correction in our lives so we can stand strong IN CHRIST through any future storm that may come our way. In Jesus name, Amen
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
IF We Love One Another
Many times I have read the book of John and heard the verses in chapter 13 about loving one other, but for some reason today they just stood out to me. I was thinking that this is some of Jesus' last time with the disciples and anything He would be saying to them would be like a coach who is giving his team one last pep talk near the end of the game. You know, one of those talks where he says something about how much they have been working up to this moment and how it has all come down to this....and this is something you will remember for the rest of your lives. Well, that is how I picture Jesus talking to the disciples when He says..."A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another". One of the things that stood out to me is that Jesus says "a new commandment I leave to you"....then he says "love one another". Now loving one another obviously was not a new concept. It wasn't like up until this moment love had not been introduced into the world, or even the idea of loving each other. But the key to what Jesus was saying that made this a "new" commandment was in His very next line, "as I have loved you". Whoa, now this was a radical statement that even the disciples had not way of understanding. Why...because Jesus had not yet died for them. They had no way of understanding the love the Jesus was talking about in the moment like we get to see when we read this. We know how Jesus loved us. We know the sacrificial and unconditional love that Jesus showed us. We know that not long after making that statement He would be drug off, beat and killed for the sake of our sins. So we see the full meaning behind the words "love one another, as I have loved you". But Jesus also goes on to say "by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another". As a Christ follower this is an area that I have to hang my head low when I think of how "us" as Christ followers have shown the world how we "love one another". Our very brother and sister in Christ.....half the time we can even pull that love off, let alone have love for those that are lost. That is a sad but true fact.
If the enemy has managed to corrupt anything the most, it has to be love. Through the corruption of love he has managed to muddy up the waters between right and wrong. He has managed to create selfishness in our hearts. He has managed to create this "every man(or woman) for himself" or "live for the moment" attitude. All of this has been accomplished by corrupting love. If you look all the way back to the beginning of time he has been working on corrupting love. Kane and Abel are the perfect example of one of the first times satan was able to make love less important and greed and jealousy take it's place. And he has done that throughout time, and continues to do it today. Marriage, homosexuality, abortion, murder, cheating, stealing....this list goes on and on. All of these things have been tainted by the lack of application to "love one another, as I (Christ) have loved you". Christ's love was pure, it was blameless, it had not selfish intentions. It contained to motives, it contained no lust, it contained no greed. It caused no pain (to others), it was not prejudice and it was blameless. It put others first and His love was the perfect example of unconditional. Christ's love was PERFECT. So for this to be one of His last commandments holds MUCH meaning! How many wars would not have happened? How many protests would not have taken place? How many marriages would still be together? How many children would have been born? How many families would be whole......IF we could just love as selfless as Christ did? What will it take for us to get it right?....It will take us surrendering our selfish wants and desires to Him, and allowing Him to purify our hearts and love through us. We cannot do it on our own. "It is not me, but He that is in me!"
God, we truly cannot thank You enough for the love that You have for us. We truly cannot wrap our human minds around the love the Christ showed us. We can only stand in awe and ask for you to pierce our hearts and reveal in us the areas that we need to first work on our love for you, then our love for one another. Holy Spirit please put a love so pure in us that what we get from it would be the very last thing on our minds. And help us show a seemingly hopeless world the hope and love that Christ intended for us all to know. Heal hearts today....heal marriages today....heal families today....heal friendships today....heal the church today....We cry out for love to conquer and heal all!!! In Jesus name, Amen
If the enemy has managed to corrupt anything the most, it has to be love. Through the corruption of love he has managed to muddy up the waters between right and wrong. He has managed to create selfishness in our hearts. He has managed to create this "every man(or woman) for himself" or "live for the moment" attitude. All of this has been accomplished by corrupting love. If you look all the way back to the beginning of time he has been working on corrupting love. Kane and Abel are the perfect example of one of the first times satan was able to make love less important and greed and jealousy take it's place. And he has done that throughout time, and continues to do it today. Marriage, homosexuality, abortion, murder, cheating, stealing....this list goes on and on. All of these things have been tainted by the lack of application to "love one another, as I (Christ) have loved you". Christ's love was pure, it was blameless, it had not selfish intentions. It contained to motives, it contained no lust, it contained no greed. It caused no pain (to others), it was not prejudice and it was blameless. It put others first and His love was the perfect example of unconditional. Christ's love was PERFECT. So for this to be one of His last commandments holds MUCH meaning! How many wars would not have happened? How many protests would not have taken place? How many marriages would still be together? How many children would have been born? How many families would be whole......IF we could just love as selfless as Christ did? What will it take for us to get it right?....It will take us surrendering our selfish wants and desires to Him, and allowing Him to purify our hearts and love through us. We cannot do it on our own. "It is not me, but He that is in me!"
God, we truly cannot thank You enough for the love that You have for us. We truly cannot wrap our human minds around the love the Christ showed us. We can only stand in awe and ask for you to pierce our hearts and reveal in us the areas that we need to first work on our love for you, then our love for one another. Holy Spirit please put a love so pure in us that what we get from it would be the very last thing on our minds. And help us show a seemingly hopeless world the hope and love that Christ intended for us all to know. Heal hearts today....heal marriages today....heal families today....heal friendships today....heal the church today....We cry out for love to conquer and heal all!!! In Jesus name, Amen
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Keep Piling on the Kindling
This morning while going through my social media I saw a sign that read "When satan huffs and puffs and tries to blow out the flame of your joy, remember that you have an endless supply of kindling in the Word of God". This really hit me because I had been asking God to "rekindle" the flame in my heart lately. Not that the flame had gone out, but I was just chasing after Him and asking Him to make it bun hotter than it is right now. But it was when I saw this sign this morning that I really took a step back and asked myself what has changed that would make me feel like my flame isn't burning as hot as it was. And when I did, God was able to show me some things I am doing differently. Not even things that are bad, but definitely different. And I want to be very clear....I don't think our "works" can make God love us or be closer to us, but I do believe that our lack of attention to our relationship with Him can certainly cause some distance between us and Him. Just like any relationship, if you start to relax in the amount of attention you are giving the relationship, it will start to feel different.
So what was different for me? What did God reveal to me when I truly asked Him to? Attention to detail. That was what I heard Him say. When we are desperate for something we will give all of our attention to it. We will take notice in every detail and we will pump all we can into something to make it better. However, once it gets better, we can tend to put things on "cruise control" and let things ride. But that's not what is always best. I mean, even a pot of boiling water will not continue to boil if you don't keep the heat under it. It's not like you can get the water to boil and then just expect it to stay that way. If you built a fire under that water to get it that way, then you need to fan that fire and fuel that fire so the heat will stay constant and the water will stay boiling. Same thing goes with our relationship with God. When He sets us on fire for Him we must do out best to feed the fire. We need to stay connected to the source of the fire, Him! We need to be in the word, soaking it up and letting it penetrate our hearts. Letting each piece of scripture we read saturate us so when situations arise in our life we can pull those scriptures up in our hearts and use them. Fasting is another area that we can use to starve our flesh and ask God to be the only source of our desires. If you have never tried fasting as a way to really see what it is like to rely on God and God alone then I would highly suggest looking into it. And please do look into it or ask someone about it so you can do it wisely and safely. Fasting is an area that God pointed out that I was lacking in. Fasting was a big part of my relationship with Him and when I was doing it more often I felt more connected to Him. It was not something I just did without reason....it was something I did to allow Him to show me He was enough. He was enough to sustain me, He was enough to satisfy me and He was enough to strengthen me. And for me when I would fast (however long He would press on my heart), I would always feel closer to Him at the end.
Everything I am talking about today involves seeking Him. Not expecting Him to just show up in your busy life, but taking time out of that busy schedule to seek Him. And it's something I am going to be more intentional about. If I want my fire to burn hotter, then I need to put more kindling on it. Being in His Word, setting aside more time to speak to and hear from Him and doing things like fasting so I can keep my flesh in check and let Him be all I need. These are the sources of kindling that I know I need. Ask God to show you that sources of kindling for your fire too.
There are many scriptures I could reference about getting connected to God....or even reconnected. But the one that He has put on my heart today is this....Jeremiah 29:12-14 "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive". I don't care if you are far from Him or just drifted away a little, this scripture says it all to well. Seek Him and you will find Him. And once you seek Him with all your heart He will gather you from whatever has you captive. It doesn't matter if that is sin, a busy life or messed up priorities...when we ask Him, He will help us...and realign our hearts with His.
God, Thank You that the Holy Spirit will show us when things just don't feel right. Open our eyes up so we know when something is fighting for the attention that belongs to You. Help us turn that attention back to You and rekindle the fire that burns for You. Help us to reach out to those who have let their flame die down and lift them up back to You. Let us never forget that it is in our weakness that YOU can be made strong! In Jesus name, Amen
So what was different for me? What did God reveal to me when I truly asked Him to? Attention to detail. That was what I heard Him say. When we are desperate for something we will give all of our attention to it. We will take notice in every detail and we will pump all we can into something to make it better. However, once it gets better, we can tend to put things on "cruise control" and let things ride. But that's not what is always best. I mean, even a pot of boiling water will not continue to boil if you don't keep the heat under it. It's not like you can get the water to boil and then just expect it to stay that way. If you built a fire under that water to get it that way, then you need to fan that fire and fuel that fire so the heat will stay constant and the water will stay boiling. Same thing goes with our relationship with God. When He sets us on fire for Him we must do out best to feed the fire. We need to stay connected to the source of the fire, Him! We need to be in the word, soaking it up and letting it penetrate our hearts. Letting each piece of scripture we read saturate us so when situations arise in our life we can pull those scriptures up in our hearts and use them. Fasting is another area that we can use to starve our flesh and ask God to be the only source of our desires. If you have never tried fasting as a way to really see what it is like to rely on God and God alone then I would highly suggest looking into it. And please do look into it or ask someone about it so you can do it wisely and safely. Fasting is an area that God pointed out that I was lacking in. Fasting was a big part of my relationship with Him and when I was doing it more often I felt more connected to Him. It was not something I just did without reason....it was something I did to allow Him to show me He was enough. He was enough to sustain me, He was enough to satisfy me and He was enough to strengthen me. And for me when I would fast (however long He would press on my heart), I would always feel closer to Him at the end.
Everything I am talking about today involves seeking Him. Not expecting Him to just show up in your busy life, but taking time out of that busy schedule to seek Him. And it's something I am going to be more intentional about. If I want my fire to burn hotter, then I need to put more kindling on it. Being in His Word, setting aside more time to speak to and hear from Him and doing things like fasting so I can keep my flesh in check and let Him be all I need. These are the sources of kindling that I know I need. Ask God to show you that sources of kindling for your fire too.
There are many scriptures I could reference about getting connected to God....or even reconnected. But the one that He has put on my heart today is this....Jeremiah 29:12-14 "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive". I don't care if you are far from Him or just drifted away a little, this scripture says it all to well. Seek Him and you will find Him. And once you seek Him with all your heart He will gather you from whatever has you captive. It doesn't matter if that is sin, a busy life or messed up priorities...when we ask Him, He will help us...and realign our hearts with His.
God, Thank You that the Holy Spirit will show us when things just don't feel right. Open our eyes up so we know when something is fighting for the attention that belongs to You. Help us turn that attention back to You and rekindle the fire that burns for You. Help us to reach out to those who have let their flame die down and lift them up back to You. Let us never forget that it is in our weakness that YOU can be made strong! In Jesus name, Amen
Thursday, May 21, 2015
A Single Act Of Kindness...
Today I will spend my day traveling back home.....as well as 3,700 other people that have been at the conference I have been at. And as much as I am eager to get back home after living out of a hotel room for 6 days, I have to remember that each person I come across in my travels today is either starting their traveling journey, or on their way back home. Today will be a day of seeing happy people, tired people, people in fear (of flying) and maybe even frustrated and angry people. So I will have the ability to do one of two things today. I can fall into the same trap and let circumstances set my mood today and be happy or frustrated depending on how my travels go or how the people I meet treat me....OR....I can decide before I even step out of my room that every person I meet today is going to need to be treated with an extra dose of kindness, and because of Jesus, I am someone who can deliver that.
