Wednesday Morning Devotional

Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  – 1 John 5:12

A: “So do you have faith in God, or anything like that?”

B: “No.  I used to.  I was saved, but I found myself quickly getting drunk again, being angry, and still using words I know I shouldn’t use.  The religious people around me told me that if I had really gotten saved, I wouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff.  So now I pretty much believe that it doesn’t matter what a person believes.  All religions pretty much lead to the same place if they lead anywhere at all.”

A: “Since that happened to you, since you were saved, would you say that there is anything different about your life?”

B: “I feel like my attitude immediately got better.  I just had a better outlook on things and stuff doesn’t bother me nearly as much.”

A: “What if God is like a person who really loves to take His time fixing really nice classic cars?  The only problem is that they don’t run and pretty much everything on them needs to be fixed.  Could you imagine how awesome it would be if all you saw one day was a car that hasn’t run in forever, but the guy working on it went out there and fired it up?”

B: “That would be pretty awesome.” 

A: “There is all kinds of stuff that needs to be fixed, but it runs now.  The restorer of the car is in no hurry to fix it all up.  He just does a little at a time.  He takes his time and purchases each part to replace as he goes along.  He doesn’t mind taking years.  I’m telling you this because your attitude change was God getting the car running.  Just because there are a ton of other parts that need to be replaced doesn’t mean He isn’t working in your life.  You are certainly free to believe what you want, but I’m just saying that I wouldn’t let go of my faith because there are a bunch of parts that need fixing.  Be excited that God has gotten you up and running.  He will do the rest in His time.  Before you die, He will have completed His masterpiece in you.”

B: “I guess I never thought of it like that.”

A: “I didn’t either for quite a long time.  I was always defeated and beat down as well because I would do stupid things.  The devil as well as many religious people would always point out what needed to be fixed and never could just say that they saw a difference in me, and I was headed in the right direction.  I just want you to know, I believe you are headed in the right direction.  Don’t let go of Jesus . . . at least not for the reasons you gave me.  He is working in Your life.  If you have Him, you have everything.”

B: “I really appreciate you talking to me like this.”

Lord, let person B feel Your presence today.  Let me feel Your presence today.  To really know that You are in our lives and working on us, knowing that there is so much to be fixed . . . thank You!  There is and never will be another like You.  You are the restorer of all restorers.  Help us to live for You!  Help us to lay our lives down for You!  Help every person that reads this to think about the conversations that they have with people about You.  Do we encourage them to move forward?  Or do we beat them down and make them think they must go backwards to fix a bunch of things?  We know which one comes from You, and which one comes from the evil one.  Lead us, guide us, protect us, and give us exactly what we need to move forward today, Lord.  I love You!  Thank You so much for loving me.  Amen!

Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.  – Romans 14:1 (NLT)

I went to see Redeeming Love this weekend.  It is a romance based on the book of Hosea.  I thought the movie was awesome.  I thought the book was awesome when I read it a few years ago.  I felt God’s presence in both of them.  I learned a little bit more about what I’m like and how He is.  It was just a presence of God that I needed to experience.  I felt like God sent the book and the movie at just the right moments in my life.  

I looked online to see what others thought.  I found so many videos just bashing the movie.  They called it pornography.  They said that Michael Hosea (the protagonist) did all the saving, not Jesus.  There were a lot of YouTubers calling the movie evil.  After watching it, I just don’t see it.  It shouldn’t, but it all serves now as one more thing to divide Christians while an unbelieving world looks on and says, “I want no part of those Christians if that is the way they are with each other.”   

I saw where someone posted that they were at a Reba McEntire concert.  Yes, a Reba concert.  The first comment said, “You shouldn’t be there, we are supposed to be separate from the world.”  To relate this to the verse, one person, who claims to know Jesus, thinks it is perfectly fine to go and enjoy Reba, another, who claims to know Jesus, thinks it is wrong.  Again, what does an unbeliever think when they see that conversation?  

