Tag Archives: bible

September 20, 2016 · 5:58 AM

Reset And Restore


I remember as a kid trying to sell my parents on letting me get a puppy. I told them, “I will feed him, play with him, and care for him. You won’t have to do anything.” I brought Spike home and put him in our back yard. I did everything I told my parents I would do… for a while. As Spike got bigger, he got harder to care for. My parents had to pick up the slack. Before too long, I didn’t even look out the back window. Then one day when I did, he was gone. I neglected my responsibilities and as a result, my parents gave away my dog.

That was a hard lesson to learn as a kid. I did love that dog, but I didn’t comprehend the long term commitment to him I’d made. It’s like in the Old Testament when Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. Soon afterwards, people moved back into the city for protection. Nehemiah called for a meeting at the Temple to read the law written by Moses. In Nehemiah 10, they promised to obey the law. When it came to the portion of the law regarding the temple in verse 39, they said, “We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God” (NLT)

In Nehemiah 13, It was about 20 years later, and they fell into the same trap I did. They began to neglect the Temple. Nehemiah had gone back to his job in Babylon, but had now returned to Jerusalem. In verse 11 it says, “I immediately confronted the leaders and demanded, ‘Why has the Temple of God been neglected?’ Then I called all the Levites back again and restored them to their proper duties.” Instead of getting rid of it (like my parents did to Spike), he restored order and reset expectations.

I’ve found that his method is useful to all of us in the parts of our lives that we are neglecting. When we neglect our prayer time, our Bible reading, our service to others, our going to church, or any other area of our life, we need to confront the situation, reset expectations, and restore the things in our lives that helped us to do those things before. Over time we can slip away from the positive things we were once doing, but we will have consequences just like the Israelites did. Having a Nehemiah in your life who can point out the areas you’re neglecting and help you to reset and to restore things is a must.

Today’s a good day to look in the mirror of your life and ask, “What have I been neglecting? What do I need to do to reset and restore?”

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September 19, 2016 · 6:08 AM

The Key To More Power


If spending quality time with God is the way to having a quality spiritual life, then fasting is the key to having a more powerful spiritual life. Giving up our time shows God we are making Him a priority. Giving up food shows Him that we are willing to sacrifice our physical comfort for spiritual gain. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that I’m afraid too few Christians engage in. Either we don’t see the purpose or we don’t see the value, so we don’t do it. When we skip fasting as a spiritual discipline, we miss out on a strength that’s needed to overcome certain things in our live.

In Mark 9, there is a story of a man who asked Jesus to heal his son who was possessed by an evil spirit. In verse 18 he said, “I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” They had spent quality time with Jesus, but hadn’t been fasting and praying so they lacked the power to heal him. Jesus told them in verse 29, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer and fasting.” He inferred that there is more power in fasting.

When you are in need of more power to overcome a temptation, to find the right direction, or to get through a situation, I encourage you to fast and to pray. Your fast should be between you and God. Don’t make an outward show of it or tell people you are doing it so they will feel sorry for you. Jesus said that if you did that, you have your reward. I’d rather have the power of God than the approval of man. It’s our choice when we fast.

In Matthew 6:16, Jesus said, “When (not if) you fast, don’t make it obvious.” He knew that our human nature likes to receive sympathy from others. We like to play to the crowd and to get others to feel sorry for us. Fasting is not about that at all. It’s about showing God you have brought your body under discipline and are denying it what it needs in order to gain what your spirit needs. It shows Him we are willing to feed our spirit instead of our stomach.  

The Bible talks of many different types of fasts and lengths of fasts. How long, what you fast, and why you fast are between you and God. I always feel like the more challenging the fast, the greater reward. If my fast costs me nothing, that’s about what I’ll get in return. The greater the need in my life, the greater the fast I do. Some are mentally challenging, but all are physically challenging. Before I fast, I usually seek God on what He wants me to fast and for how long. Once decided, I pray for the need every time I have a desire for what I’m fasting. I’ve learned that giving up what I want for what He wants changes me for the better every time.

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September 16, 2016 · 6:00 AM

Fight Intimidation 


Have you ever been intimidated by someone who was purposefully trying to prevent you from doing something? Intimidation works because it creates fear and fear paralyzed. It’s one of the main tactics the enemy uses against us. Peter told us that our enemy roams around like a roaring lion. What’s more intimidating than a lion? But we often overlook the keyword “like”. He isn’t a lion, but he wants you to believe he is because he wants to intimidate you.

