How Do You Come To Him?

A lot of times when I'm in worship at church I will hear God speaking to me and I have to stop and ask the question "Is this for me, is the for me to share with others now, or is this something You want me to write about later?". And the one thing I have learned from Him over the past couple of years is that He will show me, and if it is for others He will give me the nerve to take the mic and talk. However yesterday when I was receiving from Him it was very clear that I was supposed to just process what He was saying in the moment. I wasn't supposed to ask for the mic, but I also knew the word I was getting was a challenging one and was going to be shared somewhere. Then this morning when I was praying about the blog God gave me the word again....

The word I was receiving from God was about how we come to Him. I felt Him say that so many times we show up at church and we are already anticipating what He is going to do that day. We come expecting, and even though I don't think there is anything wrong with that, it isn't always how He wants us to come to Him. In fact, Matthew 11:28 talks about coming to Him to find rest and Philippians 4:19 says He will supply our every need. So it is not a matter of whether God wants us to give to us, because He clearly does. But it is more a matter of the condition of our heart when we come to Him. If you are a parent then you may know what if feels like to have a child that comes to you with their hand out all the time. Sometimes we have to teach our kids to not always be expecting, but have an attitude of appreciation too. Teaching them that it is so much more pleasing for us to give to them when their hearts are in the the right place than it is when they just expect. And that is kind of what God was showing me yesterday.

Don't get me wrong, I love the services where we have healing lines and people just receive and receive from God. It is quite amazing to watch Him do His work and to see people healed and set free. But yesterday I felt Him saying that the anticipation that we feel when we are coming to church about what He will do that day....He feels that about us too. He gets excited with anticipation about how we will show up for our time with Him. Will we show up with pure hearts? Will we be ready to lay down any distractions and troubles from the week and give Him all of us? Will we willingly worship Him with our tithes and offerings? Or we just show up like a child with our hand out, and when He asks for anything in return we will have the wrong attitude? 

The amazing thing about God is that He will often bless us even when we are not deserving of it or when the attitude of our heart is not right. Why does He do this...because He is not a conditional lover. His love is truly unconditional, but today I challenge you by asking "Is yours back to Him?". Do you show up on Sunday morning (or in your quiet time) ready to pour your love out to Him no matter what kind of day/week you have had? Yesterday I could literally see God excited that we were gathering to worship Him. I could see Him ready to pour out to us with His presence and I could see that He was hoping that we would show up ready to praise Him with all that was in us and receive all that He had for us. It was an amazing site. To see Him excited about us......and it made me want to say to everyone "please come to Him with your hearts prepared because He is excited your here!" 

This vision from God just reminded me once again that yes things happen to us, that is the result of living in an imperfect world, but the way those things impact us is a choice and we can honor Him the most by not letting them affect the way we come to Him. We can lay things aside and come to Him fully prepared to give Him all we have to offer. This is when I believe we really put a smile on His face. Because it is in those times that He can fill us the most and enable us to carry Him out to the rest of the world.

God, thank You that You never have to "show up" because You are always right where we need You. Please help us stay at a place in our hearts, minds and lives to be with You at any given time. Help us not to allow circumstances, or even the busyness of life, to distract us from being able to come and worship You with all that is in us. Holy Spirit, always correct the attitude of our heart so we can come to You in a way that honors You. In Jesus name, Amen

Loyalty and Praise!

It the sports world there is a term called "the fair weather fan" and it simply means that you are a fan of the team when the team is doing well. But during hard times that fan will jump on the bandwagon of other winning teams. The is also another term called "a loyal fan", and this would be a person who will stick by their team when they are having a good season or a bad one. They will proudly display their support for that team even when they are doing their worst. Why would they do that? Because they believe in them and they stick by them. They know that it isn't about one game or even one season, a true fan has a love for their team and they will cheer for them even when things don't look good.
As a Christian our lives can reflect this same loyalty or lack of loyalty. I'm not saying when things get rough we walk away from Jesus, but I am asking does your "cheer" quiet down? Are you a person who is praising God in the good times, but tend to get quiet when the enemy kicks your feet out from under you. Can you get honest enough with yourself today to say yeah I do kind of do that? Or maybe you can say that used to be me, but no more! Two years ago I made a promise to God that I will praise Him in the good times and I will praise Him even louder in the storm. Why would I make a promise like that? Because I know the enemy hears the promises I make to God too. And I want satan to know that if you come after me, and I know you will, then be prepared to hear me praise God's name even more. Be prepared for me to tell others how God has carried me through and be prepared for me to look for the good in every situation and testify about it. I want Him to know that I DO believe that God will make good of any bad situation, so as soon as a situation starts to look bad I start to look for the good. And yes, this is a choice and sometimes not and easy one., but I made a promise to God and I plan to stick by that promise.
The enemy learns about us as life goes by. He learns how to push our buttons and he learns what kind of "fan" we are to God. And where he finds weakness he will prey on it in your life. If he knows that he can crush your spirit he will try with everything he has. If he knows you are the kind of person that will focus on the bad and talk to everyone around you about all the bad in your life, then he will keep throwing bad at you. The fact is, your going to be a voice for him or a voice for God. And if you start to speak out about all the bad things that go on around you, you are not praising God, then who do you think is getting the glory? I am not saying you ignore situations, but I am saying that you don't lose sight of God in those situations. You praise Him and thank Him in the midst of the storm and you refuse to focus on the things that you know the enemy wants you to.
I believe if there is one strong theme throughout the new testament it is that we are supposed to be as much like Jesus as we can. And when I look at how Jesus handled every "bad" situation around Him, I see that they did not shake Him, they did not rock His foundation and they did not affect His focus on God or His purpose. And I am very thankful for that! The enemy tried to tempt Jesus, then enemy tried to get people to doubt Jesus, the enemy caused people to turn on Him and the enemy caused Him pain. And Jesus praised God through it all. And He let others see that praise! And even in the end, when the enemy thought he won through death, Jesus defeated Him and gave all honor to God.
So today I ask that you look at how you handle things that get thrown at you. In those situations are you more of a fair weather fan to God, or are you truly loyal to Him? Like I have stated before, light always drives out darkness and your praise is light. And when others see your praise at a time when it would make more since to be frustrated or mad, then not only are you being Christlike, but you are pointing others to Him!
God, thank You that You are faithful and trustworthy. Please help us not lose sight of that when the enemy hits us with something bad. Help us keep our focus and our trust on You and see this as an opportunity to let You do something big in our lives that others will see. Give us the strength and wisdom to see the enemy's plan and praise and trust You through it ALL. In Jesus name, Amen

