Month: March 2023

The Rock

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“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.” Psalm 18:2

On my first visit to the famed Alcatraz prison, known as “The Rock”, I was struck by the the amazing dichotomy between this cold and isolated island prison surrounded by amazing vistas, and the vibrant city lights of San Francisco just across the bay. Similarly, for various reasons of past hurts and pains, many of us literally live inside isolated island mind prisons of our own making. There is only one way to get off of such an island. Repeat after me,

“The Lord Is My Rock, My Fortress, My Deliverer”

These words come from King David in Psalm 18, a man who new first hand the harsh sting of heartbreak and betrayal. His solution is our solution, turn your focus on God. God never promised us a care free life. What He did promise us was that He would never leave us or forsake us. You need not live isolated in an island mind prison when God is standing right in front of you ready to hand you the keys. Just reach out to Him and accept His promise of release.

Yes, Its Possible

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God said, “For I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:12

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? It’s an imposing question and really gets to the heart of having faith in our lives. There are a myriad of scripture verses that point to overcoming the impossible, many of which have been pointed out in these posts over the past year and a half. Faith on our part comes in when we read Jesus words in Matthew 19:26, where He says,

“With Man It Is Impossible, But With God All Things Are Possible”

This statement from Jesus is further amplified when we let today’s quote from Jeremiah 1:12 sink in to our minds. For God Himself says, “I am active and alert, watching over My word to perform it.” In other words, God means what he says. If He said it, if He promised it, He will be faithful to complete it! So I ask the question again, what would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Praising While We Wait

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“I WAITED patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me; And He heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1

Read through the first third of the 150 chapters in the book of Psalms and a recurring theme quickly emerges; Help Me, Lord! I can relate for I have spent more than my share of time seeking God’s intervention for a very long laundry list of trials. Yet inner mixed with all of his pleadings, David, the author of the Psalms,

Takes Time To Praise God

Then in Psalm 40 David declares, with an all capital letters emphasis, that he WAITED for the Lord and eventually the breakthrough came. The breakthrough did not come in David’s desired timing but in God’s perfect timing. Sometimes we have to stand at the crosswalk and wait longer than we’d like. At such times we need to find the inner courage to praise God, anyway!

Gentle Hands

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God said, “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.” Jeremiah 18:6

There is a wondrous, amazing love that God has for us. He created us, then immediately gave to us a remarkable freedom. He gave to us free will. We can choose the life we wish to lead. We can choose faith, or we can choose not to believe. Yet something remarkable happens when we chose faith. We have this incredible opportunity to,

Have Our Lives Shaped By Our Creator

Over and over again in scripture, God says, if we will let Him, He will mold us, and shape us, and use us in remarkable ways we never thought possible. As the old Hymn from my childhood says, “Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me, after Thy will. While I am waiting, yielded and still”

Accentuate The Positive

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“If God be for us, who can be against us.” Romans 8:31

In 1945 Johnny Mercer was nominated for an Oscar for a little song he wrote for a film staring Bing Crosby called “Here Comes The Waves.” The song said, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-between!” I think we can all agree that one small positive thought can make a dramatic difference in our day, and is really a perfect prescription for

A Faith Filled Life!

After all, Romans 8:31 tells us that “if God is for us, who can be against us”. Just think, the creator of the heavens and the earth is on your side. With that outlook, you should indeed accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-between.

Peaks & Valleys

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“Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” Isaiah 40:4

I’ll never forget taking my nephew on his first roller coaster ride. I asked if he wanted to back out, but he nervously shook his head no, so on we waited. Once on board he gripped the lap bar with an iron grip and let out a nervous throat clear as the car lurched forward. The first climb seemed to take for ever as he kept looking at me for reassurance. Then we crested the hill and a scream burst forth from his lips, soon followed by a massive smile. By the end of the ride his arms were straight up in the air. The fear was gone! For my nephew,

The Peaks And Valleys Had Been Leveled!

