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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.

It seems when it comes to doing something for the first time there can be a lot of fear.  Especially when we are all alone, at least we may feel like it.

I remember my first flight.  I was 13, when I got the opportunity to go spend two weeks with my Aunt and Uncle.  I don’t know who it was the scariest for, my parents or myself.

This was back in the day when you could actually go to where people get on the airplane and wait with them.  You could even watch them walk on and then watch out the window to watch the plane take off.  I miss those days.

I think it is a good thing to have some nervousness with any new thing that we try.  It keeps us focused.  I remember sitting there waiting with my folks when my dad recognized someone from one of our local churches.  If I am recalling correctly I think he was our local conference president.  My dad went and talked to him and asked him if he would keep an eye on me.  It was nice to know that someone we knew would be with me on the airplane.  It is interesting how that made me, as well as my parents be more relaxed about it.

As we go through life there are always things that come along that we need to or want to do that we have never done before.  Sometimes we hesitate to even make a decision because we are afraid we might make the wrong decision.  A lot of times it is better for us to make a decision, even though, it may be a wrong, than to just not make any decision.  Staying in limbo and procrastinating is the worst.

I believe there are some steps we need to do before we make any decisions.  Once we have done these things we need to let go of our fears and make a decision.  Does God ever allow or even want us to make a wrong decision?  I believe that the Lord allows us to make choices and sometimes in the end we realize that it was not the best decision but God uses it to refine our characters.  God does not always give us black and white answers of what we should do in life but He uses our decisions for our good.  There are steps we need to take in making decisions, though.  We can’t just go blindly on our way and let our feelings dictate our decisions.

These are not exhaustive steps but here are a few steps to always take before making a decision.

1. Make sure it is in line with God’s Word. Whatever decision you make you want to make sure that it is not going contrary to what God has already made plain in His Word.  You can know it is not in His will if it doesn’t line up.
2. Make it a matter of prayer.  Spending time on your knees is key.  You need to ask the Lord to lead you in the study of His Word, when wanting to know His will.  If what you desire to do is not going against God’s Word in any way, ask God to reveal to you in what direction you should go.  I know it can be hard because He doesn’t always make it plain.  Which leads to my next point.
3. Walk through the open door.  What I love about God is that He is trustworthy.  If you are open to His leading and you leave all things in His hands, trusting Him to lead, you have nothing to worry about.  Sometimes we can push our way, so beware and make sure you are definitely surrendered to His leading.  When a door is open walk through it.  Be open and willing for Him to close the doors at any time but if He is not closing them, keep walking through.
4. Trust God.  If in the end it seems like you made a wrong decision, remember the Lord does not allow you to go through anything that He does not have a purpose.  As long as you stay surrendered to Him through each step, learn from it and move on.  Allow it to help you grow.
5. Learn from it.  No matter what decisions you make in life, the most important question is, “Did you learn from it?”  God has a purpose for your life and as long as you are surrendered, He is leading.  He can even teach you and help you grow through decisions you have made that were wrong.  So don’t wallow or beat yourself up.  If you have made a decision without doing these steps, confess and ask for God’s forgiveness and He will forgive.  Just make sure you learn from it.

Dear Father,

Thank You that as we stay surrendered to You, You will help us to grow.  And that You will use all our decisions and circumstances to refine our character.  Thank You for Your patience and love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender your whole life to God and let Him lead. Just like when I went on the airplane with someone I knew to keep and eye on me, God is keeping an eye on you.

Love you all.

Do you remember your first flight?  How was it for you?  I would love to hear your story.

Has there ever been something in your life that you have had a hard time letting go of?  It might be a bad habit, possessions, control, sin, etc.  It may even be something that you got yourself into because you were following other people.  Sometimes instead of really thinking we just follow what everyone else is doing.

I remember when I was young.  I really can’t remember my age but I am guessing 5 or 6.  We had gone to visit my grandparents.  My grandpa worked as a foreman in an orchard at a fruit farm.  My grandparents were allowed to take so much fruit for free each year but they were not fruit people.  So they would give their share to us.  We would go down every summer to bring back fruit to can.

This one particular time we went to visit we had taken our next-door neighbor with us, he was like a grandpa to me.  My grandpa wanted to take our neighbor around the orchard in the jeep to show him around.  Of course, my brother and I wanted to go with them.  There were a couple of others there as well.  My grandpa was driving and the neighbor was sitting in the passenger seat.  The rest of us climbed into the back of the jeep, which was open.  It was a farm jeep, more like getting into the back of a pickup.

As we were driving along through the apple orchard others were reaching out and pulling off an apple.  We were headed up this hill when I seen this really nice looking able and I reached out to pick it.  I was young enough that I could not get it to come off like the older ones had done.  But I didn’t let go either.  It all happened in seconds.  The next thing I knew, I was out of the jeep onto the ground.

I don’t remember if I really got hurt but I did begin to cry because it scared me so bad.  And it scared my grandpa too, because the hill we were going up, the jeep could have easily rolled back.  This was especially true because my grandpa did not know what had happened at first and that I was out of the jeep.

