“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
Romans 12:11-13
(This photo was taken in August of 2016 at Lake Dillon near Dillon, Colorado)
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Matthew 6:6-8
(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington)
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31
(This photo was taken in June of 2016 on a lake in northwestern Wisconsin)
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”
1 John 3:1-3
(This photo was taken in June of 2013 while driving through northern Colorado)
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
(This photo was taken in June of 2013 in Badlands National Park in South Dakota)
Children are a gift from God. They come in several different sizes and styles. They come from a genetic make-up, but that does not determine everything about their lives. Having been a child ourselves does not give us everything we need to become a dependable mother or father. We don’t have all the answers…our own experiences can help in many situations but not all the time. As I continue to strive to live a balanced, Christ centered life here are some of things I have learned that may be helpful to other parents or at least good reminders…
Actions are more important than words
Listen as much or more than you speak
Work less sometimes to be with them
Attention should be equally distributed to all
You can be a friend, a guide, a coach or a counselor at times
Show them God working in the world and in their lives
This is by no means an all-encompassing list, however, it does cover many years of their lives. You may have noticed the first letter of each statement when put together spell…ALWAYS.
ALWAYS pray for them
ALWAYS love them
ALWAYS forgive them
ALWAYS be there for them
ALWAYS trust in God for their well being
Lastly, be open to try new things and to have new experiences…often times that is the only way you both can see God.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Peace to you and yours.
Oh boy…here is a topic that seems to stir up an emotion charged response from so many people. Whether that response is positive or negative the topic of money always comes with extreme human emotion. So where does God stand when it comes to money?
Money is referenced over 140 times throughout the bible, not including references to other currency, and sin, in general, is the only issue that exceeds money in the number of times mentioned. I have two verses that resonate with me:
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Matthew 6:24
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s.”
1 Timothy 6:10
As with everything in our lives, it is a choice…..we can choose to focus all of our attention on where we stand financially or we can work on trying to balance our attention. If we choose to praise God first and trust in him he will provide for us as he knows what we need. The key to this is he is not looking to fulfill your wants but your needs and not on your time table but in time within his plan for your life.
I have tried the shortcut early in my faith journey…I would say to God, “please bless me with this amount of money and I promise I will do good things with it”. God knew my heart at that time and knew I wasn’t ready. In fact, you have heard about lottery winners who have had horrible lives after winning a substantial amount of money in one shot…..that is not God but evil providing those winnings as the evil forces of this world know how easy it is to distract us from looking toward God and will use everything it has to keep us away from God.
If you sit down and really look at your financial situation and look at the needs of your life…shelter, food, water, clothes…and lift it up to God and truly trust in him you will be blessed. If you are blessed with more than you need than begin to share it. You were blessed to be a blessing. If you think you don’t have enough to share start small by buying a coffee or a meal for the car behind you at the drive thru window. If you need more ideas there is a great blog at http://projectlighttolife.wordpress.com/ that I follow and the author Christine has several amazing ideas about how to be a blessing to others.
In closing, don’t let money control your life…don’t let it be the master of your journey. Appreciate what you do have and begin to find ways to share with others. Find ways to put money to work for you and for God by giving and it will come back to you over and over again.
Peace.
The following is taken from my Devotional bible and was written by a man named Bob Benson. I share it because it is an excellent summary regarding the presence of God in our lives. Also, because Bob Benson who was one of the Christian world’s leading publishing executives and the author of six books, he succumbed to cancer in March of…..1986. Yet here I am in August of 2013 and his words still provide a blessing to me this day…maybe they will to you to. Well done Bob Benson…Well done.
When life caves in, you do not need reasons, you need comfort. You do not need some answers; you need someone. And Jesus does not come to us with an explanation; he comes to us with his presence.
We are always seeking the reason. We want to know why. Like Job, we finally want God to tell us just what is going on….
But God does not reveal his plan, he reveals himself. He comes to us as warmth when we are cold, fellowship when we are alone, strength when we are weak, peace when we are troubled, courage when we are afraid, songs when we are sad, and bread when we are hungry.
