All in a Knight's Work

Capital Punishment? I Think Yes!

2012-02-11T09:34:00.009-06:00

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!" Well maybe not really unto the breach, but another blog. I was back in my Bible this morning and came across this passage in Deuteronomy, "You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid." And it dawned on me once again why I believe in capital punishment; because it works. Now I don't plan on debating the pros and cons of capital punishment, I do plan on sharing my opinion which is one of the reasons that I actually blog. What I found this morning was that if evil is purged from the country, then the people will hear about it and be afraid, thus causing them to not do the evil that was purged.

When I was a much younger man and in high school, one of the things that my parents instilled in me was a healthy fear of law enforcement. I remember, and still to this day have a tendency to clinch my butt cheeks whenever a police cruise pulls up behind me in traffic. I was very afraid of spending a night in jail, and that fear kept me from doing a lot of things that would have been bad.

The problem that we have nowadays is that there is no respect for the law. Violence and theft is a huge blemish on society as a whole. People just aren't afraid of getting into trouble with the law anymore I guess. And I think that is partly because of the unwillingness of judges and other elected officials to make a stand. I saw where the average stay on death row for a prisoner in Florida was 12.9 years. Really!?! I mean, the person was arrested, put on trial, convicted and sentenced, and yet 12.9 years goes by before the execution takes place? Herein may lie the problem.

Please understand me here, I am not a blood thirsty barbarian who loves to see people killed, not at all. But I do understand the fact that we need to have laws in order to govern the people mainly because where there is an absence of law, there the people will run a muck. And boy do we seem to ever have an absence of law in the times we live in. Not to mention that the "do what feels good to you" attitude is prevalent in today's society as well.

We read in history of nation's that followed the hedonistic lifestyle and say to ourselves, "Wow, they lived horrible lives, no wonder their society fell apart." But the day and age that we are now in sees a much more hedonistic lifestyle than any of those ever before in history, and yet we (as a people group) think because we are more enlightened that our society will prevail where others failed. How arrogant. How deceived.

God instructed the Israelite nation to purge the evil from them, and then they would be afraid to do that evil. Yet now in this generation, we celebrate evil and wonder why things are the way they are. Could it be that God was right all along? Hmm...I think so. Let's get back to doing what is right, and calling those out who won't do it. Like Edmond Burke said, "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." And I'm afraid that is what has been happening for quite long enough. I for one will stand up and make my voice loud and strong in the face of the evil that I see, how about you?

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Who Are You Following?

2012-02-03T05:45:00.003-06:00

"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." The apostle Paul made this statement in the book of Romans, and it makes me wonder where have I been living? I mean, where have I set my mind each and every day? Who is in control of Dave, his flesh or his spirit?

There is this war that wages in my members daily. It is a constant battle to see who is going to come out on top too. Will my flesh win today, or my spirit? Jesus told us that our spirits are willing, but that our flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41) This is not to say that our flesh is stronger than our spirit, not at all, but it can be stronger if we choose to let it. We must decide daily which we will let lead us. Sometimes we must decide hourly or even minute to minute. But the really awesome thing is that we get to decide.

Flip Wilson coined a phrase back in the day, "The devil made me do it!" in his comedy routine.

And while this is funny the way he tells it, it really isn't true. The devil can't make us do unless we choose to follow the leading of our flesh and decide to do it. This is one of the things that I think the devil has put over onto people's minds for such a long time, that we just can't help ourselves. Well we can, if we choose to put our flesh under and be led by our spirit man.

I won't lie though, it can be a challenge, this is why Jesus told us to take up our cross and die daily to our flesh. And it wouldn't kill you to say no to your flesh once in a while. Show it who's boss so to speak. Instead of eating that sugary, delicious piece of chocolate cake for dessert, decide to pass on it and spend that five minutes in the Word of God. When your spouse asks you to do something, instead of letting your flesh decide for you, follow your heart and make the decision to choose to love them and offer yourself to go with what they've asked.

If you will begin to follow your heart (spirit man) instead of your flesh after a while you will be amazed at how much more powerful a Christian you will become. Just don't get discouraged if you fail, go to 1 John 1:9 ask God to forgive you then get back up on that horse and ride him again. You can do this, otherwise God lied, and if God lied then why are we wasting our time huh? Mercy Me did a song a few years back that kind of reminds of what I've been talking about today. Check it out.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Are You Over Salting?

2012-02-01T05:59:00.002-06:00

Jesus said in Matthew 5:13 that we as Christians are to be the salt of the earth. So I’m wondering, have you ever set down to eat, grabbed the salt shaker and over salted your food? Too much salt can actually leave a bad taste in your mouth. That’s not very pleasant is it? Then why is it that so many Christians feel the need to get all up in people’s business when it comes to presenting the Gospel?

We are commanded to preach the good news to a lost and dying world, and I get that. What I don’t understand is how some people go about it. The people who use doom and gloom, or hellfire and damnation as the tool to win the lost don’t make any sense to me. I mean, yeah they put on a pretty good show, but I thought it was the goodness of God that leads man to repentance, (Romans 2:4) not just the fear of going to hell.

God’s plan for mankind is a good one. Jesus himself said that he had come to bring the good news to the poor, set the captives free, heal the blind and proclaim that God’s favor had come. (Luke 4:18 – 19) Even a casual look through the Bible will reveal that Jesus never preached a hellfire and damnation message to the lost. Those types of messages seem to be full of anger, and the only people that Jesus ever seemed to be angry with were the religious people.

I think that it is so important that we reach the people who are in our sphere of influence; we are commanded to do so. But we will do that so much better if we develop good solid relationships with them first. Through those relationships, they will see how good God is in our lives, and then they will desire that in their lives too. This is when they will ask us about the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15), to which Peter says we are supposed to share this information with them in gentleness and respect.

So I think it’s time that we stop over salting the lost, and instead start to build relationships with them. Taking time to invest in their lives and not be so concerned with another notch on our Christian belt. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Are You Straining Gnats?

2012-01-29T08:17:00.001-06:00

Matthew 23:23-24 NLT “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!”

As I read this today, I was amazed to see that Jesus did in fact tell the people that they should tithe. This is something that so many people will argue is not in the New Testament and will fight you over I have found in the past. Funny, God set it up as a way for His children to be blessed, but unfortunately people have made it all about the money and not about the relational portion that bringing your tithe to God that is the more important aspect. But I am not here to debate tithing, it is the other part of this passage that grabbed my attention.

Jesus says to tithe, but no to neglect the more important things; justice, mercy and faith. So that got me to thinking, do I do that? I mean my wife and I bring our tithe every week to our local storehouse, but when I bring it to God have I missed the more important things too? I don’t want to be a Pharisee, that much is for sure, but perhaps that’s been happening and I haven’t even realized it.

How many people do you come into contact with in a day’s time? My bride and I started to watch the movie Forrest Gump last night and as the movie progressed and Forrest told his story to whoever would listen, or even those who ignored him I had the thought, “How many times do I miss an interesting person because I dismiss them out of hand because they are different, or maybe someone I don’t think can help me?”

Gandalf tells Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” Now unlike Frodo who was wishing that Bilbo had killed Gollum when he had the chance, I think sometimes I have dismissed the very people that God intended to use to bless me. And I’ve probably been dismissed by someone that God wanted to bless by using me too.

This is an interesting thing to me too because I say I want God’s best in my life, but if I’m not willing to try and relate to everyone the same way, regardless of how they look, or act how can that be true? I mean God is no respecter of people why should we be? I’m sure that I will have to give this some more consideration in the days ahead.

I think I’ll begin to work on doing the more important things of showing justice, mercy and faith in my relationships in a much larger way now, and each time I drop that offering envelope in the bucket maybe it will help me remember to do that as well. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Are You Listening To The Rabble?

2012-01-26T05:42:00.004-06:00

Look at this passage of Scripture found in Numbers 11:4 AMP, And the mixed multitude among them [the rabble who followed Israel from Egypt] began to lust greatly [for familiar and dainty food], and the Israelites wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? This leapt off of the page at me this morning, because I'm afraid that I too, have been swayed by the rabble in my own life from time to time.

I looked up the word rabble and it means, a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people : mob : the lowest class of people. I'm sure that you have run into these types of people before as well, they may be well meaning, but usually have a "Debbie Downer" type attitude. You know, the if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all kind of people.

In this story about the Israelites, two years has passed since they left Egypt and they had been eating manna for a while. It was as they listened to the rabble their attitude about life began to change. This is not to say they were not to blame, they still made the decision to complain, whine and cry. You will see this again and again in this story of the Children of Israel following Moses in the wilderness. I for one have tried to learn the lesson of "not complaining" from these stories, because I don't want to wander around for a long time not doing what I should be for the Kingdom.

My question this morning is who's voices are you listening to? Are you listening to what God says in His Word about you, or do you hear the rabble complaining? You can't stop the rabble from running their mouths, but what you do have the power to do is to stop your mind from believing what they say over what God says. If you hear, the economy is so bad, I don't know how we're going to make it. Don't believe that! The truth of God's Word is that it is He who supplies all our needs according the His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. If you hear someone say, it's the flu season, don't believe them and just agree, speak the Word which says that by Jesus's stripes you are healed.

We are the captains of our own destiny when it comes to what we believe and what we get from the Lord. He loves everyone the same, but not everyone gets the same things. This is not because He shows favoritism, He doesn't. He has hidden all of His promises in the Word for us to find and begin to walk in. He's hidden them for us, not from us but there is a catch, and that is that you have to find them. And when you do, and start walking in the truths that you find there, you will see how much easier it is to ignore the rabble and what all they are saying and truly find the blessing of the Lord in your life! Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Anticipation

2012-01-23T05:18:00.003-06:00

This commercial for Heinz ketchup from my youth reminds me of where I am today. What do you do when you have to wait for something? I know that patience is a virtue, and it is something to be developed in my life, but I don't want to wait. How about you? Do you like waiting for something? What do you do when you have to wait? How do you handle it?

I've been waiting for something in my life to happen for about a week now, and truthfully the longer I wait the less likely it seems it's going to happen. Now, I know it will, but the longer I wait the more impatient I seem to be getting. I guess I'm like a kid waiting to open his presents on Christmas morning, I'm sitting there looking at those gifts but I've been told to wait until after we have breakfast to open them up. Cooking bacon and eggs never took so long.

And that is the crux of it right there, it's all in our perspective of how we see things. We perceive that it is taking a long time, even though it really isn't. Time doesn't stand still, no matter what we actually think. The children of Israel had to wait on Moses to come back down from the mountain, and the first time he went to speak with God they didn't do so well, and it cost them. So maybe a little anticipation is a good thing, letting it develop patience in my life can't be too bad a thing now can it? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Who Do You Serve?

2012-01-19T05:50:00.002-06:00

Choose you this day who you will serve. This is something that I think about often. Who do you serve? Maybe you say that you don't serve anyone, but if you were to be totally honest you would have to say that you do. Even if you don't serve anyone else, you serve yourself. We all serve someone, some are better at it than others. I mean you've had poor service in a restaurant haven't you? There are just some people who are more predisposed to serving that others.

It's really funny because in the Kingdom of God we are encouraged to serve one another. Jesus actually told the disciples that in order to become first in the Kingdom you had to serve everyone else. He even said that He didn't come to be served, but to serve. Serving is a prerequisite in the Kingdom of God. He expects that we are going to serve, but do we do that willingly?

Every day we have choices to make. Some of them are simple and others are more complex, but we choose and nobody can choose for us. In order to really serve someone well, you have to make the choice to do so. And in order for your choice to matter, you have to do it willingly. We've all been there, you need to serve someone at work say and you do what is expected of you, but you grumble and complain the whole time you are doing it. That is not really serving. Serving the way that it is supposed to be done is doing what is required of you, and having a great attitude while you're doing it.

I think the main thing to bring with you when you serve is the knowledge that even if this is something that you would rather not be doing at the moment, you go ahead and do whatever is required of you to the best of your ability and place your own desires and wants on the back burner. A little delayed gratification never hurt anyone, yet I know from my own life that my flesh sure tries to tell me that it does.

Life is busy, we have things pulling us from a thousand different directions, but if we will choose to serve our fellow man, God will see to it that we are promoted at the right time and in the right place. His plan for our lives is so much greater than we could ever imagine, and if we will walk the way He tells us to in Scripture and serve those around us, He will see to it that we have everything that we need. That's just how we do it in the Kingdom of God.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

What Are You Preparing For This Year?

2012-01-12T05:46:00.004-06:00

It's the beginning of another new year, things are already moving quickly as we approach the second week of 2012, and I'm encouraged to think about what I'd like to see in my life and that of my family this year. We were told by our pastor on the first Sunday of the new year that resolutions are not a bad thing, because even in Scripture we are encouraged to write our vision for our life down and make it plain so that we can run with it.

This basically is about setting goals for your life, and this is something that I have not been really good at, but am wanting to change for this year. There are things that I want to do this year, but if I don't get them on paper and look at them from time to time I will once again be at the end of the year looking back wishing that I had done more.

There is nothing wrong with planning, I think where most people miss it is that they think they have to plan things that they can actually do, not just dream about things that may look impossible. I love how Jesus said that God is a God of the impossible. When things look to me as if there is no possible way, Jesus says to me, "Don't try to do this in your own power, with man things are impossible, but with God all things are possible."

All things are possible with God, let that sink in. I mean if you knew that you could not fail in the things that you wanted to do, what things would you do? Would you risk anything, or try something that perhaps before you thought unattainable? I know that for this year, I want to write another book. But if I don't write down the steps to getting there, I'll just have a pipe dream instead of a reality.

What things do you want to do with your life this year? Dare to dream, ask God to reveal to you some things that He wants you to do, and then find something that there is no possible way you could do in your own power and believe God to help you with that. He is the God of impossibility after all, and more importantly, He wants to help you.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to begin to dream today of things that I have not considered a possibility before, and put my faith in God's ability and not my own. Because when I put faith in my own abilities, that's when I fail. Thank You Jesus for inspiring me through my pastor and friends to reach out for more in 2012. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Another First For Me To Enjoy!

2012-01-11T07:40:00.006-06:00

There are a myriad of things to remember in raising children; their first words, first steps and the time they shot out the living room window with a bb gun, "But mom, the first time I shot it it didn't break!" Today is another one of those firsts for my family, my oldest child leaves the nest for a very extended period of time.

Micah is leaving the country to go and live for a year studying worship leadership at the Hillsong College in Sydney, Australia. To say that I woke up today with mixed emotions is an understatement for sure. I am both sad and extremely excited, sad that I will not have my son living in my house for another year, and excited because the boy that leaves my home will return as a man.

Getting him ready for this trip has caused our house to be in an uproar, washing clothes, getting electronic gadgets prepared, remembering to get all of the paperwork in order. It's exhausting, more so for my bride as she has done most of the work, which I know you ladies will say is typical, and that's okay because it is.

It is at this point that I begin to wonder and question if I have really done everything that I need to do as a father to prepare my son to face the world. I'm sure that I have missed something, but I was encouraged yesterday on my way to work with this thought from the Holy Spirit, "David, I gave you My Son, won't you give me yours?" And even though it saddens me to see him leave, I know that My Father has Micah in the palm of His hands and will be there for him even when I can't.

Sending Micah off like this is exciting for me because I know what he is about to experience. Not from Hillsong and all that God has for him there, but in the natural. That thing of being on your own, making decisions (some right and some wrong) that will effect your life a lot, and being forced to do it on your own because your parents (and the safety and security that they have been for you since you were born) aren't there with you. It is both scary and exciting, and there is something in experiencing that which makes you grow into a man.

It's like the butterfly in it's cocoon; if it is helped out of the cocoon and not allowed to struggle to free itself, then the process which causes the butterfly's wings to develop and get strong enough to allow flight is hindered and the butterfly can never become what it was created to be. In the same way, if Micah's mother and I don't let him go and experience all that this will be for him, he will never grow and develop into who God wants him to be. It is hard to watch the butterfly struggle, but so very important.

I will be sad today and maybe even the days to come as we process all that is going on in our family with Micah gone and await the news of his arrival and all. But the coolest thing about God is that He was not caught unaware about this time in our lives. If there is one thing that I have learned from God in the past several years, it is that He is right here in the midst of my family's lives in every area. He encouraged me with this thought, "This plan for Micah was Mine before the foundation of the world. I did not leave you and the family out of My plan. I will be there right with you, Cheryl and April while he is gone." That encourages me that God thinks about how we will miss Micah and that He has a plan for that too. What a great God we serve!

So today is another first for me, yet even though there might be a little sadness with it, I know that there is greatness in Micah's life to come, and that will make it all worth it! Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

You Of Little Faith

2012-01-07T11:06:00.007-06:00

As I read this passage this morning, the Holy Spirit highlighted something I'd like to share with you, check it out. Matthew 14:25-33: "Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them (the disciples who were in a boat), walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. The Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "you of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

What the Holy Spirit showed me today was that when Jesus and Peter got back into the boat that the disciples worshiped Jesus and said, "Truly you are the Son of God." But Jesus didn't walk on the water as the Son of God, He did that as the son of man. I mean, did the disciples forget that Peter too walked on the water? They didn't worship him, yet until doubt entered the picture Peter was also walking on the water.

I find so many things interesting in the story, and a person could preach dozens of messages of encouragement from it, yet today what I was shown was the humanity of Jesus once again in action. How have I missed this all these years as a Christian? I used to see this as one more time that Jesus was proving who He was. But He wasn't doing that. I mean this time He didn't refer to Himself as the son of man, but usually when He did some act and people would revel in it, He would always reaffirm that He was the son of man, and not the son of God.

I think it would do us all well to go through the stories of Jesus in the Bible, and read them paying close attention to Jesus as man, not Jesus as God. John Eldredge wrote an excellent book called, "Beautiful Outlaw" which covers this very thing, and I would highly recommend that you get a copy of it.

There is no doubt that Jesus is God, that is not in dispute, but the very thing that He came to Earth to teach us was how to have a relationship with God, and He did that as a man. I heard it said one time that Adam (the man) lost all of it for us, and in order to get it all back, Jesus had to come (as a man) to make things right, and if all the miracles and things that Jesus did, He did as God instead of as man, then he cheated.

Worship Jesus as God, but admire what He did as a man. The reason He did those things, was to show you and I that we could do them too! What an honor for Him to think enough of us to come and show us how we could walk with God in such a powerful and intimate way. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

2012 A New Year...Just What Does That Mean?

2012-01-01T07:57:00.002-06:00

Well another year has come and gone. It seems that when I was younger there was a whole lot more excitement at the prospect of getting to see another year come in. This year was spent with my bride in bed not feeling well, and me on Facebook farting around and playing Farkle. This may actually make us officially old coots.

As I sit at my computer this morning, drinking coffee and going through my morning rituals, I looked out the front window to see a beautiful dawn. I thought to myself, I've got to blog on the first day of 2012 and began to think about the various things that I might expound about in an effort to help others as well as myself. And I came up with nothing, nada, zilch.

A new year can be exciting, but it can also be filled with dread. I think that this year I'm going to go with exciting because truthfully, it's more fun. The Felts family has some pretty cool stuff on our horizon this year. In less than two weeks my oldest child Micah will board an airplane for the distant land of Australia. He will be attending Hillsong School of Worship for a year. This brings me great pride in him, but also will be a new thing for us as he will officially be an adult and out of our house.

This summer my daughter April will spend working with futureVision Ministries and leading people to the Lord. While this is a great thing, and I am excited for her to begin the journey that God has laid out before her, I will miss my little girl this summer. Which leaves just Cheryl and me living in a house just the two of us. Now while this will allow me a little freedom to live in or out of clothes as I see fit, it will be an adjustment for the both of us. This will be the first time in almost 20 years that we have been alone without children in the house. (Pray for Cheryl please.)

I did accomplish something that has been on my bucket list in 2011 by writing and publishing my first book. A 280 page book designed to be a transparent look into who David Felts is, and hopefully which will help you come to find out things about yourself as well. If you don't own a copy you can order one here. (And yes, that is a shameless plug for my book, but I want to sell a lot of them you know.)

In 2012 I am planning on a new book that a musician friend and I will collaborate on. Right now I think it will be a devotional type book with music accompaniment. This book will come with it's very own music cd too. I'm excited to begin this project, and will blog more about the process later.

Oh, and one of the most exciting things I'm looking forward to in 2012, The Hobbit in theaters. Okay, so I'm a geek I know it, what are you looking forward to? All in all, I am excited about the prospect of once again having a new year and all that it holds with it. Change is on the horizon for the Felts family, big change, but we will embrace all of them with the Lord Jesus's help and see where it brings us this time next year. Strength and honor!

God Is Watching

2011-12-28T05:44:00.004-06:00

Exodus 3:2-4: There the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up." When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

As I was doing my morning Bible reading I came across this passage and the Holy Spirit highlighted this in my heart. "When the Lord saw..." That says to me that God is watching to see what we do. I have learned that God is always speaking to us; sometimes through a physical manifestation, our hearts or through the Bible, whatever the case He is always speaking. The question is, are we taking the time to stop and listen?

I have heard that in the Middle East it is not an unusual thing to see a bush catch fire, so Moses had probably seen this before. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven there is a scene with Balian where he throws a rock at a bush and it ignites into flames.

This is probably what Moses was used to, the thing that made him stop was the fact that the bush did not burn up. So he turned from what he was doing to check it out.

This is what God is looking for from us, stopping from our daily duties long enough to hear Him speak to us. What would have happened if Moses had been too busy thinking about his day to stop and see why the bush wasn't burned up? How many times do we miss what God wants to say to us each day because we are too busy or in too much of a hurry to stop and listen? I know that I have ended up in this position too many times. It is something that I am working to change in my life.

Taking time out of our schedules to listen for God to speak each day really would do wonders for us. I mean let's take this "church thing" and make it into a lifestyle rather than just a Sunday/Wednesday activity. If I have learned anything in my 48 years, it is that God wants a relationship with me, not a puppet, and that makes me very happy because I don't really want to be a puppet.

So today, look for your burning bush and when you turn aside to see it, you'll find God there waiting on you. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Questioning Jesus? Seriously?

2011-12-14T05:47:00.003-06:00

I've been talking with the Lord lately about how He talked with people in the Bible. I'm curious to see if God showed up in the flesh, or if it was a still small voice in their hearts. I really want to know, because I think it would help me to have a better relationship with Him. This morning I was reading the account of Saul's conversion which takes place in Acts 9, and I found something very interesting.

In Acts 9:10 - 19 we find the account of Ananias, the disciple of Jesus who went and laid his hands on Saul resulting in him being healed of blindness. The thing that I found really interesting is in verse 13 and 14 where he questions Jesus. The Lord has just told him what to do, but he in turn says, "Whoa, wait a minute. You do realize that this guy has come here to imprison Christians, right?" How many times have you questioned Jesus about something that you felt He impressed on you?

