Deuteronomy 6:5-9 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.” ~CSB My wife and I took a trip to the islands earlier this year. Our children asked us why they weren’t going with us. I told them, “There will be a time we will all vacation together. But I enjoy my time alone with my wife.” As this statement was directed to my children, I said my ‘wife’ and not your ‘mother’ because I wanted them to understand the intent of my message about the relationship I have with their mother. My children observe, watch and receive my relationship with my wife. They see how I treat her, how she treats me, and how important we are to each other. But please understand that we have raised our children to see much more than that. Our children see that it is because of our relationship with God, we are able to have a godly relationship with each other. Individually Yolanda and I have our very own strong, unique relationship with the Father. Because of this, we allow Him to lead us and show us the path we need to lead this family. Because we know how much the Lord loves us; and we know how to love the Lord; we then know how to love each other. It is great for families to go to church together and sit in devotional meditation together. But the nourishment of godly ‘relationship exercise’ should also be fertilized with ‘godly lifestyle living’. This way our children see in us, God working, guiding, leading and healing us as well as them. And they will grow and take the same godly lifestyle with them. Tony Evans puts it beautifully when he says, “That purposeful approach to spiritual training, that effort to welcome the Lord to be part of all aspects of life, is how parents can transfer to their children a biblical worldview so that God is their point of reference as they navigate choices.” Let the love of God in your heart show in you always. Let this love be the words that come out of your mouth and, “...repeat them to your children…” Have godly conversations in your home and when you travel. Go to bed with God in your heart and wake up in thanksgiving with Him on your mind! When you live in the name of Jesus, your children will receive the blessing of knowing not only who He is, but just how much God loves them. May God continue to bless and keep you under his guidance and protection in Jesus’ name. Amen
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1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because He cares about you.” ~CSB There comes a time in our lives where we have to make the spiritually right decision. Deep down in our hearts we may want to make another decision. Our flesh sends out warnings that we are about to make a mistake. For example, there are many successful people in this world that will tell you that if they did not quit the job they had at first, they would not be as successful as they are now. But they will also tell you that before they quit that job, something inside them said, “You are stupid! Why quit this job for a dream you may never see?” This was their flesh talking. And those Christians will tell you that they gained the strength to move because they saw the spiritual decision alongside the fleshly decision. And because of their trust in God, they chose to move on the spiritual path which resulted in their success. To ignore the flesh comes from the strength found in ‘humility’. We must all exercise our ‘humility muscles’ if we are ever going to walk this journey properly. God has some great things in store for this world through us but we must be humble enough to hear Him and take the directions He gives us. Even though the world has taught us the word, ‘impossible’. God works in the impossible. God’s miracles happen in impossible situations. The world has no way of knowing what God can do. But we, his humble servants, do. The enemy will try us because he wants to stop the actions of God working through us by setting impossible situations around us. But those situations work in God’s favor. We must stay strong in humility, faith and wisdom knowing that God will make the best happen for us, no matter what it looks like in front of us. We just have to believe. And when we cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us, He will, “...exalt us at the proper time…” His time, not ours. And don’t worry if you think you can not go on, or you don’t know what to do in certain situations; because verse 10 in this chapter continues, “...The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.” May God bless and keep you under his protection of love, guidance, healing and wisdom in Jesus’ name. Amen Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” ~CSB A man visits a church for the first time. As he takes his seat he observes a soloist in the choir singing a song. It is the most terrible singing he has ever heard. To add to his annoyance, some of the members of the church were standing, praising and yelling in support of the horrible singing the soloist continued to sing. After service, the man was walking to his car, saying to himself, “l’ll never come to this church again.” But as he is about to get into his car, he can hear members of the church mumbling about the soloist as they too, were getting in their cars. They were saying things like, “They sure have come a long way! You could really tell what God has done in their life by the way they were singing!” Almost immediately the man began to look at the soloist differently. He began to see the situation through God’s eyes. He began to hear the situation through God’s ears. He began to realize that the song he heard and the voice it came from, really wasn’t that bad. We were not created to judge. The world has taught us to judge. And with that action, we