November 7, 2017 This is hard Work

Reading: Romans 11 and Jeremiah 51

Scripture: Romans 11:6, But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Observation: The verse jumped out at me quickly this morning. There are times where is takes some time of contemplation and going over the reading a time or two to find what I feel God has for me. So often we feel or thing we have to do all these DOs and not to do all these Don’ts and I know I get bogged down in am I good enough or have I at least stayed away from things I shouldn’t do. There are even churches out there where they don’t teach grace but talk about the things you must do and avoid to get to Heaven. 

Application: This passage is a great reminder to me that I have a calling just like all believers do to be apart of spreading the Gospel, but it also is a reminder that God already has done the work needed to bring us back into a right relationship with him though the sacrifice. But just as Paul has said, we don’t sin more so that there can be more grace but those who have great sin there is great grace. 

Prayer: Father you amaze me in that you can use such a broken vessel to do anything to further your kingdom. I thank you for Lord for my family, both those of blood and those in the church. I thank you for all you have done for us and the provisions and blessings you give us each day. 

November 6, 2017 I ain't no preacher!!!!

Reading: Romans 10 and Jeremiah 39, 50

Scripture: Romans 10:14-15 And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" 

Observation: Back when I first graduated High School and went to one year of Bible college I distinctly remember telling someone I was going to school with that I would never be a preacher. I told them my nerves would not let me do it. Now many years later after study and some Godly leadership I found that biblical preaching is not getting on stage and speaking to a large group of people but it is sharing the Gospel with those who have not heard and we are all called to do so. 

Application: So often we think that it’s not our job to “make the pitch” to these people who don’t know God, that Job belongs to the pastor. We may not have all the answers but we have the truth and the knowledge of what God has done in our lives. All we have to do is share that and offer to them the opportunity to become a christ follower. The pastor his job is to teach and equip us for the work of the Lord. The church is not the building or the gathering of people but it is the entire family of God who have come to the Father through the Son and his sacrifice on the cross. 

Prayer: Father I am amazed that you can use even me even though I know I fall on my face and don’t do things quite right. I thank you for each day you have given me and each day I have with my family. I thank you for you provisions and the blessings. I ask that you help me to open my heart to your leading and urgings so I can further your kingdom.  

October 31, 2017 This is going to hurt me more then it is going to hurt you!!!

Reading: Romans 4 and Jeremiah 48-49

Scripture: Jeremiah 48:36, Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

Observation: As God spoke to Jeremiah about what He is going to do to Moab, all this destruction and kicking people out, in the mist of all this discipline God cries out because of his great love for us and his people. I have so many time heard and I probably have even said it myself that the God of the Old Testament is angry and wrathful. 

Application: As I have become a parent of a 2 and a half year old little girl I understand how God will give a harsh rebuke and discipline one moment then turn and scoop up his people and pour out blessings and love the next. We have to remember that God will send correction and discipline but he will never send Guilt, condemnation or shame about something you have done. Those are tools of the devil used to get us to isolate ourselves from those who care about us and from God. God loves us and wants us to be with him. 

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful and I am so grateful you have chosen me. I thank you for my family and I place them in your hands. I thank you for the provisions you have already supplied and those you have planed for us. I ask you help us to see your correction and not listen to the condemnation of the evil one. 

October 24, 2017 Sent before governors and kings

Reading: Acts 25, Jeremiah 15-16 and Psalm 10

Scripture: Acts 25:23, So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

Today I felt more compelled to talk about the fact that so far in his current prison stay he has spoken regularly to two different governors and not they are preparing to take him to Rome to talk to the Emperor. During this prep time the regional king Agrippa comes in to hear what he has to say. So often I discount myself in saying who am I to go before anyone to speak anything. 