I mean come on, vision or no vision this is still a little bit of a scary proposition for Ananias don't you think? But what is so beautiful in this passage is that Jesus doesn't act like the great and all powerful Oz yelling, "I AM JESUS, OBEY ME!" No, Jesus listened to Ananias's question, and then answers him back in a true conversational way. This just blows me away to say the least. Jesus isn't forcing His will on us, He really is wanting to have a relationship with us. Only a God secure in who He is would do that, don't you think? I mean why else would He have a conversation like that with Ananias?

This just goes to show me one more time that God is wanting a relationship with me, not just another servant. And I don't know about you, but that makes me feel amazing this morning. I think that I will not be afraid to question Jesus in the future. Because I know that in doing so, He will answer my question in order to help me see what it is that I need to do. Oh, and then I'll need to do it. Think of what would have happened if Ananias had never gotten around to going to see Saul, we might not have 2/3 of the New Testament now.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Change Is Coming

2011-12-09T05:53:00.003-06:00

You know there is a great line from the movie Tombstone, where Wyatt Earp says to some of the bad guys, "You tell 'em I'M coming...and hell's coming with me, you hear?" And after that for the gang of cowboys, change came to their lives, in a big way.

Change is an ever present entity with us in this human experience. We are constantly undergoing some type of it every day. If you don't believe me, take a look at a picture of you from twenty years ago, you will find that change has come. The problem is that most people try to run from change, they want things to stay the same, but there is only one thing that ever stays the same and that is God, everything else changes.

So why spend your life in an exercise of futility trying to make things stay the same, when instead you could embrace the change and live a much fuller life? I don't know what Wyatt Earp really has to do with change, except that I thought of this movie line this morning and how we all try and stop change in our lives and decided to write a quick blog before going to work.

So don't run from change, accept it as part of your life and then see how much fuller your life will become. Change is not the enemy, resistance to change is. Have a great day and remember, "Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!"

Here's A Thought, Are You Doing Everything God Asks?

2011-12-02T05:44:00.005-06:00

In Genesis 6:8 it reads, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." And then Genesis 6:22 says,"Noah did everything just as God commanded him."

I walk in the favor of God every day, the Bible tells me that He has placed His favor upon me. Actually, one of my daily confessions is, "I'm surrounded by God's favor shield. People like me and they don't even know why." But I wondered this morning as I read these two Scriptures if I was living the first one without doing the second?

It's great that God has favored us, actually that is one of the most awesome blessings that He has given, but are we doing the second part? Are we doing everything that He has commanded us? Do you even know what He has commanded you to do? Are you even taking the time to listen for His voice to speak to your heart?

I know that I like to claim the promises of God for my life. I love reading about what He did for saints in the Bible, and then believe that He will do that for me. After all He is no respecter of persons right? But do I do my part after procuring these promises? Do I do everything that He is commanding me? If I was to be truthful, probably not. But the most awesome thing about God is His willingness to forgive when I don't measure up.

Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden, they eat the fruit and have their eyes uncovered. God shows up "looking" for them? I mean He is God right? He knows all, sees all and He is looking for them? The Bible does say that they were hiding, but come on God knew where they were. Why was He doing that? To give them an opportunity to repent. When He finds them, He asks Adam what he had done. This is another opportunity to come clean about his actions, but he just blame shifts it onto Eve. So God asks Eve, giving her an opportunity to ask for His forgiveness and she just blames the serpent.

If you will look at the story of Cain and Able too, after Cain has killed his brother the Lord asks him where is Able? Cain's answer, "Am I my brother's keeper?" You see when God asked Him where Able was, it wasn't because He didn't know, He was giving Cain the opportunity to own up to his actions and ask God to forgive him.

God is nothing else if He is not faithful and true to want to help us. If He didn't want us to repent, He would have just killed Adam and Eve never giving them the chance to get right with Him. I am so thankful that He doesn't give us what we deserve, which basically is the definition of mercy. How could I not do everything that He commands me?

So how about today spending a little bit more time with Him and asking Him what it is that He wants you to do? And then going out and doing that with all of your being. I mean after all Jesus died for us, can't we live for Him? That's how I'm going to spend my day praying to my Father, let's just see where this takes me. Shalom my friends!

A Different Look At Jesus

2011-11-28T05:47:00.003-06:00

If you haven't checked out John Eldredge's latest book "Beautiful Outlaw",, let me recommend that you do. It may be his best book yet, and I have to say that I am now looking at the Gospels in a different way, as well as seeing Jesus in a different light. Click here to download the first chapter and see what I'm talking about.

What John has done in his book is bring a completely different way to look at Jesus. He says that taking what we read in the Bible at face value, is like kind of watching television with the sound off. We recognize that something is going on, but the man on the screen waving his arms around doesn't make any sense to us, because the personality of the man is missing. Reading the Bible in an academic sort of way, not taking into account the personality of Jesus leaves us with a one dimensional character not full of much life. But Jesus is so full of life, and He does have a personality, one that if we will allow ourselves to see will bring a much richer relationship to our lives.

Seeing that the Christmas season is upon us, why not pick up a copy for all of your family and friends. After all what better gift could someone receive but a book that helps them find the true nature of Jesus in all of His glorious personality? Click here to find out more about this amazing book!

Strength and Honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Will He Break You?

2011-11-27T07:26:00.003-06:00

In Rocky IV, the champ goes up against Ivan Drago a Russian super soldier who killed Apollo Creed in the ring. As he is preparing to fight Rocky, he says, "I must break you." I was thinking about what I wanted to write about this morning, and this image appeared in my mind as I was mulling around some ideas. Check it out:

This got me to thinking about the enemy of Christians everywhere, the devil. Jesus defeated him with His death, burial and resurrection, yet for all of that he continues to try and conquer those of us who bear the image of Christ. The problem I've seen with most Christians is that they just let the devil win. It's like he says, "I must break you." and they respond by going, "Okay."

Jesus told us in Luke 10:19, "Look, I (Jesus) have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you." Does that sound like the enemy has the authority over us, or we have the authority over him? I mean if this doesn't settle for us once and for all who is in charge, then I don't really know if there is hope for you.

This is not to say that the devil doesn't have power, he does. But he is missing the true element here, and that is the authority to use that power. You see he can throw all types of fiery darts at us, but we don't have to allow them to hurt us. We have the authority to either accept them, or deny them. I can hear you now, but bad things happen, we can't deny that bad things happen, our five senses tell us what's going on.

True, our five senses will try to tell us what is what. But there is a higher level of understanding than what our bodies tell us, that is the understanding of our faith. Faith trumps all senses. Because faith comes from the Word of God, look at Romans 10:17, "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ and what He has done for us." When faith comes, it supersedes whatever your body is telling you.

This is where the battle comes in for us. We have to believe what God's Word says is true, even when our senses say it isn't. That is called the fight of faith, it's the fight to believe what God has said is true even when everything and everyone around you says differently. Jesus Himself had to deal with this, why do we think we are any different? Check this passage found in Matthew 16:21 - 23:

21)"From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead.

22)But Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. "Heaven forbid, Lord." he said. "This will never happen to you!"

23)Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."

Notice that it says that Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Satan!" Wait a minute, I thought Peter was His friend? Why then would Jesus be talking to satan? Because Peter had been just talking to Jesus about not fulfilling the call of God for His life. Peter was allowing his mental thoughts to be persuaded by the enemy of all mankind, and then talking to Jesus. And the devil is just not that clever folks, he still uses the mental realm to do his dirty work. Jesus wasn't calling Peter the devil, he was addressing the enemy where he was at, in the words of Peter.

What we say has power in our life, this is why we must, and I stress must watch what we think about. If we focus on what our five senses tell us and then bring that over into the realm of our Christian walk as the basis for what is really going on, then we will find ourselves in the same place that Peter was. Obviously we must allow our senses to give us information, but we don't have to accept that information as the truth, because God's Word is truth and it will overcome what our senses tell us, IF we will let it.

So don't let the enemy use your five senses to tell you what is what, when that happens, you turn it on him and tell him what God's Word says about that situation. It doesn't matter what area of struggle in life you may find yourself, God's Word has something to say about it all. Dig into the Bible and find it. I love how God has hidden things in the Bible for us, not from us. It's like digging for buried treasure, when you find it, man you are a blessed person for sure!

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Don't Beat The Fields Down

2011-11-13T07:30:00.004-06:00

Matthew 9:35 -38 it says, "Jesus went through all the towns, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

I have been thinking about this passage of Scripture for a while now, and the harvest fields are indeed still plentiful, but Jesus wasn’t talking about us tramping all around in the harvest field, and beating it down. It seems to me that what passes for gathering in the harvest most of the time is Christians preaching "AT" the lost.

I heard it said that we need to earn the right to share the Gospel with people. You've probably heard it said people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. When they beat the lost up with Scripture they are no better than those Pharisees we read about in the Bible.

We've got to invest time first, earning the right to speak into people's lives, and then do what Jesus did; teaching them, sharing the good news with them and healing their bodies. After all that's what Jesus told us to do wasn't it? (John 14:11-13) And don't shoot the messenger, Jesus said it, I'm just repeating it.

We have got to remember that when people act like the world, it is because they don't know any better; this is why we have to teach them. Here’s an example. A Christian is talking to a worldly person and the worldly person cusses quite a bit. So he holds up a finger and says, "Excuse me, I'm a Christian and don't like the way you are cussing in front of me, would you please stop?" The person will more than likely stop, but from that day forward they will stay away from that Christian, keeping the Gospel from being shared.

We have to be as wise as serpents, and yet as harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16) if we are going to reach our generation. And don’t get offended when people act like the world, just love them into the Kingdom.

Lonely?

2011-11-06T08:08:00.005-06:00

Have you ever felt lonely? I don't mean have you ever been alone, I mean have you ever felt lonely? Loneliness is something that can happen to you in a crowded room, and it is a horrible feeling. I know that as a Christian I am not supposed to be moved by what I feel, yet that doesn't mean that I totally disregard my feelings either. Christians are not supposed to be like Mr. Spock on Star Trek, devoid of human emotions.

Loneliness is something that seems to be haunting my steps on a daily basis here lately. At home, at church and at work, irregardless of how many people are around me. If I get quiet for too long I feel a sense of loneliness that tries to overwhelm me. And the really funny thing is that I know Jesus promised to never leave me or forsake me, (Hebrews 13:5) and that the Holy Spirit is right there with me at all times (John 14:16). And yes, there is some comfort in that, but at times I seem to just crave a little human contact that doesn't involve me instigating it.

Oh, I'm sure that this has something to do with the fact that one of my best friends is out of the country right now, and I've started this new job where I am away from family and friends for close to twelve hours each day. Not to mention that the place that I find myself in at almost 50 years old is in a starting over mode. I guess it's just not where I expected to find myself at this point in my life.

I read a book called "Point Man" by Steve Farrar a few years ago, it is a book about how a man needs to lead his family. He takes the term "point man" from the military, talking about the man who is out in front leading and looking for the enemy. This is one of the most dangerous places to be when you are out on patrol, because you are the first one seen by the enemy. If you are out in front, then you are going to be the one to take the hit first, and that too can be a lonely job.

Leadership in and of itself almost by definition means to be alone. leaders lead, that is the crux of it. People follow leadership that is true, but if you find yourself in a leadership role, you will almost invariably find yourself alone at some point. And when you do, that is when you have to rely on the Holy Spirit to lead you. Because truly, in what I have found in my life at least, I don't really know what I'm doing most days. I have to stay close to Jesus in order to make sure that I am not leading my family into a trap of the enemy.

I have been feeling lonely, that is a true statement. What I'm not letting happen however is me being so overwhelmed by this loneliness that I am unable to lead my family. It's not a fun place to be, but it is one that I understand and I will assume because my family needs me to lead, not because I'm the best at it, just because it is the position that God has placed me in as the husband and father of the Felts family.

So if you have ever felt lonely, or are feeling that way right now, look to Jesus. After all it is a fact that He will never leave you or forsake you so that you can boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, in what will I be afraid?" Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Why Would I Go There?

2011-10-28T22:55:00.007-05:00

I started a new job this week. For the past 19 years I've been self-employed, and that means that everything I've done to earn money has been done in the ways that I've wanted them done. Sometimes that worked out good and other times not so good, but that was how it was. Now I work for a company which makes, threads and coats pipe in a variety of sizes and lengths for the transporting of fluids of various kinds. (I'd tell you what kinds, but I'm still in the learning stage of my new job and don't know them all.)

found myself yesterday thinking about the men that I was meeting there and how they are really quite a bit different than the men I've been surrounding myself with for the last several years. And I don't mean different in a bad way either, everyone of them that I've met have been great, and I'm really excited getting to know them all. What I mean, is that for the past 20 plus years I have surrounded myself with men (and women for that matter) of like minds, you know Christians like me. (Well maybe not exactly "like" me, there really aren't too many people that are "like" me.)

I have been asking myself why did the people in the Bible like to be around Jesus? And would these men that I've been meeting want to be around me like that? And if not, why? And while I was thinking about these questions that led me to wonder what these guys would think about my church? Would they feel comfortable there? Would they understand what even was going on in the service during praise and worship, the teaching or the offering time? Would they understand the terminology that we as Christians tend to use? You know, those "christianeze" words we adopt into our vocabulary the longer we follow Christ?

This is not to say that I am embarrassed by my church or the people in it, because I'm not. I just think that maybe we are looking at the people in the world through a very different set of eyes than what the world looks at us (as Christians) with. One of the things that I have noticed in this new job environment is a different way of talking. The use of profanity is prolific to say the least. Now I'm not a prude, and I won't lie and say that I've never used any profanity, but it has definitely been an eye opener for me to hear four-letter words being thrown around all the time.

I'm sure that most of my Christian friends would be extremely uncomfortable around these guys I've met at work because of the cussing, yet I think my co-workers would be doubly uncomfortable around my Christian friends. Why do you ask? It's simple really, these guys "couldn't" relate to most Christians, because most Christians "wouldn't" relate to them. Let's face it, we love to pick on the Pharisees in the Bible, but aren't we just as bad when we refuse to relate with people who may seem a little bit rough around the edges or different than us? After all, doesn't the Bible say that rain falls on both the just and the unjust? (Matthew 5:45)

I think I know why all those people liked to spend time with Jesus (and it wasn't for the free happy meals and free medical either) people liked to be around Jesus because He could relate to where they were at. He didn't walk up to them with a holier than thou attitude (that's what the Pharisees did) and tell them to serve Him. No, he served them and ministered to them and that is why people wanted to be around Him.

Truthfully we have to ask ourselves, are we any better than the Pharisees when it comes to us relating with people that we meet in our everyday walk? The most important thing in this life are the relationships that we make. And we have also been commanded by our Lord Jesus to go out and make disciples. How long did it take Him to make those first twelve? He was only able to disciple them because He took the time to develop relationships with them.

Why then do we think that if we will just throw some Scripture at people we see, they will want to come and be a part of anything that we are doing? Really, they won't, they'll probably scratch their heads as they walk away and say, "Why would I go there?"

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Look Out World, Here I Come!

2011-10-27T06:22:00.003-05:00

Today marks another of many "firsts" in my life, I start a new job this morning. I have officially been unemployed since September4, 2011 and while that time was a little uncomfortable, I enjoyed staying home and playing house dad for a while. Although I will admit that I was itching to get back into the workforce, and that was a revelation that kind of surprised me.

Today I will be joining the Paragon Industries in Sapulpa, Oklahoma in the receiving department. What does that mean exactly? I have no idea, but in a few short hours I will find out. And that is what brings me to writing this morning. The unknown. How do you feel going into something when you don't know what it all entails? Do you find it exciting, fearful or maybe a mixture of both? For me, it is the mixture of both, the excitement of doing something you've never done before, meeting new people and that little bit of fear in your gut that you will be able to accomplish the things that are asked of you.

One thing that I know for sure, is that God is with me and that helps me to know that I can jump right in and begin to learn the job. He is with me, but not only that He has gone before me to prepare a place for me as well. Yeah, yeah I know Jesus was talking about in Heaven when He said that, (John 14:2) but I think it applies here as well. He wants me to do a good job there, and He has seen to it that I am in the place He wants me at this time.

All I know is this, today is the day that I start out on a new path laid out for me by my Father. I was thinking about Joseph, and how he got to the place that God had for him to be. Many people look at that story and see all the hardship that Joseph went through, sold into slavery by his family, lied about by his boss's wife, thrown into prison and forgotten. But in the end, in a matter of minutes actually, he became the ruler of the greatest nation on the planet, subject only to Pharaoh himself and no one else. Ending up seeing his family actually come and bow before him just as the dreams God had given him so many years before said they would.

This job, while a good one for me, and I am thankful for it, is not the end job that God has for me. I know that there is something else inside of me that He wants me to do, but with this job I am being prepared for it, just as Joseph was being prepared all of those years before he came to stand before Pharaoh. I guess the moral of Joseph's story is are we willing to suffer a little indignity to ourselves and learn the lessons set before us in order that we might do the work God has for us to do? I know, that I am patterning this time in my life after Joseph, so look out world, here I come!

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

What's Your Opinion Of Yourself, Or Do You Even Have One?

2011-10-20T07:15:00.004-05:00

I was listening to some music from my past last night, it was Styx and the song was "I'm OK" off of the Pieces of Eight album. It brought back a lot of memories, but the strongest one and where I'm going with my thought this morning is that I have been my own person for as long as I can remember, and have really not been too concerned with what other people thought of me. Now that's not to say that for many years I haven't been out to get validation for the things that I've done in my life, I have, more often than not too much so, but as far as following fashion trends, or the latest thing that the masses chase after, that I've never done and have really encouraged my kids to stay away from as well.

So as I was getting another cup of coffee this morning, the thought crossed my mind, "What's your opinion of yourself, or do you even have one?" So many people if they even have an opinion of themselves it is a poor one. They choose, or maybe have been programmed to see the negative attributes of themselves in themselves and not the positive ones. Some people will say, "Yeah, but if I say good things about myself people will just say that I'm arrogant." Thinking good things about yourself is not arrogant at all.

God said in the Bible that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalms 139:14) We are not all the same, we are as unique as each and every snowflake that falls to the ground in winter. This world wants to fit us into a certain mold. Oh you were born here, so you have to act this way, or everyone wears their hair this way, so you've got to do that as well. I think we need to set the trends, not follow them blindly.

I heard a story about a young man that went to get a hair cut, and the barber by accident cut a large strip of hair out of the side of his head, leaving his scalp bare and showing. There was nothing that could be done short of shaving his head and the boy wouldn't have that and just decided to take the ribbing at school from his friends and let his hair grow back out. The next day at school there wasn't much said about his hair, and life for him went on as usual. A few days later, he started to notice that many of the boys in his school were now sporting the same haircut as him, as people thought it was a new style and began to copy it.

Now while that is funny, it also shows how insecure people are, those other boys went and had their hair cut in what the first boy thought was a horrible way just because they wanted to be cool and thought that it was a new trend in haircuts. People have been falling victim to peer pressure for eons, and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. And if you are an adult reading this and you are thinking well those kids these days, peer pressure isn't just for kids, it happens with adults as well.

How about at work, do you follow the crowd or are you your own person? Do you coast along doing just enough to get noticed by the boss, but not as to appear to be brown nosing? Are you doing the absolute best job for your employer, or do you stay with the pack? I heard a minister the other day say that when he was in high school playing football, that one day the players were all running and he was out ahead of the pack, when one of his teammates yelled for him to slow up and run with the rest, that he was making them look bad. That's funny that this guy thought the one giving his all was making them look bad, when in actuality the guys that weren't giving their all were making themselves look bad.

Having a good opinion of yourself is not a bad thing, and doing the best that you can actually do in a job, on a team or at school doesn't make you a loser, it shows that you are who you are supposed to be, and doing what God expects from each and every one of us, to be originals. Don't worry about the pack that is behind you, get out in front and be the leader that you are called to be. Just don't worry about what others think of you, they really aren't going to help you, just hinder you and that's for sure. So just like the song says, "Cause I believed them when they said I must do things their way, they tried to cast me in their mold, but I just had to say, that I'm O.K. I'm O.K. this way yes I'm O.K." I've embedded a YouTube video of the song below if you've never heard it. Funny how something that I listened to 30 years ago can be applied to my life today...strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

What Are You Looking Forward To?

2011-10-14T08:13:00.005-05:00

Proverbs 13:12 (AMP) says,"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life."

My question to you then is this, what are you looking forward to? Are you even looking forward to anything? I know that after the death of my youngest son, we as a family had to make ourselves look forward to things on a daily basis. We made the decision to go on a family cruise as our Christmas present to ourselves, and with the passing of each day prior to the cruise we would say to each other, "We're one day closer to our cruise!" We had an expectation that helped us to cope with the loss of Noah.

Well, it's been nine months since that cruise, and I was asking myself today, "What are we looking forward to now?" We have had changes come to our lives in the past several months, with me out looking for a job and Cheryl working full time in the work place. (She has always worked full time, it was just in the home and now is at the shoe store.) It seems as if we have just fallen back into that surviving mode which happens with major life changes. You don't really try and make as much forward progress as you might have once done, and life just becomes hard.

That's what I think this Scripture is saying, if you defer your hope, life will get tough. It is easier for me to pull back, not engage the world and just want to stay home with my family instead of pressing forward and living the John 10:10 life which Jesus promised me. Life is going to be hard, there are always going to be things that we don't like or challenges in our lives that we never thought we would face, but if we let our hope get deferred, who's fault is that? I think it rests squarely on our shoulders, and no one else's.

The definition of the word deferred is: Put off (an action or event) to a later time; postpone. Life is about choices, I think that we can all readily agree on that. And if life is about the choices that we make, then we must make the best possible choices on a daily basis. And choosing to look to something in the future, and not putting it off or postponing it will do wonders for our souls I think.

Well hopefully this has given you something to think about, strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Old,Me? Maybe, Just Not Numerically

2011-10-10T09:04:00.006-05:00

This morning I woke early in my Comfort Suites hotel room in Gallup, New Mexico to frost on the ground, coffee in the lobby and a the knowledge that I may need help to really be considered a man. As my friend Terry and I ate breakfast we overheard a couple of older fellas comparing notes about their lives. One of them was a World War II navy veteran, and was a very cordial and engaging man, the kind that you want to sit and listen to him talk and tell stories for hours on end.

As we listened, we realized that he had taken a cross country trip on a motorcycle, somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000 miles. The interesting thing is that he is in his mid eighties, and really pretty spry. As we were sitting in the lobby, swigging coffee and perusing the internet we saw him and the man he was talking with both leave the hotel and get on their motorcycles. The second guy walked out of the hotel using a walker too.

