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“40 Years?!!”

Life is short!

When you think about the average of lifespan on this earth it is a very short time.  The older I get the more I realize it.  The average is what?  Around 80 years, give or take a few.  There are so many factors but we know that it is short.  And the bottom line is that it can be even shorter than that.  We never know when we walk out the door in the morning if we are coming home.  So this day could be our last no matter what your age, 18…40…50, you name it.

Accident

It came to my mind more vividly one day as I was driving home from town.  At one of the lights, I was going through, there had been a recent accident.  One car had been really smashed on the driver’s side.  It appeared to me that they were working on cutting him out.  I was driving and wanting to make sure I didn’t cause another accident so I couldn’t take in what might have happened.  It appeared that he was alive and I pray that his injuries and all that were involved will heal quickly.

But it made me think.  All it takes is one accident and your life can be over or changed forever.  And the big question is, am I ready?  My judgment has been decided if I die and have allowed God to keep my heart connected to His.  I know that if I am permanently damaged that God will give me the strength for as I need it.  But if I am not staying closely connected with Him now it will be harder to stay connected through difficult times.  We need to stay focused on Christ and not lose that focus.

Distractions

There can be so many distractions that can keep us from keeping our eyes on our Savior and staying connected with Him.  There are many that I could address here but I am going to tackle one that I believe is a big one.

Taking our eyes off of Jesus and placing it on others distracts us.  It is so easy to get caught up in looking at others and seeing their wrongs.  As we point the finger or just have negative thoughts about their choices it draws our attention away from where it should be.  We are responsible for ourselves and no one else.  Now some may be saying, “We are responsible for others’ salvation.”  There is truth to that but where our focus is, determines whether we can help others.

When we keep our focus our Jesus and allow Him to work in our lives we then, and only then can we properly witness to others.  We need to have a Christ-like love for others and we cannot do that without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  We are the seed planters and the Holy Spirit is the One that makes it grow.  Somehow we think that we have to make it happen.  We plant seeds and love them even if they don’t accept what we have shared with them.  God is working with each person and He is the One that knows the right timing for each individual.  God doesn’t always bring change overnight.  He brings them through step by step.

How much time?

So how much time will it take for someone to see the truths of God’s Word?  I think one thing that we do is we forget what our own journey has been like.  We want to bring people to our level of knowledge and commitment overnight but how long did it take us to get to where we are.  And another thing, we should be realizing that we have a long ways to go and we have not arrived.  The Lord keeps growing us and we will be growing and learning how to walk the walk until He comes.  We need to give others the freedom to grow.

This reminds me of the story of Moses.  How long did it take for Moses to unlearn the ways of Egypt and to have such a walk with God that he would not waver?  God worked with him for 40 years to get him where He could use him to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt.  This shows God’s patience and He knows what is needed in someone’s life to bring change.  God has perfect timing.  He is never late, rarely early but always on time.

We are only the seed planters and the only way those seeds can fall and maybe come to fruition is if we do it in love and let the Lord take it from there. We need to get out of His way and let Him work.   And as He works we continue to love and be there for the person through whatever difficulty, without condemnation.  This is a hard thing to do and it cannot be done in our own strength.

Human Nature

Our human nature tends to want people to be where we are in our spiritual journey and if they are not we tend to want to condemn and be critical.   We need God’s help in this area of our lives.  As we look at people we need to see them through the eyes of Christ, who came and died for them.  We can only do this as we stay connected with God.  This makes me realize how much we need to be in prayer and in the Word each and every day.  And spending time each day reading and/or thinking about the life of Christ, especially those last scenes.  If we can understand what He has done for us we can have more compassion for others.  We also need to reflect on where He has brought us from.  How long did it take for us?  We tend to forget how patient the Lord has been with us.  We need to have that same patience with others.

Dear Father,

Help us as we see others to see You as You hung bleeding on the cross for them.  Give us the ability to be earnest, broken and humbled as our petitions ascend to You for wisdom that we may have success in saving, not only our own souls but the souls of others as well.  We can only help in the saving of others as we stay surrendered to You and as we allow You to work through us so we can reflect You.

Forgive us where we have fallen short in reflecting You and work now in our lives that we can perfectly reflect Your character so that we can go home.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Commit today to not say anything negative about another person.  And commit to continue planting seeds in others lives, loving them, and not shunning them because their choices are not what you think they should be.