have allowed judgment to dictate our lives in negative ways. Judgment that will keep us occupied in other people’s business rather than paying attention to what God is doing for us in ours. Judgment that will make us look so closely at another’s situation that we begin to ‘desire’ their blessings, instead of pressing through our trials and receiving our own blessings from God. The starting line, at the beginning of the walk in Jesus’ name, begins with our relationship with God. When we develop a strong relationship with God; through His Word, prayer and meditation; we begin to realize God wants us to love others as He loves us. We begin to realize that God wants us to see ‘Him’ in situations He brings us to, no matter what is going on. When we do this, judgment will not be a working action in our lives anymore because we leave that act to the Father in heaven. How is your relationship with God? Take some time and pray on that this week. May God continue to bless and keep you in His peace and love as you walk in Jesus’ name. Amen Psalm 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. 3 He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” ~NLT This year I will be ten years sober. I have transformed into a very different man than the one I was back then. With that said, (and I know I am not the only one who has experienced this), I have had some conversations with others that have alcohol problems, and we were not always on the same page. We get to a point in the conversation where they sense me ‘attempting’ to relate to them. They begin to step back from me because they feel I have no idea what they are going through. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they don’t quite believe you are who you say you are? I mean, they seem to come very close to calling you a ‘liar’ attacking your testimony. Avoid getting upset because someone questions your testimony. If you do, your flesh will make you take them into a debate in which one of you suffered more. And this way is not God’s way. I’m here to tell you, don’t get defensive or frustrated with this. The reason we may receive that kind of negativity is because we don’t look like alcoholics, drug addicts or any of those addictions anymore. In other words, your transformation has given you a light that may give someone currently struggling a hard time believing you were in their shoes. That’s okay. Just because someone doesn’t believe your testimony; that disbelief does not ERASE all that you have been through. It is God’s power through your testimony, (not your testimony alone), that will heal the person in front of you. David says in the text that he ‘waited patiently for the Lord’. Through the ‘mud and mire’. One of my ‘mud and mire’ situations was my alcohol abuse. But because I don’t 'look like' what I have been through, doesn’t mean that testimony isn’t powerful. Always remember the times God pulled us through. In a calm, loving, godly way, take those people God has placed in your path back to those days, telling them what God did for you and allow Him to heal them through your story. When given the opportunity, let others know how God ‘set your feet on solid ground’ and ‘steady you as you walk along’! Let them hear that ‘new song’ God has placed in your heart! Then many will see what He has done through you and ‘they will be amazed’! Because of God in your testimony, they too will join you ‘in trusting in the Lord’. May God continue to bless and keep you under His umbrella of healing, strength and power as you walk in Jesus’ name. Amen Psalm 133:1 “How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony!” As far as siblings go, I never had a brother. But being the ‘brother’ of two sisters I can relate to the message the text above is giving. As I have grown as a brother, I feel I am in the position to protect my sisters. I am also the oldest so I have always felt I should set a good example for them as well. In fact there is a lot of responsibility in being a brother and I am honored that God put me in that position. As far as the world is concerned, we have taken the term ‘brother’ even farther. At one time people of a certain ethnicity called each other ‘brother’. That has grown into good friends calling each other ‘brothers’. Certain organizations, like bikers, Jeep owners, police officers, military personnel, call themselves ‘brother’. This is because their relationships have been birthed by what they all have in common. But if we stand back and look at it, we ALL can call each other ‘brother’. We don’t have to be biological brothers. We don’t have to be involved in certain organizations in order to call ourselves ‘brother’. But we can embrace as a family because we all fall under the umbrella of being children of God. When God created us, He did so out of the love He has for all of us. And, as any parent, He wants His children to get along. God has a purpose in His creation of us, and that purpose has a lot to do with the differences He created in us. The devil knows this and this is why he wants us to fight and find fault in our differences. But God created these differences for us to become strong in His will for this world. Because of God, we should not be strangers to each other. Because of God we should always seek His will in how to act, speak and pray for our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’. To say that we are not brothers and sisters, is to say our God makes mistakes. And I will not say that. Therefore I believe in God’s purpose in all of us as a family; His family. It may take some time before we stop fighting each other in this world. But I can do my part by accepting God’s children as my family. Why don’t you join me? May God bless