When God says, "No go!"

I'm going to share with you today about a scenario with my dogs that opened my eyes as to why we should continue to trust God, be obedient, and wait on Him when He says, "No go!" It's especially hard to accept when everything looks like "GO!" Actually this story is about my daughter's poodle named Baby. Everyday he goes to the back door, stands there, and stares at me when he wants to go out into the yard (8 acres). I let him out and he faithfully comes back when he is done. I trust him! On the other hand, I don't trust my poodle named Billie. I started letting him out with Baby and one day the guy working in the yard brought Billie to the door. He had found Billie in the driveway by the road! Now, it's "No go Billie!" Ha! As I was pulling into our driveway the other day, I noticed a huge hawk of some sort in an oak tree. I kid you not, this bird was big enough to grab up Baby while out in the large yard and whisk him away. Therefore, I decided that I wouldn't let him out into the back again until the hawk moved on. Baby could only go into the small fenced front yard until then. For a few days after that Baby would go to the back door and stare at me with a puzzled look on his face when I said "No Baby, let's go to the front yard." He then would hesitantly follow me to the front door. Two or three times a day, for three days, he would repeat this same scenario. There was no way that I could explain to him the danger lurking out in the large yard that had been so safe in the past. He was probably thinking, "But I've gone out into this yard for years and have proved that I will come back faithfully and safely." He may have thought that he was being deprived. The Lord showed me that we should trust Him when we don't understand. We should obey him when He doesn't allow us to do something that seems fine. It's not that I didn't trust Baby. I didn't trust that hawk! God sees all and knows all. He loves us and I know that He is protecting us from our enemy! Jesus says in John 10:10 that the devil wants to steal from us, destroy us, and kill us, but He came to give us life and life more abundantly. In some cases, we will not be able to understand specifically "why" until we get to heaven. I am so thankful that our heavenly Father cares so much for us! I'm so grateful for His guidance and protection. We can't always know what's best. We all need the Lord! I'm so glad He's here for us! Hope and faith in God are important. In Psalms 27:11-14 King David expressed his desire that God would teach him His way. He asked for God to lead him because of his enemies. He stated that he would have fainted unless he believed that he would see God's goodness again. He exhorts us all to wait on the Lord, to be of good courage and God will strengthen our heart. He again stresses, "Wait, I say, on the Lord!" Well, the hawk is gone and Baby is once again free to go into the back yard. I'm glad that Baby is alive and well! I'm glad that he again is enjoying himself on the acreage.

JUST DO IT!

Starting into the new year, I found myself watching the Oprah channel. No, I don't worship her or anything like that, but she had a great show featuring Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and Suze Orman. I really like all three of these people. I'm not sure of their stance regarding the Lord, but they have alot of wisdom that I think many Christians (me included!) can learn from in the areas of finance, relationships, and health. Jesus said in Luke 16:8 that the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser (in relation) to their own generation than are the sons of light. He was speaking of being wise with regards to money management, but I'm finding that this is a truth that spans many areas of life including health and taking care of our bodies. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 strongly exhorts Christians to understand that our bodies are the temple in which the Holy Spirit lives. He says that our bodies are not our own, but we are owned by God and that we should then bring honor and glory to Him with our bodies. I have not been very faithful with my diet and exercise in the past few years. I confess that I have been given to my appetite and slothfulness. It was great fun for that season, but I am now reaping the results with which I regret. The results are excess weight and stress with regards to it. I can't wear any of my regular clothes! I refuse to continue buying the stretchy clothes that keep me in denial that I have been gluttonous! No, maybe I don't weigh as much as others I know. And yes, I do exercise a little. But, am I really as healthy as I could be? No! The excessive amounts of sugar have made me feel arthritic and I know that it is a downward spiral if I continue on this path. I know within my heart that I am stepping into an area of disobedience with an unbridled appetite and with excuses like, "I'm too tired to walk today". I know that these poor choices can bring negative consequences. A few years ago I was trying to encourage a friend of mine that God is our healer and that He wants to heal us. She was arguing with me about this because her mother-in-law had just died of a sickness and she was one of the most devout women of God she had ever known. She was praying for healing and obviously did not get healed. I later found out that her mother-in-law weighed over 300 POUNDS and the sickness was related to obesity! Come on now. What more can I say! Everyone of us stand before God and are accountable only to Him. Only God knows where you are in the process and what you must do to care for your temple. God's grace is sufficient for us to get the victory in every area of our life. The SIN of gluttony is one that is winked at by many Christians. Phillippians 3:19 speaks of those whose god is their stomach. They will be damned and shamed. Wow! This is sobering! The Lord has mercifully graced me to watch my caloric intake and I've started walking. I already feel the benefits. I know what I need to do to take good care of my body for His glory and service. I need to JUST DO IT! You do too! I pray for you and please pray for me. May this year be our most healthy, wealthy, and wisest year yet! All for His glory!!