Okay, at this point both Terry and I decided that we would have to up our game or we were going to lose our man cards. We were both gimping around the lobby acting like we were twice our actual age, and these older guys were acting half theirs. It was definitely a wake up call for me, I'm not sure what to do with this information, or where to even start. These two seemed to be really living life, that's not to say that I'm not, it was just weird to see older guys living what to seems a pretty full life.

It makes me think of where I'm going to be in forty years, will I still be gimping around or will I have made it to the level of living that full life that Jesus talks about in John 10:10? I think I better get on with making it the second. I probably need to spend more time on the people I meet and not so much on talking about me. Well here I am again, realizing that I need to work on my love walk, to be more like Jesus. Here we go Lord, let's change my heart and become more of what You desire me to be.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

How'd You Like To Be Job?

2011-10-05T07:11:00.006-05:00

I don't know why the book of Job fascinates me so much. Maybe it's because so many people are quick to put God and the devil playing a chess match with Job in the middle. I think this one passage of Scripture has been so misquoted and it aggravates me that God gets blamed in this way. Let's look at it for a minute.

Job 1:21, "And Job said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

This passage of Scripture gets quoted a lot at funerals, and while it has the appearance of being Godly, I really think it has been used by the enemy to confuse and bother people more than anything else. It's plain to see from the passages before this, (Job 1:12 -19) that it wasn't the Lord that had taken from Job, it was the devil. Job in his limited understanding of what was happening determined that it must have been the Lord, even though it wasn't.

Deception. That is the enemy's number one tool. He works to deceive us every chance he gets. If he can get us to thinking that God is the one doing things, or we have through some lack of effort on our part caused the calamity to happen, then he has won a small victory. He loves to take himself out of the equation when bad things happen, then sit back and watch us scramble around trying to affix the blame to someone other than where it belongs.

Notice the earlier passages (verses 13 -19) when the messengers start to come in. The first one arrives and tells how all of Job's oxen and donkeys were taken and his servants killed. While this guy is telling Job what has happened, the second messenger arrives and tells how all the sheep and servants were killed by fire from the sky. Before he can finish, a third messenger shows up and tells Job that all his camels are gone and the servants killed.

But the worst news came when the last servant arrived and told Job that a mighty wind came out of the desert and destroyed his oldest son's house killing all ten of his children. It is at this point that Job makes the statement found in verse 21. Now I've had some bad days, but I think that we can all agree that Job probably has had the worst day of anyone ever. He lost everything in the course of a few minutes time.

On a side note, did you notice that it was fire from the sky (lightning I'd imagine) and a mighty wind (a tornado) came in from the desert to destroy his son's home? Those sound an awful lot like what insurance companies call "acts of God" to me, does it to you? And if it was the devil that caused the calamity in Job's life, then shouldn't those actually be called "acts of the devil"?

The thing that I want you to see here today is found in verse 22, "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing." Even though Job said that the Lord takes away, that was not considered in God's mind, charging Him with wrong doing. It says that Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing. What does that say about us when we do? If we say that some catastrophe in our life is caused by God, then according to this Scripture we are in sin.

I know that I have foolishly charged God with things in my past, but since learning who is behind things, I have corrected that in my life. How about you, have you ever charged God with something that should have been attributed to the devil? If your answer is yes, then you should probably hop on over to 1 John 1:9 and confess your sin to Him and receive the forgiveness that is yours in Christ. You'll be glad you did.

Okay to wrap this up, there is no cosmic chess game going on, the devil is not on equal footing with God. So in the future if bad things happen understand that it isn't God that is doing them, so place the blame square on the devil's shoulders and keep moving forward with God. I like to say it like this, God is good, and the devil is bad. That pretty much covers it in my life. If something good happens, then it is from God, and if something bad happens it is from the devil.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Life, Is This All There Is?

2011-10-02T07:08:00.004-05:00

Now I must admit that I do not understand this obsession that the world has with zombies. There are movies about them, video games where you can shoot them, and I even saw a computer commercial the other day, where the CEO of the company has a vision of what could happen to the world if they left out one part in their latest computer. I mean really? Using zombies to sell merchandise, who would have ever thought it?

I've been thinking for a while now about Jesus and how He lived while on this planet. I see in Scripture that He went from one thing to the next, and there always seemed to be excitement surrounding Him, and you could say that He lived a very full life, and that would not be an exaggeration. Jesus even said in John 10:10 that He had come to bring us life, and life to the full. So in looking at my life, I have to ask the question, "Is this all there is?"

I'm not complaining here mind you, but I am beginning to wonder what has happened to me that my life has become more about complacency than living a full and satisfying life. It seems that in my heart I long for this full life that Jesus talked about, but in reality I'm just looking for a way to have more comfort and free time. Is life about working hard every day and falling into bed at night exhausted just to get up the next day and do it all over again?

I'm not opposed to hard work, after all if we don't work then we don't eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10) It just seems that life is geared towards doing work, trying to make room for a little comfort and then going the way of the grave after many, many years of this circular situation. Crap! I hope that's not the case! Jesus came to bring us a full life, not just an existence. Yet what I see mostly in Christians is this cycle of life.

Which brings me back to my first paragraph about zombies. I think what we have are a bunch of Christian zombies, people who are not fully alive, just existing and waiting until they can reach Heaven. I could even lay claim to this title, and that my friend does not set well with me. I realized this yesterday as I was listening to the Mercy Me album "All That Is Within Me". The song is called "Goodbye Ordinary" and you can watch a YouTube video of it below:

I listened to this song somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty times yesterday. It convicted me, in that I realized that I have been living an ordinary life. Something that I must change today, I can't wait, it has to happen today. Won't you join me in breaking free of an ordinary life? I don't know about you, but I want my life to mean something. I want to live a life that is to be followed, not one that is to be regretted. Jesus said, "The works that I do, you will do also, and even greater works than these." (John 14:12) That's what I want to do, the works of Jesus.

Father, I ask that You lead, guide and direct me by Your Spirit in living a life that is anything but ordinary. Show me how to be Your hands and feet, and to show the love that You have shown to me to those that are hurting. Help me to live my life to full, just as You promised in Your Word. In Jesus Name.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

I Talk To Myself, And I'm Not Crazy

2011-09-26T22:50:00.002-05:00

Talking to yourself has gotten a bad wrap I think. If I stand around out in public and talk to myself, it won't be long until somebody is going to think that I am mentally unstable. Yet, we are actually encouraged in Scripture to talk to ourselves, and by doing so it starts the process of renewing our minds to the truth of God's Word.

In Joshua chapter one, God is encouraging the new leader of the Israelite nation to be strong and of good courage. He tells Joshua to meditate on the laws of God (God's Word), and then his way would prosper and he would have good success. Another word for meditate is to mutter. To say over and over again what God's Word says about you.

Now let me bring this over into today's way of life. There is plenty of ugly stuff out there to make you think that you can never make it in this life. But that doesn't change the fact that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He also said, "I am the Lord and I change not." (Malachi 3:6) We can take Him at His Word, that whatever He did for Joshua, He will do for us. The really cool thing is that we have a better covenant than Joshua had.

We are living in a time that is the most exciting time in history, and we can and do have what we say. So let me ask you this, what are you saying when you talk to yourself? And believe me, we all talk to ourselves. What did you call yourself the last time you did something wrong? Did the words, "idiot", "moron", "stupid", or some other word that is similar to those? We are programmed to say the wrong things to ourselves, it's the way of this world. Don't believe me? Watch the news for a few minutes and see if you don't hear more negative news than positive.

The most important things said about us, come from us. Remember the story about David and his men in the Bible? They had gone out to fight, and came back to find that all of their families, animals and stuff had been taken by some bad guys. It was so bad that these mighty, warriors all sat down in the dirt and began to cry. Things got real ugly when they began to talk about killing David. So what did David do? Scripture states that David encouraged himself in the Lord.

How'd he do that? He began to rehearse all of the good things that God had done for him up to this point. Once he was able to get his emotions under control, he then asked the Lord if he should chase after the bad guys to get all their families, animals and stuff back. The Lord told him to go and do it, and they did and got everything back.

Did you notice that David was in no place to hear from God until he encouraged himself (Began to talk to himself) in the Lord? I think that is where I miss it a lot of times, I talk about what is going on, but forget to talk to myself and get back on course with the Lord. Maybe I should do that more often, hmm, I think I will. How about you? Are you going to begin to talk to yourself in the right way now?

Strength and honor!

Your Heart Is Free

2011-09-26T07:43:00.008-05:00

Yesterday after church, my bride and I came home, fixed lunch and then did what we usually do on a Sunday afternoon, we rested. As I waited for lunch to finish cooking, I was flipping through the channels to see what show I would watch during my nap. This weekend was a free Showtime weekend on Direct TV, so I was looking to see if there were any movies I may not have seen yet that were showing. What I found was "Braveheart". Now I own the director's version of this movie and have watched it more times than I can actually remember, but if I'm not doing anything important and it is on, I'll always stop and watch it.

There was a line in the movie that caught my attention this time watching it, and it really struck a chord with me. Young William's father and brother have been killed by the English, and he is dreaming about his dad. They are laying side by side in his dream when his father turns his head to look at William and says, "Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it." Here is rough video of the scene:

As I pondered the words of William's father, I couldn't help but think about my life as a Christian. That is after all the whole reason that Jesus came, to free us. Look at this passage in Galatians 5:1 AMP "In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery[which you have once put off]."

Here's the deal, Jesus purchased our freedom with His death, burial and resurrection. Why then, do we not live free? And I'm not talking just about living lives that are entangled with sin so much as just the fact that we sometimes don't enjoy the freedom that Jesus has given us. It's like prisoners of war, even after the fact that they have been freed, sometimes they don't really know what to do with that freedom. For obvious reasons they are a little bit skiddish about what to do once they have been liberated.

I think we as Christians do that too. We live almost in fear sometimes that we are going to do something wrong, or embarrass ourselves so we hold back. All the while the Father is watching us, maybe even inspiring us to let loose a little, but because of fear we never really act out what perhaps deep in our hearts we really want to do.

If our hearts are truly free, and we were to live like it, what would that look like exactly? I think it would be that our days would be full, and vibrant with a life people would envy. We are told to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. (1 Peter 3:15) How many times has that happened to you? I mean do you live in a such a way that people look at you and wonder about why you are as alive as you are? If our hearts are truly free in the way that Jesus wants them to be, then people will wonder about it, and ask you.

So, if we are not being asked about the hope that is within us, it makes me wonder if we are truly living free? I think we need to reevaluate what we are doing as Christians, don't you? After all, as Christians we are the ones who have the answer to life's challenges, and His name is Jesus. So let's get out there and live as if our hearts really are as free as Jesus made them.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

If Only I Could Go Back And Change This

2011-09-20T07:03:00.019-05:00

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you went back in time and changed some of the things you did that weren't the best decisions in your life? You know, the old "hindsight is 20/20" thing can be somewhat appealing when the notion of changing your past to give you a better future is involved. This is something we've seen in movies and television shows which causes us to figure this could be a good thing, regardless of whatever effect it would have on the space/time continuum.

I used to think that going back to high school knowing what I know as an adult would be a good thing. I'd do things differently, make a better effort to learn things and be nicer to the people that I maybe wasn't as nice to as I should have been. But this morning as this thought crossed my mind, I began to think about where I am as an adult, and truthfully I wouldn't be where I am if some of those things in my past were taken away and replaced with other options.

Yeah, I wish I would have been nicer to some of the kids in my school. Not that I was a bully or anything, at least not in my eyes, but what they actually saw in me could have said otherwise. I wish that I had not been bullied, or at least would have stood up to a few of those who picked on me instead of cowering down in fear.

I remember one time in like the 5th grade that my friend Terry and I decided to bring our G.I. Joes to school to play with during recess. Man, how I would like to go back and change that. We were harassed endlessly for days for playing with Barbie dolls, it didn't matter how many weapons our soldiers had. And it was about that time that I lost interest in them, and a part of my childhood died that day.

How many things did you give up as a child due to bullying or the attitudes of your peers concerning those items that you loved? This may be one of the reasons that I have always told my children not to care what anyone thinks of them except Jesus. And there in is the crux of what I'm trying to say. You see, if I had not taken my G.I. Joes to school with me, and been ridiculed for playing with them, would I have been as adamant with my children about not caring what others think of them?

So you could say in a round about way that what I learned in my childhood, even as discomforting as it was for me then, has helped my kids become better people today. So if I were to go back and change that day in my history, what kind of kids would my kids have become? I think that sometimes we romanticize our past, and wish to change it for the sake of making our lives back then easier, when in reality we would be destroying part of who we are today. After all it is those things which happened to us in our past that has helped to make us who we are.

There has been much change in my life lately, and I guess I've been doing a little bit of reevaluating because of it. And since I've always said, "If I could only go back and change this, I would be so much better off." this morning I've come to realize that those things in my past are important. They are important because I would not be the man I am today without them. So yes, while there were some hurtful things back then, changing them would change the outcome of who I am, and truthfully looking at who I am right now, makes me appreciate in a different light who I was back then.

Don't let your past hinder you in your future. Also, don't wear the things that happened to you in your past like a badge of honor, instead let's do like the Apostle Paul instructed us, and forget those things which are behind us, and let's press on towards the mark of the prize which is in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Trusting Him Especially Now

2011-09-07T07:49:00.003-05:00

You know since I have started this journey of not having a job to go to each day, I can honestly say it has been very interesting. I seem to be way more observant of what we have in the bank, pantry and my soul. We have cut back on our spending, only doing what is absolutely necessary of course. I'm not gorging myself like I used to either, not living in lack, but thinking more frugally for a change.

The biggest thing for me however, is to be aware of my soul and what I am believing. First off, understand that when I use the term soul, I'm talking about my mind, will and emotions, not my spirit man. My spirit man is the part of me that is made in the image of God, is born again and filled with God's Spirit. My soul, is the part of me that reasons, feels emotionally and retains information.

What I'm finding is that all of that time I have spent over the last several years putting God's Word into my heart is paying off. When situations arise that I don't know what to do, God's Word comes up out of my spirit and I begin to quote it to myself and the circumstances change. Let me give you an example of my day yesterday, and how this looked in my life.

I was going to go to Broken Arrow to help some guys mow a lady's yard. She goes to church with us, and doesn't have any yard equipment, so we were going to help her out. As I was heading in that direction, I first needed to stop by the shoe store and get the store's deposit so I could take it to the bank for my bride. As I was walking across the parking lot to the store, I heard something and looked back at my truck only to find radiator fluid flowing out of my truck onto the pavement. So, instead of driving the truck, I took the van.

Now as I was gassing up the van, I thanked God for His provision. This is something new for me, as I've not always done that before. Now I thank Him for providing gas for my vehicles each time I fill up and check the oil. I got to Broken Arrow, mowed the lady's yard and headed back to Sapulpa to pick up my daughter and take her to work. About half way back, the check engine light started flashing and the motor starting acting funny. Talk about coincidence! Two vehicles in less than three hours, what the heck?

I was reminded in my spirit of that Scripture that says that God is our very present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) I immediately reminded the Lord of His Word and followed that up by saying, "Lord, help! I'm in trouble!" So I made it home, waited for my son to arrive, took the car he's been borrowing (he blew the motor in his car a couple of weeks ago) and took Sissy to work. When I got back to the shoe store I checked on my truck and found out after talking with a friend that it looks like my water pump may have gone out, the leaking was due to something called a "weeping valve" or something like that. (actually that was good news for me, that's an easy fix with some of my friends of course)

It seems with all that has gone on in my life the past few weeks, my faith has been tried more than ever before. Maybe because I have not really had to trust in my God like I am having to do now. Proverbs 3:5 - 6 has become my life Scripture; "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will show you which path to take." Thank You Jesus, for helping me and my family learn how to stay closer to Your heart and experience this full life You promised us! (John 10:10)

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

And So It Begins...

2011-09-03T07:00:00.007-05:00

DC Talk put out a song a few years back called Nu Thang, and the opening lyrics go like this:

"Ya know He's doin' it,

God is doin' a nu thang."

Well I'd like to say that there is something new going on with the Felts family. And yes, I do believe that God is in it.

One of the things that I love most about the Bible is the stories that God tells us. Really, there is a just about any type of story you might want in there; from romance to action to horror. God loves a good dramatic story too. Look at the story of the three Hebrew children for instance. God didn't rescue them, until they were thrown into the flames. What about Moses? He leads the people out of Egypt only to be pursued by Pharaoh and his army. And it is not until their backs are up against the wall that He tells Moses to raise his staff so they could pass through the Red Sea. I mean, He could have had angels wipe the army out, He didn't have to make the people wait like that did He?

God isn't cruel, and He doesn't like to see mankind suffer, or just play games with us, no He likes to show off! I'm convinced of that the more I read through the Bible, and live on this planet. After all He's God, He could have smote all of the Egyptians and just let His people leave any time that they wanted to, but instead He chose to send Moses, and let the story play out that way.

The Bible was given to us to be an inspiration and instruction manual. Like the acronym says:

B. asic

I. nstructions

B. efore

L. eaving

E. arth

That is what the Bible can be, to those who will receive it. The instruction manual which helps you to know the who's, what's when's, where's and why's of this life. But unlike what most of us would prefer, the Bible/God does not give a step by step, play by play, this is exactly how things are going to go way of following Him. Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) God wants us to trust Him, and to do that we have to live by faith. And faith doesn't work if you have all of the answers, all of the time.

And so that brings me to the announcement that I want to make this morning. Faith and trusting God. Something that the Felts family is now going to get to live out in a much bigger way than we ever have before. And it is exciting, and a little bit scary at the same time. You see, after today I will no longer be Dave the shoe-guy. After 19 years as Sapulpa's shoe-guy, the decision has been made that I must step down from the store and pursue other employment.

With the effects of the present economy, and new retail shoe locations popping up all around our area, business has been off for the past couple of years. As we looked at the numbers from the beginning of this year, our losses have just about equaled my salary. The decision was made that if my salary was taken out of the business, then it should begin to at least break even. And as I'm sure you are aware, a business that is losing money cannot stay in business. (Despite what our government thinks.)

So as of 6 PM today, you will not find me at Felts Shoes in Sapulpa. (Unless I happen to be there to take lunch to my bride. She is staying on to help out for the time being.) But before you think that this is a bad thing, I am excited about the opportunities that lie before me and my family. Yes, it might be tight financially for a time, but it is also a great time for God to show up in our lives and save the day, so to speak.

For many, many years now I have counseled men to not just take a job to make money, but to go out and find what it is that makes their hearts come alive and then to go out and do that. Because what this world really needs is men who have come alive. And if you find that work which God has for you to do, then it really isn't work at all. And what I have seen in the lives of those who have done this, is that the money follows them. Okay, and for those of you who think that I'm going to sit around and wait for God to bring it to me, that is not how He works, so I will be looking for gainful employment to provide for my family, my focus is just not going to be just about a paycheck.

God's Word is true. God is a faithful God. Me, and my family are right in the center of His will. And while I know that, this does not mean that we haven't had to reevaluate some things, and ask Him if in fact this was caused by sin in our lives, or an attack of the enemy. Cheryl and I feel as if we may have missed God a few years back and should have left the store then, we've asked the Lord to forgive us for not listening closer and following His leading back then, but you know when you have the security of a paycheck, it can be distracting to the leading of the Holy Ghost. It shouldn't be, but it was in our case.

The really amazing thing is that God is a redeemer and a forgiver. And I believe that at 47 years of age, my best days are ahead of me. I told Cheryl one night not too long ago, that I wanted the last half of my life to be better, and for me to do more for the Kingdom of God than the first half of my life. And I believe that with God's help, it will be! So be on the lookout for a new man after today, God is amazing, and it is my honor to get to serve Him and learn a nu thang for sure!

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Oh, and if you haven't pre-ordered my latest book, "God's First Knight: In Service Of The King" click the link at the top right hand corner of this page and get your copy pre-ordered today.

People Need Jesus, Not A Jackass

2011-09-02T18:22:00.002-05:00

In John 13:34 - 35 Jesus said, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples - when they see the love you have for each other." The Greek word that Jesus used for love is the word "agapao" which means, "to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly".

Today's blog may be a little too much for some people, but I know that I need to hear this, and if I need to, others do too. In my life, the love walk is probably the hardest thing that I have ever had to do. I can dismiss a person in a matter of seconds, without even really thinking about it. That's sad to admit, especially when the whole reason that Jesus came and took that beating and died on the cross was because of love. He loved us so that we could love others.

So since I realize that I have a hard time with this, what is at the heart of me not wanting to love others? Being a jackass. You heard me correctly, the reason that I don't love is because I am a jackass. Okay, here is the definition I found of the word jackass: A foolish or stupid person; a blockhead. Now I understand the power of confession, and saying the right things, but if I don't do what Jesus says, that is foolish and stupid. That is me being a blockhead.

I think selfishness is at the heart of the whole thing. Love is hard, it takes something to give of yourself to others and not look for anything in return. If there is any hint of selfishness, then you won't be able to give love, it will stop up the flow of God in your life. And this is the really stupid thing, I know better, and I bet you do too.

Sometimes for me, I just allow myself to get distracted by the cares of this life. We all have things that we have to do, that is part of this life. But what we must not do is let those little things come in and cause us to miss out on the opportunity to give love to someone who may be in a place of great need in their lives. Remember, some people are really good poker players. They may be looking like they've got it all together on the outside, but on the inside there could be a tremendous storm raging.

What I need to do is let the love of Jesus shine through me, and be Jesus to the people that I come into contact with, instead of thinking of myself and acting like a jackass. If you would like to do the same thing, then pray this prayer with me. Father, I ask You now according to 1 John 1:9 to forgive me for withholding love to those around me. Holy Spirit, I ask You to remind me when I see others to let the light of Jesus shine through me, and not show my own selfish ways. In Jesus Name, Amen.

So let's be Jesus and not jackasses! Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

What Is Faith Really?

2011-08-28T06:49:00.002-05:00

Hebrews 11:1 NIV says, "Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for, and the assurance of what we do not see." In the Amplified it says, "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

If you have ever wondered about faith, then you are in good company. I wonder about faith all the time. Am I standing in faith, acting in faith or even truly in faith. Hebrews goes on to say that if we don't have faith, it is impossible for us to even please God. And that is because we have to believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who "diligently" seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) Faith is probably one of the most important things that we will ever learn about. Because I want to please my Father, and it takes faith to do that.

Let's take Hebrews 11:1 apart a little bit and investigate it closer. Look at how it starts out, "Now faith is..." from this it would appear that faith is a right now thing, not a going to be thing. For us to truly be in faith, then it has to be something that is present with us, not something that we will wait to have. It is a present thing, not a future one.

So faith is a now thing, and it also says that it is the confidence of what we hope for. Faith is the confidence of what we hope for. The amplified calls it the "title deed" of the things that we hope for. The definition of the word hope is: the feeling that what is wanted can be had. So we could also say that faith is the feeling that what I want can be had. So faith tells me that what I hope for can be had.