There's Always Going To Be A Price To Pay

No matter what kind of life you life, there is always going to be a price to pay. This is a true statement, but the price that is paid doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Since the beginning of time people have used their God given free will to determine the path they were going to take...the choices they were going to make. And throughout history people have paid the price for those choices. Sometimes the price paid was for a good cause, and sometimes it wasn't. If you think as far back as Adam and Eve, they had a choice, and prices were paid. When they did as God asked the price was that they did not eat from the tree of knowledge, therefore they did not know the difference between good and evil. That may not sound like a price, but it really was. They were living "without" something on purpose to obey and honor God. And then when they decided to take from the tree and eat the fruit, then the price that was paid was having a knowledge they have never experienced before, a shame they had never felt before and a distance between them and God that never existed before. I heard my pastor say last week that this is how good God is....Even though God already knew they had sinned, He still kept His appointment with them in the garden, He showed up, but it was them who hid from Him. Isn't that just like God though, to love us, to come after us, to pursue us...despite our sin.
Ok, I got off the path a little there......but today I want to challenge you to think about the price that is being paid in your life. Is it a price you are paying because you are making decisions that are pleasing in God's eyes.....or is it a price being paid because you are expressing free will? Living a life that is pleasing to Him may mean you are NOT doing things that the rest of the world is doing. It means you may not take part in that conversation in the lunch room at work or school. You may not have seen that latest trashy movie that came out. You may not be walking around singing the horrible lyrics to that new song on the radio. Or you may not go to or shop at certain places because of what the support or represent. These are the prices we pay to try and live a consecrated life before God. The reward for this will be great....and that is why the price we are paying here can be easier than people who don't know God think in can. They may think your "different" or even make fun of you for your choices, for your faith, but in the end the price you paid to honor God will be well worth it.
Or maybe the choice is a life of free will and sin. Maybe a person wants to indulge in the things this world has to offer and try to "fit in". Maybe those choices aren't even choices we would consider "horrible", but they are just enough to create distance between you and God. Even when this is allowed, a price is being paid. The enemy would like you to think it's not, but it is. This is a life of deception. Just like satan deceived Adam and Eve into thinking "this won't do something bad"...he is still doing the same thing today.
Some of those choices will have an immediate price to pay, and some will have a price later. Some will be a bad price, and some will be a price like simply not fitting in with the rest of the world. But personally for me, there isn't a price that I could pay out of my love for God any higher than the one Jesus already paid for me. The choice is yours, but all choices do have a price. What will be the one you choose to pay...worldly rewards now and pay the price later...or pay the price of living a consecrated life now and being rewarded later?
It really can't be made any more clear than it is in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". Don't let the enemy convince you that there won't be a price to pay for sin....and don't let him convince you that God won't receive you, forgiven you and love you right where you are. The beauty is, you bring Him the sins you have and He shows you that Jesus already paid for them. And once you make that choice to let Jesus cover your debts, you can take your 2nd chance and go tell others about the price He paid for you.
God, thank You that Jesus did pay a price for us. What You offer us did not come without a price being paid, so help us to accept the price you paid for us, and let the enemy convince us to live a life where we will pay a price later. Holy Spirit convict our hearts, and give us the wisdom to see the price of the choices we are about to make....then help us turn from our sin and repent. Help us to be eternally minded and not live for the moment. And then let our life and our choices draw others to You. In Jesus name, Amen

Are You A Full Or Empty Vessel?

Have you ever really watched the trucks that pass you as you go down the road? Some are tankers, some are tracker/trailers, some are box trucks. They come in different sizes and shapes, and they are usually build according to what they can carry. In other words. if a truck is made to carry a heavy load you can usually tell from the outside. If a truck is meant to carry hazardous material you can tell the different between it and one that is just hauling water. Each one is unique in its own way and build according to the work it has been made to do. But the one thing you rarely can tell just from seeing a truck going down the road is IF it is empty or actually full of something. Sure the truck may be built to be full of something, but it could be just driving down the road empty.
As I was driving down the road today thinking about this very thing I was thinking about how people are spiritually built. That God would never call us to carry out a job that He did not specifically build us to do. Yes He may still be working on us, building us up to do what it is He is calling us to do, but He would never just drop a calling on us that He knows we are unprepared for. The thing that is up to us though, is to fill up the vessel He has created in us. Let me explain...
Like I stated early, just because you see a truck beside you on the highway that is build to carry a very specific load, that doesn't mean it might not be empty. The driver of that truck knows what is in it, not the people around him on the road. Well you, as the driver of your vessel, also know if you are using the vessel God has given you to it's fullest potential, or if you are just driving it around empty. God will fill you up to the capacity that you allow Him to. He will not force Himself on you. How much of Him that you allow to be in you is directly determined by you. He knows the calling that is on your life, what He put you here to do, but You know how much you are letting Him fill you to do the job. And just like the people going down the road don't know if a truck has been filled up or not, neither do the people around you. You may be playing the part, and you may be walking through the motions, but you may be walking around empty on the inside.
A person could go out and purchase the best tanker truck on the market. It could be build to carry anything out there, but the person could refuse to allow it to be used because they fear what it is "really" capable of doing. So they just drive it around never using it to it's fullest potential. Is that you? Are you not being used to your fullest potential by God because you are afraid if you really let Him fill you then you know He'll call you to do something with all that He has put in you? One thing I can promise you, every truck you pass on the road was filled up for one purpose and only one purpose...and that is that it will be emptied back out. What ever God is filling you with it will be for the purpose of pouring it right back out into others. You and I are vessels. We are to carry His love, His promises, His grace, His mercy and His word to others. We are filled up by Him so we can be emptied out and filled right back up. But an empty truck has nothing to unload....it has to be carrying something first. You have to be carrying something in you in order to be used and poured out into others.
We are to be filled by God as we walk with Him. We are to be filled for a purpose and a reason. If you don't know what that is yet, maybe it's because He wants to fill you more before He reveals it to you. Surrender your ways to His ways, let Him fill you, and when you are ready He will reveal His purpose to you. Ephesians 3:14-21 tells us, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever
and ever. Amen".
God, thank You that You desire to fill us, and to use us. Let us realize we are all vessels built to be filled by You so we can pour out to others. Holy Spirit help us surrender to You and allow You to do all You want in us so that we are filled with all of Your fullness. And let other's not see us as empty vessels, but instead vessels full of the love, grace mercy and message of Jesus Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.

