“So let us keep the Feast, but not with the old bread made with yeast. The yeast I’m talking about is hatred and evil. Let us keep the Feast with bread made without yeast. Let us keep it with bread that is honesty and truth.” ~1 Corinthians 5:8 NIRV

I used to tell my son, “Do this son and you will get that.” “If you do as we say, we will do this for you.” I came to find that as he grew older, he ‘did’ when it was appropriate for him and when he was reminded.  I changed the game when I stopped telling him to do, what he already knew what needed doing.

My son went through a period when nothing went his way.  He would ask and get turned down.  This happened until the day he realized that until he did the right thing, he would not receive a reward. I waited for the opportunity for him to do right all by himself.  And when he did, without being told, I rained down praise on him.  The first time it surprised him because he wasn’t expecting praise or reward.  But when he was rewarded on doing something completely on his own, he made it a point to do better more often.

This is what happens to us from time to time. When we feel we are in that ‘loop’ in life.  That ‘loop’ when things just aren’t going the way we want.  We may pray and it seems our prayers are not being answered.  Then, we realize, God has asked us to do something and we haven’t.  We may be putting it off by saying, “I’ll do that tomorrow Lord.”  “Lord you know me, I’m stubborn...you made me that way.  I’ll do better one day.” Well guess what, it will be ‘one day’ when your prayers will be answered.

Do right on your own.  This is all God is asking us to do. Obedience is hard because its an action we have not put into practice.  But it is now time we did. God will do all the rest, the healing, the guiding and as far as our path, it has already been laid out.  The victory has already been won.  We just have to receive it by being obedient.

The Feast, (life), is going to continue. Now that you know better, through God’s Word, it is time to do better. It’s time to live (life) without the ‘yeast’, without the ‘…hatred and evil…’ and now live (life) with ‘…honesty and truth…’  When you do, you will receive your reward, just as we reward our children when they get it and do right on their own.

May God continue to bless and keep you as you continue your journey in Jesus name.
Amen

Blessings
​Billy

“They answered Him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”  Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking...” Mark 10:37-38 ~CSB

In this text, James and John ask Jesus for the chance to sit next to Him in heaven.  Clearly with Jesus’ reaction the two are asking for a couple of 'seats' that are way beyond their reach.  Jesus tells them in verse 40 that those seats are not His to give.  James and John were aspiring for positions that were possibly meant for others, clearly thinking of themselves.

On our journey in Christ, we must be careful as we live in the blessings that God grants us.  We do become good at what we do.  We become great at what we are passionate at, but we must remember that as we live in God’s will, we must be ready to stay focused on the path He prepared for us and not lose focus in preparing our own paths and get distracted.  In other words, we may become great doctors, lawyers, or educators, but as huge as that may be to us and others around us, they may be just tools God will use in you to bless others he places in your path.

For example, my career is law enforcement. I have twenty plus years in that field and as much as I may think that it's my life’s work, I have grown to realize that it is just the beginning of what God has planned for me.  As a patrol officer I answered calls on a daily basis.  Answering those calls required me to listen to various versions of the same incident in order to gather facts and bring solutions to the problems.

Listening to story after story, hour after hour and day after day, I learned to develop the skill of ‘effective listening’.  This skill is now carried on to the calling God has blessed Yolanda and I with as we strategize with couples strengthening their marriages.  As much as I have done in law enforcement: patrol officer, flex officer, school resource officer, precinct, and homicide detective; God took all of that and shaped the tool of ‘effective listening’ for His purpose in my life.

Don’t get ahead of God.  Don’t even ‘want’ what God doesn’t want for you and lastly don’t try and set yourself up for a position you think will be great for you, (like James and John). That position you are setting yourself up for may not be for you; and it is definitely not better than the position God already has set up for you. 

Don’t ask for ‘seats’ that are not for you, instead, prepare yourself for the position God already has set up for you and you alone. You can’t even imagine how great a position it is. 

May God continue to bless and keep you under His guidance and love as you continue to journey in Jesus name.

Amen

Blessings,
​Billy

 “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 ~CSB

The news and social media have shown you what to be afraid of: the pandemic, the elections, riots, protesting, police brutality, they have all taken a front row seat to everyday crime and murder. Wow, what a scary thought.

It seems we live our lives waking up everyday wondering what bad news we are going to hear next. And when we hear someone tell us to go to church and pray, we find a new group of people that will bring up other religions to replace everything God has put in place for our lives.  Chaos from all sides.  We are allowing ‘fear’ to control everything about our way of living and thinking. 

We listen to the negative in the news and social media instead of giving God His time.  We try to take control over situations that are well out of our understanding instead of leaning toward our trust in the Father.  God, the source, the light, Jehovah, Yahweh, the Most High, not only has control, but has already laid out the plan for our lives. 

And in case anyone missed it, He sacrificed His Son for all who have sinned and fallen short of His glory.  The resurrection of the Son is the victory for the Kingdom and the defeat of the devil.  That means that all that is going on around us is futile compared to our eternal salvation.  God did not give us a spirit of fear, but if you must err to the side of caution, then lean toward fearing the one, “…who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…” 

God is bigger than anything social media puts out.  God can heal any suffering and pain caused by this world.  “Don’t fear those who kill the body…”  Look up to and trust the Father who, through the Son, defeated death and has given us everlasting life!

​May God bless and keep you covered as you continue to walk in Jesus’ name.
Amen

Blessings,
​Billy

“For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up. 4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” ~Hebrews 12:3-4 CSB

This past year has taken us through some extremely hard times.  The struggle was and is still real.  But I keep moving because I remember what God is capable of.  I realized that He loves us so much that the sacrifice of His Son is my point of reference to His power.  It is His power that will get all of us through everything the enemy is trying to take from us, including our hope.

My references begin at the point in my life where I had no control over my alcoholism. I was headed for divorce, destruction, and death.  As I studied God’s Word daily, I was able to confess my sins and through a motorcycle accident I was created new in Christ! This was my beginning.

My livelihood was spelled out when my Father in Heaven blessed me with the gift of faith. His Word seeds my spirit with the knowledge of Christ who suffered before me.  God is telling us through the writer in Hebrews that we should always consider the suffering Jesus went through. He went through everything first so that we could see the strength of our own endurance.

Because Christ was humiliated, beaten, crucified, then resurrected from the dead, He has given all of us, who believe in Him, hope that eternal life exists for us as well. He lives in us and is the strength we need so that we, “…won’t grow weary and give up…” no matter what we go through in this world.

Tony Evans says of verse 4 in his Bible Commentary, “…we had not resisted to the point of blood shed—that is, we may have experienced significant difficulties, but we are still alive! And if we are still here, God is not finished with us!”

Through Jesus we see that there is victory at the end of our struggle.  Through Jesus we see we must trust God in guidance and strength to get there. And get to victory we will because that is God’s plan for us in our lives.  His will is set in our purpose, given to us by Him for the fulfillment of the Kingdom. The enemy doesn’t want you to know this because he wants you to quit.  But tell the devil, it is too late, God has already told you, you are His child, and His will is your mission!

May God bless and keep you covered in His strength, love, and protection as you walk in Jesus name.
Amen

Blessings, 
​Billy