A Reason to Live and a Passion to Express.

I don't think I am any different than anyone else. I have aches and pains and days when I would rather stay home and sleep a little longer. I have days of frustration and stress however one thing I know is this.... I have a reason to live and a passion to express. I have a Jesus to live for and a calling that won't let me go. Many times I have prayed for people who seem to have nothing to live for. Depression and hopelessness consume them. As I pray, I often reflect that I am no different than they are, except for one thing. I have a reason to live and a passion to express. I know who it is that I believe in. I know why I am alive. I know that no matter what comes my way I have a God who lives inside of me and He won't let me go. But as I said before, I am no different than anyone else... except for that one thing. I know the truth. The Bible says that you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. But truth alone won't set you free, you have to know the truth. It is in the knowing that we are made free. Jesus is the Truth..once while Jesus spoke to is disciples he told them that there will be those who at the end of their life, will stand before God and He will say to them, "Depart from me. I never knew you." Matthew 7:15-23 Jesus knows us and He desires for us to know Him. It is in the knowing that we are made free. Freedom brings life and a reason to live. Freedom gives us hope and passion. Freedom changes who we are and what we will become. Freedom gives us a future and a hope. Jesus is my reason to live and my passion to express. If you are discouraged and facing troubles today remember, Jesus is the reason you live. Jesus gives you hope. Jesus give peace in impossible situations. Jesus can burn a passion in your soul that will consume you. The next time you feel sad, or lonely or defeated just remember this...you too, have a reason to live and a passion to express. His name is Jesus!

Being Someone Else

Sometimes kids say things so profound that it is hard to believe that those words came from the mouth of a child. Many years ago, I had a friend who was emotionally needy and seemed to always be angry, upset, afraid, you name it, she could be all those things in one day. My son, who was quite young at the time, heard me praying for and counseling my friend. After she left, my wise little boy said, "Mom, you know how everyone says, just be yourself? Well I think your friend should try being someone else for a change. Being herself just isn't working." I don't know whether or not his words struck you as profound, but I have never forgotten what he said that day. You see, we should all try being someone else. It's never good enough to settle for who we are. We should be like Jesus however by ourselves this is impossible to do unless the Holy Spirit helps us. Today my mind has been bombarded with thoughts of someone I have been angry with, and in the middle of my mental ranting and raving I remembered, "try being someone else." "Yes Jesus, I will try being someone else..being me isn't working out so well. Would you help me to be more like you? Fill me with your Spirit and make me new. I don't want to be me any more." I doubt that I am the only one who needs to be someone else. How about you? How's being "you" working out for you? We can't forgive by ourselves, we can't go on by our selves. We can't have faith or joy or peace in ourselves. Try being someone else for a change. May we all be like Jesus! Then let me know how it's working out for you.

Who's Carrying Who?

This morning I was reading in 1 Chronicles 17, where King David desired to build God a great temple. Nathan the prophet, speaking for God, responded to David's desire and said in verse 4-6, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders[a] whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ NIV Notice where God said that he moved from one tent to another, from one dwelling place to another. Wherever the Israelites went, God moved with them. God never asked for a temple. He never once showed displeasure or impatience because he was forced to travel and move from place to place. No, rather he was pleased to travel with Israel. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19, that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God takes pleasure in inhabiting his people. He desire is to dwell in our tent, to travel with us from place to place. He is not happy in a building built with bricks and wood. He doesn't want to be set aside in a building made with human hands. His desire, is to live inside of the temple that he built. You! You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Each and everyone of us was designed to contain God. Imagine that! We were created to house Almighty God. Instead of fear, sadness, defeat, or rejection, we can contain God. Instead of being the temple of hopelessness, sickness and pain, we are the temple of the Living God. So today, remember that God is with you. You didn't leave him in some church building or beautiful temple. He is inside of you. And remarkably, instead of you carrying him along, he is carrying you. All through your day, no matter what happens or comes your way, God Almighty is carrying you! He likes it that way!