Love you all.

What thoughts have gone through your mind when you have seen an accident?  What lessons have you drawn?  Share below.

 

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“I Blew It Again!!”

Explosion!

I am sure we have all had a blowout at some time in our lives.  I personally have never had a blow out while driving.  But I do remember driving one time and all of the sudden I heard an explosion.  I had no idea what it was but my first response was to break and go over to the side of the road.  It turned out that it was a semi truck in front of me that had the blowout.  If I had not responded the way that I had I could have been hit by a tire.

The tire that you see in the picture above was actually my son’s tire.  He is traveling all over the United States doing deliveries.  My son does what is referred to as Hotshot hauling or Hotshot trucking.  He does not drive a semi truck but hauls a trailer with a pickup.  It seems with all the heat and putting a lot of hours on the road has an effect on tires.  He has had more than one blowout.  It amazes me how shredded the tire was.

Christians

It reminded me of life as a Christian.  As we surrender our lives to Jesus each day and allow Him to have full control, life can get “hot”.  The devil does not like it when we allow Jesus to have full control of our lives.  So he turns up the heat.  The trials come.  And how we deal with the “heat” will determine whether we have a “blowout”.

When you are driving in the heat it is really important to keep the pressure of your tires where it needs to be.  You need to be sure to check them often because the heat causes them to expand and therefore can cause a blowout due to too much pressure.

In the same way in our Christian walk, we have to make sure that we are maintaining our connection with Christ through the study of His Word and prayer.  If we don’t have enough “air pressure” (God’s Spirit) filling our lives we will not handle the “heat”.  Although we can’t get too much of God’s Word or prayer like a tire can have too much air, it is true that we can spend so much time that we do not take care of the responsibilities God has given us to do.  We can use spending time with God as an excuse for laziness, which is just as detrimental.

We need to have balance in our lives.  Just like with a tire on your car, too much or too little air can cause a blowout, so spending too much time or too little time with God can cause us to spiritually have a blowout.  If we are just filling our lives with God and not sharing it we are going to have a “blowout”, just like too much air in a tire.

Trust

What it really boils down to is trust.  When my son is traveling he could be worrying all the time if he is going to have a blowout or he can trust that he has done what he can to keep it from happening and go on without worry.  Does not worrying about it mean he will never have a blowout?  No, but it does make life a lot more pleasant.  And in the event, he does have a blowout he just needs to fix it and get on with life.

It is the same in our Christian walk.  We know the devil is going to pour on the heat.  But if we are doing everything to keep our lives connected to Jesus we don’t need to worry or fret.  We just need to stay surrendered to Him.  We don’t need to worry about whether we are going to have a “blowout”.  And in the event we do, instead of wallowing in the “mud” get up and confess.  Do whatever it takes to make things right.  Fix the “tire” and keep going.  A lot of times we can start saying, “I blew it again”, “I am never going to get this”, “I’ll never make it”, etc.  But that is just where the devil wants us.  He is the one whispering those things into our minds.  Let’s just fix the “blowout” by getting back in connection with Jesus and keep going.

Leak

When we are in the heat of a trial we feel more of a need for Christ.  But the real danger is when we have a slow “leak”.  On our cars when a blowout happens it is like a major trial but there are times that we just have a slow leak and we don’t even notice until we hear or feel something not quite right.  It is the same with the Christian walk.  We can be slowly getting away from that time with God.  We spend less and less time each day, slowly allowing the “air” (power) out of our lives.  And before we know it we have a “flat tire” (discouragement, depression, anger feelings, etc.)

Keep Connected

The key to success is keeping connected with Jesus.  He is the One with the “air” (power) to keep us filled so that we can come through each trial with the victory, no blowouts.  It is when we start to focus on the “heat” of the trial that the friction gets to us and we end up with a “blowout”.

When we have little trials each day they can also draw us away from spending time with God because we are so busy putting out the “fires” that we don’t take the time we need.   I have found that as I spend time with God, no matter how much I need to accomplish in the day that I always have plenty of time with even time left over.  But when I don’t spend that time the day is chaos and I don’t get as much accomplished.  That is the miracle of God.  We work on addition and He works on multiplication.

