Prayer

Hello to anyone who happens across this. It has been a while so if you've read before you may have given up on me or moved on. I am here today and that is all that matters.

My devo time has been a scattered lately and quite sparadic so in an effort to have a more focused devotion time I have found myself in 1 Samuel. I would like to share what God has laid on my heart so far.

1 Samuel starts out with story of Samuel's mother Hannah. Hannah was married to Elkanah who also had a second wife, Peninnah. Peninnah was able to bear children and Hannah could not. As the story went Elkanah loved Hannah more than Penninah and out of jeleousy Penninah made fun of Hannah and made her life misserable. Hannah wanted nothing more in life than to have a child. She endured this hardship for years. So Hannah went to the one who has all the answers, God, and pleaded for a child, in fact in her pleas she vowed that if she was to be given a child, she would give the child back to the Lord for His service in the temple.

Great story, so what, right?

What I was impressed with was the manner in which Hannah prayed. She prayed silently , intimately in her heart. No fancy words or actions, she just silently poured out her heart. The other thing I noticed was that she didn't fight back when oppressed by Penninah. She endured it all those years and when she couldn't take it anymore, She took it to the Lord. In her words, to the Priest Eli, who thought she was drunk because she was moving her lips but no words were coming out, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord".   ......"I have been praying out of my great anguish and grief."1 Sam. 1:15-16. The part I like about the last part is "praying out of ". It may not mean this, but I think it works.  In her time of great need her prayers will take her out of the situation that was bringing her great sorrow. What is the best way to get out of situations that are bringing us sorrow. Pray. Pray out of. Seek God first in any and all situations we don't have the answers for.

Does it work?

1 Sam 1:19-20 "and the Lord remembered her.......in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son" God heard and answered. Pastor Roger pointed this out to me. Not only did God give Hannah a son, he gave Israel a leader that would help shape the future of Israel, Samuel. God also honored Hannah for following though with her pledge to give Samuel to the Lord. 1 Sam 2:21 " And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters." God is faithful.

God is listening.

God Bless you,

Russ.

Hello Again

I hope I am not the only who starts a blog and then doesn't write anything for two months. This is an ugly pattern in a lot of things in my life( a lot, not all). I start something with great excitement and soon loose steam and quit altogether. The exception this year is my diet, I have lost 50 pounds since June, and I am exercising regularly and I feel much better. So I hope this will rekindle my blogging.

Tonight I was thinking about politics. Yuck. What a crazy world we live in. Sometimes it feels out of control. Is this how we are supposed treat each other. Is it legal because it's politicians and we can through verbal stones at them. Are they the only ones who mess up in life. Were is the mercy? Are they really that bad? As a Christian, how should I react to all the political jargon. Do I join in and rip and tear like everyone else. I'm shown mercy everyday, and believe me I mess up from time to time. Many smear adds could be written about my life.

Seems like someone is always watching for the next person to mess up, so a new smear add can be run. No mercy. In an imperfect world we set standards for people based on a scale of perfection that no one can attain. When I do this I forget what Romans 3:23 says " for All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" not some, all. I am no better than anyone, "anyone". But political leaders are important right? What should I do? We need leaders.

My Facebook status was the inspiration of this post tonight. I so many times get caught up in the political rock throwing melee, that I forget that there are human lives that my verbal rock will strike. For this I am sorry, what a poor example. When I open my mouth to speak about someone it should be a blessing or a prayer. This world needs more prayer, not billion dollar stimulus packages. This world needs more spoken blessing, not more tax cuts. This world needs an extra dollar in the collection plate, not another social program. This world needs Matthew 11:30 " for My(Jesus) yoke is easy and my burden is light" People change, God doesn't. God can bless and help our elected officials. Pray for our elected officials. May the peace of God reign.

Thank you for reading and God bless,

Russ.

For freedom, humbly resist.