All of us deal with fear and intimidation from the enemy. Paul reminded Timothy that God doesn’t give us a spirit of fear. God gives us a spirit of power. He knew that they enemy would try to intimidate us so He gave us the power to overcome. Remember, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. We don’t have to be intimidated by our enemy. We can stand up to him because we have a greater power at work in us.

Here are some verses to help us to not be intimidated. 

1. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
JOSHUA 1:9 AMP

2. What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
Luke 12:6-7 MSG

3. They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.
Nehemiah 6:9 NLT

4. I will not be intimidated or afraid of the ten thousands Who have set themselves against me all around.
PSALM 3:6 AMP

5. Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because GOD, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 MSG

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September 15, 2016 · 6:18 AM

How To Fulfill Your Purpose

Over and over again as I talk to people, I hear the same thing. They say, “I want to do something that matters. I want to be fulfilled.” I think God put in each one of us the desire to live a life of significance. He designed each one of us for a purpose. You can always tell when people have found theirs. They have passion and vision. People want to help them accomplish it too. I’ve met people whose passion is waiting tables and others whose passion is rescuing orphans in third world countries. God gives different passions to different people. 

In reading the book of Nehemiah, I found three questions we can all ask ourselves to find our purpose and to start fulfilling it.

1.   What breaks your heart?

God often uses brokenness to deliver His purpose. For Nehemiah, it came when he heard that the walls around Jerusalem were torn down. Nehemiah 1:4 says, “When I heard all this, I sat down and wept. For several days I mourned and did not eat. I prayed to God” (GNT). When God breaks our heart, He’s preparing us for our purpose. I’m not sure Nehemiah understood why He was weeping at the time, but He knew God was doing something in Him. God was planting a dream in the broken soil of his heart.

2.   What inspires you?

After his brokenness, he prayed for several weeks about it. In our brokenness, we need to ask God, “What do you want me to do?” God put it in Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the walls. I’m sure he struggled with thoughts like, “I’m the king’s cup bearer, not a construction worker.” While the inspirations God gives us are usually different from our current occupation, God uses where we are to give us what we need to accomplish our purpose. For Nehemiah, God used the king to fund his inspiration. 

3.   Who do you need to tell?

God often puts great dreams in our hearts that we could never accomplish on our own. God rarely gives us something we can accomplish on our own. Nehemiah had to tell the king. Then he had to tell the leaders of Jerusalem. Before he shared his vision with them, he showed them the problem. Afterwards, in Nehemiah 2:28, they responded, “Let’s start rebuilding!” Because he shared this impossible vision with others, they caught it and rebuilt the walls in less than two months. You can’t find people to help you unless you share your purpose.

I don’t know what God has put in your heart to do, but I believe He has a purpose and a plan for each of us. He makes no accidents. He formed you in your mother’s womb, called you by name, and creates you for a purpose. If you will find what breaks your heart and ask God what He wants you to do about it, I believe He will inspire you to accomplish His will. You’ll need to share that vision with the right people, and God will help you accomplish it. 

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September 14, 2016 · 6:54 AM

Cheating God


I once heard of a man who worked as a construction foreman. He worked for the same man his whole career. When it came time to retire, his boss asked him to build one more house. Reluctantly he agreed. On this particular house, his heart wasn’t in it. He cut corners, allowed shoddy work, and didn’t take his time to do quality work. All he could think of was retirement, so he wanted to build the house quickly. 

When the house was finished, the boss came out to do a final walk through as was their custom. When he pointed out things here and there, the foreman made excuses. At the end, he asked him if he was happy with his work. He said he was. Then the owner said, “Thank you for doing this last house got me. You have done great work in all the years you have worked for me. I want to thank you for your hard work and faithfulness by giving you this house.” The foreman showed appreciation, but in his heart, he remembered how poor of a job he did.

In Malachi, God was upset because they were offering poor sacrifices. They offered blind, diseased, and crippled animals to God. When God called them out on it, they asked how they had defiled his altar. In Malachi 1:12, God said, “You dishonor my name with your actions” (NLT). Then in Malachi 3:8, He said, “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.” Just like the foreman, they offered shoddy offerings to God. Their heart wasn’t in their gifts to God. 

