Good vs. Evil

I had a little epiphany this morning while I was doing the dishes from breakfast. You know, one of those times where the Holy Spirit spoke something into my heart and it was like a light bulb went off inside my head. To back track, recently my friends and family have been under attack in a major way. I'm not gonna go into specifics, but let's just say that the devil is working overtime trying to hurt God's people and His church. We are standing on Gods promise to never forsake us and we know that He will work everything out for our good and for His glory. This morning I felt the Lord tell me that the difference between good and evil is that evil never rests!!! It hit me like a ton of bricks... Now don't start analyzing and think I'm off my rocker here. I'm in no way saying that God takes breaks and rests or that He isn't always there working things out on our behalf. It's not God who takes breaks, it's His people who do! That's right, stop and think of all the times that you've skipped church to watch you favorite team play on Sunday. Think of all the times you were too "busy" to read your bible or pray. Think of all the times you felt that nudge from God to help someone in need and simply said "I'm too busy!" Now you see where I'm coming from. 1Peter 5:8 tells us how the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. The devil never takes a break, but he loves it when we do. When we decide to chill and not read The Word, or relax instead of talking to God, or when we turn our back on those in need so that it won't inconvenience us, we have openly given the devil space to take advantage of. We all get tired and we all feel down from time to time. But these are the times to cling to our Savior with the most fervent devotion so that He can give us rest and peace that passes all understanding. We as Gods people have to take a stand and not rest on our faith. We have to take the enemy on head long everyday and be ready to serve the Lord at all costs. Don't let the enemy get a victory today by your inaction or because you want to take a break. Thank God that He never takes a break and is there for us whenever we need Him!!! Psalm 13:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT) 5 But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. 6 I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.

Strength...

I don't have to worry about anything anymore! God is with me and He's here to strengthen me in every situation. I recently was invited to a bachelor party for a friend of mine from work. I was extremely nervous about going because I didn't want to go any place that might be in direct conflict with my core values and beliefs. Plus the fact I know that I have an addiction to alcohol and therefore have no business being in a bar or tavern. I decided to go and bring a fellow coworker who is a Christian with me. We all had a blast and it was a great witness to our coworkers to see us go out with them, not drink, and have a good time while sipping on diet coke!!! Was it difficult being in that setting? Sure it was. I spent most of the time in my former club life in a bar or ice house with my buddies. Was the urge to drink overwhelming? NO. Honestly I prayed that God would help me to have no desire to drink and He absolutely came through. It's like I told a coworker who is constantly ribbing me for being a "Jesus Freak", if I drink one beer or go to a strip club with you guys in your eyes and the eyes of everyone we work with I'm a hypocrite. He agreed that it would look bad. I'm not saying that a Christian can't have a drink every now and then, but in this setting they wanted to see if I was strong enough to stick to my guns and my faith. The impact of all those guys going back to work and telling everyone how much fun they had with the us, "Jesus Freaks" who didn't drink, has been awesome. God will strengthen you in every situation and will work them out for His good and your good. You have the ability to be strengthened in any situation. All you have to do is ask! Psalm 16:8 New Living Translation (NLT) 8 I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

Been a While...

I haven't posted in a while... No excuses, just typical busy summer with work and the awesome family. But I can tell you that God is great, Jesus is our only hope and that no matter what happens in life God is there for you. I have been focusing on seeking God and living my faith no matter where I am or who I'm with. I want the Holy Spirit to speak to me and through me. I'm praying that God will move in a mighty way in my life and my families lives. I will continue to seek Him and live for His will in my life. God bless you all and more posts are soon to come! John 14:1 NLT Jesus, the Way to the Father 14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

Where Do You Want Me?

