When We Hurt God

I came across a verse in the Old Testament today that I have read, but never really seen before, if you know what I mean. It is in Ezekiel 6:9 in the NKJV it reads, “…because I was crushed by their adulterous hearts which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols…”

The word that drew my attention was the word crushed in other translations the word is translated as broken. In other words, God was hurt. It is not very often that we think of the Almighty God in these terms.

Think back to that time in your life when you may have liked someone. You did everything you could to impress them. You wanted them, at the minimum, to know that you existed. And just when you thought they noticed you they started dating someone else, and they told you they just wanted to be ‘friends.’

In that moment you were crushed. This verse seems to be indicating the same thing about God. He had done everything for His people, He had poured out His love and affection on them only to be rejected. The people had replaced Him with silly little pieces of wood and rock that they had made with their own hands.

They turned their trust over to other things and not Him. God wanted them to depend on, and trust in Him and they chose someone else. Who do you trust?

In James 1:2-8 it tells us to, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials”, and “if any of you lacks wisdom, let Him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach.” With all that is going on in the world today it is easy to live in fear. Some are struggling because they don’t have jobs; others throughout the world are being physically and emotionally tortured for their faith. God is asking you to trust Him.

We trust Him by rejoicing when things aren’t going our way and coming to Him with our problems, believing that He really does have all the answers. And not only that He as the answers, but that He is ready and willing to give us the answers.

He is a good God who is in a good mood and who wants to do good things for His children.

James also tells us that we should ask without doubting Him. Remind yourself of the good things that God has done for you and others around you. Remember and read about what God has done in the past, for those in scripture and in the history books. Throw a party and shout for joy, even if you don’t feel like it.

God has done so many wonderful things for us. Remember His testimonies and trust in Him and things may not change right away, but they will change.

Until next time,

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace!

Who's your Daddy?

Kings and heirs know the answer to this most important of questions. They take pride in where they came from. They recognize that their authority was passed down to them from their father. The question is do you know who your Father is?

Romans 8:14-17a

14 Far as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,...

These verses are meant to give us courage and hope. We can walk in authority on this earth because God the Father is our papa. We were adopted into the family, because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. It was a gift given to us because God loves us.

We can rule because we are His children. Too many times we see ourselves as weak and powerless. Too often we see ourselves through the eyes of our past. We need to begin to see ourselves how God sees us. He sees us as his children.

We have authority here on earth, because of what He accomplished on the cross. I struggle in this area; it is hard to wrap my mind around this truth. I see what I once was, and even some of the issues that I struggle with today, and then I begin to wonder how it is possible? Sometimes the lies of the enemy seem to be more real than the simple truth.

You and I, are His children. Nothing can separate us from His love. No matter how bad we were, or sometimes are, we are His children. If you have accepted the sacrifice that Jesus paid on the cross for your life, then you are His, no if, ands, or buts about it.

Jesus' sacrifice was great enough to cover our sins. He set us free from the law of sin and death. We may have deserved to die, but He took our death for us. We, me included need to live life as adopted son's and daughters, because we are His children. Begin to see yourself as a child of the one true God and begin thinking about what that means for your life.

Until next time,

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace!

Kingship part 2

Matthew 19:13-15

13Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.

14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

Today's post should probably have been first in this series, but I was having these thoughts while I was driving after having read my Bible. After the disciples tried to keep the children from coming to Jesus, because he was obviously too busy doing grown up things, that they were to let the children come to him. He went on to say them that "of such is the kingdom of heaven." In another passage he says we must come to him as little children.

Children in relation to kingship.

I remember as a little boy fantasizing about being the hero. It usually involved saving the day and as I got older it also included rescuing the woman, or "damsel in distress." There was always some bad guy that needed to be defeated, because he was trying to hurt the "damsel." Now if you are a woman you may have had the opposite fantasy. You may have been wanting to be the one being rescued, but with a twist.

