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You Test Me!?

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You Test Me!?

Satan tested me recently by tempting me away from my faith for the carnal and deny Gods truth. What is truth you ask? Is truth something we all have, a subjective viewpoint in which anyone’s perspective has merit and truth is in the eye of the beholder? The Devil wants you to believe that anything goes so long as you believe it’s ‘right’ in your heart. Scripture is clear about truth, and if we do not believe that scripture is the divinely inspired word of God, and encompasses truth, and we can easily fall to ruin when we believe our way is right and God’s way is ‘optional’. Proverbs 21:2 NKJV 2 “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.” We cannot underestimate how important it is that we trust in our Heavenly fathers plan. We cannot view our salvation is some cosmic counter and enough good will win the day. It’s a sad truth, but truth never the less that those who do not know and love Christ shall not make it to eternal paradise with the Father. It all comes down to knowing truth, Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV) 12“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” We must understand that the truth we needed to understand was given to us as divinely inspired, a set of non bending rules that lead to one, and only one truth, Jesus Christ was the Son of God, was born of the virgin Mary, grew to be a man, ministered truth, love, and compassion, was tried and convicted and sentenced to death by way of the crucifixion, died, buried, and on the third day rose from the dead in fulfillment of the scripture. This is truth; the only truth that matters is Jesus Christ. We can never fulfill all of the law, all of the time, but as Christ said, there is only one way to the father, through Christ alone. John 14:6 (NKJV) “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus doesn’t say, ‘so there’s my way, and there’s this other way, and depending where you live, you can try this way, all these different paths lead to the same place, so pick whatever one works best for you.” Jesus says “I am THE way.” And then, follows it up with a very important message, if you want to get to Heaven, if you want to live in paradise you must follow Christ.

 

With the Devil seemingly nipping at my heels it’s now more important then ever that I hold fast to my beliefs because I believe in the sovereign word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If we are to believe in Christ, and believe that God is good, and perfect, then God’s word is perfect, just as the cross was perfect, and so the word of God is also perfect, and we cannot put faith in ourselves that we know what’s best. God is our Abba father, and has given us rules for us to follow that are pleasing to the Lord.

 

We know that God loves us because he gave his only begotten son to take upon the sins of the world, so that we might live. John 3:16“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We have to have faith in this truth, and know that the world wants you to take the word truth, bend it, twist it, turn it into your own meaning, and that is exactly what Satan does. Satan uses parts of truth, to twist perceptions to believe that, that truth is the same as God’s truth. Man’s truth is never the same as God’s truth, and we must defend against the wolves that try to attack it in the night. It’s not the word that we must defend, but be able to eloquently rebuke attacks against us about our faith. Jesus doesn’t need to be defended, God doesn’t need us to argue his side of things. We are told to love others as Christ has loved us, and to share the Gospel. Whether someone listens to it or not, that’s on them. We cannot change hearts and minds, only God can do that. Who are we to think we know better then God? The last ‘person’ to do that was Satan, and look where that God ‘him’. Satan will test you, he will bully you, he will lie to you, and try to make you believe in false paths. We cannot fall for these deceptions, and we cannot allow ourselves to fall victims to his schemes. The biggest battlefield is for our hearts and minds, and we must protect that, and read and know the truth, and that’s the words found in scripture. Read your Bible, learn God’s unyielding truth, and seek God’s wisdom.

 

 

 

A Month To Remind Us To Be Thankful

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A Month To Remind Us To Be Thankful

As we enter November we need to remember to count our blessings but not just in November but everyday, all year, and we must be willing to give thanks to God for all we have. We often have more blessings then we could ever count, and we are short sighted as to what that truly means. We have a small idea of what constitutes blessings, and we have such little faith in God it shows brightly in each of our lives.

 

We must be thankful for life, and not to grieve over death. Hope in Jesus in tomorrow and be thankful for the trials to make us more like Christ and to be thankful for shortcomings. Look at life and trust in God that you are blessed with if nothing else, the breath of life. Be thankful to be able to praise and worship a God who loves us dearly.

