At first glimpse, those two words seem pretty self-explanatory.  Know who you are, right?  Sadly, a lot of us go around thinking that we know who we are, not knowing that we have been deceived by the worlds view of us.  Some of us think that we are what we do.  We tie our identity to our occupation and nothing else.  Others think they are their hobbies.  I’ve heard several people say that they are a coach, or they are an artist.  Well, that’s great that you have those passions, but that’s not who you are.  When you look into a mirror, do you really know who you’re looking at?

For many years, I was a small business owner. It’s what I did, it’s what I focused on daily and so it became my identity.  I didn’t feel that I was anything else, I ran my business and that’s all there was to me.  I was only looking at one aspect of who I was, a really narrow slice of the whole pie.  We tend to do that naturally, it’s almost as though we cannot comprehend how complex of a creature we truly are. Perhaps it’s a natural self-defense mechanism which is built into us, after all if we truly knew ourselves we very well may scare ourselves.  What if there’s something inside of us which we do not like?

Here’s the good news, God, who knew you before you were even placed in your mothers womb, likes you.  He not only likes you, but He loves you!  He sent His son Jesus to die for you because He loves you so much. Psalm 139 says:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

God knows everything about you, everything you’ve done, you’re doing, and what you will do.  And He still loves you.  So it’s ok, it’s ok to dig deep within yourself and discover who you truly are.  You were created in His image!  You were created in the image of a perfect and loving God!

So why do we need to “Know thyself”?  For this writing let’s just look at one reason, and that’s the reason why we are here.  That alone is enough to really get your gears going, we’ve all wondered at some point or another “God, why am I here, what’s my purpose”.  Let me just answer that question for you real quick: To serve others.  There, now you know why you’re here.  You know your mission, so let’s move on to why we need to know ourselves.

We all have a purpose to play, God has given each one of us a special combination of giftings and personality traits.  There is nobody else in the world who is just like you, you are unique.  There may be many other people with your same interests, same housing, same clothing or same skills but there is only one you.  Without knowing what the calling is on your life, knowing what gifts you possess or understanding how you think you can’t fulfill your purpose.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:12

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

You are important to the body of Christ!  Without you, there is something lacking.  Without you knowing who you are, the body suffers.  Imagine having a foot, but no ankle.  It would be real hard for the rest of the body to go out into the mission fields to bring people to Jesus! Without knowing who you are you cannot fully serve others.

There’s a commercial on TV that I saw the other day which had a doctor using a jackhammer while a construction worker was picking up some pills in a store.  The announcer said “You wouldn’t want your doctor to do your job, so why try to do his?”  It’s the same way in the Kingdom of God.  You need to know what your spiritual giftings are, you need to understand them and how you as a unique person operates in those gifts.

You are, who God has made you to be.  You are not your job, you are not your hobbies, you are not your parents child, you are not the second born of six children, you are not the coach, you are not what the world says you are.  You are a wonderful creation, you are unique, you have a purpose, you have a calling on your life!

I encourage all of you to ask our Father to show you who you are, ask Him to reveal you to yourself the way that He sees you.  Ask Him to reveal your giftings, and how to use them.  Ask God to show you your specific calling and purpose and then for the heart to fulfill that purpose!

God bless!

My question for you, is what are you doing with those words? At first glimpse, this may seem like a silly question.  But I’d ask that you dwell on this question for a few minutes, and be honest with yourself.  Are you believing, and thus taking to heart, the hurtful words which are spoken over you?  Or are you discounting those words and only believing the positive uplifting words?

The Bible says in Proverbs 18:21:

The tongue has the power of life and death…

It has the power of death over your finances, your hopes, your ambitions, your dreams, your relationships, your children, your entire world.  It also has the power of life over the same things.  Sadly, last week one of my teens friends from school killed herself.  She was a victim of bullying.  While I’m not intending for this event to be the focal point of this post, it does illustrate the power of words in our life.  In this case, her belief in the negative words which were being spoken to her drove her to end her life.

