Overhearing God

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

You ever overhear a conversation that you were never supposed to hear but it left you breathless, whether good or bad. The feelings that come after something like that happens are amazing. I remembering overhearing a conversation between a friend of mine and another friend, honestly I was not trying to eavesdrop I was just in a situation where there was no way out and I could not plug my ears and start yelling, lalalalalalalalalala, hey it was one of those situations. Well what I heard brought both humility and thankfulness all in one unforgettable moment. I wonder what it would be like if we could overhear the conversations God has with His Son about us. Would I be like wow, or would I be ashamed? I would imagine no matter what was said it would be seasoned with grace and mercy and "I would be overwhelmed by the extent of His affection" to quote Lisa Harper. According to this verse we have not even begun to understand, see or even hear what God has in store for us. Wow when I consider all that I have been blessed with already. I can't help but just be floored in awe of how great our God truly is, was and always will be.

Father today help me to see what I can see in order to draw me closer to you.

Wrong With Others, Wrong With God

Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

I cannot be wrong with others and be right with God. My relationship with others has a direct bearing on my relationship with the Lord. Jesus in the sermon on the mount makes it clear that it is my responsibility to go to the one who has a grudge against me and seek forgiveness. So often we want to sit back and wait for the person to come to us but this is not what Jesus is teaching. Sadly often we ignore Christ's teaching and try to move ahead in our relationship with Christ when in fact we are not going to grow. Grudges are simply not worth the price tag they carry. I must be willing to be reconciled in order that I might grow in my relationship with Christ and so that others might grow as well.

Father today show me any relationships that I need to seek reconciliation and give me the strength to seek forgiveness. I want to grow in you and I know I must be right with others in order to grow in you.

Don't Lose Heart

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Losing heart seems to be something at times that I struggle with, whether it's getting discouraged or allowing Satan to work me over with his lies. The problem is that losing heart I would say most of the time is all about me. It's about focusing on those outward things, those light and momentary troubles, those things that are temporary and not eternal. Paul gives us the key to not allowing the feeling of losing heart to take control, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. To which I ask, "Am I?" Why is it so important that I am being renewed day by day because it allows me to see what is eternal and to focus on those things that will last. It's so easy to lose heart and so hard to be renewed. It really doesn't take much effort at all to lose heart, but man it really takes being intentional to be renewed. But again if I am not intentional about being renewed then I will lose heart. Any good relationship takes work, effort and intentionality in order to move the relationship forward. So it is with Christ. Today as I face "light and momentary troubles" may I not lose heart but rather be renewed in my relationship with Christ so that I can at the end of day have laid up treasure in Heaven and not here on earth.

Father give me the strength to run after you today to be renewed and may I keep my focus on you as those distractions come my way.

How Great Is Our God

Exodus 19:18-20 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, 19 and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. 20 The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up

The description of God's presence is breath taking here in this passage. Imagine what Moses is seeing as he approaches this mountain. I am imagine Moses was trembling in awe as he realized just how awesome God is and that he was about to have a conversation with God. I can't help but think of the song, "How Great is our God" The splendor of a King, Clothed in majesty, Let all the earth rejoice, All the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in light, And darkness tries to hide. And trembles at his voice, And trembles at his voice: How great is our God, sing with me. How great is our God, and all will see How great, How great Is our God. Age to age he stands And time is in His Hands, Beginning and the End, Beginning and the End. The Godhead, Three in one Father, Spirit, Son. The Lion and the Lamb, The Lion and the Lamb. We serve an awesome God who deserves our praise today and everyday. The greatest praise we can give is a praise offering of our lives by living for Him. Like Moses we can experience God's presence, no maybe not the same exact way, but to catch of glimpse of God is special no matter the method He chooses to show Himself. May I today get caught up in His presence and allow that presence to sustain me today as I seek to serve Him.

Father wow you are amazing and worthy of all praise, glory and honor. May my life today and each day reflect all praise, glory and honor toward you that you so rightly deserve.

