Sunday, September 30, 2012

Day 5: Listening Through God's Ears

Day 5: Listening Through God's Ears

Read: Isaiah 49:1 - 7

When some one does something to you people tell you to look at them the way Jesus looks at them. I am pretty sure you have heard that taught to you more than a few times. However, now I am going to ask you to consider something a bit more radical. See them the way Jesus looks at them - Absolutely! Now take it a step further and hear them and listen to them as God does. The eyes are a truly wonderful way to see and sense what is around you. But that is not the only sense that serves this way. The blind person who cannot see what is before him tries harder to hear and listen.

Hear what God hears. Hear who God hears. Listen to what God listens to. Listen to whom God listens. I guess it is kind of an odd thing to try and hear what God hears. I mean God hears everything and everyone while we are limited only to our immediate surroundings, to what is in front of us or what makes a sound loud enough to wake up the dead - like our alarm clocks every morning or the inconsiderate soul at 3 am in the morning who honks his horn or blares his radio rousing you from your slumber. God hears the coast land as the seas roar and the waves crash against the rocks. He hears these from the highest, furthest reaches of eternity. He hears your heart too.

'Listen to me, O coast lands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”' (Isaiah 49:1 - 3)

God’s Servant is the speaker in verses 1-5. Listen to Me, O Coast lands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me. Just like the Lord Almighty, the one speaking summoned the islands or continents (Isaiah 41:1) and those peoples distant from God to listen (Isaiah 46:3) to Him because of His special "calling" from the Lord. Isaiah 49:1-3 reminds us that every servant of God’s is to be listening like the coast lands, hearing each other, ministering to each other because God has taken the initiative to: Select them as a servant, to prepare them as a servant, to live as showcases of God’s love.

Let us Pray: Teach me to listen, O God, to those nearest me, my family, my friends, my co-workers. Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear, from whom ever I hear it, the message is, “Accept the person I am. Listen to me.” Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice — in busyness and in boredom, in certainty and doubt, in noise and in silence. From the distant Coast Lands Teach me, Lord, to listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5iZBTNYrk&feature=g-vrec
The Stand - Hillsong
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The Stand - Hillsong The full lyrics are in the video. ---------------------------------------- I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned In awe of The O...

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Day 4: As We Are Struggling, God Is Revealing

Day 4: As We Are Struggling, God Is Revealing

Read: Genesis 1:1 - 3:10

Everything struggles! - Can I get at least one or two Amen's on this one? From the very beginning there has been this gargantuan struggle to listen. God spoke into the newness of creation seven times and each time, creation extended its full self into the business of listening to what it was God was telling it what to do. Then the struggle began in earnest to meet the challenges that had been placed before it. God said to creation each time to give Him more physical substance and an ever greater expression to the next new form of life after each and every day. It blows my mind!

I wont begin to place myself in those very first moments of life itself. I would truly be scared out of my mind to build a time machine to go back to those moments when creation was struggling to listen to God and bring newer and greater expression to the struggle of witnessing life coming forth from nothingness. Animals will struggle to find their means of staying alive. Likewise, people will find themselves struggling with their life. I encounter people who are struggling with whether their faith is real. They struggle to believe in themselves, as being successful because of their apparent lack of godliness, their apparent lack of spirituality. Remember Adam and Eve are hiding?

So, like Adam and Eve, we keep struggling to hide our own lives from God. So how does God respond? He makes a personal appearance and calls out to us from our hiding place "Where are you, O man?" "Where are your struggles, O man?" Are we listening? Are we struggling to listen from our hiding places? As you are reading this I guess that I can still make a reasonable claim that you are human and have been for a long time. And like me, struggle hard against listening to this call to come out. "Not today! Not even tomorrow! Next week doesn't look promising either - So go AWAY!"

Then suddenly against our wills we find ourselves thinking twice about our stance! It starts in the back of our minds urging us forward. Slowly at first so we dismiss it. It will not go away, it is gaining momentum that we no longer have any control over. It is struggling to reveal our struggles in spite of ourselves. "Engage your feet." No! It said, "Engage your feet!!" I responded, "I don't want to." It said "Give me an inch!" I said "No, you'll want a mile. I 'm not going." It said "Please?" With an ever growing reluctance to resist, I said, "Um, do I really have to?" Stern came the reply, "YES, I really believe you do!" Like Adam and Eve, the Holy Spirit pushed me out of hiding. I humbly stepped forth. Through the Holy Spirit's voice of mercy I listened TO my God.

Let us Pray: As we struggle to hide our lives from you, reveal to us Your Holy Spirit. That through it's prompting, we may hear and listen to its words of assurance. That through this struggle with our spiritual deafness, we may overcome our hiding place. Let us overcome ourselves! Let us reveal ourselves to Your grace, love and mercy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyufa8KTQs

Friday, September 28, 2012

Day 3: Listening To God: "I And The Father Are One"

Day 3: "I And The Father Are One""

Read: John 10:22 - 30

When we communicate with each other, there is always a central message that we desire to pass along to the person or people we are communicating with. This holds true whether it be a conversation between family members, just a casual talk at the bus stop - "Am I at the right stop?", at the local Starbucks - Server asks "May I help you, please?" At the Doctor's office - "What is bothering you the most today?" At the office when your Supervisor tells you - "Keep it simple." "Just give me the main facts!" "Just give me what I need to know so I can make the very best possible decisions.

