God's Willingness=God's Ability

I was reading over my old notebooks this morning and read something that I wrote down last year.  God spoke to me and told me that He is as willing as He is able!

This was a new revelatiion of God's love for me.  The Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, infinite in power, ability, and resources is just as much willing as He is able.  We have always thought of God as being ABLE.  Nothing with God is impossible; He is able to do super-abundantly far over and above all that we ask or think.  We believe God is able, able, able..........but we sometimes fail to believe that He is just as much WILLING. 

Earthly parents are more than willing to do anything for their children, but their ability limits them in what they can do.  We have a heavenly Father who is limitless in resources whose willingness matches His ability!!  It is so good to know that God can, but it is even better to know that He wants to and He will!  This should be a clear sign of His love for us! 

We must not only have faith that God can, but that God will.  It's like the scripture in Hebrews 11 that says "Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is, AND that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."  We must believe both.  Have faith in God's willingness to bless you.  It's just as great as His ability!

Look to the JOY Set Before You...

Every step that we take in God may require us to lay down some things.  We are learning about this in church and prayer.  God is showing me that I shouldn't focus on what He is wanting me to lay down, but instead to focus on where He is taking me and the JOY set before me.  Really, what could be so important for us to hold on to that would be better than God's plan for our life?  NOTHING!  God is so good and if I really trust Him, then I will be able to lay down the things He is telling me to lay down.  It's for my benefit anyway.

In Hebrews 12:2 it says that, "...Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and now is seated at the right hand of God."  Jesus is our example, and He laid down something that none of us could imagine laying down:  His life.  He was perfect in every way and had never sinned and yet He laid down His flawless, sinless life for the JOY that was set before Him.  He was always pleasing the Father and He was reward minded.  He sowed His life in faith, believing that He would reap a family!  Me and You are part of that family now, because Jesus laid something down.

It goes on in Hebrews 12:3 to say, "Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself (reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials), so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing or fainting in your minds."  We are to compare what we may be having to lay down to what Jesus had to lay down.  There is NO COMPARISON!  We have grace to walk in the place God has called us to walk in.  That means we have the ability to lay down ANYTHING that He tells to lay down!

We must be obedient.  The very salvation of others could depend on it.  Let's look to that; the JOY set before us.  This is how Jesus was able to lay down His life.  Let's follow His example!

Redeemed? SAY IT!

This morning I was thinking about how everything that wasn't right in my life has been made right by the blood of Jesus. He has redeemed me FROM the curse of the law. He has redeemed me TO "The Blessing". It is so comforting to know this truth.

The bible says, "let the redeemed of the Lord say so," so it must be important to confess that we are redeemed. We must do this in order to always be aware of the good life that Jesus came to give us. If something in our life isn't right or doesn't line up with the Word, then we can say that we are the redeemed of the Lord. The blood of Jesus has paid the price for me; spirit, soul, and body. We're not just redeemed FROM sickness, we're redeemed TO healing. We're not just redeemed FROM lack, we're redeemed TO abundance!

I purpose to be whole in my spirit, my soul, and my body because Jesus has redeemed me and I will say so!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Short and Ugly

Here is a pic of me and Cort at the ugly Christmas sweater party. We definitely did not have the ugliest sweaters, but all Christmas sweaters from 1986 qualify as ugly. They also qualify as (I can't believe I see your boxers and belly button) way too short.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Faith HEARS and ACTS

The message Nate preached yesterday was a great message on faith. It was so simple: Faith is HEARING from God and DOING what He said. Hearing and Doing. Most of us know that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), but sometimes it's unclear to us on how to RELEASE that faith. During the message yesterday the Holy Spirit put it to me this way: Faith comes by hearing; faith is released by doing. We must do what God is telling us to do so that our faith will actually work! It's clear in James 1:22, faith without works is DEAD, but the man who acts on what he hears is blessed (James 1:25)!

True faith does what it hears regardless of the circumstances.

Faith is complete only when it is acted upon.

A good example of this would be Rahab. In Joshua, it talks about how Rahab and her people had heard of the great works that the God of Israel had done. She made her statement of faith in Joshua 2:11, "for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." This same woman who is an idol-serving harlot hears about the one true God and changes what she believes after she hears about the God of Israel! She made a decision to ACT on what she believed, risking her very life to hide the two Israelite spies. She took them at their word (which was really God's word to her) and DID what they said by hanging the scarlet cord out her window.

