Wednesday Morning Devotional

Keeping His Presence

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  — Philippians 2:12

How much of God’s presence can I have?  One thing that I know…there is nothing like the all out, full on presence of the Lord.  This past Saturday morning, I left my home at 6:30 a.m. to drive to Ashevelle, NC.  I put in my Vertical Church worship CD and just drove.  I can’t even describe how majestic it was.  I saw a total of 3 crosses.  Every one that I passed had this special beam of light that perfectly accented it.  Leaves, mountains, birds, beams of light, worship music…everything was screaming that God loved me.  I began to feel Him.  The feeling just elevated and elevated.  I kept asking for more and more.  Eventually, I had to stop because my chest began to physically hurt and I had ran out of tears and was tired of blowing my nose.  It was absolutely amazing…the longest period of time I have ever been in the presence of the Lord.  This has me wondering…how much of His Presence can I have?  How often can I feel that?

Somehow, as a church, we got to a point where outside of the church walls Christians don’t work on their salvation.  We have adopted this “say a prayer” theology where we repeat “the sinner’s prayer,“ live like we want, then wait to die while hoping that the prayer we said all those years ago somehow makes us “good to go.“  God forbid that we actually have to do anything and actually put some effort into our Christianity.  I bought into it big time.  I honestly think it was about 7 years after I got saved before I was shown how to read the word of God and apply it to my every day life.  Even then, I found that it was extremely hard to do consistently.  Bible study and prayer are the easiest things in the world to put off until tomorrow.  For years, I put it off and put it off, then wondered why I wasn’t experiencing Him.  Why in the world were there men crying in the church service while I felt nothing?  What did they have that I didn’t?  The answer, of course, is a real deal, authentic relationship with the Lord God Himself.

I have heard from many “down to earth” Christians that it is impossible to maintain the “feeling” of God’s Presence.  I am just wondering if that is true.  I don’t think that it is…at least, I hope it isn’t.  Either way, I really want to find out.  I have taken these last three weeks to really work on keeping God on my mind.  He is the first thing I read about in the morning.  Afterward, I listen to some praise and worship and pray while I’m getting ready, driving to work, and while I’m getting my classroom ready for the students that day.  During the day it gets a bit harder, so I write a verse on a note card and keep it in my pocket or read a quick verse in the Bible before my next group comes in.  I am trying to make it a priority to think about Him at least once every hour that I am awake.  When I drive home, I talk to Him, listen to praise and worship, or listen to a sermon.  I pray with my family before dinner.  We talk about a story in the Jesus Storybook Bible at bedtime, and finally I will read something about God before I go to sleep.

Now, don’t think that I’m some “Holy Roller” that is trying to say I’m better than anyone else because they don’t do this and I do.  In fact, I have yet to make it through a “perfect” day where I’ve met all of my own requirements.  But, I have to say, I have experienced God more these past three weeks than I ever have.  Also, as a really nice side effect, when the regular things in life don’t go my way, they are just not that big of a deal…I like that.  The things of Earth really do grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.  If we seek first the kingdom, the other stuff really does get added to us as well.

Even as I type this, the devil is bombarding me with the thoughts that all of this is impossible.  On the surface, it does seem impossible.  But, I can’t help but believe it is completely doable.  Unfortunately, it takes that 4 letter word that every entitled American hates…WORK.  There is no reason that we can’t spend a few minutes, or at least a few seconds of every hour thinking about God, then spend longer chunks of time with Him as they becomes available.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.  — 2 Chronicles 16:9

Later

Adam

Years ago, I remember someone giving me a copy of a story.  I was just beginning to get serious about my relationship with The Lord.  After reading it, I understood perhaps for the first time that  Christianity was about WAY more than just avoiding Hell.  I hope it does for someone today what it did for me years ago.

The Empty Bird Cage

There once was a man named George Thomas, a pastor in a small New England town.  One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit.  Several eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak…

 
“I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright.

I stopped the lad and asked, ‘What do you have there son?’

“Just some old birds,” came the reply.

“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.

“Take them home and have fun with ’em,” he answered. “I’m going to tease them and pull out their feathers to make ’em fight. I’m gonna have a real good time.”

“But you’ll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do?”

“Oh, I got some cats,” said the little boy. “They like birds. I’ll take them to them.”

The pastor was silent for a moment. “How much do you want for those birds, son?”

“Huh?? !!! Why, you don’t want them birds, Mister. They’re just plain old field birds. They don’t sing – they ain’t even pretty!”