Jesus continues His shepherd sermon in this passage but He also advances another teaching. Jesus makes the declaration that He and the Father are one. It is clear that persons hearing the message must recognize Jesus as being one with the Father or else make a decision to reject Him entirely. Jesus works bear witness of who He is, but the witness is received and appreciated only by how those receivers understand what the central message is that Jesus is trying to instill into their lives to promote change and transformation. To encourage each of them to be in healthy conversation.

THE PLAIN TRUTH, verses 22-25. The crowd is surrounding Jesus and looking for an unambiguous statement about the validity of Jesus’ identity. “How long will you keep us in suspense?” can also be translated, “How long will you annoy us?” These people seem more likely to be antagonistic rather than seeking clarity. What they want is an open, clear statement from Jesus authenticating who He says He is. If you are at a lecture in some school, you might be more interested in the Professor giving you what you need to know to pass the next examination, not the extraneous information you most likely will never remember. "Hey teach, is there a central point to this lesson?"

THE ONE TRUE GOD, verse 30. Jesus asserts that He had already told them in verse 25. Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. Jesus placed the burden of hearing and understanding His assertions with His questioners. The root problem is unbelief, not miscommunication. These people had no faith. What sets your faith apart is one very important thing: What does your heart tell you about Jesus' central message: 'The Father and I are one?’ For me it comes down to 'everything that I am, Jesus is also' as my personal faith says Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all alive and all living in me!

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, weave us together in body, mind and spirit. Live in me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Wa2msOq9c

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Day 2: Listening To God: "I Am Who I Am"

Day 2: Listening To God: "I Am Who I Am"

Read: Exodus 3:13 - 15

Occasionally, there come those times in life when we simply do not trust what we have heard. Something is said, our ears pick it up, but we don’t quite trust it. We don’t know whether we really heard what we thought we heard. Or we don’t know whether to believe what we heard. Or maybe we don’t know enough to be able to trust the speaker. Or, deeper yet, we don’t know how to begin to interpret what we heard. There are all those times when we do not personally know who we are supposed to hear.

God is carrying on a deeply personal conversation with Moses!! God to man like they were somehow related to each other. And Moses is listening very intently. Moses desires to hear just how one known only as "I Am that I am" is going to be received by Joshua, Joseph, Merriam;  all the regular every day people struggling in Egypt. Moses: "Give me a name they'll know!"

Now, a step further. If I were to ask you whether you trust what you hear from God, what would you say? Some of you would focus on the Bible, and you would say that, yes, you do trust the Bible, you can hear the Bible. But can you hear "I AM that I AM"? Who among us has ever heard and recognized the actual the voice of of "I AM that I AM"? Again, I ask you whether you trust what you hear from God, how would you say? How would you consider answering?

Many focus on prayer. Prayer is a way to hear the voice of God if we are patient enough with ourselves as we wait. However, I know by experience we can and do deceive ourselves. Prayer may not always get you a trustworthy answer. I have been known to misinterpret what I genuinely, strongly felt was God's sure and true response. I offer to you an a truly bold answer. My answer: Practice listening to yourself. Practice listening to your very own hearts within you.

There is a way of listening to ourselves that is also listening to the voice of God. There is a way to hear our hearts that is trustworthy. It is a way of listening to God. It is possible so to develop the habits of the heart that we are able, in listening to inside of ourselves, to listen also to our God speak. Lord, What must we do to truly listen?

God's response:
The first requirement if you will hear God’s voice and hear it as authentic is simply to be available. To be open. To be ready for whatever God might share, wherever God might lead. The happiest people I know are the ones who are willing to listen to trust something new. "I must turn aside ...Here I am." “Here I am.” Speak, Lord, I'll listen! Real listening . . authentic listening . . always involves real, authentic accountability.

At some point in the process of listening to ourselves and exploring who we are, we have to ask, "Who am I and what shall I do’?" When we do hear what God's answer is we then respond to our call to make a difference. Here is the really tricky part to discerning ours versus God's response: Our response: Nod your head and agree - do next to zero about it. God's sure response: We are empowered so we decisively act upon it. We are who we are trying to remain true to our hearts as I AM who I AM is.

Pray: Psalm 51 "God speak to me that I may listen and obey. God, speak to my heart that it may be cleansed re created in Your image. Renew a steadfast spirit within me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vtxpkJmxkA
Here I am Lord- Lyrics
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Here I am Lord w/ lyrics. Hope you enjoy! And please subscribe and comment! :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Day 1: Listening To God - In the Beginning

Day 1: Listening To God - In the Beginning

Read: Genesis 1: 1 - 27

After 100 consecutive days of devotion and prayer a new series of daily devotions titled 'Listening to God' is about to begin. I have been truly honored and humbled that God has seen fit to include me as being worthy to be one of His instruments blessed with the honor passing along portions of His great wisdom. It is the dawn of a new morning. It is a new morning borne like so many others before it, spoken into its own unique existence by the still small almost imperceptible voice of God. Can you hear it? Are you listening for it? Do you long to hear the voice of God speaking into your heart?

Through out this morning's Scripture passage, are several remarkable, seemingly impossible phrase "Then God said ...." When I step back for a moment to consider these words is "Okay, but who or what was listening?" I mean there had to be a truly remarkable pair of ears out there that were tuning in to the vast silence of the great void. But, whose ears could consciously listen so intently and patiently and discern the voice of God? Somebody absolutely had to be listening or there could not be the stars, the Sun. Where would any of us be today if there was no one was listening or doing? I do not know the answer for sure. However it makes sense that creation itself is the one that is listening.

