Lack of Direction Leads to Trouble

How often do we find ourselves in situations that are evil or leading to evil and we wonder how we ever got there. Or we find ourselves with a tendency toward temptation. According to this verse it is because we have let our heart drift. 2 Chronicles 12:14 “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.”

To avoid every kind of evil and temptation we must do two things. First, we must set our hearts…this is to fix or establish on a particular focus. The implication is that once fixed our focus will not change. The second thing tells us what we are to focus on, what our lives should always be about. We are to be focused on seeking God. This simple theme is echoed all throughout Scripture. I we would just focus or lives on knowing God better, loving Him with all we are and have, then we would never need to worry about doing evil or compromising our hearts or lives. So how are you doing? Are you avoiding evil? To be sure fix your heart on seeking God and Him alone.

Have We Abandoned God?

2 Chronicles 12:1 “After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord.”

·         As God blesses us, making us successful and strong we must guard against forgetting God. It is human tendency to start depending on our own ability as that ability grows. However we must remember to always rely on God. It is only through him that we can do anything, so we must stay dependent on Him for all things.

·        So how about you? Are you continuing to depend on God and God alone, staying faithful to Him for everything or have started to abandon God for your own abilities and strengths? May we always be found dependent on God.

Let Obedience Change Your Day

Psalm 107:1-2a “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this—”

·        Giving thanks to God is a command! This is not optional and based on our feelings. Regardless of circumstance and how life is treating us we are to give Him thanks. Why can we do this? It is possible based on God’s character and what He does. You see, who God is and what He does are that only true constants we have as we go through our lives.

·        Think about it. God always has been and always will be the very essence of good. When we can find nothing else good in our lives, there is still God, and He is always good. An example of this goodness is found in the fact of God’s eternal love. A love that does not diminish or fade. A love for each and every one of us, ever day, all day long.

So whatever you are going through, if you are redeemed, a follower of Jesus, remember to give thanks to our God. When you do He will help change your perspective and attitude. So obey and see how it changes your day.

Are You Well?

God has called His followers to be people of hope. However, we will never be a person of hope or be able to pass hope on to others unless we are W.E.L.L. as it is described in Acts 2:42-47.
 

W - A worshiper of God: do we live a life of worship, focused on bringing God pleasure in all we say and do?

 

E - An evangelist for God: are we compelled to share God's love and peace with those we meet, where everyday activities become opportunities to point others toward God?

 

L - Life-long learners of God's Word: do we hunger to know God more to the point that we miss time in His Word more than we miss food. Do we have an anticipation and excitement to see what God will teach us today as we read the Bible and once we have learned something are we compelled to share that with others?

 

L - Are we loving in all we do? The 2 commands that summarize all Scripture are Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength ... and love your neighbor as yourself. Does the world in which we live everyday truly know we are God’s disciples because of our love for each other.

 

Only when we are WELL will we be able to reach our full potential as people of God. Just consider what was happening at the end of these verses. It says, “And God added daily those who were being saved.” I pray that every follower of Jesus and every church will become WELL once again so that we may see people saved every day as we reach out to the world who is searching for true, lasting hope.

Regaining Intimacy with God

As we go through life it is good to pause and evaluate how we are doing. If we are being honest one thing we will have to admit that is that we often loose intimacy in our relationship with God. With this being true we must learn how to regain this intimacy.

The first step is for us realize that any loss in intimacy is a result of our own actions. God is always faithful and never leaves. He only desires a deeper and more intimate relationship with is and constantly works toward that end. We on the hand, tend to become distracted or lazy.

Now when we admit that the problem lies with us we need to do more than just acknowledging this. The next step is to ask for forgiveness and this must come from a truly repentant heart/mind. A repentant heart must lead to a change in actions. Note that it has to start with a heart change. Anyone can just ‘go through the motions’ and those actions are without any passion and will come across as cold and religious. God is concerned about a relationship with us not our religious actions.

