Wednesday Morning Devotional

Love Came Down

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. — Luke 2:11

As more and more Christmases come and go, I am amazed at the progression of what the holiday means to me. I will be celebrating my 37^th Christmas this year. When I was young, Christmas was all about the presents. My birthday was perfectly placed at June 24^th. Thus, the two dates were perfectly spaced apart so that I received pretty much all the stuff that I asked for every six months. Christmas was just another birthday, for ME, not for Christ the Lord.

As I hit my twenties, it was still mostly about the presents. My mom and dad always hooked me up with cool stuff. Between my parents and the rest of the family, I always racked up lots of stuff and lots of cash. However, I started to like going to church around this time. I liked the church being full of poinsettias that people bought in honor of loved ones that had gone on to be with the Lord. I liked hearing about God becoming a baby. I liked hearing that love came down at Christmas. The season began to take on a whole new meaning.

Looking back, I feel like I kept Jesus a baby for far too long. I mean, if He is just a baby, there is certainly no reason to think your life should change. You don’t really have to follow a baby. It is interesting that we are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. How do you fear a baby? The majority of the people that drive around our neighborhood at Christmas only see the Lord wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger…a baby. As long as I saw Him this way, I really had no motivation to live holy. I had no thought of actually changing my ways. Though I appreciated the story of Jesus, I could still live pretty much any way that I wanted. What was the little baby going to do to me? Maybe this is why Ricky Bobby only prays to “baby Jesus.”

Somewhere in my twenties, sin stopped being fun. The Bible says that there is pleasure in sin, but it only lasts for a season. I am so thankful that God allowed my season to start running out. Partying and sleeping around just started to lose its shininess. Just as Jesus began to grow up…I did too. Somehow, I started taking notice at Easter. It wasn’t about bunnies and baskets anymore, it was about the cross. I started listening to the preachers at church. I made the connection that the baby in the manger grew up to be the Savior on the cross. He came to live a sinless life, and die the brutal death of crucifixion on the cross. The only thing I couldn’t really figure out was…why?

Now that I am in my thirties, I am so thankful for my understanding of Jesus and just how awesome He Is. I understand Isaiah 53:5. “He was pierced for my transgression“…He was wounded outwardly for my outward sin. All of my foul mouthing, all of my sexual immorality, all of the sins that could be outwardly seen were covered by the outward wounds that my Lord took for me. “He was bruised for my iniquity“…iniquity is the sin that was in me when I was born. It was my inclination to cheat when I didn’t know the answer. It was my inclination to lie when it would get me out of trouble or make me look good. It was all of the sin that was inside of me that I didn’t want anybody to know about. Jesus was bruised, meaning that He bled inwardly for those types of inward sins. “By His stripes, I am healed.”

Thirty-six years of living seems like a long time…then again, it doesn’t. Twenty years of being a Christian seems like a long time…then again, it doesn’t. I do know this; because of Christ, I have peace in my heart. Caroline keeps asking me what I want for Christmas. I am going to have to come up with something to tell her. She is just like I was…all about the presents. I remember the time that I could easily rattle off about 20 things that I wanted. Now, I can honestly say that the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Then again, I want to spend time with Him 366 days next year (since it is a leap year). I want to be the best husband I can be to Tonya. I want to learn to love her more like Christ loves me. I want to be the best daddy that I can to Caroline and J’man. I want to do my job as unto the Lord and show as many students as I can what He is like and what it looks like to truly follow Him. I want to grow in the Lord for the rest of my days. I want His Hand to be with me…to keep me from evil. I want the purest heart possible. I want to look back at my 30’s when I’m in my 40’s and see that God has changed me even more into His likeness.

And to think…it wouldn’t even be possible if Love hadn’t come down at Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Adam

Embracing the Fire

Daniel 3

I have been thinking a lot lately about how lame my prayers are. Sometimes, especially when I am in front of people praying, my prayers seem to be Spirit led and Spirit-filled. They aren’t just me blabbing some repetitious prayer. When I am alone, they seem to be just lame. I realized recently that it somehow got ingrained in me to pray for “protection.” My mind wants to pray for it all the time. It is a default request. I don’t really think this is necessarily a bad thing, but the disciples in Acts chapter 4 prayed for BOLDNESS…not protection, even in the face of a severe beating that they called “flogging.”