I remember one time posting a video of me singing a song in a brewery.  Some people in the church I was attending at the time lost their minds.  They immediately did some “research” on one of the bands we covered and let us know just how evil we were for entertaining with their music.  Now, don’t get me wrong, those band members were not and are not even close to being Christians, but a few people let us know that my daughter and I were heading straight to hell for playing the song.  I’m not trying to justify my, or anyone’s actions, I just want to emphasize Romans 14:1

I don’t know about you, but my deep, inner sense of right and wrong has changed so much in my 30 years of being a Christian.  As I grow in the Lord, what He says is right or wrong in different settings and situations changes over time.  I’m not talking about obvious sins like sexual immorality, drug abuse, anger, violence, theft, vice, and whatnot . . . Galatians 5 tells us what they are.  I’m talking about the things God says is wrong for you at a given moment or time period in your life.  For example, nobody would call playing golf a sin.  Yet, there was a time when God let me know that I was not to play.  To play would have been to disobey Him.  There was also a time when I could not listen to rock music.  I loved that stuff so much as a kid, God asked me to go through a long season of listening to, learning, and playing worship music and old hymns.  Years later, I could listen to rock songs again because they were no longer medicine to my soul, or a way of escape.  Even now, I do go and see the concerts of the bands I idolized growing up.  The awe, wonder, and the covetousness of wanting to be those guys no longer exists.  I pray for them and ask God to save them before they draw their last breaths.  I thank God that He didn’t give me what I thought I wanted and let me live out that lifestyle.  I thank God that He has given me a heart that wants them to be saved and go to heaven.  I don’t want to see anyone punished forever.

All I’m saying is love God, love His Word, and allow it to work on you.  If Romans 8:28 is true, and I absolutely believe that it is, everything, even the things we think are evil that others are doing, is working for their good.  Pray for others instead of bashing them.  Literally, for God’s sake, all this quarreling among Christians just has to stop.  The unbelieving world is watching.

Lord, the greatest commandment is to Love You with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength.  Help us to remember that the greatest sin we can commit is simply not love you.  There is no amount of right we can do to earn Heaven, and there is no amount of wrong we can do to deserve hell.  You have taught me so much by being places I never should have been and doing things I never should have done.  Thank You, Lord.  You really are working all things for my good.  I ask for You to help me be merciful to those who love to point out other people’s perceived wrongs.  I don’t want to write them off or think negatively of them.  I want to remember what Romans 14:1 says.  Help us to get this right.  If the world could just see Christians united and wanting the best for one another, we would be so unstoppable.  Right now, we are very much stoppable.  Help us.  With all my heart I’m asking for you to send revival to this land, Lord.  You have done it before . . . You can do it again.  Amen

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already.  Why not rather be wronged?  Why not rather be cheated?  — 1 Corinthians 6:7

I have a friend that, to me, has been done as wrong as anyone has ever been done wrong.  Every time I hang out with him, I think of this wrong and pretty much the same Bible verse passes through my mind.  The verse comes from James and John when the people were treating Jesus rather badly.  When they witnessed it with their own eyes, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”  (Luke 9:54) I honestly think those exact words in my mind.  I want so badly for the Lord to just lay the smack down on the people hurting him the most.

The crazy thing about it is that he thinks I’m being done wrong by some different people.  When we talk, it turns out that what bothers me about his situation doesn’t bother him nearly as much as I think it should.  In return, the thing that bothers him about me doesn’t bother me that much.  As we talk month after month, I’m beginning to wonder if this is some of what it means to “carry one another’s burdens” as mentioned in Galatians 6.  

Here is the thing:  This last time I was calling down fire from heaven in my mind, God spoke to my heart.  “Adam, if I did ‘punish’ them in a way you saw fit, would you be happy about it?”  As always when God speaks to me, it flooded my mind with thoughts.  Thoughts of how I’d never want my own kids to gloat over someone else’s pain . . . even if they did deserve it.  Thoughts of how God has more than withheld the punishments I have deserved.  If I’m asking God to judge them, would I be ok asking Him to judge me in the same way?  Suddenly, it didn’t feel so great to call down that fire from heaven.

God is making every person who has given his or her life to Him into the image of His Son.  The last thing He wants is a child of His gloating, pointing, and saying, “Ha-ha . . . you got what you deserved!”  I can’t believe I was about to let that live inside of me.  All I can say is that God is good, God is corrective in the best of ways, and God expects His children to represent Him well . . . to everyone.  

