Month: March 2017

Have you ever had a dream that really made you think?  Maybe you have even woken up in a cold sweat or crying?  Dreams feel so real.  Your trying to run away from something and it’s like you have lead in your shoes.  You know what I am talking about. I have had more than one over the years.

I had one recently that gave me a different kind of fear.  I can’t really remember much about it but what I do remember was Christ coming and not being ready.  There was something that had come up for me to do and I was hesitant to do it because I knew that it was not in line with God’s Word.  Our choices every day is so important.

Someone might be saying, “Sounds like to me that you are on a works trip.”  No, it is all about love.  How much do I love God?  How much do I want to be with Him?  He doesn’t want to be with someone who doesn’t love Him.  What kind of relationship is that?

If I love Him I will worship Him above all things.

If I love Him I will not do anything by word or deed that will take His name in vain.

If I love Him I will keep His day holy.

If I love Him I will honor the parents that He has given me.

If I love Him I will love all of His children and treat them the way I would want to be treated.

This is all about a love relationship with Him.  How much do we really love Him. If we do not really love Him then why would He want us with Him and why would we really want to be with Him.

How long would you want to be in an earthly relationship if your spouse hated you, treated you with disgust, was spending their time with other women/men, instead of you, etc.  They may say they love you but their actions speak differently.  And our actions speak louder than words.  We would want out of a relationship like this because it is not truly a relationship.

Sometimes we take God for granite.  We want to live selfishly with no real thought of Him and yet have Him give us all the blessings.  And if He doesn’t do things the way we think that He should we are ready to throw in the towel.  Our society has definitely taught this concept very well.  It doesn’t work just toss him or her out, relationship over.  Now, if you are living in an abusive situation by all means get out but I think you understand what I am saying.  We tend to want microwave relationships, fast and easy with hardly any work.

I am here to tell you no matter what the relationship it takes work, spouse, children, parents, God, etc.  And I don’t consider that a works trip, it is called love.  Love takes work.

Dear Father,

Help us to realize our need of You.  You are the one that helps us do the work if we surrender our lives to You.  Thank You for Your love and the help that you will provide if we ask You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Let’s stay connected with God and allow Him to work in our lives so that we will be ready when He comes.

Love you all!

Have you had a dream that really made you think?  It may have even helped you get your priorities straight?

How many of you feel like you just go to work for your paycheck?  Maybe you don’t like your job or the people you work with?  I recently heard someone say, “If you don’t like your job, don’t quit your job, change bosses.”

I was thinking about this as I was working yesterday.  I don’t have anything to complain about.  I have great people who I am working for.  The job can become a little monotonous at times but on the most part a great place to work.

So the question is, “Whom are we really working for?”  We need to make God our boss.  Everything we do we need to do it as unto the Lord.  If every job we have we do it as if we are doing it for God, it changes our perspective.

I don’t have a negative attitude about my job but as I was working yesterday thinking about it, in this way, it still gave me a better perspective.  Anything that I do in life I am always thinking about how I can improve what I am doing to be more efficient.  It doesn’t matter whether it is to benefit you or someone else being efficient is important.  But then when you put it in perspective of, doing as unto the Lord, it really makes you think about what you are doing.

I also got to thinking about our spiritual lives.  Do you have struggles walking the path, or even keeping on the path, to heaven?  It seems so hard at times and we can get discouraged and want to give up.  Well how about this, “If you don’t like your Christian walk, don’t give up, change bosses.”  You might be thinking, “What do you mean?”

We need to let Christ be our boss.  We are constantly trying to take over.  It is like we don’t know anything about flying but every time we see an obstacle coming at us, we take over the plane and almost crash the plane, and actually sometimes we do crash.  Every time turbulence comes into our lives we need to continue to allow the Lord to fly and He will bring us safely through.

We have a control issue.  We want to be in control of everything.  The problem is the more control we keep the more out of control we become.  You have heard the saying, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein. Try changing bosses.

