Perspectives Day 1 – Featuring Shanais Strissel (Captain) “On the Other Side of the Veil”

“On the Other Side of the Veil”

Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid that when you woke up it took you a few moments to realize that it actually was a dream and not reality? It takes a moment for the mist to clear, the world to turn right side up and reality to realign itself once more.

I had a dream like that last night, vivid, stingingly emotional, deep and filled with rich, longing emotions.

I had a dream in which my mother showed up, she wasn’t what the dream was about or even a large portion of it, she just showed up for a moment…

I was sitting in a small room, with a small stage and when I glanced up I saw my mother walk out on the stage and begin to speak (which if you knew my mother she would NEVER intentionally get up in front of anyone)

It wasn’t what she said, it was how she looked that struck me like an arrow through the heart…she was wearing blue jeans, an old t-shirt, her hair kind of wild and a huge cup of coffee in clutched her hands, with a nervous smirk on her face.

The feelings that overtook me were so intense in my dream that I couldn’t even bare to look upon her face, in my dream I got up and walked out to the hall and cried, I cried a deep longing, emotion filled, slightly angry filled moaning cry.

Why…because even in my dreams I know that my mother is gone and I can only glimpse her through the veil of death…it was her essence in my dream that connected my heart directly to hers because this WAS who my mother was, her look, her mannerism, her spirit...

My dream was my subconscious creating an illusionary moment of a reality that I desire- a desire that I cannot fulfill….yet.

For now I wait patiently on this side of the veil.

Death is not a fixed point and heaven isn’t some misty, foggy place “out” there in the sky somewhere…it is just across the veil and closer than we think, or at least closer than I used to think.

When death visits close to home and comes to take someone we love, whether violently or silently, it never comes gently- it cannot- it is not its nature, because it almost always leaves behind a gaping hole of loss or uneasy questions.

But the good news for us is that even though we must, for now, stand on one side of the veil or the other it will not always be so. Death may separate one life from another for now but someday that veil will be torn and we will not mingle with each other in death but in a real and tangible incorruptible life…

When Jesus hung on that cross he didn’t just save us from our sin, he saved all humanity from desolate separation…We could not face God in a corruptible state but when Jesus tore the temple veil on his death, WE can now walk through that VEIL of death and arrive before God…and just as the temple veil was torn, so will this veil that separates the corruptible flesh, what we are now, to what we will someday become.

Someday, I will see my mother, my grandmother and those who are now on the other side of the veil and someday I will see that veil fall…

For those we celebrate on this day of honor and sacrifice, for the loss of loved ones, let the pain and sorrow of that loss gently flow into healing and hope…

Healing because we know life does not end at death

And hope because we, for now, may get glimpses through the veil of death from time to time but someday it will be gone and we will be free to live and love the way we were meant to…without the fear of separation.

So on this day, let us not celebrate loss, but let us celebrate our future hope…

Because someday I will be able to go across the room and embrace my mother because nothing will separate us anymore, and you will be able to do the same…

Shanais Strissel’s Blog Site: http://shanaisstrissel.wordpress.com/

May 26, 2014 2

The Salvation Army…A Holiness for Failures.

Okay, I admit my title is a little inflammatory…hang with me, I’ll get to the point. Here’s what I mean: The Salvation Army ministers to many who come from hard-living lifestyles. Admittedly many souls who come to us for help are victims of these lifestyles. How we minister to them begins with the old catch phrase/slogan “Soup, soap, salvation”. We long to fill their stomachs, clean them up and get their lives back on track before we can minister to their hearts. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be specifically in that chronological order either, our ministry opportunities could come simultaneously. But the core of our ministry stems upon a demographic of those who are marginalized, poor and/or destitute…and the failures – there I said it.