How Do You Choose To Face Things?

There is a place we can come to, if we let ourselves, that involves so much love and so much thanksgiving to God that it drives the enemy crazy. But when we finally reach that place and the enemy comes after you (which he will), then you must see it as an even bigger chance to just praise your way through it.
After hearing a great message at church yesterday about how we "choose" to let things affect us, I was not surprised that the enemy tried to hit me with a few problems today. I literally just came through one of the most blessed and amazing weekends of my life. So many good things took place that it is hard to even wrap my head around it. From my son playing with the worship band at church for the first time, to getting to worship God with the amazing woman God has brought into my life, to wrapping it all up by moving my mom back to Ohio and spending the evening with my entire family. All huge blessings from God. So why should I be surprised that as soon as Monday gets here the enemy tries to interrupt my schedule, throw a problem my way and rob me of my peace and joy...I shouldn't! I shouldn't be surprised at all. And that is the place I have come to in life. Just like I always look for a train if I cross railroad tracks, because that is where a train should be, I also look for the enemy's little tricks when I am right where God wants me to be and I receiving direction and blessings from Him. This is right where the enemy will always be. All the enemy has is the same old tricks, he just tries to use them in different ways. But his goal is to frustrate us, steal our peace, rob us of our joy and try to create distance between us and God. But we have to CHOOSE not to allow this to happen. We have to keep our hearts, our eyes and our minds focused on God and say to the enemy "sorry, not going to happen".
I know some things in life that hit us are definitely bigger than others, but the way we choose to allow God to show up in them does not have to be different. He will show up for the small stuff just like He will show up for the big stuff. Don't have the mindset that I don't want to bother God with the small stuff...He wants it all. He wants to bless you BIG and He wants to help you BIG. God, when allowed to have complete control, doesn't do anything small. And the peace and joy that you have from Him while you face anything the enemy throws at you also doesn't have to be small.
I know it is tough to hear how easy it is to overcome stuff from someone who hasn't been through anything, but trust me when I say I have. My story may not be as powerful as other's I've heard, but I can tell you that my God has carried me through some storms that could have taken me completely down. And while walking through it...while in the midst of it...He already started the healing process and the path to a better future for. Did I know it at the time, no. But I do now and that make me stand in awe of how great and powerful He is. All because I chose HIS way, not my own.
I've allowed Him to rule over my life with complete surrender to Him for over 2 years now and I can tell you that NOTHING has been the same since then. The blessings are amazing, the troubles I have faced have been overcome through Him, and the future I have in front of me looks absolutely beautiful. Doubt and fear are foreign words to me and I stand in the face of the enemy daily and remind him who my God is. And I watch him back down again and again. James 4:7 tells us "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you". You can't pick and choose the parts of that verse you want to come into agreement with, you have to do it all in order for it to work. Submit to God, resist the things the enemy throws at you, REMIND him who the God you serve is...and watch him back down.
If you want to look at other scriptures that support this idea of overcoming the enemy and the problems he attempts to hit you with, please see these verses: John 16:33, 1 John 5:4-5, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 4:4, Galatians 2:20 and Proverbs 3:5-6.
God, thank You that IN You we are overcomers. Today, help us stand on the promises of Your Word and look all doubt, fear, trials and tribulations in the face and command them to GO in the name of Jesus! Holy Spirit give us the wisdom to take our things to the feet of God and release control to Him instead of fighting these battles on our own. Today I choose to praise You for ALL the good in my life!!! In Jesus name, Amen

My Words...

If I could only make one sound
The sound I'd want to make
Would be one I'd lift up to Him
As I offer up my praise

If only one noise I could make
I'd make it every day
And in my mind and in my heart
I'd say "Holy is Your name"

If I only had one thing
That my lips could surely say
I would make it sound just like a song
And sing my praise today....

But God has blessed me with my words
The ones that I produce
So I'll use this gift that came from Him
To build up, not reduce

So I'll build up praise
And build up others
And build up His great name

And I'll speak my words
With every chance
So others hear my praise

I'll let them know
And let the hear
How amazing that He is

And I'll preach the words
From His Word
And speak the truth it is

I'll speak with boldness
I'll speak with honor
And I'll speak to all I can

And I'll speak with love
As He did
When He came down as a man

So join me with your words
And before they leave your tongue
Let each one glorify The One
And glorify His Son.

Anytime....Anyplace

If you have a close, personal and intimate relationship with Jesus then one of the places you probably love to be is in a worship service where you can just feel the presence of God all around you. There really isn't a better feeling then being in that moment when you are singing praises out to Him...eyes closed, hands raised and you all the sudden just feel Him there with you. It's those kind of services that I hate to see come to an end....but the good news is, they really don't have to. 

As a Christian you are carry something inside of you everywhere you go. You carry it every minute of every day....and it's the kingdom of God! Luke 17:20-21 says "Now when He (Jesus) was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.'" What does this mean for us? It means that we can have a worship service anywhere we go. 