Each day we step out into out lives and encounter people that are in every mood possible, but how do we let that affect us? According to Romans 12:2 we are to be different (Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind...), so our moods should not be impacted by our circumstances or other people's moods. I know, that is easier said than done sometimes. But it is possible when you start your day by giving it all to God. Ask Him for an extra dose of strength and patience for when you come across circumstance or people that wants to drag you down. Ask His light to shine brighter in you during those times. Ask Him to help you have the attitude of Christ and truly "love your neighbor" in a time that isn't so easy. (Mark 12:31) Believe it or not, when we step above the situation and let our "Christlikeness" come out in a moment where someone expects us to be mad or frustrated, then we can completely change the attitude of the other person as well.
So today as you start your journey prepare your heart for whatever might come your way by spending some time with God. And if someone comes across your path today that is not having the greatest day, or is not in the best mood...or is just flat out rude, try to shut them down with a huge does of kindness rather than meeting them on their level and letting the circumstances change you. If we are truly called to be set apart, and we are, then there is a reason for it. It is only when we do our best to react the way Jesus would that we will have the impact on someone like He would have had. And it is only in a moment like that when someone will see something different in us and wonder what it is. And that might be just enough to stir up a conversation that will not just change the kind of day the other person is having, but it could also change the rest of their life. I do believe one small act of kindness, done in the name of Jesus, is enough to have a ripple effect further than we can possibly imagine.
God, Thank You that You are patient and kind with us when we deserve it the least. Please help us to treat others that same way. Holy Spirit help us to display the things that you have put in us, and not allow circumstances to draw out our ugly human nature when we are up against difficult times or difficult people. May each word that flows from our mouth and each of our actions bring honor and glory to your name as we represent you in the world today. And please let these things impact the lives of those who don't know you! In Jesus name, Amen
Each day we step out into out lives and encounter people that are in every mood possible, but how do we let that affect us? According to Romans 12:2 we are to be different (Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind...), so our moods should not be impacted by our circumstances or other people's moods. I know, that is easier said than done sometimes. But it is possible when you start your day by giving it all to God. Ask Him for an extra dose of strength and patience for when you come across circumstance or people that wants to drag you down. Ask His light to shine brighter in you during those times. Ask Him to help you have the attitude of Christ and truly "love your neighbor" in a time that isn't so easy. (Mark 12:31) Believe it or not, when we step above the situation and let our "Christlikeness" come out in a moment where someone expects us to be mad or frustrated, then we can completely change the attitude of the other person as well.
So today as you start your journey prepare your heart for whatever might come your way by spending some time with God. And if someone comes across your path today that is not having the greatest day, or is not in the best mood...or is just flat out rude, try to shut them down with a huge does of kindness rather than meeting them on their level and letting the circumstances change you. If we are truly called to be set apart, and we are, then there is a reason for it. It is only when we do our best to react the way Jesus would that we will have the impact on someone like He would have had. And it is only in a moment like that when someone will see something different in us and wonder what it is. And that might be just enough to stir up a conversation that will not just change the kind of day the other person is having, but it could also change the rest of their life. I do believe one small act of kindness, done in the name of Jesus, is enough to have a ripple effect further than we can possibly imagine.
God, Thank You that You are patient and kind with us when we deserve it the least. Please help us to treat others that same way. Holy Spirit help us to display the things that you have put in us, and not allow circumstances to draw out our ugly human nature when we are up against difficult times or difficult people. May each word that flows from our mouth and each of our actions bring honor and glory to your name as we represent you in the world today. And please let these things impact the lives of those who don't know you! In Jesus name, Amen
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Be Bold...Listen and Respond!
Today I just want to encourage you to listen for God. And by that I don't mean see if you "hear" God, but to truly listen to Him. See if there is someone that God will put on your heart today that you are supposed to reach out to. See if there is someone that comes to your mind to pray for that you haven't thought about for a while. See if there is someone that crosses your path today that God just puts a check in your spirit to ask the right question to. But mostly, do your best today to set aside your agenda and tell God that whatever interruptions He sends your way, you will be obedient and listen to Him.
As you begin this day actually invite God to interrupt you. Invite Him to stop you in your tracks today and ask you to do something. When that person does cross your mind (which they will if you truly ask God to do this), then stop right where you are and pray for them. Be bold! I don't care if you are standing in the middle of the grocery store, take a moment and say a prayer for them. Not sure how much you might think about this, but that person might need your prayers in that exact moment, not later on tonight when you get around to praying. Don't worry about how it looks to other because that may also be a point in God asking you to pray right then and there. It might be just so someone else will notice you and God will touch their heart to be bold and do the same thing. This week as I have been out at this conference I have felt God nudge me before each meal. Not to see if I am truly thankful for the food I am about the eat, but to see if I will be bold in front of my work peers, and the perfect strangers around me, to simply bow my head in the midst of all the chaos around me and say a prayer. And I don't mean a "thank you for this food, amen" prayer. (we all have said one of those quick ones before..haha) But I mean to truly take a moment and say a real prayer to Him. And each time that I have I have felt Him say "you don't know who just saw you do that"....to which I answer back to Him, "you're right, and I hope whoever it was that it helped them to see someone honor you even in a busy surrounding like this". I know God knows I'm thankful for the food in front of me, He knows I have a thankful heart. But I love when He calls me out to see if I will be bold in my faith. Is there a little fear in it, sure, but I break through that fear by thinking about what already He did for me. And of course there are times I miss opportunities too, but my hope is that I take more opportunities than I miss and because of that He will just continue to give me more ways to be called out and trusted to obey.
One thing I can promise you about God, if you ask Him to challenge you more, to interrupt you more, to help you be more bold in your faith....He will! And the other thing I can promise you is there will always be two purposes....one you may not know because only He does, but the other will be to draw you closer to Him and take your faith to a deeper level. And it really will. So today if you ask Him to nudge you more, then do yourself a favor and honor Him by responding when He does. You may never know the amazing things that come out of you being obedient, but the immediate feeling you will get when you listen for Him, listen to Him and respond to His call will be so rewarding. In Luke 16:10 Jesus says "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much...", so when we do stop and act in faith when we hear Him call He sees that and He will trust us with even greater things as we grow in Him.
God, Thank You for using us to reach others. Please soften our hearts today and allow us to listen for and hear you through the noise of our busy day....then help us to respond. Holy Spirit give us courage to be faithful in whatever it is that we are called to do and remove all fear that the enemy would try to put in us to stop us from being bold. Hep us to always make your plans more important than our own and let us realize that if we are being called by you to do something, then there will always be a purpose in it. May our faith grow, may other's lives be touched and may Your name be honored in all we do. In Jesus name, Amen
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Many Paths...One Right Way!
As I travel this week I am currently staying at the largest hotel in the world. And when you get here there is a sense of intimidation that comes over you when you walk into the place. Besides the thousands of guest rooms it has, and dozens of conference rooms and ball rooms, it also has acres and acres of land with gardens and restaurants and shops all under a huge glass roof. When you walk into the place and get checked in you immediately and literally start to see paths that head off in many different directions. And the key to getting around this place is learning which paths lead to where you need to get and which ones don't. If you are a people watcher (which I'll admit I am) then you will notice person after person with a look on their face showing that they are lost. Even with a map in their hand they tend to stare down at the map, then look up at the paths with no understanding of which path the map is telling them to take. However, the longer you stay here and begin to move around this place the more you learn your way around and which ways are best to go, and which ways are best to avoid. Yesterday my boss and I helped an elderly couple find the walkway that led to the restaurant they wanted and I remember the words the woman spoke. She said "you spend a week here and just when you figure out how to get around this place it's time to go home". As I let that sink in God spoke to me about how this place is like a mini representation of the world we live in. Many different paths...lots of wrong ways to go, but really only one correct path to get you to your destination the way the designer planned.
If you stop and look at people walking through life many are just as lost as the people I am encountering here at this hotel. Oh they will appear like they know where they are going and they will even go the same way day after day, but just because that "path" seems to be working, it is not the one the "Designer" of life planned for them. But instead of stopping and asking someone if there is a better way, we learn to use all the wrong paths to attempt to get us to the right place. And just like this place handed us a map to get around, it was up to us to take the time to study it and truly try to understand it. Well, God gave us a map too, the bible, and just because it is in our hands or laying on our coffee tables in our homes does not mean it can help us. It is not until we take the time to look into it and use it to guide us that it will be affective. If all we do is glance down at it from time to time then we will look just like the people here walking around lost with a map in their hand. And not just a "map", but something that has all the answers they are looking for to get them where they need to go. And I have literally heard so many people saying "I think we are supposed to go this way, but let's try going this way and see if that get's us there". And then those same people are shocked when they did not end up where they were supposed to. And in some cases in a place like this, you are now further away from where you really want to be. Isn't life a lot like that too? You think you know the way to go even though God's word says otherwise. So you try it your way and the next thing you know you are nowhere close to where you thought you would be. And it is in those moments of desperation that we finally do what we should have done all along....ask for help. Ask someone to sit down and look at the map with us and tell us where we went wrong and how to get back on the right path.
In it's most simplistic form Psalm 119:105 shows us this by saying "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path". Can it get any more simple than that? God's word is our map and the answers we are looking for are in there. But just like you can't ignore certain parts of a map and expect it to effectively work for you, you can't ignore certain parts of God's word either. It just doesn't work that way.
As I stated earlier, my boss and I were able to help someone because we knew where they were trying to get to and we knew how to point them in the right direction. Today, in your life, there are people who need to be LOVINGLY pointed in the right direction. Some are going to flat out ask for help in their moment of desperation, but some you will have to approach because you know they are lost. Ask God to help you shine the light you have found on the correct path for someone else, and He will. And if you are that someone who just keeps going down the wrong path and getting the same bad results, then take time today to ask someone for help. If in our own stubbornness we just continue to walk around figuring things out on our own, then there is probably so much we are missing out on that the "Designer" planned for us see and do on our journey.
God, Thank You that You are the perfect designer of our lives. Thank You that you give us a manual or a "map" to guide us through life that is perfect in all ways. Help us to not just have it...but to use the bible to allow You to speak to us. And help us find the correct path that leads us exactly to the place that You long for us to be. In right standing with You through Jesus Christ.... able to be used to help others. In Jesus name, Amen
If you stop and look at people walking through life many are just as lost as the people I am encountering here at this hotel. Oh they will appear like they know where they are going and they will even go the same way day after day, but just because that "path" seems to be working, it is not the one the "Designer" of life planned for them. But instead of stopping and asking someone if there is a better way, we learn to use all the wrong paths to attempt to get us to the right place. And just like this place handed us a map to get around, it was up to us to take the time to study it and truly try to understand it. Well, God gave us a map too, the bible, and just because it is in our hands or laying on our coffee tables in our homes does not mean it can help us. It is not until we take the time to look into it and use it to guide us that it will be affective. If all we do is glance down at it from time to time then we will look just like the people here walking around lost with a map in their hand. And not just a "map", but something that has all the answers they are looking for to get them where they need to go. And I have literally heard so many people saying "I think we are supposed to go this way, but let's try going this way and see if that get's us there". And then those same people are shocked when they did not end up where they were supposed to. And in some cases in a place like this, you are now further away from where you really want to be. Isn't life a lot like that too? You think you know the way to go even though God's word says otherwise. So you try it your way and the next thing you know you are nowhere close to where you thought you would be. And it is in those moments of desperation that we finally do what we should have done all along....ask for help. Ask someone to sit down and look at the map with us and tell us where we went wrong and how to get back on the right path.
In it's most simplistic form Psalm 119:105 shows us this by saying "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path". Can it get any more simple than that? God's word is our map and the answers we are looking for are in there. But just like you can't ignore certain parts of a map and expect it to effectively work for you, you can't ignore certain parts of God's word either. It just doesn't work that way.
