Wednesday Morning Devotional

The Eyes of The Lord

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  — Psalm 53:2

If God were to look down on The United States of America at any point today, would He be pleased?  I have asked a lot of people this question over the past couple of days and haven’t heard a “yes” yet.  It is almost unbelievable how there is an accelerated effort to remove God from everything in our nation.  I read the story of a six-year old who was told she couldn’t read the words “he prayed to God for help” on her Veterans Day paper at a school in N.C. that was about her grandfather.  I read where a school in Arizona was going to take a group of children to see a performance of “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” at a church.  Even though there were permission forms that had to be signed and all that, there was a group of people that cried “separation of church and state” and the trip was over.  All of this happening in the same country where we say “One Nation, Under God” every morning before we start school.  At least…we say it for right now.

So, this brings a good question to light: If God does look down from heaven, what is he looking for?  The answer is given to us in Psalm 53:2.

First, He is looking for people who understand.  Understand what?  Well, in the previous verse he says that fools say in their heart “there is no god,” He says they are corrupt, vile, and that there is no one who does good.  If that is true, then it seems that there is no way that God could ever be pleased by the “sons of men.”  Unless…God is simply looking for people who understand this.  Maybe there is a group of people that understand that sin lives inside of them and that there is no way that they can make it without Him.  Maybe God is simply looking for people who understand and recognize that we need Him.  So often, I have tried to “do better” or “be better” with horrendous results.  Who knew that I had it all wrong?  God did!  He isn’t looking for my masterful performance in life.  He simply wants me to understand that without Him there is no Heaven, there is no forgiveness for sin, there is no presence of the Lord in and on my life.

Second, He is looking for people who seek Him.  It seems natural that if we understand that we need Him, we would spend some time seeking Him.  He was so cool to us that He had 66 different books survive for thousands of years.  Those books were combined into a collection we know as the Holy Bible.  Within those pages are the words to life…and life more abundantly.  If we would only  spend our lives reading it and applying it.  If we would only spend time in prayer waiting to hear His voice.

I think this is wonderful.  This totally takes the pressure off to perform for God.  I don’t have to “try harder” to “be a better person” or anything like that.  I simply have to understand that I need Him.  Then, because of that understanding, I have to seek after Him.

I can do that!

Can you?

Later

Adam

The People Rule

Matthew 7:12

I read this fascinating book called
“Beyond the Dead Forest.” It is about these two teenagers, Kat and Carter. They
go on this adventure in a land that only they can see. There, they help the
Guardian fight the Adversary. Kat and Carter’s ultimate weapon is a rule that
they come to know as “The People Rule.” It simply states that you are to treat
others as you would want to be treated. However, here’s the hard part, you are
to treat others like you would want to be treated regardless of how they treat
you. I highly recommend reading the book. The author is Steve Groll and I can give you an order form to order directly from him if you want a copy of the book.  It is like reading tons and tons of actual Bible applications…I loved it.

Why don’t we treat others the way we’d want to be treated? One day, over Christmas vacation, my little man got up early. I knew that he’d get loud and wake everybody up so I took him to McDonald’s to get a biscuit (Jameson calls them “bithkits”). They were swamped! We ordered and just sat down. I wasn’t in any hurry. However, this one dude had obviously been waiting a while for his gravy biscuit, and he was ticked. We got our whole breakfast before he got his gravy biscuit. By the time he got it, he made sure everybody in the store knew that he was inconvenienced.

In the meantime, there was this teenage girl. She had
gotten pancakes. The registers were just lined up with people. I watch her barge
through the line and say “excuse me” in a manner that wasn’t sincere at all. It
might as well have been “get out of MY way.” Then she said “I need some syrup!”
The cashier got her some syrup. Well, like 5 seconds later, she repeated the
process and said “I need some butter!” The cashier got her some butter. I just
sat there and prayed for both of those people and said “Lord, help me never
portray that kind of attitude towards other people.”

Well, a few days later my wife and I went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We went to our favorite breakfast place, “The Red Rooster.” It was packed. To make a long story short,
we were there for an hour and a half. As soon as I started getting impatient, I
thought of those two at McDonald’s. I told my wife the whole story. I really
thought this was the Lord testing me to see how I’d react. I decided I was going
to pass. I was going to be respectful and encouraging to the waitress, I was
still going to leave a really good tip, I was going to treat them like I’d want
to be treated.

