Praise You in This Storm

This has been a devastating week for my home, and community.  On Friday, October 7th we started seeing the early rain bands of Hurricane Matthew.  This rain and wind continued until Saturday night.  All in all, we received around 15 inches of rain at my house, and some areas around us received more.  Dams have give way, and many of the communities in my county are underwater.  Many have been without power for almost a week now.  Many of our roads are closed due to flooding, and some have even been washed away.  And even more sadly, there have been some in my community to lose their lives as a result of this storm.

With all of this loss, I know many people would ask the question of why these things happen?  Why does God allow things of this nature to occur?  Let me give you my humble opinion to these questions.

#1 - My God is always in control.
It is not my place to question why things happen in this world.  I serve a wonderful loving God who has a perfect will, and a perfect purpose for all things.  And, it is not my place to understand until he is ready for me to understand.  He knows everything in my future, and has a reason for the here and now.  Maybe, just maybe, what I go through now is preparing me for what may come in the future.  And because of this moment, I will be prepare for what He needs me to do when that time comes.

Isaiah 55:8-9
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."

#2 - We seek the Lord through humility.

Do we really live our lives with the true understanding of who our Lord truly is?  God is not a buddy, nor a relative we only speak of during certain occasions.  He is our Lord, and our Creator.  Regardless of how we may see Him, He is the Almighty.  It is only by His grace that we have the right to His forgiveness, the right to pray to Him, and the right to be His children.  When we come to Him, it should be done humbly, without pride.  I believe that sometimes God allows things to happen to get our attention.  Maybe He is trying to show us how much we really need the peace and comfort that only He can give.  We when become proud and comfortable, we lose sight on our need for our Savior.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

#3 - A chance to witness
One thing I have been amazed of in this time of struggles, is the number of Christians I see reaching out to those in need.  I have seen where many are volunteering to help with damage to homes, offering hot showers and meals to those without power, and others taking their own boats into flooded areas to rescue those that were stranded.  As Christians, we have to understand that our actions are our greatest witness.  Many people can quote scriptures at the drop of a hat, but the real question is, can you show them in your life?  As we said when I was growing up, you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?  Times like these give us a real chance to show the love of God that lives inside of us.  Are we taking the chance to share that with those around us?

James 1:22

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves"

I choose to praise God for this storm that we are living through.  Because I know, that even in the midst of struggle and loss, my God is right there beside me.  He never left my side.  And I know that He has a perfect purpose.  I choose to look for the opportunities He has provided me, instead of looking at all the bad that is around.  I choose to trust in the one who knows what my future holds, and who has ordained all of my steps.  What do you choose?

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all!

Feeling Far Away From God?

Life is always full of unexpected turns.  We never know where we are going next, or how we are going to get there.  Along with this journey are times of joy, and times of dread.  It is in the times of dread that we begin to question what is going on in our lives to make it so bad.

I think all of us at one time or another have experienced rough times in our lives and questioned where God was during our suffering.  My response to all believers when I here this question is:

Who moved?

Deuteronomy 31:8
"The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Those that trust in God have nothing to fear from Him leaving us.  When we feel a thousand miles away, we are the ones that have caused that distance.  Not Him.  He is always right there.  We just have to reach out.  His mercy and grace has no end.

So, the next time you feel far away from God, all you have to do is lift your eyes to Him where you are.  I promise, He is right there.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all this week.

Preparing for the New Year!

Alright everyone, how many of you have already made your New Year's Resolutions that you know you will not be keeping?  HaHa...I know right.  This is a time in which we always seem to stress some sort of renewal in how we live our lives.  Most of the time they deal with losing weight, exercising more, reading more books, or managing our money better.  Maybe others set goals for their work and school.  But, no matter how hard we try in the beginning, we usually fail.  And you know what, that's ok.  We are human.

Is it not great to know that we have a Savior who looks beyond our imperfections if we truly belong to Him?  Even with all the things we try to do, we will still fall short of the glory of God.  But, the true message of Grace covers a multitude of failures.  The bible is full of individuals who strived to serve God to their best ability, and yet had their own shortcomings.  David's lust, Peter's denial, Abraham's lies, and Moses' inability to follow directions are just a few examples of true powerhouses for God, that were still human and made their mistakes.

There seems to be a misconception among some that Christians can reach a point to which they no longer sin.  I have had discussions with many of these individuals and still fall back to this verse:

Romans 3:10
"as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one."

and...