I am a 4th-6th grade Sunday school teacher who falls on my face screwing up, I’m not eloquent almost every time I get up to share something I cry through it. I don’t know whats next, but what I do know is my life is a miracle I recently found out the I have a Birth defect called a Bochdalek hernia that is fatal to about 60% of infants with it and he rarely found in adults except in an autopsy. God’s hand has been on my life for over 3 and a half decades protecting me. Paul was able to speak to governors kings and the emperor and he was someone who helped the Jewish leaders in that day to track down and murder those who fallowed Christ. 

We don’t know who God will place you before to share your story and the gospel with or how it will affect the world but all we can do is open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit and take the steps that he places before us.

Father I am in awe that you use even a donkey and is you can use a donkey to speak your truth then I know you can use me. I thank you that you are always leading and calling encouraging us to get back up after falling and chasing after things of the world. I thank you for your provisions and blessings. I ask that you help us to seek your will more and open our ears to heat from you more. 

October 23, 2017 Go ahead and hit me I'm unarmed!!!!

Reading: Acts 24, Jeremiah 13-14 and Psalm 141

Scripture: Psalm 141:4-5, Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.

Observation: So often I find myself turning back to the fleshly things turning to things the will be pleasurable for a time but in the long run unfulfilling and unproductive. I need the help to keep myself from diving into things that I shouldn’t.

Application: This reminds me that we need people around us to help us when we are going to head down the wrong path. I am doing my best to surround myself with men whom we all can help each other to walk away for these temptations and seek the direction for our lives.

Prayer: Father I am in awe of how you love me even though I stick myself into situations where it does not belong. I thank you for my family and friends that are around me and help me to make better choices are you are a witness in their life as well in mine. I also thank you for the pro0vision and blessings you pour out on us each and every day. I thank you for those convictions and those who help with accountability.

October 11, 2017 Don't worry about that its just your imagination!!

Reading: Acts 12, 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33 and Psalm 75

Scripture: But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 

Observation: I don’t know how often I have prayed and something happens and I don’t believe or think that my prayers really matter until I see something as proof. It is not mentioned in scripture but I have a feeling that part of the reason these people were gathered together praying was for Peter’s release from prison. I know that whenever I hear about someone I know getting in trouble, I try to pray for justice be it release and exoneration or conviction. 

Application: I the mist of (I think) contending for Peter’s release from prison there is a knock on the door and its him. They discounted the messenger until she insisted they come out and see him, and Rhoda finally opened the gate and door. I know I need to have more faith that God is listening to my prayers that I’m not just white noise that is there like a buzzing fly that wont go away. Let us not be so amazed when God dose something He is a good Father and wants to give us good gifts.

Prayer: Father, I am in awe of your power and majesty, and I long to bask in your glory. I thank you for the provisions and blessings your pour out on us each day and the opportunity to seek your face. Help me to have the faith to know you are listening and moving as I pray. Help me to grow deeper with you and be filled to overflowing with your love and peace. 

October 10, 2017 Help Help

Reading: Acts 11, Isaiah 65-66 and Psalm 124

Scripture: Psalm 124, "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—let Israel now say— if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

Observation: As God spoke though the Psalmist David it spoke to me in that through everything I’m going through I should have more and better faith in God. My flood is currently stresses of work on top of a diagnosis of a birth defect that I have been living with for all my life and could have been potentially fatal. God’s had has been on my life from day one preparing me for something, He has not only kept this issue in check all these years there have been a couple accidents that could have caused this to get so bad that I could have just dropped dead because I couldn’t breath or other complications that come along with this issue. God is with me taking care of me each day and I look back at how if he was not there I would not have survived this and would have been swallowed by the waters. Our help is in the name of the LORD.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful and awesome I thank you for taking care of me even when I was not taking care of myself. I thank you for my family and I lay them at your feet they are your sons and daughters and I thank you for all the time and love I see though them. I thank you for your provisions and blessings in our lives. I ask for your healing to come and thank you for that witch is coming. 

October 9, 2017 I am a Ragamuffin!!!!!!!