Dear Father,

It is a struggle for us to give You full control.  We have so many fears.  As we struggle, bring to our minds the ways that You have led us in the past.  Forgive us for our stubborn hearts that want everything our way.  Give us Your strength to overcome ourselves.  I am so thankful, that as we surrender to You, You do the work within us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

God is the greatest pilot ever.  He can pilot our lives and get us safely to heaven.  Let’s give Him full control.

Love you all.

Do you have a tough job?  How has the Lord helped you with your experience? Have you made God your new boss?  How about spiritually speaking, are you allowing God full control?  What ways have you found to help you do this?  I would love to hear from you.

Have you ever wondered why children are so attracted to fire?  You sit around a campfire with children and they are always right there by it with sticks poking at it.

When I was a kid we did a lot of camping.  Any chance we got we were off for the weekend.  I remember one particular time.  We were at one of our favorite places, sitting around the campfire listening to my mom read a book.  Suddenly, we heard a blood-curdling scream, a child in a camp near us had fallen into the campfire, face first.

This is so vivid in my mind, even to this day.  As I look back I don’t know how emergency people were even notified because we didn’t have cell phones in those days, but an ambulance did come.

We may think, “Why don’t kids listen?  We tell them over and over, ‘Stay away from the fire.’”  But it seems they don’t listen.

Well, I am here to tell you, we are not any different.  We dally around in the “fire” all the time, the fire of sin.  Whether it is something we want to do, eat, drink, listen to, watch, etc., we figure it won’t hurt this once.  We will be careful.  The problem is that when we start to “play in the fire with a stick” we are more likely to fall fully into sin.

When we look at people and see some of the horrific sins out there, we look down on them.  I’ll have you know, no one starts out deep in sin, it is gradual.  It is based on one choice at a time.  As we make that one choice at a time we get closer and closer to just totally falling into the “fire” and getting burned.  The worst “burn” would be eternal death.

How many times does a parent say, “Stop playing in the fire?”  But it seems that a child tends to go back to it a little bolder each time because he hasn’t felt any pain so he doesn’t believe us.

We do the same with God.  He keeps coming to us, with His still small voice, letting us know we are going the wrong direction.  But every time we ignore His voice it becomes softer and softer and we become bolder and bolder in our ways.  And before we know it, we are doing things we never would have thought that we would ever do.

We need to stay connected to God each day and when the choices come we need to listen to His voice and choose His ways, one step at a time.

Dear Father,

Forgive us for “playing” in the “fire” of sin.  Continue to speak to us.  Thank You for loving us so much to send Your Son to die, in our place, so that we don’t have to die in the “fire”.  Forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Let’s make right choices, one choice at a time.  And if you have fallen into the fire of sin, remember, God is a God of love, forgiveness, and healing.

Love you all.

Maybe you have been “burned” by “fire” for some choices you have made.  How did the Lord bring you through it?  Share your story so that someone can be encouraged with what God can do.

I read a saying recently that made me really think.  “If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.” —Dean Smith

How many of us treat everything as if it is a life and death situation?  We get a cold or the flu and we think we are dying.  But down the street there really is someone dying from cancer.  We think are circumstances are killing us.  But then we learn that next door someone has committed suicide because they couldn’t handle life.

We tend to look at every thing that comes into our lives so negatively that we forget that it is not as bad as it could be.  The question is, “Is it really life and death?”

This started, really, making me think.  There is only one really life and death situation that matters.  We can die physically but does that really matter? No.  Yes there will be those that are left behind that will have sorrow.  But what matters the most is if we are ready for heaven.

We do not need to fear anything that can kill the body.  We only need to fear those things that can destroy our souls. (See Matthew 10:28).

We are told in John 11:26, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…”.  We might die temporarily die, if we don’t live until Jesus comes, but it is only temporary.  Jesus referred to death as a sleep.  Luke 11:11-15 says in part, “’…Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.’  Then said his disciples, ‘Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.’  …Then said Jesus unto them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’  If we are surrendered to God even death here on earth is just temporary.  We will live again at the resurrection.

So what is the most life and death situation?  Who has our heart!  This is where we need to focus.  God can heal any part of any situation we are going through, whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual, or financial.  God will do what is best for us and our salvation and the salvation of those that are most effected by us, that is what matters the most.  If we are ready, it may be our death for the salvation of many others.