Dear Father,

Help us to not forget the need to spend time with You, in study and prayer.  I want to recommit my time to You.  Thank You for Your patience and love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Commit to spending time with Jesus today in prayer and study of His Word.

Love you all.

Have you ever experienced a blowout like this one?  If so, how did it turn out and what spiritual lesson could you share?  Share below.

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“Rejoice Always? Really?!!”

Rejoice

Have you ever had the thought, “How can I really be joyful in this life?  There is so much sorrow so how can I have so much sorrow and really rejoice?”  It is hard to understand how sorrow and joy can coincide but they really can.  We cannot do it in and of ourselves.  It is only as we allow the Lord to have full access to our lives that we can rejoice through it all.

What we see

We see so little compared to what God sees.  We may listen to the news and hear all the evils that are transpiring in this world.  But we see so little compared to what God sees.  He sees it all.

I am going to veer off here for a few sentences.  May I suggest that listening to the news is nonproductive?  I don’t listen, read, or watch the news.  There may be little snippets I see posted on Facebook or someone may mention to me, “Did you hear….?”  I usually haven’t heard so they give me a little run down.  Sometimes I check it out further but for the most part, I don’t.  What does it gain us in our spiritual walk to focus on the wickedness of this world?  It is discouraging and can suck the joy out of life.  How many people are depressed and angry because of what they dwell upon?  We have got to keep our focus where it belongs.   Our focus should be on having a solid connection with God and then be a witness for Him through our lives.

God sees

God sees all the wickedness of this world but He is also rejoicing, “over one sinner that repenteth.”  And yet it pains His heart every time we don’t accept His ways and choose the wicked things of this world to fill our lives.  The wicked things can be filling our lives as we do them or it can be filling our lives as we vicariously take part.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

If we would make this our Motto in life it would make a difference.  Just because it is claimed to be “true” doesn’t mean it is of “good report”.  When I think of the news there is so much bent to what is said you never really do know what is true.  It is all bent to whatever political party they represent.  Well, I want to represent the “political” party of Jesus.  I want to be like Christ.

Prepare

The only way that we can be like Christ is to be prepared.  We need to be in the God’s Word and in prayer.  As we are in the word we need to be storing it in our hearts by putting it to memory.  This is the only way we will be able to rejoice through all circumstances.

This reminds me of a story that was shared with me.  It was about two men that climbed a mountain together.  It was a dangerous mountain.  The mountain was steep with rock climbing as well as ice climbing.  The mountain was also higher elevation.  It was dangerous with lots of crevasses as well.  I don’t remember how many days it took to make it to the top but they did make it.

The descent

The difficulty came on their descent.  One of them, when going slowly down through the snow stepped in a spot that sent him over the edge.  He broke his leg majorly.  They came up with a plan of how they could get down.  His friend would get well positioned and then lower him 300’, then he would station himself and his friend would follow.  It was a very painful thing for him to be lowered but it was life or death.  His friend couldn’t “care” about his screams of pain he just had to keep lower him.

Then came the time that his friend lowered him and he dropped over a cliff and was hanging and he could not get to the ledge to get well established so his friend could descend.  They were too far apart to communicate so they both waited in the dangerously cold night.  I don’t remember how long his friend waited but he eventually had to make the hardest decision of a person’s life.  He had to decide to cut the rope.  It was now life or death for himself.  He could not survive if he did not keep moving down.

It was so hard to arrive back at camp, where there was another guy waiting for them.  He explained what had happened.  He was in such bad shape himself with frostbite and exhaustion, besides the emotional trauma.  The guy that had remained at the camp felt they should go from base camp down right away but he could not get him to leave.

Falling

When the rope was cut loose the guy on the other end fell into a crevasse.  Surprisingly,  he survived the fall but now what.  He had a lot of rope but what good is that when you have a broken leg.  He anchored himself so he wouldn’t fall farther and called for help but there was no answer.  After a while, he decided to lower himself into the crevasse more to see if there was another way out because he had tried to climb up but with his broken leg he could not.