A key to this process is not to focus on our areas of failure and weakness, instead, focus on how you can include God in every aspect of life especially those things you are most passionate about. Let’s engage our mind (the seat of passion and intimacy) and become creative in how we can include God in our daily movements. As newlyweds look for every excuse to spend as much time with each other as possible so that they can discover new ways to let their love show. These range from elaborately romantic endeavors that take much planning and effort, to sharing simple tasks like folding laundry or doing dishes together. Keeping communication flowing is so important. Two people can stand beside each other for years working on the same project and never know each other. Yet if they talk, about the project, about life at home, about family and friends, joys and sorrows, dreams and hopes…then and only then do they develop compassion, friendship and intimacy. The same is even truer as we live with God. He wants and hopes we will be totally honest and open sharing all of who we are with Him talking about everything. That is why Jesus says the greatest command in Scripture is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:13)

Realize this will take work and sacrifice and a lot of it over time. However, the end result is so worth it as we draw closer and closer and enjoy intimacy with God. Also need to remember, as with everything God asks us to do, if we need help doing and or all of this all we have to do is ask and He will freely help without finding fault. So do you want to regain intimacy with God or want deeper intimacy with Him then admit your responsibility, change your heart and work hard at including God in everything asking for help when needed. When we do this we will enjoy an intimacy with God like we have never had before.

Experiencing & Explaining God's Hope

As we think about our hearts and the things we love and cherish, does God hold a special place? One that is set apart or set above everything else? Most of us will say yes to this because we have a place for God alongside of everything else we cherish. However, Jesus is to be set above everything else, not part of a group of cherished things. He desires to be Lord of all that is in our heart and when He is this, He becomes Lord of all that is in our lives. Once this has happened the natural result is that we are filled to overflowing with hope. It is this hope that others will notice and ask about.

When we are asked, we are to explain why this hope overflows from our lives all the time regardless of the situations and circumstances we are going through. Now there is a key to telling others about the hope found in Christ so that they will accept it. We must explain the source of our hope with gentleness and respect. Respect show that we value them as individuals and gentleness gives us the chance to work through any issues they might have. Does the hope found in Christ overflow from your life? Are you ready to explain the hope you have to anyone who asks?

Removing Barriers to Living Good Days

I love how God always raises the standards for us to live up to. We are not to do what everyone expects; instead we are to live to a higher standard. When others insult or give us evil we are to respond by asking God to bless them. This is important because by controlling our tongues in this way we will help insure we see good days. There are responsibilities we have if we want to see good days during our lives. We must leave evil behind by focusing on and making ourselves busy doing what is good. One of the good things we can do is invest our energy in doing those things that will bring peace to those around us. If we are doing these things they will help to make us live righteously and this kind of living removes barriers from between us and God. This allows God to be expectantly waiting for our prayers so that He may be quick in answering them. These answers to our prayers will also lead to us having many good days in our lives. Are we removing the barriers to experiencing the good days God has promised?

True Beauty

I love that God defines true beauty for us, giving the source and how to demonstrate or show off that beauty every day. 1 Peter 3:3-5 says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴ Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ⁵ For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands,"


If only more girls and ladies would learn this Godly truth. True beauty come not from outward things but from what is on the inside. Beauty that catches God’s eye and should catch ours is a gentle and quiet spirit. Gentleness can be defined as power under control. Does this apply to your life? Do you have God granted power but you keep it under control. If so then you are on your way to becoming a beautiful woman/girl. The other part of this is having a quiet spirit. This is not referring to being silent and never voicing an opinion. It does refer to not being obnoxious or distracting. When I think of this I think of steam or small river. Within it’s banks you will find power and see it demonstrated in the rapids that are noisy and hard to talk to others around because of the distracting noise. The beauty of such streams is usually described in the areas where it runs deep and quiet, the surface is as smooth as glace. Those areas bring peace, refreshing and beauty into the lives of all who see it. Does your life have the same effect?

Success Regardless of the Outcome

Before we start on any project or endeavor we need to make sure we are and will stay focused and devoted to the right thing. In any situation the right thing is not the project at hand but the underlying motive we have for doing anything in life as a believer. 

Consider what we find in 1 Chronicles 22:19 “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

We need to keep God as the focus. Only as we do this will we be able to succeed to the level God has planned for us. When our task or project replaces God as the focus we tend to loose perspective as to what is important. However, when we keep God as the focus everything else falls into place and He is glorified by our efforts and work. So if you want to achieve far beyond your plans, then stay focused on God.

