Psalm 46: God is still in control

 

God's cure for discouragement

 

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Amazing mountain top views while Alone With God

 

A Christian father’s prayer for the school year

Father tonight I lift up our students to You. I thank You Lord for the gift of education freely given to all children within our community. Father I also thank You for the countless men and women who work hard daily to educate our children. Thank You for the teachers who work directly with our children. Thank You for the custodial staff that work so hard to provide a welcoming environment for our children. Thank You for the safety staff that make sure that our students are safe while at school and I ask Lord that you watch over our students so that these men and women do not need to exercise their training this school year. Thank You Lord for the office staff and the administrators who lead these teams and hold everything together. Please encourage all these men and women and remind them how important their calling is for our families and for our community.

Father I ask for You to please watch over our kids this year. Please grow them relationally, emotionally, physically, academically and spiritually. Please show all students how much You love them through the words and actions of those who know and follow Your Son. Please help these young disciples to show Your love to those around them without exception and without limit. Please remind us and teach us that Your love is free and without limit for all people of every shape, size, color, economic background, language and any and every other type of man-made barrier. Please break down such barriers this school year Lord and draw us all together as one community united through Your Son. Please help our students to be quick to listen and slow to speak. To treat others as they would like to be treated. To be kind for no reason other than to love their neighbors as themselves. Please help them to ask for Your forgiveness and the forgiveness of those around them when they fall short and make mistakes with these things.

Father as parents please remind us to be good stewards of the time that you’ve entrusted these precious kids to us. Remind us that every day is a gift and that although the days sometimes are long the years will be very short. Help us to cherish moments in the present knowing that You will take care of the future.

Above all else Lord I ask that you bring honor and glory to Yourself through the lives of my boys so that others will see not them, but Christ IN THEM and as a result give You praise. I ask all these things in Jesus’ name and for His sake. Amen.

The Prayer of a Father

This morning during my AWG time the Spirit of the Lord taught me or perhaps reminded me of a simple truth that has stuck with me all day.  I pray that for all the other parents out there, especially other first timers into the season of college life like me, I pray that the Comforter will comfort you as He did me through His word below:

A few days ago, I started to reread the Gospel of Mathew.  This morning's reading was chapter 4.  As I opened up my Bible I found several verses that I had highlighted at some point but this morning verse 22 stuck out to me for the first time.  The few verses prior teach us that Jesus had called Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him and shortly thereafter He called John and James to do the same.  In verse 22, the Holy Spirit records how James and John the "brothers of thunder" respond to Jesus' invitation to follow Him. 

"Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him"  Matthew 4:22

Anyone who has asked me about my oldest leaving for college knows how much of a challenge this new season of life has been for me.  Although the Lord granted me peace over this a few months ago it's still not easy to think about…  the idea of my "little baby" no longer living with the rest of our family most of the time is something that I can't yet grasp.  As I read and then highlighted verse 22 this morning, the Lord reminded me of an important truth through these three little words "and their father" that Matthew recorded.  The more that I thought about this phrase today, the more obvious the point became.  You see,  Jesus had hand picked his first disciples.  He had great plans for these men.  They would see things that others would never see, hear things that others would never hear BUT there was a condition to all this.  These young men not only had to follow Jesus but they also had to leave the lives that they were used to AND their father in order to do so.  So what's my point? 

This morning the Lord reminded me through the example of this nameless dad that this same situation will come into the lives of every parent that has a son or daughter that follows Jesus.  There will come a point in the lives of these young adults when Jesus will call them away from their parents to follow Him.  He already has great plans for them (Eph 2:10)  Things that only He can show them.   Things that only He can teach them.   Places only He can take them.  Their job in all this is to obediently follow Jesus.  Our job as parents is to trust the One who called them to follow and then like the nameless father of James and John…. to simply let them go.

"for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him" 2 Timothy 1:12

A special note to all the Christian Mom's out there

At roughly 8:30pm on June 5th 2019 my oldest "baby" graduated from High School.  Talk about being proud.  It was almost a surreal moment for me personally.  Obviously I know that this day was coming and had been slowly and steadily approaching over the last 18 years but here it was finally appearing in all of it's glory.