I had the day off today so I spent this morning reading Josh Hamilton's autobiography "Beyond Belief ". For those who don't know, Josh is an All Star outfielder for the Texas Rangers. He was the first round draft pick in 1999 and had the world by the tale. He signed a 3.93 million sign on bonus at 18 years old, I can only imagine the world he was entering. But for reasons only he can describe, he threw it all away for an addiction to cocaine and crack. He was at rock bottom and through the unconditional love of his grandmother and the realization that he needed to totally surrender to Jesus Christ', he gave it all to God. He knew he had no other choice. So he hit his knees and gave it all up to God, and he didn't do it for baseball, because at this point in his life his hope and desire for baseball was gone. When he got up off the floor he grabbed his Bible and began to read scripture, and this verse caught his attention. James 4:7

"Humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you"

This verse became his weapon to fight off the devil. Every time he felt the attacks he would say this verse in his mind. Sometimes he would say it out loud. He trusted in the power of God's word.

What jumped out for me was how simple yet powerful, the remedy for his healing was. He didn't recite a fancy prayer with a special name tied to it. He simply dropped to his knees and asked God to do with him what He wanted to do with him. Everything for Josh was going to be on God's terms. Wow, I am still pondering this. I find myself wondering if I am at that place. Do I willingly surrender everything to God. Easy answer, No, but I will say that every morning I do pray that God will help me be a blessing to the people I am around. This is truly my hearts desire. I think the reminder from reading Josh's book is that it's the power God's word and the position of your heart that allows God to work in your life. A humble heart and a desire to resist the pitfalls of this world my flesh so desires. When Josh stopped at James 4:7 he read it over and over, and committed it to memory. A tool to fight the enemy, a fight he only won with God's continued help.

Josh doesn't live out anyone Else's life, he is now living the life God had planned for him. With humility he serves God by sharing his life and his God given talents with everyone. Josh's dad told him that his greatest sin was depriving people of his ability. Like Jesus parable about the the guy who buried his talents in the ground for his boss. It is a reminder to me that God can use the good and the bad of any ones life for His glory, if we let him. It's much easier for God to work in our lives when we have a humble heart.

I highly recommend this book to any one, especially if you have a child in sports.

Stay humble and God bless,

Russ.

Epicureans=Americans

Our pastor Rogers sermon today came out of Acts 17:16-31. God used Roger to once again reveal another part of who my Father God is. I found myself in a place this morning were I felt so close to God that I didn't want to leave. Vs 24-25 paints a picture of our all sufficient God who made everything, who needs nothing from us. But Vs 26-27 paints the picture of our Father God, our Daddy who determined our place in time and places us in specific places so that "perhaps" we might find him and seek him. Seek him by our free will, the free will he gave us. Another glimpse of the grace of our great God. "He wants us to find Him!" The God who has everything wants sinful, fallen man to find Him so that we can follow God into eternity. I thank you Father God for laying this and the other scriptures on Rogers heart for this mornings sermon. Praise God!

Now to the title of this post. What is an Epicurean. In the Apostle Paul's day they were a group of Greeks who's beliefs were this( this is from my Life Application Bible) " The Epicureans believed that seeking happiness or pleasure was the primary goal of life" Sound familiar? It does to me. Isn't this the American dream? Could this be why the American Church is becoming more ineffective each year? Is this why marriages are crumbling around us? Is this why our government seems to slip deeper and deeper into debt trying to to make a Utopian happy place for all Americans? Is this why we have infighting and division in our churches" if I ain't happy ain't nobody going to be happy"? This is nothing new, but look at the TV adds and look at the themes that are being portrayed, "happiness and joy". Big 401K's, fast shiny cars(I struggle with this), clothes, dream vacations, a more sculpted body. Have this and that and you will have pleasure and be happy. Epicurean ism.

