Not So Secret Identity

Every now and then I go through an identify crisis of sorts.  It isn't that I don't know who I am, but I don't live like I know who I am and whose I am.  The things that happened in my past and the things that didn't happen in my past become weapons of lies of the evil one to trick me.  Even worse, he (by this I mean that scum sucking satan and his minions) plant seeds of doubt in my mind about who I am becoming.  The liars try to get me to think I'm not good enough and God will never use me.  Poppycock!
Lately, God has planted this song in my head.  I think I need to make it my ringtone so I hear it often.  Here it is...

Today my prayer is all the children of God will remember.  We are children of the One True King.  The King who came to serve and to love.  The King who gave His all for us.  The King who will one day return in all His glory and we will sing Hosanna and fall at His feet.  Thank you Lord Jesus for being the King of Kings and my Personal Savior.
To God Be the Glory!

At the Feet of My King

In the triumphant entry of Jesus, the crown laid their clothing and palm branches down for Jesus.  It was his red carpet as they cried out Hosanna!  They proclaimed Jesus as the One who would save them and they knew He was King.  He was not a King with a scepter and a royal army announcing His arrival with fanfare.   He entered as a humble servant King riding the back of a donkey.  He came to save and He came to serve.

I ask myself now what I need to lay at the feet of my King.  The answer is everything! I need to lay down my dreams and visions and allow Him to transform them to His glory.  I need to lay down my hopes, fears, pride, emotions, thoughts, and energy and let Him transform them to His glory.  I need to drop my expectations and my reservations.  All I am, all I want to be, all I was, and all I can be needs to be placed at my King's feet and trust Him to redeem it for my good and His glory.  It's not easy for me, but in the end it is good... redefined by the One who defines me.

Spiritual Infection

 Over the weekend when my dentist was closed I began to experience the worst pain of my life.  I tried to treat the pain myself by following every wives tale I could find on the Internet for a toothache.  I held cloves in my mouth, chewed on garlic, swished salt water, swished baking soda water, rubbed coconut oil on my gums, and more.  I could get the pain to subside briefly, but it quickly returned with a vengeance that brought me to my knees in pain.  Relief only came after a course of antibiotics, muscle relaxers for my jaw, steroids, a root canal, and some pain killers.  After I regained some semblance of normalcy, God reminded me the physical world relays truth from the spiritual.
Sin is a spiritual infection.  We may think it starts small and we may have even acknowledged our sin, but God commands us to repent and eradicate it completely.  Romans 6:12 says, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."  Like my cavity, sin can kill if it is left unattended.  What begins as 'little' can become deadly.  God tells us to cast off all that entangles us.  We need to treat sin as the deadly infection as it is.  If not, then before we know it we could easily find ourselves in terrible pain and trying whatever we need to for relief.  We need to make sure we fight the good fight and armor up as our antibiotic constantly.  After all, failing to fight the spiritual infection may or may not cost us our physical life, but it will definitely cost us the life Jesus died for, life to the full.
In His Name,
Live Blessed

It's All Good

With the past in my rear view mirror, I headed on an adventure with God.  I was headed out with Him on my first mission trip.  Destination:  Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee.  Nerves began to get the best of me when I considered the reality that I was alone physically and headed to spend a week with complete strangers.  It occurred to me they may want me to drink a special kool-aid.  Panic became my passenger and I pulled off the highway at the nearest exit to regain my composure and top off my gas tank at the Meijer gas station.  I followed the signs to the Meijer store and was able to do some shopping, but the gas station was nowhere in sight.  My mind began to consider the possibility God was telling me to turn around and run for my life. Waves of anxiety crashed over me with hurricane force waves.  Then, I raised my hands to the heavens and began to pray.  Peace began to silence the fears.  With a blessed assurance from above, I exclaimed, "It's all good" and right before my eyes appeared the gas station and a restaurant called SAUL GOOD.  It's all good, God told me himself and He gave me a burning bush to remove any doubts.

The years before my trip were not all good, or so I thought.  My 19 year marriage had come to a screeching halt and with it life as my family knew it.   Everything seemed to be in ruins.   Nothing had seemed good in those days except God.  True, I would get a glimpse of goodness every now and then, but it was more of an exception than a rule.  But that was when I was allowing the world to define good instead of God.  Romans 8:28 says,"In all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes."  The Greek word used for works together is the word synergi from which we get the word synergy.  Things may not seem good, but it is.   We may not see it this side of heaven, but we can rest on the promises of God that He will weave the thread of goodness into everything.  Death, divorce, bankruptcy, illness, anger, adultery, job loss; all of it can and will be redeemed by God.  We just have to trust Him and look to Him for a definition of goodness instead of Webster or the world.  With God, good is redefined.  To Him be the glory!