1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy…” ~CSB

The hardest part for Christians is living righteously in this dark chaotic world. For example, we know that three of the Fruits of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23), are self-control, patience and kindness. But the energy in our actions become weak when the world hits us with its influence. Influences like when someone cuts us off in traffic. You see, on Sunday our outward religious appearance looks good, but we compromise with the world’s standard when we do not exercise self-control, patience and kindness. We handle the traffic incident in the world’s way instead of God’s way.

At that moment in church where the Holy Spirit turns on. That point where the choir had just sung a song that we may have heard before, but not the way it was sung that morning. The preacher preached a sermon from a familiar verse, but we have never taken the perspective on that verse like it was preached to you that day. We are brought to submission when the morning has allowed the tears to well up in our eyes because of the reception of God’s love, power and healing.

This happens because today, we have prepared ourselves to receive power from on High. This is the day the revelation of Christ has taken root in our soul. In the text, Peter tells us to be ready. When we put ourselves in a position to hear the Word of God, we now must ready ourselves by clearing our minds of all that is not necessary for worship. Put aside the pain and struggle in our hearts so that we have room to receive the blessing of wisdom and strength from the revelations of Christ. In other words, that godly movement of that morning’s worship service has moved us from the side of just knowing a little something about Jesus; to the side of knowing Christ on a whole other relationship level. 

With this feeling of revelation we must take on the responsibility of obedience. This action on our part will flow and form a transformed mind and a vision of God’s holiness. From this point on, we must not fall back into what is not of God, but to live lives that are pleasing to Him. Because He is holy, we must be holy in everything we do and speak. Holiness is a response to God’s call and character.

May God bless and keep you covered and protected in his love as you journey in Jesus’ name.

Amen
 
~Billy

Judges 2:6-10

Children grow up watching their parents. From toddlers to teenagers, their parents’ actions are seeded in them and no matter how much that child attempts to grow up differently than their father or mother, in time the seeds instilled in them, eventually bring out the good or bad characteristics of what they have been raised around. 

When a child grows up with parents with a good marriage, in other words a father and mother respecting, loving and caring for each other, something incredible happens. The son grows up observing how a man should treat a woman. The daughter knows what to look for in a man who would be suitable for her. Like her dad is to her mom. Those parents have instilled those good seeds, not just by verbal communication, but by their actions as husband, wife, mother and father. That is fertilization for those seeds in the next generation.

When parents live and represent the ungodly lifestyle, their next generation will create a different way of life. Seeding into a version that is not pleasing to God. This is what happened in the generation after Joshua. In Judges, we find that Joshua’s generation lived by what they witnessed and knew about God and His miracles in their lives. But in verse 10 it says that after Joshua’s generation, “… another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done…” The godly way of life was not performed in front of that next generation of children. And because they did not know, observe or even hear about what God had done for His people, they began to look to other worldly things to worship and believe in.

Because they did not learn to have faith in what they could not see, they learned to depend on what they could touch, see and smell. They never learned the true meaning behind the real power of God, so they depended on doing things under their own power. When the next generation never learned to have faith, they left themselves open to compromise and submitting to the world and its ways.

As Christians we should always allow the testimonies we have of God’s power in our lives to be shown and seeded in our children. So that they may carry the history of God’s work on to the next generation. This will seed into the next generation allowing them to live out new testimonies from their lives in what God has done for them. It is our duty to keep what we know as witnesses alive in our children. So that they too can live their lives experiencing God’s miracles. 

May God continue to bless, keep and protect you as you journey in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen
 
~Billy

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” ~CSB

My wife and I have found that in raising our son, we are able to seed in him better when we tag team. Not necessarily ‘Good cop/Bad cop’, but we recognize the strength in each other. When having a serious conversation with our son on any given occasion, either my wife’s voice or word is stronger than mine, or other days it will be me who would have the stronger seed.

In other words, we know when to decrease and allow the other to increase because the message we are both attempting to send to him will be received better when we don’t try to stand in front of each other to be heard. In the text, John the Baptist tells everyone that he has come before the Messiah so that he can prepare everyone for Jesus. Now that Jesus is here, he will now decrease so that the Messiah can increase.

This is the same in our walk as believers. We must have the same decerning for decreasing. You see, Jesus has allowed us the counselor. He advocated to God on our behalf for our helper, the Holy Spirit, to walk with us in guidance. It is our job to recognize and react by decreasing in our own power. We must allow the Holy Spirit to increase in us so that we say the right words, so that we walk in the right direction and we receive the wisdom we need for God’s purpose in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Decreasing keeps us from getting in our own way.

This week, practice decreasing in situations when we don’t know what to do. Practice decreasing in situations where we don’t know what to say. And definitely practice decreasing when we begin to fail at showing God’s love to others. Practice it. And watch the power of the Holy Spirit increase and experience the true victory in God’s purpose for our lives.