and keep you under his umbrella of peace and love as you journey in Jesus name. Amen Genesis 3:5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And just like that, their lives changed, and ours became a ‘doomed’ blueprint. There are many things we have experienced in our lives that have frightened us, traumatized us and left us wounded and broken. However, we endured and we all thank God for his power that allowed us to endure. In these things we may not have recovered or forgotten, but by the grace of God we have become stronger. Now as parents of very young children and grandparents of young grandbabies, we purposely do not share these stories with them. Why? Because we want them to have some time to grow with innocent minds. We want them to know the good things that can lead to the best opportunities in their lives. And if we have anything to do with it we are going to try our best to help them live their best lives; better than ours. In my heart I believe this was God’s intention when He created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden. He didn’t want them to know about the heartbreak of Him casting out one of His angels that rebelled against the kingdom. He did not want them to know about the evil that sought to destroy the kingdom. No, He wanted Adam and Eve to have a chance at His original version of everlasting life here on earth. He surrounded them with beauty and nourishment. Every and anything they would need for a fruitful life. And because God ultimately wants us to desire Him and His will, he gave them only one command and that was to leave that ‘one’ tree and its fruit alone. But Adam and Eve fell to the ‘Forbidden Whisper’ of the Devil and because of that the fall of man began. Now through Jesus Christ we have another chance to live in the garden here on earth. But we must not listen to the whisper of the fallen one. Instead we must immerse ourselves in God’s Word so that we may hear the voice of our Lord give us the direction we need to move His way, not ours. We need to heed the Word of God so that we may have the strength to endure when the enemy throws those stones of pain and tragedy at us. God loves us and is always ready to give us what He intentionally created to give us. But we must know Him and know His voice. His voice is our only choice. May God continue to bless and keep you safe, protected and healed as you walk in Jesus’ name. Amen Isaiah 54:16 “Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task...” ~CSB I don’t like using the word ‘fear’ so let’s substitute that word with ‘issue’. I used to have an ‘issue’ with heights. Being up high and looking down brought out feelings and emotions in me that would sometimes cause me to freeze in my tracks. But even though I had this issue, I was always able to move forward in any task that was laid out in front of me. One great example was my job in the military. I was a crew chief on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for the Army. Not only did I perform maintenance, but I also flew aboard the aircraft during missions. When I did this, I would secure myself with a harness and hang out of the aircraft while in flight. I also attended Air Assault School where I learned to repel out of the helicopter over ninety feet in the air; jumping out feet and sometimes ‘head’ first. Now does that sound like someone who has issues with heights? Believe it or not, I did. To this day I feel a little queasy going up in high places but I have control of my issue. How? God has given me the tools I need within myself to see my tasks through, no matter what my situations may be. In Isaiah 54 God is allowing Israel to know He loves them and, “…will not become angry or rebuke…” them again. He is allowing them to know in the above text that He has angels at work in creating the weapons needed for His will to be done. Some of those tools were created within all of us who believe for that very purpose. It doesn’t matter what your issue may be in any given situation, God has given you the tools to overcome it. The enemy will gladly use ‘fear’ to stop you on your Christian journey. Remember, this issue comes from the enemy’s influence, (as he does not have any power), and we have the strength, through the power of God in the Holy Spirit, to overcome this influence of fear. As I take control of my issue with heights, stand in defiance of your issue! Show the enemy that what God has given you is stronger than what the enemy has given you from the world! (1 John 4:4) Use that weapon God has created in you. You will find that it is “…suitable for its task…” May God continue to bless and keep you on your journey in Jesus name. Amen Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to get people to think well of me? Or do I want God to think well of me? Am I trying to please people? If I were, I would not be serving Christ.” ~NIRV When I sang my first solo at church, I was very nervous. I look back on that and my thoughts were, “Will they think I can’t sing?” “If I hit the wrong note, will they ever let me hear the end of it?” In my fear, I had forgotten the reason why I sang in the first place. You see, before I started singing, I prayed. My prayer was for God to allow me a chance to use the voice He gave me to bring hope and spread the good news in song. To sing praises to Him. In other words my intent for my actions was for the kingdom. The purpose is always for the kingdom. Making disciples is ‘Word’ that we follow in Matthew 28:19-20. In order to stay strong, and fight the tactics of the enemy we must remember who we work for and whom we serve. That, my brothers and sisters, is God. When I was nervous about singing I forgot who I was really serving; as I was