Tag Archives: Christian

April 26, 2017 · 5:32 AM

An Encouraging Friend


We’ve all got that friend who we get into trouble with. We’ve also got that friend who’s got our back no matter what. But do you have that friend who will seek you out and encourage you while you’re down? In my darkest times, when most friends deserted me, I had a handful of people who wouldn’t let me give up. I had a brother who called every day, a coworker who made me go to work each day and another friend who would just hang out so I’d have company. 

It’s good to have friends, but we all need those friends who won’t leave us when the going gets tough. We need a friend like Jonathon was to David. Jonathon’s dad, Saul, was out to kill David, so he was hiding in the wilderness with about 600 warriors. Not one of those 600 did for David what Jonathon did. They would have given their life for him, but they weren’t able to encourage him when he needed it most.

In I Samuel 23:16 it says, “Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God” (NLT). Jonathon risked his own life to encourage his friend and to help him stay strong in his faith. That’s the kind of friend we all need. There aren’t just times when we need encouragement. There are times when we all struggle in our faith. When our world is crashing and we don’t see how God will keep His promise, we need that friend who will remind us of all God has done for us.

Not only do we need that friend in our life, we need to be that friend to others. We need to get attentive to the needs of those around us. We need to be the ones who go to them in their hour of need. It’s not their responsibility to come to you when they need encouragement. Often they don’t have the strength or their pride holds them back. We each need to be the friend that we will need at some point in our life. We need to be a friend that encourages. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 25, 2017 · 5:39 AM

Amazing Grace


One of the most popular and well known hymns of all time has to be “Amazing Grace”. Each of us has heard it at least once in our lives. Even my sins year old son knows it. He was singing it recently when he stopped mid verse. He asked, “What does that mean? ‘Was blind, but now I see’?” I explained that the man who wrote it had been very bad in his life, and he couldn’t see how what he had been doing (slave trading) was wrong. When he became a Christian, his spiritual eyes were opened and he could see right from wrong.”

The author wasn’t describing a physical healing and having his physical sight restored. The song is about how he came to know Jesus. It resonates with us because we were once spiritually blind ourselves. We once were blind to the sins in our lives, but when we gave our heart to Jesus, our spiritual eyes were opened. 

In John 9, there was a physically and spiritually blind man looking for money. Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes and told him. “Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam” (GNT). The man went to the pool, washed his face and came back seeing. Everyone was amazed that a man who had been born blind could see. They took him to the religious leaders who asked him how he could see. They didn’t like his answer that Jesus healed him.

After questioning his parents, they brought him back and asked again. In verse 25, He said, “One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.” He was talking about his physical sight, but when he went back to meet Jesus, he found out that Jesus wanted to heal his spiritual eyes too. He came into this world that you and I could truly see. The amazing part of God’s grace isn’t that it just covers our sins. It’s also that it opens our blind eyes to truly see for the first time. We need to look at our life with those eyes so we can see where we’re wrong, and dive deeper into that amazing grace.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

April 20, 2017 · 5:30 AM

Planting Life


I was recently training a sales psychology class, and I got to the point where I revealed to the class their individual psychological reluctances. I explained that some were gained through heredity, some medically, and others through watching others. I challenged them to go back to the root of the issue in order to deal with it. One person immediately said, “I know were this one came from! I can pinpoint the moment.”

He told me he had Role Rejection, which is the struggle to admit to others you work in sales. He said, “Several years ago, my mom said, “When are you going to get a real job? You have a degree. Go use it.” Those words cut straight to his core and he buried them there. Even if he made close to $100,000 a year and his degree would earn about half that, he would feel inferior because of what his mom told him.

I said to him, “Isn’t it incredible how powerful words are? One sentence your mom said years ago has affected how your career and how you see yourself. We have to be careful when choosing our words. We never know which ones will stick in someone’s life and hold them back.” We have to learn to use our words to encourage and build others up. Proverbs 15:4 says, “A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit” (AMP).

We all need to add in a filter into our brain that asks, “Will these words become a tree of life in them or will they crush their spirit?” When talking to our children, spouse, family or friends, we need to make sure we are planting life. There’s enough words out there spoken to them each day that can crush their spirit. Let’s be purposeful and make it a habit to have a soothing tongue that speaks life. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 19, 2017 · 5:31 AM

Listening To God


There are two questions many of us get asked. One is, “Did you hear that?” The other is, “Are you listening to me?” There is a difference between the two. Hearing is an involuntary function. As long as your ears work, you hear things all the time whether your brain takes the time to interpret the sounds. Listening is a voluntary function. It requires that you pay attention. The brain is looking to understand the sounds and to make sense of them. There’s quite a difference between the two.