May God bless and keep you protected and provided for as you walk in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

Matthew 14:23 “After He had sent them away, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone.” ~NIRV

In the text above Jesus went by Himself. It says He went “to pray”. He didn’t leave or dismiss the crowd because He was overwhelmed, He simply had to be with the Father. The Father is not only the Source of His Son, but He is also who Jesus intercedes to on our behalf. It is God who grants the mercy and miracles.

Jesus tells us that we must stay in the Word and walk in His image. We do this by knowing who we really are. Yes, we are God’s children. We also must always remember that we are His 'creation'. He created us for a purpose, His purpose. Just as God used His Son to feed the 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, God has every intention of using all He created, those of us who believe, for similar important miracles.

This is why we must, like Jesus, dismiss some things in our lives and go be by ourselves and pray. Dismiss distractions like certain conversations, some old places, or social media. Leave the things that may feed bad spirits in our lives and go sit with the Lord and His Word. When we do this, not only will we find God’s peace, we will also find our direction from the Lord. As His peace calms us to the point where we can hear Him.

In the scripture, Jesus had just performed a miracle in front of the people. He went by Himself to be with the Father to receive peace and guidance. As needed to recharge and prepare. Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus intercedes for us. He does this full time.

If God blessed us to know Him through His Son, He wants us to also be a full-time intercessor for others. To humble and tame our human emotions, we will sometimes need to spend quiet, ‘alone’ time with God and let Him empower us, just as He did with His Son.

May God bless and keep you under the umbrella of his love, power and protection in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

​~Billy

Nehemiah 8:10 “…So don’t be sad. The joy of the Lord makes you strong.” ~NIRV

One way to understand God’s love is to know the difference between being happy and being blessed with God’s joy. Happiness is based on ‘happenings’. For example, young George is happy because he has just saved enough money to buy a car he saw on sale at the car lot down the street. He is happy because he has pictured himself in that car and has told everyone about it. But when George gets to the car lot, he finds that the car has been sold and is not available anymore. He is no longer happy. His happiness has been taken away just that quickly. It is because his happiness was based on a material object. One he can touch, see and smell. When that object was no longer attainable to George, his happiness disappeared.

It is in ‘Joy’ where God’s power in our strength, comes from. And His power has a greater effect on us, than just being happy. With joy we can be content no matter what is happening around us. Joy from the Lord is knowing that He is in charge. It is with this joy that we begin to see others differently. It is with this joy that we learn to love others instead of judging them. Joy is the foundation for us being called to love deeply, and sincerely, reflecting God’s own love. If George went to buy that car with joy in his heart instead of happiness, he would have realized that he may not have gotten that car because God had something better for him.

In life we are where we are, because God has something better for us and those around us. The world my be showing us its worst, but God has us in place to present His best. We receive joy from the Lord. And we know this gift is powerful because the devil tries to steal, kill and destroy it. But we must protect our joy because Nehemiah 8:10 says, “...the joy of the Lord is your strength.” It is in God’s gift of joy where we can overcome all obstacles. And continue to move as servants for the kingdom.

​May God bless and keep you protected, healed and loved as you continue to journey in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

2 Timothy 1:7 “God gave us His Spirit. And the Spirit doesn’t make us weak and fearful. Instead, the Spirit gives us power and love. He helps us control ourselves.” ~NIRV

Every day, we believers wake up and start our day trying to walk our journey as righteously as we can. We find that sometimes it can be a very hard thing to do. When we get cut off in traffic. When we are trying to buy something in a store and the cashier is rude. Or when our co-worker or supervisor seems to take it upon themselves to make our day a little harder than usual, life as a Christian can be challenging. It becomes harder to perform in the righteous ways we are instructed in the Word to act. Our responses to some of these distractions are not always good.

How about those situations where things are not necessarily impossible under our own power; but because of the pain we have been through, inflicted by someone close to us, we refuse to forgive. With all this in mind, let us, as Christians, reflect for a moment. Looking at situations like these we know that our responses, should we take the wrong actions, are not the behavior God would approve of. So, what do we do?

Well, thank God for His grace, mercy and forgiveness because God knows that it gets hard for us sometimes. This is why He gave us the Spirit as a gift. Our Spirit is the gift that helps protect us from ourselves. “He helps us control ourselves…” This is to help give us the strength we need to stay righteous. Our Spirit grows strong every time we feed it the Word of God, so let's get a couple of 'spoonfulls' of scripture right now. For example, let’s look at Ecclesiastes 7:9. It says to not become angry, because anger lives in the hearts of foolish people. Truly God’s children, believers in His Son, are not foolish people, so we should not show actions that would indicate us not being God’s children.

