Category Archives: Misc.

More?

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God is working. But I don’t always see it. I feel like there is more. Not that I am unhappy or discontent. I am blessed beyond measure. Here is what I mean by blessed.

  • My wife is about to enter another decade on her birthday next week. She is all things amazing. God has given me a tremendous (understatement!) gift in my wife.
  • My son is incredible. Between the legos and video games he still has time to excel in school and volunteer at church. At eleven, he is awkward and awesome at the same time!
  • My daughter is fantastic! It is fun to snuggle in the morning. She still lets me snuggle at 8. Her smile brightens my day like no other. She also knows more Spanish than I do. Wow.
  • Our church is wonderful. A healthy church is so encouraging. And we get to help in various way! The people are incredible. We can grow at our church.
  • We live debt free mainly due to the choice we have made to tithe.
  • I can still play hard on the softball field even though I am one of the oldest persons out on the field!
  • We are surrounded by friends and family that love us.

But I feel like there is more to God. I want more of Him.

Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

Psalm 84:2, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The great thing is that God wants to be found by us. He will satisfy our longings. His character is one of generosity. 

So today, I am asking for more. What are you asking for?

“What’s in this for me?”

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This post took a left turn this morning. I had other plans. There are a couple of ideas running through my head that I am going to write about but not today. Something else caught my attention today. Let me explain.

Every morning, I feed my kids and get them on the school bus. It is a short amount time but I get to influence my kids for God, hopefully. After I make breakfast, there is a captive audience. They eat and I read. We are in Matthew right now, specifically chapter 26. My kids are 11 and 8 so we read from the Message translation. Sometimes I wonder if they even are listening or remotely understanding what I am reading. But it is God’s word.

Can’t go wrong with reading the Word.

Here are the verses that hit me. I normally use the New International Version when quoting scripture but this is from the Message version just as I read it this morning.

“That is when one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the cabal of high priests and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They settled on thirty silver pieces. He began looking for just the right moment to hand him over.” Matthew 26:14-16

Judas was many things. But if I could narrow it down to one word, Judas was selfish. It was all about him. And that is what led him to do what he did.

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When we encounter Jesus, we must ask ourselves a question. There are two questions and we have to pick one of them.

Question #1 “What’s in this for me?” 

Question #2 “Will Jesus be glorified?”

In the case of Judas, he asked question #1. And what the result? He killed himself. Death.

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I would like to submit to you that if we ask question #2, the result will be life, not death.

Choosing God will always end with life. The alternative is choosing anything but God. What will come of choosing someone or something other than God? You know the answer.

Just like millions of people before us, we have a choice. If you make the right choice, He will empower you to live it out. But it starts with our choice. So make the right one today.

God will not disappoint you. Ever.

 

A Winepress and a Warrior

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This post is a continuation of some Old Testament people. Click on Abraham or Joseph to read the other two Old Testament posts.

Gideon. As with most of these people, their stories are filled with crazy, supernatural stuff. Angels visiting, people testing God, battles begin fought. It all seems unreal to me. But yet it is real. And that is what strikes me. These people, especially Gideon, are normal people. And by normal, I mean normal-every-day-average-unremarkable people. 

Just like me.

But before we get to the angel visit, the testing, or the fighting, we find Gideon hiding. 

He was hiding from the enemy. Why? So they would not take his wheat. The enemy of Israel was oppressing Gideon and all of Israel. For seven years this was happening. The first 11 verses of Judges 6 give us the account. It was all the Israelites could do to stay alive. They hid in caves. Their crops and livestock were under constant attack. It was bad. 

But that is what happens when, “Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,”. God let the enemy invade and oppress.

Is the enemy of your soul invading and oppressing you? Are you doing evil in the eyes of the Lord? Just a thought.

Back to Gideon. He was in a winepress threshing some wheat. This picture shows an ancient winepress. The next one shows a threshing floor.