The “Failure” –
We live in a numbers oriented ministry driven world where, from an outside point of view only having 20 or 40 in a service on Sunday seems to indicate a dying church when compared to mega churches and large community churches that boast well over a 1,000 members. I’m not knocking these churches, nor am I jealous and want to become them…but there are quite a few who join the ranks of the army who look at these churches and then look at our corps attendance on Sundays and feel as if we’ve failed and/or are dying. It’s a failure of a different sort, a failure of perspective. This failure of perspective comes when we buy into the lie that numbers in the pews are the only source or indicator of a ministry’s effectiveness. Successful ministry begins and ends at personal relationships. Do we spend quality time one on one with those with whom we minister with and to? This is the true evidence of genuine discipleship. Not that it can’t happen in other ministries where you can possibly get lost in the crowd, but can you hide in a corps that boasts 40 members?

Are we caring for the complete person? Is there follow-up and attention to the real sources of crucial personal issues in their lives? The Salvation Army isn’t like other churches because it isn’t just a church, it’s a movement and a triage location to the lost, hurting, marginalized and the failures.

Operating within a Holiness For Failures:
Fellow spiritual freedom fighters we aren’t strictly in the business of merely facilitating “goods” to those in need. We have a broader, greater mission to fulfill. It may indeed begin with the services of goods in order to meet the physical needs, but it mustn’t end there! That is only the beginning. We must be ~~willing~~ able to help usher those we serve in our community into the very throne room of heaven in order for them to have the opportunity to meet and know Christ Jesus. Providing “goods” and services gets us in the door but if we are a mission of holiness for failures (myself included) then we must do more than a box of food, a place to sleep and a warm meal…we must display and convey Jesus!

Jesus came for the Failures and the Lost!

Jesus came for the whosoever, and those He picked to serve in His mission were not the best of the best. They were tough men and women. Many were from hard living lifestyles and many did not have the best of educations. If Jesus had operated within modern day success oriented means He would have gone to the synagogues and recruited the most educated. He would have filled the temples to the brim and He would have had an active prosperous ministry that would have afforded Himself many properties and riches…yet this wasn’t His mission. He came to the rejects, the prostitutes, the outcasts, the uneducated, the lame and the sick, the dead and all we failures. Not failures by occupational standards or in friendships (not all anyway) but by a salvation standard. “For all have sinned (failed) and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) He operated within a holiness for failures system. This isn’t to mean that Holiness is or was a failure, but rather He went to the sinner, He lived among to poor, He cared for the outcasts and brought the power of redemption to those who would hear and seek. Even selecting His disciples He showed evidence that He would use anyone who was willing to follow and willing to receive His holiness and success at the cost of even death.

From point ‘a’ to point ‘b’

How are we bringing people from point ‘a’ (a life of sin and shame) to point ‘b’ (a life of salvation, redemption and holiness)? What are we concerned with more? Numerical success or the success of holistic ministry and spiritual life altering opportunities? Are we looking over the fences at other ministries that do not embody what our movement is all about? We are many parts of the body of Christ and with that being said other ministries out there operate for different reasons. Jesus brought hope to a world of failures, how are we emulating Him in our Corps and in our various ministries in our communities?

Perhaps you’re hung up on the word “failure” today because of its negative connotations. Jesus came you and for me because we needed Him! Still today many are lost in their failures, blinded by habitual sins and shame…be a light to them not by your power but by His Holy Presence. Help to usher His holiness to those who need Him most! Perhaps we must stop looking over the fences, stop comparing ourselves and get back to work. The upside – when we allow Christ to work within us as well as those we minister to He will turn us from Failures into His Holy Success stories.

“Go for souls, and go for the worst!”

-Just another thought to Ponder.

May 23, 2014 0

My Tribute to Moms

We shouldn’t need a “special” day to thank Mom. Every day should be a “special” day. Moms have a way of knowing just when to call or tell you something that no one else has the guts to say to you. Moms have been with us through the good, the bad, and the ugly (sometimes there has been a lot of “ugly”).

Moms Get it

It is more than just Mother’s “intuition”, Moms seem to have a supernatural/extra-sensory connection with their children. I’m not some sort of crackpot here, it’s just that I’ve seen it in person and I know there is more to a Mother-child connection than meets the eye. Moms know what to say and sometimes more importantly what not to say but just to provide a hug or an expression of compassion, love and support.