Ask yourself this question when you were a little kid were you just, any old girl, waiting to be rescued? I don't think so. I have observed my own little girls enough to know what character you were in the above scenario. You weren't just, "any old girl", you were the, "princess." More than likely you were the smartest, most talented, most beautiful princess in all the world. And you were either waiting on prince charming or the shining knight to come rescue you.

The point is your dreams were big. You had high hopes, no child daydreams about being the dirty little orphan who never gets enough food. Children dream about being heroes and heroines, saving the day. Somewhere along the line we lose the mystery of life. We face cynicism or bad things happen in our lives and we begin to settle for less.

We lose something as we get older and life happens that we need to get back. I am not saying that we should be totally naïve. And I am not saying that we should just bury our head in the sand and pretend all day, but there is some things about being a child that we need to get back. As I talked about in yesterdays post Jesus saved us and made us kings and priests to God. We are all royalty.

Our dreams need to become bigger again. Life is a journey, it is not always rosy, even as little kids we recognized this, after all without a "bad guy" to defeat the story would be pretty lame. As children we never doubted for one moment our ability to overcome the enemy. In my dreams, I NEVER LOST! In fact in my dreams or fantasies the thought of losing never even crossed my mind. We need to learn to trust in God no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Jesus already defeated the enemy, we are already on the winning side, now we need to act like it.

This is just a piece of the story, I hope you will continue on this journey with me.

Until next time,

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace!

Kingship part 1

The next few post's are going to be a little bit different, because I feel something so strongly that I want to write about it, even though it doesn't necessarily follow the same format as my previous posts. Sunday at church I was thinking about kingship, or royalty. I began thinking about the following questions.

 How many kings could you think of in this world who would…

 

• Eat off of the floor?
• Question their abilities or talents?
• Walk with their heads bowed down, everywhere they go?
• Settle for less if they could have more?

 

 

 

 

Revelation 1:5,6

 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

 

Many times, we as Christian's, do not see ourselves in this light. We are under the false assumption that we are being humble, while putting ourselves down. We make all kinds of excuses as to why we couldn't possibly do what we feel like God is calling us to do. We think, "I had to have heard wrong, I couldn't possibly do this or that, so and so would be much better than, I just am not good enough." And so the work that we were meant to be doing either doesn't get done or doesn't get done as well as it could be, because someone is withholding their gift from the body.

 

This post is not to put you or myself down, I just want us to raise our expectation levels. We need to start seeing ourselves as God sees us. The above scripture states that Jesus, through His sacrifice, has made us kings and priests to God. That makes you and me royalty. We have authority here, because of what Jesus did for us. He paid a high sacrifice for us.

 

I asked the above questions, not so we could become arrogant or selfish, like some earthly kings have been. I asked the questions to really challenge our mindset as Christian's. I cannot possibly cover everything I want to cover in one post, so over the next few days and weeks I am going to attempt to cover this subject in a more thorough manner.

 

Being a leader doesn’t mean you won't have any problems, and that everything will be fun and easy. Being kings and priests involves hard work on our part, because as Christian rulers we don't rule, to Lord it over people. Our motivation comes from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and as His representatives here on earth, our goal is to build and lift others up, while violently tearing down the kingdom of the god of this age. The victory has already been bought we need to step up.

 

Ephesians 6:10-12

 

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

Until next time,

 

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace!

 

HE IS RISEN!

Today's post is going to explore the depths of what His sacrifice meant for us. We don't explore often enough what He did for us on the cross. His sacrifice fills me with joy and excitement that can hardly be contained. It is like the old song, there is joy unspeakable and full of glory. The joy that comes from knowing what He did for me, no words can fully describe.


The stripes that He took on His back to provide for my healing. The whole humiliation that he was subjected to as they mocked Him and gambled over his garments, while he was hanging there. He was bleeding from the deep gashes in his back, all of His weight being supported on nails that were pounded through His hands, or wrists, and feet. Gasping for breath as His lungs were struggling to get air. I deserved to die such a tragic death, but Jesus suffered my death for me.

