Thursday, April 4

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019

 

 

“So I say to you:  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9,10)

 

 

In this passage, Jesus highlights the value of persistent prayer and how God answers His children.  These famous verses indicate that God willingly responds, to our great comfort and support.  As Jesus note at the end of the passage, the Presence of the Holy Spirit stands high among the list of God’s treasures distributed through prayer.

 

Several other Scripture passages highlight the context in which we may receive the fullness of these promises:

 

1. In John 15:4-8, Jesus fleshes our relationship with Him as the True Vine:  “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  We read here that, by remaining connected to Christ and embracing His Word, we will receive God’s blessing so that we may bear much fruit.

 

2. 1 John 5:14,15 indicates that our attitude and purpose in prayer does matter:  “This is the confidence we have in approaching God:  that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of him.”  We receive confidence in approaching God because He is faithful and personal!

 

3. God has called the Church to witness to His glory and demonstrate His character here on earth.  In Acts 4:23-31, the early disciples trusted God wholeheartedly and prayed for God’s blessing on their fledgling efforts.  God responded with a powerful manifestation of His Spirit:  “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (Acts 4:31)

 

 

Lord God, our country and city are in desperate need of Your Presence today.  Please help us to stay rooted in Your Son, the True Vine.  Send Your Holy Spirit that we might imitate Your character.  Help us to make disciples of all nations and to bring reconciliation among others.  We love You and serve You today.  In Jesus’s Name, amen.

 

 

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

April 2, 2019

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Deuteronomy 21-22, Luke 9:51-62, Psalms74, Proverbs 12:11

The fable writer, Aesop, was a slave and story teller who lived between 620-564 BC in Ancient Greece (according to Wikipedia). I grew up with a hardback red book that had his stories with colorful pictures. One that comes to mind today is that of "The Ant and the Grasshopper." The basic summary: the ant works and works all summer long gathering and storing food for the cold and scarce winter months that are ahead. Meanwhile, the violin playing grasshopper enjoys days of leisure, fun, and everything else but work, during those beautiful days. Winter finally comes around and the ant is well fed, warm, and serving well. The grasshopper, on the other hand has nothing to eat, cold, and not likely to survive the rest of the season. There is more to the story, but the moral is very closely tied to what King Solomon said in Proverbs
12:11, "Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense."

Our society and the American dream champions those fantasies of success, wealth, comfort, or becoming the next American Idol. Our youth are focused on becoming the next YouTube sensation. We encourage our youth to "chase fantasies" and to follow your dreams. I'm not saying that's wrong or a myth, but The part that's missing is all the hard work that must be put in place to achieve that goal. There is sadly a sense of entitlement that too many have: it will all be handed to them. This proverb is a reminder that we must work the land for the harvest and food to come.

I come from a family of hard and dedicated workers. Work ethic was instilled at a young age and that's one reason I can count the number of sick days I've used, and the success I've had. The other big (and most important reason) is because I also learned early off that in everything, it should always be done to the glory of God. That means in the work place where I cleaned drains, steamed milk, put on a happy face, had to deal with employee issues, call outs, etc.... how to do all the yucky stuff to the best of my ability because it honored God and I am called to do all to His glory? I had to look at work Biblically. Again, this verse is a reminder that work = blessings, but remember to take it A step more. When done for the glory of God.

Blog post 3 April, 2019

Blog Post- Praise

April, 3 2019

Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19

Luke 10:13-37

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 12:12-14

Reading todays reading Psalm 75 gave me a sense of reflection as this has been a testimony in my life. Last year January, I took matters into my own hands as I was impatient and made my own plans. Those plans failed and I hit a low, I then fully trusted and leaned on the Lord to show me His plan for me, I listened and I am now currently in the USA waiting and listening to what God has install for me next. This Testimony showed me that we can be confident that God will be there always. God will act when He is ready, we tend to always ask God for help and when we are in trouble, but do we give thanks when things are good. A limited human beings, we cant understand Gods perspective about time. We want everything now, unaware that Gods timing is better. When God is ready, He will do what needs to be done, not what we would like Him to do. We may be as impatient as children, but we must not doubt the wisdom of Gods timing. Wait for God to reveal His plan, have faith and don't take matters into your own hands like I did.

