Out of My Troubles

Out of My Troubles 

"Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. Psalm 50:15 

Did you know that you bring glory to God by calling upon Him when you are in distress? God promised He would deliver you if you turned to Him. You deny the Lord honor that is rightfully His every time you find yourself in difficulty and you fail to call upon Him for help! There may be times when God allows you to reach a point of need so that you can call upon Him, and thus let Him demonstrate to a watching world the difference He makes in the lives of His children. If God never allowed you to experience need, people around you might never have the opportunity to witness God's provision in the life of a Christian. If you never faced a shortfall, you might be tempted to feel self-sufficient and without any need of God in your daily life. Pride will tempt you to think that you do not need to seek God's assistance. Self-regard will seek to convince you that you can handle your dilemma through your own wisdom, resources, and hard work. Pride will also rob glory from God and seek to give it to you. Don't allow your pride to take what rightfully belongs to the Lord. Call upon your Lord and wait exclusively upon Him to rescue you. Then give Him the glory that He deserves. Self-sufficiency can greatly hinder your ability to experience God and bring Him honor. The next time you are in distress, turn to Him!" - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

If it's one particular lesson that I think that God was trying to instill in me in the last several months, it's to cry out to Him more.  To rely on Him more.  To be more dependent, open and honest with Him. 

Nerve-wracking, agonizing, emotionally painful can be things in our lives...but those things cannot separate us from the love of God. 

I hurt in more ways than I thought possible in dealing with life in the weeks leading up to our moving. 

I was put through more than a few circumstances that to this day I still remember. 

God still proved His faithfulness. Still proved that I am in His hands. Still forgives and still heals and restores.

We cannot be who we are really meant to be in this world without all of that.

Our best of intentions aren't close to what can be achieved through obedience to Jesus Christ. We pale in comparison to what He can do in an instant. 

I just finished reading Deuteronomy.  I am still in awe that Moses still wasn't permitted to enter into the Promised land. He was indeed forgiven but the consequences were too great. 

We often too have to live with consequences.  The thief on the cross still had consequences even though he would be with Jesus in paradise. 

We see in the books after the Gospels of the consequences to living a Godly life. 

Was reading another devotional about the purpose and properties of salt.  As a preservative not just as a seasoning.   

Believers are the salt of the Earth in that we preserve the Earth until the Rapture.  We as God's plan endures, hold back on evil running rampant.  We are the preservative to the world in Christ Jesus. 

Our perseverance and living through difficult times proves the love of God for us.  Our ways of dealing with life shows much to a world that knows not the ways of God. 

We were promised tribulations and we are indeed getting them.  We were promised a Helper, the Holy Spirit, we have Him in us.

We need to keep Godly perspectives and Godly obedience at the forefront of our lives. 

We may never understand why we go through what we do...but one thing we know...God isn't going to allow us to do it alone. 

We get comforted and share that comfort with others.  We may suffer but we will come out of it blessed. We know in whom we have believed and know that He is able to keep us until that day. 

Moses learned to gradually open up entirely with Jesus to the point that he knew Jesus face-to-face.  We can learn to do the same. 

A Light on a Hill

A Light on a Hill

"You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. EPHESIANS 5:8 

Today, March 17, is the day tradition says was the death date (AD 461 or 493) of Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. Born in Britain, Patrick was captured by Irish raiders as a teenager and forced into slavery in Ireland until he escaped six years later. After returning to his family in Britain, he supposedly had a vision of a man who gave him a letter, calling him to return to Ireland with the gospel. And return he did. Though there is scant historical documentation about Patrick’s ministry in Ireland, the abundance of traditions (not to mention his sainthood) speaks of the brightness and consistency of the spiritual light he took into a dark land. Today is a good day to remember that, like Patrick, every Christian is called by God to go into the world and be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14)—a light that should not be hidden but should shine brightly. What is the light? It is the good works of love and service we perform in the name of Christ that cause men to glorify God in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Light has one purpose: to illuminate the darkness. If we never penetrate the dark corners of this world with our presence, how will they be illumined? 