Just as she believed, her and her family and her possesions were spared and she lived with the Israleites from that day forward. This is almost like being saved Old Testament style, getting to live with and become a part of God's chosen people! Her reward of hearing and DOING what she heard didn't stop there. By ACTING in faith, she positioned herself right in the geneology of Jesus! She became the great-grandma to king David! She went from being a forced prostitute serving idols, to becoming an ancestor of the Saviour through an ACT of faith!

What will our acting on what we hear do for us? Let's find out!

I need Your Faith...

What are you believing God for? Is it big? Small? Significant to you? Significant to others?

I'm sure that you are believing God for something, and I'm also sure that it is very significant to you. What you need to know, however, is that it is also very significant to me. I need you to have faith in God and receive the promises He has for you. You need me to do the same. As part of the same body, it only makes sense that when one part is strengthened the entire body is strengthened. Not only that, but your faith victories will give me hope and determination to have my own faith victories. God's promises manifested in our life are not just some random, feel good, isolated things in our life. They are VITAL to the body of Christ. I know this may be a long post, but let me give you an example of why this matters.

Most everyone knows about the struggle and (natural) impossibility it was for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. However, it is not as well known that "Isaac and Rachel" and "Jacob and Rebekah" went through similar circumstances. It took faith on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's part in order for God to be called the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." What if Isaac didn't have faith in God that Rachel would have a child, would God just be called the God of Abraham and Isaac? Isn't it interesting the struggle that the first three sons of the covenant went through to have a son. The enemy knew what was to come out of these three men and he tried to stop God's plan of redemption. But as it is all throughout the Word, we see that faith became victory for these three men and their wives. It also became victory for me and you...

My relationship with God now relied solely on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's faith then. Does this make you wonder what you're believing God for that could possibly hinge on the salvation of others? What is it that we need to be believing God for that could be a blessing to others and bring God glory in the earth? Your faith in God for His promises is vital not only for you, but for me. It is vital to others that we don't even know yet and may not even see until heaven. This should encourage us to be strong in faith (just like Abraham) and become fully persuaded that what God promised, He is also able to perform. "Quit" is not an option. The very lives of others may depend on it....HAVE FAITH IN GOD. He is faithful to do what He said He would do. All we have to do is believe Him!

TRUST

Proverbs 3:5 (amp) says, "lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all of your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding."

When you lean on something with all of your weight you are putting trust in that thing to support you. When you lean on it with half of your weight, then you don't trust it can support all of you. I won't lean on my Christmas tree but I will lean on my fridge. I know the characteristics of the two well enough to know that I can fully lean on one but not the other.

Every characteristic that God has shows us that we can trust in Him with ALL of our heart. God's faithfulness alone shows me that I can fully put all of my trust in Him. I can lean on Him with all my weight and know that He will support me.

I know that most Christians think they trust God, but the truth is that they may only trust Him for salvation. They're not willing to trust Him with their LIFE. Do we trust Him enough to just lean on Him a little but still have our feet under us just in case?

If we really trust God then we will lean all that we are on Him, so that if He falls we fall. But thank God He will NEVER fall or fail. We can trust Him! He is FAITHFUL!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wondering Leads to Wandering....

Lately, I have found myself wondering about what's next in my life. What does God have for me to do next? Where am I to be at right now? I wonder if I should be doing something different? I wonder.......

This morning in prayer, I told God that I was not going to wonder anymore. I told Him that I was simply going to trust His Word and the leading of the Spirit and He began to show me that my wondering has led to lack of revelation in my personal time with him. For quite a while now when I would go to read my Word, it would feel empty, powerless, and just blah. And now I know why. I looked up some definitions of wonder and here is what it said: to think or speculate curiously, to doubt. I could not believe that this is a word that I used in my walk with God. I could see that by wondering about the future that I was really wavering and doubting. Those words are ugly and we don't like to use them, but wondering is basically the same thing.

As I began to sit down and write some notes on this, God told me that wondering leads to wandering. As Christians, we're familiar with the term wandering and we know that it is not something we're interested in. To wander means to deviate from what you believe. The Israelites wandered around aimlessly in the desert because they would not TRUST God. The opposite of wondering is trusting. To trust means to be planted like a tree. When the wind blows, and the storms come, and dogs pee, that tree is not going anywhere because it is rooted deep. We must be rooted deep in the Word of God so that when circumstances arise we will stay planted and stay trusting God.

I will no longer wonder, I will only trust. I don't have to wonder about the future because the Holy Spirit will show me things to come. I don't have to wonder about what's going to happen because God's Word is true and it will never fail. Pslams 40:4 says, "Blessed is that-> -> ->man that makes the Lord his trust. It's simple, TRUST God and you will be blessed. That's what I'm going to do.

I will not let wondering lead me to wandering, but rather let TRUST in God lead me to the blessing!