Lord, I’m sorry for the times I don’t represent You well.  I’m sorry for calling down fire from heaven.  I’m sorry that I can be a “son of thunder.”  We will be wronged in this life, but this life is so temporary.  Help me to keep that in mind.  Help me to want the absolute best for others.  Keep me on this narrow road that leads to life.  Thank You for all that you have shown me and taught me in 30 years of following You.  I look so forward to the day when my faith becomes sight.  Amen

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  – John 1:14

I have begun to realize that people tend to make Jesus a better version of themselves.  Jesus, for the most part, is exactly like me, but better.  He hates the same stuff I hate; He loves the same stuff I love; He for certain can’t stand the people that I can’t stand.   But whereas I fail at following my own rules from time to time, He never fails.  What happens when we take this attitude is we never grow in true Godliness.  We never grow to be like the real Jesus.

Even right now, I am guilty.  I started out this year with a fast.  As soon as it was over, I transitioned into eating healthy and exercising.  As soon as I felt like I was making some real progress, I got zapped with sickness.  I haven’t been to work in a few days, and I just hate being miserable.  Now, I would never say it out loud, but something in me believes, “The Jesus I serve should not have allowed me to be sick after starting off the year so well.”   Do you see what I’m doing?  Nowhere in the Bible is that found, but In my heart, I believe that health is tied to some sort of performance.  In my heart, I think God owes me health.  The Bible so quickly and easily debunks these thoughts that I have.  I sit here reminding myself and telling myself that I live by what the Bible says . . . not what I think.

Recently, I heard someone actually say the statement, “Well, the Jesus I serve . . .”  As soon as I heard it, I wondered, “Have I done this?  Have I made Jesus who I want Him to be and not who He actually is?”  The context of the phrase was sending someone to hell.  They were basically saying that the Jesus they served wouldn’t send someone to hell for whatever reason.  Without thinking about it, the person made Jesus exactly like themselves.  They were relying on their own opinion instead of what the word of God says.  John 3:18 says, “he who does not believe is condemned already.”  Hell is every person’s default destination.  We don’t misbehave so much that God eventually decides to send us there.  It is where we are going anyway.  Heaven is made possible through belief.  Jesus came simply to make a way.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.”  (John 14:6) Right now, you and I either trust Jesus with our eternity, or we do not.  In no way will any person’s additional thoughts or opinions change that.  

I like John 1:14 because I’ve begun to use it to take the opposite approach to how I feel.  For example, if I’m beating myself up because I feel like I let God down (as if I’m holding Him up), then I see Him as full of grace, assuring me that all is well.  If I’m excusing my sin time and time again and thinking it isn’t a big deal and He is cool with it, then I picture Him as full of truth saying something like, “neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more.”  I guess I’m just all too aware that If I’m not careful, I will make Jesus way too much like me and I’ll really just end up serving myself . . . which is the easiest thing in the world to do.  

Lord, with all my heart, I want to serve the real You.  Reveal yourself to me.  Fill me with the Holy Spirit that Your Spirit may be my spirit.  I think too often I make my spirit Your Spirit.  Forgive me.  Help me be a good representation of who You really are.  You told Phillip one time, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”  I’m asking You, Lord, could you make it so that when people see me, they see You?  Help me, grow me, heal me, lead me, and guide me.  There is and never will be another like You.  I pray for all who read this today.  Help us to impact this world for Your glory.  Amen.

Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.  – Psalm 105:2

One of the things that I’ve enjoyed doing lately is playing music.  I’ve been heading into the taprooms, breweries, coffee houses, and wine bars and just playing my acoustic and singing.  As you can imagine, it has been met with some concern among the religious community.  I was interviewing for a possible job and was asked straight up, “Would you stop doing this simply because of the way it looks?”  I said, “no” and that was over before it ever even got started. 

But here is the thing, there was a time when I think that it would have been wrong for me to do it.  I used to love that world.  Now, I can certainly do without it.  I believe God has called me to go and play.  I do not play all Christian songs.  I play pretty much all the songs that I loved playing when I was a teenager and a young man just learning how to play.  But here is what I do that is different.  I ask God to open the door for an opportunity.  I just open my spirit and let Him lead me in an opportunity to play a worship song, or a song you might hear on Christian radio.  The results have been nothing short of amazing.  I just want to tell you about one.

