October 12, 2015 · 6:23 AM

The Cycle Of Change

One of the things I firmly believe is that changed lives change lives. The greater work that God does in someone’s life, the greater the desire is to tell others. In Luke 7, Jesus was eating at the house of a religious leader. A woman in town, who had lived a sinful life, heard that Jesus was there. She grabbed an alabaster jar of oil and went to see Him. When she came into the house, she began to weep. She then bowed at His feet and wiped the tears off of them with her hair. She then poured the perfume on them as everyone in the house just watched.

The religious leader began to doubt who Jesus was. Luke 7:39 says, “When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man really were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!’” (GNB). Jesus spoke up and offered a situation to him. He told of two men who owed the same person money. One person owed 500 and the other 50. Neither had the ability to pay off their debt. The debtor forgave both debts. Then Jesus asked, “Which one, then, will love him more?”

Jesus’ point was that those who are forgiven of more sins, love Him more. Those who experience a greater change in their lives show more gratitude. They had a bigger debt that was canceled than those who were raised in church and never lived a life full of sin. Both types of lives are changed when they receive Jesus as their savior and both have an obligation from that point on to help lead others to the One who can change lives. He more change we experience at salvation, the more we are compelled by love to help others.

To demonstrate this, Jesus then showed a comparison between this woman’s actions and the religious leader’s actions. He told how the religious leader hasn’t provided water to wash Jesus’ feet, but this woman hasn’t stopped washing them with her tears. He also didn’t greet Jesus with a kiss, and this woman hasn’t stopped kissing Him. Then in Luke 7:47, Jesus said, “I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.”

The greater the change God makes in your life, the more natural it is for you to want to change other’s lives. The great news is that if you’re a Christian, God has changed your life and you have the ability to now tell others what God has done for you. When you share your story of redemption with others, you open the door for their life to be changed. The more lives that are changed by God’s love, the more people we will have out there changing other people lives. The cycle of change starts with you and me.

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October 9, 2015 · 5:30 AM

A Matter Of The Heart

Have you ever said these phrases? My heart is broken. My heart is full. That was done half-hearted. Put your heart into it. They have my heart. I heart you. They stole my heart. My heart wants to, but my head doesn’t. Home is where your heart is. I know that by heart. He did that to his heart’s content. She wears her heart on her sleeve. I love you with all my heart. My heart aches. My heart will go on. They have a heart of gold. I gave my heart to Jesus. Jesus lives in my heart.

We use the term “heart” for a lot of things. In those idioms, we aren’t really talking about our physical heart. We are talking about our seat of emotions. In Matthew 6:21 Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (AMP). He wasn’t talking about your physical heart being there. He was talking about your emotions that control your decisions. He knew we’d be guided by the emotions and values of our heart. Keep that in mind as you read these verses. Pray and ask that God would give you a heart like His.
  
1. And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God].

Ezekiel 11:19 AMP

2. If your heart is broken, you’ll find GOD right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

Psalm 34:18 MSG

3. My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “ LORD, I am coming.”

Psalm 27:8 NLT

4. Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!

Matthew 5:8 GNB
5. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 AMP

6. Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?

1 Kings 3:9 MSG

7. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Proverbs 4:23

8. “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Matthew 22:36-37 GNB

9. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

Psalm 37:4 AMP

10. I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

John 14:27 NLT

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October 8, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Wonderful Not Worthless

  
I was doing a self affirmation exercise with a group of people several months ago. In the exercise, the people are to think of a quality that they don’t posses but want to have, and then use present tense verbs to say they have it. One lady stood up and said, “I am enough.” In that moment, my heart broke. She believed she wasn’t enough and her actions in life were in line with that belief. When the group shouted back, “You are enough!”, her face lit up. For the first time in a while, she began to believe she was enough.

Many people live with feelings of inadequacy. They feel that they don’t measure up to the standards others have set. They put on a show for others to see, but inside, they’re dying. They do things to compensate for these insecurities hoping that it will give them worth in someone else’s eyes. They make mistakes that they feel are unforgivable in hopes that someone will look at them as valuable. In the end, it leaves them feeling less than before.

If that describes how you feel, let me direct you to Psalm 139:14. It says, “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well” (NASB). You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You were designed and created by God with a specific purpose in mind. His works are wonderful, not worthless. Since He made you, that means you are wonderful too, even when you don’t feel like it.

