Practice Persistent Praise

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Send up prayers of gratitude throughout every day.

It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But it’s actually harder to do than you might think. With all the negativity that surrounds our everyday lives, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in a mindset of everything that’s going wrong, instead of thanking God for what’s going right in our lives.

I can’t take credit for the title for this blog post. I actually got the title from a Reel by dr.sherrispeaks. In the Reel, I believe she says she herself heard the concept from someone else. 

The fundamental idea is to give God constant praise for all the blessings He has placed in your life. Even in the worst of circumstances (even though you might have to look really hard), you can find something to thank God for. 

It could be something as simple as a parking spot close to the door, a break in the clouds so that a little sunshine hits your face and gives you a warm feeling, or just the simple chirping of an unseen bird going about its business.

If we continuously focus on all the good that we can find in our lives, there won’t be any room for the negative thoughts to creep in. 

And even if they do, we can quickly kick them out by thinking about another positive blessing or circumstance the Lord has given us. Read Philippians 4:8 for great ideas on how to do this.

I got the following idea from Joyce Meyer. It’s a great way to start your day—or at any point in the day when you need a little encouragement.

Say, “Something good is going to happen to me today. I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do in my life today!”

Then, for the first positive thing that happens in your life or positive thought that comes into your mind, thank God for it, truly being appreciative of all that He does for you.

That’s not even to mention the myriad of situations He works out or protects us from that we literally have no idea about. 

I shudder to think about how many bad things He has shielded me from or directed me to avoid without any real sense of the danger or darkness behind those situations.

We need to be just as grateful and give God just as much praise for these things as we do for all the many praise-worthy blessings we can count on any given day.

As long as we’re consistently grateful and thankful to God, we’ll experience much more joy and peace in our lives, no matter the chaos that’s going on around us.

Do You Have Idols in Your Life?

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Idolatry. We run up against this sin every day because we are tempted to worship at the altar of things and famous people rather than the God who created everything in the world.

Idolatry can go by another name that’s more common to us—materialism.

You probably don’t think of yourself as an idol worshiper, but you very well could be. 

No, you most likely don’t have small wooden or stone figurines sitting around your house that you bow down to and offer up prayers to.

But there may very well be other things in your life that play a similar role. It could be money, your career, your car, your house, your status in the community, or even something else.

You may give these things prime space in your life while knocking God out of the top spot of importance.

Even if you don’t realize it, these idols can influence your daily behavior, causing you to pursue them while putting your reverence and service to God on the back burner.

For example, if you spend 60 or 70 hours a week working, and you don’t feel like doing anything else when you’re not at work, then your career may be your idol. 

If you’re so hung up on getting ahead in life because of the status that will bring, you most likely have put God in second place (or lower) in your life.

If you put in extra hours at work just so you can drive a car with a fancy name plate, your career may be your idol (not that there’s anything wrong with driving a nice car).

To be able to wear designer clothes just for the sale of the label is a form of idolatry (once again, not that there’s inherently wrong with designer clothes.

Sports could be your idol. If you never miss playing golf on the weekend and something just feels off if you don’t get to hit the links, you may have misplaced priorities.

In short, if there’s anything in your life that’s more important to you than God and the opportunities you have to spend quiet time alone with Him, it’s most likely an idol.

If you have teenagers, you may have noticed that the walls of their rooms are covered with posters of famous teen-age heartthrobs or musicians. 

It is these images that your kids are looking at first thing in the morning and are the last thing they see at night.

I should know. When I was 14 or 15, almost every square inch of my bedroom wall was covered with pictures of heavy metal bands I had cut out of Circus or Hit Parader magazine. 

Even though my mom probably cringed every time she went in my room, I don’t remember her ever saying anything to me about it. 

After I accepted Jesus into my life, I gradually realized that these weren’t images I wanted on my walls anymore. They slowly came down as my relationship with God grew.

However, we as parents may need to say something to our kids about the icons they look up to. 