It goes on to say that faith is the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Look at that last sentence, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. You know, the five senses; hearing, sight, touch, taste and feel. So regardless of what these five senses tell us, faith is the proof that we have what we've hoped for already.

So what I'm gathering this morning from this, is first off I have to be hoping for something. So many people are waiting on God to show up and bring changes to their lives, or bless them with things, when they actually have no hope or expectation for anything in the first place. A lot of times people are like this because they think they are being spiritual. "Well brother, you know if God wants me to have something, He'll give it to me." Why? Why will God give you something? From what I've seen here, in order for us to really be "in faith" we have to have hope for something. I love how it doesn't say, faith is the confidence of what "spiritual" things we hope for either, that tells me that faith will work in every area of our lives.

So we see that faith is a now thing, it is what we are hoping for (so we have to start hoping for things) and it is the title deed to those things. Now I know that some people are going to have a problem with the "things" portion of this blog. When I'm talking about things, I mean everything that you can imagine. There is one catch to this however, and that is that whatever you are using your faith for must be according to God's Word.

So find a promise in God's Word for you, and apply your faith to it, believe that you have it now, and thank God for it daily until it shows up. I remember a minister saying one time that faith is like calling for your dog. You walk out on the front porch and begin to holler for Fido saying, "Here Fido, here Fido!" Even though Fido is not on the porch, you're calling for him to get on the porch. You expect that when you call Fido, he'll come a running. If you didn't believe that, you wouldn't be out there in the first place. Well faith is just like that, you are expecting that those things that you are hoping for are going to show up when you call.

So let's get out there and please our Heavenly Father, by operating in faith today. The really cool thing is that He wants to bless us even more than we want to be blessed, and He has given us the avenue by which He can bless us. Thank You Jesus!

Why Don't We Ask God?

2011-08-23T17:57:00.006-05:00

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that when problems show up in my life, the first thing I do is to begin thinking of solutions to them. Now this is typical I think of most people, and it was the instruction that God gave to Adam in the Garden, “Take care of it.” (Dave’s paraphrase.) But how often do I run off fixing things, only after the fact realizing that I never once included God in on the process?

I do believe that as Christians we are called to be problem solvers, but as I look at Proverbs 3:5 – 6 I see that I am supposed to trust in the Lord with “ALL” my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge Him in all my ways and then He will direct my paths. That does not look to me like we should rush off to fix things until we've first consulted the Lord. This is something that I know I have been negligent about, and that concerns me greatly.

Trust in the Lord with all my heart. What exactly does that mean, to trust with all of your heart? Well first off to trust with all your heart is a spiritual thing, and not a mental one. Scripture doesn’t tell us to trust in the Lord with all of our reasoning; it says to trust with all our heart. The heart is the most central part of who we are, and don’t forget Scripture also states that out of it (The heart.) flow ALL the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

The first thing to do so you can trust the Lord with all of your heart is to get your mind out of the way. Now I don’t mean to empty your mind like a lot of Eastern religions encourage, no that can lead to you being led by the enemy, what I’m talking about is putting your reasoning aside so that your heart (Which is the core part of who you are.) can do what it does, believe what God’s Word says.

Scripture tells us that in order to appropriate any of the things that God has for us, we have to first believe, second confess what we believe and then we’ll see the manifestation of it. (Romans 10:9 – 10 / Mark 11:23 – 24) This is how everything works in the Kingdom of God, and if we expect that we will see any of the promises of God come in any other way, then we are going to be disappointed in life.

God tells us that we have not, because we ask not. (James 4:2b) Basically that means that if we don’t ask, God can't work on our behalf. I know what you are thinking though, He’s God, and He can do anything that He wants to do. That’s not exactly true. He cannot do anything on planet Earth unless we ask Him. Once we’ve asked Him according to His Word, and this is the essential part here, He will move Heaven and Earth to see to it that we have what we’ve asked for. But don’t think if you just ask anything it will be answered, it has to be according to His Word and you have to ask in faith. Remember, He said that He watches over His Word to perform it, not our wishes.

If God was moved because we had needs in our lives, then there would never be any needs in the world. God is not moved because you or I have a need, He is moved by faith. We have to operate in faith in order for God to move on our behalf. This is not because He is unjust, mean or wants to teach us a lesson. It is a legal situation, plain and simple. If we never ask, He will never answer. My friend Joe McGee says it this way, “You stare at God, and He’ll stare right back at you. But if you draw near to Him, He’ll draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

It’s all in our perception of things. What are we looking at, what are we seeing? If our heart is the central thing, and we are instructed to trust God with our whole heart, then perhaps we aren’t seeing things correctly when we look through the eyes of reason. After all the realm of reason is where the enemy lurks. We are instructed to take every thought captive, (2 Corinthians 10:5) thoughts happen in your own understanding. Remember God speaks to us through our hearts, not our heads.

So when things show up in your life, instead of just rushing off to figure out the solutions, let's take a few minutes, bow our heads and talk to the Father of all creation and get His idea for how to handle things. This is something that I am getting to learn daily right now, and while it at times seems overwhelming to me, I know that God has my best interest at heart, as long as I take the time to find out what that is.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

How Sharp Are You?

2011-08-18T08:36:00.005-05:00

Hebrews 6:11 - 12 "Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent."

There is one thing that God thinks is more important than anything else, besides loving Him with all your heart, and that is to love your fellow man. Paul states it in this passage that we are to keep on loving others as long as life lasts. Well seeing that we are spiritual beings, that is a very long time huh?

The thing that I found interesting in this passage today however, was that while he is admonishing us to keep on loving others, he explains that if we will do that, then we won't becoming spiritually dull and indifferent. Spiritually dull? I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like the thing that I want to be known for.

If we stop loving people, then we are in danger of becoming spiritually dull and indifferent to the things of God. This is a dangerous place to be because once you become dull to something, it ceases to amaze and stir your heart. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get to the place in my life where I am not amazed at the things of God anymore.

So what I saw here this morning is that if I want to stay sharp spiritually, I'm going to have to continue loving others as long as my life lasts. It's like loving people is the wet stone to sharpen your spirit, and keep it from getting dull.

Let's keep loving people, and never stop so that we can stay spiritually sharp towards the things of God and not grow dull and indifferent, what's say?

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Do I Believe, Really?

2011-08-16T07:04:00.006-05:00

In the past couple of weeks I have found myself in a position to ask this question of myself. Do I believe, really? Not that Jesus is my Lord, that question was answered nearly twenty-five years ago, and has no need to be questioned at this point in my life. No, what I'm talking about is do I believe what I've been telling people for years?

I think we all come to a point in life where we are faced with situations that call for us to reevaluate what we are believing. To ask that all important question, "Do I really believe what God's Word says is true?" Now understand me, I'm not doubting God at all, but some times we can find ourselves in a comfortable place with God, and just be coasting in our walk with Him. We're not in sin, but we're also not in a truly active pursuit of Him either.

I was talking with a friend recently, and I made the comment that I felt as if I was full of crap. He asked me why I felt that way, and my response was that I have been for years helping men to realize their potential in Christ, and now I am in a position to have to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk myself in a greater way. He quickly told me that I wasn't full of crap. And I actually know that, it was the enemy trying to get me down on myself. (Something that he is really good at too.)

While I might not like being in the position that I am in right now, it is a good thing for all of us to rethink why we believe what we believe from time to time. If nothing else, it helps us to stop coasting and to get a little bit more real with God, and that is never a bad thing I think. So ask yourself, what do I believe, really? And why do I believe that? Then make any corrections that you need to, and see what more the Lord has for you. That's what I'm doing!

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

God's Got Your Back

2011-08-07T07:52:00.005-05:00

I was reading in the book of Esther this morning about how Haman decides that he has got to kill Mordecai the Jew. He builds a gallows in the front yard of his home to hang him on. Okay, can I say that if one of my neighbors builds a weapon to kill people on their front lawn, I might have to scratch my head and wonder about that.

So the king decides that he is going to bless Mordecai because he had foiled a plot to kill the king earlier, and it just so happens that Haman is in the court coming to see Xerxes about having Mordecai hung on the gallows, when the king calls for Haman and asks his opinion on how the king should bless "the one who has the king's favor".

Haman, full of himself, obviously thinks that the king is talking about him, so he devises an elaborate plan to show off how much the king admires this man that he wants to bless. It's hilarious, Haman says, dress the man in the king's robes, put him on the king's horse and have one of the nobles lead this man throughout the entire city proclaiming how much the king favors him.

Can you imagine the look on Haman's face, when the king tells him that he has come up with an excellent plan, now go and do what you have devised for Mordecai the Jew? Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Makes me laugh just to think about it. Of course you know that Mordecai knew that Haman hated him, so I've got to think that while he was being paraded around with Haman saying such nice things about him, he had to have seen the irony.

I think of a couple of Scriptures here, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper." and "Pride goes before a fall." Do you think Mordecai was thinking of these as he was lead around by Haman? What about Mordecai? Do you think he was thinking that he was about to be honored when Haman came and got him from the king's gate? He knew that Haman was the man who had tricked the king into decreeing that the Jews were to be destroyed in the coming days.

I love how God shows up for Mordecai in this story, probably when he least expected it I'm sure. I know that seems to be how it is in my life, God has always showed up for me and my family, it just hasn't always been at the outset of whatever challenge we've found ourselves in, but towards the end. God's not vicious or mean to us, I think that He likes the dramatic rescue. I mean after all don't we like it when the hero swoops in at the last possible second to save the day? I know that I do, and if we like that then surely God does too huh?

Life on this planet is interesting and exciting if we will stop long enough to realize that even though to us it may look like our world is ending God is there with us every step of the way, and He has got our backs no matter what. I'm reminded of one more Scripture that says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you, so that you may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do to me." (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Strength and honor!

Are You Watching Life, Or Participating?

2011-08-05T08:02:00.013-05:00

Has this ever happened to you as you watched a movie or television show? You're sitting there enjoying the entertainment, when you see the main character about to get into trouble and getting caught up in the moment you start to holler at the screen for the character to watch out?

We've all done that I'm sure. Why do we do that exactly? It's because we can see what is about to happen to the people in those stories we're watching. We can see the man with the gun hiding behind the door, where the hero of the story can't. It's part of what makes story telling good, but it also makes us a spectator to those people's lives.

Wouldn't it be nice to know what was about to happen next in any given moment? I mean to have clarity in knowing that the decisions that you are making right now are the correct ones. What a wonderful gift that would be huh? Absolutely not! I mean part of me does wish for that, but if we knew everything all the time how boring would our lives become? It would be like eating the same meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day for your entire life. Yes it would nourish your body, but don't you think you would begin to detest meal times? I know that I would.

This life we are living is called by the Apostle Paul a race. But it is not a sprint, no it is more like a marathon, one that we run at a constant pace until we win. In Hebrews chapter eleven he talks

about the great cloud of witnesses that we have set as an example of what our race should look like. These heroes of faith are there to spur us on to continue our race no matter what. Paul says in Hebrews chapter twelve, verse two that we should fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.

There's a couple of thoughts here, first off the great cloud of witnesses were all men and women of faith that were before Jesus completed the thing that God had for us all. So therefore these people are our examples of how to have faith in God, even though we are partakers of the better covenant.

The second thing is that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. I heard a minister speaking this year and he talked about how he was a track runner in high school. He told us the story about one of his meets, where he was way out in front of everyone else. He recalled that he could not hear the sound of anyone else's feet around him, so he turned his head to see how far ahead of everyone he was, and lost the race by one-tenth of a second.

There was another runner right beside him, and when he took his eyes off of his goal, the finish line, it caused him to slow up in his running just enough that the man beside him took the prize. He went on to say that the coach always told them to never take their eyes off of the goal, but to press on towards the finish line until the race was over. And had he done that on that day, he would have won the race.

If we do not keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we will begin to get distracted from the goal of our race and slow up too. We cannot spend our time looking at what is around us, but must continue to strain forward towards the prize. We must pray, listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, then step out in faith believing that we are making the best and right decisions that we can.

We must press on with that decision until we either win or realize that we missed it. And when we miss it, which we will from time to time, we need to stop, ask God to forgive us for missing it, then pray again, listen for God and then run our race. Life is not about getting it right every time, it is about getting out there and living that full, abundant life that Jesus talked about in John 10:10. Yes, we'll make mistakes, and miss what God is saying from time to time, but if we play it safe all of our lives, we will miss out on things that will make our lives more interesting for sure.

A good friend of mine said to me today, "Do what God is calling you to do, even if you have to do it afraid." Good advice for sure, the unknown can be scary, but even if we are afraid, we know we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us because God is right there with us. So take a chance today, live life fully keeping your eyes on the prize, Jesus.

Doing What Makes Me Come Alive

2011-08-03T08:05:00.008-05:00

If there is one thing that I've learned in the last few years, it is that to truly be happy and content with oneself you have to do what makes you come alive inside. For me, that is helping people to find out some truth that maybe they haven't seen before. And the avenue that I get to do that is through writing.

Writing has always been something that I love to do. To take a thought and craft it in such a way that people can read it and understand a little bit more about you is truly fun for me. I can remember once back in the second grade when my teacher Mrs. Smart asked us to write a short story around if we could be anything, what would that be. I wrote that if I could be anything, I'd be a G.I. Joe.

Now the G.I. Joe I was talking about wasn't the military man version, but the twelve-inch action figures that I used to play with. I had what to a small boy seemed like a bazillion of them, and I could entertain myself in my bedroom for hours setting up daring rescue mission or attacks on the evil enemy soldiers. So it was a no-brainer for me to write that I would want to be a G.I. Joe.

As I recall, I wrote that I would like to be a G.I. Joe because I could be drug around through the mud, made to fight bad guys and cause the little boy that owned me so much fun in his life. That was written 40 some years ago, but I still remember it with fondness, and it shows a little bit of my heart as it was way back then. Something that I am recapturing with each and every blog I write.

Because that is what makes me come alive. And as Howard Thurman said, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." That truly is what we need more of in this world, people who have come alive!

David Encouraged Himself In The Lord

2011-08-02T11:22:00.009-05:00

I find myself in a similar situation to King David in the Bible. Not to bore you with the details, suffice it to say that I find myself in a place that is not very comfortable at all. Now my story is unlike David's in that I have not had my home attacked, and my wife and children carried off by Amalekites. But I do seem to be being pressed on every side right now, and like David and his men, at this point I want to just sit down and cry.

As I thought on my predicament today, these words came up from my heart, "David encouraged himself in the Lord..." I went to the online Bible I use, and looked up the story which is found in 1 Samuel 30:1 - 8. As I read it, this is what I found in it. Let me list it out for you in bullet points:

David realized that there was trouble. (1 Samuel 30:1 - 3)
David wept for his loss. (1 Samuel 30:4)
David came to realize that he was really in serious trouble. (1 Samuel 30:6)
David encouraged himself in the Lord. He put his trust in God. (1 Samuel 30:6b)
David prayed to God, asking His direction. (1 Samuel 30:7 - 8)
God answered David. (1 Samuel 30:8b)

So like David, this morning I realized that there was some trouble, and truthfully I was at a loss for what to do. While tears didn't actually fall from my eyes, they were there. So yes, in a way I actually wept over the trouble I found myself to be in. It wasn't until later in the day that I would come to realize that the trouble I had thought myself to be in earlier was nothing compared to what I now found myself in.

Like David, I have encouraged myself in the Lord a little bit. I've decided that tonight I will do more of that, putting my trust in the Lord above. I will also be asking God for His direction, and according to what I learned in 1 Samuel 30, I will expect that He will answer me just as He did David, because God is no respecter of persons.

Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. And if my life is found in His life, then I too have overcome the world. The enemy likes to make us think that we are about to see the end, and that we will fail. The only thing is, he keeps forgetting that we win. If we are in Christ, then we win.

Today is just another day to prove to the enemy that God still reigns, and that this David can and does encourage himself in the Lord just as my namesake did. And because of that, we both can say, the Lord is my helper, in whom will I be afraid?

Study For Yourself

2011-07-28T08:55:00.002-05:00

We have been encouraged for the last couple of services in my church to be sure and take notes from the messages which have been preached. This is something that years ago I did very well, but have fallen off in the past years. One more of the "little foxes" that has been spoiling my vine I'm sure. Time to fix that, and chase off that fox.

As I was reading in 2 Timothy today I came across this passage in chapter 2 verse 7, take a look at it with me here: "Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things." Paul is encouraging young Timothy to think about the things that he had been instructing him, and that while he was thinking about them, the Lord would help him to understand them.

Do you study the Bible on your own? Have you even thought about doing that? Some people I know think that in order to understand the Bible you have to go to Bible School. Well not according to this passage of Scripture. Paul says if we will think about what has been said, the Lord will help us to understand it.

Taking notes at church is a great thing to do, but an even better thing is to take those notes and go over them later in the day. Begin to think about what was said, because that is when the Lord will help you understand them. I heard Pastor David Emigh say for years that the amount of thought and study you give to the Scripture is the amount of power and virtue that will come back to you. It's the principle of sowing and reaping.

We cannot expect men and women of God to feed us, and that be the only place we will find nourishment. Like a shepherd leads sheep to green pastures to eat, he doesn't get down with the sheep and put the grass in their mouths and force them to chew. No, the shepherd is in charge of getting the sheep to the food, but it is up to them to eat it. Just like that, it is not the Pastor's job to feed us, but to get us to where the food is. (His messages.) It is up to us to follow him there, and then to begin to eat. (Think about what his message says, and let the Lord help us understand these things, then apply them to our lives.)

If you are not taking notes when the Pastor is preaching, and going back over your notes later to let the Holy Spirit begin to talk with you about those things, then maybe you should consider doing so. You may be an anemic sheep, and not even realize it. Let's study to show ourselves approved to God, what's say? Strength and honor!

Don't Discipline Your Kids Just Because You Are Embarrassed

2011-07-27T12:15:00.006-05:00

"Spare the rod, spoil the child." As the old saying goes, but what does that exactly mean? And is it something that we should be doing in today's society? This topic has been so misunderstood, and misused it is not even funny. It's kind of like the old joke I heard about a very devout Christian mother who would wake her children every day by taking a wooden paddle to their backsides as they lay in the bed sleeping. The kids would cry out, "Mom! Why do you spank us every morning?" Her reply was always the same, "Proverbs 22:15 says foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child, and the rod of correction will drive it far from him. I'm driving the foolishness out of you."

Now why that is some what humorous, or disturbing depending on how you were disciplined as a child. This one area has been attacked in our modern era and we are now reaping a harvest of poor citizens because of it. Children can be a handful that much is true. And being in the retail environment, I have seen just about every type of kid you can imagine. And let me say right here and now, there are no bad children. There are children that have never been corrected or trained which causes them to act out a certain way, which most of the time makes people cringe, but the kids themselves are not inherently bad.

What we really have is a parenting problem, not a kid problem. Just today, I had a rather attractive mother with two kids come into my store and begin to shop around to see what they could see. The little boy, about two years old I'd say was getting into all types of stuff, something typical for this age child to do. He reached for a package of shoe laces that are on a little counter I have and almost knocked it over and spilled all the laces onto the ground. Notice I said, "almost".

What happened next is why I decided to write this blog. Her voice rose in pitch as she began to scream at him and say to him, "Come on we've got to get out of this store before you tear it down!" "Hold my hands, both of you, stop that, don't touch that, quit it!" And they were gone.

The sad thing about this scene is that the children didn't walk away from this encounter having learned something that will make them better people. The little boy may grow up and have a phobia about shoelaces, but he didn't learn to control himself, because his mother didn't control herself. This really wasn't a spanking offense, and the real reason that mommy got so mad is because the little boy had embarrassed her in the store. And embarrassment is never a reason to discipline your child in any fashion.

We used wooden spoons on our kids when they were little. We would tell them no, then if they continued doing whatever we had told them no about, we would very calmly say, "No." again, and then spat their behind with the wooden spoon. That is until they got big enough that we would break the spoon, then we moved on to a wooden paddle. On a side note, here's a funny story about wooden spoons. Every year for Christmas since Cheryl and I have been married, my mom has always made her a mother-in-law box. This is something that was started by my Grandmother, and she gave to my mom.

Through out the year, my mom collects little knick knacks that she thinks Cheryl will like, and puts them into a box. On Christmas day, Cheryl opens the box and goes through all the things in it. This is one of the highlights of Christmas, especially since my mom started hiding cash in the various packages inside the box. Well one year, Cheryl pulled out a package of wooden spoons, and exclaimed, "Wooden spoons, great! I have broken all of mine on the kids, and I need new ones!" My mom grabbed the package and took it away from her saying, "Not on my grand babies!" We all had a laugh, and Cheryl promised to not use them on the kids. That's when we switched over to a wooden paddle.

The thing about paddling your children that you need to know is that you don't spank when you are angry or embarrassed. Spanking your children is a disciplining technique you use to modify the behavior of your child. So before you spank, your kids should know the rules about what they may get spanked for. For instance, if your child spills milk at the breakfast table, this is not a punishable offence. If, however your child throws the glass of milk across the room, then that is.

Before you spank your child, make sure that you are in control of yourself and calm. Take them aside, and talk to them about what they've done. Ask them to repeat to you what they did wrong. After you are sure that they understand, then turn them over your knee and paddle their bottoms with two to three swats. These need to be hard enough to make an impression, but not so hard to bruise. Also, it is good to know what the laws are in your state concerning paddling. In Oklahoma, it is okay as long as you don't bruise the child, bruising your children is a misdemeanor.

Remember, you are wanting to change the behavior, not the spirit of your child. Don't crush their little hearts by blasting away at them. They don't know a lot yet, and we as their parents are supposed to be teaching them the right ways. Also, never use your hands to spank your children. Our hands were made to hold and to love our kids, not to hit them. Using a paddle makes your son or daughter fear the rod, not you. Also, after you have finished spanking them, let them cry for a minute or two, it won't hurt them. Then afterwards, pray with them and help them learn how to ask God to forgive them according to 1 John 1:9, then be sure they know that you have forgiven them too. Then love on them and go about your day.

There is a lot to parenting, but you can do it as long as you stay calm and remember that our jobs as parents is to help train up the next generation to be the best they can be. You can do this!

I Had A Meltdown This Morning

2011-07-20T10:50:00.006-05:00

I arrived at work early this morning so that I could accomplish a few things before the crush of helping customers was upon me. As I checked my bank statement online, I was greeted with the lovely sight of overdraft charges. These always seem to brighten my day and I love how the banks act as if they can't help but make this free money for themselves off of the backs of their customers.

"Well I will have my paycheck today, so that will be handled in a little while. No need to get upset, just deal with it David." I thought. Then my phone rang. It was my landlord for the shoe store and she wanted to ask if I was having the air conditioner units at my store serviced regularly. I said, "No." Thinking that if the shopping center is owned by my landlord then surely it is their responsibility to take care of "their" air conditioners. Apparently not. It seems that in my lease I am responsible for the maintenance on their property. "I'll be sending you the bill for $170.00 for the service our air conditioner man did for your air conditioner." she informed me.