And in Matthew 6 verses 14 through 15, a scripture of pure nourishment for our Spirits is written. We know that God loves us so much that He has forgiven us by sacrificing his One and Only Son. At the same time, reading the text in Matthew, it basically says that it is our ‘duty’ to forgive. Not a choice, a duty. “If we forgive others, God will forgive us. But if we do not, He will not forgive us for our offenses.” Those who have stacked up offenses against us, should be forgiven by us, just as God has forgiven the offenses we have stacked up against Him. In other words, if God did it, then we must do it.

So, it doesn’t matter if we get cut off in traffic, or if we meet an obnoxiously rude cashier, or even been hurt pretty badly by someone close to us, our actions should show others God in us. In spite of what we are going or have been through. Don't worry about if you can forgive or not. The action of doing the right thing comes from the strength of the Holy Spirit, given to us by God. The gift from our Father, Who has forgiven and accepted us as His children.

May God continue to bless and protect you as you journey in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

Joshua 24:21 “But the people Said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the Lord.’ Then Joshua said, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves. You have said that you have chosen to serve the Lord.’ ‘Yes. We are witnesses,’ they replied. ‘Now then,’ said Joshua, ‘throw away the statues of the gods that are among you. People from other lands serve those gods. Give yourselves completely to the Lord. He is the God of Israel.’ ~NIRV

“I am sorry.” These words usually come after one has betrayed another. Whatever the hurt, pain or struggle, an apology has been laid on the table. Next comes forgiveness. When that is given in response to the apology, a very important thing happens next. The covenant. This may come in many forms that will confirm the commitment that what has happened will never happen again. Rules are put in place and boundaries are set so that the covenant can remain intact.

This is important because the one that was hurt, if placed in that same situation again, that relationship may be damaged beyond repair. In other words, a wife may forgive a husband for his transgression, when he apologizes and commits to being loyal. But if he breaks that commitment again, the consequences could result in a ruined relationship. This is how we as believers need to look at our personal relationship with God. When we come to Him, we confess our sins. We acknowledge our transgression and we accept responsibility for the consequences. But when we know that Christ died for our sins, then our apology comes in our actions as we live godly lives. Our commitment to being loyal to God in his commands and will for our lives, seals that covenant with God.

This is what takes place in Chapter 24 in the book of Joshua. After Joshua presents the act of idol worship to the people and its consequences, the people respond by saying they will worship the Lord. Many may have recognized their shortcomings and recognized the error of their ways. Joshua told them to get rid of those things that keep them from being loyal to God and to give their all to God only. He tells them that as they speak, they are witnessing to themselves and others. In other words, in their right minds they acknowledge their willingness to be loyal to God and God alone.

In doing this the covenant is renewed. Joshua makes it clear that because our God is a forgiving God, we need to be sincere on our part of the covenant. Because our God is gracious enough to forgive us of our mistakes and bad decisions, He is merciful enough to give us another chance. This is an opportunity to show that we are grateful for His grace, and this time we need to be sincere about our renewed commitment to God’s commands and direction. In other words, God will always do His part. We are totally responsible for ours.

​May God bless and keep you loved and protected as you journey in Jesus’ name.
 
Amen

John 7:38 “The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” ~CSB

Sometimes during our ministry journey we might say, “I don’t think I can be of much help because I’m going through something myself.” Or we may say that popular statement, “I can’t preach from an empty cup.” If we as believers step back and relate the Word of God to that statement, we will find that the word contradicts it. We may very well feel some kind of way, but the statement about our cup is not necessarily true.

God’s word is the truth. And according to God’s word our cups are never empty. Think about it. We are not who we used to be. This is because God has brought us from a mighty long way. He has blessed us with gifts and talents along that journey. The endurance of our trials has trained us to handle the power from God to do good in this world. In other words, God has equipped us for His will in this world. Because of our experiences with God’s miracle in our lives, our spiritual cup never drains or becomes empty. A great example of this is in what Jesus said to the woman at the well. (John 4:13-14)

He said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again.” We drink from the world’s water ‘physically’ every day. This is why we get tired and emotionally drained. Sometimes we need the rest, and take the time to recover from our pain and struggle. But it’s the power from Jesus that helps us to keep going. Jesus continues by saying, “But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him, will never get thirsty again.”

Even though our physical cup becomes empty, it can still be powered by our spiritual cup that is never empty. In fact, because of God, His love for us and His blessings to us, our cups run over! (Psalm 23:5). That is an overflow of love, power and strength always available to us, no matter how we feel. It is this overflow that contradicts our earlier statement, because with God our cup is always full. And we should be ready when God is ready to use us. No matter how we feel.