When it came time to pay, I was even going to let the guy behind me in front of me. I’m glad I did because through our conversation I found that Skillet was going to be playing right next door to the Red Rooster. As we left, I prayed out loud “Lord, will you make a way for us to get into that concert tonight?” To make another long story short, about 9:00 that night, we were rocking to some Skillet…for FREE!

Looking back now, I see more of how God works. I asked Him to help me never portray that kind of attitude towards other people. He then proceeded to set me up and give me a chance to not portray that kind of attitude. I recognized pretty quickly that He was testing
me. I decided to pass the test. He didn’t force me to pass, but He did force me
to take the test. The whole time, He had a reward in mind. If I had not been
patient, there is no way I would have met that last person in line. If I hadn’t
met that last person in line, there is no way that I would have known that
Skillet was performing next door that evening.

Make a habit of applying the people rule. God will make sure that you never regret
it!

Later

Adam

Testimony

A Christian should be the most thankful for his or her testimony.  God gave His Son that we might be free from the power and consequences of sin.  I know in 21 years of following Him He has changed my heart and mind so much.  Here is how it all got started.

I was 16 years old at Calvary Baptist church in Salem.  Steve James, my Sunday school teacher, taught a lesson on how hell is a real place and Jesus Christ did EVERYTHING he could to keep us from going there.  He asked at the end of the lesson for us to close our eyes and not look around.  He told us to raise our hand if we want to be saved.  I wanted so bad to raise my hand, but I didn’t.  I guess I cared too much about what my “friends” would think if I did, not once even considering they might be happy for me.  While looking at me, he told us if we needed him to talk to him, call him anytime.  Well, late that night, I knew there was no way I was going to sleep until I made things right.  Somehow, I just knew I was going to die in my sleep and wake up in Hell.  So, I called Steve.  He came and picked me up, took me to Stamp Creek Landing and led me in the Sinner’s Prayer.  I loved that feeling of the weight of sin just lifting off.  I felt light.  I felt free.

I wish I could say I lived it out after that.  For 5 years I was pummeled by Satan telling me I really didn’t get saved because I didn’t do it in front of my friends.  I thought that because I was ashamed of Him, now He was going to be ashamed of me.  I thought every time I said a cuss word or lied, I must not have really gotten saved.  I tried to do good, but the more I tried, the more I failed.  It wasn’t until I was 21 years old that I knelt by my bed and told God He could have my life.  I told Him I’d no longer try to “fit in” with the crowd.  I told Him I’d no longer try to keep one foot in the world, and one foot in church.  I decided I would do what He told me to do…no matter what.  This was the second time that weight lifted off of me (How much weight was I carrying anyway?)  I no longer felt I had to perform for God, I just had to live for God.  I began to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  I couldn’t get enough of the Bible, praise and worship music, church.  I just filled my mind and heart with Him for about 2 years.  If there was a revival somewhere, I was there!  If there was preaching on TV, I was watching.  If there was a tape to be heard of someone preaching the Word, I was listening.  Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I was transformed.  That put me on a series of steps that led me to right here, right now, and there is NO PLACE I’d rather be!  God is faithful, God is good, God is REAL…and if you want Him…Go get Him!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adam

If you are willing and have time, consider writing out your testimony this week.  If you don’t mind, post it on WMD or e-mail it to me so I can post it.  You absolutely never know who might read it and begin their own journey with Him.

Today’s WMD was written by my wife.

The Altar Call

Many will say to me on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and perform many miracles?‘  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, away from me you evildoers!’ — Matthew 7:22-23

It appears that there is a certain theme that I keep running into and it has bothered me when I think of people that fit into this category. The theme is that there are people dying who think that they are Christians and are not. For some years, I think I probably fell into this category. I recently heard Gresham Barrett give his testimony, and it is one of the most powerful ones that I have heard. He talked about how he grew up in church and has been an active member of different churches throughout his life. He is now in his mid-fifties and a few years ago, he truly accepted the Lord into his life and was baptized as a public acknowledgement of burying his old ways and now living his life for the Lord. The courage that it takes for a person who has gone to church their whole life to be able to admit that and go around testifying about it amazed me. The one thing that resounded with me during his testimony was this thought. He said that through the years during the altar call and when the opportunity to pray the sinner’s prayer was given, he would always say the prayer just to make sure that he was okay. Now during an altar call, he is praying for other people to accept Christ as their Savior.