What you believe, is what you become.  Proverbs 23:7 says:

For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

We become whatever we imagine, so we mus use our imagination and see ourselves as God sees us. It should not matter what our angry co-worker says about us, it should only matter what God says about us.

It’s easy for me to sit here and say that not listening to the negative words is an easy thing to do.  At least, right now it’s easy for me.  You see, I know who I am in Christ.  But there was a point in my life that I believed what others said about me and I took them to heart.  So I’ve seen both sides of this situation, and I can tell you that ignoring the negativity is far better than listening to it.  So how do we fight this?  Well, you can always do what I do.  When someone says something which is negative, I just tell myself “so and so says I’m lazy, but the Lord says I’m a marvelous masterpiece!”.  Some of the people I’ve talked with about this subject have told me they have a particular verse which they repeat to themselves.  The first couple of times you do something like this, it’s going to seem down right silly, trust me on this one.  But I can promise, the light of Gods Word, and His promises over you, will dispel the darkness of negative words spoken to you.

Romans 12:2 tells us:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The world expects you to answer negativity with negativity.  But the Word tells us not to conform to that pattern, but to renew our minds.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 the Word says

…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

So why would God tell us this?  Because He knows the power that the tongue holds, He knows the power of the spoken word.  If we control the thoughts that the words spoken over us create, then we can control their impact on us.

On our bathroom mirror, my wife and I each have little cards or signs taped to it so that we each start our day with something positive.  She has some 3″ x 5″ cards which people have written affirming words about her (great mother, incredible person, loving spirit, etc).  I have prophetic declarations typed up which have been spoken over me.  This is how we start our day, every day.  We read those words, and take in life that they provide.   We start our day off with our hearts guarded by God’s goodness and His love.

We are not the people that the world wants us to be, we are called to be heirs to the throne.  And as such, we must listen to our King, and only Him.  God created us in His image, so it is in Him that we find our identity.

God bless!

Well, today was also our churches celebration of our senior pastor being with us for 20 years.  That’s quite some haul, and we’ve been blessed to have him.  During a break in the activities, I had a chance to run home and plant four of the trees.  So far, so good.

We left for church for an evening dinner/celebration and was having a great time.  During a worship session, I strongly felt to give a word to my wife.  She was standing there, with her arms raised just worshiping her Father.  Men, let me take a little side step here and just say that there is something special about seeing the woman you love worshiping the Father with all her heart.  Ok, back to the story…  So I went over to her, and simply told her “Jesus loves you too”.  That’s all I said, nothing more, nothing less.  I delivered the word, didn’t embellish, and went back to my own worship.

I had a funny feeling that those words really meant something special to her.  On the way home, we talked briefly about it.  She told me that I had said it really loud, and that it really hit her hard.  However, I spoke in my normal voice, not elevated in the least.  When I delivered it, I got close to her ear so that I could be sure that she heard me.  It’s funny that sometime God magnifies something in order to get our attention.  I feel that’s what He had done to her tonight.

So we get home and I go to the backyard to bring the dogs in.  While I was doing that, I looked over to where I had left the two berry plants, and I didn’t see them.  I rushed to the backyard and sure enough, those plants were gone.  And by gone, I don’t mean they were missing. They were scattered all over the place, ripped and broken beyond any repair attempt.

You see, Taco our one year old German Sheppard (yes, his name is Taco.  All of our animals except one have food name: Peanut, Oreo, Pretzel and Taco) has a small problem with bushes and trees.  For some odd reason, he must find them completely delicious because he continues to pull them out of the ground and destroy them.  In an instant, I went from feeling real close to my Father to seeing red.  There went another forty dollars down the drain…

We cleaned up the mess, told Taco how naughty he was (to which I swear he smiled at me) and went outside to continue talking about what happened in church today.