If you want to feel the Holy Spirit with you then all you have to do is invite Him. Do you make a way for Him to come and be with you? I watched an interview with a great Christian speaker one time and he said that when he travels in his car he always makes sure the passenger seat is kept clear and treats the Holy Spirit as if He was riding as a passenger in the car. He talked about how sometimes he sings praises to God in the car and sometimes he turns everything off and waits to hear from God. From the time I watched that interview it really changed my perspective of my "alone time". It made me realize there really isn't alone time, there is just time to be alone with God. And now on my drive to work that is how I treat it. It is my little mini worship set on some mornings, or on other mornings is complete silence and a time to hear what God has to say to me. And I can't tell you how many times I've received direction or answers from Him during those rides. All because I made a place for Him. I made room in my day to be with Him. I don't count this time as my "secret time" with God. It is my extra time with God. And sometimes the worship that I have in my car tops anything I experience in church. And the number reason I think that is, is because God loves it when we invite Him into our time and the way He shows up in those moments is so personal.

Whether it is in your home, in your car or even in your office at work...you can set up an environment of worship to Him. And I promise that if you do you will see Him show up. One of my favorite words in the bible and a hope that I hold on to is in James 4:8 where it says "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you...". What an amazing promise! If you have allowed yourself to fall into the mindset that you go from one Sunday to the next getting filled up to get you through the week, today would be a good day to break that. You can get filled up every day if you purposefully make a time and place to draw near to Him and allow Him to draw near to you. You are in a relationship with God and just like any other great relationship in your life, cultivating it by making time and space for Him will just make that relationship stronger and stronger. 

So if you happen to ever pass in me in my car and you see tears rolling down my cheeks, or my hand raised in the air, or me singing like a mad man....don't worry about me, I'm just having an amazing time with God!

God, I can't say thank You enough for coming to any and every place we invite You. Holy Spirit please help us see that You want to spend time with us and please never stop nudging us to take time to make a place for You in our day. Draw near to us in such a personal way that we become overwhelmed by your presence and can't wait until the next time we can get alone with you. Fill us in those moments and let what we have overflow into those around us. In Jesus name, Amen

What World Do You Live In?

Every day I believe when we wake up we have a question to answer before we even step out of me. And that is, do I want to live in this world today, or do I want to live in the one God has for me? I'm not talking about the natural vs. the supernatural, but I am talking more about sin, limitation, circumstances, hurt, depression, confusion.....and so on. I'm not trying to make yours or my every day life sound all dark and depressing, I'm just stating that when we live "in" the world around us we can be easily impacted by all the negativity in that world. We can worry and stress over things that are going on around us more than we should and we can even worry about the things that may never impact us. And to be honest, I think to many people confuse the word worry with the word care. There is a difference between caring about what is going on in the world around you and worrying about it. So if you care, then take it to the only one who truly can change it...because if all you do is stress over it then you are let it change you.
You don't have to watch the news very long to see that the world is full of darkness. It is stuff from right down the street, to things going on on the other side of the world...but it's all some sort of darkness. However, in John 8:12 Jesus gave us a hope that we have to hold onto. He said "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life". What is the "light" that He is speaking of? It's having Him to rely on vs not having Him. It's being able to speak out to and speak the name of Jesus over situations and watching them change. It's having someone to ask for protection and knowing He can and will. It's being able to speak out over your community, city, state, nation and even the world and know that your prayers are making a difference. It's not ignoring the things going on around you and pretending they don't exist, but it is saying "I won't let these circumstances rob me of the peace and joy that is provided to me by my God". To many Christians are living life from one moment to the next. Stressed out and worried from one week to another over things that God fully wants to help with. Anxiety and depression are not things that should run anyones life who is walking with Jesus. He wants you set free! That is not the world He wants us to live in. Trust and faith in a God who already proved how powerful He is over and over throughout history...that is the world He wants us to live in. We, as Christ's followers, are not just supposed to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:16), but we are also supposed to be a hope! What does that look like in an every day practical way? It means walking through the storms of life and not losing your joy or slipping into depression. It means facing things hand in hand with God and praising your way through them. It means speaking out the amazing blessings you have even when everyone else expects you to be cursing your circumstances. It means purposefully looking for God's goodness no matter what is going on around you. And I can tell you that I have put those words into action over my own life and seen the power in them. Not just by keeping the peace and joy in my own life, but also the amazing conversations that I have had with others because they see the storm, but they didn't see the reaction out of me that they expected to.
There truly is only one way to not let the enemy and the things in the dark world rule over you, and that is to STAY IN THE LIGHT. It can't be a 5 minute prayer here and a "thank you for this food" there. Being in God's presence means spending time with Him. Starting off by thanking Him for any and everything you can think of, praising Him for how amazing He is, and then taking the things that are trying so hard to work against you and laying them at His feet. As you do this you will feel Him filling you with peace and joy. A peace that words can hardly describe. And you will begin to walk with a confidence that HE really can help you overcome anything....He really can shed light on any darkness....He really can keep joy in your heart in the midst of anything you face. And You really can choose the world you are going to live in.
God, thank You that You are not bound by limitations. You can bring peace and joy in the midst of any situation when we allow You to. I pray right now that hearts and minds would open up to You and let You do the things that only You can do. Destroy stress, worry, depression, anxiety and all other forms of darkness that are trying to work against us and BE the peace we need. And as You do, please allow our lives to be a living testimony to those around us. In Jesus name, Amen

Get To The Source Of The Problem...

It seems like whenever I find myself in a project God will use it as a lesson when it's done, and last night was no different. In our home we had grown used to the fact that the water that comes out of the refrigerator door has started to come out slower and slower over the years. It was something that happened so gradually that we had even forgotten how steady and fast it used to flow. And to be honest, I probably never would have worked on it except for the fact that when we returned from vacation it had literally turned into a trickle and wasn't even usable any more. Knowing it had a built in water filter that was the first thing I went for to replace. It seemed obvious since the sensor was already telling me it was time to replace it. However , this proved to not be the problem. Next I looked at the copper line that ran to the back of it and I saw a couple of small bends and kinks, so of course I thought this must be it. So I replaced it. But again, this did not end up being the problem. It wasn't until I went all the way back to the valve that connected to the water pipe in the basement did I finally find the issue. The valve had gone bad and was not allowing the water to flow through it at the rate that it once did. Once this was replaced the water flowed better than we remember if flowing even when the fridge was brand new.