So Paul ends his preaching with this thought. God has promised that Jesus will return and everyone will be judged. I think we need to ask God to search our hearts. Do we dare do that? If Jesus comes today what kind of church is he going to find. ( not the building) Remember in vs 24, He doesn't need a building, He can work inside one but He is not constrained to it. Are we seeking happiness in our churches or can we lay down our "crowns" of happiness and pleasure and seek him even if that doesn't always make us feel good. Roger shared a little bit about the suffering Paul experienced on his journeys, beatings, stoning, left for dead, and prison to name a few things, Does that sound like happiness and pleasure. Not to me. I can't put words into Paul's mouth but I can imagine him telling people today that I can't keep from following Jesus no matter what, the joy that God fills me with when I serve him is intoxicating. I can't help ,but tell the whole world about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, I can't stop. I believe Paul sought the Joy of Christ not the happiness of the world, he had been there. I'm sure he had a great wealthy life before his conversion. You know most of this I am preaching to myself. One day at a time my heart calls out to follow Christ while my flesh cries out to follow the world and its pleasures. God put this thought on my heart at Work Systems Sat while I was talking to another brother in Christ. A divine appointment, Vs26-27, God knew this was going to happen. Anyway I was impressed with this thought, if Satan works on the slippery slope principle, stealing little parts of your life over a period of time until the enemy has taken everything, why can't we follow Christ in in the opposite way. following him daily so that little by little we draw closer to him, so like in 2 Peter 1:3-10, we make our calling and election sure. Let " the joy of the Lord be my strength" Ive been sing that song in my head as I have been writing this.

Lets seek the joy that comes from following Christ.

Gods joy and peace be with you.

Russ.

Check out this song by Delirious, Kingdom Of Comfort.

Lyrics to Kingdom Of Comfort :

Save me save me

From the kingdom of comfort where I am king

From my unhealthy lust of material things

I built myself a happy home

In my palace on my own

My castle falling in the sand

Pull me out, please grab my hand

I just forgot where I came from

Save me save me

From the kingdom of comfort where I am king

From my unhealthy lust of material things

I rob myself of innocence

With the poison of indifference

I buy my stuff at any cost

A couple of clicks and I pay the price

Coz what I gain is someone else's loss

Save me save me

From the kingdom of comfort where I am king

From my unhealthy lust of material things

Instrumental/Lament

Save me save me

From the kingdom of comfort where I am king

To this kingdom of heaven where you are king

Roast Pastor

Roast Pastor, It's what seems to be for Sunday lunch.

Why is the success or failure, of the church, put on the back of the church pastor. Why does the pastor receive the bulk of the nasty phone calls, emails, or a degrading meeting? Should all this responsibility be heaped onto the back of our pastors? Sometimes it seems like we put the pastor as the head of the church. Is it because we follow a man made structure for church hierarchy, with the pastor placed at the top of the ladder.

This subject has been running through my mind today after hearing from a friend, a story of a lunch run in with a couple of local pastors. They were feeling a lot of oppression from their congregations and one of them was brought to tears as he shared his story of the difficulties he has had in ministry. People problems. I wonder if part of the problem is that we hold them to standards that no human being can attain in this fallen, sinful state. Yes he should be above reproach, he should lead by example, he should be Jesus with skin on, but he should also be human, and should be given the same amount of grace that we all have received. the apostle Peter publicly denied Jesus three times , and the all knowing Jesus Christ, prior to Peter doing this, knowing that Peter would deny three times, looked at him and told him that " on this rock, I will build my church". That's grace, Amazing Grace! Our pastors deserve that grace. They are not perfect, and if they mess up they need to be corrected and restored. So how can we change this?

I believe we need to make the church a simple place again. If you read Acts 2:42 you will find a simple formula for church order, function and worship. No fancy names that people can't understand, no special formulas and charts to mark your spiritual growth, they did this, (Russ paraphrase)" they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings, they had fellowship together, they broke bread together and they prayed." Four simple yet profound things. A very easy ministry plan that everyone could understand and follow.