Don’t Mess with Mama

As a kid I remember saying something I shouldn’t have. My mouth ran briskly while my brain was too slow to catch it. What happened next is still vivid in my mind. I nearly lost my nose, because the words I had said were directed at my mother. They were bad words. Words I should never have said. Hurtful, razor sharp daggers of lingo…and I was wrong. My mother slapped me on my face and I thought my nose was going to fly off. I deserved it – lesson learned.

But watch out world…

If you ever mess with Mama’s kids…you’re going to get a smack down like no other. Some say World War 3 will be caused by Superpowers and nuclear war. I beg to differ. If you mess with Mama’s kids, you might as well hang a sign around your neck that reads “I caused World War 3.”

Not only does Mom know what to say to help her kids and how to correct her kids, but she will defend her kids at all cost. You deserve to be warned should you pick a fight with her children…you might just have taken your life in your own hands.

To My Mom –

I love you and I am so proud of you! You have helped me through a lot of things. You have always been there (I know I’m lucky, some never had it as good as we did growing up). You sacrificed a lot for us kids. There were times that I know you and Dad went without things just to make sure Sherry and I didn’t. I can never repay that kind of love except to replicate that example in how I love my children and in how I love you.

As we all grow older I am learning how to cherish and treasure you as my Mother. I am so thankful to God for providing you to my life. The decisions I have made in this life were because I had the instruction of two godly people growing up – Mom and Dad. This is worth so much more than earthly treasures and riches. This, as I am slowly beginning to realize more and more, is what life is all about.

To my Wife – Shanais Strissel

My Mom and Shanais on our Wedding Day (September 12th, 1998)

I am the luckiest man alive! I married my best friend and life long companion. She is an amazing Mom, and she personifies Christ to our children! I consider myself blessed because She said “Yes” almost 16 years ago when I proposed. Since then, through the good, the bad and the ugly, She has been a rock and a light to me and these four crazy blessings we call kids. Wow…I still can’t find the words to express how much I love her and what she means to me. That being said, I plan on spending the rest of my life trying to collect those verbs, adjectives and everything in between to try and bring to light how important and loved she is to me.

For You, the Reader –

Hug your Moms. Cherish who they are. Life, this temporal thing, is short. Take time to appreciate all that your mother has taught you. Make sure you take the time to tell her how much she has done to shape you as a person.

Don’t lose any opportunity to appreciate your Mom. She deserves your respect and love…so show it.

-Just something more to ponder on this Mother’s day weekend.

May 10, 2014 0

Perspectives Day 1 Featuring John Mowers (Major) -” A Testimony From a Jar of Clay”

A Testimony from a Jar of Clay

“You have pulmonary sarcoidosis.” The doctor said it like I should know what that meant. He then asked me if I’d ever heard of sarcoidosis. I replied “only on TV” – that it is always the wrong diagnosis on the popular television drama, House, M.D.

What it meant was that the chronic shortness of breath that I had been experiencing had a cause, and I would have to begin taking a strong steroid medication to control it and prevent the spread to other organs. I recall how anxious I began to feel. Nobody told me that the medication itself would heighten my sense of anxiety or that coming off the medication would induce feelings of depression. But I made it through the 15 months or so of treatment, although I put on 40 pounds of extra weight. I felt well enough to ask to return to corps work for the last four years of my officership. I’d been stationed at Training Colleges for 11 years and I wanted to pastor a corps again. So we were transferred to a corps in crisis. I plunged into the pastoral care and preaching and administration that mark a large corps totally confident that we were where God wanted us to be. Just to be safe I found a new doctor in the new city and started regular checkups. Soon I was feeling the familiar shortness of breath and asked for some tests to be run.

