Author Archives: andyfarwell

Yesterday a friend sent me a video of a group of people singing a praise song to the Lord. They were outside, one man with a guitar and a man leading but really the people didn’t need to be led. They were singing their hearts out. By observation I would assume many of them were poor and likely don’t enjoy the freedoms we do here in America, yet they sing with all of the energy they have in them and not to be noticed or recognized. Just because they wanted to. Tears came to my eyes as I listened. I listened to it several times and once with my eyes closed so I could really absorb it. It got me to thinking. Why haven’t I heard this kind of praise from believers here? Oh yes we sing. But somehow it’s different. Is it because we are worried about what the people next to us are going to think? Is it because we don’t have confidence in our ability to sing? God doesn’t require us to be good at singing! Maybe it’s because we don’t fully understand what God does for us, and did for us when he gave his only Son, Jesus, to die for us so we could be saved. Maybe it’s because we have too much and don’t realize how we got it. Yes we work but how did we get the ability to do that work? Can you keep that strength? What if it was taken away? Would we become bitter? Or would we sing?
Most of these questions I’m asking myself! In Revelation 4&5 the Bible describes what goes on around God and his throne day and night. There are creatures singing holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. All day and all night they sing. And 24 elders fall on their knees and worship. Are you like me, and you tell yourself, when I get there I’ll do that too? King David and others wrote many songs and they sang and danced before the Lord whenever they recognized God’s hand at work in their lives. I don’t do that! Maybe I should. If those in heaven are singing and those that came before us were singing and many here on earth right now are singing, and all of these to a wonderful God who has given us our very life, then why am I not singing? He deserves to hear my voice! And when our voices of praise join together, it doesn’t matter how talented or not we are, because between here and his throne our weak, human, sinful, voices become a beautiful sound to his ears!! Let’s sing!!
God of all,may our voices join together to sing of your holiness and give you the praise you so richly deserve!!

In all my years I have yet to see a zombie movie. I think I’m in the minority. The walking dead theme has been quite a craze in the world. We all like a good make believe movie but what if the walking dead was real? In Genesis 3 of the Bible is the account of Adam and Eve and the serpent. God had told Adam not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden because if he did he would die. The serpent tricked Eve into eating it saying that she wouldn’t die. So Adam and Eve did eat it and suddenly they were aware of both good and evil. Although their bodies didn’t die, their soul did. God wasn’t telling them that their bodies would die immediately. He was telling them their spirit would die due to sin and their bodies would eventually. Everyone born since have been born in that condition. The walking dead!!
God didn’t leave us though. Through prophets, judges, priests and his word he has told us all through history about his plan to save us. Jesus was the plan. Through believing in him and trusting that his death, and resurrection is true, and confessing to him we are sinners, we can be given life. Real life! In John 10:10 we learn: The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly!
We get so self absorbed in life. What we want. Me me me! That’s the kind of thinking that got Adam and Eve in trouble. It’s a lonely place living inside of a world that me is all we think about. Jesus has a much better life in mind. One where we live for him and others. One where love and service to others are the focus. And in the end, yes our bodies will die but we get new ones that won’t die and we will be forever in the presence of God!
So, like the walking dead movies, there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who are dead and those who are alive, both walking on the same ground. In real life we don’t round up weapons and blow up the walking dead. We tell them about Jesus and pray they will believe and have life! Real life!! Which one are you?
Father, thank you for your plan to save us through your only son Jesus!! Thank you for life!!

Love y’all!!

There was a boy from a small town and he was having a birthday party. As it happened, there was also another boy in the same town of the same age having a party as well. The second boy was a very popular boy and invited every kid in his class to his party. The first boy only had a couple friends and invited both of them. In the day of the party, the first boy waited patiently for his best friends to show up. All he wanted was to share the day with them. The second boy was so consumed with what he would get that he hardly noticed who was there at his party. The two friends of the first boy had to make a decision. Do we go to the big party where everyone will be? Or go to our friends party and risk our popularity?
Can you relate to anyone in this story? In the Bible, in Luke 14:16-25 Jesus tells a parable about a man who was having a banquet. He invited guests to come and dine with him. After the banquet was prepared he send word out that it was time to come. But all of them had excuses not to come. They found better things to do. The man was upset so he told the messenger to go out and invite people from the street, the sick, the lame, the blind and beggars to come and he filled his house with them. Did you know you were invited to this banquet? Jesus was talking about a feast with him! A feast that will actually happen. He has invited us to it but how many will come? You see, like the first boy, he just wants to be with you, but going to Jesus’ party could risk your popularity. He requires that first, you prepare to be in his presence by following him and his ways. His ways are different from the “popular” ways of this world! So we have the invitation and he wants us to come but we all have a choice to make.
The first boy only had one of his two friends show up to the party. They had a great time together and his friend never regretted going. The other friend went to the other party and ended up having a miserable time.
Im not going to the world’s party. I’m going to Jesus’ party. I will go as one of the sick, blind, lame beggars into heaven to join others like me at God’s table. I won’t be deserving of being there, but I know that he will smile and say : welcome my guest. We will have a grand time together and I won’t regret choosing his party or the pain along the way to get there. Will you join us? Your invited!!
Dear Jesus, thank you for inviting us to your house. Thank you for going to the cross in our place. Thank you for being you!! Amen

Please come to Jesus’ banquet! RSVP to God the Father today!!

What price is too high
What pain is too much

To reach Heaven on high
For our Lord to touch

For all of earths treasures we employ
But moth and rust will soon destroy

For Heavens treasures we should yearn
These are treasures we cannot earn

They are a gift bought at a price
Paid by our Saviors sacrifice

These treasures in Heaven, you can receive
If only in Jesus you trust and believe!!

I’ve been studying the book of Job this past month. Job is a guy that God himself said of him: There is nobody on earth like him.
Satan desired to turn him against God but had to have permission and God knowing Job’s heart allowed him to try. So Job’s pain began. He lost his children, servants, livestock and his body was inflicted with painful sores from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. Not a great few days right? But Job still praised God.
Then his friends showed up. At first they sat in silence just being there for him. In their silence they were wise. Then they opened their mouth and one at a time began to speak. They would question Job in speculation about what sin God might be punishing him for. As time went on the questioning became accusations and they considered themselves wise in doing it. Have you ever had friends like that? Remember, God could see all of their hearts. He knew Job was a truly righteous man who loved him and would follow him whatever the cost. But his friends could not see that. So in their ignorance they spoke. In their not so great way they were trying to help. I believe that.
We often struggle with what to say when we have friends in trouble or when they have suffered great loss. We desire to help but we can’t figure it out. Our minds wander and soon we begin to believe we have answers to questions that were never asked!! What if we talked to God on their behalf and let the speaking come from him? What if we just come alongside our friends in their pain and just be there without words? What if instead of adding to the pain with our prideful judgements, we just love them no matter what?
Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for seeing us. Those of us in pain or those of us who have sinned are loved by you either way. Help us to love like you love. Amen!

Have you ever had a thing or a someone that you just couldn’t part with? You know, you get anxious at the thought? I think if honesty was in us at all we would admit that this is true of all of us. Have you ever heard someone say: I’ll part with (fill in the blank) over my dead body? Kinda drastic wouldn’t you think? Let’s seek truth together here for just a moment. What or who do you have in your life, that if they were gone for whatever reason , it would actually cause you to die? We can learn to live without most things short of food and water. Our bodies do need nourishment to live but aside from that, little else is necessary. The rest are just perks. So if we cherish them as if our lives depend on them, be it our possessions or our people, could it be said that these are our gods?
Our souls were made by God, the God , to long after him and him alone. He really truly is life. Without him we are just bodies sustained by food and water but our souls are dead. With him though our souls are awakened to life! You see, our souls need nourishing just as our bodies and God himself is the only source of nutrient that will sustain it in life.
The trouble in all of this is when we try to nourish our souls with anything or anyone other than God. Anything other than God is to our soul what a weed is to a garden. It takes away nutrients causing us to wither away. But if we put God on the throne of our hearts and put everything else under Him, we will thrive!!

Father, help us to rip from our existence anything rooted into our heart, where you alone should be rooted, deep and unable to be removed. May no “thing” or no person take a seat on the throne of our hearts. May the joy of this journey we call life be you, oh God, and you alone! We thank you for the good gifts and the people you have given us, but remind us often that they are just gifts. You oh God are the creator and giver of all that is good . You alone are worthy of our worship!!
Love y’all ! May our God reign in our hearts forever!!

One day when I was bombarding my Dad with thoughts and questions that I had,asked me if my mind ever slowed down. He was a patient and quiet man. I was not. We came from different times. He grew up during a time before television. I grew up with radio and television. My kids are growing up with smart phones. Why am I telling you this? A study was done prior to smartphones that found that the average American was exposed to over three thousand advertisements per day. How many would that be now?! The more we are stimulated in our minds, the more unsettled our thoughts become. Today, scrolling through social media or watching video shorts has filled our minds with images causing our brains to be like a nut tree full of squirrels. We are all over the place. How do we silence the noise? If we can’t silence the noise then how do we pray? Does God ask us if our minds ever stop? Do we wait for our minds to quiet down before we pray? I would say no because our minds in this generation never stop!
Philippians 4:6&7 says this: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I’m going to paraphrase this for you. Don’t wait for your mind to settle. Take your nut tree full of hungry squirrels with you to God. Tell him about all the noise, the questions, the doubts, the fears, the pain, the anger, you see where I’m going with this right? You take all that junk and talk to God about it. He will listen. He’s a patient and quiet God who loves you and cares about all that you care about. As you talk to him, the squirrels get full and one by one they begin to leave the tree. Soon your mind is free from anxiety and you can just praise and thank God for his kindness and goodness!
Don’t try to run those squirrels out of your tree my friends. They’ll drive you nuts! Go ahead and laugh. That was funny. Take them to God. He’s like a squirrel whisperer.
Thank you Lord first of all for your patience. Thank you for listening and even more for caring for us and all that is on our hearts. It’s heavy Lord. Give us peace. Your peace so that we can praise you and thank you as you deserve!

Have a blessed day

I’ve found that as I get older, I attend more and more funerals2fsw. What’s the old saying? “The only two things you can count on is deaths etc and taxes.” When we are young death seems so far away but as we age it comes at us like a freight train. There’s no stopping it. It’s never convenient or I d at just the right time. Death was never meant to be. God didn’t want us to die. He still doesn’t. Death came as a result of sin. Thanks Adam for that gift. Not!! Here we are though. Death is certain. So the how do we deal with it? I’ve had my share of dealing with death. Some hard. Some really hard!! The only thing that I have that helps me deal with it is hope. Hope in what you may ask? The answer? Resurrection. Yes we all must die. It’s a fact. Jesus died. Then He rose from the dead!! With a brand new body. This one could no longer die! We too have this hope if we trust Jesus to save us, to forgive our sins, and to be our Lord! He’s coming to get us. When he does we will be raised with new bodies! 1Corinthians 15:51-52 says: Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed!
Death doesn’t need to scare you. Jesus has defeated it. And he will beat it for good one day. In verse 54 it says: Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting?
Victory over death is there for you. All you need is Jesus. Do you trust Him? Today is the day!! You too can live without fear!!
Thank you Jesus for showing us that death doesn’t have power over you! You have the final victory!!

Love ya folks!!

A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that all these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself.
That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say: “I make God visible”. But others that see us together can say: “They make God visible”. Community is where humility and glory touch! Henri J.M. Nouwen
When the community of Christ followers, or Christians, are together, do you think we reveal the face of God? Do we show His love in how we get along? Do we display humility in how we treat each other, always putting others before ourselves? Do we show His love in how we serve others? How we welcome those who others cast out?
Maybe we tell a different story. Are we telling a story of arrogance? Do we put our own interests ahead of others? Are only certain people acceptable in our midst? Do we work out our differences or do we just part ways when it’s just too difficult to work through conflicts?
How do you think we rate in the eyes of our Creator, Jesus, who came to earth and gave his life so that we could live together, a forgiven people, redeemed from our former life of sin separated from God? Do we honor him in our awe and wonder of him and in our appreciation for all he has done?
These are questions I have. What do you think?

Lord, help us who belong to you, to live together in a way that honors you and shows our appreciation, our awe and wonder, and devotion to you. May others step back and look at us and see you!!

Love ya!!

Being offended is inevitable
Living offended is a choice
I heard this in a sermon from Craig Groeschel If you take just a minute to think about this, it’s so true. All of us get offended or offend someone else. All of us! Where we go from there is our choice. If we offend someone, do we just say to ourselves: I’m right. They’re wrong. Suck it up buttercup? Or do we self examine and if we see that we are in error, apologize?
What if we are the offended ones? Do we justify ourselves and pass the offender off as rude and wrong? Do we consider what they have said and try to look at things from their point of view? Do we quickly forgive even when they are not sorry?
Jesus is our best example. When all of us were sinners, living in hostility towards him and maybe some reading this still are, Jesus came here and offered his own life, in great pain, poured out his blood and died. Before any of apologized or were even sorry. He rose again to life so that we could too. None of us deserve this. None of us! Jesus chose to make forgiveness possible by forgiving us first.
If we claim to follow Christ, then shouldn’t we choose not to live offended? Shouldn’t we forgive? Will we be offended? Certainly. But we don’t have to live that way! Let’s follow the example of Jesus and break the chains of living offended!

Father in Heaven, teach us to love like you love and to forgive others just as in Christ you forgave us!

Prayer. I cannot describe to you how I’ve wrestled with this spiritual discipline. I’m not good at it or at least I don’t think I am. I do pray though. Do you? Let me walk you through a couple things I’ve done in my prayer life that would be examples of what not to do. One thing I’ve done in my life is to use God as a magic fix it machine that I plug into when the poo hits the fan. Like, this: Hey God, I need my bills paid! I have no money. Can you fix it for me? Looking back on these kind of prayers I’ve learned that he answered me. It went something like this: My child, you have a job that I provided, and you get paid by your boss which I provided, with money that I provided. What did you do with that money that you can’t pay your bills? My answer: um?
Yes God will help you. He likely already has but also we must do our part.
Another thing I’ve done is to try to fix everything on my own and use God as my last resort. How rude! Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians in 4:6: Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.
I’ve learned that prayer isn’t our natural response to the troubles of life. Troubles will come but we don’t have to fight them. When our hearts become anxious, we can right then and there go to our Creator with it and leave it with him. My problem then is that a few moments later I pick it right back up and start worrying! That’s normal. Pray again! I think that’s what Paul meant when he said to “pray without ceasing”.
Prayer, not being our natural thing, is something that has to be developed. Practiced. Repeated. It should be how we start our day and how we spend our day and how we top it off. Why?
Jesus himself when he was here, often went to be alone and prayed. God wants our fellowship, and for us to bring our problems, our victories, our thanks and our worries and fears to him! Prayer is a time for us to know God more. When we pray, we need to also listen. Sometimes we need to wait! That’s hard.
I’ve prayed for loved ones who were sick to be healed. Then waited. And waited. I’ve prayed for friends to come to know Jesus. And I’ve waited. And waited. Sometimes he makes it clear that I need to do something but other times it’s just simply his work to do. Either way, when we pray, we can experience peace. Paul says in the same passage as before in the next verse: And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
My friends, if you struggle with prayer, it’s okay. Keep praying. The more you pray, the more you remember to pray. Soon, talking with God will be as natural as talking with your bestie. Only this one has the power, the love and the desire to help you in every way. He wants to have the conversation. All we need to do is approach him. Then the peace will come!
Set aside some quiet time today and talk with him. Then be still and listen!
Father, thank you for your love for us. For knowing us better than we know ourselves. Thank you for knowing our needs and providing all we need. In the name of Jesus, amen!

Much love!!

This is a wise poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow.
‘‘Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life:
‘It’s the set of the soul
That decides the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

I found this in a book I’m reading by Charles Swindoll and I’ve read it over and over. A ship with a wise captain doesn’t have to go where the wind takes it. By setting the sails at angles to the wind (tacking) the captain can actually take the ship headlong into the wind! Our life doesn’t have to be pushed in the direction that the rest of humanity is going. The hard circumstances that we face can either drive us to bitterness and hard heartenedness or we can set our soul to go against the norm. By aligning our soul with Christ through Bible study and prayer and fellowship with other believers, we tack against the troubles and go against them and rather than bitterness, we gain endurance and maturity!! James 1.
I’m a rebellious sort of guy and for years that kept me running from God. After years of troubles I finally surrendered to Him. I’ve found a place to use that rebel spirit of mine for good. Instead of rebellion towards God, I rebel against the world who could care less about any of us! I surrendered my ship to Jesus who tacks my soul against the world and drives this ship of my life towards Heaven !
Join the rebellion my friends! It’s a good life!

