You Just Gotta Do It! – Philippians 3:13

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,...
– Philippians 3:13

You Just Gotta Do It!
There are a lot of distractions in our lives and sometimes, it seems that we try to address all of them at the same time.  Distractions aren't necessarily a bad thing but in order to bring things into perspective, I think I should probably use another word or phrase . . . how about "GottaDos" – yeah, GottaDos, we've got a lot of them don't we?

I mean think about it – what do you GottaDo today?  For some of us, the list would take a couple of pages and if there were more hours in a day, we would probably keep adding those GottaDos.  It's absolutely exhausting sometimes isn't it?  GottaDo this, GottaDo that, GottaGo here, GottaStop there, GottaBuy this (and that), GottaGo to work (work has it's own set of GottaDos), GottaPut gas in the car, GottaPay the bills, GottaCall the plumber, GottaGet a hair cut, GottaWater the plants, Gotta, Gotta, Gotta . . . Good Grief!

While some of those things are important, they can distract us from the one thing we really GottaDo.  We can make ourselves so busy that we don't have time for the Lord.  Our time with Him should be the number one GottaDo in our lives and everything else should only come AFTER we have spent some time loving on Him, and ministering to Him, and letting Him Minister to us.  This one GottaDo is His way of ministering to us and giving us direction for our lives.  This one thing . . . this one GottaDo, will get us past the stresses and pressures of the day, and it will help us get perspective on and for our lives, so that we can be effective witnesses for the kingdom.  It will help us heal past hurts, and it will allows us to find grace in our hearts, and forgive the people who have hurt us.  It will also help us to find the grace to forgive ourselves (wouldn't that be nice?).  This one GottaDo is the key to successfully having the time, resources, energy, and desire, to take care of all the other "things" in our lives.  

Are you hurting? GottaDo Jesus!  

Are you sick? GottaDo Jesus!  

Are you still looking for work? GottaDo Jesus!  

Whatever and wherever you are in your life, the One and Only thing you GottaDo, is spend time with Jesus.  He will help you take care of everything else.

What do you GottaDo today?  Have you done it yet?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that I have not given You the time that I need to lately.  I have busied myself with so many other things that I have neglected my time with You and I am so sorry.  Please forgive my petty and seflish desires.  Lord, I will not neglect You anymore – I will spend time with You first, and if I run out of time to do some things as a result then so be it – I know that there is nothing more important than spending my time with You.  Thank You Lord for being patient with me and for opening Your arms wide for me to come running into each and every day – I will no longer leave You standing with empty arms.

Have a blessed day everyone!

-Richard

Grace Is For Everyone – Ephesians 2:4-9

4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 

5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 

7 in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, to us in Christ Jesus. expressed in His kindness 

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 

9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

- Ephesians 2:4-9

Grace Is For Everyone

Do you ever think about Grace?   God's Grace in particular?  It's something I've been thinking a lot about lately.  I still have trouble sometimes, trying to rationalize why God sent Grace my way.  I mean, I am nothing - and I certainly don't deserve it - especially back before I was first saved . . . I REALLY didn't deserve it then, but He chose to gift it to me anyway.  He still gifts it my way, every second, of every moment, of every day.

I am so humbled and so in awe of how God continues to work in my life, and I know that I'll never be able to justify it.  I can however, "gift" Grace to someone else.  I can choose to show grace throughout my day to those who don't know the love of our Father - and even to those who do.  Sometimes I forget that I am supposed to reflect His Love to those around us.  A BIG part of that love is Grace.

Believe me, I know how difficult it can be.  That so-and-so zipping in and out of traffic on the freeway; the guy who took the parking place - even though it was clearly meant for someone else;  the kid in the car who has his sub-woofer thumping hip-hop so loud that it is shaking everyone else's car;  the girl gabbing on-and-on about absolutely nothing so that everyone on the bus is now a part of her conversation;  the coworker who is not pulling their weight;  the fast-food clerk who just can't seem to get the order right; the inconsiderate person who brought their crying baby to the movie theater...and on-and-on the list goes.  All those people who annoy us and make our lives a little less "convenient" - yep, they deserve grace too.

