July 31, 2017 The Price Has Been Paid

Reading: 1 John 2 and Songs of Solomon 1-4

Scripture: 1 John 2:1-2, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Observation: This morning I was looking forward to spending time in the word again being that the last few weeks I have been struggling being in the word. During worship at church this weekend one of the songs we sang was about God setting the captives free and that is exactly what this passage is about too. We are all going to have failures in our lives and do things that will take us away from God’s will for our lives.

Application: This Passage is reminding us that not only has a payment been made for the sins that have been committed it has also been paid for those sins we have not yet committed. On top of that his love is so immense that his love and forgiveness is so great that anyone and every one can be covered by it if that would hear and accept the gift of God. Any one can come to the Lord. It doesn’t matter what you have done you will be forgiven. God will accept you where you are but he loves you too much to let you stay there when his plans for you are so much greater then what you could have ever imagined.

Prayer: Father I thank you for your son and the grace and forgiveness that you have poured out on us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I thank you for the provisions you give us each and every day and the blessings of things not yet seen. I ask that you help us to walk in the forgiveness you give us but also strive to grow closer to you and seek your direction for our lives. 

July 24, 2017 There is nothing good in me

Reading: 1 Peter 3, Proverbs 18-19 and Psalm 16

Scripture: Psalm 16:1-2, Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."

Observation: I feel like I understand David a little in this Psalm, David is crying out “God save me”, I don’t know how often I feel I am crying that our myself. After crying out for help he says “you are the only one who can save me. Here I feel most connected to what David is saying, I am a bag of poop without you. 

Application: God has called us all into his love, grace and mercy, even though we are a bag of poop God has a plan for us and we just need to walk in it. 

Prayer: Father I long to walk in your grace and mercy. I thank you that you sent your son to die on the cross to cover our sins. Lord I ask that you help me to hear your voice and seek your will in my life. 

July 21, 2017 Man I can be so stupid.

Reading: James 5, Proverbs 12-13 and Psalm 149

Scripture: Proverbs 12:1,  Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Observation: Over the last few weeks I have been dealing with this myself, I have been allowing discipline and exhortation in my life. I grew up angry and a bit of a rage monster, I could identify with the Hulk on that. Within that rage that would build until I exploded, I would also not listen to anyone who would tell me I was in the wrong or that I was hurting people even though I never touched anyone in anger. I grew up thinking that lashing out with words or hitting objects was ok. 

Application: I was stupid, I thought that I was ok and didn't need to change and I know that looking back, one of my marriages may have ended because of this hatred of being corrected. Im not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but through the grace of God and the gathering of men to help hold me accountable God is working on healing my life. Be open to correction, God’s correction will leave a lasting mark for the better.

Prayer: Father I stand amazed that you love me enough to correct me even when I don’t want to listen. I thank you for your blessings and your daily provisions. I ask that you help me listen to your corrections and to seek you and your will and lay down the chains that you have broken in our lives but we keep picking them back up. 

July 16, 2017 Eat the fruit of your labor

Reading: Hebrews 13, Proverbs 1-2 and Psalm 128

Scripture: Psalm 128, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!”

Observation: After going over the reading together, my wife and I started talking about the entirety of this Psalm. We talk about the imagery and the even looked at pictures of some of the things that are mentioned in this Psalm. In this time of struggling and trying not to worry about how this or that was going to be paid, but as we try not to it looms heavier upon my mind.

Application: We spent time talking about this in the context of our family and were taking this and declaring it over our family. We are going to be blessed and eat of the labor of our hands and it will be well with us. My wife's comment about being a fruitful vine is to be fruitful as a vine you have to be pruned and then said “I don't like being pruned.” As we continued to talk we talked about how for a tree to be fruitful it also has to be pruned from the top so that it will focus on producing fruit on and on filling our children the olive shoots that spring up around the base of the tree. As we grow larger and stronger in the Lord and the Holy Spirit prunes out what should not be there we are able to give more to our children and raise them up to become fruit trees and vines of their own. Then in the end it echoes the earlier line about being blessed and we will see our children's children. We are blessed and we need to walk in it to see that fear also be faith and no longer worry about the little things in our lives. 

Prayer: Father I stand in awe of how you can pack so much into a small section of scripture. You are the one who takes away all fear and doubt, the righteous fear of you helps to lead me to faith. Lord I ask that you help us to hold onto the proper fear and to leave the worry and stress behind. Help me to raise up a family that want to honor you each day. 