I have heard people comment that they are just not sure if they were truly saved. I have been asked “how can I truly know?” Well, I used to give my ideas of how I know, but I now think you should ask yourself this question during the altar call:  “What I am doing?” For many years, I was praying for myself, asking for forgiveness once again. Then one day, I do not know when, that changed and now I am praying for others to accept Jesus into their lives. But here is the very scary part for me when I think back, there was a certain amount of time during an altar call when I was looking at my watch, counting the verses in the song to see how soon it would be over, thinking about what I was going to do in 15 minutes, instead of praying for myself or for anyone else. Those were the years when I was “playing church”. Those are the people that I worry about the most. That is a very dangerous place to be. You are dependent on your ability to do the right thing, act like you’ve got it all together in front of everyone else, living to please yourself, and not having a heart to see lost people find the Savior. Unfortunately, I know some people reading this are in this situation. You will read this part and it will irritate you that you were called out. You will convince yourself that you are not “playing church” and that you are okay. I want you to please take a good look at yourself and check to see what you are doing the next time the altar call is given.

Matthew 7:15-20 talks about good fruit and bad fruit. Every person that has lived has produced both good and bad fruit. If your faith hasn’t changed you, then your faith hasn’t saved you. I am not talking about struggling with certain sins that seem to keep coming up. We all have areas that we must constantly work on; that is where grace and mercy come into the plan. I am talking about struggling less over the years with that particular sin and then moving on to tackle others. Are you able to display good fruit such as love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control?  Or, are you displaying more of impurity, jealousy, fits of rage, self-indulgence, and envy?

If you have been going through the motions of going to church and trying to be a good person but you cannot say that you actually remember ever asking Jesus to come into your life and live through you, please make that right. Your righteous acts cannot save you, only the forgiveness of sins by your Heavenly Father can. If you are not sure what kind of fruit you are producing, this is tough, but ask someone you trust to give it to you straight.

If you need to make things right with God, take this opportunity to commit your life to His plan. Tell him that you have sin in your life that needs to be forgiven. Believe and trust that He alone can save you and not the good things that you do trying to earn that salvation. And finally, you need to have the courage to tell someone that from this day forward, you know that you are a Christian. Be willing to have the courage of one that sat in church for most of his life letting others believe that he was a true Christian. Please let someone that you love know that if something were to happen to you today, that you are forgiven, saved, and that you will certainly see them for all of eternity in Heaven.

Looking forward,

Tonya

Four Years From Right Now

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14

So, here it is…4 in the morning.  I couldn’t help but reach for the iPad.  I knew that America had already chosen their president for the next 4 years.  I found out…my heart sank.  For the first time I think ever, I am afraid to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  I don’t know if I’m afraid for me, my kids, or their kids.  I’m not even sure I’m afraid simply because of the leader that we chose for the next four years.  Who is to say that WHOEVER got into the White House that the 16 TRILLION now would not become 32 TRILLION by 2016? Maybe I’m afraid because Americans are so perfectly divided…just look at the popular vote. I wonder how perfectly divided we were 151 years ago when the first shots of the Civil War were fired?  I don’t know.  All I know is that CHANGE is definitely here!  Half of America seems to like it…the other half does not.  Where will we be four years from right now?    I don’t know that either…but I do know the solution.

Check out the main verse for today.  Who has to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways?  God’s people!  The only people who have to do these things are the people who call themselves Christians.  The atheists, agnostics, other religions and flat out God-haters can keep on doing and believing exactly as they want.  However, if you take the name of Christ and call yourself a CHRISTian, there are some things we must do and do immediately.  Let’s look at them.

