Tag Archives: christian living

April 29, 2015 · 6:27 AM

Thinking Problem

  

The Bible talks a lot about what we think because God understands the power of our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Our thoughts determine who we are and how we act. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. (GNB)” Another version wrote that same verse, “More than anything you guard, protect your mind. (CEB)” Solomon understood the importance of our thoughts and wanted those who read his writings to understand it as well.

Brian Tracy’s Law of Concentration states that whatever you dwell upon grows. If you worry a lot, then those thoughts will snowball and continue to grow. The things you think the most about take the center stage in your life. They control your schedule, your mood, your attitude, your actions and so much more. We often let our minds dwell on something for so long that it grows into an obsession. There was a time when I couldn’t get enough of the news. At home, I had my 24 hour news channel on and in my car, I had new radio. When I realized it was controlling my actions and mood, I had to break free.

Brian Tracy also teaches the Law of Substitution that says, “The conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time.” It can be a positive thought or a negative thought. I am the one who chooses what I think about. I am the gatekeeper. As Solomon said, I have to be careful of how I think. I cannot allow thoughts of worry overrun my mind. I cannot permit thoughts that are detrimental to my faith and family to stay in my mind. I cannot entertain thoughts and ideas that are contrary to God’s Word. I must consciously substitute those thoughts for the thoughts that lead me down God’s paths.

Philippians 4:8 tells us, “Fill your mind with things that are good and deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. (GNB)” The way I fill my mind with those things is to force myself to think about them when the other thoughts come in. I must protect my mind if I’m going to protect my actions. I have to constantly watch each and every thought that enters my mind and learn how to push out the thoughts that are detrimental to who I am in Christ and to replace them with the thoughts that feed who I am in Him. According to that first scripture I shared, I become what I think about. 

Food for thought: Who do you want to be? What thoughts are detrimental to being that person? What thoughts can you replace them with? You can change who you are by changing what you think.

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April 27, 2015 · 6:23 AM

The Balcony Of Boldness (Video)

That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they’ll prophesy.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved.”

Acts 2:14-12 (MSG)

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April 22, 2015 · 7:15 AM

Qualified Through Disqualification

My son loves to watch “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” on my iPad. I think he loves Daniel Tiger so much because he sings songs that are easy for him to learn. My son started singing one of those songs recently when I was hanging a shelf in my room. He wanted to help, but the shelf was too heavy and too high for him so I asked him to sit on the bed and watch. He sang, “Everyone is big enough, big enough to do something.” I couldn’t help but laugh and said, “You’re right.” I handed him the screws to hold and had him pass me my level. He was big enough to help with that.

So many times in our lives we feel inadequate and under qualified. We take ourselves out of situations God has placed us in because we think we aren’t the right person for the job. We underestimate the value that we bring and we use that as an excuse to not do what God has called us to. Esther felt the same way. She was just a girl who won a beauty contest and became the king’s wife. She had no authority, no royal blood in her and was an orphan. She was the least qualified to stand before the king and get justice for her people.

Like anyone else in that situation, she made excuses as to why she couldn’t do God’s will. Her uncle, Mordecai, was unwilling to accept her excuses and sent her word that said, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” He understood that when God calls us to do something, He qualifies us to do it. He puts us right where He needs us in order to do what needs to be done. It’s not up to us to use how we got into that position as a disqualifier.  It’s up to us to recognize why God has us where He does.

Each of us are qualified to do something for God. There are none of us who are perfect. None who are sinless. None who haven’t made huge mistakes we regret. God, in His mercy, doesn’t allow our past to keep us from doing His will. Instead, He embraces it and uses it to qualify us to carry out His will. What we think disqualifies us, God uses to qualify. What we think should keep us from helping Him is the very thing He wants to use. He uses the broken and scarred to help heal those with fresh wounds.

Don’t ever fall for the lie that you cannot be used by God because of something you’ve done. If you have been forgiven by God, then you are just the person God is looking for. You don’t have to sit on the sidelines and watch like I tried to do with my son. You can hold out your hands and let God use them to accomplish what He can only do through you. Who knows, perhaps you went through what you went through for such a time as this? He can use your scars to prove He heals open wounds. He can use your brokenness to show how He mends the broken-hearted. He can use you, no matter what. 