My wife was telling me how good of a word that was for her.  She told me that she’s been feeling like she was all clogged up spiritually.  We both work with a lot of teens, as God has really given both of us a heart for them.  We try to help them out with things in life, and sometimes those things leave stuff behind.  What I mean is, after you hear some of the stories that these teens tell us, a part of their story is carried in your heart.  We mourn for them, we worry about them, and that worry sits within our hearts.  Eventually, your heart will become clogged up with all of that junk.

Tonight, the Holy Spirit anointed her with Draino to bust that junk out of her heart.  As we were discussing that, the Holy Spirit also ran that same Draino anointing through my own heart and removed the anger I had towards Taco and my bushes.

The Bible gives us all sorts of passages that tell us not to worry so that we do not get the build up of junk in our hearts:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. – Matthew 6:34

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Philippians 4:6

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7

God doesn’t want us to worry,  God doesn’t want us to carry that excess baggage.  God doesn’t expect us to fix people, so set yourself free from that type of thinking.  You’re not held responsible to people, you’re only responsible to God.  This doesn’t mean that we’re not to listen and care to others, but don’t take on the full weight of their problems.  Give them to God, He’s waiting for you hand it over to Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

Learn to give it all to God and your pipes won’t get clogged up.  Being anointed with Draino can be a painful process.  Do yourself a favor, and take what Jesus said to heart and take it to him, and let him give you rest.

God bless!

Today started off like any other day, it was a good morning, as far as mornings go.  I rested soundly, woke up without any pains, so all things considered it was a good morning.  We are currently doing some remodeling of our house, so we have stuff stashed all over the place to keep them safe.  One of these things, was one of my favorite pictures which I had placed in our bedroom to keep it safe from the dogs.  We have four dogs, and when they get wound up there’s simply no stopping them nor the havoc they wreak.

One of our smaller dogs jumped on to our bed with a tennis ball, which is one of her favorite toys.  I took it from her, and handed it to my wife so that she could toss the ball.  And of course, since my wife is not a MLB pitcher, the ball went straight into my favorite picture.  The glass shattered everywhere, with no chance of saving the picture.

My wife has been with me for 24 years now, I’m sure that she was waiting to hear me start screaming and seeing the anger rise within me.  However, this morning was quite different.  I simply very calmly, without saying a word, went over and started picking up the broken glass from our carpet.  Not a single word of anger did I utter as I removed the broken picture from our bedroom and took it outside to be thrown away.

A little while after that, as I went into the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day, and my wife accidentally poked me in the eye with her hair brush as I was passing her.  I bent over in pain, after all one of the last things you want in your eye is a hairbrush.  I’m sure that once again she was waiting for the verbal tirade to ensue.  But I said nothing, no angry words left my mouth.

The book of James tells us in chapter 3 verse 8:

“but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison”

So how was it that I was able to shut my mouth this morning, instead of releasing a stream of vile words?  It’s pretty simple, it wasn’t me, it was the Holy Spirit within me.  You see, the more time that you spend with someone, the more like them you become.  And since I spend a lot of time with my Father in heaven, the more like Jesus I become.  The closer I get with God, the more evident it becomes in the fruits my life produces.  In Galations 5:22-23 we see those fruits:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

So to answer the question of “how do I know God is working in my life” I’d say, what fruits are you producing?  Are you lashing out in anger, or are you holding your tongue in self-control?

God is still working His mighty work within me and I still mess things up.  But, I know that He is molding me and it’s up to me to want to be molded.  I have to surrender it to Him, and let Him change my heart.  And sometimes it’s hard to do that, let’s just be honest.  But the truth is, true happiness lies in letting Him do His work in our hearts on a daily basis.

Surrender to Him, and let the fruits of your life change your world.

Acts 14: 1-19

1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the gospel.

