Light our way!

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Have you ever stumbled around in the dark? I have on numerous occasions and usually it ends with me finding a light source only after finding unidentified objects in my path with my shins and toes! Walking around in darkness is never desired, we need to see where we’re going in order to navigate safely through.

A few years ago I went on a cave tour in the mountains of Tennessee. We descended down into this cave with our tour guide, at the surface it was a hot summer day, but when we arrived to the bottom of the cave it was a chilly fifty degrees. After some instructions from our guide, we took another hike through some narrow portions of the cave. We even crawled through some spaces at one point, which made it just a little bit claustrophobic for some. Finally after we had climbed through the narrow crevice we found ourselves in a large cavern with walls that were at least 15 feet tall. The ceiling sparkled as there were numerous deposits of some kind or another. Finally our tour guide asked us to trust him and to do something unthinkable. He asked us to turn our lights off. So we did and suddenly our entire group was plunged into complete and total darkness. It was momentarily unnerving when I considered how deep we were and all of the rock that hovered over our heads. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. Our tour guide then spoke and said, this is what complete and total darkness feels like.

Sometimes in our spiritual lives we find ourselves in places like this. Suddenly the light goes out and we’re standing there in the dark afraid and on the verge of panicking. Perhaps we get there by our own strength and resources, we stray from God and try to do everything ourselves. Other times we neglect our devotion and prayer life with God and we become disconnected with the Father. And again suddenly we are plunged into a darkness of our own choices.

Whatever situation you may identify with know that this darkness can be conquered by His Word and His love! He can and will guide us through this life if we let Him. All too often I identify with the darkness because I take back my cares and concerns and think that I can do it all in my own strength. Have you ever done that? At times I think (and wrongly so) I don’t need any one’s help I’ve got this…but I couldn’t be more wrong.

His Word will light our path if we’re consuming it daily! But don’t stop there, allow His grace to fall on you each day, moment by moment as you invite Him into your day throughout your day!

He will be your guide…do you trust Him?

June 4, 2013 0

Have You Forgotten???

Psalm 103:2-6 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Do you have trouble remembering what God has done for you? Are you lacking in your confidence that He is actually there for you? Sometimes it’s beneficial to read scripture passages such as Psalm 103 to bring to mind once again in great detail what the Lord has done for all of us. Look at these verse above once more…it says right at the beginning “forget not all his benefits.” The psalmist stresses the need to never forget the things that God has done for us, and then he goes on to list them for us, just in case we’ve indeed forgotten.

What Are the Benefits of God?

1. He forgives ALL your sins!

Not just some of your sins, but all of your sins! Think of it, what God offers to each and everyone one of us is complete and total absolution for our sins. The slate is literally wiped clean! When the slate is wiped clean, we are provided freedom from sin and death. This first benefit is epic in that we can be brought back into a right relationship with the Father. No longer do we have to be bound by the shackles of sin, but instead the binds of bondage are taken from us…we are free indeed!

2. He Heals all your diseases:

Don’t misunderstand here, perhaps we may yet have to endure actual physical health issues or struggles, but ultimate we will one day be complete healed and given new heavenly bodies. But God does in fact still heal His people here on earth. Miracles do still take place and He can provide this blessing of healing to those He deems in need of it…but the problem arises for us when we consider the question, ‘what if He doesn’t choose to heal me?’ When we submit our lives to God we take on a vital component of the Lord’s prayer in action in our lives when we pray, ‘Thy will be done.’

3. (He)… redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion

Because God forgive ALL of our sin we have been saved from eternal punishment and instead have been given the right to be called sons and daughters of God! We have been grafted into the family of God because of Jesus Christ! He stands before us with nail scared hands and wraps His arms around us and showers us with His love! Isn’t that awesome to think about? His love and compassion escorts us into the family and we are able to sit before the Father of all creation because of Jesus and what He’s done for us!

4. (He) “satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”

Does God provide for you? Is He not the Jehovah Jireh in your life? God have given us all that we need, not all that we want. He provides us with the things that are vital to our lives, but be careful that you don’t mistake wants for needs. God will always give to his children that which we ask for in His name, not ours. Make sure the things we ask for aren’t for any selfish intent or prideful purpose, but rather humbly ask for things which God will grant to benefit his children living His kingdom out here on earth right now! He does satisfy our needs and He will sustain us and renew us within all our energies and motivations.

5. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Be assured that those who are oppressed, those who are serving Him through difficult circumstances and facing trials and persecution will one day find justice from those who have wronged them. This isn’t a vindictive statement but a holy truth. God is Lord of all including those who are unrighteous and those who oppress His people. Everyone will one day have to stand before God and take account for their actions here on earth. I know that God will bring His pure and true justice upon us all. I also know that God still works through the oppressed and impacts this world for His glory regardless if man and their kingdoms oppose His message. His will always prevails despite the attempts of the enemy to discourage and dismantle His cause. Know that despite their trials, and even ours that we serve a God who doesn’t fail even if we do. If we are faithful to Him and do what He asks of us, He will provide the victory even if we do not get to see it fulfilled in our life time.

Have you forgotten? Do you lack understanding of what it is exactly that God has done for us? Read this passage again and be encouraged! Understand the God is on your side and wants you to know that He prevails in and through all things! Don’t forget these awesome facts and bring them to mind whenever you feel discouraged or downhearted. May the Lord remind you in your times of trouble that you matter to Him and also what He provides to you still today!

June 3, 2013 1

Salt: Flavor & Preserver

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13

Did you know that salt is not only a flavoring element within food, but is also a preserver of food? Salt has been one of those ancient ways in which people have used to prevent food from rotting. So when Jesus told those gathered there that they were salt of the earth, he chose a topic with which the people would understand. Still today food is of epic importance to our survival as people. We can last for a long time without it, but food nourishes us, sustains us and provides us with the appropriate vitamins and nutrients. Without those vital components in life, we will eventually perish.

Jesus brought his message home to those who would listen that this world is perishing. All things have an expiration date…yet what will preserve us? What will make us last a little longer? What will inject much needed flavor into our world? The answer is simply those who will follow after God’s own heart!

This world will eventually pass away, and sometimes we may think it may be in our life time when we see unspeakable horrors and violence, humans turning on other humans, death and destruction…our world is a violent place. Yet, the preserving element of life is God who is the author and sustainer of all things. When we align our hearts, body and soul to Him, we find that the outpouring of this faith is love, peace, hope and joy…something this world desperately needs more of!

When we display love without strings attached, a joy without ulterior motives other than for others to find this same joy as well, we will inject our worlds with just a little bit of God’s epic flavor.

So how about it? Are you prepared to be God’s preservationist? Are you prepared to offer a dying world hope in the eternal one? Being salt to a flavorless and empty world is what we ought to strive for!

Another interesting notion in this passage of scripture for us to grasp is that typically all of the salt that was utilized in Israel at the time of Jesus was brought up from the Dead sea, which as you may know is extremely salty. But there is also something else about the salt content of the Dead sea that you may not know. The salt deposits within this body of water is full of impurities and often, after time, will lose its flavor.

Jesus instructed, perhaps even pleaded with this audience that we should never lose our flavor. If we are to provide a flavorless world with the undaunted grace and richness of God then we must be mindful to always draw from His source of power and might. Because if we stop drawing from Him and instead begin to rely on our own merits and flavor, we will lose the very essence of His character and love to a world so desperate to find hope.

Be flavor and a preserver to this world through the power of the One who sent us out into it! Never let this hope diminish or lose its flavor!

May 28, 2013 2

By Faith – Memorial Day Thought

Hebrews 11:1-16 (NIV)
^“1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
²This is what the ancients were commended for. ³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. ⁵By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. ⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. ⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith Abraham, even though he was past age–and Sarah herself was barren–was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. ¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.“

These 16 verses and more make up the ‘Faith’ chapter in Hebrews. The author evokes for us the necessity of faith in a world so wrought with uncertainties. He recalls pillars of the faith who took leaps of faith and landed on their feet because of God. Faith is important in this life. Faith helps us get through many situations and if we persevere, God will provide the means for our survival. Do you have faith?

On this weekend throughout the United States, this country celebrates and looks back at those who have gone on before us. Our generations who have given their lives for this country…but we too should consider our family members, church members and pillars of our faith who have paved…no blazed the way for us! The too lived by faith and every time we recall them in our hearts my it spur us on to keep going in our lives! Their testimonies still live on in our remembering and we ought to not only honor them in our memories but consider the trails we too are blazing in this life at this very moment.

You are an inspiration to others!

Did you know that? Little one, children and others will eventually look up to you and in how you conducted your life…will you be an inspiration or a tell tale of how not to live this life? I want my kids to remember me for being a loving father and godly man…I want my children’s children to consider me when they make crucial decisions. I don’t say this to be prideful or arrogant but rather I want to live in a such a way that I please the Lord and by the faith provide a long term role model for others to follow as well.

By Faith I Want to Live…do you?

Just a thought for today!

