Wise eyes

 

What or who is leading us into tomorrow?

 

His will . . . His peace

 

Living the CHRISTian life . . . or not?

 

God is in control . . . . STILL!

 

Real news or fake news?

 

Priorities

 

What God has for me . . . .

We hear it in CHRISTian circles often: What God has for me is for me. It is so true. As we go through life, we pray about this and that concerning our lives. Often we wonder why someone else received the promotion or was granted a favor or two rather than us. As I have been told several times in life, I have to trust the process . . . . God's process. Listen to these words of Paul:

No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen,what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived” . . . the things God has prepared for those who love him . . . these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

Just as Paul wrote, we read in  Jeremiah 29:11 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2029%3A11&version=NIV) that God indeed has a plan for each of us that even the sharpest mind cannot conceive. His plans are awesome and perfect . . . if we are careful to follow after Him and not this world. Boy does that take patience and perseverance! The key to these verses is that as we grow to love God more deeply and live in His purpose for our lives and not our own plans, He will indeed carry out His plans. 

If I truly want what God has for me, then I must trust His plans  . . . His will . . . and and not my own.  He will do what He says He will do! (Phil. 1:6)

We all have plans!

Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel . . . . that will stand. (Proverbs 19:20-21)

Daily planners . . . to-do lists . . . graduation plans. . . vacation plans . . .monthly plans . . . yearly plans . . . five-year plans . . . retirement plans . . . and yes, even burial plans! We all have plans!

However, how many of us have allowed God in those plans? While it is great to plan, we need to seek God's counsel before carrying them out. It has been said that one who fails to plan plans to fail . . . and this is true!

Yet planning in itself is not all we must do.

For believers, God will have the final say . . . for everyone actually. If we want to honor God and do His will, then we must seek Him out before acting on our plans. Perhaps we may start with a blank slate and ask God to fill it up rather than writing up our plans and asking God to bless them?

What do you think?

What is your life source?

 Stay connected or die!

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

What is your life source? What do you absolutely need to survive on a daily basis? Some would just die without coffee. Others need sports 24/7 to exist. Some turn to drugs, sex, alcohol . . . Many simply cannot survive without other people's applause and approval. 

Listen to Coach Prime: https://fb.watch/mT-JGKKlce/

We have to stay intimately connected to God in order to survive this world as a believer. Trusting the world and its traps is deadly! Without Him, we can do absolutely nothing of value guys!!!!

What (Who) is your life source?

Summer 2023....trusting the road ahead

Why do we fear the road ahead? Why are we hesitant to go around the corner? If we follow closely with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we will find the journey not only safe, but rewarding. Even the bumps in the road can be rewarding! We will never know His plans for us if we keep following our own. Even when Paul was in prison, he found opportunity to walk with the Lord and be fruitful!

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:2-6)

Like the disciples, at times we feel lost and going no where fast. However, they asked Jesus for direction! He had a simple answer: Follow Me!

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)

Nothing is coming up that God hasn't already seen and handled. Let's walk with Him today! Trust the road ahead . . .His road!

Planning with God in mind

God's plans and our plans . . .

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)

As we head into the summer months and finish off school, be reminded that God wants to bless us! Many times it is up to us! 

Just a short message today to remind us all to do all we can to please God in our planning, so He can do all He has planned for us!

What are your plans this summer?

Honor?

 Honor? Honor what? Honor Whom?

Today is an honor roll assembly where I teach. Many will walk away with a certificate, incentives and more. Some will wonder why they did not receive an award. Still others will believe they deserved better. Most will receive congratulations and smile and beam believing it was on their efforts and the efforts of those who support them. 

Few will sincerely honor God! What a shame . . . 

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

Congratulations to all students out there who have achieved high honors so far this year. Keep pressing toward your goals and God's goals for you. Be sure to honor those who have been there long the way . . .and especially honor the Lord!

So what is our excuse?

Hebrews 12:1-2 states: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

We are surrounded by Godly influences daily. So what is our excuse? 

• Why do we stay tangled up in such messy situations? 
• Why do we run from the Godly influences and run to the ungodly? 

It is an easy answer: we lose focus! The writer of Hebrews instructs us to run straight ahead staying focused upon Jesus. We have to identify the things and the people who cause us to stray and turn away from them. It is a deliberate act of choice . . . your choice and mine. 

We must use the tools (and people) in our lives that can keep us focused upon the things of God and throw off the things that distract us. Maybe we should make a list and act upon it . . . today!

So what is our excuse?

What is your vision?

Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, hat he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come . . . it will not tarry. “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

What is your vision? What do you see yourself doing in life . . . next week, next year, in five years, in ten years? Is it what God has planned for you? Have you really sought is opinion? 

We all have to watch that we do not get caught up in what we want for ourselves or what others want for us. Many have good intentions. The world offers some very enticing career choices. But at what price?

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

Trust God that He will fulfill His promises

 . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” ( Isaiah 7:14) which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1: 20-23)

Seven hundred years after Isaiah wrote it down, God fulfilled His promise. A virgin shall be with child . . . Joseph had to trust God and carry out the prophecy. 

Today, we have to trust God that He will fulfill His promises to us. He will never leave us. He will keep us in perfect peace. He will forgive us. He will provide for us. He will redeem us. 

Throughout scriptures, people had to trust God in some really crazy situations. . . . Abraham . . . Noah . . . . Moses . . . . Gideon . . . . David . . . Mary and Joseph. What about you and me today, during this Advent Season? How must trust God?