No Dogs Allowed – 2 Chronicles 15:5

5 At that time it was a dog-eat-dog world; life was constantly up for grabs - no one, regardless of country, knew what the next day might bring.

– 2 Chronicles 15:5

No Dogs Allowed

Do you ever feel like the "Dogs" of this world are snapping at your heels?  Just about to take a big bite right out of your fleeing behind?  I don't know if you've ever been chased down by a dog – and worst yet, bitten when he caught you – but I have, and I can tell you it's as scary and painful as it sounds.  

When I was a kid, my cousins and I were walking to a local park when as we passed a certain house, a big German Shepherd came rushing out of the back yard and with snarling, barking, and baring fangs, he chased me down the street and proceeded to take a big, aggressive bite right out of my skinny, 10-year-old backside!  It was one of those slow-motion, quicksand, lead-footed, surreal experiences that nightmares are made of, and while it really only lasted about 10 seconds or so (those German Shepherds are FAST!), it seemed like the nightmare would never end. I remember the dog's owners yelling "Don't Run!  Don't Run!  He won't chase you if you don't run!"  But at the time, in MY mind, all I could hear was "Run!  Run!  He'll bite you . . . R-U-U-U-N!"  As I think back on that childhood "experience," I can laugh now . . . but at the time it was crazy and very traumatic.

Doesn't life seem to be just like that experience sometimes?  We're strolling along, worry- and care-free, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, circumstances come barreling at you like a big, mangy dog!  And no matter how much you try to get ahead, that dog keeps coming at you – gnarling, growling, barking, and foaming at-the-mouth – just inches away from tearing a big chunk of flesh right out of you.  And while we are doing our best to run, things just seem to slow way down, and even though we're furiously pumping our arms and legs as hard and as fast as they can go, that dog just keeps getting closer, and bigger, and meaner, and nastier . . . to the point that you can feel its hot, stinky breath on the back of your neck.  No matter how hard you try to escape the inevitable, you know the bite is coming, and you just wish the darn thing would go ahead and bite you and get it over with, but the chase continues, wearing you down, tiring you out, leaving you feeling so helpless, and scared, and so bitterly, and utterly exposed.  The nightmare just goes on, and on, and on.

I'm here to tell you today that while we all will go through times like these, we have a Savior in Jesus, who will heal that dog bite and make us whole again. We have the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to forgive and the wisdom to know how to avoid the dog altogether the next time he comes sniffing around. We have a God who will take the horror of that experience, and turn it into a Victory and a life testimony.  We have the choice to run, and run, and keep running from the dog, or to face the dog head on, taking all its fury with the Strength, and the Grace, and the Peace of Christ, never to be terrified again because of His Saving Love.

So stop running.  Make the choice today to stand.  And doing all to stand, stand firm on the Word of God.  Put on the full armor that God has provided as outlined in Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 18, and be STRONG in the Mighty Power of our Lord.  Put up the No Dogs Allowed sign and let everyone know that even though life rages on around us, Our God has delivered us from ALL things and no dog in this world can ever tear that away from us.

Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Grace and Your Forgiveness.  Thank You for giving us the ability to withstand the pain and the horrors of life, and to be able to forgive with the Love that You used to forgive us.  Thank You for equipping us with Your armor so that no dog can ever intimidate, harass, or cause fear in us because You are our focus, our Joy, our Love, and our LIfe.  You are God . . . our God!

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Stuck Like Glue – 2 Chronicles 15:1

1 Then Azariah son of Obed, moved by the Spirit of God, 2 went out to meet Asa. He said, "Listen carefully, Asa, and listen Judah and Benjamin: God will stick with you as long as you stick with him. If you look for him he will let himself be found; but if you leave him he'll leave you.

– 2 Chronicles 15:1

Stuck Like Glue

Listen carefully!  God will stick with you . . . as long as you stick with Him! Do you understand what that means?  Do you really get it?  Can you grasp the enormity of the truth that just jumped off the pages of scripture?  God . . . OUR God . . . will join Himself to us in such a way that every move we make, every breath we take, every second, of every moment, of each and every day of the rest of our lives will be spent in the embrace of the Creator of the entire universe.  Our God will be with us every step of the way!  No THAT's something worth taking notice of.