Humble yourself:  When is the last time you knelt before God and thanked Him for the cross?  Forgiveness of sin is impossible without the cross.  Heaven is a place that nobody can enter without the cross.  Sin is impossible to overcome without the cross.  This morning, I just want to humble myself and increase the size of God, and decrease the size of myself.  Probably the worst thing sin does is make us look big, and Him small.  Humble yourself and see Him as the holy, majestic, mighty God that He is, but make sure you see yourself as the “vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)

Pray and seek His face:  When is the last time that you went before God?  Just you and Him.  Nobody around.  When is the last time you poured your heart out to Him?  When is the last time you felt His mighty presence and just sat there and cried because you feel that gap  being bridged between your sinfulness and His Holiness?  When is the last time that you just listened for His still soft whisper in silence on your knees?  When is the last time that you examined your heart and mind to see if there is anything in there that displeases Him?  I don’t know.  But, if you call yourself a Christian, today would be a perfect day.

Turn from their wicked ways:  What do you do that displeases God?  What do you listen to?  What do you watch?  What are you constantly pumping your mind with?  Please understand…if you don’t say you are a Christian, watch what you want and by all means, DO what you want!  But we as Christians are to worship the Lord our God with ALL our hearts, ALL our soul, ALL our MINDS, and all our strength.  If you honestly don’t know where to start…start here:

Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  — Psalm 139:24

Why do all this?

Do this because of the PROMISE!

Then, I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.  — 2 Chronicles 7:14

I have seen this happen on a much smaller scale.  Four years ago, 3 other teachers and myself went into a classroom early in the morning on a Wednesday.  Our school was in about as bad of shape as possible.  Test scores were horrendous, attitudes were horrible, teachers were leaving after 1 year, and people from the state were evaluating us to see what our problems were.  The four of us in that room decided that since we called ourselves Christians, that we would work like we are working for the Lord.  We decided that it didn’t matter what other teachers did.  It only mattered what we as people who called ourselves Christians did.  I can honestly say that whereas I used to HATE going into work, there is no place I’d rather go to work this morning than my little tiny school in Salem, SC.  God did hear from heaven, He did forgive our sin, and He did start this beautiful process of healing our school.

If you say you are a Christian, will you do your part to make sure the same thing happens in The United States of America?

Later

Adam

The Real One Percenters

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  — Matthew 15:8

“For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”  —  Genesis 18:32

I know that I should have been doing this all along, but I have just recently started praying for our great nation.  Or, should I say, rapidly deteriorating nation?  I believe that God has removed His hand of protection from over The United States of America.  Every morning, in school I hear “One nation, under God, indivisible…” and for the most part, Americans could not really care less about God, and our little conservative/liberal party system proves that we are about as divided as anyone could possibly be.  So, I don’t really know how to pray for our country.  I just kind of meditate on it while I’m on my knees getting in the best tune I can with the Lord.

I feel like every time that I hear Him speak on this subject, He says “for the sake of 10, I will not let it be destroyed.”  Sometimes I hear “one out of one hundred.“  It took me a while, but I remembered that in a previous WMD that I talked about how Sodom’s population was around 1,000 people.  I remembered that Abraham asked for God not to destroy it if there were 10 righteous people there.  10 out 1,000 reduces to 1 out of 100.

The world calls the richest people the “one percenters.“  In fact, one percent of the world’s population holds 40% of all the world’s money.  But today’s real one percenters are those who are truly sold out to the will of the living God.  People just do not understand the power of a Godly person.  I think of the few Godly people in my life while I was growing up, without them, there is no way that I have my relationship with God.  Think about that, I have known hundreds, maybe a thousand or more people…let’s say it is a thousand.  About 10 of those people invested in me and led me to a relationship with the Lord…1 out of 100.

Maybe I’m thinking this way because I recently read “The Harbinger.”  Maybe it’s because I recently watched “Obama 2016.”  Or, maybe God is waiting for us to return to Him.  Maybe God is telling us to stop honoring him with our lips and turn our hearts  toward Him.  Maybe He wants us to forgive.  Maybe He wants us to love.  Maybe He wants us to lay down our lives:  Our pride, our lusts, our wickedness.  Basically, He may just want us to lay down our own selfish desires and start serving Him and serving others.  The American Dream…this crazy need for a better house, better car, better spouse, better family, and better stuff has destroyed our economy along with our families.  Are we willing as a nation to actually downsize and do without so that we might make our enormous amount of debt start counting the other way?  I want so bad to say yes…but the answer is no.

