Bananas

My family and I love bananas. We love to eat them, and sometimes go bananas. Bananas are one of the staple snack foods in my house. This is great because they are a healthy alternative to some of the junk food out there. It seems like we buy a bunch every week, and sometimes twice a week. However, every once in a while, we will have a lull in the number of bananas we eat in a week. They are left on the counter and become mushy and brown. They turn into something that we do not want to eat, or worthless to us. Now my wife, being the excellent mom/wife/cook that she is, will take those bad bananas, mix in some cinnamon, raisins, sugar, and flour and make homemade banana bread. It is so delicious. This makes me think of how God sees us and what He can do with us. What is my worth in this world? Nothing. In God's eyes I am a sinful, wretch of a man. On my own, I am not worthy of anything. However, I have forgiveness of my sins. I have turned my life over to Him. I am doing my best to honor Him, and deprive myself. 2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation," Just like my wife takes something that seems to be worthless and ready for the trash and turns it into something that is wonderful, God can do the same in us. When we become saved, we are a new creature. That means that we change our lives. The things(sins) that we once enjoyed, we will no longer need or want. We are turned into a being whose purpose is to glorify God in all that we do. This pleases Him. Just as the banana bread is pleasing to my family. So just remember, when you feel alone, and like the pressure of this world are on you, and when you sin, that God can take anything, or anyone, and make a blessing out of it.

Thanks and God Bless You all this week!

What do we pray for?

I am forever amazed at the faith of a child. We have prayer time every evening with our children before we put them to bed. We start by teaching the "Now I lay me" prayers while they are small, and then we pray when they are finished. After a while my son stopped his usual prayers and started trying to pray like us. He prays for the sick, the lost, our pastor, and even "baby Lauren in mommy's tummy." And as he has gotten older, his prayers are longer. He even asks the Lord to bless the prayer that his little sister just said. It makes me stop and think about the things we pray about. We pray about the things that worry us all the time, but do we thank Him for our blessings? Have we ever thought about the fact that sometimes He allows things to happen so that we will grow and glorify Him? Sometimes bad things happen to get our attention. They help us see our need for Him. Do we thank Him for those as well? Acts 16:23-25 "When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;" Paul and Silas were singing praises to God after a horrible beating, instead of begging for deliverance. We should condition ourselves to look to see what God is doing in our lives in every situation, and be thankful, not only for the good, but for the bad things that He has brought us through. I am going to close this with the lyrics of a song that I heard recently that moved me to think about what I pray for. The name of the song is "Blessings" by Laura Story.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It's not our home

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

Thanks and God Bless You this week!