Tag Archives: Word

Chew Your G.U.M.

Use-me-hands

Here’s your prayer. Its not fancy. Its not long. Its only 3 words:

  • G-od
  • U-se 
  • M-e

Chew on it. Repeat that a few times. GodUseMe, GodUseMe…

Make yourself available for whatever He may have.

Find where He is at work & see how you can join Him (Blackaby).

Can we say, like Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)?

GOD USE US!

How can we be of service to You? Help us to get ourselves out of the way. Help us to see Your will more clearly. Help us to remove things in our life that don’t resemble You. Help us to remove distractions & the sins that so easily ensnare.

For me, personally, “ensnare” may be too weak a word: Sin in my life is more like a roundhouse kick from Bruce Lee. Its more like a straightjacket from which not even Harry Houdini could escape. It lays me out and holds me hostage. That’s when Jesus really shines. He showers Grace down like Niagra Falls with the precious Blood of the Lamb. He took my sin on His shoulders on that Cross so that I wouldn’t be smothered to death by it. That’s the LORD I serve.

To cower away on a Cruise Ship (an inwardly-focused church) rather than on an Air Craft Carrier (an outwardly-focused church) sending planes off and out, would be a tragic injustice and poor stewardship of God’s blessings.

So…

Where can we be applied? Where can we operate best for your Kingdom? How can we encourage, strengthen, & minister? We are ready! We are willing! We are at Your beckon call.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, – Col. 3:2

We all have items in our house that are for “show” and not “use.” It may be special soap, fancy hand towels, or a whole room designated for “company.” Or, if you are a geek like me – there are certain (ahem!) toys, that are just to look at basically, and not “for play.” (Was that as embarrassing to read as it was for me to type?)

Anyhow, the point is – give Christ full access to your heart, life, and will. Be open to His Grace! Be open to being used by Him in a mighty way. Be open.

Save me, for I am yours. – Psa. 119:94

God use me.

Christians Are Like Tea Bags

teabag

I heard this saying attributed to either Chip Ingram or Greg Laurie:

“Christians are like TEA BAGS; you don’t know what they’re made of until you put them in hot water.”

Isn’t that about the truth!

Is the heat being turned up in your life?

This is where “the rubber meets the road,” right? Anyone can act nice when everything is going their way, but what seeps out when things aren’t? What comes out of that teabag?

  • Fruit or works (Gal 5)?
  • Fresh water or salt water,
  • Bitter or sweet (James 3:11)?
  • Or… are you like a box of chocolates?

Something you may never have thought of is the fact that teabags are useless without hot water, aren’t they? It’s actually IN the hot water that teabag finds their purpose and usefulness.

Try to remember this the next time you find yourself in proverbial hot water. Pray for me as I pray for you.

If this blessed you, please Like & Share!

Ref: https://www.facebook.com/moodyradio/posts/848812451813491

ttps://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1944-a-woman-is-like-a-tea-bag-you-never-know

How Can a Loving God Send Anyone to Hell?

Snowball

How can a loving God send anyone to Hell? Why unlimited punishment for a limited behavior? Isn’t Hell cosmic overkill? Too harsh! Not fair!

I’ve heard this objection many times and it seems reasonable… at first.

John Bunyan said, “No sin against God can be little, because it is against the great God of heaven and earth.” Jonathan Edwards said, “The greatness of a sin is determined by the greatness of the being against whom it is committed.”

Erwin Lutzer gives the following scenario:

To throw a snowball at a mailman is one thing; to throw one at a policeman is another. And if you throw a snowball at the President of the United States, you will be arrested. Using that analogy, think of the infinite crime of sinning against an infinite God. Sin is much more serious to God than it is to us.

I’ve never had the opportunity to throw a snowball at the POTUS, but I’m sure if I tried – the Secret Service would tackle me faster than you can say Barry Allen. And that’s just the President! Imagine throwing a snowball at God? Unthinkable.