As I stated earlier, my boss and I were able to help someone because we knew where they were trying to get to and we knew how to point them in the right direction. Today, in your life, there are people who need to be LOVINGLY pointed in the right direction. Some are going to flat out ask for help in their moment of desperation, but some you will have to approach because you know they are lost. Ask God to help you shine the light you have found on the correct path for someone else, and He will. And if you are that someone who just keeps going down the wrong path and getting the same bad results, then take time today to ask someone for help. If in our own stubbornness we just continue to walk around figuring things out on our own, then there is probably so much we are missing out on that the "Designer" planned for us see and do on our journey.
God, Thank You that You are the perfect designer of our lives. Thank You that you give us a manual or a "map" to guide us through life that is perfect in all ways. Help us to not just have it...but to use the bible to allow You to speak to us. And help us find the correct path that leads us exactly to the place that You long for us to be. In right standing with You through Jesus Christ.... able to be used to help others. In Jesus name, Amen
Monday, May 18, 2015
How Will He Call You Today?
Recently as I was traveling I did what tend to always find myself doing at an airport or on a plane, I watched the people around me go through life and wondered what that life might be like for them. When I find myself in these situations I often watch the crowds of people around me and wonder how many of these people know Jesus, how many are hurting, how many are lost and who of those among me are walking through a terrible storm and just doing there best to get through the day?
It's easy to sit back and get caught up in our own agenda, but it's not what Christ did. Knowing that His time here on earth limited, He still took the time daily to reach people. All kinds of people. From what we read in the bible Jesus made that his main agenda. But do we? We wake up each day with a world of opportunities to reach people just as He did. God gives us chance after chance and puts person after person in front of us that we could reach out and talk to. But in order to recognize these opportunities we have to be willing to do a few things. One, we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone. When God calls us to minister to someone it is not always going to be at the alter in church where they came to seeking help. In fact, that was the last place the Jesus reached people. It was mainly on the outside of the walls of the church that He did His ministry work and healings. So why wouldn't we still be doing that today? Two, we have to be willing to set our own agenda aside and look for ways that God wants to use us. It would be very easy to load a movie on my iPad and plug in my headphones on an hour long plane ride, or I could purposefully plan to engage in conversation with the person beside me. Being willing to have your day "interrupted" so that you can be used is exactly the attitude that God is looking for, so He can trust you to be used. Three, we must be close enough to God in our own personal walk that we have the confidence to be able to help someone else. For instance, the guy who doesn't know a thing about car engines in not going to be the first guy to pull over and help someone on the side of the road with the hood up on their car. If he doesn't have the confidence that he can help them with with the problem, he just won't try. And I'm not talking about "having the answers", God will provide the answers. But I am talking about being so tapped in to the one that has those answers that you step out in faith and confidence the He will speak through you.
Jesus demonstrated (as a man in flesh and blood) how important it was for Him to step aside and make time to draw near to God....to seek God...to hear from God...and draw strength from God. If He needed that to do the ministry work that He was sent to do....and He did it very effectively, then why we not think the same is required from us? It is...if you want to be effective in building His kingdom! Today, tomorrow...every day....I encourage you to draw near to God and promise Him you will set aside your agenda daily and look for opportunities to reach people He puts in your path. Don't approach it with a close-minded idea of what it must look like for you to reach out to someone, but instead let God speak through you. Even if the only purpose for you that day was to plant the seed in someone else, it is still a very important task. And each day that goes by that we get so caught up in our own world that we stop trying to help those around us is another day that seeds did not get spread. Someone who crosses your path today is going to be hurting and need the answer that live inside of you, and I promise that if you ask God to give you the words to say to them, He will! "He is faithful, He is true and He is love. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is the Healer of hearts and He has the power to free us from the bondage of sin. He knows your past and loves you despite anything that is in it." That very message may be exactly what someone needs to hear today!
God, Thank You for trusting us with opportunities to represent You. Please open our eyes and our hearts so that we do not miss those opportunities. Help us to know when you are nudging us and teach us how to rely on You in that moment for strength and for answers. Holy Spirit guide us and fill us when we are alone with you, so that in those moments what is in us will pour out into others. In Jesus name, Amen
It's easy to sit back and get caught up in our own agenda, but it's not what Christ did. Knowing that His time here on earth limited, He still took the time daily to reach people. All kinds of people. From what we read in the bible Jesus made that his main agenda. But do we? We wake up each day with a world of opportunities to reach people just as He did. God gives us chance after chance and puts person after person in front of us that we could reach out and talk to. But in order to recognize these opportunities we have to be willing to do a few things. One, we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone. When God calls us to minister to someone it is not always going to be at the alter in church where they came to seeking help. In fact, that was the last place the Jesus reached people. It was mainly on the outside of the walls of the church that He did His ministry work and healings. So why wouldn't we still be doing that today? Two, we have to be willing to set our own agenda aside and look for ways that God wants to use us. It would be very easy to load a movie on my iPad and plug in my headphones on an hour long plane ride, or I could purposefully plan to engage in conversation with the person beside me. Being willing to have your day "interrupted" so that you can be used is exactly the attitude that God is looking for, so He can trust you to be used. Three, we must be close enough to God in our own personal walk that we have the confidence to be able to help someone else. For instance, the guy who doesn't know a thing about car engines in not going to be the first guy to pull over and help someone on the side of the road with the hood up on their car. If he doesn't have the confidence that he can help them with with the problem, he just won't try. And I'm not talking about "having the answers", God will provide the answers. But I am talking about being so tapped in to the one that has those answers that you step out in faith and confidence the He will speak through you.
Jesus demonstrated (as a man in flesh and blood) how important it was for Him to step aside and make time to draw near to God....to seek God...to hear from God...and draw strength from God. If He needed that to do the ministry work that He was sent to do....and He did it very effectively, then why we not think the same is required from us? It is...if you want to be effective in building His kingdom! Today, tomorrow...every day....I encourage you to draw near to God and promise Him you will set aside your agenda daily and look for opportunities to reach people He puts in your path. Don't approach it with a close-minded idea of what it must look like for you to reach out to someone, but instead let God speak through you. Even if the only purpose for you that day was to plant the seed in someone else, it is still a very important task. And each day that goes by that we get so caught up in our own world that we stop trying to help those around us is another day that seeds did not get spread. Someone who crosses your path today is going to be hurting and need the answer that live inside of you, and I promise that if you ask God to give you the words to say to them, He will! "He is faithful, He is true and He is love. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is the Healer of hearts and He has the power to free us from the bondage of sin. He knows your past and loves you despite anything that is in it." That very message may be exactly what someone needs to hear today!
God, Thank You for trusting us with opportunities to represent You. Please open our eyes and our hearts so that we do not miss those opportunities. Help us to know when you are nudging us and teach us how to rely on You in that moment for strength and for answers. Holy Spirit guide us and fill us when we are alone with you, so that in those moments what is in us will pour out into others. In Jesus name, Amen
Friday, May 15, 2015
Grace....People Restored & Stories Used
Every single person you will pass on your journey today has a story...a past. And each of us have the ability to use that story to help someone else in life. I don't care if you feel like your story is so full of trash, bad decisions, regret and embarrassing choices you would rather nobody ever know, God can use it. Or maybe you come from a past of good grades, good choices throughout your youth, a good home life and a blessings on your life....God can use it. Maybe you have come out of a life of neglect, pain, misguided trust and rejection....God can use you. You see the only thing that will stop God from using your past is you never allowing Him too. Once we come to God our past is dead and gone the truest healing you will ever experience can begin in your life. And once God begins to heal you He will also begin to open your eyes up to people who have been through what you have been through....no matter how bad....or how good your past is. God knows the people around us, or the people He will put in our paths, that need to hear our story. I may not be able to relate to someone that you can because of my past, and you may not be able to relate to someone I can. I recently told someone who is young and does not have a rough past, that if we both opened up to the same person about our pasts, and that person grew up in a good Christian home but was just struggling, then they may not receive me because my past is "rougher" than his and until they understand Gods grace and mercy, they may have the attitude of "who are you to tell me, your past is worse than mine". So it would take someone with with a clean past, but a true love for God, to get through to that person. Where as, if I were talking to someone who has been through some junk and a divorce, and I wanted to share God's love with them, they would be able to see that He has rescued me, healed me and changed me into who I am. And that would give them hope! So it doesn't matter if YOU think you are usable....it only matters that YOU make yourself available to be used. God will make you usable. Which brings me to my next point....
In our prayer ministry I have come across so many people who just don't think they are forgivable, let alone usable. It is hard to get them to understand that God can and does forgive them for ANYTHING they have done and that all they need to do is turn their heart toward Him and repent. But getting someone to understand God can forgive them.....and they can forgive themselves...is a very tough thing to do sometimes. The enemy is working overtime to make us feel "less than", unforgivable, low and shameful....so to let that go and receive what God has can be very difficult for people. But wow, when you get to see a person set free from all of that and receive God's forgiveness...and then forgive themselves....it is truly beautiful thing. And that is God's plan, that no matter where you come from and where you have been, He wants healing and restoration in your life. I know in my past blogs I have compared God to a GPS. I've talked about how a GPS has one job, and that is to get you somewhere. No matter how many wrong turns you take along the way, it will continue to reroute you to get you to the place you are meant to be. God also wants to get you to a place, and He too will continue to open and close doors in your life, direct your path and help you get pointed back in the right direction. Throughout life we can stray away and go off in our own directions, but He will continue to try and take us to the place He wants us to be. And as many times as I have used that analogy, never once have I seen the part I'm about to share.... Last night while praying with someone God had me once again use that analogy, only this time He showed me something new to show that person...and to talk about today. And it's beautiful!!! When your GPS does finally get you to the place you were trying to get to, it doesn't matter how many times you turned left when it said right. It doesn't matter how many times it made a suggestion and you didn't take it because you thought you knew a better way. Once you get to the final destination, it does NOT remind you of how many mistakes you made along the way. It does not say "well, after 16 wrong turns and heading completely off the suggested path 3 times, you have finally reached your destination". No, it simply says "you have arrived". People, this is the God we serve. When we come to Him and drop to our knees and ask for forgiveness He does NOT say "after hurting 6 people in your life, and ruining 12 years making bad choices, and stumbling through 2 marriages...you have finally got here". He simply says "I'm so glad your here, you have arrived".
If you have not experienced this kind of forgiveness from God. If you have not found a way to forgive yourself. If you have not realized that no matter what your past looks like, God can and wants to use you....then please turn to someone who can help you. Ask Him to bring someone into your life that can point you to Him for answers and help you on your journey. He loves you and desires to see you restored and made brand new! Only His love, His forgiveness, His grace and His mercy has the power to do those things in your life!
God, Thank You once again for your amazing forgiveness. Thank you for your limitless grace. Thank You and praise You for Your power to restore ANY life. Please help us reach those who need to hear how amazing You are, and let them experience what ONLY You can offer them. Let them experience a life made new and grow in You so they too can help others find You by using their story. In Jesus name, Amen
In our prayer ministry I have come across so many people who just don't think they are forgivable, let alone usable. It is hard to get them to understand that God can and does forgive them for ANYTHING they have done and that all they need to do is turn their heart toward Him and repent. But getting someone to understand God can forgive them.....and they can forgive themselves...is a very tough thing to do sometimes. The enemy is working overtime to make us feel "less than", unforgivable, low and shameful....so to let that go and receive what God has can be very difficult for people. But wow, when you get to see a person set free from all of that and receive God's forgiveness...and then forgive themselves....it is truly beautiful thing. And that is God's plan, that no matter where you come from and where you have been, He wants healing and restoration in your life. I know in my past blogs I have compared God to a GPS. I've talked about how a GPS has one job, and that is to get you somewhere. No matter how many wrong turns you take along the way, it will continue to reroute you to get you to the place you are meant to be. God also wants to get you to a place, and He too will continue to open and close doors in your life, direct your path and help you get pointed back in the right direction. Throughout life we can stray away and go off in our own directions, but He will continue to try and take us to the place He wants us to be. And as many times as I have used that analogy, never once have I seen the part I'm about to share.... Last night while praying with someone God had me once again use that analogy, only this time He showed me something new to show that person...and to talk about today. And it's beautiful!!! When your GPS does finally get you to the place you were trying to get to, it doesn't matter how many times you turned left when it said right. It doesn't matter how many times it made a suggestion and you didn't take it because you thought you knew a better way. Once you get to the final destination, it does NOT remind you of how many mistakes you made along the way. It does not say "well, after 16 wrong turns and heading completely off the suggested path 3 times, you have finally reached your destination". No, it simply says "you have arrived". People, this is the God we serve. When we come to Him and drop to our knees and ask for forgiveness He does NOT say "after hurting 6 people in your life, and ruining 12 years making bad choices, and stumbling through 2 marriages...you have finally got here". He simply says "I'm so glad your here, you have arrived".
