love | Revelations From The Road

God In The Center

July 12, 2008 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given July 11, 2008

I have been asked to speak next month at the Men’s Prayer Breakfast at another church in my town. I’ve been doing this for a few years and God always gives me something good to share with the men and, most of the time, I have something to illustrate the message. I had a couple of ideas of what I might speak on but I asked my wife what she thought. This month, God spoke through my wonderful wife and they gave me the following:

We all know God is supposed to be the center of our lives. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37“. He is supposed to be the center of our marriage, our job, our recreation, our finances, our politics, etc. My wife suggested that I look at it like a pie. God is in the center of the pie and every piece cut from that pie has God in it. Can you picture that?

Well, God showed me another part of this picture. When you get a piece of pie, which part of the pie do you take a bite of first? Most people’s first bite is the little pointed end that came from…..the center. God is saying even though He is to be the center of our everything, He should be the first as well. God told Cain sin was at his door because he brought an offering that was not his first fruits, Genesis 4:7. We should not only give God our best but give it first; make Him first. The rich young ruler was not willing to put Jesus in the center of his life, “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:22“.

Now, every time you have a piece of pie in front of you, I pray you think about that first bite and making God is first and center in your life. Be blessed!

Favor Of God

June 27, 2008 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given May 22, 2008

I teach as an adjunct at the local college and had the opportunity to add another class this summer. However, I needed to get the approval of the department head and had to see him and get his signature before he left for the weekend. I walked across campus, up the hill, to his office only to find he had already gone. I would not be able to teach the class. However, his office manager said he had spoken to her about the situation and she signed the form. I was in!

As I walked back down the steps, I was thanking God for His favor in this situation. I prayed, “Lord, what have I done to deserve your favor?” His answer came immediately, “Nothing. You can’t do anything to cause me to love you just like you can’t do anything to cause me to not love you. I love you no matter what you do. You can do things to please me or displease me but nothing will cause me to love you more or less.”

It brought tears to my eyes to be reminded that the love of God is unconditional and there’s nothing I can do to change that. His favor is with me as I seek to serve Him and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. What an awesome love! “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8” “And it is My desire to lavish My love on you simply because you are My child and I am your Father… 1 John 3:1.“

One Step Away

May 18, 2008 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given May 18, 2008

I heard something in church today, during praise and worship, that was one of those, “Wow, that’s right!” It was said, “You can go a thousand steps away from God but it’s only one step back.” You know, that’s right. The Word says, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you, Hebrews 13:5 (The Message)“. What a comforting thought.

Many times I wander away from the protective presence of my Lord but, you know, He goes right along with me. Like I do with my grandkids, I follow close behind while they are exploring new wonders but stay close enough that they can run into my arms if they get scared or need help. My heavenly Father is the same way. He stays with me no matter how far I wander and is always there to take me back, give me help, step between me and danger, or comfort me when I get a boo boo. You know what I mean?

If you’re saved, you are never alone. If you think you’ve wandered far away from God, just call out to Him. He’ll say, “Here I am son. I’m right here daughter.” Daddy loves us. He won’t let us get too far away.

All Fall Down

April 30, 2008 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given February 11, 2008

A momentous occasion happened yesterday; my grandson walked for the first time! It was great, he let go of the table and staggered to his mommy, then to big brother, the to Pawpaw, (me). We all clapped and cheered with every success. He also fell down a lot.

You know, when he fell, we didn’t berate him about it saying things like, “What’s wrong with you? Get up and walk!” or “Dumb baby, can’t you do anything right?” No, we didn’t think anything of it because babies are SUPPOSED to fall when they are first learning to walk. So, why don’t we treat our fellow Christians that way?

The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23“. New Christians are going to fall! Hey, old Christians are going to fall! We shouldn’t treat them like they should be perfect but do as Paul told the Galatians: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. Galatians 6:1“.

New Christians, just like babies, need understanding and a gentle hand wile they’re learning. Many older Christians, however, haven’t progressed much in their “walk” and need the same considerations. “Yea…good try! Now, get up and let’s try it again”.

Heap O Trouble

December 31, 2007 by Bill 1 Comment

Given December 22, 2007
Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world, you will have trouble“, and we can all agree this is true. We all have trouble of different kinds and magnitudes. I heard something the other day that made me think of troubles in a different way.

What if….a decree went out in your community to create a Heap of Troubles. This would be a voluntary thing and anyone who wanted to participate could bring their troubles to a pre-determined location and pile them up. This would go on for one week and, at the end of the week, all the troubles heaped up there would be divided into equal parts according to the number of people who had participated. These equal-sized troubles would then be re-distributed to all those involved. What do you think? Would you participate?

I can see a man with an armful of “troubles” coming up to the heap. As he begins to toss his problems onto the pile, another guy backs his pickup truck loaded with his troubles up to the pile. The first guy thinks, “Well, maybe my troubles aren’t so bad after all.” Do you get the point?

Many times, we think we have troubles and problems until we see someone else’s. Then ours don’t seem so bad. But, you know, God DOES have a program like this. He DOES want us to bring our troubles to Him and leave them there. But the good news is that they won’t get re-distributed back to us. God will take care of them all! “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7“. Now, notice that, “due time” part. Most of the time, we’ll still have to deal with the results of our bad decisions but God will be right there with us to take us through. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Psalms 23:4“.

Do you have any troubles? Toss them onto God’s heap then let Him direct your paths, Proverbs 3:5-6.