Do you have a longing to hear the whisper of God's voice? The still small voice heard by creation itself at the dawn of all the new beginnings? Deep down within the very core of our being, we all have a longing for something beyond ourselves. However, such a longing cannot ever be satisfied unless we deliberately place ourselves in a position to listen to Him. Since the very dawn of all creation, God has long desired to create within us a willing heart and an open mind so His voice can be heard. God has had a message for each of us every day. Like creation itself, we wants us all to listen.

God, in His grace has made it possible to hear His voice in a variety of ways: through the beauty and splendor of the natural order of creation. We hear His voice through His written Word, through the ministry and teachings of only His Son Jesus Christ. We hear what He has to say through the ministry of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts in the relationships we develop as we love God and our neighbor with all we have within us. In so many ways too numerous to try and count God is speaking now. God desires to reveal himself to us. He desires us to listen and to hear what He has planned too.

Lord, As you spoke to Creation itself and it listened, speak to us the Ancient wisdom that we may hear and listen to Your great plan for us. Reveal Yourself to our hearts.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgM3nokGVqg
WHISPERS OF MY FATHER - ANCIENT WORDS by Michael W. Smith with Lyrics
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Day 100: Day To Day Pours Forth Speech .....


Day 100: Day To Day Pours Forth Speech .....

Read: Psalm 19


This morning, on this the 100th consecutive day, I begin to prayerfully contemplate what timeless snippet of God's wisdom this devotional offering might bring into your heart. When I began this act of obedience to the call of God, there was an awesome amount of fear and trepidation stirring around in my spirit. Could I wake up each and every morning at 5:30? Did I possess the necessary level of confidence to bring you sound Biblical teaching making it contemporary enough that anyone could relate to it? Did I possess the spiritual insight to pull out deep spiritual truths to bring it together?

There is just so much Scripture to learn and to study. The Old Testament brings us the story of how our everyday life began and was lived out in very primitive settings. I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to forget that the letters in the New Testament were first written as real letters. They speak to bringing about a complete relationship between God in heaven and mankind on earth, powerfully expressed in real life situations thru the responsive actions of real live people like you and me. It is really a deeply humbling experience that God's silent voice bring all things together.

Day after day while we are awake, living and working and night after night while we are asleep in recovery mode, God's silent voice speaks directly into our lives. How awesome is that? Covered by the pinions of His wings by day and by the blanket of His vigilant Shepherd at night. It brings the most wonderful image to my mind of my Mother and Father holding me and protecting me as an infant. At night, they are tucking the blanket under me so I am safe and warm through the night. A relationship more desired than the finest gold! Sweeter than the finest honey any honey bee gave! There is just nothing on earth to compare to the silent voice of our God from heaven!


Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world (Psalm 19:2 - 4a)Do you long to hear God's silent voice. Not an audible sound that only a few ever get to experience, but the still small voice of God coming into your heart and mind, assuring you that He is ever true and always with you? Are you really ready to listen to what He needs to tell us? Are we really prepared for God's silent voice?
Let us pray: Lord, as we take the time to reflect on these past 100 days, we realize more and more on just how much of our own completeness depends on Yours. We thank you for the completeness of Your wisdom and all the moments that we found ours lives inspired our faith emboldened and strengthened. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhT2ljOi5ds

There is none like you Robin Mark
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Used for worship at our church. If you like it, give it a thumbs up so others can find it. Buy it as well. Check out our website at www.islingtonbaptistchurc...

Monday, September 24, 2012

Day 99: Another Bucket Full Of Silence!

Day 99: Another Bucket Full Of Silence - Is Humility Close By?

Read: James 1:1 - 8

This is the day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice. I am in the mood for singing. Last night, I just had this unshakable confidence of today being just a wonderful day. We would all like to be able to sing the song, “Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day, Oh what a beautiful morning, I have a wonderful feeling that everything’s going to to be going my way.” Sometimes we have days like that. But a lot of our days don’t quite come up to those expectations. One irritating truth I would love to dispense with is in “real life” we experience too much frustration, too much silence.

We ask, “well, why can’t things go my way once in awhile? Why am I always having delays and hassles all the time?” Are we asking too much of today too soon? We are only making a simple request of today -- please let this be the day when all things go okay. However, it is not destined to be so. There seems to be no end to things you could name. There are all kinds of delays as well as numerous other circumstances that cause us to lose our patience. Consider these: abrasive people at work, delays on the interstate, a slow moving checkout line at WalMart, the cat ate the canary bird.

So, what do we do? What have we been taught to do in the midst of this kind of not so wonderful day? We pray "God, what good are these delays? What good do these host of unceasing frustrations serve in my life especially on this, your day of all days?" Invariably, all we get is one big bucket filled with silence. Others seem to have their prayers answered. But not us, not this time, not the last time either and probably not the next time other. We pray again "What gives with this silent treatment, Lord?" One more time we are on the receiving end of an aggravating, irritating bucket of silence.

Immanuel, God with us, except that right now, hanging on to these buckets of silence, it does not seem that Immanuel is very close by, hearing the cries of our frustration. Then it dawned on me. Maybe I have things confused. Maybe this silence is not God neglecting me in my hour of greatest need. Maybe this silence is a well calculated, very carefully considered expression of God's vast wisdom - "Be still, learn patience, My son!"
 
I believe I am on to something awesome here. All the frustration that is weighing my heart down is constantly forcing me to my knees in prayer. My Immanuel is with me, His patience, His humility is always with me when I pray. God's silence is God's voice!