I hung up the phone, and what rose up from my inner most being was not the Word of God. It was a little bit more colorful, and if any women or children would have been around they would have been shocked. (Okay, I tell you this not to brag, I was being an idiot and I know that, I tell you in the hope that if you can identify with me, you'll get the help that I did.) I went on a tangent, spewing all manner of idiocy from my mouth, and you know as it started to come out, it just flowed and flowed and flowed. (All of this happened for about two minutes.)

As the torrent of words subsided, and a level of resignation came over me, due in part to being an idiot and letting my flesh get the best of me. I stopped for a moment and just sat there, numb. Then up out of my belly came the thought of 1 John 1:9 which says, that if we will confess our sin, God will forgive us of that sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I did that right away, asking God to forgive me of my sin of saying the wrong things and letting my flesh get the best of me. Thank God He forgives and still loves me despite all of the stupid things I've ever done.

As I became quiet, I heard these words rise up from my spirit man. It was God speaking to me and He said, "Be still and know that I am God." The cynical side of me started to speak up and contradict what He had said to me, but my spirit man resisted that part and I began to be still. While I was receiving pressure from all around me concerning finances this morning the Lord is at work on my behalf because I am a tither, and all I have to do now is be still and let Him work.

I reminded Him of His word in Malachi where He tells us to test Him and see if He won't open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that we don't have room enough to contain it. Praise God, I am a tither, and despite what my checking account is trying to tell me, or my landlord surprises me with, there is a blessing poured out for me and my family, so much in fact that we cannot contain it all. I just have to trust God at His Word and be still and know that He is God, and is working on my family's behalf.

I've said it before, and it bears repeating here, the fight of faith is the fight to believe what God's Word says is true, even when all the evidence around you tells you otherwise. We're believers, that's what we do, we believe. So no matter what has happened to me today, I choose now as an act of my will to believe what God has promised me in His Word, regardless of how the things around me try and say otherwise. Thank You God for Your Word!

What Ever Happened To Integrity?

2011-07-19T11:26:00.003-05:00

I haven’t kept up on the scandal surrounding the media outlet News Corporation and their hacking of voice mail accounts, but I did see a report on Yahoo! today about the owner of the company, Rupert Murdoch and his son James giving testimony before Parliament. But here is something that did jump out at me as I read the article:

“When asked flat out if he (Rupert Murdoch) considered himself personally responsible "for this fiasco," Murdoch replied simply: "No."

Asked who was, he said: "The people that I trusted to run it (News Corporation), and then maybe the people they trusted."

Rupert Murdoch is eighty years old. He owns the company, while the article states his son James is the heir apparent. What I found interesting is that the father just bailed on his responsibility. Ultimately, if you own the business and there is a problem, then you are to blame. Maybe he’s not the one who actually ordered the voice mail accounts to be hacked, but as the owner of the company he should stand up, take his licks and assume the responsibility. Then he should find out who gave the order and turn them over to the police.

What I saw as I read that article is one more time that integrity was not to be found. Is it any wonder that so many people are cynical about news media and all of their various outlets? The funny thing is that had this man stood up and claimed responsibility for his business, people all across the world would be applauding him for his integrity. What bothers me even more is the fact that this man is eighty. He is supposed to be from the era where integrity was king. Yet, he passes the buck as quick as it was handed to him.

We should own up to who we are, and not try to skirt the issues. Yeah, it’s tough, but since when did doing the right thing ever prove to be the easy thing? Integrity is the issue here. What this world needs are more people who are willing to do the right thing regardless of the consequences. I cannot think that Mr. Murdoch was thinking of anything other than his bottom line while he was passing the buck to those beneath him.

Seems I read about that in the Bible one time, yeah in the book of Genesis. God asked Adam what he had done, and Adam blamed Eve, Eve turned around and blamed the snake. And if they had only owned up to their responsibilities, God would have made a way to have fixed it where they could have stayed in paradise. But because of their unwillingness to take ownership of the problem, look where we are today.

Let’s be people of integrity. Let’s show that integrity to our families, friends and those around us. Don’t ever let people wonder what you would do in a tough situation, let them know. I’d love it if whenever I’m in a tight spot, the people around me would say to each other, “I know that David will do the right thing, after all he is a man of integrity.” Oh how I hope that is what they would say.

What To Do When You Don't Feel Like Doing

2011-07-18T13:31:00.004-05:00

I don't know if you have ever found yourself in the place where you didn't want to do anything at all before. I find myself in that place today. Longing for something transcendent instead of the daily grind. Hoping that my mere existence isn't just a cosmic waste of time. And questions, I have had so many questions running through my mind today, that I think I would like to scream!

I can't seem to figure out the relationships that I'm in, my place in this world or even what I really want to do with the rest of my life. It is a frustrating place to be sure, and the worst part of it all is that God seems distant to me today. Actually, He has seemed distant for quite a few days now. I know that He is there, because the Bible says that He will never leave me nor forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) I just don't sense His Presence, and that bothers me to a degree.

I'm not depressed, but I do feel like crawling back into bed and going to sleep. I hate it when I'm like this too, but what to do in order to bring me out of this funk just eludes me. Is this an attack of the enemy, or just laziness on my part? Do I just need to draw my sword and charge the field? Today I'm not feeling so much like William Wallace, as I am the guy back in the third row with a pitchfork who just wants to leave the battlefield and go home.

I remember that King David had days like this, he wrote them down in the book of Psalms. I also remember that King David encouraged himself in the Lord when things looked rough too. Since I have an hour and a half drive ahead of me later today, I will be doing just that, encouraging myself in the Lord.

So there's that, another day in the life of Gods First Knight...

In Support Of My Friend Chad Stewart

2011-07-14T12:18:00.012-05:00

My church has lost its Pastor. He had been gone since December, and now with his death, we are left with a void. This is not to say that our church staff hasn't done an amazing job in his absence, they have. Our associate pastor Chad has taken the reigns, not so much out of his own desire but really much more out of necessity.

It's like in those old westerns, where the reigns of the stagecoach gets cut, and all of a sudden someone has to jump in and bring the stage under control at great risk to themselves trying to keep it from crashing. That is the situation Chad has found himself in.

I can honestly say that I would not want to trade places with him at all. He has been put into a very tough and challenging position, yet has risen to that challenge in a most admirable and noble way. Hired in to be our college and career pastor, he had the added responsibility of youth pastor when ours left, and then when Pastor David left, our church board tapped him to become our associate pastor, all in the course of a year's time, and I might add that none of this had been discussed when Pastor David hired him. Oh, and don't let me forget, he also got married in that time as well.

Chad has had to fill some pretty big shoes when it comes to teaching and leading my church, but he does have what it takes to fill them, and I see that growing with each passing week. This is not his first dance so to speak, he helped to pioneer a church in Missouri and was an associate pastor on staff there. It was after leaving that church that he decided to go to Bible School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. God has been leading him on a path laid out for him before the foundations of the world. I know in my heart that Chad has been placed at my church for just such a time as this.

God does have a handle on what is going on at Word of Life. Nothing in the last several months has caught Him off guard, and He for sure didn't say, "Well, I didn't see that coming." Pastor Chad is at Word of Life because God wants him there. The best thing we as a church body can do right now is to support his leadership, get behind what he is doing and stay humble before the Lord.

I know that people tend to want to give their opinions about what should or shouldn't be done in these types of situations, heck, I've even been known to be kind of opinionated from time to time. (Ha!) But right now, we should keep our opinions to ourselves, pray (A lot.) for the staff and the board for the decisions that they have to make concerning our church's future and listen very closely for the Spirit's voice about what our part is to play at Word of Life. (And then do that.)

I wanted to write this blog this morning in the hope that it might help bring knowledge to others so they would support Chad Stewart in the job that God has for him at Word of Life. God has great things in store for us as a church, and we will see the continuation of Pastor David's vision for reaching people grow and grow. So let's not worry about what the future holds, let's just get behind Pastor Chad now and follow where he (By the Holy Spirit) leads us.

Wham Whams, And The Passing Of An Era

2011-07-13T07:07:00.012-05:00

This morning I was hungry as I began my daily rituals, so I went to the refrigerator to see what we had to satisfy my hunger. As I pushed things around inside, I noticed the newly purchased cans of biscuits and decided that they would do the job. I looked at the instructions to determine what temperature to set the oven, grabbed a cookie sheet and the cooking spray, then I began to peel back the paper covering on the ready to cook biscuit dough.

As I hit the tube on the counter, causing it to make a "whamming" sound I was reminded of what my bride's Aunt Peggy referred to these type of baked goods, "wham, whams". She is from the old school of cooking and always makes biscuits from scratch. I will admit, they are very delicious and with butter and chocolate gravy on them, let me just say they are sure to be served in Heaven.

I remember one time we were at Aunt Peggy's house and she was making biscuits and the comment was made that I ate canned biscuits growing up. Now understand this, I like bread in just about all of its forms, and canned biscuits rank right up there for me in the bread category. Aunt Peggy laughed her down home, loud and joyous laugh and asked, "You like wham whams better than real biscuits?"

"Wham whams?" I asked. "What are wham whams?"

She informed me that canned biscuits are called wham whams because of the sound the can makes as you whack it on the edge of the counter to open them. I laughed at that, and said, "Well I do like a good canned biscuit." She berated me good naturedly about that and said there was not any wham whams that could compete with her biscuits. And this of course is true.

As I reflected on that conversation this morning I began to realize that we really have begun to see the passing of an era. Times nowadays more often than not families find themselves cooking from a can or a box, rather than from scratch. There are more prepackaged meals on the shelves today than ever before, and not too long ago I read that grocery stores were putting in sections to have already cooked meals that can be purchased and taken home to be eaten right away, because of the needs of today's modern families.

Times they are a changing, we now more often than not are running here and there to do all that we think is needed to be done, grabbing something to munch while we go from place to place. We spend more time eating in our vehicles than at our dining room tables. Which as long as we are talking and sharing the time with our kids may not be so bad. But more often than not, we've got them watching some DVD while we are chatting up our friends on the way to the next baseball game or whatever.

While I will never give up eating wham whams, I think when the fall starts back and the kids are at home more often I will try and set aside a little bit more time to spend around the kitchen table with them. We may still cook from boxes and cans, but the time spent with family is the main thing, that is one thing that I do not want to see pass away.

There And Back Again...A David's Journey

2011-07-12T09:01:00.013-05:00

I don't know if you've ever read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien before, but if you have you know the pure joy of the story about a little hobbit who gets swept up into an adventure of a lifetime and comes to realize that there is lot more to him than he ever imagined.

The story is set in a fantastical land where dwarves, elves, men, dragons and a whole host of other very inventive characters live. But what I find the most intriguing, is that Tolkien uses characters which are in fact make believe, yet which have the very same personality traits that you would find in all the kinds of people that we come across in our daily lives.

I finished reading The Hobbit earlier this year, but when I saw the first pictures of the actors who are playing some of the dwarves in their costumes, for the upcoming Hobbit movie that Peter Jackson (The writer, producer & director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) is making, I was blown away and decided that perhaps I should read it once again.

I can honestly say that this is the one book (Besides the Bible.) that I can pick up and read and immediately I am swept up into the story, and no matter how many times I read it I enjoy it just as much as the very first time that I read it. Not many books can lay claim to that in my library, but this one sure does.

A couple of years ago, I read the book with the mindset of really following the main character Bilbo Baggins. What I mean by that is that every time as I was reading the story and it involved Bilbo, I watched his reactions, his demeanor and what he was thinking about himself a the time. While I did this, a very interesting thing happened, I began to see Bilbo as a type and shadow of my Christian walk with God. Now I know that this is not a Christian book in the sense of using chapter and verse, but the Lord did use it to show me some things about myself. And if he could use a talking donkey in the Bible, why not a Hobbit in another book?

Since I don't want to spoil the story for any of you that perhaps have not read this book, I will not tell you what I found out. If you are curious to know, email me at godsfirstknight@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to tell you. The first of two movies is due to be released in 2012 click here to find out more about that. Let me just conclude by saying, if you have not read this book, then I highly recommend it. If you have read it, then what about picking it back up and giving it another read? I think you'll be glad you did.

Watch Out! Your Enemy, The Devil Is Trying To Get You!

2011-07-11T08:34:00.013-05:00

We are admonished in 1 Peter 5:8 to stay alert for our enemy the devil, is looking for someone to eat. I like that Peter doesn't say that the enemy is eating up people, but "looking" for people to eat. He then goes on to say that we are to resist him in the faith, and not to be surprised that Christians all over are going through the same thing.

And this is not an isolated incident either. This is an all out attack on the believers in Jesus. And the devil is not even subtle in how he is going about it, no he is patiently waiting and watching for us to slip up somewhere so then he can attack and have us for lunch. One of the biggest problems that I see lately is that most Christians don't even act like the enemy is real, much less that he is working hard to devour us.

Today if you talk about the devil and what he is doing, most of the time people just roll their eyes and say, "Oh man, you're one of those wacky Christians." People just want to dismiss the fact that we have an enemy and that he is trying to steal, kill and destroy. They will chalk up bad things happening to circumstances, being in the wrong place at the wrong time or just coincidence. I think the saints in the Bible had a little bit better grip on this subject than we do.

Look at the lion in the picture I put in my blog. Do you notice how well he blends in with his surroundings? I mean you can see him there, but if you just took a casual or quick glance you might actually miss him. That is how the enemy works too. He blends in with society in such a way that you can actually miss him at work. In John 10:10, Jesus tells us how the enemy works; he steals, kills and destroys, that is what he does.

We were told by Peter to stay alert for our enemy. Staying alert does not mean take an occasional glance, it means:

1) to watch

2) give strict attention to, be cautious, active

a) to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one.

We have to be the ones looking for the enemy, no one else can do it for us. And this is not to say that we have to be cowardly, or fearful while looking for him. After all we have the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to counteract the works of the devil. But we have to be watching for him to be able to confront him, and not be caught

unaware.

We need to pay a little bit more attention to things in the spirit, and not get caught forgetting to pay attention to this fact that we have an enemy and that he is trying to trip us up. We are most definitely in the last days, and the return of Jesus is closer than any of us probably realize. But this does not mean that we need to go into a docile, holding pattern mentality. We need to stay alert, and be on guard for the attacks that the enemy will try on us.

While the enemy may have a bulls eye on our backs, we don't have to be his victim. Spend time in God's Word daily, pray and seek the face of God and then listen for the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit to make you aware of what is going on around you in the spiritual realm. The enemy cannot get us if we are aware of him coming. He is a coward, and chooses not to face us directly, because he knows that in a full out frontal attack on a Christian he will be withstood. But if he can trip us up and cause us to sin, then he can pounce on us once we are down.

And listen, if you've slipped up and sinned, don't stay there. Get up, turn to 1 John 1:9 which says that if you will confess your sin to God, that He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Doing that puts you right back on your feet and in right standing with God which keeps the enemy from munching on you.

Understand this too, once you have confessed your sin to God, he forgets it and will not remind you of it again. But when you hear that condemning voice in your head telling you how bad a person you really are, and how much you blew it this time, know that that is the enemy trying to trip you up again. You need to forgive yourself as well. The devil would like nothing better than once you've asked God to forgive you, for you to continue to beat yourself up about what you did. It's forgiven, now dust yourself off and go get back out there.

Our enemy the devil may be like a roaring lion, but that's all he can really do, roar. He can only eat up those who will let him. Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip the enemy today!

Know Thyself, And To Thyself Be True

2011-07-10T07:50:00.006-05:00

Something that I have learned from experience, is that no matter who you are, God can use you. I had a conversation with a person who had entered into a new phase of ministry not too long ago. As we talked, I asked them how they were finding their new role to be, to which they replied, "I've not been to bible school, so I can't really do much." (I'm paraphrasing the conversation here.) I will say that this sent up red flags in my mind however, and that "Don't tell me!" spirit on the inside of me began to rise up.

Many years ago I contemplated going to bible school. I sought the Lord concerning whether or not I should go, and in a comical way (I love it when the Lord does that.) He answered my prayers through a travelling minister who came to our church. This man operating through the gifts of the Spirit said to me, "Just as I've used ignorant and unlearned men before, I will use you." There was a lot of laughter, and even the minister was a little taken aback by what the Lord said through him, but that word from God answered my prayer about bible school, and I've been used by God ever since.

One thing that I've noted over the years is this thought that if a person hasn't been formally trained by attending bible school, then they don't have as much to offer the body of Christ. And please understand me, I'm not saying that people shouldn't attend a bible school, they should do whatever the Lord leads them to do, they just shouldn't think they are not as capable if they haven't attended bible school.

Look at the men that Jesus chose as His closest disciples. These men didn't appear to have formal religious training. They were; fishermen, tax collectors, a doctor, a thief, etc. Yet Jesus saw something in each of these men and He called them to follow Him and become His disciples. And it is in this, (Becoming a disciple of Jesus.) where you will find those who are doing the will of God. It is following Jesus as a disciple that is the most important thing, and that does not always include going to bible school.

I think so many people have been cheated out of their place in the Kingdom of God because of them thinking that since they are not formally trained, they cannot do much for Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher and our Guide. He is the One Who instructs us, and that can be done from your living room floor while you read the Bible and pray. God speaks to the hearts of men, and has been since the beginning of time, if you are willing to take the time and listen for Him to do so.

If God is telling you to go to bible school that's great, you should go and give it everything you've got. But if He isn't saying that to you, don't feel that you aren't able to do anything for His Kingdom. Find out what it is that He has for you to do and go and do that with all of your heart. Just know who it is you are, and then be true to that, not short changing yourself in the process.

God will use you if you will let Him. I guess my question to you is, will you let Him? Get 'em up folks, there is a whole world of people who needs us to help them out there, so stop wondering if you can do anything and let God show you that you can!

How Will You Be Thought Of, Or Will You?

2011-07-09T08:53:00.003-05:00

In 2 Chronicles 21:20 it says, " Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one's regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings." How would you like that said about you? That you passed away, to no one's regret? In the words of George Takei, "Oh my."

I don't know about you, but I want to be well thought of once I've passed on. I'd hate to find out that only a handful of people showed up, and that they only did so because they felt like they needed to be there for my family's sake. Wouldn't that be an awful thing?

I guess that begs the question then what do we do to keep that from happening? How are we living in the here and now, and what kind of influence is our life having on those around us? I think this needs to start at home personally. If we aren't loving those around us well, then how could we possibly be loving anyone else?

This goes back to the thing that Jesus taught, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself." If we love God first, and our neighbor second, then everything else will line up in the way that is should. With everything the Lord shows me, it all goes back to love. If we will love well, then we will be loved well. And when you are loved, then you won't be like Jehoram, who passed away to no one's regret.

Let's love well people, loving others just as we ourselves wished to be loved. Get 'em up folks, we've got a world to love out there...

Are You Doing Evil?

2011-07-06T12:22:00.003-05:00

I was doing my daily Bible reading this morning and came across the story of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. The interesting thing that stood out to me was verse 14; "He (Rehoboam) did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord." "He did evil..." jumped off the page at me like 3D and I stopped long enough to write it down on a piece of paper.

In the title today I asked the question, "Are you doing evil?" I'm sure that the answer most of us would give would be, "No." But in light of what I read this morning I might have to reevaluate my answer. The Amplified version of verse 14 states; "And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek (inquire of, yearn for) the Lord with all his desire." Rehoboam did evil because he did not inquire of the Lord. Well now, that makes me wonder about myself, do I inquire of or yearn for the Lord? Not always, no.

When we think of evil, we think of people stealing, killing or destroying things. And that is very true, that is very evil indeed. But even as evil as that is, it seems here in this Scripture that not seeking the Lord is also evil. I'll be honest here, there are times when I get ready to lay my head on my pillow at night and I realize that I have not included the Lord in one thing all day. That makes me an evil person right there according to this Scripture, and that is something that I do not like at all.

Why is it do you wonder that God thinks it is evil? Possibly because when we don't seek Him we end up doing what seems right in our own eyes, and that very rarely is the right course of action. He did tell us in Isaiah 55:9 that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours after all. I think it is because He desires relationship with us so much that it is hurts God when we don't include Him.

Just like those of you who have children, we always want the best for our kids don't we? Does it hurt when they do something without seeking counsel from you and things go bad for them? I know that the hardest thing that I've ever done as a parent is to sit back and watch one of them make a mistake that I could have helped them prevent. That is what I think God is feeling when we don't include Him in our day too.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to try and do better at not doing evil. Father God, forgive me where I've missed it in this area, and Holy Spirit remind me please when I'm out there just trying to do things on my own. In Jesus Name, amen.

Our 21st Century Colosseum

2011-07-05T13:55:00.013-05:00

First off, I have watched none of the Casey Anthony trial, as a matter of fact I had to go look up the girl's name before I started writing this. I am not going to talk about whether she is guilty or not either. What I want to observe today is the people who are worked up over the verdict against her, and how it parallels to first century Rome's Colosseum. Here is a brief rundown about what the Colosseum is:

Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, dramas based on classical mythology and the deaths of many early church Christians.

Our society here in the 21st century is truly not that far from where Rome was back in the first century. We live in a time now where we are ever drawn into the drama that unfolds on our television screens. Whether it is a movie, sitcom or reality show, the population of America hardly goes a day without watching something on t.v. We actually have three televisions in our house, not to mention computers too!

A few minutes after the verdict was read in the Casey Anthony trial, Facebook literally blew up with posts about it. (And I'm not going to go into that here, just the fact of all the posts on Facebook.) In just under one hour I counted 59 posts about this trial. That's just on my Facebook account, and there are now millions and millions on Facebook, so I think that it is fair to say that this trial has been watched by many, many people.

We no longer crowd into the Colosseum to watch the blood sports which distracted that first century populace. They weren't aware that their leaders were trying to seize more control. You see, if you are in power and can effectively divert people's gaze onto something other than what you are doing, then before the people realize it, they have lost a little bit more of their freedom.

The interesting thing about the television (And don't get me wrong, I love to watch t.v.) is that it has enslaved more people than any of the Caesars ever thought about. Willing slaves too, who allow themselves to be shackled, and more often than not lock those same shackles with their very own hands.

I think what has bothered me the most about this trial, is the fact that all it has really done is work men and women up, and put money into the pockets of the owners of the news media outlets. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but have any of these news shows reporting on this case done so without commercials? I don't think so. The news people see something here that will capture the hearts of the population in a way that will force them to come back time and again to see what the latest information is. I saw one person post on Facebook, "I'm on the road, please let me know what the jury says."