The gospel is light, but only the Spirit can give sight. A. W. TOZER  - Dr. David Jeremiah Turning Points with God 

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16 NASB 

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12 NASB 

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NASB 

Peppered. The urban dictionary says this is an action word to describe getting hit multiple times.  

People often want to know what God's Will is for them.  The more you read your Bible, the more you pray, the more you learn about what God's Will is for you. 

Reading in Deuteronomy, towards the end of it, there's something to take note of. Just before his death, Moses is told what is going to happen to this people that he lead around for 80 years.  He turns around and tells the people exactly what they will do. How they will behave and just how they will indeed turn against what they've just been instructed.  They were silent. They didn't speak up and deny that prophecy spoken concerning them. 

A city on a hill. That just stuck out to me. Light impacts life and as a popular saying says, you cannot "unsee" what it reveals.  We often claim to want to know God's Will but are unwilling to "go there". We are unwilling to look where the Light is revealing what it is God’s wanting us to do or not do.  Part of not being able to have an excuse before Jesus is the truth that we WILL know what He meant when the Spirit revealed what it was we were meant to be doing. God's not going to show us what to do then leave confusion for us to figure out things. Scripture says that God is not a God of confusion. 1 Corinthians 14:33.

If your life in Christ is plagued with unhappiness, then it's time to stop your fighting the knowledge that has been revealed to you by the Spirit of God.  Self deception is a poison. We know the path and convince ourselves we cannot do it or go there.  The visible consequences are to great in our minds eye.  We would lose too much, sacrifice what we think we cannot live without. 

The Light will never stop revealing our hearts to us. 

Your mind and soul are tainted by your sin nature.  You will only figure out what is sin from what is not by the Light of Christ through the Spirit of God.  

You and I will always find ways to creatively push back on God concerning what path He is directing us to take.  Read in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy.  Look at the creative excuses the people came up with about a broad range of things. 

It's too far to drive. 

It's too much effort. 

It's too risky. 

I just can't because...fill in the blank. 

Was listening to Pastor Jeff Brown of the Middlebranch Grace Brethren Church last night.  People asking him to pray for them because they felt like they were in a desert spiritually. 

Spiritual droughts are on us when there's no shortage of Living water. 

We decide if we are going to let the Light of Christ shine or try to hide it.

We choose to drink, through unbridled, unhindered, obedience or choose to wallow in the misery of our own choosing. 

We can know the Will of God if we quit fighting what He has already revealed to us to go and do.  

So what that it costs you time to drive to where you know you will be fed the Word of God. Is that kind of excuse going to hold water next to the suffering Jesus did on the cross to save you?

So what if it means changing jobs, if it means moving.  What does that excuse mean in light of obedience to live for the One who saved you?

Romans 12 speaks to a transformed life. Transformed means it is not what it once was. It has new priorities, new principles, new motivations.  New, new, new.

Romans 12 speaks to having been given gifts.  What good is being given a loaded toolbox but you never use whatever is in it?

Romans 12 speaks to obedience in what we are called to do. We aren't to cower behind excuses that are inconsequential next to what is about to come upon the Earth. 

If you aren't happy in your job, your marriage, your relationships, your anything.  Look in the mirror. Are you all in with your walk with Jesus?  If you are not, why not?  You will stay where you are until you obey.  God's not going to give you more to do until obedience happens. 

You cannot hide the Light of Christ in you and expect Him to bless what you do. 

The widow in the story of Elisha was convinced that they were going to lose it all including their life. She was told to do something that made no earthly sense. Keep filling containers with oil. God provided enough to fill everything they could find.  She trusted in the Word of God from the man of God. God blessed her obedience. 

Let your Light shine. Let your obedience happen. See what God will indeed do. 

You may need to give up something, may not need to. But if you don't willingly obey then you may still lose it anyway.  God cannot bless disobedient children.  Read the end of Deuteronomy.  Be willing to put yourself out there in your walk with Jesus. See what happens. 

