Going All Out

As I have stated in the past, I am a huge sports fan. I love this time of the year. NFL, NBA, and college football/basketball is on all the time. I can turn on the TV at any time just about and catch a sporting event to watch. I like to watch college sports the best. The kids go at it with all they have. They bust their rears and push themselves to the limit. They go all out to achieve their goal, which is to win the game. What do you go all out for? What would it be like if we as Christians went all out for our faith? If we were just as focused or just as dedicated to serve the Lord as those kids are to score or to get a rebound, how awesome would that be? We can be, we just choose not to. It is easier to just go with the flow. It’s not as cool to be on fire for God. We feel excused to sin if we stay ignorant of what He wants us do. That type of thinking though puts us at risk. We need to keep in mind that Satan has a singular focus on tearing us down. He is all in when it comes to destroying our lives and getting us to turn from God. The only way you can fight that is to have a fire in you that is based in the Lord. Know what the bible says and hide its words in your heart. Pray on a regular basis, just spend time talking to God. Get involved where you can and look for ways that you can serve Him and His church. Find a way to go all out for God. He went all out for us when He sent His son to die for us. Why would we not go all out for Him and His kingdom? If you ask me, it does not make any sense not to.

Helpless

Last night our dog Zoey had a run in with a frog. From what the vet said the frog has some kind or secretions that can cause issues for dogs when they lick them. That was the case for our dog. Within 20 minutes after getting the frog she started to throw up and have seizures. We got her over to the vets to be looked at and all was ok. It was a helpless feeling on my part as there was nothing I could do. With kids or people they can tell you what they feel or what is going on normally, here I had no clue. There was nothing I could do on my own to fix the issue and make her better. We are the same way when it comes to sin in our life. Alone we can not help ourselves. There is nothing that we can do on our own to clear the sin in our lives and to make us clean in the eyes of God. We can be aware of the sin, we can try to stay away from sin, but in the end we are helpless to sin. It is only through the death of Christ that we have a way to be made clean. We have to admit our sins, believe that Christ died for us to cleanse us from sin, and trust in Him to watch over us and keep us from sin. That is our get out of hell card so to speak. He is the only one that can help us. Stop trying to rely on yourself to fix your sin problem. You will never succeed going it alone. Give it to God and ask Him to take it from you and ask Him to put you on the path He needs you to take. You will find that you won't feel so helpless anymore if you do.

Plan of attack

Today is one of the biggest days of the year for the women in my family, it’s Black Friday. Simply put this is the biggest shopping day of the year and they look forward to it. Every year is the same routine. We eat our Thanksgiving meal, clean the table off, then they begin to formulate their plan of attack. They have all the newspapers out, all the coupons spread over the table, notebooks and pens at the ready to jot down notes, the whole nine yards. Needless to say they have this down to an art by now. When they leave the house they have a singular mission and that’s to shop until they drop and to get the Christmas list as done as they can. It would be an amazing thing to watch if I knew that I was not going to have to find a way to pay for it all. What would your spiritual life be like if you had that type of focus on God? Why not develop a plan of attack, so to speak, as to how you can grow as a Christian? You don’t have to have a war room type feel to it like my family does over the shopping stuff but you need to find a way to get a steady dose of God into your life daily. It can be something simple like making sure you pray every day to start off with. Once you have that down, make it a priority to read your bible daily. Once you have that as part of your life, focus on making changes in your life that will keep you on the path as given to us in God’s word. Then you can go and share that which you have learned with others in need. Make God a must in your life. Make spending time with Him something that you look forward to daily. I promise you, its better than going out shopping at 3am for the perfect gift with a bunch of women hyped up on caffeine any day of the week.

Giving thanks

Most of us are getting ready to wrap up a short week and get ready for the holidays today. All the groceries are bought, meals planned, and arrangements set, all we need to do is just get through the day. Tomorrow will be a day to gather with friends and family and just a time to reconnect with loved ones. We will give thanks to all that we have and all that has gone on in our lives for this year and we will all share in each others good fortunes. Just keep in mind the one thing, the one person that makes everything possible. That is God. It is through His grace and love that all things are made possible. We can pat ourselves on the back as much as we like and point to all the hard work that we have done that has paid off but without God working in our lives, none of it would have been possible. I am not saying to not be proud of what you have done. You did the work and put the time in, you should feel good about what you have accomplished. But look back at each accomplishment and I bet you will see a time that He was there giving you a push, or renewing your energy, or helping you to focus on the task at hand. He is always with us. In all things we are to give the glory to God. So when you are listing things at the dinner table that you are thankful for, make sure to give the most thanks to the one that made all else possible. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!..........next post will be out the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Getting rid of the traffic in your life