Imagine with me for a minute a relationship that goes like this: Sweetheart, you are the love of my life. Will you marry me? I only ask that I can bring my former lovers to live with us. While I love you the most, I still love them too. You understand right?
How would you respond to this marriage proposal ? NO WAY!! Right? I love my wife. No way I’m sharing her with anyone! That’s sick. How about you?
Did you know that we have done this? Before you grab a rope to hang me with, let me work through this with you first. I’m only asking that as we do, be honest with yourself. Okay here we go. The message version of the Bible verse James 4:4-6 says: You’re cheating on God! If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies with God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover”. And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find.
When Jesus gave his life for us, it was the ultimate act of love. So if we claim to be his, but then keep all of our old sins close to us, how is that different than bringing an ex to live with you and your spouse? Think about it. Jesus gave everything for me and you. Everything! What we bring so often is a half-hearted devotion. We still want to cling to at least one or two old sins. Am I right? I’m guilty. I’m ashamed of it too. I mean when I smash a finger at work, my first instinct is to cuss up a storm, not to praise God for it! Harmless right? What about when we let our thoughts linger a bit when we see someone attractive? Or when we don’t turn our cash in as income or……. It goes on. It’s like bringing our exes to live with our God!! He doesn’t deserve that! He is faithful. Shouldn’t we be?
Lord, you are so good! I’m sorry for bringing my old junk into our relationship! Please forgive me!

Have a blessed day!

Sent from Gmail Mobile

Veterans Day 1976 was a day forever burned into my memory. I was almost ten years of age and my family and I were processing pigs in the summer kitchen. I went out to feed scraps to my dog and when I turned around to head back in I couldn’t believe my eyes. Our house was engulfed in flames! I ran inside yelling to Dad that the house was on fire. A few hours later, everything I knew as home was gone. All we had was what we were wearing. I had on jeans with an RC Cola patch on the knee and deer skin slippers my Uncle Bill had made for me. Christmas was just a few weeks away but somehow it just didn’t seem right. The joy of this season would be drowned out with pain and loss, or so I thought. Then God stepped into the story. 

The day I’m about to share with you is just as memorable as the day of the fire. Our family was told to go to the little gym at the Augusta grade school at a certain time on a certain day. When we walked in together tears immediately filled our eyes! Local church folks, friends and relatives and people we barely knew had brought us gifts! So much so, that we had more then than we had prior to the fire!! James 1:17 says: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

God is the ultimate giver! He gave to us through the generosity He gifted to all those people and I am forever grateful to Him and to them for all they gave to us at such a time! We were blessed even in our loss!! 

Thank you Father for your unchanging generosity!!

I have written many times about the storms of life. For example, deaths of loved ones or illness and relationship problems and the like. Many of these things are outside of our control. The only thing we can control is our response to these troubles. There is however an example in Gods word of a storm that was happening directly as a result of the disobedience of one man. His name was Jonah. You know. He’s the guy swallowed by the fish. Before that though we learn in chapter one of Jonah that God told him to go to Nineveh and warn them that they were sinning and to repent. Now Jonah didn’t like those folks there and so he decided to run the other way. He pays for a ride on a boat going the opposite direction and when they got out on the journey a violent storm comes. It is ripping the boat apart and everyone was praying to their gods; except Jonah. He was asleep. Now the boat captain had already thrown everything overboard to lighten the load and the storm just kept getting worse so he wakes Jonah up and tells him to pray to his God. Did he? Nope! He tells them that he is causing the storm because he was running from God and to throw him into the sea. Well eventually they did although they didn’t want to and immediately the storm subsided. The men on the boat believed and made vows to Jonah’s God.
Have you ever been disobedient to God and all those around you have felt the results of the storm you have caused? I have. My family suffered because of my disobedience and from my running from God. It has been a painful lesson but one I’ll never forget. When Jesus calls you, don’t run! He will do what it takes to bring you back to him! It is better to run to Jesus and not from him!!
Another lesson here is to be careful who you let onto your boat!
Dear Lord, thank you for your word and the lessons we can learn. Thank you for never letting us go but doing what it takes to call us to obedience to you.

You are never safer than being right in the middle of Gods will for you!

Love y’all

I don’t know what you’re going through right now. Maybe you’re having a peaceful time in your life when all is going well. I do hope so. But maybe you are going through a time of great pain and struggle. We all do. If you are, I want to share a new twist I’ve learned from an old event. Jesus had just fed thousands of people with just a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. It was a big deal. He was tired and needed to pray so he sent his disciples out in a boat with instructions that he would meet them on the other side later. (For the whole story read Mark 6) While rowing across the lake a terrible storm came up. Now these guys were sea men and were no strangers to a good storm but this one was different. They could feel the hands of death gripping them! They were afraid. Jesus comes walking by. On the water!! Does this all sound familiar? Here’s the new twist that I’ve never caught before and I’ve read it a bunch. In verse 48 it says that Jesus wanted to pass by them. What?!!! He saw them struggling against the storm fearing for their lives and he wanted to just pass by?? This doesn’t sound like the loving Jesus I know! Just wait! I’m gonna share something cool here. Remember what Jesus told them? Go ahead and I’ll meet you there. He knew the storm was going to happen. He knew they would make it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have told them to go!! You see, the plan was, they would meet on the other side. The storm, the wind, the waves, their fear, didn’t change the plan! He was still going to be there. So were they, but they got distracted from the plan. They lost their focus on the one in control. He was there with them but they didn’t recognize them because in their minds the storm was the bigger issue! As it turns out, they called out to Him and he jumps into the boat and all ended well. How cool would the story be if they would have trusted Jesus and stuck with the plan?
Another cool thing was, Jesus had seen them before he even went out on the lake!
If you are going through hard times in life, Jesus sees you. Whatever it is your going through cannot and will not change the plan! He is still going to finish what he started! He is still going to meet you on the other side! And when it gets to be too much, cry out to him. He will jump in the boat because he is right beside you all the way!
Thank you Lord for seeing us, walking beside us, and for meeting us on the other side!!

Love ya friends!!

Joy is a word we often don’t give much thought to. In modern culture we use the word happiness. At first glance they may seem like two words that mean the same thing. When I read about joy in the Bible, I find that joy is a bit different. For example, in James 1:2, James writes: Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials. He goes on but I’m stopping there for a second. Trials in this context means troubles. Painful things. For example, a death in the family, or an illness, financial trouble, persecution and such things as that. Now if I was to use the word happy in any of those circumstances, you would think I’d lost it! Happiness is based on circumstances. If everything is going good, then we are happy. When we get a cancer diagnosis? Not so much happiness right? So can we have joy then? Yes! How can we have joy but not happiness? Joy goes much deeper into our life than happiness. Joy is based on what Jesus has done and is doing. Let’s finish the sentence that James started. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Joy isn’t based on circumstances. It is looking to what the end result of the circumstances will bring. God doesn’t waste our painful moments. He doesn’t cause them, but he uses them to make us complete and mature in our faith and trust of him. Also, if we have believed in Jesus, and he is our Lord, then we know that our future will be with him. We have hope! So if we have hope in the knowledge that Jesus was raised from the dead, and believe that we too will have eternal life, and that all of this pain Is temporary and making us mature and complete, then we can have joy! Are you going through a hard time now? We all do. But if we belong to Jesus, this hard time you’re going through right now is being used by God to make you better! Are you happy about the pain? Nope! Who would be? But can you have joy knowing it will end with you being better, stronger, and more thankful to God than you were before ? Absolutely you can!!
Thank you Lord for helping us through hard times and for working in us during them to make us more like you!!

God bless

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that if you were to pick any animal on earth to represent who you are, the last animal you would pick would be a sheep. Am I right? Nobody takes a sheep to carry a heavy load up a mountain or to pull a plow in the field. You can’t ride them. They can’t even defend themselves. Nope, I’m not a sheep. Or am I? Sheep are not load bearing animals. They were not designed to be. They need a shepherd to lead them to good pastures with water. They need a shepherd to protect them. Psalms 23:1 says: The lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. If the Lord is our shepherd, what’s that make us? SHEEP!!
Think about your life for a hot minute. Are you worried about anything? Is your job stressing you out? Kids making you pull out your hair? Finances got you feeling depressed? Have you lost a loved one and just can’t get passed it? Does scrolling social media make you feel inadequate compared to all the “perfect” lives you see there? Can I tell you a secret? You’re not a load bearing person. You were never meant to be!! Jesus created you to rely totally on him. He wants to provide for you, protect you, comfort you, help you in every little thing or every big thing! Are you struggling? Give it to him!
Also, he gave his life and then came back to life again! We can’t do that, but he can do that for us too! He wants us to stay near to him too. Do you know what happens to rebel sheep that stray away from the shepherd? They end up being lunch! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be lunch. I don’t want to carry all that life throws at me. Be honest. Do you? Let’s just be content being sheep and let our Good shepherd carry the load! Then let’s give him the praise and thanks he deserves!!
Dear Jesus, thank you for all you have done, are doing, and for all you have promised to do that I’m confident you will do!!

Love you my friends!!

Change. Scary stuff! I’ve never liked change. When I was a kid, my Dad would give me an overview of what we would be doing the next day. I would mentally prepare myself for it and the next morning; change of plans!! Grrrr! Change isn’t always bad though. In fact there are times when it’s quite good. Like changing underwear for example. That’s good! My Grandma said “always have clean underwear in case you need to go to the hospital. You don’t want them to see you in dirty ones! “
I’ve heard people ask the question: If I get saved and follow Jesus, will I have to change? It’s like they are saying: If I have to change then it’s just not worth it. Look, God created us. Psalm 139:13 says that He formed our inmost being. The part of you that is who you are deep inside? That’s His work. He doesn’t want to change that! When he created Adam and Eve they were perfect. But, then they sinned. They were still Adam and Eve only now a broken down model like a vehicle after a bunch of miles. It needs repair. It needs to be restored back to its original condition. Jesus made us perfect but we became imperfect by the sin in us. So while he does want to restore us by helping us change the direction of our life(the word repent means to change direction) He doesn’t want us to be different than how He created us, but rather brought back to who He created us to be. Yes, this requires us to study His word and to listen to Him. If He is nudging you in your heart to stop doing something or to start doing something your not; then do it. Or don’t do it! But you will still be you! You will just be becoming the restored version of you! It a change that’s worth it! Trust me! No! Trust Jesus.
Thank you Lord for loving us. Your masterpiece! Help us to listen for your voice and then follow you!!

Love you my friends!

When I was I kid, my family had livestock. We had cows, chickens, and a lot of hogs! Chores were part of my life from my earliest memory. I would say that the most important thing was water. I remember times when the well pump would fail and all work being done stopped and all attention was on fixing that pump. I remember my Dad hauled water from a pond because our well wouldn’t keep up. Water was life to our farm. Without it death would soon come. Funny thing about water; as long as we have it we don’t think about it, but as soon as we don’t have it then that’s all we think about!!
The psalmist who penned Psalm42 wrote : As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, oh God. The picture here is a deer who can’t find water. The deer is so worked up over it that it is panting desperately as it runs around looking for water. If you read this psalm you find that the writer can’t seem to find God. He is being taunted by his enemies who are saying: Where is your God? As he desperately searches for him he preaches to himself. In verse 5 he says: Why are you in despair o my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God for I again will praise him for the help of his presence.
We all have times when we feel like we are under attack. We need God and it feels like we can’t find him anywhere. He’s there. Sometimes we need to preach a little sermon to ourselves reminding our soul that God is there. He never leaves us or forsake us. He is our living water. We should stay near to him and not just seek him when we are desperate. Then the panic sets in. The Bible tells us to draw near to God and he will draw near to us. He is our very life!! Dear God, thank you for being there even when we can’t see you or find you. Help us not to just seek you when troubles come but to keep you near every hour of every day!!

Love y’all. Stay thirsty for God!!

When I was growing up, saturdays were for two things; cleaning out the hog barns and cutting wood. When those two things were accomplished then I could go do whatever I wanted. Within reason. I would be working with my Dad and the whole time dreaming up what I was going to do when I was finished with my work. Usually what I ended up doing wasn’t near as good as I thought it would be. Looking back, the best part of my saturdays were working with my Dad. I didn’t see it then because my mind was always looking to be somewhere else. Doing something that I thought would satisfy me more. It never did. Being with my Father was the best thing. What do you spend your thoughts on? Is it your next camping trip or vacation? Is it retirement? Is it buying something that you think will satisfy you? Don’t we all think about these things? It’s no secret that I claim to follow Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3: 1-2: Since,then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
What if we spend all our thought time on ourselves and what we want to do, and we miss out on the real joy we can have right now? Our Heavenly Father is here with us right now. No matter what we are doing he is with us. He wants us to enjoy his company. At work or at play he wants to be the best part of our day. He wants us to talk with him and share our joys and pains with him! Yes, looking forward to being with him in heaven is good but don’t forget he is with you right now!! We get so wrapped up in what’s next that we lose the joy of the moment we are in and who we are with in that moment! My dear friends, let’s not grow old and look back and think wow, I missed out on all that time I could have spent with the Lord. Instead, let’s set our minds on Him and enjoy his company every moment of every day!!
Thank you Emanuel! This means God with us. You are with us and so often we forget. Help us to set our hearts on you and not the things of this earth that never satisfy us for long.

Love y’all. Have a blessed day

When I was a kid, it was considered a privilege to help people. I remember taking leaves and mowing for a couple older folks who couldn’t do it any more. No pay. Just being a good neighbor. I don’t know why but it seems like that doesn’t happen like it used to. If you want something done you gotta pay for it. We have become a people who would rather be served than to serve. I’m one of those crazy people that believes that the Bible is Gods word to mankind. I read the Bible often and I’ve never found the idea in there that being served is better! For those who follow Jesus, its important to do as he did. He served. He washed the dirty feet of his followers the night before he was crucified. Not only the ones who loved him but even the one who would betray him!! Would you wash the feet of the one who was about to get you killed? I wouldn’t! Jesus did!! In Galatians 5:13-14 Paul teaches us that we were called to freedom. We are not to use this freedom to do whatever makes us feel good at the moment! We are not to use it to fulfill the desires of our flesh but rather to serve each other humbly in love. The entire law is summed up in one command. Love your neighbor as yourself!
Who is our neighbor? It’s those who share earth with us! If we see a way to help someone in kindness and don’t do it…. It’s sinful. We are called by the Lord to serve. Simple as that! To serve another, even an enemy, is love in its best form!! Jesus gave his life for us so we could be forgiven! The least we can do is be kind to each other!!
Lord, help us to look for those who could use a hand. Help us to serve and to do it with joy!!

Have a blessed day my friends!!

Lately I’ve been reflecting back on those men and women who have influenced my life. There are many! Some have been not so good but I’ve been fortunate to have several that were very good. Who we follow or read or listen to has a significant impact on how we view things and even how we make decisions. There are many warnings in the Bible about false teachers and listening to wise counsel. So how do we know if someone is a false teacher? How do we know if who we are allowing to influence us are teaching good sound biblical principles? Well first i believe we should be studying it for ourselves. Second we should be in communication we Jesus. Then the Spirit will give us what we need to recognize false teaching. One of the things I like to do is to check to see if the life of the person I’m being influenced by is like those folks in the Bible. Like Paul for example. He went all over planting churches. He worked with his hands building tents so that he could provide his needs and not be a burden on those he was witnessing to. Acts 20:34-35 tells us this and Paul worked hard to pattern his life after Christ. In verse 35 he quotes Jesus who said: It is better to give than to receive. Paul lived these words. He was trustworthy and good to have as an influence in life. There are many who say all kinds of things in gods name but if their life doesn’t match what Gods word says then do we really need to trust them? We only get one life. We have the choice of how we spend it. Jesus made it possible through his death and resurrection for us to live eternally with him. Trusting in that fact is the beginning of wisdom. Following Gods word and those who live by it will help us to grow in wisdom and increase our faith and help us in troubled times and it will give us the ability to make sound decisions too!!

Thank you Lord for giving me those who have influenced me to believe and helped me grow in the faith. Help me and others like me to be that kind of influencer for others!

Love y’all

Have you ever considered all the voices that speak into your life and how they affect you? I grew up in a simpler time. No computers, cell phones, social media and it was great! We had one wall phone with a 6 foot cord. We had one television and we watched what our parents would let us watch. Now I had great parents. They were the first voices in my head and they spoke Gods word to me. Then the community, then school and kids, and then later came all the things I mentioned earlier. I’ve never considered myself a smart or handsome person and often lack confidence in things I’m asked to do. Why? Why do you think less of yourself than you really are? Voices. For me, it started with what other kids would say or do. Like being the only one not invited to things. I was never part of the “in crowd”. As I grew up, the voices telling me negative things got louder and the voices of Gods word got quieter. Soon I found myself full on living in a sinful way. Doing whatever I could to make me feel good. But it didn’t ever really feel that good for long. I eventually returned to the voice of Gods word but it took years. Fast forward to today. Our kids have so many more voices because they have social media where everyone else’s life looks perfect and theirs doesn’t. Their confidence slowly erodes and they begin viewing themselves as less than they are. Kids today are suffering with depression and anxiety like never before. Gods word is being stilled by the voices of the world. What does God say about you? Ephesians 2:10 says: For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are Gods masterpiece. Think about this for a hot minute. You are the most valued of all he created, and he created the universe and all that is in it!! The voices telling you anything else but that, are wrong! You are beautiful and smart and fully capable of doing what God prepared you to do. He gave you the task and the special ability to do it. He wants you to have confidence in him. We can be sure that we can do what he asks because he wouldn’t send us to do something that he didn’t already prepare us for. Stop being down on yourselves! See you as God sees you and go do what he has for you to do without fear! He’s got you my friend! Listen to the voice that matters. Listen to God!
Father in heaven, I pray for my friends in Christ and for myself, that we would see ourselves clearly from your eyes. Give us courage and help us to fully trust you and to do all that you have prepared for us and what you have prepared us for! Amen

Love y’all! Your Gods masterpiece!