Today God showed me how we can suffer from this same problem in our spiritual lives. We go from a time when God freely and strongly flowed in our lives, to something that is more like a trickle or even at times a drip. The enemy loves to cause "dry seasons" in our spiritual life and just like my water flow issue, he loves to do it so gradually that you don't notice until you feel completely distant from The Lord and can't figure out how to get back where you once were. As I have stated before, rarely does the enemy do something quick and drastic in our lives. He knows if he did we would clearly see this is him and hopefully run back to God for correction and direction. However, if he can desensitize us slowly, draw us away from God over time, and/or get us to slowly walk down the wrong path by making once small bad decision after another, then he knows he can get us to feel alienated from God. And sadly enough, when people get to that point, they sometimes never go back. Sometimes out of guilt and shame, sometimes out of pride, and sometimes out of pure desire for the sin they have gotten messed up in. But it is so important for us to "check the water pressure" in our spiritual life often. If you do feel like things just are not flowing like they used to, then like my water line problem, start to go back to the possible sources of the issue and don't stop until you figure out the problem. That might take getting very real with yourself and doing a true evaluation of certain areas of your life. What have you slowed allowed in or even back in. What shows, movies, music, language, people, bad relationships..or just flat out sin have you allowed to start cutting off the source in which you used to receive Jesus. Much like a water line, things are meant to flow down from Him to you. But when you get things in the way that stop that flow it WILL hinder your ability to receive what He has for you. And like I have also stated in the past, it doesn't have to be "sin" to be in the way of God, it can also just be something you are putting before Him...giving "that thing" to much value and importance in your life.

Colossians 3:2 tells us to "set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth". God knows satan is going to try to tempt you, to distract you. He knows things of this world are going to pull at you for attention. But He also knows what life for you can be like when you stay constantly connected to Him. And that is the life He wants for you!

Today I invite you to ask yourself if the flow from God to you has slowed down at all. If it has evaluate what things may have entered into your life that could be the source of the problem. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". If we are diligent in this very thing it makes is so much harder for the enemy to bring things into our lives that will pull us from our creator....our very source of life.

God, thank You that you can take something so simple and teach us from it. Please help us evaluate our lives through Your eyes and not the eyes of the world. If we have allowed things in that have pulled us from You, then give us the strength to get the root of the problem and allow You to correct and direct us as needed. Thank You for Your grace and mercy.....In Jesus name, Amen

When He Calls....Jump!

Having a great relationship with God is obtained by having great trust in God. Just the very idea of knowing that He is there and He loves you and He is always working out the plans for your life involves faith and trust. And when we feel God calling us to something more or something deeper with Him, it can really put that trust to the test. It's a time when the enemy would love to get you to question everything, but it's also a time when God would like for you to close your physical eyes to the circumstances around you and let Him guide you through you spiritual eyes.
As I was thinking about the trust that God wants us to have in Him I just could help but to keep seeing this vision in my head that each of us have probably either been in, or seen take place. Picture a child, just learning how to swim and getting better at it. And picture a dad (or mom) in the water standing by the edge of the pool trying to get that child to take the first jump into the water. The parent stands there with their arms open trying to create and atmosphere of safety. Not safety because the child has been here before and knows it's all going to be ok, but safety because they know their parent is there and the open arms of that parent is always a safe place to be. And what does the parent do...they call out to the child and say "come on, jump! I've got you! It will be ok, I promise. Just jump. I won't let anything happen to you." And this is the moment in that child's mind that trust in that parent is either established or taken to a deeper level. The thing being asked of the child is not something they are familiar with, yet they know their parent loves them and even though this is scary, jumping into their parents open arms just feels safe. In this moment the child is not wise enough to know what jumping in that water is going to feel like. They aren't sitting there calculating the depth of the water and determining exactly how far over their head that is. They are trying to figure out one thing and one thing only..."can I overcome this fear and just trust that if I jump then my parent will keep me safe?".
As this vision played in my head the verses from Matthew 18 (2-4) came to my mind. Is this why Jesus said we have to come to Him like little children? Is it because He knows that the greatest trust a child should have is in their parent, and that is exactly the kind of trust He is looking for out of us? I think so. God wants us to leave all the things that hinder our trust in Him at His feet. He wants nothing to come between us and Him. Including our great ability to reason things out. The enemy loves to get us to do this and then justify it by saying "It only makes sense to do it this way. "I" think God wants me to do this, but this makes more sense, right?". But I ask, is that trust? I think what God wants from us is such a closeness that we know His voice. And just like the parent at the edge of the pool calling out, we recognize HIS voice above all others. Even a small child would know the difference between their parent saying "jump"...or a stranger. They wouldn't just jump into the arms of a stranger, they would be wise enough to say "You're not the one I trust. You're not the voice of my parent". How is a trust like this established? Because that child has spent more time with that parent since the day they were born than they have spent with anyone else. Are you spending that kind of time with God? Is that why trust is a tough thing for you? Do you recognize His voice when He calls, or do you question if that is really Him because it's hard for you to tell the difference between when He is calling you out...and everything else in this world is calling you out?
Trusting God fully is one of the most peaceful feelings I have ever experienced. And today if you have things calling out to you and you're not sure if they are God or not, then I suggest getting alone with Him some more so you will hear, recognize and KNOW the voice of The Lord. His arms are safe, and He will never call you into something unless He is there to catch you when you jump!
God, thank You that you ARE safety. Help us to live in that place with You where we recognize Your voice above all others and we KNOW it is safe to go where you call us. Quiet the "other" voices in our life that try to bring about confusion and mistrust and help us to meditate on You and Your Word when we are seeking direction from You. May we honor You today with our Faith and our Trust in You. In Jesus name, Amen

Believe ON Him!

In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life...

These are the lyrics to the beginning of a Newsboy song called "We Believe". I've posted these as the start to my blog today because it is words like this that have gotten me to the place that I am now....a place I consider a "New Life". Nothing in me has brought me as far as I have come...but God and God alone has! It is believe in Him and on Him that has given me the ability to overcome the sin that was in my life and given me the peace to patiently wait for what He has for me next. I believe I am starting the next chapter of my life right now and I know it is going to be the best chapter so far. I believe that because I know that a few years ago I fully surrendered myself to Jesus in a way I never had before. And when I did that, I lined myself up with Him in a way that allowed Him to begin to move in my life like never before. His ability to move in my life was not limited before, but my ability to receive what He had for me was.