As I was going to work today I was hearing about the next few days being the busiest travel days of the year. That was easy enough for me to believe as I found myself stuck in traffic this morning. I really dislike having to wait. I am early for everything and when I hit a snag, like traffic, it throws me off of my plans and I am not a happy camper. That is when I am reminded by the saying, "you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans". I am sure He got a laugh out of me this morning. There was nothing I could do about the traffic, I knew that, but it did not keep me from being frustrated. There is a reason for everything and I have to deal with the fact that I do not control the universe (had a hard time coming to grips with that fact though). Just like I had no control over traffic this morning, I know that I do not have any real control on my life either. I am ok with this fact though, because I know who does. See, I have given control of my life over to God. He knows far better than I where to lead me and I know that with Him guiding me I will always be taken care of. You can have that same peace of mind in your life. Get rid of the traffic that you have keeping you from where you want to go. You can try to control everything in your own life, but what does that get you? Frustration? Anger? Emptiness? You can put on a happy face all you want to but when you stop and really look at it, you know something is wrong. Stop fighting a fight that you can't win. Give control over to God and let him lead you today.

If someone were to ask you how they could be saved, what would you tell them?

Romans 10:9 - If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If someone were to ask you how they could be saved, what would you tell them? They may already know the story of Christ, they might not. They might already have been to a few church services, then again they may not. Regardless, here they are standing in front of you right now and they are asking you. How are you going to answer them? You can not lead them wrong here. If you give them bad information they may go away never knowing salvation. If you blow them off you might never get a second shot. If you do not know, then you show that your faith is not worth caring about. So what do you say? Quote Romans 10:9 to them. You have to declare Jesus as Lord and savior. More than that though, you have to believe it in your heart. It has to be a real and honest belief on your part. You have to not just believe but you also need to live in a way that shows that you believe. Anyone can tell you they are saved, but that does not mean they are. You are saved once He changes your heart and makes you new. You are saved when he has washed away all your sins and you live as a child of God. There is no other way to receive His grace. You can not buy your way in nor can you do enough good deeds to earn entry. Declare Him Lord of all and believe in your heart that He has paid the debt in full for your sins. Then and only then can you be saved.

Gameday!

It is Saturday, and its one of the biggest game days of there year here for football. The 2 state schools play each other at noon and everyone has got their school colors on, myself included. We wear our gear and root for our team so as to show our support for that school. We wear the colors to identify ourselves with that certain team or school. We are proud to say that we are a fan. Why are we so eager to identify with a team or a school but not with Christ? We can't wait to gather around and talk sports with friends but we will not talk about our faith with them. I am not telling you to wear Christian gear on Saturdays or to go tail gate Sundays or anything, just to think about the energy and pride you have for your team and apply that same enthusiasm to your faith. How many peoples lives could you touch if you were as pumped up and motivated to share the word as you are to catch the big game? It is good to be a fan, all I am suggesting is that you be just as big a supporter for God as you are your team.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Have you ever heard the old business saying “location is everything”? While that may be true in business, it is not true in our faith. You do not have to go to a church to show your faith. You do not have to be with a bunch of fellow Christians to share your faith. You do not have to have a designated time to worship. This Wednesday night I missed our youth service as I was at a hockey game with family and friends (we won by the way). Just because I was not at service does not make less of a believer nor does it make me a bad Christian. Do not get me wrong, going to church and being part of the services is important. All I am saying is that you can not base how good Christian you are based off of your location. What matters more, where you are on Sunday morning or what’s in your heart? Being seen in a church service or living a life based in faith? You can go to church 7 days a week, be apart of everything that you can be, sing every song you can think of but what good is it if your heart is not in it? What good is it if you are living wrong once you leave out the doors of the church? Our salvation and our faith is not based on location. It is based on a belief that God loved us enough to send His son to die for our sins so that we can be saved. Go to church when you can. Get involved, there are so many great things to get into at a church. Just do it for the right reasons. Do it because that’s where your heart is leading you. Don’t do it just to be seen and don’t do it if you think that you have to be there in order to be saved. God loves us no matter where we are.

