Finding a Way

Yesterday was one of those Sabbaths that had it's high and low points. The day started out early, and when I say early, I mean very early. I woke up at 3:27 A.M. and started to prepare the Sabbath School Lesson and then went back to sleep. I guess the question about today that is the most important is: What has God shown me today. Well, that night as I sat in my apartment, there was a knock at the door and it was one of our Bible Study Contacts. She was just visiting, and since we did not know if she would have to work the next day, we went ahead and had the lesson. I was blessed as we went through it. The Lesson talked about the Bible, and how important it is to let the Bible speak for itself and how it was all about Jesus. As I thought about that, and continue to think about it, I'm begginning to wonder about a lot of things. The Bible gives a lot of difficult commands, and the question comes: how are we to keep them? Can we? Many would say: No, it's not possible, but is that what the Bible says? Indeed, with us alone it is impossible, but when we throw our problems onto Jesus, then the picture changes. Instead of it being all of our problems on top of us, they are now put squarely on the shoulders of the Master Himself. He bears our burdens, and makes the impossible come to reality. Jesus is the only way! In fact after the Sermon, Sabbath, I happened to open a beautiful little booklet that had a poem in it by Helen Parker. The words on it, touched my heart.
It said:

He knows our thoughts and
our words, our deeds
Each hour of the day.
He never fails to listen
As we kneel to Him and pray.

And Even when you often feel
Your Prayers are all in vain,
My friend, be still and listen -
You can hear Him call your name.

He will comfort you in trials,
Console you when you're blue;
You'll never walk alone thru life
He's always there for you.

However, instead of experiencing the joy that Jesus wanted me to hear, I listened to the doubts of the enemy, and was discouraged most of the day. As I sit here late tonight, it occurs to me that Jesus has been speaking to me. Sometimes I guess it just takes being still and quiet and reflecting to hear what He has to say. He spoke to me through the book, and through my pastor friend and wife. What a wonderful Savior I have, and so does anyone who wants Him! The verse that best fits this situation, is one that came to mind as I was typing this:

1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."

Why Do I do it?

I don't know how this happens. Sometimes it just seems like I get so tired that there's nothing left inside of me. No matter what I do, sometimes my feelings simply level off. There's really nothing that can be done to get them to jump back up in the air, but the important thing that I'm starting to learn is to distinguish between faith and feeling. Tonight as I half-lay on the couch typing this, I'm reminded of what Jesus wants from us. He desires us to have raw faith. Sometimes situations and circumstances do not always go the way that we want them to. For instance, look at the story in Mark 3. Jesus has just gotten done talking to the people about what makes them His relative. Let's look at verses 33-35And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Now notice the one's who are doing His will are those who are around Him who want to hear want He has to say and love being with Him. Here is a key point that stuck out to me here. Sometimes staying with Jesus means that we are going to have to go through less than ideal circumstances. Our feelings may not always be with us holding us up. Sometimes there are circumstances that call for raw faith. This is the time when we claim the promises of God in our lives and hold onto Him. We need to find Him, and hear Him in each and every circumstance that we have to go through.

What are you going through right now? Tell, Jesus, He cares about you and would love to hear from you.

Leaving the Nets!

Today begins a new day of life!! For the first time, in ages, by God's grace I've forsaken the nets! He has set me free to follow Him, and live for Him. I praise His holy Name! :)

The Blog Begins again :)

I have not posted a blog on this website in a long time, and a lot of things have changed, since I have. I now have a daughter to go along with my beautiful wife and another one on the way. I guess when I posted the last blog I thought that I would post again in the not too distant future, but then never did. What a disappointment! However, by God's grace I have once again stumbled on this website. The blog posts that I read encouraged me, that God worked in my past and that He would continue to work.