If we can truly grasp the meaning of this truth, that no matter what we face – our victories, our failures, our challenges, and through every bit of growing and becoming who HE created us to be, the God who loves us so very much will give us the Grace, and the strength, and the wisdom we need to be successful in this oh-so-temporary life.  When we get the bad doctors' report – we will have the strength and grace we need to see us through; when we become victims of corporate down-sizing – we will have the confidence and the wisdom to get the job God has already set up for us, and the endurance, and the providence, and the faith to see us through while we wait for God's timing to work everything out; when we suddenly lose a loved one, whether through accident or the selfish and misguided acts of evil, our God will give us extra "stick-e'm" to be able to forgive, and to love, and to display His Grace to the rest of the questioning world.

Our victories and our triumphs and success will be so much sweeter because God will give us perspective and the ability to bless others with humility and self-sacrifice.  The value of the Favor of God (the F.O.G.) will be evident to all who witness the blessed life we are living in, and they will look on with wide-eyed wonder at how everything we do just seems to turn golden.  They will want what we have, which will be our opportunity to show them the true God, the One God, the Only God, the God who sticks with those who stick with Him.

So listen carefully! Pay attention! Stick yourself, no matter where you are in life and no matter what this world is throwing at you, to the One who will always be found . . . in front of you, behind you, to every side of you, but especially within you – at your core, your very soul, the you who God created you to be.  God is for you and He is faithful, to always be stuck, just for you.

Prayer

Father, You are always there and we praise You today, and we thank You for Your Love for us.  Help us Lord, to remember that no matter what we face, whether good or bad, we need only whisper Your name, because You are already there, providing what we need for every situation.  We love You Lord!

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Peace Man! – 2 Chronicles 14:5

 5 Because he got rid of all the pagan shrines and altars in the cities of Judah, his kingdom was at peace.

– 2 Chronicles 14:5

Peace Man!

Would you like to have peace in your kingdom?  You know . . . a household where things like conflict, and strife, and arguing, and back-biting, and name-calling, and murmuring, and sassing, and sneaking, don't exist?  Where your finances, and your health, and your career, and your family, and your neighborhood, and your kids, and your spouse all get along? Where the roses are blooming, and the grass is growing, and the butterflies and hummingbirds are dancing happy-joy-joy jigs?

OK, OK . . . a little too "sweet?"  I agree, but I think you get the picture, and the reality is that the "sweet-life" isn't really that far out of reach.  Peace in our own personal kingdom is God's design for all of us . . . REALLY . . . I promise!  And I also promise that it CAN be achieved . . . but there is a BIG role each of us has to play in order to realize that peaceful kingdom, and I'm afraid that for some of us . . . well . . . it's gonna take a war of the "wills" and the "will nots."

You see in order to get peace, true peace – God's Peace – in our lives and the lives of those around us (the kingdom), we have to be willing to do some house-cleaning.  That's right . . . Kingdom-building, Peace-achieving, world-denying, house-cleaning.  We have to be willing to get rid of all the idols, and gods, and self-indulging shrines and altars that displease God and which prevent His Peace from settling on our kingdoms.  We have to be willing to live the life of a fruit-salad (Galatians 5:22-26), allowing the Holy Spirit free reign in every area of our lives.  We have to become worthy of the Salvation and the Grace that our God so freely and lovingly gifted each one of us, and we need to deny (to "will not") the "pleasures" that this world would tell us we have the "rights" to as outlined in Galatians 5: 19-21.

The Peace that surpasses ALL understanding (Philippians 4:7), really isn't that difficult to understand when you live your life as a fruit orchard.  It becomes a natural, every minute-of every hour-of every day, walking, talking, eating, breathing, thinking, sleeping part of who you are.  And your life – your "kingdom" – will exist under the protection of God's Peace . . . so much so that the "world" will not be able to understand it.  In fact, they will be jealous of your peace.  They will try to destroy your peace by attempting to make life difficult for you, but their efforts will be fruit-less because you have already taken care of business!  You have cleaned house, and you've destroyed the world-things that keep HIS Peace at bay!  And even though you, walk, every day, through the valley of the shadow of death, no-thing, no-one, no-circumstance, no-predicament, no-doctor's report, no-job situation, no-anything, will ever be able to bring you down . . . because You have created a magnificent fruit orchard, in your kingdom of Peace!