If you have not experienced this kind of forgiveness from God. If you have not found a way to forgive yourself. If you have not realized that no matter what your past looks like, God can and wants to use you....then please turn to someone who can help you. Ask Him to bring someone into your life that can point you to Him for answers and help you on your journey. He loves you and desires to see you restored and made brand new! Only His love, His forgiveness, His grace and His mercy has the power to do those things in your life!
God, Thank You once again for your amazing forgiveness. Thank you for your limitless grace. Thank You and praise You for Your power to restore ANY life. Please help us reach those who need to hear how amazing You are, and let them experience what ONLY You can offer them. Let them experience a life made new and grow in You so they too can help others find You by using their story. In Jesus name, Amen
Thursday, May 14, 2015
To Much Comfort Is Lukewarm...
Recently I was in a conversation about the dangers of not realizing how relaxed you have become with the world around you. As I was talking to this person about these things, Revelation 3:15-17 came up. This a passage I know well, and if I looked back on the history of my blogs I believe I have even used it before to talk about where you stand with God and how He views that. But that day, while in that conversation, God began to give me a vision of that verse and this morning I felt like He released me to share that as a blog.
Revelation 3:15-17 says "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked...". It is a verse that has been preached on many times in services I have sat through and a verse that I think is overlooked far to many times. It is God Himself telling us His opinion on the life of a person who is "living way to comfortable" in this world. Now we know that our salvation is a gift and it cannot be earned. The love of God and the gift of Jesus Christ can only be accepted or rejected, but not earned or worked for. And in the church we often talk about how your works cannot get you into heaven, only your faith can. But we also know that James 2:14-26 explains how faith without works is dead faith. Then we can go to Matthew 7:15-20 and read about how our lives will either produce good fruit on bad fruit as a byproduct of our faith. Which brings me back to Revelation 3:15, where it states "I know your works". God is saying, I see by the good fruit or the bad fruit where you stand (you walk in faith or you don't), but what about you who are producing no fruit? Those are the people that are in such a dangerous place. Maybe you accepted Christ and have grown stagnant, or weary, or even through some storm in your life you have grown bitter and just stopped growing in Christ. Regardless of what has gotten you there, you are at this neutral place called "lukewarm" and you feel a false sense of security. Why is this a false place of safety? Because the enemy is separating slowly from the flock (John 10:16) and getting you to a place of vulnerability without you even knowing it. That is the scary part about becoming lukewarm, that it is a slow progress and rarely do you even recognize it's coming on. The life you began to live when you met Jesus that was producing good fruit has now become a fruitless life, like a dead limb on a tree that is still living. But because you are not producing bad fruit you do not see a problem with it. But God does! And He strongly tells us in Rev. 3 that it makes Him want to vomit us out of His mouth. Sometimes we have arrogantly reached a place in our spirit where we think we are without need and it tells us in verse 17 that we do not know how wretched, miserable and blind we have become. So what do we do? We take a hard look at our lives and get honest with God before we become completely lost.
So as I stated earlier, God revealed something to me in the conversation about being lukewarm, and this was it. Have you ever sat in your house and been cold. You know your cold and you know your uncomfortable. So what do you do, you go turn on the heat so you can change your environment, right? Or how about sitting in your house and your hot, you feel hot, you know your hot, so you turn on the a/c, and change your environment. In both of those scenarios you know you are either cold or you are hot, no question about it. But how about when you are sitting in your house and your just comfortable. Does that even cross your mind? Do you stop and think "wow, I'm really comfortable"? No, not typically. You are just comfortable with no desire to turn up the heat, or turn on the a/c. So changing your environment is the last thing on your mind. However, when you do need to turn on the heat or a/c what do you know is going to happen next. Your bill is going to go up. Yes, it is going to cost you something. Sometimes we even hesitate to change the environment because we are trying to avoid that bill (or that cost). Life with Christ is very much like this, when God is calling us to change our "environment" it often times is going to cost us something. You are not going to be as "comfortable" with your surroundings as you once were. It may be the things you allow into your eyes and ears(movies, tv, music), or it may be an unhealthy friendship/relationship, or it may even be the changing of a career that He does not want you in. But when He calls you out, chances are something is going to change and it may cost you something. Will you respond? Or will you say "no thanks, I'm comfortable right here as is". God desires to see our lives produce good fruit. It is the sign that Christ is alive in you! Just like the evidence of bad fruit is the sign that someone is not with Christ. (Galatians 5:22-26)
So I challenge you today....don't let another day of just "being comfortable" pass by. Look at the fruit in your life and ask yourself "am I still producing, or have I become lukewarm?" (trying to fit into the world to much) Then ask the Holy Spirit to help get you back to being on fire for God. To search your heart and point out what needs changed. God says when your cold I at least know where you stand with me....and when your on fire I also know where you stand with me. Do you know where you stand with God? Would He call you cold, lukewarm or on fire?
God, You are so amazing! You share Your thoughts with us and tell us what pleases You and what disgusts You throughout Your word. Thank You for that! Thank You for not leaving us to guess what You expect and desire, but instead You guide and instruct us. Holy Spirit help us to rekindle the fire that once burned so strong, and live lives that produce not just good fruit....but GOD fruit. And allow others to see and desire what God has done in us. In Jesus name, Amen
Revelation 3:15-17 says "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked...". It is a verse that has been preached on many times in services I have sat through and a verse that I think is overlooked far to many times. It is God Himself telling us His opinion on the life of a person who is "living way to comfortable" in this world. Now we know that our salvation is a gift and it cannot be earned. The love of God and the gift of Jesus Christ can only be accepted or rejected, but not earned or worked for. And in the church we often talk about how your works cannot get you into heaven, only your faith can. But we also know that James 2:14-26 explains how faith without works is dead faith. Then we can go to Matthew 7:15-20 and read about how our lives will either produce good fruit on bad fruit as a byproduct of our faith. Which brings me back to Revelation 3:15, where it states "I know your works". God is saying, I see by the good fruit or the bad fruit where you stand (you walk in faith or you don't), but what about you who are producing no fruit? Those are the people that are in such a dangerous place. Maybe you accepted Christ and have grown stagnant, or weary, or even through some storm in your life you have grown bitter and just stopped growing in Christ. Regardless of what has gotten you there, you are at this neutral place called "lukewarm" and you feel a false sense of security. Why is this a false place of safety? Because the enemy is separating slowly from the flock (John 10:16) and getting you to a place of vulnerability without you even knowing it. That is the scary part about becoming lukewarm, that it is a slow progress and rarely do you even recognize it's coming on. The life you began to live when you met Jesus that was producing good fruit has now become a fruitless life, like a dead limb on a tree that is still living. But because you are not producing bad fruit you do not see a problem with it. But God does! And He strongly tells us in Rev. 3 that it makes Him want to vomit us out of His mouth. Sometimes we have arrogantly reached a place in our spirit where we think we are without need and it tells us in verse 17 that we do not know how wretched, miserable and blind we have become. So what do we do? We take a hard look at our lives and get honest with God before we become completely lost.
So as I stated earlier, God revealed something to me in the conversation about being lukewarm, and this was it. Have you ever sat in your house and been cold. You know your cold and you know your uncomfortable. So what do you do, you go turn on the heat so you can change your environment, right? Or how about sitting in your house and your hot, you feel hot, you know your hot, so you turn on the a/c, and change your environment. In both of those scenarios you know you are either cold or you are hot, no question about it. But how about when you are sitting in your house and your just comfortable. Does that even cross your mind? Do you stop and think "wow, I'm really comfortable"? No, not typically. You are just comfortable with no desire to turn up the heat, or turn on the a/c. So changing your environment is the last thing on your mind. However, when you do need to turn on the heat or a/c what do you know is going to happen next. Your bill is going to go up. Yes, it is going to cost you something. Sometimes we even hesitate to change the environment because we are trying to avoid that bill (or that cost). Life with Christ is very much like this, when God is calling us to change our "environment" it often times is going to cost us something. You are not going to be as "comfortable" with your surroundings as you once were. It may be the things you allow into your eyes and ears(movies, tv, music), or it may be an unhealthy friendship/relationship, or it may even be the changing of a career that He does not want you in. But when He calls you out, chances are something is going to change and it may cost you something. Will you respond? Or will you say "no thanks, I'm comfortable right here as is". God desires to see our lives produce good fruit. It is the sign that Christ is alive in you! Just like the evidence of bad fruit is the sign that someone is not with Christ. (Galatians 5:22-26)
So I challenge you today....don't let another day of just "being comfortable" pass by. Look at the fruit in your life and ask yourself "am I still producing, or have I become lukewarm?" (trying to fit into the world to much) Then ask the Holy Spirit to help get you back to being on fire for God. To search your heart and point out what needs changed. God says when your cold I at least know where you stand with me....and when your on fire I also know where you stand with me. Do you know where you stand with God? Would He call you cold, lukewarm or on fire?
God, You are so amazing! You share Your thoughts with us and tell us what pleases You and what disgusts You throughout Your word. Thank You for that! Thank You for not leaving us to guess what You expect and desire, but instead You guide and instruct us. Holy Spirit help us to rekindle the fire that once burned so strong, and live lives that produce not just good fruit....but GOD fruit. And allow others to see and desire what God has done in us. In Jesus name, Amen
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Hearing...and...Recognizing
Have you ever had one of those phone calls where you answer the phone, and after you say hello, you have to let the person on the other end get a few sentences out because you have no idea who it is. And you're hoping that if they say enough you will be able to figure out who it is. Now if I had to guess, chances are the person who is on the other end of the phone is not your mom, dad, husband, wife, your child or your sibling. Chances are it is someone who you don't talk to on the phone that often. And it's always so awkward when you just can't figure out who it is, and you have to ask that question "I'm sorry, but who is this?". And then I think we all have the same reaction when they say who it is, and we end up saying something like "oh wow, hey how are you, I didn't recognize your voice". So what just took place during all of that? Well, you are hearing the person on the end, but you are not recognizing them. The voice that you hear is not a voice that sounds familiar to you. Why? Again, because you probably don't talk to that person that often and therefore your brain didn't know how to match the person to the voice.
We can go through times in our life where we don't feel like we "hear" God too. But the truth be told, this is not a "hearing problem" that we are having, but more of a "recognition problem". And just like it's hard to recognize someone's voice you don't speak to often, why is it that you think you don't hear from God, because you aren't spending enough time with Him so you can recognize His voice either. I think one of the best verses in the bible to support this is John 10:27. It says "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". It is not by chance that sheep would be used in this verse because studies have shown that sheep can recognize the voice of their shepherd. And Jesus, being our shepherd, should be a voice that we recognize when He is speaking to us. But a sheep only knows the voice of it's shepherd because of the amount of time they spend together. The sheep could hear many voices, but which one is it going to recognize? The ONE it knows! We too can hear many many things trying to speak to us, but we have to be able to weed through them all and know which one is God. Yes, God can and will use people to get a message across to us sometimes, but sometimes He also wants to deliver the message straight to us. So it's critical to know when you are hearing Him. Time in God's word, time with him in prayer and time in praise and worship to Him are key ways to spend time in an environment where you are going to hear from Him and start recognizing the His voice. Then, when He needs to speak to you throughout the day, you will KNOW it's Him because of the time you have spent together and you recognize THAT voice.
