His Eye

Before heading off to TEXAS for the Thanksgiving Holidays, I ran across Psalms 32.8 and I gotta tell ya: It carried me through mentally and spiritually.

It reads in the NKJV:
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye."

What stuck out to me the most was that God will guide us WITH HIS EYES.

Ever been directed by someone's eyes? They look at you and then they "point" to where they want you to go or where they want you to look without saying a word. Just their eyes move and you know to follow them?

We should be so close to God that we can see where His eyes wants us to go.
It's a gentle nudge. An ebbing, a flowing. Nothing harsh or course about it.

My prayer: Instruct me. Teach me in the way I should go. Guide me with your eye.

Splash Around!

Reading this month's Esquire Magazine there was a short article about the differences between boys and girls. It used the example of taking a bath. When a girl finishes taking a bath, there's no mess, no water, not a drip outside the tub. After a few minutes, a boy will have water dripping from the ceiling, the mat and curtains are soaked. The floor has huge puddles. Then, the article said this, "splash around!"

While driving, my mind wandered. "Splash Around!" Make a mess. Get dirty. Go wild. Don't live life so neat. Make a dent, an impact in your life and those around you.

And then my mind drifted to God. He doesn't operate cleanly. He doesn't operate within boundaries. He loves getting His hands dirty. He loves pushing up His sleeves and getting dirty. He loves a challenge. He loves a mess.

Are you living your life to "safe"? Do you not share your faith because of the fear of rejection? Do you make an impact in people's lives or are they unaffected by knowing you? When an opportunity to make a change presents itself, no matter how challenging it is, do you get excited or do you coward away?

I say "Splash Around!" I say get dirty. Get messy. Jump in head first. Don't allow fear to hold you back. Hostage. Free yourself. Be determined to spread your faith, who you believe in and why to the most people possible.

Matthew 28.20, the Message version reads : Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.

This verse doesn't hold back. This verse splashes around. It says to go out and make an impact on everyone. Mark them! Everyone!
So I say to you: Don't get out of the bathtub without making a big splash.

Do We Over Dress For God?

In the third chapter of Genesis, we read the fall of man-- the entrance of sin into the world through disobedience. What's interesting is that Adam and Eve's solution to their problem was to cover it up with clothing. They sowed some fig leaves together to hide their nakedness. When God came a-knockin', he was taken back by their new threads. Before, nothing stood in the way of God and Adam. They talked intimately. God saw Adam. All of Adam. And now, Adam was standing before God with some man made clothing.

Question is: Do we over dress for God? Do we stand naked, figuratively speaking, in front of God? Or do we have certain things that we hide from Him?

God doesn't want man made obstacles to stand between us. He wants us to come to Him vulnerable, raw, trusting that God will protect us and care for us. But when we keep issues, hurts, problems to ourselves-- we are not showing Him that we trust Him.

By all means, dress up for the world. But for God... be "naked" in front of Him. Be real. Be open. Be truthful. He won't disappoint.

Jesus The Know-It-All

Was listening to a podcast, and the preacher asked: "What are the characteristics of Jesus?" He then quickly answered saying "Everyone will say Good, Loving, Merciful, Forgiving but they forget to say Friend of the Sinner." But by the time he had said the last line I had already thought of one that I don't think makes anyone's list: Jesus The Know-It-All. You know the sarcastic, smart aleck dude that has a quick response to everything. That's Jesus.
Incident after incident, Jesus would totally crush those who were against him with a few words. When the teachers of the law were accusing Jesus of working for the Devil, he told them that a house divided can stand. It shut them up. When people started talking about His disciples picking grain on the Day of Rest, Jesus didn't hesitate to tell them about David eating food. Again, Jesus being the quick witted dude that he is shutting everyone up. Time after time, Jesus kept those that were against him looking dumb.
However, Jesus was fair. If someone had a quick witted response to something HE had said, he would acknowledge it. When a Greek woman came to Jesus asking Him to help her demon possessed daughter, Jesus said that He was on earth to help the Jewish children first and he wasn't going to take food away from them. The woman then responded that even dogs get scraps from the children's table. Because of her quick witted response, Jesus helped her daughter. When a soldier asked Jesus to heal his son, Jesus was so pleased with the soldiers statement on obedience and authority that the son was healed immediately.
I know it may seem weird to call Jesus a smart aleck... and it probably won't help you get of of talking back to mom and dad... But imagining Jesus shutting up those that were trying to make him look bad with just a few mere words-- makes me proud to say the guy is my Savior. Check it out. Re-read the first four books on the New Testament.