Less than two years after my original diagnosis, a new doctor confirmed that the sarcoidosis was indeed worse and announced that the disease had progressed to stage four – meaning unlikely to respond to treatment. “What can we do, doc?” I asked hopefully. He shrugged and opined that I would be too old, too fat, and ineligible for a lung transplant due to the complicating pulmonary arterial hypertension I’d developed. I began having to use oxygen at night and then for the exertion of strenuous activity. Within three months strenuous activity included showering and tying my shoes.

As a corps officer, preaching had been one of my passions. I had to give up a lot of direct programming because I couldn’t keep up with the kids. I had to give up playing in the Corps Band, and sometimes singing with Songsters. But my preaching had been unaffected. Somehow, each Sunday, God gave me the strength to preach the message I’d developed and crafted. Until the Sunday after Easter.

All morning long I struggled; I couldn’t catch my breath. Usually I put the oxygen tank aside to preach but I knew I couldn’t do so that morning. So I swallowed my pride and informed the congregation that I would be preaching with the cannula hose attached to a portable oxygen tank. Then I made a joke that the noises from the valve make sounds like Darth Vader breaths.

Somehow I got through that message and people seemed to have been helped and blessed. As I reflected on what God may have been saying to me on that Sunday, the fourth chapter of 2^nd Corinthians came to mind and I read again verse 7:

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

I guess I would have a right to be embarrassed if I failed to deliver the powerful message I’d crafted — if that message had been from me. But God had laid the issues on my heart. He had inspired the scripture I was expositing. If power happens to leak out during the sermon, it is his power, his choice. I am a vessel – a clay pot.

Paul goes on in verse 16:

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

My outer man had seen better days. The wasting away had begun in earnest. This disease took away my freedom, my natural powers, my dignity. What I needed was the inner renewal because I seemed to be more prone to lose heart. I mourned my losses and sometimes was depressed. I felt so selfish – me, me, my, my, I.

But God gives the blessing of seeing his power at work in the words he has inspired me to preach. My sermons seemed to help people. I preached in Spanish at a Hispanic corps, and two seekers made their way to the altar. As I reflected on that morning, I recalled what Paul heard from the Lord when he begged for his “thorn” to be removed (also in 2^nd Corinthians):

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)

I couldn’t boast about my weaknesses yet. I needed some more grace for that. But I experienced from time to time the soothing of renewal of my inner being (2 Cor. 2:16). It wasn’t a magic bullet that killed my doubt and depression with a single shot.

The future seemed to be certain for me – irreversible lung damage and an early “promotion to glory.” Ironically like an episode of House MD, further testing revealed that the disease wasn’t sarcoidosis, rather a fibrosis disease within the lungs, and there was no cure. We had to retire early. We moved to Texas so that when I died, Nancy would be with our daughter, Jennifer. We attend the Dallas Temple Corps where I was able to help with the Hispanic Ministry teaching the Spanish Sunday School class.

My new doctor in Texas surprised me when he urged me to consider a transplant. Remember that the Michigan doctor had told me I was ineligible for a lung transplant, but this hospital used different criteria. I was approved for transplant in January, 2014, and received a bilateral (double) lung transplant two weeks later.

My recovery has been amazing. I don’t need supplemental oxygen. I can speak without shortness of breath. I can sing again.

I take medications that suppress my immune system and leave me open to infection, flu, and colds, all very dangerous when one has a compromised immune system. Nothing is certain. My body may yet reject the transplanted lungs. There is no guarantee that I’ll be able to continuing preaching and teaching.

But I am convinced of this — that God uses jars of clay – the power is his, not mine. He decides when and how it comes out. And I am so grateful for God’s great grace.

Major John Mowers

April 6, 2014

The Colony, TX, USA.

April 28, 2014 3

TOUGH QUESTION: Do you REALLY know your Enemy?

Matthew 5:43-45 …“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…”

April 24, 2014 0

Heaven is for real…and so is pain and suffering.

Yesterday I blogged a bit about not living completely in the Christian-ecosystem that sometimes is known as the “Bubble”.

Today…

I would like to explore what people are saying about Heaven as well as pain (even if the pain isn’t even spoken about).

