Wednesday Morning Devotional

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

The Pursuit of Happiness

You will seek me and find me when you seek
me with all of your heart.  — Jeremiah 29:13

On a scale from 1 to 10,  what would you rate your level of happiness?  By this, I simply mean that you really enjoy your life on a day to day basis.  Right now, I would give myself
about a 9.  I can’t really think of a reason to not give myself the extra point.  I guess there is just something in all of us that thinks that there is another level.  “If I could just have________, then I would be happy.”  It seems there is always something.

As I type this, I am in between games on a Sunday at a Scrabble tournament.  (I’m in 3rd place with a 6-3 record if you care about that sort of thing)  If I win, it would make me pretty happy.  But, honestly, I’d rather be at church with my family.  I’m just sitting here
thinking…when have I been the happiest in my life?

On the surface, I think of several things that made me happy for a while.  For example, I was REALLY happy the day I married my wife.  Unfortunately, I had so much
selfishness in me that we had a couple of rocky years.  Even during those years,
we kept dating,  had some hard conversations, and kept pursuing The Lord.  I
don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but He blessed our marriage like crazy.
I absolutely love being married to my wife!  But, that happiness wasn’t just
handed to us…it took some effort.  Everything good takes effort.

Now that I think about it, I am the most happy when I am making the effort to really
pursue God.  I have without a doubt tasted His goodness.  I know what it is like
to have to pull over on the side of the road because I am snotty and crying
because He is all over me.  The first few times it happened, I asked Him to
stop…it was just too overwhelming.  Now, I try to maintain it as long as
possible.  There is nothing else like it.  It is amazing how my life is so
shaped by it.  I mean, I am working at a school that just about everybody,
including the students, have said “you are crazy for choosing to come here.”  I
went simply because I felt like He was saying “go”. And let me tell you, so far
I have not had one day yet where on my way to work I have not encountered the
presence of The Lord.  I hope that never goes away!  When my classroom is empty,
I read aloud Ezekiel 37:5-10.  I  feel Him there as well.  It is
amazing!

I guess I say all that to say this:  If you seek God with all of
your heart, you will find Him.  You won’t find all of Him, but He will reveal
Himself piece by piece.  To me, He is like a puzzle with an infinite number of
pieces.  I hope I maintain this hunger for the Word.  I hope I keep on
worshipping Him with everything that I have and everything I am.  I hope I keep
pursuing that feeling of having Him engulf me with His presence.  I hope I never
return to feeling like I HAVE to serve Him…I hope I WANT to!

Taste and see that The Lord is good; blessed is the one who finds refuge in Him. — Psalm
34:8

Later

Adam

Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.” Matthew 25:10

I remember the days when I would go to church, maybe one of those old school Churches of God, and feel like God was going to come back before the end of the service. I remember how much panic it created within my heart because I knew I wasn’t ready. So, I would do all the “quick fixes” I knew to do. I would go down to the altar and start afresh. I always left feeling better, but usually the feeling would only last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Deep down, I was always hoping He wouldn’t come, because I knew I was foolish. I wanted the world AND I wanted to be right with God, and even then I knew that you couldn’t serve two masters.

I realize now that God usually doesn’t do anything quickly. Lest we forget, He has been “coming quickly” for about 1,943 years (if Revelation was written in the year 70). Every generation has had believers who thought He would come in their own lifetime. I am no exception…I believe He will come in mine. A relationship with Him is a slow, on-going process. This life that I have is all about becoming more and more like Him until the day that I either draw my last breath here on Earth, or He comes back for me…just as He promises.

Now, I really believe I have a message today for believers who have called themselves Christians for a long time. I have called myself a Christian for 20 years now.  I have come so far on my Christian journey, but I realize that I have a lot further to go.  I have been married to my wife for 11 years.  I was watching our wedding video just the other day and I could not help but notice the absolute beauty of my bride.  I’m not talking about just physical beauty, though she certainly had that going on.  I’m talking about spiritual beauty.  It was like I could see into her heart and as we went through our ceremony, she was soaking in not just our wedding, but God.  She was experiencing Him on a different level than I was.  I was still immature spiritually, though I didn‘t know it at the time.  One day, we will renew our vows and I will get to experience what she did because I will be properly prepared.