8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

This chapter starts off with in Iconium, where they have been preaching the gospel and a great number of Jews and Gentiles were saved.  However, a few of the more closed minded people refused to believe, and started talking poorly about the apostles and poisoning the minds of those who had not yet believed.  Paul and Barnabas dug their heels in, and continued to boldly preach the gospel.  Those closed minded Jews used second hand information, to spread lies to the people.  We see that in todays culture when we speak to people about Jesus when we hear things such as  “Oh, I heard it’s like a cult, I don’t want to be involved with stuff like that.”  They heard, from someone else who may have had a bad church experience, so their mind is set against Jesus.  It’s our job, to give them first hand information by letting them experience the true love of Jesus Christ!

The book continues to show how the city became divided, some with the apostles and some with the closed minded Jews.  Soon, a plot arose to capture the apostles and stone them.  Paul and Barnabas learned of this plot, and fled to Lystra and Derbe.

When arriving in Lystra, God healed a man through Paul, who was lame from birth.  The entire town knew this man, as he had been a beggar his entire life.  When they saw that he was healed, the crowd proclaimed that Paul and Barnabas were gods who had come to earth.  The apostles deny that they are gods, yet the people do not believe them and start bringing sacrifices to them.  We could use this section of chapter to discuss humility, but that’s not the focus on this post so let’s move on.

The closed minded Jews and their followers have now come to Lystra, and have captured Paul.  They poisoned the minds of the people in Lystra, and they stone him and drag him outside the city gates as though he was dead.

This is the point in the story where God really showed me somethings, that I’d like to share.  It’s hard to convey the feeling and passion that I have about this in the written word, but try to hear my heart here and what God is saying.

Stoned

They stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the city.  I did a little digging on what stoning is, because often times we read about stonings in the Bible and we just have this pretty little image of people throwing rocks.  Stoning is very brutal.  There were three different ways that people would be stoned:

• Tied to a stake, with their hands tied down to their sides or behind their backs
• Dropped into a pit so that only their head was exposed
• Placed into a circle of the crowd so they could not escape.

A stoning usually lasted for 10 to 20 minutes, and there were rules for stoning.  The stones thrown had to be of a size where one single stone could not kill the person.  Stoning was a very brutal, torturous way of killing someone.  Imagine having rocks the size of baseballs thrown at you for 20 minutes while you could not defend yourself.  No, really, stop reading right now and close your eyes and try to imagine it.  I used to play baseball, and I know the feeling of having a baseball hit you in the head.  It hurts, a lot, and I was wearing a helmet at the time.  Now imagine rocks, with their sharp edges hitting your head, chest, arms, neck and elsewhere.  Imagine not being able to get away from it, not being able to stop the pain, crying out for someone to save you and yet nobody comes.  Until finally, you die.

Dragged out

Ancient cities didn’t have trash trucks to come around to collect their garbage.  It was often carried outside of the city where the animals would take care of a large portion of it.  I believe, though the scriptures do not say this, that Paul was most likely dragged out of the city into one of these garbage dumps.  They had stoned him so bad they thought he was dead and so they discarded him as though he was a piece of trash.  Imagine how he must have looked: the cuts, bruises, bloody and swollen.  And not just his face, but his whole body was beaten.  After they disposed of Paul, the people returned to their city and went about their day.

The return

The disciples gathered around Paul, picked him up and while shielding him returned to Lystra for the night.  They surely found refuge in a home of one of the new believers where they could tend to his grievous wounds.  And here’s a part which really hits me in my spirit in verses 20-21:

…The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.  They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.

I looked on the map, thinking at first, “well, perhaps those two cities were far apart and Paul had time to heal up”.  But guess what, those two cities are right next to each other.  Paul was stoned one day, and the very next day he was preaching the gospel!  Let’s say that again but with more emphasis so you don’t miss it.  PAUL WAS STONED ONE DAY, AND THE VERY NEXT DAY HE WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL!

Such drive!

Such determination!

Such passion!

Such power!

And yet, today in our current culture, we as believers flee when someone tells us “no”.  We stop talking about Jesus when someone tells us they are not interested.  THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT THAT WAS IN PAUL IS IN US!  Why are we so afraid of man, so discouraged when someone tells us no?  Where did that Paul-level of confidence go?  Where did we lose that drive and passion and instead become a victim to fear?  We have the same power that Paul had! The same spirit, the Holy Spirit, a Rocky spirit which says “Get back up Rocky, you can do this”.