So what about the church hierarchy? This passage in the New Testement, lays out a great plan for a healthy church.. In 1 Cor. 12:14-18 Gods word say that the church is made up of many different parts working together. If we have Christ as the head then the rest of body follows the heads direction,(like our brain directing what we do). Remember this passage doesn't put the pastor as the head. I do however believe it is an important body part category. Eph 4:11 talks of this,"it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." Very important body parts but not the head. They are to join the rest of the body in unified worship and service to Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Follow the head! Does the pastor need to lead? Yes, with the other church leaders. The apostles were the church leaders, but they did it as a group and they sought God for wisdom to make good decisions.

So what should we do. Love your pastor, you don't have to agree with everything he says, Paul and Barnabas didn't agree on everything, in fact, they parted ways because they couldn't agree, but they continued to love and serve the Lord. Love your pastor and pray for him. Pray ,pray pray. Talk to him face to face. Don't cook him at 350 for 2 hours and serve him with potatoes and gravy to everyone you meet. Keep your mouth shut to others and talk to him directly. Most of all remember that this church thing is not about us. It's about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and meeting them were they are moving. And believe me when I say this, I have just as much work to do in this area as anyone. It's so easy to speak before I pray.

We need to build the church based on Gods biblical blueprint. God's word is black and white, lets follow it. Lets keep the main thing, the main thing.

God bless you.

Russ.

So easy to complain.

I have to say I have a good life and I thank you Father God for this blessing. I have been blessed with a wonderful family, I enjoy good health, and I have a great job. The question to myself then is why do I complain and get so worked up over nothing.

Here is a list of things that come to my mind as I think about this. You may find these things kind of funny, but I am slightly ashamed when I think about this. Here is my list. " They did a terrible job mixing my blizzard, all the brownie pieces are at the bottom." What's wrong with the TV, oh it's raining again, stupid satellite dish, it's ruining my favorite show and I even put on DVR, that ruins that recording." "Man this traffic stinks, rush hour in Pella." " Can it get any hotter?" " Why is the wait so long ? They said 15 minutes, I'm going to get a stomach ache if I don't eat soon." " Do we have to stay that long?" " Reruns again?" and on and on. Father forgive me for my ungrateful heart. I am sorry for forgetting all that blessings I have received.

So take this as helpful reminder, every step you take and every breath you take is a gift from Father God. Take nothing for granted. Enjoy the little things. Smell a flower, catch a frog, stare at the stars and experience the rich blessings of our Creator,God.

God bless you,

Russ.

Hug your child

Hug your child today.

Where is this coming from you might ask. Well, Jacque and I were watching the top one hundred countdown of the 90's, and the song "Jeremy" from the group Pearl Jam was in the countdown, I think it was in the top 20, anyway, I had completely forgotten about that song. The song was based on the true story of a teenage boy who came into his classroom one day and committed suicide in front of his whole class. That in itself was very sad. I never read the story of the boy, but if watch the video you get the sense that a large part of the young mans problems started at home with parents that paid no attention to him. The parents seemed more concerned with their careers and their own lives. So you watch this young man fall deeper and deeper into a depressed state to the point where he finally take his own life.

Ouch! I don't have enough time to write down all the times I have put my ambitions before my kids. Even today I tried to pawn off bringing Kara to the pool on Justin, until I was convicted that I needed to do it. So I changed my attitude and did it with a happy heart and then felt the blessing of being able to spend a little time with Kara in the middle of the day.

Back to the fist paragraph, Hug your child today,do it multiple times, tell them that you love them, over and over. You can never say it to much. What better family legacy can you pass on to your children than this, other than a love for the Lord.

God sent his only Son to die on the cross to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. Because Gods I love you, to us, His children, is that big. His is always telling us he loves us.

This also ties into yesterday, say hi to a young man or women with their head down shuffling their feet, you may find an adult or two as well. You may be the only one today to speak blessing into their life.

God Bless,

Russ.

