Merry Christmas

Wishing you all the best and a Merry Christmas.

May you receive all that God has in store for you in 2010.

Grace and peace,

Jeff

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I asked God

I asked God to take away my habit.

God said, No.

It’s not for me to take away, but for you to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.

God said, No.

His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.

God said, No.

I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.

God said, No.

Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to Me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.

God said, No.

You must grow on your own!  But I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.

God said, No.

I will give you life, so that may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me.

God said…Ahhhh, finally you have the idea!

Author Unknown 

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Get your plan ready for 2010!

With the new year approaching and the inevitable "New Years Resolutions" pending, I'd like you to consider reading the Bible in it's entirety in 2010 if you haven't done so.  Click on the link below for a great printable plan that will fold nicely and store in the cover of your Bible.

Free Bible Reading Plan eChart Download

One of the most enriching tasks a Christian can take on is to read God's Word completely.   One of the biggest hurdles to doing so for most, is the question of where to start and how much to read every day.  A good plan that you can keep with you is imperative to making good progress towards this goal.  The link is only good through Sunday December 27, 2009 so hurry up!

Grace and peace,

Jeff

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It's a Spirit thing

I was interviewed recently and as happens frequently, I was asked about how long I’ve been sober.  I have a patented response for that question and with little or no thought those dates rolled off my lips.  That date is equally impressive and unimpressive at the same time.  Impressive in that it is quite an achievement to refrain from the use of any substance or behavior that is destructive to ones life for any period, but stopping a behavior doesn’t really signify a change.   I’ve thought a lot about the timeframe of my sobriety and while I’m proud of the accomplishment and the date associated with it, it really only tells part of the story.

I believe that growth as a Christian and the accompanying walk with Christ is progressive.   I also believe that we individually are the only roadblock to living a life that God wants for us.  The full life in Christ we have available to us won’t happen overnight and like anything else in life of value, we must work for it.

PHASE 1

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9 NLT

I believe the Bible is the inerrant and perfect Word of God.  As I make that claim I can say that I completed Phase 1 of Christian living a long time ago.  Heaven I believe will be filled with a lot of people that stopped right there.  So many reach the point in life that they accept Christ and believe in their hearts that he was raised from the dead but never bother to take the steps that follow.  The Bible says this is all that’s required for salvation and I believe the vast majority of our neighbors in heaven will have stopped at phase 1 never fully realizing the joy of the life God wanted for them in this world.  This a lot like waiting in line to buy tickets to a movie then getting drinks, popcorn and candy and the going back to your car and driving home.

PHASE 2

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Upon accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is that little voice in the back of our head that tells us when things are right and good but more importantly convicts us of our sin, encouraging us to live a life pleasing to God.  The King James Version uses the phase “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”.  Old things are “passed” and new things “become” give indication that this is a process, not an instant transformation.   Christian life is not a destination, it’s a journey and how we fare on the trip is a choice for us to make.   As we acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and allow the changes He will make to happen, a small glimpse of the life God wants for us start to come into focus.

Phase 2 is a great place to be.  A life lived after giving Christ an invitation into it can be fulfilling and have much joy. 

But there is more… 

So much more…

“Life’s best is stored behind a door, it’s threshold crossed only by faith”.

Chris Coppernoll

PHASE 3

Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. 


Romans 12:1-2 CEV

Christ wants to be invited into your life but that’s just a starting point.  God doesn’t just want to be invited to the party; He wants to be the host!  Faith in God is not a sometimes thing, its an all the time thing.  We are to become a living sacrifice to God’s will and to live for His pleasure, not our own.  The step across the threshold to life’s best isn’t a difficult one to make but it is impossible to make on your own.

Phase 3 can only be achieved when the Holy Spirit goes beyond concept and idea and become reality, the living 3^rd person of the Trinity. 

The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:17 NKJV

To fully engaged The Holy Spirit, to fully know Christ and to ultimately please God you must look beyond the borders of this world and enter the spiritual one.  Too often people think that the idea of entering the spiritual realm is something only “those weirdo’s do” when the truth is that those who truly engage the Spirit are some of the most practical folks I’ve ever met.  Paul expands on this thought in his letter to Timothy when discussing the gift of the Holy Spirit

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

Let God orchestrate your life by allowing the Holy Spirit the freedom to show you God’s power and love.
Grace and peace,

Jeff

Put Christ back in the classroom

This is awesome, please share with others!

Where do you get your strength?

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:13 KJV

That was one of the first pieces of scripture I committed to memory after I was saved. As a freshly minted Christian I used that verse often as a prayer through difficult times. Whenever the heat in life got turned up a bit I would find myself repeating those words over and over in my mind. I took comfort in those words often and after time I became a little more “spiritually mature”, a deeper prayer life began and new verses took my attention and developed meaning for me. It wasn’t until I went through some trials and found my way back up, out a valley or two before I really took grasp of the meaning of this scripture.

It’s effortless to cry out for help in troubled times, and just as easy to forget where help came from when things turn around. The Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years and had no choice but to place their faith in God during that time. God provided their food daily in the form of manna and they followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, trusting their direction to the Lord. And just as they were on the border of the Promised Land, able to see the “land of milk and honey”, God issued a warning...

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them”.

Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV

God knew that it would be easy for the Israelites to forget how difficult things had been given the relative luxury they would soon have. In an act of supernatural wisdom He gave them the advice, don’t forget where you came from and make sure your children know how tough it was. But history and the Bible both show us that they did indeed forget to honor God, lost everything but eventually turned to Him again. More than once.

And that brings me back to Philippians 4:13, which when taken into the proper context, closely resembles the advice given in Deuteronomy. Paul didn’t offer the exhortation of strength in Christ as a plea for strength it was a definitive statement. In J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible Commentary Vol. V, he states the following:

“When Paul says all things, does he literally mean all things? Does it mean you can go outside and jump over your house? Of course not. Paul says, “I can do all things in Christ”—that is, in the context of the will of Christ for your life. Whatever Christ has for you to do, He will supply the power. Whatever gift He gives you, He will give the power to exercise that gift. A gift is a manifestation of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. As long as you function in Christ, you will have power...Now Paul is not saying that we can do all things. I can’t jump like a grasshopper can jump. When I was in school I was the high jumper, but I can’t jump anymore. You see, I can’t do all things, but I can do all things which God has for me to do from the time He saved me to the time He will take me out of this world." (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Nashville: Thomas Nelson)

While the verse sounds and looks good on a James Avery bracelet, Philippians 4:13 is a statement of fact we should strive to make ourselves, after rejoicing in Christ through all the seasons of our life. If you find yourself struggling to find the strength you need in Christ, may I suggest the following?

Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. 


Romans 12:1-2 CEV

Living the Christian life isn’t easy; it’s impossible in our own power. Seek God in a way to secure the fact of Philippians 4:13 in your life!

Be blessed today,

Jeff