What are people saying about life after death?

As a Christian living in this world I recognize that to me this life is a gift…but that doesn’t always mean there isn’t pain and difficulties along the way. Life is not just about the destination but also about the journey.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SUFFERING

Sometimes the journey is painful.

Why do some people endure more pain than others?
Why is there suffering in this world?

I understand that suffering and pain is a part of our fallen world but to me that answer sometimes just isn’t good enough…I want more. I yearn to get to the bottom of this whole pain thing. Isn’t that why some doctors feel called to their practice in the first place? They want to help ease the pain in this life? Isn’t there relief in sight? Sometimes I look around me and am staggered by friends who have lost parents and other loved ones through the blight of cancer and other terminal diseases.

It hurts my heart to see servants of God, who deeply love God and serve Him and yet they are afflicted with these cancers that eat away and ravage the body. I often ask “Why God?”

When I think of the verse that Jesus said (even within the context of loving your enemies) – “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” I recognize that God is fair and just in this world. I also recognize that the fallen nature of this world is the ultimate cancer that ravages our world. The rains can, and some times do, include times of emotional and physical drought for the sinner and the saint. The rains can include times of healing and times of sickness…and even death.

Although I know this to be true, can I be honest with you? It doesn’t do much to ease my hurt when I see friends hurting. I hurt right along with them as they suffer…but as a Christian I do know that there is ultimate healing and that death is not the end.

What other people are saying…

Last night I asked friends of mine a question. The question was -” who else do you long to see in heaven besides Jesus?“
Their answers ranged from grand parents, spouses, relatives and friends and even children that some had lost.
Even though we have this hope and assurance of Eternity with Christ we still endure hardships and sufferings. Life is not easy and we still carry these wounds of those loved ones we have lost along with us. Sometimes their memories comfort us while other times they help us to endure through rough patches we ourselves are going through.

BUT HEAVEN IS FOR REAL…RIGHT NOW!:

Here’s a revelation, perhaps you already know this – We don’t have to wait for heaven to get here to experience God’s Kingdom now!
Luke 17:20b-21 (NIV) Jesus said, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst [or,within you].”

Jesus experienced suffering in His very human life. He was hurt by betrayal, but abandonment and He even suffered the worst of deaths. I think it is safe to say that Jesus knows a little bit about human suffering and what we go through still today. Despite the fact that suffering exists here’s a source of hope for you and for me: The Kingdom of God is here and now! Jesus may have been implying the He was the Kingdom in physical form and though He isn’t physically here His Presence in the form the Holy Spirit is. We are not alone in this world…we never were. God’s Kingdom is among us still. Eternity is around us…we just haven’t recognized it yet.

It is true that when we die we will see Eternity in all of its glory, but we do not need to wait for that day to experience God’s presence every day! His presence is the essence of eternity and despite the sufferings of these human forms and the fallen world we live in, He can provide us the victory through it all! This may be difficult to swallow for some of us…I still struggle with it myself, but I do believe despite pain and suffering God is very present with us right here and right now!

Heaven is for real, so is pain and suffering, BUT the Almighty is also very, very real as well!

-Just a thought.

April 22, 2014 2

Is Jesus a fairy tale? What do YOU believe?

What if

Was all just a…

…Fairy tale.

And all of this so called

“Hope”

Was just a fancy illusion?

What if this
story of
Hope

was

all just some

Pipe dream
for the weak of
?

Would life still be worth

Would this
existence still matter?

How does

Into all

this?

Are we

Strong enough….

Can we blindly

make that

Then why not start now?
Right Here
In the
Here

AND

What difference will it make?
Is it worth your time?
Will you gain anything?

Why not make that leap?
Hope has a way
of

Faith can lead us
even when we are
blind. Why not?
What have we got to lose?
Either Jesus is God
and

or
we believe in a
fairy tale.

4me…
I would rather believe and be

Than miss out on
the greatest
The world has ever known.

So here is a MY

I willingly

And…

is this…

Jesus believes in YOU
and He
madly loves YOU.