No matter what I’m going through in life, Daniel chapter 3 always teaches me something. Reading it once more, I read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I still hate the fact that we only know them from their Babylonian names…I wish we knew them as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but that’s a different WMD. But the thing that grabbed my attention this time is that they embraced the fire. I always thought that they were scared. I pictured their hearts just beating out of their chests and this “standing” was really difficult for them to do. However, this time, I pictured them with complete confidence. Three guys that knew that God COULD protect them, but were completely okay if He did not…perfectly willing to embrace the fire.

I had to ask myself…do I have this kind of confidence? Could I really embrace FIRE? I don’t think anything used to terrify me more than being burned to death. That is until I read in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs about a dude named Thomas Hawkes that was facing being burned at the stake. His buddies were too terrified of the fire to admit they were Christians along with him. They asked him to give them a sign at some point while he was burning that he was totally “cool” and in his right mind. He told them he would clap for them if the pain was totally tolerable and he was still in his right mind. Just when everyone thought he was slumped over dead and absolutely consumed by the flames, he lifted what was left of his arms as if in honor to God, and hit them together 3 times. His friends were so filled with courage that they embraced the fire…they knew they could do it. The date was June 10^th, 1555.

What if you and I stopped praying for protection? What if we just believed that God had us in the palm of His hand and nothing would happen to us unless He willed it? What if we asked for this kind of boldness? What if we asked for this kind of fearlessness? I just typed about 3 boys that embraced fire almost three thousand years ago. I typed about a man that burned up over 400 years ago at a stake. People still talk about them today…amazing! Notice that I am not typing about any of the millions of people who simply prayed their whole lives for protection and for God to “keep them safe.” I am not even saying I am doing this yet…I’m still in the “skeerd” stages…and yes I’ll “say I’m skeerd.” But, I am realizing that I want my kids to see God with me in the fire…not God protecting me from the fire my whole life. I want the world to see Jesus standing with me in the fire and to be so amazed that they want Him too. This will not happen if I keep praying for protection, so I guess here goes…

Lord, help me to embrace the fire. I am asking for a new level of boldness. I know that no matter what, you will be with me. Help me to walk in complete and total victory for the rest of my days.

Later

Adam

Can we get Excited?

2 Kings 13:10-19

In this story there is a king that did evil in the eyes of the Lord. It also says that he continued in the sins of the previous kings. At some point this king realized that he was under attack and was going to be obliterated. So, he did what all of us do when we get in over our heads…”LORD JESUS, HELP ME!” The king went to an old and sick Elisha the prophet and sought God’s help. To what should have been his surprise, Elisha told him some good news: “God had given you the victory, you will completely destroy the Aramean army!”

You would think that after hearing news like that he would have been excited. However, Elisha asks him to take the “arrows of victory” and strike them on the ground. The king takes them and lamely strikes them 3 times. This infuriates Elisha! In today’s language he said “Dude…what is your problem? I told you that God was going to give you something YOU didn’t deserve. You should have gotten EXCITED! Now, you will only have partial victory.”

When I first read this I wanted to go off on the king for being such a moron. But, the more I think about it, I’m realizing that I’m the moron. Look at some of the things Jesus tells me:

He who has the Son has life… 1 John 5:12

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation! 2 Corinthians 5:17

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God — 2 Corinthians 5:21

There will be no more night, they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. — Revelation 22:5

The word of God flat out tells me…if you accept my Son and fall in love with Him, you will be victorious. I have the victory and I let sickness ruin my excitement? I have the victory and I let the circumstances of life determine my moods? I have the victory and KNOW that no weapon formed against me shall prosper, yet I allow those weapons to make me doubt. God has given me the victory yet I still let the devil stand against me when I have the power to place his neck under my size 13. I let life bring me down when I know there is a better day coming…one day I will be with the King…forever!