Nothing Separated Me From My God, Nothing Will Separate You

Nothing Separated Me From My God, Nothing Will Separate You 

If I were You I would've given up on me by now
I would've labeled me a lost cause
'Cause I feel just like a lost cause

If I were You I would've turned around and walked away
I would've labeled me beyond repair
'Cause I feel like I'm beyond repair

Oh, but somehow You don't see me like I do
Somehow You're still here

You're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

I used to hide
Every time I thought I let You down
I always thought I had to earn my way
But I'm learning You don't work that way, no

'Cause somehow You don't see me like I do
Somehow You're still here

You're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

My shame can't separate
My guilt can't separate
My past can't separate
I'm Yours forever

My sin can't separate
My scars can't separate
My failures can't separate
I'm Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change
I'm Yours forever

'Cause you're the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays
You're the God who stays
You're the one who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away
You're the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done can separate my heart
From the God who stays

- "The God Who Stays" - Matthew West

Even my failures will never separate me from the Love of God...the list of things that cannot separate us from the love of God.  Wow. 

My shame can't separate
My guilt can't separate
My past can't separate
I'm Yours forever

My sin can't separate
My scars can't separate
My failures can't separate
I'm Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change.

For a very great deal of my life Satan tried driving into me that those things DID separate me from God.  That I was worthless, lost, a loser, to give up, I had gone too far, failed time and again, that all hope was lost. That level of berating was never loud.  It was just repeated over and over again. 

I began to believe it so much that I saw no way out.  It was then that in my darkest hour, Jesus still reached through to pull me out.  

Life hasn't been the same since. 

Life hasn't looked the same since. 

Life has meant something completely different since then.

I can remember the horrible treatment that I received in my first week after coming to Christ for salvation. It drove me into silence at school.  It is partly responsible for my diving into books and novels to escape this world.  It did. But even then Jesus still had a plan to turn things to good regardless of how I started out. To turn what had been my dark past into something useful for His Kingdom. 

These days Iook back on all that and wonder with caution.  I say with caution because of Romans 12. I do not wish to think more highly of myself than I ought to be thinking.  But these days, I can't be shut up in regards to my faith.  

Been through too much, seen too much, to be quiet about the love of God I have in Christ Jesus My Savior.  He saved me once decades ago and again He rescued me in 1999.  

In my daily walk I yet still fail Him and He still sets me back on my feet to go at it again the next day.  He still smiles at me and cleans me up and says "Let's try it again shall we?".

Indeed I have much to be ashamed about from my past.  Satan still tries to remind me of things that are there. Still attempts to get his foot in the door to cause me to stop. Remind him of his future when he does that to you!

I will always struggle because of my sin nature.  But I also will always have my Savior to be with me, to lift me back up, to heal me and get US going again. 

We may not understand why we go through some of what we do.  We may see nothing but expenses and loss, but, if we believe the Scriptures, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, then stop that train of thought and get off.  What might indeed be expenses and might indeed be inconvenient, might be the only avenue to someone's soul. The Spirit creates opportunities and He has the Father’s bank account to draw from.  His supplies are unlimited. 

Discouragement follows closely behind me every day.  It's in the chair near me, in the car as I drive.  Have no idea what Paul's thorn in the side was, but that is likely my thorn.  I seek to be found by God doing what it is He has for me to be doing.  I might indeed see an apparent waste of time, energy and money.  God may see a crack in someone else's life for the Spirit to get in. Opportunities for me will be different than opportunities for others in Christ.  We just need to be ready. 

When sorting boxes and boxes of what we brought along in our moving, I have found myself wondering why I packing what I found.  I see what we are donating here in our new hometown to thrift stores and the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  What makes little to no sense to me in that stuff going here rather than to the stores we left in our old hometown means something to God.  Someone here needed it and He had us wait till we were here to make it available.  We just need to be found obedient. 