Let the Son Shine

Have you ever had a thought, that was like a flash in your mind, telling you that you just read something very significant? Well, today, when I read 2Kings 23:4, it was like a light bulb went on in my brain. Josiah made a covenant before the Lord and commanded the priests and the "Keepers of the Threshold" to take all the idols and wicked things out of the house of the Lord. Did you catch that? The Keepers of the Threshold! If you have followed me in my journey of covenant teaching, you will know that the Threshold was a significant place of covenant. Josiah told these "Keepers", to remove all the wickedness from the temple of the Lord. These men, charged with keeping the Covenant place of God sacred, had failed and had let all kinds of evil cross over the temple threshold. Now they were commanded to remove such things. We are called the temple of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Our duty is to place guards at our threshold, the place of covenant, the place of entrance. Our hearts and minds are fragile and easily wounded and deceived. So we are commanded to guard our hearts, to defend our threshold. The enemy of our soul is planning, even now, ways to conquer you and I. He is sneaky and will try to enter our temple through any way possible. He will use movies, music or even our friends to cross over into our temple and cripple us. Right now it is spring time in New York and as the sunshine bursts through my windows I can see how grungy my curtains have become, how dusty and dingy everything looks. The Spring sunshine reveals everything and it's time to clean house. Charged by God to defend His dwelling place, we are commanded to clean our spiritual house. Ask the Lord to shine his light on you and reveal what has crossed over your threshold. Perhaps you have been going through a winter season in your spirit. Ask God to show you where you have become dingy and dull. Let's polish our windows and mop the floors, wash away the grime and let the Son shine through.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Why do we always want to be like someone else? I guess the reason I am thinking about this is because I live in a house with many females and each one has an attribute they don't like. Whether it's their nose or their hair, their height or their feet, discontent stalks them like a hungry predator. If something goes wrong in their day, it's because their hair didn't work the way they wanted it, and of course "so in so" who has perfect hair doesn't have those problems. Their day went just fine. Everyday the battle of discontent stalks my girls. Somedays he is more subtle and other days we are in all out battle. I don't think my girls are so much different than the rest of us. Secretly we wish we were smaller, more tanned, had straight hair or curly. We don't voice our discontent so much because after all we should be grown up and past that. Still the predictor stalks us and somedays we lose the battle. The Bible tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God in His great creative wisdom made each and everyone of us. He isn't prejudiced against us because of how we look. On the contrary, He looks with pride and pleasure at His workmanship and loves us all the same. Our greatest enemy is our own prejudice against ourselves. We covet someone else's body and Discontent becomes our friend. Don't fall into his trap. Thank the Lord for The great job He did making you. Break free from discontent. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Pinky Swear

Pinky Swear. The other day, my daughter gave me a quick lesson on the seriousness of a "Pinky Swear". Now, I have heard of such a thing but I was not aware of what it meant. For those of you who do not know, a Pinky Swear is an unbreakable covenant, usually made by little girls. It can never, (according to my daughter) ever, under no circumstances be broken. A promise can be broken (not in my book!) but a Pinky Swear is unbreakable. If someone wants to make such a Pinky Swear or, if you have read my book, covenant oath, you make your solemn promise, then link your pinky finger with your friend's finger. Voila you have just made an unbreakable covenant. I couldn't help but ponder over this as my daughter was explaining a Pinky Swear. In our culture, when people are working so hard to removed us from the consequences of a broken covenant, our children are longing for stability and truth. They want to know that when they make a Pinky Swear, that it will be honored above everything else. My daughter told me that she has never known anyone to break a Pinky Swear. Imagine a covenant so great that it can never be broken and is honored above all other promises. Knowing you can depend upon someone's word brings stability. Knowing that your Pinky Swear friend is speaking the truth builds faith. I am a follower of Christ and I believe that we should be people of truth and faith. That what we say should be the truth and that we should keep faith, not only with God but with our family, friends, and anyone else in our life. How can we be an example of God working in us if we don't live in the truth and keep our faith. A broken promise here a broken commitment there. Oh, it's no big deal we say, but it is. I think we should take a lesson from my daughter. Our word should be our word. Our covenants, or can I say promises, be unbreakable. I don't care what we call it. Be it a covenant, a vow, a Pinky Swear...let's be responsible and keep our word.

Create In Me

In Psalm 51:10, King David cried out saying, "Create in me a clean heart oh God". This very statement brings us to a window of David's soul. Looking inside we see a man grieving because of his sin. Desperate for Gods acceptance and fearful that he would, one day, become like King Saul, David says the only thing he knows. "Create in me." I have spent much time thinking about this verse and I always seem to zero in, to the part where David asked for a clean heart. But tonight as I read these words I was struck by the simplicity of the word "create". David cried out to God and he said "create in me!". As incredible as this may sound this is exactly what God wants to do in us all. He wants to create in us. Where there is sorrow God can create hope. Where there is fear, God can create courage. Where there is hopelessness, God can create faith for the future. We serve a God who creates. Out of nothing God created the world and every day there are new creations. God never stops creating. Life and the wonder of his creation surrounds us on every side. No matter where we look we see His handy work. Yet for many of us, we have given up hope that God could ever do anything good in us. Some have even asked, "Does the God of creation even know that I exist?". Its time we went back to David's simple words " create in me". Simply said, these words come from faith in the God who can make something out of nothing. My friend, if you have nothing left, no hope, no friends, no money, no job, no family, no health, whatever it may be that is missing in your life, pray with King David, "Create in me. Create something out of nothing. Create in me!". He did it for David. He'll do it for you.