Reading: Acts 10 and Isaiah 62-64

Scripture: Acts 10:15-16, And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Observation: I struggle so much with calling things that God has called clean, common mostly me. I struggle with seeing myself in a way that God does. I look at all my faults and all the places where I have fallen hard on my face. I can relate to something Brennan Manning said in his book “The Ragamuffin Gospel” in this Quote he is speaking from a history of Alcoholism (not one of my personal struggles) but he said “When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.” 

Application: Pete was shown though the sheet of food and God speaking to him about making all things clean, and though that seeing God’s longing got the Gentiles to know him. These people are no longer excluded from God’s love because of who there fathers were or where they were born. The good news is there is nothing we can DO to earn God’s grace. I need daily reminders that even with my incredible capacity for things not of God I’m Still loved by him and still apart of his family.

Prayer: Father I thank you for all that you have done for me and the offer of salvation though your son. I thank you for my family and I lay them at your feet. I thank you for the provisions and blessing you pour out on us and ask that you help me to see myself and others as you see them, as your creation and beloved. 

October 5, 2017 Im full of it!?!?!?

Reading: Acts 6, Isaiah 52-54 and Psalm 102 

Scripture: Acts 6:3, Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

Observation: I don’t know how often I think am I full of the Spirit, and feel like I’m not sure if I should be in ministry at all. In a recent teaching that I was have had talked bout the Greek language and how it has multiple formed in each verb. In a passage talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit it’s in a form that is not just a one time thing but a continual in that we are to connect to God and have the Spirit always pouring into us. 

I grew up in a church that didn’t really touch on the Holy Spirit part of the trinity at all, or the gifts of the Spirit, now being in a place not only where they teach about these things having gone to school I better understand and better listen to these things. I’m still struggling with my head knowledge and filtering into my heart some times. 

Prayer: Father I ask you to help me filter this head knowledge to my heart. You are the Giver of life and the one true God and I want you to reign in my life. 

Oct 1, 2017 Hey where you been?

Reading: Acts 2 and Isaiah 44-45

Scripture: Acts 2:42, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Observation: I know that it is easy to get distracted and sometimes even keep yourself so busy that we forget to pray or spend time in the word and with summer coming to an end the reminders of how little importance people and sometimes me sometimes place on going to church. 

Application: We are not told to go to church because God wants the giant churches to show how great he is and to just to say and show that we go to church. Church is to be a community where we do life together and go deeper into God’s word. Church is not just the weekend service, Church is our family of believer and we are to do life together and reach out to those around us to bring them in.

Prayer: Father you are worthy of all praise and honor, you are higher then any other. I thank you for all you have done for me, your provisions and blessings that you pour out. I ask that you help us to devote ourselves to the things of you and in fellowship. 

September 26, 2017 I don't know what you are talking about?!?!?

Reading: John 18 and Isaiah 36-37

Scripture: John 18:27, Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.

As much as I try to not deny the Lord I feel like with my actions and the fact that I struggle with sharing His love, and what he has done for us with the world, I feel like I’m more then denying him like Peter I feel like I’m smacking God. I struggle with lots of thing with my faith. I know Jesus is my savior and I accept the Gift of his love and mercy. I can sit here on this side of the computer and share my struggle without fear being even if I get railed on for saying something here it’s not a someone getting in my face about things. I know that God can do all kinds of miracles through us but without seeing or experiencing them I feel left out. 

Until a couple years ago I had never seen someone who was being tormented or deceived by a demon and at a mens retreat there was a man there who was being deceived and a few of us encountered him and prayed over him. As strong as I though my faith was I felt useless and out of place. I don’t know what God has in store for me I know I am broken in many ways and I’m a work in progress.

Payer: Father you are so wonderful you give us so many chances and so much grace. I thank you for my family and place them in your hands and ask that you help me to be the father and husband you call me to be. I thank you for all that you give us the provisions and the blessings you pour out on us. I ask that you help me to open my eyes and ears to your voice and leading as I know that my ways are not your ways. 

September 25, 2017 I don't have time for that...