As he lowered himself he found a spot that was a gradually going up vertically and he was able to crawl out of the crevasse.  It was very painful, and took great effort and several days, with no food or much water to make it back to camp.  What he did not know is when he got to camp would there be anyone there.  But thankfully when he did make it back to camp his friend was still there and his life was spared.  It was nothing more than miraculous.  We have such a drive to live that we will push our bodies beyond the limit in an effort to survive and live.

Do you want to live?

As I have thought of this story it made me think about eternal life.  It actually brought tears to my eyes thinking about it.  We will put so much effort into surviving in this life but how much effort do we put into surviving for eternal life.

Having eternal life is a life and death situation.  How much privation are we willing to endure to survive.  Our spiritual bodies are broken and it is painful but how much effort are we willing to make no matter how much pain or privation it causes.  Are we willing to give up those things that will keep us from having eternal life?  Are we agonizing with God to the point of our sweat being “as great drops of blood” like Jesus did?  Do we want to live?  How much effort are we willing to make?

There will come a time that all our human resources will be cut off and it will be up to us to choose the right things and make the right choices.  We will be alone.  Some of us may even be alone at this moment in our choices to live.  There will come a time ahead of us that we will no longer have “food” (God’s Word) to nourish our spiritual bodies.  There will come a time when “water” will be scarce.  Are we filling ourselves with “food” (God’s Word) right now so that when the time comes we will be sustained?

Grim

You might be saying about now, “I thought you were talking about rejoicing, this sounds grim.”  It may sound grim.  But I can tell you from experience that as I surrender all to the Lord and walk side by side with Him, filling my life with His Word, it brings joy.  I can rejoice through the trials, privations, and hardships.  But if I dwell or get involved with the things of this world, joy fades away.

No matter what we may be going through as long as we are surrendered to God we can know that it will all work for our good.  In this, we can rejoice.

Dear Father,

Help us to see our need for You in our lives.  You are the only One that can give us peace and joy, as we surrender to Your will.  Continue to show us the way.  Thank You for Your patience with us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to God today.  Keep your focus on Him and fill your mind with His Word.

Love you all.

What do you do to help keep joy in your life?

 

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“Follow Me!”

We are followers

It seems in the world in which we live it is hard to know whom to follow.  Our natural tendency is to follow someone or at least try to mimic the life of someone we admire.  Many people look up to celebrities, whether they are actors, singers, pastors, elders, parents, etc.  Even when they fail in some way they will either defend them with all they have or they will get angry and discouraged that this person disappointed them.  The sad news is humans will always disappoint.  They will fail.  We fail at times too.

So whom should we follow?

I am coming from a Christian perspective so what comes to my mind is something Jesus said when He was on earth.

Matthew 4:19,  “And He said unto them, ‘Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.’”

As a Christian, we should be following Jesus and as we follow Him, He will make us a witness for Him.  As I daily allow Christ to abide with me, He will give me the ability to attract others so that I can share the truth of God’s love.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Have you ever known someone who is so obsessed with someone or something it seems that is all they ever talk about?  Or they may even do things just like the person as much as possible.  What would it be like if we would become more “obsessed” with Jesus more than the things of this world?

Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 16:24, “…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

In following Jesus we need to pursue Him and give up the things of this world, the things that will distract us from following Him.

As Christians, we have been given a commission and unless we are following Christ we cannot fulfill the commission that He has given us.  We have been commissioned to bring others to the truth as it is in Jesus.  To share His love and what He has done for us.  Jesus wants to make us “fishers of men.”

So how does fishing have anything to do with winning souls to Christ?

I did a little research to see what methods were used in Bible times for fishing.  They would do their fishing mostly at night, so the question would be why at night.  They would throw out their nets and the light from their torches would attract the fish.

How do we apply this analogy to “fishing” for people?

I love the night analogy.  As we allow the “torch” of God’s love to shine through us we will attract more people to us and then we can share the truth as it is in Jesus.  If we are trying to attract with a “lure” and “hook” it will not be as effective.  If we are shining, people will be drawn to us. They will be asking us why we have so much peace through the turmoil and why we are calm during the storms of life.  Then we have the opportunity to point them to the One that we are able to trust through every situation.

Matthew 5:16,  “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.”

What is our light?