This reminded me how sin is.  Sin looks so attractive.  Sin is also enticing.  Just like I could not resist that good-looking apple, sin can be hard to resist.  When we grab a hold of sin it draws us right out of the safety of the “Jeep” (Jesus presence).  We fall and get hurt.  Even if we grab out for the enticing sin, the second we realize that it is wrong we need to let go of it immediately so we are not pulled out from the safety of Jesus.

Dear Father,

Sin can be so enticing to us.  Help us, as we surrender to You, to see sin as You see it.  Help us to draw back from sin.  The devil can disguise things so well. We need Your eyes of discernment.

Thank You that if we do fall we have an advocate with You, Jesus Christ, and we can come to You and You will forgive.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to Jesus today, keeping so close to Him that you recognize the disguises of Satan.

Love you all.

Share an experience you have had that shows how sin can draw us in.

Have you ever felt like you just keep hitting the wall?  Some times, it seems like, every decision we make in life, we go up against a wall.  We get tired of hitting the wall all the time but don’t seem to get what is going on.  When we have try the same thing over and over again and we keep hitting a wall, it seems to me that we need to reevaluate what we are doing.

When I was a kid I had a parakeet, he was a beautiful blue.  I really loved my bird.  I don’t even remember how long I had him.  He loved to ride on my shoulder around the house.  But there was a bad habit that he had.  He loved to fly off my shoulder at times as well.  I didn’t mind him doing that except for one problem.  He would fly into the wall.  The first time he did it, I don’t think it even knocked him out.  I don’t remember how many times he did it before it finally took his life.  It seemed strange that he didn’t seem to get it.

We don’t seem to be any different.  We can know that something is bad for our health.  It may even be killing us.  It may take a few years but nonetheless we are destroying our health.  But we tend to not want to make any changes because we enjoy what we are doing.  We would rather die than to make a change.

I remember my grandpa.  He thought for sure that his choice to smoke didn’t affect anyone else other than himself and he enjoyed it so much that he didn’t want to give it up.  Then one day he found out he had lung cancer.  It was scary for a little while but they were able to remove the one lung and he was able to keep living.  He quit smoking for a while but he finally went back to it.  A few years later when he got cancer in his second lung there was no hope.  He realized too late, not only was he going to die, but what he did was affecting others.  It was not long later at the age of 62 that my grandpa died.

We may think, “How crazy can he be?”  But the reality is we all do it in one way or another.  One of the biggest ways we do it is allowing stress to have its way in our life.  We can do everything right in our life, health wise, but if we don’t learn how to deal with stress it will kill us.  We will keep hitting the wall of stress and it will destroy us.

Here is what I recommend for healthful living as well as reducing the stress.  I have an acronym that I have created to help me remember, B A L A N C E D.

•   Bed Time.  It is so important to get plenty of rest.  Not only does this affect our physical health but it also affects how well we are able to handle stress.  Make sure, as an adult, you get at least 7-9 hours each night.
•   Aqua.  This is Spanish for water.  We need plenty of water each day.  It cleanses our body and keeps us hydrated.  When we don’t drink enough water we put a real stress on our bodies.
•   Light.  Our bodies thrive on sunlight.  We need to make sure we are getting out in to the sun each day.  This helps us in many ways, even getting good rest.  It also helps reduce stress.  If we live in an area where we do not get enough sunlight there are special lights that can give similar properties as sunlight.  Nothing is as good as the real thing, though.
•   Air.  When we get out and get some sunlight we also benefit from the fresh air.  Fresh air helps to keep our lungs clean.  It helps revive our whole being.  Doing some deep breathing really will help to reduce the stressful feelings that we can feel.  It also is relaxing.
•   Nutrition.  How we eat also affects how physically healthy we are.  When we are eating good nutritionally sound food it makes us feel so much better.  The body can actually run and function, way better.  This also helps us be able to reduce our stress levels.
•   Control.  Learning to have self-control can be so hard but it is necessary to be able to have good physical and emotional good health.  The simple way of saying this is completely eliminate those things that are bad and making sure we are balanced with the good.  You know that we can do too much of a good thing and destroy ourselves as well.  Water is good but if you drink too much it can kill you.  Being balanced is the key.
•   Exercise.  We have a lot of muscles in our body, including our heart.  If we don’t use these muscles they atrophy.  If our heart atrophy’s, we are in big trouble.  Exercise is a very important factor to keep us healthy.  And it is a good stress reducer.  So if you are feeling stressed go for a walk, it will do amazing things.
• Dependence on God.  This is the most crucial.  We cannot do anything but hit the wall if we don’t depend on God.  He is the best stress reliever. He is the physical healer and sustainer, as we obey His laws.  As we give every day to Him and take all our burdens and let Him have charge of them we will be able to handle whatever comes our way without destroying us.

Dear Father,

Thank You that You are always there for us through all things.  Prompt us by Your Spirit in what areas of our lives that we need to give to You.  Thank You for Your love and care.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender every area of Your life to Him today and let Him take the stresses of life and work it for good.

What do you do to help reduce the stress in your life?  Share your ideas.