Now I'm going to talk about what has happened today, because that's what blogs are all about. Today I had someone knock on the door of our apartment who was asking people three questions: Do you believe Jesus is Lord? Do you believe the ten commandments are still relevant today? and finally Do you think that there is a judgement?" I couldn't believe what I read, and all through the day,it seems the whole theme was on stewardship. When we are faithful in the small stuff, God can entrust us with bigger stuff. I recently learned that I might have the opportunity to work as a Bible Worker in Minnesota. I was very happy with the thought of this, but as the days dragged on, I did not hear a reply. However today, God has clearly shown me that He will not entrust me with something that I "think" is bigger, when I can't handle the things He has entrusted me with now. That thought does not discourage me, but encourages me! This tells me that I have a loving Heavenly Father that will not give me something that is bad for me. He knows what is best. The verse that I'm talking about is Luke 16:10 "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." Jesus will not give us something we are going to fail terribly when we put ourselves in His hands. He gives out things as we can handle them! Not only that, but as I read this text another meaning jumped out at me. Jesus is faithful in the small things of our lives just as much as He is in the big areas, and He will not fail us. We only have to look at His track record to know that He loves us with an everlasting love!
Instead of focusing on what we "don't" have, let's focus on what we "do" have and be thankful each and everyday that we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares very much about us, too much to always give us what we want.
In fact, by His Grace, I'm still working at pizza hut! What an amazing God we serve, He truly does all things well!!! :) Happy Sabbath everyone! Always remember that God loves you, and that He is committed to seeing His Work through, until He can look at us and say "Very good" or "Well done" Praise Jesus!

Where are the nine?

Last night, I had an amazing thing happen to me. I had a friend of mine give me the secret to being happy. I had never thought about it before, but when I thought about it, it made total sense. Is it possible to praise God in all situations??? I put three question marks next to that one, because it is one of the harder questions to answer, with so much pain in the world. Yet there is a truth that I never thought about before, and that is the "Power of Praise!" I have not really done that in-depth of a Bible study on this, but to me it seems that praise is where it's at. We must praise Jesus for the victory that He "IS" going to win in our lives, not for the one He "might" win. The victory has already been won in our behalf thanks to Jesus Christ, but do we believe in HIS victory? It is just as important to believe in His VICTORY as it was for those who asked for His healing to believe in Him. It is not by OUR might or by OUR power, but through Christ's. Let's not have the attitude that we are working toward perfection, because in Christ, we already are perfect. Let's thank Jesus for the VICTORY He has already won in our lives, and continue to do so each and every day. Praise Jesus for the VICTORY that HE has won. I am His child, and will be His child forever, no thanks to me, but thanks to Jesus. Jesus is the only way to be saved. You MUST BELIEVE in Him to have salvation, and you MUST follow Him. In order to do that, praise Jesus every second of every day. Let the mind be lost in Him. Who cares about all these games and junk! It's all garbage, and it is going to burn up! What matters more than anything is Praising Jesus. In order to truly praise Him, we need to thank Him personally. In order to thank Him you have to have something to thank Him for. Why not ask Him to save you, and then keep on asking Him, not because He isn't powerful enough to save you, but because we are free beings, and must be sure in our own minds, but He is sure that He will save you, if you want to be. To illustrate this point I want to look at a story in Scripture. You can find it in your Bibles in Luke 17, I will post it here so that you and I can read it :) Luk 17:11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
Luk 17:12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
Luk 17:13 and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
Luk 17:14 When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
Luk 17:16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
Luk 17:18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
Luk 17:19 And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Isn't that amazing... there were ten cleansed, and only one came back and thanked the Lord. I have to be honest I have been like those other nine lepers lately. What about you? Are you one of the nine, or are you praising Jesus because He healed you. Then again you might be like one of the disciples that are standing there wondering what is going on, not realizing that the ONE who is standing with you just happens to be the King of the Universe. Jesus has given the cure to most of our mental ailments and depressions, and that cure is praise. When we praise Jesus He lifts the clouds of darkness. Another question that may be posed is: How do we praise Jesus? We can do it through song, and we can do it through our words, and we can just audibly thank Him. I know sometimes I will be driving home, and I will audibly just thank Jesus outloud for what He has done, and it is amazing what happens in those moments. Also if you can't sing that well, try playing praise music in your home. In the fearful moments, praise is wonderful too! Let's praise Jesus because He is in charge. Maybe you might praise Him by reading His Word, not to fix your life, because Jesus will do that, but because you want to be with Jesus. Also, the Sabbath is coming up, let's praise Him this Sabbath as well:) Let's praise Him when we don't feel it, let's praise Him when we do, let's praise Him, 24 hours a day. Let's never stop Praising Him. Let's praise Him so much, that we start dreaming praise to Jesus. Let's never ever stop praising Him, as long as there is breath in us! If you are looking for things to praise Jesus for, I suggest looking at what you have. Everybody has at least something, and everyone can thank Jesus for His blood for us. Better is one day in His courts than thousands elsewhere. Why is this so? Because of Praise. :)

Psa 22:23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
Psa 22:24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

In His Care :)