In I Samuel 3, Samuel was a boy and he was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the altar. He heard someone say his name, so he went to Eli the priest and said, “Here I am. Did you call me?” (NLT). Eli replied, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” When Samuel got back to bed, he heard his name called again. Three times this happened and all three times, Eli sent him back to bed. On the third time though, Eli figured it out.

Eli realized that Samuel had never heard the voice of the Lord before. He instructed the boy to go back and respond should he hear the voice again. Verse 10 says, “And the Lord came and called as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel replied, ‘Speak, your servant is listening.'” He had heard the Lords voice three times, but it wasn’t until he learned to listen that the Lord gave him a message.

I believe God is talking to you and me all the time. Many times we hear His voice involuntarily and we interpret it as a feeling inside of us as to what we should do. I believe it is critical for each one of us pause in our prayer time to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” God doesn’t just want us to hear His voice, He wants us to listen to what He’s saying to us and then to obey. It’s going to require that you listen purposefully and then block out the other sounds your brain involuntarily hears. 

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 18, 2017 · 5:31 AM

Always Working For You


In 2002, Verizon was a brand new company and cell phones were still considered somewhat of a luxury. They were trying to grow their customer base, but their slogan “Join in” wasn’t working. They decided to change it by showing continuous network improvement. To show that, they introduced “Test man”, whose tag line was, “Can you hear me now?” They also changed their slogan to, “We never stop working for you.” Their commitment to working constantly working on their network and improving coverage paid off as they have become the largest provider.

Imagine if you were broken down and needed help in the middle of nowhere. You reach for your cell phone to call for help, but it doesn’t work. When you see you have full coverage, you try again. Instead of connecting you to whoever you’re calling, you get a recorded message that says, “We understand you’re trying to make call, but we only work six days a week. Please try again tomorrow.” How would that make you feel?

Imagine if God worked that way. You have an urgent need where your body breaks down and you need immediate prayer, but God won’t do anything until the next day. That’s what the Pharisees were trying to do to Jesus when they told Him he couldn’t heal on the Sabbath. They didn’t care if someone’s life was in danger. They didn’t even want God to heal on the Sabbath in order to keep it holy. 

In John 5, they were complaining to Jesus about that. In verse 17, He responded, “My Father is always working, and so am I” (NLT). I’m thankful that whenever you or I need something urgently from God, we do t have to wait. We can call out to Him day or night because He’s always working. He hears our prayers and meets our needs. We don’t have to worry that He’s taking the day off. He never stops working for us and for our good.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 17, 2017 · 5:33 AM

The Cost Of A Dream


What are you willing to pay to accomplish your dreams? The dreams are free, but seeing them come to fruition isn’t. So many of us freely talk about the dreams God puts in our hearts, but so few are willing to endure what it takes to make them happen. When God gives us a dream, He rarely includes the cost. Once the time comes to start paying for it, many of us walk away from it or question if God really gave it to us.

When Joseph was a teenager, God put a dream in his heart that his brothers would one day bow to him. He didn’t have that great of a relationship with them, so he was excited about it. He told them about it, probably in a flaunting way, and they hated him for it. They threw him in a pit, then sold him as a slave where he was carried off to Egypt. From there, he was falsely accused of rape, thrown in prison and forgotten fir over ten years. 

Through all of that, he kept believing in the dream. We don’t read where he questioned God for his troubles. I believe it was because he thought of it as the price of his dream, and he was willing to pay it. God knew that as a teenager, he wasn’t ready to be second in command of Egypt. He tested him and developed in him the character he would need to make the dream in him a reality. Joseph paid the price for the dream.

Psalm 105:19 says, “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character” (NLT). If God gave you a dream and everything is going wrong, chances are that He’s testing your character. He’s finding out if you’re willing to pay the price and if you’re ready. Don’t give up because the dream seems so far away. Keep working hard. Keep paying the price. Don’t quit. God is getting you ready for the fulfillment of that dream. The cost is worth it. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 13, 2017 · 5:45 AM

No Ice Please


When my son was three, he started noticing that my wife orders her Coke at the restaurant with no ice. He asked her why she didn’t want ice and she said, “When you get ice, over time, it dilutes the drink. Plus, with ice, you get less of a drink because of displacement.” He then asked me, “Are you ‘No ice’ or ‘Yes ice’?” I told him, “‘Yes ice’ because I would rather my drink be cold than to have a lot of it.” That seemed to satisfy him, though I’m sure he didn’t understand.

If we imagine our lives as those cups, ourself as the ice, and Jesus as the drink, we can learn a spiritual concept. The more we have of ourselves inside of us, the less we can have of Jesus. If we want more of Him, we have to empty ourselves of selfish desires. The problem is that we prefer the cold, watered down version of Jesus because it’s comfortable to us. All the while, Jesus is asking us to get rid of the ice of self so we can be more like Him.