I know I have been the person stealing a parking spot, or playing the stereo too loud, or doing something to annoy someone else, so I really don't have a right to complain . . . but I do.  I do it way too often sometimes.  The Lord has really shown me that I need to be less annoyed with people, and start showing them Grace and Love and Kindness.  I need to always be mindful that I am His child ONLY because He FIRST loved me.  I am, and always will be, undeserving of our Father's Love, and the Grace He so freely gives me, and I have no right to treat anyone as if I hold some sort of position over them.  I am nothing, therefore I should be gracious to all.

Prayer

Father, please forgive my ungrateful heart.  Thank You for reminding me that You are the reason for the very breath and life in me.  Thank You for showing me that the best way to reflect who You are is to show Grace and Mercy and Kindness and Love to those around me.  I pray that I can start today to not show impatience, or be annoyed, or pass judgment on anyone and I ask for the help of Your Holy Spirit because on my own, I know that I will fail.  But Lord, with Your help I can do anything!

Have a blessed day everyone!

- Richard

Hearing From The Holy Spirit – John 16:13

13 When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth.  He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come. 
– John 16:13 (Good News Translation)

Hearing From The Holy Spirit
Early on in my Christianity, I was sitting in a Sunday night service at the AG church where I was saved.  The pastor changed things up a bit and asked members of the congregation to share what God had been doing in their lives.  I heard story after story of God's goodness and His grace but what I found most interesting was the stories told of how God spoke to someone or told them to do something.  It seemed that almost everyone was hearing from God and I was concerned because I hadn't heard God speak to me yet - I was hurt because I didn't have the relationship with God that others did.  Then an elderly man who was considered a pillar of the church stood up and in his slow Texas drawl said "You know, y'all have been jawing 'bout how God told you to do this and spoke to you about that . . .well," he continued, "I've been a Christian pert near all my life, and I ain't never heard God speak to me in an audible voice."  He went on to say, "Y'all gotta be careful 'bout how'ya spin yer tales so that the new folks in this here congregation won't be 'spectin to hear from God ever time they git down on their knees!"

It was almost like he knew how discouraged I had become listening to everyone's wonderful experiences with God.  After the service I went up to him and thanked him for sharing his wisdom and I explained how I was feeling.  He took me under his wing and over the next couple of years, he taught me how to hear from God, but most importantly, he taught me how to listen for God.  I'll be forever grateful to him for sharing his time and his wisdom with me.

I think that lots of people get discouraged sometimes because they don't hear from God, or they aren't sure that what they are feeling is from God.  I can understand where they are coming from and I don't think the church does enough to help people acquire the skills they need to listen for God, so that when the Spirit does speak to them, they can know in their "knower" that it is from God.

The key, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Having that special relationship with Him and being able to commune with Him is so important to being able to hear what He is saying.  The Holy Spirit is our helper and He was sent to guide is through our lives and so we need to see Him as our confidant – our closest friend – the one we can ALWAYS count on.  We need to learn to trust Him and to consult with Him about every detail in our life so that we get used to the relationship.  The Holy Spirit of our God is the only way we are going to get through the rigors of our lives and stay on the narrow path to the Father.  If Jesus is The Way to the Father, then the Holy Spirit is the GPS that keeps us on the right path.

So how does He speak to us?  Through little feelings in our stomachs; through sudden thoughts; through other people's wisdom and example; through dreams and visions - He speaks to us in all kind of ways, so we need to start acknowledging Him and by doing so, the clarity with which He communicates with us will increase.  


Thank Him for finding your lost keys; thank Him for remembering to complete the task that has been eluding you; thank Him for helping you throughout your day! As you learn to acknowledge Him, His voice will become apparent and you will soon know His voice like a child knows its mother's.

God wants to speak to you - and He does it through the Holy Spirit.  Are you listening today?

Prayer
Father, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to us in order to speak wisdom and joy and peace and to give us Your direction.  How lost we all would be without Him.  Help us to learn how to listen for His voice so that when He does speak - when You speak, we are able to hear Your plan for our lives.  Father, You always know what we need and You always tell us how to achieve the success and to get over the failures in our lives, and You do it through the gift of Your Holy Spirit - Thank You for Your gift!

