Wednesday Morning Devotional

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

Blessed (Part 5)

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. — Matthew 5:7

Here we are at the 5^th beatitude.  If you are progressing along and have made it to where you absolutely WANT to do what is right no matter what the cost is to you, welcome to the next step in that progression.  In this step, you have to do something hard…you have to choose mercy.  Remember, just because I am writing these, does not mean that I am a master at these.  In fact, right now, there is something that I have to make right in a relationship because I didn’t choose mercy.  I will have made that right by the time that you actually read this WMD (hopefully).  So, here we go…

I think it is interesting that so many athletic teams still say the Lord’s Prayer before they play their games.  Not that I am against this at all.  It is just that during that prayer there is one line that I know people don’t think about.  It goes “forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us.”  During the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to forgive us in the same way we forgive others.  I have had teams that I have coached say this prayer before every game.  Then, I have watched most of them be ridiculously unforgiving toward others.  This is very difficult to do.  Jesus plainly teaches me in this one…I will obtain mercy to the same degree that I show mercy to others.

I recently heard a sermon where the pastor was talking about how everyone expects their loved ones to be in heaven when they die.  We only see R.I.P.  Or we hear “they are in a better place.”  Then, the pastor raised this question “what if that recently deceased person had unforgiveness in their heart towards ONE other person?”  It immediately sent me on a heart search through the past and present.  What if I will be shown mercy in exact proportion to the one person I have shown the least amount of mercy?

Something in me wants to just say “awww, Jesus would never do that to me…it can’t be THAT big of a deal!”  Then again, I have read Matthew 18:23-35.  A guy owed the king 10,000 talents.  A talent is equal to 20 years worth of wages.  If you have a job, think about the amount of money that you would expect to make in 20 years.  Now multiply that by 10,000! If a person makes $30,000 a year, that would be 30,000 x 20 x 10,000, which equals 6,000,000,000!  This guy asked the king for MERCY, and the king forgave his debt.  Well, after he received forgiveness for the debt, he saw a dude that owed him money.  The amount of money that was owed to him was 200 denarii.  I have heard preachers say this was some small amount, but it’s not really that small, though compared to 6 billion…it is pretty small.  The amount was worth 200 days worth of wages.  So, the same $30,000 per year comes to about   $120 per day assuming you work for 250 days each year.  Thus.  $120 x 200 = $24,000.  When he saw the guy, he demanded that payment be made.  When they guy used the same words that HE used on the king, he refused to be merciful.  Of course, that brought out all the tattle tales and word got back to the king.  The king was furious with the guy and threw him in prison.  Now, look at verse 35: “This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Now, who owes you?  Who is it that you just can’t stand?  Maybe they have wronged you and they deserve to PAY!  Maybe you are harboring bitter feelings towards them still.  What are you going to do about it?

For me, I have made so many promises to God that I haven’t kept…I HAVE to forgive and forget when people don’t keep their promises to me.

I have told God that I would do something…then NOT gone and done it.  I HAVE to forgive those who don’t do what they said they would do for me.

When I haven’t always given my best to the Lord, He has faithfully continued to give His best to me!  So, even though I have students who refuse to give me their best, I continue to give them my best because God has done so for me.

Even though I go out to eat and sometimes receive horrible service, I have to leave a good tip…God has always continued to tip me well even when I haven’t given Him good service.

Yes, people have done me wrong…I choose to forgive.  Not because I am so wonderfully full of grace…but because I have been continuously forgiven when I have done HIM wrong!

I must be merciful because when I stand before Him…I want mercy.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Later

Adam

Blessed (Part 4)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.  — Matthew 5:6

So far, a person has realized they are poor in spirit and have accessed the kingdom of heaven.  They have mourned their old lifestyle and have been comforted.  They have even begun to demonstrate self-control through this process of becoming meek.  Now comes what I feel is the best part that I have experienced so far in my Christian experience…you go from HAVING to do the right thing, to WANTING to do the right thing.  You actually begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness.  When you do this, God fills you.  You begin to feel His awesome presence.  I can’t tell you how this worked or will work for you, but I can tell you how it worked (and still works) for me.

