A Funny Thing Happened...

I have been in a bit of a spiritual funk over the past week. You can see it if you look at the time between posts. I have been focused on the Lord and relatively obedient (other than being a little grumpy), but, I have not been able to read the scripture and meditate as well as I had in the past weeks..... what was going on, I wondered.

Not reading the Word, that's what has been the primary deterent. Anne and I have had early morning work with her telephone triage work 6-8 AM two days last week and last Sunday we didn't go to church because we were doing the same work from 12-5 PM and wouldn't be back home in time for the job, so.... mainly, for those reasons, I have not been primarily focused on my devotional. But, it's not just that. Even when I had the time, I would find something else to focus on; my email, the web news, something, anything that would waste the time. Why, I wonder.

Yesterday, we made it to church, thankfully. Pastor Fran was in day two of preaching on Ephesians as the entire church is on a mission to study Ephesians through the sermon and small groups, etc.

One of my favorite themes is "Knowing Christ, knowing God" and I have often cherished how Paul and Peter and others refer to growing in the knowledge of God. Yesterday Ephesians 1:15-23 was the Scriptural reference and, once again, this verse hit me in the heart; "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." As Fran expounded on these verses, an almost uncontrollable urge came upon me, right during the sermon, to speak up and say something. I tried to not have it overtake me, this urge, but I became more and more convicted that I had to speak up.......... and I did. I raised my hand and Fran saw me. I am not accustomed to doing that in church and we are very new to this church, but I had to do it!!! I said, "May I say something, please?" I wasn't sure how Fran would respond, but, he later told me that since he had known me and my heart that he decided to let me speak. I don't remenber everything that came out, but, I said something like; Are you listening to this? Can you hear what he is saying? This is the truth!! You people have to change your lives!! I also apologized a few times in there because of the fact that folks don't know me as well, but I was compelled to speak.

It was like something had washed through me. I was incredibly emotional. I was trembling and ... spent, actually. Fran said; "The words of the Lord." and continued on with his sermon, seemingly, with an increasingly spiritual fervor.

I was somewhat embarassed. I didn't want folks to come by and thank me or praise me or recognize me for anything or in any way. But, a few did come by and were very encouraging, all of them validating that it was the right thing to do and that the church was very receptive to 'things' like that. A young girl came by and spoke to me about how she was someone who sketches alot and while I was speaking she had sketched the graphic above. I asked her what she thought it meant and she said, "A dove or the Spirit, even a 'big hug'" Wow, I was overwhelmed.

Much more went on......... I know it was the Holy Spirit. I know that it was a special moment from the Lord to validate that He is in us, alive in us and we are His!!

I pray "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."

Amen

Bill/Dad

Why do they hate us?

I have asked and answered this question for a few years now; 'Why do people hate President George Bush so much? I mean he seems like such a sincere man. He has protected our country from attack since 9/11 and , most recently it has been revealed that he and his wife have visited most of the soldiers and families of wounded and fallen Americans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, why do they hate him so much, especially the media, Democrats and liberals?

Matthew 10:22 "All men hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Remember when Candidate Bush said his greatest hero was Jesus Christ? There's the answer, they hate him because he is a Believer in Jesus Christ!!!!

Amen

Dju Ever Just Thank Him?

I am sitting in my living room trying to pray (which I have had a problem with lately) and all I can do is thank Him. It feels so good, to go thru the list of reasons to be thankful and it's all because of the Father!!

To be born, to be Born Again, to have my faithful wife, to have loving parents, each of my children and grandchildren, the spouses and loved ones of my children, my job and my boss, America!!!!!!

What do we have to be sad for, hopeless of, afraid of, anxious about?

'The world will persecute you, but fear not, I have overcome the world'. Jesus Christ.

A Blessed Opportunity

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to share the following with a friend from college some 34+ years ago.

I am so thankful that you would take the time to communicate and share these things with me, ______ Truly.

As I read your email, I am brought back to the many things I have experienced as well over the past 30+ years. I certainly haven't been through the trauma you seem to have experienced, but if I look deeply into my private life, I must say, I have been living a similar tale.

I mentioned earlier that one of the most revealing things that happened to me upon becoming a Believer that Jesus Christ is the Messiah was that I recognized how much of a liar I was to God, myself and the world. I also began to recognize more and more what a lustful man (and many other private undesirable traits) I possessed as I read Jesus' words regarding His life and the type of life we ought to lead as His children regarding this type of behavior. I wrestled with these things for quite awhile, believing that I was unworthy of His love because I couldn't stop thinking selfish and other, OK, I'll use the word; sinful, thoughts that were in my mind. I also couldn't stop sinning in my life, whether it was flirting with every girl I saw or lying whenever I was put on the spot or having judgemental thoughts about others. I was a mess.