Jesus paid the wages of death that I deserved and earned. When we hated Him, He died for us. At times I think back on all the things in my life that I had done wrong. All the ways in which I had sinned, and some of the things that I even say and do, that I regret seconds after having done them. We as human beings did not deserve and could never earn such love and sacrifice.

My heart is full of joy, for Jesus paid the price that I could never pay. I owed a debt that I could never pay, because of my actions, that I did freely of my own will, I owed trillions of dollars. A debt so big that I would never have been able to pay off, if I could work 100 lifetimes. He marked them, paid in full, but He did so much more than that.

Not only did he pay off my debt, he freely gave me so much more. Because He died and then rose again, I have life. I have been freed to live a life full of goodness. I was trapped in my sin, no matter how much I tried not to, I always failed. I was stuck! His sacrifice freed me to live a life that would be pleasing to Him. Sin was defeated on the cross.

I hated myself, I wanted to quit doing those things, but I could never gain victory. I would do okay for a while, but then I would go back to doing what I despised. It was a vicious circle, that I could not break. And in one moment, it was broken, because of the sacrifice He made for me. He is risen, sin and death has been defeated, and now I have life, a life that I did not deserve. And as if all this weren't enough, He promised me eternal life with Him in heaven.

Most peoples god's have them begging for just crumbs from the table. Jesus spread out a full table before us. Most peoples god's demand much and give little. Jesus gave His life, to pay for our sin, offer us healing, gave us victory, and gave us the hope of eternal life with Him. Most peoples god's demand love, Jesus gave love. Most peoples god's are either dead and buried or are pieces of wood or clay that they made with their own hands, Jesus is alive and at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us, His children. Most peoples god's are far away, Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit, as a helper for us.

HE IS RISEN!

Until next time.

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace!

Brood of Vipers (Repentance Defined)

Matt. 3:1-10
These verses show us a picture of a man dressed in camel's hair with a leather belt strapped around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey in the wilderness preaching repentance to all who will listen. In this passage of scripture we can find a true definition of repentance. Too many times we as people equate repentance with just saying sorry. Repentance is more than just saying your sorry. Repentance- defined is to change the way you think and act.

This means that you change what you are doing. Not just trying to justify your actions. Sin is never to be taken lightly. Although we can never earn our salvation, our actions and thoughts should be changing. After all we know from the scripture that the wages of sin is death.

We see in this story, that as he is preaching, here comes out the Pharisees and Sadducees, these group of men who were coming out to be baptized by John, not because they were sorry for what they had done, but just to avoid being punished. For, he calls them a brood of vipers and asks them, "who warned you to flee from the wrath to come." They never really planned on doing anything differently.

Repentance is not just about saying sorry, only to avoid being punished or only saying that you're sorry because you were caught, or only trying to cover your bases, just in case. True repentance involves change, truly being sorry means you plan on never doing it again. Although sometimes we do fail. We never come to a place where we just say, "it's okay, after all I'm only human."

Repentance is a condition of the heart. To truly repent, you must, acknowledge that you have done something wrong. These Pharisees and Sadducees were being like a thief who says he is sorry, but walks away, and at the very first opportunity that comes along, he steals again. They had no intention of changing what they were doing. They were full of pride because, after all, they were Abraham's children.

After asking them about who warned them to flee the wrath to come. He tells them to bear fruit worthy of repentance. In other words, don't just say you're sorry, truly mean you're sorry. By changing what you're doing. You can't just say hey, I'm sorry, and then go out and live the life that you want to live. In Luke 3: 7-14 the author expanded on this whole idea of bearing fruit worthy of repentance.

He told the tax collectors to collect no more than what is appointed to you. He told the soldiers do not intimidate, accuse falsely, and to be content with your wages. If you have two tunics give to one who has none. If you have extra food do likewise. Repentance involves change!

Don't get me wrong, saying you're sorry is a good start, but it is not the end. Repentance is like when you're walking one direction, and then you turn and walk completely in the opposite direction. You're not just saying you're sorry, to avoid punishment. You are acknowledging that you were wrong, and that you desire to live differently, because of God's goodness toward you.