God doesn’t send anyone to Hell, they send themselves.

Heaven is God giving people want He wants. Hell is God giving people what they want. C.S. Lewis said that the doors of Hell are locked from the inside.

God wants ALL PEOPLE to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23, 32). He patiently wishes that NONE perish (2 Pet. 3:9).

Does a doctor enjoy telling her patient: Hey, you have asthma; smoking is not healthy. You should stop. Does she enjoy it year after year, telling the patient the same diagnosis? You should stop. Here is the medicine. Please take it! Of course not. Is God any different? But He won’t force the medicine on us. He loves us too much for that.

Here is justice in its purest form: You reap what you sow.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. – Gal. 6:7-8

You wouldn’t let just anyone come into your home, would you? Would you let in a thief? A murderer? A rapist? No. You have a standard. So does God. Unfortunately we can never meet that standard. So He made it easy on us: we come in with His Son (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

It all comes down to how you respond to Jesus.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. – John 3:17

The real question is: Why would God send anyone to Heaven?

– If you were blessed by this please like & share!

Ref:

http://www.biblebb.com/files/bunyan/sayings.htm

https://www.monergism.com/jonathan-edwards-we-are-inclined-sin

https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/god-unfair/

Your Sins Have Been FIRED!


Let’s say someone comes up to you, removes your coat, and sends it away. Would you say you still had your coat?

No. It was removed. It was sent away. Literally, the coat is no longer here.

Jesus takes our sins away. (1 John 3:5). When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:19)!”

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to FORGIVE US OUR SINS and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 (Emphasis mine)

Just like that coat; they’re gone. Now, of course we don’t miss the coat or go shopping for new coats, right?

“No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin,” – 1 John 3:9 (AMP)

Therefore, if we repent and turn to Him, Jesus forgives our sins (something only God can do, by the way).

The Greek for “forgive” carries the word picture of discharging something so as to leave.
I note it because:

  • It is so much fun to say: aphiémi (af-ee’-ay-mee).
  • Its roots are apó, “away from” and hiēmi, “send.”
  • Properly then, aphiémi means: send away; release (discharge).
  • By forgiving our sins, Jesus removes them and discharges them.

Therefore, because of Jesus’s wonderful Love & Grace, your sins have been:
Let go; fired, dismissed, sacked, axed, laid-off, and canned. They have been given their “pink slip” and “walking papers.” Like Elvis, your sins have left the building.

  • Stop re-living them.
  • Stop obsessing about them.
  • Stop beating yourself up over them.

Brother and sister, they are not even there! (Heb. 8:12, Rom. 11:27, Mic. 7:19, Psa. 103:12)

To pretend otherwise is to act like you still have that coat on that someone removed from you and sent away.

– If this blessed you, please like & share!

God Makes His Home With You

belonging_ducks excluded

Come on now, we’ve all felt like the odd-man out. We’ve all felt like we didn’t know the secret handshake. We’ve all felt left out. But I promise you, there is a place where you belong.

There is a home for you with Jesus.

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” – John 14:23

Don’t just skim over that: the God of heaven & earth and His Son, Jesus the Christ will make their home with you. That seems pretty substantial. Give it some serious thought.

Your heart is God’s. He made it. Return it to Him. He doesn’t exclude you. He invites you. He meets you where you are and elevates you. Turn from your former life and run to the Savior. Keep His word. Be changed from the inside out.

  •  There is no need to go it alone.
  • There is no need to stay out in the cold.
  • The wolves are coming.

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted & grounded in love, – Eph. 3:17

There is a place you belong. There is a home for you with the Lord.

– If this post blessed you please like & share!

Inspired by X Ambassadors, “Home.”

We Are Torches Ablaze For God

torches

One of the most commonly shared experiences has got to be lighting candles on a birthday cake. You know how it goes: you take one candle & light it. Then you light the other candles with it until they are all lit.

