Our Prayer...

I recently received an email from my mom which was just another "fw:" It was a prayer by Paul Harvey. I don't know if Paul Harvey really prayed this prayer or if it is just some stupid spam email going around, but it still has a strong message.

PAUL HARVEY'S ON-AIR PRAYER

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to
seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those
who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost
our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor
and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We
have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and
called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called
it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have
coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition We have polluted the
air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have
ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it
enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from
every sin and Set us free. Amen!"

Giving it all to God...

I recently heard a pastor ask the question along the lines of "Why is it that God' can say let there be light and there was light but when God tells us to do something, we don't do it. Why is it that God can tell the sea to be still and it is still, but when God tells us to love our neighbor we don't?" The pastor went on to give the answer to the question being simply stated "God created man with free will." But this statement or question really stuck out to me, actually it slapped me. No... it was more of a punch to the gut mixed in with a roundhouse kick to the face by Chuck Norris. I found the question to be a powerful question. GOD: the creator of all, alpha and omega, everlasting, prince of peace, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, El-Elyon - The Lord Most High, El-Shaddai - The God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of His People, and savior. God, who is all these things and more can do as He please and yet when He tells us. mere humans to do something we fail or even refuse to do it. A great Biblical example of this it Jonah. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach and tell the people to repent. Instead, Jonah decided he would run from God (don't really know where he thought he could avoid God, or maybe he was just trying to get as far away as possible from Nineveh). Jonah rebelled against the Lord and ran. How often in our own lives do we do this ourselves? God "whispers" to us in our heart to witness or minister to someone, but instead we cast judgement and then turn our backs on them. Another example from scripture comes from author of the Pentateuch and the man God gave the law to, Moses. In Numbers 20, the Israelites are complaining about not having any water and telling Moses that it would have been better if they had remained slaves in Egypt. God tells Moses to take Aaron to speak to the rock and the rock would pour water. Rather than obeying God, Moses struck the rock with the staff. Once again, we see a man of God who witnessed first hand how God dealt with Pharaoh and what happens when one disobeys God, but decided to disobey God anyways. Paul talks about his struggles with obey God saying,

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into
bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I
am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I
hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law,
confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it,
but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is
not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil
that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no
longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the
principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I
joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." (Romans 7:7-23)

This is such an amazing passage about the problem of sin and the flesh. Paul ends this passage beautifully saying

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this
death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one
hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my
flesh the law of sin. " (Romans 7:24-25)

But still (back to my original point), as Christians we follow God, but yet we struggle with obeying Him. We hold on to parts of our lives and tell God he "can't touch that" as if He is a child. It's like my life is a house, and I invite him into my house to live, but make some "rooms" or "closets" off limits. We need to give God our everything. When we refuse to let go of something in our lives, the problem dramatically increases because it turns into a rebellion against God. God sometimes tests us to see (God is omnipotent, I believe He tests us to show us and the others our true heart) if our hearts are completely devoted to Him. God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac on an alter to God. God did not want Abraham to actually kill his son, but wanted to check Abraham's heart, faith, and devotion to God. If Abraham had refused God's word to him, it would have shown that he had a heart problem and would have missed out on God's blessing:

I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and
have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make
your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the
seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their
enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)

Here is a challenge for all of you....
Next time (today) when you find something in your life (or you can pray ask God to reveal) that you need to hand over over to God, give it to Him joyfully, knowing that God's will and plan for our lives is so much greater than we can imagine if only we would let go.

Waiting for GOD...

The title of my post says "Waiting for GOD", but it really isn't waiting for GOD. Waiting for GOD gives the impression or connotation that He is late and that He needs to hurry up. In reality, GOD is giving us exactly what we need at every moment. He sustains me physically and spiritually throughout every single day, and if I am lacking in anything it is my own fault. It is very difficult or possibly impossible to fathom GOD and that He is outside of time and space, but GOD sees all of time and our life here on earth is only mist as James says it.

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are
a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14

Since GOD sees our entire life as well as all of time, He knows what we need and when we need it. GOD is good and He will give us what we need.

Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give
him a stone? "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will
he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who
ask Him! Matthew 7:9-11

We must be patient and learn to have the same will as our Father. I find myself wanting and worried for things that are of this world, not evil things, just things that are fleeting, I then have to stop and think, strike that, KNOW that God is in control and that I do not need to worry or "wait" for God impatiently because I know that He has-does-and-will take care of me. At the same time, even if things do not work out for me the way I would like, I must, I repeat, MUST obey His word. We must be as Daniel's three friends who stood up to the ruler of the known world and refused to bow down to an idol.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do
not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. "If it be so, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He
will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it
be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the
golden image that you have set up." Daniel 3:16-18

Every time I read this passage I am amazed as well as ashamed. If I was placed in the same situation as these three, would I respond the same? I would like to say "Yes", but when I feel as though I am constantly in doubt and worry, how could I have such faith under such extreme conditions?

I have found a scripture that speaks very well to the matter of worry, in fact the Bible I am looking at titles this section "The Cure For Anxiety".

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

Be Still...

I want to start off my blog by just reminding everyone how great God is. Last night I kept hearing the lyrics of a song in my head...

"Be still and know that He is God Be still and know that He is holy Be still, O
restless heart of mine Bow before the Prince of Peace Let the noise and clamour
cease Be still and know that He is God Be still and know that He is
faithful Consider all that He has done Stand in awe and be amazed And know that He
will never change Be still Be still and know that He is God Be still and know that
He is God Be still and know that He is God Be still Be speechless Be still and know
that He is God Be still and know that He is our Father Come and rest your head
upon His breast Listen to the rhythm of His unfailing heart of love Beating for his
little ones Calling each of us to come Be still Be still"

I implore you to take a moment today or sometime this week and turn off your TV, step away from the computer, put away the Ipod, and silence your phone and just spend some time with God, listening to what He has to say to you. Often we, at least I do, get in the habbit of using God as a shrink. I tell Him all my problems and pray for myslef and others, but how often do we forget or are to busy to actually listen and see what He has to say. Being still and knowing that He is God and that worthy of all our praise is an important part of our walk with the Lord.

Here is a passage to go along with what I have been saying...

Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 3Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. 4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling
places of the Most High. 5God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 6The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;He raised His voice, the earth melted. 7The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. 8Come, behold the works of the
LORD, Who has wrought desolations in the earth. 9He makes wars to cease to the
end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in
two; He burns the chariots
with fire. 10"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
11The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.