 As I watched my son smile and wave to those that were there to support him and then walk across the stage it reminded me of a very, Very VERY important biblical truth and that is of a moms vital role in the lives of her children.

One of the most overlooked people in all of scripture is found briefly in Acts 16:1 and 2 Timothy 3:14-15.  If you read these passages you won't even find her name but you will find a description of this amazing woman.  We don't know much about her but what we do know about this woman's identity is that she was Timothy's mom.  We also know that she was married to a non-believer who did not raise his son in the Lord (Acts 16:1).  We also know that from childhood mom taught Timothy "the sacred writings which were able to give him the wisdom that lead to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15).  This mom taught her son the scriptures that eventually lead to his salvation.

Over the last few months, I've had several folks tell me what a great young man Ryan is and how much he stands out from his peers.  They tell me that Stef and I did a great job raising him and that we should be proud of him and ourselves. While I appreciate their comments I give all glory to God alone.  Especially when I think about all the things we did wrong or that we would do over if we could.  I think that one of the most misunderstood passages in all of scripture is from 1 Timothy 2 where Paul talks about God's design for leadership in the church and in the home.  There is NO question that God ALWAYS pours out His grace when situations are less than ideal but there is no doubt that the relationship between a mother and her son is unique.  It just is.  The relationship that my wife has with my sons is different than mine and always will be just because she's mom.

Timothy's mom taught her son the scriptures from childhood since dad did not and she raised up a Christ-like young man that God used to literally change the world and write part of the New Testament.  He graduated from mom's high school and then he left for "college" to hang out with Paul and the rest is history.  I think that a lot of times we, as passionate Jesus followers, desperately want to change the world around us and that is GREAT THING!  However, sometimes we overlook the fact that as parents and in this case specifically as a mom, there are seasons in life where the most important contribution we can make to the Kingdom of God is not WHAT WE DO for the kingdom but WHO WE RAISE as It's citizens.  For all the moms out there DO NOT under value your service to the Kingdom by thinking that you are "JUST raising your kids" in Christ.  You don't have to preach  to the masses or lead a bible study or evangelize the world to be effective or useful to the Kingdom of God and the cause of the Gospel.  If you want to change the world, start by loving and discipling your family first.  Your primary and most important job is to "teach the sacred writings" to your children so that they will grow in knowledge that may lead them to salvation.  When this is a priority for you, you never know what could happen.  Years from now after all the long nights filled with crying and changing diapers are gone and the weekend sports games are over and the music lessons and family dinners and math homework are no more.  When your midnight visits to the ER disappear as your little one finally graduates from your family home and moves out to start the next chapter of their life...  you might not have ever noticed it before, but looking back I pray that God show you glimpses that you have be raising your own little Timothy the entire time.  What's more I pray for your son or daughter as well as mine that one day the Spirit of Jesus Christ will send them out to change the world in their own way and in their own time for the honor and glory and praise of the name of Jesus Christ.

"I have no greater joy than this, 

to hear of my children walking in the truth" 

3 John 4   

God Story: The Weighty Role of a Father

The last few days have been very interesting for our house.  Last Wednesday, Ryan "signed" with Roanoke College and will be running track and cross country as an NCAA athlete in the fall.  Thursday our boy's van died.  We had "the blue beast" for almost 14 years.  I loved that van but now it's gone and will never be back.  Friday my back pain returned after several months of working out and being pain free.  Saturday my three oldest all competed in a track meet and all did well.  My baby Will will be done with elementary school in a few short weeks.  Yesterday my 4th "boy" officially become a teenager.  Stef and I are now raising not one or two or three but FOUR teenagers in our home.  This truly is a new chapter of life for us...