July 12, 2017 What a bloody mess

Reading: Hebrews 9, 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5

Scripture: 1 Kings 8:11, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Observation: After the Temple was finished and the Ark of the covenant was placed in The Most Holy Place God’s presence filled the temple so thick and tangible that the priests could not perform their duties. I love how we get to feel the presence of the Lord come around us during worship. I know that God surrounds us all the time and knows the number of hears on my head but I seem to feel it or notice it more during worship. 

I am not part of it every month but my church has monthly corporate prayer, where anyone can join us and pray for all aspects of what God is doing around us and though us. At the end of every corporate prayer one of the things we do is go to the entrance of the church and ask the Holy spirit to come into our church. Not that he ever leaves but we alway ask for God’s glory to fill our house of worship, teaching and discipleship, we ask him to be apart of all we do. 

Application: May your house be fill with his glory

Prayer: Father, you are so wonderful, Your glory shines about us each and every day. I thank you for my family, a wife that is patient with me, Children to love and teach your ways. I thank you for the provisions you give us and the blessings we don’t see. I ask you to fill this house with your glory, impress upon us your love and kindness. 

July 11, 2017 It's only a shadow

Reading: Hebrews 8, 1 Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 4

Scripture: Hebrews 8:5, They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." 

Observation: Tonight during the reading about how the Temple was built and furnished, my wife and I started discussing how wonderful it would be to see the temple just after it was finished. I have always hoped that when we get to heaven that we would be able to see things like the temple or watch some sort of holy DVR to go and watch some of these things we have read about in the word, things like the 10 plagues crossing the Red Sea or sit and listen to Jesus teach. Then the Holy Spirit remained me of this scripture in Hebrews, and I said but we are going to be in the Heavenly Temple when we get there this Temple as grand as Salomon made it, it was still only a shadow of what is in Heaven. 

We have been shown these shadows and given these accounts of what happened back then, to point us to the glory and majesty of God and what he has for us. Through Christ we have been made citizens of heaven and hears with him. We are resident aliens here on earth and we need to live our lives in honor of where we are from.

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful, I stand in awe of how you can cause one little comment lead to a better understanding. I thank you for all that you do for us I thank you for my family and the provisions you give us each day and the blessings you pour out on us. I ask that you help me to continue to gain a better understanding you and to live as a citizen of heaven. 

July 10, 2017 Can We Build It

Reading: Hebrews 7, 1 Kings 5-6 and 2 Chronicles 2-3

Scripture: 1 Kings 5:3  You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

Observation: I know that so often I think, “I want to do this and that and this thing over here” and even when it something that would (in my eyes) benefit the Church or could bring people to know the Father and then when I start trying to pursue it I fall on my face or there are insurmountable obstacles that keep me from doing it. 

Application: God has a plan for all of us, some of us are great warriors, David was the warrior king, poet and psalmist. Because of his history of war God told him that he could not build the temple, his son who would be king after him would build it. Some of us are Davids, we are the Warriors who are out battling and some of us are Solomons who are charged with building the temple. We may be laying the ground work for our children or we could be the ones to start the work. As we seek God’s plan in our lives it will almost never look like what we think it should but it will fit into God’s painting much better if we listen to his plan.

Prayer: Father you are so amazing I long to sit in your lap and gaze into your glory. I thank you for your provisions in my life, you give us all we need and bless us beyond our understanding. I ask that you help me to see your plan and to help me to prepare the way for my children as I build what you have called me to. 

July 9, 2017 All to you

Reading: Hebrews 6, 1 Kings 4 and Psalm 9

Scripture: Psalm 9:1-2 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Over this last few weeks I have let things get the better of me and because of that I let changes get me to put my devotions and my time with God on the back burner. Part of what happened was me losing my temper and not breaking but helping my laptop to fell its age and reminded me that it needed replacing. We don’t currently have the funds to replace it so I am developing new was to do my devotions. I know that I have gotten into this rut of being good about doing them in the mornings on my own during the week and failing a little on the weekends, but my wife had been struggling to find a time to do them being tired from being a mother of a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old and working full time. 

Today we are trying to start the process of reading and going over the readings each day together after we get the kids to bed. As a man who grew up being taught that having a temper is ok by watching a father who has a temper. I am grateful that I also was raised to not to hit people that I don’t have that tendency but my outburst are just as painful to my wife and children with words and actions. 

Todays reading in Psalms was a reminder that as we have been struggling with adjusting to the new normal of having two kids, having a computer that is in a bit of an inconvenient location and not being able to do thing the way I was used to doing them. I need to focus on giving thanks for what I have, share the blessings and great deeds that I have see God do in my life and in the lives of those around me. The last section of this passage is why I love worship I want to sing the praises of his name and point to God in a way that I feel that I am good at.