 

Look to God and find thanksgiving in the peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Psalm 100

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

 

Look at verse 4 and 5, thanksgiving and in his court be thankful, meaning we must be thankful for a fair and just judge. God does not see the color of my skin, the ethnicity from where I come from, or the social class I ‘belong’ too. God sees the only thing that matters and that’s the heart. God sees my actions which are mine and mine alone, and God does not care about excuses. When I look at the fall when the serpent convinced Eve the fruit of the tree of knowledge would be okay to eat, God did not care the excuses Adam gave, and judgment was cast to all involved. We should expect the same treatment in our lives. We can be persuaded by a drug dealer to take drugs but that’s our choice to follow through. We can be convinced sex with someone other then our spouse is okay so long as no one knows, but trust that God see’s, and God knows, and judgment will come to all involved. I am thankful for the discipline I receive because I know that I have an Abba Father who loves me so much he takes time to care for me. Abba keeps me on the right track. I often forget what I have and I know I should be ashamed of myself living life in the dumps. I am not talking about the clinical, biological depression, but the pessimistic viewpoint of life I have lived in the past. It’s not often I fall into that place, but when it happens I should be ashamed at my weakness of faith.

 

I have more blessings in this life then many others, and when I find myself slipping into a defeated state of mind, I need to remind myself that there is more in this life that I have to be thankful for, even if it’s just the gift of life.

 

Going into November, what are you thankful for? Could you make a list of all your blessings? God sees us through all our storms, even when the storm rages on around us, and inside us. God only disciplines us when we need it, and we should be grateful that we have a God that cares so much for us to want only what’s best for us. Count your blessings big and small, and be sure to truly look at what you have.

God Won’t Leave

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God Won’t Leave

I wrote to you and you said stuff too. I fell for your lies and you left me feeling like a fool. How could I have not seen it earlier, instead I had to feel. You said you cared but then you were gone. How can someone care then disappear? I believed you and gave you my attention my ear as you  lifted me up and told me a beautiful lie. I listened to you and fell for the line that wasn’t true at all. You said to me, you’d never leave, but what was your word but wisps in the wind.

I have the word of God almighty, assurance and a promise to have and to hold. My God won’t ever leave, no matter my faults, my God will stay right next to me, always and today. I look ahead till tomorrow and know, people will leave, but God says it isn’t so. I shall never leave you says the Lord, and have faith always. How wonderful to know that in my deepest pain a promise I can hold.

I try so hard for people to care, I try so hard for people to see. I don’t know why, and maybe I never will, but people just leave. The struggle is real, an so are the consequences. I’m thankful though for God on high, who watches over me protecting me from harm. Deuteronomy 31:8 (NKJV)8 “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

Sometimes in life we get busy and it’s understandable. Sometimes we need some time away, and a chance to review our life. Sometimes life gets in the way and all we can do is our best. I’ve been putting a lot of thought in my life and have found myself grateful that no matter how stressful life gets, how many people choose to leave, how little people care, God’s son Jesus Christ is with me always. The nature of God is an interesting one, and by that I mean, how does something you cannot see, and often feel make you feel better? While I can’t explain the feeling, I can say, knowing that God loves me so much that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, for my personal salvation, I know that my hope is not of this world, but of the next. I know that because God has never given up on me in all my shortcomings, my failures, God’s son Jesus Christ is beyond patient, beyond empathetic, that Jesus Christ is pure love, in a way we can sparsely understand. The pain I’ve felt over the last…. 30 some years as people I’ve cared about have left, I have found myself in the last couple years feeling jaded. I have found myself feeling angry, and bitter towards peoples selfishness, peoples lack of empathy towards others feelings from their own actions. I have been on bended knee seeking answers, trying to understand the purpose, looking for my own path, and while some things have been revealed to me, others have yet to flourish. The stress mounts as school has taken a slight turn in the wrong direction, relationships have failed at an alarming rate, and I have failed to find and manage my own stress release. Many may have noticed I have not posted in a few days, and that was not intentional, and sadly, even as life has gotten in the way I feel awful for missing so many days. Life has a way of sneaking up on you, and before you know it the day is gone. Thankfully Jesus knows our hearts, knows our pain, and no matter how the day slips by us, Jesus knows, and is there for us always.

Don’t Go To Sleep

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Don’t Go To Sleep

God comes to you in mysterious ways. We never know when the Holy Spirit will fall on you, and we certainly don’t know when the Lord will use you. I find myself perplexed as I have recently received validation that I am ‘wise’ and filled with the Holy Spirit. I never considered myself to be able to speak with authority on scripture, but twice in twenty four hours I have received such validation, and now the question has changed. I find it odd that God would use a man like me to do these works for Him. I wonder my strength to follow the will of God. I question my worth and value in this decision of God’s. I guess the closest person from scripture is Gideon. I know it’s not me that offers the change found, or the advice that comes from my mouth, I know it’s not me. I struggle taking any credit for helping, but at the same time, God gave me free will, and I could have very easily gone to bed. How often do we ignore the calling of the Holy Spirit and do what we want?