This morning I started what would be the very beginning of what looks to be a long and exciting career (Lord willing) at a resturaunt. I'm a server and serving customers is what servers do best. I know I'm being a little "Winnie the Pooh" here, but I figure it's a fun blog and I can get away with it. When I first started, it was all about arranging things for the salad bar. First it was the tomatoes, then the cucumbers.... or were the cucumbers first? At any rate I prepared the vegetables, and no I did not do this on my own. I had a trainer named Amanda who helped me learn the ropes. Praise the Lord that she was a very patient teacher, and worked with me and was very nice. It took me a long time to figure out just how things worked, and I made a few mistakes in the process. Probably the one thing that took precidence over everything else, however was the incident of the little boy going up in a weather observing balloon, and then the sadness at discovering that when it landed it was empty. One of the people I was serving asked me if the little boy would be all right. I did not answer right away.... and in the end it turned out that I didn't know. I didn't know what happened to the boy, but I am praying for his family. That would be so awful, but as awful as it is, there are tons of little children just like that little boy that are starving to death. The numbers of people who are dying from hunger are just horendous. After work I walked out to my car, and just sat in it for a second and thought.... The questions that were on my mind were.... Why? How could this happen, how could you let it happen... and then I thought about my own life and the fragileness of life. I had actually been thinking about it ever since I saw the news, which was at 3:30 pm. I quickly opened up my pocket New American Standard Bible, and opened it right to John 11:25-26. It said "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" The Words in red stared back at me and seemed to speak back to me in an encouraging voice. Yet the question still remained in my mind... "Do I believe?" As the question echoed through my mind, I turned on the radio and began to listen to some Christian music. The words of the next song had to do with the importance of believing in Jesus. As I drove home that night, I decided to leave my doubts behind. Jesus could and would take care of me. So now the question comes to you.. Do you believe Jesus Words... do you believe what He said? If not, you need to pray the prayer of that father whose son was demon possesed when the father cried out to Jesus "I believe, help thou mine unbelief" When we pray this prayer we can never perish. Jesus can and will help us to believe :) Let's keep our eyes on the One who knows us better than anyone will ever know us. Let's leave our lives in His nail scarred hands :)

Running with Jesus :)

This morning I woke up, and then stumbled to the couch to have my devotions. They went very good. I guess it would not hurt for me to give a highlight out of what I read.

"The government of God is not, as Satan would make it appear, founded upon a blind submission, an unreasoning control. It appeals to the intellect and the conscience. "Come now, and let us reason together" is the Creator's invitation to the beings He has made. Isaiah 1:18. God does not force the will of His creatures. He cannot accept an homage that is not willingly and intelligently given. A mere forced submission would prevent all real development of mind
44
or character; it would make man a mere automaton. Such is not the purpose of the Creator. He desires that man, the crowning work of His creative power, shall reach the highest possible development."

This is an absolutely astounding quote, and I believe that it fits in with who God is and what He is all about. As far as the day has gone, it has been very busy. And when I say busy, I mean... busy. After we finally got to moving around, we went to eat, and then we went to the store, and then to my job interview. It turns out that the Lord provided me with an opportunity to have a job. I am greatful for the opportunity. I read my Bible a little bit, but I realize that I need to read it more often. Today I feel like I got so caught up in all the other day to day activities that I was distant from God. All I could think of was earthly things. My mind only dwelled on those things. I pray that tomorrow, Jesus will help me dwell on heavenly things. I guess it is like that quote from Christiana, "Not worth asking, is not worth having" I shall ask this time, and I'm sure I will have help. Because as Christiana says "It is the policy of God to answer according to the prayer of faith what He otherwise would not do." I need to have more faith in my Redeemer. This is not about feeling, but I must say that today my mind was very earthly centered. It was centered on whether or not I got the internet, but now that I have it, I am seeing that I was way too focused on that and not focused enough on Jesus. Unfortunately for me, the day is far spent, and I am sadly realizing that this day is over. May the Lord Jesus help me to spend more time with Him. I would have to say that this is the lesson for the day. Where was my focus? It was with Jesus at first, but then we I "percieved" that things were ok, I took my relationship with Him for granted, and now I need to find Him all over again. I guess this also brings something else to the forefront. I had only wanted to get all the problems solved so that I could kick back and relax, but that is not what the Christian life is all about. The Christian life is a marathan, and we are to run it with God, because when we forget to run the Christian life with Him, we find ourselves focused on ourselves and we don't run well.

1Co 9:23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
1Co 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1Co 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1Co 9:26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

This needs to be my verse for tomorrow. The race before me is not going to be easy, but I have asked Jesus to be my personal trainer. My prayer for you and everyone else who may read this, is that they will make Jesus their personal trainer as well.