Reminding Signs

 

Reminding signs

 

          I got two reminders this week that I really needed.  Lately these signs have been popping up in yards around town that contain one word and that word is “pray”.  Then on Friday night I was reading through blogs I had written before.  I don’t normally do this and I rarely watch the video version after I posted them.  On my first job as a security guard I was guarding a refinery site under construction and one of the blogs I had written reminded me of this habit I had of praying for the safety of the employees and that they would have hearts that would seek after God.  I now work at a gated community.  God reminded me that no matter where I work or what I’m doing I should still be praying for those around me.  Moses prayed multiple times on behalf of the people of Israel.  Jesus prayed for his disciples and you and me in John 17.  You can pray anywhere and anytime for those around you and in your life. 

          Ephesians 6:8 “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.  Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”

          Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” 

          “Dear Heavenly Father, please take the reader and watcher of this blog and draw them closer to you and give them hope.  For the people I work around Lord give them hearts that seek after you.”

This is a poem I wrote to go with the blog.  

Power Washer

 

Like rain and sludge down a storm drain

He opens his heart

He pours out

All thoughts and cares

To God above

The pressure in the soul and brain

God now deals with the pain

The man no longer needs to hold on

For now he is held

In stronger arms

All fears and wishes

Leave them to be cleansed

Like dishes in a dishwasher

Because God’s love

Cleanses better than any

Power washer

He pleads on behalf of

Those near him

And under his care

He cares because

His savior

First cared

Like rain and sludge down a storm drain

Peace now replaces the cares caused by pain

Prayer and trusting God

Has cleansed all stains 

 

Prayer by Petra

Pray for me by Michael W Smith

Honesty by Margaret Becker

Hey Now by Amy Grant

Secret Weapon by Petra

Defender

 Defender

When you become a believer in Christ and begin to follow God you start to discover you are part of a spiritual war.  In Ephesians 6 you learn God has given you armor and a sword.  I know a little about fights I’ve won one and lost the other.  I also play a game called Marvel Strike Force and every other day we have wars against other alliances.  I have also written fictional stories and one involved a fight I could see in my head as I walked through La Palmera mall.  This Psalm 121 I’m about to share deals greatly with God being our defender and protector.  You see where you turn in times of trouble is a good indicator of where your faith is.  See when I took a motorcycle safety course years ago the instructor said this.  “Where you look is where you go.”  If you have never been on a motorcycle or motor scooter let me explain.  If you look in one direction for too long you start to lean and go that way.  Do you trust God to take care of you and do you look in His direction or are you looking somewhere else.  If you check the book of Revelation at the end the followers of God get to win.  Keep your eyes on God he’s fighting battles you don’t even see.  

Psalm 121

“I will lift my eyes to the mountains 

From where shall my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, 

Who made heaven and earth.  

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel 

Will neither slumber or sleep.  

The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.  

The sun will not smite you by day, 

Nor the moon by night.

The Lord will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.  

The Lord will guard your going out and coming in

From this time forth and forever.”

Love and the Outcome had it correct.  

“I’m in a war every minute 

I know for sure I’ll never win it

I am David up against Goliath 

And it’s a fight for my attention 

I’m being pulled in every direction 

The world tells me, trust what I can see

Lord, help me believe what I believe 

Cause you are bigger than any battle I’m facing 

You are better than anything I’ve been chasing 

Savior and royalty, the only hope in me

Jesus, you are

The King of my heart.”

Trust God and let him be your defender.

King of my heart by Love and the Outcome 

Hurricane by Natalie Grant 

Red Moon by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

Armed and Dangerous by Petra 

Armed and Dangerous by DeGarmo and Key

I’ll come out fighting by DeGarmo and Key

Battle belongs to the Lord by Petra 

Tell Me Again

 Tell me again 

I’ve seen a horrible thought pushed by people on social media that claims churches seek to control people and parents take their kids there to brainwash them.  Like I said it’s a horrible thought.  If you think the church you go to is trying to brainwash you then you might want to question what they teach and actually read the Bible for yourself.  

From the Old Testament to the New God calls the Israelites to remember his mighty deeds.  It’s not to brainwash but to remind them when all is hopeless they can turn to God.  God was creating a special people to serve Him and be an example to others.  That’s the same concept with the Christian.  Sure He could have made us all seek Him but He instead gave us free will.

Proverbs 7:1-3 

“My son , keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.  Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye.  Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablets of your heart.”  

God wants you to learn from Him and wants the best for you. 

Deuteronomy 11:18-23

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall teach them to your sons, talking  of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.  For if you are careful to keep all the commandments which  I am commanding you to do , to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and hold fast to Him then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier than you.”

Deuteronomy 6:24-25 

So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.  It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all the commandments before the Lord our God, just as he commanded us.”

