Are you a christian?

If yes, are you a part-time or full-time christian? Do you want God to be there for you part-time or full-time? Did your answers for those two questions match? Shouldn't they?

What is it that God will allow us to put in line in front of Him? Everything in the world; for a season. Man was created to have a love relationship with God. If we are not giving our entire being to the One who gave us life and then gave His life for us; we are omitting the whole reason we're here. Because of the purpose God has for each of us, He will allow us to run our lives until we run them in the ground. Or He will allow us to put everything else we "love" in front of Him. But He will continue to draw us to Himself. He does this because it is through this love relationship with Him that we are able to know the Father's will. This relationship is fostered through time in His Word (getting to know Him and His character), time in prayer (learning to hear what is on the Father's heart while sharing with Him what is on yours), quiet time with the Father (learning to hear Him speak), and time in worship, both private and corporate. God is willing to do anything to get to that point where we are in a love relationship with Him.

The Bible says in Romans 5:8
8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!

That relationship is so important to Him that He was willing to die for it! He is also willing to allow us to go through WHATEVER we have to, so that we get to that point as well. He removes whatever stands in the way of your relationship with Him, not because of some vendetta against you, but because He has a perfect love for you and has your long term benefits in mind over your current pleasure.

Below is a devo that reflects this concept:

None Before Me

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is a rather familiar phrase, easily recognizable from the Ten Commandments. Most of our children have heard it and can give you a brief synopsis of its meaning. Yet how deep does that answer go?

In Ukraine (Summer 2008) I heard two ladies giving a testimony about their lives. These are two very godly women that had a story to share. Each one had a story very different from the other; yet the message that the Holy Spirit was giving me from the two was the same. One tells how her husband had a very successful job making more than enough money and how they lived very well. She knew God, just not very well. She had been babied in her early years by her dad and then her husband took over that position. She had full faith in her husband, his job and his relationship with Christ, but little regard for her own relationship. God decided to increase His efforts to draw her near; so in one evening, she lost her husband and his job. All the things that she had faith in disappeared instantly. She now had a husband that was incapacitated; his person, his job, and his faith were removed from her all in the span of a couple of hours. The result though, was that she did (eventually) gain that personal relationship with Christ that she needed to have all along the way. The whole time I was hearing her share this, the Holy Spirit kept saying there shall be no other gods before me. Fortunately they are both serving the Lord now in full time ministry.

The second lady shared the story of her life and how it was dominated for so many years by her mother. She had spent a lifetime worshipping her mother and having the kind of relationship with her mother that should have been focused on God the Father. As she would share the little bits of her faith with her mom that she could, she was met with laughter and ridicule. This would cause her faith to shrink and her relationship with God to suffer greatly. God had plans to use this woman to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But before she could share with people her relationship with Christ and how they could have one, hers needed to grow exponentially. Unfortunately for her, because of her priorities being out of alignment, God took her mother. This was very difficult for her to swallow. Honestly, she spent more than a year being mad at God. With the drawing power of the Holy Spirit though, she did come into an incredible relationship with God. God was then able to use her to reach a lost world. She has an awesome burden for the lost and Christ-like love for children. Once again, as I heard her story unfold, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that there shall be no other gods before me.

Now, what do you have in your life that is being that “god that is before God”? Do you have a souped up muscle car that you take to car shows that sometimes fall on Sundays? Do you play softball for teams that have you away from church on Sundays? Do you have a boat that you take fishing on Sundays because you can’t get out there on Saturdays, or worse yet, Saturday is just not enough. Do you take your little princess to pageants that happen to only fall on Sunday? Dog Shows? Sports of any type (played or watched)? Do you have anything that causes you to put your relationship with God in second place? When God gives us a command, He means it! When He says no other gods before me, when He says don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together…He means it! As He continues to draw you back to Him, He will remove whatever we put in His way. He does not do this to punish us, but because he is most concerned with our character and has our long term benefit in mind.

We must learn to prioritize.; God said to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, not keep it selfishly for ourselves!

He will do anything, removing any person, place or object of affection to have a deeper, more personal relationship with the people He created. We were created to worship the King and not our things!
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All I can say is: He gave you the best He had (Jesus), can you say the same?

