From generation to generation

Rules were made to be broken, or were they?

We grow up with this saying thinking that rules are bad, guidelines are restrictive, and by following something like God, we are freaks who are weak.  God's disciplines are for our benefit and are meant to enrich our faith and grow as believers in our families and the church community.  

There are times we want to give our kids the best of everything and we forget that sometimes the best advice is to give them room to grow in their faith as children of God.  We give them kudos they don't deserve, we shower them with the top of the line technology they didn't earn, and we are way too lenient with rewards when they aren't ready to handle the responsibility.

With our good intentions, we teach them the lazy, convenient and comfortable ways of faith without teaching them to seek God first in everything, surrender to Him with all parts of our hearts, and don't hold the standard of purity high.  We should be teaching them to have a fear and respect of a Holy God, our Creator and that the blessings of life can come in storms of adversity.  To praise God for all opportunities that come to grow our faith and experience His power.  

Let's not forget our life of faith is all about God.

We need to teach them to run to God first for everything instead of the Internet.  That God is more than the "Big Guy" that we call on when we need a miracle.  This isn't about how to make our children strong and independent.  This is about freedom that comes from knowing the truth about God and living within right disciplines as disciples.   

An outlandish faith will outlast this world filled with sin.  This kind of faith will build a strong community of believers by experiencing God in our daily lives.

God's word reminds us that in His sovereignty, God gives us freedoms and disciplines out of His love for us, for our safety and for our protection against the world and the sins that so entangle our hearts.   These disciplines are established for our good, not from His anger or restrictive ways.

Our calling as God's sons and daughters is to point the way to Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life.  We are not to be do-gooders with our plastic-lives-of Christianity but to be the light of God's truth.  We are to share love to everyone around us.  True love comes from the Father through Jesus by faith. 

John 15:9 says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I love you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you."

To really love our family in the ways of faith, we live a kingdom-minded life complete with a fresh hunger and thirst, seeking after God with an intense pursuit and passion. 

We seek God first, in every way, every day, in all areas of life.
We treasure God's holy standards of purity.    
We love the Lord our God with all our heart, end of story, no idols allowed.  

We mentor our community by living out our faith.  

We need to cooperate with God by obeying Him.  

Faith is the very fabric of our lives in every way, every day.  We live the life of holiness, a life set-apart for God when we let Him work in and through our lives to change the world around us.  Living this legacy will last, and it will overflow to others.  

When God has total rule in our life, His rules won't be broken.

What’s God calling you to purposely give to the next generation?

Hungry for more

Photo credit

Some crazy God awesome stuff happens when you pray open ended prayers...fully trusting in God.

God and I have had some interesting and very enlightening conversations.  I wish I could share them all with you.  

But for now...it's encouraging when God sends a symbol consistently to remind you that He is in charge, listening and working on the things between you and Him, and that He cares.

That's the kind of personal God who wants a relationship with you.  God reminds us that He is listening.

He's an attentive God.  And He excels in listening.  That's one of His tender qualities about Him.  He reminds me that I have been heard.

For a woman that's huge, you know, to be heard.  Bigger than you know.  

Sometimes my faith feels a little more than a black hole, empty and draining.   Sometimes I have those sunrise moments that bring an awakening in my soul.

Faith in God is based on a personal relationship built on an endless Love; a journey through time and space and emotions. Like any relationship, it is not static.

There are those highs and lows of a relationship that reveal our areas of growth and trust.  I used to need those conferences or whatever it was that helped us feel so deeply the consuming fire of faith, but in this season I am just seeking God in everything.  And that kind of surrendering lifestyle keeps you submissive to listening to Him.  All the time.

This is my devoted love that is a love response to our Creator.  He has proven Himself worthy of trust.  He is faithful and true.  

Have you grown to a deep faith that is not defined by the emotional or spiritual highs of particular experiences?

And still....

With those...don't we crave it? Once we have tasted and delighted ourselves in God's love, don’t we long for it?  Don't our hearts pine deeply over the comfort feeling that experience again and again?

Perhaps spiritual maturity is demonstrated through our commitment to stay through the mountain-top moments and  journey to the valley-low experiences.  

Is our desire born of a curious nature or one of holy craving?  Of course we, just need or want to know the Lord is near.  Don't we like to feel Love close and nearby?