 

Judges 6:1515 “He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

 

Gideon tells the Lord ‘wait I think you have the wrong guy! I’m not strong, I come from the poorest tribe!’ The Hebrew translation for youngest is tsa`iyr or insignificant, and he means what he says. God however addresses Gideon as a mighty man of valor. What an honor for God to see such a wonderful quality in the youngest, and weakest of his brothers. God see’s the capability of a person, the truest potential that may not have been realized yet. God doesn’t make mistakes, and it’s in those times we are to humble ourselves before the Lord and trust and not question. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, don’t ignore it.

 

We cannot fathom the impact we may have on a life if we just listen to that voice telling us the path to take. It would have been so easy for me to go to sleep, put off a conversation that it seems had major impact. The Holy Spirit guides and all we have to do is stop fighting for the steering wheel. What if Paul had decided he’d had enough after his first missionary journey? What if he decided he didn’t want to be beaten, or stoned anymore so he stayed home? What if he had decided he was going to allow fear to win over the instruction of God? Stand tall, and be full of valor of the Holy Spirit in your life. Don’t go back to bed when you are called to God’s work. Don’t allow laziness, or fear keep you from getting out of your comfort zone and going into the world we are called to be in to make real possible everlasting change.

 

Fallen Brothers

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Fallen Brothers

Recently I was watching on of my favorite shows Seal Team and when I saw a particular episode where a seal was killed. It got me thinking about the fallen brothers and sisters in Christ. My time in Iraq I lost friends and even after I left my brothers were still being killed. As I have watched the news from time to time and I’ve seen terrorist organizations murder innocent Christians. The persecuted church worldwide is an ever growing death toll passing genocidal proportions. Knowing what was coming doesn’t make the reality any easier. We watch from the TV and the newspapers, and as we understand the world is a dangerous place we must remain faithful in Christ and understand our hope is above not here in this life, but an eternal life with our creator.

Romans 13:4 (NKJV)4 “For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to executewrath on him who practices evil.”

The Lord watches over and will repay with swift justice when the time comes. The sword of righteousness will fall on the enemies and vengeance will be the Lords.

We cannot allow the losses we see to stop us from continuing the mission. We have to take our brothers and sisters sacrifice and never allow that be in vein. In Revelation you see the martyrs who’ve died proclaiming the word of God. You see their sacrifice was not in vein, and we must continue to fight the fight and never grow weary. Rev 9“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;” Rev 20“Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

Faith isn’t easy when the world around you crumbles to ruin. As it says in 1 Corinthians 12:26 (NASB)26 “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” In some circles it is believed that 255 Christians are killed every month, and more are raped, abducted, or detailed without a trial. Just recently we saw a Pastor released after a long imprisonment. As terrible as it is to watch from afar, it’s worse when you have to see it in person. Loosing fellow soldiers in the line of duty was heartbreaking. The world it seemed was unfair as the lives of good men were extinguished far, far too early. The brothers and sisters that have died in the name of Christ have gone onto a better life. Those who die are far better off as they go to a far better place. 2 Timothy 2:3 (NASB)3 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” The hardships we face are in this life. “Living is not for the weak.”(Arrow) and those of us still living will be the ones to continue facing the fight. We should not pity the dead, but pity the living.

 

 

 

Are You A God?

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Are You A God?

You walk through life saying you are in control. You believe your way is right, and you stand by your decisions. You constantly say that nothing can be done to change your situation and things are hopeless. You live in constant misery and pessimism. You live in constant fear of tomorrow, or worse, yesterday. We have become a society of placing Jesus on the shelf and much like a cosmic genie we ask for help when we need it, but otherwise it’s “I’ve got this.” How bold we have become to think we know better then God. How daring have we become to think we can make it through this life and not need our Savior Jesus Christ. Have we truly gotten to the point where we believe we know more then God, or worse that God cannot handle our problems? We have put God in a box, and we have become our own gods.