God's love and forgiveness should never be taken for granted. Never say it's okay to sin, because after all God will forgive me. Our attitude counts, God sees through to your heart. It may be easy to fool others, because they cannot see the condition of your heart, but God is never fooled. Don't just say you're sorry, change the way that you think and act, with God's help you can do it.

Until next time,

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace

Know and Trust

Matthew 4:6-7
The tempter tried to get Jesus to question who he was and who God was. Jesus' response to Satan's temptation to jump was it is written you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Quoting an old testament scripture about the time when the people of Israel had complained to Moses because there was no water. The Children of Israel had seen God do many miracles for them. He had called them and given them many promises. He had shown them that they were His people. He had shown them that He would lead them. They tempted God by complaining to Moses, and by questioning whether God was even with them.


Satan wanted Jesus to act in the same way. Bringing the If you are the son of God, then cast yourself down. And He wanted Him to cast himself down, because after all the scripture does say that the angels would catch Him. Or would they? Satan's tricks do not change, he wants us to question whether God's promises are real. Make us question if God will really honor his promises. Can you really trust God?

The Children of Israel were in a rough spot. They were in the desert and there was no source of water around them. They began to question whether God was even with them. They were desperate and they began to contend with Moses whether God was with them. They had forgotten about what God had just done for them. He parted the Sea, so they could cross on dry land, he had just made bitter water sweet so that the water was drinkable, he had sent them manna from heaven when they needed food to eat.

He had called them as His special people. Jesus was the Son of God, and He knew who He was. Satan wanted Him to question who He was and whether or not God would answer His promises. After all the promise of the angels catching Jesus was a promise that God had spoken, and Jesus knew that God would answer. He didn't have to do something stupid just to prove whether or not God would really do what He had promised.

God has given His people promises from the beginning of time. He has done many things for His people who trusted in Him. There are many testimonies that we need to remember and build ourselves up in, God is real and He really does care for us no matter what we have gone through, are going through, and are going to go through. We need to remember His promises for us. Remember that He has many thoughts for us, they are more than could be numbered, and they are all for our own good.

I am reminded of an old song, and yes I do believe in mixing some old with the new, I think it was called Trust and Obey. It said trust and obey for those no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. We need to know who we are in Christ and know that our Father will always keep His promises. Even when things don't look good, we serve a good God who loves us and will take care of us.

Until next time,


May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace

God of Mercy

Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that it was said, “you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy”. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, “then you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what rewards have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than the others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Even when we hated him, he loved us and died for us. He gives, “good” even though we didn't deserve it or earn it. Good things sometimes happen to bad people, because of the goodness of God. That I know will drive some people nuts. Sometimes in our own self-righteousness, we want other people to pay for what they've done.

I mean, how come some people who could care less about God and other people seem to prosper sometimes. It is simply because of God's goodness and mercy. The same mercy, that was and is directed toward us, is also directed towards them, because the truth is, neither one of us deserved it. The wages of sin is death, and that I know is what I had on. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I praise God that he doesn't just give us what we deserve or are. Don't get me wrong, you cannot just live how you want to live and never expect judgment, but God is a long-suffering God. His mercy endures forever, which is a common theme throughout the Psalms. God is not sitting in heaven with the club just waiting for you to make the mistakes we can whack upside the head.

It is because of that goodness that we as Christians, as his children are called to love even in the very midst of hate. This is not very easy to do, I know, I am challenged, in my faith, every time I read of what others have endured for the cross of Christ, and still offered love to their enemies. It was that love offered to the ones who were torturing them, that drew others to Christ.

I like that phrase that was read above for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. I find it very comforting that the Father would offer me goodness when I don't deserve it. We serve a very good and faithful God, who is even faithful, when we are unfaithful.