God didn't say: I'm going to go have a little fun, a little "Me" time, and then you guys can have the rest of what's left of my time. Why do you?

God first
everyone else second
ourselves last

Who is He?

I would like to share a poem I wrote just to give a brief overview of who God is to me. I felt like I could have continued to write into eternity but I cut it off with a few of the highlights. Enjoy my God!!! I do!

Your Name

My Almighty Creator’s name
Is a name above the rest
The name that began creation
The name through which all are blessed

To me He’s more than a name though
He’s my Father, Counselor, and Friend
He is the Alpha and the Omega
He is our beginning, who will be there in the end

He is the Vine of Whom
I, the branch do belong
He’s my cornerstone, my foundation
He is the source of my new song

He’s Jehovah-Jireh
My God who provides for me
He’s my Bright and Morning Star
The Light of my life that you see

For me, He’s Jehovah-Shammah
The One who is always near
The Peace surpassing all understanding
The Peace that replaces my fear

My Rock, my Fortress
He is my Strong Tower
My blessed Savior, He’s the source
Of my life’s resurrection power

The Resurrection and the Life
The Truth, He’s the only Way
Only begotten Son of God
The Dawn of every New Day

Sacrificed and buried, raised up
In a new body, so glorious
The Lion of the tribe of Judah
The One who reigns victorious

He is Jehovah-Rapha
Healer of whatever ails
Author and Finisher of my faith
The God who never fails

He’s the Bread of Life who
Feeds my soul, its hunger ending
When what you see becomes marred
He’s the Potter’s hands mending

He’s the Living Water
When my soul thirsts, He satisfies
When I’ve fought the good fight
He’s my Wonderful prize

He is my Jehovah-Shalom who
Quiets my storm and brings the peace
He’s my Bridegroom coming to get me
When He splits the skies in the east

I strive to know the many facets of
His character, in whole or in part
Of one thing I’m forever sure
Jesus, I love you, with all of my heart
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In this I used some of God's Hebrew names (ex. Jehovah-Shalom) because I love the different facets of God's character and these names are usually direct reflections of who He revealed Himself to be to different people down through the Bible. I also give the meaning of that name in the next line, so we can all enjoy who He is!

Today I am looking to create a new name for God based on how He reveals Himself to me. I know who He has been in my life to this point. TODAY our relationship goes to what Ed Young calls the HNL (hole nutha level) and I am looking forward to naming this day and this time as it is a spiritual marker in my life!

As I leave you for this post, know that I am singing "Come, Lord Jesus, come", so as to invite Him in. I invite Him to show who He is to me!

2 Cor 12 8-10
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Selah

delinquent

I have been rather delinquent with my next posting this week. I have spent more time reading other people's blogs than I have posting on my own. I have been reading some from a group of people that are in Uganda sharing the Gospel as well as other jobs such as medical, kids ministry, etc. This is of interest to me because I know that God will be sending me to Uganda at some point, so I am trying to become acquianted with Uganda ahead of time. One of them had a post on their blog that really struck a cord with me. I have always been a little hung up on the fact that God chooses to play to my weaknesses to show His strength. I always want to play to my "strength". Luckily the two do not even compare. His strength is infinite. Mine is very finite. But I have comfort knowing my life verse:

Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

ALL THINGS! That is a very broad statement. I would like to include an excerpt from the blog to show you what effected me.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is this. We read this in a book at orientation and it caught me then, but I re-read it and all of a sudden it really made sense to me:

"I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me." -Hudson Taylor

In other words, what He calls me to do, I want to obey and do His will. He doesn't need my gifts, my abilities, or my dreams. If he calls me to do something, He will equip me to do them. He will give me the gifts to do it. He will give me the ability to do it.

Maybe it's the fact that in the states, so many people are thinking about who they are. We are all trying to figure out our self esteem and make something of ourselves. We are all trying to "be ourselves". Have I been hanging onto self too tightly? Are we willing to lose even ourselves for the sake of Christ?"

