In Everything Give Thanks

Acknowledge Him in all your ways.

2012-01-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

Think of acknowledgment in terms of relationship.

Pro 3:5-6 says Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Imagine a relationship that you have with someone in which that person does not acknowledge you. Imagine a marriage in which the husband does not listen to his wife, does not think about her needs, does not compliment her, does not appreciate or validate her. This is not a relationship at all and most likely it won't last long as a marriage.

The thing that makes a relationship work is acknowledgment; mutual acceptance, respect. It is validation; your opinion matters to me, what you feel matters to me, what you say matters to me. If there is one thing a women detests above all else it is “The Silent Treatment.” If you want to see steam come out of a woman’s ears, shut down on her in the middle of a discussion or an argument, just clam up, turn, and walk away. This affects us men too. Imagine a coworker or a boss that while disusing an important issue at work treats you like anything you might have to say is irrelevant, that your opinion is useless and unwanted. It is easy to see how we feel when we are not acknowledged, it speaks to the total lack of relationship. It says we are not loved, not wanted, not important. We often feel rejected and useless.

Now let’s think about our relationship with God in terms of Acknowledgment. If God is in none of our thoughts we are essentially rejecting a relationship with Him. It’s not that God needs our acknowledgment to feel good about himself, but that we can not be who we are created to be without living in relationship to Him.

Does God want a relationship with us? Yes. To acknowledge someone in all we do speaks to the deepest of relationships. It is a relationship that goes deeper then, “what did you do today?” It searches to the depths of our thoughts and feelings and the intent of our heart. The greatest commandment says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. So the question before us is; does the degree of our acknowledging God correspond and correlate to a relationship of loving someone with all our heart?

Pray without ceasing

2011-10-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

If God is someone we hope to meet at some point in our future because of a prayer we said somewhere in our past we have missed the point of Him seeking a relationship with us. We have cheapened the sacrifice of Jesus and taken something of greatest worth and treated it like something of little value. If we live out each day without God in any of our thoughts can we really say that we know God, or is it more accurate to say we only know about God. And perhaps some day God will say to us, I never knew you.

His Strength is made perfect in weakness.

2011-09-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

The difference between a thriving relationship with God and a spiritually dry and lifeless religion is found in our dependence upon God. A real dependence, a burning in our soul and a longing in our spirit, a hunger and a thirst that cries out for God Himself , is born in the heart that see itself as completely destitute and incapable of doing anything for God. The only thing one so poor and wretched can do is to have faith in Him and completely fall upon Him. It is in our weakness that the Power of Christ rest on us. Yet, so often, when Christians find themselves made whole they step out to serve God as though their wholeness was their own doing. As though it was something that they did not receive. We can not serve God successfully from anyplace but one of humility and poverty. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

To serve God from our own power in our own resources is the worst deception. That is to say we are rich and have become wealthy and need nothing. And this is what we are saying when we try to go through our day without talking to God, without seeking Him and asking for His provision. This is what we say when we sit down to eat without thanking Him for what we put in our mouth as though our own strength had provided it. This is what our lives say when we don’t pray.

If we don’t pray: if we aren’t seeking and asking for God’s will in our lives, if we aren’t asking for our daily bread, if we aren’t asking for our sins to be forgiven, if we aren’t asking to be saved from and lead away from temptation, then each of those days we are living by our own power. To live one minute without depending on God is to deny the relationship that Jesus paid such a High Price to give us. Yet when we live as though we don’t need God nor have time for God, when we go through our day as though we are rich and have become wealthy and HAVE NEED OF NOTHING we deny the very relationship he wants with us.

When did complacency replace our intimate need of God?

When did familiarity replace our hunger and thirst for God?

When did worship born out of heart felt love toward God become a religious habit?

When did we start living the Christian life by our own power and through our own strength?

When did we quit being poor and needy and desperate for God himself?
When did we quit praying?

I know you Lord

2011-06-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

I know you Lord, you have spoken to my heart. From the fires of hell you have snatched my soul, from death you have brought me, from darkness my ransom paid. I lie down upon the crimson path. I am one wholly undone. The richness of your mercy and the greatness of your love consume me. Upon your feet my gratitude falls. Your love has pierced my heart through; hot and burning. My heart cries out, inflict your violence upon me until I am no more; for once my eyes beheld you they also beheld my own soul. O' these mournful tears of sorrow, how is it they are also tears of joy? O the languished thoughts of bitter deeds have brought me to your shores the unholy falls before the holy and I know the fear of the Lord. But truth and mercy speak loud and strong as angelic song affirms, loves arm is the arm of God and you wipe away every tear.