Prayer: Father I thank you for all you have done for me, you provide all we need and pour out blessings even when we don’t feel that we deserve it. I thank you for my wife and children and I place them in your hands. They are yours and I thank you for the stewardship of them and I pray that I will point them to you every day. 

June 28, 2017 Help me love

Reading: 2 Timothy 3 and 2 Samuel 13-14

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:2-5, For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Observation: With the anger that I let loose the other day and the way I was making a fool of myself there are several of these things in this list that I know I have exhibited. Then here at the end it says to avoid suck people and I start to think I don’t want to be someone avoided. Yes I do have to admit that it is nice when I have a break from people and I can do things my way and not worry about how others see my process or if they thing I’m doing wrong, but I don’t want to be avoided. 

Application: As I seek help thru the programs at church and outside church if needed I also know that the only way to battle this is with God’s love and with the help of the Holy Spirit. God has shown us the way thru Jesus and his example is Love.  

Prayer: Father you are so wonderful and I thank you that you love me even though I fall down and fail at showing your love. I ask for a fresh infusion of your love and your grace, Help me to let go of the anger and find the place of peace where I can reside with you. 

June 27, 2017 Wash me and train me

Reading: 2 Tim 2, 2 Samuel 11-12 and Psalm 51

Scripture: Psalm 51:7-8, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice

Observation and Application: Todays reading in 2 Samuel and Davids reaction to being told of his sin really hits home this morning. Yesterday as I was preparing to make dinner for the family and trying to get pinterest to work being that something happened and it got logged off. I got to the point where I was cursing, swearing and screaming at the computer with my family in the room. I know that I grew up with yelling at things and sometimes hitting things being ok because they are not people or animals. I was raised with a reverence for life. My wonderful wife is trying to help but she can only go so far. 

I have lived with this anger for so long that I don’t know how to deal with it, I’m going to start going to a group that is run at my church to get help as a starting place and seek help. I think I was a large contributing factor to the end of one of my marriages and I don’t want my children to grow in a home like this. We love each other but my actions could easily drive a wedge so far between us that our home would not be a place that any would want to be in. I don’t want to hurt my family or those around me. I struggle with this just under the surface and at times it seems to come out as being brusk with my coworkers and others around me, I pray that this group will be the tool that God uses to teach me to be the man I truly need to be to this world and more importunity my family.

Prayer: Father I fall before you and plead for forgiveness and direction. I need your help to overcome this anger and habits of lashing out. I thank you for my wife and children and I place them in your hands because mine are not what they should be. I ask that you help mold me into the father, husband and man I need to be to better show your love.

June 23, 2017 To whom it all comes from

Reading: 1 Timothy 4, 1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:4-5, For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Observation: I find it interesting that in 1 Timothy 4 he starts off saying “in latter days.” God without time or end so seeing into the future of that point to us is nothing and beyond us to the end of the days. With in that Timothy states that there will be a time when the things God meant for our good and our enjoyment are going to be persecuted and taught to be wrong. Im fine with people choose to be vegan but when they start preaching to me about how evil or wrong it is to eat meat or any product that subjugates the animals. 

Application: When it comes to what we eat in God’s eyes it is all from God and Holy though prayer. How often do you forget to pray before a meal and just eat and move on to what ever we deem more important then taking a few moment with our lord and savor to thank him for what he provides. It is so easy to allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in what ever we are doing thru-out the day or our lives that we don’t take the time to thank God for the things he provides us.

Prayer: Father I stand in awe of your generosity and how you care for us. I thank you for my family, My wife and children and the provisions and blessings you give us. I thank you for all you have done for us and all you have paned for us. 

June 20, 2017 Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Reading: Matthew 28, 1 Chronicles 12 and Psalm 37

Scripture: Matthew 28:13, and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 

Observation: These guards were there to see the angels role the stone away and see these women show up at an empty tomb, I don’t know if they saw Jesus walk our on his own accord or if the tomb was empty and it was just opened to prove to the disciples he is not in here. Then they were told by the priests and elders what happened they were paid off. How often do we choose to keep quiet about our faith or say something that we know is not the truth to save us from embarrassment or to keep from getting in trouble.  