So, what is the point of all this?  My bride was absolutely prepared for me.  The church is the bride of Christ.  If you actually take the time to read these WMDs you are more than likely a part of the bride.  More than likely, you have had that moment when you asked the Lord into your heart, received His forgiveness for your sin and began to walk with Him.  But, here is the question of all questions:  If He were to return at this very moment…are you ready?  I don’t just mean “have you said the prayer?“  A bride doesn’t just go into a wedding with her hair fixed just any old way, or wearing just any old clothes, she goes in gloriously prepared.  In the same way, you and I need to be “dolled up” spiritually.  I want to be as clean as I possibly can when my Lord comes to take me as His bride.  Let’s you and I clothe ourselves in the righteousness that can only be given by Christ Himself.  Let’s be faithful in filling our lamps with oil by studying the Word, hanging out with other believers, and honoring Him with our everyday lives so that non-believers may see and believe.  May our hearts be on fire for Him on that glorious day when He appears.  May we be found beautiful.

When He arrives, let’s be ready!

Later

Adam

Putting Your Faith Where it Belongs

One who was  there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “do you want to get well?”  “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.  While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  John 5:5-7

This is an interesting story.  Apparently there was some legend or wives tale that every year if some pool got stirred up, the first person in that needed healing would be healed.  The paralyzed guy in this story had bought in to it big time.  This guy had Jesus, the one who made his legs, asking him if he wanted to be healed.  Jesus was right there with him, but instead of looking to Jesus, he looked to the place.  A place that needed two things:  A stirring of the water, and a person to put him in.

I remember when I first got saved that I was an “anointing chaser.”  I wanted to go to the churches that were “on fire.”    I went to a bunch of them.  If I didn’t “feel” something, I just wrote it off as some “traditional” church that wasn’t “with it.”  I realize now that I only wanted to be at places where the water was stirred up.  I believe a lot of people are doing this today and have been doing this a long time.  There are so many people leaving this church to go to that church.  Somebody did something that someone didn’t like so now it’s time to join a new church or start their own church.  Just like the story, Jesus is there the whole time, but people aren’t looking to Him, they are looking for the next “stirring of the waters.”

One of the first religious memories burned into my mind is Jimmy Swaggart crying on television because “I have sinned.”  I also remember him calling Jim Baker* a “cancer to the body of Christ.”  After everything got settled down, Jimmy had lost about 80% of his followers.  Many of these just wrote Christians off as a bunch of “hypocrites” and stopped attending church altogether.  What was the problem?  Just like in John 5, Jesus was there the whole time, but people were looking for the man who could place them in those stirred up waters.  Nobody could stir them quite like Jimmy Swaggart.  Even watching him today…he’s really good.

So what is the point of all this?  You do need to find a church where you genuinely like the people.  The people at your church should absolutely strive to live a clean life that points to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If the preacher is great, that’s nice, but he won’t always be the preacher.  What are you going to do when he is no longer in the pulpit?  If the music is jam up and totally stirs those waters, that’s nice, but that should be secondary to your relationship with Jesus.  We must be looking to Him first, then look at the physical place that we attend church.  If you want to find something bad about your church, it doesn’t take long at all to find it.  If you can’t find anything bad, just give it time…you will.  I’ve already had plenty of people “un-friend’ me, and all I do is write a one-page devotional every week.  The only reason I can think of is that they must disagree with something I believe, say, or do.  It doesn’t really matter, imperfect people will always eventually disappoint.

However, there is one relationship that you can develop that will never disappoint.  Jesus is more than willing to provide everything you need Himself.  No need to find a place with a dynamic speaker who can stir those waters to make you feel better.  Jesus Himself is more than willing to do it.

Go to church.  Hang out with people who will challenge you constantly in your faith.  But, put your hope and trust in Jesus…only in Jesus.