Just say hello

I like to say hi to the people I meet when I am on a walk. I like to see the reactions I get. I really enjoy putting a smile on some ones face.

My big question is why do so many people look down when they meet someone. I can guess a lot of things but I would probably be wrong. The saddest ones to me are the young people I see , hands in their pockets, heads down, shuffling their feet, blank expressions. I wonder sometimes if they feel like the world and all their childhood expectations have been destroyed. For some I wonder if they even allowed to be a child. So many , at very young ages are being forced to deal with emotions and situations that they are nowhere near mature enough to handle. When did we lose "were a kid can be a kid". When they look around at the adults around them do they lose hope in their future post high school and college. "Is this what I have to look forward to?" Why try when all I see is heart ache, broken promises and let down.

It makes me think. When Justin and Kara see Jacque and I does it give them hope for the future. Are my words filling them with hope? Most of the time I feel good about this. Justin and Kara are good kids, the majority of the time. Our goal as parents is to make sure that our relationship with Father God is evident in everything we do say. ( that's our goal). We want are children to stand tall with heads held high in Christs salvation through grace. Our hope is that their hope will be in Christ. I can't force them to do anything so I pray they will see Jesus working through me in the good and the bad. That they will see that even though I may change, God doesn't.

So maybe the first step to getting the heads to come up is a simple heart felt "hello", it may be the door that opens to a deeper relationship, that someone was looking for.

Blessings for this Day.

Russ.

What the church needs today.

I'm reading a great book by Chuck Swindoll, I will leave it unnamed as it is a pre release that will hit the shelves Sept. 2010. The subject is church renewal. I am through the intro and first chapter and it really has my heart stirring. What is the church in a postmodern or more specifically a post Christian nation supposed to look like. A church in a nation that wants nothing to do with boundaries or absolutes. The only black and white this nation want to see is "grey". I'll do what feels good to me, If I think its OK then it's OK, that may be good for you but not for me. There are many paths that lead to God, I will end the list there.

It has been suggested by some that America is more Hindu than it is Christian in that there is a growing belief that are many different Gods that will lead us to a great afterlife. How can we be different. What can we do to show the truths of Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit in this chaotic multi directional world we live in.

The foundation must be Gods word, the BIBLE, This must be the core of everything we do. If I don't have a healthy helping of Gods word each day I find that I am spiritually hungry and my direction is scattered. It becomes very easy to react solely by emotion rather than wisdom. I begin to look at the things around though my human eyes and I don't always see things clearly. I need my Jesus glasses. Help me God to see the things of this day through your eyes. Show me the good in people that I cannot see, help me to bless those who curse. This is part of the reason for the name of my blog. I'm convinced that we, in our fallen, sinful state are not able, or designed to, effectively deal with more than what this day brings us. James 4:13-14 ¹³Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. My goal each day is to take it one day at a time. That doesn't mean I never plan ahead, I do, I just try to do it with the attitude that things may change and that is alright. That's my goal, I don't always react to changes that way. So I need to stay grounded in the word so that my Jesus glasses will stay clean and clear, no smudges, clean and Jesus clear. it reminds me of Brandon Heaths song "Give me your eyes". Check it out if you haven't heard it.

So back to the beginning of my post. The church needs Gods word front and center to lead and guide everything we do. I believe church would be much more simple if we just went to His word first followed closely by prayer. Chuck talks about the church eroding, caused by following all the latest trends, we continue to accommodate the the teachings of popular culture. Don't offend anyone. If we hold to God's word Jesus promised us this " I will build my church, and nothing-- not even the gates of hell--can stop Me(Jesus). It may not seem the most fun or exciting, but what are we comparing that to, our favorite movie or the latest multi media extravaganza, that all the "popular churches are doing. I think Gods word ,when engaged with a heart that longs to be filled the wisdom of God, is very exciting, Gods word is " alive and active, sharper than any Ginsu knife", (Russ paraphrase). Check out the lyrics to Casting Crowns song "The word is alive"