How He Loves Us..

2011-02-09T06:59:00.001-08:00

It is only when we fall in love with Jesus that we truly live. That is the place where we become His workmanship. That is the place where we find ourselves truly surrendered and yielded to Him. Seeing his love for us and in return loving Him with all our heart is the place where He becomes the author and finisher of our faith. All Christians know that they should love Jesus, but the essences of our relationship with God is to be able to say from our heart, Jesus, I love you. We are not to forget our first love and we must never let our love grow cold. We are to love others as he has loved us. We can only do this as we abide in His love.

Knowing God

2011-02-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

Knowing God is experiential. It is hands on, it’s dirty, it’s difficult, and it is often painful. Those who know God have a testimony; they can give witness or a proof. It begins by accepting Jesus Christ, by faith, as our personal Lord and Savior. That is the very first step in the journey of faith leading to eternal life. As long as we live in the Flesh our lives will be marked with the struggles of denying self, taking up our cross, and following Him. Yet, in the midst of this arduous pain filled journey, there is abundant life, there is hidden manna, there are joys unspeakable, and the blessings of promises fulfilled by a loving Heavenly father that exceeds our wildest expectations.

2011-01-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

There are moments in life where time stands still. For me they have been few but with those few I can close my eyes and watch the moments unfold all over again in perfect clarity. There was the car crash I was in with my brother when I was a kid. There was the morning I got a phone call telling me to turn on the TV, because we were being bombed (world trade center). There were the days that my children were born. And recently there was the day I was playing with my daughter and she became unresponsive. We were twirling on the floor, dancing, me on my knees holding her hands and her squealing with laughter. She fell and I thought I had hurt her wrist because she began to whimper. I laid down next to her and rolled her over on my chest, trying to comfort her. My wife asked me if she was ok and I said sure. Almost as soon as the words left my mouth she peed on me. At first I was mad, “Girl, you must of lost your mind.” But as I rolled her over she was not conscience, her lips where blue. This is when eternity began. My wife jumped to action kneeling beside her and rubbing her chest, blowing in her face, all the while telling me to, call 911, call 911. I stood motionless not believing what my eyes were seeing. How long did it take my brain to comprehend? Then of course I couldn’t find a phone anywhere. Long story short, she came to but we still don’t know what caused her to black out.

Life is uncertain and in a moment it can change so drastically. In keeping with my “giving thanks in all things” I just want to praise God for my daughter, her laughter, her smile. I have been reminded she is a gift and I will cherish that gift each and every day.

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

So here we are in the very beginnings of 2011. My new year resolution this year is to be a better blogger. We will see how it goes. I have a lot to be thankful for as this new year begins. I have been remodeling a house and the kitchen and living room are now useable. There's much left to do but these two rooms are a major accomplishment. By the grace of God, if He wills, I shall continue. I finished my bachelors degree in December so this means more time. I am so glad to be done with school but i am already catching myself thinking about a masters degree. Going to school takes away time from the family and now that baby number three is on the way, I think I might hold off for a while.
I can't say that 2010 was without difficulty but I can say that it was filled with God's rich blessings. I love my family, my home, my job, and I find myself in good health. Not that happiness are inherent in these things but God has taught me to be content, and in His will I find happiness. Life for me has become a process of surrendering to God's will. At first, in those early days of faith, I feared I would have to give up so much, but now I see the more I give up the more blessed I am. I never dreamed that my life could have ever of been all that it now is. God truly exceeds all our expectations and desires when we give up our plans to follow His. In the words of Jim Elliot, He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain that which he can not lose. But it is only by faith one can come to see this, it is only by faith that I find myself here now. It is not that I ever gave anything up, but in my ignorance was trying to hold on to the ashes of a dying world as if they had some value. But now my eye's have seen that there is a life coming that is not worthy to be compared to the toils we now face.
So, if the Lord wills it, 2011 is another year to be faithful, another year to trust and obey, another years to surrender to God and see where it leads. So far He has exceeded all my expectations.