Lord, thank you for the wisdom of Your great silence. For it is there that the answers to all of life's frustrations may surely be found. Let the weight of our frustrated hearts ever send us to our knees to consider the vast awesomeness of your still silent voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ0l58MilTk&feature=g-vrec
You Are For Me - Gateway Worship
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You Are For Me featuring Kari Jobe and the Gateway Worship team. From the God Be Praised DVD So faithful, so constant and so true So
You Are For Me - Gateway Worship
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You Are For Me featuring Kari Jobe and the Gateway Worship team. From the God Be Praised DVD So faithful, so constant and so true So

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Day 98: Losing One's Burden: Journey To Humility

Day 98: Losing One's Burden: Journey To Humility

Psalm 55:16 - 23 A Psalm of King David - A Song For Those Greatly Burdened.

Rules, Rules, Rules, there were always too many of them around the house. There were too many in school, there were just too many in any job I have ever had. There are more rules everywhere you go. There are rules about rules. There are just too many to keep track of. Rules beget rules which beget even more rules which, you guessed, necessitate more rules to put those other rules in their proper perspective. It is the worst kind of hair pulling experience trying to keep up and follow the logic of some finitely worded, finitely detailed piece of paper that just kept burdening my life.

I know that there have to be rules, without them there would be chaos and everything would be a mess and nothing would get done. The sun would go spinning off in some direction and what kind of fun would that be. There has to be a natural order to life. And then as I was writing this, I realized something so completely awesome. It is a perspective that I did not even considered until it was just now revealed to my heart. It is this; what an unbearable burden it would be if I had to be the one responsible for keeping all the rules of this universe. Yet, God does it without any kind of complaining.

I struggle with rules. Keeping them or remembering them all would be an absolutely exhausting burden. I could never hope to keep them all straight. So, as I am sitting here writing this, my heart is saying to me "why do you even bother trying?" A valid question that, for once, thunders into my weighed down spirit to take a God - sized step back to gain a new perspective, God's perspective, on this burden I have placed upon myself for no reason. Consider prayerfully where David placed his confidence:

16 But I call upon God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.
18 He will redeem me unharmed
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.

If we are exhausted by anything, it is because we have allowed ourselves to be led away by the burden of our pride, the burden of allowing ourselves to believe that we can do more and be more than God. We place too much of our own confidence that we can bear any burden no matter how devastating. David placed his confidence in the Lord God, not upon his own shoulders, that God alone could bear the unbearable.

22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

Today, Consider 'Burden' to be your greatest enemy. Pray unto the Lord Psalm 55! Personalize it to your life. Place the burden of being a burden back upon itself. Let it convict itself. Give your God sized burden a proper God sized perspective of reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp_PolBwjEw
The Battle Belongs to the Lord
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Here is a video set to the song The Battle Belongs to the Lord performed by the Maranatha singers. Thank you for watching and please respond in kind.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Day 97: Losing One's Superiority - Journey To Humility

Day 97: Losing One's Superiority - Journey To Humility

Read: Hebrews 3:1 - 19, Genesis 3:8 - 24

"I guarantee you one thing, one tries very convincingly to say to them self, I know I can be superior, I believe that one day I will be superior and I am going to prove it." Having been in this position myself, I developed this knee - jerk reaction that at every opportunity I could I was going to try and position myself in such a way that I am in the superior position to somebody, to anybody. There would be no more bottom of the ladder stuff in my life. So I began to look for the Achilles heel in others: how they dress, talk, walk, drive, carry themselves in public then judge them by my standards.

The writer of the book of Hebrews desires to portray Jesus Christ as being superior to every other option to the readers. The writer is drawing comparisons between the superiority of the law of Moses portraying Jesus Christ as being wholly superior to every other option to the readers. The readers of this letter are Jewish Christians who once lived by the law, but have confessed their faith in Jesus Christ. They are getting discouraged in trusting in something that they cannot see. They openly and vigorously question the superiority of the new faith in Christ and long consider returning back to the old ways.

I know that my Mother taught me better than that. In my mind, I knew that. But what was lost on me was 'how' to know that. Having been told enough times that I always deserved the bottom rung of the ladder, nobody showed the most meaningful ways to climb up, with faith and in complete confidence, to the next rung. I learned it my way and my way seemed to work very well for me, keeping me on top of my life. This was my standard, my banner in life upon which I learned quickly how to judge. I didn't know enough to openly, vigorously question me.

Deep down inside of me I began to realize that my superiority was no longer superior or no longer different from the next guy. My standard of superiority, guaranteed to stand up to the most rigorous standards of time were now rapidly disintegrating right before my eyes. I read the rest of the story from Genesis 3, when God came looking for Adam and Eve. When He found them clothed in hiding, He grilled them both about their new found standard of superiority and found them wanting. Neither one could come up with a single reason why their new way of superiority was better than God's. Now, I am on a journey towards humility and I am discovering my way isn't superior.

Pray with me: Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more; feed me till I want no more. Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGHYni59UM8

Friday, September 21, 2012

Day 96: Losing One's Mind - Journey To Humility

Day 96: Losing One's Mind - Journey To Humility

Read: Genesis 3:1 - 7

Maybe you have read this letter before, or even tried to write one like it yourself but couldn't finish it or send or forward it on to its intended destination. But let me share one that I one tried to write with you. Perhaps you will find that you will be more timely and successful in overcoming all of 'yourself' than I was too many years ago.