Proverbs 22:6

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”  

It’s not about brainwashing but about making you better and helping one draw closer to God.  

Geoff Moore said it best in his song Tell Me Again.

“Tell me again of the gospel story.

Tell me again how the whole world was lost

How the only begotten with grace so amazing 

Gave up his life on an old rugged cross

I don’t want to forget so please ,tell me again.”  

Hebrews 11 is full of heroes of the faith and churches and Christians relay these stories to encourage others.  By the sharing from the Bible we build up the believers and God uses his word to change others lives and draw them to himself.  Brainwashing or controlling is not the goal of the church.  Bringing others to Christ and building up the saints is however the goal.  There’s an old truthful saying.  “Those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”  We point to the Bible because the author loves the reader and desires to change their lives.  The Bible contains history to study and learn from.  It also contains the message of a Creator God who even though we were separated by sin loved us enough to send his son to die an extremely horrible death to save us from our sins.  

Greatest story ever told by 4 Him

Testify to love by Avalon 

Tell me again by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

I love to tell the story

Until the whole world hears by Casting Crowns

 With Everything by Hillsong

 

  

Red Alert

 Red alert 

John 16:33

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  

Each place I have worked as a security guard has held its own different adventures.  Where I work now looks like a castle but functions more like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise while under attack.  

“Through it all

Through it all 

I’ve learned to trust in Jesus 

I’ve learned to trust in God

Through it all 

Through it all

I’ve learned to depend upon his word.”

“The earth is shaking 

It’s like a bad dream

This world is crumbling 

Coming apart at the seam

But I am on the Rock, I am on the Rock “

I’ve had nights I’ve had to pray and ask God to calm me because things can come at you so quickly.  Sometimes he calms you and sometimes it’s the storm.  He’s still the God in control of it all.  

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Psalm 61:1-4

“Hear my cry, O God; 

Give heed to my prayer.  From the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.  Let me dwell in your tent forever; let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings.”

  The other night I was at work and I just kept thinking of these words from the song Waiting here for you by Christy Nockels.  If you’re having a rough day or week seek God.  

“If faith can move the mountains 

Let the Mountains move

We come with expectation 

Waiting here for you, I’m waiting here for you 

You’re the Lord of all creation 

And still you know my heart

The Author of salvation 

You loved us from the start.”

Waiting here for you by Christy Nockels 

I am on the Rock by Petra 

Come to me by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

Through it all by Selah 

Praise the Lord by the Imperials 

Expectant Thoughts

 

Expectant thoughts 

 

Years ago there was a book out called What to Expect when you’re Expecting.  This blog unlike the book will not be about that.  Like they said on Gone with the Wind “I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies.”  Jennifer Love Hewitt even yelled in a movie once “What are you waiting for Huh?”  Again not a blog about babies or JLH.    It will however be about expectations.  At a Castle a Watchman stands guard waiting for the enemy to show so they can sound the call to arms before a battle.  This past Saturday I started working once again as a security guard and guard’s wait for people and deliveries.  Tuesday night I waited for the police department but that is a whole different story.  Needless to say, I was thankful God was protecting me.  As Christian’s though we wait expectantly for the return of Christ Jesus.  

 

There’s a song by Geoff Moore and the Distance called We Are Waiting that sums it up so very well.  

 

“As a mother awaits her baby, all of creation is ready, 

For the trumpet to sound and the heavens unfold, 

We’ll rise from the ground to see you Lord.  

All of your people anticipating, come hear our plea, we are down on our knees.

 

We are waiting, we are waiting 

All of your people anticipating.

Come hear our plea we are down on our knees.  

Come quickly Lord, you are all that we need.  

Come find your people are waiting.”

 

Acts 1:9-11 

“And after he had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.  They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?  This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’”  

 

While we wait we also seek God.  

 

Psalm 130 

 

“Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. 

Lord hear my voice!  

Let your ears be attentive 

To the voice of my supplications.  

If you, Lord should mark my iniquities, 

O Lord, who could stand?  

But there is forgiveness with you, 

That you may be feared.  

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, 

And in his word do I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord 

More than the watchmen wait for the morning;

Indeed, more than the watchmen wait for the morning. 

O Israel, hope in the Lord; 

For with the Lord there is loving kindness 

And with him is abundant redemption.  

And He will redeem Israel 

From all his iniquities.”

 

We wait, we watch, we pray and we do the things God commands us to do.  We wait expectantly with Hope in Christ Jesus.  

 

We are waiting by Geoff Moore and theDistance 

More than the watchmen by Rebecca StJames 

God an God Alone/ He Touched Me/ The Mission by Steve Green 

In majesty he will come by Sandi Patty 

No More pain by Point of Grace