“How much?” the pastor asked again.

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, “$10?”

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy’s hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free.

Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story…

One day Satan and God were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. “Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn’t resist. Got ’em all!”

“What are you going to do with them?” God asked.

Satan replied, “Oh, I’m gonna have fun! I’m gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I’m gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I’m really gonna have fun!”

“And what will you do when you get done with them?” God asked.

“Oh, I’ll kill ’em,” Satan glared proudly.

“How much do you want for them?” God asked.

“Oh, you don’t want those people. They ain’t no good. Why, you’ll take them and they’ll just hate you. They’ll spit on you, curse you and kill you!! You don’t want those people!”

“How much?” He asked again. Satan looked at God and sneered, “All your tears, and all your blood.”

God said, “DONE!” Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage, opened the door and then walked from the pulpit.

Until next time…

Adam

Back to the Beginning

This was the first official WMD that I ever sent out.  I think it went out to 6 other teachers.

Luke 6:27-38

Some things in the Bible I just wish weren’t’ in there.  This passage of scriptures is one of those things.  Jesus says we should “do good to those who hate you” and not to demand back our goods that people take from us without permission.  He goes on to say that we should love our enemies.  Even sinners love people who love them back.  He says we should loan to people that we know can’t pay us pack.  Even sinners loan to people that they know will pay them back.

This has to be the hardest thing in the world.  I think this tells us as teachers that we should give our best to the students that we wish we could kick right out of our classes.  EVERY teacher likes to teach the “good” kids.  However, as followers of Christ, we have to treat the “bad” ones the same as the good.  In most cases this will require extra effort and time on our part.  If you are like me you say “Why in the world would I want to do that when I KNOW it won’t help, they won’t do it, they won’t change.”  Basically, why should we do this when we know we probably won’t get anything in return?

There are three reasons:

1.  God just might intervene and use us as the tool that gets one or more of these kids on track.  We could be the ones that help them break free and DO something with their lives.  Maybe make them want to become good parents in the future and not have to see the cycle repeat itself.  If this happened with only one out of a hundred kids, wouldn’t it be worth it?

2.  We are the most like God when we do this.  He gave His son to die for us when we didn’t deserve it.  “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”  (Romans 5:8)  How quickly Christians forget where they came from!  He gave us His best not expecting ANYTHING in return.  What could we give Him in return?  It all belongs to Him anyway!

3.  He will reward us!  In Luke 6:35 it says if we do this “your reward will be GREAT”.  I don’t know what this means as far as being rewarded down here or in Heaven when we get there, but I don’t care either way…and it’s probably BOTH!  If someone takes from me and I can just let it go, or if I give and don’t expect anything in return,  whatever God chooses to reward me with will be MUCH better than just getting back whatever was taken or whatever any person could possibly give me as a reward.

I know this is tough stuff.  Just don’t think because I’m writing this that I have it all together and that I do this well.  I’m just writing what I think God wants me to write.  I sure try to do what is right, but I sure do fail miserably a little too often.

Until next time…

Adam

Relearn Love

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.  Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.  — Revelation 2:2-5

Right now, I believe WMD is a lamp stand.  I get so many e-mails from people and have so many conversations about these messages that I absolutely know that God is using them for His glory.  I have been reading some of the older ones on my web-site and learning a lot myself.  Sometimes I can’t believe those words came out of me.  Other times I can’t believe how I put my whole life on display for the world to read.  Then, I remember how this life is no longer mine, it is God’s…I gave it to Him.  Therefore, He can put it on display if He wishes.

With that being said, I am going to stop writing WMD for a little while.  I read these verses in Revelation and I am in danger.  No, I haven’t forsaken my love for the Lord, but I am headed there.  Somehow, I am getting caught up in doing things for God instead of doing things because they flow out of my love for Him.  I am persevering, I am doing good things, working hard, and trying my best to reverse the curse on some wicked people.  So far, I haven’t grown weary.  But, I can’t ingnore the fact that this verse asks me to consider how I have fallen because I have forsaken the love I had at first.

At first, I could not get enough of the Bible…I devoured it.  Now, I am kind of dutifully reading it and saying “that’s nice” and “I could write a good WMD about that.”  I am going to church, but I’m being more critical of everything and everyone…even myself.  When I was in love, I didn’t care what anyone else did…I was able to block everything out and focus on just Him and me.  It is still a wonderful environment to do just that…so why am I not doing it?  Maybe I have forsaken the love I had at first.

