Hold Your Head High

 

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 42:5

Depression is one of the most common emotional ailments today.  In fact, there are more medications on the market to treat depression than almost any other disease.  There are times where I tend to feel a little ‘down and out’ about my current set of circumstances and it's easy to feel like God is distant and begin to lose hope...these past several months in particularly. 

One antidote for feeling 'down' is to meditate on all of God's wonderful  blessings and never-ending goodness that is recorded throughout the Bible.

It gives me hope to read about His promises and reminds me that God is who He says He is. Scripture also gives me proper perspective and helps me to focus my thoughts on God's ability to help me rather than on my inability to help myself.  That, my friends, is a good thing!!

Gotta Serve Somebody

 

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink ; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'  "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink ?  'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Matthew 25:34-40

God has really been working on the true motives of my heart lately.  What is my purpose here on this earth?  A lot of my energy revolves around family and friends; quite a bit is also focused on my career. And then there is the focus on 'me.'  I would like to change the world, but is it just another selfish want of mine to better my surroundings and ensure my own personal gain?

You see, the only goal of lasting value and fulfillment is actually serving Christ.  As followers of Christ, we should all aim to model our lives after Jesus and Him alone.  Christ, the King of all Kings, did not come to this earth to be served, but to serve.

When you look at what some believers have accomplished with God’s help, it’s truly remarkable.  The Bible is filled with stories of everyday people doing extraordinary things with God’s supernatural intervention.  We all like to make excuses for not tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit more often.  We may feel like we don’t have enough experience or we have the wrong set of skills for the task at hand, but we must remember that God will provide us with the right words to say, the ability, and the circumstances so that we can achieve all He wants done.

We must live our lives every day in such a way that we yield to God’s will and allow Him to provide us with what we need for today and today alone.

May Your Glass Be Filled

 

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me.  He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners.  Isaiah 61:1

As is often normal for me, I always seem to feel energized after participating in worship at church.  I truly love my church family here in Knoxville at Cokesbury and enjoy the fellowship; the message is always timely and our praise and worship band brings it during each and every service. 

With that said, a few days into this week and back into the grind, and this weekend's message is a distant and fading memory in my mind and life has returned back to its normal and breakneck speed.  In an effort to continue focusing on our Savior’s resurrection and what it means to all believers, I began pondering why God chose to come in the form of His Son in human flesh to this earth… 

I am convinced that in addition to showing us His love for us, it was also God's divine way of proving that He is truly concerned about our human needs.  Jesus walked and lived among us, God in flesh form, and experienced the same temptations, struggles, and triumphs we did.  He never once sinned, but during His time on this earth, came to a much greater understanding of the human condition.

No other 'god' offers the same love, understanding, and sacrifice that our loving Father freely gives to each one of us through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God!

Enjoy The Silence

 

When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.  Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.  Matthew 6:6

Moments of peace and quiet are a rarity for me these days, especially with two wild boys and our three pets around the house.  If it's not loud toys, video games, singing or playing, there is almost always some kind of joyful noise radiating inside the walls of our home.  While a blessing, finding quiet moments to pray certainly requires a commitment of waking up extra early each and every morning for me..

Jesus often retreated to pray in solitude after speaking to large crowds, teaching His disciples, or performing miracles.  He knew the value of spending those quiet moments in conversation with His Father.

Regardless of how hectic and busy our lives are, we must always save some time to be still and quiet so that we may hear God's voice.  Even if it's a few quick seconds a day in the car or even in the bathroom, find the time to enjoy His presence every day...He promises to hear you and will reward you!

Old Neighborhood

 

Love your neighbor as yourself.  Matthew 22:39

Along my journey, I have been blessed with some wonderful neighbors in all of the various places I have lived.  Many of those neighbors have also become lifelong friends that I absolutely treasure.  It’s made it particularly hard to move to another part of town or different city/state.  The same holds true here in Knoxville and one of the most appealing parts of the neighborhood for our family are the people who make up our community.

Jesus said that loving your neighbor as yourself is the second greatest commandment, after loving God with all of your heart.  That must make neighborly love pretty important, right?

We all have a natural and fleshly instinct to look after ourselves first, but it's when we look to meet the needs of others like it's ourselves that we begin to fulfill Jesus' commandment.

This world is in desperate need of love and it just can't be overstated enough.  Love directed inward is useless, but love directed outward can help change this world, one person at a time!

Secrets

 

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29


As a parent, there are certainly a few "secrets" that we do not always share with the children. Christmas time comes to mind.  The more I think about it, there are many things that we will probably never fully understand about God...secrets, if you will.

When we fully trust God's lead in our lives, we need to allow Him to direct our every steps, each and every day. If you are like me, you kind of like to know how things will work out, but with our Loving Father, not knowing the future and trusting Him the same are what's important in our walks of faith. 

Whenever we find ourselves anxious about the future, or worrying, we must repent and return to God. There are many things we will never know or even begin to understand, but we must put our trust into the One who does know exactly what the future holds for us.

Let My Love Open The Door

 

Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Matthew 18:4

Some days, I daydream about being a young child again; full of life, humility, innocence, and love.  Times just seemed a little easier, growing up, didn't they???  

As a working stiff, married adult and the father of two young men, I feel like I have more responsibilities now than I could even possibly begin to name here.  However, being a father has taught me a valuable lesson-the less I strive to bring honor to myself, the more God honors and blesses me.

Humility opens the door for God to work in your life because you are willing to seek His help and give Him the glory and honor.

Pride is true weakness, for it relies on our selfish and bloated egos.  True strength is in humility, for its effects reach deep into the Kingdom of Heaven.(Basically, we just need to do what Kendrick Lamar says-BE HUMBLE!) So, let us humble ourselves before the Lord!