Looking out from His throne,
The Father of light and of men
Chose to make Himself known
And show us the way back to Him

Speaking wisdom and truth
Into the hearts of peasants and kings
He began to unveil
The Word that would change the course of all things

With eyes wide open,
all would see

The Word is alive
And it cuts like a sword through the darkness
With a message of life to the hopeless and afraid
Breathing life into all who believe
The Word is alive
And the world and its glories will fade
But His truth, it will not pass away
It remains yesterday and forever the same
The Word is alive

Simple strokes on a page
Eternity's secrets revealed,
Carried on from age to age
It speaks truth to us even still

And as the rain falls from Heaven, Feeds the earth before it returns
Lord, let Your Word fall on us and bring forth the fruit You deserve

With eyes wide open, let us see
The Word is alive
And it cuts like a sword through the darkness
With a message of life to the hopeless and afraid
Breathing life into all who believe
The Word is alive
And the world and its glories will fade
But His truth, it will not pass away
It remains yesterday and forever the same
The Word is alive

(Spoken) The Bible was inscribed over a period of two thousand years
In times of war and in days of peace
By kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fishermen, singers, and shepherds
The marvel is that a library so perfectly cohesive could have been produced by such a diverse crowd
Over a period of time which staggers the imagination
Jesus is its grand subject, our good is its design, and the glory of God is its end

The Word is alive
And it cuts like a sword through the darkness
With a message of life to the hopeless and afraid
Breathing life into all who believe
The Word is alive
And the world and its glories will fade
But His truth, it will not pass away
It remains yesterday and forever the same
The Word is alive (the world and its glories will fade)
The Word is alive (His truth it will not pass away)
His Word is alive (His Word is alive, His Word is alive)

(Spoken) Jesus is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God is its end

After you read this go to Gosselinks Christian Book Store, or your local Christian bookstore and buy the CD.

If Gods word wasn't important why did Jesus quote it all the time? "Jesus the living word"

I may have rambled a bit but that is me one day at a time.

God Bless you with heavenly things.

Russ.

overflow

This morning I was reading out of Matt 12:34-36. The overflow of our heart, Jesus states "for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks". I have a purple post it note in my Bible from 6 or 7 years ago by this passage, on it , I wrote " when the Holy Spirit is in us and continually filling us, it shows by our speech and actions". Garbage in garbage out. This really hit when I thought about all the "Great Entertainment" I allow myself to watch. You know for the first few years after asking Jesus into my life, not a swear word exited my lips. I find now that in times of stress and distress it's all I can do to keep from swearing.

The other area of influence is all the open uninhibited sex on almost every T.V. show out there. This is a call to all men. The more of this garbage you let into your life the harder it will be to keep your heart and mind on your spouse. Treat your wife like the gift from God that she is. There is a lot of "overflow of the heart" that is leading to adultery, divorce, and perversions of marriage that are to many to list. God has asked us (men) to love our wives as Christ loved the church, He laid down his life for the church. If we are not laying down our lives we at least need to lay down the remote, the magazine, the DVD, the website,and the love of self first.

The sobering part of Jesus words is in vs 36. " men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. James 3:9 reminds us of the reality of the overflow of our heart. " With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

So..... my goal will continue to be this. Fill my mind with the things of God, starting with the foundation of Gods word, the Bible.

sabbath

Today I am resting with my family. Thank you Lord for the family you have blessed me with. We like to spend time together, sure as Justin has gotten older his time at home has been less and less, but the time he is at home he is engaged in what is going on in our family. Jacque and I are blessed with wonderful kids. It is easy to have sabbath rest with Justin and Kara. This morning the three of us shared our time together out by the pond and garden. The garden we planted together continues to reap its bounty. We are currently eating squash, cucumbers, and broccoli, and we are awaiting our first tomatoes. What a fun thing to do together. The whole family has been blessed by the garden. I will continue to rest today. Thank Father God for the gift of this day.