I want to talk about church for a minute. Somehow here in America we have the idea that church is where we go to get “spiritually fed”. We have this idea that Christianity is going to “church” for 90 minutes once a week and then trying not to do bad things the rest of the week. I’ve been reading the Bible for years now and that’s not what I see there. We learn from Acts 2 that church was people who followed Jesus meeting daily. They were devoted to Gods word and prayer. They were not as much concerned about what not to do but what good things they would do. And being spiritually fed? We don’t need church for that! If we really believe in Jesus then the Holy Spirit lives in us! If we study his word then we are filled with wisdom and truth! With his Spirit and his word in us, we have great power to do good. To tell others about Jesus. Church is not a feeding trough for believers. It is where believers should serve and make disciples!! Dear Lord, help us to get back to being the church you desired for us to be. May your love be among us and may we go out into the world and share your love with others!!

Love y’all

Something I’ve noticed in my life and in other’s lives is that we want to be valued. We want to have worth and be loved. In Genesis 29, I read about a man named Laban who had two daughters. Leah, the older one was not so beautiful and then Rachel the younger one was very beautiful. Now a young man named Jacob was looking for a wife and he fell in love with Rachel so he told Laban that he would work for seven years to have Rachel as his wife. So after the seven years, on the honeymoon night, Laban sneaks Leah into Jacob’s bed instead of Rachel! Jacob didn’t love Leah. But God gave her a son. In fact three sons. Jacob worked another seven years and married Rachel. Now you can only imagine the rejection that Leah must have felt knowing that her husband loved her sister and not her. Each time she would have a son she would name him and hope that this time she would finally be loved by her husband but that never happened. Finally when the last son was born she named him Judah and said “this time I will praise the name of the Lord!” She was no longer looking for her worth in her husband because she realized her worth was from God. He loved her and that was enough!
Where are you looking for your value? Your parents or a spouse or your kids? Maybe it’s in your work or accomplishments? If we try to find our worth in anything or anyone other than our creator we will surely be disappointed! Jesus loves us so much he gave his life so that he could be with us. Forever! We do have value and worth. We are truly loved. Jesus is the one who will be there when all else fails! Thank you Lord Jesus for really truly loving us more than we could imagine!!

Have a good day my friends!!

Have you ever started a project and the excitement of doing it began to fade as time went on? Have you ever just left it? Well, if you have your not alone. One of my problems is being easily distracted. I’ll start something and then think of something else more important I should be doing. So then, what I started doesn’t get done! God on the other hand is different. He follows through. He completes what he starts. When I was a new believer in Christ, I would get frustrated with myself. I would work to overcome some of my sinful behaviors only to fall back. I would get so upset with myself that I would just throw in the towel and work on something else. After years of this cycle of ups and downs I came to realize by the grace of God, that I was trying to do it all myself. I cannot overcome by myself! There’s good news here so bear with me. You see, my sins were forgiven. Jesus finished his work that he started when he came to take the burden of our sin to the cross. He said “it is finished “ and so it is! So even though I wrestle with sin, I don’t have to carry the guilt as well. Philippians 1:6 says: Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God began a work in me years ago when he called me into this family of believers. He is still working to build me up to maturity in Christ. He will not leave this work unfinished!! He won’t leave you either. Are you struggling with guilt? Are you losing the excitement that you had at first? Are the ups and downs of life getting to you? It’s okay my friend! God is not done with you yet! He is still working in you! Set down that old sack of guilt. It doesn’t belong to you anymore! You are forgiven! You are free! Trust in God! He finish’s what he starts!
Thank you Lord for never losing your excitement for those you love and have called into your family!!

Love y’all! Have a great day!

Artificial intelligence or AI is one of the hot topics now. Did you know that you can have a poem or song written for you using AI? Where was this technology back when I was doing book reports back in the day? Honestly though. Does this bother anyone? Just me? It does bother me. I mean it’s artificial. Think about this. Your reading a book written by your favorite author, or are you? What if they used AI? AI is using information gathered and stored and it uses this information to create things that we used to. I don’t like it!! I prefer Divine intelligence! God created us with minds to think. He gave us creative abilities to use in all kinds of ways. He gave us a heart too. Somehow, because of God, we can take what’s in our hearts, put it in our thoughts and the two combined can come up with all sorts of things that inspire us to do better. They motivate us to love more, to be more productive, to help others and the list goes on. If we allow the artificial to replace the Divine, then what will we have? The artificial has a form of intelligence but it has no heart! So would society grow cold and distant without the divine? I believe so! Some may look at this as great progress in the human race. I will choose the Divine intelligence over the artificial kind. What about you?
Thank you Lord for the mind and heart that you gave us. Teach us to use them to honor you!

Have a great day !

P. S. This message was not autogenerated , but written by a human being created by God, using the heart and mind he was given!

When he prayed in the garden his best friends fell asleep. He was in agony in his heart. He asked the Father, no he begged him, seeking another way. There was no other way. So the fate of all mankind was at stake. Would he be obedient? Would he finish what he started when he came here? He went back and found his companions asleep. Again! He prays again. He says to the Father: not my will but your will be done. The pain that awaited him was unbearable. Well, for us it would be. But he did it. He allowed himself to be arrested. He allowed men to give him an unfair trial. He allowed them to brutally torture him and then they hung him. On a cross. They humiliated him in ways too grotesque to even mention. He let them. He then gave up his life. They didn’t take it. He gave it. That’s not the worst of it. He allowed all the sin of every human that had or would ever exist to be placed on his record. He took the punishment. Our punishment. He said that all we had to do to be saved was to trust in him and follow him. Then he will give us life. You might say: Andy you fool! He’s dead. How can he save anyone? Well, that wasn’t the end of the story. You see, after they buried him, and sealed the tomb with a huge stone, and after he had been dead for three days, he rose. He rolled the stone away. After he folded the cloth he was wrapped in. He wasnt one to leave a mess. He is risen!! Death couldn’t keep him in the grave!
Do you feel like you are unforgivable? Do you feel unlovable? Invisible? Unwanted? Jesus did all of the things above for you. He loves you. He sees you! Complete forgiveness is waiting! The best part is that the grave won’t hold you! The same power that rose Jesus from the dead, will raise us also to eternal life!!
This is Easter. The most important day in the history of mankind! This is the day that death died!! Thank you Jesus for your love, forgiveness and most of all, thank you for coming here to rescue us from ourselves!!

Happy Easter my friends!! May the love of Jesus be in your hearts!!

Have you ever laid in bed at night and wondered if the sun would rise in the morning? If the earth would stay rotating on just the perfect axis? We don’t usually or ever think about it. We just trust that it will. Have you ever wondered what keeps it there? I personally believe that God himself sustains the earth. I’m sure many would argue but that’s my belief. Imagine with me for a moment if we were God. If we had created this world and all who were in it. Would we be pleased at what we were seeing?would we show mercy and keep the earth going day after day? Would we maybe say; enough! If these people of mine cannot keep from evil then I’ll let the earth tumble!
God doesn’t. He sees us and all we do and say and think and yet he keeps the sun rising and setting right on time. Lamentations 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail! They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!
Maybe we haven’t considered the sun coming up every day as Gods mercy. It is. When we get rain to replenish the earth; Gods mercy. When we get wind to dry out the ground so we can plant; Gods mercy. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. We can’t make any of it happen because we are not God. There are many who believe that God is some hate monger who can’t wait to punish us when we sin. Really? He loves us so much that he gave the life of his own son, Jesus, (John 3:16) so that we can be forgiven. Not only that, but he hasn’t destroyed us or the earth! He keeps it going day after day to display his love and mercy, and with great patience he waits for us to seek forgiveness and turn away from our old ways and believe in Jesus. When you wake each morning and the light begins to show up in the horizon, remember who loves us more than we can comprehend! Dear Father, I’m glad we are not God but only you are! Thank you for giving us all that you do and especially giving us the forgiveness that was bought at the cost of your Son’s life!

Enjoy the day my friends!!

Have you ever prayed for something and then waited and waited but grew tired of waiting so you just took matters into your own hands? Yeah, me too and it didn’t work out so good! The Israelites waited 400 years to be delivered from slavery. That’s a decent wait. They were patient, or so it seems. God picked Moses to lead them out of Egypt and through a miracle of parting the sea!! So they go through on dry land and are finally free but instead of going right into the land that God promised them, he took them to a mountain where God was going to instruct Moses on how lead them on in. So Moses goes up the mountain and is gone for 40 days. Now these folks that were so patient in waiting 400 years(because they had no choice) grew impatient of waiting for God to instruct Moses, so they decided to make their own god. So instead of getting to go into this beautiful new land they got to spend 40 years in a desert eating manna. If only they would have waited, trusted, and believed.
If we look back on our lives we can see things God has already done for us just like they had seen God part a sea. If we are waiting on God then there is a reason! God knew that the Israelites weren’t ready to go take their land. They had been slaves for hundreds of years! So God had to prepare them for the miraculous things he was about to do for them. Are we any different? We have been held captive by many things. Sin for sure! We have been delivered from that bondage by the miracle work of Jesus coming here to die on a cross and then being raised from the dead. So now we wait for our new home! But while we wait, we are being prepared. Coming out of slavery to sin we are being built up in Christ to do good works he has for us to do. While we wait we must trust and believe and not create gods for ourselves such as money or things which would put us right back in bondage again!! Instead, we must be obedient and look for what God is doing in our lives!
Thank you Father for the hope of our resurrection and for all you are doing in our lives in the waiting!!

Love y’all! Look for Gods work in your life!!

Church looks much different here in America than it did in Acts 2 or even other parts of the world today. In places like India or China, Christians are full of joy when they can meet together and just pray and take communion together. They understand the value and importance of being in God’s presence. Reading his word. They hang on every word no matter who’s reading it. They rely on him fully for everything. What if we didn’t have a full band with great sound and lights at church and the leader couldn’t sing in tune. Would we still worship? What if our pastor, who we are blessed to have, fumbled about in his speech as he reads and explains Gods words. Would we still come and listen intently? What if we could no longer meet in our big building with separate rooms for the adults and children and no coffee and donuts. Would we quit meeting? Would the church die there? Friends, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with these things. They are good things that we here in America are blessed to have. What I’m asking is this. What if we didn’t have them? What if all we had was one page out of the Bible, a worn down shack with a dirt floor, and each other? If we came together there to pray, to take communion together, and whoever was willing to keep reading that same page over and over, wouldn’t God be there with us? Yes!!! He would! Because what God desires is our worship, our fellowship, and devotion to him! All of the other stuff is nice as long as it doesn’t become the focus. If there’s a glitch in the sound system or the song leader makes a mistake or whatever it is that happens, nothing should distract us from what we came to do. Worship the Holy, Living God who didn’t allow anything to distract him on his way to the cross. With pure love he gave his life for us! Doesn’t he deserve our undivided attention?
Lord, we are so blessed to have many things. Help us not to get wrapped up in all of it. Help us to be in awe of you. Help us to be unable to be distracted by anything because of our devotion to you our Savior and Lord!!

Love you friends!

Hesitation. How many things in life are missed because of hesitation? I can think of many missed opportunities in my life! What about you? In Acts 8 we learn about a man named Phillip. He was a follower of Christ. An angel told him to go to a certain road and he went. Then it tells us that the Holy Spirit told him to go to a chariot that was on that road. So Phillip ran to the chariot. He ran. There was a man in the chariot that was reading from the book of Isaiah and he sent Phillip to explain it to him. Ultimately the man believed in Jesus and was baptized and then Phillip was supernaturally taken away.
There’s a couple things about this story that I learned that I want to share with you. One is that Phillip responded immediately and even ran to the chariot! I would have said : But God, I don’t have a theology degree! How can I go to him? What if…. You know. The excuses. I’ve got a bunch of em. So the man got saved. Phillip didn’t stick around to help him grow in his faith. God took him away. So how did the man grow and learn? Look, most of us don’t have theology degrees. If we have been saved though, we have something way more powerful than a man given degree. We have just what Phillip had and the man in the chariot received. The Holy Spirit of God living inside of us. He is the one who guided the new believer in his new faith. He is the one who guided Phillip to him! He does the same for us. We have many opportunities to share the love of Jesus. Buying a cup of coffee for someone and listening to them. Praying for a neighbor or even having conversation with a stranger. We don’t need a degree. We have Gods word(the Bible) and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. So when he prompts us to go to someone we should without any hesitation, run!! He is already working in the heart of the other person. It’s not for us to fix or save anyone. Our work is to love as Jesus loved. And also we are to be a witness. That just simply means to tell our story. The story of how Jesus has changed our lives by giving his! Every moment we have is a gift from God. If we hesitate then that’s a moment waisted.
Lord, help us to hear your voice and give us the strength and courage to run and not hesitate to do the work you trusted us to do. We know that if we go, you go with us!!

Love y’all and pray you will have a great day!!

Years ago when my girls were in school and active in sports I went to a lot of ballgames. There was this lady that never missed a home game. She didn’t have kids and was never married. She loved these kids and cheered for them even though many of them would have nothing to do with her. Neither did most of the parents. You see, she didn’t fit the social standard. She was very overweight. She didn’t take a bath very often and therefore she smelled terrible. People would try to block themselves so that she couldn’t sit near them and often she would have to sit with the fans of the opposing team. I can’t help but wonder, if Jesus would have come to a game, would she be the one he picked to sit by? I think he would have. When I study the life of Jesus, I see him always going to the unloved, unwanted outcasts. The socially unacceptable. Those who don’t “fit in”. His chosen disciples were fishermen. The rough kind. Tax collectors who collected money from their own people and gave it to their enemy! So if we claim Christ to be our God, and our King, then shouldn’t we follow his example? Shouldn’t we save a seat next to us for the one who nobody else will sit by? If we act like everyone else and treat the outcasts as outcasts, then what distinguishes us as followers of Jesus? It’s easy to love those who everyone else loves. What about the one that nobody loves? Will we dare to love them? I’m willing to bet that if we take the risk and love that person, the outcome will be worth the risk!
I’m so thankful that you love us Jesus! None of us deserve it but you love us anyway! Teach us to love others like you do!

My friends, love someone that nobody else does! Remember, Jesus loves them too!

Remember the song: I can’t get no satisfaction ? What would it take for you to find contentment? Is it wrong to not be content? From early life we are taught to work and strive and push. Is that so that ultimately we can reach contentment? Can we really achieve it on our own? Is that the end game? I’ve had these questions over the years myself. Paul might have asked these questions in his early life but he figured out the answers. In Philippians 4:11-13 he tells us that he learned to be content in all situations. Folks, that man was in some doozy situations! He was tortured, shipwrecked, naked and hungry, but he also was comfortable and knew success in his ministry. Notice he said he learned to be content. He had to set his mind to being content. Yes he could have gotten down or worked harder or busied himself and forgot about it all but none of that would have worked. So how was he different from us? Well, Paul was not living in the here and now. His mind was on Christ. While on earth his goal was to teach about Christ and His salvation, but his heart was in heaven. His hope was in what was to come when either he died or Jesus returned. Hope in earthly things is really no hope at all. We can’t wish ourselves money and work to get it and ever have enough. If we did get enough, we’d want more. We can’t wish ourselves the perfect spouse or the best health or anything really. Don’t get me wrong, work is good and goals are good and yes we should take care of ourselves but ultimately there is no contentment to be found. Only the peace and understanding that comes with knowing that Jesus has forgiven us and has our future, that is far greater than our wildest dreams, already planned! And it is gonna be awesome!! That is contentment. I don’t want to be like the Stones: never satisfied. I want to be like Paul. To set my mind on being content with whatever life brings!!
Thank you Jesus for all you’ve done, are doing and will do in our lives!!

Love ya folks

What we call following today is totally different than what it meant years ago. Today we follow people on Facebook, twitter, and other social media platforms. We follow those who peak our interest or might be famous in some way. We follow ”friends” but we can also choose to unfriend them. In times past, to follow meant to actually go with someone. Maybe it was a leader like in the armed forces that you followed into battle or maybe it was a parent or someone you looked up to. Jesus had followers. They traveled with him everywhere he went. He healed many people and miraculously fed thousands with just a couple of fish and a loaf of bread. People followed him because they wanted to see miracles. They wanted to be entertained maybe or they may want to be healed themselves. Jesus would teach these followers as they traveled and he rarely got a break from the crowd. Even when grieving the loss of his cousin John the crowds came around. Then his teachings became harder. The subject matter began to prick the hearts and conscious of those around him. It was too hard for some. You see, unfriending isn’t new. They little by little began to leave Jesus. They wanted the miracles but not at the expense of them giving their lives to follow him. Jesus, seeing that the people were leaving him took his twelve closest friends to a nearby town where they could be alone and he asked them: Do you want to leave me too? Peter, the hotheaded fisherman stood up and said: Where else could we go? You have the words of eternal life! Peter was a true follower. A true friend. Yes, in a moment of weakness he will later deny knowing Jesus but if you look at his whole life Peter followed Jesus to his own death! Who do you follow? Do you follow Jesus? If so, is it for the miracles and answers to prayers? What if the answers come differently than how you wanted them to? What if he asks something of you that’s hard? Will you unfriend Jesus or continue to follow him? We will stumble like Peter. We are human. At the end of our lives though, when those we leave behind look at our lives will they be able to say that we followed Jesus? Dear Lord, I know that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Help us to do the same for you!!

