What Is Life?

 

You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.  Psalm 16:11

Have you ever pondered the reason why you are here on this earth?  It’s easy to do especially if you are unhappy at home or work and feel despair because you believe that life is meaningless.  I have talked to several folks whom sadly feel this way.  Conversely, when you have a purpose, you are able to live life with joy and energy, despite trials and tribulations.

God’s Word reveals our deepest reasons for existence on this earth and the Bible is full of His promises.  There is no way we can possibly persevere and overcome our despair without knowing God’s love.  We are created to be in a relationship with our Father and He promises us that the adversities we face during our time on earth are only temporary.

Read your Bible if you are ever feeling like life has lost its meaning and take God at His word; His promises are eternal!

It's a Mistake

 

Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  Romans 8:6

One of the greatest mistakes we can possibly make is allowing ourselves to place overemphasis on one area of our lives at the expense of others.  For instance, if I was to attend every after hours social event during the work week, I would probably meet more potential clients and customers, but I would be sacrificing the short window of time that I enjoy spending with my family each and every night.  Too many people fall into this trap pursuing a successful career and many achieve it, but wonder why things are so bad at home and how everything else go off of balance in the rest of their lives.

Balance means using your time, gifts, and resources to live a life that honors God.  God will never ask us to do something and then short-change us on the time needed to do everything He has called us to do.  When you try to accomplish everything you want to get done, you are often left tired, worn-out and generally unsatisfied.

When you turn control of your life (and your busy schedule) over to the Holy Spirit, He will restore balance again in your life and give you peace, contentment, and satisfaction that you so desperately desire.

Solid

 

Those who fear the Lord are secure; He will be a refuge for their children. Proverbs 14:26

Our youngest son, Elijah, just recently passed his driver's test and now has his license.  This is another milestone for our boys as our oldest, Elliott just started his first semester of college at UTC.   Now that both boys are mobile and thankfully both have been pretty healthy in the past few years of high school, I remember those earlier years when the boys were in and out of daycare due to sickness which caused us to take time off many days from work in order to stay home with them.  Looking back, it was (and still is) pretty stressful for the both of us to miss work and balance time at home with sick children.  We are all promised difficulties during the course of our journey and the above passage from Proverbs is one to remember during those difficult times…

You see, when you strengthen your faith with the truths of God's Word every new morning, you build a solid foundation that will not easily crack under pressure.

When the troubles of life come your way, the attacks may come close to knocking you down, but a strong foundation will keep you on your feet because God's truths are eternal.

Stand firm and solid like a rock on a foundation that comes from trusting and fearing God!

Everyday I Write The Book

 

“Stop your striving and recognize that I am God!  I will be exalted over the nations!  I will be exalted over the earth!”  Psalm 46:10

God sure has a unique way of speaking to me.  As stubborn as I am, He often hits me with the same truth(s) over and over again until I finally yield.  The past month has provided a wonderful season of Spiritual growth for me and the reoccurring themes that I have been focusing on are: ‘giving up control’ and ‘yielding to God.’  Almost daily, I have either read or heard something regarding the subject matter of ‘letting go and letting God.’

The key to giving up control in our life and submitting to God requires us to be patient and wait while remaining hopeful and trusting.  These virtues certainly do not come natural for me, as I would like to have some say over matters or hang onto a false sense of belief that I am actually in control of my life.  Our strength is found in our weaknesses and our patience in waiting for Christ to do His work, which is evidence that we honestly do trust Him.

Hoping is directly tied to our future inheritance in heaven, but the benefits of hope can be experienced right now.  Instead of trying to manipulate or ‘control’ every aspect of our lives, we must learn to just live each day simply looking for or just being aware of His presence.  Your eyes will be opened to a whole new world realizing that God is the one who is in control and his plans are for our good!

Money

 

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  Matthew 5:3

We all have basic needs that need to be met in order to survive: food, water, shelter, and love.  When our needs are met, you are content and satisfied, but when your wants are unmet, we are left discontent and wanting more.

Don't get me wrong, our wants are not always negative, but sometimes they can lead us astray from what God desires for our lives.  Wants can also lead us to ruin if we become obsessed with pursuing them.

Having our needs met by God shows us His almighty power and provision that teaches us that He is indeed good and trustworthy.  We must learn to trust God and not money and learn to distinguish between our needs and our wants.

Christian author, Max Lucado, said it best: 

"Those who trust money are foolish.  They are setting themselves up to be duped and dumped into a dystopia of unhappiness.  Have you ever noticed that the word miser is just one letter short of the word misery?"

Don't Change

 

O Lord, you examine me and know.  You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives….Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. Psalm 139:1-2, 6

After binge watching pretty much every single available television series over the past few months, there is nothing "new" to watch and I must admit that I have found myself watching a reality television show with Alicia that we consider our ‘guilty pleasure.’  On this show, the men and women are in extremely good shape, with no substance, and are competing to win 'love', I mean, a ridiculous amount of money and publicity.  After watching this week’s episode, I began to feel a little negative about my personal appearance, despite the substantial amount of exercise I engage in most every day of the week.

If I am feeling this way, I can only imagine how much of the viewing audience feels after watching a show like this.  It’s easy to compare ourselves to what society considers  ‘attractive’ and at the same time, it is also very unhealthy.  God made each one of us in His own image and we are all created uniquely.

We were all paid for by a high price, Christ’s death on the cross, all because of God’s love for each one of us.  We are all designed to be in a relationship with our Father and our whole being belongs to Him.

Any pursuit we follow to look, feel, or perform better will never give us the satisfaction we seek if we do not live in communion with God.  He loves us and created each one of us in His image, so don’t compare yourself to someone else; you will always be precious to Him!

Mysterious Ways

 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My Ways..." Isaiah 55:8

Have you ever found yourself frustrated with God when you really depended on Him to provide a miracle or blessing and it didn't happen the way you wanted it to?  I would definitely have to answer "yes" to this question myself, but am also just now beginning to learn and understand God's ways are always much better than my own, and by no means are they my ways.  That, my friends, is a good thing! 

Some people do not believe that God actually works miracles at all, while others are convinced that something is wrong with their faith if God is not performing miracles on a daily basis.

You see, God works in both ordinary and supernatural ways.  God used a pretty ordinary stream to provide the prophet, Elijah, water when he needed it the most.  When the brook ran dry, there was no miracle, it just signaled Elijah to move on to the next thing that God had planned for him.  Think about Jesus' first miracle; He transformed water to wine at a wedding celebration.  Jesus also raised a man from the dead and He Himself rose from the dead after three days.  I don't know about you, but I would label all three as miracles!

It's easy to look at God's bigger works, the miracles, to see His presence. We must also look for His works in the everyday, common events in our lives too.  For He is there and is always opening and closing doors, creating new opportunities, when we are not even aware that He is there!