That is exactly how the Holy Spirit ignites our hearts for the Gospel; individually, until we are all burning. Even the smallest candle has the potential to set a whole forest ablaze. That is how Grace grows! LIKE AN INFERNO!

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. – 1 John 1:7

A candle without the Flame is useless. It’s just wax & some string. But the candle ABLAZE becomes powerful (Psa. 18:28). Now it’s a beacon (Matt. 5:14-16). That shift is solely due to the Source: God, who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).

He kindles us (Luke 12:49).

As lanterns for the Gospel we carry the light of God’s truth through this present darkness (Eph. 6:12). A torch cannot help but burn & bear light. Neither can we (John 12:46; 8:12)!

We, the kindled, the ignited, the aflame – spread those sparks into a roaring wildfire.

William L. Watkinson said “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Yelling at the night never did any good. No, we overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

Now, don’t expect the world to like your torch (John 15:18). Don’t expect a Thank-You card & some flowers. No, light DESTROYS darkness. So for them, its self-preservation. Don’t be surprised when the world turns on you. They like it in the dark, can’t stand any light, & don’t want His light cast on their dark. They like to be covered in a blanket of shadows.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. – John 3:19

It is the appearance of light that kills darkness. Light douses dark. Darkness can’t extinguish the torch. Never! No, darkness has to flee (John 3:19).

With one word, the darkness is vanquished. That word is JESUS!

– If this blessed you, please like & share!

Inspired by: X Ambassadors, “Torches”

Like Kids Playing in the Street

icy street 2

The road in front of our house was nothing but ice, so of course Charlotte wanted to go ice skating on it. We were crossing the street & she stopped to play around. I let her do that for a little while, but then I told her to come in. Like any other kid, I had to tell her multiple times before it got through that I was actually serious. Eventually, I had to go get her. For some reason this was all a great surprise to her & she appropriately made a big fuss.

Here’s what WAS going through my head:

  • She’s going to fall on that ice & get hurt.
  • She’s little, so any car coming might not see her.
  • Its icy, so any car coming may have a hard time stopping.
  • It’s cold out here & warm in the house.
  • I have hot chocolate inside ready for her.

Here’s what was NOT going through my head:

  • I don’t want her to have fun.

Someone who has not accepted Jesus, is like that kid playing in the street. There are cars coming. There is ice everywhere. The sun is going down & it is getting dark.

Love isn’t sitting complicit as they are play. Love is warning them to get out!

Of course, we can’t physically go get people out of the street like I did with Charlotte. We lovingly tell them the truth (Eph. 4:15). We tell them how warm the house is & what a wonderful feast there is inside (Isa. 25:6). We tell them how we also used to play in the street until our Father beckoned us safely away (Luke 15:32). We pray that message pierces their hearts as it did ours (Acts 2:37). But then, it is up to them to turn away from the street & to the Father (Deut. 30:19).

You know what? I did go over there & ice skate with Lovey. Sorta. I held her hands as she scooted across the ice. I walked along beside her & held her up. She slipped a few times, but I never let her fall. I just reassured her, “I got you. I got you. Don’t worry.”

Then after a bit, I carried her inside & we had hot chocolate. God will meet you where you are & if you let Him, He will walk along beside you & hold you up. When you slip, He will never let you fall.

He has you (Isa. 49:16). He has you (Heb. 13:5). Don’t worry (Phil. 4:6).

– If this blessed you, please like & share!

Is Your Life Out of Order?

Out of Order

Ever go to a machine only to see the dreaded, “Out of Order” sign? Great. This one’s out of commission. Now I have to go look for another. There have been many times where that sign could just as easily been placed on my life.

It is so easy to get things out of order.

It is so easy to get priorities all jumbled up.

Get things out of order & your are left with DIS-ORDER.

Left alone, life will get out of order & jumbled up all by itself. It takes work, discipline, & love to keep your life in order.

  • God, Family, Ministry. • J-esus, O-thers, Y-ourself.