There wasn’t a huge crowd, but I had not felt led at all yet to play for the Lord.  At the very end, I was beginning to think that this was going to be the first time that God didn’t lead me to do so.  Then, a couple brought in their young grandkids.  They had a little girl who was just enjoying life and dancing around.  She came near me after I finished a song.  I said, “What is your favorite song?  I’ll play it if I can.”  Without hesitation, “Can you play ‘Jesus Loves Me’?”  Just like that, we were all singing this song that I would have never even thought to play.  

I said, “Is there anything else you want me to play?”

“Will you play the B-I-B-L-E?”  

“Yes, I will.”  

Lord, I couldn’t make some stories up if I tried.  You do the coolest things at the coolest times.  You know exactly how to bring glory to Your Name in the most perfect of ways.  Continue to use me.  Continue to work in me, on me, and through me.  You know my heart.  I don’t want a bad attitude towards “religious” people.  You know that I have been one and in many ways probably still am.  Help me to be merciful.  Help me to forgive.  Power wash my soul and restore me to what You created me to be.  You are and always will be the greatest thing this planet offers.  Amen

To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.  – Acts 1:3

This had to be the ultimate of all evidence.  I can’t imagine seeing with my own eyes Christ die on the cross and be taken away to the tomb.  I can’t imagine how sad I would be if I had been one of those who walked with Him.  What would I think on that third day when they told me the tomb was empty?  What would I think when people started telling me they had seen Him?  Would I doubt them?  Or would I pray that somehow someway He would allow me to see Him for myself?  

We are in a similar situation today.  We have all heard of God doing great and miraculous things in and through other people.  We have heard of God revealing Himself to others in just the coolest of ways.  When I first heard of God really revealing Himself to people in today’s time, I remember first thinking that He would never do it for me.  I thought there was no way He would ever show up for a nobody like me.  Then, one day, I asked Him to.  Within days, His Spirit filled my 1991 Ford Ranger pickup truck, and I was sob crying for the first time in my life in the presence of God.  I knew that He still showed up for people today.

I don’t know what happened in 2021.  I kept pretty much all my resolutions.  I was close to the Lord.  I was in probably the best shape of my life physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Then, one day, I got sick.  I didn’t get the v-word that shall not be named, but I had this cough which seemed to last for weeks and weeks that turned into months.  I had no motivation to eat right.  I felt weak so quickly when I would even try to exercise.  When I would read and pray, it felt too often like such a duty.  I hated feeling like that.

Right after Christmas, I prayed for some things.  I asked for the Lord to help us as a family find a place where my kids enjoyed going to church.   I asked for evidence that they were growing in the Lord.  I asked for people to be placed in my life that I could help grow spiritually.  I asked for my heart and mind to be purified.  I asked to stop caring about many worthless worldly things that I know will not last forever.  For the past 19 days I have not let up.  Let me tell you just how good and gracious God is when you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  

The very next day after my wife and I prayed together, one of my young ones woke up and said, “Dad, can we read a Bible story?”  I could not help but smile in my lit-up spirit as we talked of King Solomon’s mistakes that drew him away from God.  When we were out of town, my wife and I invited the kids to join us in attending a random church service.  One of them said, “If we were going to Open Door back home, I’d go.”  We have been attending Open Door Baptist Church for two months now and my kids love it.  I have grown in knowledge.  I have grown in closeness with the Lord.  I even have a small group of people that God is allowing me to lead spiritually.  One of them went to church with us this past Sunday.  What else could I possibly ask for?  The evidence is all around me that the Lord still works today.

Lord, I look so forward to the day when my faith becomes sight.  All I can ask for is help.  I know that the Christian life is only lived because You are doing the work.  Work in me.  Work on me.  Help me become a finished and completely restored product.  On the day I draw my last breath, may I hear those words that every person who has ever followed You longs to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  Amen

They called the Apostles in and had them flogged.  Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  – Acts 5:40

All the Apostles had to do to avoid a beating was not speak about Jesus.  If you read on, they looked at the beatings as an honor.  They would look at their wounds and rejoice, for they had been found worthy to suffer as their master and Lord suffered.  Of course, we know they did not stop preaching the Word of God.  Nearly all of the Apostles died brutally as martyrs.  

American Christians are generally free from persecution.  But the question is why?  Is it because we live in “the land of the free?”  Or, is it because we do not speak His name anywhere that would make us uncomfortable?   I think back over the years where I spoke boldly in church where others believed like I did.  I met with other Christians in life groups inside nice homes and spoke of Him.  But what about speaking of Him where His name is not welcome?  