Later

Adam

* Jim Baker’s book “I Was Wrong” is one of the best books I have ever read.  If you remember anything about the “scandalous” PTL days of the 80’s, you will enjoy it.

The Only Way to Know for Sure

By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. — John 13:35

How many people do you know that are Christians?  I know lots of people who say they are Christians.  I saw this cartoon once that had these wolves in sheep costumes.  Some of them had their sheep masks off asking the question “are there any real sheep around here?”  The Bible does talk about wolves who disguise themselves as sheep.  Matthew 7:15 says “watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious as wolves.”

I think it is interesting that the meanest people I know claim to be church people.  This is kind of an unfair statement since I only know mostly church people.  But, the people that I know that don’t claim to be a Christians have never shown me any sign that they treat people horribly.  On the other hand, I watch people on Facebook post Bible verses, prayer requests, and let us know exactly when and where they are going to church.  Then, when someone ticks them off, they unload a furious verbal tirade on their “haters.”  I have to ask inwardly,  “are they ferocious like a wolf? Or, are they harmless like a dove?” (Matthew 10:16)

Now, don’t get me wrong here, if you have only recently been saved, you probably aren’t anywhere near the “love your enemies’ stage yet.  However, as you mature and grow in the Lord, the Bible says that there is one sure-fire way to let everyone know that you are a true disciple of Jesus.  If someone watches how you treat the person you like the least, what does it look like?  If you do not show them love, I am not saying that you aren’t saved or not a Christian, but I am saying that you are confusing people on the outside looking in.  People watching you have every right to call you a hypocrite, because that is exactly what you are.  You can post all the Bible verses you want on the internet, but if you have hatred in your heart for anyone, and I mean anyone, you had better begin to ask the Lord to change your heart.  I don’t want to give you the impression that I have “arrived” here yet either.  I’m still working on this.  At the very least, I have simply learned to not “fire” back when I get angry.  I try to only respond when I’m calm and I’ve actually thought about the situation, and that is only if the situation requires a response at all.  There is definitely something to “if you can’t say something nice…”

I am not suggesting that you have to get “run over” by people and allow yourself to be used repeatedly.  Showing love does not necessarily mean you have to become a doormat.  I do not know your circumstances, they may be extreme.  However, I do know what the circumstances of Jesus were a couple thousand years ago.  He was being beaten, spit upon, taunted, mocked and nailed to a cross.  He had every right to be angry with these people doing this to Him.  He could have said words that would literally tear them down, instead He chose to say “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  I know for sure that Jesus is who He says He is because of the love He had for His betrayers, but most of all, I know because of the love He has for me.  He continuously shows me mercy and grace.  I am thankful that He doesn’t “put me in my place” or “give me what I deserve.”  The least I can do is make my best attempt to show others what I have been shown.

Examine your life very closely this week.  How do you treat people who don’t necessarily deserve to be treated well by you?  If you claim to be a Christian, there is only one way to know for sure…

By this, everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Later

Adam

A pleasing aroma

I have been trying to put together some thoughts that have been on my mind for a year now. Adam has prompted me several times that it is about time for me to do a “WMD”. I have tried and tried to tie all of these thoughts together and this morning it happened for me.  Adam had an appointment and I cleaned the refrigerator out while he was gone. He is very faithful about taking out the trash and pushing the cart to the street on Tuesdays. However, I wanted to get rid of this bag of trash before it started smelling up the house.  I pushed the cart out to the street and on my way back up the driveway, I was overwhelmed by the aroma of our crepe myrtle trees….it is intoxicating when they are all in bloom. I looked over to our pear tree and noticed a beautiful spot of yellow peeking out of the leaves….a ripened pear ready to be enjoyed.

When you read Leviticus, it repeatedly talks about burnt offerings being a sweet smelling fragrance to the Lord.