The true order of things must, must, MUST have God at the head (Deut. 6:5, John 13:34; 15:17). Otherwise you are as broke-down as the machine with the sign. And equally unusable by God.

  • Not until the wiring gets re-wired.
  • Not until the programming gets re-programed.
  • Not until the jumbled gets un-jumbled.
  • Until then: Move along. Nothing to see here. Out of Order.

Here’s the silver-lining: the Repairman can fix anything. He can put it in working order!

God can come in & show you how the machine is supposed to work. After all, He made it. He has the manual. He can show you which wire is frayed. He can put in new fuses. He can see… (don’t do it, Pat)… if there is… (can’t help myself)… Hecanseeifthereis a screw loose! (*pants*) Sorry, I tried.

The Repairman repairs. If you let Him.

He isn’t an intruder. He won’t Break & Enter. He requires your consent. Please give it! Show Him the mess only He can fix.

I don’t want to be busted & broke-down any more. I don’t want to be un-usable by God. Do you?

God. Family. Ministry. In that order.

Anything else is: Out of order.

Ref: https://www.gotquestions.org/family-priorities.html

And yes, that image is from Wreck-It Ralph – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck-It_Ralph

Be Good-different, Not Bad-different

knight-with-laptop-e1497285485967Doing the legwork for a series on the Holy Spirit, I started by looking up what “holy” & “Spirit” even mean in the first place. (That is just the way my brain works.) Well, I didn’t get very far before I was floored by Yahweh’s unfathomable awesomeness. In fact, I didn’t get past the word holy.

Holy (hágios) means different or otherness.

Great, now I am different and one of the “Others.” (Lost fans unite!) The core meaning of hágios is “different.” [Thus a temple in the 1st century was hágios (“holy”) because it was different from other buildings (Wm. Barclay).]

So, its OK to be different! In fact, we are supposed to be different! Peter goes as far as to say we are “a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9, KJV). [And some are more peculiar than others, can I get an Amen?]

Now, slow down. Let me add a little proviso before you go all bananas & let your freak flag fly.

We are to be good-different. You know, like: “He’s different.” “Ok… is he good-different, or bad-different?” We are not different in the sense that we literally wear shiny battle armor like a knight to work every morning (Eph. 6:10-18). That would be bad-different… and you know, super-weird.

No, we should be good-different. As in, the world says “nobody thinks you should be married before you live together anymore.” We say “Yo! Over here! Us. We do!” That’s being different in a good way. [1 COR. 7, EPH 5, 1 PETER 3, & 2 COR. 6:14-15]

Hágios implies something “set apart” and therefore “different” because it is special to the Lord. For the believer hágios means “different from the world” because of “”likeness with the Lord.”

We are different from the world (Rom. 12:2, Prov. 1:15, 1 John 2:15-17, etc.) because we are like our Lord. Which leads me to one of my all-time favorite verses:

As He is, so are we in this world! – I John 4:17

Ok, now you can go nuts. Be hágios because He is hágios (1 Peter 1:16). Be good-different for the Lord. Be peculiar.

Ref:

Hágios

God’s design for marriage

The Others

Jesus’s Ways Are Simple & Powerful


I don’t know about you, but I like simple. Give it to me as simple as possible! I shave with Occam’s razor, if you catch my drift.
Man’s ways are complicated and powerless.

Jesus’s ways are simple and powerful:

  • Know a tree by its fruit;
  • Treat folks like you’d want;
  • Love God, then your neighbor.

Plain. Simple. Brilliant.
That’s why I love the following verse:

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. – 1 John 5:12 (John 3:18, 36)

Doesn’t get more simple than that: Jesus = life.No Jesus = death.

There is no third choice. There is no riding the fence. There is no middle ground.

Either you gather or scatter. Either you are for or against (Matt. 12:30). Either you are alive or dead.
He won’t force you to love Him. It ain’t no shotgun wedding. It’s your choice. What’s it gonna be?

Which razor do you want?