As someone told me recently, “You have your family and you have your faith, that is the most important.”  That is so true.  We need to trust God with every thing and realize He has a plan for our lives way better than we can possibly plan out.

Dear Father,

Help us to keep our eyes focused on the most important things in life, our relationship with you and those around us.  Thank You that You have all the answers.  Help us to trust You with everything.  Thank You that You are there to take all of our burdens if we give them to You.  I know I struggle with this, help all of us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

No matter what you are going through remember that God cares.  And the most important thing to be ready for this promise, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Love you all.

How has the Lord helped you as you dealt with a negative situation or circumstance with a positive attitude, trusting God for the results?  What have you done to maintain your positive attitude?

My son had a basket ball game last night.  It was a very intense game!  The teams were well matched so the score stayed pretty close all the way through the game.  The score was 30/30 with only seconds left on the clock.  The opposing team had the ball and they were just waiting out the seconds.  Just before the time was up they made a basket.  Game over!  It seemed our players weren’t as alert in those last seconds as they could have been.

I was thinking about the game and how it applies to the game of life, the Christian life.  There is a battle going on.  The players are good and evil, Christ and Satan.  It is for our very lives.  Christ team is way more powerful than Satan’s team but His hands are tied.

Time is soon to end.  The clock is ticking and the devil knows his time is almost over and He is working the “ball”.  He is working so hard to destroy each life.  He knows he has a short time.  Christ can easily win the game but we won’t give Him the “ball”, we won’t give Him complete control of our lives.  Some how we think we can do a better job, than He can, so we keep taking the “ball” back from Him and trying to make the “basket” on our own.  We feel out of control without having the “ball” in our hands.  But the fact of the matter is we are more out of control with the “ball” than without it.  We can’t actually make the “basket”.  If we try to do it on our own we are going to miss every time.

So the question is, “What is our part to play in the game of life?”  The answer is really elementary but it seems it is so hard for us to do.

We need to make sure we are surrendering our lives to God every day.  We need to give Him total control.  Spending time with Him each day in studying His Word, memorizing Scripture, and prayer is key.  As we study His Word, we need to be in line with His commands.  We may need to spend a lot of time in agonizing prayer.  We so much want to have control it is hard to give it to Him.  Giving Him control is also being in obedience to His will.  We discover His will as we read His Word.

Dear Father,

I know that I want you in full control of my life.  But I have to admit it is a struggle.  I believe this is something we all struggle with as well.  We ask for Your patience and guidance.  Help us to know what course to pursue in every situation.  Give us Your power to overcome every obstacle because on our own we have no power.  Thank You for Your ever-unfailing love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

The game is almost over; the time is running out.  Are we alert to what is happening?  Let’s give Christ the “ball” of our lives so that He can make the basket and win this game.

Love you all.

What things do you do to help you in the game of life?  Do you have an experience where you gave God full control in an area of your life and miracles happened?  I would love to hear them.

Have you ever been overwhelmed in life?  I think we have all been there at one time or another.  We have probably been there more than we really want to be.

I recently have been working at a print shop.  They have a really big project going on right now.  There are a lot of aspects to the job.  One of the things I had to do when I first started was collate just the content page.  I would get a stack of papers from a pallet and I had to separate every 13 pages and add a content page then re-stack them, crisscrossing them for easier separation for the next step.  There is over 10,000, 13-page books.

As we have moved on to the next step of punching holes for spiral binding, adding fronts and backs, then spiral binding, looking at the stacks is overwhelming.  I have learned the best thing to do is not to look at the problem, all the stacks, but to take one stack at a time and work on it.  Keep your eyes forward to the goal, taking one stack at a time.  I also have learned to heed my boss’s suggestions, because he has more experience and knowledge as to what and how to do things to keep moving proficiently.  So as I am working and my boss comes to share new ideas on how to accomplish things more quickly, I take heed and keep going.  He may share more as time goes on and I just keep taking heed to what I am being asked to do, so that progress can keep going.

This made me think of the Christian walk.  Too many times we look at Christianity as all the things we “have” to do and all the things we “can’t” do.  The problem is that we are looking at the “stacks”.