Whether it’s sports figures, musicians, or actors, these famous people may be making it hard to place God at the front and center of their lives. 

Let’s face it, if there’s a scantily clad woman on your son’s wall, that’s what his attention is going to be on—not God. 

How often have you ever seen a teenager’s room with a rendering of Jesus hanging on the wall? I’d say these instances are few and far between.

Yet, Jesus is who we (and our kids) need to idolize. He died a horrible, painful death by one the worst methods of torture and execution that has ever come out of the evil heart of man. 

He did that so that we could stand spotless before the Father, washed clean of our sin, as He took all our sin upon Himself. 

His resurrection and conquering of the grave was the final straw, so to speak, as He was the firstfruits of us believers who will live eternally with Him.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing personal against LeBron James, Bradley Cooper, or Justin Bieber—but have they ever done anything personal for you or your children? 

They’re idolized because of what they have accomplished in their chosen fields, not necessarily what they have done to help humanity.

I believe that we as parents need to set the proper examples for our children by placing our priorities in the right places. 

We need to honor God and put Him first place in our homes. 

If discussions of bedroom posters come up, we should have heart-to-heart talks with our kids and help them understand how hanging a particular image on their wall is a form of idolatry.

But we need to go further than that. We can’t just sit back and expect our kids not to follow the examples we set for them. 

God should be honored in our households, whether that’s through a prominent display of a family Bible or an artist’s rendition of Christ. 

What our kids see us doing will have an even greater impact on our families, as children tend to pick up habits from watching their parents, in contrast to the appropriate advice their parents try to impart to them.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. To raise up the next generation of leaders whose hearts are in the right place—honoring God— we have to do the hard work of setting the right example for our children.

Who’s in?

Is Your Faith Legitimate?

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered if your faith in Jesus is legitimate? Oh sure, if you attempt to raise your child in a God-fearing home, you probably exhibit a healthy fear of God that your children pick up on.

It is one thing to show your children a God-honoring approach to the Almighty, but it is something else entirely to live this belief out in your private life when no one is around to judge you.

In these cases, it is often all too easy to let our faith slide and commit sin through unbelief and trying to handle our situations using our own efforts.

But God never wanted to handle all our problems on our own. He is our loving, caring Father, and wants to help us through the difficult situations of life. 

In fact, I would even go so far as to see He feels honored when we reach out for help, as this shows a level of trust and reliance that He deeply desires from His children.

However, we can just as easily stray from God when we try to figure out and handle all our problems on our own. We may think we have all the answers, especially if our current situation is similar to one we’ve encountered before.

In these situations, it’s easy for us to rely on our past experiences and successes to handle this problem by ourselves. 

After all, we may think we don’t need God, while waiting around for Him to come through when we can easily take care of our situation ourselves. 

The first way we can tell we’re not living by faith is making the mistake of trying to figure out and solve our problems by leaving God out of them. 

If we truly love Jesus and all that He’s done for us, it should be easy to turn immediately to Him when problems arise and place their outcome in His hands. 

Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for our good to those whose love God and are called according to His purpose. 

If we’ve accepted Christ into our lives, we can rest assured that His leading and guiding are directing our lives into a favorable direction. Somehow, someway, everything will work out to our advantage.

The second action that should signal to us that our faith is legitimate is when we remember to continually love Jesus when things don’t happen the way we want them to. 

That may sound simple, especially when things are going well, but it becomes much more difficult when we’re facing the trials and tribulations of life. 

If you got recently passed over for that big promotion you’ve been looking forward to, it may be hard to maintain a happy attitude toward your boss and especially the individual who was promoted in your place. 

In fact, it may be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done to put on a happy face and offer them congratulations. 

God calls us to celebrate the good fortune of those around us, so we should try our best to feel happy for them and smile at their positive situation. 

Doing so shows that you’re displaying the love of Jesus. It means you’re a bigger man (or woman) and can celebrate their achievements no matter what they are. 