Are you where God want's you to be? Do you know how to tell the difference? Just what does He want me to do? These are all questions that every Christian has asked themselves. Some of us know exactly where we are supposed to be and exactly what God wants us to do. Others of us... eh, we're not so sure. Trust me, you have to seek God and His will for your life in order to know where He wants you to be. We have each been given gifts from God that He intends for us to use. 1Corinthians 12:7-10 outlines special gifts given to each of us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Which gift do you have? Do you know? Have you asked God to let this gift be evident in your life? If you haven't then now is the time to ask and to receive from Him! Another question we always ask ourselves is "Am I where God wants me to be?" Well, are you? Sometimes we have to understand that in order for Him to move us to another place we have to find contentment and purpose in the place we are currently in. You are at your current job for a reason. You can make an impact on your coworkers and those around you on a daily basis. You may not believe it but you are in full time ministry! You work a full time job, you interact with Christians and non Christians alike everyday. You are God's instrument every where you go. If you can learn to be happy and seek out what He wants you to do in the place you inhabit now, He will surely show you greater things and give you so much more to do for the glory of His Kingdom. I feel very strongly that God wants me to work with bikers and with people who are considered outcasts to society. I feel this calling strongly on my life. However I currently know that God wants me to read my bible, pray and gain knowledge and strength in Him before He puts me where He wants me to go. So... I do my best to show His love at work, church, home, the grocery store, etc. etc... I'm content in seeking Him, Listening and learning from the Holy Spirit and waiting for Him to show me where to go and what to do. I know He will open a door for me and I know that I'm doing His work in the field He's placed me in today! So, today is a new day. Seek out His will, wait on Him and let Him open the door to where He wants you to go! 1 Chronicles 16:11(NLT) 11 Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.

Nanny

My family has called my grandmother Nanny for as long as I have been alive. In fact almost anyone who knows her calls her Nanny. I don't know if you know what her name means to me, but it means prayer warrior and godly advice giver. It means lover of lost souls, care giver to anyone in need, friend who never looks down on you, and the one person who can see past your sins and poor choices in order to give you a pearl of wisdom that will help you realize how much God loves you. I hold her in the highest of regard and have the utmost respect for her Christian values and God fearing lifestyle.
Recently the evil effects of on set dementia and Alzheimer's disease have begun to rob her of her ability to remember and process information. I have seen her go from a confident woman of prayer to a frail, confused shadow of her former self. It's a situation that is causing immense heart break for my family. My father, who is an old grizzly bear, has been reduced to tears on several occasions. To see the pain in my aunts eyes and to see them, and my father, realize that their mother is slowly fading away has been excruciating for me. I have had moments of doubt and fear. But as sure as I sit here today, I know that God is in control of this situation. He has Nanny in His hands and all this is going to work out for His glory!
It's hard... So hard in fact that I have been crying and wondering how I will get by. It's times like this that I remember Nanny's favorite scripture: Daniel 10:12, Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer."
When I read that I remember that He is answering my prayer. I remember that Nanny would want me to rely on God, just as she has for so many years. I remember that no matter how hard it gets He has heard my cries and answered my prayers!!! The day is coming when she won't remember who I am. I know on this day that He will be with me and will hold me and my family in His arms.
I love you Nanny and I know that your presence at your current home is blessing to all those around you. I know that your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren coming to see you and pray for you have shown the love of our Savior to all those around you. God is in control and He will speak to the hearts of all those who come in contact with you. I love you Nanny.

It's All Mapped Out...

It's been funny lately how the Holy Spirit has been working in mine and my families lives. I used to think that sometimes things just happen and you just roll with the punches. Until recently when God showed me that a Christian's steps are truly ordered by Him.
The other day my wife went to get change so she could pay for some cupcakes that we were having decorated by a friend for my daughters 6th birthday party. The cashier handed her a large bill and told her she didn't have any smaller bills. When my wife called me and told me the story I immediately felt the Holy Spirit tell me that it wasn't an accident, it was planned. I told my wife what the Lord had told me and we agreed to give our friend that large bill. Why? I don't know, I just know that God wanted her to have it and I wasn't going to ignore Him! The same thing happened a while back when I went to the gas station. For some reason my pump wouldn't accept my debit card, so I went to a station down the street. I bought my gas, went inside and got some gum and an energy drink. On my way out a guy on a really nice Honda 1800 was getting gas. I stopped and talked to him about his bike and before I left told him he had a great bike, that I hoped he had a great day and God bless him. That guy smiled from ear to ear and looked like it lifted his spirits to talk to me. Is it a coincidence that my card didn't work at one gas station and worked perfectly fine at a station 3 miles away? I think not!!!
The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart just yesterday and told me that He is always with me. There's no mistakes, nothing that He isn't involved in in our lives if we believe in Him. From every turn in the road, to our route to work, where we buy our gas, who we speak to during the day and every event that makes up our day. Remember next time you have a minor inconvenience that it could be God's way of pointing you in a different direction for your safety or for you to show His love to another person. Remember He's interested in every detail of our lives because He LOVES us!