WOW! Pretty heavy! He doesn't need my strength. I do, however, need His. He doesn't need my gifts, talents, abilities. To be quite frank, He doesn't need me. He can accomplish His will with or without me. If it is with me, then I receive the blessing that can only come from being the tool that God uses to accomplish His will. If it is without me, then I miss out on the blessing, but He still accomplishes the job through someone who then receives that blessing. WOW! So He doesn't need anything I have to offer, but I CAN accomplish anything that is His will through His strength! What an awesome God! I am humbled by my Creator!

Heavenly Father, I ask you to please continue to help me get me out of Your way! In Jesus name, Amen!

Defeat or da feet?

How are you living your life these days? Are you living a life of defeat? Are you defeated by the trials of life? Why? You can go to da feet of Jesus and live a victorious life! His death, burial, and resurrection are our victory! God will allow some bumps and bruises in your life to ultimately grow your charcter to where He sees fit. He is often compared to the potter molding clay in His hands. Now if you imagine what the clay "feels" like as it is getting molded, we could see that being painful. But I want to give you a better comparison. Let's look at one of our country's most famous landmarks, Mount Rushmore. I have seen video footage of the creation of Mount Rushmore, they used dynamite blasts, heavy duty drilling, hammers, grinders, etc. Now that is rather uncomfortable sounding, but now we all stand in awe of the new creation. What was once a broken and jagged granite rock face, is now a creation with little to equal it. Was it a bed of roses transforming a cliff into four men's faces? No. Is it a bed of roses being taken from that very rough lump of clay and being molded into a vessel that can be used by the Master? No. Is it worth it? Yes! It says in Isaiah 53:5 that by His stripes, we are healed. In our individual lives, by our own stripes we are grown. He uses His stripes to heal us and uses our own stripes to reveal us to the world as the greatest creation we can be. We have to make sure not to quit because it hurts, it's hard, it's uncomfortable, it's not what I had planned, it's not the most glorious thing I can do, it's not fun, it's not my forte or because it's where you're at your weakest.

2 Corinthians 12:9,10
9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Allow Him to show His strength through your weakness; it will make you stronger!

You see, as long as you live at da feet, you'll never have to live in defeat. He'll meet you there.....He'll teach you there.

By the way; you should know that this is the lesson God is teaching me in my life right now! He is allowing me the blessing of seeing His power through my weakness. He is growing me, molding me, making me a more usable tool for the Kingdom. I am suddenly reminded of a previous post with a little tehilah in it (see below). Here is the excerpt I am thinking of:

Bend me, shape me
anyway You want me

Mold me, make me
anyway You want me

Send me, Use me
Your blood has bought me

He must have heard the same song.......hmmmmmm......THANK YOU LORD!!!
May I always live at da feet of my King rather than in defeat! and you?

Portrait of the Father

In the book of Genesis it tells us that we were created in God's image. God has more traits than we could ever know in this life. He did however give us a way to see what some of His traits are like. A mother's love, a father's discipline, a mother's caring nature, a father's protective nature, and so on. We can see a multitude of His qualitites through His creation. I wrote a poem for my mom for Mother's Day that is reflective of that parallel between our moms and our Father. Here goes:

The Greatest Gift

The greatest gift given us by God
Is a risen Savior and an empty tomb
This Gift was sent to us
Through a virgin mother’s womb

Faith, hope, and love are more
Great gifts from above
But the greatest of these gifts
He gave us is love

What has God sent to show us
That love is above every other
He sent us unconditional love
In the form of a mother

We’re made in His image
The Creator’s reflection
We learn of His love
By a mother’s hug and affection

Her kiss, her smile
Seem to be bathed in Son Light
She grew us into men and women
Teaching us wrong from right

He’s our Rock, our Shelter
Our protection from the storm
Her lap, her love
Always feeling safe and warm

God’s love is never ending
It goes on for an eternity
But to give us a glimpse of it
He sent a mother to you and to me
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Don't forget your mothers on this Mother's Day!!

free verse

a lighter view from the dark side

only from the darkness
can we truly see the Light
resist the enemy, cling to the Lord
only He can make it right

His blood was shed
His body was torn
and through His stripes
we're forever reborn

It speaks for Itself

James 4:7-10
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Romans 12:12-16
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
13 When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them.
15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
16 Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!

2 Chronicles 7:14
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

1 Timothy 2:1-7
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle--I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying--a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

For this post I'll shut up and let the Word of God speak for itself!
Selah