Whether this is a travesty or not is not the real story in my opinion. The real story is how the media has once again worked up something to such a fevered pitch that they can sell advertising space and get a premium dollar for it. That's what the news media is really about after all, money. Oh the reporters may in fact have gone to school with a desire to report the truth, but if you've watched any news lately it is all about the dollar. And the news stories are just the vehicle to get you to their true purpose...the advertisements, which line the owner's pockets with cash.

The Bible tells us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16) Don't be fooled into thinking that the media is presenting this national court case because they think we need to know about it. They are doing it because their bosses want more money in the bank. This is the same reason that we have the never ending election cycle now, but that is a whole different story.

Misunderstandings and Social Media

2011-07-01T08:36:00.005-05:00

Nobody likes to be misunderstood. At least I've never met anyone who does. But in the world of social media, misunderstandings happen more often than in any other area of social contact. This is mainly due to the fact that when reading something, a person cannot hear the inflection or tone of the comment, and invariably they will misread the intent of the writer's heart. Emoticons were created to try and help people assess what mood the person writing is in.

I have had more than my share of individuals getting upset with me for some perceived infraction against them while writing or being a little playful online. I am amazed at how people misunderstand what in fact I am actually saying. Once I made a statement, really more of an observation about a person that came into my shoe store, and was lambasted for my comment, vilified and labeled as a horrible person because of it. However had the people that were slamming me actually heard me voice my statement instead of just reading it, they would have realized how I was being sarcastic and not just making fun of a person.

I think one of the main things to remember when using social media and reading comments that people write, is to give the writer the benefit of the doubt. Don't just jump to conclusions which may cause a rift between the two of you. After all again, I don't really believe that anyone sets out to be misunderstood. And Jesus teaches us that love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter4:8)

So what do we do to avoid this? I am a very opinionated person, always have been, and what I have learned that helps in this area the most is to choose my topics wisely. If you want to know what I believe, I'll tell you, and I've not always been the best at waiting for someone to ask me either, I am willing to share my point of view with anyone. Sometimes that is not the best thing to do, and can cause rifts between friends. (Which has actually happened to me.) So now I'm a little more cautious about what I actually write about.

I think the main thing to remember is that without being able to see a person's eyes or hear their voice, it is very possible to misread the content of the message. Just because a person writes something down may not actually mean that is where their heart is. As I have found many times, the person may actually just be quoting a line from a song. (Which is very confusing for this old man sometimes.)

If you think that someone is saying something that is derogatory or in poor taste, take your concern to them privately and work it out. More often than not, you will find out that they were just trying to be funny and it came out wrong. Or they may actually have no idea that they have offended you. The devil loves to use this type of stuff to cause or continue rifts between people. We shouldn't let that happen, we should be aware of his devices.

I love social media, it has brought more people into my life than I have ever had before, and those relationships that I have made are precious to me. I just have to remember that just because I hear inside my head what I am saying, and how I am saying it, this doesn't mean that the person reading what I wrote will. Let's use this tool to help us grow together and not apart. Get 'em up folks, we've got a Kingdom to enlarge...

Do You Want To Be His Disciple?

2011-06-28T08:11:00.004-05:00

In Luke 9:23 Jesus makes the following statement: "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me." "Whoever wants to be My disciple..." And here we find the crux of the matter for most Christians. It is easy to be a Christian, I mean really all you have to do is follow Romans 10:9 - 10 and you are born again. Don't get me wrong, that is a very important thing indeed, without that everything else is pointless. But the decision to follow Christ is where the rubber meets the road.

When Jesus says "whoever wants to be" that leaves the decision in our hands. He doesn't force us to become His disciples. Remember when He called the twelve? He didn't walk up to Peter and say, "Hey you! I'm the Messiah, stop what you're doing and come be my follower." He simply said, "Follow me." Peter still had to decide to leave what he was doing and follow Jesus.

I have been a Christian now for twenty-four years, but I can probably say that I've actually been a disciple for the last five or so. Part of being a disciple is "denying yourself", and that is what I think for me has been probably the hardest thing. I still fight wanting to do what I want to do a lot. And it's not that I don't love Jesus, I do, I just wrestle with my flesh still. Although I am a little better at putting it in its place now than back when I first became a Christian.

Not everyone chooses to follow Jesus. Remember the story of the man that told Jesus to let him go bury his father first and then he would follow Him? Jesus's reply was to let the dead bury the dead, but for him to go and preach the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:59 - 60) Unlike Peter, who left his nets and followed Jesus, this man had other things on his mind to do first. This person remains unnamed, while Peter goes on to be one of the Apostles. Could there be a connection here?

We are told that to be disciples we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. Three things that are the deciding factors as to whether or not we are His disciples. Following Jesus requires the ability to lay aside our desires, our wants and our way of doing things. But how do you know what to do in following Jesus? Where do you find that? In the Bible, and hearing His voice.

When you read through the Bible, you will see the things that are important to Jesus. And if we are His disciples, then the things that are important to Him should be important to us as well. If we see Him showing kindness to all, then we should show kindness to all. If He is ministering to people where they need it, then we too should be looking for opportunities to do the same. The Bible is full of things that we as disciples of Jesus should be doing, if we will only look for them.

We should also be led by the Spirit of God in our own spirits too. This requires getting quiet and listening in our spirits for Him to speak to us. We should also bear in mind that whatever He speaks to our spirits will never go against what He has written in the Bible. That is the standard by which we judge what is right and true. If you think the Spirit of God is speaking to you to do something and it goes against Scripture, then it is not right and you shouldn't follow it. This is why it is so important to read your Bible daily, this will keep you from doing something flaky.

Being a disciple of Jesus is a conscious effort on our part, but one that will cause us to have untold joy and satisfaction in our lives, if we will do the three things; deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. Let's determine to do that today, how about it? Get 'em up folks, we've gotta go out and whip something for the Kingdom today!

Where Did That Come From?

2011-06-27T13:48:00.007-05:00

I was talking to a customer this morning, and she asked me to do something which I have a policy against doing. When I explained the policy, she bowed up on me. Well needless to say, that didn't go over really well with me, and let me just state that I didn't handle myself in the most Christian of manners. But before you think I've sinned and completely blown it, everything that happened was internal with me, and she never even knew. After she left, I repented to the Lord for my internal struggles and asked Him, "Where did that come from Father?"

How about you, have you ever had someone rub you the wrong way? How did you handle it? Did you walk in the love of Jesus, or did you let your flesh rule the way you responded? I will say that today apparently my flesh had a little better grip on the reigns of the direction my life was going, and not my spirit. Yet one more chance to come to realize that I haven't arrived in my walk with Jesus.

I remember once a man saying that when our emotions are low, our intelligence will be high. Conversely, if our emotions run high, then our intelligence will be on the lower end of things. I had an opportunity to learn this the hard way once with another customer. She had purchased several pair of shoes months earlier and brought them all back. For whatever reason it really ticked me off that day, so my emotional output was at an all time high. I refunded her money, without looking at the ticket and inadvertently refunded more money than she actually had paid for the shoes originally. Talk about feeling like a lunkhead.

Sometimes when things like this rise up inside of us, we should stop and take an inventory of what's really going on. I like to ask God, "What's that all about? Where did that come from?" and then take a little time and wait on His voice to speak to my heart. Several times there has been a revelation in my heart about something that has gone on in my past that never fully was resolved. So I go back to that, ask Jesus to forgive me, or I forgive the person that wronged me and healing comes and a little bit more of my heart is restored.

Things happen to all of us. We face trials and tribulations daily, but remember what Jesus said, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) This passage of Scripture used to bother me. I would say, "Well that's all good for You Jesus, but I'm still here." Then the Holy Spirit showed me that if I would stay "in Christ" and walk closely with Him, then I would be in Him and as He overcame the world, so I could as well.

Stay close to Jesus friends, let's get out there and whip something for the Kingdom today!

We Need The "You" Joint In The Church

2011-06-27T10:53:00.011-05:00

I heard a minister say yesterday that we need all the "you joints" in church. That set my mind to thinking about "U" joints in vehicles, and wallah, a blog was born. I wasn't really sure what a universal joint in a car does, so I did what all of us do now-a-days, I googled it. And this is what I found:

"U joints are used in drive-shafts to allow the shaft to flex under load and still be able to transmit power from one end to the other. The engine and transmission vibrate as they are under power because of the pounding action of the pistons while they go up and down. Then the twisting force of the drive-shaft pushes against the transmission as it spins, and the rear axle flexes up and down on spins as the car rolls over bumps. If the drive-shaft were one solid piece, all of that extra motion would be impossible to manage and the drive-shaft would break. So they put a U Joint on each end, and sometimes one in the middle, and the drive-shaft can bend and flex while it spins."

So the U joint if broken, keeps the car from moving. Now let's look at a Scripture, and I'll tie all of this together for you. 1 Corinthians 12:18: "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him." Here Paul is talking about the church, not our actual physical bodies. He is saying that God has set each and every one of us in the church where He wants us. (If we've actually taken the time to listen to His voice that is.)

My friend Pastor Daniel Shirley made this statement while we were having lunch yesterday. "If God set you in the body as He pleased, do you think He might be displeased if you take yourself out?" What a great question. If in fact God has led you to a church body to be a part of it, and you through reasons other than God instructing you to move on, decide that it is time to leave that church, do you think that will please God?

So here's the thing, God is the power source (The engine.) and we are the "You Joints" that He has placed in the church as it has pleased Him. Without the you joints, the vehicle can't move. If you were placed in the church, and you decide to leave, then the church cannot move forward as it is supposed to. We need each and every person that is supposed to be at Word of Life now. We need you, even if you feel as if you don't play a valuable role. What I found out about the "U Joint" in cars is that they are not the most expensive parts, but they are absolutely invaluable in making the car go.

Just like the "U" joint isn't the most expensive part on a car, and you may feel that you aren't the most valuable part of the church, but regardless of what you think or feel, God sees you as a very important part of His church, because it pleased Him to place you there. I for one, will begin to see people at my church in a different light now. We are all "You Joints" at Word of Life, and each one of us is needed. Don't let the enemy lie to you now and say that you are not an important part of the mission at Word of Life. We need you now more than ever!

Are You Paying Attention?

2011-06-23T08:39:00.007-05:00

In the Bible there is a short passage of Scripture in 1 Chronicles 11 about the men who served David. They are called his "mighty men", and they actually did some pretty impressive things. One of my favorite stories about them, is found in verses 16 - 19. In it David was up in a cave, while the Philistines were at Bethlehem. David was thirsty, and made the statement that he would sure like a drink of water from the well that is found at the gate to Bethlehem.

There were three mighty men standing nearby that heard David's desire, and immediately left for Bethlehem, broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well and took it to David. Now I want you to see something here, because if you just read this casually you can gloss over it. These three men heard David's desire and went to fulfill it. They didn't wait to be asked, and they didn't wait to see if he really meant what he said. They were paying attention to their leader, and were ready to move at a moment's notice.

They fought their way through the army of the Philistines, the three of them. That was no small feat, right? Then they drew water from the well. Have you ever drawn water from a well? It's not like turning on a faucet. You have to lower the bucket down into the water, then pull it back up, and then pour it into whatever container you brought with you to fill up. And remember they fought their way through the Philistines, they didn't sneak in and get the water. That means that while one guy was getting the water the other two had to keep the Philistines at bay. Then, they had to go back through the army to get back to David.

We have reached a point at Word of Life, that I'm sure none of us ever thought we would be. Our Pastor, friend and mentor has gone on to be with Jesus. If you've been around Word of Life for any time, then you know that God told Pastor, "Go to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, raise up a New Testament church and from there you will touch the world. And I (God) will call faithful people alongside you to help." That is the mission of Word of Life, train people and touch the world, and that is what has been happening for thirty years.

We find ourselves at an interesting crossroads so to speak. Pastor David is no longer with us here on this Earth, so what do we as the flock of Word of Life (And Word of Life churches all around the world.) do? How can we best serve Pastor David now? I think it is by doing what these three mighty men did. They were paying attention to their leader, and we can too!

Right now we have men on staff who are leading Word of Life; Pastor Chad, Pastor Jesse and Pastor Terry. Not to mention we have a board who is looking out for the best interest of Word of Life and every area in which it has influence. We are being led at this time, each and everyone of these men are Spirit-filled men who hear the voice of God. They are here for such a time as this, and they need our support.

I for one am really going to be paying attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit and do my best to be proactive to the needs of the leadership, how about you? Instead of waiting for a plea to be made from the platform, I'm going to continue to do the things that I've always done, and look for anything else that needs to be done and do it too.

No one will ever replace Pastor David, he was one of a kind. But that fact still remains that we do have leaders at Word of Life and we as the mighty men (And women.) need to be paying attention to our leadership and be ready to charge the enemy to get them a drink of water if necessary. Keep 'em up folks, there is still a fight going on...one that we will win!

One Final Message

2011-06-21T06:34:00.009-05:00

This morning we will lay to rest one of the most influential men that I have ever known. A man who loves Jesus, and it showed. A man who walked and followed the Lord and encouraged others to do the same saying, "Follow me, as I follow Jesus." I am saddened by the loss of my friend and Pastor, but will continue the work that he started, because that is the right thing to do.

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across this passage of Scripture found in Colossians 2:1-7 and it was as if Pastor David was speaking to me. If you would allow me, I've taken a little bit of liberty with these verses, having re-written them just a tad, and would like to share it with you. Read this as if it is Pastor David speaking to you:

"I want you to know how hard I contended for Word of Life and for those around the world, and even for all who never met me personally. My goal was that they would be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they would have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they could know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

"I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

I know that in the days, weeks and months ahead the family at Word of Life will be undergoing change unlike any that we have ever seen. And while all change is difficult, if we as the body of Christ will stay together, and heed the words found in Colossians 2, we will come out on the other side in a place that Word of Life has never been before.

This is a most trying time for Word of Life, but as Jesus said, "When you are weak, then I am strong." Let's not worry about weakness, let's let Jesus do as Pastor said so many times, show Himself strong. We must take to heart what we have learned for all these years now and put those things into practice. Be on your guard family, the enemy is like a roaring lion who is seeking to destroy Word of Life and the work Pastor started. Don't let it happen, stay vigilant because he would like nothing more than to destroy the work of God that has been done at Word of Life. Don't let him get a foothold.

Jesus has great things ahead for Word of Life, both here and overseas, and for those who will continue the vision that God gave Pastor David so many years ago. Just because Pastor David is no longer with us, does not mean that the vision that he laid out for us is any less effective now. No, the ministry will continue, God will be glorified and the devil will not win. Goodbye Pastor David, I love you and will miss you dearly, but I will not let you down.

How Fads Get Started

2011-06-18T14:23:00.004-05:00

Last night my bride and I were at the BOK Center in the lobby waiting on some more friends to arrive to see Hillsong United in concert. My friend Jeff Rains sent a text to another friend Jason Schrepel which said, "Yeahhhhhhhhh!" The predictive text on his iPhone translated that into the word "Uraniuam!" The look on Jason's face as he tried to figure out what Jeff's message meant was priceless.

What I witnessed was the birth of a new fad. Whenever someone in the group would say something especially awesome, it would be followed up with the word, "Uranium!" Needless to say, it was very fun to be around them last night.

That is exactly how trends get started I think, someone does or says something by accident and then it gets picked up and more people say or do it. And before long, we are looking at the latest thing. So hey thanks Jeff for your iPhone's hijack of the word you were actually trying to say. Dude, that is so uranium!"

Take The Hit But Keep Moving Forward

2011-06-17T10:45:00.007-05:00

As I was mowing my grass this morning before going to work, I was thinking and praying in tongues about my church family, and how much of a blessing it has been to sit under the teaching of David Emigh for the last eighteen years. When an image from the movie "Rocky Balboa" flashed into my mind. Take a look at it:

That is where we as a church family find ourselves today, we've taken a hit and it has driven us to the ground. The loss of Pastor David is a profound one that hurts and has left us all shaken to our core. But as Rocky said, "It's ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It's about how much you can take and keep moving forward." Family, we can keep moving forward, or we can stay on the ground and let the enemy win.

We have a right to cry, we have a right to be sad, but we also need above all, to stay in faith. We must stay close to the Father in this time and let the Holy Spirit do what He does best, comfort us when we hurt. I won't lie and tell you this time in our lives will be easy, or even very much fun. But I will continue, as I hope you will, to encourage one another and keep moving forward.

My friend Pastor Daniel Shirley penned this yesterday on his Facebook page, "Today Pastor David has a little better view of the fruit of his labors, but it's not all in yet. Pastor, we'll get the rest of it." Better words could not be said about what our job is now. Let's do this work family!

Please Stay In Faith

2011-06-16T13:02:00.006-05:00

*Disclaimer* In the following story I am not judging the lady in it, I am making an observation about her and comparing the way we as Christians should be handling the passing of our Pastor and friend David Emigh. We, as the body of Christ, and family at Word of Life need to stay in faith so that we can help and pray for the Emigh family right now more than ever. Thanks.

My cell phone was ringing in my pocket, but as I pulled it out and I looked at the caller i.d. I didn't recognize the phone number, but I answered with my usual, "Hello, this is David." The female voice on the other end of the conversation asked if she had reached the ministry of Word of Life. I replied, "No mam, it isn't, but I am a member there."

She immediately began to wail, cry and say how saddened she was by the loss of my Pastor. She went on to say that she had listened to him on the radio since 1992, and that she couldn't believe this had happened, "First Billy Joe, and now this." Her crying became stronger, and I told her that I appreciated her phone call, but seeing as I was at work and had many customers in the store I would have to end the conversation. I again thanked her for calling and asked her to please continue to pray.

I was recounting this story to a friend a while later, and it dawned on me that I was kind of aggravated by that phone call. Not because a total stranger had called me, after all my phone number is listed on the church's website, so I didn't mind that at all. What was bothering me was the reaction I had received from this caller. She told me that she had listened to Pastor David on the radio since 1992, but was completely imploding and falling apart on the phone.

I guess what really bothered me about it was that in listening to him on the radio for nineteen years I would think that she would have learned something of the character of the man in that time and been operating in faith instead of doubt. I mean this is a devastating thing for sure, but we are to rise up in these kinds of situations not fall apart because of them. How else can we be there for the family, who has every right to be falling apart. After all, their world was just rocked hard.

I love my Pastor, but I think it would dishonor him if I started to fall apart because of his death right now. There are all kinds of people who want to help out with this, then I say rise up, stay in faith and let's continue Pastor David's work and see the Kingdom increase even more. Let's do this family!

Grief, the Devil and the Passing of a Loved One

2011-06-16T10:36:00.007-05:00

I have first hand knowledge about grief during the loss of a loved one. Actually I'm still walking down the path of grief because of the death of my youngest son Noah. Grief is never easy, and it does take a while to process. The number one thing that God has taught me through all of this is that it looks different for every person. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, you must just take each day as you find it, and keep walking one step at a time.

Well meaning people will try to help you in your grief. They may tell you how they handled it when their loved one died, or possibly you will run into the person who shoots Scripture at you like a machine gun. Or my all time favorite is the person who feels it necessary to say something that to them is important, but to the hearer is absolute lunacy.

Let me give you an example, I once heard of a person who walked up to a grieving widow a short time after her husband has passed away and said, "I understand what you're going through because I've had a really rough week too, something bad happened to my car." Seriously? You've had a rough week? This lady's husband just died, and you are saying that your car damage relates to that?

Let me just say one thing here concerning the death of my Pastor and friend David Emigh. This was not the will of God, an act of God or sanctioned by God. This has the enemy's handiwork all over it. In John 10:10 it says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, I (Jesus) have come that you might have life and life to the full." Here is the Scripture that we can base everything on. So, if something is stolen, then the devil is the cause of it, if there is death, it's the devil that is the cause of that too, and if anything is destroyed then once again, we know it is the devil. Jesus tells us that His whole purpose is to bring us life and life to the full.

Okay then, we know the devil is bad, and God is good. So please, please, please before you try and lay the blame of this tragedy on someone's shoulders will you please be sure and place it on the correct one? (That would be the devil.) And if you didn't understand what I said in the previous paragraph, or I didn't make it clear enough, let me make it perfectly clear here, God did not take Pastor David Emigh.

The next weeks and months will be tough, stay focused on the truths in God's Word during this time. And if you hear people saying things that are not according to the Word, gently nudge them in the right direction, back to what God's Word says. The Word is true no matter what happens in this life, it never changes. I'm living proof of that. Stay strong saints, we've got a lot of work left to do. In closing, let me quote my friend Pastor Daniel Shirley, "Today Pastor David has a little better view of the fruit of his labors, but its not all in yet. Pastor, we'll get the rest of it."

I Got Nothing

2011-06-16T08:31:00.005-05:00

After a very short night of sleep, I awoke to stormy weather today. I brewed a pot of coffee and sat on my porch listening to it rain and thunder, something that usually brings peace to my soul. Today though the rain drops just remind me of tears and the loss of my dear friend.

As I sat there cradling the cup of warm liquid, I tried to pray. I tried to find the words to speak to my heavenly Father. Looking for guidance, direction or just anything from Him. But I got nothing, no burning bush, no audible voice, absolutely nothing. This morning I was desperate to know that what I've believed for almost half of my life was in fact true, that I hadn't been playing the fool all these years just believing in a fairy tale.

Yet as I sat there, I felt so alone, so abandoned. I thought of my Pastor's family and what they must be going through this morning, and wondered, "Where are you God?" As I turned to pick up my coffee cup, I noticed a motion out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a coyote going across my neighbor's yard. He had a beautiful coat of hair that was blonde, but sort of gray too. He paused just long enough for me to get a good look at him, then he was off. I thought that was strange, as I've heard them in the distance before but never seen one up close.

Just then I heard the familiar hum of a hummingbird coming to the feeder I set up by my porch. I love watching those little avians flit around the feeder and then speed off to wherever it is they go. As I followed this one's path as he flew away, I noticed a bunny rabbit eating grass in my front yard. A few minutes later, another hummingbird flew up and as I watched it depart, there was a large squirrel hopping through the yard. I began to notice all of the various birds chirping and then saw one of the largest crane type birds I've ever seen flying through the sky.

It was at this time that I had an impression in my heart and these words formed in my head, "I'm here son, I've never left and I never will." I began to praise my Father telling Him that I would praise Him for who He is, regardless of what I was feeling. I praised Him for a few minutes and began to pray in tongues, releasing that perfect prayer that Paul talked about. The heaviness that I had been experiencing lifted off of me, and I found myself in a true place of thankfulness.

I am still saddened by the loss of my Pastor, that is just a natural thing that won't ever leave me, but I find it amazing how my God knew just what to use to show me His great love for me when I was feeling alone and having some doubts. My Father is truly amazing and will meet us where we are at, regardless of how we feel or what things look like. Remember the words of Jesus, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Keep your heads up folks, we've still got a work to do here!

What Now?