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threshing_floor

Note the difference. The threshing floor is an open area where the wind can blow easier (perhaps like the Holy Spirit?) . Gideon was in a winepress. He was trying to thresh the wheat in a secret place. Only fearful people do such things. Wheat was meant to be tossed into the air out in the open. This way, the wind could separate the wheat from the chaff. It is much more difficult if you are hiding in an enclosed space.

But that is what happens when doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. We are meant for one thing but we are doing another. Our actions are secret or hidden instead of being lived out. But if you are discouraged about that, the story is not over. 

Verse 12 shows how God feels about Gideon. Here is the verse, “When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Boom! Gideon was not a warrior, he was in a winepress! However, God feels differently.

Your surroundings should not dictate your status. Your circumstances do not negate your christianity. Your foes can’t take away your faith.

Gideon needed a supernatural reminder of his position. I think that you and I could use reminders now and again, don’t you?

Well consider this your reminder. God created you. You are a mighty warrior! Get out of your winepress and get to the business of God.  

Have a victorious week. More on Gideon next time. God bless!

Why do I blog?

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Good morning friends. Two questions for today. I will answer the first one for you.

Why do I blog?

Why Blog Concept

People have asked me that before and my answers have not always been consistent. I have been blogging for two years now. In 2016, my schedule has been one post every week. Now I have a solid answer for that question.

The answer actually comes in a few parts so I hope you don’t mind if I outline them. It helps me to communicate better. =-)

B – Bible Dissemination – I love the Bible. It is God’s written word to us. More people would come to Jesus if they heard the Word more. I am trying to help that process.

L – Learn More – I love to learn. And, I love to to teach. If I learn something and/or my readers learn something, I feel like that is a success.

O – Obey God – I  love God. God told me to write. Read the posts in My Haiti Experience to get the whole story. God said to write so here I am, writing! 

G- Give Encouragement – I love to preach. In most of my posts, I try to encourage people. I trust that people do have hope when they are finished reading.

If you read, like, comment, repost, or just tell people about me, thank you.

I am thoroughly enjoying this journey.  

And who knows, this could just be the best two minutes of your day. =-)

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Second Question: Why do you read this blog?

 

What?!?! Another cliffhanger?!

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You know those shows. The ones that leave you hanging at the end of each episode? My wife and I are binge watching LOST right now. And let me tell you, almost every episode is a cliffhanger. It certainly wants you to keep watching! 

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And that is what got me thinking. We don’t watch much TV in our home. But we have been lately. And we are only on Season 2 of 6! Yes, we have been on a binge.

Normally, the word binge is something that is negative. People binge on food or alcohol. As you know, I struggled with a pornography addiction. There were times when I would binge on it. Binging is bad.

But what if we decided to binge on something good?

Why does it have to be bad to fill your heart, mind, and soul to the point where you are consumed with it? It consumes you. You think about it all the time. Your family and friends know all about it because that is all you talk about. You binge and binge because you can’t get enough. Simply, you are not satisfied.

Then God’s word came to mind. There are a few verses that specifically spoke to me. 

I Thessalonians 4:1-2 “more and more”

Isaiah 40:28 “his understanding no one can fathom”

Isaiah 55:8-9 “my thoughts are not your thoughts”

Ephesians 3:20 “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”

Philippians 3:12-14 “straining toward what is ahead”

Friends, these verses talk about God being bigger than we are. Paul was describing how he wanted more of God. And there was more to have. The prophet Isaiah was explaining that we could not comprehend God or his ways.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created…” 

The world was created by God! We can’t know Him fully! It just can’t happen.

  • That is why I think binging can be good. As long as you are filling yourself with God and His word. Is it possible to get enough of God? In my opinion, no. It won’t ever happen.

Two thoughts I leave with you:

  1. We get to read the end of the book so we know how all of this ends. That means, no cliffhangers! Sure, you may not know what tomorrow holds but you can know who holds tomorrow.
  2. Even though you can’t know all of God, you will be satisfied by him and yet you will still crave for more of him at the same time. Welcome to the great paradox.