Life's Work

Most of my blog readers are my fellow church members, so this should sound familiar to you. I have really been needing change in my life and I'm so thankful for the mercy of God which never gives up on us. It seems that I had the recurring problem of my spirit being willing but my flesh weak. In the area of spending time in the Word and prayer, I always INTENDED to do it but stuff came up or I didn't get around to it. This was driving me crazy and I couldn't take that I was placing other things above the things of God. The great thing about God is that He doesn't condemn me but rather convicts me by the Holy Ghost and gives me chance after chance. I knew that I had to be productive with the chances He was given me because I did not want my heart to become hard. Needless to say, recent church services have been on point for me.

I read Ephesians 3:7 in the Message this morning in which Paul says, "This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message." That made it very clear and simple for me. Like PS said in a recent service, "Our objective is not to have a family, raise kids, make money, retire, etc.; but our one and only objective is to take this Gospel Message to the ends of the earth."

I don't know about you, but it has always seemed a little overwhelming for ME to take this Message to the ends of the earth. However, this is nothing more than helping people understand and respond to the Message. Later on in Ephesians 3:8 Paul said, "When it came to presenting the Message to people with no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any available Christians. (ever feel that way?) God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities." We need to trust God that when we step out and do what He says, that we will be perfectly equipped to do it.

The time is now. I want to be in the boat. I want to be a part of what God is doing in this earth and I must be about fulfilling the objective He has given me. My life's work will be to help people understand and respond to this Message.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday to my Pa (Sept. 24) who has managed to age like an encyclopedia: looking better and gaining knowledge every year. That was corny, but seriously, thanks for the genes.

We got a chance to play golf on his bday and had a great time. Perfect weather, no one around, deer in the fairway, mulligans galore, and birdies sparse.




It was really fun and made me realize even more that I have the best dad ever. Thanks for everything you've done dad, you're the best.

Don't worry, I'll confirm to everyone that this was a practice swing below....



-- Posted from my iPhone

What, I Can't Flex the Golden Pipes?

The e-trade commercials have got to be the funniest commercials out there. I mean a baby who talks like an adult and uses words like "shankapotamus," deserves to be #1 in the commercial biz. As much as I enjoy the golf ad with the baby and old man, I think my favorite is when the two babies are on there and one of them wants to "flex the golden pipes." Hilarious!

Here are three of the commercials, including the two referenced above. Which is your favorite?

I love....

I have recently began to watch how I use the word love. In our society, the word love has become watered down kind of like the word hope has. The only real significant meaning these words have to me is the meaning that I can get from the Word of God.

We have become so used to saying that we love so many things that sometimes I wonder what it means when we say "I love God." The bible tells us that we are to love God with all of our heart, and that we are to love other people as ourself. So we are to LOVE God and people, not things. In my life, for example, I used to say that I love golf, or I love steak, or I love that TV show. What am I really saying? I feel about that show the same way I feel about God? You might think, well that's a heart issue and God knows my heart, and that's true, but why is there no separation between God and that TV show in my WORDS?? Words are important, and I think it's important for us to differentiate what we really love in our life. I enjoy golf, I really like steak, I like watching that show, but I love Jesus.....what's wrong with saying it like this? This makes it clear to ME and others WHO not WHAT I love in my life.

What we say we love is what we will give the most attention and focus to, which is why I have removed loving STUFF from my vocabulary. Money can represent "stuff" or "things" and the Word says that "the LOVE of money is the root of all evil." I'll enjoy richly all that God has given me to enjoy, but I will reserve my love for Him and for people! I love Jesus and I really enjoy this iPhone He has blessed me with!


-- Posted from my iPhone

Faithfulness...

God has been revealing to me through the teaching of His Word that I am required to be faithful with what He's given me now. The Bible says, "that he who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much." I've been strongly convicted that we should never say, "if I had their money, then I would do great things for the kingdom of God." There is a few things wrong with saying something like that. First of all, there is a main word in that statement that we should look out for "THEIR". Why are we envisioning what we would do with someone else's money. That's covetousness, and the Bible warns that we should never be like that. The truth is that we would only do with more money then what we would do with less money now. Jesus himself said it, "if you are faithful in least you will be faithful with much." We seem to think that having more money or other outside circumstances would affect how we did things for God. This shouldn't be the case and I realize I have much changing to do in this area.

I need to be faithful with the gifts and resources that God has given me so that I can fulfill the call He has for my life. As I do, I know that He will increase me because He knows that I will be faithful with more. I don't want to become to familiar with this verse of being faithful in the little ....it is vitally important to our walk with God. It allows Him to not be limited with what He can do and give in our lives. Thank You Lord for the never-changing or expiring truth in Your Word. It is the only Word to live by!