He is with us on our journeys. He is there when we are home. He sits with us at our table. He knows about funerals and weddings and commencements and hospitals and jails and unemployment and labor and laughter and rest and tears. He knows because he is with us. He comes to us again and again.
– Bob Benson
Peace to you today.
Sometimes we all wish God worked like a drive-thru…quick, cheap and efficient? We could just pull in and get whatever we needed whenever we needed it. Those thoughts come directly from the world we live in. Everything in this world seems focused on the quick, convenient, fast and easy…we want more we want more.
My toughest moments in my faith journey…times when I have felt a letdown or disappointment have occurred because I lacked Patience and Persistence.
Patience – defined as “bearing pain or trials without complaint”; “showing self-control”
Persistence – defined as “to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of difficulties”
These are two qualities that are not promoted in our world yet when we focus on them we usually are closer to living God’s plan for our life rather than our own plan. I have always been a better husband, father, son, brother or friend when I practice patience and persistence.
In my spiritual life I define Patience as waiting for the Lord. He is always there and he always working his plan in your life even when you think nothing is happening. Every interaction with another person is an opportunity and a blessing. When we are patient we can smile and make eye contact with the grocery store or convenience store clerk. When passing by someone we know we can say “Hi” with a smile instead of “Hey, How you doing?” as we speed past not waiting for a response because we didn’t really want to know how they were doing at that moment. When we are patient as a friend we really listen to what our friend is saying and not thinking about what we are going to say next in conversation. When we are patient we will be willing to sacrifice some of our own wants and needs to help others.
Persistence can be defined as never giving up of God. Things will not go the way you want or just the way you planned but maybe you ran ahead of God and it wasn’t time for you to get that job or start that adventure. Maybe he knows you have some more trials coming ahead. It is not punishment, that is not how God works. He has a plan for how he wants you to use the gifts he gave you and he knows the events you are going to encounter in life. Your job is to learn from trials and pray about them and listen for God to respond. For example, if you need the courage to ask someone for forgiveness or you need to forgive someone for something…pray about it daily and be watchful for that opportunity to be forgiven or to forgive…it will come. Just be persistent about your prayer.
In closing, one of my favorite Bible verses speaks to these qualities it is this:
“I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”
Psalm 27:13-14
Peace.
While I was thinking about starting to write this blog, I often thought, “What could I have to offer?” or “Why would God want me to speak about him to others?” This kind of thinking is exactly what the Evil in the world wants us to believe. Then I read about people in the Bible or I read what authors like Max Lucado, Charles Swindoll or Rick Warren and Billy Graham have to say about the people God uses and I begin to realize this is exactly what God wants me to do.
As we learn about faith and God’s love for each and every person in the world through life experiences and through the experiences others have written about, it turns out we all have something to offer the world. We all have our own life. We all have had an experience or heard about someone’s experience that was horrific and then it became extraordinary. It all depends on your perspective.
From the Bible we have the stories of…
Noah
Abraham
Moses
David
Joseph
Plus many more….
All of these people had suffered through some tragedy of sin and had extraordinary things occur afterward because of God’s love and God’s grace. Through some of my own life experiences that I have mentioned in earlier posts I have learned to ask, “What does God want me to learn?” or “How does God want me to use this experience to help others?” Rather than asking “Why is God doing this to me?”
God doesn’t “do” sinful things to us…the human race has created and brought about sin all by ourselves. It was our choice. God knew we aren’t strong enough to overcome sin so he did the one thing he could…he sent us his Son. The human race killed him…so God resurrected him to save us all.
So if you are wondering “What do I have to offer anyone?” try asking God and be patient for his answer….he created you, he knows the gifts he gave you. You could start by reflecting on events in your life and this time when you think about them ask yourself, “What did God want me to learn from that experience?” Remember he is about love, grace, mercy and forgiveness.
Peace.
Take Your Faith With You 