We live in a world that teaches a wrong idea on waste.  If God's behind what you are doing, then don't count the cost. It's irrelevant.  God's reasons might not make any sense.  Consider the man that the Disciples were told to find before the Passover and the Last Supper. He spent a lot of time, energy and effort to get a room ready and had likely no idea why until they arrived to ask where it was, as per Jesus's instructions. 

My hobbies are by no means cheap.  Not that there is any significant value in them, the resources to make them a reality aren't cheap.  A good example is a 5.25" floppy drive isn't nearly as available as a flash drive, so it costs a lot more.   Fixed them is up there in cost as well due to lost knowledge on the subject.  The rarer the parts or services the more costly. Yet even in this, God's creating relationships, inroads, into people's lives that I never would have had if we stayed in our old hometown.  I now have two new relationships with people on two continents because of what Jesus is providing. 

You will never know nor see what God can do in your life until you come to the place of your whatever.  

I came to mine in 1999. Whatever God wanted of me finally was what I wanted.  I had failed enough, messed up enough, sinned enough to be at my end.  Whatever He wanted to do with me I was open for Him to do.  Failures and all.

I live today as one who's been forgiven. 

I live each day to do whatever God puts before me to be doing. Even if it makes no Earthly sense. Even if others don't understand. I really don't care if others do understand, I know what I know.  If I am obedient, God's got the details worked out. 

I am so grateful for my God who saves.

I am so grateful for my God who stays. 

He is always the One to run in my direction when the whole world walks away. 

His arms open wide He always says "Come to Me you who are weary and heavy laiden and I will give you rest."

You might be thinking you are a failure and might too be constantly thinking about how you must look to Jesus.  Turn to Him and let Him take on everything in your life for His faithfulness is everything and is everlasting. We are not what we've been through.  When someone comes to Jesus for salvation, we are instantly adopted, made right before God, and are now considered Children of God, not failures. Not losers, not worthless. We are Children of the King. We have work to be doing in Christ Jesus. We have an enemy who will stop at nothing that he's permitted to do in order to cause us to stumble and fall. We also have the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to see us through life when we are obedient and when we aren't.  We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.

Get to your knees if need be and stand on His promises.  Life's only just really beginning when you do. 

Finding Rejoicing

Finding Rejoicing 

I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. PHILIPPIANS 1:12 

When new Christians begin memorizing Bible verses, Philippians 4:4 is almost always included: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” But when those young Christians discover that Paul wrote that verse while confined to prison, shackled in chains, the words suddenly take on a whole new meaning: rejoice always, even when your faith might cost you your life! Crises have a way of forcing us to clarify what we actually believe. Paul was excited when his faith landed him in prison, because he discovered that the gospel was being preached even more. In other words, his crisis was not a crisis of faith; it was a crisis because of his faith. And it was a crisis that resulted in his faith being strengthened, not weakened. When Peter was charged with being friends with Christ, he denied that the relationship existed (Matthew 26:69-75). The shame he felt caused him to clarify his faith, and it never failed him again. The next time you face a crisis, your faith will be clarified one way or the other—either strong or weak. Plan now to be pleased with what that crisis reveals. The purest suffering produces the purest understanding. JOHN OF THE CROSS - Dr. David Jeremiah Turning Points with God 

Romans 12, pretty much right in the middle, says: "Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."

If the phrase has ever been used, in this instance it's certainly true: You have your marching orders. Here in Romans 12 we who are in Christ are told many things but today we look at this one place.  We are told how to behave, how to be, towards others in Christ.  Not avoiding them, not looking the other way when prayer requests are offered. Not hanging onto whatever is in our possession when the Spirit prompts to give. Not behaving as the world does in regards to treating one another. 

We, individually, as well as corporately, have responsibilities in Christ Jesus. 

We who are in Christ are to display what Christ is to each other so that those who are not in Christ, as of yet, might see and yet still glorify God in Heaven. 