I Am Jospeh (part 1)

The reason I am intrigued with Joseph is becuase he grew up in a household with a strong generational curse that was overflowing with lies, jealousy, favoritisim and adultery-- to name a few. Joseph grew up with one dad, four sets of mothers, four sets of siblings. That in it of itself is cause for deep anguish. Add to the fact that his brothers hate dhim so much that they beat him to the point of death and sold him into slavery. From Abraham to Joseph, I believe each generation had a chance to stop it but Joseph was the only one who said enough was enough. So I want to go through each generation and what they did and how the generational curse multiplied and carried over to the next generation hardache and pain.

So let's go through this slowly together. First up, Abraham...
ABRAHAM: When God told Abram to leave his father, family and his country and go to a place that God would show him-- Abram disobeyed because we find out he decided to bring his nephew Lot with him. Disobeying God brought hardship on Abram when it came to sharing the land. Having Lot around gave Abram extra problems. Lot also chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah, and when God decided to destroy the cities because of their sin, Abraham had to intercede in behave of Lot. When Abraham and Sarah were crossing over into foreign lands, Abraham told Sarah to lie about thier relationship becuase Abraham feared death. He told Sarah to say they were brothers and sisters. This may seem like a small lie, but by following this family lineage, you will see that the lies get bigger and "badder" and I believe it started here. The ruler of the forgien land thought Sarah was attractive and treated Abram well. But God brought a curse on the ruler. He found out the truth about Sarah and Abram and sent them away. Fear make sus do crazy things. Wrong things. We have to take hold of fear. Take hold of our thoughts and make them obedient to Jesus Christ.
So far, we already see the seeds of disobedience and deception. However, I think it's important to note that in the book of Hebrews God still called Abraham His friend. So no matter what we do, there is still forgiveness for our sins and redemption. Thank God.

Cry Out To God

Isaiah 38.1-3 [MSG]: 1 At that time, Hezekiah got sick. He was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and said, "God says, 'Prepare your affairs and your family. This is it: You're going to die. You're not going to get well.'"

2-3Hezekiah turned away from Isaiah and, facing the wall, prayed to God: "God, please, I beg you: Remember how I've lived my life. I've lived faithfully in your presence, lived out of a heart that was totally yours. You've seen how I've lived, the good that I have done." And Hezekiah wept as he prayed—painful tears.

What I find encouraging in this pasage of scripture is that A PREACHER, A PROPHET, A MAN OF GOD went to the king and told him he was goign to die. And the king chose to turn away from that report, face THE WALL and cry out to GOD! No matter who tells you what, God has the final say so. Those painful tears, that bitter weeping moved God and God told Isaiah "Tell Hezekiah he will live."

Your tears are powerful. God is not immune to your tears. He is not blind to your hurt. He does not consider your emotions irrelevant. On the contrary, it says in Psalms 56.8 and that He keeps our tears in bottles. He has a room full of jars, vases and bottels--a collection of our tears. He knows when we dorpped them and why.

Go ahead, cry out to God! Turn to Him when the world gives you a bad report. when the situation gets to much for you. When you are filled with dispair, anger, bitterness, hurt, pain... CRY OUT TO GOD... He willlisten and move on your behalf.

More over, He will do the impossible for you. For Hezekiah, God moved the shadow of the sun dial (the time keeper) back 10 degrees or steps. The Impossible! Hezekiahs prayer and painful cry resulted in the impossible being done. Come on now, that is pwerful.

Bone/Deep [a]

In Psalms 139, David writes "You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body" [MSG]. There is a paradox here: God knows us, but we must reveal ourselves to Him to have a meaningful relationship with Him.

We think we can keep things, emotions, issues away from God. And although He knows EVERYTHING about you, when you become real and vulnearable before Him and reveal these things to Him, that's when God rushes in says, "Now we can start having a bone/deep realtionship."

Today, choose one thing that you have not been completely honest with God and through praying (talking with God) reveal your opinions on the situation, your emotions and what you would liek to happen.