God will have the last word, He will decide the final outcome, settling all matters that concern both the wicked and the Godly. The wicked will eventually experience his judgement, the Godly will experience his faithful love. No matter how dark the days you may face are, make it a continuous practice to acknowledge Gods sovereignty over your life.

Give praise and thanks to God for His wonderful works, let us not become prideful and sing praises in thanks for all the blessings we do have. May we take captive of our wicked thoughts and our selfish tendencies that can be portrayed through our actions and how we speak. I pray we as believers live by the fruits of the spirit as whatever is righteous will yield fruit.

Amen.

I have attached a song in relation to praise.

https://youtu.be/G2XtRuPfaAU

Bible Blog Post Monday April 1st

Fighting Our Battles  (Deuteronomy 20:3-4)

"...today you are going into battle against your enemies.  Do not be faint hearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.  For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."

Every day we head into battle against an enemy.  The battles we face can vary from day to day and person to person.  For some the battles are (or will be) with a co-worker, family member, neighbor, stranger we encounter, or customer service rep.  Others will battle with health issues, job security, work demands, financial difficulties, car repairs or home repairs.  Still others will battle fear, anxiety, depression, loneliness, anger, unforgiveness, or guilt.  The battle against, pride, greed, gossip, or laziness will meet some today.  For each and every one of us our greatest adversary will draw us into a battle with temptation in some form or another.  The goal of each battle/enemy is to draw our time, attention, resources or hope away from God's truths, away from his power, away from his instructions, away from his witness, away from HIM!!!  Let us remember to not engage in battle without looking to the Lord, without asking the Lord to lead us and empower us.

The passage above, from Deuteronomy, tells us to head into today and into our varying battles remembering that God goes with us.  Let us remember that he will fight for us.  Let us remember what his word says about how to do battle with different enemies.  Let us remember that we live as children of God and need to be a witness, an example, of what a champion in the Lord looks like.  God is our victor so let us live as loving, gracious, peace filled, joy filled champions.  Let us be a light to the world so that they too may know how to live as champions in the Lord. We are able to fight, not as the world does, but as the Lord instructs us in his word because we know he has already shown himself to be a conqueror.  He gives us all we need in order to face the battles before us.

Let us encourage each other today.  SHARE A VERSE THAT IS MEANT TO strengthen, to guide, to instruct, to embolden, to encourage each other as we face our battles today.  What you share might be what someone else needs in their fight today.  Our victories do not rest in our strength or desires but in the word of God, in Christ alone.

If you struggles at all today in your battle listen to some of the following song and remind yourself of the one who fights for you and to rest in him as you face your battles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmjpF613y4

March 30: Of the Challenge of Salvation

March 30

Man: "Salvation is impossible."

Jesus: "Challenge accepted."

Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23

Luke 8:40-9:6

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 12:5-7

I'm a father who loves his children, but is at times flabbergasted by their thinking, appalled at their actions, and humbled by the realization my own mother is still waiting for the payback of seeing my three kids give me as much trouble combined as I gave her and my dad all by my lonesome.  

I bring this up because in today's OT scripture we read about some of the trouble our children can cause, and how if our "son or daughter...secretly entices you, saying "Let us go worship other gods"...[we] must certainly put them to death."  In fact, our "hand must be the first in putting them to death." 

When I think of the trouble I got into, if my parents had followed the OT to the letter, I would DEFINITELY not have made it to puberty.  I am pretty certain my antics, long before pimples and prom, enticed them to worship at the altar of Johnny Walker and Smirnoff.  And at that  young age, I was just getting started, on a rather steep downslope to perdition, incapable of behaving properly as to save myself.