I’ve heard it said that our talents are God’s gift to us. What we do with them are our gifts to Him. Beyond our gifts of money, our actions are a gift to God as well. What kind of offering are you giving God? Are you cutting corners, offering shoddy work, or lowering the quality of your work? Are you being thankful to God for the gifts He’s given to you? Psalm 50:23 says, “But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.” We can’t afford to cheat and dishonor God through our actions any more. 

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September 13, 2016 · 5:32 AM

How To Make Better Decisions 


Through the years, I’ve worked with a lot of people. The ones that have always worried me are the ones who make their decisions based on emotion instead of logic. When a crisis happens, the ones who make emotion decisions react to the situation. They don’t think of the outcome or the consequences of their actions. They simply let fear, or another emotion, make their decision for them. On the other hand, there are those who don’t react to the situation. They think through the ramifications of their choice, look at the end result, then make their decision. 

I find that I try to be the latter, but often end up in the first category. I can let fear make my decisions for me instead of what I want the end result to be. When I feel like I’m making a decision based on emotion, I try to find an objective person in my life who can help me make the non-emotional decision. I think we all need someone like that. Peter had Jesus. Fortunately for Him, Jesus could rebuke him in love or heal a man’s ear.

Today though, I want to look at Esther. As queen, she had a certain level of influence over the king. But when trouble came and the Jews were facing genocide, she started to make her decision based on fear. Her cousin, and foster parent Mordecai, told her she needed to talk to the king on behalf of all Jews. In Esther 4:11 her emotional response was, “All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days” (NLT). Fear was dictating her response.

Mordecai offered wisdom though. He helped her see past the fear to make the best decision. In verse 14, he told her, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” With his help, she was able to make the hard decision to face the king no matter what. She was able to look at the outcome instead of her fear. In the end, the Jews were saved and Esther has been honored ever since.

We all need to recognize how we make our decisions. Yes, God gave us emotions, but they’re not always the best things to use when making lasting decisions. We each need that person in our life who helps us make the godly decision that’s based on the outcome God wants. Don’t let fear keep you from choosing the path God has for you. Find a godly person who is objective and can ask you the right questions. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.”

Who is that person in your life? If you don’t know, start with your pastor or a church leader.

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September 12, 2016 · 5:32 AM

The First Step To Success


When you think of anything you’ve accomplished in life that your proud of, you like to tell people about it. When you tell those stories, you start off with the humble beginnings, the adversity you went through, and the determination to make it happen. It not only makes for a great story, but just about anything we accomplish in life follows that pattern. People relate to it because either they’re in the beginning stages of something they hope will be successful or they’re facing adversity too. Telling the story gives hope to their dream.

You’ve probably heard the Lao Tzu quote, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Sometimes we look at the thousand miles and never take that first step. For those who take that step, it usually seems insignificant to them, but that journey would never happen unless they took it. So many things in life that we do seem insignificant at the time, but when we look back, we realize how critical they were.

In Zechariah 4, the Lord was giving a vision to Zechariah of the rebuilding of the temple. In verse 10, an angel said, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (NLT). If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem or studied the temple, you know just how big the temple was. To rebuild it was a huge undertaking. Just laying the foundation was a big deal. It was a small beginning, but God rejoiced when we they started the work.

God gets excited when you and I begin doing something with what He’s placed in our hearts to do. It can seem like a thousand mile journey, and it probably is, but that first seemingly insignificant step is a milestone that excites God. So many of us never start the work that God plants in our hearts because it seems too daunting or the beginnings seem to small. Don’t let fear or the thought that small things are insignificant keep you from starting. God rejoices in the little things because He can multiply something small. It’s when we do nothing that His hands are tied. 

What’s the small step you need to take today to begin your journey of a thousand miles that God placed in your heart?

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September 9, 2016 · 5:00 AM

Turning Mountains Into Molehills


In my life, I’ve been successful at turning molehills into mountains. There have been things that were no big deal in the grand scheme of things that I have lost sleep over. I’ve also allowed true mountains to make my faith waiver. There are times in life when we are faced with insurmountable odds and impossibilities. Those mountains look over us and block our view of God. Our mind reasons that we have no chance of success so we shouldn’t even bother trying. Those always make our faith seem so small.

