The Approach

The Approach 

 

As some of you know I have a new dog named Arisia.  We as humans can learn a little about our own behavior when it comes to dogs.  Sometimes she can be very timid when approaching me.  When I noticed this, I thought a bit about how we as humans come to God.  We should definitely approach him with fear and reverence.  For He is holy, and we are sinful creatures, yet he calls us to come to him.  Like my dog we desire to find a place of refuge, comfort, and love.  I mentioned before that I’m dealing with some hurt and pain and my dog reminded me to seek my master because as much as we want to handle things on our own, we can’t do it.  There’s a messed up theology that has been circulating for some years that says “God will never give me more than I can handle “.  Actually, God will use problems to bring you to a choice.  Will you choose to seek him or are you going to do things on your own.  Personally, I’m trying to get better at seeking Him.  I don’t always get it right.  I’m trying hard to read my Bible and listen to Christian music more.  I have the Youversion app on my iPhone and I let it read devotionals and the Bible straight to my hearing aids and I listen to sermons while walking at work.  Small choices can make a difference.

 

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  

 

God wants us to seek him.  The late Rich Mullins had a song title that just about sums up us as humans.  Simply put “We are not as strong as we think we are.”  All of us like my wobbly dog Arisia are just a few French fries short of a Happy Meal.  

 

Here’s another reason we need to seek God with our problems.  I love how the English Standard Version translates this verse because on days I’m exhausted I’ve prayed this back to God.

 

Psalm 23:3 

“He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”  

 

Something as of late that has been bothering me is the sheer plethora of profanity my coworkers use and there are times, I get off work and I’m so happy to be away from it.  God calls us to live a better way.  We need to spend time in prayer and in his Word.  I’ve mentioned before if just one person draws closer to God and finds hope because of something I have shared then I have accomplished my purpose.  Make little choices to seek God.

 

I want to end with these two verses because as someone who works nights, I greatly related to them.

 

 

Psalm 16:7-8

 

“I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I know the Lord is always with me.  I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.”  

 

 

Come near to me by Geoff Moore and the Distance 

God is faithful by Sheila Walsh 

Life to me by ZoeGirl

 

Battle

 

Battle

 

There are things that God has called you to do.  Mine is to encourage.  I have been in some struggles as of late.  Maybe I don’t talk a lot about it. But I’m seeking God.   Saw on Facebook recently my friend Crystal posted this thing that said, “Have you ever given someone else a motivational speech when you yourself are hurting.”  Every week.  If someone can learn from my pain and seek God, then I will keep doing this.  As open and vulnerable as that may be.   I have echoed the words before of Margaret Becker’s song “God’s not afraid of your honesty.  He can heal your heart if you speak honestly.”  I was reminded recently by some friends how much we need to be seeking God in prayer and spending time in the Bible.   Humans are a stupid lot because that sometimes is our last choice.  I’ll admit it.  Sometimes I’m stupid and make bad decisions.   

 

In order to fight my battles, I have to remember how.

 

Psalm 62:5-8

 

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.  

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.  My victory and honor come from God alone.  He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.  

O my people, trust in Him at all times, Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.”  

 

Another thing I have done during this time is to write poetry.  I have never claimed to be good at it.  But sometimes you must unload your feelings into words.  I’m going to share a poem I called The Fog.  

 

The fog

 

I walk through each day 

I have no focus 

Matter

One day my life may matter

So hard 

To see the next thing, I need to do

Did all I knew to do

Loved with every fiber of my being 

Now I walk around 

Confused 

Must keep breathing 

I don’t know why

Scattered 

Shattered 

World has crumbled 

Need hugs

Prayer

Something to focus on 

Can’t give in to anger or bitterness 

This is not the way to turn

Keep breathing 

Do something 

Anything 

It’s all a blur

Activity dulls

But doesn’t help focus 

Fog remains

Tears keep coming 

Hurt strikes at the worst of times

Mentally and emotionally drained 

Fog in mind 

Surrounds me with cold

I just keep praying 

God heal my pain

All I wanted was to be loved

The fog slices with emotional knives

It wears down my defenses 

Once again, I journey with Kismet 

Slowly this journey with Kismet 

Will either strengthen 

Or destroy 

Life and existence 

My struggle 

Each day

Either seek God or give in to despair 

I believe somehow, somehow 

Hope to go on will be seen

Get me out of this painful fog

 

The passage in Psalms I shared referred to God as my refuge and a place to pour out my heart.  I must be like Zero Sugar Minute Maid fruit punch being poured into my Green Lantern mug as the mug fills the bottle empties.  When we pour our hearts out into God who is our refuge, he defends us and shows himself strong.  See God has called me to encourage people and sometimes I let myself be vulnerable to do so.  I’m baring my heart with poetry.  Not all will relate but I’m being honest and open.  If God can somehow use someone as feeble and broken as me then he’s not done with you.  I want you to leave this blog knowing God wants our hearts, our troubles, our mess all of it.  