 

Exodus 20:3“You shall have no other gods before Me.” I have often ministered to those whom struggle with their faith. Not in the way of questioning God, but rather thinking their life will never improve. I have seen despair rule over people, and people who feel God is irrelevant and does not care about them, or cannot change anything for them. We have placed ourselves above God by putting ourselves on a pedestal and thinking we are more important than God. We believe we are in control and God is fine where He is, and so long as ‘I don’t bug God, he doesn’t bug me.’

 

We have become selfish, close-minded, one tracked minded people. We have become a judging people, where we judge God and believe God is so insignificant that we are truly here on our own, and we don’t need God, or God can’t change our path. We have a hard time fathoming how incorporated God is in our lives, and we believe that the Holy Bible is antiquated, and we believe we make gods that work best for us. We have gotten to a point where we no longer worship God, we worship many gods, we worship ourselves.

 

In Genesis 3:5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  A lie is told, but not an entire lie, but a subterfuge leading Eve to believe it would be better to understand good and evil as the Lord God knows good and evil, thus moving mankind to place self ahead of God. We the children of God now believe we know more, we know better then God.

 

We are a foolish people thinking we are so big. Tim Challiessays this “The first way we can put God in a box is through our misunderstandings of Him and His nature. We have a responsibility to know and believe what He has revealed of Himself in the Scripture. Furthermore, we may also try to define God in a way that is simplistic or that is inconsistent with who He is.” https://www.challies.com/articles/putting-god-in-a-box-doctrine/

 

We call ourselves Children of God, but in reality we are rebels of the throne. We rebel against the rules laid down for us, and we ignore the teaching of our father. We deserve Hell, but we often believe we deserve Heaven simply because we are ‘good’ people, not because we love Christ. We believe now whatever we want our own truth to be, and we believe that truth is subjective to everyone, and we will face the mistakes we’ve made and unless we understand to Put God first again, we shall not find ourselves in perfection. If you decide to worship idols, worshiping things in your life and not God above, then we have become our very own god. God shall not stand and watch without judgment, and if we choose to try and be god’s then we should be ready for the war to come to us, the punishment for placing God of the Universe on the shelf as just another god will be heavy and swift.

 

We are children of God, and we shall not rebel, we shall not diminish God and grow ourselves. We are lost and we are weak, we are impressionable by the fallen Angel Lucifer. We are but faulted humans, with small minds, and with those minds we attempt to understand the mystery of God and when we cannot, instead of understanding the vastness of what we don’t know, we try to make God fit into our own understanding, thus minimizing God, and again, raising ourselves up to be our own god. Shame on us, shame on all of us for being so incredibly weak, incredibly gullible to Satan’s lies, and thinking we know better for our lives.

God Won’t Leave

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God Won’t Leave

 

I wrote to you and you said stuff too. I fell for your lies and you left me feeling like a fool. How could I have not seen it earlier, instead I had to feel. You said you cared but then you were gone. How can someone care then disappear? I believed you and gave you my attention my ear as you lifted me up and told me a beautiful lie. I listened to you and fell for the line that wasn’t true at all. How often have I fallen for the same lie over and over in my life? The truth is sometimes hard to swallow, as I have now been smacked in the face with, you didn’t care about me at all, just about yourself and as soon as I didn’t give you a certain feeling, you left. How long I have looked for something real, someone truthful, and faithful, but have come up empty handed. Thankful I am that God doesn’t leave me the first time I don’t live up to his expectations. Thankful God’s grace and love are bigger then anything I could ever imagine. I am thankful that the God who created the universe loves me enough to lend me His ear, hold me when I’m sad, and never leaves me.

 

Isaiah 41:10 (NASB) ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”  God’s grace is something amazing and we often overlook it because we are too busy to count the blessings we have. I have had an all out yelling match with God, but I know He’s still there. He can take my faults and love me just as I am. As I watch one by one the majority of new people I have met have left and have done so without a word with their exit. God is my hero and knowing God won’t leave or forsake me gives me strength to carry on past the hurt.

 

I am a person, and I feel but it seems my feelings don’t matter much to the majority of people I have in my life. Thankfully God hears my heart and knows my feelings. I may not always get what I want, but God doesn’t set out to hurt me like other people do. People have forgotten the feelings of others, and it’s a sad day when close friends no longer show they care. Watching as people lie, and say whatever they want to try and get something is heart breaking. God though, doesn’t have to lie to get anything from us. Joshua 1:9“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

 

Dealing with the emotional fall out from so much disappointment, it’s hard to understand how this happens, but God will strengthen me, and I will watch as the purging wildfire continue to rages on in my life.