Today, I can’t believe I used to crave the stuff I used to crave.  I used to crave the next rock concert that came to town.  I used to live for those moments driving down the road blasting the latest (or the oldest) AC/DC CD (or was it cassette tape?)  I thought I was the MAN!  I used to crave going home, cranking up my Marshall stack, tuning my Les Paul and pretending I was Ace Frehley in front of thousands.  Every once in a while, I would crave the next time I got to play guitar in front of 10 people at a party our band threw ourselves.  I read my guitar magazines cover to cover as soon as they came in the mail.  I hungered and thirsted for anything and everything to do with music and the lifestyle, especially the girls that came along with it.  I drank, I cussed, and I did whatever I could to fit in with the wrong people.  That was the road that I was on…my “Highway to Hell.”

Fortunately, for me, I asked Christ in my life when I was 16.  I gained access to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Unfortunately, I would do this awful “one foot in the world, one foot in the church” thing for the next several years.  I had a nagging “this is wrong” feeling that would just never EVER go away!  Until…one day it did.  It worried me.  I was scared.  I thought about how Sampson lived his own way instead of God’s way.  Then, there was that moment that Sampson “did not know that the Lord had left him.”  (Judges 16:20)  The only difference between me and Sampson was the fact that I was very aware.

There would be three major moments for me after that.  The first was a kneel down beside my bed where I told God I was sorry for ignoring Him for the past several years.  God was very clear:  “Either live for me…or live for the world.  Choose one…forsake the other.”  I told Him “I choose YOU!”  But, I didn’t really know where to start.  That was moment one.

Moment two came that same week when I got an invitation in the mail to go to a revival.  It was one of those really hard core Church of God meetings.  I felt so far away from God and was still wondering if He was “done” with me.  Then, the choir sang this chorus about a little lost lamb:  “There were ninety and nine…but He left the fold to find…one little lost lamb and here I am.”  Even typing this right now…I feel Him now like I felt Him then.  He hadn’t left me.  That was moment two.

Moment three would come several years later.  Even though I had more of God in my life, I was still really selfish.  Madonna and I were both living in a material world…and I was a material girl (well…dude anyway)   I still had my old music collection, but sprinkled in some Christian music on top of it.  I was trying to add Christ to my life instead of making Christ the center of my life.  I was seriously beginning to wonder if I had made the right choice by choosing God (Is the devil good at what he does or what?)  My old band was starting to get some pretty serious success and there was a part of me that wanted to be a part of that.  I know my wife was worried.  It couldn’t have been a good feeling watching your husband look back on a burning Sodom.  Then…the moment of moments.   We visited a mega-church in Georgia.  One of the worship leaders sang “Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!  Lord you’re worthy…of all the glory…all the honor…and all the praise!”  God must have opened a little bit of Heaven because it was majestic!  For a moment, I saw Him with my spiritual eyes!  He filled me up.  I heard him plainly “Adam, you chose me!  Do you think I will rip you off?”  I had tears rolling down my cheeks.  It was just the sweetest presence of the Holy Spirit.  No longer did I have to TRY to live right…I WANTED to!  Yes, there were still plenty of weeds in me that needed pulling…but, at that moment, I began to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Today, I don’t have to read my Bible…I crave it.  Today, I don’t have to listen to music that honors the Lord…I crave it.  I used to could go weeks or even months without talking to my Heavenly Father…not any more.  If I go more than a few days and haven’t connected with Him…I’m going for a drive, for a walk, or to a prayer closet.  I just miss Him so much.

How long has it been since you have felt that thick, sweet presence of the Holy Spirit?  Do you miss Him?  Do you hunger and thirst to do the things that bring His presence?