Dear God,

I do not know why I am even doing this. I have thought about it and thought about it but I just cannot figure out why I am even bothering to do this. There is something that has been elbowing my ribs, tickling my conscience, and weighing my spirit down! I am usually able to dismiss such things without any help from anyone. I just cannot figure it out, this time is different. These feelings wont leave me alone! These blasted feelings seem to get farther and farther away from any solution I can come up with. I can no longer make any sense out of it. Why isn't my way working for me anymore?

You know, God, I have never seen the need to write letters to anyone. I am always so independent that writing anything never even occurred to me. So in spite of all that I feel compelled to take a few minutes to write this letter to you. I certainly hope you are doing better than I am right now. It really pains me that I have to say this, please don't tell anyone; I am writing this letter to you because I think I am losing my mind. I've tried so hard all my life to do everything the right way, my way. It is not working!

Last night I read the story of Adam and Eve's temptation in the Garden. Now more and more I feel like I am being suckered into believing that all of my efforts at self reliance and independence has been one great big lie. The greatest lie that I have ever heard and I actually believed it, I was blinded by it. I was surrounded by its deep darkness and now I just cannot help but feel that right now it is stabbing at my heart.

I feel as if this great lie is killing me. I believed that I had all the wisdom I needed to survive on. I believed I was the only one who could ever know what was best for me. Day after day, week after week, month after month and now year after year. God, I have yielded my entire self to the awesome joy that I received from that temptation. Now, God, my awesomeness is no longer there. I can no longer feed off of it, I can no longer say I can survive off of it. But, God, I just need to be able to survive somehow!

Signed, Me Myself and I

Lord, please forgive me for wanting to believe the lie. Respond to my letter ASAP. Set me free from the tyranny of my self reliance and self rule. Somehow, please restore me to the innocence I felt when I was a newborn infant dependent on my parents for life itself. Help me to one day actually believe that You alone are the God of my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1avFt94Ovws&feature=fvwrel
When I Think About The Lord
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When I Think About The Lord

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Day 95: A Jug of Judgment, If You DON'T Please?

Day 95: A Jug of Judgment, If You DON'T Please?

Read: Matthew 7:1 - 6

Judge not lest ye be judged! Who gave you the grand law degree to judge me? Who placed you on the bench of my life that you should sit in judgement over what you have no knowledge of or experience in? Yes, I have heard all of these and I guess the worst one I ever heard was, 'like father - like son', judging me on the same standard someone assigned to my dad before anyone got a chance to know the 'real me' was. God asks: How is it that you can set yourself up judge with a log stuck in your eyes? How can you see what you are doing when you yourself can't see the whole picture?

It bothers me to hear someone use Matthew 7:1 that way. But, you see, it’s great to have a verse to prove what you already want to believe, and I think that’s how this verse has been used. It has been used to convey the idea, "You live your lifestyle and I’ll live mine. But don’t you tell me how to live, and certainly don’t you try to impose your standards of morality on me." "Judge not that you be not judged" is spouted by a lot of people who have no earthly idea what Jesus meant. And I venture to say that the people who quote this verse the most are the ones who understand it the least.

But you see, even though we are unqualified, we still judge. And we often do so for selfish reasons; it makes us feel better. If we have a problem with sin in our own lives, it takes a little pressure off to point the finger at others for a while. It makes our sin seem not so bad after all. But, Jesus warns us that we’ve got to clean up our own act before we can even dare to begin to start tampering with the lives of others.

When I spend my time pointing my finger at your sin, my attention is distracted from my own sins, and that’s the real danger of judging. We’re all sinners, and we are all to work together as a family to overcome our sins. But ultimately, the only sins over which I have control are my own, those are the primary ones that should command my greatest attention. I need to exercise a proper amount of time with my eyesight.

So what is the message of Matthew 7:1-6? I believe it’s a warning for us to avoid the extremes of judgment. We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from our position of self-righteousness. We can see so well the things in others’ lives that we want to pick on, but Jesus said we’re usually being overly critical, hypocritical when we do it. I have to confess here and now that I have been unjustly critical of too many people and have sadly created more than my fair share of undeserved grief.

It is important for us to carefully notice that he just didn’t stop there. He did not just instruct us to stay out of other people’s business. Let sin be sin. Rather, he gave us the responsibility of helping our brother: "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." (7:5). We must first confess our own poor spiritual eyesight then surrender it to God's sight. Without God's vision, people start perishing.

This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God. (Philippians 1:9-11 CEB)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnfT4arZtI
I Surrender - Hillsong Live (Cornerstone New 2012 DVD Album) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)
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Hillsong - I surrender Hillsong Live New DVD Album,

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Day 94: A Jug Of God's Desire, If You Please!

Day 94: A Jug Of God's Desire, If You Please!

Read: Hosea 2:6 - 23

I guess you might say that today things might get kind of mushy for us guys out there. But there is a word that is pressing on my heart this morning. That word is desire. What is it that we desire? Peace and Quiet - absolutely! Our own fair share of Wealth and Prosperity? A most admirable and laudable aspiration. More success than failure? Yes indeed success is very good and more of it would seem to me to become a confidence builder and a healthy balance of failure makes sure we keep on trying and learning. Love, relationship, family and God? You have hit the nail on the head!

Which brings me to the Book of the Prophet Hosea. I want to go back to a book of the Bible that was one of the most profound and most amazing love stories in the Bible. Many of you will have never heard of it. Many of you will have never even read of it. The book is about Hosea's relationship with his wife and children, their up and down, on again off again love for one another. It’s also a mirror picture of God’s love for us. His name has a very profound meaning. His name means “salvation” in the Hebrew language. He was bringing the word of God's desire to love all, to His people of Israel.