Believe…are you ready to?

April 15, 2014 0

Confessions of a Deadman

What would the conversation look like? The amazement. The confusion. He had been dead…as a door nail. What’s a door nail by the way?…ok I digress. The look of shock, the spirit of disbelief in his sister’s eyes. They had been there when he had breathed his last. They had mourned his passing. The sting of death still lingered in their hearts and minds like the peeling blister on a sunburn. This emotional roller coaster had just careened into the station though their stomachs and emotions still lingered somewhere behind them on the track.

It had been four days since he had died. Four long and agonizing days. How his sisters had wept bitterly. How little they had slept…was this all a dream? Could this really be happening? What goes on in the spiritual realm when someone dies? What did Lazarus go through in those four days of death? Did he see a great light? Did he have an out of body experience? Was he in heaven? Oh how little we know about the life to come.

Sitting at the table with a deadman, what must his sisters have wanted to ask. “Did you see any family there?” “Did you meet Yahweh?” “What was it like?” Idle curiosity must have played a factor in this postmortem interval family reunion. After four days in the tomb, in his final resting place, he was hungry. Sitting at the table with nourishment (evidence and a source of all preservation of life) of water and food Lazarus, who was now reanimated. He longed to soak up his sister’s presence once more. They lingered together. Isn’t it interesting how we miss the company of those we love when we have been far from them? Death, though only separated by this thin membrane of a veil, had separated these loved ones from each other…now it had been torn with the authority of Jesus’ words; “Lazarus, come forth!”

What did Lazarus experience at this call? Not only did his deceased bones reanimate, but with it organs, blood circulation and brain function reignited as well. The impossible became possible. The very breath of life exhaled and inhaled into dormant unusable lungs of a corpse.

What could he tell his family of such an experience? What did this deadman have to say? Jesus, the life bringer, had raised him from the dead…he had kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil…he was completely and totally devoid of life. Lazarus had experienced the mystery of the great beyond and his sisters would undoubtedly hang on his every word in his retelling…wouldn’t you? We read of stories of children and adults who have experienced something when they had “died” and were then resuscitated. We are truly a curious creation aren’t we? We want to know what is next. What comes after this life. Some ask if there really is something after this life. I doubt Lazarus would have had any other doubts about the existence of the hereafter.

Do you have doubts? We all do from time to time. Perhaps Jesus needs to breathe some life into our doubting hearts. Perhaps we need Him to call us forth from our caves or tombs of doubt. I often find myself like Thomas longing to physically touch his nail wrecked hands and feet. I long for the tangible frequently when faith has pushed off from the docks of reality and the “real world”. Please tell me I am not the only one? Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying I disbelieve, but I am saying that I often find myself on those docks of belief watching faith ship off without me aboard. I ~~long~~ yearn to be aboard but something has stopped me. In a very real sense I am the deadman in need of being resurrected. My faith needs resurrecting daily. Don’t think ill of me…it’s a principle of momentum.

Momentum has a way of pushing and driving something forward…if I stop, momentum stops. In application of this principle, if I stop my prayer life, if I hit the pause button on my devotion life (my quiet times with the Lord), if I halt my daily conversations with The Father…I have lost momentum, and in this loss I am once again a deadman. I am once again in need of reanimation. I need to be called forth. Am I alone in this? Please tell me I am not. I doubt I am. I think you may relate to me. This is my confession of a deadman…Jesus, call me forth again!

-Just a thought.

April 9, 2014 0

Hey Guess what? You matter!

We are so

in a very, very, big

yet…we

are

Not

We are never

Alone.

In our

little nature

God

In our small view of things

He is…

So why do we

struggle with our

Do we falter

why do we

our

existence?

Here is

a Reassurance:

God.

….

-just a thought.

March 11, 2014 0

It’s about the $$$

Money is an inevitability in modern society. No matter if you have a little bit of money or a lot of money, it affects our lives. So how do we utilize money that we have for good?