 

 

Brother’s Keeper

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Brother’s Keeper

Growing up without stability I struggled to understand God’s plan. I wondered if I had been cursed early on in my life. I wondered if God hated me, and if I was being punished for being a mistake. I felt like I was the one loosing, but in reality, I was gaining more then I could have ever imagined. I wasn’t loosing anything, but gaining strength, understanding, empathy, and a heart for those suffering. I was being shown a life style so I might be able to one day help others in need.

 

Life moves faster now but it’s the truth I’ve needed. I have needed a brother to tell me the truth, to be there for me to show me something real in this life. What I experienced led me to wonder the meaning of this life as at the time I had only experienced pain and suffering. I wanted to run away from everything, and bury my feelings, and hope to forget all the pain. God however doesn’t work like that. I’m reminded of the movie Star Trek: The Final Frontier, “Damit Bones you’re a doctor, you know pain and guilt can’t be taken away with the wave of a magic wand. There the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are, if we loose them we loose ourselves. I don’t want my pain taken away, I need my pain!” I understand now that I have needed my pain.

 

I have so much in the way of anger, sadness, frustrations, and fear built up that I buried and now, like an undead zombie it rises and comes back with a vengeance. The pain was real but time wouldn’t erase it because I never wanted to look at it. Thankfully though, Jesus Christ held my had all those years. I tried to tell myself it was in the past and it wasn’t important, but I was wrong. The past is important because it teaches us valuable lessons. As Kirk mentioned, I need my pain, and it’s only been recently I truly understood that.

 

The God of all creation never leaves us no matter where we are and what season we’re in. We need to remember to have faith in the storm, but also in the peaceful streams. We need to remember that God gives us the tools we need to handle the job every time. God doesn’t send us into the pit without a plan. God doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves and certainly isn’t an angry God with a magnifying glass if we are just mere ants. God loves us, and wants us to do great things for Him, and because we are each special, given unique gifts, and each of our experiences can be used God gives us the path, it’s up to us to find it. As for me, I have been given special gifts to help me along my way, and I didn’t always see them for what they were till they were too late.

 

In my childhood I didn’t have any siblings, but God knew my heart, and He knew my struggles, and because of that He gave me brothers not of flesh, but of the blood of the Holy Spirit. Daniel was a brother to me for many years. We have remained friends all these many years later even though we live very different lives now. Matt, was my closest friend from 1994 for almost two decades later. While Matt and myself have drifted apart as life usually happens, we do keep in touch, and I know if anything were to happen, he’d be right there to help me. When I had moved to a new high school I met a boy named John, and he became my best friend. We were very close till he died unexpectedly when he was 18. I went many years without a brother in my life, but by the grace of God a few years back I met a man named Glen, who would be a brother not only in friendship but also in Christ. Glen would be there to show me the path, he would keep me on track, give me encouragement, hope, and love in Christ. He has truly become a brother I could never have imagined. I know God doesn’t do anything by accident and Glen and my meeting was certainly not an accident. A brother in Christ who teaches, guides, encourages, and helps see and discover the mystery of the word of God is an amazing feeling. All that pain I felt for so many years, now seems necessary for the path I am currently on, and having someone like Glen in my life (Speedy) gives me clarity to why, and now so many years later, I realize the refining process that I was going through, gives me peace in the understanding.

 

Genesis 4:9“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Hebrew word for keeper is shamar meaning to protect, to keep track of to observe, and thus the question, are we my brothers keeper? Yes, we are brothers in Christ, and I know that my job as my Glen’s brother is to protect him, to keep him safe, to observe, and to take care of him when in need. I am my brothers keeper, and vise versa. Yes we are responsible for our own lives, but we are family, and family takes care of family.

 

I have often had friends come to me when they only needed something, and cared little for the state of my life, but the relationship with my brother is very different. In the darkest of my days, I know he’s right there for me always. Living in Christ is not an easy thing to do, but when we living with Christ shining through us, we become a light in the dark. Jesus Christ is our brother, our savior, our King, and we can only hope to be like Him. I thank God every day for the brothers he’s given me throughout my life. I am grateful for the time I have had, and look forward to many more years with my brother Glen.