Be the blessing in someone’s life today. They need it just like we do!

Sometimes life doesn’t follow our expectations. How we see things going doesn’t always happen. In fact it often doesn’t. Painful times happen for all of us. So this leads me to a question. When your in a painful circumstance, what do you see? Do you see only the pain? Do you put a positive spin on it? What’s the difference between a spin and reality? A spin is us telling ourselves and others what we want it to be. A spin is not the truth. So what is the truth? The apostle Paul wanted to go to Rome most of his life as a missionary. His reasoning was that Rome was the center of everything then and if he could take the gospel of Christ there, then it would reach the known world. Well, he did eventually end up in Rome, but as a prisoner. This was not what he expected! Now he could have got down in the dumps, or he could have put a spin on the situation. What he did instead was reframe the situation in his mind by looking for God in it. In reality, while he was in prison, the believers in Rome saw his joy in suffering and were encouraged by it. They began preaching the gospel with boldness! Also, Paul had a Roman guard chained to him who couldn’t get away so he could witness to him and they changed guards every few hours so then he could witness to them too! Word got around and the gospel began to spread like wildfire! Paul faced certain death but instead of being focused on his emotions of fear and dread and disappointment that he came to Rome as a prisoner instead of as a missionary preaching out in public, he reframed the situation in his mind and realized that God was working in even more amazing ways than he could ever have imagined! Are you in pain or going through a hard time? How can you see God working? If you look you will see! He’s with you and doing more anazing things than you can imagine!
Thank you Father for your goodness. Help us to see it even in our worst of days!

Have a blessed day friends!

When I was growing up in the early 70s, they had some far out stuff! Like for example, X-ray glasses. Supposedly when you put them on you could see past all the flesh and see a person’s skeleton!! I don’t know because I couldn’t afford them and Dad wasn’t about to purchase such nonsense. The idea got my already overactive imagination juices flowing. What if we had God glasses? When we put them on we could see all that God was doing in our lives! Wouldn’t that be awesome? Well I have some good news. There is such a thing. No, you don’t wear them on your face, but rather you put them in your heart. I’m kind of laughing as I write this cause I can almost see you rolling your eyes and thinking, man this dude has lost it! I haven’t. I’ve found it. The Bible. When we spend time meditating on Gods word, and I mean meditating, we become more and more aware of Gods character, and personality and what he does and how he does it. Soon we begin to recognize his work all around us, and in us, and in those we love and pray for!! It’s so amazing! He is so amazing!! So, grab your God glasses, aka the Bible, and start looking for him in your life!!
Thank you Lord for all you do. Help us to look for it and see it and praise you for it!!

Love y’all

Have you ever thought about thanking God for the things he didn’t do? Sometimes we ask God for what we think will be the best for us and our friends and family, but the answer either doesn’t seem to come or he does something totally different than what we ask for. This is usually at first, very disappointing. It’s important to remember that our range of view compared to Gods range of view is very different. We are looking through a peephole and God has a giant telescope if that helps put it into perspective. He is not bound by time. The past, present and future of our lives are all in full view to God. So when we ask, we are often asking with the expectation of an answer to our immediate situation and honestly, we can’t really see what’s best because we can’t see what’s ahead. He does. He knows what lies ahead. He knows what’s best for us. More importantly he cares! If it matters to us then it matters to him! Why? Because he loves us! I can look back at some of my prayers and if he would have answered them the way I asked it would have been a disaster! So I thank God for what he didn’t do!!
Thank you Lord for doing what’s best. What’s truly best.

Have a good day!

Have you ever witnessed someone who struggles in life and you know it’s self inflicted or at least some of it is? How did you interact with them? Or did you? I’m ashamed to say that I have known people like this and I kept them at a distance. When Jesus was here on earth, that’s the people he went to. Like the Samaritan woman. She had been married five times and was with another man but not married. She lived in such shame that to get water from the well that everyone else did too, she would go in the heat of the day so nobody would be there. She was an outcast. Can you imagine her loneliness? Jesus went out of his way to meet with her. He loved her. Even though she felt shame, he was not ashamed of her. He changed her life! What about Matthew? He collected taxes from his people to give to the enemy and kept some for himself. Doesn’t sound like someone I’d hang out with. Jesus did. He went to his house and ate with him and others like him. They were hated! But not by Jesus! He changed Matthew forever! This is the deal. Jesus loved them no matter what or who they were. It didn’t matter what they “brought on themselves”. Who are we ashamed of? When I give deep thought to this, I think to myself, who do I know who’s sins are worse than mine? Who should be more ashamed than me? Jesus knew my sin but he came to me. He died and rose again for me. He did it for you. So who should we reject in our lives? If we claim to belong to Jesus, then we need to love like Jesus!!
Lord, help us to ditch our hypocrisy, and look long into how much we have been forgiven and set aside our pride and embrace those who you would embrace. To love who you love!!

I love you folks! Let’s love others together and show them Jesus!!

Have you ever given deep thought into the fact that the God who created the cosmos is with you wherever you go? If we gave this fact some real meditation, would we still have fear, worry, discouragement and anxiety? Think about it. When we fear and worry about things, it’s like saying: Yeah God I get it. Your with me. The Bible says so. But. But I. But we. But but but. So what we are really saying is that either we don’t trust that he is with us or that we are still relying on ourselves and have realized that we don’t have what it takes to do whatever it is that is causing us to fret. And we don’t!! Like it or not, we are not able to deal with everything that life gives us. Joshua was about to take a nation of rag tag wanderers into a foreign land for of giant warriors and take over the place. Ha! Yeah right! Moses told him in Joshua 1:9 to be strong and courageous. Do not fear, and do not be discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua believed this truth. He went and whooped up on some folks! God was with him! Jesus came here and experienced life on earth and death on a cross and then beat death. Death! He is with us. One of his names, Emanuel, literally means God with us! My friends, we need to realize we can’t and he can. We need to believe and trust that he is with us and he cares about us even more than we do! Thank you Lord for going where we go. For working things out for our good even when we don’t see it at the time!!

Don’t worry! Have peace! He’s here!

We like to blame Covid for a lot of things. One of those things we use it for is an excuse as to why we don’t get together with other people. We have become prisoners of our own homes! Personally, I think it started long before Covid, it was just magnified after. I think the electronic era has more to do with it. I grew up without all that. Our phone had a six foot cord. If you really wanted to talk, you went to see folks. We had real conversations. Hard ones at times. We didn’t have the option of just not responding like we can with texts or emails. We couldn’t mask our emotions because we were face to face. It was good! It was freeing and healing. Yes it was risky at times. People do hurt each other but they also love each other better when they are together, and I mean in person, rather than the new online relationships we try to have today. We need community! It’s how we were created. Listen to the words that John wrote to his friends in 2 John : I have much to write to you but I do not want to use paper and ink. This could be said today as: I don’t want to type it up. He went on: Instead, I hope to visit you face to face so that our joy may be complete!
Even way back then when text was done with paper and ink, they longed for face to face. There are things in our nonverbal communications that cannot be conveyed in a text of any kind. Did you know that hugs are actually healing? It’s true! A real hug does something that a heart emoji cannot. A real smile, or a real tear, is of far greater worth when done in person. It’s easy to distance ourselves from other people’s pain when all we have to do is find a little character and click on it instead of going to their house and praying with them or just be with them. What about our own pain? It’s easier to take when people come alongside you and love you! Jesus, expressed his love by being among the people. He made friends, and if he were here today, he wouldn’t be holed up in his house doing the online thing! He would be with you and with me! He wants us to do the same! Let’s start getting together and quit hiding in our screens. Let’s have real relationships with real hugs and no more emojis!! Let’s start an open door style of life and make our houses a home where friends are welcome instead of prisons to hide in!! Thank you Lord for people you have gifted me with! Help me to be a real friend to those I meet and love them like you’ve lived me!!

I love you! For real!!

When I was a kid we had a cistern behind the house. The rain would travel through the gutters of our home and run into the cistern providing water for washing and such. If we didn’t get rain then we would have to haul water to it. After awhile, my Dad had a well dig and it was fed not by rain but from a continuous supply from an underground spring. No more hauling water!! When I think about the difference between a cistern and a well it reminds me of life. A cistern is just an empty hole until either it rains or we put water in it. Our life can be this way. We are always trying to fill our lives with things to satisfy us but they only last for awhile. Soon our life is empty again and needs to be filled. A well has a supply from another source. A spring that keeps it full and never lets it run dry. In John 4:13&14 Jesus, talking to a woman, tells of a living water that will never leave us thirsty for more. It’s him. Jesus is the source that can keep our hearts from needing to be filled with all those things we put in. That hole in our heart can only be kept full by him because it was meant for him. Nothing else in life satisfies like the love of Jesus! Is your heart a cistern or a well? Thank you Jesus for supplying all my needs and taking my dried up cistern of a heart and making it a well that is full of your love!!

Have a good day!

When someone hurts you or wrongs you in some way, how long does it take to forget it? When you forgive them, is it then that you forget? I’ll be honest, I have forgiven people and I hope that they forgive me too, but I can’t seem to forget. I may for awhile, but then something will remind me. Even though I no longer hold anything against them I just can’t seem to forget. Does that mean I haven’t really forgiven them? I don’t think so. I think the problem is that I’m human. I’m not perfect. If I was perfect, I could choose to forget and poof! It would be gone. Nothing could make me remember it! How awesome would it be if we could forgive and forget? There’s one human that can. And he does! Jesus! Him being human but also God, he is also perfect. He gave his life for us taking all of our sins into the grave, and that’s where he left them. Hebrews 10:17 says that he remembers our sins no more. Can you imagine? Complete forgiveness with no chart or tally! No distant memory to be recalled. He just decided that if we trust him to forgive us then he would. he would forgive and forget because he can!! If this doesn’t excite us and call our hearts to worship then maybe we need to look into the matter a little deeper! I’m gonna throw us all under the bus. We are awful! We don’t deserve this kind of forgiveness. But it’s ours to have. No cost. And eternal life to boot! Let’s join together in worship of the God who forgives and remembers no more! Thank you Jesus for your complete forgiveness! Only you are worthy of our praise!

Love you my friends! Pass it on!

Today, think about what your thinking about. If your thinking about things you shouldn’t think about and your thinking about it, then you can stop thinking about that and change to thinking about something you should be thinking about. Think about it. Romans 5:5&6 Those who live according to the flesh gave their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live according to the Spirit, have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace!
How do we have this Spirit minded thinking? We hide Gods word in our hearts. We meditate on it. When our old sinful thoughts come to mind, we stop them and replace them with truth from Gods word. It’s a battle. One worth fighting. It takes us being aware of what’s going on inside our thoughts. We need to think about what we think about. It’s up to us. God has given us His word and Spirit to help but we need to do our part. Thank you Jesus for your word and Spirit who leads us to life and peace.

Have a good day!!

There’s a revival going on. It’s not planned or staged. It’s really simple. People have been humble before the Lord. They are confessing their sins, praising and worshipping without shame. They have welcomed the love of Jesus into their hearts and he has shown up. James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves to the Lord. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.
These verses seem negative at a glance but what they are saying is to weep over our sin. To be humble and recognize our need for salvation. Our need for Jesus! If we do this, he will come. This is what is happening in Kentucky and other places too. Let’s pray together that it will happen all across America. Let’s worship God unashamed! When we draw near to God he comes near to us!
Lord we pray for revival in our towns, cities, homes and families! Come Lord and do not pass us by!

Love y’all

Have you ever daydreamed about you being this much different version of yourself, giving to yourself in your dreams all the qualities that you wish you had but don’t see in reality? Aldous Huxley wrote: If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves ,it is because self-knowledge is painful, and we prefer the pleasures of the illusion. Awe the illusion!! For so many years I lived in this world inside my head that doesn’t exist. In that world I lacked nothing. The people there were great too. The problem in this was that it wasn’t real. All the time I spent inside my false reality, I was missing out on the life I had. When I began my journey as a follower of Jesus Christ, I soon realized that I was going to need to have a deeper look at myself in order to be the person that my Savior intended for me to be. What I saw at first was not good. I was a sinner. A bad one. The illusion was a much better guy but I thought I’d stick it out and see what Jesus could do with a wretch like me. Little by little he chisels away the old sinful parts of me exposing the person that he had always known. Little by little I have started to see that person and he’s not so bad. Also I’ve started to see those around me differently. Instead of being those annoying people that didn’t measure up to my fantasy people, I see them as works of art that Jesus created. We all have things about ourselves that are undesirable that we despise, but wouldn’t it be better to study Gods word, and pray and allow him to chisel those parts away than to live in an illusion and miss all the life he has planned for us? Part of loving God is loving his creation and we are his creation. We must love ourselves and each other and deal with those areas in our lives that are undesirable so that we can enjoy our lives he has gifted us with!
Thank you Jesus for all you do!!

Love y’all. Have a great day!

When I was I kid, my Dad would drop me off in a beanfield with a weed hook and a water jug. My mission was to walk through the field and find weeds and kill them. Weeds suck all the nutrients away from the soybean plant and choke it down so that it cannot produce beans. It’s just a plant withered down with stress. Fruitless. By taking out the weeds, the plant will flourish and bear much fruit. Weeds! When Adam introduced sin into the world weeds came with it. Sin is like a weed. It will put its roots down right into your roots(heart) and begin to choke you down until you can bear no fruit. Stressed and broke down. King David had a solution similar to my Dad. Psalm 139:23-24 says:Search me God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
He was asking God to come in and kill the weeds or sin in his heart. If we ask, he is faithful. If we allow him to flesh out the sin in our hearts then we can flourish. Then we will bear much fruit!! Thank you again Lord for your word that is more precious than anything in this world!!

Be blessed!!

I’ve noticed in my life that I have these circles. I want to escape the circles but every time I think I’ve made it out I find that I’m right back in it. Is it that I’m comfortable in the circle? How can I be if I don’t want to be in there? One of my circles is eating. I find myself eating double what I need to and all the wrong things. I’ll get heavy and my doctor will give me a warning so I’ll climb out of my circle and boy do I feel better and I’m losing weight. Then something happens and I find myself back in the circle pounding down a double burger and a bag of chips! Why?? It’s because my mind has created a pathway for me that takes me to food when I want comfort. It’s fake comfort that is harmful to me. It’s a lie. How did that lie get in there? I didn’t even realize it was happening! I have several circles in my life. Lies. Our enemy sneaks in and plants these lies, telling us that we aren’t good enough, God doesn’t really help us, He cant give us comfort or help from way up there! You need food or money or sex or…. The list goes on and on! Maybe your circle is shopping or hoarding or who knows what. The devil’s bag of lies is bigger than Santa’s toy bag! How do we get out of the circles? That’s the big question. God designed us to have those circles but he was supposed to be in all of them!!if you want out of a destructive circle your caught in, invite Jesus into the circle. Study Gods word to help you detect the lie and find His truth. Then follow that truth and believe it. Ask God to help you and find a believer you trust and talk about it with them so they can pray with and for you. Soon that circle will fade and you’ll find yourself in a new one. The new circle is healthy and good! David writes in Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart oh God and renew a steadfast spirit within me!
Creat in me new circles oh God and renew me and rescue me from the old destructive ones!!

Have a blessed day

Have you ever felt invisible in this world? Like if you just faded out not a single person would even notice? Maybe you feel overlooked at the workplace or like you are never asked to be a part of anything at church. Maybe you feel like your spouse or kids don’t even see you. I think at some point, many of us feel like that awkward one at the dance that stands at the wall drinking punch hoping nobody will ask you to dance but inside desperately hoping they will. It’s lonely. In John chapter 4 we read about Jesus going through Samaria. Now Samaritans at that time were hated by the Jews so much so that often they would avoid even traveling through there. Not Jesus! He went through and stopped at a well where a Samaritan woman was drawling water. Coincidence? I don’t think so. As we discover in John, she had lived a rough life. She had been married many times and was living with a guy. Not the kind of person that is on the top of the social ladder in a country that is already at the bottom of the social ladder. There in that moment Jesus shows us who he loves. If she was sucking down punch standing against the wall, Jesus just picked her, the least of all the girls at the dance!! He loves those we might deem unlovable. He picks them out of the crowd. The tax collectors and sinners. The rejects and those hated by the status quo. Who do we love? Can we love those whose life might look different? Who sin differently than we do? We should!! When we follow Jesus, all the walls come down! There’s no room for hate on that road. He picked us! We need to accept and love whoever we meet following in the example of Jesus!
Are you feeling alone and rejected? Invisible? Jesus loves you! He is asking you to join him! Say yes!
Thank you for choosing a lowly sinner like me Lord and teach me to love like you love!!