When God Created us He wanted a relationship with us.  But when sin entered the world we became a trash smell in His nostrils.  He loved His creation but couldn’t be near us.  So He gave Moses the Law and that is wehn sacrifices were offered in payment for the sin of His people.  These sacrifices were descibed as”an aroma pleasing to the Lord”. He no longer requires a need for continual sin offerings, because Jesus was the ultimate and final sacrifice for sins. Because of Jesus, we who are believers are living sacrifices to God. My question though, is do I smell pleasing to Him? Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. The next verse tells us to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds.

About a year ago, one of my dearest friends and I decided to do a Bible study together. She and I both have dealt with issues of anxiety and we chose a book called Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. It helped both of us transform our minds. I have watched her transform throughout the year, but it is harder to see the transformation of your own mind. The problem with me was that I used to complain about most everything. And when a problem arose, I immediately tried to fix it myself instead of giving it to the Lord. And when I started to write a WMD, I compared myself to Adam and felt like I wouldn‘t do as good of a job as him. And I worried a lot about things that were coming up that I was not in control of. This created anxiety in my heart and mind. I was not presenting myself as a sacrifice because I wasn’t allowing God to be the Blessed Controller of my life….I wanted that control and that stinks.  Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” A passage from the book we read says “Looking back, I realize I did desire to trust God, but sometimes He was very slow. When He was moving at what I thought was a snail’s pace, I unconsciously decided He needed my help….When we take over and try to control what happens, we take our focus off of the One who is control and put our eyes on our circumstances.”  Contentment only comes when we accept from God what He sends us because we know that He is Good and therefore anything He gives us will be good.

I learned the lesson of being content with my life a long time ago and am so thankful for that. I watch too many people in my life that constantly compare themselves with others, either to make themselves feel better or to try to be more accepted. It hurts me to watch this. I see mothers trying to out do each other trying to be super moms. I see men working way too many hours and missing out with their families in order to provide them with “better” things. Too many marriages that crumble because they depend on each other to provide their happiness instead of relying on their relationship with God to bring joy into their lives. This quote by Rev. James Hufstetler resonated with me when I read it and I hope that if you live a life of trying to be someone other than what God created you for, that you will receive this nugget of truth. “You will never really enjoy other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life of Godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy, and love others as you should until you thank God for making you the way He did.” Learning to be content is a huge step toward loving others the way God loves them.

I want my life to be a sweet smelling fragrance to Him. So I am learning to pray and give my anxieties to God. I am learning to pray specifically. I am trying to be thankful in all things, and to stay positive. I want my life to be to Him as my driveway was to me today. Bearing fruit and a sweet aroma. If we make the choice to pray instead of worry, we will experience God’s peace. Dwell on these verses when you start to compare, or worry, or handle things on your own. Phillipians 4:4-8. “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Pressing on,

Tonya

The Neighbor’s Dog

He who knew no sin became sin for us, that I through Him might become the righteousness of God.  — 2 Corinthians 5:21

The neighbors and I have worked out a deal.  When I am away, they will feed my cats.  When they are away, I will feed their dog and cat.  The day that I am writing this happens to be one of those days that I fed their animals.  I have learned that their dog gets extremely excited when he sees me.  He basically runs circles around me, jumps on me, licks me, play bites me, the whole nine yards.  Sometimes I am about to go somewhere so I know how to maneuver around him so that I don’t get slobber or dirt on me.  However, this morning, I chose to do something different.  I got up, put on some already dirty clothes and headed on over.  I let the dog smear dirt on me, slobber on me, get fur all over me, we just had a great time for about 30 minutes.  As I left him, I could tell that he was just so thankful and content.

Walking back home, the Lord just filled my heart with His Presence.  He didn’t actually say words to me, but He spoke to me.  I realized that for a while, in the Old Testament, God attempted to feed people without getting dirty.  He basically gave His People the essentials only.  But, in the New Testament, God didn’t just feed His people, He put on a his “dirty clothes”, a human body, and came down here to love on me.  Not only that, He lets me jump on Him when I am angry and need to vent, He lets me slobber on Him when I get all crying and snotty because of the thickness of His Presence, He lets me wipe all of my sinful dirt on Him, and here’s the cool part…we both enjoy it like crazy.

