A friend of mine mentioned Psalm 37, verse 4 in our Bible Study last week. I had to immediately find the verse and read it for myself..."Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."
As I've thought about this verse for the past 3 days, this morning I decided to read all of Psalm 37. What amazing Psalm! As Christians, we are "in the world" but are not meant to be "of the world." God clearly outlines his plans for the people of this world and for His followers.
The wicked/people of this world who prey on the righteous and do whatever it takes to make money, earn status, and be envied by their peers will become no more. God uses those words, "they will perish", "they will be no more...you will look for them, but they will not be found." WOW!
But God specifically states that the righteous, His followers, will inherit the land. They will stumble, but not fall, because God's hand will hold them up! How often do we think we've fallen, when in reality, all we've done is stumble?! Is it Satan that is convincing us that we've fallen and we cannot get back up??? I believe so.
All the more reason to tuck into God daily and try to follow His word. The more we press into God, the "easier" it is to get through the tough times. Kind of makes you wonder why we stray, huh?!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Standing Tall in the Face of Opposition
Last week, I had a lot of free time with my wife and daughter out of town. I took this opportunity to really delve into the Bible. I didn't know what to read; so I prayed about it. God told me to begin reading the book of Nehemiah.
A little bit of background is necessary at this point...for about 2 days, I was facing a lot of opposition from people around me. They were questioning my motives, my values, my respect and even laughing at me because of where my life is taking me. Now back to the story...
I began reading Nehemiah and how he went to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall that surrounds the city. Many of the lords and kings around the city were laughing at him, they were preparing to mount attacks on the city again to discourage Nehemiah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Oh how this story related to me at that moment! But Nehemiah persevered. As the wall was completed, the lords and kings accused Nehemiah of motives that he stated were untrue. He stayed strong in God's request of him to rebuild the wall. He stood up to the governors and told them that they were wrong in their actions toward the people of Jerusalem.
In the face of all of this opposition, Nehemiah stayed strong to God's request. Imagine the obedience!!!!
I'm only about 7 chapters into the book of Nehemiah, but I believe that God is not just talking about a wall and a man and some foes. He is talking about us as people. We face naysayers everyday. People who want to bring us down so that they can stand tall. But if we tuck into God, if we stay strong in Him, if we stand up for what is right; He will take care of us.
A little bit of background is necessary at this point...for about 2 days, I was facing a lot of opposition from people around me. They were questioning my motives, my values, my respect and even laughing at me because of where my life is taking me. Now back to the story...
I began reading Nehemiah and how he went to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall that surrounds the city. Many of the lords and kings around the city were laughing at him, they were preparing to mount attacks on the city again to discourage Nehemiah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Oh how this story related to me at that moment! But Nehemiah persevered. As the wall was completed, the lords and kings accused Nehemiah of motives that he stated were untrue. He stayed strong in God's request of him to rebuild the wall. He stood up to the governors and told them that they were wrong in their actions toward the people of Jerusalem.
In the face of all of this opposition, Nehemiah stayed strong to God's request. Imagine the obedience!!!!
I'm only about 7 chapters into the book of Nehemiah, but I believe that God is not just talking about a wall and a man and some foes. He is talking about us as people. We face naysayers everyday. People who want to bring us down so that they can stand tall. But if we tuck into God, if we stay strong in Him, if we stand up for what is right; He will take care of us.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Where Will You Make Your Stand?
There is a talk I heard years ago by President James E. Faust entitled "Where Do I Make My Stand?" that made a significant impression on me. I heard it at a stressful time in my life and I have gone back to it and reread it several times over the years. The overall message of the talk states "To find happiness and joy, no matter what comes, we must make our stand unequivocally with the Lord." The peace and insight bring tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart every time I read it. I wanted to share some of the insights he gave in the talk:
In an increasingly unjust world, to survive and even to find happiness and joy, no matter what comes, we must make our stand unequivocally with the Lord. We need to try to be faithful every hour of every day so that our foundation of trust in the Lord will never be shaken. My message is one of hope and counsel for those who may wonder about the seemingly unfair distribution of pain, suffering, disaster, and heartache in this life. Some may ask:
“Why was I born with physical or mental limitations?”