Have a blessed day everyone!

-Richard

I Hope So! – 1 Peter 1:13

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
– 1 Peter 1:13

I Hope So!
Hope is one of those catch-all words that can mean a lot of different things depending on who is hoping, and what they are hoping for.  As Christians, there is only one hope for us – or at least that's what it should be.

When I was a kid I used to hope for a lot of things.  Most of them would never come true but I hoped for them anyway.  Like most kids in our country, I was preoccupied with material things and satisfying my need for "stuff."  I used to wish and hope and dream and plan about things that I would never realize.  I remember one time hoping that I would be a millionaire so that I could buy myself a fire truck.  I was 6 at the time and if I remember correctly, the year before I hoped I could BE a fire truck!  That just shows the kind of silly things my imagination put priority on.

God built the need to hope in us.  So even though as kids we all hoped for silly things (I know I'm not the only one), it was because of the wonderful gift of hope that our Father in heaven, in His infinite wisdom, blessed us with.  He knew that one day, we would come to realize the fullness of the meaning of hope, and the one true reason He birthed it in us.  I believe He sits in eager anticipation of that Aha! moment when each of us recognizes Christ as our Savior and our one true Hope.

So understanding the hope that we now have, the bible tells us to prepare our minds for action and to keep sober in spirit!  Keep hoping and realize what and who you are – in Him!  The resurrected Christ is our King, and our Way to the Father, and we are given this blessed hope because He first loved us and called us to Himself!  It is nothing that we did or could ever do – it is only by grace that we were given this precious gift.

He is our eternal Life and our proclamation of Glory!  We need to share our hope with a world that has none – or that is hoping for material or worldly things.  We need to show them the difference that they can have in their lives by displaying the hope that we have!  We should be beacons of hope that will lead those with lost or misguided hope, to the Hope and to the Light of Christ!

Prayer
Father, I am so thankful for the hope that You have given me, in the gift of Christ.  Lord Jesus, you are my reason for being and my hope for the day when I will be with You in eternity.  You have brought joy to my life and I am forever grateful.  I pray that I can share that same hope with those who you bring across my path and that I never pass on an opportunity to share the Hope that I have in You!

Have a blessed day everyone!

–Richard 

Thrive where You Are! – Jeremiah 12:5

5 "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?  And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?"
- Jeremiah 12:5

Thrive where You Are!
Have you ever asked the Lord to get you out of your present environment because of all of the evil people around you?  Perhaps it was a job or maybe even your own family!  In today's scripture, the Lord is answering Jeremiah's complaint about all of the evil people that seem to prosper in this world.

God is basically telling Jeremiah, "Look, I know what's going on the world.  After all, I'm the One who gave all of these evil people over to their own lusts and desires and I will deal with them if they don't change their ways.  Besides, I have your back while you are here so I don't need you to complain to Me about any of this - just make sure that you live YOUR life according to My Word so that you don't get corrupted along the way."

Of course, this is just my interpretation of the conversation but I really think that God, as patient as He is, must get frustrated with us when we complain about our situation.  I am just as guilty as anyone else, I mean I would love to work in an all Christian environment or live in a world where everyone LOVES the Lord and is living accordingly?  I have a feeling though, that if that were the case, I might find something else to complain about - hmmmm.

It's really a profound statement (of course it is dummy - God said it!), and it spoke to me today even though I have read it many times before.  God has me where He has me so that I can strengthen my faith in Him and in that, effect change in this crazy and caustic environment.  I mean really, I am so blessed to be living in a country where I have the freedom to serve God so openly and if I find it difficult because of those around me now, how weak will my faith prove if I am ever put in a real hostile environment.  I'm not facing a choice at the point of a machete or looking down the barrel of an automatic weapon; my family isn't being threatened because of what I believe;  I'm not being thrown into prison for my faith.  If I can't openly and freely serve God here in this "safe land," then I'm going to be in real trouble when my time of testing comes.