May 26, 2013 1

This Old House…Peeling back the paint

Sometimes recalling certain memories can be like peeling the paint from an old weathered house. You know the old house needs it, it’s crying for it and yet the whole facade will change. Peeling back the paint will remove the years of character and sometimes charm, but underneath it all you know the walls need to breathe, to be set free, and sometimes the old paint holds moisture in, green and molding smelling ripe like mildew. All unseen by the naked eye without the begrudging labor of the paint peeler.

Withholding our memories, holding them at arm’s length, quivering like a lost puppy who whimpers and shies away from everything including a loving hand, we fear what we will find underneath it all! We fear that others will be horrified when the truth is revealed…memories are like prison bars and razor wire fences. We’re a captivated audience of one, too afraid to move…to make a break for it. Too afraid of our own shadows lurking within corners that we’ve created. Memories that we avoid do not fade, but rather they deepen in their staining. And we within our self-made prisons peer out at them from behind our bar windows, clutching fragments of sun light instead of basking in it.

This old house needs a new, fresh coat of glossy clean paint that sparkles in the sunlit day and gleams when the stars in the night sky comes a callin’…but first this old decrepit brown weathered tinged paint must be peeled back…we must reveal our hurts, our wounds, our heartaches, we can’t just paint over the old for the old with infect and deflect the new.

So with weapon of choice in hand we, knowing it to be the right thing to do, must embrace the mess, confess to the wrongs, embrace what it is now, relish the opportunity to begin again. Peel back the pain that harbors itself beneath the paint. Let it breathe free and when the sun has baked its cold moisture away…this old house can take on a new creation.

May 25, 2013 0

At War…(Poem)

I am at war…

Blood and bone

Skin and pain

Spirit and brokenness.

Can’t you hear the cries?

As men try to save

Try to be brave

Try to inflict pain

On the enemy?

I just want to be

Set free

To be whole again

To fight this sin

Within and

Come out clean.

Can’t you hear

these yearnings?

These longings

As these hands,

This heart

Beckons for something

More.

I am at war…

A war I cannot win

Something deep inside

More than this bloody tide

Unseen by human eyes

I’ve bought into all the lies

But my spirit is

Never satisfied.

War…pain

Can’t fight this refrain

Without salvation

And hand to pull me out

To set me up and

Let me stand on feeble

Feet of atrophy.

Set me free dear Lord

Set my feet upon your rock

Without your strength

Without your hope

All is lost.

May 24, 2013 0

“Teach us to number our days”

37 years
444 months
1,930 weeks
13,514 days
324,336 hours
19,460,160 minutes
1,167,609,600 seconds
You were born on a Friday
Age in Dog Years: 161.0
Age in Galapagos Turtle Years: 17.6

This is exactly how long I’ve been alive on this planet.

When I look at the time that has passed me it really has an impact on me. I think of all of the wasted time, the ‘down time’, the time that I let slip through my fingers…But I also think of the miles stones in my life too. The day I proposed to my wife which was

14 years
177 months
772 weeks
5,405 days
129,720 hours
7,783,200 minutes
466,992,000 seconds

Ago.

I think of the days when my children were born all four of them…I recall the significant friendships that I’ve forged along the way…the meaningful connections of humanity that I’ve had the privilege to partake in and these cross roads that intersected with two or more human beings at one very specific time or place. I have been a blessed man so far!

TWO VERSES:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Says;
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

And…

Joshua 24:15 says:
“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

We have this one life and my prayer is that we don’t waste it! We have so many distractions in this life, so much wasted opportunities and wasted time…but don’t take this life for granted or watch it fly by without taking each and every moment to make a difference in this world and to serve the Lord! We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors in this world don’t be ashamed of the gospel and don’t forget our calling!

Psalm 39:4 “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.”

How many days have you been alive? How many minutes…Galapagos Turtle Years?

Use them or lose them…let’s all choose to use them and take each and every moment without regrets!

May 20, 2013 0

RSVP: Reserve Space for Victory in Paradise!

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David…Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near…You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:1-3,6,12)

What do you do when you are invited to a party? You send the RSVP or call in your RSVP and you confirm (if schedule allows) that you will attend. Your response is required so that the party host will know who will attend and how many to plan for. It’s not only polite to return your RSVP, it is an important response and action on your part…in essence you are saying “I will be there!”

In the above passage of Isaiah, the invitations for forgiveness have been sent out by God. He wants to make what was broken whole again. The prophecy of Messiah (Jesus) is evident in two key verses two chapters back:

Isaiah 52:13 “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” &

Isaiah 53:12 “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Forgiveness is at hand, the RSVP has been hand delivered to all of us, and the Host of this Redemptive party is awaiting our response. The most telling portion of chapter 55 in Isaiah is verse 6…it says “Seek the Lord while he may be found...” It is a frightening proposition here because He seems to be saying to us, ‘make up your minds while you can.’ The implication is that our RSVP has an expiration date and we ought not postpone our response.