If you have asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you and come into your heart, even though you have done evil in His sight, He has given you the victory. He has given you the victory over sin, the victory over your enemies, and the victory over the grave.

Seriously, is that not worth getting excited about?

Later

Adam

My wife, Tonya, wrote this week’s WMD

The Ephraim Blessing

Sometimes you find a passage that just has to be shared. I recently finished reading Carol Kent’s book When I Lay My Isaac Down. It is powerful in so many ways, but this was one of the most outstanding revelations that I have read in a while…..

“In Genesis, Joseph is naming one of his sons: The second son he named Ephraim and said “it is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering”. In Hebrew Ephraim means “double fruit”. The Lord used the name Ephraim as a reminder that a person can be fruitful in suffering.

In Gen. 48, Joseph brings his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim to his father Jacob so he can bless them before he dies. Joseph carefully positions his sons beside Jacob so that the first born, Manasseh will be blessed above the second born son, Ephraim. But something surprising happens: Jacob crossed his arms and deliberately puts his right hand on the younger boy’s head. Why did Jacob go against tradition and bless Ephraim above Manasseh? The blessing was: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” (So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.)

Why would “fruitful in suffering” be the lead blessing and not Manasseh, which means, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my Father’s household?”

Maybe it’s because getting over a painful past is a wonderful accomplishment, but producing fruit through a painful past is a miraculous event. Being fruitful in suffering, being an Ephraim” brings glory to God–who alone can give the grace-filled capacity to face the unthinkable and be fruitful in the unimaginable.”

In this book, she tells her story of losing a dream for her son, her “Isaac”. We all have our own “Isaac’s” in our lives. For some, it is our children, for others, it is their career or ministry, and still for some, it their own personal dreams for the future. What would your response be if today God asked you to lay your Isaac down? We will all face suffering at some times in our lives. Some seem to face it a lot more than others. What is important is how you respond to your suffering. Whether that suffering takes the form of death of a loved one, divorce, loss of job, remaining single, infertility, depression, the list goes on, how will you respond?

I have often had people comment to me that they don’t know how I did it when my parents died within 18 months of each other when I was “so“ young. Honestly, I didn’t do it, God did! I had a choice….to let it define who I was and live a life of grief and feeling abandoned, or I could ask God to help me face life with my new set of circumstances and go from there. It comes down to this….are you willing to trust God to walk with you through this dark hour and teach you things you would never learned otherwise, or are you going to push through the loss of whatever it may be and question why would God allow this to happen to me and let grief rule your life? I have watched people make these choices. What I see happen is that when you choose to allow God to open your eyes and see Him in the new light of being your Comforter, your relationship with Him will never be the same. For me, I had never had need of Him as a Comforter, but in those years of grief, that is what He became to me. I had the opportunity to see Him, learn Him, love Him in a completely different way, and it has made the ultimate difference in my life. I went from viewing God as my judge to knowing Him as my Abba, my Daddy. Now, my desire is that people be able to experience that, but the catch is…..in experiencing that kind of intimate closeness, you have to lay down your “Isaac” and that is not a pleasant experience. If you choose to question God and to some extent blame Him for the bad stuff in your life, you will live a life without joy and peace.

I prayed for years that God would show me why he allowed me to go through the losses that I did. I wanted to know that He had led me through for a reason, and that is starting to be revealed to me. I have several close friends that have lost their fathers recently. During these times, I am learning how to be a comfort to them during their grief. I sat with a friend today whose Dad was buried yesterday, and she said “you know how sometimes you just don’t want to have to talk?” and I thought to myself, yep, know exactly what you mean.

