I love God with all of my heart! I love people, because I know and understand that we are His creation.  I love helping people to get to know God in a real and relevant way.  There are just way to many people sitting in our churches that are playing games.  When you love God and love people, then you want to help people for their blessing and God’s glory.  It is a hard pill to swallow, that people who you love and are trying to help just won’t or can’t get it!  If you are not careful, this can discourage, frustrate and get you off of the right path that you need to make sure that you stay on.  Our job as servants of Christ is not to keep people happy.  Our job as servants of Christ is to bring a smile to the face of our God.

The Truth Is:  Some People Can’t Be Pleased! Listen to what Jesus had to say on the subject: “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” Luke 7:33-35

That is some strong words! Jesus is saying:  John the Baptist came and was a strict observer of the rules and regulations and was falsely accused of having a demon.  I came and lived life with you to show you the power of a life lived in the Spirit and you accused me of being a glutton, drunkard and friend of sinners.  Ultimately – it does not matter what man’s opinion is.  The big deal is God’s fact!  Live right and your living will be proven right by the fruit that it produces!

You Are Not Alone! I know that many of you out there are struggling against negative, critical, pessimistic, destructive and unresponsive people, but Stay Faithful To God’s Calling No Matter What!  Because you are bringing glory to God and blessing to others, even if people around you fail to realize or recognize it!  God sees and God will reward!

What do you do when you see a stop sign? What are you supposed to do when you see a stop sign?  Why is it so hard for us to do what we are supposed to do?  Some times the Holy Spirit will put up a stop sign in our lives.  When we see this spiritual stop sign – it means STOP!  Don’t go anywhere and don’t do anything!  Stop and survey the situation.  This is easier said than done!  After you stop and make sure that everything is as it should be, then you can go!

We Need To Stop And Check Things Out! The right Church gives us an opportunity to stop!  When we go to church, if we are going to get out of church what we could and should, then we need to use our experience at church as an opportunity to stop.  Stopping is vitally important to our safety and our continued journey!  Stop or you will be stopped – one way or another.  You and I can make the choice to stop in safety, survey our situation and move forward with confidence that we are doing the right thing, or we can keep moving and be stopped by the tragedies, frustrations and challenges of life, which can often produce a lot of harm and dysfunction!

All of us need to take some time to stop! When you stop, ask God to help you to survey your life and the way that you are living it.  Does anything need to change?  Is their room for improvement?  The purpose of stopping is to make sure that our life is headed in the right direction.  When you know that it is, rev up the gas and enjoy the ride!

A Good Message! Yesterday a good friend sent me a message that they were praying for me.  I really needed that message because when you are serving the Lord and trying to live for God’s glory, then you are always going to have some people in your life that just don’t get it.  People who often, with the best of intentions, end up doing more harm than good with their mixed up actions and destructive tongues!  You get the picture!

Powerful Challenge! My friend concluded their message to me by sharing this challenge from the Scripture: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” In the flesh this would be impossible, but in the Spirit it is already a done deal!  God gave me a little greater clarity this morning in my devotional reading, when I flipped to Matthew 7!

Matthew 7:1-5 says: “1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Be Careful! If we are not careful, then we can let others living in the flesh drag us to that low place of living.  Jesus came to set us free.  Jesus came so that we would live above and beyond the flesh in the Spirit.  Realize this:  No matter how much growing you do and no matter how far you make think you are ahead of others, you are always in danger of being pulled back or down.  Stop and survey your situation!  Make sure that your life is intersecting with God’s plan and yield to Him!  Trust me you will be glad that you did!  I am!  And “man oh man” do I still have a lot of work to do on me!  Thanks for listening and I hope this helps!