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Thursday, February 25, 2010

I'm Always There

I'm Always There
written by Ken Avery
I knelt down by my bed to pray
And suddenly I heard a soft voice say
You seem to be losing some of your faith
Giving up halfway through the race
I know at times it must be rough
But that is when you must be tough
You must have faith and believe in Me
Shout it out so the world can see
I suffered myself to save you ALL
When the time came I answered the call
You're not alone, I'm always there
I stand by you with love to share
And so remember when you're feeling bad
Times are tough and you feel sad
Faith can always change the way
Have faith in me, now you can pray.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Is He really powerful?

Ephesians 3:20 "With God's power working in us, God can do much more than anything we can ask or imagine."

You know, sometimes life can be tough. Life for me, as I'm sure for you too, hasn't been easy. There has been illness, distruction, death, pain, unspeakable terror. Many years ago, when the worst of the worst was what my life seemed like, I used to look at the stories of miracles in New Testament and just wish that miracles still happened today, That God really had power. Life has a way of doing that to us. The enemy's goal on this earth is to make us think that God doesn't actually have any power.

It's times like these that I remember that back in 1980 my mom was told she had kidney failure and only had about 5 years left. And then I laugh because through much prayer she went on to live another 27 years. I remember when my father had a major heart attack and they were sure he wouldn't live through the night, I prayed all through the night and for the weeks that followed and he lived another precious year and a half. I remember countless situations, day in and day out when I have prayed and asked for Holy Spirit to fill me in that moment, to help me in that moment, or to give me wisdom in that moment and somehow supernaturally, I was equipped as I had never been before.

And yet, in spite of all of the blessings and strength and power that He proves to us every day, we simply don't give Him enough credit. We still struggle with believing and relying on His power. When we are trying to quit smoking, diet, or have a big project at work, we do it under our own power and don't take the time to simply ask Him for His help and His power. We may pray for healing, but are we praying in faith? Or are we praying wondering if He really can?

Instead of doubting His power, which is just as real today as it was 2000 years ago, trust it completely. Expect it. Expect the miracles and be on the lookout for it. And then, get radical.
I mean, let's face it, Jesus was radical! He turned the world upside down. You know, if we had the same faith in Jesus and the power of Holy Spirit at work inside of us as we have in New Orleans to win the Super Bowl, who would be able to stop us?

A singer named Kathy Troccoli once said, "The most profane word we use is 'hopeless'. When you say a situation or person is hopelss, you are slamming the door in the face of God."

I believe in God and that He is God of the impossible. I'm going to stop slamming the door in His face. How about you?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

my thoughts

Well, the fast has been over for a few days and I haven't blogged. You know when we started this fast, I hadn't blogged anything in a while. I was journaling everyday but I hadn't put anything out there for people to see. So when the fast started Katie asked me to blog through my journey every day so that people in the church could be encouraged. Ugh, the thought of adding one more thing to my day. I actually wasn't adding anything to my day. I was already journaling every day, I just wasn't putting it on my blog. So I said OK. Well, I'm grateful she asked. It got me back into the swing of things.

But since the fast ended I haven't blogged. I've been busy. Sunday at church was busy, I didn't leave until late in the afternoon and then I went to the store and had some cleaning to do, had work yesterday. Should I keep going with the excuses or do you get the idea?

What it really comes down to, isn't that I was too busy to blog, it's the enemy had me convinced that after pouring out my heart for 21 days I didn't have anything left to say. Well, that may or may not be true, but I know one thing, God still has plenty to say.

Romans 12:11-12 says "never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Here's what I get from that. Make time for God. You know we get busy and what's the first thing to go. Our time with God. We might start out by shortening it, but it's always the first thing to go. We look at it as if everything else in our life is more important and it's the first thing to go. I was busy, I didn't blog and I didn't journal. I read my Bible and my devotion and prayed and had my time with God but I didn't journal. I wonder what would have been next to go. Prayer? Bible? I don't know, but I know it was just the enemy's first step.

Have you been attacked since the fast ended? Have you been too busy to really make the time for God? Has your time with God suffered in the last few days? If so, recognize it for what it is. The first step in drawing you away from God. The most important thing in life is your relationship with God. Do you spend time with your spouse or kids? How much time? Why? Because you know you need to cultivate that relationship. You need to do that with God too. God doesn't need it, but you do.