There is an old saying that has been used for years. I’m sure you’ve heard it before; “Money is the root of all evil”. Did you know that this saying is actually a bible verse that has been taken out of context? The actual verse puts it this way, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:10

Did you catch that, it’s not that money is inherently evil, it is the LOVE of money. In other words if we covet and obsess over money and how we scrounge and scrape for it, then money becomes a problem. Money has the potential of becoming an idol in our lives. An idol is something of great importance to us and many times it replaces God in our list of priorities. This is the true danger and warning that Paul is talking about in 1 Timothy.

That being said how can we use money for good instead of evil?

Here are five suggestions that can help us to priorities our lives and our financial resources:

5 Uses of $ for Good:

1) Tithe to your church.

This might sound overly simplistic to you, but before we even receive our pay check we should already have budgeted this as an act of worship to God.

Randy Alcorn in his book, “Money, Possession and Eternity” says this about tithing; “..tithing isn’t something I do to clear my conscience so I can do whatever I want with the 90 percent–it also belongs to God! I must seek his direction and permission for whatever I do with the full amount. I may discover that God has different ideas than I do.”

The principle of tithing shouldn’t be some sort of obligation or forced habit. It should be an act of worship which sets our priorities in order – “God first” which implies all of our resources including our finances belong to Him! Tithing is a leap of faith which, if done properly, frees us and allows Him to lead us in all other ventures. This discipline isn’t easy, but can be very rewarding.

2) Support local and global charities

Beware!! Do your research before writing a check to any charitable organization. First find out how much of your donation will go to direct services (or the cause you are supporting)! Pray about the kinds of things you are looking at support and make sure God is directing you so support these causes. Another wise thing to consider is taxable donations. Each year nonprofits who we support can write you a receipt of your donations. It might not be much but it could help you come April 15th. Along with our tithe and support of our places of worship supporting a cause with our financial donations can make a difference in other people’s lives.

3) Live within your means!

This can be a very difficult thing to do if we don’t first set God as our top priority. We live in a very commercialize, media saturated society. This drives the market and propels people to spend, spend, spend. We think we need the latest and newest of everything. Again the LOVE of what money can buy can be a root of evil if we allow it into our hearts. Let’s be honest this type of trapping of materialism is very easy to fall into. Beware of this trap and the lie that we aren’t valuable until we have that next best thing! Live on the income you make…if that isn’t enough perhaps find a second source of income or another job!

Second budget your income. Make a budget. Don’t know where to start? Check out this simple budget by Dave Ramsey:

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/ Let me recommend the middle downloadable form called “Monthly Cash Flow Plan”

Live within your means also implies that we must beware of the use of credit cards! These are funds which are loaned to us and we have to pay back the balance with interest. Again don’t spend money that you do not have and isn’t guaranteed to be there in the future. Millions of Americans are facing financial troubles because they have lived far above their means and used and abused credit cards. Beware of this “easy fix” because if can have long term consequences!

4) Teach your children!

This is an education that will be the legacy that you leave for your children and their children’s children! Education of financial responsibility needs to be taught to our children! Don’t rely on teachers or the government to teach your children about money! Take responsibility to educate them and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t teach them in the form of “Don’t do as I do, but do as I say”! In other words LEAD BY EXAMPLE! The best teachers are those who take it upon themselves to educate by example in living and lifestyle! Show your child (if they’re old enough) how to balance a check book or how to create a monthly/weekly budget.

5) Be generous!

We all have family members, church friends, and neighbors who might be going through touch times. Use your money for good by giving generously. Be mindful though that you are discerning in how and who you give generously to. Make investments in people and their lives, but don’t support illegal habits or destructive lifestyles in your giving either. Don’t loan money out, give it as a gift if you have it to give. Remember, it’s all God’s anyway!

Money is not inherently evil. It is how we use it in our lives and in the lives of others.

Remember, You are God’s and so are all of the blessings of life that He has bestowed upon you!

-Just a thought.

March 10, 2014 0

Tag: Life

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