Ecc 4:9-10

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  ¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.

I am very grateful for the men in my life.  They sharpen me (As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another) I have three men that speak into me on a regular basis and each one has his own gifts.  I always get a little different take on an issue but always centered on the same theme …… Jesus.  The key is they have permission to speak truth to me and vice versa.  Everybody has stuff, marriage issues, kids, eating, porn, and lust, you name it they are all the same in the eyes of the Lord.
You can’t do life by yourself ….. You might think you can, but you can’t.   If you believe that you can do life by yourself then you are walking in Pride.  What comes before pride?  Destruction!  (That tastes good doesn’t it)!   If you are not meeting with a couple of men that you do life with you are in trouble.  I am not talking about a men’s group where you can fly under the radar but two or three that you can get deep with.   It is a form of accountability.   If you are meeting with a larger group of men then good for you.  That is a start.   .  Most of you that read this have been on quest and you know the importance….. There is strength in numbers.  Matthew 18:20 for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Does it get any better? 

If you live out in the sticks then you find someone or you will become that stick and shrivel up and die.

You have to have men that you can confess to.  Anyone read James lately?  James 5:16 confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

What do you need to confess?  Who are you doing life with?

Be Blessed today!

 

God's Silence

John 6:35 (NKJV)  ³⁵ And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst

One of my favorite devotions from Oswald Chambers is called “God’s Silence --- Then What?”
So many times I hear from people,  I just don’t hear God.  I pray and pray and I don’t hear Him.  I ask Him questions and I don’t get an answer.  I am in trouble please help me! I believe most of the time the problem is with you.   He is answering ………… just not the way you want.   There lies the rub.  This devo was a game changer for me.  What it did for me is show me that just because I ask the lord a question doesn’t mean I will get an audible answer in my mind every single time

Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.

When I read this devo the first time it released me from thinking that I had to hear God on everything.  Knowing that if I don’t hear Him specifically that is okay, because I know He is answering my prayer anyway.  Hope this makes sense.  What gets me is when I will hear the Lord when I am not praying.  Specifically when I am getting ready to do something wrong “sin” and then I have a choice …. Listen and obey or walk in rebellion.   You know what I mean.

Walk as Son’s and Daughter’s today

The Battle continues

The battle continues …………. 1 Peter 5: 8 be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Sunday morning I am listening to a Robert Morris sermon online called “Beware of the Chaldeans”    He speaks of a story about wolves and he says”  When wolves seem most casual and innocent, even interesting to watch,  they are studying you, sizing you up for the attack.  The more indifferent they seem the more serious the danger.  They are preparing for the pack attack.  The more comfortable they appear the more deadly they are.”  So I am thinking about this and contemplating what he is saying.  The reason I am saying this is because my computer is the pack of wolves.  

As the sermon wraps up I start thinking about a worship leader from several years ago.  Her name was (*&^%$#***(((%) I am not going to give her name because I do not want anyone to stumble.  When I looked her up on Google I chose to look her up by Google images.  I turns out that a porn star has the same name so all of these porn images came on the screen.  SNEAK ATTACK!  It took me about three seconds and I deleted the screen.

The key to this thwarted attack is this.  I had already had my mind made up and I was guarded.

If you don’t make up your mind then your un-made mind will un-make you.

I am free today!

Where is sin?  It is always crouching outside your door.    So you going to open that door or keep it shut!

Genesis 4:7  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it."

The Attack and the Victory

2 Corinthians 10:4 the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Lord showed me several years ago that the reason I struggle with sin (namely porn and lust) is because I don’t use all of the tools he has provided me with.  What are the tools?  Worship, prayer, the word, relationships and one more 2 Cor. 10:5. 

Yesterday as I was sitting at my desk working,   it came on me.  The want the need however you want to look at it.  I was on the road for a big fall.  How did I get there?  Sneak attack,  I was not doing anything wrong.   In my mind it was a blatant attack by the enemy.  All of the sudden the images and thoughts were there.  I will give the enemy credit for this one.