  

I recently finished re-reading through the letter to the Ephesians.  In this amazing part of scripture, the Holy Spirit through Paul records something very interesting... after instructing all children to obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3) Paul then instructs all FATHERS with the following:

"Fathers do not provoke your children to anger BUT bring them up in 

the discipline and instruction of the Lord"  Ephesians 6:4

Although Paul could have easily commanded that both of the parents that he just mentioned bring up their kids in Christ, Paul specifically commands Fathers to do so and why is that?  At work anything that goes wrong is my fault.  Even if I'm not there even if I had nothing to do with it, it's my fault.  And why is that?  Because that's my job and I'm accountable to my employers for everything.  This rule applies to Fathers as well without question.  Although both the husband and wife should be working together to raise their children in the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ scripture is clear that just like I am at work...ultimately the father is the one who will be held accountable for this weighty responsibility that has been entrusted to him.  Can and should moms train up their kids also?  Absolutely!  Should a mom step up when dad is not a believer or when the believing dad like Adam sits by passively and does not engage in his God given task of making disciples of those within his own home? Absolutely!  BUT... regardless of what mom's role is in all this, as a father of five young men I KNOW that God will hold ME accountable to raise up our boys "in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."  For this impossible and weighty task I ask the Spirit of Christ to fill me with His love, patience, power, disciple and self-control daily so that I can accomplish this task in HIS POWER not in my own because the more I rely on myself the more I realize how impossible this task is.  

Do I do it perfectly... absolutely not.  Have I and do I continue to make mistakes?  Absolutely. All the time. Do I have countless regrets about the past about this?  Absolutely.  BUT this is my task and I do not take it lightly.  I pray that more and more men will step into their God'given roles as FATHERS instead of  just being boys that shave, work hard and show up at church once a week if at all.  And why is this so important?  Because the survival of our society hangs in the balance.  Because human souls hang in the balance.  Because this is a role that God has entrusted to us... as Fathers... to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord...  especially... when they're teenagers!!! 

Lord help me raise Your boys.  I ask this for the sake and glory of Jesus name.  Amen.    

Message: The Promises of Prayer

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Message: The ABCs of Discipleship

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The New Year's Resolution of the Christian

Good evening brothers and sisters in Christ! I hope you had a GREAT Christmas and a happy New Year's and that 2019 is off to a good start. Many people look at New Years as a time to not only reflect but also to start fresh. Many make New Year's Resolutions to do things differently in the upcoming year. Many, like me, might resolve to make a change physically. They want to get in shape and lose a few pounds by starting to work out or perhaps work out more. Others resolve to make a change relationally. This could be to spend more time with their kids or spouse or friends or some other loved one. For others maybe this year is when they resolve to change how they spend their time. Perhaps it's to finally plug into that small group like they've been talking about forever but just have never gotten around to or maybe they want to spend less time on social media and more time on their favorite hobby. Still others might resolve to make a change mentally. They're tired of always being stressed out with work or family or money or all of the above. They feel like they really need to make a change because they simply cannot keep carrying the heavy loads that they are currently carrying and that 2019 is going to be the year, their year to make a change.

I heard a stat on the radio today that most people will drop their new years resolutions within the first two weeks of January. I do not know how accurate that stat is but I would guess that it is likely to be very accurate. As you study how the Apostle Paul describes the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is mentions many characteristics but he mentions two of them twice and I think that is significant. If you read Galatians 5:22-23 and 2 Timothy 1:7, you see where Paul tells us twice that the Spirit that lives within all believers produces love and self-control/discipline. Why does that matter?