Earlier I said that I believed in Him AND on Him...let me explain that for a moment. Throughout my life I have heard so many people proclaim that they believe in God. In fact, I was one of those people. We make that statement as if that's enough...but it's not. James 2:19 states that even the demons believe in God. Believing in Him is just the first step in starting a relationship with Him. However, believing ON Him is the level that I believe God wants us at. Believing on God (or Jesus), which is also referred to as the difference between believing in Jesus or believing in the name of Jesus, is different then just believing in Him because it is you placing your full trust in Him. Just saying you believe in God is not saying that you are willing to fully trust your life to Him...like FULLY trust. Which means you won't try to move ahead of Him, you won't try to use logic or reason to determine if you will do the things He is calling you to, and you won't use the world's rules (or standards) to determine if what God is showing you or telling you makes sense. It means you have become so close to God Himself that you know He is running your life and the only thing you base decisions on is if they line up with His word. (Because God will never have you do something that does not line up with His word) In John 8:29-32 Jesus said "'And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him'. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, 'If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'". You see it is fully believing ON Him that sets you apart. It is what makes you truly one of His disciples and it is when you know you are fully walking in His truth and His freedom.

So today, if you feel stuck in life. If you feel like it could be different than it is, but you can't figure out why it's not, then ask yourself if you are believing in Him, or on Him. I love the song I quoted earlier because I do believe He IS the answer...but I also know that the direction my life is curretnly going in is because I chose that just believing in Him wasn't enough. I needed to give Him my ALL and believe ON Him to lead all areas of my life.

God, thank You that You are so patient with us. Help us to not stay stuck in one place, but instead allow You to transform our minds and our hearts to believe ON You for everything. Help us not to limit how much You can move in our life by limiting the access You have to our lives. Today may we begin to honor You more with our love, our faith and our complete surrender. In Jesus name, Amen.

No More!

Go with me on this thought if you would. Imagine waking up each day and before you even take a step out of bed you begin to pick up heavy weights that have ropes tied to them and hang them around your neck. And now you start your day with all of this heaviness on you. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? But isn't this what a lot of us do emotionally and mentally every single day of our lives?
One of the things God wants to do for us as we start a relationship with Him is remove the things from our lives that weigh us down. And by that I don't mean He wants to come along and take them out of our lives, I mean He wants us to lay them at His feet and let Him do what only He can so they don't have the impact on us that they one did, before we walked with Him. God cares about our emotional and mental well being. He cares about the things that wear us down, cause us sadness, distress, depression, grief, anxiety, mental and/or emotional pain and most of all, the things that prevent Him from having full access to our hearts. God is the master at tearing down the walls that we build up around ourselves because of the things that happen to us in life. He doesn't want us to build up defense mechanisms because when we do He has to get through and around them too.
God IS love, and therefore He doesn't come after us with anything but love. And when we have been damaged by the things that life throws at us His love can feel "strange" to us. And the enemy will try very hard to torment us and convince us we don't deserve His love. Satan will try get us to feel unworthy and try to get us to hide our faces from God, just like He did with Adam and Eve. However, God comes along and says to us "Do not hide in shame from me. Do not carry things you were not meant to carry. Do not let sin run and rule your life. Do not let the things that other people do affect you. Let me affect you, and then the good that comes out of you because of that will affect others".
The things we "choose" to carry we sometimes forget that we are choosing to carry them. We feel like we "have to" carry them. But when you feel that way, I invite you to stop and think this thought. "Did Jesus Christ really die so that I would still feel this way, or did he suffer and die and rise again to set me free from this?" He did die to set you free....and there is no limit to what that word "free" represents. He wants to set you free from anything that does not come from Him, period! In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus Himself said these words "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light". In case you don't know, a yoke is the piece they hang around an animals neck so they can hook farm equipment to it to be pulled, like a heavy plow. So when Jesus says "take my yoke" He literally is saying "let me carry your burdens and you carry what I have for you. That will be much easier." So now go back to the thought I opened with, and now imagine waking up each day and taking all those weights and handing them to Jesus instead of hanging them around your neck. Then, in their place, He gives you things like peace, joy, love, grace and mercy to hang around yours. This is figuratively and literally what He wants to do for you each and every day of your life.
Galatians 5:1 says "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery". The enemy would love nothing more than to make you a slave to anything and everything he can. A slave to sin, to bad emotions, to mental states like depression....but Christ says "NO MORE!". I died to set you free, so stand firm and walk in your freedom! Today, I invite you to ask God to help you walk IN that freedom and walk OUT of anything He never intended for you.
God, thank You for the freedom we find in You. Thank You that You are the answer to anything we face. Please give us the wisdom to turn to you and lay things at your feet instead of trying to carry them or deal with them on our own. Holy Spirit, be the voice in our lives that guides down paths that lead to freedom and not paths the repeat the hardships that you desire for us to escape from. And let the freedom we walk in be seen by others so they too will trust in You. In Jesus name, Amen

Take Each Thought Captive....Before It Takes You Captive.