I was terrified.  I know who I am and I am not that person anymore.   I sent out a text to my wife and a friend to pray.  Neither could talk.  I had worship playing in the back ground.  I begin to pray and quote scripture and I read in the word.  I did 2 Cor 10:5.  I took the thoughts captive.  What happened next was extraordinary.  I laid back in my chair and turned up the worship music.  I got still and just worshiped Him.  I don’t know how much time went by …. Not long maybe 7 minutes.  I knew it was over.   I opened my eyes and the attack was over and the feelings I had were gone and they did not come back.  I went on the rest of the day and remained at my desk and finished my work. 

Thank you Jesus!

I did them all Worship, the word, prayer, relationships and 2 cor. 10:5

Radical obedience always precedes the miraculous.

I believe

Your cross bigger than your joy?

“Name”   “There are certain things that exists in your heart that you may never discover unless you push yourself hard enough to find it”  from “Think Differently”  The Lord really spoke to me about this Quote.

He showed me that there are areas where I am afraid to go deep because I want to avoid the pain.   “NICE I thought”   I am not digging deep enough.  This does not necessary mean it is a bad thing in my heart it could be something good as well.  I have to dig though.  I just got back off of Quest that is where I found the quote.  It was in my quest journal from 2010.  I thought about this the whole time I was on the event.  The big thing happened when I got back.  The normal has been that I am so emotionally, spiritually and physically whipped that I will fall to porn in some form or fashion.  NOT THIS TIME!

This week I am free and walking as a son.  Something that impacted the biggest was the quote I heard.

“Is your joy bigger than your cross?” 

I cannot get that out of my mind.  The Lord has shown me that the battle that I have,   has been bigger than my Joy.  So right now I get it …… I get it.  I get it so much I am in tears.  Lord I repent from not trusting you.  I was supposed to go to the FTS Warrior breakfast this morning.  I just felt I was supposed to stay home and write and now I know why.

Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  As a man Jesus walked with joy to the cross. 

I cannot tell you how many times I have read this scripture or for the matter all of Hebrews 12:1-4 …..  This just jacks me up right now.  In my mind I am just derailed about this…. The joy knowing where He is going….. The obedience that He is walking in. 

All this time my Cross … MY CROSS has been bigger than my joy.

I looked up Google images of Demons two days ago to get a visual of what I have been letting enter into my body.  It literally scared the crap out of me.  You think I am joking?  Google demons and just think about that the next time to try to manipulate someone or look at porn or choose to have an affair.  I think you get the point. 
So my question to you is this.  That one thing that you still struggle with.  Is your joy bigger than your cross? (the cross is anything … lying, lust, porn, adultery,  idolatry, pride to name a few.)

Hebrews 12:1   Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,   2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

 

 

In your presence Lord there is peace and joy

 

 

Trust the Lord

John 14.1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.   NLT

John chapters 14-17 are so rich and full.  They are my favorites.  John 14.1 always comes at the right time.  I have to remind myself that when my heart is troubled,   I do not trust the Lord with that particular circumstance.  When my heart is troubled,  the majority of the time I want to control the situation and not give it to the Lord.  I am afraid that if I let God make the choice it will not be the choice I would make.  What do we call it when we think we can do a better job than the Lord? 

It is my opinion that if you are miserable right now about something then you are not giving it to the Lord and trusting Him.  Is this not what this life is about when you are a follower of Jesus?  Trusting? You are not going to ask if you do not trust.  If you trust then you will have Joy. 

So the questions today are,   do you trust Jesus in the situation that you are in?  Or do you want to be in control? If you want to be in control,

 How is that working for you so far?

John 16:23-24
“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.NKJV

Judgment and surrender

When you surrender your opinion it will give you the opportunity to see things in another way.  I am not speaking for everyone but a lot of us will hold on to our point of view.  I think we could call that pride, don’t you think.  We want to be RIGHT!  We have invested a lot emotionally and repenting means admitting that we were wrong.  Quote:  We say we want to see the truth, but we are not willing to suffer the risk of being wrong.  Now we have an irreconcilable difference.  At this point, a revelation from God will have no effect on us.    (I love this part)  A revelation from God is not necessarily Him showing us something new, a revelation is simply what we see when we are flexible enough to change our mental/ emotional position about an issue and look at it from a different point of view.  God doesn’t show us something He previously kept hidden; we see something He wanted to show us all along.   