I don’t want to be just a hearer of the word, I want to be a doer.  I have got to repent before the Lord (and I guess in front of all of you) and get back to the things I did at first.  I used to write in a journal.  I guess that is really how The Lord taught me to write a WMD.  It was just  me pouring my heart out to God.  When that journal filled up, I just never bought a new one…I stopped.  I want to get back to that because that was what I did at first.  I used to drive 3 hours to see my favorite preachers because I was in love.  I guess I just have some stuff to figure out.  I don’t want to be “manufacturing” WMDs while I am going through this process.  I could still write them, but only because I felt like I was “supposed to”, not because they are flowing out of a right relationship with God.

Anyway, I don’t know how long this “shutdown” will last….hopefully less than the government’s did.  I do encourage you to examine your own love for God.  Do you do things for Him because you are supposed to?  Or, do you do things for Him because you love Him and genuinely want to?  Right now, I feel like I love Him with most of my heart, most of my soul, and most of my mind.  But, I have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord.  I am ruined for mediocre Christianity.  When things are firing on all cylinders, there is no greater feeling than being constantly led by Him and having Him repeatedly place His Holy Presence upon you.  I really want to find that place again.  Fortunately, He gave me the recipe…

Consider how far you have fallen!  Repent and do things you did at first.

Lord, show me how to relearn love.

Until next time,

Adam

Destroying Sin

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him.  But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.  In the morning when the men of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished.  – Judges 6:27-28.

Would you say that right now that there is a particular sin in your life that is keeping you from God’s best?  Are you doing like the Israelites were doing and letting the enemy rob you?  Do you feel powerless to stop the enemy?  The Israelites did.  Many people today do as well.

Hardly anyone will flat out admit that they sin.  Right now, most Christians will only half-heartedly admit that they have “made some mistakes” or say something incredibly obvious like “I’m not perfect.”  All of these “admissions” simply give the person a license to keep doing what is usually a “pet sin” in their lives.  Mistakes need to be corrected, but sins need to be forgiven.  I believe most Christians get stuck and never become mature Christians because they don‘t realize that not only do sins need to be forgiven, they need to be destroyed.

God’s people were actually offering sacrifices to Baal in hopes that he would provide crops for them.  So of course God allowed the Amalekites to come raid them and of course God told Gideon “if I am going to intervene, that altar has got to go.“  I kind of like the fact that Gideon obeyed God at night and out of everyone’s sight.  I remember destroying my foul mouth and annihilating my altars of lust, greed, and selfishness.  Like Gideon, I did it with only God and a few close friends knowing about it.  Destroying those altars was difficult and I did wonder what people would think about me, but the freedom that came along with it was just unbelievable.  I absolutely never want to go back to that filth.

Destroying unholy altars not only changes you, but it changes the environment wherever you go.  In the morning when the men got up, they found Baal’s altar destroyed.  People will notice when you destroy your altars as well.  For some reason, people don’t like seeing people free from bondage.  My old friends quickly asked me why I wasn’t cussing anymore.  They quickly asked me why I wasn’t playing the old music that I used to listen to.  They often wondered why my Bible was starting to look worn, like I was actually reading it.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had destroyed some unholy altars and the renewal process of my mind had begun.  Even though I didn’t have the guts to take a bold, public stand for Christ, people noticed that the altars had been destroyed.  That is when a lot of my old crowd no longer invited me to certain events.  It stunk for a while, but I eventually made new friends who had destroyed some altars of Baal in their own lives and wanted to live like God wanted them to live.  It began this new journey of faith and trust in Christ that has been so wonderful.  I hope it never ends.

Evaluate the sin in your life, not mistakes, not imperfections, but sin.  Make sure you call it what it is.  Be brutally honest and go through the sins that you are absolutely aware that you do.  Then, do like Gideon and destroy you some altars.  If the sin is pre-marital sex, fight to never be alone with your partner until you get married…destroy Baal’s altar.  If the problem is that you fill your mind with the f-word and other garbage through movies, music and media…destroy those altars.  Get rid of it.  It has all got to go because it is keeping you from God’s best.  If you can’t get on the computer without looking at some pornographic trash, then your computer has got to go, it is simply an altar that you use to worship Baal.  Take drastic measures…it is worth it.

I know this sounds extreme in our so-called “tolerant“ society.  I just want to let you know that in my mind I see those Amalekites just coming in and taking the crops of the Israelites along with whatever else they wanted.  God admittedly was standing on the sidelines refusing to intervene because the people had built those altars to Baal.  I refuse to allow God take His hand off of my life simply because I am chasing other lovers and sharing my affection with other gods!