Prayer

Father thank You for Your Peace!  Thank You for giving us the ability to understand how to achieve that Peace.  Help us to recognize the areas of our lives that need tearing down – the shrines and the altars and the idols that need destroying – so that we can realize a fruit-filled life, living comfortably in the embrace of Your Peace.

Have a Blessed (and Peace-filled) day everyone!

– Richard

Blow Baby, Blow! – 2 Chronicles 13:12

12 "Can't you see the obvious? God is on our side; he's our leader. And his priests with trumpets are all ready to blow the signal to battle. O Israel - don't fight against God, the God of your ancestors. You will not win this battle."

– 2 Chronicles 13:12

Blow Baby, Blow!

Are you ready to BLOW?!  Is your trumpet poised, your deepest breath drawn?  Do you have the note already planned out?  The Victory over your battle is yours for the taking, if you will just Blow Baby, Blow!  It's gonna take heart!  It's gonna take courage!  It's gonna take a deep faith – the faith that God Himself has already given you by the Power of His Holy Spirit – but YOU have to make the first move; blow the first note; get the party started!  You have to signal to the devil that the battle has begun and you and your God ain't takin' NO prisoners!

"What trumpet?" you say.  

"Blow? What are you taking about Blow?"

"How am I going to get victory by blowing a trumpet?"

Can't you see the obvious?  God is on your side!  He's your Leader!  You (and me), are HIS priests, and He's given you (and me), the responsibility to let the enemy know we're coming after him. God has given us the power and the authority, through the Name and the shed Blood of Jesus, OUR Lord, to proclaim HIS Glory and to stand in Victory and Dominion over our lives, our families, our church, our schools, our neighborhoods, our cities and towns, and over this entire world!  He's given us the most powerful weapon; the most awesome instruments of battle . . . our voice, and He's charged us with using it, Powerfully! Confidently! And with Authority!

Cry out a great battle cry!  Blow that instrument from the top of your lungs! Shout the name of JESUS!  Let the enemy know what he's in for!  When he comes to you with doubt . . . JESUS!  When he tries to test you with fear . . . JESUS!  When he attacks your health . . . JESUS!  JESUS!  JESUS!  Blow that trumpet name of JESUS and send the devil running!  Let him know that he will NOT win any battle because your God, my God, OUR God, is the God of the Angel Armies and HE CAN NOT BE DEFEATED!

Go ahead . . . try it.  Yes, it's going to take some practice.  It's going to take getting used to.  It's going to require you to take your eyes off of yourself for just a minute . . . focus on ALL that God has done for you.  Call to mind the Victories He's given you and the Grace that He's gifted you.  Make that very first battle cry . . . that single trumpet blast . . . be the cry against the pride in your life that is stopping you from releasing the Power of Jesus' name at the top of your lungs!  Take Courage!  Lift your head!  Fill those lungs with the deepest, most Faith-filled, purest gulps of God-given air . . . and Blow Baby, Blow!

Prayer

Father thank You for the Victory!  Thank You for trusting us as Your priests and for giving us the responsibility to blow the battle cry – to take initiative over our own lives and for letting the devil know that he's already been defeated!  Thank You for being our God!  Help us to shout the name of Jesus with total abandon and release of Power!  Help us to realize and understand the true power of the Faith that You have given each one of us!  Help us to Blow the note of triumph today!

Have a Blessed and Victorious day everyone!

– Richard

Serve to Receive – 2 Chronicles 10:7

7 They said, "If you will be a servant to this people, be considerate of their needs and respond with compassion, work things out with them, they'll end up doing anything for you."