Matthew 5:8
blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  NKJV    Keep your heart pure from Judgment and you will see the Lord……. That is an awesome thing

 

Let go of your predetermined ideas and you may see a lot of hurtful events differently. 

Remember, this is only how I see it, I must see it from another position to overcome this offense

Example:  Yesterday I had an appointment at 2:30.   I got to the street at 2:15 to be early.  I could not find the house with two GPS’s this street was four miles long.  I drove up and down this street several times and could not find the house.  I was getting very mad.  I had no phone number only email...  to make a long story short.  45 minutes I wasted.   She emailed me after I emailed her.  I was on my way back to FTW.  I was mad.  She gave me the wrong address.  During our phone conversation I told I could not find 721 Lantana.  She said we don’t live on lantana.  I was stunned.  I said you sent me the address in the email.  She said I did send you the address but it was 721 Browning.  I wrote down the wrong address.  IT WAS ALL MY FAULT.  I had to totally admit that it was all my mistake.  I was wound up tighter than Dick’s hat band.  So in essence the moment I surrendered I saw it in a different way.  All the PAIN I caused myself went away.

I had also judged her big time in another way.  It took her 30 minutes to call me from my first email.  In my mind I am thinking “what the crap is going on with this lady” well when I got there, I found out that she had been consumed with her 3 year old special needs child.  That is why she did not respond immediately to me second email.  Can you say passing judgment again?

Kevin

 

God of my World!

Control starts with judgment  Matthew 7:4
How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?NIV  I never thought of this before but 9 times out of 10 I bet the plank is judgment. 

 “judgment is the pathway to personal idolatry."  When we impose our judgments on people it causes them to bow to our will.  If you are the god of your world then most likely you are under a lot of stress.  If you are the person in your home that imposes change through control, then you are the one that has to keep the changes in place.  Have you ever had to say “I do everything?”  I can give an example for me.  I am not this way now but I used to be.  It would happen when I would ask a child in my home to do the dishes or take out the trash and they wouldn’t do it in my time frame so I would do it myself and then gripe about having to do it.   Here is the part that really spoke to me.  When we usurp the Lordship of Jesus in the life of another, It is impossible for that person to experience God’s grace, (because we are in the way) which empowers him to make the needed changes.  It is a cycle of failure.  We want our friends to change and family to change, but we end up getting in the way or better yet we are getting in the way of Holy Spirit. 

usurp \yu̇-ˈsərp also -ˈzərp\ vb to take the place of by or as if by force : supplant 〈must not let stock responses based on inherited prejudice usurp careful judgment〉 vi : to seize or exercise authority or possession wrongfully^[1] The definition of usurp is very strong and I never real knew what the word meant                                                                                                                   So what happens next after we get in the way of Holy Spirit? Eventually, people fail to change and when they don’t change then we create new judgments about why they are not changing.  Then those judgments bring more pain and disappointment to our own lives.  When we decide why they are not changing then we reach a verdict and begin our sentencing and then our judgment becomes reality. 

Whew!!!!

---

 

 

 

The Critical Eye

The Critical Eye………..  How I see you is a reflection of how I see me.

Proverbs 26:17

You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that’s none of your business. The Message

I was going back through some writings this morning when I came across this.  As I prepare to go on Quest next week I have to be conscious of this.  The Critical eye that sometimes surfaces with me.

I don’t find myself as critical as I used to be. What I am talking about is referring to our need to find fault in others or to point out their shortcomings.  You know ………. throwing stones. 