There is nothing like having a relationship with God.  I can honestly say, He is the best friend I have.  There is nobody that could possibly love me more extravagantly or give to me more extravagantly.  Sin sought to destroy my life, for that is what sin does.  I forget how awful and vile sin actually is.  Sin makes God so small, and me so big.  It is so vile, that sin has to be punished.  It will not be allowed in God’s Holy presence.  To think that God took my sin, smeared it all over Himself, and allowed that sin to be killed along with His sinless, perfect body makes me want to serve Him and give Him the best that I have for the rest of my days.  There really is no one like Him.  There is no other story that has ever been told with this kind of power.

Have you been made righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ?  If not, confess your sin to Him, receive Him, and place your trust in Him.

Later

Adam

Rest

He makes me lie down in green pastures . — Psalm 23:2

I hate it when I can’t sleep.  I never feel the need to post the fact that I can’t sleep on Facebook, but it bothers me nonetheless.  I have learned to evaluate the factors while I am not sleeping at 3 A.M.  Sometimes the reason in simple.  Maybe I went to Walhalla Steak House and downed 5 cups of tea.  I might go to sleep, but when I wake up in the middle of the night, I am not dozing back off.  Sometimes the reason is work related, I may be having to deal with “that” parent.  I try to push work stuff out of my mind and deal with it only at work, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

I remember reading Phillip Keller’s “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.”  He talked about how proximity to the Shepherd is so important.  At the time, I remember feeling so far away from Jesus.  I imagined that I was a sheep among many sheep.   There was a shepherd along with a wolf in the distance waiting to pounce on one of the sheep.  Which one will he get?  The answer is kind of obvious…the wolf will get the one that is furthest away from the shepherd.  No wonder I was a defeated, fearful Christian.  I was trying to live in this place where Jesus was simply “in sight.“  My goal was to do the “worldly” things I wanted to do, but always be able to nod my head at the Shepherd and think we were “cool“ with one another.  I had no idea that this was the place of unrest, not to mention the place where you get eaten.  The sheep that stay the closest to him are perfectly comfortable lying down in the pasture the shepherd led them to and sleeping peacefully without fear.  In fact, while the sheep are sleeping, they are completely unaware that the shepherd is keeping the predators away.

Money can buy sleep, but it cannot buy rest.  I’ve taken pills that “knock me out.”  I always feel horrible when I wake up from “pill sleep.”  The best, most consistent sleep comes from a consistent, trusting relationship with the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  So, why did I get up at 3:30 this morning and write this WMD?  Well, I am anxious about a few things.  The new school year is right around the corner.  I am preaching this Sunday at Golden Corner Church (there is ALWAYS an increase in spiritual battle a week or two before I preach.)  I have one last week of on-line schooling to complete the last of 3 graduate level classes that I have taken since January (and hated all along the way).  When my mind starts thinking about all this stuff in the middle of the night, it is just impossible to sleep.

True rest comes from being at total peace with God.  He MAKES me lie down in green pastures.  I can honestly say, if not for the Lord Jesus Christ, I hate to think about the junk I would dwell on  and I know I would never truly be at rest.  If I ever can’t sleep, at least now I know where to go.  Now that I know the Good Shepherd, I may lay there for 30 minutes or so and let my mind go a thousand different directions, but I’m not going to let this continue the rest of the night.  I will get up, grab my Bible, and go to a quiet place (which happens to be everywhere at 3:30).  In doing so, I am not only moving away from the wolves seeking to devour my mind, but I am moving toward the safety of the Good Shepherd who wants nothing more than for me to trust in the fact that He meets every single one of my needs.

One more thing, I started this post out by saying “I hate when I can’t sleep.”  I was about to go up there and delete that sentence, but I don‘t want to miss the lesson here.  Be careful what you think and say about the frustrating moments in your life.  More than likely, these events are simply the Lord drawing you closer to Himself.  You get to choose how you respond to these moments.  I don’t always choose correctly, but as it turns out, I haven’t hated these past couple of hours at all.

If you are not resting lately, how close are you to the Shepherd?

Later

Adam