A vanilla caramel latte, please!

Aol has an ad with a housewife sitting in her living room. Her kids and dog are going wild in the room behind her and her house is in utter chaos. She sits there smiling, unaffected by her problems. It's because she's sipping on a vanilla caramel latte! Reality is that a latte might help her feel better for a few minutes, but what kind of real help does a latte give? She has a perpetual mess on her hands! Our newspaper featured an article today on the "12 Steps to De-stressing". Some of these steps might be helpful, but Jesus, Who is the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6) exhorts us to learn from Him (Matt 11:28-30). He calls all who are weary and over burdened to come to Him. He promises to give rest (He will ease, relieve, and refresh your soul-Greek trans.). He said to take His burden (or yoke) upon ourselves. His yoke is light and easy, wholesome, useful, good, not harsh, sharp or pressing. It is also balanced, comfortable, gracious, and pleasant (Hebrew trans). These are characteristics of what I call the "Sabbath Rest Principle". It's the entrance into the abundant life Jesus came to give us (Jn 10:10). Tell me, how can I get this yoke? I have to make every effort, every day to enter into and live in a supernatural place of tranquility called the "Sabbath Rest" (Please read Heb. 3&4 Amp). Actually, this is how the true people of God are to live (Heb. 4:9). In the sabbath rest, we acquire confidence (or faith) and subsequently an inner peace that God is working everything out and He will take care of us. It's NOT sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich or denying reality. It is not just surviving either. It's listening to and obeying God's voice, and actually enjoying our life's journey. In Heb. 3:15-18 we see that God reveals why some of the Israelites did not enter into His rest. These were rebellious and self-reliant individuals. They were ungrateful, complainers, and murmurers. (God forgive me for my petty murmuring!) They subsequently died in the wilderness (Heb.4:11). It also says in Heb. 3:17 that those who were resistant in the wilderness actually irritated (or grieved and saddened) Him! I definitely don't want to irritate the Lord! Only those who enter that rest get to their "Promised Land"( a truly God-blessed life). How many of us Christians live in His peace and experience the blessed life Christ has promised? We may need to get with God to re-evealuate and prioritize our life. Moses was considered the meekest man ever to live (Exodus 33:14-15). Meekness is defined as humble compliance and flexibility. The key indication that Moses was humble and compliant is in Ex. 33:15. Moses told the Lord that if His presence didn't go with him, he didn't want to go on from there in search of the promised land. How many of us go on our own analysis of a situation in search of the "promises", whether we are confident that God is with us or not? Numbers 33:13-18 reveals Moses' heart. His desire was to know God deeply and to know God's ways. He desired to see God's glory above all else! I want this to be my passion: to know God deeply and to know His ways above all else. I long to see His glory. God told Moses in vs. 17 that he had found favor with Him, loving-kindness, and mercy. God also told him that He knew him personally and by name. What an honor! What joy and delight! Nothing in this world compares to knowing Him! Knowing Christ is salvation. One might call Him Lord, but if that one does not KNOW HIM, he will not be saved (Matt. 7:21-23). The A.Paul states in Phil 3:10-14 that it was his determined purpose to know Christ, to be continually transformed to His likeness by death to self, pressing on and forgetting what lies behind, and by making every effort to fulfill God's will. I pray that everyday we all will take up the cross of laying down our own will for the will of God in our lives. The crucified life is the blessed life!

I want to look over the bridge!