 

Brother: Needtobreathe

 

Ramblers in the wilderness we can’t find what we need
We get a little restless from the searching
Get a little worn down in between
Like a bull chasing the matador is the man left to his own schemes
Everybody needs someone beside em’ shining like a lighthouse from the sea

Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you’re low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home

Face down in the desert now there’s a cage locked around my heart
I found a way to drop the keys where my failures were
Now my hands can’t reach that far
I ain’t made for a rivalry, I could never take the world alone
I know that in my weakness I am stronger
It’s your love that brings me home

Brother let me be your shelter
I’ll never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you’re low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home

Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you’re low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home

Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you’re feeling low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home

Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you’re low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home

 

 

 

 

In Need

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In Need

My God, my God, I cannot do this alone. I try to swim but I get caught among the waves. We don’t always know how much, but we are always in need of your grace and mercy. I don’t often think about being in need of God in regards to all things in my life. We go through life and we hop in the car, we drive to work, or the store, or even to church, but we don’t often think how important our relationship with God is in even the smallest details of our lives. We take our lives and many aspects of that for granted. How badly we need God in our lives, and rarely take the time to thank God for all of the small things, yet when we need something we turn to God in a second.

Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The text says God will supply all your need, not some, not just what’s convenient, but God gives us everything we need because we are loved as His children. If we are to be given everything we need from God’s riches, then we are getting the best of the best based on what we require. Which means, if we require a swift kick in the butt, it’s going to be a darn good kick. If we require a particular lesson, that lesson will be tailored to fit God’s plan.

I have often chosen my path and because of my own choices I have missed out on opportunities in which God has laid before me. When we consider that God waists nothing, and that has led me to wonder if my actions now had lined up with God’s plan. I often think that God gives us what we need, and that we have a choice what we want to do with the gift. We have in mind our own path, our own plans, and we obviously attempt to make the best decisions we can but we are human, and we don’t always the best choices.

Two years ago, I made a choice and that choice may have had a lasting impact on my life. I had someone come into my life, and I choose to walk away for my own reasons, but now two years later I have not been given a gift like that again. Did I slap away God’s gift, and tell God I could do what I wanted on my own? How many times does God give us a gift for our hearts, and we pass it by? What good is a gift if we never open it, or just leave it on the shelf? I have often felt in the last two years that I may have passed by my chance to happiness. I have often wondered if God would be gracious and give me another shot to get it right. We make so many choices everyday, and it’s impossible to know if we are always making the right choices but we have to be in constant prayer. When we look to the gifts God places in front of us, are we acknowledging them as gifts, or just random occurrences? Are we making life about what we want, or are we making our walk about God?

Every single day we breathe we must look at the changes in our life and ask ourselves what we can do to ensure we follow God. To do that we must be in constant prayer, we must vet where the gifts come form in our life, and realize there are gifts from God, and gifts from Satan disguised as gifts from God. Don’t be so quick to turn away from God in prayer. Don’t forget to look to God for all things big and small. We don’t always get gifts in life when we think we should, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t God’s perfect timing. Prayer in all things will help us along the right path. As for me, I know I need God because I don’t want to miss out on God’s blessings in my life. I want to be paying attention for the gifts when they come and not let them go because they don’t align with my own plans.

Keep Fighting

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Keep Fighting

 1 John 5:5 (NKJV)5 “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

We fight this world tooth and nail every single day of our lives, and somehow we find a way to make it through. We never fully understand the source of our strength and we underestimate the importance of God’s will and gifts for each and every one of us.

We face our hopes in so many things in this life, but fail to keep our eye on the North Star. Jesus Christ is the life that was sacrificed in order to give us hope in more then just tomorrow, or next week, but hope in Heaven.

It’s not easy living in the world when it’s so easy to become lost in it. The ebb and flow of the world is designed to sweep us away in the flowing waters, yet as out of control as life may seem, the truth is, when we feel out of control in this world, that’s exactly what Satan wants. Satan wants us to forget about our Heavenly hope, and begin to worry about the every day problems here in this life. When we start to worry about our bills, our relationships, our jobs, our friends, our vehicles, even our own health, it can quickly add up, and much like the rising waters of a flash flood, we are no longer in control, not of what’s going on around us, but of our own thoughts and feelings. We are commanded to remain sober minded and in control of our thoughts and feelings, and when we allow ourselves to get swept away we are in violation of our commandments. What else is there to say except stop worrying about everything going on. Handle what you must, and take one thing at a time, trusting in God to be there with you, to help you through.

Trust in God and allow your star to shine brightly and cut through the clouds, the storm, and guide you no matter what happens or where you’re swept off too. Stay firm and guide yourself by the only hope we ever need.