serving the people around me. I took my focus off the mission and focused on the people. When I did that, I failed to leave any room for God to perform His miracle, (through me), on those who prayed to Him for deliverance. Remember, as you live for Christ, allow Him to live in you by focusing on the fact that it is not you by yourself witnessing in hope; but God’s power perfected in your actions that perform the actual miracle. Don’t stand in the way of that. Stick with the statement from the scripture, “…I want God to think well of me…” You do that and you will stay focused on your mission in serving Christ. May God continue to give you strength, courage and wisdom on your journey in Jesus name. Amen Nehemiah 2:4-6 “Then the king asked me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of the heavens and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.” The King, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time, and it pleased the king to send me." ~CSB Quick story. A man, with a great business idea, was sitting in the stands of a baseball game. Next to him was a stranger who, unknowing to him, was a wealthy businessman looking for something new to invest in. As they talked about the game, the opportunity came up where the man told the wealthy businessman about his great idea. The businessman never told the man who he was, but simply asked him, “How long do you think this will take to build and how much do you think it will cost?” The man with the plan responded, “Well, I haven’t gotten that far in my plans, but I’ll write it all down one day.” The wealthy businessman heard this and thought to himself, this may not be a good investment. If this man was sincere about his plan as he should be, he would have the knowledge of what he needed for his plan. So since he did not, the businessman changed the subject back to the game and chose not to bless the man by investing. The man just missed a blessing because he was not prepared. In the text above, Nehemiah was sad. The King saw this and asked what was wrong. Nehemiah was sad because his home, the home of his ancestors, was in ruins and he wanted to do something about it. He was afraid to address the king, so he prayed to God and then answered the king. The text says that he answered the king by giving him “...a definite time…” and the king was ‘pleased to send him”. You see, his heart was so wrapped around his home that he had thought the whole ‘request’ through. When Nehemiah had the right answers, God, through the king, made Nehemiah’s request come true. When we pray in Jesus' name, we must be spiritually invested in that prayer enough to have the basic answers for God when asked. This way, in our hearts we are prepared not only to receive from God, but prepared to move where He tells us to go. Prepared to answer God’s call to move, speak, stand and even be still for a while. Prepare ourselves for what will come after our prayers and requests. Do not miss the blessing because of ‘spiritual unpreparedness’. When our hearts are in sync with God’s will for our lives, our prayers will be answered. Let us not be afraid to have the answers needed for the questions to come from Him. Let us not be afraid to move in the directions the Holy Spirit guides us as God will have us covered in answering our prayers. May God keep you in His peace as you continue to walk the journey in Jesus’ name. Amen 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So Glorify God with your body.” ~CSB In our homes, we have set up an environment that we feel great living in. We have our couches in the right spot to watch our flat screen TV. We have our kitchen set up to prepare our favorite meals. We have our main bedrooms set up so that we can enjoy the ultimate satisfaction of rest and relaxation. All this for our peace of mind, and it doesn't hurt to show off our taste in fashion and lifestyle to the company that comes over. Now, there is another home that we are in charge of, that many of us, (me included), do not take the same considerations in maintaining. It is our bodies. The Word says in 1st Corinthians, that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is a home for the gift that God blessed us with, the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are a dwelling place for all those blessed spiritual gifts from above. So why do we not maintain, take care of, or clean this temple like we do our homes? For our own selfish reasons, we make sure the environment around us is what we like. Now we need to consider maintaining our bodies so that the Lord will be pleased with the dwelling we have created for His gifts of love. The Word continues that our bodies are, “...not your own…” Jesus paid the ultimate price for us to have the chance we have at salvation. The more we take care of, and clean these temples, the longer chance we have at enjoying the blessings God blesses us with here on earth. And also, we will be able to perform the duties we need to perform that will allow God’s will in our lives to run its completion! We will be able to perform these duties without giving up because we are not tired, or weak from lack of care in our temples. The gifts will strengthen our spirits to walk a strong and powerful journey. Just think about it. “...Glorify God with your body…” Let us clean up our dwelling place. Because the Lord has many more blessings to send our way. Let’s show Him we have a place worthy of receiving His gifts. It is never too late to start. God’s blessings upon you. |
Authors Billy & YolandaThis is the place where we share our heart through God's Word in faith that will inspire and empower you to live in peace. Archives
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