“God allows us the privilege to be fruitful in suffering. As much as I have hated the process, I know that I am more in love with Jesus than before. I know He loves me more than I love my “Isaac”. Instead of giving advice to people who are in difficult circumstances, I listen. I cry more often–not just for myself but for the deep needs of others.” ~Carol Kent

Go in peace,

Tonya

Thanks

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  — 2 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So, here I am at St. Francis Women’s Hospital in Greenville, SC.  I realize tomorrow is Wednesday, and I have probably 20 WMD’s on my computer at home ready to go…but, they are at home…not here.  I can either write and say “sorry, no WMD today,” or I can write one as my wife crashes again after another dose of morphine.  I asked the Lord what He wanted me to write about.  I opened my Bible and read this verse.  It almost seems impossible to do those 3 things, I mean ALWAYS having joy?  Praying CONTINUALLY?  Giving thanks in ALL circumstances?  They are impossible until you read the last 3 words…in Christ Jesus.

Today, my wife had surgery.  I have been with her during a few surgeries now…along with a couple of babies being delivered.  Every time, I was worried to death.  In fact, I have learned that MINOR surgery is when surgery is being done on other people and their families.  MAJOR surgery is when surgery is being done on me or someone in my family.  Every time I have had a high level of freaking out and worrying.  I mean, what if I lost her?  What if she never woke up?  What would I do if I lost my best friend?  What would I do if Caroline and J’man lost their mommy?  It has happened to LOTS of people and their family, so honestly, who am I for it NOT to happen to me?  I am great at freaking out, and great at making it look to everybody else like I’m not.  Fortunately, for me, today was different.

I have been totally relaxed today.  I have been joyful, had an almost constant communication with the Lord, and given Him lots and lots of thanks…which is exactly what I want to do today.

I am so thankful for doctors and modern technology.  Tonya has been in pretty bad pain ever since my little man was born.  I have prayed to the Lord and asked Him often to heal her.  I honestly believe that today, through doctors, nurses, and modern technology, He has done just that!

I am thankful for an awesome sister-in-law.  Being an only child, I never had a brother or sister.  However, today, my sis-in-law came down, sat with me, and all we did was trade awesome stories about what the Lord has done in our lives and just how awesome He is.  The hour and a half of surgery flew by.  Instead of being filled with worry, I was filled with even more of His Spirit.

I am thankful for an awesome set of parents.  My mom and dad are doing all of our parent duties for our two wonderful kids while we are here.  Believe me…it’s not an easy job!  But, they are doing their best and adjusting their schedules and routines just to make our two kids as comfortable and in their normal routine as possible.

I guess with Thanksgiving coming up, what could I possibly be more thankful for than the Lord, Jesus Christ.  I can’t believe He saved a 16 year old teenager at Stamp Creek Landing in Salem, South Carolina.  He allowed that teenager to ignore Him, take Him for granted, never read His Word, use Him, and become self-righteous even though he had absolutely NO reason to be that way.  But, He also forgave him when he came to his senses and realized all that.  He has allowed him to grow in Him and fills him up with new righteousness and new mercy every single day.   Where in the world would I be without Him?  I don’t even want to think about it.  Whatever happens…He really does have it all in control, and for that Lord…

Thanks

Later

Adam

John 12:24 Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But, if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Luke 9:23 Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

I have been thinking a lot lately about these two verses of scripture. I remember when I first got saved. I was made aware of a place called Hell. I heard John 3:16. God made a way for me to not go to Hell through His Son, Jesus. Just believe in Him and everything is cool. So, I said a prayer, believed in Him, and thought everything was cool.

Now, 20 years later, I’m trying to figure out when I died. When I died, Jesus became number one on my list of priorities. He went above my family. He went above my finances. He went above my hobbies. I’m trying to figure out when that happened.

Looking back, I think it happened in stages. Stage one of me dying involved leaving “bar band” guitar playing. My whole high school life I wanted to be a famous rock guitarist. Even though I knew that was my dream, I knew it wasn’t God’s dream for me. I knew I could not honor Him in that atmosphere. Given all the temptations that life brings…I’d give in to them all. Though it was grudgingly, I’ll never forget giving up what I wanted to focus on college and getting my education. Dying was no fun at all, but it did begin to sprout a tree that would eventually bear fruit. New life began to spring up because I had finally allowed my seed to die.