Living by Faith

Genesis 12:1-4 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

James MacDonald says "When I live by faith I win and when I live by sight I lose." Living by faith means I say yes to God and His truth and no to the lies that Satan lays before me. Living by sight means I say yes to the lies Satan lays before me and no to to God and His truth. Abraham here in this passage and for most of his life lived by faith by saying yes to God and His truth and God blessed Him. I guess the question I need to ask myself is, are the choices I am making right now characterized by faith or sight? I really want to experience God's blessing but so often I allow the lies of Satan to keep me from living by faith and thus winning. This is why it is so vital that I pursue God daily that is what the "living" is all about. I must get into His Word so that I know the truth, so that when I am faced with a lie I will be able to identify it and choose what is true. Today Lord help me to live by faith and not sight, help me to choose what is true and ignore the lies.

Father give me strength today to live for you so that I might win. Keep my eyes fixed on you all day long and that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life.

I Will Take The Consequencs Please

Romans 1:21-28 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

There are so many times that I refuse to follow God's directions and then suffer the consequences. Like the people described here they knew the truth and yet rejected it, I think about how many times I do the same. I think all of life choices come down to choosing between the truth and a lie. Each with its own consequences. I thing that we must understand is that while God is loving, compassionate and kind, He also is just, righteous. If we choose to reject Him (reject the truth) then as the passage says, "God gave them over" or God stood out of the way and allows us to experience the consequences of our rejection and disobedience. God does love each one of us and passionately pursues us desiring to have a love relationship, but when we reject Him and His truth, we have in effect said, "I will take the Consequences Please." As I face today I pray that I will choose to obey, choose to accept the truth and live trusting God and following after Him.

Today as I am faced with choices that will effect my life, Father give me the wisdom to see the truth from lie and give me the desire to choose the truth so that I might fall more in love with you.

Attention Parents "It's Our Job"

Joshua 4:19-24 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?' 22then you shall let your children know, 'Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.' 23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.

We are living in a time when statistics tell us that 75% of teens will graduate from their faith when they graduate from high school. They also tell us that less than 4% will believe the Bible to be absolute truth, without error, that Jesus died and rose again and that there is a literal Hell. Why? I believe because of what this passage addresses specifically in verse 21, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?' then you shall let your children know." What is happening today is what happened to the Israelites time and time again is that they forgot what God had done and turned away from Him because families, "fathers" in particular did not answer the question and many like it, "what do these stones mean?" Instead they loaded them up on a donkey and took them to the temple once a week for a couple of hours and expected the rabbi to tell them or they took them to see the Dead Sea Floaters play against the Jericho Walls in a game of dessert baseball. Today families have forsaken their responsibility, privilege, and call to first and foremost help their children to grow spiritually to answer questions like, "what do these stones mean?" and instead have replaced it with sports, academics, entertainment and have settled for dropping off kids at youth group in hopes that a youth pastor will be able to do spiritually help kids mature in an average of 1 to 2 hours a week. Please understand I am not saying that sports, academics, entertainment are bad but like the idols of Israel that distracted them from God, these things have become idols that have replaced the desire to know God and follow Him. I am absolutely convinced that if we are going to see a turn around in the numbers of teens leaving their faith when they leave the home we have got to put God first and begin pursuing Him as families and fathers need to step up and lead their families in answering the question, "what do these stones mean?" As a father it is my responsibility to teach my kids about God and to create an environment for them to learn about just how awesome God is and what He can and will do in their lives instead of delegating that responsibility to the church. The church should just be a supplement to an on going diet of God that begins at home. I pray that parents will step up and fathers in particular to see this generation become a generation like Joshua's that made a huge difference for God in the world.

Father help me to lead my kids spiritually as I seek to follow you. Give me the strength to remove idols that have taken the place of you and give me wisdom to effectively create an environment where my kids seek after you.

Get At It Today

Hebrews 3:7-15 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' " 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.

October 8,1871 D.L. Moody was preaching the gospel in the business district of Chicago. That night he challenged the crowd with the gospel and then challenged them to go home and think about their response. He asked them to come back the next night and make their decision known. That night a fire broke out in the O' Leary's cow barn which began the great Chicago fire that burned much of the city and killed many of those who attended the service Moody preached. Moody was forever changed after this event he vowed to always challenge people to make a decision today because we may control our choices but we do not control the consequences. In this passage we are challenged three times, "Today if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts." Obviously this applies to those who need salvation but this also applies to me everyday as I choose to be or not to be obedient to God's call and will for my life. What I must realize is that when I hear God's voice or feel is leading I must obey and go for it. Today as I hear from God may I be found faithful to being obedient and go after it without haste.