But, I stayed in the Bible. I tried as hard as I could to read a little of it every day and to speak to God, being honest and up front and asking Him to help me to understand and change. Over time, I began to realize that I was normal, that's right NORMAL!! The Bible says it quite clearly; "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." and there is a beautiful discourse in the letter of Paul to the folks in Rome. It can be found in Romans 7:7-25 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%207:7-25%20;&version=31; Where Paul, the apostle that revealed the Gospel (the good news about the coming of the Messiah) to the Gentiles, speaks about how he is the chief sinner and how he wants to do good, but sin is always there with him; it is a battle for the ages. This helped me realize that we are all under sin. We are all the same in that we have temptations and histories and experiences that make us who we are, but, we don't have to remain there. God sent Jesus Christ here to reveal this to us and to tell us that HE is the answer. HE is the truth. HE is the one that stood in our place and took all of the sin upon Him. HE was judged for that, according to God's promise that we would be judged, but He told us that if we believe in Him as the Messiah, we would be forgiven and would enter into the Kingdom of God and be with Him forever.

Not only are we saved for eternity because of His sacrifice, but, we are forgiven for all of our sin. You know the worst sin of all is "not believing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah" That's the biggy. We aren't able to get past that one, but when we do, really look at Him, read about Him, give that investigation our full focus and make that decision to Believe, even if it's just the best we can do at that moment, He comes into our inner lives and saves us. He pulls us out of the muck that we have made of our lives and He transforms us into real people. Into the people He wanted us to be before we messed it all up with our worldly beliefs and lifestyle.

From there it is a process of 'not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds.' We have to relearn real life. You'll hear evangelical Christians talk about being born again and that term grates at us because it has been so piloried in the press, but it is actually very true as Jesus tells us in John 3 that "we must be born anew in order to enter into the Kingdom of God." Born anew, not like when we were born of our mother, but, born of the spirit in newness of life. After making the decision to believe in Him, I have experienced that forgiveness, that renewal, that transformation into a new life in Him.

I am still the same person. I believe God allowed me to be who I was, to make the decisions I did and experience the things I experienced. Why? For His purposes. So that once I was renewed I would be able to see that my life was an experience I needed to get back into the right perspective and use it now to empathize with others, to understand how all of us have our private lives that are lived outside of this relationship with Him and that the need of all of us is to turn back to God or turn to God for the first time. But, it's all about Him. He created us. He created this world. He created this universe. We know in our sinful hearts that is true and that it is man (woman) that has messed things up. We think we can control things. We are so prideful that we think we can effect the environment, we can stop Sarah Palin's daughter from having sex with her boyfriend or that we can save the whales. Who do we think we are? Selfish, sinful, prideful, jealous, power-crazy, lustful, greedy, dishonest, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. But what is He calling us to be? faithful, good, knowledgeable of Him, self-controlled, persistent in our faith, love our brothers and be kind. The fruit of His Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.. against these things there is no LAW of how to be. We can be these things through our faith in Him and His working in us to become more like Him.

Whew!!! I know this is lengthy, but, it is the truth. It is what I have experienced and know is the truth. I am not complete. I am in the process and by His will and good pleasure I will continue to grow as a redeemed man with all my frailties and faults and, yes, sinfulness, still.

There is a beatiful song that drives me deep into myself and the appreciation I have for what God has done for me. It is called 'Come to Me', I believe, and at the end she states, 'come to Him, come and find your rest, come and find your peace, come and find your Joy... He is waiting here for you, He is waiting here for you with open arms. To hold you, to embrace your heart, to love you.... He is waiting here."

Anyone can start right now. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201&version=31

Love you, _______.

Bill

A God-given Opportunity

I have been using Facebook as a way to reach out to my family and friends and their friends and their friends, etc, etc.... man, social networking; a very interesting dynamic.

I was able to link up with a Jewish woman whom Anne and I knew in college. We have begun to communicate and last night she began asking me some tough questions.... I'm going to publish a portion of the abridged version....

"One of these days I'd like to talk to you about what the differences are between being a "Christian" and other Christian religions."

Bill's response... "All Christian faiths were established on the authority of the Bible. In Christianity, the New Testament is considered the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesizes about the Messiah and Jesus Christ is that Messiah. The confusion comes about because there are various denominations in Christianity; Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Church of Christ, Latter Day Saints or Mormons and on and on. The differences in each denomination normally have to do with whom or where the denomination was established and a few differences in worship. In the majority of cases the bottom line is to 'Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and this is the same, to love your neighbor as yourself.' The other predominant belief is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah; the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament."

I consider it a blessing to have this opportunity to commune with others and all this from Facebook, go figure.

Love you all;

Bill/Dad

The Great Commission: starting where you are in your life mission

by Rick Warren

Everybody’s life mission is unique, and only you can fulfill your life mission. The moment you become a believer, the moment you step across the line and give your life to Jesus Christ, God has an assignment for you.

Many of the parts of your life mission are unique, but there is one part of your life mission that we all have in common.

It’s this: God wants you to tell other people about what’s happened to you. He wants you to share your testimony, your lifestyle, and your witness.

In other words, He wants you to share the Good News. The Bible says it like this in Acts 20: "The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to tell people the good news about God’s grace."

Once I become a Christian, a major part of my life mission is to invite people into God’s family.

Jesus said in John 20:21 - "As the Father has sent Me, so am I sending you.”

What has He sent us to do?

Read the rest of the article here

Everything is new why not......

New Year, everything is new; diet, exercise, job focus, relationships.... Ah relationships, why not renew or establish the greatest relationship,

The relationship with your Creator?

2 Corinthians 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Read John 1

Happy New Year

Love you

Bill/Dad