We know from I Samuel 16:7 that God doesn’t measure you by your outward appearance, but by your heart. He looks beyond your actions, through your walls, and into your heart. He sees you for who you really are, and He still thinks you are wonderfully made. If you are struggling with your self worth, let me encourage you to say what that lady in my group said. I want to encourage you to say, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am enough.” The more you say it, the more you will believe it. God has already said it to you and He believes it. Now it’s your turn to believe it and act on it.

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October 7, 2015 · 5:12 AM

Winning Spiritual Warfare (Video)

It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds.

II Corinthians 10:3-4 (GNB)

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October 6, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Love People

  
I read a quote from Mark Batterson’s book “If” that hit home with me. He wrote, “Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it. That’s how you change someone’s life forever.” At a Toby Mac concert, his drummer shared a story of a man who had three kids with three different women. He wasn’t a present father in their lives and was a mess of a human. The Diverse City band loved him when he was broken and didn’t deserve it. They showed him the love of Christ through their actions and led him to the Lord. He then revealed he was that man.

When I think of that quote, I think of what God has done for each of us. At our worst, He still loved us. Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (NLT). God didn’t wait for you and I to clean ourselves up and to start living right before He demonstrated His love. He did it while we were covered in the filth of sin. He did it when we were living in rebellion to His way of life. 

He expects us to demonstrate that kind of love to others. He expects us to love those who least deserve it. I John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him]” (AMP). The more we love others the way God loves us, the more we get to know who He is.

After the Toby Mac concert, I went to find the drummer. He was taking photos with fans and signing autographs. He looked each person in the eye and said, “I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it!” I smiled when I heard him say it and thought, “That’s exactly what God says to each of us.” We’ve got to get to the point where we love others no matter who they are, how they live, or what they do. If we’re truly interested in changing lives, it starts with loving others where they are. 

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October 5, 2015 · 5:55 AM

Produce And Reproduce

I’ve been growing a garden since spring. My cucumbers were the first to become ripe. They were small, but delicious. After I picked them, the vines produced more flowers, but no more food. About that time, my tomato plants started blooming. They produced more than my cucumbers plants did. After several weeks of tomatoes, my jalapeño plants began to get buds on them. Each of them produced for a short period and then quit producing. During each plant’s harvest time, I was so excited to go check them. It left me wanting the plants to produce all year round.

I wonder if Paul felt the same way about the churches he planted. He would stay with them and cultivate them to make sure they were firmly planted. When he would leave to travel to other places to spread the Gospel, he would write to those churches to keep the weeds out so they could grow and reproduce. Some of his letters were reprimands (pulling weeds) and others were encouraging growth (cultivating).

As he was writing to the church at Phillipi to cultivate them, he wrote something that caught my attention. In Philippians 1:11, he says, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ —for this will bring much glory and praise to God” (NLT). Paul felt the same way about the church there as I did about my garden. He wished they would produce fruit year round instead of just for a short while. He wanted long term production.

It’s the same production God wants from us. We were not meant to be seasonal in our fruit. God expects us to produce the fruit of our salvation at all times. He doesn’t want us to be like my cucumbers where we produce a little bit and then fizzle out. He expects us to keep growing, to keep producing, and even to reproduce. We should be planting seeds in the lives of others, helping them to pull the weeds out, and cultivating their relationship with God so that they can produce and reproduce.

I heard a preacher once say that Christianity is only one generation away from extinction. If all we do is produce fruit in our own lives and never reproduce, Christianity will become extinct. Each of us should have a burning desire to reproduce through others because of what God has done for us. If we keep silent about what God has done and is doing in our lives, then the seeds we have will never be planted or be given the opportunity to reproduce, and Christianity will be no more. It’s up to you and me to produce and reproduce in order to have a continuos harvest. 

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October 2, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Dreams And Visions

  
I believe God puts dreams, visions, and plans inside each of us. It’s an amazing feeling when they become a reality. There is a sense of accomplishment and gratitude that comes along with it. What I’ve found is that the more we expect our dreams, visions, and plans to happen, the more likely they will. Our expectations and beliefs drive our actions until we see success.

Sometimes, those dreams, visions, and plans don’t happen. In those times, it’s easy to get discouraged and to lower our expectations and believe that they can’t happen. Below are some verses that have helped me in those times. They have reminded me that my dreams come from God, and it is He who will accomplish them. They also remind me that I can’t do it on my own. I have to get other people involved. The dreams, visions, and plans God gives are rarely just for us. He expects us to share them and use them for His glory.

1. At night when people are asleep, God speaks in dreams and visions.

Job 33:15 GNB

2. And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joel 2:28 AMP

3. Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams].