“Heal the wound but leave the scars 

A reminder of how merciful you are

I am broken, torn apart 

Take the pieces of this heart

And heal the wound but leave the scar”

 

If you’ve been hurt or are in emotional or mental battle, seek God.  Pick up his Word and pray.  Get the Youversion app and have it read devotionals and scripture to you.  Make God your first choice not your last.  Recently I went to a men’s Bible study group, and it was something I needed more than I would admit.  We need encouragement and like I said before if God can use my hurt to help someone else, I say go for it.  

 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

 

“All praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.  He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.  When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

 

 

 

 

 

Honesty by Margaret Becker 

Big Enough by Chris Rice

All I need is you by Adie 

Tis so sweet by Amy Grant

What a friend by Kathryn Scott

Acoustic mix by Point of Grace 

 

 Safety 

The last two weeks have been quite the struggle.  I’m trying so hard to focus on anything.  The last thing I want to do is give in to anger and bitterness.  I don’t want to put up walls around me but at the same time I’m tired of being hurt.  Things have happened and my family and my new dog have helped a lot.  I keep relating to this part in the song Show the Way by Kim Hill.  

 

“Look, if someone wrote a play, Just to glorify what’s stronger than hate

Would they not arrange the stage

As if the hero came too late

He’s almost in defeat

It’s looking like the evil side will win”

  It’s the old plot to the Empire Strikes Back.  Everything that can go wrong has.  I truly feel like Evil has won.  I’m simply asking what’s next or as Goldberg would say “Who’s Next?”  This is the longest I’ve gone without doing a blog in a long time and it’s because I’m rattled.  Each day is just focus on something.  I don’t always quote secular music but this one song has been running through my head a lot.  You see I’ve spent years trying to share hope I really have.  I don’t know if I’ve even succeeded in what I’ve done.  I’ve always tried to help that one person who will listen.  

“Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered 

There’s nowhere to turn

You wonder how you keep going 

Think of all the things that really matter

And the chances you’ve earned 

The fire in your heart is growing 

You can fly if you try leaving the past behind 

Heaven only knows what you may find

Dare 

dare to believe you can survive 

You hold the future in your hand

Dare

Dare to keep all your dreams alive

It’s time to take a stand

You can win if you dare”

There’s been 3 verses I keep coming back to because a week and a half ago I lost my job, I got a new one and a dog named Arisia.  I lost my confidence in my ability to even be a security guard.  I was that rattled.  It’s something I enjoy I like to think I might be good at it but the way things all went down I had no focus afterwards.  None.  

I’m not alone as I have felt.  For lot’s of reasons I have cried a lot and being a man it doesn’t bother me to admit that.  Psalm 3:3-5 has been somewhere I keep turning.  If you know the history of me doing this blog it’s where it all started.  But verse 5 has been hitting me the hardest.  See I have this new dog Arisia, a Terrier/ American Staffordshire mix that is all muscle with a big head and she sleeps by the bed and protects me. She’ll make you feel safe and loved.  A gift of safety from God.    

Psalm 3:3-5 

“But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.  I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain.  I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.”  

With everything by Hillsong 

Show the way by Kim Hill

All I need is you by Adie

Dare by Stan Bush

Hymn of Praise

 

Hymn of praise 

 

I will be the first to admit that the book of Jeremiah is one of the harder books in the Bible to get through.  It’s a lot of judgment on nations that people these days have never seen and it’s not easy to relate to but sometimes you find things among all the doom and gloom that get your attention.  In Jeremiah chapter 51 I was reading all about the destruction of Babylon when I came across this section called A Hymn of Praise to the Lord.  It at first seemed out of place but then it doesn’t.  Because sometimes we need to be put in a headlock have our heads shaken and remember who he is and who we are not.   It’s an RKO outta Nowhere to get our attention.  

 

Jeremiah 51:15-19

 

“The Lord made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom.  With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.  When he speaks in the Thunder, the heavens are filled with water.  He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.  He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.  

