Sheep Food

  You may appreciate today’s post more after first reading yesterday’s. Just sayin...   I’ve been journaling here sharing of my own personal ‘divine moment of awakening’ that took place two years ago. It only continues to get better. And I feel peacefully confident when I say that not only are there many of you yearning and desiring for your own personal divine moment...but God is wanting to make that happen as well. But this time, He wants it to last for you and for your ‘fruit to remain’. (John 15:16)   But there are some things we need to understand before He ‘lights that spark’ and ‘opens our eyes’. God is not some ‘spiritual arsonist’ who lights fires just for the thrill of it. There’s a purpose in everything He does. Not only does He want our ‘fruit to remain’, but He also wants the fire to remain lit. He actually confirmed this to me by prompting a friend to send me a verse Sunday morning and they had no idea what or why but felt impressed to send it. It’s in Leviticus

  Is it possible for those who profess to be ‘believing Christians’...to simply remain as ‘part-time abiders’?   Can we just abide part time in Jesus? Maybe when it’s convenient or maybe when we feel like it? Granted, we do tend to send signals out to God that we are more interested in abiding when we are going through a personal crisis of sorts...you know...health issues, family crisis, marriage falling apart...job loss, financial problems, etc.   I want to springboard from the passage in John 15:1-8 this morning but I also want to speak from my own personal experiences and what I have learned personally this past two years during this ‘awakening journey’. Let me say up front that personal experiences are just that: personal. They should never take the place of scripture nor alter one’s interpretation of scripture. For example vs. 7 in that passage indicates that God answers prayer...as in whatever we desire. So if you prayed for something and did not see that prayer answered, yo

  Many people today bemoan the trend in our culture that has developed where ‘everyone gets a participation trophy’. We rant and rave about doing away with the idea of there being ‘winners and losers’ or suggesting one team is ‘better’ than another team because they won more games over the season than the rest of the teams. I have no desire to enter that debate, but I will point out an observation than some might have noticed. Many Christian believers who resent that trend seem to adopt it in their faith, promoting the idea that everyone who comes through their church doors saying ‘Lord, Lord’ gets a trophy or a ‘crown’.   Let me just say here that I am not the gate keeper. I don’t determine who ‘gets in’ and who doesn’t. That is not even what God has put in my heart to focus on. But this I do know...God has put a burden on my heart to trumpet a warning that would cause us to examine our hearts and lives to ensure we are truly abiding in Him. I’m not here to talk about who is sa

  From what I read in my bible, there is ‘good fruit’, ‘bad fruit’, and ‘no fruit’. At least the way Jesus seems to teach on it. He seems to be ...in to fruit. Always has been.   You can find fruit in the very opening pages of Genesis when God created the earth. He made all these “fruit trees that yield fruit according to its kind’. (Gen 1:11). He then made both all the birds of the sky, the fish in the sea and living beast of the earth and told them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’. (1:22-24). Why He even created man and woman (in His likeness and image, I might add) and told them the same thing- “Be fruitful and multiply”. (1:26-28)   Of course we all know about that one tree with the ‘bad fruit’ that God told Adam and Even to stay away from because if they ate off that one tree, they would...surely die. (Gen 2:16-17). [ I often feel compelled to link Rom. 8:13 with that warning as well.]   So it should come as no surprise that Jesus would address the nature of fruit and use it in

  Imagine going to work for a business or large organization where they failed to make clear their expectations and vision and what would be required of you. In other words, ‘welcome aboard...glad to have you here...now go figure it out on your own’. That would be just a tad frustrating. Especially when sporadic evaluations came around to measure how you were doing, and then you received poor marks for your performance. You’d be like: “How was I supposed to know?”   Countless churches can fall in to that trap as well. Anxious to ‘grow’ and see increase, we tend to avoid spelling out the “small print” of the gospel not wanting to scare or run folks off. I mean, after all, we got a kingdom to build and we need bodies to do that. There are more flavors out there than a Baskin-Robbins when it comes to ‘Christian churches’ and congregations to join up where you ‘find your purpose and calling and destiny so you can be all God created you to be’.   I’m glad we have the written word t

  It never ceases to amaze me how one short verse or passage in scripture can have so much to unpack. I have no doubt you too have experienced such moments when you were taking time in His Word. We often point out the impact and power of that two-letter word ‘IF’. So much wrapped up in those two letters, is there not? There is another two-letter word that does the same...see if you can spot it in this one line Paul wrote to the Philippians in 4:9 –   “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you.”   There were actually five two-letter words in that sentence...I trust you spotted the one I wanted you to see. ‘Do’.   I cannot count the number of times over the years where I might glean some nugget from my studying and then ...’poof’...it just fades away or vanishes. I ‘saw it’ in one moment...and then...I didn’t. What happened?   James gives us good insight to that in his first chapter vs. 21-25. He starts out ho

  Yesterday, I mentioned there is a common spiel given to countless congregations of sheep where from the pulpit, they are told constantly that they are ‘saved’ and ‘nothing they do can affect that fact’. This is the line given before the pastor may timidly encourage the folks with something about trying to live more righteous or holy lives. They know they should address sin issues from time to time, but God knows they are not perfect and just wants you to be willing to try. Isn’t that nice? I wonder how long Paul would have lasted in the American churches today. Look what he commanded Timothy to do: “Those who are sinning, rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” ( 1 Tim. 5:20)   How much sin do you think God is ‘good with’ to remain in our lives? Do you think He rates or classifies them...sort of like ‘don’t be sexually immoral’ but I understand the need to gossip and put people in their place at times’? You tell me: What was Paul communicating when he spo

  I was halfway suspecting someone would report my post yesterday as offensive material and have it banned. While it may have been offensive to some, it should have easily been troublesome to most...and for good reason. Glad you came back for more. I’m 62 and feel like I’m back in first grade again with the Lord...and totally fine with that. Rather be at square 1 with Him...than further down the road doing it on my own. Welcome to class. :- )   Something I have observed over time in many churches and heard from countless pulpits is this familiar disclaimer...and it goes something like this. (Start listening...you’ll hear it too). Pastor/preacher wants to address, timidly, the idea of ‘holy living’ or ‘dealing with sin’ and maybe even touching on similar topics. But it is always prefaced with “Now let’s not confuse the free gift of salvation with how we live. You are saved and going to heaven...but.....”   Funny...how they feel a need to tell folks upfront that this ‘free gift

  **[ You may want to print this one out and spend some time with it...trust me. Lots to digest here.]. **   It really is amazing when you suggest to a professing ‘believer’ of Christ that they were set free and can truly ‘sin no more’, how quickly they become agitated, offended or downright angry.   Listen to what Paul warned us of in his second letter to the Thessalonians. He wrote: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.” (2:9-10)   If that does not get your attention, then read on...And for this reason (because they did not love the truth) God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (11-12)   Talk about hitting a speed bump in that passage...”God will sen