My point is this… this year you don't need less stress in your life you need more peace and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is peace. You don't need less discouragement in your life, you need more joy and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is joy. You don't need less anger towards those around you, you need more love and patience and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is love and patience. Unlike the stat that I heard earlier today the Holy Spirit GROWS discipline and self control within the life of the believer IF YOU LET HIM to make real change possible for us as believers. He does not however, grow within you automatically, all relationships take effort by both parties to grow. I honestly believe that the reason most people fail to accomplish their goals is because they go about it wrong. They try to harvest the fruit without watering the roots. If you want to increase your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, discipline or power than you need more of Jesus Christ since He is the source of them all. The more that we grow in Christ's likeness the more that the Spirit grows all these NATURALLY within us. Jesus tells us that we grow in grace by the WORD of God (John 17:17). This year, I would challenge you that if you are not in the word of God daily than you are missing out on the life that Jesus purchased for you on the cross and you will never fully see the life of self-control and discipline and love and joy which is required to make those New Year's Resolutions a reality. Start tomorrow. Start your day with a single chapter of the New Testament. Starting your morning with God in His word will change your life forever, I promise… all that and it can take as little as 10 minutes. Have a great evening, a great week and a great 2019!

Message: AWG Time

The Importance of AWG Time - Alone With God Time

The War of the Christian

For a large portion of my life I wanted to go into the military. It was a dream of mine that started when I was young and continued all the way through high school. I had plans to go into the special operations group of the USMC known as Marine Force Recon. I had trained for years getting both psychically and mentally prepared for this task. Throughout my high school career I would run, swim or workout 6 days a week. The desire to be a Special Operator was my all consuming passion. I had studied military leaders and tactics and even was a part of a USMC youth group similar to Jr. ROTC where I competed at a national level for physical fitness. For most of my teenage life there was a driving force within me to prove to those around me not only that I was tough but that I could push myself physically and mentally far beyond anything that other people were capable of doing. Although I was never eager about the thought of war my attitude was that if someone had to go, "here I am LORD, send me" (Isaiah 6:8).

 In my senior year God did something drastic to get my attention. Knowing that my pride had overtaken me and that I had drifted so far from God's plan for my life, a few weeks before I was supposed to take my final fitness test, God graciously ordained that I should have an asthma attack while running on my high school track. Long story short is that I had been diagnosed with asthma as a kid and thought I had outgrown it for the most part or at least gotten it to become manageable for me to move forward with MY dream. It was that moment that changed my life. I realized that God had other plans for my life and that it would not be for me to wage war as a soldier in our nation military. Nearly 14 years after that moment, in October of 2012, the Spirit of God did something else in my life where He came upon me (Acts 1:8, overtook me, attacked me) in a very powerful way. At that moment, the Holy Spirit simultaneously broke me and empowered me as I promised to serve Him wherever and however He chose. At the time I had no idea what that meant but I would find out soon enough. Looking back I can clearly see that God did not plan for me to be a soldier for our country...  but instead He planned to use me as a solider of Jesus Christ.

For the last two weeks, I've been reading through 2 Corinthians. This morning I share a passage of deep significance for all who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ.

"We are human but we don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from KNOWING God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT

As Christians we are commanded to testify about our Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to be His witnesses, to be soldiers of Christ. Paul specifically says here that we don't "wage war" as humans do with weapons of this world but with weapons of God. Whether we like it or not, there is an unseen but very real war raging all around us. A war where satan and his demons fight for the souls of our friends, our neighbors, family and co-workers. So what are we to do? How are we to fight and with what weapons do we have in this war?  When Paul urged the Ephesians to put on the armor of God for this battle, what was the only offensive weapon mentioned? It was the word of God, the Bible, the Holy Scripture (Ephesians 6:17). Hebrews tells us that the word of God is sharper than any sword and that it is alive and active in our lives (Hebrews 4:12). When Paul left the Ephesian elders after serving with them and teaching them for 3 years he told them that he was entrusting them "to God and to the WORD of His grace" (Acts 20:32). In Jesus' last recorded prayer, Jesus asked that the Father would sanctify all believers that would ever live by the WORD of God (John 17:17). Scripture is one of our most important weapons but not our only weapon. Our other weapon is prayer. There are too many to quote but time and time again scripture makes great promises about prayer. (1 John 5:14-15, John 14:13, 15:7,16:23-24,Luke 11:9, etc) God will use and direct any true follower of Jesus Christ, that has been trained and equipped by the word of God (2 Timothy 3:17) to "wage war" on the kingdom of darkness. These followers are men and women who, armed with prayer and scripture, the Holy Spirit can use and direct as His personal special operators to wage war on the enemy of man's soul.