Direct my footsteps according to your word

Psalm 119:133 - Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. One of my chores is to walk the dog from time to time. We go out and take our walk over the same paths as we always take. Others walk their dogs along the same route. I have found that as long as I stay on the sidewalk, I don’t have to worry about where I am stepping. If I stray from that sidewalk though it is a mine field I have to navigate through so as not to step into something I really don’t want to step in. Apply that same idea to your life in general. When we stay on the path as laid out to us in Gods holy word we see that we usually have little trouble. Even the stuff that does pop up does not seem to be an issue. Somehow, we just cruise on past it. It is when we stray from that path that we have our problems. We have to watch where we step so as not to be taken over by sin. It starts so easy that we normally do not know we are off the path. A bad joke, envy over another’s success, anger that someone cut you off while driving, all of these are things we know we should not do but they just come so easy to us. Anger is my weakness. I have a problem with letting stuff roll off my back at times. I have to ask God on a regular basis to calm me down and to help keep me on the path that He has laid out for me. Some days I do real good, others, not so good. I know that I can not overcome that sin on my own. In that regards I am still a work in progress. I trust that God will guide my steps if I trust in Him. You can know that too, all you have to do is trust and give up control to the one that made you. Besides, how can you look ahead if you are always having to watch where you step? Let God direct your footsteps. He will never lead you wrong.

Breaking down

Have you ever felt emotionally drained? I am not talking about having a time where you were emotional or where you where having to deal with a lot of stuff at once, I am talking drained. Drained to the point that you just can not deal with anything else and just feel like crying. We have such a hard time opening up and letting stuff out at times that when the walls finally break everything comes flooding out and it can be too much to take. We are not equipped to handle stress and worry to the extent that we try to make it seem like we can. We think that talking to others and sharing or concerns and feelings make us weak and vulnerable, so we keep it to ourselves. What we need to understand though is that this is not good for us. We were not put here on this earth alone. God put as among lots of others that we can reach out to. We have family members, we have friends, we have the church family, etc that we can reach out to. We have the ability to write out what we are going through or to exercise or to yell, anything to get stuff off of your chest. Remember, God loves you. He wants you to succeed and to have a life to the fullest. Cast your cares on the lord, let Him handle the worries and stress and just trust that He will lead you where He needs you. When you do that and just trust that He can overcome all, you will find that things usually have a way of working out ok in the end.

Romans 12:22 - Do not be overcome by evil

Romans 12:22 - Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I have had a rough time living up to this verse recently. For whatever reason I can see my fuse getting shorter, my tolerance has gotten lower, and my ability to cope has gotten worse. My frustration level is at a very high level and I just want to explode most days. But, if I blew up and exploded and just did what I wanted to do, what does that get me? What will that accomplish? What message would that send to those around me? I know that if I let the evil take over, then all that I have done to try to lead others to God or to set the example for others to follow will be gone. Satan is just waiting for me to slip so that he can be that voice in others ears saying "see, I told you so, what is God doing for him". I can not allow that evil a foothold. Once it gets you, it does not let go. It will be a weight that you will have to drag with you wherever you go. Am I an angry person? Yes, and I know this. Do I let that anger consume me and lead me to evil? No, I fight that fight every day. The good thing is though, that I no longer fight alone. I have God as my tag team partner. With Him I can overcome and fight through whatever it is that I have to deal with. I do not have to let evil take over because I have already given myself over to what is good. I am protected by His grace and love. I know I can overcome. Do you have that same confidence? Do you know for a fact that you have that same protection? It is always available for you, all you have to do is believe in Him and accept His love. Evil can not overcome good. So do not let evil overcome you, fight it with goodness. Fight it with God.

Romans 6:23 - Consequences

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. As I get older I can see things a lot clearer than I use to as a kid. For example,I know that if I eat a lot of spicy foods, there will be a price to pay later on. If I spend more money than I have in my account, I will be in trouble. And worst of all, I know that if I am not honest with the wife about a new recipe, I might have to eat it more often than I would like. I can see now that there are consequences to every action that I do. Take sin for example, the bible shows us that the wages of sin is death. Death is our consequence for sin. Guess what, we all are sinners, every last one of us. If we do not acknowledge Christ as our savior, accept that He sacrificed Himself for our sins, and ask to be forgiven and start living right, we know what is in store for us. But thats the great thing about God, He gave us a way out. He sent His son to die for us. His blood washes away our sins and gives us a clean slate. We do not have to fear death any longer. Through Him we have life eternal, how cool is that? You can earn your wages in sin (death) or accept the fact that the wage has already been paid and live in Christ. The choice is up to you.