The Parking Lot

Cortney has finally started her own blog after months of wanting to. I'm happy because it takes pressure off of me to post so often. She has titled it "The Parking Lot," because I often tell her I'm the best "Parker" there is.....not really. She has a different reason for naming it that. Find out for yourself at www.cortneykparker.blogspot.com. Happy blogging Boonie!

Effectual Faith

James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. There are certain words and actions that validate and activate our faith. We must in some way communicate our faith in order for it to work. It's not good enough to just say I believe.......

Philemon 1:6 says, "that the communication or your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." This is how we effectively communicate our faith and make it active! We must acknowledge or THANK God for all of the good things that are in us being in Christ Jesus. We must be thankful and always aware of who we are, what we have, and what we can do IN CHRIST!

Have you ever noticed how when you begin to thank God that your faith begins to rise and you suddenly start to FEEL better? There's a reason for this. When we do, our faith is being communicated and activated! Let's begin to acknowledge who we are, what we have, and what we can do in HIM and see our faith become active!

Really??

Cortney told me yesterday that she found a story on fox news about a baby doll that little girls pretend to breast feed. I couldn't believe it, but it's true. Bebe Gloton, is a doll that makes sucking noises as little girls pretend to feed it. This is very disturbing and even more so is the halter top that the "young mothers" wear as they pretend to feed their baby. The halter top acts like a nursing bra! Who comes up with this crap??

In other news, it appears that after a recent survey, a third of Arkansans now make up for 33% of the state's population. That is good news! I love this state. Go Hogs.

Hillbilly Sno

As you know.......it's really really hot outside. Here lately during the afternoons I have really wanted to partake of a sno cone. This is made very hard however by the "closed" signs on most of the sno cone trailers at this time. It says they open in the evening. I want a sno cone in the heat of the day not when it begins to cool off a little bit. There might have been a place open in Alma yesterday but I did not know it. Because of this tragedy, I had to purchase a cone from Hillbilly Sno in Ozark. Nothing against hillbilly's or Ozark, I just want to keep them separate from my arctic afternoon treat. Is there something wrong with this? Is it too much to ask for Airedale Sno to finally open there little window after sitting by the highway for two months with a sign that says opening soon......I don't think so.

This has made me want to open up my own sno cone trailer. I mean who wouldn't love that job? Sit in a small air conditioned area all day reading, making and eating sno cones. People shouldn't get paid for that, it's like a vacation. If I started up my own sno cone venture I would deliver to businesses around 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. Is that not primetime for sno cone goodness? All this talk about sno cones has got me hungry for one for breakfast. I wonder if anyone has Cocoa Pebbles flavored sno cones............I know I would!

Disgusting Detox

This weekend on vacation Cortney finally got to do a foot detox that she has wanted to do for a long time. It was disgusting to look at but she really enjoyed it. Here's the before and after pics.

Before:




After:




-- Post From My iPhone

Ice cream cereal

I want to give a shout out to Jake for his ice cream cereal post a while back. It is what inspired my dinner last night. I had chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with cocoa pebbles and milk on top. It was incredible, phenomenal, and other 4 syllable words I can't think of right now.



The best part about it was that the ice cream kept the milk cold the entire time and I love me some cold cereal!


-- Post From My iPhone

God Qualities

In church on Sunday morning during worship, as I was thinking about God's awesome creation, the Holy Spirit showed me something. He showed me all of the wonderful creation that God made, the mountains, the sea, the sun, stars, man, nature, etc., and all of the good qualities about them. For example, take this picture: the sun
Do you know that this same sun has been rising and setting ever since God called it to be? You talk about consistency and faithfulness. Now think of the Creator who made the sun with all of its wonderful qualities and we can see where these qualities came from. The only difference? "The Creator" is always above "the creation." God could put these qualities in His creation because He had them in Himself. When I think about God being MORE faithful than the rising of the sun, then it charges my faith to never give up on Him because He is more consistent and faithful than something that I KNOW is going to happen everyday.

I love the song that says, "You have been more faithful than the morning sun. You have been more faithful than knowing night will come. You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons...." Great song. God is incapable of letting me down. He doesn't have it in Him. But what He does have in Him is grace, mercy and forgiveness when I let Him down. You talk about God qualities, it doesn't get any better then grace! Thank You Jesus!

You can find God qualities all throughout His creation. Always remember to place the Creator above the creation and be encouraged knowing that all of their good qualities pale in comparison to the God qualities of our Father.