We are not here, after coming to Christ, to honestly live out our dreams and wants. It's still possible that those might yet still come true if they are in agreement with God's plan for you and I, but it shouldn't be a given. 

Rejoicing isn't always easy to do.  Especially after hours, days, months, or even years of emotional and or physical hardship.  Rejoicing is a key thing that can improve health when done with the right reasons.

I admit it's been difficult in the last year to rejoice.  My body is getting older and is having problems. My life's direction has been radically altered.  My desires aren't what they used to be in light of those things.  Learning to cope with both makes it difficult at times.  I often probably sound like I have been defeated when I know that I am not in Christ.  I am just worn and tired.  The extremes that life had been for me are rough.  

Some, as I have shared, think that a rest is in order. Yet, you read here in Romans about: "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality."

Devoted 

Give Preference 

Not Lagging 

Diligence 

Fervent 

Serving 

Rejoicing 

Persevering 

Devoted 

Contributing 

Practicing 

We have a list of duties, requirements even, of behavior and actions or activities. 

A transformed life should include and involve what we read here.  

We indeed will be shown, told, and instructed in this life about living for yourself, about being all you can be, about literally how to put yourself first. 

Christians will be taught how to try to merge worldly thoughts and ideas into their lives in such a way as to minimize and mitigate their walk with Jesus.  

How deeply we involve ourselves in our world's ideals today impacts our effectiveness in serving God tomorrow. 

It certainly will impact our ability to rejoice. 

It's difficult when your body isn't cooperating to rejoice. Yet many have pushed through and still do it.  I haven't gotten there yet lol.  

It's difficult when life's problems persist in wave after wave of issues to be able to rejoice. Even persistent small waves can accumulate and still do damage to a shoreline. 

I probably sound like a whiner to Jesus in my prayer life some times.  Like others in the faith it seems like I too get told: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NASB "And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Life can and will be rough for those who live in Christ Jesus.  Our world rejects the Gospel because it's in darkness until it sees the light of Jesus in us. It then either attacks or accepts what's revealed. 

My thoughts today are indeed on the things going on in my world here in my new hometown.  My 'world' may be smaller than it was in Columbus but by no means is it less detailed.  Choosing to live in Christ Jesus I will face opposition and opportunities.  Opposition will come from any direction. Opportunities should be prayed about before jumping into.  I am more committed today to being found by God DOING what I am here to be doing than I truly was in Columbus. I may not be understood by some for this commitment but it's not between myself and them.  It's between myself and my King.  

Where are you in your commitment to living for Jesus, if indeed you have come to Christ and are saved?  

If you haven't come to Christ, what's holding you back?  What you'll lose?  Trust me, whatever I no longer have, I have found that I never needed. 

I will still look for reasons to rejoice. It indeed does bring healing to my bones. 

Prayer is a wireless connection that can only be interrupted by me. 

Pray for me in finding my path here in my new hometown. Pray for each other that we all are found by Jesus, at His return or when we are called home, to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. 

Rejoice always and again I say Rejoice. 

The Times in Which We Live

The Times in Which We Live 

It's been interesting to keep reading Romans 12 every day in addition to my normal Bible reading.  Especially when the repetitiveness starts to show you things in both Romans 12 and in the places in the Old and New Testaments that you hadn't seen before or now highlight things you hadn't noticed. 

Take morality.  Morality in our day is not taken very seriously.  In decades past it sort of used to be.  Go back a hundred years and it certainly was more valuable than now.

Morality today isn't seen with the seriousness that the Bible says ought to be there concerning it. 

Idolatry isn't seen today as being something of great concern to many yet if we really understand the Scriptures the way that we say we believe them then yes Idolatry is as real today as it was 2,000 years ago as it was 6,000 years ago. 

Just as the Scriptures say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, so is the Word of God.  We are both taught and unfortunately accept what people tell us growing up rather than standing on the Word of God concerning morality, idolatry and all the other sins the Bible describes. 