I can often get caught in a moment of awe when I think that I can go to the creator of everything around me and speak to Him. That's not something I ever want to take for granted. But I am in way more awe when I think that He will take the time to speak to me too. I will never forget the first moment in my life that I had spent so much time with Him, and I had made such a place for Him in my life, that I heard His voice (in me) in the middle of the day for the first time. It was a decision that I was about to make and He wanted me to know how He felt about it. And the voice was so strong and so clear that I immediately broke out into tears. And yes, I was out in a very public place when this happened, and I didn't care. He spoke to me, and I was in a moment of awe. In the moment the thing He spoke to me about seemed insignificant, but 2 days later I heard Him again about something that wasn't so insignificant and I remembered thinking "you spoke to me that other day just so I would know what you 'sound' like, so in this very important moment, I would KNOW this is You". And I just began to thank Him for loving me and caring about me that much!
God loves and cares about you....and He desires to be close enough to you that you recognize His voice. I want to encourage you today to stop asking why you don't hear from God, and instead ask yourself do you recognize His voice when He does speak to you. I say "when" because He will. Job 33:14 says "For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it". So it is up to us to seek Him and spend time with Him, so like the sheep, we know our shepherd's voice.
God, Thank You that in all of Your glory....in all of Your wonder....You still take time to speak to us. I pray that when Your voice is heard, it is recognized by Your people. I pray we will purposefully clear a place in our lives to spend time with you, and then we can take your presence out with us and keep our hearts prepared to hear and recognize Your voice. Holy Spirit please help us not just hear, but learn to obey the voice of The Lord without question. And let our lives, our love, our pursuit for You point others to You. In Jesus name, Amen
We can go through times in our life where we don't feel like we "hear" God too. But the truth be told, this is not a "hearing problem" that we are having, but more of a "recognition problem". And just like it's hard to recognize someone's voice you don't speak to often, why is it that you think you don't hear from God, because you aren't spending enough time with Him so you can recognize His voice either. I think one of the best verses in the bible to support this is John 10:27. It says "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me". It is not by chance that sheep would be used in this verse because studies have shown that sheep can recognize the voice of their shepherd. And Jesus, being our shepherd, should be a voice that we recognize when He is speaking to us. But a sheep only knows the voice of it's shepherd because of the amount of time they spend together. The sheep could hear many voices, but which one is it going to recognize? The ONE it knows! We too can hear many many things trying to speak to us, but we have to be able to weed through them all and know which one is God. Yes, God can and will use people to get a message across to us sometimes, but sometimes He also wants to deliver the message straight to us. So it's critical to know when you are hearing Him. Time in God's word, time with him in prayer and time in praise and worship to Him are key ways to spend time in an environment where you are going to hear from Him and start recognizing the His voice. Then, when He needs to speak to you throughout the day, you will KNOW it's Him because of the time you have spent together and you recognize THAT voice.
I can often get caught in a moment of awe when I think that I can go to the creator of everything around me and speak to Him. That's not something I ever want to take for granted. But I am in way more awe when I think that He will take the time to speak to me too. I will never forget the first moment in my life that I had spent so much time with Him, and I had made such a place for Him in my life, that I heard His voice (in me) in the middle of the day for the first time. It was a decision that I was about to make and He wanted me to know how He felt about it. And the voice was so strong and so clear that I immediately broke out into tears. And yes, I was out in a very public place when this happened, and I didn't care. He spoke to me, and I was in a moment of awe. In the moment the thing He spoke to me about seemed insignificant, but 2 days later I heard Him again about something that wasn't so insignificant and I remembered thinking "you spoke to me that other day just so I would know what you 'sound' like, so in this very important moment, I would KNOW this is You". And I just began to thank Him for loving me and caring about me that much!
God loves and cares about you....and He desires to be close enough to you that you recognize His voice. I want to encourage you today to stop asking why you don't hear from God, and instead ask yourself do you recognize His voice when He does speak to you. I say "when" because He will. Job 33:14 says "For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it". So it is up to us to seek Him and spend time with Him, so like the sheep, we know our shepherd's voice.
God, Thank You that in all of Your glory....in all of Your wonder....You still take time to speak to us. I pray that when Your voice is heard, it is recognized by Your people. I pray we will purposefully clear a place in our lives to spend time with you, and then we can take your presence out with us and keep our hearts prepared to hear and recognize Your voice. Holy Spirit please help us not just hear, but learn to obey the voice of The Lord without question. And let our lives, our love, our pursuit for You point others to You. In Jesus name, Amen
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Our Hearts Long For His Presence
Have you ever wondered why God designed us (humans) the way He did? Not sure if you have ever thought about it, but humans were designed with a direct desire to be connected to something. I would even call it...a desire to worship something. This is is one of the reasons people can become so passionate about certain things. The problem is, when God did design us like this, HE was the thing that we designed to connect with, to worship, to be passionate about. It was His desire the have this with us. For His creation to connect with and have a total need for Him. And the moment sin came into the picture our desires started to go into different directions. When it was just Adam and Eve (before sin) we see that Adam's main desire what to spend time with God. They would meet and walk together in the garden.....Can you even imagine that. It's so easy to say "how amazing would that have been" even though we have the same opportunity to spend time with God each day. Yes, sin has made it to where we can't physically walk with God like Adam could, but we still have the ability to connect with Him as much as we so desire. He is always there waiting for us.
It's quite easy to look in any direction in today's world and ask yourself "what is going on these days?". Its seems like there is heartache, fighting, divorce, crime, division and just basic carnality everywhere you look. We not only live in a fallen world, but we live in a fallen and blind world. A world that sees we have a problem, but is just to blind and deceived to admit what the problem is. From the time sin entered this world generation after generation has strayed further and further from one thing...God's presence! The "chase" for things other than God started even as far back as Cane in the story of Cane and Able. We see Cane, a man allowing sin to get the best of him, being told by God in Genesis 4:7 "...sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it". But Cane didn't rule over it, he allowed it to rule over him...and he killed his brother. So starts in Cane a generation of people who would be further away from God than even he was. This is something that has continued all throughout history. People pulling away from God's presence and then wondering why things just continue to get worse.
Like I stated earlier, we were designed to long for something, but we have forgotten that the "something" is God's presence. So we have replaced Him with greed, power, money, popularity....or as we like to put it in the U.S......the chase for the "American Dream". That has just become a catch phrase for "go out and get what you want....at all costs". That was not the American dream with America was founded. Having the freedom to include and appreciate God's presence in ALL things was what America was "supposed" to be about. But when I think back to the start of this country it reminds me very much of the garden of Eden. Sure it was all good for a while, but then we began to need "things" more than God....and things quickly began to fall apart. So here we are now with a very damaged country full of hurt, lost and damaged people. And we wonder why things continue to get worse. Plain and simple....it is because we have shut out God's presence and taken the very desire He put in us and used it to worship a million other things. We let selfishness, lust, greed and so much more enter into a place that was meant for God...our hearts! And along with that has come open doors for the enemy to enter into our lives and wreak havoc.
We must get back to chasing after God's presence above all else. Not making God's presence somewhere on our list of things we might get to today....but chasing after it above all else. It is then that we will see lives start to look different. It is then that true leaders will rise up to steer our country in a different direction. It is then that the desire to worship something will be used correctly again!
Jesus came to repair what sin had done to us....to this world...so that we can go before the throne of grace once again. (Hebrews 4:16) Let us not take that for granted! Seek God's presence and allow Him and only Him to have the place in your heart that He designed. He knows how to fill your heart with all things you need to make you feel complete. Complete in Him...not this world.
God, Thank You for making your presence known to us. Thank You for pursuing us even in the midst of our sin. Holy Spirit convict our hearts and show us the things that we have replaced the need for God's presence with and help us turn our hearts back to Him. Forgive us God for the things that we have allowed to take your place, and thank You for give us so many chances to draw back near to You. In Jesus name, Amen
It's quite easy to look in any direction in today's world and ask yourself "what is going on these days?". Its seems like there is heartache, fighting, divorce, crime, division and just basic carnality everywhere you look. We not only live in a fallen world, but we live in a fallen and blind world. A world that sees we have a problem, but is just to blind and deceived to admit what the problem is. From the time sin entered this world generation after generation has strayed further and further from one thing...God's presence! The "chase" for things other than God started even as far back as Cane in the story of Cane and Able. We see Cane, a man allowing sin to get the best of him, being told by God in Genesis 4:7 "...sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it". But Cane didn't rule over it, he allowed it to rule over him...and he killed his brother. So starts in Cane a generation of people who would be further away from God than even he was. This is something that has continued all throughout history. People pulling away from God's presence and then wondering why things just continue to get worse.
Like I stated earlier, we were designed to long for something, but we have forgotten that the "something" is God's presence. So we have replaced Him with greed, power, money, popularity....or as we like to put it in the U.S......the chase for the "American Dream". That has just become a catch phrase for "go out and get what you want....at all costs". That was not the American dream with America was founded. Having the freedom to include and appreciate God's presence in ALL things was what America was "supposed" to be about. But when I think back to the start of this country it reminds me very much of the garden of Eden. Sure it was all good for a while, but then we began to need "things" more than God....and things quickly began to fall apart. So here we are now with a very damaged country full of hurt, lost and damaged people. And we wonder why things continue to get worse. Plain and simple....it is because we have shut out God's presence and taken the very desire He put in us and used it to worship a million other things. We let selfishness, lust, greed and so much more enter into a place that was meant for God...our hearts! And along with that has come open doors for the enemy to enter into our lives and wreak havoc.
We must get back to chasing after God's presence above all else. Not making God's presence somewhere on our list of things we might get to today....but chasing after it above all else. It is then that we will see lives start to look different. It is then that true leaders will rise up to steer our country in a different direction. It is then that the desire to worship something will be used correctly again!
Jesus came to repair what sin had done to us....to this world...so that we can go before the throne of grace once again. (Hebrews 4:16) Let us not take that for granted! Seek God's presence and allow Him and only Him to have the place in your heart that He designed. He knows how to fill your heart with all things you need to make you feel complete. Complete in Him...not this world.
God, Thank You for making your presence known to us. Thank You for pursuing us even in the midst of our sin. Holy Spirit convict our hearts and show us the things that we have replaced the need for God's presence with and help us turn our hearts back to Him. Forgive us God for the things that we have allowed to take your place, and thank You for give us so many chances to draw back near to You. In Jesus name, Amen
Monday, May 11, 2015
God's Word...God's Truth....and The Enemy's Deception
Most men that I know have a tool that they love to go to when working on almost any job. It is their go to tool, that when all else fails, that they know they can get the job done with. It's the one thing in their toolbox that they will grab when nothing else works....even if it isn't exactly the "right tool" for the job. For some it may be the trusty hammer, for others it may be the vise grips....and for some, it's aways the duct tape. And as funny as that is to think about, have you ever thought about how the enemy operates in much the same way? The enemy has goals for your life just like God does. And has a "toolbox" full of tools he is going to use to try to drag you down, get you to walk away from the purpose God has for your life, or even just keep you at a comfortable distance from God. He knows what will work for one person will have no affect on another, so he must try different things in each of our lives. For someone who has an addictive personality, he will attack that....for someone who may be naive, he will attack that.....for someone who is prideful, he will use that. And as much as I could go on and on with different ways the enemy comes after us, there is a tool that the enemy will pull out when all else fails. And IF he can catch us in the right set of circumstances, he knows it just might work. And the tool I am talking about today is DECEPTION. Deception is something the enemy goes to because he knows when our flesh is weak, and when we desire something in our selfishness, then he can deceive us into believing almost anything to get what we want. Sometimes we also refer to this as "justification". It's the place where the enemy can get our minds to convince us that we can find the good in something that is not good for us.....we can find the excuse as to why we deserve something....we can find the reason why something that once looked so wrong to us, doesn't look so wrong now. It is a wearing down of our convictions and a dulling of that part of us that allows the Holy Spirit to guide us. Why do I speak about this with such understanding? Because it is an area of my life that I so foolishly allowed to be attacked at one time. And because I know how far and how hard I fell, I know that anyone is capable of it if you're not careful.