Just this past week the Lord mercifully dealt with me to be sure and begin my day spending quality time in His presence. It doesn't take a very long time to meet Him. I start with some words of worship, maybe a song, prayer, and a little study of His word. As Beth Moore says in her study "Stepping Up", "God's first priority is relationship, not just emergency response." Our first priority should be the same! In Psalm 91 (Amp) we see closeness to God is not only for intimacy, but for protection from ourselves and our enemy. It starts with: he who remains in the presence of Him Whose power no foe can withstand will: 1.) be delivered from traps; 2.) delivered from plagues, fear , destruction, and evil; 3.) and no will evil come near your home. Instead, we will be preserved, never forsaken by God, He will answer when we call, and we will live a long life. Sounds like sticking close to Him is the KEY to life! I remember a true story my mother-in-law used to tell my girls when they were small and rambunctious. While on a tour in Italy, they were crossing a bridge with a group of people and a lady was having a hard time with her little boy. He was struggling to free himself from her grasp to look over the edge of the bridge. He was finally successful, ran to the edge, lost his balance and fell over to his death. I pray that we will always hold tightly to the Lord's hand, knowing that His wisdom and correction express His love for His children. Here is an overview of Ps 94:12-18 (please read the whole thing): Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline O Lord...That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity...He will not abandon His people...Unless the Lord had been my help, I would have dwelt in the land where there is silence...When I said my foot is slipping, Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord held me up."

I Need Peace

We all need peace! We all want peace, but why does it seem to evade us? The Bible reveals to us that God is "all about" peace, and that we Christians are to be "all about" peace. I like this bumper sticker that I've seen, "No peace? No God. Know peace, know God!" There is so much depth in this statement that I've only begun to grasp. It sounds simple enough to understand, but it is not always easy to acquire. It does take effort. Applying this truth to our life should be a dauntless task. The rewards are priceless! God is the God of peace. The gospel is the gospel of peace. If we refuse peace, we refuse Him and His way of doing things. I know people who seem to thrive on anxiety and pressure. Whether or not we can accept it, the lack of peace in our life is rooted in fear, self-will, and pride. These things are enemies of God. Why? Because this lifestyle doesn't produce a godly example. This lifestyle makes us sick, can kill us, and it doesn't allow the Holy Spirit to flow in our lives (among other things). Therefore, the love and blessings of God don't flow in our lives like they should. I have been tempted to live like that, and have at times. As I look back on those phases in my life, I see struggles with confusion, frustration, unfounded hurt, self-centeredness, illness, and anger (*not righteous anger). Many times these things are initially misinterpreted as attacks of the devil, but they are acts of the flesh or self-will (Gal. 5:16-26), which then opens the door to the devil and separation from God (1 John 2:15-17; 1 Pet :10-12 Amp. version; Rom. 8:6). God wants a life of peace for us. Jesus came to bring us peace (Acts 10:36; Luke 2:14); He is our Peace (Eph. 2:14); He is the King of peace (Heb. 7:2); He is the God of Peace (Rom 16:20; Jn 14:27); And His gospel is the GOSPEL of Peace ( Rom 10:15). Therefore, we need to LET the peace of God rule in our hearts (Col. 3:15). It's up to us. His peace is there for the taking. Possessing His peace looks like this: it is being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, and then yielding to Him through obedience to His leading and His word. The fruit of peace or the evidence of it is as follows: from the Hebrew word shalom it is to be safe, well, happy, friendly, in good health, prosperous, favored, and whole. The Greek word eirene (i ray nay) is translated to be prosperous, have quietness, rest, and to set at one again (with God and restored). Jesus said that He came to give us a good life and life eternal (John 10:10). Are we going to let His sacrifice be in vain? I will not, as much as possible! I will make it my goal to let His peace be my guide. I will gratefully humble myself by acknowledging His Lordship, and enjoy His peace in my every single day! Living in God's peace, while living in this world, is like the salmon's ambitious swim up stream. The salmon does what is required, against all odds,to reach his goal. When all the world is screaming at us to hurry and be their savior, or demand we "make it happen", we need to cast our cares on Him (1 Pet. 5:7) and let Him do His work through us. We need to ready and position ourselves in His peace. Only then will we be truly fruitful (John 15:1-9). His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:29-30). Let living in His peace be our ambition (1 Pet. 2:11). Please take some time to read 2 Peter 3:1-18 (pref. Amp version). Trust Him. Obey Him. We'll be glad we did!