My heart craving is a sign of my heart’s hunger for my One true Love.  

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water. – Psalm 63:1

When the ebb and flow of our faith has taken us someplace uncomfortable, our longings shows our love.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you. – Psalm 63:2-5

Our craving shows our hunger for the Holy.  Oh Lord, draw us near.  Bring us close.  

When you want to be the BEST!

Photo credit:  Cindee Snider Re

Ephesians 3:17-18  "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.."

What does it mean to let Christ dwell in your hearts?   And to experience the fullness of God?

It means to let the Holy take up residence...live...hang out ...all the time...play outside with you, sit down and have coffee with you, and play video games with you. To engrave God's truth on the mother board of your operating system, the tablets of your heart.  To allow holiness to change you and your behavior.

Paul's prayer is that believers would wake up, and be strong in the Lord, filled with the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge...which means we have to know what His word says.  

We have to make time for Jesus and read the Bible.   We have to be doers of the word and we have to allow truth to influence our behavior.

We have to spend time with God, to get to know Him.  You can't have a relationship with someone you don't spend time with.  We can't live like we want after reading it.  The Bible is packed with wisdom that shows us how to be holy.  Isn't that what our Best Friend in the entire world would want for us?   

We were created in His image so we should follow as closely to the Master Designer as we can.  Ephesians 5:1 is one of my favorite verses "Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children."  Copy that!  No cutting necessary, only paste it in your heart!  

Dwelling on Truth will have some positive affects in your thinking, your language, your actions.  God gives us the perfect example to model in His Son, Jesus.  So when you are looking for something to influence your faith, the Bible with all of it's wisdom works perfectly to guide, shape and sharpen your faith.  

We have to walk with God and allow Him to walk with us.  Daily, all day, not just once a week in a pew in a Sunday morning.  

You think you are too busy and don't have time to meet with God on a one on one basis?  If so, then you are too busy NOT to consider what God has to show you and the ways you should go.  You would have a lot of time if you dropped the other 19,000 ways you tend to divide your day.  

Ahem...now I am really stepping on some sore toes aren't I?  So what do we do about this?  How do we choose what's better?

We seek first...

We seek first Him to be our First.  In everything.  In our homes, jobs, and especially in our minds and hearts.  Only looking to the Perfect source to learn how to copy and absorb His perfect behavior.  And then you keep coming back to the same source, same Teacher to learn and apply it until it becomes your nature.  

It's the better choice, the holy choice, the choice of the saved and sanctified.  Choose the wiser option.  
Choose Holy, choose Better.  It's the Best for you!  

How do you be the best "whatever"?  Learn from the Best in everything!

What my cat never learned

I was trying to train my cat once.  He never got it right.  Each time I did sit ups in the middle of the living room he would try to claw my arm flesh off.  Evidently I was crowding in on his run-of-the-entire-house-territory.  Even 30 minutes on 3 days a week was a great bother to him.  I tried to teach him to obey me, but he wasn't interested.  Instead I obeyed his cat-rules and just gave up.

My dog however would do anything for a leftover ham bone, or a poison mouse pellet.  She would learn to behave when she wanted either one of those.  She did behave, and was easy to train.  A very owner-compliant personality pet.  No, I didn't really feed her those pellets.

One pet practiced disobedience regularly the other sought to bring her best obedience each and every opportunity.  

Ever think about what obedience isn't?

Obedience not easy because it goes against our natures to behave.  We want to do what we want to do when we want to do it.  I use this way of thinking about sleeping in on a Saturday.  This drives our self-will.  This gets us our own way.  This can be selfish and self-serving.

So if it's so hard then why do we even try if we know we are going to mess up all the time?  There are days I wish I could talk to my cat about this.  He certainly didn't care about learning any new cat tricks or pleasing me.  My dog on the other hand would eagerly tell me why she obeys with such joy and obedience.  Her answer?  Because of that bone or treat that I promised her.  The rewards of what obedience brings was worth it cost her.

How do you obey God?  Do you obey Him to get what you want?

This faith journey is all about our obedience response back to God.  And if we were honest with ourselves, I think we know the right things to do and what our holy response should be, we just choose to think that it's not important to God.