A good magician is only as good as his ability to fool you is. His performance will only be as good as his ability is to get you to believe what you are seeing is real....or is possible...no matter how impossible you know it is. No matter how much you know that the physical thing in front of you can't just disappear into thin air, a good magician can get you to believe it just did. And that is exactly how the enemy begins to work on us. He comes at us and attacks that place between knowing, and believing. He will work on us through circumstances and wear us down, so that what we once KNEW as truth becomes something we are not so sure that we believe anymore. Is it because God's Word changed? Is it because Gods truth changed? Is it because what is accepted by God suddenly became different? No, no and no! So what did change then? The way we are receiving God's Word. The things we are calling the "truth". The things we are calling acceptable in our own lives......THAT is what changed. And it's scary because the enemy has a way to make us "feel" like that's all ok. And if we take a hard look at our lives at times like this, and we'll be honest with ourselves, we can see that we have allowed ourselves to be "dulled down". We have let things creep in that got us where we are. It did not happen overnight, it was a long slow process that the enemy did to us to get us where we are. God didn't move and God didn't change....we did! But the beauty is...God is also still there with His arms open wide just like the father of the prodigal son, saying "stop being deceived and come back to the truth. My love has been here for you the entire time you were deceived and it is here now".
Jesus was very clear in His teachings, and the moment we have to try to "look deeper" into them to make them look the way we want them to, then we have begun to "bend" the scriptures to fit into our lives. We cannot do this....we must bend our lives to fit into the scriptures. When you have an owners manual to a machine that you've bought, it shows you how to use that machine. If you chose to use it differently, and it starts not working correctly...having problems....it would be because you are not using it as the manual instructed. Well, the bible is our owners manual, and when we begin to live in a manner that does not match the manual, then don't be surprised life starts having problems. Especially problems that didn't exist when you were in Gods will. God's will is called perfect because He designed our lives to be a certain way. And when use our own free wills instead of His will, then our life becomes flawed. Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect". When we are walking in Gods perfect will for our life then our life should not look like the rest of the world. If yours does, then ask yourself at what place this began to happen, and ask God to help you fix that. Galatians 6:7-8 says "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life". If life has become harder than it used to be, then ask yourself what you have been sowing. Like I said earlier, it is not God who moves, but us. So if you feel further away from Him, the ask what got you there. What stands between you and Him? Guilt, shame, your plans, pride...deception? James 1:22 warns us by saying "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves". The moment we are no longer doers of God's truth, we have stepped into deception. Period!! And finally, Proverbs 10:9 says "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out". So if you know some of the things you are doing are being done in the dark, then your walk of integrity has become corrupt. Just because you allow those things to become more public doesn't mean they are suddenly ok, it means the deception has also turned into desensitization, and the enemy has you more fooled than you even realize.
Please know my heart in this blog today....it breaks for those being deceived. I've been there! I allowed the enemy to rob me of years of my life by living deceived....but I didn't have to. And neither do you! There is NO shame in turning back to Jesus and admitting you've got it wrong and your ready to make it right. That's the beauty of the story of the prodigal son. It says in Luke 15:17 "when he came to himself", meaning, when he came to his senses, when he stopped being deceived. This is when he came back to his father and received the father's love, and the father's forgiveness!
God, so many people are being deceived by the enemy and my heart breaks for them. God, this is a place I once lived and I don't want to see others in this place. Please God, send people into their lives to speak Your truth to them. Please Holy Spirit speak truth into their hearts so their eyes will be opened and so the truth can set them free! God, please help them humble themselves and come back to You so Your perfect will can be alive in their lives again. Thank You Jesus for the grace, love and mercy that awaits us when we come back to You....it is always more than we deserve, but exactly what we need. Thank You for that! In Jesus name, Amen.
A good magician is only as good as his ability to fool you is. His performance will only be as good as his ability is to get you to believe what you are seeing is real....or is possible...no matter how impossible you know it is. No matter how much you know that the physical thing in front of you can't just disappear into thin air, a good magician can get you to believe it just did. And that is exactly how the enemy begins to work on us. He comes at us and attacks that place between knowing, and believing. He will work on us through circumstances and wear us down, so that what we once KNEW as truth becomes something we are not so sure that we believe anymore. Is it because God's Word changed? Is it because Gods truth changed? Is it because what is accepted by God suddenly became different? No, no and no! So what did change then? The way we are receiving God's Word. The things we are calling the "truth". The things we are calling acceptable in our own lives......THAT is what changed. And it's scary because the enemy has a way to make us "feel" like that's all ok. And if we take a hard look at our lives at times like this, and we'll be honest with ourselves, we can see that we have allowed ourselves to be "dulled down". We have let things creep in that got us where we are. It did not happen overnight, it was a long slow process that the enemy did to us to get us where we are. God didn't move and God didn't change....we did! But the beauty is...God is also still there with His arms open wide just like the father of the prodigal son, saying "stop being deceived and come back to the truth. My love has been here for you the entire time you were deceived and it is here now".
Jesus was very clear in His teachings, and the moment we have to try to "look deeper" into them to make them look the way we want them to, then we have begun to "bend" the scriptures to fit into our lives. We cannot do this....we must bend our lives to fit into the scriptures. When you have an owners manual to a machine that you've bought, it shows you how to use that machine. If you chose to use it differently, and it starts not working correctly...having problems....it would be because you are not using it as the manual instructed. Well, the bible is our owners manual, and when we begin to live in a manner that does not match the manual, then don't be surprised life starts having problems. Especially problems that didn't exist when you were in Gods will. God's will is called perfect because He designed our lives to be a certain way. And when use our own free wills instead of His will, then our life becomes flawed. Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect". When we are walking in Gods perfect will for our life then our life should not look like the rest of the world. If yours does, then ask yourself at what place this began to happen, and ask God to help you fix that. Galatians 6:7-8 says "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life". If life has become harder than it used to be, then ask yourself what you have been sowing. Like I said earlier, it is not God who moves, but us. So if you feel further away from Him, the ask what got you there. What stands between you and Him? Guilt, shame, your plans, pride...deception? James 1:22 warns us by saying "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves". The moment we are no longer doers of God's truth, we have stepped into deception. Period!! And finally, Proverbs 10:9 says "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out". So if you know some of the things you are doing are being done in the dark, then your walk of integrity has become corrupt. Just because you allow those things to become more public doesn't mean they are suddenly ok, it means the deception has also turned into desensitization, and the enemy has you more fooled than you even realize.
Please know my heart in this blog today....it breaks for those being deceived. I've been there! I allowed the enemy to rob me of years of my life by living deceived....but I didn't have to. And neither do you! There is NO shame in turning back to Jesus and admitting you've got it wrong and your ready to make it right. That's the beauty of the story of the prodigal son. It says in Luke 15:17 "when he came to himself", meaning, when he came to his senses, when he stopped being deceived. This is when he came back to his father and received the father's love, and the father's forgiveness!
God, so many people are being deceived by the enemy and my heart breaks for them. God, this is a place I once lived and I don't want to see others in this place. Please God, send people into their lives to speak Your truth to them. Please Holy Spirit speak truth into their hearts so their eyes will be opened and so the truth can set them free! God, please help them humble themselves and come back to You so Your perfect will can be alive in their lives again. Thank You Jesus for the grace, love and mercy that awaits us when we come back to You....it is always more than we deserve, but exactly what we need. Thank You for that! In Jesus name, Amen.
Friday, May 8, 2015
What Do You Operate Out Of?
People today are very "emotionally" led people. If you can get someone to be emotionally connected to something then you can get them to be into it. Companies learned this a long time ago and began to market to our emotions. TV ads, ads on the internet, billboards and ads in a magazine try to connect with us emotionally all the time. In fact, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to do just that. So why do you think the enemy would not want you to fall into the same trap when it comes to God. The enemy wants to play off of the very emotions that God gave us to get to to desire sin...but also use our emotions in our churches. Yes, the enemy would love for us to create emotional experiences inside of our churches because He knows when that happens there is no depth. What we connect in in the moment will be just that...in the moment. And when leave that place and walk back out into the world and the emotions are no longer with us (because we are not in that moment) then we will get sucked right back into the world.
We can operate out of 2 places as a Christian, out of our emotions, or out of the spirit. God designed us to operate out of the spirit when it comes to relating to Him. In fact in John 4:23-24 Jesus says "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth". God wants to connect with our spirit because of the pureness of our spirit. Our flesh (our human side) is carnal, it always has been and it always will be. There for our emotions can be carnal to. This is why we can be made to desire something if we emotionally connect to that thing. Our emotions desire it, therefor out flesh desires it. But our spirit is separate from that. And when we allow ourselves to have a spiritual connection to God and not just an emotional one, then our spirit (with the help of the Holy Spirit) can guide us in God's ways. Galatians 5:16-17 makes it very clear by saying "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish". Our flesh and spirit fight against each other all the time, especially when it comes to surrendering to God. But when you truly do surrender, the spirit will win that struggle again and again. Because of the things we do in the spirit with God...soak in His word, worship and praise Him, spend time in our secret place with Him and operating in the spiritual gifts He has given us....it will make our spirit stronger. And this (through the strength God supplies) will allow the spirit to defeat the flesh. And when this happens it is known as "walking in God's will". We can only walk in God's will by operating out of our spirit. When our spirit submits to God it can be led by Him. God's love will have a whole new meaning. God's grace will be felt in a whole new way. And God's mercy will be so appreciated that your desire to "test it" will be less and less. Meaning the good that comes out of you, the good you begin to operate in on a daily basis, will come from a love back to Him. It will not come from a temporary emotional connection that may have helped you make one good decision, but instead will come from a desire to please Him just because you love Him all the time.
God created our emotions and He created our spirit. He also had a perfect plan in mind when He created us on how the two would work together. But sin came into this world and sin came into us, and when it did our emotions began to be controlled by our flesh and our flesh began to be controlled by our emotions.....and the enemy began to toy with both. But God stayed with us and God still was able to connect with us spiritually. And He knew the despite all the sin in the world, if we can operate out of our spirit and connect with His love on a spiritual level, then we can still be led by Him. So ask yourself today...Is my connection to God more of an emotional one that really doesn't have a lot of depth to it and therefore I keep dealing with the same sinful things in my life all the time?...Or is it a spirit connection where I feel God within me and I allow the Holy Spirit to guide me in all things? God desires to guide us in all things....on a deep spiritual level. 1 John 4:12-13 says "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit". He has given us His spirit, but it is up to us to be led by it. Don't let the enemy play on your emotions one more day! Connect with God spiritually and see what a difference in makes in your life.
God, Thank You so much that You gave us emotions and a spirit. Help us to know the difference between the two and connect with You in the way that You designed us to...and desire us to. Holy Spirit fill us up so that the fruit that comes from our lives is OF YOU....and not a product of our emotions. Please allow us to be able to show others what life is like when Your Spirit is alive in us. In Jesus name, Amen
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Don't Look "Around" The Log...Deal With It!
One of the things God has been doing with me lately is having me write about things where I can use myself as an example. And before that sounds to arrogant, let me make it clear that I don't mean a good example. I mean an example of the way I know I used to be, an example of the things I used to struggle with, and the things I still struggle with. So today as I was praying over what to write about I felt God pressing the word "judgement" on my heart. Judgment, or judging others, was an area I used to struggle with pretty bad. And to be honest it wasn't because I wanted to point out all the bad in someone else or even point out how wrong they were. It was because I didn't want to see the bad in myself or realize how wrong I was living my life. So it was always easier to compare myself to someone who "appeared" to be living worse than me....or struggled with things worse than me...or even someone who just struggled with things that were different than the things I struggled with. My goal today is not to condemn anyone if you have fell into this same way of thinking, but instead, get you to see why Jesus says it's not right for us to live like that and how dangerous it can be for you.
