First Things First

After encountering Jesus, Saul doesn't eat or talk for three days. He is blinded on his way to arrest and persecute christians. Talk about being put in time-out! The Son of God blinds him, and asks him why he is persecuting him. Then, he let's him think on it. Saul said nothing back, because there was nothing to say back. He was guilty, and he knew that Jesus spoke the truth. What went on in the mind of Saul these three days? He was very passionate for God, but he now realized that he had very passionately rejected the Messiah of God. He was committed to committing treason to the very God he loved. He probably wondered why that flash of lightning didn't kill him on the spot. His sins were certainly worthy of such a death. This would naturally lead to wondering why he was still alive. During this black-out, scenes like the one of Stephen being stoned to death had to play over and over in his mind. He had to think (like he would later write in Romans) "Oh what a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death?" The next thing he knows the scales are being removed from his eyes by a man that he was certainly coming to persecute. He can see. The man lays hands on Saul and he receives the Holy Spirit, giving evidence of Saul's conversion from the Damascus Road experience. But catch this, everyone else didn't know what was going on in Saul's head. Everyone else didn't know that he had repented and turned to Jesus, because he hasn't spoken in three days. So, the first thing he does is get baptized to identify with Christ...then he eats and drinks for physical nourishment. First things first, let others know that you have come to Christ. ---Acts 9:1-19

All I Can Do

All I can do is fall down on my knees and cry holy. So, I wake up on a Saturday morning to spend some quality time with God. It's fall and I know I'm gonna watch some football. It's blue sky and the temperatures are getting nice. It's a great time to be alive. Then I get a message that a friend's brother has died. It's not such a beautiful day for everyone. Then my mind turns to the problems of unrest around the world, and I'm reminded of how we tune those things out by merely a click of the remote. My mind quickly switches gears to happy thoughts (because that's what we do) about my daughter who is visiting NYC for the first time with her husband. I bet they're having a great time. Then I think about tough things in my own life, and how I need to persevere until Jesus comes back. I think of all the marriages that are struggling. I think of the $16trillion in debt. I think of all the un or under-employed. I think of all the people that don't have a clue about Jesus, and about the ones that don't even care. ---Then all I can do is fall on my knees and cry holy. And after much prayer and contemplation with God, I'm reminded that his grace is sufficient for me in my weaknesses. I'm blessed to know Jesus the Christ as Savior. ---Do you know Him? Do you know peace? We can't make things right in the world with the click of a remote, but we can be made right with God in Christ Jesus. It's called the Great Exchange. (see 2Cor.5:21)

Embrace the Thorn

If we're not careful our temporary failures or weaknesses can become bigger than our victories in Christ. The enemy tends to take our weaknesses and hardships and magnify those to the point we forget who we are in Christ Jesus. We forget the power we have access to in the Holy Spirit. We forget that we are God's child, and a chosen one to be His ambassador here.---Believe it or not, the Apostle Paul had his own struggles. Gratefully, the Scriptures leave exactly what it was up to the imagination. It allows the saint in times of struggle to imagine that perhaps Paul and them shared the same weakness. Paul said, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."---Ever felt that way? Notice that Paul doesn't blame God for the thorn, but he does acknowledge that God allowed it. In fact, he goes on to say that he pleaded with God three times to take it away...and He didn't. Instead, Jesus said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."---What is your weakness? What is the thing you battle nearly every day? What is the thing you have or would ask to remove from your life so that you could be the person God wants you to be? Ah, you know what I'm talking about. We all do.---Depending on where you are spiritually, some time or another you've probably asked God to remove whatever it is. Jesus told Paul to accept the weakness, and to embrace Jesus for His grace would be sufficient to get him through whatever. In fact, you will learn that it's not about you. Christ's power is made complete in our weakness. Paul then chose to boast about his weaknesses (yes, he said plural), so that Christ's power may rest on him. Theologians have long wondered what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was. We all wonder. We all want to justify our "weaknesses." Paul cleans it up with this: "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." ---Embrace your thorn today. Acknowledge it. Depend on Christ to see you through as you limp through it; whether it be a weakness, insult, hardship, persecution, or difficulty. Don't let Satan knock you down and out with this thorn. Instead, choose to lean on the grace and sufficiency of Christ to get you through. Get up! You're not the only one going through "stuff". We all are. May the power of Christ rest on you throughout your days. [see 2Cor.12:7-10]

What is life all about?