After all, you’re not in competition with anyone except yourself. If you can improve yourself by a mere 1% every day, pretty soon you’ll begin to notice some significant improvements in your life.

The third sign that we know our faith is legitimate ties in closely with the second sign and involves loving God’s people just as He loves us.

For certain, we commit many sins every day, yet our Heavenly Father is just to forgive us of all them. 

In the same way, we are commanded to love others and forgive them just as they sin against us. 

In fact Jesus tells us to forgive our neighbor a whopping 490 times, in essence saying there should be no limit on our forgiveness.

That can be a monumental task that the Lord is asking of us, especially when the trespasser shows no remorse for his actions.

However, if we’re to live in the peace, love, and forgiveness that Jesus did while on earth, we must take his teachings to heart.

Love for others also means going out of our way to serve others and anticipate their needs. Others may never ask us to do something for them out of embarrassment. 

It is up to us to see their needs and lend a helping hand when it is in our power to do so. We should always love, help, and serve people just as God does the same for us.

These three areas are but a few of the ways that we can demonstrate our love and care for God and His creation.

Since we are part of His creation, we should always be on the lookout for how we can better someone’s else’s life.

I’ll be the first to admit that I often fall short in doing this. Too often, I’m in a rush trying to get things done that I overlook the needs of those around me.

It could be something as small as letting someone cut in line at the grocery stop, or helping someone who is obviously stranded on the side of the road.

I try to justify my actions (or lack thereof) by telling myself that I would be late if I stopped to help that person. However, I might be the only person who stops to offer assistance while that persona waits in vain for help.

I need to do a better job of listening to the Holy Spirit as He speaks to me in these situations.

How about you?

Joseph and His Amazing Faith

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

I’ve always been fascinated by the character Joseph in the Bible. He suffers through so much early on in his story in Genesis, then later becomes second in command in Egypt only to Pharaoh.

He is the perfect example of someone whose faith is rock solid, no matter the circumstances. And his faith paid off, as God was with him during all his tribulations.

My question to him would be, How did you manage to keep your faith through all those tough times?

For me, it would be difficult to keep up the faith when my brothers sold me into slavery to the Midianites.

Here is poor Joseph, first thrown down into a pit to be left there, but then brought up just so that his buyers could see him, pay for him, and carry him away.

Surely Joseph must have wondered where God was in all of this, especially when the Midianites later took him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, an officer to Pharaoh.

No doubt he wondered what he had done to deserve this kind of treatment. Here, he was far from home with no one in his family even knowing his whereabouts.

It would definitely be hard to keep your faith up at this point. Surely God has forgotten all about me or else I wouldn’t be in this predicament, he must have thought to himself.

Eventually things began to look up for Joseph, but he was soon framed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison.

It would definitely be hard to maintain your faith in God when you’re locked in prison for something you didn’t even do. 

Soon, Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker joined Joseph in prison. Joseph interpreted dreams for both of them, with the cup-bearer’s dream meaning that he would be reinstated to his former position. 

Joseph asked that the cup-bearer remember him when he spoke with Pharaoh, hoping that would help him get out of prison.

Joseph wasn’t about to be let out of prison just yet, as the cup-bearer forgot all about him for two whole years. 

What kind of negative thoughts do you think were going through his mind during this time?

Pharaoh eventually had his own puzzling dream, and the cup-bearer at last remembered the dream that Joseph had interpreted for him. 

He mentioned Joseph to Pharaoh and Pharaoh had Joseph brought to him to tell him the meaning of his dream.

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream to mean that there would be seven prosperous years followed by seven years of famine. 

Pharaoh then made Joseph second in command in all of Egypt. 

Joseph was to oversee a plan to store the country’s grain during the prosperous years so that there would be enough grain during the lean years.

At last, Joseph had reached a level of responsibility brought about by God himself. Even though he was far from his home, he was prospering and well respected in this foreign land.

Eventually, Joseph even reunited with his brothers when they came to buy grain from the Egyptians. 