Probably one of the most popular pieces of scripture in the bible when you talk about judging others is Matthew 7:1-5, where Jesus says, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank(or log) in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye". I'm pretty sure I have even referenced this scripture in other blog posts. However, this is one of those pieces of scripture that can point something new out to me each time I read it. First of all we need to recognize that this is Jesus speaking...so that alone should grab out attention. Next we need to hear His tone as this is spoken. It is not to be taken lightly. It's not like Jesus is saying "hey, you "may" have some problems of your own". No He is saying your problems look like a LOG compared to the spec that you are pointing out in someone else. Deal with your log before you go talking to someone else about their spec. And before you disqualify yourself from being able to help others because of this verse, I do want to make it clear that God does want us to help others with their problems. But we can't very well go do that until we have allowed Him to help us with ours! We aren't supposed to try to cover ours so we can go help others. We get ours dealt with first! And this is where I used to screw up so bad. I covered my problems (my sins) and acted like they didn't exist so I could go "help" (and I use that term loosely) someone else. But what I learned is that when you have huge issues in your life that you are not allowing God to deal with, then your "help" toward someone else is just a shift of focus. You are focusing on someone else's junk so you don't have to focus on your own. I know that may be a tough pill to swallow, but I'm just trying to speak truth here. I focused on other's stuff and ignored my own for far to long and that was not something Jesus wanted me to do. In fact, that all finally stopped when I threw all my "stuff" at the feet of Jesus. It was humbling and eye opening! The grace and mercy that I was met with by Jesus completely changed the way I looked at others. It allowed me to see the grace and mercy I needed to be giving to others. Not passing judgement!
If we truly want to serve Christ then we have to learn how to also serve others. And the quickest way to get someone shut you out is to make them feel like you are judging them. We are only where we are with Jesus because He forgave us and showed us a Grace and Mercy we did NOT deserve. And we will reach people the way Jesus did (and does) when we can approach them with the same grace and mercy that He shows us. We can be the most effective for Jesus when we are freely giving Him all of OUR stuff to work on...not just praying for someone else's sin(s). Realizing we may never come to the day where we have no more sin(because we are human), but coming to the day where sin does NOT have us! We know who we are without Jesus, and now who we are IN Jesus. And it is ONLY because of Him that the log that was once in our own eye can be make a spec too!
God, Thank You that you love us enough to point out the things in us that need to be dealt with. You love us as we are and where we are, but You love us far to much to leave us as You found us. Help us to love others as they are and where they are, but constantly pointing them to You so that YOU can change them. It is not our place to change them, but it is our place to speak truth in love so You can do in their lives what you are doing in us daily. Holy Spirit humble us and remind us that we can relate better to others when we see the log in our own eye and please help us to never elevate ourself above others just because we have found Christ. If anything, that should cause us to lower ourselves enough to be able to serve them as Christ did. If we have judged, please forgive us and help us to right the wrongs we have done starting TODAY! In Jesus name, Amen
Probably one of the most popular pieces of scripture in the bible when you talk about judging others is Matthew 7:1-5, where Jesus says, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank(or log) in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye". I'm pretty sure I have even referenced this scripture in other blog posts. However, this is one of those pieces of scripture that can point something new out to me each time I read it. First of all we need to recognize that this is Jesus speaking...so that alone should grab out attention. Next we need to hear His tone as this is spoken. It is not to be taken lightly. It's not like Jesus is saying "hey, you "may" have some problems of your own". No He is saying your problems look like a LOG compared to the spec that you are pointing out in someone else. Deal with your log before you go talking to someone else about their spec. And before you disqualify yourself from being able to help others because of this verse, I do want to make it clear that God does want us to help others with their problems. But we can't very well go do that until we have allowed Him to help us with ours! We aren't supposed to try to cover ours so we can go help others. We get ours dealt with first! And this is where I used to screw up so bad. I covered my problems (my sins) and acted like they didn't exist so I could go "help" (and I use that term loosely) someone else. But what I learned is that when you have huge issues in your life that you are not allowing God to deal with, then your "help" toward someone else is just a shift of focus. You are focusing on someone else's junk so you don't have to focus on your own. I know that may be a tough pill to swallow, but I'm just trying to speak truth here. I focused on other's stuff and ignored my own for far to long and that was not something Jesus wanted me to do. In fact, that all finally stopped when I threw all my "stuff" at the feet of Jesus. It was humbling and eye opening! The grace and mercy that I was met with by Jesus completely changed the way I looked at others. It allowed me to see the grace and mercy I needed to be giving to others. Not passing judgement!
If we truly want to serve Christ then we have to learn how to also serve others. And the quickest way to get someone shut you out is to make them feel like you are judging them. We are only where we are with Jesus because He forgave us and showed us a Grace and Mercy we did NOT deserve. And we will reach people the way Jesus did (and does) when we can approach them with the same grace and mercy that He shows us. We can be the most effective for Jesus when we are freely giving Him all of OUR stuff to work on...not just praying for someone else's sin(s). Realizing we may never come to the day where we have no more sin(because we are human), but coming to the day where sin does NOT have us! We know who we are without Jesus, and now who we are IN Jesus. And it is ONLY because of Him that the log that was once in our own eye can be make a spec too!
God, Thank You that you love us enough to point out the things in us that need to be dealt with. You love us as we are and where we are, but You love us far to much to leave us as You found us. Help us to love others as they are and where they are, but constantly pointing them to You so that YOU can change them. It is not our place to change them, but it is our place to speak truth in love so You can do in their lives what you are doing in us daily. Holy Spirit humble us and remind us that we can relate better to others when we see the log in our own eye and please help us to never elevate ourself above others just because we have found Christ. If anything, that should cause us to lower ourselves enough to be able to serve them as Christ did. If we have judged, please forgive us and help us to right the wrongs we have done starting TODAY! In Jesus name, Amen
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Blessings....Sending and Receiving
God has placed people in my life that are such a blessing. And to be honest I probably need to do a better job at letting those people know just how much of a blessing they are to me. But because I know how much they really do bless me, it is my prayer that God is using me to bless someone in that same way. So my question today is....are you?
We often ask God to bless us. We ask Him to bless us in our natural life and we ask Him to bless us in our spiritual life. And I truly believe God wants to! I think it brings joy to God to be able to bless us because often times it is where we are in life (close to Him and walking in obedience) that opens doors for Him to be able to pour His blessings out on us. But sometimes I think God will bless us just so we can go out and be a blessing to others. If you think about the life of Jesus, He was a blessing to others way more than others were a blessing to Him. So I have to think that if He was the ultimate example, then we should be blessing others more than we are being blessed. I have always been a firm believer that God fills us up so that we can go and pour out on others. He does not fill us up so we can sit and just be full.
Luke 6:38 says "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you". The very idea of this verse is that we give (or bless) others and we will be blessed. This may be you giving of your time, your resources or even yourself. You may feel the urge to send someone an encouraging message even though you yourself are not having the best of days. Only to turn around and receive a blessing that turns that whole "bad day" around for you. I have had this happen many times myself. God honors us when we can look past our own circumstances and be obedient when we are called to go bless someone. And this should always come from the heart....not out of obligation. The very idea that your following the leading that God has placed in your heart is what helps you get blessed by blessing someone else. And the blessing you receive in return is not a "reward", but is a result of you blessing someone else.
When I think about the blessings that God pours down on me daily it is not always in the form of a "thing". Philippians 4:19 says "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". The very idea that we pray for a "thing" to bless us is crazy. This verse says He will supply what we need....nothing about what we want. If God gave us what we want all the time we would be like spoiled children and most of us would ruin our own lives. Instead, He is loving and kind enough to supply our needs. I'm not sure if you have ever been in a situation where life was hard and things were tough, but if you have you will grasp that concept so much more. I personally have, and when someone has taken the time to see a true need in my life and blessed me by supplying that, it was so meaningful that it is hard to put words to it. That is the God we serve....that is the love He has for us. He looks into our lives and says "I see what you truly need and I will supply". How beautiful is that. But He doesn't stop there. He also says "now go do that for someone else".
We have all had God use someone to bless us. Even if you don't realize it, I guarantee you that you have. So open yourself up to allow God to use you to be a blessing to someone else. It will do something for that person that you may never know...but it will do something inside you as well. And the one thing I believe it does the most is help line our heart up with God's heart. And that is always His ultimate goal.
God, thank You for the blessings You pour out over me. Thank You for the people that You have put in my life that are a blessing to me. Please help me to be a blessing to those around me. Keep my heart pure and usable so that I am always open and ready when You call upon me to go bless someone. Holy Spirit please help me to LOOK for opportunities to bless others, not because I want blessed in return, but because I now it is in moments like that that I am reflecting Christ in my life the most. In Jesus name, Amen
We often ask God to bless us. We ask Him to bless us in our natural life and we ask Him to bless us in our spiritual life. And I truly believe God wants to! I think it brings joy to God to be able to bless us because often times it is where we are in life (close to Him and walking in obedience) that opens doors for Him to be able to pour His blessings out on us. But sometimes I think God will bless us just so we can go out and be a blessing to others. If you think about the life of Jesus, He was a blessing to others way more than others were a blessing to Him. So I have to think that if He was the ultimate example, then we should be blessing others more than we are being blessed. I have always been a firm believer that God fills us up so that we can go and pour out on others. He does not fill us up so we can sit and just be full.
Luke 6:38 says "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you". The very idea of this verse is that we give (or bless) others and we will be blessed. This may be you giving of your time, your resources or even yourself. You may feel the urge to send someone an encouraging message even though you yourself are not having the best of days. Only to turn around and receive a blessing that turns that whole "bad day" around for you. I have had this happen many times myself. God honors us when we can look past our own circumstances and be obedient when we are called to go bless someone. And this should always come from the heart....not out of obligation. The very idea that your following the leading that God has placed in your heart is what helps you get blessed by blessing someone else. And the blessing you receive in return is not a "reward", but is a result of you blessing someone else.
When I think about the blessings that God pours down on me daily it is not always in the form of a "thing". Philippians 4:19 says "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". The very idea that we pray for a "thing" to bless us is crazy. This verse says He will supply what we need....nothing about what we want. If God gave us what we want all the time we would be like spoiled children and most of us would ruin our own lives. Instead, He is loving and kind enough to supply our needs. I'm not sure if you have ever been in a situation where life was hard and things were tough, but if you have you will grasp that concept so much more. I personally have, and when someone has taken the time to see a true need in my life and blessed me by supplying that, it was so meaningful that it is hard to put words to it. That is the God we serve....that is the love He has for us. He looks into our lives and says "I see what you truly need and I will supply". How beautiful is that. But He doesn't stop there. He also says "now go do that for someone else".
We have all had God use someone to bless us. Even if you don't realize it, I guarantee you that you have. So open yourself up to allow God to use you to be a blessing to someone else. It will do something for that person that you may never know...but it will do something inside you as well. And the one thing I believe it does the most is help line our heart up with God's heart. And that is always His ultimate goal.
God, thank You for the blessings You pour out over me. Thank You for the people that You have put in my life that are a blessing to me. Please help me to be a blessing to those around me. Keep my heart pure and usable so that I am always open and ready when You call upon me to go bless someone. Holy Spirit please help me to LOOK for opportunities to bless others, not because I want blessed in return, but because I now it is in moments like that that I am reflecting Christ in my life the most. In Jesus name, Amen
Monday, May 4, 2015
There Is Nothing Better Than A God Encounter
There is something always good about starting off the week when you can look back on your weekend and realize how much time you spent in the presence of God. And this past weekend was definitely one of those weekends. However, it wasn't just that I was in church a lot over the weekend, but it was literally how much I felt God's presence as a whole.