“What did I do to deserve this heartache?”
“Why did my father have to suffer so much following a cruel, disabling stroke? He was such a righteous man and always faithful and true to the Lord and His Church.”
“Why did I have to lose my mother twice—once to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and, secondly, to death? She was such an angel.”
“Why did the Lord let our little baby girl die? She was so precious, and we loved her so much.”
“Why hasn’t the Lord answered our prayers the way we wished?”
“Life isn’t fair. We know some people who have done some very bad things, and yet they seem to have everything they want or need.”
Dr. Arthur Wentworth Hewitt suggested some reasons why the good suffer as well as the wicked: “First: I don’t know. Second: We may not be as innocent as we think. Third: … I believe it is because He loves us so much more than He loves our happiness. How so? Well, if on a basis of strict personal return here and now, all the good were always happy and all the bad suffered disaster (instead of often quite the reverse), this would be the most subtle damnation of character imaginable..."
"So where should each of us make our stand? As we demonstrate our devotion to God by our daily acts of righteousness, He can know where we stand. For all of us this life is a time of sifting and refining. We all face trials...In our time we are going through an increasingly difficult time of refining and testing. The tests are more subtle because the lines between good and evil are being eroded. Very little seems to be sacred in any of our public communication. In this environment we will need to make sure where we stand all of the time in our commitment to eternal truths and covenants."
"As we live on earth we must walk in faith, nothing doubting. When the journey becomes seemingly unbearable, we can take comfort in the words of the Lord: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.” Some of the healing may take place in another world. We may never know why some things happen in this life. The reason for some of our suffering is known only to the Lord."
If you are interested in the whole talk, you can get to it HERE.
In an increasingly unjust world, to survive and even to find happiness and joy, no matter what comes, we must make our stand unequivocally with the Lord. We need to try to be faithful every hour of every day so that our foundation of trust in the Lord will never be shaken. My message is one of hope and counsel for those who may wonder about the seemingly unfair distribution of pain, suffering, disaster, and heartache in this life. Some may ask:
“Why was I born with physical or mental limitations?”
“What did I do to deserve this heartache?”
“Why did my father have to suffer so much following a cruel, disabling stroke? He was such a righteous man and always faithful and true to the Lord and His Church.”
“Why did I have to lose my mother twice—once to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and, secondly, to death? She was such an angel.”
“Why did the Lord let our little baby girl die? She was so precious, and we loved her so much.”
“Why hasn’t the Lord answered our prayers the way we wished?”
“Life isn’t fair. We know some people who have done some very bad things, and yet they seem to have everything they want or need.”
Dr. Arthur Wentworth Hewitt suggested some reasons why the good suffer as well as the wicked: “First: I don’t know. Second: We may not be as innocent as we think. Third: … I believe it is because He loves us so much more than He loves our happiness. How so? Well, if on a basis of strict personal return here and now, all the good were always happy and all the bad suffered disaster (instead of often quite the reverse), this would be the most subtle damnation of character imaginable..."
"So where should each of us make our stand? As we demonstrate our devotion to God by our daily acts of righteousness, He can know where we stand. For all of us this life is a time of sifting and refining. We all face trials...In our time we are going through an increasingly difficult time of refining and testing. The tests are more subtle because the lines between good and evil are being eroded. Very little seems to be sacred in any of our public communication. In this environment we will need to make sure where we stand all of the time in our commitment to eternal truths and covenants."
"As we live on earth we must walk in faith, nothing doubting. When the journey becomes seemingly unbearable, we can take comfort in the words of the Lord: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.” Some of the healing may take place in another world. We may never know why some things happen in this life. The reason for some of our suffering is known only to the Lord."
