"Something The Lord Did"

About twice a month our family goes to Lowe's to do these kid projects. Today we got to make toy airplanes and the kids seemed to truly enjoy it. After it was over we loaded up in the van and headed for home. As we were driving Curran said, "Daddy you know making the airplanes reminded me of how God made us." I said, "Wow, yeah bud that is awesome." Tamika chimed in and said, "Curran do you know who revealed that to you, it was the Holy Spirit."

What made this a great moment was that God was able to speak to Curran in a practical way. When Peter understood that Jesus was The Christ. Jesus rejoiced because The Holy Spirit was maturing Peter in his faith. It is always cause to rejoice when people are growing in the faith and God is revealing Himself to them day by day. It is better to grow spiritually by spending time with Christ then to grow from what you heard from others.

We become so dependent on a good sermon, inspirational post, a best-selling book, or our friends that we neglect to learn from spending time with Jesus. No person, place, or thing can ever teach you as much as Christ. But we have put forth the effort to sit and learn from Jesus. We have to commit to spending time in prayer and study of God's Word. We see that Jesus rejoices more we learn from Him then when we learn from others.

If you looking to internet websites, daily devotions, a sermon, or Godly people as your only source of guidance then you have missed it friend. We all need to start learning to seek God daily and grow in Him. We need pull ourselves away from being "spoon feed" and start eating directly from the source. God desires to show Himself to YOU but are you willing to humbly pursue Him? Are you willing to spend time in prayer and taking time daily to read His Glorious Word. Because He desires to bring you closer to Him, and He stands with great excitement waiting. Stay focused, you can do this.

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be accountable.

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Broken Glasses

"Broken Glasses"

Today Amber broke her glasses. It was not something she intended to happen, planned on, or even thought would happen it just did. Immediately she began to cry and ran to me to comfort her. She did not try to fix her glasses, blame someone, or hide what happened. Amber just ran to me. She said "Daddy can you fix it", I looked at her with assurance and said "Yes baby, I can fix it." Amber then buried her head in my chest and continued to cry as I held her. The glasses were minuscule to me and replaceable. But to her they were everything. I thought of what happened to Amber today and how it relates to prayer.

When my heart is broken over sudden tragedy, consequences from sin of my own doing, or even broken promises. Do I run to complain first, hide to cover my sin, or do I turn to my Heavenly Father much like Amber did to me? Because prayer is the first step and not the last support.

My problems seem so big to me and small in the hands of God. Yet He tells me "Give me all you worries and cares because I love you.". I look up to Heaven like Amber did me and I ask "Daddy can you fix it?" And He replies "Yes, I can fix it." And I place my face back in the chest of God and cry. He doesn't preach me a sermon, tell me to man up, or even say "If you were a stronger Christian you would not be sad or crying." No He says, "I am close to the brokenhearted."

God is a mender of the brokenhearted and He says I AM here for you. I AM more than able to wipe your tears and stand against your problems. I AM the solution to your problem and the counselor who is always on call. I AM your everything my child, my love, my valued one. I AM here for you, I love you.

So sleep well tonight daughter and/or son of Christ. God is there and just like Amber you can lift your prayer to your Father and rest in His Arms. He is in control. Don't run to worry, seek to sin to reduce stress, and don't try to fix it. Let God be God in your life and show you how truly good He is. Read these scriptures and hear God talking to you.

1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 34:17-20, Song of Solomon 2:6, Isaiah 9:6

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"Playing God's Song"

Following Jesus means absolute self denial. It means we choose to accept the bible as total truth and anything that speaks to the contrary as demonic lies.

But the cost of being a disciple of Christ is often lost in our Americanized version of Christianity. We are often taught that "it's all about you" from the pulpit. We are encouraged to seek our moment, season, personal prosperity, goals, and achievements. We seek out preachers and teachers that appeal to our emotions but fail to seek out those who will teach how to live for Christ. This is not to say we should not dream but it is to say our dreams should be Christ focused and Christ centered.