Jesus loves you, this I know!!

It would be interesting to know how many waking moments we spend in our thought life thinking about ourselves. Thinking about my work, my feelings, what it would take to make me happy. Me me me. Not that thinking about ourselves is all bad, but is it really healthy to be all consumed with self? We live in a me generation. Find your own path. Make your own way. Find happiness within yourself. You do you. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. There’s no end to sayings geared towards making life all about self. The truth is, we were not created for self. Self is lonely. Self distances us from our relationships, and robs us of the joy of companionship. Philippians 2:3&4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, consider others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
Wow! Paul wrote these words to the church in Philippi. Often he wrote letters to the people in the churches he had established while in prison. If I was in prison, would I be thinking about others enough to write to them or about me? Well I guess it depends on the teaching I was following. Paul followed Jesus , who selflessly came here from heaven to serve mankind by giving his life for all of us. That’s not me thinking. How would our lives look if we invested more of our thought life, our prayer life, our life, living to serve others rather than ourselves? Did you know that most arguments continue due to the fact that both people are only looking at their own point of view with no consideration for the other persons thoughts or feelings? This will sound weird coming from me because I’m a talker, but what if we not just heard but listened to others and talked less? What if we sacrificed our time to give it to someone else? I think it would ease our loneliness, anxiety and living for others would actually prove to make our own lives more fulfilling and meaningful!! Following in the footsteps of the one who created us seems like a better plan than following the “me” plan!
Help us to follow you Jesus and put others above ourselves.

Love y’all

For years I have struggled with thinking that because of my past, God cannot or will not use me for the work of his kingdom. When I review my life and all the sin, I get in this mindset that I’m just glad I can sit in church without me or anyone sitting near me getting struck down by lightning straight from Heaven. Do you ever feel like this? Good trick satan. Stand back dude because I’m getting ready to drop a truth bomb on that stronghold you have built in my mind and my friends minds. Friends, your not worthy. I’m not worthy. We don’t have to be. Jesus didn’t die and rise again for us to feel this way. Because he did, we are worthy. His desire is for us to be free. Free from satans lies. Free from sin. Listen to Paul the apostle of Christ who wrote most of the New Testament. 1Corinthians 15:9&10 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am who I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than the rest of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Even Paul felt unworthy to serve God. He was unworthy, but the grace of God made him worthy and useful. Paul, because of all he had been forgiven, instead of sitting idle because of feelings, went to work. He knew the truth. The truth he was completely forgiven of any past sin, present sin and future sin. The chains were removed and he ignoring the lie planted in his head, he marched forward with Gods work and we all are benefiting today!! What could we do if we get off our duffs, ignore all the we are not good enough junk in our heads, and take hold of the truth that Jesus set us free? Let’s do that! Jesus thank you for your freedom that was bought at the price of your life. Help us not to waste a minute of the time we have because those who come behind us may benefit from the work we do by your grace!!

In Christ, you can. So do!! Love ya my friends!

I know I’ve shared this before but stick with me on this because it has a different twist than before. On November 11,1976 my families house and all we had burned to the ground. The events that happened in the week following were nothing short of Gods work through our local people. First, a man got us a house to move into the very next day. Then the entire community got together and brought us stuff that they thought we might need. The result; we had more after the fire than we did before!! In Luke 9 Jesus was preaching to a crowd of folks, around five thousand, and towards the end of the day they were getting hungry. Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to let them go to town for food. Listen to what Jesus told them: You feed them. I can only imagine the panic and frustration that came over them. In their mind they were like: We can’t afford that! How does he expect us to do that? All we have is a couple fish and a bit of bread!!
When you think about this, it’s like us today. When we see someone in need of some kind we say to ourselves: I’ll ask Jesus to do it. In others words I’ll pray about it. Then we go on our way. The disciples did just that. They asked Jesus to feed the people because they didn’t see a way. Jesus then showed them that with what little they did have , he could multiply it to not only be enough but to have leftovers! We are the hands and feet of Jesus. When we see a need, yes pray about it, but don’t stop there! Do something! When you see that woman at the checkout that doesn’t have enough money to cover what she needs, cover it. God can take that little you have and multiply it. When someone loses a loved one and they are hurting, don’t just pray for them but come along side them and share in their grief. Jesus, when he walked the earth just simply gave of himself and his time and his energy to love people. Jesus lives in us who believe. He gave us his Spirit to lead and guide us and he gave us his word as a how to manual. If we study the manual and listen to the Spirit, then we have all we need to take a faith risk and love people not just with our “I’ll be praying for ya” but actually going to them and loving them and giving them what they need. By the way this is what people did when our house burned. Yes they prayed and that was monumental. But then they took a risk and did the work that Jesus asked them to do. I am thankful to them and to God for not only the things that they gave us but even more that because they were willing to do it, my family knew that we were not alone in our loss. That’s huge my friends!
Jesus, we know that if you tell us to feed people you will provide the bread and the fish. Help us to overcome our fear and be your hands and feet!

Much love y’all . Pass it on

Why do you think people enjoy seeing others fail? Don’t be to quick to judge! We’ve all been there, done that! Whether it’s someone we don’t like “getting what they deserve “ or maybe we just don’t know them that well but they failed in a way that everyone knows about it. The fact that we would enjoy that in any way is sinful. In John 7&8 we read about a woman caught in adultery. The religious leaders took her, after catching her in the act, to Jesus. They made her stand in front of a crowd as they accused her in front of Jesus. As they accused her he bent down and wrote in the dirt with his finger. What they wanted was for Jesus to tell them to stone her. That’s not what he did. He stood up and told them “let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone. “ Then he bent over and continued writing in the dirt. What do you think he was writing? It doesn’t say, but I’ve always thought he was writing their sins in the dirt. They one by one turned and walked away. Then in the way that Jesus did, with love, said to the woman “where are your accusers?”
Maybe it’s because when we see other peoples sin, we don’t have to look at ours. That doesn’t change the fact that we do. We do have sin. God doesn’t make a list of good sins and bad ones. It’s all sin. It’s all bad. And we all do. Is someone in your life, in your town, being drug out into the crowd to be accused? Who will pick up the first stone? Will it be me? No, I can’t because I’ve sinned. Will it be you? What if we follow the example of Jesus, and just love people? Wouldn’t life be better? Wouldn’t we be better?
Father, I pray that you will forgive us for being sinful and always looking at someone else’s sin instead of our own! Help us to do better!

Let’s love each other today and leave the sin of others to God. That’s his business not ours!

What is something that as soon as you are aware of it, you can’t wait to tell? I know there’s a lot of things right? When someone has a baby? Who doesn’t want to announce that to the world? When a friend gets engaged or married? Yep that’s a big one. Those are both good things and they bring joy to whoever is listening. What about bad news? I’ll admit to my shame that on occasion I want to share things that I shouldn’t. We all do if we are honest. We not only want to tell it but we want to hear it too!! Another question. Why are we so eager to tell things that are not beneficial but we are tight lipped about Jesus? It’s like we have this story to tell that’s real and life changing and I mean eternal life changing and we keep it to ourselves!! So what’s going on with us? I’ve been studying about thinking lately and it’s got me to thinking, my thinking isn’t what it should be. I’ve been saved by the shed blood of Jesus and I’m forgiven and I’d rather talk about or hear about people instead of talking or listening about him! We are born with this sinful mindset, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Jesus didn’t just die to save us but he died to give us life to the full. He gave us his word, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit to give us power to overcome our old thoughts and to build new ones. Build is the word. We have to put the work in. We need to think about what we think about. Then put the things that please God in the place of the old things that don’t. Then we will start changing not only what we say but what we want to hear! It’s exciting stuff! Soon, the only news we will want to share, will be the good things God has done in our lives!! Now that’s worth telling!!
Dear Lord, help us to fill our minds with your good word and change our thinking. Change our hearts to love what you love!

Have a good day! Tell someone you love them!

In a period of five years, my wife had cancer, we went through an audit from the IRS that lasted a year, my Mom battled with Alzheimer’s, my Dad got a brain tumor, both parents passed within nine months, and to put icing on the cake I fell through a floor and was injured resulting in four surgeries and over three months off work. It’s like being in a prize fight and you’ve been knocked out and the guy just keeps punching you. All you want is for the pain to stop. Trials. I’ve had a few. My whole family suffered during that five year stint. When I look back I don’t remember joy. Jesus’ brother James wrote: Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Joy is not how I would describe that time in my family’s life. Not at the time. Who knows how many times I’ve read James words and about Paul’s thorn in the flesh and how God’s power is displayed in our weakness. It is only now, after some time of perseverance has taken place, that I can see it. I cant begin to tell you how many times I’ve shared my experience with others who are going through the same thing. I can share with confidence the fact that during all that painful stuff, and by the way, losing my parents is still painful, Jesus was right there. Did it seem like it? Maybe not, but he was doing a work in me. Jesus is no stranger to suffering. He knows pain! He knows your personal pain. How do I know? Because he carried me through it all. He is still carrying me! I now can say I have joy because through the trials God has given me another level of maturity built by perseverance. One day I will be complete. You will too. Are you suffering? Know this. He who is faithful, Jesus our Savior, is with you! He knows your pain! He will give you all you need and on the other side of it, you will be a witness!
Thank you for our trials dear Jesus!

Love ya

Lions seldom go into a herd of animals and pick out the strongest one to take on. The lion will hide in the distance watching and waiting for one from the herd to lag behind or get separated from the rest. On their own they are easier targets. Peter used the lion to describe our enemy. In 1 Peter 5:8 he tells us that the enemy prowls around like a lion waiting for someone to devour.
Well that doesn’t sound good!! On our own we are no match for a lion. We often think of Satan as a little horned and tailed creature in a cartoon. He’s way more powerful than that! He hides in places we would never expect and waits for us to lag behind. Like for example, you get up late and decide that you don’t have time for the Bible this morning so you drink coffee and scroll the internet. He’s there! Sunday morning rolls around and it’s been a tough week. I think I’ll stay home. It’s no big deal. He’s there!! That show on television has some pretty racy stuff going on. He’s there! See where I’m going with this? Peter didn’t just give a warning with no way out. In that same passage he tells us to be sober and alert! He tells us to resist him and stand firm because we have a family of believers all around the world going through the same thing or worse!! That’s our herd! We need to stay in the herd! How you may ask? Keep reading the Bible daily even when it’s inconvenient! Don’t miss a chance to have time with your herd! Pray!! Don’t be lion fodder!! What do we have going on in our lives that is more important than what God has planned for us?
Thank you Father for caring enough to warn us of the enemy and giving us a way to resist him!

Stay in the herd today!! Love y’all

Living as a follower of Christ will not make you popular. Daniel was a man of God. He was taken to a foreign land as a slave but because the Lord had helped him be a man of integrity, he excelled in all he did for the kings where he lived. Now his coworkers came to hate him because of their jealousy so they plotted to have him killed. They tricked the king to issue a decree that forbid anyone to bow before any god or man other than the king or they would be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel continued to pray to the one true God. We know the story. Daniel was thrown to the lions but Hod rescued him. The king liked Daniel and changed his decree so that all of his kingdom would worship Daniel’s God.
If we courageously follow Jesus, we will likely encounter both of these types of folks. The ones who hate us and label us goodie two shoes, do gooders and Jesus freaks and they will likely cause us a great deal of frustration. Then there will be those who will respect us because they will recognize Gods work in our lives. We are to love and be respectful to both. Whatever we encounter, God will be with us. The most important thing is to live such Godly lives, that people will see him in us. Do people know you follow Christ without you telling them? I know many days I don’t, but I hope that as I grow more mature in Him that it will be noticed no matter what the outcome. I hope that for all of us who follow our Savior!!
Thank you Lord for the changes you have made and are making in all of your followers! Help others to see you living in us!!

Have a groovy day!!

A woman had just lost her husband and he left her with debt and two sons to take care of. She had no way to pay this debt so she went to a prophet named Elisha because she feared that her debtors would take her boys as payment and make them slaves. 2kings4:1-4 tells us that he asked her what she had. She had nothing but a small jar of oil. He told her to ask everyone for empty jars. A bunch of them. Then go home, shut the door and start pouring oil into the empty jars. That little jar of oil filled all of the other ones and after selling them she paid her debt and had enough left to live on.
Have you ever thought I don’t have enough? Enough time, talent, or resources to keep going? Has God prompted you to do something and you just can’t see how you can do it? God is an expert at taking the little that we see and making it more than enough. Remember when he told his disciples to feed the people and there were thousands there. All they could see was a couple fish and a few loaves of bread. Jesus took them, and get this; he gave thanks to his Father, then he broke the bread and divided the fish and fed all the people with it and had a bunch left over!!
I’ve seen him do this in my own life. Like for example, I’ve never seen how he could take someone who has been as sinful as me and have me do work for him who is Holy, Holy, Holy. These posts I write are from him. I just type them. I on my own could never come up with this stuff. He takes this broken down sinner and uses the little I have to do his work for the biggest kingdom in the cosmos! The kingdom of Heaven! If he can do it for me, he will do it for you!
Thank you Lord for your goodness. For seeing what we can’t see. When we see a little, you see more than enough! Help us to trust you! With everything!

Love ya friends

When my kids were little and they wanted something they would elect one to come and ask me. If I didn’t respond to their liking then they would all come. Often times I would let them do what they asked for because it was good to see them coming together for something in agreement. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he gave them an example which we now call “the Lord’s Prayer”. He opened his prayer by saying “Our Father”. He didn’t say my Father. I think he was teaching his disciples to come together in prayer. To think and cooperate with each other and to be likeminded. I’m not taking away from the importance of us praying as individuals, but when we come together in agreement with a request to our good Father in Heaven, I think it puts a smile on his face. We put a lot of importance into being individuals and have lost our desire for community, but community is what God’s desire is for us. Even more than community, he wants us to be a family. His family. When one of us is hurting or in trouble or has a problem with sin and we need help, it’s time to call in the “siblings” and go to “Our Father”.

Our Father in Heaven, your name is above every name and worthy to be praised. Teach us to be the family you have always desired us to be. Your family. Your children. Help us to be likeminded and to come to you together with all kinds of requests so that when you answer our prayers , you and you alone will receive the glory!!

Enjoy your day my brothers and sisters!!

I always loved hearing my Dad say “good job son”. I knew I had met his approval. A good feeling for sure. There’s nothing wrong with the desire to do good or the joy you feel in your heart that follows. The tricky part for me is doing the deeds for the Lord and his glory and not so I can hear people say “good job”. Why is it so important for us to get validation from other people who are just like us rather than just doing good things to please our Heavenly Father? Think about this. When your at work, who do want to please more? The person next to you doing the same thing, or the boss who can reward your work? Matthew 6:1-6 tells us that if we do righteous acts to be seen by people then the Heavenly Father will not reward us.

Our righteous acts, like giving or teaching or witnessing or encouraging, could not be done without God first giving us the ability and second the desire to do it. It is all about him! He is the one who should get the glory for any good thing! When we seek the approval of people, their approval is our reward. Now I don’t know what kind of reward God gives. He is the creator of the cosmos so I’m guessing that his reward would be much greater than anything mankind could come up with and besides, wouldn’t it be reward enough to just hear these words from Jesus as we enter Heaven: Well done my good and faithful servant! Listen, there’s nothing wrong with having a good feeling about a job well done, but we need to remember that we could never do it if it wasn’t by God’s grace and provision. Let’s give credit where credit is due and just do the work for the glory of God!!

Father, we know that all good things come from you. It would be impossible for us to do anything good without you!! Thank you for all you do through your saints. Teach us to live in humble obedience for your names sake!

Have a blessed day and be a blessing to someone who needs it today!

If you were to measure your faith in Christ, how would you rate yourself? I don’t rate myself very high! I wonder how God sees it? Over the years of reading the Bible I’ve noticed that there are some folks with a faith that measures ridiculous! When Elijah placed his cloak on Elisha for him to come follow him to be a prophet, he did not pause. No list of pros and cons. No let me get back to you. He burned his plow and killed his oxen, fed his crew and left. He left all he knew for the unknown. When Jesus told Peter to “come follow me” he walked away from his boat and followed. There are many more. They all have something in common. They understand that the cost of following God is high, but the cost of not following him is higher. All but one of Jesus’ disciples had their lives taken and not in a nice way. Paul was tortured often and finally martyred. They had ridiculous faith! They didn’t look at this life as their final security. Everything on earth is temporary! God is eternal. Jesus proved this when he rose from the dead! That is the hope that drives the faith of these people. That is the hope we have. Is God asking you to step outside your comfort zone and into the scary unknown to do a task? Jesus did it! It was painful, but the result was our salvation. No pain that comes from following Christ will be wasted! In the end we will have life to the full! What’s holding us back? Let us throw off the chains of comfort and follow the one who set us free!!