If you are interested in the whole talk, you can get to it HERE.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Eye opening moment
Though I've heard the story of Christ's death and resurrection process 100s of times in my life, I don't think it ever really set in until I read about it again last night. I'm in the process of reading the book, "Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll. He gave a pretty vivid description of what Jesus went through. He describes the various stages of the crucifixion process...and he described it as such.
"A crucified person could hang on the cross for days, passing in and out of consciousness as their lungs struggled to breathe..."
In reference to the scourging that would have preceeded the crucifixion, "Jesus' hands would have been chained aboe his head to expose his back and legs to an executioner's whip...At the end of some straps were heavy balls of metal intended to tenderize the body...Some of the straps had hooks made of either metal or bone that would have sunk deeply into the shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs of the victim..." and "...sunk deeply into the tenderized flesh...rip the skin, muscle, tendons adn even bones..."
"Jesus then had a crown of lengthy thorns pressed into his head...blood began to flow down Jesus' face, causing his hair and beard to be a bloodied matted mess...Jesus' robe was then used as the pot in a gambling dice game."
At the site of the crucifixion, "...they pulled Jesus' beard out - an act of ultimate disrespect in ancient cultures..." On top of all this, Jesus had "...five to seven inch, rough, metal spikes driven into the most sensitive nerve centers on the human body...Jesus was then lifted up, and is cross dropped into a prepared hole, causing his body to shake violently on the spikes...Some victims would become so overwhelmed with pain that they would become incontinent and a pool of sweat, blood, urine, and feces would gather at the base of their cross."
WOW! I couldn't even fathom what I was reading. I knew that the crucifixion was painful, but I didn't even understand the pain that took place outside of the nails in His hands and feet! Immediately, I felt an overwhelming sense of remorse for everything I have done in my life because He went through all of this for me! For you! For all of us!
"A crucified person could hang on the cross for days, passing in and out of consciousness as their lungs struggled to breathe..."
In reference to the scourging that would have preceeded the crucifixion, "Jesus' hands would have been chained aboe his head to expose his back and legs to an executioner's whip...At the end of some straps were heavy balls of metal intended to tenderize the body...Some of the straps had hooks made of either metal or bone that would have sunk deeply into the shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs of the victim..." and "...sunk deeply into the tenderized flesh...rip the skin, muscle, tendons adn even bones..."
"Jesus then had a crown of lengthy thorns pressed into his head...blood began to flow down Jesus' face, causing his hair and beard to be a bloodied matted mess...Jesus' robe was then used as the pot in a gambling dice game."
At the site of the crucifixion, "...they pulled Jesus' beard out - an act of ultimate disrespect in ancient cultures..." On top of all this, Jesus had "...five to seven inch, rough, metal spikes driven into the most sensitive nerve centers on the human body...Jesus was then lifted up, and is cross dropped into a prepared hole, causing his body to shake violently on the spikes...Some victims would become so overwhelmed with pain that they would become incontinent and a pool of sweat, blood, urine, and feces would gather at the base of their cross."
WOW! I couldn't even fathom what I was reading. I knew that the crucifixion was painful, but I didn't even understand the pain that took place outside of the nails in His hands and feet! Immediately, I felt an overwhelming sense of remorse for everything I have done in my life because He went through all of this for me! For you! For all of us!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thought for the day
Have you ever stopped to take a look at how far you've grown in your faith??? I've been reflecting on this for some time now and I have some thoughts about my own faith development...
On a day-to-day basis, it's so easy for me to forget just how far I've come with God. It doesn't take much for me to feel like He is soooooo far away and that I have soooooo far to go. I often fear my own salvation because of this. However, if I reflect back upon the past 5 years, I can see exponential growth! It's truly amazing!!!
I do believe that we go through seasons in our faith where we definitely feel closer to God and we are carrying out His will in our lives. I find that these seasons occur when I'm devoted to God, reading His Word, and taking the time to pray to Him.