I believe many American Christians enjoy their comfortable lives so much that they are afraid to speak outside of comfortable places.  I am certainly including myself.  The only times I can remember getting into any trouble for my faith is when I’ve spoken up either in a school setting, or in churches that didn’t believe the same as me.  Here is the thing:  100% of the time, it was not unbelievers that spoke against me.  It was people who said they were Christians.  A man who I knew from a hardcore denomination came and told me directly to my face “Stop speaking the Name.”  One lady brought me before administration and threatened to “have my job,” for “speaking the Name.”  These are just a couple of incidents that I can mention in vague detail because they happened years ago and it doesn’t give anything, any group, or anyone away.  The worst part of it all was that it worked in striking me with fear.  

The Sanhedrin was a group that believed in God, but they did not believe in the resurrection.  They believed in the same God the disciples believed in, they just didn’t believe Jesus was His Son or that He died for their sins.  They certainly didn’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to His Father.  For some reason, God followers who don’t believe part or parts of the Bible, or overemphasize parts of the Bible, are mean.  As soon as they hear someone with opposing views, they do whatever they have to do to silence them.

I don’t really know what I’m trying to teach here.  Maybe just that we need to step out in faith more and speak where we are forbidden to speak.  Maybe we need to get into some trouble for our faith.  The disciples certainly got into trouble and rejoiced afterwards.

Am I willing to do the same?

Are you?

Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.  And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”  — Acts 9:13-14

This verse is the response of Ananias after God told him to go and pray for Saul to receive his sight.  Up until this point, Saul had done nothing but persecute Christians.  Even though God Himself was telling Ananias what to do, it was hard for him to believe that Saul had truly converted.  It is often difficult for us to believe that God can truly save the ungodly. 

While on vacation last week, I watched The Wolf of Wall Street.  I enjoy messing around with investing in the financial world, but this movie takes it to a whole new level.  I started watching it when it came out, but after about a dozen f-bombs in the first few minutes, I knew I couldn’t watch it.  I watched an edited version that came on television.  The only price to pay was enduring the commercials.  The movie is pure debauchery from beginning to end.  It is supposedly the real-life memoir of Jordan Belfort, who became extremely wealthy being a less-than-honest stock broker.  The richer he got, the more sinful and indulgent he became. 

The only reason I admit that I watched such filth (It was pretty bad . . . even edited for tv) is because as soon as I went to sleep, it was like a continuation of the movie in my dreams.  I was following Jordan walking down a street.  At the height of his sinfulness, I saw the power of God descend from Heaven and convict him.  He hit his knees right then and there and began to repent of his sinful life.  As I watched, I began to cry.  I was in the presence of God myself.  I recognized that I was dreaming and said, “God, I know I’m dreaming, but can I stay here for a bit longer?”  My attention focused back on Jordan.  As I watched him just bask in the presence of the Lord, I began to say over and over, “He can save anybody! He can save anybody!”  Eventually, I woke up.

In 2022, I want to believe that.  I want to tell people who are “too far gone” about Him.  I want to invite them to receive the forgiveness that the Lord offers.  I want to pray that His convicting power and presence will be all around.  I want to pray with people and see His power descend on them so much that we both just uncontrollably weep in His presence.  I enjoyed His presence that night in my dream as much as I enjoyed anything in 2021.  The presence was sparked by seeing with my own eyes the dead come alive.  

Lord, we have become such a selfish, pleasure-seeking society.  I know plenty of people that you have put in my path that, on the surface, I think, “there is no way that they will ever repent and follow the Lord.”  If nothing else, You are teaching me this morning that You can save anybody.  May those who truly follow You be as bold as they have ever been in 2022.  Help us to proclaim the Name above all Names . . . the Name by which we all must be saved.  Amen

Thank you all for reading.  I am praying for you this morning.

Have a blessed 2022!

And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  – Galatians 5:22

I just read an amazing story.  A Swiss lady worked for a super wealthy family in New York.  At Christmastime they always exchanged gifts.  This lady didn’t really have anything to give, and even if she did, she had no clue what to get a family where the individuals have everything.  Finally, she came up with an idea.  She bought an outfit for a baby and went in search of the poorest family, with a baby, she could find.  She had someone else deliver the gift because she was worried the family would thank her.  On Christmas morning, she received many gifts, but gave nothing in return.  She explained, “I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything, but I did do something for you,” she explained.  She told the story and simply said, “I try to do kindness in your name.  This is my Christmas present to you.” 