Psalm 37:23(NLT) The LORD directs the steps of the godly.He delights in every detail of their lives.

I'M LISTENING!!!

Normally I blog about things I'm thinking about or lessons I've learned. Today I'm gonna share a story that happened to me last week. I've been asking the Holy Spirit to speak to me and through me lately and to let me be able to listen and act when He tells me to. So one night while working the graveyard shift, one of my coworkers looks at me with sadness in his face and flat out despair in his voice. He proceeds to tell me that he hasn't known true peace in his life in a very long time and that he has no idea how to get out of the mess he's made of his life. God opened a door for me to share my story and to share that God can give him true peace. Normally the control room at work is bustling and busy, but on this night God made it where it was just He and I in there. I shared with him for a minute, then I distinctly felt the Lord tell me to pray for him. I asked and he said yes, so I obeyed and said a short prayer for peace in his life. Then I felt compelled to tell him about a devotional book called The Jesus Calling by Sara Young. I told him that I would get him one next week and that I thought it would help him find God's peace.
Now here's where it gets totally awesome! I came home the next morning and told my wife that I needed to get another one of those devotional books that my parents got me for Christmas. She looks at me and says, " You mean The Jesus Calling or something like that, by Sara Y something or other?" I said yeah, then she starts laughing and says to me, "You're not gonna believe this!" She then proceeds to hand me a hard back copy of my little leather bound book. She says that she got it last night at church from some friends of ours who had been going through a tough time and that the note said they were glad to have us as friends and if we already had a copy to give this one to someone who could use it!!!
When I went to work the next day I gave my coworker the book and told him that God really wanted him to have this book. I then told him the story as I saw his eyes mist up. It's awesome when we listen to the Holy Spirit. My friends listened to the Holy Spirit and got us that book which God used to bless a man that they had never even met! That's God for you!!! If we will humble ourselves and listen to Him then He will do things that we could never even imagine!

Galatians 5:25 (NLT)

25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

SHHHHH........

Be quiet... I've heard that many times in my life. Any one who knows me will tell you that I'm a big man, with a big personality who loves to talk and tell all the crazy stories of what's happened in my life. I'm know to tell people that God is good and how much He has done to change me and to make my family life so much better. I hate silence. Seriously folks, I love the sound of people having fun and enjoying themselves, and the sound of utter silence just bugs me!
I'm reading a book by Sarah Young called "Jesus Calling, Enjoying Peace In His Presence". It's an awesome little daily devotional that helps a big mouth like me understand that silence is golden in our relationship with the Lord. Sarah talked about how she spent 3 years or so drinking her coffee on her porch and being quiet, clearing her cluttered mind and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to her. She then took out a pen and paper and wrote down the things that God was saying to her. It changed her life and helped her be reliant on quiet time with Him in order to grow in her walk with the Lord.
I've been dealing with the fact that God wants me to be quiet and listen to Him. I need to shut my mouth, stop asking for things, be thankful and start listening to what He's trying to tell me. I challenge you to stop and spend a few minuted each day in quiet time with Him. No t.v., no radio, no smart phone, no laptop, just you being quiet and listening to Him. I promise that you will notice the difference and will grow in you walk. I'm doing my best and asking Him to help me just shhhh...

Zephaniah 1:7

New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited[a] His guests.