Our way of  life and our freedom to worship God are being attacked in this country like never before.  Even now, the freedom to pray openly in public settings is being seriously challenged - if... your prayers are Christian prayers.  If you want to offer Islamic or Hindu or Buddhist prayers, then you are given all of the courtesy to do as you wish.  It isn't really that far-fetched to imagine a tough time ahead and we really need to be ready to stand firm in our faith, battle-tested and ready for the persecution that may come.  Are you ready?  I'd like to think that I am, but I'm not so sure.

I have decided to thank God for all of the challenges that I work with every day, and I really need to show God's love to the witches and the heathens and the "other" religion zealots and even to those who openly oppose me.  I am purposing to be salt and light in the very environment that God placed me in and as I learn what faith really is and I put it to practice, maybe . . . just maybe, those challenges around me might want to know a little more about the God that I serve.  I will serve God where I am until He decides it's time for me to move, and I will no longer question why He has me where I am.  I am where I am because that's where I'm supposed to be so I will serve Him where I am - with all that I am!

Prayer
Father I am so sorry for murmuring about the people who don't even choose to acknowledge that You exist, yet seem to prosper in all that they do.  Their prosperity and the way that they live have nothing to do with my Faith in You.  They have nothing to do with my serving You in this place.  I pray that as I draw closer to You that my faith will increase to the point that the evil around me will start to envy MY God and that they will see how good life can be in You.  Maybe they will start to question who it is that they serve and they will want to know how they can be reborn into Your kingdom.  I pray that I can be the light that leads them straight to You!

Have a blessed day everyone!

-Richard

Hey! Watch Where You're Steppin! – Proverbs 4:26

26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 

– Proverbs 4:26

Hey! Watch Where You're Steppin!

"Ponder the path of your feet..."

When was the last time you actually thought about the path you are walking on?  I'm not talking about concrete or asphalt or dirt - no, I am talking about your spiritual path.  What path are you taking to the Lord?  Is it a path full of detours and distractions?  Maybe a boulder or two to climb over and a couple of creeks that take you off-route until you can find a good place to cross?  Or . . .  is your path well thought out, and you are taking steps of purpose,  and you are one of those people that like to get from point A to point B as quickly and with as little stopping as possible.  I have found that I'm a little bit of both at times.  

I'm happy to say that it's getting much easier for me to walk on my path with purpose and I am finding it easier not to get distracted by funny billboards or interesting or odd scenery, but it has taken a lot of practice.  I was really bad at first - I would zig-zag all over the place and I would find myself taking avenues I never thought I would take, and ultimately I would find myself lost and confused.  I still have that potential in me, so now I try to stay on the routes I know best.

I try to use my GPS - God's Path System.  It's kind of reversed from the usual GPS that are in most cars today.  In those systems, you enter a destination address and "The Voice" tells you step-by-step how to get there.  In my GPS, I do all the talking along the way . . . it goes something like this:

– "Lord, do You want me to go here?" 

– "Father, I'm feeling lost - can You help me get back on the right path?"

– "Jesus, I know there's a road block up ahead, can You help me get around it?"

– "Holy Spirit, I need You to drive right now because I'm starting to feel a little lost!"

Not only does this work for me, but it has the added benefit of always being in communication with God - and THAT keeps my mind clear to hear from Him throughout my day.  I also try to only listen to praise music or Teachings of His Word so that my soul is constantly being fed.  Are ALL my ways sure?  Not always.  Am I getting better at staying on my path?  Absolutely!  

How can you do it?

The Bible tells us to think on (Ponder) THESE things:

    Whatever is Pure

    Whatever is Holy

    Whatever is True

    Whatever is Honorable

    Whatever is Just

    Whatever is Pure

    Whatever is Lovely

    Whatever is Commendable

    Whatever is Excellent

    Whatever is Worthy of Praise

Basically . . . whatever is Jesus!  

That's the best way to ponder your path!  Your path will take care of itself when you think on Him and in all things and in all ways, if you acknowledge Him, He will make your paths straight and He will keep the darkness from in front of you!  You will never get or be lost again!

Prayer

Father, I thank You for the Light that is Your Son Jesus.  Your Word says that He is the Lamp for my feet and the Light for my path and I rely on Him to keep my way to You clear.  I pray that I will always think on Him as I navigate through my life.  You have made a way for me and I am loving the journey Lord!

Have a blessed day my everyone!

- Richard