Following Christ means we may lose friends and gain enemies. Have others turn against us and may even be subject to death. But the reverse is also true. We may have enemies who come to know Christ and become like family. We will meet people that have an eternal impact on our lives for the good.

Following Christ also means, making time to spend with Jesus. It means carving out time in our day to read God's Word and applying it to our lives. It means teaching others what we have learned and being held accountable by others as well.

It means prayer becomes essential and not just an action we take when tragic events occur. We take the time to seek God about any and everything. We become warriors of prayer and people of praise.

Following means we follow whether times or good, bad, or indifferent. It means doing God's Will whether we agree, disagree, or unsure. Our trust is not in who we are it in whose we are.

Long story short we do not play to the tune of our choosing we play to the tune of Christ. Count the cost friends and follow Christ to the end. Stay focused, you can do this.

Luke 14:25•33

"In His JOY!"

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"Look at me"

So my daughter Amber asked to climb on my shoulders and be carried around the house. She full of bubbling JOY! when she asked but when she sat upon my shoulders fear began to take over. She panicked and wanted to get down immediately. I looked at Amber and said "Look at me." She glanced for a second in my direction but she soon lost focus and looked at down. She was projecting her falling to the floor. But again I said, "Look at me.". This time Amber looked me in the eyes and would not let anything take her focus from me. I gently let her down and placed on the ground. After she was down I told her "Daddy will not let you fall." She said, "Okay." Her brother and sister then climbed on my shoulders and Amber watched as they enjoyed being on Daddy's shoulders. Amber than came up to me and said, "Daddy can I get on your shoulders?" I told her yes and I watched in the mirror how she smiled and laughed when I put her on my shoulders, her fear of falling left and she began to trust in me.

God's Will is always scary when we first start. The excitement we had about planting a church, volunteering in ministry, the new job, devotions with our family, or even talking to someone about Christ quickly dissipates to fear. It because when we start the new journey in God's Will our focus shifts off of God and on the taunting task that is before us. 
Instead of thinking of how we will be successful, we think of how we will fail and fall flat on our face. The problem with focusing totally on the vision and not The Vision Giver is we only see the result of victory and not the work and trust it would take to get there. Just like Amber was joyful about climbing on my shoulders, she began to fear when she realized she would actually have to climb to get my shoulders first and then second she would sit on them. We will have to put in some work when we are doing God's Will and when finally achieve the vision we will have to trust in Him that He will sustain us. 

We do both these task by looking at Him continually. We do not I repeat do not take our eyes off Him. We look to Him through prayer and reading His Word. We build our trust up. His Spirit will be there to remind us of God's Faithfulness to carry out His Will and Good Pleasure in us as long as we stay focused on Him. We also surround ourselves with believers who will encourage us to climb and believers who have climbed before us. Just like Amber watched her siblings trust in me enough to climb and sit on my shoulders, we look to Godly Christians who have been where we are  going and can encourage us every step of the way.

So in the midst of your journey in God's Will, here Him say, "Look at me", then focus on Him and climb. When you reach the goal God has set before you, trust that He did not bring you up this high to fall. Stay focused, you can do this. 

Exodus 14:13•14, Habakkuk 2:3, Psalms 37:1•7,23,34,39

"In His JOY!"

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/

Let your husband take take the lead

Wives if you really believe in your husband then let him lead. You have to trust God knows what He is in doing in your husband's life. A Christian Man will only lead his family as far as they trust him. And he will not compete with you for leadership in the household, he will sooner passive and let you lead. Put your faith in action and trust in The Lord's Way, not your own. Continually pray the Lord guide your husband and surround him with Godly influences. And husband, dive in the Word of God and prayer, to find out how God has called you to lead. Marriage will only work if you do it God's Way. But marital problems always surface when we fail to follow God's Plan and pursue our own. Stay focused, you can do this.
Colossians 3:18-21, Ephesians 5:22-33

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/