Stage two of dying came a couple of years into my marriage. I was starting to get really good at golf. I shot a few rounds in the 60’s, and could often shoot around par. Somehow, golf started taking God’s place. I wouldn’t have told you that, but golf was always on my mind. Today, God is on my mind ALL the time. I look for opportunities in the most ridiculous ways to honor Him. Unfortunately back then, I was looking for ways to honor me…especially if it could be done on the golf course. I distinctly remember a time when I told God that I was sorry for putting a game in His rightful place. Another selfish part of me died that day. I didn’t like it at the time…but I’m sure grateful for it now. Here sits a guy that used to wait for frozen greens to thaw so I could hit a white ball…it would be very hard to convince me to do that today.

There are tons and tons of examples that have come to my mind. I guess the point is…dying is no fun. We all want to do what we want to do! Who wants to die to themselves? But, that is precisely the invitation that Jesus offers. He says “give up your life and the things you want to do, and place your life in my hands and do the things I want you to do.” Have you completely surrendered your life to Him?

If the answer is no, have you really “received” Him? Name one thing that it has cost you to follow Him. Has it cost you friends? Has it cost you a boyfriend or girlfriend? Has it cost you the “party” life? Has it cost you a vocabulary of foul words? Has it cost you the right to be “right” and forgive those you really don’t want to forgive? Has it cost you any money? Has it cost you any “things” that this life has to offer?

I don’t know. I just know that these verses were said by the same Jesus that said John 3:16. About 5 times you can find that Jesus says “believe in me.” About 20 times He says “follow me.” Which do you think is more important? I realize it all begins with believing. But, it sounds to me like it is 4 times more important to start following after you claim belief. Even though dying stinks, those seeds that die in the ground begin to grow. They begin to grow and produce something wonderful. Something that could only be produced if God Himself grew it. You start to figure it out pretty quick…

Dying to yourself is actually pretty cool!

Later

Adam

Waiting on the Big Things

For if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it — Romans 8:25

I used to be ridiculously impatient. It was really bad. When I wanted something, I wanted it right then…none of this waiting business. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of me that I have learned patience. By no means am I saying that I have arrived in the patience category, but I am saying compared to the way I used to be…I have LOTS of patience. I never decided to be more patient, it’s just that the more time I spend with the Lord, He has made me that way. I am learning to pray for the people in front of me when I’m in a long line (it’s amazing how the line speeds up when I start). I am learning to be the person holding the traffic up because I’m driving the speed limit as opposed to cursing the slow poke driving the speed limit in front of me. God is helping me develop this fruit of the Spirit.

Looking back over my life, I was extremely blessed to have God really make me think before I acted on the “big” decisions of my life. I remember REALLY wanting a big screen TV when they first came out. I just thought they were the coolest things ever. I could have bought one on credit and paid on it…but something in me just would not let me do that. I knew LOTS of people who were getting one and I hated not having one myself. Well, after about 3 years when I finally finished college, I got my job as a teacher. I still lived at home with my mom and dad. I took my entire first paycheck and went with my mom to Best Buy and bought a 50 inch Toshiba big screen TV. The best part? It was paid for and it was mine. I knew people who still were paying on the one they bought years ago…but mine was MINE! It was a very cool feeling.

I remember when all of my friends were starting to get married. I felt like I was going to be the only single dude in the world. I was dating and really liked a couple of my girlfriends over the past few years, but when it really came down to it…I knew I was not supposed to marry them. It was a constant battle…do I marry SOMEBODY so I won’t be alone, or do I wait for who I KNOW is the right one. More and more of my friends were marrying, and I had met NOBODY that I would seriously consider marrying.