If you say you are a Christian, you need to understand that God does not let you share your affection any more than a husband allows his wife to be shared by other lovers.  Like any person in love, He gets hurt and He gets angry when one He loves gives themselves repeatedly to another.  Lest we forget…He is a jealous God!  Why in the world would we want to provoke Him?

Do whatever you have to do today to let God know He is #1 in your life.  If He is not in His rightful place, you are being robbed.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  — Hebrews 12:1-2

Later

Adam

Pay Now, Play Later

Why are you angry?  Why is your face downcast?  If you do right, will you not be accepted?  — Genesis 4:4

Cain was jealous of his brother.  He did not like the obvious display of God’s blessings on Abel’s life.  Cain made the mistake of doing what so many are doing today.  He gave minimum effort, but expected maximum reward.  He wanted the same blessing as his brother, but with no repentance, no effort, no consecration, and this sorry “give me something for doing nothing” attitude.  Sound familiar?  Have you ever met a Cain?

I am seeing this in today’s middle and high schools more and more as the years go by.  Students want no part of studying.  Many of them refuse to read, refuse to do any amount of homework, and a lot of them refuse to give the teacher any amount of their attention.  I have been straight up asked by a student to just give them the answer to a test problem.  God forbid they have to actually do something.  Cheating is going on at epidemic levels.  According to the Educational Testing Service, in the 1920’s 20% of students admitted to cheating.  Today, between 75% and 98% of college students who were surveyed admitted to cheating in high school.

Perhaps the worst part of this is how the honest, hard working “Abel” students get treated.  They are called “nerds,” or simply labeled in a group of somehow naturally gifted “smart people.”  I have never heard an inferior student say that it was the effort of straight A student that gets them where they are.  It is always “they are just smart,” or “I’m just dumb.”  Both of these excuses simply exempt the slacker student from making an effort.  Just like Cain, many would rather keep their laziness and tear others down rather than roll up their sleeves and get to work.

The high school years are about building a work ethic.  If you have a solid work ethic, you are going to be successful in life.  If you try to cut corners and take the easy way out, you will eventually become jealous and angry at the Abels who do it right.  I’m just like everyone else, I love to play.  I feel very fortunate that I realized at a fairly young age that there is a time to pay, and there is a time to play.  In life, you will either pay, then play, or you will play, then pay.  You can pay now, which in turn will allow you to play later.  Or, you can spend these years playing, in which you will find yourself paying for it later.  I have never heard an adult say they wish they had not tried so hard in high school.  They all say if they could go back, they would pay attention and do it right.

A student generally goes to school from 8 until 3.  That is 7 hours of school.  Let’s factor in 10 hours a week for doing homework (I could count on one hand the number of students who have  put that kind of effort in their school work).  In a full week of school that is a total of 45 hours out of a possible 168 hours in a week.   This amounts to 26.7% of the time you have for the week.  If you do the arithmetic for a calendar year: 180 days x 9 hours =  1,620 hours.  Divide that by the total number of hours in a year (365 days x 24 hours = 8,760 hours), you get 18.5%.  You spend less than 20% of your entire year in school and that is if you work 10 hours a week outside of school and if you have perfect attendance.  The bottom line is this:  A person does not spend that much time in school.  Put in the maximum effort while you are there and use the time to develop a work ethic and learn as much as possible.  Pay now, play later.

I say all that to say this:  Whether it be at school or at work, if you say you are a Christian, people are watching you.  You do not get to cheat or take the easy way out.  If you are a student, check out this verse:

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for other believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.  — 1 Timothy 4:12

Do not give them a reason to look down!  If people talk about me in a negative way, I want it to be because they are simply jealous that God’s blessings are all over me.  Today, you will either be a Cain who gives God something, or an Abel who gives God your best.

Let’s get to work!

Later

Adam

Build an Altar, Pitch a Tent, and Dig a Well

Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord.  There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.  –  Genesis 26:25

I don’t think Isaac gets a lot of recognition in the Bible.  He’s kind of like the middle child.  Even when we say “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” he is surrounded by the two well known giants of the faith.  His dad of course was the Father of Israel, and his son would have his name changed to Israel.  Even now typing this, I can’t think of a lot that Isaac did other than have the twins Jacob and Esau.  But, this one verse teaches us a lot about Isaac.  We can certainly learn a lot from him.  Isaac led a very balanced life.  Check out the order of verse 25…he first built an altar, which means he put God first.  Then, he pitched his tent, which means he  put time and effort into building his home.  Lastly, he dug a well, which dealt with his occupation and what he did for a living.  We can lead a very joyful and abundant life if we will do likewise.