As I close our time together, I would simply ask you are you in this fight? Is God using you to wage war to fight for the souls of those around you? Are you a good solider of Jesus Christ like Paul commanded Timothy to be? If you are than I say amen! However, if you are not I would ask you to honestly examine yourself.  Are you training daily by spending time in the word of God and in prayer? If you are not in the fight, not waging war then you are still sitting on the sidelines and brother or sister we desperately need more soldiers in the war. If you are on the sidelines I would exhort you to ask God to change you from the inside out. Ask God to change your desires and your focus just as David did is Psalm 51 and as the Apostles did throughout the book of Acts. Becoming a soldier is not something you do for God, it's something God does for you and TO YOU. HE changes you, HE equips you, HE enables you and HE fills you with the power of the Holy Spirit. He does this THROUGH His word and through prayer and He certainly will change anyone that asks Him to do so (Luke 11:13). When you fully surrender yourself to God for Him to use you as He wishes… He will always equip you for His work. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.  Like myself and countless others, I pray that you also will ask to be used as soldier of Jesus Christ to wage war on the enemy and join me is saying "here am I LORD, send me."

"Father, I ask that You use these words in the lives of all who read them. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord and my God. Amen."

The Power of Prayer - Philippians 1:19

Good evening all. Tonight I wanted to share a powerful truth with you guys that I was reminded of yesterday. I pray that it not only makes you think but that it encourages you as much as it did me. Yesterday morning, I read over Philippians 1:19 and thought about throughout the day. This is where the Holy Spirit writes the following through Paul:

"For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance."

On the surface it's easy to read over these words and just keep going. It's easy to miss a very deep truth buried within this short sentence. So what is that truth? Paul points out two very important things here. The second is the most obvious which is that the Holy Spirit helps us in our times of need. I'm sure that few people will find this a surprise. Paul was facing trial while in prison in Rome as he wrote this and he was certainly seeking the Lords help during this time. What I think is of great importance is the first source of help Paul mentions just before that phrase where he writes "For I KNOW that as YOU pray for me" Here Paul testifies to the power and importance of prayer. Paul testifies to the Philippian believers that he KNEW God would use their prayers to help him in his current situation. Sadly, I think that many Christians simply see prayer as something we do to talk to God, or something we should do during times of trouble or something we do before meals, or as a certain set of words in a book or of tradition that we are to memorize, etc. All of these are true in part but certainly leave out the truth that Paul shows us here. Here Paul testifies with confidence that God was using the prayers of other believers to help him during his time of need. Sadly so many of us under value the amazing power of prayer. God promises us again and again and again and again in scripture that there is real power in prayer. He promises us that He responds to prayer. He promises us that He hears us when we ask for things according to His will. He promises us that if we are persistent in our prayers that He will not only hear them but He will answer them. He promises us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and can accomplish much. So why do we pray? Isn't God sovereign over all things? Doesn't He know what we need before we ask? Yes... BUT… PRAYER IS ONE OF THE MEANS THROUGH WHICH GOD ACCOMPLISHES HIS WILL! The Holy Spirit leads us and guides us to pray for others and as we do the Father hears and answers our prayers bringing glory to Himself THROUGH the prayers of His people! Paul didn't say that it was only the Holy Spirit that helped him he said it was the prayers of the Philippians. When we pray for others we are the instruments God uses to accomplish His plans for His people… and that my friends a world of difference from just "talking to God."

So as I close I leave you with these thoughts… Are your prayers a monologue to God about your needs or a dialogue WITH God for the needs of others? Who outside your family has God recently lead you to pray for? If God answered all your prayers tomorrow morning that you have prayed over the last 7 days, who's life would be different because you've prayed for them? My prayer for each of us would be to fully believe the truths and promises clearly layed before us in scripture because to quote Leonard Ravenhill "preaching moves men… but PRAYER moves God" Have a good night all.