Which is why today's NT reading, while a frequently recurring theme, is so uplifting to those who, like me, have pasts so checkered a chessboard looks plain by comparison.  When salvation seems impossible, Jesus reminds us the impossible is His specialty.  Consider: a woman 12 years ill with no hope of recovery is cured by His power; a sick, 12 year old girl dies and is raised by His will.  This is the reassurance that, when faced with the impossibility of overcoming our sinfulness, we can turn to Him, pray like the psalmist, and know that the impossibility of our salvation is His specialty.

"Jesus, in You I have taken refuge.  Let me never be put to shame.  In Your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn Your ear to me and save me.  Be my rock of refuge to which I can always go, give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress....For You have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.  From birth I have relied on You."

March 29

Luke 8

March 29, 2019

 

You Know You're Getting Old When...

 

1. Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.

2. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

3. You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.

4. Happy hour is a nap.

5. Your back goes out more than you do.

6. "Getting a little action" means you don't need to take a laxative.

 

Aging is just one of the storms we face in life. There are many others. A few of the storms I have encountered this week include relational storms, employment storms, financial storms, health storms and emotional storms. This much is true; there is nothing more inevitable than each of us facing multiple storms in our lives. Scott Peck's book, The Road Less Traveled, opens with the sentence, "Life is difficult." Most of you reading this blog probably find yourself smack dab in the middle of a storm right now.

 

Luke gives us a few strategies on making it through the storms.

 

First, don't freak out when a storm arrives. Storms are largely unpredictable. Luke records, "A squall came down." In Matthew it says, "Without warning a furious storm came up".  Try as we may, we cannot predict the things that will happen to us. They are largely unforeseen.  None of us even know what storms will arrive in our lives over the next 6 hours.

 

Storms are impartial; they hit both "good" and "bad" people. They happen to believers and they happen to unbelievers.  They happen to all of us.  Being a Christ follower does not exempt us from dealing with storms.  Some people have the misconception that they only have tough times when they're disobeying God.  That's not true.  The disciples got into a storm after they had obeyed Jesus.

 

Storms give us an opportunity to trust God. After the storm was calmed, Jesus asked, "Where is your faith?"  This means the disciples had made the wrong choice in this test of faith. Rather than opting for peace, they chose panic, which also happens to be my default reaction. Every storm is an opportunity for us to say, "I refuse to panic because I believe Jesus is in my boat."

 

So, regardless of the storm that is in your life, you get to choose, panic or peace.

 

--

"Multiplying leaders to change the world"

Thursday, March 28

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12,13)

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of God's call on their lives—both individually and as the nation of Israel.  This call includes a beautiful covenant, where the people's faithfulness would unlock God's tremendous protection and blessing.

These verses above touch on the people's commitment to this covenant, including several steps:

(1) To "fear the Lord your God."  This fear centers on "reverence," a recognition of God's awesomeness and majesty.  Properly understanding God's character and greatness will bring us to fear Him:  to revere Him in awe.  This attitude sparks the action of worship and trust in God's power.

(2) To "walk in obedience to him."  God expresses concern for His people's obedience, not to micromanage, but rather to let flourish.  Like the loving Father He is, He knows what's best for His children, and He has designed His statues to bring freedom from guilt and self- (and others-) destruction.

(3) To "love him."  Our love ties into both the fear and obedience discussed above.  Rightly understanding God's majesty and beauty, we will be drawn by the Holy Spirit into a love relationship with Him.  Our relationship with Him then calls forth our obedience, for we appreciate and accept His love for us and provision for us through His statutes.

(4) To "serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."  This service amounts to much more than mental assent or lip service.  It calls forth our total being, submitted to the will of our Master.

How do these chords strike you today?  Are you excited to follow God today?  If so, excellent!  If not, would you consider praying that God would reveal more of Himself so that you could see Him more clearly and follow Him more closely?

Lord God, thank You for establishing Your covenant with the nation of Israel and, later, with us through Your Son's sacrifice in our place.  Help us to invite You to take the throne of our lives and to experience the fullness of Your majesty and strength.  We love You and honor You today.  In Jesus's mighty Name, amen.