Hell isn't the only thing paved with good intentions

Hell isn’t the only thing that is paved with good intentions.  Has anyone ever started the day, nice and early after a good night sleep, thinking “this is going to be an awesome day” and then the next thing you know, the day went just as planned except something wasn’t quite right.   

Yesterday started the time of year that I absolutely love.  If there are two people that love Thanksgiving and Christmas more than me and Kim then I haven’t met them.  It’s also the time of year that pulls our attentions in so many directions that we have to be careful not to leave our first love (if you are a Christian).  For instance, I had a great day today.  I started the morning off just me and Kelsi, and then I dropped her off at mom’s house and ate a quick breakfast.  I had to take some shirts by HHS so I caught a couple of basketball games and then back to mom’s to get Kalli and Kelsi.  I was pleasantly surprised when Kassi and Kim showed up there from a day of shopping that started quite early this morning.  We all came back home to finish the day.  I had a very good day.  The only problem was that I was so busy, I hadn’t spent enough time with God.  The only significant prayer I had prayed today was when #12 for MHS girls went down with a knee injury, my heart broke for that little girl when I heard her crying.

I realized all of this around 8:30 tonight when, for no good reason, I got a little testy with Kim.  She was right about something and I knew it but for some reason, it angered me.  I knew right then this behavior was directly because I hadn’t spent enough time with God today.  I got up and left the room and told God that I was sorry and it was amazing how easy it was to have a good attitude after that.

The point I’m trying to make is that we must always keep God first.  You don’t have to be “sinning” to put you in a place where you really don’t want to be.  We should always be praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and keeping God in the front of our mind.  I know the WWJD phrase is so overused but it really is the question that should always be on the top of our mind when any decision is made.  And by the way, any reaction you have is caused by a decision to have it.  There is a good topic of discussion on that point that I’d be happy to address in the future if any of you would like me to.

I hope your Thanksgiving has been as blessed as mine.

I love you and God does too.

Fear Stinks!

Can you think of a worse feeling than fear?  I don't think I can.  Fear is such a gripping emotion.  When we are faced with a fear, it can over-shadow even the best things in life.  For example, I hate spiders to the point of being afraid of them.  I know people with much worse fears but decided to spare them and use myself.  When I have to kill a spider in the house, I just hate it.  My skin crawls at the thought of it.  A big spider will ruin any event for me.  How about you, what are you afraid of?  This crude example isn't much of a fear but it shows that fear can exist and not be present at that moment.  If no spiders are around, everything is OK for me.  Bring in a big spider and my demeanor changes.  

Unfortunately, this type of fear isn't necessarily what the Bible was referring to when we are told to not be afraid.  Unfortunately, this isn't the type of fear that the devil uses to keep and beat Christians down.  I bet if you stopped to think right now of what you have feared in the last week, you might say nothing.  But if you get denial out of the way and really look inside, I think some of you may have a different answer.  Has anyone been afraid of:

·        Not being able to pay a bill

·        Not looking good in public

·        What people will think about you

·        Being able to say the right thing

·        Getting sick

·        Being alone

The devil will use these simple fears, and many more, to build doubt.  When you start to doubt then unbelief creeps into your life.  When you have unbelief, you begin to lose your faith in God and then let the out of control spiral begin.  STOP IT!!!  DO NOT BE AFRAID!

Fear will steal your joy so much faster than it took to obtain your joy.  I will never forget a time in mine and Kim's life when we were really struggling to make ends meet.  We hadn't been married long and I insisted that she not work.  Then we got out of church and stopped paying our tithes.  We went from living check-to-check to always being a little behind.  I will never forget the moment when I had to decide to get a grip on the fear that I had of not being able to provide for my family.  I was playing left-field and a routine pop-fly was hit to me.  As I was running to the ball, all I could think about was how many bill collectors names were on caller ID.  After I caught the ball, I began to weep because I knew that I let the devil use a temporary situation to completely steal my joy.

