The Real Power

"It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord!    Zechariah 4:6

Having A Great Time!

Our son Jon, and his wife Michelle, flew in yesterday into Evansville to candidate for our Worship Arts pastor position at the church.  We are so excited about them being with us this weekend and the possibility that we will be working together for the Lord.  Today was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and blue skies.  Jon and Michelle took the afternoon to ‘house hunt’ and had an enjoyable time being out.  This evening we went to Texas Roadhouse for supper and had a great time together.

Tonight we have been watching the Wizards and the Bulls play on ESPN, and are now watching, "The Mask of Zorro."  It has been a relaxing evening for all of us just hanging out together.  Tomorrow we have meetings and rehearsals to go to.  I’m really looking forward to worship Sunday morning with Jon leading.  For those that might be reading my blog today, please lift us up in prayer that God will direct all of our lives in His perfect will.

God’s Legos

I was thinking the other day about Legos.  You know, the cute, colorful little plastic blocks that are made to ‘connect’ with each other.  My two sons would play for hours with their Legos when they were small.  They would build garages, houses, airports, about anything their imagination could think up!  The key to building something strong and stable was to make sure that they were ‘connected’ to other Legos.

I believe those simple Legos are a wonderful picture of God’s church, His people.  God made us to ‘connect’ with one another.  He did not make us to ‘go it alone’ in the Christian life.  In fact, we really cannot grow as we should without the support and relationships of other believers.  God made us to ‘connect’ with one another.  That is where we find strength and purpose for our spiritual lives. Do you have a support group of other believers that you can draw strength from?  Are you making sure that you are ‘connected’ to a group of fellow believers who can help you grow and hold you accountable in your spiritual walk?  We are God’s Legos!  And His purpose for each one of us who are followers of Jesus Christ is that we will stay ‘connected’ to one another and build one another up!

Jesus said when His followers do this–stay ‘connected’ to one another–a wonderful witness will be given to the world about the supernatural aspect of the Church!  Let’s stay ‘connected’ to one another and let the world SEE Jesus in our lives!

   

Wait

Is waiting easy for you?  It’s not for me.  I can remember as a child having to ‘wait’ until Christmas morning to open all my gifts.  I thought I could hardly stand it!  Waiting, and waiting, for the days to pass was so difficult.  I knew I had to wait, but I wanted to open the packages right away and start playing with the toys NOW.  Waiting is one of the important disciplines that we learn in life.  Things do not always come IMMEDIATELY to us, or when we think we should have them.  Waiting develops the discipline of trust and patience.  ‘Waiting’ helps develop self-control in our lives [something all of us could use more of, right?].

In Acts 24:49 Jesus tells His disciples, "…to WAIT in Jerusalem until they are endued with power from the Holy Spirit."  In other words, they were to WAIT for God’s time to receive the gift He had promised to them–the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was teaching His followers the value of ‘waiting’, and ‘trusting’.  God had many wonderful blessings in store for His followers, but they must WAIT UPON HIM until the time when He would bring these blessings to their lives.

It is still the same for us today!  God calls us to WAIT in His presence, with faith and an obedient heart, until He brings the blessing, or answers the prayer.  God is in the business of building people of faith.  What He wants more than our happiness is our holiness.  He is building us for eternity.  He knows how important it is for us to TRUST Him and LEAN upon Him for everything.  Our culture is frantic with rush, rush, rush….impulsive behavior….rash decisions…’get it now’, mentality.  When God asks us to WAIT upon Him, He is about the process of developing our character and our spirit.  He realizes the benefit that patience and self-control brings to our lives.  God is not some ‘mean man’ who seeks to withhold the good things in life from us.  No, He is a faithful Father who knows what’s best for us, and knows when to bring what’s best for us, to us.

Maybe you’re going through a time right now in your life when ‘God seems silent’.  Are there things that you want to see happening in your life, that you’re just not seeing yet?  Are you wondering why God has you ‘in the waiting room’?  Of course, I do not have the answers to these questions for you.  But, I do know that God teaches me [and you] to WAIT upon Him!  He wants to be the answer to our problems.  He wants to be our strength, when we’re weak.  He wants to be our wisdom, when we don’t know the way.  He wants to send His Spirit into our hearts to endue us with power and guidance for our lives.  Let’s WAIT upon Him!  He may be working in ways that we do not see!  He may be working solutions to our situations in life that we are not even aware of!  Let’s WAIT on Him!  I think that’s a good word for today!