The longer I have walked with God the more I have come to realize that there is a place that more people struggle than we like to talk about or acknowledge. It's a place that the enemy can get us to do things that we wish we hadn't, a place where the things that take place are things we wouldn't even tell our best friends some times. And a place where we can be made to feel the most guilty and tormented. That place is in the mind, and the enemy would love nothing more than to get your mind to go places that it shouldn't every hour of every day. The struggle over our minds is a very real struggle and needs to be recognized more than it really is. It's not something we talk about that much in the church because we tend to spend more time talking the sins and the struggles that can be seen in someone's life. But the struggle that goes on in the mind can be far far worse.
Tormenting our minds with thoughts is not a new tactic from the enemy. It is something he has been doing since the beginning of time. The very way that he got Adam and Eve to fall was to put thoughts in Eve's mind first. Every action that ever takes place in your life started by the birth of a thought in your mind. Sometimes those thoughts become actions, and sometimes they just become thoughts that we can still regret or feel horrible about. Being set free from the thoughts of temptation, thoughts of your past life, thoughts of desires or just thoughts of anger, bitterness or rage are all things that are possible through Jesus. 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us, "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ". Any thought that goes against God's desires, or places your own desires above those of God, needs to be dealt with. Don't think they are harmless because they're not. Any thought of temptation or anger needs to be places at the feet of Jesus and you need Him to help you overcome them. Don't get me wrong, the thought of temptation does not make you a bad person or mean you have committed some sin, but left there to dwell in your mind long enough and chances are they will grow into something that is not pleasing to God. How do you combat these things...these thoughts? You fill your mind with things that are please to God. You close the door to things like people, TV, movies, music, even books that could be taking your mind to places it doesn't need to be. You also give things over to God like anger toward someone or something that are making you think things that God would not want you to think. Thoughts can do a lot of things to us. They can make us visualize things, they can make us feel things, and they can make us give into doing things...things we sometimes go back and say "I never thought I would do that". The enemy knows the power of thoughts and he uses them against us way more than we even realize. But when you choose to replace them with good thoughts, thoughts that give God a chance to move in your life, then you are defeating the enemy before he even has a foot in the door of your life.
Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things". Why would this verse even be in the bible if God didn't know we would have internal struggles of our minds? Because He wanted us to know how to beat the bad with the good. The whole idea that light will overcome darkness....it even works in the mind!
Romans 8:5-6 says "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace". It comes back the old phrase "garbage in, garbage out". We have to be careful what we allow into our eyes, our ears...our minds. What goes in will eventually come out. And it will come out in our words or our actions. And that is why we are told in James 1:15 , "Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death". We have to beat the sin before it is birthed, not wait until it has happened and then repent it. Start that by winning the battle over your mind...over your thoughts. But know that you also have the hope that when you do mess up, because each of us will, you know God's love, grace and mercy is there to cover you. That is not an excuse to just let your thoughts run where they want, but it's an amazing realization of how much He truly does love you. He is there to offer the help before you make the mistake, but also there to love you even IF the mistake is made.
God, thank You that Your Word instructs us how to beat the battle of the mind. Help us to place our thoughts upon things that are pleasing to you so we can defeat the enemy before he even has a place in our life. Holy Spirit, help us cast down the thoughts that come into our mind that we know do not come from you and help us call upon the name of Jesus Christ when we need help. Help us to remain humble enough to not make excuses for our thoughts, but to exalt You by realizing we are weak and in need of you every hour of every day. Help us honor you with our thoughts today! In Jesus name, Amen.

Who Does Your Way of Thinking Honor?

It seems like we live in a world where every time you turn around someone is challenging a law or a rule that has been around forever. Can a flag be hung here? Can a person pray there? Should the ten commandments be on display in this building? Can we put a manger scene out at Christmas? But also some very major laws like, when is a fetus considered a life and is ok to end that life before it is born? And of course as we've seen recently in the news, what is marriage and who is aloud to use the term and the union of marriage.
I'm not writing this blog today to discuss any of those issues, but I am writing to ask the question "where does it stop?" and "do we do the same thing with God?". I personally think a lot of people do. I personally think I used to. We take rules/laws that don't "make sense to us" and challenge them. We don't care anymore if they are man made one, or God created ones. If they don't make sense in our logical minds then there must be something wrong with them. Not true!! That very way of thinking is something the enemy would love to have flood society. Think about it, if you can convince people to think this way then anything can be justified. And that is what the world we live in is starting to feel like. Whether it is breaking a "little rule" like lying because we feel "justified" in it....or watching someone on the other side of the world kill people because they feel justified in it.....it's all wrong. And the biggest indicator that you have fallen under this way of thinking in your own life is that you are justifying your own desires (or wants) over God's desires. We become blind to the damage that takes place when our desires become more important than His. It is exactly the blindness that satan wants. When we can't see past ourselves, then we won't worry about anyone but ourselves. And when a person is stuck in their own world, then an attitude of entitlement can overtake their way of thinking and all the sudden God's grace and mercy isn't a gift anymore....it is something we get used to and expect from Him. Then the words like "well, I know God's grace will cover this" start coming to our mind and even eventually out of our mouth. But we need to remember, God's grace is a gift...and in order for use to have it someone had to die. Jesus had to completely give of Himself...completely...so that someone could have the freedom to receive or reject Him. But that grace we all live under was given through pain, blood and death of a sinless man. So the next time you feel the enemy placing a thought or an attitude of entitlement in you, stop and remember what was given so you could even have the freedom to think that way. Just because we (in our human minds) can't fully understand God's laws...God's reasoning....God's way of thinking....it does not give us the right to challenge it or dismiss it. In fact, one day we will all be judged on by the very creator that we so so easily dismiss at times so we can do things our way.
Please know that I am not writing this today as a way to chastise people for their way of thinking. I was stuck in the way of thinking at one time....the enemy loves to get us there. No, I am writing today to say His way is always the best way. Don't doubt that. Don't question that. And don't let others convince you that because you live to please Him, then that makes you different. We were created to love Him, honor Him, serve Him.....when we get out of that mindset, then THAT is when there is something wrong.
Let us not become a preachers and teachers of The Word until we are a "doer" of The Word. Let our lives speak louder than our words. And let us wake up with the mindset today that you have one goal, to have God smile down on you because He is pleased with how you are living your life for Him. If we could all think that way, instead of challenging the things that don't "fit into our world", how much better would this world be? It is time to mold our lives around His Word again instead of molding His Word around our lives!
God, thank You for Your patience, Your love, Your peace....but also Your commandments. Thank You that you have given us Your Word so we can use it as a guideline of how we should be living our lives. Holy Spirit, remove any and all thoughts that cause us to challenge through "our understanding", and instead give us a heart of obedience. Then help us love like You....forgive like You...and treat others in a way that honors You so we can point others to you. In Jesus name, Ame

Discerning Direction

If you have been reading my blogs for long then you know that I often speak about what God shows me when it comes to direction in your life and following His will. I have used the comparison in another blog about God being like a GPS. How you can take all the "wrong turns" in life that you want to, but God will always try to point you back into the right direction. And lately I have been trusting God 100% for that direction in my life. He has pointed me in a very distinct direction that I can already tell you is going to change my entire life. But trust me when I say in a very beautiful and amazing way that I have been praying for. I'm sure I will go into that more in days to come...