Who do you think is waiting on who?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Later

Adam

Blessed (part 3)

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  — Matthew 5:5

“Meek” is kind of a tough one.  I am not a Bible scholar or anything, but the Greek word that we have replaced with “meek” is “praus” (pronounced PRAH – OOSE).  Meek, in our dictionary talks about being deficient in spirit and courage.  It sounds like “wimp” to me.  There is no way Jesus is talking about being a wimp.  However, “praus” is more of a reliance on God and accepting His will in EVERY circumstance.  It is power under control.  It is power submitting itself to God.  Hopefully, I can make this make sense in the next few paragraphs.

My basketball coach used to wear a t-shirt to practice that said “the meek will inherit the Earth,” then on the back it said “but they won’t get the ball!”  Once again, this implies that “meek” is “weak.”  When Jesus was being arrested in John 18 He was in perfect control.  He was very submissive, He knew that this was the will of the Father because He had just prayed 3 times for an alternate ending.  Peter, on the other hand, went sword slinging.  He cut off a soldier’s ear with his sword.  Then, Jesus says probably my favorite line in the whole Bible and gives us a perfect picture of meekness (found in Matthew 26).  He says “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will not at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  In the Salem Standard Version it says “If I wanted to…I could lay the smack down on all these people trying to hurt me…but I‘m choosing not to!”

The reason I am writing this little series is because I believe that the beatitudes are a process that every true believer goes through.  First, you realize you are poor in spirit and gain access to the kingdom of God.  Second, you mourn your old way of life, then you are comforted.  Next, is this process in which you become meek.

I have lots of power over certain people in my life.  Being a teacher, I have 70 students that I have a great deal of power over.  However, I choose to be a servant to my students.  I want to serve them in hopes that they will choose to serve me back.  I have this same power over my two kids and my wife.  Physically, I could harm them all.  However, there is no way I am going to lord that power over them, I choose to serve them…once again, in hopes that they will want to serve me back.  Now, before you think I am perfect in meekness…believe me, I am still working on this one.  In fact, I don’t believe you can work on it.  I believe it is simply given to you the more you submit to the Lord and are filled with His Spirit.

Meek people will inherit the Earth.  In God’s coming kingdom, it will be governed by meek people who have submitted themselves to God.  This is directly opposite of the arrogance that is displayed by the leaders of today.  One day, the meek will inherit the earth, and all of creation will be glad to submit themselves to this new authority.

So, do you still get angry in a long, slow moving line where they have 20 registers but only two of them open?  Do you still want to fight when the person pulls out in front of you and goes 20 m.p.h.?  Do you still want to lash back out when someone “says something” to you?  If you do, you need to pray.  Ask God to help you get in control of your emotions.  Learn to pray in the long line.  Learn to pray for the person that just pulled out in front of you.  Once again, if you think I am able to do this every time…you are crazy!  However, there are those occasions that I purposefully decide beforehand that I will choose meekness.  Absolutely every time I have chosen meekness…

I have been blessed!  Just like Matthew 5:5 said I would be.

Later

Adam

Blessed ( Part 2)

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  — Matthew 5:4

Mourn what?  When a loved one dies, does this mean we can be comforted because they are “in a better place?”  I doubt it, because not everyone who dies goes to a better place.  In fact, Jesus says just two chapters later that “many” are on the road that leads to destruction and only a “few” are on the narrow road that leads to life.  This is an interesting beatitude.

Before anybody can understand it, they must have first experienced the first beatitude.  They must have realized that they are “poor in spirit,” for then, and only then is “theirs the kingdom of heaven.”  If you try to come to Christ any other way, you do not have access to the kingdom of heaven.  At some point in your life, you must repent of your sins and turn to Him.  If you have done that, you have access to the kingdom heaven.  You only have access, you are by no means “done.“  You have simply begun the lifelong process of purification.  The next step is to mourn, but it does not remain mournful…Jesus does comfort you.  So, how does this work?