However, here is the ultimate question:  Are you willing to do it?  Are you willing to lay down your life?  Not your literal life, but perhaps your material life.  I believe that if 1 out of 100 could do this starting right now, we would see a major shift towards peace and morality.  If 3 million people out of the 300 million people would humble themselves, pray, and seek God’s face, He would hear from heaven and He would heal our land.  Read 2 Chronicles 7:14 over and over between now and Tuesday.  For that matter, read it between now and the new year.  Etch it on your heart.

Why should God not allow America to destroy itself?  Sodom got destroyed.  There were only 4 people considered righteous.  That is less than ½ % of Sodom’s population.  The consequence of not having righteous people following the Lord are disastrous.  We are a sinful nation with just as much sin as Sodom…maybe more.  Just like all sin, the main people we hurt with our greed are the little ones that have no clue about government, debts, elections, etc.  Children only want a mom and a dad at home that loves God, loves each other, and loves them.  I have never seen an unhappy family that did these three things.

As you go through the rest of this year, really stop and think about the people you know.  Ask yourself “does this person honor the name of the Lord?”  “Do they seek to serve Him REGARDLESS of the cost to themselves?”  “Are they one of the 1%?  Then again, you might need to ask a more important question…

Am I?

The best thing you can do to save our great nation is not vote…though I do encourage you to do so.  The best thing you can do is love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.

Do you?

Later

Adam

Blessed (Part 8)

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. —  Matthew 5:10

In America, we basically have two types of Christians.  The first type are the compromising Christians.  I was here for maybe 5 to 10 years after I got saved.  When I wanted to fit in with my “worldly” crowd, that is what I did.  I would talk and act just like them.  When I wanted to fit in with my church’s youth group, I talked and acted just like them.  I never got persecuted because of righteousness because I rarely did the right thing.  The second type of Christians are the ones who wholeheartedly try to follow the Lord Jesus Christ…no matter what the cost is to them.  Actually following Jesus is an entirely different ballgame.  The moment you go here, you will be persecuted.

Now, before I go on, you need to understand that persecution in America looks a LOT different than persecution in most other countries.  In many countries your very life is at stake.  It is a very real possibility that you could be murdered for your faith in Jesus.  In America, you stand to lose money, friends, and position.  I’m not saying these things aren’t important, they are, especially to us spoiled Americans who think that a cell phone is a necessity.  I am simply saying that the consequences of following Christ are not NEARLY as severe as others might experience in their countries.

Isn’t it interesting that if you have gone through the process of changing your sinful and selfish attitude to the “be attitudes” that Jesus talks about, you will be persecuted?  Why in the world would someone want to persecute someone who is “poor in spirit,” or that “hungers and thirsts for righteousness”?  Why would anyone want to talk bad about someone who is “pure” and has become a “peacemaker”?  I don’t know.  But, I do know that ever since I have really surrendered my life to God, I have received persecution…at least in the American sense of the word.  Let me explain.

As my heart began to change over the first several years of my being a Christian, I had a growing sense of the fact that I needed to stop saying I was a Christian and actually start being one.  I remember one of the very first acts of righteousness that I did.  I was at a bar just partying it up with my friends.  I was kind of buzzed.  The only thing about being buzzed for me was that I didn’t turn into wild party dude that most of my friends turned into.   The more buzzed I got, the more aware I was that Jesus was going to come back on that very night and I was going to be left behind!  Anyway, something happened and beer got spilled all over my lap.  I immediately cursed and took the Lord’s name in vain.  Instantly, I came to my senses.  I had to get out of there.  I know I shouldn’t admit this, but I got into my car and prayed.  I told God that if He would get me home safely without getting pulled over or killing myself, that I was done with that life and I’d start really trying to live for Him.  He kept His end of the deal, and so far to this day, I’ve kept mine.