Being wishy-washy is actually a problem as far as the Bible says concerning it. The Bible says that a person's yes should be yes and their no should be a no. Anything else is not of God. 

We go into each day...do we do it in our own strength and wisdom or are we calling on God first before getting going in it?

Do we interpret life in our own wisdom or to we see what God is telling us about it?

Scripture says that in everything by prayer and supplication to make our requests known to God.  Would not that mean both the things that we think are of God and the things that don't appear to be, when the wording says everything?  

Do you think about the impact of what your idleness does to your faith?

Do you think about where your morality is coming from?  Is it rooted firmly in God's Word?

How do you spend your time, energy and money?  If those could be quantified in a spreadsheet what would it reveal about you?

As I write these things it's just as much me looking in the mirror as it is me writing for you to consider about yourselves. 

Is your life about just being busy doing things or are you doing worthwhile things for God’s Kingdom?  Are things such as sports and entertainment more important to you than your walk with or your knowledge of God?  A good test of that is to consider how well you know each. If you can easily quote statistics or considerable amounts of information on those things yet cannot say the same about your Bible or your relationship with Jesus....well then you just answered the question about your priorities and maybe about your morality.  Your priorities easily affect your morality in that your passions become misplaced.  Your zeal is misplaced. Your enthusiasm is misplaced. Easily your time and money get misplaced. 

This isn't about bashing sports or entertainment...those are just the biggest things in today's world.  The most visible people in social media are in those 2 categories.  

Your life might not be that complicated but the question remains as to what are you doing with your faith?  My desire for over 20 years has been to be involved with the body of Christ the way I had been before moving to Columbus or even more involved than that.  My first priority after getting settled in here is to establish being involved with the body of Christ here. 

It's been so long that I am seeking help in making sure that I am doing what it is that God wants me to be doing for Him.  My interpretation of a few of the parables of Jesus concerning what I have been entrusted with by Him through the Spirit is to be found using what I have been given.  

To be found in Christ Jesus doing what He has in mind for me to be doing will certainly impact my views on morality and other Godly things.  Not at all that those works save me in any way, Jesus saved me completely when I came to Christ for salvation.  The works that I am to be doing should be those things that are important to God before those things that are important to me. 

In these times in which we live...the Bible is very clear.  We indeed have wars and rumors of wars. 

We certainly have earthquakes and famines in various places. 

We certainly have people who are lovers of themselves. Who have a form of godliness but deny its power.  We certainly have everything written in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

We certainly have fathers against sons daughters against mothers. Families torn apart. 

We have all of this and yet we as Christians aren't focusing all the more on both our walk with Jesus and promoting that in others.  We see moral decline and aren't pointing people to the solution because we aren't living it out ourselves.  We reflect the Levite and Pharisee rather than the Good Samaritan. Go and be warm and filled rather than ask how can I help you?

I have lived for 21 years in circumstances where a great many people claiming to be Christians looked down on me with disdain and criticism for daring to attempt to live out bearing one another’s burdens as the Bible says to do.  I literally was branded as being trouble.  

Look in the mirror, are YOU doing what you want in life or are you putting what God wants first?

These days it seems that the Spirit keeps putting a mirror in front of me to run into. 

He wants me to be thinking about my why's of what I am doing.  

I am honestly glad to be in turmoil about my activities in regards to my faith. 

I really should be bothered if the things of God aren't important to me. 

I really should be concerned if my life shows conformity to the world rather than a transformed life in Christ.  

If you aren't as concerned then...maybe you should be. 

If your thoughts on morality are like the world rather than like what God has established in the Bible then maybe that explains the world today. 

You have to give an account of your life before Christ Jesus some day as do I. 

What will it show?  What excuses will you and I try to give for how we lived?

Leadership Isn't for Everyone

Leadership Isn't for Everyone 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 NASB 

"Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another. However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if prophecy, in proportion to one’s faith; if service, in the act of serving; or the one who teaches, in the act of teaching; or the one who exhorts, in the work of exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never repay evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12 NASB 

Finding what it is God has in mind for you and I to be doing isn't always easy. 