Reading: John 17 and 2 Chronicles 30-31

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 30:5, So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to theLord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. 

Observation: As I was going over this the last portion of this passage is what struck me and stood out, For the had not kept it as often as prescribed. In that time the Mosaic law gave them lists of festival and feasts to observe. God wants a relationship with us and wants to be apart of our lives, we are now not held to the law of needing to observe all these things. Although we don’t have these laws dictating us we (or at least I) have a tendency to not spend time with God outside church.

This discipleship class that I am taking and trying to be consistent about my reading and journaling here help me to be more consistent and deliberate about being in the word and having other around me who are consistent is helpful in that we have things to talk about in the word and not just superficial things. 

Prayer: Father I thank you for your word and the revelations that come from Holy Spirit. I thank you for the provisions and blessings you pour out on us each day and the gift of my family. I ask that the rest we get is more restful and refreshing and that our time is extended  to get all the things on out plate done and to have time with you Lord. 

September 17, 2017 What is your story??

Reading: John 9, Isaiah 24-25, and Psalm 42

Scripture: John 9:25, He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 

Observation: I know that I so often struggle with the idea of sharing the gospel with people. I am scared that I will mess it up or not have the answers and I even went to Bible Collage so I know that I have plenty of knowledge to talk to people and that the Holy Spirit will being to mind what I need in the times I need it. 

Application: When it comes to sharing the good news (the Gospel) just like the blind man all we need to know is who we were before we met Jesus who we are now and how he is working on us. We all have different stories and different backgrounds and those make us all have a unique way to share the Gospel. 

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful that your spirit will call those who need us long before we get there and will us to touch people and lead them long before they choose you. I thank you that you took the time to bring those people into my life who made an influence for you in my life. I thank you for my family and place them in your hands, also I thank you for the directions you give me and the provisions and blessings. I ask that you help me to share my story more to those who need to hear it. 

September 16, 2017 I am, I am what?!?!?

Reading: John 8 and Isaiah 22-23

Scripture: John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””

Observation: As Jesus was teaching the people and the Pharisees were trying to debate him. The way he said, “before Abraham was, I am” confused me and made me wonder about what he was saying. I have learned over time my confusion was due to several thing, one being as a human we have a hard time understanding and grasping the idea of a being that is omnipotent omnipresent and infinite. The second thing is the use of “I am” not only is this a declarative statement of being to the Jews this was the name of God. 

Application: So when Jesus said, “before Abraham was, I am” he is saying lots. First he is saying I was there at the beginning, next he is saying I have been here, and the most important thing he is saying if these pharisees were listening to him he is saying I am God the son the one who was prophesied about. We need to open our eyes ears and hearts to hear this ourselves and allow him to work in us through the holy spirit who is in us.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful and I thank you for sending your son and the sacrifice that he was for us to bring us home. I thank you for the provisions and the blessings you pour out on us each and every day. I ask you to open my eyes and ears to know you more. 

September 15, 2017 You did what?!?!?

Reading: John 7, Isaiah 20-21 and psalm 32

Scripture: John 7:24, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."” 

Observation: How often do we all make assumptions or judge a situation or someone before we have all the facts. I know I do that so much more then I would like to admit. For me I think the assumptions are my biggest downfall and biggest contributor to miscommunication. This morning out camping as I was doing my reading my wife tells me the others are up and I can go make breakfast was something we had talked about her making part of beforehand it didn't happen so that was needing to be done so I had thought she was making breakfast and in turn  she thought I was going to make it.

Application: Jesus was talking about this not judging people on what is done but on motives and truth. We need to focus on God's truth and love and do those things so that when someone tries to judge us only he is seen and we need to look at others with God's love 

Prayer: Father I am in awe of how you are able to love us even though I so often turn from you and think I can do it on my own. I thank you for my family and place them in your hands. I thank you for the provisions you give us each day and the blessings you pour out on us. I ask that you open our eyes to the how you see others and help us to love as you love.