Father help me to hear your voice and give me the determination to obey right away.

Fountain or Drain

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

It has been said that there are two types of people in this world, those who are fountains and those who are drains. I have also heard it said there are those who give life and those who take it away. As a follower of Christ I am to be a fountain or in the case of the verses above a spring of water and because of Christ I am. However flow of my fountain or spring is directly effected by whether or not something is obstructing the flow. I am to be a fountain through which Jesus can flow as "rivers of living water" in blessing to everyone. Yet sometimes I am like a drain in that I am always receiving and never giving, because my relationship with Jesus is not right. I need to ask, "Is there anything between me and Jesus?" "Is there anything that is obstructing the flow of Christ in my life?" If I truly want to be a fountain of blessing and not a drain than I must keep careful guard not to allow obstructions to hinder the flow of Christ in my life. Today I want to be a fountain of blessing in others lives may I with my whole heart seek after Christ today and avoid the obstructions that hinder that flow.

Father oh how I need you every hour, show me if there is anything that is obstructing the flow of Christ in my life.

It Is Worth It All

Ephesians 6:12-13 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Whoever has said that following Christ is easy has not read the Bible or if they have they have completely overlooked passages like this one. Following Christ is tough, sometimes extremely difficult. The Bible makes it clear to follow Christ will cost me something, that I will have trouble in this life. Words like struggle, fight, war all seem to be descriptors of following Christ. But does that mean I quit, throw in the towel, say it's not worth it, absolutely not. I have thought lately because of many really hard times in other people lives around me that even if all of my life is a constant struggle or hardship it would still be worth following Christ because the end result far out weighs the present. Does that make it any easier, of course not, but it does put in mind a focus that cannot be changed. Why, because eternity cannot be changed and where I am going cannot be changed. Following Christ is the greatest and toughest decision I have ever had to make, but it has all been worth it just to know that one day I will spend eternity in Heaven.

Father today may you strengthen my walk and keep my focus on the prize and not on the troubles that I will face.

Look at What God Has Done

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

I wonder how often do I take the time to stop and thank God for all He has done in my life. I know that it is not nearly enough. David here in this small says tons, but in one short phrase gives God much deserved praise. The phrase is, "my cup overflows", to which David is saying, God you have done so much more than I deserve. What an awesome, wonderful God I serve. To which I say right on. So often it is so much easier to focus on the negative that is around me and I end of losing site of just how great God is and what He has done in my life. It's not to say that I should not look at those things that are negative, but I must fight so that they do not become my focus. To often I focus on the problem instead of the problem solver. I forget what God has done in my past and somehow lose site of what He could do in my future. It's so easy in the hustle and bustle of life to get bogged down in the nitty gritty, but God wants us to stop and just know Him. One of the greatest ways I can do that is to practice giving Him praise often and for everything. When was the last time I thanked Him for waking up in the morning, for sending rain to water my plants, for giving me a job to earn money to pay bills. When was the last time I recognized His work even in the tough stuff of life. Today may I see God in everything and see that through life God is at work and desires to draw closer to me.

Father you are great and awesome, help me to see that all throughout the day. Draw me close to you and may I see just how much my cup overflows.

Running the Race is Tough

2 Timothy 4:6-8 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

I would imagine that Paul in writing this to Timothy especially verse seven had thoughts of man I am glad this is about done. While he finished the race and did it with excellence I would imagine he looked back and thought oh man that was sticking tough. I don't know where people get this idea that following Christ is easy and that everything is going to turn up rosy. But where ever it came from it wasn't the Bible. Following Christ and running this race of life is really tough stuff. There are times I have felt like throwing in the towel, of calling it quits. But then I realize that what is happening is that I am allowing Satan victory in my life when Jesus already has claimed the victory. If I try to run this race on my own, forget about it, I will fail every time. But like Paul I must keep my focus on Christ, I must rely on His strength, I must determine that there is nothing greater than running the race for Christ and with Christ. Today as trouble comes or whatever is thrown my way, may I keep Christ at the center in order to one day finish the race.

Father I need your strength today in order to run in such a way as to win the prize. Help me to finish today with my focus on Christ.