“That can’t possibly be God talking to me. That doesn’t make sense, it’s not logical.” Have you ever caught yourself thinking that or something like it? I have and unfortunately I do it quite often. But this week the Lord reminded me that obedience to Him takes faith. Always. And faith means we believe even though we may not understand. Consider these two passages from Luke: When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, […]
Worship That Hurts
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? ~ Psalm 27:1 I recently attended a women’s retreat put on by the church I have been attending. My family and I have only been attending this church for a few months and before I went to the retreat I did not know many of the women from church. When the pastor first started making announcements about the retreat I was a little interested but mostly I was fearful. […]
He LOVES You
God didn’t sacrifice His Son on the cross to smirk and say “There! Your sins are paid for! Now you owe Me, you filthy sinner.” He sent His Son to show us His true, unconditional love for each and everyone of us. Yes, even you. We are guilty of sin, we are sinners and a price had to be paid – must be paid – for our wrong doing. But the beauty of the cross (I said beauty, ponder that for a moment) is that we no longer owe God for our sin, our sin […]
The Potter and the Clay
Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor. ~ Romans 9:21 O, how I long to be a vessel created for honor; I so desire that the LORD is glorified through me. So I set out to do His good works, not realizing that my flesh has tricked me and in reality I am attempting to do my own “good” works and pretending to do them in His name. You may ask, “Whats the difference – doing His good works or […]
An Entire Universe
God doesn’t need me to worship Him (though I’ll do it just the same), He has an entire universe that glorifies His name. Praise to the LORD from Creation Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. He also established […]
Glorifying God Above Self
In John 3:30 John the Baptist says of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (NKJV). John had a very specific role to play in furthering God’s Kingdom. We all do and God gives us skills and talents to fulfill that role. I was thinking about my skill/talent the other day and just how good I am at it. I was wondering what other people thought of me, if they were impressed by what I can do, and how I could be better. The truth was, I was quite self-absorbed in that moment. Then God quietly reminded me that my talent was not given to me to glorify myself […]
Service Wasn’t Beneath The King
This morning as I stood in front of the kitchen sink I was nearly taken over by a woe-is-me, selfish attitude. Don’t they know how much I do for them? I am so under appreciated, I thought. Then in His goodness and grace He quietly reminded me that service was not beneath Him, The King, and service is certainly is not beneath me. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, […]
The Primary Teacher
I use to believe that my children needed to go to Children’s Church to receive the bulk of their christian education; that the Sunday school teacher had the primary role in this education and I was to reenforce that teacher. I had it backwards. Proverbs 22:6 tells us “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (NKJV). In Deuteronomy 6:7 we are told, “You shall teach (the greatest commandment) diligently to your children, and shall talk of (it) when you sit in […]
Responsibility
And he said to him, “Well done good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.” ~ Luke 19:17 (NKJV) This verse is from The Parable of the Minas and it teaches us much about responsibility. Many of us want something greater – a greater position at work, greater finances, bigger ministries. But let us remember that God gives us each something to be responsible for. That something may seem small or insignificant, but we must learn to be responsible with what we have been given before we can successfully […]
Be still…
Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10). In other words, quit being busy and focus on God. Take time to know who He is and seek His will in your life.