Thank you Jesus for your never changing love! Thank you for showing us a better way, and may you find us faithful to all you ask us to do for you!

Love ya friends!

Have you ever been going through something horrible and someone quotes the Bible verse: Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. ? I’m not gonna lie, I don’t like that. Why? Well I’m usually thinking about who’s saying it. I just want to ask them; if you were going through what I’m going through would you rejoice? Paul and his friend Silas had just been stripped and beaten with rods and through into a dungeon with their feet chained up. It was dark and dirty and cold. Acts 16 tells us that they were praying and singing praises to God. Then a violent earthquake happened and all their chains fell off. The guy guarding them nearly killed himself because he thought they had escaped but Paul stopped him.

Notice that Paul and Silas were not waiting until God delivered them from their trouble to sing praises. Do you think they were praising God for the situation? I think they were praising God because of who he is! They didn’t like the situation but they loved Jesus. Even though a few minutes before they were free and preaching the gospel, now they found themselves in dire trouble. Likely execution. Yet they praised God. They understood what we need to. God is good. God is holy. God is just. God is love. All the time!! Yes! Even when our circumstances go from great to disaster in a split second, God does not change! He still deserves our praise. Notice also what the end result was. The jailor and his family were saved and baptized. Paul and Silas were cleaned up and back preaching! After they praised!! Life is gonna give us some bad stuff my friends. If we are going to tell our friends to rejoice in the Lord in their troubles, let’s make sure that we, like Paul and Silas, are going to praise Him in ours!!

Thank you Father for men like your servants, Paul and Silas, who have led by example. They praised you for being you even before you answered their prayers!!

Rejoice in the always. Again I say rejoice!!

Anyone who knows me understands that I really like bacon. You can wrap almost anything in bacon and I’ll eat it. It’s salty goodness! Salt is considered bad today but back in Jesus’ day it was good. It was the main way to preserve meats. It also caused thirst. In Mathew 5 Jesus called his disciples the salt of the earth. As Jesus’ followers we are to be like salt. We are to bring God’s flavor and preservation to the earth. As we live out our faith, it should also be evident that because of Christ, we are free. Free from sin and the shame that comes with it. We are forgiven. When the world sees us living this way, like salt, it should cause them to thirst for what we have. What we have is the living water that is Christ Jesus! If our lives are no different than those around us then how can we expect anything in our world to change? It will continue to decay! The world needs salt. The world needs to be thirsty for the Living Water!! Just like bacon can make a brussel sprout taste better, if we wrap ourselves in God’s word, we can bring his good flavor to the earth !!

Thank you for your word and for giving us freedom from our sin!! You oh Lord are good!!

Love y’all

Have you ever thought about how much you think? Funny question right? I wonder how much less thinking we do in this generation compared to those who lived without television, computers and smartphones and such. When I read C.S. Lewis and other guys like him, I am ashamed at how little I know about the English language. I need a dictionary with me when I read his stuff! Why? Because our generation has lost the discipline of thinking. We watch instead of reading. We listen instead of studying. It’s evident when we speak!! Me included! Jesus was able to battle temptation when he was in the wilderness and Satan came to lure him to sin. Every time he would tempt him Jesus would answer with God’s word. David knew this secret. He wrote in Psalm 119 that hiding God’s word in our hearts helps us against sinning! We can’t just read words on a page but we have to engage with these words by committing them to our minds and hearts. We have to think!! Then when the hour of trouble comes, we will be prepared to give an answer to our tempter. Also, if we think deeply about God’s word, we can also be better prepared to tell about the goodness of God and how he gave his Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sin! We must start using the mind that God gave us for more than mindless entertainment but rather to fill ourselves with all things Godly!

Thank you for your word dear Lord, and for our brains. Help us to use both daily!!

Have a good day!!

Have you ever said something you wish you hadn’t? Like the second it leaves your mouth, you start feeling the regret? I know I have. To tell the truth, often times when I do that, I get a nudge from inside telling me not to but I muscle past that and say it anyway. Sound familiar? So how can we overcome this strong urge to spew out hurtful words, or gossip, or harsh judgemental comments? The book of James tells us that the tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body and it sets the course of one’s life on fire!! It’s says that we praise God and curse man with the same tongue! Our words are the hardest thing to control but not impossible with God. It starts by controlling our thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we should take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Sounds easy right? Nope! It’s not easy. As Christ followers, we are his representatives here on planet earth. When people watch our lives, and they do, who do they see? The old nature that we used to live in, or the new nature? Often, it’s our words that bear witness to our hearts. If our hearts haven’t changed then our words likely haven’t either. We need to fill our minds with God’s word, pray continually, and use the good brain God gave us to think before we speak. We need to ask ourselves before we say a word: Does what I’m about to say benefit those who are listening? Is it something that Jesus would say if he were here? Is what I’m about to say possibly going to hurt someone within earshot? Based on the wisdom of God’s word and the leading of his Spirit, and after asking ourselves these question before we speak, we should then know whether to let the words pass by the lips or forever banish them from our very being!! Solomon wrote in proverbs 12: The words of the reckless pierce like swords but the tongue of the wise brings healing! Let’s be the wise ones that bring healing!

Lord, help us to be deep thinkers, and thoughtful in our speech so we can be better witnesses for you!!

Gave a great days friends!!

It’s that time of year. You know, that after holiday I’m gonna get in shape and burn off my holiday fat time of year! Well, that’s the hope anyway. Working out is much more painful than it used to be but there’s that good feeling of strength that comes afterward as your body recovers. It’s not just a feeling but we actually do get stronger, but not without first putting our bodies through some hardship. Our spiritual life is no different. Without hardship we cannot grow. The hardship part is painful but it’s in the recovery time that God shows us the work he has done to strengthen us. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians , he explains it as someone training for the games. 1Corinthianus 9:23 Everyone who competes in the games go into strict training . They do it to win a crown that will not last, but we do it to gain a crown that will last forever.

Why are we so willing to work and labor for things that won’t last, but when God allows us to go through tough times in order to help us grow and mature in the faith, then we complain? The pain we put ourselves through is for temporary gain, but the work that Jesus does in our lives is eternal!! Jesus himself went through pain that is unimaginable for our sake, so that we could have eternal life! Is there a bigger prize than that? It’s important for us to go through painful times to grow and mature, so that we can pave the way for those who come behind us and also to be a witness to those around us. How we react to trials is like the gauge that measures our maturity in our faith in Christ. When we complain, the gauge is reading on the low side, but when we have joy, even in our suffering, the gauge is reading high!! Where’s your gauge reading? Mine has a ways to go to read high maturity!!

Dear Father, help us to find our hope and joy in you and not our circumstances! Help us to see our pain for what it is. A spiritual workout with eternal results!! Thank you for the trials that will bring a crown that lasts forever!!

Have a blessed day

Sometimes pain comes at us in life like a tornado. It seams impossible to escape and it’s relentless, haunting us day and night. It might be physical pain or pain in our hearts. It can be pain in any number of life conditions. In these times we are tempted to question God. Why does he let bad things happen to good people? Right? Because of sin in the world bad things happen. To everyone. God didn’t desire that for us. He still doesn’t. He does allow it though. For his followers though, the pain is not wasted. The book of James in the Bible tells us that trials produce all kinds of good attributes. Patients, perseverance, maturity and that’s just a few. The truth is, without pain we would never grow to be the people God desires us to be. Job learned this. He was a righteous man. He lost all of his children, his servants and livestock, basically everything but his wife. He then was covered from head to toe with boils!! His wife told him to curse God and die. He didn’t though. His friends accused him of having some sin that caused God to turn on him. Nope! Through all this he trusted God. In Job 13:15 Job says: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. I will surely defend my ways to his face!

He believed that even if God let him die in the misery he was in, he would still see him one day! That’s how to do pain right there!! The three Hebrew boys that faced being thrown into the fire, and by the way they were, said: Our God has the power to save us, but even if he doesn’t we will not bow to any other gods! The apostle Paul suffered greatly and considered it a privilege. So how do we get to this place. A place where we can face the worst that life has to offer with grace and hope? Jesus gave us this hope. It’s the same hope that these men had. The hope that if we really believe Jesus died and was resurrected, that he will resurrect us too! It’s all in the Bible. His word to us. Listen, we need to study it. If we know it better than we do our favorite songs, then when the pain comes we will be able to face it without fear! God doesn’t do fear and doesn’t want us to either! That’s why he gave us his word, his Spirit and his only Son!! Go bravely into the trials my friends! He is with you and will see you blessed more than you can possibly imagine!! Trust in him! In this world you will have troubles, but take heart! He has overcome the world!!

Thank you Lord for your word, for those who lived before us and set us a great example, and for the reminders that we give each other prompted by your Spirit, that we are not alone!! Amen

I love you dear friends!! Take heart

I’ve heard it said that in life, people come and people go. I guess in a way we could say that. People are born and people die. People move to town and they move away. People are friends and for whatever reason they kind of fade from our lives but you still see them around. In my mind, people come but they never really go. They may change location or the relationship might change, but they never really leave us. A piece of them is still with us. The apostle Paul, who wrote many of the New Testament books, which were letters to churches, often would open his books with a greeting and then would say something like this: I remember you in my prayers day and night and I thank God for you. He had been with them at one time but had to move on. Geographically he had to go, but his heart never left them. He still loved them and they loved him.

People come but they don’t go! They stay in our hearts and should stay in our prayers! Even those who die leave behind memories, wisdom, and we never forget them. Last night we got to visit with several dear friends that we hardly get to see anymore. Brothers and sisters in Christ. We worked for the Lord together, we studied together, we shared hurts together and also joys! Even when we are not together, I know that I am in their prayers and they can be sure they are in mine! They came, but they did not go!

Thank you Father for those you have brought into our lives! Help us to even in our absence from one another, to never stop remembering each other in our prayers and loving each other in our hearts!

Love you my friends!!

There was a man who traveled all over the world giving speeches about the wonders of America’s Grand Canyon. With his words he could almost take you there. One day after one of his compelling talks, one of his listeners approached him and told him how fortunate he was to have seen such a beautiful place! His reply was shocking. He told the man he had never been there, but had only read about it and seen pictures. The man replied: Then how can you be sure it is just as you described it to be?

That was a good question. When I think about the word faith it reminds me of the man giving speeches. We can say we have faith. We can say we believe. Does saying we have faith in something really change anything? James 2:17 says: In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Believing in Jesus or faith in Jesus is our only way to be saved and to see heaven. When the Bible talks about believing, it’s not just saying to believe it in our minds. James went on in verse 19 to tell us that even the demons believed. The faith and or belief must be followed up with action. If we talk the talk, then we should walk the walk. Let’s use a stairway as an example. We can believe it’s there. We can have faith that it leads up to another level, but if we don’t climb the stairs we will never get to the next level. Trusting in Christ as our Savior is an active belief. We should climb to the next level and the next. Not that the climbing saves us. Jesus has already done that. The climb or the action is for others. If nothing in us changes and we look just as the rest of the world does, then how can we expect those around us to believe? When we follow Jesus and act out our faith by making the hard changes or loving those that are hard to love or being kind to the unkind and so on, then God is seen and glorified as He should be! Faith by itself is just a speech but faith lived out can change the world around us!!

Dear Jesus, help us not to be people of empty words. Help us to live out our faith, to walk the walk, and make us more like you!!

Have a blessed day!

I used to work at a farm equipment dealership. I remember the first time I was called out to go to a farm and fix a combine that was broken down. I was nervous because I had no idea what was wrong with it. I asked Dick, my boss, to ride along and he happily went along for support. I spent so much time fretting and worrying as we went, that I couldn’t even enjoy the comfort that was supposed to come from Dick being with me!! You know why? It was because I was too busy needing to know in my mind, instead of trusting the one who did know that was right there with me!!

Jesus’ disciples had the same problems. Always full of doubts and fears and questions. Jesus, who had all the answers to life was right there with them. The problem was that pride got in the way. They couldn’t just relax and trust Jesus. Jesus loved them anyway. He is so patient and kind! I don’t know about you, but I’m just like the disciples! When life comes at me with hard things, I often question God. I want to know why he lets it happen or why he waits so long to rescue me! Sound familiar?

In John 14, Jesus says: You believe in God, believe also in me. Again in Mark 5:36 he says: Don’t be afraid; just believe. The word believe doesn’t just mean to believe he exists. Even satan does that. To believe in God the Father and Jesus the Son means to trust them. Trust them to save us. Trust them to forgive us. Trust them to calm our storms and rescue us from even ourselves!! Jesus saved his people over and over. He didn’t keep them from pain or terrible situations but he was always with them and the outcome was always for their good! He hasn’t changed. He is still with his people through the worst of life and he will see us through it and bring us home to be with him. Our part? Believe!! Trust!! Obey!! Love!! Let’s not let the troubles of this life rob us of the joy of His presence! Let us trust and believe in Him so we can have peace! It’s why He came! It’s why we celebrate this Christmas and every Christmas!

Thank you Father and thank you Jesus for always being with us. Thank you for your word and Spirit you’ve given us to comfort and guide us to your will and for your glory!! Amen!

Merry Christmas my dear friends and may you fully enjoy the peace and love of Christ this Christmas!!!

Have you ever been sitting with someone and having a conversation and a little while into it you realize they are miles away? Something is weighing on their mind and it’s hard for them to even have a conversation. I’ve been there. On both sides!! I’ve been the one miles away to my dismay. Most if not all of us have either the past or the future on our minds. What about now? Right now?

Jesus shed a little light on this subject. In Matthew 6:31-34 he was talking about worrying about what we will eat or drink or wear. He said: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Again in John 4: 35&36 he says: Don’t you have a saying, “ It’s still four months until harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest!

What do these verses mean? I’m going to give you the Andy version. Scary right? We spend so much time on the “ what ifs” and we miss what needs to be dealt with right now! Jesus wants, desires, and deserves our undivided attention. Every minute, every hour, one day at a time. That’s how he can love people through us. If we are focused on Jesus and his word and the people we are with, then he can make us aware of the needs of others. Their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs and if we are paying attention we can share the love of Jesus with them in many ways. We are not guaranteed tomorrow so why do we spend so much time thinking about that when we can hardly handle what’s happening right now? Thinking about tomorrow can lead to worry and thinking about the past can cause regret and Jesus doesn’t want us to do either of those things. Let’s just be with Jesus in the moment and trust him with our future and our past!! Maybe then we will see how much he is doing in our lives and cause us to worship him without distraction!!

Thank you Lord Jesus for having our past and future in your hands and help us to enjoy just being with you every moment!

May love, joy and peace be with you!

I envy people who can start a project, then before it is finished they leave it for a time and then come back to it later. It’s very difficult for me to start something and then be interrupted to the point that I have to leave it. I want to get back to it right away! It drives me nuts until I do! I know I know. It’s not a long drive to me being nuts. I just like to finish what I start. We all have goals in life and most of not all of us have had our plans changed by unforeseen circumstances. Maybe an injury or death of a loved one or illness or job change you didn’t expect. Sometimes you just don’t get back to where you were. You know, that comfortable place where everything was going okay. It’s okay. Paul was a man who had a purpose and he knows full well about interruptions. He was shipwrecked, tortured, put in prison, and sometimes delayed by God himself from going where he wanted to go. You know why? He wasn’t in command of his own life. He had given the command of his life to Jesus. Jesus was now the one who started working in Paul’s life. Jesus began taking this hard soul who killed and imprisoned followers of Jesus, to a kindhearted believer who gave his life, literally, to his Savior. Paul tells us In Philippians 1:4-6 that when we have partnered with the gospel, in other words when we have believed and given Jesus command of our life, Jesus then begins a work in us. Verse 6 says: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Jesus will finish what he starts in you and me. He will. Life may seem to have delays and yes some of them are painful. When we are in the painful times Jesus is there with us. He is working in us to make us stronger. He is preparing us for his kingdom which is eternal. Right now we are on a journey that never ends, but the painful part will soon end. Then we will be with Jesus in person! All of this crazy interrupted, delayed, ever changing mess will cease and a new thing will begin that our minds cannot possibly fathom!

Thank you my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ, for starting a work in me and my brothers and sisters that will be finished!!

Have a blessed day

When I would disobey my Father as a child and would see that look of disappointment on his face, I can’t even explain that feeling. It was like we were miles apart and in the moment, it seemed too far to return. On the other hand, when I would obey Dad, the gleam in his eye was like no other feeling on earth!! That’s what I like to refer to as an “ atta boy” moment! Neither of these two moments had any bearing at all on whether my Dad loved me or not. He loved me either way. It had to do with whether I loved him! Jesus loves you. It’s unconditional. I want you to KNOW that. You are loved, and even when you feel miles apart from Jesus our Savior, He is right there. It’s us that goes, not him. It’s not a question of His love, but ours! John 14:15 says: If you love me, keep my commands.
Jesus said those words. No fancy theological thing happening here. Simple concept. If we love him, then we will be obedient. Will we fail? Yep. Will that change His love towards us? Nope! Just like our relationships here on planet earth, we certainly need to make amends when we’ve done wrong, by talking to Him. Forgiveness is certain. He assured that when He went to the cross and then was resurrected. His love is true!! What a comfort that is! And what a feeling it is when we have an “ atta boy” moment with Jesus! There is no fear in obedience! Just love!
Thank you Father for your patience and mercy and grace! We don’t deserve it and can’t earn it, but humbly except it. Help us to love you and show it through our obedience each moment of every day!!

