Don't be Deceived

Comparing yourself to others is a very dangerous and immature activity. There is almost never a good result. If you see others who are "behind" you, you pat yourself on the back feeling good about where you are, when in fact you may not be where you should be at all. If you see others ahead you, you question the Lord and yourself asking "why aren't I where they are"? I have done as much as they have done and you begin to think of things you did that you have not seen them do, and "judgement" begins to fill your heart. If you look beside you, you compare how much better you are at "this and that" and why you should be promoted faster and further than others. Truth is, we don't know what their motive is, it may be much better than ours and they may be doing much more than we see for a longer time.
Seek first God's kingdom everyday. My advice is don't even pray before you ask God what you should pray about or how you should pray about what you are experiencing. Ask God to show you, then proceed with bold faith IN HIM and IN HIS PLAN and stay away from asking for anything based on "how you feel" unless He has given you the go ahead. Many believers are discouraged because they pray with their head and their eyes instead of praying as God leads them by His Spirit. God always knows best and He never misdirects our prayers in their timing or result. Don't trust yourself to know what only He knows and don't be deceived into thinking you are as good at knowing how to pray as He is!

Choose

Joshua 24 asked the people of Israel to choose who or what they were going to serve in their lives. He gave two choices, either the God of Israel or the false gods (or alternatives to the real God). You and I make the same choice a dozen or more times everyday. We choose to trust God when we don't see His plan or we choose to shrink in fear. We choose to forgive and be free to go forward or we choose to not forgive and stay tied to the past. We choose to use our gifts and talents knowing we will make mistakes or hide them afraid of the trouble we might cause. We choose to speak the truth in love or stay quiet when we see injustice occur. We choose to believe the promises of God which are all yes and Amen in Christ (II Corinthians 1:20) or we choose to believe the doubts that are contrary to these promises. I could give more examples but you get the idea. Just because we decided yesterday to trust God does not mean that we don't have to make that decision again (and again). Life is filled with choices, thousands of choices, minute to minute, day to day, month to month, year to year choices. Seek God's wisdom before you make your decisions. If God gives you direction, don't ask Him again tomorrow if He changed His mind about what He told you yesterday. Stick with what He has told you until you are confident you have fulfilled your part of the decision and only then can you even think about asking for more information that He has already given you.

Dream Again

Psalm 126 looks at "how things used to be" but are not now. It says "our mouth WAS FILLED" with laughter and our tongues with singing. Some of us need to stop living in the past. We need to be refreshed in God's presence NOW, today! The good ole days are not coming back. We have many good days ahead but we all know we also have many trials ahead too; the key is finding God in both, letting Him provide the joy, peace, love and hope that only come from Him and living there IN HIM. Like I said recently Seasons change, life goes on, nothing stays the same. Stop fighting what you cannot change, ask God to give you the grace to succeed in Him and be a witness of His goodness in places you never wanted to go. The world understands joy when everything goes right; they need an example of joy when everything is going wrong. The good news is you do not have to "be that in your own strength" in fact you cannot be that in your own strength. If you could, you could take the credit for it. Learn to draw from God's well of everything needed to bring Him glory and point others to Him when they need Him. The psalm says "those who sow in tears, SHALL REAP IN JOY, that's future tense; in front of you, expect it. Our part is "to continually go forth, even while we are weeping" Don't give up, don't let the devil steal your dreams, your laughter, or your joy. Circumstances change but our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will fill you with what you need to experience these things and He is the only one who can!!!!