Before going to bed last night I was certainly struck with a thought that is the title of this post.  Regardless of circumstances being a leader isn't for everyone, no matter what society says you should strive for in a company.  

People will thrive at what it is God's designed them to be.  For me, I am still searching for what it is that God's wanting me to be doing locally.  My computer ministry certainly seems to have fizzled out.  This blog reaches the four corners of the world and probably the Space Station. 

Every cell in your body does its best work when it's doing what God designed it to be doing. 

Honestly for several years I began thinking that the avenues opened to me lead to me being a leader. After all that's the roles I kept getting put into.  Yet, I honestly, always, felt like a fish out of water.  It's not that I couldn't do it, there was never any contentment in it.

As I have mentioned to many, it's not to be taken that I am thinking more highly of myself than I ought.  But I really do know a great deal about a lot of things. If being equipped, as the Bible says we will be, is essential to what it is we are to be doing life for God, then in many respects I am certainly equipped. 

Yet since moving I have a great desire to not just be busy, but rathet to be found doing what it is God wants me to be doing. 

Nothing is off the table.  If there are still more things for me to let go of that God says to let go of, then I will let go of them.

We see in the lives of the Disciples that THAT was central to their lives. Letting go of self.  In no way were they taught to embrace the world and to serve God. Look at their instructions when they were sent out. Take nothing with you. 

I am still asking for help in knowing where to serve at our new Church home.  I do want to serve, but I want to be doing what it is that God intended me to be doing, not doing what He's called someone else to be doing.  I have a vivid memory of stepping into doing something that was meant for someone else. It honestly felt like I got my hands slapped. 

When we come to Christ we are now a part of the body of Christ. We each have something that's for us to be doing. As it is in a human body cells die off and others of like type replace them to keep the body working in the way God intended as long as life exists in it.

Nobody in the body of Christ is to be coasting or bench warming. Nobody is to be doing nothing.  Romans 12 and in the book of Corinthians Paul mentions the body’s parts and responsibilities.  Cells in a body with no function are often referred to as cancerous or viral.  In several other passages Paul warns of those types of people that would be found in the Church and gave instructions on what to do when stumbled upon. 

I keep praying concerning my role and function here.  My body isn't what it once was so while my mind might have the energy to just go and do, my body says that I had better reconsider, I am not as young as I once was. 

God's got a plan for me.  He has since before I was knit in my mother's womb.  That's what the Bible says.  He's known me since before I was born. 

I don't want to waste opportunities that God's giving me to grow in Christ. I don't want to waste it on things such as hobbies if they are going to be a true stumbling block to growth in Christ.  I gave up other things in this life because I got the hint from the Spirit that they indeed were in the way of God's Will in me. 

Satan would love nothing more than for Believers to not be doing what God designed them to be doing.  He would love for them to put all their time, energy and effort into waste rather than what they should be doing.  

Your question for you is: If indeed you are in Christ, are you living the life God intended for you as part of the body of Christ or are you trying to live in the world and what He wants of you too?  Are you listening to the world in what you should be doing or are you listening to God?  Are you believing that a square peg will indeed fit in a round hole?  

The only form of deserved retirement hinted at in the Bible is when a believer has completed their mission in this life and God takes them home.  

The other form hinted at is when God takes people from this world because of disobedience and it tarnished the Name of Jesus. To protect His Name He removes them. 

One is a life lived as He intended to its fullest.  The other certainly isn't. 

Should Jesus return today, what kind of person would He find concerning you?

Our Battles are Not Our Own

Our Battles are Not Our Own 

Many who think that they know me really don't know about my early years.  From probably around Junior High school until at least spring of 1999 there had been really bothersome and burdensome battles in my heart and mind. 

What you are about to read are some recent realizations that only now have come to make sense to me.