God knew that we would feel that way at times and is able to make molehills out of our mountains. Mark Batterson,one of my favorite authors, says we shouldn’t tell God how big our mountain is. We should tell our mountain how big our God is. It’s all about perspective. Jesus even told us that we didn’t need a lot of faith to be able to cast mountains out of our path. We don’t have to have the ability, we just need the faith to believe God is able.

Here are some Bible verses about mountains turning into molehills.

1. For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it! 
Zechariah 4:7 AMPC

2. A voice cries out, “Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God! Fill every valley; level every mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it. The Lord himself has promised this.”
Isaiah 40:3-5 GNT

3. I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
Matthew 17:20 NLT

4. The mountains take one look at GOD And melt, melt like wax before earth’s Lord.
Psalm 97:5 MSG

5. “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to knock you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of burnt rubble.”
Jeremiah 51:25 NLT

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September 8, 2016 · 5:00 AM

A Change Of Clothes


I can easily recall several times in my life when my clothes were so filthy I couldn’t wear them inside. I was playing in the woods as a kid once, and i found a bucket of tar. I popped the lid off and had a lot of fun…until I got home! When I was 16, I got a job washing garbage trucks. Yes, they wash them each night like you wash your car. My clothes were so nasty, I had to ride on the back of the truck and change out of them in the garage. Also, when I was 20 years old, I visited a church in Garbage City, Cairo, Egypt. My clothes smelled so putrid that it made people sick to smell them.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because spiritually we wear clothes very similar to each of those situations. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We’re all sin-infected, sin contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags” (MSG). The Amplified Version calls them “polluted garments”. Our efforts to be good in order to get to Heaven look and smell like the clothes I was wearing on those days. Our efforts will never change our spiritual clothes. That’s something only God can do.

Zechariah had a vision of Joshua, the priest and leader of Israel. He was standing in Heaven before God and Satan was there to accuse him. Zechariah describes it this way in chapter 3 verses 3 and 4, “Joshua was standing there, wearing filthy clothes. The angel said to his heavenly attendants, ‘Take away the filthy clothes this man is wearing.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘I have taken away your sin and will give you new clothes to wear’” (GNT). Where our works create filthy rags, God’s work clothes us in righteousness.

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels” (NLT). It is God who dresses us. It is God who does the work of salvation. We simply need to present ourselves to Him, recognizing our clothes are filthy, and ask Him to change our spiritual clothes. God can take our putrid, sin stained clothes and exchange them for righteousness. Then we won’t have to ride in the back of the truck or hide in the garage. We will be able to approach His throne of grace with all boldness.

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September 7, 2016 · 5:00 AM

A Potential Harvest


A year ago, I bought several bags of seeds so I could teach my son the importance of sowing and reaping. Our garden is small and I could only plant a portion of the seeds. From the ones we planted, we got cucumbers, jalapeños, tomatoes, and a watermelon. From the ones we didn’t plant, we didn’t get anything. In fact, they’re still in their bag and haven’t produced anything. The potential is there to grow, but until they’re taken out of the bag, planted, and watered, they will only be seeds with great potential.

You and I are like those bags of seeds. As long as the seeds are in us, they only have the potential to do great things. Jesus called you and I to be sowers. We are to broadcast the seeds that are in us. They will never grow unless we disperse them and water them. We weren’t meant to just have potential. We were created to meet it and even exceed it. God can’t bless a seed that hasn’t been sown, and He can’t force us to plant. If we are willing to, He’s promised to bless it.

In Haggai 2:18-19, God said, “I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you” (NLT). God wants you to know that before you ever sow one seed, He has already blessed it. Before there is a harvest, God guarantees a blessing if we will simply do the work of a sower. He has placed potential in each one of us, but we have to be willing to let go.

People often ask me how much they should give and what they should tithe on. I offer the same response in the form of a question every time: How much do you want God to bless you? If you only want a little blessing, then give only a little. If you want a big blessing, then give a lot. “Little” and “big” are relative to each person. The widow gave two mites, but Jesus said she gave more than anyone else. God blessed the seeds she planted and we recognize her gift over 2,000 years later.

What seeds are laying dormant with potential in you? Where do you need to plant them? How much do you want God to bless you?

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