For me, it was about 15 year process after I got saved that I truly mourned.  Think about this:  I had access to the kingdom of heaven because I really did receive Christ as a teenager.  One of my really good friends bought me a Bible with my name on it.  It took me 5 years to open it.  I was a virgin when I got saved…I wasn‘t when I got married.  I never even considered going to school (as a student or a teacher) and working “as unto the Lord,” I just trudged through my day trying to get to the part where I could do what I wanted.  I never considered giving money to God’s work.  There were a lot of Christian principles that I just ignored because I still had so much of myself in me.

Even today, I go back in my mind and think about how stupid and selfish I lived my life.  This is not as an unbeliever…but a believer who had supposedly placed his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  I mourn those wasted days.  But, here is the cool thing:  Jesus will not let me wallow in the fact that I messed it all up.  He comforts me and only encourages me to surrender my life to Him today…every day.  He reminds me of how together we have conquered so many sins.  He shows me where I am now compared to where I was.  He still reminds me that I have a long way to go, but with Him, and with Him only will I get there.

Maybe you are saved, but still wasting enormous amounts of time.  Maybe reading this has opened your eyes to the fact that you are still living a life that denies Christ even though you know He is in your heart.  Maybe it’s time to dust off the Word of God and just spend some time with Him.  Maybe it’s time to put on your favorite praise and worship music and just tap into his holiness.  Yes, you will feel very unworthy, very guilty, and very small…this still happens to me.  But, He will do for you what He does for me…

He will comfort you.

Later

Adam

Blessed

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”  — Matthew 5:3

Jesus, for the first time has a crowd gathered around Him.  He is ready to start His first year of teaching.  There might have been a buzz about some of the cool stuff He has already done, but for the most part Jesus is about to speak to a bunch of curious people.  I can‘t help but think of what I would have said.  I probably would have shown them my Clemson diploma and said “hey, I’m a certified teacher so listen to me.”  Well, I hope I wouldn’t have been that pathetic.  Anyway, Jesus says something that I think is and would have been confusing.  The first words out of His mouth are “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.  So, that begs the question…what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?  Before reading on, what do you think it means?

When I ask people this question, I usually get answers like “people that are sad,” or “people that don’t have anything.”  We take the words “poor in spirit” and take it to mean “poor financially.“  If this is the case, the kingdom of Heaven only belongs to sad people who are broke.  No way that is the case.

When I was searching for the answer, the words “in spirit” finally became the focus of my attention.  In our earthly minds, we may think that we have finances that God wants (as if He needs our share of the money that is ALL His anyway).  We may give money and think that we are really doing something for God.  We may give one hour a week on Sunday and think that we are giving God our time.  We may do the occasional “good deed” and think that we are right with God because of our own righteousness.  All of these things are spiritual things that we can do.  But, and this is a big but, if you do these things thinking that the kingdom of Heaven is yours BECAUSE of them, you are the exact opposite of “poor in spirit” you are “puffed up” in spirit, or “prideful” in spirit.  Yet, Jesus says “blessed are the POOR in spirit.”  So, once again, what does that mean?

It means that the kingdom of Heaven belongs to people who realize that they have absolutely NOTHING spiritual to offer God.  In spirit, they know that they are dead.  They realize that the only thing they really have to offer is the LIFE that God breathed into them in the first place.  Though I didn’t realize it at the time, when I received Christ as a 16 year old teenager, the reason I asked Him into my heart was because He IS life.  I was dead, but upon surrendering my life to Him, I became alive (maybe that‘s why it‘s called “born again“).  I was totally poor in spirit with nothing to offer Him.  Yet, when I realized I was poor in spirit and asked Him to come into my heart, He gave me access to the kingdom of Heaven.  Today, I do give, I do go to church, and I do attempt to do good things, but not so that I can go to Heaven.  I do these things because I was dead…

But now I live!  Christ now lives in me!

Does He live in you?

Later

Adam