 

Nugget:  Just because we see the need in another person does not mean we have the right to invade the individual’s life.  Our first goal should be to love the person and make him or her feel safe while owning his problem.  If people do not feel safe with their problem, they will feel they have to cover it up.  They will not respond positively to our inquisition (on quest this is where we say you have to love them right where they are) we actually force people in to denial by our rejection and condemnation.  Quote from the book  “How to stop the Pain”

 

Nugget:  Just when I think I am getting better I read this.  When I am delivered from a critical eye, I will see people as God see them.  I will always know the Spirit of God can work in them to solve every problem and conquer every obstacle.  You see, our confidence in people is directly related to our confidence in God.  When we see the best in them, they will see, believe, and live the best God has to offer.  Quote from the book

 

Thanks Kevin

James 1:19

I am reading James this morning and this scripture gets me every time. 

 

James 1:19 …………………………………..Be quick to listen , slow to speak and slow to become angry 

 

 I have to think about this all the time.  So I am just sitting here contemplating ….. is this it ?   Then it all came together for me. 

 

When I judge ( I hate admitting this) It is because I don’t listen,  when I judge I speak quickly and when I judge I cause my own pain and become angry.  It is a vicious cycle that happens on occasion.  This was revelation for me this morning.  I have never put the two together until this morning.

 
Thank you Jesus

 Be Blessed today!

 

Kee

Repentance and surrender

Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.  Oswald chambers

 

As I am reading this it takes me back to surrendering.  I almost feel that repentance and surrendering go hand and hand.  I have an area in my life that I know I have not completely surrendered.  You may ask,  “how is that working for you?”   well …. It is not, but I am working on it.  I have to be honest there are times when I feel like I have completely surrendered and I do have peace.

 

Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender  to the king of Babylon’s princes, (or whatever is going on in your life right now) then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.   Here is what I know for me.  My life is so much calmer when I surrender.

 

 

Let me tell you what real surrender is.  It is simply resting in the love of the Lord, as a little baby rests in his mother arms.  A perfect surrender must even be willing to quit surrendering, if that is what the Lord wants.  We renounce ourselves, and yet, God never lets us know when it is complete.  If we knew, it would no longer BE complete, for there is nothing that bolsters the ego quiet so much as knowing that it is fully surrendered.    Surrender consist, not in doing great, heroic deeds about which self can brag, but simply in accepting whatever God sends, and not seeking to change it.    Full surrender is full peace.  If we are restless and concerned about things that are formally renounced, we have not genuinely surrendered.  Surrender is the source of true peace. If we are not at peace.  It is because our surrender is not complete.

 

This whole week with Oswald Chambers has really spoken to me about rest.

 

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

 

 

His grace will win you over

I thought this was really good so I wanted to share it.  It is from Joseph Prince.

Meditate On

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14

 

His Grace Will Win You Over

I love the story of the woman caught in adultery for the way our Lord loved her. While others wanted her dead, Jesus didn’t. He defended her and gave her the gift of no condemnation so that she would have the power to “go and sin no more”.

He looked tenderly into her eyes and asked her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:10–11).

You see, the power to stop sin from destroying your life comes from receiving the gift of no condemnation from Jesus. This is the Lord’s grace, my friend. This is His unmerited favor! The legalist will say that God will not condemn you only if you stop sinning. However, Grace says, “I have taken your condemnation on the cross. Now, you can go and sin no more.”

God’s Word says that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace [unmerited favor].” So if you are still struggling with sin, it is time to stop depending on your self-efforts. Fall upon Jesus’ unmerited favor like this woman did. When you know that Christ has made you righteous apart from your works, and that He does not condemn you but loves you unconditionally, that will give you the ability to overcome every sinful temptation, habit and addiction in your life!

Have you Judged God lately?

 I have often thought this when something goes awry on a job.  Sometimes we think this when we are close to someone who has gone to be with the Lord.  I have often thought this in my own struggles.

Job 40:8
Will you also annul (set aside and render void) my judgment? Will you condemn Me [your God], that you may [appear] righteous and justified?  AMP

Job 40:8
“Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?   The Message

Do you create a concept of God that justifies your life experiences.  What I mean is so many times we recreate God in our own image instead of seeing Him the way scripture says who He is.  We want God to see the experiences in our lives the way we want him to see them. 

