Tag Archives: faith

Trust God And Get Busy

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Last night I was going through the channels.  This is usually short as we only have over the air television.  I stopped because I saw a Veggie Tales episode.  It was “Gideon – Mighty Man Of Valor”.  This just happens to be my favorite episode of the series.

While I was sitting there our son came in and sat down in the chair next to me and began to watch.  This is no surprise.  I love the music during Gideon and Israel’s battle.  It is like school fight music and would make good music to exercise to (if I were bent on exercising).  I always try to slap my hands against my legs in time to the music and sometimes our son tries to imitate me.  His fine motor skills are not what a young man his age should be so this is difficult for him and it is hard for me to see, truthfully.

I began to think about Gideon.  There is a lot we can learn from him and his life.  We should all take time and make a concentrated effort to study Gideon.  He was told by an angel that God had chosen him to lead the Israelites in battle and then he reduced the size of the army a couple times.

God used Gideon’s great faith and many other characteristics to form him into a great leader.  Look at Judges 6:27, “Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him:  and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.”  Even great leaders have time of fear and failure.  Gideon destroyed his father’s idol worship in the night fearing his father and the men of the city who were involved in the same paganism.  Yet, he did what God instructed Him to do.

Over and over Gideon proves himself.  What about you and I?  God is looking for us to fulfill His plan.  He has called us all to some thing.  We may not see it as great; but, I can assure you it is necessary.  The world needs you and I to stand up and serve God in a way that points them to Him; but, we seem to be failing miserably at this.  May God help us to get back to work where He has called us.

So, how are you doing?

Posted: No Trespassing!

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Picture this.  You are driving down the road and suddenly you pass what appears to be an old Church.  You do a little research and find that it is reported to be the oldest Church in the county.  There are weeds, trees and all kinds of debris around the building.  On the front of the building is a sign, “Posted:  No Trespassing!”.

I was going to post a picture of the Church building I write about.  Due to unfortunate computer problems that will not be possible at this writing.  I do hope that we will take to heart what I am going to say today.

This Church building is a sad testimony to a once thriving congregation.  I know; because, I grew up within one mile of this building.  I remember seeing the wooden windows open for services.  I remember seeing cars in the parking lot.  Now, only weeds and trees fill the parking lot.

If we are not careful the physical state of this Church building will become the spiritual state of our Churches.  Remember; the Church is not the building, it is the people.  We have become careless in our Christian life and we need an old fashioned revival.  I do not mean people hanging from the light fixtures.  I mean real revival where lives are forever changed.  If we would simply put away the junk of this world and come to the place where all we want is Jesus Christ and nothing else we would see true revival.  Again, I am not talking about this fake, garbage that is called revival on the so-called Christian television stations.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:14.  It is time ladies and gentlemen for God’s people to get right and turn the world upside down for Jesus.

So, how are you doing?

It Is A Faith Problem

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Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself.  It is irritating not having the means to do the things that seem important to you.  The other day I attended graduation open house parties.  The frustrating part was that we could not buy gifts for all of those that we love who have graduated.  The reason we could not is due to poor decisions on my part.  Looking back that seems to be in my past a lot.

Maybe you and I find ourselves in situations that are unpleasant because we lack faith.  Maybe the decisions we make are not made based upon faith.  Now we are getting somewhere.  It is not a money problem.  It is a faith problem.

Faith is a confident expectation that God will do what He says.  We can take His promises to the bank of life.  If He promises it then it will be done.  Do we have faith?  Even more so do we exercise our faith?  Here is where the rubber meets the road.  So many times we try to operate on auto-pilot so to speak and we wonder why our Christian life is so dull and boring or even does not exist.  It is because we do not exercise our faith.

Look at I Peter 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”  Just remember that our Heavenly Father cares more about our character than our comfort.

So, how are you doing?

Our Enemy

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The other day as I was taking a shower I noticed a spider on the ceiling.  They don’t scare me; but, I sure didn’t want one hanging above my head no matter where it might be.  I swatted at it with my wash cloth.  It began swinging back and forth on a web it had spun.  I fought and fought this spider.  It finally fell off the ceiling.  It landed on my back.  So, I danced around and around trying to get it off my while swatting myself with the wash cloth.  This was a delicate dance in the shower I will tell you.  I finally noticed the spider in the water so I kicked it down the drain and bid it farewell as it took the water taxi to the sewer plant.

I thought about the devil and how he likes to jump on our back.  This thought became real as this spider tried to defend against my attacks.  We have an enemy that seeks to destroy us at any given moment.  We have to know who the enemy is in order to defend against this enemy.

Look at Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  We need to quit fighting one another and get busy fighting the real enemy.

So, how are you doing?

Press On

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Again today I would like to share with you something written by Dr. Paul Chappell from his “Daily in the Word” e-mail devotional.  Today’s offering comes from the Wednesday March  19, 2014 edition.

“Eugene Clark was a gifted pianist, and he wrote a number of hymns. But his life was far from easy. First crippling arthritis robbed him of his ability to play the piano as he once had done. Then he went almost totally blind. Rather than give up and live in sadness, Clark had a dictating machine brought into his bedroom and slowly, one note at a time, spoke the words and music to more songs. Probably the best known of his work today is the song “Nothing Is Impossible.”

Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God;
Nothing is impossible when you’re trusting in His Word.
Hearken to the voice of God to thee:
“Is there anything too hard for Me?”
Then put your trust in God alone and rest upon His Word—
For ev’rything, O ev’rything, yes, ev’rything is possible with God!”

We live in a dark day with trials and storms on every side it seems.  Yet, we must remember the truth given forth in this song, “Nothing is impossible”.  That is right, nothing.  You may be looking at a mountain of a trial; but, remember “when you put your trust in God; Nothing is impossible…”  I understand that it is easier to quit.  I have been there and done that.  We have to keep going no matter.  There is someone that is counting on you to press on and finish the race you are running in.

When the angel spoke to Abraham and Sarah he put forth a rhetorical question.  Look at it in Genesis 18:14, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”  “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?”  Ponder that for a while.  We know that the emphatic answer to this question is a hearty, “No!”  Our problem is that we focus on the circumstances and look away from Christ.  We see storms when we need to see our Saviour.  Press on with Jesus my dear friend.  Together you can make it.

So, how are you doing?

Faith

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The other day I was watching the television and some news story came on about obesity in America.  This was depressing for sure.  I realize that I am at the top of that category and it is not a position that someone should be glad to be in.  We are eating and eating ourselves to death really was the point of the story.

Then I began to think.  Christians are experiencing something similar.  Yes, we are growing in the lard; but, we are not growing in the LORD like we should.  I mean, look around you.  Churches are getting spiritually weaker as they bring out new and more programs; but, where is God’s power?  Where is God’s presence?  Sadly, they don’t even realize that He has left and they go on “business as usual”.  That is the problem.  They try to run God’s Church like a business and this does not work.  God’s work must be lived and done by faith.  Look at Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Dr. Paul Chappell in his e-mail devotion “Daily in the Word” titled “A Renewal of Faith” wrote on March 1, 2014, “The problem that we face is not primarily that our faith is too small, but rather that we do not use it enough.”  I really like this quote.  it made me think about things like, “We need a faith-lift.”  I also thought about the fact that our Christian life is getting flabby and we need to “exercise our faith” more.  This is the only way that faith is going to grow.  We must exercise our faith.  Walking by sight is much easier; but, it is no way nearly as exciting as walking by faith and watching God do miracles in your life and the lives of others.

So, how are you doing?

 

The Smoke of a Furnace

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This is a sad scene.  Lot and his family have literally been ushered out of Sodom by the angels that God sent to deliver them thanks to Abraham’s intercession.  As they are leaving; against God’s command, Lot’s wife looks back and she becomes a pillar of salt.  There are some situations in life that do not merit looking back upon.  They just drag us down and make things worse.  We do not want our lives to be any more complicated.  We need to simplify things.

Sometimes you look back on life and it is too late.  Many of you; my readers, like me have at different times looked at your lives and all you saw was smoke rising and loved one’s turned to salt.  Look at Genesis 19:28, “And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.”

Not only did Lot lose his wife to disobedience; but, his sons in law did not even make the journey.  His influence over them was nonexistent.  His life had no bearing on them.  They did not love his God.  In every area of Lot’s life smoke was rising both figuratively and literally.

Don’t lose hope!  I know it is difficult to look out over the ashes of life with the smoke rising from them.  We have to keep our focus on Jesus Christ and continue to follow Him no matter and quit looking back.

So, how are you doing?

Christmas 24

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In our lives today we have so many things that we are told make life easier.  Everywhere you go you see someone with headphones or something in their ears that they are listening to.  This is not always bad.  What if this kept people from hearing something they need to hear?  That would be tragic.

Let’s look at the Word of God for a moment.  Look at Luke 2:10, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”  As we saw yesterday, the angel appeared to the shepherds and it was like the angel was standing on them.  I believe that this appearance was in the air just above them to give them that idea.  No matter.

Notice what the angel tells them first.  “Fear not” is the exhortation.  Right, an angel just appears out of nowhere and appears to be standing above you in the air and you are told to “fear not”.  Ha!  In the Word of God we are told 365 times to “fear not”.  This seems to be one for every day of our year.  No matter what life throws at you remember the counsel of the angel and “fear not”.  Easily said and not so easily done, I know.

So, how are you doing?

Christmas 20

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The story is told about two sheep in the pasture grazing and chatting.  One sheep laments that he is afraid of so much; but, is grateful for the care and protection of the shepherd.  The other sheep says that he is not afraid of anything.  The first sheep asks the second sheep why he is not afraid of anything.  The second sheep replies, “Steel wool.”

My guess is that angelic visitors to the pasture lands was not a “normal” daily event even in the days prior to the coming of Jesus to earth.  As we have labeled it “The Incarnation of Christ”.  When God became a man and condescended to men of low estate and lived as we live to show us the way.  If that is not love then I don’t know what is, really.

I have tried to imagine how these humble shepherds must have felt.  Look at Luke 2:9, “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.”  They were well familiar with a full moon and the beautiful light it gives off.  This time there was a great light that was shining like no other time before.  On top of that an angel “came upon them”.  This is not a so-called normal thing either I would not think.  The phrase “came upon” means to stand upon.

God had a message to declare and He saw fit to declare that message to the lowly shepherds and it scared them deeply.  Sometimes in life God delivers a message to you and I that strikes fear into our hearts.  I know first hand how this is; but, we must keep going in spite of fear.  Blow your fear out of the water by faithfully trusting Christ and keep on keeping on for His glory.

So, how are you doing?