God was looking out toward His people, those who were called by His name were denying Him, turning their backs on Him, they were worshiping false gods. They were doing all these things. God was heartbroken about it. God said to him, “Hosea, take yourself an unfaithful wife just like Israel has been unfaithful to me.” Basically what He desired was Hosea to not only speak His words to the people of Israel but He desired Hosea to feel the pain that He felt. He desired that he experience what He felt when He spoke those words. God desired that the people feel His great anguish.

The first thing we see is that our personal desires just don’t satisfy when it comes to our relationship with God. We have to realize that the desires that we put in our own lives, that take the place of God, just won’t satisfy us or Him. Listen, God desires a personal love relationship with you as an individual. He created you. He loves you. He even uses marriage as a metaphor of what that relationship is about. That’s what He desires for us. He desires to be first. He desires to be the center, primary in our lives. There is nothing more life giving than that. When you desire to start sharing that with someone you make a huge impact on their life. There is no substitute for God.

Let us pray: Redeeming God, Author of my life, Lord of all that is love, Change my heart oh God Make it ever true. Change my heart oh God, May my one deepest, most truest desire be only You. In the name of my hearts greatest desire - Jesus my Lord!!!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSFdegPWiqE
I Desire Jesus - Hillsong Live (2012 New Album Cornerstone DVD) Lyrics/Subtitles (Worship Song)
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Hillsong Live New DVD Album, Cornerstone, 2012,

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day 93: A Cup Of Mystery, If You Please!

Day 93: A Cup Of Mystery, If You Please!

Read: Romans 16:25 - 27

I like a good mystery. I like a good mystery that from the first page to last keeps you in suspense. I love a mystery where there is an enticingly slow build up from the introduction of the characters, the scene of the crime described with utmost detail with emotion and great passion. There is the character development, the step by step interviewing of each of the potential suspects, the revelation of all the subtle hints to the upcoming twists in the plot. The drum beats faster and faster as the plot gets ever thicker with all the suspense being built up. Page after page it continues then just as you get to the final pages when you are sure you have solved it - drum roll - The Butler did it!!!

Mysteries about God are another matter. I think this is because of two reasons. First people will tell me even before you start reading the book you know the answer - It was God all the time - beginning to end, Alpha to Omega, first page to the last page. Now what fun is the mystery if you already know how it is all going to turn out? So there is the second reason - there is a little voice going around inside of my head that is saying if the mystery is already solved, that I should know and understand all there is to know about the author. After all it is the only possible mystery that is solvable. But this is God. So I obsess over studying the Bible trying to solve what is unsolvable.

But I am wasting my time, but I do not care about that. God will remain the eternal mystery. After all, who can know or comprehend the mind of one who created us in His image and we are all preciously unique. Can we understand all there us to know every single person that is alive today? There is simply not enough time in eternity to accomplish it. Personally I believe that God loves being the greatest of all mysteries. The greatest mysteries ever written entice us to read them, get to know all the characters, study them, become them, identify with them, model our lives to try and live like them.

Paul wrote to all believers: 'Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 16:25 - 26)

I have called these "fascinating words" because they speak of the whole God mystery as if it had been moving forward from the beginning of human history, all the while it remains veiled, hidden, obscured from human understanding. What is so fascinating is that I can finally stop the impossible task of trying to figure it all out. What I know, what any of us will ever know; will be individual to each of us. God will always uniquely strengthen us according to what needs we have. He will reveal the right portion of His great mystery to each of us at the exact moment we need that revelation in life. And that is an absolute relief for me, with assurance, to be able to hold onto all the possibilities God has in store for all who love the greatest of all mysteries.

My personal prayer for each of you today is as Paul prayed for the believers all over the known world: 'Now to God who is able to strengthen you ....... according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret but is now disclosed ....... according to the command the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith - to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmA9fPEpe4
Indescribable - Chris Tomlin (Music Video With Lyrics)
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Indescibalble by Chris tomlin music video with lyrics

Monday, September 17, 2012

Day 92: One Cup each Of Order and Obedience, Please?

Day 92: One Cup each Of Order and Obedience, Please?

Read: Genesis 22:1 - 14

I like to have order in my life. I don't always like to be obedient. In fact order is a whole lot easier to like than obedience is. Order is something that I place a high level of importance and value to. There is a created order to all things in life and anything outside of that is Chaos and I have zero interest in trying to live within that. When it comes right down to it, truth is I feel the same way about obedience as I do about order. I have to be obedient, that is okay. It becomes a lot more difficult to remain obedient to all the important people I have to be obedient to - my God and my Wife.

Order and obedience are very important to me - and that is probably something of a gross understatement. I have spent great parts of my days and my life fighting chaos tooth and nail. Disobedience just does not sit very well within neither my heart nor my spirit. I guess I just look at look at both as nearly inseparable as can be. Without one there can never be the other. Considering the life circumstances most of us can find ourselves on any given day the struggle to keep order and be obedient is an epic one.

The Author of the Created Order is God and God alone - not me and certainly not you who are reading this right now. Order is ultimately found in the way God orders our life. I have come to slowly and painfully realize that when I do not see order in my life, it does not mean it is not there. It means that I struggle too hard to see my own efforts to keep it and struggle too hard against seeing God's effort on my own behalf.

Obedience means listening for God’s Directions and not listening only to those that I have set up, or only those I believe will keep my own chaos at bay (Genesis 22:1 - 2).