2011-06-16T02:31:00.008-05:00

Sleep has left me tonight. I am in shock I'm sure, the pain of what I learned a few hours ago has not truly hit me yet. A great man of God was taken, by the enemy, from us too soon tonight. My pastor David Emigh passed from this life to the next while undergoing surgery for a broken leg. I know that I will be asking God why this happened once the reality of it has set in. There won't be an answer I'm sure, even though I will still ask the question.

Pastor told me when my youngest son, Noah died last year that God won't always tell you the answers that you want to know, but that He will always tell you what you need to know so you can keep moving forward. And right now, that is what I have to continue to do, keep moving forward.

I won't lie to you, this is a tough blow to me, my family and my church, Word of Life, and as we will realize in the weeks and months to come, for the body of Christ around the world. As that was the mission that Pastor was given by God: "Go to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, raise up a new testament church and from there you will touch the world. And I will call faithful men alongside to help you." And that is what he did. Thirty years Word of Life has been in Sand Springs, and we now have churches and ministries all around the world just as God told him.

The question in the forefront of my mind is this, "what now?" And I will tell you that the answer is to keep the vision that God gave Pastor alive and well and to continue to run the race that has been set before us as a church. There may be difficult days ahead, sure, but that does not mean that we will cower down and let the enemy have the final say here. No, we will continue the work, and we will see even greater things come to pass. God still wants to show Himself strong!

I will miss that mischievous way Pastor had of harassing those that he shepherded, and the loud shout of "Glory!" which could be heard all throughout the church or anywhere in the community he happened to be at the time. But I will not let what the enemy has meant to harm Pastor's family, my family and my church become a stumbling block that causes me to curl up into a ball and whimper. This is tough yes, but we will overcome even this setback, that's just what he has taught us to do for all of these years.

My pastor, leader and friend is in Heaven now, and I am saddened, and will miss him dearly. But mark my words, this will not stop me, and I will not let this stop my church. So what now you ask? We turn up the heat on the one who is the enemy of all mankind, and continue the work that Pastor David Emigh started so many years ago, that's what.

And please remember to pray and lift up his immediate family; his wife, children, grandchild, mom, dad, brothers and sisters. We need to be there for them now like he was always there for those of us who he pastored. May God's peace that passes all understanding comfort them in this hour of need. In Jesus Name.

Hezekiah, The Poster Boy For Selfishness

2011-06-15T06:55:00.006-05:00

In 2 Kings 20 there is a story about Hezekiah, one of the Kings of Judah. In the beginning of the story he is close to death, and Isaiah the prophet comes to him and tells him to set his house in order, because he is going to die. Hezekiah cries out to the Lord to heal him, and God does so, telling him that he will even add fifteen years to his life.

Later on, some men from Babylon come to visit and bring him a gift because the king of Babylon had heard he was sick. Hezekiah shows them everything in his palace, all the royal treasuries, all his riches and wealth. When the men leave, Isaiah shows up and asks about them. After Hezekiah told Isaiah all that he had done, the prophet tells him that there will come a day when everything will be carried off to Babylon, and even his own descendants will be taken away and become servants to the king there.

It is in verse 19 that I noticed what could be described as the best definition of selfishness I've ever seen. "The Word of the Lord you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" I mean how selfish is that? He gets a word from the Lord that Jerusalem and all in it will be carried off to a foreign land, and all he can think about is, "Well at least I won't be here to see that."

In Proverbs 13:22 it says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." It's interesting that when Hezekiah was sick he called out to the Lord to heal him, but when he heard what was going to happen to his own family and country he thought that was good, all because he wouldn't be around to experience it. Talk about being truly selfish at your core.

I don't know about you, but I want to learn from Hezekiah's example of what "not" to do. I don't want to be so selfish in my thinking that all I can think about is how will this effect me and what can I get for myself? I want to be that good man that leaves an inheritance for my children's children. Not the selfish dolt who spends everything on myself not caring what happens to my descendants down the line.

Get 'em up folks, there are enough selfish people out there, let's go whip something and be selfless in the process. For the Kingdom and the King!

What To Do?

2011-06-14T21:53:00.005-05:00

What do you do when you've been standing on God's Word and then something comes along and seemingly takes the wind right out of your sails? It is ironic that there is a storm brewing tonight where I live. I say that, because I got a phone call a little while ago telling me that my Pastor has gone missing once more. So there are two storms really brewing, one is an atmospheric disturbance that will indeed last a short while and then be gone. The other, we don't know when it will be over, because when it comes to things in the spiritual realm, we just don't have that kind of clarity.

Right now I can only imagine what is going on in the minds of his loved ones, and those who belong to the church that he started thirty years ago. I know that for me it is a mixture of shock and dismay. I believe what I prayed tonight, that just as God showed the prophet secrets that the enemy king spoke in his bedchamber, He would show someone the whereabouts of my Pastor. I believe my God answers prayer, and this time is no different.

But what do you do in a situation like this? First off, you stay in faith trusting that God is at work. What the enemy would love nothing more right now is to just get people scared and talking about things that they know nothing about. The facts are that he left yesterday around noon on his motorcycle and no one has heard from him since. But remember that as Christians, we fight the good fight of faith. And that is the fight to believe what God's Word says is true regardless of what any circumstances may try to say to us.

We're in a storm right now as a church, no doubt. But Christians were never promised that they wouldn't be in a storm, just that they would come out on the other side of it better than when they started. So cheer up my friends, keep the faith and don't let the enemy beat you down. Keep praying, but more importantly keep praising God for the safe return of our Pastor!

The Power Of A Cookie

2011-06-14T17:54:00.007-05:00

Why is it that when you aren't feeling quite on top of your game, a cookie can make things seem better? I know that's a strange thought, but then what else are you to expect from me? That's just who I am.

I don't know, maybe it hails back to the days when I was a kid living at home and had no real responsibilities, other than just not getting into too much trouble. Those were simpler times for sure; no mortgage, or bills showing up all throughout the month with unseen people desiring to take the money that I've worked so hard for all week long.

I used my imagination a lot when I was a kid too. I always spent my days building up some fort, laying out some elaborate battle with my little plastic soldiers or riding my bike all around the neighborhood, pretending that it was a space ship taking me to different planets around the known galaxy. I love that one part about my life as a child the most I think.

I guess cookies have some unseen power which takes me back to those simpler days, and I like that every now and again, it does my heart good. How about you? What takes you back to your favorite days?

Everybody Wants To Be Somebody

2011-06-14T10:36:00.008-05:00

I was thinking about how I really have a strong desire to make an impact on this planet for Jesus this morning, when I came across this picture on Facebook with the caption, "Help is on the way." My good friend Justin Kila is on his way to Cambodia to help bring freedom to at risk children and prostitutes. It is an interesting ministry, you can check it out here.

One of the main thoughts that I was having, was how I believe that everyone wants to be somebody, and make an impact. They may or may not want that impact to be about Jesus, but I feel this is a powerful motivation in everyone. No one wants to be a nobody, even if that is how they feel about themselves and how others see them.

When I say that I want to be somebody that makes an impact on the planet, I'm not saying that I want to be a millionaire (Although I wouldn't say no to it.) or anything. I have this drive inside that wants to make the world a little better place. It's like in the movie "Kingdom of

Heaven", Balian is shoeing the horses of Sir Godfrey his father when one of the knights points at the Latin phrase, "Nemo vir est qui mundum non reddat meliorem." and asks, "What does that mean? Balian responds, "What man is a man who does not make the world better?"

Making the world better should be the work of every person in their life. If we would all do just a little bit to improve the world we live in, we would see such a massive change it would shock us. The real problem as I see it, is that there are just a few people doing the majority of the work. The rest either don't see the importance, are just too busy, or they are just selfish. I'm not judging here, just trying to open some eyes to see that if, just if everyone would their part, we'd live in a much better place.

What about you? Do you want to be somebody? Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, then start where you are, do a little something today to make the world better, and in the process you will make yourself better as well. Well there's that, get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom of God today!

What Do You Believe?

2011-06-11T23:40:00.003-05:00

I was driving home tonight, listening to the Petra album "This Means War!". In particular, I was listening to the song, "Get On Your Knees And Fight Like A Man". One of the lines in the song is, "You'll pull down strongholds if you just believe you can." As I was singing along, I began to wonder what do I believe?

Believing is an important part of the Christian life. We are admonished over and over to believe first, then we will receive and see answers to our prayers. In Matthew 21:22 states, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." That is pretty plain isn't it? The qualifying part of that Scripture is the three words, "If you believe." So we must believe.

Believing for some people is much harder than for others. They are what I call the I'll believe it when I see it group. Unfortunately for them, they very rarely see answers to their prayers, and it is all because they have the cart before the horse so to speak. We will never see anything from God until we first believe that we do.

Everything that we get from the Kingdom of God comes according to the principle found in Romans 10:9 - 10. Believe in your heart, confess with your mouth and you will have what you desire. But how do you believe in something that you cannot see? Take electricity for instance, you can't see it yet you believe that when you flip a switch on your wall that lights will turn on. If you didn't believe that it would happen, you wouldn't flip the switch.

The way that I learn to believe something is by going to God's Word and seeing what He has to say about it. For instance, if I need to believe that I receive healing in my body, I first need to go to the Bible and see if it is actually God's will for me to be healed. Once I see that that is true, then I am able to believe that, I have received faith to believe.

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. If I want to believe something then I'm going to have to have faith for it, and to be able to get the faith I need, I'm going to have to go to God's Word and find it. We have the ability to believe whatever we want to believe, that is one of the attributes that God gave us when He created mankind. It would be unfair of Jesus to tell us that whatever we believe we will receive when we pray if in fact we are unable to believe. That is not the way that God works.

If you are having trouble believing, then get into God's Word and read what He has to say about stuff. It won't be long before you are believing for all kinds of things. Well, there's that. Strength and honor.

Are You Tolerating Stuff You Don't Have To?

2011-06-10T12:10:00.003-05:00

I was blowing my nose for the umpteenth time this morning when I thought, "How long am I going to put up with this?" Now I don't know if that was me thinking that thought, or if it was by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Either way, it is something that I want to ponder today.

In the Bible there are so many promises from God that belong to each and everyone of us. Now these promises are rightfully ours, but they don't just fall on us by chance. We have to appropriate (To take to or for oneself; take possession of.) each and every one of the promises. The thing I think is so awesome about this, is that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:33 - 35). That tells me that it is not who I am, what I have or my social standing that have anything to do with me getting what is mine from God.

I just have to use faith. Faith is the key to receiving anything from God. The Bible clearly states that without faith it is impossible to please God. So I'm thinking, "How long am I going to put up with my sinus passages flowing?" Not any longer. According to 1 Peter 2:24, Jesus took those stripes on His back to purchase my healing. In other words, He took the punishment for sickness so that I wouldn't have to. I don't have to tolerate sickness any longer. I'm promised victory, so I will walk in victory today!

No more sinus issues, no more snot as of this moment I claim the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ over my body, and my body must line up in accordance to God's Word. In the Name of Jesus, I, AM, HEALED! Thank You Father for providing this for me. How about you, are you tolerating things in your life that there is victory promised to you in God's Word? Step out in faith believing that what the Bible says is true and then go about your day thanking God for your answer. It is yours the moment you pray, just stay on the Word and don't back down until you get your victory!

Well, there's that folks. Get 'em up, let's go whip something for the Kingdom today!

Confessions Of A Male Chauvinist Pig

2011-06-09T18:38:00.010-05:00

For years now I have been saddled with the impression that I am a male chauvinist pig. Why do I have that impression you ask? Quite simple actually, my mother told me so.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming my mother or anything like that, I love her very much, as any son should. I just remember years ago when we would talk, she would tell me, "You're just like your grandfather, (Her dad.) and he was a male chauvinist pig."

I'll be honest, for years I had no idea what she was even talking about, but I learned, and I guess I kind of accepted the fact that I must be. After all, if your momma tells you that you are something, then isn't that kind of true? I mean moms don't lie to us do they?

The definition of a male chauvinist pig is: A male chauvinist pig was a term used in the 1960's among feminist for men, usually with some power (Such as an employer or professor.), who believed that men were superior and expressed that opinion freely in word and action.

I will admit that I have no problem expressing my opinions freely, if you have known me for any length of time you would agree. But I have never thought that men were superior to women. And especially since I've grown older, I've come to realize that women are for the most part smarter and even better looking than men.

I do believe that men can do some things better than women. Like for instance lifting heavy objects. Men have more red blood cells, which gives them the ability for greater strength. This is not a slam against women, because women as a general rule have a better threshold for pain. There are differences between the sexes, that much is true. But that doesn't make one better than the other. After all, I think a wise husband is one that leans on the strengths of his bride, and not one who ridicules her.

I do believe that we have lost a lot of things thanks in part to the feminist movement, and I'm not really sure that women have made the greatest leaps forward because of it. I have to admit that if I am a male chauvinist pig, it is not because I think women are any less than men, because God made us male and female on purpose. Adam was not lord over Eve, he was a co-laborer with her.

But I will have to go with what I heard Rush Limbaugh say one time; "I love the women's movement, especially when I'm walking behind it." Wait, does that make me a male chauvinist pig? Well, there's that. Strength and honor.

The Right To Bear Arms

2011-06-09T07:30:00.005-05:00

A couple of years ago, I put up a hummingbird feeder by my front porch. I don't really know why these little birds fascinate me so, but they do. I moved the feeder closer to my porch last year so that I could really get a good look at these amazing creatures.

We've had the occasional wasp showing up too which is annoying to say the least. My son Micah mentioned to me the other day that he'd been watching and that if there was a wasp on the feeder when the hummingbirds flew up, they would not stop to feed, they would just fly off. I put the feeder up to watch hummingbirds, not wasps. So you can understand my annoyance at having to watch these little red intruders keep the birds away.

Yesterday I was sitting on my porch and there were several of these bandits flying around and taking turns eating their breakfast. I have a can of wasp spray, but you know I don't want to spray them while they are close to the feeder, for fear that then the hummingbirds will die too. Then the thought hit me, why don't you shoot them with that air soft pistol?

I went into the room and dug through a box of toys until I found it; took out the clip, loaded it, then went and sat in my chair and waited for the wasps to show up. As one arrived and landed on the feeder, I carefully took aim and shot one of the plastic b-b's at the offender. High, and to the left. I re-aimed the pistol and shot again. Low and to the right. Cocking the pistol and slowing my breathing I pointed the gun at the wasp and slowly squeezed the trigger, bam! A small splat and my enemy went down for the count.

Realizing how well the pistol worked, I sat patiently and waited for more of the little buggers. In all I shot five of them yesterday with only one of them getting close to stinging me. Who would have thought that an air soft gun, a toy for children (and dads) to play, would become a lethal weapon for wasps on my front porch? Uh, oh gotta go, I hear a buzzing on my porch. Lock and load!

Are You A House Of Prayer, Or A Den Of Thieves?

2011-06-03T09:20:00.004-05:00

I had another odd thought this morning on the way to work, let me share it with you. You may know the story of when Jesus went into the temple and ran out the money changers, and those who sold doves. You can find it in three of the Gospels; Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17 or Luke 19:46. It is an interesting story, and one that shows the zeal of the Lord. But what I want to look at is this on a more personal level.

When we become born again, Jesus takes up residence in our hearts. Our bodies are referred to as the "temple of God" now. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Well if that is true, then what is inside of our temple? Are we a house of prayer, or are we a den of thieves? I think it bears looking into, don't you? Are we in fact doing what is right with our temple, or are we using it for things other than what God designed for it?

I guess what I've got to do in my own life is take a hard look at what is on the inside of me, and if I find things that are contrary to God's Word, or things that I know the Father would not like me doing, then I need to do what Jesus did in the temple and run those things out. Anything that the Holy Spirit reveals to me I need to be honest and take a long hard look at how I need to rid myself of that hindrance to making my temple God's house of prayer.

How about you? Are there things in your life that maybe need to be removed? Are you willing to take a hard look at them and make the necessary adjustments in your life? I hope so. Well there's that, let's get 'em up folks and go whip something for the Kingdom!

They're Captives, Not Idiots

2011-06-02T11:30:00.004-05:00

While at work the other day, a group of young people walked through my door. I looked up from what I was doing to see a couple of guys and girls, all tattooed and pierced in just about every area that you could see. They were dressed in a hodge podge of clothes ranging from shorts, to tank tops and pajama bottoms, not at all professional. The guy leading the pack walked up to the check out counter and asked, "Hey, are you hiring?" To which I replied, "No." As they all turned and walked out the door, I thought to myself, "I'm not hiring idiots." And went back to what I had been doing.

It was at this moment that the Holy Spirit convicted my heart for what I had been thinking, and I said out loud, "You're right Lord, those kids aren't idiots, they're captives." And that set me to thinking. I probably have had a bad habit of judging books by their covers, I'll admit it. I'm not the best when it comes to looking past the outside of a person, and making judgments. Yeah, I know this is a bad thing and the Lord has been working on me about this for years. I will say that I am much better now, than I was in years past, so there is hope for me.

It was this thought that those kids who came in my store were captives of the enemy that really stuck out to me for the rest of the day. I thought about those kids, and wondered what influence if any they have had by Christians. I know that while it is not my job to try and save everyone, or even help every young person that I come in contact with, I am to show the love of Jesus to them. I hadn't done that, and if they knew that I was a Christian, then could I have been another in a long line of Christians who instead of reaching out, passed judgement and had written them off? And if that was the case, what would their thoughts be about the Savior who loved them enough to die for them? Oh, here is another level of wretchedness that I've not seen about myself before.

Okay, so I'll admit it, this is not looking so good for old Dave today. Once again, I've been laid open and filleted by the Father so as to reveal another character flaw. Don't get me wrong, when He shows me these, it is for my good, because I know that Jesus wants me to be a better man today, than I was yesterday. And I want that too, even if it is painful sometimes to admit things like this.

I did a disservice to those young people the other day, and in doing so I may have added to their prison sentence, instead of helping them discover the true freedom that comes from knowing Jesus. How about you? Is this something that you have done yourself? How could you better interact with people who are not idiots, they're captives of the enemy in need of freedom? Let's get 'em up folks, and go win some people for the Kingdom today!

How Long Is The Battle Supposed To Last?

2011-06-01T17:36:00.006-05:00

I think it would be a fair assumption on my part to think that you the reader understand that everyone has challenges in their lives. And that no one is exempt from them either, regardless if you are a good person or a bad. Whatever you want to call it; karma, reaping what you have sown, or just the way of the world, the truth of the matter is no matter what, everyone faces battles in their lives. So we better prepare ourselves.

So with that thought established let me move on to my thought: "How long is the battle suppose to last?" Really, I think this is a fair question to ask, because unless we have some idea of how long we must stand and fight, we can and will lose hope and eventually lose heart. And when there is a loss of heart, morale goes down and men cannot fight as well and then defeat is just a hands breath away.

I really enjoy movies which depict men having to battle overwhelming odds and come out the victor. Scarred, battered and bruised maybe, but victorious over their enemies. The really interesting thing is that it doesn't usually happen in a half an hour. But that is what has happened to us in America anyways isn't it? We watch 30 - 60 minute television programs where by the end of the show whatever conflict started at the beginning will be completely resolved and everyone loving each other again.

Transition that reality (Which really isn't, but our minds want to think it is.) into your own personal family life and see if one of your conflicts with your teenager resolves itself in an hour. In our home, they usually lasted 3 - 4 hours with all of us going to bed exhausted, and very rarely had any agreements having been reached. It usually was several days before we had everything back to normal.

When we try and put these unrealistic expectations on ourselves, we end up being set up for a fall. I think that this is one of the ways that the enemy uses to get us to lose heart. I mean think about it for a minute; you read God's Word that healing belongs to you, you get faith to believe for your healing, then the cold that has latched itself to you decides to stay on for 4 or 5 days. Isn't our first thought, "Why isn't God's Word working?" Well who's to say that it's not. After all where do you see in the Bible that healing comes with a time frame?

I read in the Word that by Jesus's stripes I am healed, (1 Peter 2:24) but I don't see in there where it states that my physical symptoms leave the moment that I pray and believe. You see this is where we miss it the most. We see in the Bible stories that Jesus did something and in an instant the people got what they needed. Then we think if it doesn't happen for us that way, we didn't get it. And nothing could be further from the truth!

We do receive our answer the moment that we believed and prayed, but that doesn't mean we will actually see the manifestation of it right at that moment. We may actually have to fight the good fight of faith. (1 Timothy 6:12) Just because we are fighting the good fight of faith, does not mean there isn't going to be a fight. Fighting the good fight of faith just means that we are fighting a fight that we will win. (Some times immediately, and some times eventually.)

You see, what the fight of faith actually is, is the fight (Within our minds.) to believe that what God's Word says is true, regardless of what everything else around us is saying. (To our physical senses.) I would say that the fight could go on for a while. There is nothing written in stone as to how long we must endure and fight the good fight of faith, just that we are to fight it, never surrendering.

So what are you going to do now? I know that I am going to continue to fight to believe that what God's Word says is true, regardless of what my physical senses are telling me. You know, I'm pretty sure that men fighting on the battlefield don't quit fighting with the enemy if they are unable to vanquish them in just a few hours. No, they keep fighting with everything that they've got, because the moment that they quit, they die. So let's learn from that example and fight to believe with every fiber of our beings. Well there's that, get 'em up folks, and let's go whip something for the Kingdom!

What About You Dad, Are You Causing Your Family To Sin?

2011-06-01T08:35:00.005-05:00

I was reading in my Bible this morning in the book of 1 Kings and saw something in verse 26 that while I have read numerous times, the Holy Spirit brought out a level of meaning that I had not seen before. It says: "He (The current King of Israel.) did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit."

The thought came to me that a king can cause his subjects to sin, and a father can also lead his family to sin. Now let me tell you, that made me sit up and take notice. I've been on this journey of discovering what a true authentic man of God is for quite some time now, and today I think I've put another piece of the puzzle into place. I don't have a complete picture yet, but it is coming more and more into focus all the time.

As fathers, we lead our families in the way that God wants us to go, if we are doing it correctly. This can be a little bit overwhelming if we will let it however. And the reason that it can become overwhelming is if in fact we are trying to do this on our own. The more we lean on our own understanding of things, the more we will become stressed when things get tough. You see, we were never made to figure everything out on our own. If that were the case, then why did God say that if we lacked wisdom we should ask Him for some? (James 1:5)

What I think is one of the biggest problems that men have, is this tendency to isolate themselves and think that they should be able to handle any situation that comes along. Then when they fail (And eventually, they will.) that failure sends them into a downward spiral that causes them to go even more into isolation and the failures come even faster.

We were never meant to do this alone, and when we do, the leading of our families goes awry and they begin to do things on their own. We, as men, are the source for all the needs our families have. Our source as men, is God. So when our family has a need they bring it to us, and we in turn bring it to the Father, and He supplies our need so that we can supply theirs. If we are alone in this, then we have no source, and when our family brings their need to us, our supply gets depleted and we fall into sin.