In this passage of scripture it is because of God's mercy that he demonstrates towards us, that he wants us to demonstrate that same mercy to others. I find it is much easier to receive mercy than to give mercy. Most of us if we are honest would say the same! We need to change that as Christians, and we have an ability to change that because of the gift that we have been given through Jesus Christ.

Thank you Lord for your mercy, that you've shown me and others around me. Thank you for extending grace when we need it most. Thank you for your abundant blessing. Help us to remember the sacrifice that you made for each and every one of us. Even for those who we would consider our enemies.

Until next time,

May, “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance, and give you peace

False Promises

Matt. 4:1-11
Satan showed Him all the land as far as the eye could see and promised to give Jesus ruler ship over it all, if he would just bow down and worship him. Satan promised temporary ownership of the world in exchange for worship.

Many people have fallen into this trap. Satan shows us the world, and says you can have it all, just follow me. He promises us fame, fortune, or anything else that would appeal to us, but it all ends in death.

All of the promises he makes are empty. Sin always leads to death. I think of the verse where Paul is talking about the internal war that wages within him. It is a war that is going on inside all of us, and the only victory we have is in Jesus.

How many of us, have sought after other things, that in the end meant nothing? How many have just had to have that new device, only to discard it months or even years later, without even taking it out of the box? How many have been addicted and trapped in sin, not being able to find your way out? Not wanting to do something, but never seeming to be able to resist, at the slightest temptation when it presents itself.

The thing that maybe felt so good for so short a time in the long term never lasted. You always needed more or the next hit one was just not good enough. The never ending cycle of trying to feed the beast that was on the inside of you, but never being fully satisfied, ever! The more you get, the more you want.

Sin always leads to death!

I believe that most sin seems good at first, it always appeals to some part of us, but sin’s end is always destruction. Jesus knew this; everything that this world may have to offer is only temporary and really not that good. God is always good; he always wants what is truly best for us!

For Jesus the answer was settled, what His Father had to offer, was far better than anything anyone else could ever offer. Jesus answered, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” As Christians we have the same ability.

James 4:7 tells us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” In verse 6 he encourages us that God, “gives grace to the humble.” Everything we need to live a victorious Christian life is provided to us by our Father.

We just need to know deep within our hearts…

• that God is a good Father
• that He has good plans for us
• that His thoughts toward us are always good

Because of all that we submit to the One, Who first loved us, and then tell the devil to take a hike, in the name of Jesus, our Savior. I know this seems easy to say and write, but not always easy to do. That is why I am so very grateful that God gives grace to the humble.

Until next time,

May, "The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."

Trusting in God

Matthew 4:1-11 Temptations continued...


Again notice that Satan comes with the same attack, “IF you are the son of God…then.” I think as believers we really need to have a greater understanding of who we are in Christ. The second time you can almost picture Satan spitting his accusation at Jesus, trying to throw in his little seed of doubt.

He goes on to basically trying to make Jesus question whether God was truly good and if He would honor His word. Put God to a test like the children of Israel had done in Exodus 17:1-7.

In Exodus 17:7 we are told that they, the children of Israel, had tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” They were faced with a circumstance that they did not understand. They were in a desert area and they had no water readily available. They seemed to have quickly forgotten how God had just done some pretty amazing things for them.

He parted the sea so they could escape Egypt, at Marah He made the bitter water sweet so they could drink it, and He had provided Bread from Heaven in the Wilderness of Sin. Instead of contending with Moses they should have been turning and trusting in God. Why do we as people can so easily forget God when we are faced with difficulties?

We need to be a people who remember the testimonies of God. We need to be rehearsing them over and over again, telling them to anyone who will listen. Reminding ourselves of what God did in the past for others and us personally. God did many good things in the Bible and the Good News is that He is still doing good things for us.

Jesus passed this test, because He already knew how Good God is and He didn’t need to test His Father. There was no question in His mind about His Father. He knew He was good He didn’t need to jump off a building to prove it.