Fighting Worry & Trusting God

How many times have you wondered when you'll get to the point of being able to trust God in every situation and not worry? After years of seeing God's faithfulness and how He comes through for those of us who rely on Him, doesn't it seem that we would eventually get it? Somehow we leak faith! Good news!! If we recall God's promises from His word and remind ourselves on a regular basis these things, we will be encouraged and faith will rise in our hearts! THEN, great things will happen! I MUST: #1. Commit my way to the Lord (roll and repose each care of my load on Him), trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him>the promise: He will bring it (His good plan) to pass (Ps. 37:5 Amp). #2. Not envy sinners, but continue in the worshipful and reverent fear of the Lord all day long>the promise: there will be a latter end for me (a future and a reward) and my hope and expectation will not be cut off (Prov. 23:17-18 Amp). #3. Love God, and since I am called according to His purpose and design>the promise: I can be assured that He will work everything together and fit it into His good plan for me (Rom. 8:28 Amp). #4. Be consistently righteous, trust, and take refuge in Him>the promise: He will deliver me from the wicked and save me in the time of trouble (Ps. 37:39-40 Amp). These are just a few guarantees from the Word of God for us. Read the Psalms and dig more out. Use a concordance, there are thousands of promises. Have you ever seen the bread box promise holders? They were popular in the 70's. It was a little box in the shape of a loaf of bread with cards in it that had promises from the Bible on them. If I recall correctly, they didn't include the conditions. I hope you noticed the conditions that preceded the promises above. I've never seen a promise from God apart from a condition that must be met. As we line ourselves up with the conditions, then the promises are inevidable in time. I can testify of God's faithfulness to His word. This is true for me: I was young and now I'm old(er), yet I have not seen the (uncompromisingly) righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread>Ps 37:25 AMP. Take Him at His word. Prove Him and you will be able to testify of His faithfulness too!

Subjects of Extortion

Why are there so many ministers these days becoming subjects of law suits and extortion? I just saw in the news where Bishop Eddie Long, a pastor of an Atlanta megachurch, was accused of keeping company with 3 teen boys for sex and took "good care" of them financially. Whether or not the allegations are true, this minister has put himself into a position of vulnerability. Not to mention the well-known ministers that have fallen in the past years. There is a hook that the devil uses to get these people. But the devil puts a nice bait on the hook . First of all, some of the bait that nicely covers the hook include extreme wealth, without proper accountability, too much power and fame, to name a few. How is it that some preachers and ministers of the gospel become so focused and entrenched with the wrong things and then become prey? I believe that it is a lack of wisdom and lack of the fear of God. We see in 1Tim. 3, 4, 5, qualifications for church leaders. In these chapters lay treasures of wisdom that will keep a minister on the right path. Some of the requirements are as follows: 1. He must be above reproach. 2. Self-controlled 3.Well-behaved 4. Sensible(This means that he should have enough sense not to allow himself to become vulnerable) 5. Hospitable and a friend to the believers 6. Not a lover of insatiable wealth. These are just a few nuggets in Chapter 3 that will keep a minister out of trouble. (There is still a wealth of wisdom and knowledge in the rest of the book.) Chapter 4 mentions that in the last days there will be some who will turn away from the faith through hypocrisy and pretensions of liars. We should be on guard! Pretention and lying is a trap! In Chapter 5:24-25 we see where some of the sins of men are conspicuous going before them to the judgement and proclaiming their sentence in advance. But, the sin of others appear later following the offender to the bar of judgement and coming into view there. This should be a scary thing if you are living a "secret" life. It's also an encouraging thing to know in vs 25 that even when our good deeds aren't evident now, they will not remain hidden forever! All will be revealed>(1 Cor. 4:5). God is holding all of us accountable for our life's deeds, good or bad. What makes Christians think that somehow a life of disobedience is ok with God? I've heard "Christians" say, "God understands..." "He knows I'm not perfect..." This is true, and He is merciful to immature Christians for awhile>(Heb 10:23-29), but when ministers, who are supposed to be mature (1 Tim 3:6) fall headlong into a lifestyle of sins, they will be found out...eventually at least, and they will be judged! I pray for Ted Haggard and others through the years who have brought a reproach to the Kingdom of God. I know that they can sometimes repent and we must forgive, but to be reinstated into ministry? I'm not so sure that this is always right. I think the Biblical path to restoration should be a life of humility. The restoration should be toward their relationship with God, not toward a ministry that could very well take that person down the wrong path again! There must be a fear of God and a fear of falling into the same sins again>1 Cor. 10:12. I pray for these ministers to have their eyes opened to the fact that they could very well be on their way to hell. This reminds me of the old hymn, "I'd Rather Have Jesus". Having Jesus is far more important than anything else! Oh how I love Him! I know that there are wonderful "famous" ministers that have faired well, to the glory of God (Billy Graham, Joel Osteen, Reindhart Bonke to name a few), but they must be doing what they should. My prayer is for the Lord to guard me, keep me, and cause me to be faithful all the days of my life. Whatever it takes Lord, discipline, deliver, protect. Do this for me...for all of us who love you!