Love ya friends!

If you were a dentist, you would naturally notice people’s teeth. If you were a beautician you would notice hair and eyebrows and such. I’m in construction so for me it’s roofs and siding and flooring etc. We get a “trained eye” for things when we spend a lot of time doing certain things. I’ll give an example. When products are made they will do a run of so many pieces from one batch of material. When they change material they start a new run. Both runs are supposed to be the same but they won’t be. If I was putting down some kind of flooring for you but I had to use two runs of material and I put all of one run on one side of the room and then the other on the opposite side, you would see the contrast in color right away. But if I mixed up the runs as I came across the room you would never see the difference. It would just be one beautiful floor. Yes I’m taking the long way to a point today! People come in all shapes, sizes, color, religious backgrounds and we each tend to gravitate towards our own group to “fit in”. God being the master craftsman is building a body. One body out of many bodies. We call it the “body of Christ” because Jesus Christ is the one that binds us together. Now if God were to put all the white people in one place and all the black people in another and put the short people all over here and the tall ones over there and so on then it would really stand out! Instead, with His trained eye, He has put us together in various patterns in our local areas, for those not yet a part of the body to see. Together, all of us that are part of the “ body of Christ” make up one beautiful body of all colors, shapes and backgrounds. There is to be no discrimination in the body. We are joined together by one Spirit. You can be part of this one body no matter what color, shape, size, background. If you believe in Jesus as your Savior then you will be part of the grand masterpiece that God is putting together! In this body you will be loved and you will have a purpose!! All of us together will bring glory to the one with the trained eye! The Lord and Creator! Jesus!! Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice that broke down the walls of separation and joined us all together in love as your grand masterpiece!! Help us not to separate ourselves from one another but to remain as one for all the world to see!!

Whoever you are, no matter the color, shape, size or background, you are beautiful in the eyes of the Creator! You are loved! Have a great day!

You know how sometimes you’ll be listening to a song that you’ve heard many times, but then it plays and you really hear it this time? Yesterday I was listening to “The sound of silence” written by Paul Simon but performed by the rock band Disturbed. The words gripped me and I couldn’t shake them from my head. I did a little research on the song. It’s basically about how we talk meaninglessly but not meaningfully to each other. Like we’ve forgotten how to love and communicate deeply with each other. It’s true. It’s true on a biblical level!! I’m not going to point any fingers here without pointing them at myself. One of the lines of the song is : People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening.
When need to ask ourselves when we talk if what we are saying is benefitting anyone or is it just noise? When someone is pouring out their heart to us are we just hearing them or are we listening? With our heart? The main command of Jesus was to love each other and to love him. He asked us to confess our sins to one another. Not so that we have something to gossip about but rather so we can pray specifically for each others problems and that we can overcome them! If we don’t communicate this way out of love for each other then it’s like the silence in the song. It’s silence of the heart. Another line in the song is: Fools said i you do not know , silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might teach you.
Can you hear how desperately the author is trying to open the eyes to the silencing of our hearts? I guess that’s what I’m doing now. We live in a harsh world that desperately needs the love of Jesus. How can we share His love if we are not even loving each other? Join me in having real, transparent, truthful conversation. Yes, it can be ugly, but brings beautiful results! Let’s not let our hearts be silenced by the meaningless chatter that wages war on our souls!! Let’s love as Jesus loves! Thank you Lord that you can teach us even from a song! Help us to listen intently to your words and heed them and teach us to speak words of truth and love and not just meaningless talk!!

Love y’all !! Have a great day!!

I just watched a news story this morning about a Mom rescuing her daughter from a raccoon. This rascal got ahold of the little girls leg and latched on which caused the girl to scream in fear which triggered Mom’s protective instinct! Mom runs out the door and grabs this fairly large and quite angry wild animal by the back of its neck and frees the young girl. Now that same hero Mom who rescued her little girl with lightning response time, is the same Mom who likely holds back an answer to her child begging for a toy at the store. Mom knows best right? She can distinguish between what is an immediate need and what’s not. To me, this is a good depiction of how God works with us. Do you ever ask God for something that you think is urgent but you wait and wait for Him to respond? Yeah me too. What seems urgent to us in the moment, might not be urgent in the eyes of one who truly knows and can see the big picture of our lives. Remember, God is eternal. He is not bound by time. Things that are going to happen to us or we think might happen to us, God already sees as though it’s already happened. It’s hard for us to grasp this because we are limited by time. We can only know what has already happened. He knows best!! This should be a great comfort to us if we believe in God as a loving, all powerful, all knowing God. He is all that and more!! God is not slow in answering your prayers! He sees the big picture of your life before it even happens and knows just what you need and cares for you so deeply, that he will provide your needs just in time!! We use the word awesome for a lot of things these days but if you think about it, God is the only true awesome!!
Lord God, I’m sorry for the tantrums I throw when I think you don’t respond to me quick enough! Teach me and my forever family to be patient in our waiting, trusting in you for what’s best!! Thank you for your unlimited knowledge and pure love that is like no other. The true awesome!!!

Keep praying and trusting my friends! He knows!!

Dad and I would work late in the field sometimes. Now and then our equipment would break down and my job as a young boy was to hold the flash light in just the right spot so Dad could see what he needed to do. Flashlights work by having a source of light (battery powered bulb) and behind it is a cone shaped reflector that projects that light from the source forward. The reflector by itself cannot put off any light at all. It has to have the light. With the light though, the reflector can project that light out to wherever it is pointed and dispels the darkness, making everything visible.
In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus is referred to as the light of the world. So let’s consider him the light source. It also talks about a witness to the light who’s name is John. It tells us that John was not the light but testifies about the light. Later in John 5:35 Jesus says that John is a lamp that burns and gives light. A lamp in those days was much like our flashlight. So Jesus was the light source and John was the reflector. That is what we are today! We live in a world of darkness and many are wandering around in need of light! How can they ever hope to see if light isn’t brought to them? Those who believe in Jesus as Savior, have the light in them just like a flashlight, and our hearts are the reflectors that shine His light to the world around us!! How cool is that!! My dear believing friends, let’s shine bright the love of Jesus to those around us who need light! Thank you Jesus for the light that came to me from the reflective heart of my parents. Help me and my friends have that same heart for you and others!!

Let His light shine today!!

There’s an episode of “Everybody loves Raymond” where Ray thought his wife Deborah got him a tie for Christmas. So he got her a pretty nice gift thinking he would outdo her gift to him. Long story short, she had gotten him a really nice gift and the joke was on him. It was funny. It also shows just how bad we are at giving! When Jesus was born, an incredible journey began for some wise men from the East. It would take them a very long time to get to where Jesus was and travel in those days was very dangerous and not at all comfortable like it is for us today. Why did they take this journey? Well, we know that they had gifts. These gifts were for a king. The King of kings! This King was just a little boy. What could the wisemen have gained by giving these very expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a little boy? Did they expect anything in return? I don’t think so. They traveled all that way as an act of worship! The gifts were given out of an overflow of love and respect and thanks to the Messiah. They were not trying to buy their way or gain anything. Sometimes I think when we serve the Lord, we do so with the wrong motive. I know I do! I think we could learn something from these men about giving! Giving and serving with the right attitude of the heart might be dangerous and uncomfortable at times. It’s well worth the journey though! Giving and serving with no expectations , and done with an attitude of pure worship to our Savior, will fill our hearts and be a pleasing thing in our Lord’s eyes!! This Christmas season, let’s not be a Raymond!! Let’s join together and go in a journey to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah!!
Thank you Father for the greatest gift anyone has ever given! You only Son! Jesus!!

Love you people!!

How much thought do you put into giving gifts? It’s that time of year again. Some time after Jesus was born, wise men brought him gifts. One of these gifts was called frankincense. Frankincense was a sap. Men would take a knife and pierce into the skin of a Boswellia sacra tree and sap would run out. This first sap would run and take out the impurities and then set up. Then they would pierce through that and pure sap would run out and set up. They would take this hardened pure sap and crush it to pieces and then they had frankincense. Frankincense has in recent years been helpful in resetting dna that has been disrupted and caused certain kinds of cancer. It was also used as a healing agent in those days as well as being burned as incense in the temple. Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. This was Jesus. Just like the sacra tree is pierced and crushed to bring healing, so it was for our Savior. He was pierced and crushed and now has become the one who heals us!! Do you think that the wise men knew this when they gave the frankincense to Jesus? I don’t know? I know that God knew. How special is it that God is still showing himself to us all these years later!! Thank you Jesus for coming here. For being willing to be pierced and crushed for our sake. To you be the glory not just during the Christmas season but all year long!!

Have a glorious day my friends!!

Would you go to a doctor to get your car fixed? Would you go to a mechanic to get heart surgery? That wouldn’t work out very well would it? There was a man who invented a machine here in our area. It did a very specific job and to my knowledge it was the only one in existence at that time. He had a skilled group of workers and together they made these parts with the help of this invention. Now and then, like all mechanical things, it would malfunction. It would be up to the man who designed it to get it up and running again. Who could know it better than the one who created it? I believe this could apply in most cases. We know from God’s word that he created us. I believe he created us each with our very own features and traits that are unique to only ourselves. So when we break down, who better to go to than the Creator? So many people view God as a far off being that doesn’t care. How could he help? Hebrews 4:15-16 sheds a little light on this matter. It tells us: For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need!
We all have our struggles in this life. I know I do!! Jesus had temptation and hardship when he was here too! He knows! And he created us so who else could possibly be better than him to go to when we need help? Remember, it was Jesus who left his throne in heaven to come here in human form to suffer and die for us! That’s love in its purest form. Father in heaven, thank you for being our personal Lord. You are not a distant god who doesn’t care. On the contrary you love us more than anyone! Thank you!!

My friends, in this Christmas season, take some time to study Jesus and get to know him. He loves us! He deserves our time and worship!

When your in pain, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You want it to end right? Yeah me too. Whatever circumstances we are in that causes us discomfort we want stopped and right now! What if the pain we were experiencing had a profound purpose? Would that change things? When Paul was in prison, and let me tell you that prison was horrible then, he had this incredible focus on what his mission was. In Philippians 1 he talks about how he was in prison for preaching the gospel of Christ. He suffered much there but his suffering looked much different than mine does. Instead of being fully focused on ending his situation, instead he looked for purpose in his suffering. He found it too! While he was in chains, others outside , who before were scared to preach the gospel, seeing Paul’s courage to face imprisonment or even death, rose up and began preaching the good news of Jesus’ salvation. Also the guards of the prison noticed Paul’s attitude of joy and knew that he was different from other prisoners. Imagine if we could fully trust God, as Paul did, in whatever terrible thing we were going through? Instead of fixating on the end, we were to pray for understanding of what good thing God had planned to come from it? One of the hardest things in my life was going through the illnesses and death of my parents. It was awful. Through those experiences though I have been able to comfort others who are going through that. Our pain isn’t wasted. God can use it for his glory and the good of others and us! None of us like pain, but maybe we should suffer better by having joy knowing that God will not waste our pain!! Thank you Lord for the hard times! Help us to see the good you do in and through our suffering.
Love you folks!

Lately I have been reading a devotional about our identity. We have three kind of. We have what the world says we are. We have what we say we are. Then there’s what God says we are. The first two are not fully accurate. The world (people) will only look at what they either see on the surface or what they want to see. We also give ourselves a fake identity. We might think too highly of ourselves or if we listen to people we might take on what they say. Then there is what God says. He sees all of us. The whole person inside and out. What he says about us is completely accurate. With that in mind we should put our trust in what he says and not what the world or ourselves say. In John 1:12 we learn that if we receive and believe in Jesus then we have the right to be called children of God. In John 15:15 it says that we are no longer called servants but friends because Jesus has made known to us what he learned from the Father. In Romans 8:17 we are called heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory. To be considered a child, a friend and an heir of God almighty sounds pretty good doesn’t it? What about that suffering business though? Does that mean we all must be beaten and hung on a cross? I think Jesus suffered more than that. Remember where he came from. Heaven! He came here to earth and lived in a human body! We all know what that’s like! It can be painful. Remember how he was treated. Many people hated him. A lot of them were his own people! Listen, I don’t know whether we will have to endure any kind of torture like he did, but if so I think we should do it with the same integrity that he did. What I do know is that because we live in a world where sin is present then we will suffer. Everyone suffers here in some way. Does that mean that we are all friends of God? I think it’s how we conduct ourselves in the suffering that separates those who are His from those who are not. Instead of being angry and complaining and mistreating our loved ones and so on, we should be graceful in our pain. We should use our pain experiences to grow in our life and to comfort others because we get it. Life hurts! I don’t know about y’all but I what my identity to be in Christ! I want to be better in my painful moments so that others will see Christ in me! What about you? Dear God, help us in our pain to show those around us the love of Christ. Help us to come along side others who are suffering like we have and be a comfort to them just as you, Lord Jesus, have suffered and come alongside us to comfort us!!

Have a good day!

Do you remember when you were a kid how the old guys around you had these sayings that didn’t seem to have any meaning? Then as you get older they start coming back and they start to seem pretty wise? One of those sayings for me is this: Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. At one time this saying made my top ten on the dumb saying list but I’ve had to remove it because I’ve found application for it! Have you ever went through or maybe are going through a really tough experience in life and thought to yourself, where is God and what is he doing? Doesn’t he see I need help right now? I’m getting old enough to be able to say that I’ve had a number of these times in my life. Often we can’t see what he’s doing in our life when we are in pain. “Can’t see the forest for the trees”. You can only see a forest standing at a distance. When your in it your too close and the trees are right there! That doesn’t mean it’s not there just because you can’t see it though! Romans 8:28 says: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to His purpose.
Notice that it says all things. Not just the good things but all things. Funny thing about our God. He doesn’t waste a single experience of our our lives. He can take the worst things you go through and make it a masterpiece for you and for his glory! Pain, anxiety, loss, money troubles, even our own sin can be used to help us grow and mature. I would even say it’s in the hardest things in our lives that he does the greatest work! For our good!! Just because we can’t see Him when we are standing in our pain doesn’t mean that He’s not there! He is! Because he is there we can say with confidence that we are more than conquers!! Thank you Lord for never leaving us in the forest of our hurts but instead, doing your greatest work!!

Be strong in the Lord today my friends!

A few years back I was listening to a Christian radio program where you could call in with questions. A man called in and this was what he asked: I know that in heaven we will be praising God forever and ever. I can’t help but wonder if we will tire of it. Will we get bored in heaven?
I’m not gonna lie. I’ve had that same thought! It’s no wonder. The new wears off of everything here on earth. Things here don’t last. Cars rust, houses get “outdated”, and even our relationships can get tiresome. Remember the saying: the honeymoons over? It wasn’t meant to be this way. God, when he created the earth and us, created all things perfect. Then we sinned. With sin comes a continual dissatisfaction of everything. Everything seems good at first but then the new fades and we start hoping for something else. It’s hard to imagine being so in awe of something or someone that we would never ever tire of it. God, however, has something in mind for us that we can’t imagine here. We can only dream of it. Life without sin!! Life in His presence!! God is to be awed and should always stir in us amazement and the uncontrollable desire to praise Him! For now, due to sin, we struggle to keep that awe and wonder and it comes and goes with our circumstances to our shame, but when we are with Him in eternity, and sin is no longer, the new will never fade! We will not tire of praising Him! Ever! I believe that and look forward to it and it is my hope that you will be there with me!! Dear Father, thank you for the future we have in you that was bought and paid for by Jesus! May we never tire of you and help us to live and adore you more and more!!

Love y’all and hope you have a great day!!

One of mankind’s biggest questions in life is this: Why are we here. Some of the greatest minds down through history have pondered this question. Some think they need to leave a mark on history. To create something or do something grand so as not to be forgotten. Many people have done remarkable things and only ended up more disappointed because they finished and now what do they do? Maybe we ask the wrong question. Instead of asking why we are here, maybe ask who are we here for. Are we here for ourselves? Our families and friends? If so, that too will leave you lost and disappointed. This life we have was a gift. God created us. Each of us has a unique design that was given to us for one purpose. To glorify the Giver. The Creator. Revelation4:11 says: You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have there being.
We idolize rock stars and actors and doctors and presidents and the list goes on but what have they done that God didn’t give them the talent to do? Without Him they wouldn’t exist! We wouldn’t exist! Everything we do is because he made it possible! Think about it. If this is true, then it could be said that our purpose is to fulfill what God created us to do. Give him glory! Glory is not for us. Being remembered is not for us. We are His and all we do is to point to Him! It’s that simple. He deserves it!! Only He deserves it!! When we start living our lives for God and not ourselves then peace comes and the question in our minds about why we are here no longer matters. It is then that we know we are truly loved!! Thank you a Father for creating us. All glory be to you!!
Have a blessed day!!