Our lives are very much like a roller coaster, with highs and lows, slow ascents, and all too often, rapid descents, all while we nervously hang on for dear life. Isaiah 40 foretells the coming of Jesus, and speaks poetically of valleys being raised and mountains being leveled. In truth that’s exactly what Christ has done for us. What have we to fear for God has shown to us in Christ who He is, that He is our Savior, our Advocate, our Provider, and our Healer! Peaks and valleys in our lives only have the power we decide that they do for Christ has removed the barriers. We just need exercise our faith, throw our hands in the air, smile, and enjoy the ride, knowing Jesus has already conquered whatever we face in life.

You Are Amazing

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“For we are God’s handiwork” Ephesians 2:10

Many years ago when my daughter was in college we would regularly get together in the middle of the week for a dollar movie night at the local cinema. There was one occasion where I happened to choose a movie called, “Pitch Perfect”, thinking it was a film about baseball. Yes, I can already hear you laughing, but probably not as loudly as my daughter was at the time. I soon learned that this film was about collegiate A-cappella singing competitions. Yet in this fun little film I heard them sing a Bruno Mars hit song “Just the way you are.” How can you not love lyrics such as, “And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while. ‘Cause,

You’re Amazing, Just The Way You Are”

We don’t think that way enough. After all, God created you and I, just the way we are, and God does not make mistakes! It’s time for you to discover the beautiful person that you are, and also time for you to see the beauty in others, just the way they are!

Laugh A Little!

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“He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15

You may have heard, “laughter is the best medicine”. Well, that’s actually found in Proverbs 17:22, which says, “A merry heart does you good, like a medicine”. Does God love laughter? How about what we read in Psalm 126:2, where King David says “Then our mouth was filled with laughter.” Just imagine,

God Loves To Hear You Laugh

So what are you waiting for? Enough of the long drawn serious faces when talking about our faith. God invented laughter and He’s just itching for you to discover joy in your worship, in your prayer time, and in your life. Let Isaiah 55:12 be your new motto; “you shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace!”

Your Cheering Section

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“Therefore, surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…let us run the race set before us”. Hebrews 12:1

Sometimes it’s easy to forget all those who made our journey possible. The older I get the more fondly I remember those who cared enough to teach me, and reprimand me, and encourage me, and sustain me along the way. Such memories always come through when I hear Paul McCartney and the Beatles sing about a street in the neighborhood where they grew up. He sings, “Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes, wet beneath the blue suburban skies,” as he muses with teary eyes and thinks back with fondness, remembering the store keeper, and the fireman, and the nurse, and the banker, and the barber he came across along the way. Indeed we are a collection of memories, so take the time to

Remember Those Who Paved Your Journey

Hebrews 11 takes just such a stroll down Penny Lane, recounting those with great faith who came before us, from Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David and so many others. If you want to see what Faith looks like read Hebrews 11, and end with Hebrew 12:1, and realize that you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses as your own personal cheering section as you walk your journey of faith.

Sunrise

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“Arise, shine; For your light has come!” Isaiah 60:1

Our beloved and dreaded bi-annual daylight savings time change is now taking place as we move our clocks forward. I say beloved as we all seem to love the extra daylight in the early evening, and dreaded as most of us now have to wake up while it’s still dark. My wife has always been an early riser, so this morning, before my eyes even opened I asked her, “is the sun up yet?” She opened the curtain to reveal that the sky was just beginning to provide it’s pre-dawn light show.

It’s Time To Rise!

We rise for many things in life. We rise to the occasion, and to meet our calling, and to be a better version of ourselves. God says to us in Isaiah 60 to “arise and shine” for He has given us a reason to do so. In this verse He’s foretelling the coming of Jesus who is the light of the world. God further says, “The Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you,” meaning that as we let Jesus shine through us the world around us will indeed become a better and more hope filled place. Every new sunrise should remind us to let the SON-rise in us. You become the great hope for all humanity each day when you arise and shine and give God all the glory!