Obedience means following God’s Direction for my life not the one based on my own map. You see, my map and even your map gives us order, keeps chaos away from us by as great a distance as humanly possible (Genesis 22:3).

Obedience means we must expend great energy struggling and striving and following our God in Faith. It is our hearts desire toward remaining obedient to this fight that we keep God's created order close by (Genesis 22:4 - 8).

Obedience means following through in Faith (Genesis 22:9 - 12). It is knowing when to 'put the knife down' as Abraham did. Surrendering ourselves that our desire for maintaining our part of the Created Order and acts of obedience are tests from God. That our God will reward our obedience to this Created Order (Genesis 22:13 - 14).

Let us Pray: Father, we thank You that through You alone we are guided through our lives, not by our own strength or wisdom, but in the knowledge and wisdom of our omniscient God. It is not by might, nor by power, but by Your Spirit that we can stand against the tactics of chaos as we struggle and strive to build our foundation of faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNjKdfjUaw0
ORDER MY STEPS IN YOUR WORD
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praise and worship song with lyrics

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Day 91: I believe We Can Fly

Day 91: I believe We Can Fly

Read: Isaiah 40:21 - 31

Ever thought about how cool it would be, to be able to fly? I mean you with just your body, soaring above the earth; you, banking over the forests; you skimming over the rivers; you darting through the canyons; you breathing deeply in the fresh air of free and effortless flight! Almost everybody at one time or another has wondered what it would be like to fly like a bird, If not at the present, then at least when you were only a kid you probably thought about it. Slowly coming back to earth and you remember that you can never break the laws of gravity. There seems to be something heavier.

Perhaps it’s not just gravity that seems to be holding you down, but everything. For as your mind comes back on line and you think about the things that lie behind, that lie directly in front of you and those things that lie ahead, your shoulders will visibly slump as if you were actually carrying something. There may not be anything visible to the eye, but it feels real. Truth is, you are carrying something, probably many.

There are burdens that bring there own gravity to life, burdens that don’t show up on bathroom scale. But you can still detect them. You can detect them in your face made weary by what it has endured. You can detect them in eyes made sad by what they have seen. There are work issues. There are family issues, the people you love. You see your parents getting older; perhaps becoming infirm. You see your children struggling in this or that. Perhaps you’ve hit a rough patch in your marriage. Someone you know is dying or has already succumbed. Yep, there will be no flying today.

And yet, what does the text say? “....but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Perhaps we spoke too soon! The Lord says that we can “soar on wings like eagles!” I don’t know about you, but he’s got my attention! He is suggesting that there is a way to overcome the gravity of our lives, a way to lighten our loads, a way rise above it all. Has he got your attention? He certainly has mine!

“Do you not Know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,....He will not grow tired and weary and his understanding no one can fathom.” “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. “ “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like Eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” God wants you to soar. And the way it happens is through the changing of perspective. When you begin to entrust your life to him instead of yourself your perspective is changed. Everything in life is dwarfed against the largeness and authority of the Lord. Gravity is overcome by faith!

Let us pray: Lord, in the midst of all those things of life that keep me grounded, work with me, come alongside of me, help me to change my worldly perspectives. Help me to overcome the gravity of my life, help me to lighten my load, place before me a way to rise above it as Jesus Christ rose above the grave. Lord, I truly believe I can fly!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUpPVOEkdA
I Believe i can fly lyrics
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This is my supposed to be my 1st video i made, and i got over 2500 views! Thank you for all watch,comment,subscribing,and flavoriting. I do not claim ownership...
I Believe i can fly lyrics
www.youtube.com
This is my supposed to be my 1st video i made, and i got over 2500 views! Thankyou for all watch,comment,subscribing,and favoriting. I do

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Day 90: As The Phoenix Rises From The Flames .....

Day 90: As The Phoenix Rises From The Flames .....

Read: Psalm 138, Proverbs 13:12

From a young age I was apprehensive and restless, searching for something to fill a void within me and give meaning to my existence. When I was 18 I entered Navy Basic Training to continue my search in a faraway land (Illinois), in another harsh disciplined environment (8 long weeks of military training), separated from my family for the very first time in my life. 
 
There I went to work and lived an independent life among a bunch of other guys my age, continuing to seek answers to my questions. Is it always supposed to be so incredibly difficult? Is my whole life meant to be defined as being nearly impossible? Is the life we live forever destined to be mired in failure?

David was a man who walked with God for many, many ,many years. David was a man who had been in the deepest trouble many different times. And David when he was in trouble, When he was at a spiritual low, Looked up and prayed and ask God to revive him. And every time David stopped to ask God to revive him. Guess what? "God did!"

For myself I was just incredibly naive about such matters of God and faith and the ways of the world. I stopped and left home never looking back at my parents when I boarded the plane for the first time. Truth be told, I never stopped to look up either. This is how my life went simply because I was never brave or bold enough to rise up.

3 On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul. (Psalm 138:3)

Then there was the day that I could no longer rise up and I did like David did, I looked in the only direction I could - UP and prayed and asked God to raise me up, to revive me and He did! Looking back at that night I realize that for the first time in my life I was raised. I was revived like the Phoenix from the flames of complete nothingness.

Today, as experience tells me, when I pray and God answers that prayer, that should encourage me to pray on. When I ask God for something great and God gives me something great. Then the next time I need something great I am encouraged to pray on. YES, Faith comes by praying and waiting, but it also comes out of our daily living and and the absolute excitement from seeing God answer and move and work.