Forgiveness and redemption is ours, the Host of Heaven stands at the front door inviting us in…what will your response be? Either we enter and accept His love and forgiveness or we don’t because soon that door will be closed…soon we will all be standing before Him, and in contrast, probably the most frightening passage in all of scripture is Matthew 25:31-46 when Jesus himself states clearly that the day is coming when the King will separate the sheep from goats and He will say to the goats (those who have not accepted His invitation to forgiveness and redemption) “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” (Matthew 25:41)

We have this contrast of those who will accept the invitation and those who will not. Yet there is hope…there is time, but if you haven’t accepted the invitation, don’t let this time slip away. Redemption draws near, your RSVP is requested…what will your answer be?

May 17, 2013 0

At the door…Salvation comes. (Poem)

Dear Lord,

you know these feeble hands

and waning strength

ebbing away as the ticking hand progresses

You know my thoughts

and how they stray wondering

further then a troubled runaway…

I can’t pretend in your presence

I can’t put up a front before you

You see right through me like

a window pane freshly washed

this house is open, doors unlocked

I cannot hide from you

not deny any skeletons yet residing.

yet you come to me

you still come to my level

and embrace me like everything

is alright…I know it’s not

and yet you remind me again

that your sacrifice has made me clean

you have made it right

made it right for me…

how can I accept this?

when I know i’m a mess?

How can I agree to this

when I can’t forgive who I am

the battle isn’t about what you are

and what you’ve done

but what I am and where I’ve been…

how can I let you in?

How can I let you see me like this?

Yet your grace, your face

your love your hope

surrounds me completely.

It’s too good for me and yet

you let me see that you grant

this gift to me freely!

Such amazing love,

such unmerited grace

falls upon me in this place

and I am whole again

I am so much more than I used to be

you have mended me

you have set me free…

and so I no longer let you stand

at the door on my front porch

but I let you in and let this

salvation thing in me begin.

May 13, 2013 1

YOLO?

It’s been around for a while, but I think the significance of this four letter acronym should be explored. “You only live once” is what it tells us. What does it mean? People have used it as a hashtag signifying & justifying poor judgement and bad decisions with this excuse “you only live once”. There is even a ‘YOLO’ clothing line that has been started. We’ve gone from ‘Just Do It’ and ‘No Fear’ to ‘YOLO’. Hmm…it seems to me that what culture is telling us is that it’s okay to do what you want, when you want, where you want because you only live once.

I recognize that everyone makes mistakes in this life but if we don’t learn from them and acknowledge that we’ve made them we run the risk of never growing and maturing. As a Christian I don’t believe that I am going to live just once and then nothing, I believe that there is an eternity and that this life we live leads us to the next, and what we do here and now counts…it matters! So if I adopted ‘YOLO’ as my philosophy , what I’m saying essentially is that the only thing that matters in life is the ‘here and now’. The problem with that is that it doesn’t account for the consequences. For example if someone sleeps around aren’t they more likely to contract an STD than someone who waits until marriage? If someone starts smoking and burns through at least a pack a day aren’t they opening themselves up to a slew of medical problems down the road the worst being cancer and death? I could add so many more examples of choice = consequence here but these are just two examples.

YOLO isn’t really a new phrase, it’s just wrapped in new packaging. Some have taken scripture out of context as well when they quote passages like “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” Isaiah 22:13 (NIV) The meaning behind it has been eliminated and taken to mean ‘well what the heck, we can do what we want because we know we’re all going to die someday’.

I’m not too keen on living that way because I recognize that one day each person is going to have to account for the life that we’ve lived before the Father in heaven. That doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy life, on the contrary God has given us this life for enjoyment and pleasure but we ought to recognize that He also wants us to include Him in our lives. When we forget consequences and forget about the future, we lose focus on what is at stake.

One of my favorite bible verses is a good guide for each of us in how we ought to live.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV) If we are walking humbly with our God we will enjoy this life so much more than the emptiness of comes knocking on our doors after we have lived it up and gone down roads that we now regret.

On the plus side, perhaps there is merit to ‘YOLO’…perhaps you can take this phrase to mean ‘hey you only live once in flesh and bone so make it count, do what you can to live a godly life and glorify the Lord in your living’! I think if I were to embrace YOLO that is what I would take it to mean. Will I make it count? Can I live a God pleasing life? Can I help lead others to Him along the way? ‘YOLO’!

-Just a thought for today!

Here’s some humor for your Monday:

May 13, 2013 0

Tag: Hope