I know that many of us are going through hard times. Unemployment is high, some are sick from different diseases, others have lost people who they loved we need to encourage one another. Remember how God provided for us in the past, share testimonies of when you were healed; listen to missionaries or others as they share stories of other people being healed; take the time to just listen and grieve with others who are hurting.

God is good and He really and wants to do good for us. He is the perfect Father.


May, "The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."

Knowing and Trusting

Matthew 4:1-11

This passage of scripture deals with trust and identity.  Jesus, in this passage, was lead into the wilderness, by the Holy Spirit, after being baptized by John in the river.  On a side note, from a human perspective, after a voice speaks from Heaven and a dove landing on your shoulder would seem to be the perfect time to launch out into ministry.  Jesus chose to follow the leading of the Spirit and head into the wilderness.

Once he arrived He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.  This would have been difficult for His human body.  Most of us struggle with fasting for a day or two, much less going for 40 days and nights without eating.  I can imagine His physical body would have been screaming for food.  After not eating for that long of a time His physical body would also be tired.

He was tired and hungry, two conditions that are not always conducive with rational thought or right decisions.  How many times have we used the excuse of just being too tired, when we do something we know we should not have done?  This is the backdrop for Jesus' temptation in the desert, by the devil.

I want to look at each temptation separately, with two possibly three different posts, so that we can learn to reject temptation when it comes.  The first temptation in vs. 3 was trying to make Jesus question His identity.  Satan starts out with the big IF, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread."  Notice he is challenging Jesus' identity, after all if Jesus were really God's son then commanding stones to become bread so that He could eat should be really easy. 

At the same time it also tempts Jesus to eat now instead of being obedient to God.  If Jesus was lead by the Spirit, then fasting must have been what He knew He was supposed to be doing.  Satan was also telling Jesus to take matters into His own hands, instead of trusting in His Father, and then eat.

First of all, Jesus knew exactly who He was.  He knew He had the ability to do what satan was asking, Jesus does not even address that question in His answer.  Just like Jesus, we need to know who we are in Christ.  The Bible tells us we are God's children, the bride of Christ, His friend, His beloved, His chosen, and too many other things to list here.  God loves us, His thoughts toward us are more than the sand in all the seas.  Our identity as believers is wrapped up in Christ and what He did for us.

Do not let anyone tell you differently!  The second issue was a matter of trusting God enough to obey,   knowing that His Father had His best interests at heart.  Jesus said, "It is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."  Obedience to God was more important than food.  He already knew that God knew he would need food to survive.

In fact later on in scripture Jesus told His disciples not to worry about what they would eat, drink, or wear, because God already understood that they needed those things to survive.  He also pointed out several examples in nature that God provided for and that we were more important than any of those things.

Through this first temptation we learn that we must know who we are, in Christ.  We also have to bury the knowledge of who God is deep down inside of us.  God really is a good God.  He really does have what is best for us.  Many times we may not understand why things happen, but we can trust in who God is.

For now that is enough to really chew on.  Thank you for reading, and may your knowledge of God grow deeper.

May,


"The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."

Works vs. Faith!

Most religions in the world like to complicate things. We like to make it difficult, just so that we can let people look at us and say how good we are. Look at what I accomplished. The simple gospel is too simple for most people. We want to throw works into the system, because it sometimes makes us feel better about ourselves. We don’t really enjoy charity or rather we don’t enjoy really needing charity.


But the truth is we cannot save ourselves. We are completely powerless to save ourselves. No amount of good we could do would ever make up for the bad we have done. The only thing we are worthy of is death. The wages of sin is death; death is what we have earned. Thank God for the gift of eternal life. I could not survive if it were not for that gift. Pride stands in the way of the gospel.

Pride in thinking that we can do it all on our own. We have pride in thinking that we don’t ever need any help from anyone or anything. The simple truth is that Jesus paid the price for us. We have to simply accept His payment on our behalf. Pride would keep us from doing that. Pride would hold us back from His abundance.

Many of you reading this might have gotten past that particular pride, already accepted the gift that can only be accepted never earned. We are sometimes more like the Galatians, in Galatians 3:3 he asks the simple question are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?