This past week my son and I went on vacation. And it turned out to be a vacation that involved much more driving than I expected in the beginning. Not because of anything bad at all, but just due to doors that God opened up. And because this was the first trip in the car that I now have, I was excited to test out the new navigation. I would normally just use the iPhone on trips like this, but I preprogrammed some addresses in, and away we went. However, there were a few times that the GPS that I was placing my trust in wasn't getting me where I wanted to be. Unlike the iPhone, it was not as "up to date" on the addresses that I was using and therefore did not know how to take me in the right direction. I could have just trusted it and continue down the roads it was taking me on, but there was a couple of times that I just could tell something didn't feel right, and I went to my trusty iPhone GPS to test it out. Only to find out that I really was going the wrong way.

I told you that story because this morning God was speaking to me about direction..and discerning the right direction. How we have to invest in time with Him to make sure the direction we are going is the way He wants us to go. Many things can try to steer us down this path and that path, but how do we know when it's really God? How do we know when to stop and question the direction that "seems" right, because maybe it doesn't "feel" right. Just like the GPS in my car, I could blindly just keep going, or I could look around and say "this just doesn't feel like the right direction".
The definition of discernment is "perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding". And 1 John 4:1 says "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world". So as Christ followers we are expected to be able to trust God enough to let loose and allow Him to direct us, but also use wisdom to know that the directions we are being given are indeed from Him. Easier said than done huh...well maybe no...See, when you spend time in prayer and in His word you will see doors open up, just like when you don't spend time with Him you will also see other doors open up. The difference is, knowing which doors to walk through. Earlier I said when I didn't trust my new car's GPS, I went back to my iPhone. Why? Because that GPS has never led me wrong. I could compare the 2 directions and figure out which one to trust. When you feel a leading in your life and you are not sure, take it to God. He will never steer you wrong and He is trustworthy. Don't sit and try to guess...ask Him! Get into His word and see if the doors you think you are supposed to walk through stand up to the truth of the bible. Are they going to draw you closer to Him? Are they going to fulfill His promises to you? Are they going to point others to Him? Is the path you are walking down totally different from the ones in your past that He rescued you from? All of these are good questions to find out if this is God's leading...or your desires...or the enemy trying to knock you off God's course.

Let me leave you with this verse from Proverbs 3:5-6.."Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths". How do you gain trust in someone...you get to know them better and better. If you are looking for hope and direction in your life then start by going deeper with the one who can offer both to you. Build your trust in Him and let Him help you discern the doors you should walk through and the paths you should take.

God, thank You for the guidance and wisdom You offer to us. Help those who are confused by the doors before them, and give them the wisdom to seek You first so they can find the peace that only You can offer. Holy Spirit teach us how to hear Your voice and learn to trust You more and more as we draw close and closer to You. And let the changes that other see in our lives point them to You. In Jesus name, Amen

Micheal's Story

This week I've been on vacation, and each morning I've gotten up and asked God if I was supposed to write today? But each morning I've just felt peace to relax and just spend some time with Him. However, last night my son and I were walking around in downtown Savannah, Ga and we met a man named Micheal...and God opened a door for my son and I to minister in a very unexpected way. So today I wanted to take some time to write about that...
Micheal was a homeless man who at one time had a very good life going. He didn't approach us with his hand out begging for money. He instead approached us looking for someone who would stop and listen to him. His life took a turn for the worst in Athens, Ga when the place he worked for closed. Having nowhere else to go, and no family, he asked them to buy him a ticket back to Savannah where he once lived. However, once he got back to Savannah he found there was nothing there waiting for him either, except living a homeless life like he had been for the past several weeks. The look in Micheal's eyes were different then what I had seen for a long time. He looked like a man who had been broken by his circumstances and couldn't believe where he ended up at 57 years old. But as he told us his story I also could not help but notice the cross on the neckless around his neck. So as he finished telling us his plan (and yes he did have one), he told us how he had found a place to stay where he would have a bed and a shower where he could cleaned up and begin to look for a job again, but he hadn't been able to scrape up enough for the deposit. (which was literally next to nothing). I told Micheal that we would love to help him, but I had one condition to the help I wanted to offer him, and that was to allow me to pray for him. The moment I said this his eyes lit up and he said "oh yes sir, I believe in God". But what I was really hoping for that night was not that Micheal would just "believe" in God, but that he would see God at work in his life and know God was real and He loved him very much. The little bit I had to offer Micheal in money was nothing compared to what God could do for him. And so my son and I bowed our heads with Micheal right there on the street while people walked by. I didn't worry about if people thought I was waiting my time. I didn't worry about if people thought I was crazy. And I certainly didn't worry about wasting people heard us praying....what I HOPED FOR was that Micheal would see that God is why my son and I stopped. That Micheal would see that God would be why things were going to change for him. And that whatever was about to change in Micheal's life, he would give God the credit for it.
I'm not writing to talk about what my son and I did, but I am writing for 2 other reasons. One is because I believe God had a divine appointment for my son and I, and I believe we had 2 choices last night. To attend that appointment, or to say that our "schedule" was more important and we didn't have time. Time and a few dollars are all Micheal wanted, but I had more to give him. I had the hope of God to offer him. And we all have that to offer to everyone that God puts in our path. The 2nd reason I am writing is to ask you who are reading this to pray for Micheal. You don't need to know him to pray for him. I don't need to ever meet him again to pray for him. I just want God to reveal Himself to Micheal in the midst of his circumstances and for Micheal to allow God to change things in his life...and for him to serve God for the rest of his days and share his story with others.
God, thank You for the divine appointments that You set up for us. Please always help us to stop what we are doing and attend those appointments. Holy Spirit give us a heart to realize that You always have work for us to do, and may we always find joy in doing it. God, I also ask that you move in Micheal's life. Show him who you are and how powerful you are. Bless his life and change his circumstances so he will be able to share his story with others for the rest of his days.  In Jesus name, Amen