What is life all about? Would we really be satisfied if we had all the money in the world? Naw. We would have to build bigger, better, even more beautiful stuff. We would try to buy happiness. Worse, we might block ourselves in and try to keep everyone away from "our" money. What if we could have all the sex our flesh desired? Would that do it for us? We could be like the man who had 25 children by sixteen women. He was a father to none. What if we had all the power, and the whole world jumped at our every request? Would that make us happy? ---Money, power, and the lust of the flesh is all about one person...us. It rarely considers others. God has built us for community. He has built us to have relationship with Him and others. We are physical, spiritual beings. In the flesh we deal with and live with fellow human beings. This is a practice for the next life. We communicate to God spirit to spirit. Those that have relationship with God have this relationship, because they've been born into the spirit by receiving Jesus Christ (jn.1). Those that don't have Christ do not have this relationship (Jn.3). It is easy to get caught up in this life, because it is what we see and feel. But if we will slow down, we can see God (Rom.1;Ps.19). Jesus explained that if we will give up this life and live for Him, then we will live. God has eternal life in mind for us. He has a better plan than this old life can bring. Think about it. Only a handful of people have most of the money and power on earth. So, the odds are stacked against us being the one. Yet, God promises eternal life to those who receive Jesus. He promises treasures in heaven. Nothing that happens on earth can take that away. It's not a suicide mission. It is hope and a future. The good news is that Jesus is the first-fruit of this new life. ---So what will it be? Will you keep on worrying about this life and making it to the top of the company ladder? Will you be frustrated and/or mad at God every time your plans don't work out? Or will you live obedient to Christ, and if He wants to put you at the top of the company (see Daniel, Joseph, etc.)for His purposes then let it happen? All the money, sex and power won't do it for you (see Hollywood). Indeed we can pursue the false dream that satan sets before us, when he says "Did God really say...?" (insinuating that God doesn't know best, nor does He want what's best for us). Perhaps we should snap out of it, and live for Him who died for us and rose again(2Cor.5). For God has demonstrated His love in that Christ died for sinners (Rom.5). *For further thought read about a man that had it all (Ecclesiastes).

The Right Thing on Your Plate

Monday nights are pretty much meeting night for me. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Mondays, nor am I particularly a big fan of meetings; so I pretty much knock them out with one swing and look forward to a great week after that.(Ah, a look into my soul.)However, I got stunned this week. I took my guys that I normally meet with on Monday, and we checked out a new men's group starting up in the church. We were there for moral support (at least that was the plan). After being there for just a short while, I realized that I needed to be there. This group was for accountability and encouragement of men to become the godly men God desires. God put this on my heart years ago. My flesh quickly tried to tell me that I couldn't add one more thing to my plate. However, the Spirit squashed that thought rather quickly. What would I do with that 120 minutes? Yeah, I'm busy. All these guys are busy too. It was about a choice of investing spiritually into other guys, and them investing in me as well. We want godly men. We want to be godly men, and before me stood the opportunity to help facilitate that. *If the thing that you add to your plate changes your life for the better, and the lives of other men for the better; then it is not just another thing on your plate...it's the right thing on your plate.

God Can Move Mountains and Small Buildings

A man approached Jesus, kneeling and asking for mercy. He wanted Jesus to heal his son, because the disciples were unsuccessful. Jesus healed the boy and chastised the disciples for their lack of faith. Afterwards the disciples approached Jesus in private and asked why they were unable to heal the boy. ---Jesus responded, "Because you have so little faith." Now we know that this was a special season of miracles that God allowed through the Twelve Apostles. Today, there are occasions when God still does the miraculous. ---Jesus went on to tell them that they could tell a mountain to move and it would. Really? Could THAT still happen today? YES! It was God that brought this passage to my mind recently as He spoke to me Spirit to spirit. Our church was looking to build on the land that we already noted that God had given us. When we got serious into the pricing and timing of building on this land, we were driven to some hard-core prayer. The reality was we need about $1.5 million. In reality this would put the building project a few years back with a bunch of fundraising to come. ---Not happy with the dollar amount and putting this off any longer, we prayed hard believing God could pull something off. After all, He "owns the cattle on a thousand hills." God did not move a mountain, but He did put a building on a piece of land and then turned our heads to look at it. God, and God alone, made it available. He brought it down to a price we could deal with, with just a little bit of faith. Can God move mountains...errr buildings? Yes, He can. "...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." See Matthew 17:14-20

Devo from Acts 4:32-36

This is the ultimate "we're not from around here" or "kingdom-minded" attitude passage in action. The key here was that all believers were united in heart and mind. No one claimed that anything belonged to him. They didn't care about stuff. They shared with brothers and sisters in need. ---Don't miss this: along with this attitude of sharing came great power to testify of the resurrection of Jesus and much grace was upon all the believers. There were no needy persons among them. People would sell land, possessions, or whatever to meet the needs of others. They would bring the money to the disciples and have them distribute as anyone had need. ---When hearts and minds are united among believers, money is no longer an issue. But even greater is the power given by the Holy Spirit to share the testimony of Jesus the LORD.