Given August 12, 2006
I spoke this morning at a men’s prayer breakfast at a local church and one of the men made a comment that is worthy of repeating. I was speaking on the road of life and how there are distractions on either side trying to draw us away off the road and into sin. I mentioned that you might say there are billboards along the road with tempting ads that are designed to get our eyes off Jesus. The Bible says, ” But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” James 1:14.

The devil knows what our weaknesses are and he attacks us in those areas. The point made by the guy at the breakfast was that everyone’s billboard will be different. And that’s right; my billboard will display “ads” related to my weakness but your’s will display something to do with your waekness. And it’s not always the “big” things like lust, it could be an advertisment for NASCAR, gardening or TV. Whatever takes you away from focusing your eyes on Jesus. Now these things are not evil, (well, lust is of course), but the others I mentioned are not unless you are “drawn away” from Jesus by them.

Think about it. On your road toward Heaven, what are you seeing on the billboards? Whatever it is, you have the power to resist it, say “NO!”, and continue in the way.

Given August 3, 2006

I receive an email quote of the day from Heartlight each morning and on this day the quote made me say, “Wow, that’s right!”, a revelation of something I already knew but made more real to me by what I read.

God is all powerful. We know that and even God himself said it, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27”. God can do anything He wants yet He will not force us into anything. We, as His creation, have a free will to accept Him or to reject Him. He’ll let us go to hell if we choose to. What kind of allegiance is given to one who forces his followers to follow? Not much!

God says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20”. He knocks and stands there but we have to open the door. Then He’ll move.

God summons us to cooperation and we should be honored that He does it that way. Numerous times Jesus asked for help in performing His miracles; Fill the water pots, (John 2:7), Stretch out your hand, (Matthew 12:13), Distribute the loaves, (Luke 9:16). Had these people not participated, the miracle may not have been performed.

Jesus wants to do great and mighty things in our lives. What is He asking you to help Him with today?

Given July 22, 2006
The night after arriving home from our first cruise, I had two dreams that, I think, God was using to tell me something. See what you think.

In the first, I had a meeting with a powerful man in a black casual shirt. I understood he was the “boss” of an organization and I was moving into his area and was meeting with him to appease him so we could co-exist. He was cordial but tried to get me to join with him and said I could make a lot of money.

The second dream that night showed me coming into a long narrow room where someone else, unseen to me, had a table set up. On this table were many items like this person was displaying them for sale. I was coming in to set up my own table beside theirs but was going out of my way trying not to disturb them, interfere, or take any of their space.

On awakening, I was aware that both these dreams were about the same thing and I felt God was trying to speak to me. The message I got was that, in this world, we have to live with the devil. He is the god of this world, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:4“. We shouldn’t be trying to appease him or worrying about taking his space. We should be kicking him out of our space! “Neither give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:27“

I also am reminded that we have authority to trample on the devil, (Luke 10:19), and he is supposed to be under our feet! (Romans 16:20). It’s a different way to look at it. Yes, we’re supposed to be curteous to people we have to co-exist with but not the devil and his cohorts. Whenever Christians learn who they are in Christ, and believe it, the devil will get out of our way! He’ll flee from us, (James 4:7).

Given March 10, 2005

On this day, I was looking out my kitchen window and saw this dog walking up the road. I had seen it before…walking up the road. On occasion, I had seen this old dog about a half mile up the road. It made me wonder, “Does this dog know where it’s going or is it just wandering?” Did it think to itself, “Today I’ll walk up to Fido’s place and gnaw on a bone for awhile.”

And, what about birds? When you see them flying by, are they going somewhere specific or just flying? Sometimes I think about crazy things. And sometimes these things have a meaning.

This one makes me think about us. Are we consciously going somewhere? Do we have a plan as we walk the road of life? Or are we just wandering aimlessly along, changing directions according to what we encounter along the way? If we are a follower of Jesus, shouldn’t we be going somewhere? “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21“. God is saying to us, “This is the way I want you to go, walk this way and I’ll tell you when to turn.”

It may seem silly to think we’re wandering aimlessly like that dog but…maybe we are. If we’re not in tune with the will of God for our lives through studying the Word, praying, and yielding to the Holy Spirit, then we might be wandering. We might be on the right path sometime but off it many other times. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Ephesians 4:14.“

Think about it when you see a dog walking or a bird flying.

Given July 18, 2006

My wife and I, along with our two younger sons, went on our first cruise this week. It was a wonderful experience. We were treated like royalty, the food was great, we had many choices of activities and places to visit, and had some quality time with the boys. However, I was reminded that we were still, “in the world” and many of the activities on board were of the “wordly” variety. You know; drinking, “off color” entertainment, bad language, etc.

I realized I’m not around that stuff very much on a daily basis and I don’t like being around it. But that’s where the witnessing opportunities are. Jesus didn’t screen himself from the “other side” of His society. He got right in there with them but was without sin. He said about His disciples, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, John 17: 15-16“.

We are not “of the world” either but we live in the world and have to deal with what’s here every day. It would be great to just go live in Heaven but Jesus wants us to be protected from the evil while we’re here so we can do the work He’s called us to do. And that work can’t be done inside our comfort zone.

I also realized that I need strength to resist the temptations the world offers in order to stay strong in the Spirit and do God’s work. It’s hard living in this world but we’ve been given the tools of the Spirit to be successful. Let’s use ’em!