Thursday, January 31, 2019

Stinking thinking

Stinking thinking 

We as humans think a lot of ourselves and sometimes it can be scary the levels of arrogance and pride we display.  I’ve seen a meme that sums it up well “I talk a lot of smack for someone who can easily tip over while putting on my underwear.”  I don’t know about you but I’m accident prone.  I was reading in 1 Timothy 1:15-17 and it’s a very sobering and humbling thing to read.  I mean we get these ideas that it’s all about us and not about God and we start doing “Stinking thinking.”  Our brain becomes like a port a potty in need of cleaning.  I have to use them at work I speak from experience here.  I want you to look at this passage.  “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners— of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible the only God be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  
This got me to praying something I often ask in regards to myself my wife and one of my friends I prayed that God would make me the person he wants me to be not who I want to be.  I need to be changed and so do you.  Sometimes we don’t get it when we sing Amazing Grace and the first verse says “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”  Yeah we’re the wretch it’s talking about.  Salvation brings glory to God.  Our lives afterwards should continue to do so.  I found a cd years ago by this lady named Paige and I can’t find much other info on her but there’s a song on it called So Not About Me.  And one part of it says “Would someone take the stupid spotlight off of me because it’s all about you and who you are and what you’re gonna do.”  It shifts the attention off of her and back to God.  We need to remember who God is and who we aren’t.  Like the old hymn says “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me a sinner condemned unclean.”  

This verse should be our prayer.  
Psalm 119:133 “Direct my footsteps according to your word let no sin rule over me.”











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Thursday, January 17, 2019

Mine eyes have seen

Mine eyes have seen


I play a lot of Champions of Norrath on the PlayStation 2 and you can win or lose a battle easily.  You can have the best armor and weapons but you have to pay attention to small details and what you do during a fight.  I’m here to provide you with the right weapons and hope.  
I pay attention to words in songs and a lot of people miss some things when listening to a song.  During the Civil War not the Marvel comics one but the one in American history a song was famous and it was called the Battle Hymn of the Republic but I want to show you some things in the song you may have never paid attention to.  This week I’ve been listening to it a lot.  I want to start though with Psalm 121.  

“I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!  He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.  The Lord himself watches over you!  The Lord stands beside you as a protective shade.  The sun will not harm you by day, not the moon by night.  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Where are you turning when your world turns to chaos because you have hope.  This blog deals in the hope found in God’s Word and I want to show you what mine eyes have seen.  1 Peter 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you.”

Maybe you like Elisha’s servant struggle with all this.  These Aramean soldiers looked to trap and kill the prophet Elisha but God had other plans.  In 2 Kings 6:15-17 we find this.  And I’m showing you this because I want you to have your eyes opened and focus on God.  
“When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere.  ‘Oh, sir, what will we do now?’  ‘Don’t be afraid!’  Elisha told him. ‘ For there are more on our side than on theirs!’  Then Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!’  The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses, and chariots of fire.”

We rarely ever see the spiritual battle going on around us but God is greater and more powerful than anything thrown at us and we need to fix our eyes on him and trust him.  It’s a constant moment by moment thing.  

Now I mentioned the Battle Hymn of the Republic because most people really don’t pay attention to the first two verses.  God showed himself able to defend Elisha and his servant.  In 1 Peter we are shown to cast our cares on God because he cares.  The Psalmist shows us that we can run to God for help.  

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the faithful lightening of his terrible swift sword; his truth is marching on.  

I have seen him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded him an altar in the dews and evening damps; 
I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; 
His day is marching on.”  

We serve a God who loves his people, cares for them and protects them.  Fix your eyes on him.  Your problems will not all disappear but they will be easier to get through with your hope fixed on God.  It’s a perspective shift.  You are loved and there is hope!  

There’s a song also that was done many years later by Whiteheart which is very similar to the Battle Hymn of the Republic called My Eyes Have Seen.  

“I stood on a mountaintop 
With the heavens all around me 
And I’ve stood on the ocean shore
Felt the power of the thundering sea

But I’ve seen no greater sight
Than the beauty and the Light!
The power and might of you

My eyes have seen the glory 
My eyes have seen the truth 
The bright salvation story
God of Israel, I have seen you”

Romans 8:31 
“What shall we say then about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for us, who can ever be against us.”

Psalm 116:1-2 
“I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen I will pray as long as I have breath!”







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Friday, January 11, 2019

Because of Who

Because of Who


There’s a cd we have called Live: In and Between by Tenth Avenue North and my favorite song By Your Side, by them is introduced in a certain way.  Mike Donehey says this.  “We have joy that’s why we’re here tonight. We’re not here to impress you.  We’re not here to be the best band, the best song in the world.  We’re not here for God but because of Him and because of what God has done for us and we just wanna praise him tonight.”  See God does all the work in salvation.  I cannot, will not and never will be good enough for salvation.  Ephesians 2:1-10 makes this very clear.  I want to take you back in time to 1996 Spring Break.  It may not be as memorable for you as it was for me.  Some have heard this part of my story some have not.  I had gone on my first real mission trip.  It was called Beach Reach and it was mission trip to reach people on spring break for Christ sponsored by the Baptist Student Union.  There was one night on the beach where we had a prayer meeting and I remember being away from people praying in tears asking God what he wanted me to do because I didn’t understand.  I remember clearly two words.  “Praise Me.”  There have been a few times in my life since then he has asked the same of me.  This blog has always been part scripture and part music because I want you to have a chance to praise God after being in his word.  I also try to keep this as little about me as possible because the goal is for you the reader to draw closer to God and for both the writer and reader to glorify God.  Not rocket science it really isn’t.  Colossians 3:16 is my goal.  “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.  Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.  Sing psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”  You and I are to encourage each other to praise God.  

There’s an old song that both Sandi Patty and the Imperials sing called Because Of Who You Are, the chorus says this.  “Lord, I praise you because of who you are, not for all the mighty things you have done.  Lord, I worship you because of who, you are
You’re all the reason that I need to voice my praise.  Because of who you are.”  God is worthy of our praise and we were designed to worship.  

King David said it best in Psalm 108:1-5. 
“My Heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!  Wake up, lyre and harp!  I will wake the dawn with my song.  I will thank you, Lord among all the people.  I will sing your praises among the nations.  For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens.  Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.  May your glory shine over all the earth.”  

Psalm 115:1. “Not to us,O Lord, not to us but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.”

God is worthy of our praise all creation testifies to this.  










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Friday, January 4, 2019

Porpoise or purpose

Porpoise or purpose 

What’s the purpose for you doing the things you do?  Do you swim through life like a porpoise or do you have purpose.  There’s a seasick dolphin pun in here somewhere.  We had a missionary at our church recently who asked some questions that got me thinking.  I want to present you with two in particular.  What is God calling you to?  What can be done if you are willing to follow God?  I tried to take a break from working on the blog but as I read the Bible I found myself needing to blog and share with others because that is what God has called me personally to do.  My friend Ofey posted this on her Facebook page and it needs to be repeated “Let the Holy Word out, God’s Fire will not leave you alone, we are His mouthpiece.  Speak!”  

I was reading 1 Thessalonians 2:4 this morning and the verse was something I kept returning to.  Like Paul we have a purpose and it should be the same as his because there’s no higher purpose.  “For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people.  He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”  To please God and not men should always be our purpose.  

Proverbs 29:25 “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”  Worry more about pleasing God than people.  

What can be done if I’m willing to follow God?  That’s between you and God.  Maybe you need to shift your focus and be willing.  Me I have to share the hope found in God’s Word.  I can’t not do it.  When God changes your life you have to say something.  







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