That day cost me.  I had several really good friends that no longer were friends.  No longer did I have a core group that I hung out with.  God didn’t just miraculously place new friends in my life that I could hang out with.  Most weekends, I was alone.  Looking back, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I learned how to depend on Him.  I learned that I didn’t need to always have a party or an event going on in my life to make me happy.  I just needed Him.  Before you think that this revelation took place in a couple of weeks, you need to know that it took a few YEARS!  I constantly felt ripped off by God, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, and I didn’t mind letting Him know.  In the mean time, I was always looking forward to going to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night because it was my main time of social interaction.  I was learning so much about the Bible and what it looks like to really follow Jesus.

Then, one Friday night I got invited to play guitar and sing at a church.  Keep in mind, had I never made my little “deal” with God, I would have probably been out with my “friends” on this Friday night.  I played and it was nothing particularly special.  Except for the fact that a lady sent me a little card in my teacher’s mailbox at school the next week.  It simply said that she enjoyed my testimony and my playing and that she’d like for me to “meet” someone.  To make a ridiculously long story really short, I am married to my wife of almost 11 years because of that card that she sent.

I know that story doesn’t make you say “wow, that dude has faced some serious persecution!”  I just want you to know that people, even other people who say they are Christians, will attack you and hurt you if you attempt to live right on a day by day basis.  I have people rudely ask to be removed from WMD because of something I wrote.  Some people feel they have to e-mail me and correct me on all kinds of different details about my writings.  In fact, two years ago, I almost quit writing because of all of the attacks…mostly from other “Christians.”

I love the promise attached to this beatitude…for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.  When I was studying these in depth, I couldn’t help but notice that this was the same promise attached to the first beatitude.  I realize now that they are different even though the words are the same.  Asking Christ into your heart (poor in spirit) simply gives you access to the things of God.  You have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible to help you go through the whole process of the other beatitudes.  However, this last promise, if you can just hold on to your faith in Him and never grow tired or weary in doing what is right, if you will continue to bring light and peace to others and point others to Him, then you will receive the greatest prize of all.  Every person reading this who chooses to live his or her life for Him, regardless of the cost to themselves, will live forever with Him…in the kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Later

Adam

Blessed (Part 7)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.  — Matthew 5:9

Notice that the first 4 beatitudes are internal.  Being poor in spirit, mourning your old way of life, getting control of your impulses, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness are all things that happen inside of your own heart and mind.  People on the outside can’t really see what is going on inside of you.  However, when you begin to show mercy and your heart becomes pure…that can be seen.  People will begin to notice that there is something different about you:  the way you react, the way you don’t overreact, the way you seem to always have peace in your heart regardless of the situation.  There is something so attractive about a person that possesses these qualities.  People want to know what it is about you.  People want what you have.  You have now entered into seventh beatitude…you are a peacemaker.

There is absolutely nothing like getting to lead someone to Christ.  I have had the privilege of doing it a dozen or so times.  Every time I get to lead them in prayer, it’s like God allows me to be born again…again!  I love opening my eyes and feeling like I’m seeing the world for the very first time.  I love just feeling clean and brand new.  I love knowing that God has just used me to bring peace to another person’s life.  I love knowing that they are beginning a beautiful journey with the Lord that will allow them to start looking more and more like Him as the months and years go by.

Who are the people in your life that have brought peace?  I can think of maybe twenty people in my life that were instrumental in placing more of Jesus in my heart.  They brought me peace.  They were peacemakers in my life.  These are women and men that weren’t afraid to tell me hard things.  They are men and women who admit when they are wrong and make it as right as possible.  They lead by example.  They don’t just put “Christian” as their religious views on Facebook and go on living life on their own terms.  They make a deliberate effort to live life on His terms.  There is something about people like this that draws me like a magnet.  I want to be around them because I know that there will be a conversation about God, and I know I’ll leave the conversation a little bit better off than I was before. 

Here is the thing:  You can’t just decide to be a peacemaker.  It is just part of the natural progression of following Christ.  The more of Him you have inside of you, the more peace you will bring.  It is extremely important to realize that it is not more of YOU that people want…it is more of HIM who lives inside of you.  It was 15 years after I got saved before I led someone to Christ.  Why?  Because I spent the majority of those years on the previous beatitudes.  I was learning how to forgive those who have hurt me, learning how to create new habits that would allow me to hunger and thirst for righteousness, learning how to control my sinful desires, and learning how to make sure my heart was clean every morning and begging the Lord to help me keep it that way until the end of the day. 