Spring Time

The weather plays tricks on you in spring. You begin enjoying the warm evenings and seeing the flowers bloom and then a "cool front blows in". Our lives are like this. I have commented before about "seasons" changing and having favorites but a big key to life is enjoying everyday. This is not pie in the sky thinking it is completely within our grasp. It begins between our ears and happens in a nano second. The Bible says we are to "reprogram our minds" by washing out old thoughts with God inspired new ones. The Bible is the only reliable source to base this on. God's word never changes. Before time began God was; He will be after time has ended. Our job is to eat from the bread of life on a regular basis and when our feelings are different than the biblical record we are to bring our feelings in line with it. Just like a cold day in spring time, you have to set your thermostat to get warm, you must set your mind on God's word and in time your feelings "may catch up." The truth is our feelings do not always catch up to God's word. Have you ever forgiven someone only to see them later and still "feel" angry? Don't allow your "soulish nature" (mind, will, emotions) to guide you or rule you. When they don't match God's word follow Him; you will experience peace in your inner man. You will find that He can be relied on in every season and there will be warmth by His spirit that is just the right temperature!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers. I believe we have gotten a distorted perspective by celebrating "particular days" in our calendar year. Think through days we celebrate; Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, Father's Day, grandparent's day, etc. Somehow this takes the gratitude we should express everyday and focuses our attention almost as if the other 364 days of the year we don't need to show our love and respect for special people. I know this can be taken too far but I am asking that while "you absolutely honor your mother on mother's day" don't let your one day celebration keep you from showing your love, respect and admiration everyday. If buying her a card is special on this day, imagine how she would feel if out of the blue your wrote her a card once a month or took her to a special dinner 10 times a year. My point is make sure your celebrate often with the people who have influenced you, sacrificed for you and want the best for you. Life is "like a vapor" the Bible says. Don't take for granted today people who might not be here tomorrow. Plan to "make memories" regularly with all the special people in your life, follow through by keeping a record of your time spent with them and realize you will one day be very glad you took time to honor those who deserve it. No one is perfect. If you have been hurt by your mother and have not forgiven them for it, I ask you to take the step necessary to bring reconciliation to your relationship. They may never give you what you need to get over the pain but if all you see are their short comings your are missing 100 things that are good and irreplaceable in their life. You will never be glad for not forgiving someone "even though it might feel good" right now. You cannot get time back after it has passed, use it wisely; reach out even if you get your hand slapped, you will know you did the right thing and regret will not be able to accuse you if you don't see the progress you had wanted. Jesus reached out to us many times before we accepted His invitation to come and have dinner with Him too!

National Day of Prayer

Are you concerned about the direction the country is going? Are you praying for it's leaders like you have been commanded? Are you aware that we as Christians determine how things change in the days ahead? The responsibility is put on us in II Chronicles 7:14 "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways; then I (God) will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sin and heal their land." Again, we determine what happens in the days ahead based on obedience to these words. What do I mean by this? I believe the Lord has allowed the apathy of many in the body of Christ to cause a lack of progress in seeing the Kingdom of Heaven manifested here in America. I'm not saying that the Lord is not doing wonderful things for us; but watching the family disintegrate in many cases, seeing the definition of marriage being challenged by "man's opinions" of what is acceptable as an absolute equal to God's design and finally seeing many churches in America rejecting God's Word as out dated and rigid for today's world must be challenged by us sitting in the pews. The "world" is not responsible for seeing this changed, we in the body of Christ are and we will be held accountable for this. On this National Day of Prayer in the U.S., I ask us all to do what we have been commanded to do. Seek God in repentance, repent for America, call on God for wisdom, guidance and courage to obey Him everyday. It is not too late for us but we need to start today on this National Day of Prayer!

Seasons

Life has seasons. Seasons can be weekly, monthly, yearly and even seasons in a whole life. We need to appreciate all different seasons. It comes naturally to "like one season" more than another. Some love spring when new life begins again. Some love fall when colors burst forth by dying leaves. Everyone can share their reason for loving one season more than another there are people who can share the "beauty" of a different season that may be our least liked. One way we can be stolen from is by "not enjoying" all seasons of life. There are good reasons for every season. The sweetest, juiciest fruit only occurs if there are enough "freeze hours" endured by trees in the winter. So while we enjoy the fruit, we need to thank God that the tree did not give up when it was standing leafless in the coldest days of the year. You may be going to a cold hard season right now. I ask you to keep your mind on the fact that when "spring time gets here" you will be eating some of the "sweetest fruit" if you will let God teach you what you need to learn today. When new fruit appears on trees, some falls off before it ever reaches maturity. In fact, if it did not, the limbs would break because they could not hold the weight of all the buds if they lived to maturity. Don't let cold of this hard season stop you from hanging on to enjoy the fruit of the results of this time!