– 2 Chronicles 10:7

Serve to Receive

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the service was impeccable?  Every detail taken care of; each setting meticulously placed; each plate set before you with expert care and each glass promptly filled, then every crumb quickly and promptly whisked away into a special, silver crumb-taker-away-thingy?  The care, and the attention, and especially the service and the attitude of service almost compelling you to over-tip?  Makes for a very special evening right?  OK, now counter that thought with a memory of the worst service you can remember.  You probably don't have to think too far back because bad service is fairly commonplace these days. Dirty tables, missing dinnerware, and poorly trained waitstaff with bad attitudes usually bring about the comment, "Well, we'll never be back HERE again."

Service – the art of serving – considering and seeing to the needs of another person or group of people, is God's design for His Church.  A servant's heart, the desire to serve others and to respond to their needs with love and compassion, is God's design for His Children (That's You and Me)!  When we get that concept on the inside of us – when it becomes WHO we are – then we can affect great change, not only in our church, but in our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and the world in general.  

People need!  They need help; they need "things;" they need someone to listen . . . and to HEAR; they need compassion; they need hugs; they need to smile; they need, they need, they need.  So who is going to meet those needs unless it's those of us whose needs have been met . . . those of us who the Father has called, and has rescued, and forgiven, and given new life.  HE served us, and so it must break His heart when we turn a deaf ear, or a blind eye, or a closed heart to the needs of the hurting world at our feet – those WE can help by simply becoming a servant – by listening, and seeing, and loving, and doing; by rolling up our spiritual sleeves and getting involved in people's lives.

Believe me, I know how inconvenient it can be to serve others, but I have found that the resulting blessing far outweighs any presumed inconvenience. And, the change that happens in our lives when we set aside our own agendas in order to bring the Father's Love to someone who is hurting, or stressing, or on the brink of desperation, can often be considered miraculous.  We BECOME servants.  We take on, gladly and willingly, the details of someone else's burden.  God changes our heart and a metamorphoses takes place in which our lives blossom and He starts pouring out Blessings, and Grace, and He unleashes abilities that we never knew we had.  He changes us, from the inside out, into His 5-star waitstaff – His hands extended – ready, willing, and able to serve His children . . . His way . . . and for His Glory!

Prayer

Father, oh that You would make servants of us all!  Help us Lord, to love serving You – not for recognition or for accolades – but for the pure love and the joy of doing Your work; of being about Your business.  Birth in us, the desire to hear, and to see, and to do so that You will be revealed to lost and hurting people, and that they can turn from their old ways, and turn to You, becoming servants themselves.  Thank You Lord, for this servant's heart.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Pray Hard! – 2 Chronicles 6: 19

19 Even so, I'm bold to ask: Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I'm setting before you right now.

– 2 Chronicles 6: 19

Pray Hard!

When you go to God in prayer, how do you go?  Are you a silent and reverent thinker prayer? A whisper prayer? A mumbler? Maybe a cryer or a pacer or a rock in placer? Or are you a jumper and a shouter – a dance around the room one minute / flat on your face the next / crying out at the top of your lungs prayer warrior?  I believe there are appropriate times for each of these and I also believe that God expects us to know when and how to use them.

For me, most of my daily prayer is the silent, in my minds-eye-to-God's-ear kind of converse and reflect prayer.  I have an hour-long commute into the city every morning so it's a perfect opportunity to cover my family, my friends, and my church and our civic and government leaders in prayer and blessings.  It would be totally inappropriate for me to start shouting out in tongues and pacing up and down the train aisle waving my arms and asking God to do this and that ( I would be on the 6 o'clock news if I did that).

But there are times for just such prayer. Bold, passionate, I need a touch from you God, and I'm not leaving until I get it, kind of prayer.  I believe God loves when we free ourselves to openly and honestly pour our hearts out on the Throne room floor, with all the tears and snot and sweat that comes from a good warrior's fighting prayer.  He delights when we lose the inhibitions and quit worrying about how we look, or how we sound, and we let go in reverent and devout storm-chasing, get the devil on the run, change the hearts of man, interceding.

"Oh my . . . I could never pray like that." you say?  Well consider this:  Suppose someone came in the middle of the night and took your child, or your spouse . . . how would you react? Would your response and your cry to God be softly whispered pleas of "Oh, if you find it in your heart, please return my loved ones."  Really?  I don't know about you but I would be shouting, and pacing, and pulling my hair, and going out-of-my-mind with questions, and anger, and worry, and hurt, and I would be pleading passionately for God to bring my loved ones back to me.  I wouldn't care what I looked like.  I wouldn't care who could see or hear me.  I wouldn't care about anything but what my immediate need is.

