Category Archives: God

Church, Discipleship, God, grace, Gratitude, personal growth, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment

Be Anxious For Nothing!

When I was planning our worship service at Eureka Baptist Church for this first Sunday in June, I certainly did not think that I would be spending it laid up in the hospital ICU. Proverbs 16:9 says: “A man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” I believe this to be true and I am certain of it from personal experience. Last week as I was planning the service, the Spirit of God drew me to Philippians 4:6-8 which says “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

My plans were for us to read this verse together as a Pastor and Congregation and to follow up it’s reading with a celebration of worship with that good ole classic hymn: Peace Like A River! The song says: “I’ve got peace like a river.” ‘I’ve got love like an ocean.” ‘I’ve got joy like a fountain.” Followed by all three together: “I’ve got peace love and joy like a river!’ I was not able to be there to lead us in this sweet time of remembering God’s faithfulness, but I believe it more than ever and look forward to getting back with my spiritual family as soon as possible, so we can celebrate God’s goodness to let us plan, but still have Him taking care of our steps.

One of my favorite songs and an always great reminder of my dependence upon God is: “I Can’t Even Walk!” https://youtu.be/Z4JFCHcbqEE

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 the great Apostle Paul talked about his thorn in the flesh. I have often thought of my flesh as one great big thorn! 😉 But it takes Flesh and Spirit to serve God and I am grateful that God has taken care of both of mine. I am not quiet out of the woods yet, but I feel like I am at least through the woods and believe that God is going to use even this for our blessing and His glory.

I love all of my family and friends, more than words can say. I truly look forward to every time we are together and even more so, after this little challenge. And you know that this just fires me up for all that God has in store for us that much more… 🙏🏻

choices, Creativity, God, Gratitude, Mystery, Life,

God Stuff!

There are not too many moments of my life that pass that I am not thinking about God or the stuff of God. I have been blessed to experience God’s presence and nearness during most of my life, even during the times when I was wandering and thought I was off on my own. God’s presence is satisfaction unlike anything that I can come up with words to explain. The nearness of God provides me with an inner contentment and peace that manifests itself in an outward expression of fulfillment and blessing.

As I have come to know the peace of God’s Spirit in my life, I have tasted His holiness and all the stuff of my limited humanity just seems so little and small. My concerns, disappointments, problems and worries seem diminished and minuscule compared to the big stuff of God’s presence, protection and power. The accomplishments I’ve obtained, degrees I’ve earned and stuff I’ve collected seem like nothing, but dust compared to the greatness of His person, power and presence.

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13

I have learned that there are disciplines that I can practice daily that aid me in getting to this place of freedom and staying there for longer periods. This place of assurance, peace and tranquility is what I like to refer to as my sweet spot in this life I am living in the Spirit and experiencing as a human.

In many ways, I see life as a path to be travelled and if we are paying attention, our God has marked out the path we are to follow, but allows us the time and space for detours of learning that may ending up costing us something more than we want to pay, if we stay of the marked path for too long. Life is a series of choices and every choice has a consequence. Some times the consequence is blessing and at other times it is curses, but it is always our choice.

There is so much more to this life than good advice, hard work, educational degrees, financial plans, career strategies, relationship pursuits and living healthy. There is supernatural wisdom, spiritual calling, holy education, Kingdom blessing, fulfilling work, meaningful relationships and physical, mental and spiritual health and wholeness.

Some say that you should listen to your heart, I want to challenge you to go a little farther and learn to listen for your Spirit. It has been my personal experience that the Holy Spirit Of God is the best guide we can ever find or follow. The Spirit will help you to overcome any and all challenges, discover a peace that cannot be explained and live in the holiness you were created from and for. This is your real story of success and you will be glad you chose to live it…

affirmation, Blogroll, God, Growing, life, love

Sunday Rewind! (By, In And For Love…)

This morning I spent a little bit of time at Eureka talking about how we are not meant to do life by ourselves. I talked about how we were created by love, in love and for love. This is one of those things that I have known for quiet some time, but as I grow older, I seem to get it more and more and I can very clearly see it’s relevance to our everyday life and living.

We Were Created By Love! In the very first book of the Bible Genesis 1:26-28 we read: “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

This reminds us that we are made in the image of God and given dominion over every living thing. It also explains that God male and female and blessed them with the command to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. This is not something we do by ourselves, but something we do TOGETHER.

Often times, we tend to think of God as some cruel judge in the sky, just waiting to catch us doing something wrong, so He can fling a lightening bolt, but that is not God at all. Our God is a loving and patient Creator, who want the absolute best for His creation. The Bible teaches us that God is LOVE. God is everything we know as good and so much more…

We Were Created In Love! Thomas Merton said: “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with one another. I heard a story about an experiment with rats. The researches put a rat in a cage and gave it a choice between pure water and drug laced water. Most of the rats chose the drug laced water and often continued drinking it until they over dosed and died. The researchers concluded that if given a choice, the majority of people will use drugs.

This was the prevailing opinion, until another researcher came a long and re-designed the experiment. This time rather than having the rat all alone in a cage, the researcher allowed the rats to live together in what he called a “RAT PARK”, where they could socialize, eat good meals together, exercise, mate and live a fulfilling life. Under these conditions, the researcher found that the majority of rats chose the pure water.

It wasn’t the drug that determined if a person would use drugs or not, but rather their emotional state and their environment that would help decide. Social isolation is not good for any of us and a lack of stimulation that comes from always being alone is not natural and can lead to hopelessness and unhealthy coping strategies. The bottom line: We were created for relationship, friendship and connection.

We Were Created For Love! There is more to this life than just me and my life. There is you and your life and them and their life and all of us we created to do this thing called life together. Before we can offer love to anyone else, we must first receive it for ourselves and give it to ourselves, because when we get this right, then we are ready to share love and acceptance with others.

To get church right, then we must come together on a regular basis to do life together in a better way than we ever could a part or separate from the place and people of church. When I was growing up, it was not just the people my own age that blessed me at church, it was people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Love is the beautiful gift of God that keeps on giving to us and through us. I challenge you to get it right by receiving it and then sharing it with everybody, everywhere in every way you can…