Do you feel like God is up in heaven watching all of us muddling through life and that he has no involvement in our day to day activities? Many do believe that. It’s easy to have that mindset especially when things in life come at you and the pain sets in. Maybe you’ve asked the question: Where’s God? Truth be told, I think we all have. We often feel that way but how we feel doesn’t dictate truth. Feelings are tricky. What is true though is God is with us. It’s in his name: Emmanuel means God with us. You may ask how is that possible? We often forget the complexity of God. After Jesus rose from the dead and went back to heaven he didn’t leave us alone. Acts 2:38: Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There it is!! God has not left us alone. The Holy Spirit is no less God than the Father or Jesus his son! If we have trusted in Jesus then the Holy Spirit is actively involved in every aspect of our lives!! What a great comfort that is! Oh how he loves us!! Thank you for your Holy Spirit Father. Help us not to forget in times of trouble or triumph that you are always with us helping us even when it doesn’t “feel” like it!
You are not alone my friends!

I’m a guy. I get up in the morning and put on my pants, shirt and hat and head out for whatever the days brings. It’s easy. My wife on the other hand has much more to do to get ready. She will not be seen in her natural state in public. I get to see her all natural though and she is beautiful!! Identity. It’s how we are seen by others and also how we see ourselves. Is our view and others view really accurate? If I went out without my hat people would wonder what’s up because I don’t do that. If my wife went out without makeup people wouldn’t know what to think. Neither of us are really being seen in our true state. We don’t see ourselves in a true state either. She thinks she needs the stuff and I think I need my hat. God however sees us as we truly are. He sees what’s inside as well. Nothing can hide the “ugly” from God. Our sin is fully exposed to him. No hat, no makeup, just the raw self we are. Sinners. Jesus came and took that sin on the cross. If we accept the free gift of salvation that he bought for us, then we are covered by his blood. Before, he sees sinners. But after, listen to what he says about us: 1Peter says we are chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. 2Corinthians 5 says we are righteous. John 3:16 says we are loved. John 8 says we are free. John 15 says we are his family. Romans 3 says we are justified. John 15 says we are his friend!!
Our identity changes when Jesus comes into our lives!! Oh yes we can still see the ugliness inside ourselves but that is not what God sees! He sees his child who he loves! That is us! That is the true us. That is who we are in Christ! Thank you Jesus for your gift! Thank you for making us new!
Have a really good day!

I was an angry young fella when I was a youngster. I acted out a lot. You know how parents have that one kid that challenges them in every way? That was me. It took years for me to figure out what I was so angry about. Turns out that I had a good reason to be angry. I was born with a condition. It was a condition I inherited but didn’t ask for. I was born a sinner! Adam, the first man, sinned and from then on we all are born with that condition. It a pesky problem that follows us wherever we go. God in his kindness gave us a way to be free from this condition. Jesus. He paid the price to save us by giving his own body and shedding his own blood and now we can be free from that pesky problem of sin. No more need to be angry. In fact, we have every reason to celebrate if in fact we have taken the gift of salvation offered by Christ. 1Peter:2:9 explains it well: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light!!
Doesn’t that sound good? Does it get any better than to be considered God’s special possession? To be chosen by the most powerful being that exists? It does actually. In our future, all things will be made right. We will have new bodies free from sin and a new earth that isn’t messed up by us! We will live with God himself! Why would we go around with a frown on our faces knowing that one day soon all this garbage that we deal with here will be over? Cheer up!! Jesus said: In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world! Take heart my friends!! The end is near! Only the best is yet to come!!
Thank you Jesus for giving us hope for a future beyond our wildest dreams!!

Take heart my friends! You are loved!

There are many people who have left legendary marks on the world. Like Achilles. He was a great warrior. It has been said that he could leap 6 feet in the air and thrust his sword down through a man’s shoulder into his heart and take the head off of two more before his feet hit the ground. His pride though would get the better of him. He was loyal only to himself. He was a warrior for hire. Eventually in a battle he took an arrow through the back of his foot rendering him useless and costing him his life. That’s where the term “Achilles heel” comes from. During his life he was considered immortal but in the end he was remembered for his weakness. We all want to leave our mark and be remembered. Is that really a good thing? There’s a line in a Casting Crowns song that says: I don’t want to leave a legacy. I don’t care if they remember me. Only Jesus. In John 3:30 John the Baptist said:I must become less, he must become greater. He was speaking of Jesus. Jesus created the universe and all that is in it. He came and gave his life to save us from eternal death. He also defeated death and still lives. He is truly immortal. He is the only one worth remembering!! When people look at your life who do they see? You? Or Jesus? Right now in my life I’m afraid they would see me. Like John though, my hope, is that I become less and Jesus becomes more! Dear Father, help us to abandon our prideful desires to be legends. Teach us to be so absorbed by your Son Jesus that when people see us they see Him!!

God bless you all today!

If you don’t think making a decision is tough, then you haven’t witnessed a man and his wife deciding what to make for dinner or where to go eat when they are out! Am I right? Life is going to bring much weightier decisions to us than what we will eat and where! So how do we make a good, sound decision, especially in the heat of the moment? We can search the Bible and see many Godly people making ungodly choices when the stakes are high and they are emotionally charged up. Samson made some bad choices in anger that cost people their lives. David, the man who God called a ”man after his own heart”, got all hormoned up when he saw a hot naked lady bathing next door. What did he do? He took her for himself and that started a chain reaction of emotionally charged bad decisions! Why do we do this? As humans, we have our flesh, or bodies, and we have our spirit. If we are following God, and listening to His Spirit, we are much more likely to be able to resist what our flesh tells us. Our flesh is that part of us that was born into a sin nature thanks to our ancestor Adam. It’s that voice inside that says “do this right now because it feels good.” It is the loud voice. We should never make a decision with our emotions but rather, we should seek wise counsel, go to God’s word, and pray, pray, pray!! Then we can do what is right, even if it’s hard!!

Want. Oh what a dangerous thing want is! Is it okay to want? Hmmm. Have you ever seen a very young child viciously grab a toy from another child’s hands and run? Why? They wanted. It’s what we do from the youngest age! We want. Toys, money, sex, cars, houses, fame, power, and the list goes on. Have you ever wanted something and it just wouldn’t leave your mind? You can’t even sleep because you can’t stop thinking about it? Yeah me too. We will even talk ourselves into thinking we deserve it. We are entitled to have it. The problem with want, is that we will do whatever it takes to satisfy it. After we have done that, then soon we are dissatisfied and want again! We try to fill our lives up with our wants but it can’t be filled! Nothing satisfies past a few moments. Then we are empty again. Why? That place deep inside of us that desires can only be fully satisfied by something so big that all the things of earth could never fill it. Only God can do it. That place was meant for him and him alone. He put it there when he created us and it is his desire to dwell there. God sent his only son Jesus to take our sin away. Our wants. Our wicked selfish desires. Jesus died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, and be filled with His Spirit. He loves us and wants to be our God! If our wants are controlling all our thoughts then they are our gods, and we will never be truly satisfied, but if we control our wants and desire the one true God, Jesus, then we can be fully filled with true satisfaction!! Thank you Father for all you do. Help us to stop trying to fill our lives up with junk and instead be filled by you!

Have an awesome day!!

So I have a confession to make this morning. You know how sometimes when we greet folks we ask how they are doing? Often times they say “ I’m good”. Occasionally though they may tell you about some trouble they are having. Maybe they are tired or in pain or having family issues. It could be anything. I Don’t know what it is about me, but people talk to me. About everything. I don’t mind. To be honest, I love people, so it’s okay. The confession though. I have come to realize that often when they tell me about what they are going through, I start telling them of something similar that I’ve experienced! It’s not about me!! They didn’t open up to me to hear my troubles! People have an honest need to get their troubles out to someone. They need to be heard not talked to. I know that in my weird way I’m trying to help but I’m not sure I am. Jesus took real interest in people. Even though it really was all about him, he made it all about who he was with. He honestly just loved listening to them and being with them. It shouldn’t be a surprise that we have troubles in this life and we all need someone to get it out to. I Know I do! Who better to go to than Jesus! What if instead of relating my pain back to them, I would pray with them instead? Then it’s not making it about me but letting them know how much I care about their situation? What if we go to Jesus together about whatever it is? John 16:33 says: I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Not one person has endured more than Jesus and he has overcome. Are you that someone people confide in? Don’t be like me and talk about yourself. Take them to the one who truly loves and has overcome the world! Lord Jesus, I’m sorry for making things all about me. Teach me to pray with those who are hurting instead of adding my pain to theirs!! Help me to use my two ears instead of my one mouth!!

Much love my friends!

How concerned are you about the faith of your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Have you ever stopped to think about it? I am so convicted about this after reading Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. You see, he had taken the gospel of Jesus there and many became believers. He stayed there for awhile with them but when he had to move on, his love and concern for their growth in the faith never waned. As he was being persecuted and put in prison, he would pray for them daily and not knowing how they were holding up under persecution themselves weighed heavy on his heart. Unable to get to them he finally sent Timothy to check on them. Communication was slow in those days. No phones or computers. Letters or word of mouth that could take weeks and months were there only way to communicate. Finally, Timothy returns with good news. Paul’s relief oozes from the page. Listen to what he says: For now we really live since you are standing firm in the Lord!
His concern for them was so deep it was like life stopped until he found out!! Have you ever been that concerned about someone’s faith? I’m ashamed of myself because I’m not sure I have. Not to that level. I should be. I can’t express enough how important fellowship amongst believers really is. We take for granted in our busy lives that we will see each other soon. Because of that we fail to concern ourselves with how each other are really doing in our faith. We never share our struggles with each other, especially sin issues, because we might not seem like we’ve got it all together. It’s that “perfect image” we put on Facebook and instagram that keeps us from being real with each other and we have become numb to each other’s true well being!! None of us have it all together if we are honest. We need each other because without fellowship and true prayers for each other we are a hot mess!! Let’s take a lesson from Paul and make each other a priority!! Thank you God for the reminders from your word of where we can do better. Help us to live each other better!

Love you! Have a good day

Life is like the ultimate game of hide and seek. The players are us and God. Do you remember being a little kid and covering your face with your hands and thinking nobody could see you? Yeah that’s us now as adults playing with God. We do all kinds of things in our “private “ life thinking we are not hurting anyone and it’s harmless because it’s ”hidden”. Really? So what do we think? Our God is so powerful we can pray for all kinds of things when we want something but we are so powerful we can hide what we don’t want him to know? David wrote in Psalm 139, that God could see him anywhere he went. There’s no hiding from Him no matter how badly we want to. In verse 4 he tells us that before we speak a word God already knows what we are going to say!! Do we really want a god who doesn’t? Think about it. A god who can’t tell what’s going on is no god at all. We don’t serve a god like that! God sees all things, knows all things and is unlimited in knowledge of even our innermost being. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Honestly, we don’t even know how wicked we are which is why David asked God later in the psalm to search his heart and show him any offensive way that was in him. Why? So that he could change it to please God!! Oh to have the heart of David. Oh to pray a dangerous prayer like that! Dear God, help us to quit playing hide and seek with you. Help us to be like David. Help us to ask for you to search our hearts. Show us our evil thoughts and give us the courage to change. May our ways be pleasing to you our God and Savior!!

My Mom used to say: Don’t pray for patience unless your ready to receive them. God will surely give them to you but not like you think!
Her statement is correct. God is not a genie in a bottle waiting to hand us our requests! For example, let’s say I do pray for patience. When He answers me, does He just give them to me? Like one second I have no patience and now that I prayed, POOF, now I’m patient? No. Instead, He will allow some adversity to come along and develop patience in me and then the patience will be a lasting virtue. So should we pray a prayer like that? I say yes! For too long I’ve prayed the same old prayers. Bless this meal or be with so and so and their problem or blah blah blah. What about asking for real change to happen? What about praying like David who was so honest and real with God. He prayed expecting to get what he asked for and was ready to get it however God gave it. Even when it meant some hard times were involved. Maybe it’s time to stop with the selfish mundane prayers and start really talking to God and asking for the dangerous stuff and then being willing for the way God will change our lives!! That is where our empty words turn into trusting in the God who loves more than we could even imagine! Are you ready for a life changing time? I am. Let’s start praying!! God, I’m sorry for my stagnant empty prayers. I’m sorry for avoiding asking for things that might require me to change! Help us all to start talking to you and praying to you trusting that you will do a good work in us even if it hurts!
If we put callouses on our knees God will remove the callouses from our hearts!

I can say: I am going to work, or I am going to the store, or I am going to church. I don’t know if I can say “I am” doing anything tomorrow because what if I die? A hundred years ago I couldn’t say “ I am” doing anything because I didn’t exist yet. There is only one human ever to exist that at any point in all of history and at any point in the future and can even say now: I am. That is Jesus. He referred to himself as “ I am” in seven different statements and I won’t go into all that but that he called himself that always intrigued me. For along time I was puzzled by it to be honest. I am now comforted by it. You see, God is often thought of as a far off distant creature that looks down on us from the sky indifferent to all that we experience here. A demanding rule maker ready to dam us to hell if we make a mistake. Not true. He loves us so much that he himself became human and came here. He experienced pain and loss and temptation. He suffered. For us. He was here before the earth was formed and he is still here and will always be. “ I am”. He can say that any time. Only God can say that. Jesus is “I am”. Therefore he is God and not a far off, uncaring god but Emanuel. Emanuel means “God with us”. Why am I telling you this? Because having God with me in this life, one who has experienced my troubles, one who was willing to give up heaven and come here to die for me, one who could take his life back up again, one who always is; that’s the only God for me. The great I am!! Thank you Lord for always being. Thank you for your great love and forgiveness!

Love y’all ! Have a good day

It is so sad to me that there are people who think that this life on earth is all there is. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m hoping for better than this! Oh yes, I’ve had a good life here. That being said, I also know that there is better. Jesus was killed and put in a tomb and after being dead for three days he was brought back to life. Now that is amazing but there’s more. He was seen by over five hundred people who have been witness to this fact. He wasn’t the same though. His body changed. He was no longer bound by the physical world. He could appear in a room without opening a door. His body wasn’t resurrected back to his old one but a new one! So it will be for those who believe in him and his ability to resurrect us! With that knowledge and belief, we can have hope. If we have hope then we have purpose. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says: Therefore my brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord will not be in vain.
As you go about your daily grind, remember that this is not all there is. Trust in Jesus to forgive you, help you endure this life, but most importantly that he will raise you from death and not with a body that can die again but with a new heavenly body that is no longer bound by sin!! Now that’s a reason to get up in the morning!! Thank you Jesus for all you have done to give us a reason to hope and work and love!

Keep you eyes on Him! He is coming again!

I have a question. Have any of you ever had a goal, and at the beginning you were so excited and ready to get started and then about a third of the way the excitement began to dwindle and then a little bit farther you started having a conversation with yourself about how this goal was a bit crazy anyway and why am I doing this? Then you just kinda left it where it was. Unfinished. No? Just me then? Okay, we’ll if anyone out there has experienced this then I know your frustration. We like to set goals. Public gyms make their most money in the first quarter (many of them) because we start the year really excited about getting into shape but the new wears off and after while….well you know. The problem is the I factor. I’m going to do this or I’m going to do that. I I I me me me. What if we do have a goal, and goals are good by the way, but instead of diving in on our own and working ourselves into a frenzy, we commit our goals to the Lord first? Let’s be honest. On our own, we get so focused on the plan and ourselves that soon we get stuck. However, if we start off making God the leader of the plan, the center of the plan, and then we commit to it, and then when the hard part comes we stay focused on God and not ourselves how much better do you think the outcome would be? Proverbs 16:3 says: Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans. WOW can you imagine? Jesus came here to earth with a goal. That goal was to give his life for us. What if a third of the way in he got bored and just went back to heaven? We would have been doomed. Instead, he stayed committed. He prayed to God the Father right at the end and God gave him the strength to follow through. And he did!! So why wouldn’t we want Jesus leading us in whatever we do? Dear Father, help us to stop trying to do it all on our own down here. Help us to commit to you whatever we do!

Let’s pray for each other today!!

What I look forward to in Heaven more than anything else, other than seeing Jesus, is not dealing with sin. I am a believer and follower of Christ unapologetically, but there are days that if you were with me you wouldn’t be able to tell. Some believe that after we trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life, sin is no longer an issue. While it’s true that we are forgiven, it is also true that as long as we are here on planet earth we will battle sin in our lives. God has given us tools to fight and defend ourselves against it and they are listed in Ephesians 6, but there are also other things He has given to us in His word besides that. One of them is to confess them. Get it out in the open. Most of us are reluctantly willing to confess our sin to God in our private prayers to Him and that’s good, but what about confessing to someone here? In James 5:16 it’s says: Therefore, confess you’re sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
This is hard to do. It gets to our pride when we talk about our private sins to another person. If we are willing to find another believer that we trust, and confide in that person about our sin, and they commit to praying for us about that specifically, then we can win over that sin. Listen, we need God for sure, but we also need each other! Lord, thank you for the other believers that are in my life that pray for me and that I too can pray for. Help us to swallow our pride and help each other in the battle against sin!
Love y’all