Also, notice one last thing.  You become a peacemaker after your heart becomes pure.  I have a pure heart right now.  However, the dumbest thing I could do is think it is just going to stay that way on it’s own.  Satan tries to plant seeds in me that will grow into weeds every day.  I have a little flower bed right next to my house.  If I would just take the time to pull those weeds as soon as they get started…I would have a weed free flower bed.  Plus, it would take so little time and effort.  Seriously, I could keep it clean with just 10 to 15 minutes a week.  Unfortunately, I get lazy and end up having to do quite a bit of work for an extended period of time.  I look at my spiritual life the same way.  I need to take a little time every single day to make sure those seeds and those little weeds in my heart do not grow.  Unfortunately, too many times I let them grow too long and it ends up requiring a major spiritual overhaul.

Keep the weeds out of your heart.  It will be so obvious to others that they will know you are a child of the living God.  They will want what you have.  Always be ready to tell them how to receive Him.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Later

Adam 

Blessed (Part 6)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  — Matthew 5:8

“If God is real, how come He doesn’t show Himself.”  “I’ve never seen God.”  “You can’t prove to me that God exists.”  How many times have you heard statements like this?  You might have been like me and even said something like this in your past.  Most of the time, these statements come from people who want to live life on their own terms, not from people who are genuinely seeking God.  People who say things like this are flat out admitting that their hearts aren’t right with the Lord.  Jesus himself says in this verse that if you are pure in heart, you will see God.

The steps to a pure heart are NOT easy steps.  You must admit to God that you have NOTHING to offer Him and receive His forgiveness (poor in spirit).  You must leave your old way of life and get rid of the things that are killing you spiritually (mourn).  You must learn how to deny yourself and get control of your sinful nature (meek).  You must begin to feed yourself the word of the Lord and worship Him with your mind (hunger and thirst for righteousness).  You must learn to forgive others for things that others would NEVER forgive (merciful).  If you are one of the very few that actually make it here, your heart will become more like the heart of Jesus (pure)…you will begin to see Him!

I can’t speak for others, but in my journey of life, I don’t think anything has changed me like the presence of the Lord.  No, I don’t literally “see” Him, but I feel Him.  The best way I can describe it is that I just get engulfed by His Spirit.  I become so aware of how unworthy I am to be in His presence, yet at the same time I am ridiculously grateful to be there.  I am so full of gratitude.  It’s like the only words I can say is “thank you, Lord…I love you, Lord.”  Sometimes, I can’t even get those words out, I can only be still and let Him love on me.  Absolutely every time it happens, I want more!  I actually remember one of the first times it happened.  I was in my car driving.  His presence just filled up the car and I had to pull over and ask Him to turn it off…I couldn’t take it.  The reason I couldn’t take it is because my heart had only begun to become pure.  The more pure it gets, the more of Him I can take…and the more I want!

Now, do not think that I am talking about being “perfect.”  I am talking about being clean.  I am not perfect, yet Jesus GAVE me perfection.  I did not earn and could never earn perfection.  I can‘t live perfectly, but I can live clean.  Cleanliness only comes through obedience…and yes it is hard!  I do not always get it right, but the more clean my heart becomes, the more of His presence I can take.  I hope many of you reading this know what I’m talking about, because it is truly an awesome thing!

I want to end by telling you about a recent time that I “saw” God.  I was taking Caroline (my 6 year old) to school and we were listening to Flyleaf’s version of “Oh How He Loves Us.”  Before they play the song, the lead singer tells the crowd that it doesn’t matter what they’ve done, it doesn’t matter where they come from…God loves them.  Then, they begin to play the song.  Right when they started to sing, Caroline looked up at me and said “Daddy, even when we are mean, God still loves us?”  There He was, right there in the passenger seat of my 1991 Ford Ranger.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Later

Adam

Love and Marriage

Malachi 2:15  Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.

I will get back to the beatitudes next week and continue the “blessed” series.   Last week, I did something I have never done.  I helped officiate a wedding.  In preparation for this, I studied as many scriptures as I could find on the subject of marriage.  This verse in Malachi  has really stuck with me, so this is what I thought I would write about for today.