What would it be like if between now and Christmas, you and I did a simple kindness in God’s name?  Like the family in the story I read, He already has everything.  Unfortunately, because of many of His supposed followers, many Americans don’t think that God makes that much of a difference in people’s lives.  Even when kindness is done in God’s name, most individuals seek some sort of credit.  If the individual doesn’t seek credit for himself or herself, then they seek credit for the church they attend.  I ask again, what would it be like if between now and Christmas, you and I did a simple kindness in God’s name?

I don’t know what this will look like for me.  I kind of envision keeping a hundred-dollar bill in my pocket, driving around, and asking God to lead me where this money will meet the greatest need.  Then, simply saying, “The Lord wanted you to have this . . . Merry Christmas!”  I am certainly going to pray and ask Him to lead me as specifically as possible.  

Please, prayerfully consider what kindness you could do in God’s name.  Seek to give Him all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise.  Let’s make His name more like the great name that it really is.  

Lord, lead us and guide us to do kindness in Your name.  I’m sorry for all the times I’ve misrepresented You.  I’m sorry for all the times I’ve been fearful and unbelieving.  I’m sorry for seeking to make my own name great.  I want to follow You.  I want to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I want to make Your name great.  Will You lead me and anyone else reading this to do kindness in Your name?  May it lead to life more abundantly for all involved.  Amen

My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection.  That is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long.  – Psalms 71:7-8

I have really been on this tear of reading books and listening to audiobooks.  A few weeks ago, when I finally dropped the rest of my offense at the altar, it is like my empty and starved soul immediately cried out to be filled.  I realized immediately that I had neglected so many important things that I used to take care of.  I am so thankful that God has given me a hunger and thirst for righteousness and gives me assurance that I shall be filled.  I am already beginning to feel spiritually healthy again.  

One book God has used to bring me back to what really matters is “The Narrow Road.”  It is the story of a man simply called, “Brother Andrew.”  He was/is a Dutch missionary that constantly risked everything to bring Bibles to Christians in communist countries that didn’t have any.  When the work got too great, he began to seek others to assist him with the work.  God more than provided, but he also had this internal litmus test to determine if someone was fit for the work.  Here is a paragraph that really stuck with me:

We insist on only two things from the men and women we accept as part-timers.  We insist that each have a personal experience with Christ and learn to work in the full power of His Spirit.  And we stress the importance of a positive ministry among the Communists.  If a man seems to be harboring personal resentment against a certain government, or if he has more to say about the evils of communism than the goodness of God, then we suspect that he is a soldier poorly armed for the battle before us.  

I don’t know if that messes with you like it does me.  I have personal experience with Christ, that I do know, and I am still learning to work in the full power of His Spirit.  But it is that last sentence that gets me, “If he has more to say about . . .”    Does it really matter what comes after that?  If a person speaks more about anything than the goodness of God, how good of a soldier can he or she be?  There are people who speak of how terrible this world is more than the goodness of God.  There are those who speak more of what is going on with college football than the goodness of God.  What we speak of the most reveals what we care about the most.  

I heard a testimony this weekend that I thought was wonderful.  A lady stood and said she had grown up in church her whole life.  However, the only things she ever liked to read was mystery novels and romance novels.  She said she would read close to 200 books a year.  After being convicted of constantly filling her mind with them for years and years, she simply said, “God, will You change me?”  She said she began to read the Bible.  She said she began to pick up spiritual books that talked about God.  Now, she only wants to read about things that feed her spirit.  

I think that illustrates the change all Christians should desire.  I want Him to be the Lord of my life.  I want to talk about Him more than I talk about anything else.  When I was young, I mostly wanted to talk about music and concerts.  Later, I mostly wanted to talk about golf.  Later, I wanted to talk and read about money and investing.  Now, and for the rest of my life . . . I want to talk about Him.  

Lord, it is only by your power and your spirit that a person truly changes.  You are the only one who can make old things pass away, and all things become new.  Change me.  Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.  Whiter than snow Lord, wash me just now, as in Thy presence, humbly I bow. Fill me with Thy spirit, till all can see, Christ only always, living in me.   Amen.