Our light is the bright presence of Jesus in our lives.  It is not from us but from Him.  And we can only have this light as we allow Him full access to our lives so that He can live in us through the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:6, 7  “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Dear Father,

Thank You that it is all about You, not us.  Prompt our hearts, with every decision that we make, to do right.  I know that as we spend time with You, You will show us the path to life.  Thank You for Your love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give all to Jesus today and let Him shine through you.

Love you all.

I would love to hear your thoughts.  Please share any thoughts below.

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“What!, it Seized Up?”

 

Have you ever seized up?

I am sure you have had this experience.  Maybe you have been at work and one of your machines seized up and stopped production.  Or maybe you have been at home preparing a meal quickly and the blender decides to seize up.  What about you?  Have you ever seized up?  Maybe you had a lecture to give and when you got up to speak you “seized” up.

I experienced this most recently.  At work, we have a UV machine.  If you are not in the printing business or have never ordered cards or postcards you may not know what a UV machine does.  Let me explain a little.  If you have ever seen a postcard come in your mail that is nice and shiny it has probably been through a UV machine.  It is really a protective coating.  You may have even noticed that when you have gotten a little water on the front of the postcard it didn’t seem to affect it.  That is what the UV coating machine does.  It makes it look nice as well as protects the product from being smeared or destroyed by a little moisture.

So how does a UV coating machine work?

We have a 5-gallon bucket of the liquid coating.  Once the machine is on, a tube up to three different rollers carries the liquid.  It coats two of those rollers.  The bottom roller pressures the paper between the top rollers laying out a nice coat of UV.  As the liquid flows over the rollers it collects into a trough on either end of the roller and from the trough flows through another hose back into the bucket.

Clean the machine!

Every day when we shut the machine down we separate the rollers and clean them thoroughly. If we left them connected and not cleaned it would ruin the rollers.  Doing this cleaning is a required everyday maintenance to keep everything running well.

What we have now discovered is that there is a more thorough maintenance cleaning that should take place every month or two.  The little troughs that transfer the UV from the rollers to the buckets had become caked with UV so that the liquid was going over the edges of the trough and going places it shouldn’t go.  We had noticed this happening but did not realize the significance of the problem.  The results of ignoring the problem were, it seized up the machine.

What about me?

It made me start to think about my Christian walk.  I think of Jesus as the UV.  When we allow Him to flood over our lives we become beautiful and protected.  It is Christ that makes us become a beautiful, loving Christian.  But we do need to allow Him to do it.

The question is, what about Christian “maintenance”?  Do we need cleaning?  What happens when we don’t get cleaned?

These are all great questions to ask ourselves.  I just want to share a few thoughts.  I do believe that we need to be thoroughly cleaned daily.  Do we do the cleaning? No, but we do have to allow God to come in and do it.  We have to surrender self.  Each day we need to start by giving our day to God.  And at the end of each day, we need to evaluate our day with God and make right with Him anything that He brings to our minds.

I believe that having a monthly or one day, whatever you decide is best for you, of fasting and focusing on a thorough evaluation and cleaning would be appropriate also.  Now, when I say fasting that does not necessarily mean no food.  It could be just less food or smoothies.  Some people can go completely without food others cannot.  We need to get our minds clear to hear God’s still small voice speak to us.

Stitches

One of my co-workers, that was dissembling the machine so that we could replace the bearing that had gone bad due to not having a monthly cleaning, got cut.  There is a sharp blade that while he was working accidentally brushed up against it.  He had to go and get 3 stitches.

Does Jesus ever get wounded as He is working within our lives to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?  Yes, he does.  What wounds Him?  When He brushes up against sin that we do not want to let go of. “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”  Hebrews 6:6.  When we want to hang on to a sin in our lives it is painful for Christ, it is like an open wound.  As we let Him remove the sin it is like stitches to His wound.

Cleaning

The repairs and cleaning on the UV machine have taken time.  It is the same in the Christian life.  When we come to God with a repentant heart He forgives us which is call Justification.  Then Sanctification takes place and it is the work of a lifetime.  Just like I said above, each day we need to be going to the Lord and asking Him to show us what areas in our lives need to change.  The Lord does not show us all the damage and filth that needs to be fixed and cleaned all at once, for which I am grateful.