Remember who you are, you’re a child of God!  And with Him, all things are possible.  With Him, “no” means “tell them more”.  With Him means He is protecting us.  With Him means we don’t have to be afraid.  With Him, we shall win!

Father, I thank you for this message you have given me, I thank you for opening my eyes to my own shortcomings.  Father I pray for those who may read this message, I pray that you remind them who they are in you.  I pray that you remind them that they have the ultimate comforter, the Holy Spirit.  And Holy Spirit, I ask that you embolden your people and give them that spark which doesn’t die when someone says “no”, but instead ignites a flame of passion within them!  Teach them, and lead them Father!  In Jesus name I pray, amen.

The class was to watch the movie Appalachian Dawn, and then discuss what steps they could do in order to bring revival to our area of Texas.  And God, being as good as he is, showed me something which was really interesting.  Oh and btw, if you have never seen the movie, I would strongly recommend buying the DVD and watching it.

As a former computer programmer, God speaks to me in ways which may not register with you, but to me it makes perfect sense.  This is what He drew out for me in my mind:

So lets break down each point in the flow chart above, discuss that point, and then we’ll look at how it all ties in together.

Angry at sin

In our daily walk, we see a lot of things happening which seem to be normal to our culture.  We see couples getting divorced, and it seems ok to the world.  The Bible says in Malachi 2:16 “”I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel”.  We see homosexual couples protesting for equal rights as a heterosexual couple, and the world says “ok”.  The Bible says in Leveticus 20:13, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is an abomination, they shall surely die.”   We go to the store and witness a kid stealing a candy bar and turn our backs saying that it’s not our problem.  The Bible says in Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal”.  We see things like this all around us, yet we do and FEEL nothing.  Yet the Word of God is real clear on what our stance should be.  Before anything else happens, we have to personalize sin, we have to allow it to get us angry.  I’m not saying that we are to start disliking the person sinning, no!  We should be praying for them and loving on them, because we know that they are sinning!  Walking away from their, and our own sins doesn’t allow the righteous anger to arise.  We must be engaged with them, to help them walk through their sin and lead them Jesus for healing.

Change of heart

Once we start becoming angry at sin, our love for the sinner will increase.  We will want to them to have the same relationship we do with Jesus.  Once we’re angry, we start to become activated, and in that place of activation we start to do the work that God has set before us!  We start our part in bringing the Kingdom of God down to earth.  God starts to peel our heart like an onion, taking off one hard layer after another, until our tender inner heart is revealed.  The true heart for people that God wants us all to have becomes alive!  I like to think of this as a personal revival, where we, as individuals, become ALIVE!  It is at this point, that we no longer wonder who we are or what we are supposed to be doing.  We now understand who we are in Christ, and God starts to uncover our eyes and show us our purpose.

Family

Have you ever noticed that when you come home from work in a bad mood, pretty soon the whole household is in a bad mood?  God gave us the ability to change our environment.  We have the power to change how a group of individuals thinks and feels.  Now imagine this, God pulls your heart of your chest, rips it open and dumps all of the negative junk out, and then fills it back with His love and gives it back to you.  You now have a new heart, a new attitude, and a new zest for life.  You come home now and your household becomes full of love, full of mercy and full of grace.  It becomes full of power, and not negativity!  The change of heart which you experienced becomes infectious!  Soon your own family starts to experience the same change of heart that you did.  Imagine what your house would be like, if everyone had the same heart for Jesus as you are now experiencing!

Church

Once that new fire of personal revival is set in your heart, you some how find yourself wanting to serve with your local church.  You will start coming into unity with other like minded people within your church, and start multiplying the results of your actions.  The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” And much like with your family, you will become infectious within your church and others will start to experience their own change of heart.  Before you know it, your entire church is fired up and looking to bring the Kingdom of God down to earth!  God starts to put a mission on your church, gives them a purpose and the desire to make a difference in your community.