When I hit 23, I remember REALLY starting to worry about this marriage thing. I actually started feeling pressure to find “the right one.” It didn’t help when EVERYBODY around me started asking me when I was getting married (by the way, if you do that to people…STOP IT!…it is not helpful in the least.) Anyway, I finally asked God what He wanted me to do. His answer? Quit looking! I sarcastically told Him that was the BEST idea I had ever heard! However, I eventually did just that. I stopped looking for a girl, and started looking for Him. It was the very best decision I had ever made. I dated God on the weekends. I went on dates with God on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and every revival I could find. I constantly took notes and filled up a couple of notebooks. I don’t know how, but somewhere in the middle of all that…He changed my heart. I no longer needed to be “hitched.” I no longer felt the pressure…I was happy with Him! Then, He allowed me to meet Tonya. It is one heck of a crazy story how we ended up together, but He brought her to me. I finally got married when I was 26. I waited on the right one and married life could not be better. I can’t help but praise Him for giving me the patience and self-discipline to not settle!

The point of all this? Wait on the big things! Wait to have sex. Wait until God brings you the person you are to marry. Wait until you actually have the money to buy things. Cut up the credit cards (unless you are actually disciplined enough to treat that money like it is actual money) Have you ever wondered why Satan has worked so hard to make this a “give it to me NOW” society? Because it makes us instinctively settle for less than God’s best. When we settle for less than His best, we live a defeated life of misery and compromise. We live in debt. We live in a horrible marriage. We live in a place where God never intended for us to be. That is Satan’s goal, and let me tell you, he is meeting his goal quite well.

Place your life in the hands of the Master who has a Master plan for your life. It will require some discipline…it will require a LOT of discipline. It will require you to do things that nobody else seems to do.

But in the end, I promise…more importantly HE promises…it will be worth it.

Later

Adam

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. — Hebrews 12:1-2

We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer? — Romans 6:2

I’m so sick

Infected with where I live

Let me live without this

Empty Bliss, selfishness, I’m so sick, I’m so sick — Flyleaf

In my life, I have seen only a handful of people get flat out sick of being obese. I have heard plenty of people talk about how they hate being obese. I have seen plenty of people do a little bit to make themselves a little bit less obese. I have seen people drop weight, but then put it all back on…then repeat the process. However, the few people that I have seen transform their bodies got absolutely SICK of being tired and overweight. How do I know? Nearly everything about them changed in the area of health. They started getting up an hour earlier to exercise. They started researching and figuring out what they needed to eat and when to eat it. Then, they did the unthinkable…they started DOING just that! Their bodies transformed, their lives transformed, and even their minds transformed. The attitude and self-confidence of a person that is in shape is different than that of an obese person (sometimes that’s good…sometimes that’s bad.) But this nobody can deny: Their hatred for obesity changed them.

Are you SICK of sin? I have been a Christian for almost 20 years and I am just now getting to the point where I HATE it! I hate how it has robbed me for years of the presence of God. I hate what it does to my family. I hate how it robs students at my school. I hate how it uses drugs, alcohol, and relationships to destroy people right before my own eyes. I hate the fact that we have to physically be sick and eventually die because Adam sinned in the garden all those years ago. Yes, I am developing a hatred for sin. How bad do you hate sin? What are you going to do about it?

I wish that teenagers would get SICK of sexual immorality. I wish they could see how being a boyfriend or girlfriend is robbing them of being a future husband or wife. I wish they could see that having a kid in high school robs that kid of having a mama and a daddy in a home (that is their own) and makes life infinitely more difficult for everyone involved. When you are infected with sexual sin from past relationships, marriage becomes extremely difficult.

I wish that teenagers would get SICK of drugs. The thing is…most of them DO get sick after they use them. Yet, they repeatedly go back. I wish they could see how it is robbing them of their education and limiting their job opportunities in just a few short years. Once they have killed their high school years just getting by, the best they can do is hope for SOMETHING to come along that they can do. Instead of them putting in the work and effort to find what THEY want to do for a living the next 30 years, they will be at the mercy of any employer that will have them and do what THEY tell them to do.