As we are in His Word and praying He will reveal to us the changes that need to transpire.  And as long as we surrender with each revelation He will continue to do “maintenance” work on our hearts.  He does the work but we have to allow Him to do it.  We want to say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved, me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.  As long as self is crucified with Christ we will be willing to allow Him full access to our lives.  We need to die daily.

Dear Father,

Forgive me for the wounds that I have caused You.  I want to surrender my full life to You and let You have full access.  Keep everything clean for me each day.  Prompt my heart to seek You.  Thank You for Your patience and love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Let Jesus have full access today.  Surrender all and let Him come in and clean you and maintain you.  Spend time in God’s Word each day and be much in prayer and He will see you through every difficulty.

Love you all.

Have you ever felt seized up (hopeless)?  As you sought God, what did He do for you?  I would love to hear your story.

 

 

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“The Love/Hate Relationship With Technology!!”

How are your technology skills?

Is it something you love to do?  Do you find that you love the results, once it is figured out, but getting there is a pain?  I love the results but many times getting there is so hard.

I have had trouble most recently.  It actually has to do with posting my blogs.  I have been posting them for a while; it may have been a year now.  But trouble erupted.  I have been trying on my own to figure it out.  I have contacted my hosting service and they can’t help me.  They say it is a Facebook problem.  They gave me the idea of debugging with Facebook, which I did, but all I got was some “Greek” and I have no idea how to fix it.  I am not a programmer.  I haven’t wanted to call WordPress because even though I have a free version it cost to ask questions.  And then there is the question, will they really know the answer or will they just tell me it is a Facebook problem.  How do you contact Facebook anyway?  That seems like an impossible option.

As I have been going through this process I discovered something very significant.  I can’t do it myself.  Oh, I can keep busy trying, which I did for hours, but I just kept failing.  I discovered the only way I could succeed was to go to the experts.  In order to go to the experts, WordPress, it cost me money.  Because it would cost money I kept trying and trying myself but when I realized I am just failing over and over again I finally gave up and made the call.

It made me think of my Christian walk.

I find many times trying to fix myself.  But then I discover that the harder I try to figure out the “technology” of my heart all I have is a heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked and I don’t even know my heart.

When I get desperate enough I go to the “Expert Technical Support” (Jesus).  He is the only one that knows the technology of my heart.  Why do I keep trying on my own instead of going to the Expert? For the same reason, I didn’t want to go to WordPress.  It costs!  You might be saying,  “What do you mean it cost?”  It is a free gift!”  Yes and no.  Forgiveness is a free gift but I have to ask for it.  Salvation is a free gift but there are conditions, so technically it is not free, it cost.  What does it cost me?  Everything!   It cost me full surrender.  It cost me all my rights. I have to allow the Technician access to my heart.

Look at Calvary and tell me that there is no cost.

It cost Christ suffering, indescribable beyond words.  The physical pain was not the most difficult, it was the mental anguish, the separation from His Father that was brought on by all our sins.  It cost the life of the Son of God.

Everything that we do needs to be done through the eyes of seeing Jesus dying on the cross for us.  Are the next words I’m going to say going to be Christlike?  Is the next thing I am going to watch, listen to, or do going to reflect Christlikeness or is it reflecting the things of this world?

My link to my WordPress Blog was not speaking to Facebook because there were some pathways that were not right.  There was some programming that had to be fixed and I was unable to do it.  Reality is that as humans we have some “programming” that needs fixing.  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8, 9.

We can try to reprogram our ways and our thoughts to God’s ways but we will fail over and over.

The truth is, we are not capable of reprogramming ourselves.  We need the expert Technician to do the reprogramming for us.  Salvation is free, just like my free version of WordPress but the reprogramming is not.  Just like WordPress did all the work after I paid the price, Jesus, the Technician will do all the work after I have paid the price.  What is the price? The price is a full surrender of my life.  Allowing Him to come in and for me to submit all to Jesus.

The WordPress technician could not go into my program until I “surrendered” my blog to him and allowed him full access to go in and do the fixing.  If I had kept trying to go in and change or take back what he was trying to do it would have never gotten fixed.  So with Christ, He wants full access to our lives.  And we have to keep allowing full access to our lives and continue to follow His instructions or we will not be prepared for Him when He comes to take us home.