In this passage he was talking about the people picking back up circumcision which represented the Old Testament law. They had freely accepted the gift of salvation but then they started teaching that to maintain your salvation you had to perform. In other words Jesus your sacrifice was good enough to start me off, thank you for that, now it is time for me to take back over. We also might demonstrate this by doing things to please God or get Him to do something good for us based on our good works. Instead of acting from a position, that I am already accepted by God, any good that I do is because of God and His goodness to me.

A few years ago (close to 10 years ago) I was talking with someone at the hotel in a hot tub. As strange a place as it may seem to have this kind of conversation, I’ve actually had several conversations like it, in hot tubs. I actually joked one time that we should start a hot tub ministry. We were actually talking about, the whole, “all roads lead to heaven” teaching. I was sharing how Christianity, at its core, is different than all the other religions out there. As a Christian we do good works not as a way of earning our way into heaven, but because of what God has done for us, it creates in us a desire to do well. He is a Good God who wants what is best for us and it is because of that we do what is right. We only love Him because He first loved us.

This other person felt that since we all ended up at the same place of doing good that it really didn’t matter how we got there. After all, either way we end up doing what is right anyway, right? One of the problems, not the only one, is that it puts a burden on us that we cannot bear. We find ourselves exhausted from always trying to do our best, and especially when things are not going well, striving even harder and still coming up short. We end up frustrated and hating ourselves, because we always keep coming up short. It is completely freeing to work from a position where I know that I am loved by a merciful God, who will not just strike me down the very first time I make a mistake. We operate from a position of love not out of, “I have to or else.”

Which position are you working from?

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 27:14


Wait on the LORD; be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!  (NKJV)

If you are anything like me, waiting is never an easy task. I recently ordered a headset so that I could get better sound quality for my videos and so that my Dragon Naturally Speaking would work a little better. I could get the headset cheaper online, but I would have to wait for it to be shipped to me.


Waiting seems to be much harder when it is a life and death type of situation. David was faced with very difficult situations throughout his life. He understood that the Lord was his refuge when things weren’t working out in his favor. People did things to him that he didn’t deserve and he had learned to trust in the Lord.


There is always a cost to not waiting. I would have had to pay quite a bit more for the exact headphones I wanted if I would have went to the store and purchased them, instead of purchasing them online. The alternative to not waiting or trusting in the Lord is to try doing it with our own strength, talent, or abilities, placing our trust in ourselves or others.


The Lord is gracious and may even help us when we do this, but we just create a lot of extra unneeded stress. He wants us to place our trust in Him and rest in His presence. In life this is not always easy to do, after all we like to be independent. Even though there are many things we are absolutely powerless to do anything about or change.


Matthew chapter 6:25-34 speaks to us about all the things that we are not to worry about, but to simply put our trust in Him. I mean like major things, like what am I going to wear, or eat, drink. These are some of our most basic needs, after all you cannot live if you do not eat or drink.


The main point is that God, who created us, knows that we need those things to survive and he will take care of us as we learn to trust in Him. It will not always be easy, especially if you lose your job, like I did, but God is always faithful. Learning to trust is a fantastic journey that has some ups and downs. Trust is not always something that we want to do, but it is something that we must learn to do.


On a final note to close this post I would encourage you to read Matthew 6:25-34 and be encouraged. Better yet begin memorizing this verse and bury it deep within your heart.

May,

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace."

Opening Prayer post

My very first post on here is going to be a prayer request to the Lord. Lord, give me the creativity that I need to say and do whatever would be glorifying unto you. I am doing this, because I believe it is what you want me to do and I just want to bring glory to Your, Holy and Precious Name.


Thank you Father for Your Grace and Mercy towards me and all those who read, listen, and watch all the things that are posted to this blog. May you bless us all with your presence; this is what I desire more than anything in this world. Let everything that is said and done through this blog glorify You Lord and encourage others.

May, "The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."