Quote:  When we begin to ask “why” in regard to God, we enter into judgment about Him.  God has told us all we need to know about Him in His word.  He sent Jesus, who modeled all that He is.  We should be able to look at the life of Jesus and understand God.  But we don’t – we look to our experiences and ask” Why did this happen to me?”  “why did God let that happen”

So here is the big question, are you judging God and asking him to bless your life in the same sentence?  The rest of the passage below. 
Job 40:9-14
Do you have an arm like my arm? Can you shout in thunder the way I can? Go ahead, show your stuff. Let’s see what you’re made of, what you can do. Unleash your outrage. Target the arrogant and lay them flat. Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees. Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them! Dig a mass grave and dump them in it— faceless corpses in an unmarked grave. I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you— you can surely save yourself with no help from me! The Message

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

 

Vision or circumstance

 

 

I heard a comment in Church the other day about Vision.

Are you living in the Vision or are you living in the circumstance?

Proverbs 29:18

18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law. (NASB)
Hebrews 12:22 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NASB).

As I was driving to work this morning my stomach was in knots.  I had several issues that raised their ugly head Monday.  One was very major and it had to do with concrete.  Which affected the framing which affected the roof.   As I drove I would pray and talk and worry about what I was going to face with my customer.  I had myself so worked up I caused my own pain.   There was judgment as well.   I was deciding what the outcome was going to be and had made myself sick to the point I did not want to go to the job.  I kept thinking about that quote.  Am I living in the vision or am I living in the circumstance.  The way I was feeling I was most definitely not in the vision.  I was unrestrained.  I was walking that line of   ………   God this is your business and you got this …. But what if??????   Or what if they say this?????

Then I received the email from my concrete guy.  Problem solved.  Then I got the call from my framer, problem solved.  As I got closer to the job (which is an hour away) I started to get peace.  When I spoke with my customer they loved the garage door (that was another issue) the solution to the concrete was all good which made the framing all good.

So as I drove to the job this morning I went from living in the circumstance to living in the vision in a span of 1 hr.

So my question to you is this ….. Are you living in the vision of what Jesus did or are you living in the circumstance that you are in? 

Freedom is not in the absence of something but in the presence of someone.

Be Blessed

James 1 : 4

Anyone read James lately?

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4

 I read todays devotion it really hit me and it brought me back to what I have been writing the last few days.  I am thinking we don’t need Jesus stickers or shirts.  You just need to be Jesus with skin on and stop grieving the Holy Spirit with your actions.  He is with us wherever we are.  In the truck, car or sitting at the computer. 

Be blessed today!

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

Jesus bumper sticker

I remember once driving around with some type of Jesus sticker on my truck.  It was back in 2000.  I will never forget what happened.  I cut someone off (not meaning to) and he pulled up beside me and yelled Nice Jesus sticker and then he flipped me off.  I got home and took that sticker off because of the shame I brought Jesus.  I don't drive around with anything like that on my truck for that reason.  Isn't that the wrong thinking though?  Shouldn't I drive around with it on there and be proud of who I am?
Maybe I leave it off so I can be that jerk without bringing shame to Jesus in the public view.

I wonder how / we would act if we had to wear a shirt that said, "I love Jesus and walk with Him everyday?"

Thoughts?

I am crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me ...............

You who you say you are?

You are armed with the knowledge that you can be free and choose not to live it. DT

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So you can read this and interpret this any way you want.  Today I submit this.  If you are crucified with Christ and He lives in you then who are you?  You are nice to people at church, but an jerk to your spouse?  Let say you own a business, do you treat your employees’ the way you want to be treated? 

Do you choose where you want to be crucified with Christ?  Think about this for a moment.  If I asked your employees, your spouse or the people you do business with if you were different than whom you say you are,   what would they say?    I have to be on guard all the time.    We are constantly given opportunities to either be Jesus with skin on or to be the person who says he is Jesus with skin on but acts contrary to what he says.

One more example:  the easiest place to be the jerk is with people who don’t know who you are.  How many times have you been a jerk to someone because you knew they did not know you walk with Jesus? 