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April 20, 2015 · 6:08 AM

Climbing Mountains (Video)

People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”

Isaiah 2:3 (NLT)

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April 17, 2015 · 5:20 AM

Faith That Climbs Mountains: Haiti Days 4 & 5

On Wednesday, we got to the orphanage early because the kids at school have chapel first thing. As we got there, the kids were all lined up outside. They sang a song together that they had sung in church. After that, they sang the National Anthem of Haiti as they raised the flag over the school. They then prayed and went into the main room for chapel. Each class walked in one by one in an orderly fashion in their bright red shirts and blue bottoms.

 

 

Once inside, we sang several songs and prayed. One of our students had volunteered to teach chapel that morning. He told them the story of a father who had a son (me) and a daughter (my wife) (This created many jokes from the Haitians all day!). The father gave each of them a mango seed. One of us threw it away and were mad because all they got was a seed. The other was great fun and buried the seed. They watered it and cared for the tree as it grew. When it was old, the tree produced more mangos that people from all over could enjoy.

  

He then shared how what God gives each of us may not seem like a lot. What matters is what we do with what God gives us. Many people throw away the little things God gives them because they seem insignificant. But if we are willing to plant it, cultivate it and feed it, God can use it to plant seeds in the lives of so many others. He pointed out that each person who took a mango from the tree not only walked away with food, they walked away with a seed they could plant. The replication of the growing process is endless as long as we use the seed for its intended purpose. 

After chapel service, the kids went back to class and we went back to work. We were able to finish all of the projects we were assigned to do. The pirate ship was now painted with weatherproof paint and the ground behind the school was level. We gathered out front, cleaned up our messes and the kids came out for recess. We played with them, loved on them and many were coved up by them. They love to pile on top of people. It seems the more they can get on you the better. 

  

After lunch, we held a service for the orphans. Our students reenacted the story of David and Goliath. It helped that we had a boy who was fairly short and one who was 6’9″. The kids watched in amazement as he fell. They were told that they can defeat the things in their lives that they’re afraid of. We then sang, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing that He cannot do for you!” After singing. We handed each kid a paper and crayons. We asked them to draw the thing they were most afraid of. After they showed others what they were afraid of, they ripped the paper and declared that with God, they don’t have to be afraid. 

  

On Thursday morning, several of us got up early to climb the mountain across from our guest house. For me, it’s always a spiritual journey. As we go up, there are Haitians crying out to God, praying and signing. It’s a very reverent thing for me to walk by as they pour out their hearts to Him. I often pray for them as I walk past. The path is very steep and rocky. There are many times people on the team want to give up. I tell them to quit looking at the summit and find a place about a hundred yards away. I ask, “Can you make it to there? Then let’s go there and rest again.” We inch up the mountain at times, but in the end, when you reach the summit, the view is all worth it. You almost forget how difficult it was to get there.

  

In our Christian lives, it’s very much the same. The path is narrow and often rocky. There are plenty of opportunities to give up. If we are willing to walk along side of each other, we can help motivate and encourage each other through those times. God did not intend for us to stay in the valley. He wants us to climb to the top of the mountain like Moses did and spend time with Him. When we finally get to Heaven, I don’t think we will complain about the climb. We will rejoice that we made it and celebrate together.  

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April 9, 2015 · 7:37 AM

Mercy And Grace

  

As I’m driving somewhere with my preschool son in the car, most of the time he will say, “Dada, I NEED your phone.” I typically respond back, “You don’t NEED IT. You want it.” I wonder if that’s how God sees us with our prayers sometimes. We often cry out in desperation, “God, I NEED this answer to prayer!” The truth is that many of those NEED prayers are truly want prayers. We WANT it very badly and are desperate to get the answer, but the truth is, a lot of those prayers are not really needs. 

I’ve been reflecting on Hebrews 4:16 quite a bit. It says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (NLT)” I’ve quoted this scripture in many of my prayers, but I haven’t really broke it down until recently. I know that if I approach God’s throne of grace in prayer, He hears me. I often assume that because He hears me, He should answer according to the way I’m praying. That line of thinking has led to a lot of disappointment misdirected at God. 