John the Baptist is one of the greatest examples in the Bible of a ‘No ice’ person. In John 3, his disciples came to Him and said, “Hey, that guy you baptized the other day, and testified that He was the Messiah, is baptizing people down the river and our people are going to Him!” In verse 30, John replied, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (AMP). He understood that his comfort wasn’t the most important thing. Letting Jesus increase was.

The question to each of us is, “Are you ‘No ice’ or ”Yes ice’?” Do you want to be full of Jesus or of yourself? If you want to be full of Jesus, then you must decrease so He can increase in your life. You’ve got to put His desires above your own. You must daily deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23) in order to truly be a ‘No ice’ person. That’s struggle each of us face daily. We could all use a little less ice and a lot more Jesus. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 12, 2017 · 5:29 AM

Humpty Dumpty Revisited


We all know the story of Humpty Dumpty who sat on a wall. We know he had a great fall, and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again. It was a nursery rhyme we learned as a child, but now I want to revisit it as an adult. As I was thinking about as I was thinking of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, this story came to mind. To me, Humpty Dumpty represents mankind.

We had a great fall in the Garden of Eden. For thousands of years we tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Everything we tried failed. Nothing we tried could truly put us right with God. We tried giving our crops to Him, our livestock, and even our children. We tried obeying rules that were too difficult to follow, but nothing seemed to work. We got frustrated after trying without results and moved farther away from God.

When all of the King’s men failed, the King sent His son to come put Humpty Dumpty back together again. In John 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to as questions. Jesus explained that Humpty Dumpty would have to be born again in order to be put back together, but this confused him. Jesus explained that the King loved the so much that He sent His only son so that whoever believed in Him would have everlasting life.

In verse 17, Jesus said, “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger… He came to help, to put the world right again” (MSG). You see, there is nothing you or I can do to earn our salvation and rebuild our brokenness. Only Jesus can do that. He didn’t come to point out the mess we made. He came to clean it up, but only if we let Him. We have to get out of the way and stop trying to get salvation on our own because that’s why He lived, died, and rise again.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 11, 2017 · 5:24 AM

But God Is Still On His Throne


I once knew someone who had an interesting answer for the question, “How are you?” No matter what was going on, after he told you, he would say, “But God is still on His throne.” He could have lost his job, he could have been sick, or was going through a bad time in his life. No matter what it was, he would always add, “But God is still on a His throne,” to the sentence. It was always a peculiar answer to me, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to understand it more.

For him, it was about keeping things in perspective. He could wallow in the negative things happening in his life or he could admit they were happening, and then remind himself and others that God was still in control. He knew that God was aware of what was happening in His life, and that phrase would encourage himself and others when he said it. I’m begging to think he picked it up from King David.

In Psalm 102, David is talking about all the things happening to him. For 11 verses he speaks of wasting away, pain in his body, insomnia, being taunted by others, uncontrollable crying, and being depressed. He speaks of all the things going wrong in his life, then he changes his tune in verse 12. He says, “Yet you, God, are sovereign till, always and ever sovereign” (MSG). He was saying, “But you God are still on your throne.”

It’s a good practice to get into especially if you’re going through a difficult time right now. If things aren’t adding up in your life or happening as quickly as you’d like, remind yourself that God is still on His throne. All is not lost. He is working things out for your good. He will give you the strength to endure as he develops character in you. Nothing has the power to completely overtake you as long as He is on His throne.

5 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 10, 2017 · 5:00 AM

A Life Of Integrity


I’ve always heard it said that integrity isn’t what you do in front of others, it’s what you do when no one else is around. Many times we are one person at work, another person at church, another person with our friends, and another person at home. In fact, when doing a DISC personality assessment, we tell people to pick their environment. Some more comprehensive ones actually show you the differences in your personality type between the environments.

When it comes to being a Christian, it’s important that we always live with integrity no matter what environment we are in. We don’t have to pretend that we aren’t human and that we are perfect because we’re not. We can live real lives, admit our struggles, show our brokenness and still live with integrity. It’s by our love that they will know we are His disciples, not by our pretending to be perfect. 

I love the book of Psalms because David, who was a man after God’s own heart, is vulnerable enough to share and show his true self. He was a man of doubts, sins, fears, and worries. I think that’s why so many of us soak up the Psalms and why they resonate with us. David was a man of integrity and didn’t pretend to be anyone other than who he was. He was honest in his prayers and his praise. He was the same man in public and in private.

In Psalm 101:2, he vowed to God, “I will lead a life of integrity in my own home” (NLT). He understood the importance of integrity and knew that it started at home when no one was looking. Each of us can learn from his example. Being a person after God’s own heart isn’t about being perfect. It’s about having integrity, being able to admit it when we’ve sinned, and following after God matter what. If we have integrity at home, it’ll bleed into all the other areas of our lives. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,