God has allowed me to conquer all of the fear in my life.  He has allowed me to see through His word that it is not His will for us to be afraid.  His will for our lives is for us to be strong and courageous (1Cor 16:13).  It can be a slow process to rid yourself of fear.  Some believe that controlling your fear is all we have to do.  I believe that is a start so that you can realize that the fear is not rational.  However, true victory comes when you no longer fear.

My favorite scripture on this topic is 1 John 4:18 – “there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  God is perfect love and if you allow Him to work in your life He will drive the fear away, that is a promise.

More to come on this subject later.  I want to avoid posts that are too long.  I am attaching a page that lists other scriptures about not being afraid.  http://sharemygod.blogspot.com/p/do-not-be-afraid_23.html

The Waiting Game

"Waiting" isn't something that I do very well.  I am a very impatient person.  When I'm hungry, I want to eat now.  If I decide I need something, I go buy it now.  If I want to talk to someone, it is difficult to wait until they have time for me.  I believe many of the people I deal with daily has the same problem.

If you are like me, you may also have a hard time waiting on God.  If you stop to think about it, we have to wait on God for lots of things.  We wait on healing, we wait on divine interventions, we wait on our loved-ones to be saved.  In our prayer life though, the devil (and our own personalities) tempt us to be impatient with God.  The devil will tell you that "God isn't listening to you" or "God doesn't care about you" or the worst for me is "God would help you but remember the sin you committed?  God can't help you now, you're not worthy". 

Although we all have a finite amount of time here on earth, God doesn't live in time.  When the bible said a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day  to God, it meant it (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8).  Time has never started and will never end with God.  He always has been and always will be.  We want to put time boundaries on God for our needs because they seem so immediate to us but we must learn to wait.  Think about poor Ezekiel that God made Him lay on his side for 390 days, what if God asked us to do that? 

Today, wait on God.  Tomorrow, wait on God.  The next day, wait on God.  While you wait, enjoy Him.  Worship and serve Him for who God is, not what He is going to do for you.  While you wait, here are a couple of scriptures that may help.  They've helped me.

Psalm 33:20
We wait in hope for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.

Psalm 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

http://sharemygod.blogspot.com/p/scriptures-on-waitng.html

I love you and God does too.

Are you seeking God or merely looking for Him?

If you are looking for God I commend you.  If you have the desire to look for God because you need help, you certainly aren't alone.  That's where many christians are today, we need help from God because of a personal situation; our spouse is sick and needs help, our kids are having a hard time at school, my job is just getting on my nerves....  This is a good starting point for the relationship that God desires from us but once we "find" God and He ministers to our problem, we tend to put Him back where we found Him until we need Him again.

I want to encourage you today to seek God.  Once you have found Him or once you begin looking for Him, your search needs to change to one where you are seeking His face.  The best way I know to put this is to compare it to my marriage.  Before I married Kim, I was looking for her.  I found many unsuitable substitutes so I kept looking.  Once I found her, of course I stopped looking for her.  Was that the end of my attempts to get to know her or strengthen our relationship?  Of course not.  Once I found her I began seeking her.  I began trying to discover her likes and her dislikes.  I began learning what it was that made her happy and then I did those things.  I also learned what didn't make her happy and I stopped doing those things.  After all of these years I'm still learning my beautiful, awesome wife.  I am in awe of her.  Thoughts of Kim bring me to joyful tears because I love her so much.  We have an open line of communication such that we know the worst things about each other and its OK ("Meet Joe Black") we still love each other unconditionally.

THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS FROM ME AND YOU!  Once we find God and begin building our relationship (when we get saved) He wants us to be in awe of Him.  If we love our spouses and our family the most, how much more should we love God and how much more does He want us to love Him.  God wants us to love Him and seek Him because of His love (1 John 4:19) not because of what He does for us.

Today, I encourage you to spend just 10 minutes seeking God's face.  Spend 10 minutes loving God the way that He desires.  God wants to take care of us and make sure our needs are met but He also wants to know that you love Him and will always love Him even if He doesn't meet our needs.

I love you and God does too.