His father, Jacob, eventually traveled to Egypt to see his son again. God had truly blessed them when the surrounding areas were suffering through the famine.

As hard as it must have been, Joseph’s steadfast faith paid off. It took several years, but God brought him and his family back together and blessed them all in the midst of a famine.

We can all learn something from Joseph’s example. As long as we’re putting God first and living so as to honor Him, we can trust Him to ultimately work everything out for our good (Rom. 8:28).

Stick with God, even when it looks like everything is working against you, and everything will be alright.

A Chance Encounter

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

I was probably about 10 years old, give or take, and was riding my trusty Schwinn bicycle around my small town just as I often did. I came upon several kids, also on their bikes, who were more or less just congregating in the middle of the road.

I immediately recognized some of the kids as “those kids” that attended the one and only Christian school in our small county. It was located just down the road from the public schools, but it may as well have been miles away. 

I barely knew of these kids, as they rarely interacted with the rest of us who went to the county school system. To me, they all dressed funny and seemed a bit strange.

Nevertheless, I stopped to see what was going on, as there were a couple of kids I was familiar with in the group.

I don’t remember much about the conversation that took place—except that the Christian school kids were talking about Jesus and Hell. These weren’t my favorite topics, but I was curious to hear what they were saying, so I tuned in.

These kids, who appeared younger than I was, were saying that it was necessary to accept Jesus so that you could be “saved” and to go to Heaven and avoid going to Hell. I believe they even quoted a few scriptures to back up what they were saying.

I’ll admit that I didn’t like the tone of the conversation at all. It was disturbing. My mom regularly took me to one of the local churches in town, but at that time I don’t believe I had ever heard this particular teaching about Jesus.

As I recall, at our church there was some talk about Jesus being the son of God, but there was little if any mention about accepting him as your Savior as the only means to get to Heaven.

To be honest, hearing what they had to say about the gospel scared me. I had always assumed I’d go to Heaven just based on the fact that I was a “good person” who went to church and recognized that there was a God. 

It completely turned my idea of life after death upside down. Was what they were saying true? Did I really need Jesus in my life?

After a few minutes, I left the small group and continued on my bike ride, trying to put the conversation out of my mind. 

However, I never forgot what those young kids had to say about Jesus and salvation. Their words stayed with me over the years, and as I got older, I became more and more convicted of my need for Jesus as my Savior and that just a belief that there is a God in Heaven wasn’t enough for me to get to Heaven.

Things culminated in later years. My mom and I had switched churches by this time, to one where faith in Jesus was regularly preached as a prerequisite for eternal life in Heaven. 

Finally, at the age of 15, I gave my life to Jesus. It took many years, but I finally came to a saving realization in the Lordship of Jesus and the necessity of repentance and giving my life to Him. 

However, it all started back on that street with that group of kids several years earlier. That meeting left an impression on me that I’ve never forgotten.

I’m grateful to God for planting that seed in my heart even at that young age. It took some time, but the seed kept growing and came to fruition years later.

Who knows where I would be without that chance encounter on the street that day?

Live In the Present

/ Clay D. / 1 Comment

Did you know that God wants us to live in the present? His wish for us is that we would focus on each day as it comes, savoring all the goodness in it that He has blessed us with.

He doesn’t want us overly consumed with either the past or the future, as it is the action we take today, in the present, that has the power to affect our lives. 

Too many of us focus on the past—what happened yesterday, last week, or last year. 

We live with regret over mistakes we made, over foolish things we said or did, or just over circumstances that didn’t go the way we wanted them to.

The Apostle Paul sums up God’s desire for us nicely in the book of Philippians:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…

Phil. 3:13-14a

Jesus Himself tells us:

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Luke 9:62

What He means, I believe, is that whatever task or project we find ourselves engaged in, focus on it entirely, without worrying about the past.

At the other end of the spectrum are worriers who spend much of their mental energy focusing on the what-ifs of the future. 

Well, what if such and such happens? Will I have enough money to meet all my expenses this month?