1 John 1:8
"If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us."

So what do we do?  Do we just give up because we will mess up?  Absolutely not!  Our purpose in life is to serve God, and to try to be Christ-like as much as possible.  We still must push forward to the prize that is before us.  This life is short compared to the eternity that we have before us, and the reward in heaven is great.  We have a job to do, and even though we will make mistakes, we must continue on in our witness of Christ to the world.  If we sit back and do nothing, think of all the opportunities we will have to share Christ that will never happen.

So.....what does all of this have to do with the new year you ask?  How about a New Year's resolution that focuses on something you are going to try to do for God, instead of yourself.

Psalm 98:1
"O sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him."

I challenge all of you to come up with a new year's resolution for the Lord.  Even if we fail, He will still win the victory.  It can do nothing but strengthen us and our witness for Him, and bring honor and glory to Him.  And not because we are anything great, but because who we serve is!

Thanks for reading, and I pray God's blessings on you all in 2015!

Renewal

I apologize for my long absence from writing.  Life tends to fly by at a pace that it is hard to grasp all that is happening around us.  I have even had my own personal struggles and fears that I have had to deal with over the last year.  There are always trials, and changes that need to be faced.

So much has happened that have shaken my faith, but not destroyed it.  There have been injuries to loved ones, the loss of my grandmother to cancer, trying to buy a new home, a new job, and the list keeps on going.  And I have caught myself many times questioning why all this was happening all at about the same time.  Is it all a test?  Is it God showing me what I am capable of handling?  Is it preparation for something in the future?  And through all of my questioning, I have found that I had developed a lack of trust.  A lack of faith.  I had become prideful about my accomplishments, and somewhat bitter about my downfalls.  But, even at my lowest point, God was always there within reach.  It was not that He left me, but I allowed myself to move away from Him.

2 Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Renewal to God is based on a few conditions as seen in this verse.  And these conditions all rest on us.  First, we have to humble ourselves.  We have to understand the fact that there is nothing about us good enough on our own to please God.  As Paul said, he did not feel worthy enough to tie the sandals of Christ's feet.  Only through humility, can we adequately approach the throne of God.  Secondly, we need to pray, and pray often.  If we want a right relationship with God, we need to speak to Him on a regular basis.  This is our way to reach out to Him.  As I stated earlier, He never leaves us and is always there.  Next, we need to seek Him.  We do this by studying the Word of God.  We look to find what He expects of us, and we learn of who He is.  This helps us to draw closer to him.  Lastly, we need to repent.  Repent literally means to have a change in mindset.  Not only do we need to ask forgiveness for our shortcomings, but we need to consciously change our actions to match.

When we submit to these four conditions, God brings about renewal to our lives.  He will hear our prayers, He will forgive our sins, and He will bring about healing for all of our sufferings.  No matter where we are in our lives, or the level to which we feel we suffer, God is still there.  We just have to recognize it, and actively seek Him for help.

Lord, forgive me for my distrust and distance from You.  I know that you have always been there, regardless of my situations.  And I know that I have come through them, not own my own power, but by Your grace.  Please give me the continued strength and guidance that You always have provided in times past.  Shower me with Your love and comfort, so that I can push on in this world,  and show the world who You are through what you have done in my life.

Amen.

Thanks for reading and God bless you all!

Poor Peter: A Life Lesson

We are all confronted by our sins daily. Even as Christians, we still sin everyday. It is not something that we can help, because it is the nature of who we are. To me, I feel like a failure a lot of the times when I think back on some of the things that I have done, and think how in the world God could use me or even want me. Because there is nothing about me that will ever be good enough for Him that I could do on my own. This makes the awesomeness of His grace take so much meaning in my heart and mind. Yet, I still struggle and make mistakes.

This reminds me of a sermon that I was blessed to be able to give a year or two ago. I was asked to fill in for my pastor while he was on vacation. I love the opportunity to share with my church from the pulpit on such occasions, and it is a great honor that my pastor trusts me enough to do so. I gave a sermon on the life of Peter, which I believe we all have a connection with in the way we live our lives. So I am going to give a brief synopsis here of that life lesson and how it may give some encouragement in times when we feel like we just mess up too much.