Weekly Devotional

2010-08-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

I pray we all realize that we are indeed blessed to serve our Lord and God. The verse above is one I have pined to my computer monitor. For the last month or two I have been meditating on this verse every morning and asking that God would use me to stir others up to love and good works. The KJV says to “provoke unto love and to good works” and the NIV says to “spur one another on toward Love and good deeds.” The more I pray about it the more I see the need for a church wide effort in which we daily consider each other.
My Prayer today is that God, through the power of His Spirit as we are obedient to His Word, will use us “as we consider how to stir each other up” to get each other excited about our mighty God and the Love he has for us and in turn the love we have for each other.
Will we be faithful to our faithful God and consider one another. Today, let us pray that we will be used by God to make an eternal difference. When we are obedient to His Word we will truly experience the love and fellowship of Christ. In this we will truly experience what He intends His church to be. Therefore, let us consider one another.

Luke 11:28 "...Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

2010-07-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

The past couple of months I have been feeling rather old. A few weeks ago while lifting something (an air conditioner) that was too big for me to lift by myself I hurt my shoulder. I thought I had torn my rotator cuff but it must have just been a sprain because after a couple of weeks the pain went away. But doing those couple of weeks I couldn’t use my arm for anything. I couldn’t even sleep on that side. A week after my shoulder was feeling back to normal I decided to go for a run. Not to far maybe about 5k or so. The next day the arch in my foot was killing me. I have been hobbling around for five days now. I keep telling myself, “If it doesn’t feel better tomorrow I will go to a doctor.”

Anyhow, all this reminded me of my blog; which I haven’t posted something on every day like I thought I would. Too Busy! But the gist of it was based on the verse that says, “In all circumstances give thanks.” Well, here it is. I was reading the Bible today and read these words in Hebrews 12:2-3 which say, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Now this puts things into perspective for me because when I consider Jesus, beaten and bruised, barely living, carrying that cross down the street, I am reminded of his love for me. For the joy set before Him He endured great pain and suffering. What was this Joy? Me and every other person who would see Him and His love for us and surrender our lives to Him. What is my pain but a temporary suffering of physical affliction. It reminds me that my destiny isn’t the grave but a new life. So with each throbbing step I am reminded that Jesus also took pain filled steps. He didn’t complain. He didn’t have a pity party and start feeling down about His life. He endured. His endurance has changed my life forever. I am thankful I am able to consider His life and the future that is waiting for me. And now with each pain filled step I will give thanks.

In the moonlight

2010-04-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Memories are strange things. Sometimes they are triggered by a song or something else that is connected to them but sometimes they manifest themselves at random. Tonight I saw the moon shining out from behind the clouds. It was full and brilliant illuminating the whole sky. This one bright beacon of light poured out over the clouds making them glow with a soft rich light and in that moment I remembered a sweater that my Grandmother used to wear. It had a bunch of sheep with one black one in the middle. This made me think about my Grandmother, Viola, and I was filled with a serene euphoria that she is in heaven and one day I will see her again. This moment was but fleeting and as way leads on to way my mind wondered to the other side; souls tormented for eternity, shut off in utter darkness. For them there is no hope, no light and no looking forward to being reunited with those they loved in this life. I was reminded I have a message and a job. It was in this moment as the silver clouds rolled over the moon I heard the still small voice of my Lord saying, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:3)

NoiseTrade Widget

2010-04-22T13:38:00.001-07:00

What I realy enjoy about Life!

2010-04-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

I was walking to work yesterday and there was a light breeze, it was warm and pleasant. It was like the breath of God breathing life and vitality into my tired soul. I passed by a house where my neighbor was cutting his grass and the air was thick with it's pungent odor. I remembered being a child and lying on my back in the grass watching clouds parade by, taking one shape then transforming into another. In a second, in the moment of a single breath, a thousand memories flooded my mind; playing with my children the way my Dad had played with me, the way my wife loves me, her smile, her touch, the laughter of my children and how all of life came together in this single moment and I was thankful for the life that I have been given. All the days leading up to this one moment; they were all worth it, every minute, every second.

This is what I mean when I say I love the smell of fresh cut grass.