Where You at?

I am reading the book of Psalms each morning before I start my day. David was someone I can relate to in so many ways. Despite his problem with women, David was a good leader. Even though he had all the power and prominence, he never forgot where it came from…God. He knew that he had been chosen by God to be Israel’s king and he knew that he had God’s favor. He worshipped God like no other. He played his instruments while he sang and danced in the streets. He didn’t care who was watching or what they thought of him. He loved God and he wanted God to know that. But a side we see of David when we read the Psalms is different. It seems that many times, over and over again, David cries out to God for help. Sometimes he talks as if God has no idea of what is going on, that God has turned away from him. It’s no secret David had enemies. Even his own son tried to deceive the people and overtake the throne. Many people wanted David dead. They feared him. And when they came against David he would cry out to God for help. But sometimes God wouldn’t answer right away. Sometimes He didn’t answer the way David wanted Him to. Like the time when David and Bathsheeba committed adultery and she became pregnant. David fasted for days for the baby to live but God allowed the child to die. We may not be people of power and great prestige, we may not be people of prominence that have enemies vowing to kill us physically, but I guarantee you that we are people that have felt like David. I feel like him right now. Besides going through my divorce, I feel like I am in the darkest part of my life. Over the years I have made some stupid decisions that at the time I thought were good ones and now I am paying the price. Like David, I have prayed for God to do something about it, to bail me out, and it seems like He is nowhere to be found. I feel like saying, “Don’t you see how we struggle? Can’t you fix this situation? I’ve been faithful, I say my prayers, I serve, and live a Christian life the best that I can…why won’t You do something about this?” in fact, I have said those things! I know the answer is “yes” that God can do something about the situation but what is really hard for me is to learn the lessons God is trying to teach me while I wait for Him to do His thing. Just like David said, “You are my rock, my fortress, my strong tower. You are my help in time of need.” David, in all of his struggles never took his eyes off God. He never, for one second, gave up on Him. And let me encourage you, friend, in all your struggles, trust God. Yes, it’s not the easiest thing to do, yes, we want to question Him and say “why?” but when it’s all said and done, and the fire has gone out, you will come out a stronger person, purified like gold and silver (Malachi 3:3) and your faith, after being tested, will be so much stronger and you will hear God whisper, “I was here all along and I with you all the way.” (Isaiah 43:1ff) I will leave you with Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Randy

P.S. Just a few hours after I wrote this blog today, my phone rang. It was my real estate agent with an offer on our house in West Tennessee. Please pray for us that this all works out. We have been making two house payments for a year now and it is draining , wait...has drained us financially. God is awesome!

slavery...

I want to say right off the bat that I do NOT agree with slavery, although sometimes I feel like one thanks to my wife (just kidding). I asked our youth group this question in class last night, “Are you a slave?” and I let them answer without explaining where I was going with the lesson. Some said, “No,” and some said “Yes…to my parents.” One even asked me if it was a trick question. After they answered I asked them to give me a definition of a slave and the best one I got was “Anybody bound by a master.” So with this answer in mind the answer to the question above is YES, we are slaves! I’ll explain why I say that. Romans 6:16 says, “ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” You see, we are either a slave to sin, or a slave to righteousness. And if we are a slave to sin, well, then Satan is our master. If we are a slave to righteousness, then God is our master. Get it? Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Yes, He is speaking about riches but the concept applies to our spiritual lives. We cannot live a life of sin and expect God to be our master. Light and darkness CANNOT dwell together! God is Light and in Him is no darkness (1 John 1:5)…Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12) and He shined in the darkness! Darkness is symbolic of sin in the Bible. Sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). Read Romans 6:15-20 for more on this and also check out http://www.biblegateway.com/ or http://www.studylight.org/ to do some research.. Yes, there are times when we do sin, even as Christians, but we do not live our lives in sin. There is a difference. We strive to live according to the scriptures on a daily basis. When we fall short of what God wants from us we have an advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1) and we can ask for forgiveness. If we live our lives on a daily basis not caring what God wants and we deliberately go against His will and live according to the flesh, then we cannot please God (Romans 8:6-16). Like it or not, we all are slaves, either to sin or to righteousness. By the way, when you see the word slave or servant in the New Testament, many times the word in the Greek language is “doulos” which means “a literal slave”. It is used 127 times in the King James and 141 times as such in the New American Standard. Maybe the question I should ask is, “Who is your master?” A slave for Christ…Randy

Jump ship!

When your stuck at home laying in your recliner with strep throat you find that there is not much at all to watch on TV. No football, no baseball, not even a basketball game. I couldn’t even find a good cartoon to watch. But I did run across a show about the Titanic on the history channel. I thought I had heard everything about that ship but this was a good show. They had a different perspective about how the ship sank and how it broke in half. The show is called “Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces”. These men were on an expedition in 2005 to find some steel that was not a part of a debris field that someone had discovered, but did not take any pictures. They thought this steel might be a part of the bottom of the ship. They had an idea that the ship was not only cut by the iceberg on the side, but also the bottom of the hull. Long story short, they found the steel and sure enough it was the bottom of the ship. In fact, they found two pieces that were hardly corroded and in great shape! So they started their theories of what happened that night. One guy came up with a great one. He said that the ship probably didn’t sink like the movie suggested. He believes the ship didn’t raise up out of the water at a thirty three degree angle which is real steep, but only an eleven degree angle which is no where near as steep. This argument or theory coincides with some of the testimonies of the survivors. They said that they thought they had more time to get off the ship. They actually thought the ship would settle to a certain point and float until help arrived. It was a false sense of security which led to around fifteen hundred people losing their lives.
It’s a lot like the world full of lost people. They are floating around this world on a ship that is sinking fast but it’s such a slight tilt they don’t even recognize it. They have a false sense of security. That’s what makes Satan so dangerous. He is clever. He is good at his game. He eases you in until your trapped by sin and once you realize it, IT’s TOO LATE! You see, people think they have plenty of time to “get their life right” as people say. They think nothing bad is going to happen to them and someday they may give their life to Christ. It’s the greatest tool the devil has to use. False security. Everything’s fine. Help will soon arrive and we will be rescued. Help has arrived. His name is Jesus. His blood can save you. He has come to rescue you. You have to make the decision to get off this sinking ship and onto safety. To me, one of the saddest stories about the Titanic is that the lifeboats were half empty. There was room for a lot more people yet they found themselves drowning in the cold ocean waters and passing into eternity. Don’t be one of these people. Get off the sinking ship NOW! Get on board with Jesus Christ while you still have time! You never know, your next breath may be your last…Randy