Dear Father,

We want to be ready when You come.  The hardest thing to do is to let You have full control.  We feel out of control when we give up.  Help us realize the freedom and peace that comes when we give it all to You. “Lord, take our hearts; for we cannot give it.  It is Thy property.  Keep it pure, for we cannot keep it for Thee.  Save us in spite of ourselves, our weak, unchristlike self.  Mold us, fashion us, raise us into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of Thy love can flow through our souls.”

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give your whole life to Jesus today and let Him have full control.  It will cost the death of self but it is worth every cent.  And when it is all said and done He will have the technology of our hearts programmed so that we will be ready to go home with Him.

Love you all.

Have you had a technology issue?  What spiritual application can you apply to it? Please share your ideas

 

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“The Hurricane Is Coming, Get Out!!”

Disaster!  Have you ever been involved in a disaster?  Maybe you have had a fire near you or even had to actually evacuate and even lost your house.  Or maybe you have been in the pathway of a tornado or hurricane.  Or maybe your house has been struck by lightning, which is what happened to our neighbours.  Whatever the disaster, it can be so devastating.  Fear can take over and even anger can come into play.

I went to a continuing education convention to do with my business.  It was a very big convention with people coming in from many different locations.  Some of our group came from Florida, Montana, and Oregon.  With all the devastating fires in Montana and Oregon, there was constant watch to make sure at any point if they needed to drop everything and rush home.  And then those that were from Florida had to change flights and head home almost immediately, not knowing for sure if they could even make it to their home before the devastation from the hurricane would hit their house.

Those that are living near the fires not only have to worry about losing their houses but they also are struggling with their health due to the smoke.  And those that are not near the fires have also suffered from the smoke.  The oxygen is so polluted that it is having effects on many.

This summer has seemed such a time for disasters with all the hurricanes and fires.  And many people can be living in fear of tomorrow.  Last week a friend packed what they could in their car with them and their parents and headed out of the danger zone.  It was taking 11 plus hours to travel a 4-hour distance.  There have been whole islands that have been destroyed with still another hurricane coming.  And then there is fire sweeping across many states destroying land and homes.

If we have not been directly affected yet by a devastating disaster we wonder what might be coming our way and if we have something to fear.  It is easy to think that everyone else is having trouble, we are fine but then are we really safe.

The question is how do you prepare for such devastating disasters.  What things are the most important?  Some may think about getting their things out.  Others just worry about themselves getting out.  While still others want to help their family and friends out too.

It makes me think of the Christian walk.  The most devastating disasters are yet to come.  And as Christians how are we preparing for it.  To me the most important things are people.  We can’t save things but we can save people.  We may not be able to save the bodies but we can save the souls.  All we need to fear is that which is “able to destroy both soul and body”.

So what can we do?  I believe that God is waiting for a people who perfectly reflect His character.  As we do this, His truth will go to the entire world.  Those that are seeking for something different will be drawn to us by the love of God because we are perfectly reflecting His character.

We cannot do this on our own.  I heard said, “’Taking up your cross’ involves cheerful submission to the trials and afflictions that God allows in the course of following Him.”  As we take up our cross it leads us toward reflecting Christ.  We will gain:

  • Victory over the temptation to sin.
  • Intimate fellowship with Christ.
  • Fulfilling God’s purpose for our life.

I also heard said, “Cross-bearing flows out of love for Christ and involves doing whatever is necessary to accomplish God’s will.”  We need to do this daily.  The question is, what does taking your cross up daily mean?

  • Cease to make independent, selfish decisions and begin to fully follow God’s will.
  • Go beyond short-term commitments to total surrender to God.
  • Instead of focusing on personal pleasures, live for God.
  • Evaluate every word and deed based on how they show God’s love.
  • Forsaking the distractions of worldly things and activities.

We have just a little time to escape from the “Hurricane, fire, etc.” of this world.  We need to be packing up all our “valuables” so that when the time comes we can escape.  The valuables are people’s character.  We can only take care of our own characters.  But if our characters are reflecting Christ we will influence others so that their characters will be ready.

Dear Father,

Help us keep our focus where it should be.  We know that Your coming is soon.  We ask You to surround us with Your love.  And as we stay close to You refine our characters so that we can be Your witnesses.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Love you all.

What experience have you had with hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, tornado’s etc.?  And how did the Lord see you through?  Share your story here.