 

The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!  The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.  These idols have no breath or power.  Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!  On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.  But the God of Israel is no idol!  He is the Creator of everything that exists, including his people, his own special possession.  The Lord of Heavens’ armies is his name!”  

 

 

Give us clean hands by Charmaine

Revelation song by Newsboys 

Just one person

 

Just one person

 

Charlie Mike

Continue the mission

Be a hopegiver

Hope found in God’s Word

If just one person

Draws closer to God

The goal will be accomplished

I get

Discouraged

I fail and fall

God provides

Timely encouragement

Must

Continue the mission

God’s not done

With me

Or you

Must share

Hope

It’s a blog

And a Bible study

That’s weird

He’s weird

Week upon week

Doesn’t make sense

He keeps sharing

Passion

For just one person

To draw closer to God

Illustrations not normal

The mission continued

Be a hopegiver

Hope

Is

A

Person

Named

Jesus

Must keep sharing

For just one person

To draw closer to God

 

 

 

 

Directors cut:  I channeled a lot of the reasons I continue to do a weekly Bible study blog into a poem.  I included the discouragement the ups and downs.  I know a poem is not a normal thing to share but I was reminded of the power of pen, paper and thoughts this week.

 

Not about us

 

For as long as I’ve done this blog thing, I’ve tried to do something the mentor of my dad taught him and that was “to put the cookies on the bottom shelf”.  You keep things simple so others can understand them.  I’ve sat under preaching where the person speaking has so much learning he has forgotten his audience.  I don’t mean that as an insult to anyone.   I want to speak and write clearly in a way that people understand.  Some of you know I used to do fictional stories as well and I’ve been told before that I write in a way that the reader can see what’s in my head.  That’s a great compliment.  I wish I still had that ability.  I can’t seem to finish my stories anymore.  That’s a problem for another day.  When you present God’s Word you have to remember it’s not about you it’s about bringing glory to Him.  I never want to be the important part.  If you ever see me do this as a video, I don’t care that someone sees I’m looking down reading what I’ve written.  I have to write this out because it is also a written blog and I also lose my train of thought easily. 

  So, onto Paige really quick.  She’s a singer I discovered by shopping at Half Price Books, and I found a cd of hers and there’s a song she does called So Not About Me.  I’m going to share some of the lyrics and then the scripture that goes with this blog.  See we’re to be all about giving glory to God and not taking it for ourselves.  

 

“Every good and perfect gift comes from you Lord

Yet I receive the credit for these things 

I’ll place my mind and focus on you

And take the stupid spotlight off of me

Someone take this stupid spotlight off of me

 

It’s all about you, who you are, what you’ve done  

What you’re gonna do 

It’s all about your holiness 

It’s so not about me”

 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

 

“If the good news we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing.  Satan, the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.  They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.  They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.  You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves.  We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.”  

 

We have to be clearly understood when sharing God’s Word.   I saw a thing on Facebook recently that was so true.  “When God put his calling on your life he already figured in your stupidity.”  I get things so messed up and wrong, but God called me to share his love and hope and somehow he uses a flawed human like me.  He can use you too.  

 

 

Sadly there is no video on You Tube for the song by Paige.  

Declaration by Geoff Moore and the Distance

Seed to sow by Michael W Smith 

People need the Lord by Steve Green

 

So I can thank you

 

So I can thank you.

 

I’ve had a long stressful week at work. Physically and mentally, it has been exhausting.  My thoughts have been scattered.  There’s a phrase in this short chapter I’m about to share that when we are stressed out, we all need.  Driving back and forth to work has been a blur and I listen to a lot of music on the way and sometimes you need that to get your thoughts fixed back on God.   Psalm 142 is short, but it reminds us where to turn.  

 

“I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.  When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.  Wherever I go my enemies have set traps for me.  I look for someone to come help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!  No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.  Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say ‘You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.  Hear my cry for I am very low.  Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.  Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.  The godly crowd around me, for you are good to me.’”

 

Part of the chapter says, “Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.”  Maybe we aren’t in a physical prison but sometimes our thoughts can be, and we need to get focused back on God more than we realize.  I almost didn’t even do a blog this week because my thoughts have been so messed up.  

I mentioned music and there is an old hymn that got my attention on my way to work.  

 

“Great is thy faithfulness,

Great is thy faithfulness 

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed thy hand has provided 

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me”

 

Time to shift your focus back on God.

 

 

Great is thy faithfulness by Carrie Underwood and CeCe Winans

We don’t need it by Rebecca St James

Weak days by Steven Curtis Chapman 

In Heaven’s eyes by Sheila Walsh