My son and I had the chance to once again drive up to Cleveland, Ohio and go to an amazing praise/worship and prayer service. Something we have had the chance to do a couple times in the past 2 weeks. And some may ask why you would drive over 3 hours to attend a 3 hour service and then drive 3 hours back. But my answer would be because when you go seeking God like that, you find Him! And both times that my son and I have done this we have encountered God in such a powerful way. But not just at the services we attended, but also in the car during out 3 hour drives. Let me just say, there is something very powerful about having 3 hours to soak in how much you were just in the presence of God like that. How often do you get the chance to take 3 hours and think about, or talk about the service you just left? Or to discuss what you just felt and heard from God....or to reflect on the amazing testimonies you just witnessed. And to have that opportunity with my son is something that I will never forget.
Some of the things I heard over the weekend were eye opening and thought provoking. Testimonies of deliverance.....testimonies of God's grace....testimonies of God's healing...but most of all, testimonies of true life changing encounters with God. And when you can see the person standing in front of you that is living a changed life because of an encounter with God, it is way more than just a story. You see a person who was held captive by something and now they have been set free. It is seeing someone who found real love for the very first time. It is seeing someone who did not think forgiveness was a word they would ever know, but now that word represents a love, acceptance, hope and cleansing that they often have a hard time describing. Because true encounters with God are hard to find words to describe. I think one man said it best when he said "deliverance from things is very real and is exactly what some people need in their life....but I needed an encounter with the one and only true living God. And THAT is what changed my life!" And that IS what this man found, and that IS what changed this man's life.
Now I'm a firm believer that when you find yourself in God's presence like this, there is ALWAYS something to be taken away from it. There is a piece of that presence that should now be in you and you should be carrying back with you to wherever it is you are going. So for us, that presence came back in a 3 hour drive back that I never expected. And I say that because God's presence allowed me to share my full life's testimony with my son in the car that night. A story that not to many people know, and one I never could picture how I would share with my son. But I knew God was saying this was the time, and this was the place. He created the time and the atmosphere for this moment to happen... and He was with us. The mature understanding, and the grace and mercy displayed by my son was an amazing feeling I will never forget. To hear him say "no matter what you are about to share with me, it is not who you are now dad, so it's ok" was a true gift from God. And the door that got closed that night to fear from the enemy was something worth rejoicing over. I say that because I know God is calling me to speak more and more. And sharing my testimony will most definitely be a part of that. However, the fear of sharing that with my son around was something the enemy would always hold over my head. But never again!!! God showed the enemy once again that His presence, His love, His grace and His mercy will defeat sin, fear and anything else the enemy tries to rule you with. And the best news I have to offer you today is that what I and so many others have experienced is also fully available to you! A true encounter with God!
God, I personally thank You for your presence. Something I never want to take for granted or "just get used to". There is power in Your presence. There is peace in Your presence. There is healing in Your presence....and it is a place I love and long to be in. I pray today that more people would have less of an "emotional experience" with you, but instead have an encounter with you. Holy Spirit please help us to create time and space in our lives to allow encounters with God. And please be with anyone today who has been running.....may they run into God and stop running from Him. In Jesus name, Amen
My son and I had the chance to once again drive up to Cleveland, Ohio and go to an amazing praise/worship and prayer service. Something we have had the chance to do a couple times in the past 2 weeks. And some may ask why you would drive over 3 hours to attend a 3 hour service and then drive 3 hours back. But my answer would be because when you go seeking God like that, you find Him! And both times that my son and I have done this we have encountered God in such a powerful way. But not just at the services we attended, but also in the car during out 3 hour drives. Let me just say, there is something very powerful about having 3 hours to soak in how much you were just in the presence of God like that. How often do you get the chance to take 3 hours and think about, or talk about the service you just left? Or to discuss what you just felt and heard from God....or to reflect on the amazing testimonies you just witnessed. And to have that opportunity with my son is something that I will never forget.
Some of the things I heard over the weekend were eye opening and thought provoking. Testimonies of deliverance.....testimonies of God's grace....testimonies of God's healing...but most of all, testimonies of true life changing encounters with God. And when you can see the person standing in front of you that is living a changed life because of an encounter with God, it is way more than just a story. You see a person who was held captive by something and now they have been set free. It is seeing someone who found real love for the very first time. It is seeing someone who did not think forgiveness was a word they would ever know, but now that word represents a love, acceptance, hope and cleansing that they often have a hard time describing. Because true encounters with God are hard to find words to describe. I think one man said it best when he said "deliverance from things is very real and is exactly what some people need in their life....but I needed an encounter with the one and only true living God. And THAT is what changed my life!" And that IS what this man found, and that IS what changed this man's life.
Now I'm a firm believer that when you find yourself in God's presence like this, there is ALWAYS something to be taken away from it. There is a piece of that presence that should now be in you and you should be carrying back with you to wherever it is you are going. So for us, that presence came back in a 3 hour drive back that I never expected. And I say that because God's presence allowed me to share my full life's testimony with my son in the car that night. A story that not to many people know, and one I never could picture how I would share with my son. But I knew God was saying this was the time, and this was the place. He created the time and the atmosphere for this moment to happen... and He was with us. The mature understanding, and the grace and mercy displayed by my son was an amazing feeling I will never forget. To hear him say "no matter what you are about to share with me, it is not who you are now dad, so it's ok" was a true gift from God. And the door that got closed that night to fear from the enemy was something worth rejoicing over. I say that because I know God is calling me to speak more and more. And sharing my testimony will most definitely be a part of that. However, the fear of sharing that with my son around was something the enemy would always hold over my head. But never again!!! God showed the enemy once again that His presence, His love, His grace and His mercy will defeat sin, fear and anything else the enemy tries to rule you with. And the best news I have to offer you today is that what I and so many others have experienced is also fully available to you! A true encounter with God!
God, I personally thank You for your presence. Something I never want to take for granted or "just get used to". There is power in Your presence. There is peace in Your presence. There is healing in Your presence....and it is a place I love and long to be in. I pray today that more people would have less of an "emotional experience" with you, but instead have an encounter with you. Holy Spirit please help us to create time and space in our lives to allow encounters with God. And please be with anyone today who has been running.....may they run into God and stop running from Him. In Jesus name, Amen
Friday, May 1, 2015
Unity Within The Body...UNITY!!
One of the things that God has put on my heart over the past year is unity. And the kind of unity I am talking about is unity among believers. I believe we are a divided group of people who are serving the same God, and it breaks my heart to see the things we let divide us. Even in a small community it is very hard to get more than 2 to 4 churches to try to work together. It seems like no matter what the cause is, we can't lay down our differences (which there really should not be that many) and come together in the name of Jesus and act as one body. The very idea that we cannot work as one body goes against the bible if you ask me.
When I read God's Word I take every word I read very literal. When something is made plural then there is a reason it is. And when something is made singular there is also a reason for that. And in Matthew 16:18 Jesus says to Peter "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it". If you notice Jesus did not say to Peter I will build my "churches"....He said church. And He did not say denominations! He said church because I strongly believe that Jesus wanted us to be one unity people who trusted, believed and worshiped Him. I think He wanted us to come into agreement with every word the bible says and not divide it up and decide which parts were going to be more important to us, which parts were going to be less important to us, and which parts we are going to pretend aren't even there. And let's be honest, isn't that what division in the church is really all about. It isn't about whether we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came down from heaven...died for our sins...defeated sin, death and hell...rose on the 3rd day...ascended back to heaven and now sits on the right hand of God...cause those things we do agree on. Well, those better not be the things your church differs over or quite honestly I would suggest you find a different church! It doesn't matter what church you step into, those fundamental things usually are solid. However, you get beyond those things and that is where we let out minds and our opinions step in. One church believes healings still happen and another says they were just in Jesus' time. One church believes in the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and another church says there is only 1 God. One church believes in the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:27-31) and one church says speaking in tongues is wrong. We will even argue about when you must be baptized and how. When will we ever get past this spirit of religion and get back to teaching people about why the LOVE of CHRIST brings us all together? And since I referred to 1 Corinthians 12, then you may want to also take a look at what that passage has to say about being one body. It states that we are ONE body, however we each play a different role within that body. Not because we should have different beliefs, not because one is more important than another, but because we are all gifted by God in different ways. God gave us each different gifts because He knew the church would need lots of different people to make things work right. But again, I do not believe He ever intended on us parking ourselves in different churches (denominations) and not helping each other, not interacting with each other, becoming defensive on our own personal beliefs or breaking down the very idea of the church that HE came to bring us. Acts 20:28 says "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood". So I ask, where along the way did we take the church away from Jesus and make it what we wanted? Where did we lose this idea that we are all one flock in HIS church. And lastly...how proud do you think God is of us somedays because of how well we are shepherding HIS church that He purchase with HIS blood?
Church, let's wake up! There are still so many lost and hurting people that need to be reached and until they see us able to come together in love and agree that Jesus is THE way...and that truly nothing else matters....how will we be able to show them how God's Word is alive in our lives?
God, thank You for Your Son. Thank You that He came and died to establish "the church". Jesus is the cornerstone that the church is built on and I'm sorry for how much we have divided it and turned it into something you did not design it to be. Please help us bring unity back into the family and come together in love to serve and point people toward You. You are the truth, the way and the life....may our lives reflect that. In Jesus name, Amen
When I read God's Word I take every word I read very literal. When something is made plural then there is a reason it is. And when something is made singular there is also a reason for that. And in Matthew 16:18 Jesus says to Peter "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it". If you notice Jesus did not say to Peter I will build my "churches"....He said church. And He did not say denominations! He said church because I strongly believe that Jesus wanted us to be one unity people who trusted, believed and worshiped Him. I think He wanted us to come into agreement with every word the bible says and not divide it up and decide which parts were going to be more important to us, which parts were going to be less important to us, and which parts we are going to pretend aren't even there. And let's be honest, isn't that what division in the church is really all about. It isn't about whether we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came down from heaven...died for our sins...defeated sin, death and hell...rose on the 3rd day...ascended back to heaven and now sits on the right hand of God...cause those things we do agree on. Well, those better not be the things your church differs over or quite honestly I would suggest you find a different church! It doesn't matter what church you step into, those fundamental things usually are solid. However, you get beyond those things and that is where we let out minds and our opinions step in. One church believes healings still happen and another says they were just in Jesus' time. One church believes in the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and another church says there is only 1 God. One church believes in the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:27-31) and one church says speaking in tongues is wrong. We will even argue about when you must be baptized and how. When will we ever get past this spirit of religion and get back to teaching people about why the LOVE of CHRIST brings us all together? And since I referred to 1 Corinthians 12, then you may want to also take a look at what that passage has to say about being one body. It states that we are ONE body, however we each play a different role within that body. Not because we should have different beliefs, not because one is more important than another, but because we are all gifted by God in different ways. God gave us each different gifts because He knew the church would need lots of different people to make things work right. But again, I do not believe He ever intended on us parking ourselves in different churches (denominations) and not helping each other, not interacting with each other, becoming defensive on our own personal beliefs or breaking down the very idea of the church that HE came to bring us. Acts 20:28 says "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood". So I ask, where along the way did we take the church away from Jesus and make it what we wanted? Where did we lose this idea that we are all one flock in HIS church. And lastly...how proud do you think God is of us somedays because of how well we are shepherding HIS church that He purchase with HIS blood?
Church, let's wake up! There are still so many lost and hurting people that need to be reached and until they see us able to come together in love and agree that Jesus is THE way...and that truly nothing else matters....how will we be able to show them how God's Word is alive in our lives?
God, thank You for Your Son. Thank You that He came and died to establish "the church". Jesus is the cornerstone that the church is built on and I'm sorry for how much we have divided it and turned it into something you did not design it to be. Please help us bring unity back into the family and come together in love to serve and point people toward You. You are the truth, the way and the life....may our lives reflect that. In Jesus name, Amen
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