As a Christian we have the best “Boss” ever.  All He wants for us is the very best.  He has all the experience and knowledge that can lead us to His Kingdom.  We need to learn to trust Him.

The question is, “How can we learn to trust Him?”  As we spend time with Him and get to know His love for us, we will begin to realize that He has nothing but our best interest in mind.

What we need to do is quick looking at the “stacks”, of do’s and don’ts, and take what the Lord has revealed to us at this moment and heed, obeying what He has asked us to do.  Just like my boss doesn’t expect me to do all the stacks at once, God does not expect you to know and do everything all at once.  He will lead you step by step each day.  Each time you heed His counsel, He will show you the next step.  What a God of mercy and grace.

Dear Father,

Thank You that You lead us step by step through the process of character transformation.  Help us not to look at the “stacks” but to keep moving forward step by step, day by day, as you lead.  Thank You for Your unfailing love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Get to know God and follow Him step by step, as He leads you.

Love you all.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with Christianity?  How has the Lord helped you overcome this feeling?

Have you ever felt like that you are in a crisis and you’re not sure what to do about it?  Maybe you lost your job, or you spouse left you, or you’re in financial ruin, etc., whatever the crisis is, there is always hope.

I remember when I got pregnant with our third child.  When I found out I was pregnant, I cried.  We were not doing well financially and to have the expense of another child seemed overwhelming.  It did not take long for me to be happy about it but it still was a financial burden.

When my daughter was born I was elated.  I had two boys already and longed for a daughter.  At that point the cost mattered not.  We still were struggling financially.  At that time we still had film cameras so we did not take very many pictures because of the cost of film and development.  Five weeks later I was regretful when my daughter passed away in the hospital.

One of the things that I learned is when you are going through something that feels like a crisis maybe we need to look at things an reevaluate.  Is it really a crisis in comparison to what could be happening?  The financial crisis was nothing in comparison to losing my daughter.

We need to learn to trust God through all things, which is way easier said than done.

We are told in Scripture,  “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. I am telling you this is a tough one.  But if we realize that nothing comes to us except it passes through His hands then, if our first response is to thank God, our heart will be in right connection with Him.  Then He can show us the deeper reasons for Him allowing the crisis to happen in our lives.  There may be some things that we will not know until the kingdom.  But I have found that as I allow my mind to be open to God, He reveals things in His time.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say rejoice.” Philippians 4:4. Not only are we suppose to give thank but we should rejoice.  How can this be?  Giving thanks is an act of the will.  But rejoicing is the act of the spirit, when we list the benefits that God is going to give us through the crisis we are experiencing.

We need to engraft God’s Word into our hearts, “Which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21.  How did Christ defeat Satan?  He did it through quoting Scripture.  He had engrafted Scripture into His heart so it was readily available when He needed it.  He is our example and we need to do the same.

When we are in a crisis we can call upon God.  “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Psalms 50:15.  We can cry out to God in all our troubles.  We may even be angry with Him.  But He is able to handle what we say to Him.  He will deliver us in a way that will help us to grow and develop a character fit for heaven.

The evil things that may come to us can be overcome by doing good.  “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”. Romans 12:20.  Doing good for others can help diminish our own crisis.  It helps to get our minds off of ourselves.  When Christ was in Gethsemane and going to the cross, that was the greatest crisis ever.  But He was thinking of others.  His sleeping disciples, His mother, the thief on the cross, asking His Father to forgive those around Him that were doing the evil things to Him, and he was thinking of you.  He is our example.

Will all of this be easy?  No it will not.  But as we do these things, as an act of the will, the Lord will do amazing things for us.

Dear Father,

You are so loving and kind; help us to realize that more.  You have a purpose for us and I pray that You will help us to draw closer to You in time of crisis.  Thank You, that as we step out and do what You have asked us to do, through every crisis of our lives, You have a miracle for us that is not explainable.  But as we trust You, we will benefit from it.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Every crisis that comes your way do these things and you will find that God’s way is successful.

Love you all.

When you are in crisis, what has God shown you to help you through?  I would love to hear your testimony of God’s goodness.