The verse says that at His throne of grace, we will receive mercy. When I hear that, I think of blind Bartimaeus outside of Jericho. He heard that Jesus was passing by and knew that He healed people. Bartimaeus yelled out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! (NLT)” Jesus called him over, had mercy on him and healed him. When we approach God’s throne of grace, we are often crying out for God to have mercy on our request. Sometimes, He calls us over like Bartimaeus and grants us mercy and other times He gives us grace.

The last part of Hebrews 4:16 says that we will find grace to help us when we need it most. In II Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul talks of a thorn in his flesh that he asked God to remove. Instead of giving him mercy by removing it, God replied to him, “My grace is all you need.” God told him He wasn’t going to answer his request for mercy, but instead He would give him the grace to help him when he needed it most. He does the same for us. He gives us grace that is sufficient when He doesn’t answer our petition for mercy.

I don’t know what makes God choose grace over mercy so often. I wish I did. What I do know is that when He chooses grace, it’s enough. He has promised that whatever I face, He will give me grace that is sufficient to endure. He will be strong when I’m weak. He will carry me when I can’t seem to find the strength to move forward. Each time I approach God’s throne of grace, I know that I will either receive mercy to grant my request or I will receive grace to help me through the situation. Either way, I know that God has heard my plea and is giving me just what I need in order for Him to fulfill His purpose.

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April 1, 2015 · 7:32 AM

Silence Before The Storm

I recently watched an interview with Jesse Martin who was the youngest person to sail around the world solo and unassisted. He was 17 years old when he set sail. During the interview, they showed some footage from the documentary “Lionheart” that was made from his trip. In one of those clips, he looks at the camera and says, “Something’s wrong. It’s too quiet. I’ve been watching the barometer and it just keeps falling. It’s eerily quiet out here. I’m going to prepare the boat for the worst and get ready for anything.” He started tying up all loose ends, putting things where they went, securing anything that might be lost as it was tossed about. His instincts were right and his preparations weren’t in vain.

A bad storm came that night and flipped his tiny ship on its side several times. Winds reached 80 miles per hour, the boat was damaged, he lost a couple of things too, but he survived. When asked about how that affected him, he said, “The day after the storm was over was one of my happiest days. I knew that I had survived and was going to make it.” He felt a sense of accomplishment because his losses were minimal and because he recognized that something was wrong and did something about it.

Days before the crucifixion, Jesus felt that same calm. The barometer was falling and there was a sense that something was wrong. He knew what was coming and began preparing for the storm that was coming. He spent all day Tuesday battening down the hatches in the temple. He gave many parables and answered lots of questions to get everyone else prepared for what was coming. On Wednesday, I believe He was finished getting ready for the storm and just spent time with His disciples savoring every moment. He was all about relationships and He knew what Thursday evening would bring. 

The storm that was coming would toss about people’s faith. He would lose one disciple in it. Many would be afraid and take cover. The storm may have caught them off guard, but it didn’t catch Him off guard. For three days this storm raged on. The disciples must have questioned everything. They didn’t anticipate the Messiah being killed. They envisioned Him fighting Rome and setting up an eternal kingdom on Earth. This was nothing like they had imagined and everything that God had. They couldn’t see God’s plan in the storm. They couldn’t see how His death would bring them life until the storm was over.

Our lives don’t always go the way we plan them, but they do go the way God has planned them. We don’t always see through the storm, but God does. Every drop of doubt, every tear of pain and every puddle of pity are dried up on the other side of the storm. It’s in God’s light that we begin to see the reason for the rain. It’s on the other side of the storm that we see the rainbow of His promises. If it’s raining in your life right now, hold on. A day of rejoicing is coming. The storm will end and you will survive.  You can make it through anything because God will not abandon you. He endures with you. There is nothing that can come against you that will run Him off. 

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March 24, 2015 · 6:48 AM

Do The Work

Most of us spend very little time reading in the Minor Prophets in the Bible. Those are the little books at the end of the Old Testament in case you’re wondering. The book of Haggai is almost to the end of those books and the Lord gave him a word for Israel, but it can apply to us as well. The people of Israel had returned from exile and rebuilt their homes, however, the Temple still laid in ruins. God was upset because the people were more concerned about their well being than His. He pointed out that all of their labor wasn’t producing what it should have. He tied that to their lack of interest in rebuilding the Temple.