1. The Call of Peter
Luke 5:1-8
"Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!""

I believe that Christ will call every man and woman in the right time. And He usually does it in a way that is up close and personal to that person. Many people will tell you that Christ got in the boat just to distance Himself from the crowd. That is probably true, and I have no issue with that, but I believe there was another reason also. I believe He wanted to be up close and personal with Peter. Peter was right there in the front row, so to speak, for the sermon. And then, Christ performed a miracle right there for Peter to get his attention. To show Peter who He was, and that He wanted Peter to follow. Christ does the same with us. When He calls us to be saved, it is a personal event. We sometimes feel like a sermon was meant solely for us, and no one else seems to be in the room. At least that is how it felt for me when I surrendered to Christ almost 15 years ago.

2. Making the Mistakes
Matthew 14:28-31
"Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”"

Matthew 18:21-22
"Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Mark 8:31-33
"And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”"

Mark 14:37-38
"And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”"

Mark 14:71-72
"But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep."

After Peter's acceptance of Christ and the beginning of his walk with Christ, we see that Peter made a lot of mistakes. The examples above are but a few of them. Peter was always known to be the one to ask why about every situation as well. Sometimes we feel this way. We always want answers, we always make those mistakes just like Peter. The great thing though, is the love and patience that Christ had for Peter. Even with all the problems that Peter had, God still had a plan to use Peter.

Peter's Commissioning
John 21:14-18
"So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus *said to him, “Tend My sheep."

It is here that we see that Jesus was not done with Peter. After all he had done wrong, after denying Christ, Christ still wanted him. He still wanted to use Peter for great things. And Peter became the leader of the church after the resurrection. Peter became a great man for God. We can see this all through the book of Acts. Did he still mess up? Yes, lets not forget the incident with Paul rebuking him with separating himself from the gentile believers. But, God still had a plan for Peter.

The same is true for us. We are going to make mistakes every day. We are going to fail occasionally. But, that does not mean that God is not still in control of our lives. He can still use us inspite of all that if we will surrender ourselves to Him. His grace is greater than all yours and my sins.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week!

The Encounter

I recently had an opportunity to read a book entitled "The Encounter" by Stephen Arterburn. This is a story of dealing with anger, abandonment, and ultimately forgiveness. It was an easy read (I read it in one day), and the way the plot developed kept it interesting.

Synopsis:
The book begins with the main character making a trip to his hometown in Alaska. He is on a search for his biological mother who abandoned him at age four. He has had numerous problems with his anger that have made the news and tabloids many times, being that he is the owner of a Fortune 500 company. He was involved in many bad relationships and had the tendency to become violent with his employees. He even came to the point of attempting suicide. After that incident, one of his friend's invited him to church, where he met the pastor. The pastor counseled him to help him with his issues, and suggested that he find his true mother and make peace with her. While on his search, he begins to unveil much about his birth mother. There was a lot of evidence gathered that his mother really did love him, and did not want to be apart from him. The manner in which he meets his true mother is not as he expected, and the outcome tragic. Yet in the end, he does forgive and make peace with his mother, and makes plans to spend time with her to get to know her better.

My Thoughts on the Book:
I really enjoyed the message of this book on forgiveness. It teaches us that we should forgive those who do us wrong. The main character was so angry that he did not want to forgive her, but eventually learned the value of grace and forgiveness. It reminds me a lot of a set of verses in Luke.

Luke 6:27-36
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

It is easy to forgive and treat kindly the people we know and love. But it is so much harder to do that than to someone who has hurt us. Even the lost understand the meaning of how to treat someone who loves you. But we as Christians, are set apart for the Gospel. We are in the world, but we have been called out by the one that is greater than the world, which is Christ Jesus. This means that we are going to be different, and this is one of the ways that we stand out. And it provides us with a great witness of the love of God.

The only thing about this book that I did not like, is that there is no indication of the main character getting saved anywhere. It does say that he went to a church, and that he learned to sing his mothers favorite hymn, yet no profession of salvation. I personally think that would have been a better ending.

About the author:
Stephen Arterburn is the founder and chairman of New Life Ministries—the nation’s largest faith-based broadcast, counseling and treatment ministry—and is the host of the nationally syndicated “New Life Live!” daily radio program heard on over 180 radio stations nationwide. Steve is also the founder of the Women of Faith conferences attended by over 3,000,000 women. As a best-selling author, Steve has written over 60 books, including the best selling Every Man’s series and his most recent book, "Reframe Your Life." He has been nominated for numerous writing awards and won three Gold Medallion awards for writing excellence. Steve has degrees from Baylor University and The University of North Texas as well as having obtained two honorary doctorate degrees.