When Sorry Is Not Enough

If you go to LCC then you will know I'm blatantly stealing this from Pastor Allan. In our walk with the Lord the first step was admitting guilt for our sins and then asking for forgiveness. As our walk progresses we begin to find more and more things in our lives that have become unacceptable behaviors or practices and we mature in our walk by giving these things up as acts of submission and true repentance. The more we grow the more we are able to see what is and is not acceptable in God's sight.
The problem comes in when we continue to do things that we know are wrong in God's sight and assume that just asking forgiveness is enough to get us by. My Pastor says a quote that sums up this way of living, "In life we find that it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask for permission." This is no way for a Christian in a healthy relationship with the Lord to act. I'm not saying it's easy to do, I'm just saying that if we truly rely on God to change our hearts, He can help us bring these things under submission and remove them from our lives. That is true freedom!!!
I will be honest enough to say that I had major issues with cursing like a sailor and drinking alcohol way too much. It was hard for me to curb my language and it was a constant struggle to keep from saying something that I knew I shouldn't. I asked God for help and I asked Him to change my language so that I could be an effective witness for Him. When I truly repented of my filthy mouth and submitted my tongue to Him, He changed my speech.
I also drank like a fish.. It wasn't easy to curb my appetite for alcohol. But, again I gave it to God and He gave me the strength to change my habits. The key point here is that only by true repentance can their be change. Sure we all slip and fall from time to time, but using the excuse that you are trying is not enough. Continuing to commit the same sin over and over again should not be acceptable to us. We have to stand up and submit our flesh to the Father and ask Him to change us a little every day so that we can grow and be effective tools for Him to use. There's nothing worse that feeling the daily guilt of failure over a sin that we continually commit. If we are willing to ask, and to submit our lives to Him, He will help us to change and live in the freedom that only He can give. So today ask Him to change your heart and to help you to be a truly repentant person who walks in obedience to Him. It's not easy, but it's worth it and with His help we can all grow in Spirit and in Truth!!!

Luke 24:47

New Living Translation (NLT)
47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations,[a] beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’

Courageous... More Than Just A Movie

Have you heard of the movie Courageous? It's a Christian movie that chronicles the lives of four police officers and their buddy as they go through life as fathers. It makes you take a hard look at how you treat your wife and children and how you as a father affect your family.
I can honestly say that over the last year of growing in my walk with Christ that I have become a better father. I also know I have a long way to go. I openly admit that before I gave my life to Christ that I wasn't a good father, husband, or a good example to my family. All my buddies told me I was a great Dad and that I was doing the right things... I see now that spending all my time working, riding my motorcycle, drinking, and ignoring my family to chase an immoral lifestyle, was the farthest thing from being a good father. I realize now that I have to be a father that is courageous and bold enough to do the right thing no matter what the consequences. We as Dads have to love our family enough to be involved in their lives and to help direct them down the path that God wants them to go down. We have to tell our daughters that they are special,that we love them and that they deserve to be treated with respect. We have to train our sons on how to be men of honor, integrity and faith. We have to take the reins from our wives and show that we will be the leaders of our families and that we will support them courageously. We have to follow after God with all our might and set the standard for our families. We have to be bold, strong minded, and willing to do the right things for our families everyday with out question.
If we don't this generation of children will lose their way just as mine has. Every where we look we see people who are in deep despair with major personal issues and a lot of them are there because they never knew the love of a father or because their father was too busy for them. It's time for Dads to be Dads and lead our families to Christ as we follow after Him. I hope that you will learn as I have, that my families souls and their lives are special gifts that God has given me responsibility over. It's my job as the spiritual leader of my home to do my best to lead them to Christ and to provide for them courageously. I hope you feel the same way and that we can help our families run to Jesus versus running to the cesspool of sins and problems that the world has to offer.

1 Corinthians 16:13

New Living Translation (NLT)

13 Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.[a] Be strong.

Past...

We all have a past... Some of us have a tough time letting it go. I have been guilty of that myself recently. I continue to refer to myself as an ex-club member... Is that really how I define my life? Just some guy who was in a small one piece Riders Club who had delusions of grandeur about becoming the baddest of the bad as an outlaw club member with a 1% patch. I'm so much more than that. Yes, God did a mighty thing by delivering me from the club lifestyle and from all the alcohol and the perversions that I allowed in my life. He also healed my family life from some of the poor choices I made regarding how I treated my wife and children. But do I really need to tell every one that I was a club member? Do I really need to continue to label myself for some kind of street cred? Have I really left my past where it belongs, in the past?
I'm guilty of letting my past continue to creep up on me. I'm guilty of letting the stories of my past sin and misdeeds over shadow what God has done for me. I realize now that in order for me to do the things that God wants me to do I have to let my past stay in the past as a testament to His glory. If you are struggling as I have been, remember the future is bright and the past is only a reminder of His power to deliver us and send us on a new, productive, path to glorify HIM!!!

Mark 2:15-17 NLT
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees[a] saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?[b]”

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”