By our example, our family then falls into sin as well, and before you know it, you have led your family into sin, just as some of the kings in the Bible led Israel astray and after other gods. It's insidious, and something that the enemy has been using for a very long time. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

What we as men have to do, is to lean more and more on the Holy Spirit as our helper, asking God to reveal to us what our next step is. We need to let our families see us pray, and ask for help. We need to let them see where our help comes from, and in doing so they will begin to have faith to seek His help as well. Fathers are responsible to teach their children about God, this does not mean you have to have a set devotion time every day. (Something that is terribly difficult in our fast paced world nowadays.)

Just make the most of all the time you have with your children. Teach them Scripture as you drive to sporting events, have them read a passage from the Bible as you're driving them to school, or to a friend's house. Pray together (And keep it short.), ask them what they are needing from the Lord and agree with them about it. Most of all however, as fathers let your kids see that you love your bride, kiss her, hug her and make a game out of grossing your kids out with your affection.

Men, we don't have to lead our families into sin, if we will keep ourselves centered on what we are supposed to do, be humble to ask God for help and be transparent with our brides and kids, they will be transformed into what they are supposed to be for God. So men, get 'em up and let's go lead our families into the Kingdom!

But I Said It All In Fun...

2011-05-31T08:08:00.008-05:00

There is something that I have begun to notice in the last year or so, and am starting to take note of more and more. This is something that I need to correct in my life, but then it may need correction in yours as well, so read on. It's this thing of people hurting each other with their words, all in the name of a little bit of fun. What I mean is, we say hurtful things to others, in such a way that we mean to be playful, but in reality ends up hurting the other person, even though they refuse to show it.

Of course when we do this, we say, "Oh, I didn't mean anything by that, I'm just having a bit of fun." And that may in fact be true, but what does it say about our character as Christians? I mean, didn't Jesus say that people would know that we are His disciples because we have love one to another? (John 13:35)

I have made the statement for years, that if I don't hassle you, then it means that I don't like you. I'm beginning to re-think that now. I mean, could I have been doing damage all these years, thinking that it is all in jest, and that has somehow caused people more harm, and inadvertently I have been helping the enemy to hinder my brothers and sisters in Christ?

Now, please understand me here, I'm not trying to place a list of do's and don'ts in front of you, that is not how the grace of God works. But take just a minute and think about it, have your words been full of grace to those that hear them? Or have they been more condescending, snarky and judgmental?

As I read in Ephesians 4 this morning I came across this passage of Scripture. Let's look at it in the Amplified Translation:

²⁹Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.

³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).

³¹Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).

³²And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

This is stout language to us isn't it? I mean it seems pretty clear to me here that the Holy Spirit is showing us something that is important, it is important enough that He mentions the use of our words several times. In verse 27 of that passage, it also says,

27 Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].

We are told not to give a foothold for the devil to use, to give him no opportunity to either a) use your words against you or b) to use your words against others. If we say something in a joking manner, even "IF" we are truly joking, the enemy can take the words that we speak and twist them in the hearing of the person that hears them into something else. You know this to be true, because we've all had that happen to us at one time or another in our lives.

I am seeing today that it is vital not only what we say to others, but how we say things to them as well. I am going to begin to ask myself, "Self, how would you feel if someone said that to you?" If I don't like the answer, then I'll change what I'll say. This may mean that you will not hear me say as much, but then a fool is counted as a wise man when he holds his tongue. (Proverbs 17:28)

Well, there's that. Let's get 'em up folks and go out and be a blessing for the Kingdom today!

Demoralization

2011-05-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

There is this little insidious tool that the enemy has in his arsenal that he likes to use against believers. I have experienced this to a certain degree in the last few months and I can tell you that it is subtle and creeps up on you like a snake in tall grass. It's called "demoralization" and it can kill you if you let it. The definition for demoralization is, to undermine the confidence or morale of; dishearten. Let me explain what I mean with an example from my own life.

As you know if you have read my blog for any length of time, I am a Christian, a born again believer in Jesus Christ. This does not mean that my life is without challenges, not at all. Every life has its share of them, so to think that just because I'm a Christian will exempt me from problems is just not true. I have been walking with the Lord for a long time now, and I had, while I was in the shower yesterday this thought, (While coughing and hacking up a lung.) "Oh come on, are you kidding me? I'm going to have congestion and the mucus fun now? What the heck? It's just one thing after another!" And then my heart sank within me.

I'm no novice at this Christianity thing, I may not be a father in the faith yet, but I'm no novice. I realize that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, (Matthew 5:45) but for some reason I felt demoralized standing there in the shower. It seemed as if everything that I had ever wanted to do for the Lord was slipping through my fingers like the soap bubbles off of my body. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, and I wanted to whine a little bit. (Yes, you heard my correctly, I wanted to whine.) I finished getting ready for church and my bride, daughter and I left to go meet with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We attended both services yesterday and I am so glad that we did. The first service was good, and my friend Daniel Shirley brought forth a strong word from the Lord about how the stone had been rolled away and that we should stop living under the law, and live under the grace that Jesus purchased for us. But it was during the second service, while Daniel was preaching that he made a comment about something my Pastor David Emigh had taught him. He said, "Preparation time is never wasted time, unless you waste it." And that made me sit up and take notice.

For a while now, I've been trying to understand the movings of the Spirit of God in my heart. There is something on the horizon for me and my family, but I'm not quite sure as to what it is. I've been searching, and asking but as of yet it is still a little hazy, the clarity has not come yet. And while I await the clarity, it seems that there has been one thing after another that has assaulted my heart for quite some time now. The death of my son, business appearing to not go as well as it used to and my not knowing where it is that God is leading me and my family right at this moment, and yesterday the fact that God's provision for my health was not where I wanted it to be. All of these things have been sucking the life out of me, and the real problem is that I have allowed them to.

You see here in lies the problem, it's not really the subtle attacks of the enemy that are major issue, it's the response that we give to them. The Bible teaches that the power of life and death are in our tongues (Deuteronomy 30:19). So when the attacks come, what are "WE" doing with them? Do we take a que sara, sara, whatever will be will be attitude? Or do we look a little closer into God's Word and find out what His provisions are for the thing we find ourselves in and take action?

Daniel and I were talking last night at dinner and he made the comment to me that after the sixth day, God quit creating. He put His creative power in mankind, and it is now up to us to create using our mouths. We really do have what we say, so what we need to be saying is what God's Word says about our situations, and not what we feel like saying. I've heard people say quit telling God how big your mountain (challenges) is, and tell the mountain how big your God is. And if we'll do that, then the weapon of demoralization will not have any effect on our lives.

Okay, so there's that...get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom today!

The Responsibility Belongs To Us, The Individual Believer

2011-05-29T06:45:00.000-05:00

This morning I was reading in Ephesians 4:1-16 and the Holy Spirit did that "highlighting" thing again. I saw in verse 1 that Paul assumes that we each have a calling that is given to us by Jesus, the gift is found in verse 8. What that is specifically you need to take time with the Father and find out, it will be different for each of us.

Paul then goes on to tell us that we need to be completely humble and gentle; to be patient, bearing with one another in love. Or in David's vernacular, "using love, put up with one another". He then goes on to tell the disciples (us) to make every effort to stay in the unity through the bond of peace. Now what I really find interesting about this point is that he tells "us" not them to make every effort. That tells me that it will be opposed, but that I need to be the one to make the attempt, and stop waiting on others.

How often do we see people that perhaps drain us emotionally, or just kind of get under our skin? I know that it happens to me, so it must happen to you as well, if you will actually admit it. My first thoughts are usually to go the other way, try not to make eye contact, or if I do end up having a conversation with this person, I try to minimize it as much as possible. That's not what I see that Paul is telling me to do here. I need to make the effort to keep the peace, and to make the other person feel good about themselves.

In verse 11 Paul talks about the five-fold ministry gifts; the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. These five gifts were given to the body of Christ so that it (the body of Christ) might be built up and reach the unity in the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God. To become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Basically what that means is that these five gifts to the body are there to help the body grow.

They are not to grow the body, what I mean is that it is not the job of the five-fold ministry to be the only people that are witnessing about the Lord Jesus Christ and making disciples. They should do that on a personal level yes, but as a part of the five-fold gifting that God has given us they are to help us (the body of Christ) to grow into what we are supposed to be doing; leading people to the Lord and making disciples.

What I've seen for too long is church members trying to get people to come to church in the hopes that when they come, the pastor or one of the other staff members can lead them to the Lord. I don't discount the fact that we should be inviting people to church, or that we shouldn't have altar calls at our church services, but that is not the main way that people come to know Jesus.

Jesus told us to go and make disciples. A lot of people will say, yes Jesus did say that, but He was telling the apostles to go and do that. And that is where the enemy has had us as believers for years. Letting us think that it was the job of the church staff to take care of this and not ours. We are called sheep and the pastors are called shepherds, sheep recreate sheep, not shepherds. What shepherds do is protect the sheep from wolves and make sure that they are fed and taken care of, sounds a little bit like what the five-fold ministry is for huh?

So I submit to you the reader, that if we are not seeing our church families grow then perhaps we need to take a look at ourselves instead of our leadership, and ask ourselves if we are in fact doing everything that we can to make disciples. Are we forming relationships and using the gift that God has placed inside of us to win the lost? If your answer is no, then maybe it's time for you to start. And if you don't know how, then ask the leadership at your church, and hey here's a novel idea, why don't we ask God? After all I'm pretty sure He knows what to do.

Well there's that folks, get 'em up, let's go whip something for the Kingdom today!

What Is Memorial Day Anyway?

2011-05-27T07:38:00.000-05:00

On the last Monday in May ever since I can remember we have celebrated Memorial Day. It usually means a day off of work, or a long weekend for many. Oh, I know any more it has become just another holiday to spend time with friends and loved ones. It is typically hailed as the first cookout of summer, a time to break out the boat and camping gear and go party.

But do you really know what Memorial Day is for real? Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. What that means, is that we, as a country have set aside one day out of our year where we remember all of those men and women who have died serving their country.

Now I don't want to be a downer, but how have we taken this day which is set aside to remember all of our fallen soldiers and turned it into a holiday to be celebrated around hot dogs and visits to the lake? That cheapens it for those families of the soldiers we are supposed to be remembering doesn't it?

I'm not telling you to stop your weekend celebrations, not at all, but I would like to encourage you to stop for just a moment and give thanks to God for the sacrifice of all of the men and women who have died serving their country. Who's sacrifice without, we might not have the freedom to celebrate with hot dogs and lake visits.

Let's remember our fallen soldiers and be safe this holiday weekend.

I Love The Smell Of Hash Browns In The Morning

2011-05-27T06:49:00.000-05:00

I have been awake now for one hour, and this morning when I got out of bed I was famished. This happens sometimes when I eat right before going to bed the night before. So in an unusual manner and different than my usual morning routine, I turned on the oven and put in some frozen hash browns to eat.

A short while later, I went to pour myself another cup of coffee and walked past the oven to check the timer and see how much longer I would have to wait until those golden brown potatoes would be ready and saw that I had ten more minutes to wait. "What?!?" I thought. "How can that be, it feels like it's been an hour already!"

Have you ever noticed that when you're hungry and cooking some food that time just sort of stands still? I know the law of physics state that only fifteen minutes has indeed passed, but in my mind it seems like it has been longer. And none of this is helping that gnawing, rumbling sensation that is going on in my stomach.

How often does that happen to you spiritually? Just as our flesh cries out for sustenance, so does our spirit man. Only I don't have the sensation in my spirit that tells me to eat something like I do in my flesh. I mean if my spirit man cried out as loudly as my flesh did, I'd probably do more to feed him don't you think? How about you? Does your spirit man cry out for you to feed him or her?

Most people will feed their flesh three square meals a day, not to mention snacks, but when it comes to their spirit, they will only feed it a couple of cold snacks a week. And why is that do you suppose? What makes us spend more time on our flesh than on our spirit, even when we know that it is out of our spirits where the issues of life flow?

It can't be a lack of teaching, for most that is, because this generation is probably the most well taught generation of Christians there has ever been. Is it because as the news purports, that we as a people are just selfish? No, I don't believe that is it because we see people helping out when there are major disasters around the country. What I think the cause of this is, is the lack of discipleship.

Are you truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus? Do you spend time, on your own studying the Scriptures and spending time with the Lord daily? Or do you just go to church, expecting that the staff there will teach you all that you need to know in order to become a spiritual giant? That just won't happen. Going to church, while a good thing to do and we should, is not where we are truly discipled.

Remember what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth." That Scripture tells me that there is something that I need to be doing in my own spiritual life. What is God speaking to your heart? What areas of your life is He wanting to help you make changes? Are you even hearing His voice? These are things that we learn by actually having a relationship with the Father God, and that is what makes us disciples.

So how about some spiritual hash browns? Let's feed our spirits daily, just like we feed our flesh. Take the next thirty days and make a new habit for yourself, one of reading God's Word and listening for Him to show you things to come, and studying the Word for yourself. In doing so, I believe that your spirit man will begin to hunger after the things of God more and more. So get 'em up folks, and let's go whip something for the Kingdom today!

The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand and Heaven, Are They Different?

2011-05-26T09:40:00.001-05:00

Jesus made the following statement while He was on the Earth, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now I think that anytime you see Jesus say something, then it probably is something that we should take note of. But I think this statement gets caught up in the religiosity of the Christian community and takes on something other than what Jesus perhaps meant.

Here is what I mean, Jesus says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." and we hear, "Everything you will ever need you will have in Heaven." You've heard it said, and maybe even said it yourself to friends, family members and co-workers that are not born again, "Don't you want to get saved so you can go to Heaven?" (And yes, I too have used that lame line to try and win someone to the Lord. Father forgive me for misrepresenting You in that way.)

Yes I believe that if you die, and have been born again you will go to Heaven, but I don't believe for a minute anymore that that is the end all of what Jesus purchased for us with His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Everything that Jesus did, He did for us here on Earth. He came to return us to the original design. (That would be Adam & Eve in the Garden with a personal relationship with God the Father.) Yet, we cheapen it for so many people when all we try and do is get them saved without telling them what the real purpose is for that.

We were designed to have fellowship with the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, that is God's original idea. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve we fell, and that relationship was cut off. God sent Jesus to die for us, in our place, for the punishment of that sin so that we could return to the fellowship that God had desired in the first place. But until we actually accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we cannot be a part of that.

Look at Luke 4:17 -1 9: And there was delivered to Jesus the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And then He sat down and said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

Jesus told the people there that this is why He had come, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. We have everything that we need right now, are you poor, the Kingdom can make you rich; are you brokenhearted? Jesus was sent to heal your broken heart. Are you bound, then deliverance is yours. Can you not see (Either for real or spiritually?), then you can recover your sight. He has brought us liberty, and the year of jubilee, which when it happened meant you get all your stuff back! Hallelujah! That's good news.

So this whole thing is for the here and now, not in the by and by. We can have all of our needs met, whatever they are in the here and now, if we will just believe and act in faith. I don't know about you, but that makes me want to do a little happy dance. (Something I took time to do just now.) I am getting excited about my future, it is a bright one, and I will be operating in the Kingdom of God today, not when I get to Heaven, how about you?

Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom of God today!

Discipline and Children

2011-05-26T07:35:00.000-05:00

Last night while at church, I was talking with a friend that was in from out of town when I noticed that she was carrying a freshly made wooden paddle. I asked her if a man in my church had made that for her, and she said, "Yes he did."

My bride and I are no strangers to the wooden paddle, we've actually owned somewhere in the neighborhood of six to ten of them over the years. We've owned that many because I'm pretty sure that my son Noah had thrown a lot of them in the trash when we weren't looking. We did finally get smart and start keeping the paddle up high where our kids couldn't reach them.

I will say that for us, we believe in the use of corporal punishment as a way of training children. We do not believe in abusing children, and while I won't say we never disciplined our children when we were angry, we did our very best when we had to spank them to always do so in a loving and controlled manner.

I know that there are those who say that if you spank your children, you will only teach them that hitting is okay. And I would agree with that assessment to a certain degree, let me explain. If you are spanking your child without some ground rules, then you may very well be causing more harm than good. Let's take a look at some of the basic points in disciplining your child with a paddle, then we will break each of them down specifically.

Never spank your child for an offense that you haven't first explained to them.
Never spank your child when you are angry.
Never spank your child using your hand. (Hands are made for holding and loving your child, not hitting.)
Never spank your child and then just walk away. Always love on them afterwards.

Let me explain number 1, your house should have a set of rules that your children obey. They need to be age specific, that is don't make them too hard for your kids to understand, keep them simple. Things like, obey instantly, don't fight with your brothers or sisters and respect your parents. Explain these things to your kids, and tell them what the consequences are if they don't. Then the first time that they break one of the rules, sit them down and explain to them once more, making them repeat back to you what the rule is.

After that, when they break the rules, you talk to them, explaining what they've done wrong and have them repeat back to you what they did wrong (So that you know that they understand.) and then you give them a couple of swats on their butt (This is where the discipline should happen, not their face, arms, legs or anywhere else, just their butt.)

Now, for number 2, you should never discipline your child while you're angry. I know that from time to time it will happen, but you should do everything in your power to remain calm while you are doling out their punishment. It's not easy, but it can be done. If you need to take a minute and calm yourself down, do that, then proceed with the punishment. Remember, the reason you are punishing your child is to help them learn to replace the bad behavior with the good. And this won't happen if you are angry.

Number 3, never ever spank your children with your hands. In our home, we taught our kids to fear the paddle, not their parents. We love our children, as I'm sure that you love yours. We wanted to keep the relationship, (And parenting is all about relationships.) and not have our children fearing us. I have seen too many children recoil when their parents reach out for them with outstretched arms, and that is never good. Always remember we are to love our kids, and part of that comes from disciplining them, but in the right way.

Having the correct tool will help in this too. I don't like belts, switches or anything like that, what we used was a half inch thick, twelve inch long solid wooden paddle to get the point across to our children, and it works. I mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning again, when you are paddling your child, do so on their butt. That is the one area that God made us able to take this form of punishment. Also, when you are administering the spanking, do so that it leaves an impression but not a bruise. If you are bruising your children, then you are doing it incorrectly. In the state of Oklahoma (Where I live.) it is actually a misdemeanor offense to leave a bruise.

And number 4; once you've talked with your child to make sure they understand why they are getting a spanking, you've made sure that you are not angry while administering the punishment and you then have paddled their butt, be sure that you love on them. What we always did with our kids was give them a couple of minutes to cry it out (After all if they aren't crying then it didn't hurt and you didn't do your job right.) then we would have them come to us, we'd dry their tears and together we would pray and ask God to forgive them for what they had done wrong. After that we would love on our kids which let them know that we loved them so much.

Spanking, when done correctly takes about five minutes and helps to train the child in making the adjustments necessary so that they can become the productive member of society that they need to be. And if this is begun when they are little, then by the age of 8 - 10 you usually will find that you won't have to be spanking much at all. I've heard just about every argument against spanking a child, but none of them lead children where they need to go as well as using a paddle and following a designated plan. Well, there's that, remember be your kid's friend, but also their parents, because they need you as a parent now, the friendship will come later.

Hope Springs Eternal

2011-05-25T08:41:00.000-05:00

"Hope springs eternal." I've heard this phrase for most of my life, but it wasn't until I encountered it at home with my dog the other day that I actually realized the true meaning behind it. We've got this little dog, her name is Midge and she is a Corgi / Yorkie mix. She actually belongs to my daughter and sleeps in her room, but I love her more than I ever thought I would.

Midge loves to play fetch, and when I mean she loves to play fetch, I mean she really loves it. She will chase after anything you throw, and she's quick to run after it and bring it back to you so that you can throw it again. (She's getting better at actually bringing it back to me, I used to have to get up and go get the object, now she lays it at my feet.) And even if I don't want to play fetch, she will bring things and lay them at my feet anyway, and begin the ritual of nudging my foot, or blowing air out of her nose in an attempt to get my attention. It's actually part of the game, and I thoroughly enjoy watching her try to get me to play.

We are still working on getting her outside to use the restroom instead of under my daughter's bed (Midge's preferred place to go do her business.) and when we go to take her outside, we will open the front door and say, "Come on Midge, let's go outside and go to the bathroom." (And yes, she is smart enough to understand what we are saying.) The funny thing is that Midge will not go outside if you just stand there and hold the door open for her, she will actually wait until we step out on the front porch too.

What I find really interesting, and this is where the phrase "Hope springs eternal" comes into play, is the fact that once we've stepped out onto the porch, Midge runs through the doorway fully expecting to go and play every time, even though we turn and go right back into the house. She fully believes that we are going to go with her and play her game.

This is where I want to be in my life. Where I fully expect and have hope that what I want to have happen, will happen each and every time regardless of whether or not it actually does. As humans I think that we have a tendency to give up too easily. If we don't see what we desire happen quickly, then we think it won't happen at all. We throw in the towel so fast, and I believe that often we quit right before seeing the very thing that we are desiring. I know that this has happened in my life way too many times.

I don't know if dogs can actually think, or have the capacity to know what's really going on around them, but I know this one thing, my little dog has me beat in the area of expectation and hope, even though probably 90 percent of the time it doesn't come to pass for her. I would have never thought I'd be looking to a dog to help me grow as a person, but I hope that I can grow in and have hope like she does.

Well there's that folks, get 'em up, let's go whip something for the Kingdom of God today!

Settling Accounts, King David & The Godfather

2011-05-24T07:20:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite movies is The Godfather. It is a dark tale about the mafia and the nefarious underworld in which they live true, but the thing that I love about this movie is not that, but the story Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola tell about the family.

What I found interesting this morning as I was reading in 1 Kings 2 about the death of King David and his final words to his son Solomon, was a parallel I'd never seen before. King David instructs his son to remain close to God, to follow in all of His ways, and to stay true to the law of Moses with all of his heart and soul, so that there will always be someone from the house of David sitting on the throne of Israel.

But then in verse 5 David says, "And there is something else..." and he begins to talk about some of the men who had caused problems for him. He tells Solomon to, "Do what you think is best." As I was reading this, a scene from the Godfather came to mind. Michael Corleone and his father are sitting in the garden talking about things that are to come in the very near future.

VITO CORLEONE:

So - Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust - guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated.

(Later) Now listen - whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting - he's the traitor don't forget that.

Then after the death of his father, Michael Corleone proceeds to take out the heads of the five families. It was an interesting thing for me this morning to see King David as an old man telling his son what to do after he was gone, and Vito Corleone instructing his son Michael in very much the same manner. Two powerful men, settling accounts with men who had done their fathers wrong.

Who would have ever thought that I would have seen something from the Bible like that in the movie The Godfather? Strange I know, but then strange is what works for me. Well there's that...strength and honor....