Being a school teacher, I get to see more than my share of relationships come and go.  It is not uncommon for me to see a new couple holding hands.  I might say something like “I didn’t know they were together.” Then, I get a response like “You didn’t know that?  They’ve been together forever!”  I usually find out “forever” means they got “together“ last week.  Most of the time, just a few weeks later, one of them is holding hands with a new person.

I have seen a lot of school kids grow up into adults.  It is not so amazing to me that the same teenagers who trade boyfriends and girlfriends like trading cards begin to trade out husbands and wives.  Somehow, society has made marriage simply “one step up” from being boyfriend and girlfriend.  Therefore, when a person simply becomes the least bit unhappy, they simply do like they did in high school…they “break up.”  However, the Bible teaches us that “breaking up” in marriage isn’t possible.

In Matthew 19 the Pharisees sought to trick Jesus.  They asked Him if it was okay for a man to divorce his wife.  The reason they thought they had Jesus was because in Deuteronomy 24 Moses allowed a “certificate of divorce.”  Since Moses said it, the Pharisees believed that settled it.  However, in His response, Jesus took them back to the beginning.  He told them that because their hearts were not right, Moses allowed the certificate of divorce.  In the beginning, God made the two become one…and it can NEVER be undone, or “un-oned.”  The disciples were so shocked by this they said “it is better to not even marry!”

So, what is my point in all of this?  Marriage is a really serious thing!  The couple in the wedding that I helped officiate did the traditional “sand ceremony.”  They took those two separate containers of sand and poured them together.  Those grains of sand can NEVER be separated back into their individual bottles…it is impossible.  When two people say “I do” to marriage, Malachi says “in body and spirit you are his.”  The Lord has made the two of you become one.  Why did God do this?  What does God want out of this?  Malachi tells us that  God wants Godly children from the union.

There used to be a time where couples stayed together for the sake of the kids.  Those times are gone.  One person in the marriage ALWAYS justifies their decision by saying things like “well, at least the children won’t see us fight any more,” or “we get along much better this way.”  In the case of most “Christian” marriages, one partner has convinced themselves that God Himself is okay with the divorce.  In other words, God no longer wants us to guard our hearts and remain loyal to our first husband or wife, but wants us to divorce because it would make us “much happier.”

For me, I get two major things out of this.  First I wish I had spent my high school and college years really learning how to honor the Lord with my life.  I wish I hadn’t wasted all that time with the dozen or so girlfriends that I thought that I “loved.”  I REALLY wish I had reserved the sexual relationship for marriage.  I will NEVER buy in to the “try on a pair of shoes before you buy them” theology.  Shoes are made to wear out and be thrown out.  A new pair of shoes can be bought when you simply don‘t like the other pair.  Unfortunately, that is what WAY too many people do with their spouses.

Lastly, I like the reason we are to stay together.  God wants “Godly children from our union.”  Now, I realize that there are couples who can’t have children.  For a couple of years, Tonya and I thought we were going to be one of them.  God only gave us children when we told Him together in prayer that HE was enough, and we would honor Him if he NEVER gave us children.  Believe me, it was no easy process to get us to that point.  But, now we have children.  Contrary to the popular opinion that Tonya and I have the “perfect“ marriage, we have had a few major trials over the past 10 years that have required a major heart change toward one another.  Here is my major take away from Malachi  2:15 that concerns our kids:

No matter what problems arise in our marriage, we will honor the Lord and His word.  As long as BOTH of us truly seek to love and honor Him, we will work out whatever disagreements and hurts we may have.  I would like to believe that we will do this because we love God   If we do not do it for Him, we will do it for the sake of our kids.

I do not want my children to see Mama and Daddy happier because we split up.  I want my children to see that when Mama and Daddy are not getting along that they seek the Lord.  I want them to see that we pray together for His Holy Spirit to come and touch our hearts.  I want them to see us come out better on the other side than we were before.  I want them to see that through Him…reconciliation and restoration are always possible.

Isn’t that what Jesus came to do?  He came to bring dead things, even dead marriages, to life!

Later

Adam