Ever pray that God would give you the opportunity to share your faith or show His love? I have quite a bit. I pray that I can show and tell someone about the Love of God in both action and word.
I think that God must want to reach down and smack me in the back of the head sometimes. Looking back on recent days, weeks, months, years, my life... How many times has God presented me the opportunity to say a word about him or to invite someone to church or ask someone how I can pray for them. How many times have I walked away from a situation blissfully ignorant and in my own world never even realizing that God had placed me right there... right then... so I could praise him.
My wife is the best at this. She is my hero! She was driving back from working with a church and stopped for gas. The lady at the register was obviously having a bad day. My wife told her "I have a long drive to the airport and I really like to pray while I drive... how can I pray for you?" This opened a dialog, changed the cashiers attitude (probably changed her day) as she shared with my lovely wife the things that weighed on her heart. My wife prayed for her right there, thanked the lady and left. She then followed up in action by actually praying for her while she drove.
How many times have I been presented with the opportunity to show Gods love in such a simple way and missed it? How many opportunities have I wasted?
Lord God please don't just present me with the opportunity to show Your love but also let me see with Your eyes so I can recognize it and instill me with Your courage and boldness to act according to Your will!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What if....
Gen 3:22-24 (HCSB)
The Lord God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.
Now, I know that we can't live in the world of could've, should've, would've, but I have found myself wondering lately... what if Adam and Eve took from the other tree first?
God banished Adam and Eve from the garden because they were disobedient and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a punishment/grace God removed the ability to eat of the Tree of Life. This kept man from living in constant isolation away from God. We have the curse/blessing that we will die and have the ability to be reunited to our savior!
But again... what if?
If Adam and Eve didn't listen to the serpent... If Adam had stood up as the moral compass of the family as he should have been and said no... What if Adam and eve ate of the Tree of Life first allowing them to live forever. How different would our bible be? WOW I can only assume, in my limited faulty insignificant mind, that God would have said "Look, man has chosen obedience and will live forever. Let us remove the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so he will not sin and be eternally separated from Me." Book over. No need for the rest of the chapters and books of the bible. We would be listening to the stories from Adam's or Abraham's or Moses' lips now... from the lips of Jesus Himself.
I long for the day when we are reunited in paradise with our savior so we can live with Him as originally intended in Genisis 1:1.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Faith and the Obedient Heart
I was recently reading the Bible in the morning and I was reading about Abraham and Isaac.
The story was about Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. Abraham didn't appear to even hesitate.
He took his son and went to where God told him and had complete confidence. Isaac, was old enough to know something was wrong because he asked Abraham where the sacrifical animal was. Abraham responded
I always thought this was the standard "dad type answer" because he didn't want to tell his son "You are the sacrifice". But, then I noticed that this came immediately after Abraham addressed the servants with him.
Although at this point, Abraham's intention is to go and kill Isaac as a sacrifice to God, Abraham seems to have no doubt that Isaac would be coming back with him.
Did Abraham remember the Words of God from earlier?
Abraham displayed a lot of faith in the Word of God from Genesis 17. Isaac would be the covenant son. This faith told him that Isaac wouldn't be sacrificed.
Wow, I see the story, I read the promises of God. But as a daddy myself, how hard must it have been for Abraham to take that journey. The one and only son that he had... that he loved more than life itself... so ready to sacrifice it at the command of God. To trust that somehow, somewhere along the trip, God was going to stop him. Not only stop him, but provide a substitute so the sacrifice would take place. My own personal thoughts are that in this case God didn't necessarily want a sacrifice. The sacrifice that God wanted from Abraham was an obedient heart. He wanted Abraham to be willing to sacrifice everything for the name of God, nothing to be held back in reserve. The animal sacrifice was simply the method used to demonstrate Abrahams Faith and his Obedient Heart.
The story was about Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. Abraham didn't appear to even hesitate.
He took his son and went to where God told him and had complete confidence. Isaac, was old enough to know something was wrong because he asked Abraham where the sacrifical animal was. Abraham responded
“God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Gen 22:8 (HCSB)
I always thought this was the standard "dad type answer" because he didn't want to tell his son "You are the sacrifice". But, then I noticed that this came immediately after Abraham addressed the servants with him.
Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and
I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
Gen 22:5 (HCSB, emphasis is mine)
Although at this point, Abraham's intention is to go and kill Isaac as a sacrifice to God, Abraham seems to have no doubt that Isaac would be coming back with him.
Did Abraham remember the Words of God from earlier?
"But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him
Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for
his future offspring." Gen 17:19-20 (HCSB)
Abraham displayed a lot of faith in the Word of God from Genesis 17. Isaac would be the covenant son. This faith told him that Isaac wouldn't be sacrificed.