Community Churches

This next phase is one where a lot of churches fail, coming to a place of unity.  We still seem to have a huge problem with the division in the church, which I won’t really go into here in this posting, but it’s something we need to get past.  Catholics need to help Baptists, who need to help Methodists, who needs to help the Protestants, who needs to help the Catholics.  We need to see past our walls, see past our own pride and do what God has instructed!  If we want to see the true power of God manifest itself in our community, we need to be in a place of unity.  Unity between churches is one of the keys to the power that God has given us!  The Bible says in John 17:11 “…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

God Shows Up!

You know, sometimes I think that He simply can’t help Himself!  It’s almost like me when someone leaves a box of chocolates out on the kitchen counter.  I just can’t help myself, I have to have a piece of chocolate.  When God’s churches come together, under one banner, striving for the Kingdom, angry at the sin in their community, God simply cannot help Himself.  He shows up and shows off!  My Pastor has been preaching on Psalm 133, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.“  God wants to bless us, more than we can possibly imagine.  In addition, God hates sin!  When we come together and stand against sin God comes along side of us.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:9  “For we are co-workers in God’s service”.  Did you see that?  The “co”, it means: Together; joint; jointly; mutually.  Once we start working, and doing His will, God shows up to co-labor with us.  He does His part!

Justice Restored

Our God is a god of order, justice, and righteousness.  Whatever His hand has been on, shall be restored.  Our goal as Christians is to do our part in changing our culture and our communities.  When we work together with God this goal can be accomplished.  God’s promise in Genesis 12:1-3 still stands today, His blessings are still poured out on His people.  But He is a righteous God, and rewards those who follow His commands.  Anytime that God shows up to change something, it is changed to line up with His Word and His heart, and His justice is restored upon the land.

Thank you Father for this flowchart that you provided me, and thank you for the knowledge you have given me.  Father, I pray that those who read this stop walking in sin, and start to get angry at it instead.  We want to see your glory Father!  Come show us your glory!  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Fast forward to 2012, and here I am, a man who has had far too many ice cream sundaes.  I’ve been wanting to work on this problem of the growing belly, so I ask my youngest son Donovan to find us a workout we can do together.  My son enjoys his weight set, and seems to enjoy working out.  I told him to find something his old man could do, and he found us a low impact 8 minute ab workout.  I watched the video, and it seemed like something I should be able to do with no problem.

So we broke out the exercise mats, queued up the video, and started to follow along.  The video was broken into several different exercises, with 30 repetitions of each one.  Half way through the first exercise, my body started to complain, a lot!  We progressed through the rest of the video, and close to the half way point of each exercise, I had to quit.  It was simply too painful!  My son, who is much younger, fared better than me and was able to do most of the routine.

So why am I posting about this experience on my ministry blog?  Well, it got me thinking about how often we exercise our God muscle, our faith.  A lot of folks I have seen have what appears to be great faith when they are in church on Sunday.  But Monday through Saturday their faith stays stored away up on a shelf in the closet.  It never grows, it is never strengthened, it just sits there.  God gave us this tool to use, on a daily basis.   And if we don’t exercise it, it will never grow.  YOU will never grow!

We need to exercise our faith daily so that we may grow His kingdom, so that we can be His hands and feet here on the earth.  We need to have faith so that when we see someone hurting, we can pray for them.  If we see someone who is limping, we need our faith to be strong so that we can go to that person and pray for them, and see God heal them!  We need to exercise our faith daily in what we read, what we watch and what we listen to.  If we don’t exercise our faith, we will never be able to witness His kingdom manifest in our life.

I encourage you, pray for someone today while you’re out and about, pray with them face to face.  Pray for a stranger at the grocery store, pray with a homeless person, step out of your comfort zone and do something which will strengthen your faith.

God bless!