Application: I know I struggle with speaking up about things when (what appears to be) every one else is doing or saying the same thing. God has called us to be a reflection of him to the world, to shine his love all around and lift him up. I know that in my day to day I struggle between being a apostle (sent one) and being one of the guards that was paid off to say “I fell asleep on the job and they got past me to steal the body of this guy we killed”

Prayer: Father You are so amazing I long to rest in your presence. I thank you for your son and the sacrifice he made on the cross and the provisions and blessings your pour out on us each day. Help me to speak the truth and to speak it in love and kindness. 

June 19, 2017 Every day is a new day

Reading: Matthew 27, 2 Samuel 4 and Psalm 22

I have struggled this last week to be in the word I have not been reading, I have not been seeking God thru every thing that my family and I have been going thru. We struggle with money with medical things and thru everything I have been trying to hold it together. Over the last few days we celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday and due to a misunderstanding in front of my wife’s family on our way home I let my temper get the best of me. I screamed and shouted and used foul language and my children were in the car with us. 

Then it was fathers day service at church and the guest speaker talked to us about the fathers faithfulness to us. After that I taught about submission and obedience to God’s will and how he lead Israel with the pillar of fire and cloud. Now it seems appropriate that todays reading is the crucifixion and the final act to instate this new Blood Covenant between God and man. Being a father and knowing how I feel about my children and how I want to protect them and do anything for them I get a small glimpse into what God felt for his son on that day 2000 years ago and a glimpse of how he feels about each one of us. 

Knowing what a fathers love feels like from both sides. Coming to the crucifixion after everything I have been going though reminds me through Christ Jesus I have been washed clean in God’s eyes but I still have to work with those around me and seek help to get things under control. When I place my tattoo of the Chinese symbols that mean Self-control on my wrist so that I would see it and the scripture of 1 Thessalonians 4:4 as a reminder that I need to keep control over my own body, there were other things that I was thinking about at the time but it applies to all sorts of aspects in my life. 

Prayer: Father I thank you for sending your some to minister to the world and ultimately setting us free. I am amazed by the love you have for us. I also thank you for the daily provisions and blessings you have for each of us. I ask that you help us to see the portions of our lives where we need help and to seek the help we need thru you and your workers. 

June 9th, 2017 Here fishy fishy fishy

Reading: Matthew 17, 1 Samuel 25 and 1 Chronicles 3

Scripture: Matthew 17:25-26, He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. 

Observation: I have always remembered the story of Peter going and catching a fish to pay the taxes here it is who knows how many decades later and I’m seeing I remembered the wrong disciple. Wouldn’t it be nice that when ever we needed money that we could just go down to the local fishing hole and cast our line in and when we got a fish it would have what we needed. 

Application: As I was reading the question posed to Simon stood out and then the following replies. What stuck out was Jesus’ remark of “Then the sons are free.” This made me think as a child living with our parents we don’t have to pay taxes even if we work we get to claim exempt because someone else is claiming us. We have been adopted into God’s family and made sons and daughters and in his eyes we are always claimed. God paid the price though the death and resurrection of his son Jesus and we are now covered by that payment. 

Prayer: Father I am so grateful to be able to call you father and that you call me your son. I humbly come before you seeking to be held in your arms and comforted in our times of need. I Thank you for your provisions and blessings that you pour out on us each day and the instruction and directions in our lives. I ask you to help us see and hear your voice and the next steps you have for us.

June 7th, 2017 What's on your lips

Reading: Matthew 15 and 1 chronicles 1

Scripture: Mathew 15:8, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Observation: At this time Jesus was talking to the religious leaders these people who thought they were so Godly because of all the rules and statutes that was to keep them from breaking any of the commandments. Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus and knowing that salvation is a gift to be received not something to be earned, I have seen many churches that still appear to teach a works based salvation, you need to do this or do that to get your salvation then you have to do this or that to keep it. 

Application: Not only were these groups only pay lip service to God, we have can fall into that same trap. I know I used to be what many call Sunday morning Christians, I would put on a good show of looking good and being at church Sunday mornings but the rest of the week God was nowhere in my life I was using my salvation as fire insurance instead of another reason to praise him every day. This world is doing everything it can to distract us and keep us from becoming followers of Christ. I heard a pastor once put it this way “If the devil can’t keep you from coming to Christ, he will settle for making you ineffective for the kingdom.” We have this tendency to avoid conversation that may make us or the person we are talking to uncomfortable so the devil will use that to keep us from reaching others, and that is just one example of why we need to reach out to others. Its not the pastors job to bring people to christ his job is to equip us to go out and complete the Great Commission.

Prayer: Father I lay my family at your feet they are yours and I know the work you are doing thru them. I thank you for your provision and blessings you pour out on us each day. I ask for strength and wisdom when it comes to speaking to people about you.