Right now, I'm not in this season...I'm distracted by the ways of this world. I feel as though I'm not walking in Him. I'm constantly bombarded by ideas of sex on tv, the radio and in print. I become jealous of the people around me because I can see God working through them. I don't take the time to read up on God like I used to. I think what's really interesting is that the more I am burdened by these worldly things, my motivation and self-esteem are deteriorating.
But, there's hope. I do have brief moments of clarity and revelation. Now, I just need to focus back on Him so that I may do His work and be restored.
So where are you??? Think about it.
On a day-to-day basis, it's so easy for me to forget just how far I've come with God. It doesn't take much for me to feel like He is soooooo far away and that I have soooooo far to go. I often fear my own salvation because of this. However, if I reflect back upon the past 5 years, I can see exponential growth! It's truly amazing!!!
I do believe that we go through seasons in our faith where we definitely feel closer to God and we are carrying out His will in our lives. I find that these seasons occur when I'm devoted to God, reading His Word, and taking the time to pray to Him.
Right now, I'm not in this season...I'm distracted by the ways of this world. I feel as though I'm not walking in Him. I'm constantly bombarded by ideas of sex on tv, the radio and in print. I become jealous of the people around me because I can see God working through them. I don't take the time to read up on God like I used to. I think what's really interesting is that the more I am burdened by these worldly things, my motivation and self-esteem are deteriorating.
But, there's hope. I do have brief moments of clarity and revelation. Now, I just need to focus back on Him so that I may do His work and be restored.
So where are you??? Think about it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Verse of the Day
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 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."
I thought this was a great verse, It reminds me that God did not make everything perfect here on earth as then we would no need him and he wants us to need him so that we will seek him and tell others about him so that they may seek him as well in order to be made a strong and faithful servant of the Lord. As He said "I never said it would be easy I only said it would be worth it".
I thought this was a great verse, It reminds me that God did not make everything perfect here on earth as then we would no need him and he wants us to need him so that we will seek him and tell others about him so that they may seek him as well in order to be made a strong and faithful servant of the Lord. As He said "I never said it would be easy I only said it would be worth it".
Friday, April 10, 2009
A good quote to remember:
Ted Koppel, host of ABC’s Nightline program for many years said this:
“We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us. ‘Shoot up if you must; but use a clean needle.’ ‘Enjoy sex whenever with whomever you wish; but [protect yourself].’
“No. The answer is no. Not no because it isn’t cool or smart or because you might end up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward—but no, because it’s wrong. . . .
“What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were.”
“We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us. ‘Shoot up if you must; but use a clean needle.’ ‘Enjoy sex whenever with whomever you wish; but [protect yourself].’
“No. The answer is no. Not no because it isn’t cool or smart or because you might end up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward—but no, because it’s wrong. . . .
“What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were.”
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Be Victorious
Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.
It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.
- George S. Patton
I realize this quote is not from the bible but I felt like it really speaks the bibles word also. That we are at war with the Devil here on earth and if we, spirit filled men are willing to step up, lead and follow the Lord with all our hearts and do as he asks of us each day, without reservation, we can can be victorious in this war. We can lead the lost by setting a good example of what it means to be a christian. Intstead of fighting wars over religion, pointing out who is right and wrong, whose religion is better or what they are doing wrong. We are all here for the same reason, to do our best to be like God and tell his story to those who do not know Him or have fallen away from Him, to bless as many people as possible with his word and show them that God loves them and forgives them. Everyone deserves that and I don't want Him to tell me "You did not do as I asked, turn away as I do not know you".
Revelation 15:1-3 (New International Version)
1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.
1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.
I want to be one of these people standing beside God in heaven one day holding a beautiful harp, playing glorious music and rejoycing in the Lord, and I want all my family, friends and enemys to be standing there right beside me.
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