I wish that Christians would get SICK of movies that promote sin and repeatedly take the Lord’s name in vain. I wish Christians would walk out of theaters and NEVER go back to those kind of movies because they have had enough. I believe Christians could change the tune of Hollywood and they just might start producing more movies like Sherwood Baptist’s “Courageous” if we would make a stand. But, Christians aren’t sick of them, in fact, they embrace them.

Now, I realize that doing these things is not simply a decision that is to be made. They are done by the Holy Spirit growing inside of you. Your job, especially if you say you are a Christian, is to spend time with Jesus every day. When you spend time with Him consistently, what happens is that He grows inside of you and you become less and less. I remember when I started consistently reading the Word and praying. After about a year went by, Tonya and I went to see the Wedding Crashers. Although we stayed for the whole movie, we both agreed that we were done with that garbage. I will never forget the dirty feeling…I felt sin all over me. Hollywood has never again gained another dollar (or $8.50) from us for that type of movie.

I guess the point of all this is this: Every day, spend time with the Lord Jesus. Ask Him to give you the hatred for sin that He has. Clean up your house. Get the junk OUT! Clean up your own life. Tell your family and friends that enough is enough. Pray Psalm 139: 23-24 for 21 straight days (I did for 3 days and had more to deal with than I could handle). Beg Him to speed up the process of you hating sin. Tell Him how you long to be pure and holy before Him. Ask Him to let people see that you are different and ask Him to prompt them to ask you “what is different about you?” For in this, may we all give the same answer…

“God, through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the power of His Holy Spirit, changed me!”

Later

Adam

Learning to Worship

In view of Gods mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship. — Romans 12:1

God has graciously allowed me to play on our church praise team for 6 years. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned as a person, as a musician, but most of all…as a Christian. I remember when I first started I was scared to death. Those guys were just more experienced, I hadn’t played with a band in forever, and I just felt like I couldn’t hang with them.

After about a year, I had learned the tricks of the trade. I was comfortable on the platform. However, I had a problem…I wouldn’t do anything really flashy or anything that drew attention to me and what I was doing. I felt like it was wrong to do so. Somehow, I felt like I was taking glory away from God.

After about two years of that going on, God convicted me that I wasn’t giving Him my best. Not only in the area of playing the guitar, but in many other areas of my life as well. He asked me if I could play for Him, and Him only. About this time, I started learning how to worship at practice, when nobody else was even there. I would have moments during service where, even though there were hundreds of people out in the crowd, I forgot about them because my attention was on Jesus. I found that I could tap into His presence and give Him everything I had. I could offer my fingers and my heart to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him.

For the last few years, the praise and worship ride has been wonderful. It has been the best drug that has ever existed. You really can get high on the Most High. His presence is the most unbelievable feeling in the world. And to think it is simply a small taste of what we will experience in Heaven…WOW!

However, God, with the help of one of His best followers, posed a question to me. You see, while I am off getting high on the Most High before church starts on Sunday, my wife is getting our two children ready for church. She is feeding them, loading them up, bringing them in, getting them to their class, and finally coming in for the worship service. The question was: “Adam, can you experience His glory and presence in the task of being there to help your wife and kids on Sunday?” “Adam, can you offer your body as a living sacrifice in THAT task?”

In just a few weeks of trying this out, the answer is a resounding “yes!” I have taken on the role as “fill-in” guitarist for the new kid who definitely has it goin’ on. As for me, slinging my little man around by his feet and getting him dressed while watching my wife get my little chick dressed has been awesome. Perhaps best of all, I really love walking in the church doors with the two of their little hands in mine.

My little man had a habit of saying “I don’t want to” when we told him we were going to church. To hear him say it you need only to not pronounce the d in don’t and say it real redneck-like. You see, while I was off practicing music he didn’t see his dad being excited about going to church. Well, this past Sunday morning he asked his mom “where are we going?“ She said “church.“ He simply raised his fist and said “YES!!“ (which sounds more like “YETH!”) Oh yes…you can experience His glory and presence in the smallest of tasks.

As for me and my house…we will serve the Lord!

Later

Adam