This very well may have been the case with Jesus. He may not have 'felt' like carrying that cross up that mountain to be crucified, but His overflowing cup from the Father allowed Him to surpass His weak physical strength and complete His mission of salvation. Remember God has done the same for us. The next time we feel ourselves needing a minute to get ourselves together, by all means, take it. But don’t rest too long. Know that God will always give us what we need to accomplish His mission.

He tells us in the text above, “The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” If you believe, then your cup is never empty.

May God bless and keep you in His love and protection as you journey in Jesus’ name.

​Amen

Esther 4:14 “What if you don’t say anything at this time? Then help for the Jews will come from another place. But you and your family will die. Who knows? It’s possible that you became queen for a time just like this.” ~NIRV

The story of Esther is one of faith and courage. Faith in God and courage to stand wherever He takes us. I won’t go into the whole story, please read it for yourself, but God’s plan for Esther put her in a position to be queen, despite who she was and where she came from. Our text is the part of the story where her people were in danger because of a policy the king unknowingly made.

As queen she had the power and influence to go to the king on behalf of her people. But during this time there were rules in approaching the king. These rules also applied to her, as his queen. If these rules were broken, it could mean her death sentence. She knew that she may be the only hope for her people’s salvation, but she was afraid. She goes to and seeks advice from Mordecai, her relative. He simply tells her that he is aware that she is afraid, but if she does nothing, God will still save His children in another way other than through her. He also says in verse 14 in reference of her doing nothing, “…but you and your family will die…”

As believers we will come to a point in our lives where we know the right thing to do. But we hesitate because there are consequences that will come from ‘doing the right thing’. Most of the time we are afraid and do not want to face those consequences, so we don’t do anything. We remain silent. According to the scripture, the question is, what if we are, where we are, because God wants to work His miracle through us? What if we knew that everything, we are afraid of, would never touch us because God is not going to allow anything to prosper against His work through us?

Mordecai says in verse 14, “It’s possible that you became queen for a time just like this.” In our lives, maybe God blessed us with our promotion to do something about the wrong doings in our workplace. Maybe God allowed us to be step parents for His reasons. It doesn’t matter if the child gives us resistance, God blessed the relationship of us and that child because he wants to perform a miracle in both lives. Looking at these two examples, we shouldn’t fear losing a promotion because God allowed us that position to do some good in His name. We should not become weary of our parent positions with our stepchildren because God blessed those relationships even before they came together.

​Don’t let the world keep us away from God’s complete work in us. Because Esther trusted God, her faith allowed God to use her to save her people. Just think of the power God will use in us because of our faith in Him. We should believe because, after all, God believes in us enough to use us where we are.

May God bless and keep you protected in His love and grace as we journey in Jesus’ name.

​Amen

1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a foggy mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face. What I know now is not complete. But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.” ~NIRV

When I was younger, my parents would tell me to do things. Often, I would get frustrated. I wouldn’t say anything out loud to them but, in my mind, I would have thoughts like, ‘I’m busy doing something! Why do I have to do it now?’ Or the times I had to do chores around the house like washing dishes, or yardwork, even being told by my father to change the car’s tires. Again, in my mind I would ask, ‘Why me?’

But when I got older, I became a man and set aside my childish ways, I can now look back and understand why things happened the way they did. I didn’t know it then, but my parents were preparing me. In other words, they were teaching me God’s timing. For example, when my parents called, I had to develop the will power to move when they called in spite of how I felt about moving. No matter what I was doing, I had to drop it and move at the sound of my parents’ voice. This taught me that God will call us at any time. As believers, to witness or even be apart of God’s miracle we have move on His time, not ours. Whatever we have going on when He calls, is not as important as what God has planned.

The chores I had to do taught me discipline. It taught me to be grateful. As children we live in a home that God has allowed our parents to provide for us. We had a responsibility to its upkeep as well because it is where the Lord placed us. As a child instead of complaining about yard work, I learned to be thankful that the Lord allowed me to live in a home with a yard. Instead of me being upset that I had to wash dishes, I became grateful that I had food to eat.

This is what the scripture above is speaking when it reads, “Now we see only a dim likeness of things.” Just as I was when I was little, we as believers may only see the struggle and pain we go through on some days. We may even be upset and ready to move from some of the places we are in. But we do not see or know that God has us where we are for a reason. There is a miracle in the making for that location.

The text continues, “What I know now is not complete.” As believers we cannot trust in what we see, but in what we do not see. We must trust in God’s plan for our lives. By praying in thanksgiving for Him to give us the strength, courage and wisdom to see our trials through. When we trust the Lord in His plan for our lives, then we can speak the Word of God when it says, “But someday I will know completely, just as God knows me completely.” It is because God knows us completely that we trust that His plan for us will eventually show us the victory in our journey.
 
May God bless and keep you in His will and protection in Jesus’ name.

Amen