I believe that obedience is the key to living in the center of God's will.  

I do know that obedience is not always easy, but the rewards are always worth it.  It's hard, especially when it requires you to follow God in uncertain places.  Equally hard when you only have a few pieces of life's puzzle pieces.  

Extraordinary moves of God begin with acts of obedience – Anonymous

If we say we love God then obedience will follow.  Even when we don't know what the immediate results are or what the outcome will be.  The fact that we are being obedient to what God is leading us to do is our reward.

What about when it doesn't make sense?  What about when you aren't sure what to do?  I have found that every time you ask God to reveal truth, He always will.  He never disappoints in the faith training department.   When we trust the Master and fully believe that He has everything under His control and wants what is best for us, isn't obedience just a little easier?

That's what I tried to teach my cat, he never got it.  He didn't trust me.  My dog, however, trusted me completely and would do anything to obey.  Over time her training was quite easy, she was willing to learn because her obedience brought great rewards.  My cat only got a little catnip reward once in a while at Christmas.

1 Peter 1:14 "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:  "Be holy, because I am holy."

Our reward, our holy response comes with our hearts of obedience.   

Unpacking Holy Moments

There are some happy suitcases that you can unpack easily.  When returning from a trip, I usually just dump everything in the laundry room.  The next stop is the bathroom, then ...boom... I'm done.

Next I unload my pictures to digital storage.  Most travels are filled with those fun Kodak moments to help you reminisce the memories.

I also like to write my journeys in a field journal.  It helps me recall the heart milestones.  

I like to reflect on the holy God moments and lessons.

I recently went on a trip to India.  It's been two weeks, and I still have suitcases sitting half-full of stuff that needs to be unpacked, many memories still linger.

My field journal is open to the same page, the outline of those holy hope-captured vignettes.   There are still a lot of memories that are still to be written on my heart, lingering wide open.  

God has some Kodak memories that need His stillness and need some unpacking.  I need to process the things I have seen, I need to share the stories, I need to share my feelings about what I have seen.

I need to unpack my full heart of God moments.  

There are benefits to praying for God to bend the pages of His field journal just a bit, to record and give His revelations from what you have seen on a trip filled with such great holy moments.  

I am dealing with some unflattering, clumsy junk that bring questions about how to care about all that God is showing me.  There is a deep stirring.   

"Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." 

~ Ps. 82:3-4

Unpacking this verse and many of God's holy moments, may I linger here...

"Father to the fatherless, freedom for the weak

this is God clothed in love and strength."  
"Give me eyes to see when my heart is blind, 
that when I ask you'll give, and when I seek I'll find.
Give me ears to hear, when my way's confused,
let the uncertain road, still lead me back to You."  
~ Meredith Andrews

Simply Put

Get on the horn and make your pledge!  Come 'on!

Many of you know that we are in the middle of our annual Pledge Drive for The House FM and My Praise FM.  There are a lot of words I could say to compel you to give.  But really... just a few are needed.


Today...we prayed for you.


That's it in a nutshell.  As a staff...we prayed for you.  We thanked God for those of you who have already pledged.  We prayed for those who hadn't pledged yet.  We prayed that you would to listen to what God was telling you give.  We prayed for you to be obedient to His voice.  We prayed for new pledgers that you wouldn't let fear get in the way of making a pledge.  Yes, we stopped and prayed for you.


We prayed "Surprise Us God".  


We are not worried, fretting or wringing our hands wondering if we will meet our goal.  There is no need.  God has provided in the past and God will again provide.  But how He provides is the exciting part.  He wants to involve you.  


When you support the ministry, you are supporting His work.  His work in your home, your family, your community, your church, your neighborhood, your school, in you.  You are doing what God has called us all to do and that is to go and make disciples of all nations.  

When you support, you are involved in His holy work, God's holy calling.  

Simply put you have the opportunity to get involved in something holy, in changed lives, in making a difference, for what matters most.    

Yesterday, a caller asked for prayer.  Pat accepted Christ by phone.  Today Heaven is still celebrating over Pat's decision.  You can be involved in God's plan for pledge drive today.  Simply put...God has holy plans.  Please call and pledge your support.  Will you?  800-324-8488.

We are praying for you.