This book was provided me free from the publisher by BookSneeze.com blog book reviewers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Devil in Pew Number Seven

I have never viewed myself as an avid reader until the last few years. As a matter of fact, I hated to read when I was a kid. However, when I got to college, I learned to enjoy reading. I just had to find a genre that suited me and that could keep my attention. I just finished reading a book entitled "The Devil in Pew Number Seven" by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo. It is a true story based on the life of the author. I found it hard at times to put down from reading. One of the reasons for my intrigue of this book is the location in which the story takes place. The backdrop is the Sellerstown community in Columbus County. This community is located about 5-10 minutes from where I currently reside, and about 15 minutes from where I grew up. I also recognize some of the people described in this book and know them personally. Although most of the events occurred before I was born, it is still pretty familiar to me. I am also overtaken by the message of this book. It shows how hard it is to bless and forgive those that persecute or try to hurt you.

Synopsis:
The book begins with an introduction to the parents of the author. It tells of how they met, and how their ministry got its start. As the book continues on, the author shares insight on all of the trials that her parents went through before their move to North Carolina. Once the move is made, the authors father makes great strides in work at the church that offered him a job. The church begins to grow, and bear fruit, much to the dismay of the antagonist in the story, who is a wealthy and powerful individual in the county. This sets up a chain of events in which this man tries everything in his power, legal and illegal to run this preacher out of town.

Now, I am not going to ruin the book for you by telling you how that it ends, and all of the details. What I will do is tell you that what I read was one of the greatest examples of practicing what you preach. Will all of the horrible acts perpetrated against this family, they stayed true to their faith. They always leaned on the Lord. There were constant reminders of scripture through all of the trials. And never once did the family seek its own revenge.

I particularly like the way the author ended the book. She ended it with certain truths that she learned from these experiences that helped her to draw even closer to God. And how that God manifested Himself to her, and had a forever effect on her life. This book was not only good reading, but an inspiration for those Christians who are going through many trials. I think that all I go through in my life does not even come close to what they went through. And if they can do it in the midst of their circumstances, then so can I. I encourage you all to take time to read this book.

Thanks, and God Bless You all this week!

I have in no way been compensated for my review of this book. These are my personal thoughts on the book.

What do we do with Grace?

One of the many parts of my job that I enjoy is being a coach. I love to get outside after school, and play. I often times get on the field and go through the drills with my team. I want them to know that I will do the same as I ask them to. It builds a level of trust with my athletes. Along with this, at times, I can become very "loud" at some of our practices and soccer matches. I have been known to throw my hat past the bench area, and speak my mind to an official occasionally in maybe a not so nice fashion. I really get into what I am doing, and I want to win. I want my team to be a success. Now, we do pray before every game starts. And I am always saying to God that I want to represent Him well. And sometimes I end up ignoring that all together. I feel ashamed sometimes when the game is over and I am on my way home for the way that I spoke or carried myself during a game. I have even contacted an official a couple of days later to apologize for the way that I spoke. This led me to think on what are we doing with the Grace that God gives us. Ephesians 1:7 reads "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." By His grace, we are saved. Because none of us is worthy on our own to be saved. It is because He was gracious enough to send His Son to die for our sins. Christ suffered, bleed, was beaten, and crucified just because He loved us, and wanted us to spend eternity with Him. How do we repay this grace? A lot of times we use it to enable us to sin. What I mean by this is that sometimes people say that it is okay to slip up because God will forgive them. Or, I will just ask God to forgive me after I do this, or later on when I get older. That is not what grace is. Will God forgive us? Yes, but we need to strive to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to Him. We need to look at grace as our lifeline to reach eternity, rather than to trample it when things don't go our way. We always need to be mindful of God, and act as if we are truly thankful. Not just something to fall back on. We need to be proactive about being a good witness to those around us all the time. We need to be truly thankful for the gift of grace. I think of my children at their birthdays. When the get the one gift that they wanted the most, they hug everybody, they are so thankful and joyous, and cannot wait to play with their new possession. When was the last time we acted the same way towards God for His gift of grace? So happy and thankful. And we cannot wait to apply it in every aspect of our lives. So the question is today, What do we really do with God's grace?

Thanks and God bless you all this week