Christ, the best leader you can ever have

What makes a leader? Is a leader someone that has a commanding presence and gets folks to fall in line out of intimidation? Is a leader just a nice person that others get along with and just want to hang out with? Is a leader someone that just keeps their mouth shut and goes out and does stuff and get people to follow the example they set? I think about this stuff a lot. I see plenty of people in a leadership position daily but I do not see them as leaders. Most of us know a leader when we see one but it seems that real ones, the type that you would follow into the fires, are few and far between. So where can we go to see true leadership? Where can we look to see the best example of who and what a leader is? The answer is the bible. Christ was and is the greatest example that we can look to. He led through authority and humility. He led through strength and weakness. He led by word and by deed. He is the standard that we still hold ourselves against to this day. Knowing this the question is, if He is such a great leader, why are folks reluctant to follow Him? We have example after example to show us that He will not leave us or let us down. We have seen time and time again where He provided for His people, and even now we can see in our own daily lives how He is with us. The point I am trying to make is this. Stop looking for someone to lead you or to give you the answers and put you on the right path. You already have the best leader ever available to you. All you have to do is choose to follow Him.

Christian Soldiers

I was a soldier. For 9 years I gave my time and energy for use in the defense of this great nation. I swore to protect this country from all threats foreign and domestic and promised that I would be willing to die if the need came for it to make sure that what I held dear would be protected. Now I am out of the military but I do not see where I am any less of a soldier. The only difference is that I have a new commanding officer and I am tasked with saving lives now, not taking them. I am now a Christian soldier. My mission is to go out and spread the gospel to all that I can. I am tasked with getting others to know the one true God. I am expected to live my life as an example for others to follow. I am to be a lantern from which the light of Christ shines through. I take this task just as seriously as I did when I swore to protect the United States. We live in crazy times. The need for Christians to take a stand has never been greater than what it is right now. Do you have what it takes? Are you ready to be a Christian soldier and defend your faith and beliefs from a world that is intent to tear them down? Are you prepared to hold your ground in the face of the enemy? Not many people are.

I need your help

Over the last few weeks I have noticed a drop in readership to my "daily message". I know that folks are busy and have a lot going on, but I also know that I am not a writer and may have tuned some folks out. I also know that I have pretty much zero advertising to speak of other than what i put out on facebook. So I am asking for your help. Please provide feedback as to this site. I can not grow if I do not know where I am lacking. I also need your assistance in getting the word out about this site or info from you as to how I can get the message out to others. Thanks in advance for your support and feedback! Jason

Sharing the cure

Yesterday you may have noticed that I did not have a new post out there. I was sick, knocked out with a bad case of the carolina crud as we like to call it. I was pretty much useless yesterday. I did as any good southern boy should and called mom for one of her home made remedies. Mom, true to form, had one ready to go. I did as I was told and when I woke up today I felt much better. We as Christians have a cure too, only we seem to have problems sharing it with those that need it. Mom gave me the info I needed to get better and it worked. She did not give it to me at a price or as a favor, but out of love because she knew I was hurting and needed it. We see people in need of a cure every day. Not a cure like mom gave me but a cure for the sin in their lives. We see so many lost or hurting people in our every day lives yet seldom do we reach out to them. Why not share with them the cure? They might not want to hear it and you might lose some friends. But medicine does not always taste good either, and we all know that medicine, when done right, is good for you. Medicine can only heal your symptoms, it cant heal your body or soul. Only God can do that. We as Christians know this already and have drank from the healing waters that is Christ. Would you really deny someone else that same cure?

True freedom is in Christ

Yesterday we as a country exercised one of our greatest rights that we have as citizens, we voted. As a citizen of this country we have certain freedoms and one of them the freedom to participate in the political process. This is a freedom we all know and see but as Christians, we have an even greater freedom available to us. We have the freedom from all sin. When we accept Christ as our Lord and savior and we live our life for Him instead of for us, we die. That death is a death to our old lives, to our old sinful ways. A new creation is born, the old is gone away. The question is, if this freedom is available to all then why do people not accept it? People are more than willing to get out and stand in line to participate in the voting process but for some reason can’t or won’t humble themselves before God and participate in the greatest freedom we can ever know. The price for our freedom has been and continues to be great, but will never come close to the price paid to buy our freedom from sin. If you really want true freedom, do not seek it from government or man, instead turn to Christ. His freedom is everlasting and will not fail. I urge you to seek that freedom today in your own life.

Pray for our country today

Today is election day. Please make sure that you pray for our country today. We live in a crazy time but I Know that God has a plan for us still. He has said He will never leave us or forsake us and I know that He is still with us. He is holding us in His scared hands and will not let us fall. We have so much on the line today. We have a chance to stand up and do our part to say we have had enough. God helps those that helps themselves. So please, do not let this chance to help yourself and our country go to waste. Vote what your faith will allow. Do not vote one way just because you are a democrat or a Republican. Vote with your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the right choice. We live in the greatest place in the world. Many men and women have died or suffered to secure our rights to vote. Please make sure you get out and do your part today. Thanks and God bless you all!