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down towards your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
for you have exalted your name and your word
above everything. (Psalm 138:1 - 2)

Pray:

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138:7 - 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56zx_Xr4Uwc

Friday, September 14, 2012

Day 89: When Catastrophe Just Keeps on Singing

Day 89: When Catastrophe Just Keeps on Singing

Read: Psalm 137

If you know much about OT literature/writings, you will realize that a lot of times, especially in Psalms, that the stories were written as poetic expressions of personal feelings/emotions, due to the circumstances, good or bad, and let the truth be said here that at one too many points in Israelite history 'catastrophe' was appropriate too. All these ranges of expression came directly from deep within the wounded heart, from what was taking place in the writers day to day life. Songs of peace and hope, of prayer, comfort and love suddenly, when we are least prepared to change our tunes, throw up their hands surrendering themselves to the Song of Catastrophe.

One of the foremost examples of this is here in Psalm 137. For me, this is the toughest passage in the Bible. It is the song of the hopeless, it is the song of deepest disgust, it is the song of deepest anger and hatred. It is a song sung with the greatest possible passion against God and the Babylonians. God calls us to sing great songs of His salvation but where is this great and glorious salvation to be found in these words the exiles sang: 'Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!' Wow. In my heart of hearts, I grieve greatly for such words as these. God must've died!!!

Now, I know there ain’t nobody in this place that’s ever felt like that, but let me tell you I can bear witness to what the writer’s saying. I mean, when blessings are just overflowing all around you, you’ve got plenty of money, lots to eat, everybody’s healthy, miracles are all around us, etc.. We just can’t help but shout the victory for the great goodness of the Lord. But suddenly, one day the bottom falls out. Suddenly sickness has attacked you, you went to the checking acct. and there’s nothing there, no food in the cabinets, you have a foreclosure notice, your spouse is leaving ...!!! Will catastrophe ever stop shouting its horrific songs into our ears?

We think to ourselves, how can we praise God in the midst of all this? But I will tell you, and I pray that there will be a time when you can believe it, that in the moments of deepest despair, that’s the time to lift up a praise offering to the king. We have got it all backwards. We think all we have to do is wait until everything is smoothed out, and peaceful before we start singing praises again. When the greatest Songs of Catastrophe have bombarded your ears long enough, just slowly begin to sing Jesus. Gradually find one more reason each day to sing of God and His greater goodness. THERE IS GREATER POWER IN YOUR PRAISE THAN THERE IS IN YOUR DESPAIR!

Let us pray: Ever Living God, help me to experience that in the midst of my very worst of times, when my mind is becoming convinced that you have died and left me behind, that within my heart of hearts, I am alive and well living in the truth that You are alive and well and living within me (John 14:23). Praise God for our Resurrection!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghC3gqNQJPQ
Official God's Not Dead (Like A Lion) Lyric Video
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Watch the official lyric video for the brand new Newsboys single "God's Not Dead (Like A Lion)"!
Official God's Not Dead (Like A Lion) Lyric Video
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Watch the official lyric video for the brand new Newsboys single "God's Not Dead (Like A Lion)"!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Day 88: When Trouble Comes A Calling On You

Day 88: When Trouble Comes A Calling On You

Read: Psalm 91

It is always somewhere where we would rather it not be. It is forever trying to pop up and surprise you when you least suspect it. It is always lurking around some corner.
It is always an ever present house guest. It is always trying making itself at home. It lives, it breaths to bring a measure of lasting grief into your life at the exact moment when you absolutely do not need it. When you are nowhere near ready to receive its presence there it is. The last house guest you will ever need in your life - its trouble!


But the question that we as believers need to address today is: “What Do You Do… When Trouble Comes?” In other words, how do you respond…? How do you react…? What exactly is the correct measure… What are the appropriate steps that must be taken… If we are to make it through… When trouble comes a calling on your doorstep and you are not dressed for it. When trouble comes; you need to know how to deal with it, because in actuality, you don’t have a choice…! It is planning to stay awhile.

Psalm 91 presents us with one fundamental issue that we need to consider if we are to survive during this time of trouble and uncertainty… It lends to us, the potential advantage of how to overcome the adversity… It sheds light on what we need to do… When trouble comes…! If you want to make it through tough times… If you want to make it when trouble comes… You must first strive to remember that...


HE’S STILL GOD; OUR EVER VIGILANT PROTECTOR (verses 1 - 8): What a profound statement this is in verse one… God is our refuge…. (God is…) In other words, God is a safe place… A safety zone… A shelter from danger... He will send His angels to you. The old folks used to say; "He will hide you", “He’s a shelter in the time of storm…”


I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some storms in my life… I’ve had some troubled times in this life… I’ve had some times where it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it… Some times when I didn’t know whether I was coming or going… Some times when I didn’t know which way was up…! But I am very glad that I had a refuge…


I’m glad that I had a place of shelter… For not only does the text inform us that He’s our refuge… But Psalms 91 tells me that “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide… Under the shadow of the Almighty… For He is my refuge… And my fortress… In Him will I trust…” What I’m trying to say is that … “I’ve got a secret place…! I’ve got a shelter…! And when things get bad, I can run to the secret place…!” (“Who Can I Run To?”) I can run to God when trouble comes calling on me.


Today when you pray, pray the words of this magnificent Psalm. Make it deeply personal to your needs. Create great passion, profound purpose through your deep down desire for God alone to come calling on the trouble that came calling on you.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntd18gxdSGk
Psalm 91
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Psalm 91 by Lincoln Brewster