Ephesians 3:20 AMP

4. For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 AMP

5. It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools refuse to turn from evil to attain them.

Proverbs 13:19 NLT

6. And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 AMP

7. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Proverbs 29:18 KJV

8. The plans of the godly are just; the advice of the wicked is treacherous.

Proverbs 12:5 NLT

9. Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed.

Proverbs 15:22 MSG

10. May he give you what you desire and make all your plans succeed.

Psalms 20:4 GNB

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October 1, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Stubborn Pride

  

I’m about as stubborn of a person as they come. In some cases, I’ve spent a lifetime trying to figure out when it is advantageous to be stubborn and when it is detrimental. I don’t always pick the right one. Sometimes I’m stubborn and it pays off, while other times it gets me into trouble. I’ve learned it usually works against me when I’m so set on how I want to do something, that I refuse to listen to wisdom. In those cases, it doesn’t matter how sound or logical the opposing argument is, my stubbornness refuses to allow me to listen.

In I Samuel 8, Israel was at that same place. They knew that Samuel was a person who spoke with God and that his judgements were good. They had watched God use him since he was a boy. When he grew old, he appointed his sons as judges, but they didn’t listen to God like Samuel did. They took bribes and perverted judgement, so the leaders decided to confront Samuel about it. Instead of just asking for their removal and for new judges, they asked for a king.

Samuel was heartbroken. He felt rejected and disappointed in his sons, I’m sure. He went to the Lord about it. In verse 7, the Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything they say to you, for they are rejecting me, not you” (NLT). Then a few verses later, He finished by giving Samuel instructions, “Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will rule over them.” He wanted Samuel to give them wisdom before they made their final decision.

Samuel listed out the things a king would do to their kids, take from their homes, and tax. 1 Samuel 8:19-20 gives us their response. “But the people wouldn’t listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We will have a king to rule us! Then we’ll be just like all the other nations. Our king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles’” (MSG). Samuel took what they said to God, and He gave them a king. He gave them what they wanted, even though it was not His will because they wouldn’t listen to wisdom. God may grant your request, but it doesn’t mean it was the wisest choice.

Reading this story reminds me that God has placed people in my life to give me wisdom. It’s my choice to listen to them or to be stubborn in my ways. Proverbs 28:26 gives us insight to this kind of thinking. It says, “It is foolish to follow your own opinions. Be safe, and follow the teachings of wiser people” (GNB). Stubbornness leads us down the path of foolishness while wisdom takes us down safe paths. If you’re facing a difficult situation, ask God to put people in your life who can give you godly wisdom, then follow it. 

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September 30, 2015 · 5:26 AM

Let There Be Light (Video)

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John 1:4-5 (NLT)

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September 29, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Choices And Obligations

  
Have you ever felt you were obligated to do something you didn’t want to do? For me, when those situations occur, it always happens when something better is going on and I have to pass on it in order to do something I felt obligated to do. That causes frustration, disappointment, and a bad attitude. I spend the whole time thinking of what I could have done instead of being stuck doing what I felt obligated to do. It’s very disappointing to say the least.

Have you ever felt that way spiritually? Have you felt obligated to do something you knew wasn’t right or that God didn’t approve of? We all have at one time or another because we’ve all failed God. In every situation or temptation, we have a choice. We can do what God wants or what our sinful nature wants. Many times we choose what our sinful nature wants while knowing what God wants. After a while, we can begin to think we can’t beat the sin, so we give in to it every time.

James 4:17 says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (NLT). When we do what’s wrong when we know what’s right, we have the same emotions we do when we do something out of obligation over desire. In Romans 7, Paul talks about the struggle of wanting to do what’s right, but not being able to. When that happens, we realize we are a slave to sin and feel obligated to do what it wants instead of what God wants. In those moments, we can feel frustrated and disappointed in ourselves.

Coming out of that chapter of failure to do what God wants, I like what Paul reminds us of in Romans 8. He said, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” You and I don’t have to have those feelings of disappointment. We don’t have to feel like we let God and ourselves down. We are not obligated to sin just because that’s what our mind and body wants. We can choose to do what God wants and forego the guilt and disappointment that comes from doing what’s wrong.

We don’t have to be slaves to our sinful nature. Christ has set us free from the law that binds us to go against God. He has placed His Spirit within us to bring the freedom to choose what God wants us to do. Once you accept Jesus as your savior, you are no longer obligated to do what you used to. You are no longer a slave to sin. You have been set free to live a Spirit-led life free from your obligation to sin. If you’re struggling still with slavery to sin, pray that God would give you a Spirit-led mind so you’ll be set free from slavery to sin and do what God wants.

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