First, Isaac built an altar.  He put God first.  I know this is going to sound like weirdo stuff, but when the foundation of my house was being poured, I came over here one night all by myself.  I knelt down at the corner of it and prayed.  I told God that I wanted to honor Him in this home.  I asked Him to always protect me and lead me in the path of righteousness.  I asked Him to help me keep sin out of it.  I asked Him to place a big angel to protect it.  To this day, especially when I walk outside to get the mail or take out the trash, my angel is there and I tell him thanks.  I tell God that I love Him.  I didn’t realize it then, but I built an altar that day.  Before I started a life in my own home, I put my God first.  I’m not saying He has always been first since I’ve been here.  But something must have worked…He is first right now, and I can’t get enough of Him.  Can you think of the time that you put God in absolute first place in your life?  If not, you’ve got some hard adjustments to make.  Make them as soon as possible!

Next, he pitched his tent.  He built his home.  I almost fell into a pretty deep trap.  I started doing all kinds of stuff for God.  I was preaching, playing the guitar, attempting to lead on our leadership team, and I was coming home an awful lot with my wife and kids already sleeping.  Other than getting them ready for school in the mornings…I had spent no time with them.  My little boy didn’t like going to church.  He wasn’t getting to see dad excited about going to church because he was already there before he even got up.  I had a pretty special woman come and ask me “what good would it be if you gained the whole world, but lost your kids?”  That cut me to my soul.  I quickly made some adjustments.  I heard a statement one time that a person was “so Heavenly minded that they were no Earthly good.”  It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but it sure does now.  Even though God is first in my life, my home holds it’s rightful second place now.  I’m going to spend time dating my wife.  I‘m going to spend time with my kids, and I’m going to show them that daddy loves God, but he also loves them.  As for me and my house…we will serve the Lord!

Lastly, he dug a well.  He went to work.  Notice that work did not come first.  There are so many men out there working and making tons of money.  The price tag is lots and lots of hours, and little boys and girls growing very rapidly to adulthood without the leadership of their dad.  The Lord Jesus Christ must be the first priority.  Then, your family life must be rock solid.  Then, and only then, is it time to worry about work.  Work gets about 45 to 50 hours a week of my time.  When I’m there, I work at it with all my heart.  I’m not saying I’m that good at it.  I know there are many, many teachers that are way better than me.  But, I want to make sure that there are no other teachers that work harder.  I want to make sure that there are no other teachers that could possibly put more of their hearts into their job than me.  Once I leave the place, I want to do two things.  I want to tell God that I love Him, then get home to hear those little feet run to me and yell “DADDY!”

I don’t know what this looks like for you.  I have only attempted to tell you what it looks like for me.  Are you building the altar first?  Then, does your job take away from the God you love and the family that needs you to lead them?  If your life is out of order…

Take the steps to fix it!

Later

Adam

I’d Rather Have Jesus

I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.  — Hymn written in 1922

This popular song was written by a lady named Rhea Miller.  Rhea grew up in a home with an alcoholic father, but a mother who was faithful to the Lord.  Eventually her dad was saved and became a pastor.  One day, the family was walking and dad became very aware of what God had done for him.  He simply said “I’d rather have Jesus than all the gold and silver in the world, and all the land that money could buy.”  This got stuck in her mind and she eventually wrote the song we know now.

It is kind of strange when this song runs through my mind.  It never comes to my mind like it did for Rhea’s dad when I feel really close to God and feel like I am walking hand in hand with Him.  It comes to my mind when I  do this drifting away from Him thing that I hate.  When I get a little too far away, it is then that this song starts playing in my mind.  The drifting away almost always begins because my heart gravitates toward worldly possessions.

Golf used to be my god.  Every once in a while I got to play on some really nice courses with some really unbelievably nice houses.  After we finished our round of golf, my heart would long to live in a place like that where I could play golf all the time.  I said I was a Christian, but I didn’t pursue God nearly to the degree that I pursued the perfect golf swing.  I might have said “I’d rather have Jesus,” but the longings of my heart and the way I lived my life didn’t reflect that at all.