I realized yesterday why people joking about my mistakes hurts so much. It's a painful reminder of the years that Satan kept hammering me about not being saved, about how God rejected me, of how I wasn't good enough for Heaven.

The battles came to a head in the spring of 1999 but they had been on-going for many years, as I have shared.  Junior High was around 1977-78.  

I was in church almost as often as the doors were opened.  My family was as involved as we probably could be.  

To some who have read or have heard my sermon on parts of my early life this will be a little familiar. 

As one of my Wife's fond sayings says: just because you are in McDonald's it doesn't make you a happy meal.  As I have also similarly said...being in a garage doesn't make you a car. 

Being in and around Christian people doesn't guarantee growth in Christ.  That kind of thing is on the outside.  Christ changes the inside.  My insides were struggling for decades after I came to Christ. 

I guess I could say that it wasn't what I was expecting.  I was expecting support and mentoring into my faith after coming to Christ.  Honestly it didn't happen.  Right after I made a profession of faith, I can remember being in Elementary school at the time, being heavily ridiculed by my peers over it. That pain ran deep. 

We are in a constant situation of choosing and choices.  We often don't look at it that way but that's what is reality. 

As I said earlier it dawned on me only yesterday why some forms of joking about my mistakes strikes a nerve so easily.  It's not by any means the fault of anyone joking with me.  It's my mindset that's got the problem learning to not let things get to me in that way. 

Satan will always, until either the Rapture of the Church or Jesus calls me home, be trying to discourage and distract me from what it is God's wanting to do in me.

Choices and choosing. 

There is no coasting through this life. 

We choose to go after the things of this world or we choose to go after what Jesus wants us to. 

We choose to degrade our choices into calling them mistakes rather than sins.

We choose to listen to Satan or to God.  

Lesson in life is this...Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  Means more than you think. 

The Spirit isn't speaking loudly...Scripture says that we hear a still small voice.  The Spirit isn't yelling or raising His voice.

Satan will mimic that same thing.

Whereas the Spirit works towards our growth in Christ, Satan twists ideas and words to get us to obey but not obey God. 

When he thinks he's got us down, he pounces. He will do what Scripture says he will try to do...devour. 

PTSD is mostly attributed to horrific events in life. Wars are the most commonly thought of when that is mentioned.  You can also get it from forced experiences not in a war.  Anything that takes an extreme emotional toll on your mind can cause that same thing. 

In all seriousness greater care always should have been shown to our veterans due to what they've been put through in this life. 

In Spiritual battles I do believe it's possible to have a form of Spiritual PTSD.  Paul writes of all the things that the Lord Jesus had brought him through.  It's not hard to see that those indeed were traumatic events in Paul's life.  

Learning to cope is the hardest part.  Learning to keep putting things at the foot of the cross is something often hard to do.  It's been over 20 years since the events of early 1999. My God has brought me through quite a few fires.  Quite a few valley's of the shadow of death.  Quite a few mountain tops.  I might not yet react as I ought to when I don't do things right, but He has always stayed with me.  I certainly am ashamed of much of what I delved into in those years between 1977 and 1999. I certainly made choices that pain me to this day.  I have made a lot less since Spring of 1999, but they are there. Stupid decisions and wrong turns.  

Learning to put my life in the right perspective is sometimes really difficult.

My desire is to live life the way God wants me to be living.  To do what He puts before me to do.  Dreams? Sure I have those. But I cannot put those before what God's tasked me to be doing.  When I put me before He, I get reminded of the times when that didn't work out so well. 

You too might get reminded in unintentionally painful moments of your past mistakes, past sins, past choices.  

"God help me" is still a full prayer.

"God I need you" is still a full prayer. 

"God I can't handle this, please do something" works too.

It's never going to be the fault of those around us as to how we react to things more than it's our choice on how we react to things. We can choose to give those thoughts to Christ to deal with or we choose to try to handle them ourselves and risk doing the wrong thing. 

Satan will continue to remind me of my past. As Scripture says...remind him of his future.