When all we are concerned about is ourselves, God can’t bless it. We will work our tails off, but will never get ahead. It doesn’t matter what we do, it will never be enough unless we put God first. This was the message Haggai gave to Israel and it goes out to us as well. When the people heard the message, they decided to obey the Lord’s command. As soon as they began, the Lord sent another message in Haggai 1:13, “I will be with you – that is my promise. (GNT)” When you’re doing the work God gives, we have the promise that He will be with us in it. He will not leave us alone.

In Haggai 2:4, God sent another message through Haggai. He said, “But now, don’t be discouraged…(GNT)” When we do what God has called us to do, there will be long periods where you work in obscurity. It will seem like no one is noticing, not even God. It will appear that you aren’t making progress, but God is there in the obscurity with you. Every great leader you can think of in the Bible spent years in obscurity. Moses left the palace to tend sheep. David hid in caves while waiting to be king. Abraham was a man without a home. Joshua was a spy before he was a leader.  Whatever obscure position you’re in now, is preparation for the greater thing God has for you. Don’t get discouraged.

The next part of that verse says, “Do the work…(GNT)” We can’t quit doing what God has called us to. We have to continue the work. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the work you do for God. There’s a scriptural principle that Jesus spoke of that we need to remember. It’s simply that if we are faithful with the little things, God will put us in charge of larger things. We have to be willing to do the small work before God can trust us with the greater work. He doesn’t just give that out. Whatever God has put in front of you, do the work and do it well. 

In the final part of that message in Haggai 2:4, God reminds the people, “I am with you. (GNT)” God is with you before you begin and during the process. He has promised to be there when no one else is. He has given you His word that no matter how hard things get, He will still be there with you. Don’t give up. Don’t look at the final outcome. Do the work one day at a time and God will bless it. When you’re doing what He called you to do, obscurity is a way of life because you’re doing things for His glory, not yours. Don’t despise small beginnings. There is much to learn, much to grow and much ministry to be don’t in those times. Don’t get discouraged, keep working. 

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March 23, 2015 · 5:40 AM

Life Under Construction (Video)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28 (NLT)

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March 19, 2015 · 7:55 AM

Love Without Action Is Dead

We’ve all heard the verse James 2:17, “Faith without works is dead.” It’s a verse we hear from the time we are children. We are not saved by our works, but works flow out of our salvation. A person who is given a second chance at life sees things differently and lives differently. A person whose life is rescued by another lives in gratitude to that person. Because they are thankful, they act differently. So we too act differently when we are saved. James understood this and wrote that verse in his letter. John said it a little bit differently though.

In I John 3:16-18, John had some strong words as well for us. He wrote in verse 16, “This is how we know what love is: Christ gave His life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for others. (GNT)” Giving our lives for others is one of the works James wrote about, John took it a step further and described it as an act of love. This can mean that you would give your life in the place of someone else’s, but that doesn’t happen often. Instead, the Message writes it like this, “We ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.”

Giving ourselves sacrificially for others is something we can do often and repeatedly. Giving our life is a one time thing. As Christians, we should have a mindset that is looking out for others. I Corinthians 13:5 (depending on the translation) says, “Love does not seek its own,” “Love is not selfish,” and “Love cares more for others than for self.” True, Christian love gives itself for others. John believed that so much that in verse 17 he wrote, “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion – how can God’s love be in that person? (NLT)” Living sacrificially for others is a sign of God’s love in us.

He didn’t say give everything to that person, he said we have to show them compassion and help them. If someone sees a fellow believer in need and turns away, John questioned whether they had God’s love in them. Living sacrificially for others means you offer your resources, your skills and / or your time to those who need it most. God’s love in us recognizes that we have things to do for ourselves, but puts the needs of others ahead of our own. It acts in their best interest. Proverbs 19:17 says, “If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and He will repay you! (NLT)”

John finished his thought about living sacrificially in verse 18 like this, “My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it MUST be true love, which shows itself in action.” We can’t just sit around and talk about God’s love, we must do something to show it. We don’t have a choice according to this verse. Not only is faith without works dead, God’s love in us without action is dead. It’s time we quit talking about our faith and started living out our faith. It’s time we quit talking about God’s love and started showing God’s love. Look around you today and see which believers needs you to live sacrificially for them.

 

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