Well every day, in every corner of the world, the enemy is setting out to destroy our children, families, our communities, our churches, and our countries – he wants it all for himself.  So every once in a while (maybe even more often that that)  . . . it's OK to go a little "Pentecostal" in your prayer life.  It's OK to wrestle with God and to let Him know that we are passionate about our needs.  It's OK to let everyone think what they want to think, because I'll tell you what . . . God receives these prayers just as much as He does the silent reflection ones.  And I'm convinced that when we show our true, God-given passion to Him, it rallies the Angel Armies and all of Heaven is moved, and the Warrior Spirit in our Triune God jumps, and shouts, and rages right alongside us, sending the enemy running straight back to hell . . . with that nasty, little, poor-excuse of a tail tucked firmly between his scrawny little legs.

So I challenge you . . . pray hard sometime this week.  Get by yourself somewhere and let God know what you're passionate about.  Let it ALL hang out – every praise, every hurt, all your questions and your concerns – and see if the Holy Spirit doesn't just take over and show you what a true Prayer Warrior you really are . . . when you pray hard!

Prayer

Father I thank You for allowing us to come to You passionately.  Thank You that You have built that in us.  Teach us how and when to scream, and shout, and cry, and laugh with total abandon in energetic and devout prayer to-and-with You!  Help us to let go of our pride and our inhibitions and to come to You freely, and to let You know exactly how we are feeling.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard

Hand It Down – 2 Chronicles 6:8-9

8 but God told him, 'It was good that you wanted to build a temple in my honor - most commendable! 

9 But you are not the one to do it. Your son, who will carry on your dynasty, will build it for my Name.'

– 2 Chronicles 6:8-9

Hand It Down

We all want to honor God.  We all desire to show Him how much we love Him and are devoted and grateful to Him. And we all have an idea of how we think we can use our talents, resources, abilities, and efforts to express that love, devotion, gratitude, and honor to Him.  All very good and commendable things in the eyes of God to be sure.

But . . . I believe the greatest way we can honor our Heavenly Father is by passing on our legacy of love, devotion, gratitude, and honor to our children and to the next generation.  We have a responsibility, especially as parents, to be willing to see our sons and daughters become greater than we ever could.  Greater in their devotional life, greater in their Spiritual life, and greater in their accomplishments for the Kingdom.  Our legacies – our dynasties (if you will) – should be that we've raised a generation who love God more than anything; who know Kingdom-building principles and are excited about spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, and who understand and practice the importance of giving and receiving in God's economy.

In this generation of entitlement, instant gratification, and self-love, we need to persistently pour our hearts for God into the youth of our churches, our neighborhoods, and our world.  We need to show them how to live holy, and how to be humble, and how to serve others without the need for recognition or applause.  We need to help them understand that there is only One worthy of being idolized, and His name is Jesus, the Risen Christ, our God, our Redeemer, our Everything and All-in-All.  We need to be willing to deny our own ideas and let God direct us in passing them on and we need to be OK with letting and watching someone else build the dreams we hold so dear.

I believe that God will honor our heart for building His temple by the youthful enthusiasm and determination of the next generation that are God's children.  Our legacy will be that of servanthood to the greater purpose – HIS purpose – and our God will be honored, and His Glory lifted up, all because we were willing to carefully, and purposefully hand it all down to our sons and daughters . . . for Him.

Prayer

Father, You have given us so much, and in our gratitude we desire to build a temple of honor to Your Name and for Your Glory, but Your ways oh Lord, are not our ways, and sometimes You want us to lay aside our own plans for something greater.  Father help us to be willing.  Help us to lay down our pride and to pass on our dreams and our purposes to this next generation.  Help us to teach them how to build that temple of Honor, with the freshness of young minds and the abilities of young hearts.  Help us Lord, to build Your kingdom, Your way.

Have a blessed day everyone!

. . . and tell a young person how much God loves them today.

– Richard