The Cost of Worship

1 Chronicles 21:24 “But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.””

·        Recently I have been studying the importance of counting the cost. This verse gives us a great principle applying this as we worship God. Our worship, to be heartfelt, should cost us. If we attempt to worship God and it doesn’t cost us, then we are not really worshipping. We need to remember that worship is when we bring our best to God and to give up our best has to cost us. If it doesn’t, then we are relying on the best of others. God wants my best and your best. Are we willing to pay the price? Having counted the cost, it is worth it, because God is worth it. Join me, and bring your best to God as we worship together.

Becoming Complete & Mature

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I have looked at this verse many times and I am always amazed simple progression it contains. This progression allows us to understand how the circumstances of our lives fit into God’s plan. When looking at something to comprehend it and apply it to my life I have always found it helpful to keep the end product or goal in mind, in other words, why should this be important to me? To understand this we need to examine this text backwards as the end product is found here.

The stated goal here is to be complete and mature with nothing lacking. Doesn’t that sound great? So how do we get there? Well, we must let work happen in our lives. Unfortunately this work isn’t comfortable because it’s called perseverance and that takes effort and implies exhaustion and pain. Yet this is necessary if we want to be complete in our life and faith. Unfortunately many people put ‘stop work’ orders in effect at this point. They don’t want their faith to be tested or life to be challenging, but this is the only way to reach the goal.

Now you might be asking, how does perseverance work through the testing our faith? The answer is found in the beginning of the text. We must go through trials and not just a few, but trials of many kinds. You see each kind of trial tests our faith in a different area. So to become complete and mature we need to go through many kinds of trials. The reality is that this testing will continue throughout our lives. When we understand that all of this is because God is refining us and making us better and that is why we can and should rejoice.

 
Are you rejoicing today because God is working at making you complete and mature?

Living a Satisfying / Fulfilling Life

Psalm 90:13-14 “Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

What do you ask God for? How bold are you in your prayers? Here we find a great prayer that we should all pray. It addresses the core of motives and how to live a fulfilled life. When we think of the things that bring us satisfaction what comes to mind and what are we pursuing? Many chase after all the wrong things trying to find satisfaction, yet there is only one thing that will truly satisfy and last a lifetime. It is God’s love, a love that never fails or fades with time. Is this what you are seeking to bring satisfaction?

This verse also gives us another key to living a satisfied life. As we start every day we need to do so by seeking God’s love. If His love is the first thing to fill us each day then we will stay satisfied regardless of what comes our way. So how do we know when God’s love is our focus, motive and that which satisfies us…we are filled with a gladness and joy that can not be contained. One that we have to express and share with the world around us.

Are you satisfied today and seeking God love? If not, why?

What Kind of Life Are You Living

Hebrews 13:7-8 “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

·        We are all leaders to others at times. So in this text we are all given the challenge to live lives so that everyone can imitate our faith. Would we be content if others stated to imitate our faith? My prayer and desire is that I may live my faith in such a way as to inspire even those who say they hate God. As long as we are following Christ and becoming more like Him, it is alright and proper for others to follow us. Who are we following today and why? Who is following us and are they becoming more like Christ because of it?

Using Words Wisely

Psalm 89:1-2 “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.”

Have you ever stopped to consider what comes out of your mouth most of the time? Where the focus of your speech and does it help others?  If we are honest, most of us would have to admit that we self-centered with our words. Our relationship with God should change that. When we have an active, growing relationship with God, He should become the focus of what comes out of our mouths. This is not just something we talk about at home or just occasionally. We are to proclaim His faithfulness “through” all generation. This means each of us, for as long as we have breath, needs to be sharing with everyone we can the wonders of God and His faithfulness those who love Him. Are you doing your part? You can start today, right now, and continue for the rest of our lives.

Why Church???

Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

·         As we think about the hope we have in God, how do we treat it? Is it something we casually throw around and pin on when we want to look good or is it something we value so much that we clutch it tightly to us at all times? The more we value this hope the tighter we will hold on to it never letting it go. Now when we live like this something will naturally happen that impacts those around us. We will look for ways to encourage and inspire others to live out love by doing good. How are you inspiring today? We should have many people that come to mind because every Follower of Christ we know should be inspired by our lives. This encouraging and inspiration will only happen if we are meeting regularly with God’s family…the church. It is through this regular involvement in each other’s lives this happens. That is why church  and regular participation in our home church is so important.