I have that hat and shirt…….. been there and I am embarrassed to say that,  but it is true.  Lord please forgive me

Be blessed today!

Lately I have spoken with men who don’t find it important to meet with other men.  The y find other things that are more important than sharpening or being sharpened.  I seem to remember a scripture.  Proverbs 27:17 as iron sharpens iron:  so one man sharpens another.  Are you getting sharpened or are you just too busy.  It has taken me a long time to realize I need men in my life.  Men to sharpen me!

I want to tell you a little story about a little dog that I had in 2006. She was a rat terrier that was very precious to me. When we moved to our house in Saginaw we had a wrought iron fence. The fence had a bad place that would allow my dog to get out. I kept hearing you better fix that fence before your dog gets eaten by coyotes, but I put it off.  One morning when I let her out she didn't come back and I had to leave. I told my wife to check on Duchess but she had to go to leave and she had not come back yet.   My wife called me around noon and said Duchess has still not come home.  I had a very bad feeling about this. When I was driving home and turned into my neighborhood. There were buzzards flying over my roof. Now I had a really bad feeling. So I went to my house and put on my pants and my boots and went out into the field to search for my dog that I feared was dead.   As I got out there into the field I asked the Lord where's my dog? I didn't hear anything and I just stood there and then I heard turn left. So I turned left took about five steps and there was the head of my dog with two buzzards eating  on her.   I was heartbroken and I was pissed.  I just stood there in disbelief at what I was seeing and then I hear the Lord say this, “your procrastination killed your dog" well..... That did not sit well with me in fact it wounded me. That was a direct word from the Lord.   I also heard, “do you still love me" of course I said,” Yes I do.”   So here is what I took from this incident.  My dog Duchess was under my protection in my backyard inside of the fence. That was where she was protected, Surrounded by family, but the moment she stepped out of the backyard,   she became alone all by herself in the vast wilderness of the field behind my house.  She was alone; she had nobody to watch her back.  She could only rely on herself.  She got out of the protection of the backyard and isolated herself.  Then the enemy was able to pick her off and kill her.  There are strength in numbers this was the day that I learned the importance of meeting with men on a regular basis and not isolating myself.  I stopped believing the lie that I am too busy to meet with men on a regular basis.  Meeting with men to get sharpened is as important as anything in my life.

Have a blessed day

So I have questions.   Are you meeting with people that sharpen you on a regular basis or are you isolating yourself.  I am not talking meeting at church or meeting once a month.  

Who are you doing life with?

Choose

. . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . —Joshua 24:15

I didn’t have to read very far today to be impacted.  I just wonder what in your life is being impacted when you choose to serve something other than the Lord?  Serving the Lord is a choice.  Waking up in the morning and saying “YES” is a choice.  When the person pulls out in front of you today………. Who will you serve?  When something doesn’t go your way …….. who will you serve?  When everything is going right…… who will you serve?

Worship the Great “I am” today!

Psalm 37.8

Do not fret— it only causes harm —Psalm 37:8

It has been a while for my writing.  I have been very busy….. Crazy busy.  I ask every morning to write, this morning I did not ask and then I get this.   I have caught myself at times worrying or fretting about “can I get all this done?”  There are a lot of what ifs.  I have great people around me that help to get things done.  I have mentors in the business that speak truth into me.  That does not change the fact that I worry and fret.  I was thinking yesterday that if this is the Lord’s business then why do I worry?  After reading this morning’s devo from Oswald I realized that even though it is God’s business there are parts that I want to control.  Parts that I feel I could do a better job than Him.  (What do we call that?)

I pray for favor every morning for the business that He has trusted me to run.  I pray for favor that He would bring the customer to me that want me to work for them.  I pray that His decisions are better than mine(I know his decisions are better than mine)  and that I would listen to his voice and not my own.  Below is today’s devotion.  Sometime it just takes one line of scripture to give you peace about something in your life.  That is why we spend time in the word.  Sometimes that time could be less than 30 seconds. 

Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.