"Lord, build my faith so that I will lean hard upon You…"

There Are Others

I have taken ‘heart’ today with the words that God spoke to the apostle Paul in the book of Acts during one of his missionary journeys.  Paul was ministering for the Lord Jesus Christ in a particular place and was going through severe persecution and hostility.  One night God came to Paul and told him, "Take heart and be courageous.  I have many people in this city who need to hear the Good News."  With that word of encouragement, Paul continued to boldly declare the message of salvation in Jesus Christ!

Sometimes when we are facing hard times we say, "What’s the use?  Does anybody care?  Is anybody listening?"  The answer is YES!  God has all kinds of people whose hearts are ready to hear the Good News and respond in faith to Jesus Christ.  Like the sower who went out sowing seed, we must stay faithful in our task…knowing that God has people ready for salvation.  There are others who need to hear the Good News, and are ready to embrace it, and it is our task to keep our hand to the plow and make sure that they have the opportunity to trust Christ as their Savior.

I’m sure the enemy of our souls wants to discourage us in our work and cause us to ‘give up’ in our spririt.  If that happens, the battle is over!  We must continue to fight the good fight of faith.  We must continue to share the Good News of the Gospel with the ‘outsiders’ who live all around us.  If we do not take the message of salvation to them, who will?  They are ready to listen, are we ready to share with them?

"Thank You, Lord, for reminding me of the great privilege of sharing Christ with others.  Use me to help someone who is lost find hope and eternal life in You."

Valentine’s Day

• It has really been a nice day.  I took Mary Lou to lunch at Olive Garden for Valentine’s.  We had a great time being together and enjoying a good meal.  I gave Mary Lou a beautiful card and some flowers, and she gave me a beautiful card and some chocolates.  I am so thankful for my wonderful wife and what a great helpmeet she is to me.  God has been good to me!  I am so blessed.

Tonight we’re hanging out at home watching some TV, eating popcorn, and enjoying a few cookies. 

Hope your Valentine’s Day has been blessed!

Rain, Ice, Snow

We’ve seen it all today…2" of rain…freezing rain and ice…and now it’s snowing!  What an amazing day.  It’s a good evening to be in.  I hear that they have about a foot of snow in Indy.  Mary Lou and I were supposed to have meetings this evening, but they were cancelled.  It’s nice to have an evening inside where we can relax.

What’s it like where you are at?

Monday Reflections

"God is our refuge and strength…"  I’m so glad!

Strength in the Struggle

Some time ago I was reading the story of a young boy who was watching a butterfly break out of it’s cocoon.  He saw it’s head break forth and was struggling with all it’s might to get it’s entire body free from it’s prison.  The boy watched and watched in suspense.  He agonized watching the butterfly straining so hard to break free from it’s cocoon.  Finally, being impatient with the struggle going on, the boy grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the cocoon from top to bottom hoping to ‘free’ the butterfly and secure it’s release.  To his horror, the gooey butterfly dropped to the ground, struggling for a few moments and then dying.  The boy was heartsick at seeing the butterfly die.

It wasn’t long before the boy’s father came along and noticed what the boy had done.  He shared with the boy that God had made the butterfly in such a way that it needed ‘the struggle’.  It was the butterfly’s stretching and straining against the cocoon that forced blood into it’s wings and made them strong and ready for it’s release into the sky.  It needed the struggle!  It was part of the process of it becoming a butterfly. 

The father told his son that in his impatience, at what he thought was helping the butterfly out, had really sealed it’s doom.  By the boy becoming impatient and cutting the cocoon open, the boy had ‘taken away’ the strain and struggle which the butterfly needed in order to immerge healthy and strong.  Rather than the butterfly immerging ready to fly, it fell to the ground dead.

Sometimes in life we grow impatient with the ’struggles and strains’ that we go through.  We want to shortcut the process and ‘get on with other things’.  I wonder how many times God has placed us in situations where ‘the struggle’ is part of the growing prcess?  Maybe what God wants us to do is to LEAN more on Him!  God has incredible things for our lives if we will but TRUST Him!

"Lord, help me be patient to let You do Your work in my life…"

Valentine Dinner

Tonight the youth fellowship of our church hosted a Valentine’s Dinner which Mary Lou and I attended.  We met in a room where they had a fireplace going, candlelight, and soft music.  The youth who served us did a great job and the meal was delicious.  It topped off the whole day.  It was a very nice time to be with my Valentine!