Walking His Call

I'll admit it; I'm not great at keeping it real.  My first defensive strategy, when my world seems to be falling apart, is to suck it all in, put my shields up and act like everything is good.   It is important to choose your friends wisely and truly share your life with them, because it is damaging to "go it alone" - which is what I've done so often.  For me, doing this meant two things (this is where the rubber meets the road, folks): 1) I was walking out a LIE - cause things were not good, and 2) I was walking in pride - in fine form.  Yep, pride.  What does God's Word say about pride?  Proverbs 16:18 (the verse most of us think about when we are talking about pride) "Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall."  Zowie!!!  That's harsh considering what we are talking about!  Let's break down the word PRIDE:  In the Hebrew (when the word is written in English) it is: ga'own (Strong's Concordance # 1342 ...

I have seen the above picture posted on Facebook; it's gone through my newsfeed, from one friend or another, at least a half dozen times over the last 6 months or so.  Every time I see it I cringe a bit.  The Church, in many ways, has developed for itself a BAD reputation.  Whether its protesting abortions, the Qur'an, or homosexuality.  The Church, or more specifically those in the church...Christians...those who align themselves with God (and call Jesus Savior), hurt people!  Now, before some of you start defending Believers, don't hear what I'm not saying.  I'm NOT saying every believer does this.  I do my best not to.  What I AM saying is this... The worst man-inflicted hurts I have received have come from my "fellow brothers and sisters in Christ".  This should NOT be the case, but sadly it is.  The Church should be a hospital for spiritual healing, and Believers should be the care-givers who facilitate that healing - extendin...

“Be still, and know that I am God.      I will be exalted among the nations,      I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10) I've read this verse many times - even memorized it!  I use it to calm myself when life seems to be getting out of control. But something dawned on me the other day, about this verse, that I want to put out there for you to chew on a bit. We are told a few different places to "be still" in the Lord's presence, and I always associated that with realizing the holiness of God and being in awe of Him.  Allowing the stillness to come over me in a way that entirely blocks everything else out.  The world fades in the distance as I approach the throne-room of God.  All of this is true, and should happen. But there is MORE! The verses that speak on this don't end at "be still".  Let's take a look: Zechariah 2:13 (NLT) Be silent (or still), all flesh, before the  Lord , for he has roused hi...

How do we show God that we love Him - truly love Him?  We obey Him when He speaks to us - we obey His Word. Now, before we go further...This is not a legalistic form of obedience.  Not like "obeying the law of the land", so we won't get in thrown into prison.  Our obedience should be a natural out-flow of our love for Him.  We love Him because He first loved us. In order to be obedient we have to listen to Him.  Listening requires us to know His voice.  The Word says, "My sheep hear my voice and they know me and follow (obey) me."  His kids do what He tells them to do. Obedience - to obey - is NOT an acceptable word these days.  Its almost always seen by the world today as a "four letter word".  Even in the context of insisting on obedience from our children, it is seen as a bad word.  If I had a dollar for every time I was looked at like I'd sprouted another head for using it, I'd have a tidy nest egg set aside.  We, as a peop...

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.     For you will be treated as you treat others.   The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.     And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?     How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?     Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye." (Matthew 7: 1-5) Zowie!!! Those who truly wanted Jesus were always received with open arms; accepted where they were, with the admonition (Def:  gentle or friendly reproof)  to "go and sin no more".   Their sins were freely and readily forgiven (not laid out for all to see).  The time we are told about, in scripture, of the woman brought to Jesus, who had been "caught in ...

I was reading in the book of Leviticus a couple of days ago, which takes discipline because I've never found that book to be particularly fascinating. I actually had to mentally prepared myself to read it by saying, "all of His Word is profitable for teaching...all of His Word is inspired...etc".  So I began to read...I got through chapter one and said, "Ok, God I read the first chapter.  I'll read another one tomorrow (or another day)."  But His sweet Spirit pulled me back to it (UGH!)...so I starting reading chapter two.  Now, I've read this book a few times before (hence the bad attitude about reading it again), but this time something leapt off the page at me... Leviticus 2:13 " You  shall season all your grain offerings with salt . You shall not let the  salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt ." "The salt of the covenant..."  What?  Salt is a big...

Brokenness that leads to repentance is necessary, and far better than the alternative. Matthew 21:44 (Just before this Jesus had described Himself as the Rock) "And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." You, who willingly fall on the Rock of Ages (Jesus) will be broken.  You will see your sin for what it is and what He had to do for your forgiveness.  You will break on Him - the only one who can put you back together again THE WAY HE WANTS YOU TO BE. IF YOU REFUSE TO BE BROKEN the Rock of Ages will fall on you and you will be crushed into a fine powder - quite possibly to never be reassembled. Which will you choose? Choosing brokenness and repentance is tough.  It means you have to take an honest look at your own heart.  Most of us don't want to do this  because it means we may - and quite possibly will - have to admit we've been wrong at some point.  Not too many of us want ...