To this day, my mind still drifts occasionally.  If my wife and I are on a big, fancy cruise ship, my mind starts considering what it would be like if we had the money to go a LOT more frequently.  If I see the lottery signs go up to hundreds of millions of dollars, I start entertaining what I would do with all of that money.  It always starts noble…helping my church, buying cars for people who need them, etc.  But, eventually it gets to me and I entertain all that I would do for myself with the money.  If it did happen to me, I can’t imagine the fight I would have on my hands to stay in love with God.  I will always be grateful for a man at church who told me he didn’t want to win the lottery.  When I asked him why, he simply told me that the Bible said it was hard for a rich man to enter into Heaven, so why in the world would we want to make it hard?

The truth of the matter is that we are all pursuing something.  I remember pursuing my education, pursuing a job, pursuing girls, pursuing the ability to play an instrument, pursuing a great golf game, and pursuing money along with all of the nice things it can buy.  When I think back on those pursuits, I wasn’t pursuing God at all.  I might show up at church on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday I didn’t spend a single minute with The Lord.

I say all that to say this:  My heart and mind drifted a bit while we were on vacation.  Fortunately, I stepped out on the balcony of our cruise ship and the Lord provided me with an unbelievable sunset over the ocean that just screamed “I love you, Adam.”  Immediately, His presence filled my soul and I broke down and just thanked Him for all He had done for me.  I knew in my heart that I really would rather have Him in my heart and life than absolutely anything that this world offers.  The best part came after I spent this time with God.  That kind of lifestyle was no longer something I wanted to acquire for the long term, it was simply a nice, sweet blessing from The Lord.  I enjoyed the rest of my time immensely because I saw it from a proper perspective.  I even enjoyed getting back to work and to the grind of this life that God has given me.  I think I am really beginning to learn that if He really is with me, and I am seriously and consciously aware of it, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, where I am, or how much I have.  If I have Him…I have everything!

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. — 1 Peter 1:6-7

Later

Adam

Water Baptism

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.  — Exodus 14:26-28

I think I have seriously underestimated the power of being baptized.  Looking back, I got baptized a few years after I got saved.  I remember Preacher Vaughn baptizing me in the pool at Salem Baptist Church.  To this day, I remember how bright the lights seemed right after I came up.  I also remember hearing God in my spirit, He said “this is my son in whom I’m well pleased.”  For the rest of the day, it felt like I was seeing the world for the first time.

I believe that the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is a picture of water baptism.  There, the Israelites were passing through a massive wall of water.  When the Israelites came out on the other side, the enemy was following them in hot pursuit.  Egypt was quite possibly the most well-trained, well-equipped military power in the world.  The Israelites were the complete opposite…except for the fact that they had God.  The enemy tried to pass through the water without God’s permission.  They simply drowned.  All Israel could do was watch in amazement as God completely destroyed the tools of bondage that enslaved them.

There I was being “dunked,”  the old person that I was being slain…being drowned.    I didn’t realize that my old ways were trying to pursue me as well.  But, as I came out of the water and that water closed up, my enemies were slain as well.  I still tried to party a little bit, but I had this new nature in me that refused to be happy in it.  My language didn’t yet honor God, but every time one of those words slipped out of my mouth, I felt a little bit nauseous.  My spirit man would say “we don’t talk like that anymore.“  I may have still been lazy in a lot of things and taken the easy way out, but something in me desired to honor God in all that I did.  God not only saved me, but He gave me this new nature that led me to right here right now.  I have to say, there is no place that I’d rather be.  I’m not saying I don’t have problems, I do.  But I am saying that He is absolutely keeping His promise to never leave me nor forsake me.  He is with me.

If you do not know Jesus…get to know Him.  If you have not been baptized…get baptized.  Don’t do it because someone says “it’s the next step,”  but because you hate the sinfulness that still lives in you enough that you no longer want to manage it, you want to drown it.

If you will, please pray for me as well as the students and teachers at Code Academy.  Put us on any list that regularly receives prayer.  Never in my life have I seen sin destroy so many lives right before my very eyes.  I get a front row seat to the destruction every day that I go to work.  Fortunately, there are teachers that seek to honor The Lord that realize that we have been placed by Him.  We realize that in no way are we there by accident.  I realize that it may not happen while I’m there, but my prayer is that every single one of those kids give their lives to Christ before it is too late.  One day, I pray that they get to see their past drown in that water as they emerge brand new….just as He did for me and countless others.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  — Isaiah 1:18

Later

Adam