Wow, I see the story, I read the promises of God. But as a daddy myself, how hard must it have been for Abraham to take that journey. The one and only son that he had... that he loved more than life itself... so ready to sacrifice it at the command of God. To trust that somehow, somewhere along the trip, God was going to stop him. Not only stop him, but provide a substitute so the sacrifice would take place. My own personal thoughts are that in this case God didn't necessarily want a sacrifice. The sacrifice that God wanted from Abraham was an obedient heart. He wanted Abraham to be willing to sacrifice everything for the name of God, nothing to be held back in reserve. The animal sacrifice was simply the method used to demonstrate Abrahams Faith and his Obedient Heart.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
What have we come to?
I was recently traveling. While sitting in the hotel room, I saw a commercial. I don't remember the specifics but I remember the message.
Setting the Scene:
A family in muted drab tones ... both their dress and the coloring of the film. the entire family looked bored and miserable sitting at a table staring at the most pitiful looking meal they had ever been forced to endure.
Then the salvation... a commonly available microwave product that you can find in any grocery store, gas station or food mart.
The slogan, although I can't remember exactly, was that we don't have to be forced to eat dinner at the table and we could have a good meal while taking care of our life on the go.
Suddenly the commercial went to bright cheerful colors with everyone laughing, dancing, and having fun and while the commercial was explaining how it was better to eat on the go instead of being forced to sit and the boring dinner table it was showing pictures of the mom taking one of the kids to soccer and the dad running an errand, while the two of the other kids were doing their own thing, one doing school work and the other at some sport event with friends. The commercial portrayed all of the family members as better off with this lifestyle.
I ask, is this really the direction that we want our family to be pushed? I thought that we were supposed to FIGHT to have the time together as a family and not encourage the divide and conquer mentality.
With this mentality, is it any wonder that we have generations of children growing up with a skewed moral compass? Why are we surprised when children commit some of the most horrific actions when they do not have the Biblical Father and the Biblical Mother not only teaching but MODELING the correct behavior?
We know from science that things tend to break down unless acted upon by an outside force. Meaning they move from organization to disorganization. They move from good to bad.
God is the outside force for our lives and the life of our family. Unless we allow God to work in OUR family's life, our children are headed for more dysfunction and heartache in an even more unhealthy family unit that will have an increased chance of being a broken home with even more amoral values.
Setting the Scene:
A family in muted drab tones ... both their dress and the coloring of the film. the entire family looked bored and miserable sitting at a table staring at the most pitiful looking meal they had ever been forced to endure.
Then the salvation... a commonly available microwave product that you can find in any grocery store, gas station or food mart.
The slogan, although I can't remember exactly, was that we don't have to be forced to eat dinner at the table and we could have a good meal while taking care of our life on the go.
Suddenly the commercial went to bright cheerful colors with everyone laughing, dancing, and having fun and while the commercial was explaining how it was better to eat on the go instead of being forced to sit and the boring dinner table it was showing pictures of the mom taking one of the kids to soccer and the dad running an errand, while the two of the other kids were doing their own thing, one doing school work and the other at some sport event with friends. The commercial portrayed all of the family members as better off with this lifestyle.
I ask, is this really the direction that we want our family to be pushed? I thought that we were supposed to FIGHT to have the time together as a family and not encourage the divide and conquer mentality.
With this mentality, is it any wonder that we have generations of children growing up with a skewed moral compass? Why are we surprised when children commit some of the most horrific actions when they do not have the Biblical Father and the Biblical Mother not only teaching but MODELING the correct behavior?
We know from science that things tend to break down unless acted upon by an outside force. Meaning they move from organization to disorganization. They move from good to bad.
God is the outside force for our lives and the life of our family. Unless we allow God to work in OUR family's life, our children are headed for more dysfunction and heartache in an even more unhealthy family unit that will have an increased chance of being a broken home with even more amoral values.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Beginnings
I have my own blog. How cool is that.
I am new to this and not really sure what to do. Half of me is excited about a new toy. The other half of me thinks... "wow, I have a diary". Not very manly.
There are times where I have thoughts and break throughs in my mind. I read something or hear something (for a thousandth time) and for the first time I get it... it makes sense. Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you ever wonder why you never connected the dots before? Well, maybe I am the only one but it happens.
Typically, I will write it down on paper, or type it in Word. Most of the time I lose the paper or end up deleting the file. Maybe this way I will be able to put my thoughts down and still be able to find them later. Who knows, I might even be able to make sense.
I am new to this and not really sure what to do. Half of me is excited about a new toy. The other half of me thinks... "wow, I have a diary". Not very manly.
There are times where I have thoughts and break throughs in my mind. I read something or hear something (for a thousandth time) and for the first time I get it... it makes sense. Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you ever wonder why you never connected the dots before? Well, maybe I am the only one but it happens.
Typically, I will write it down on paper, or type it in Word. Most of the time I lose the paper or end up deleting the file. Maybe this way I will be able to put my thoughts down and still be able to find them later. Who knows, I might even be able to make sense.
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