God lays out a pretty simple plan to combat this kind of debilitating worry:

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things [clothes, food, etc.] will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luke 6:33-34

God doesn’t want our minds turmoiled over what the future holds. In the verse just before the two above, Jesus says that it’s the pagans who chase after all the material things in life.

As a believer in Christ, we can count on God to provide everything we need, day by day. As the Lord’s Prayer emphasizes:

Give us each day our daily bread.

Luke 11:3

Just as God provided manna for the Israelites each morning during their time wandering in the desert, He will provide for us the things we need when we need them.

So, if we’re not supposed to spend time and mental energy regretting the past or worrying about the future, that just leaves the present.

And that is exactly where God wants us to be. This present moment is all that we have. The past can’t be changed, and the future isn’t guaranteed. 

Our lives are literally lived out moment by moment, and they are shaped by our decisions made each passing second.

As the psalmist writes:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Ps. 118:24

We need to focus all our energies on working and living for the Lord today, because that is all we have in our control.

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

2 Cor. 6:2b

So, what are we supposed to focus on every day? Paul tells us:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Phil. 4:8

If we spend our mental energy on the needs and concerns of today—while seeking God’s will for our lives—we’ll be much happier and have much less stress to deal with.

Knowing About Jesus Versus Knowing Jesus

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Do you know Jesus? That may seem like a pretty simple question, but how you answer it is quite important.

Many people have heard of Jesus, that He was a man who lived a long time ago and who some say had some good moral teachings. 

Beyond that, there are many people who know of Jesus. They’ve heard a little more about Him than the first group and may even believe that He was a great prophet who had some radical ideas.

With all due respect, those who simply know some things about Jesus, don’t truly know Him, and they definitely don’t know Him as their Savior.

I may know of the President of the United States, but I certainly don’t know him on a personal level.

To know Jesus Christ as your Savior and have a daily, ongoing relationship with Him is the only true gateway to an intimate relationship with God the Father. 

As Jesus Himself said,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Jesus also said,

I and the Father are one.

John 10:30

Simply put, there is but one true pathway to God, and that is through His Son, Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, then you don’t know the Father.

Our sin is what separates us from God, creating a chasm between Him and us that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

That is the point at which sin entered the perfect world God had created.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Rom. 3:23

Hundreds of years later, God made a covenant with the Israelites, giving them the Law, which they were supposed to adhere to.

However, the Law was simply the precursor to the work that Jesus did on the cross. The Law helped humankind to recognize their sin and the futile attempts at keeping all aspects of the law.

Being the just God that He is, and since man failed at keeping the Law, God the Father sent His Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins once and for all.

He allowed Jesus to be flogged and cruelly murdered by crucifixion, one of the most excruciating forms of torture and death ever devised.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom. 5:8

But that’s not all. After His death, Jesus lay in the tomb for three days. Then the Father resurrected Him, putting on a grand display of Christ’s power over death. 

With Jesus’s death and resurrection, we have the same hope of eternal life if we simply repent of our sins and let Jesus into our lives as our Savior. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom. 6:23

There is no other pathway to an eternity spent living in Heaven with God.

When you die, if you haven’t let Jesus into your life as your Savior, you’ll spend all of eternity separated from God in a horrendous lake of fire.

You may say, “Well, that just doesn’t make any sense. I’m a good person. God wouldn’t send me to some place like that.”

It’s not that God is sending you there; it’s that you’re making the choice to live in eternal separation from God.

Or you may simply not believe the Bible and all the truth contained in it.

For all the Christians who take the Bible literally, the worst thing that could happen is that they’re wrong, and we simply cease to exist after we die.

However, if the Bible is right and you’re wrong, you’re putting your entire eternity at stake. You risk ending up in a place that you will definitely wish you weren’t in.

However, it’s easy to change all that. If you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior, there’s no better time to do it than right now.

Take a moment and pray to God. Tell Him you’re sorry for the sins you’ve committed and that you want to live a better life from this point forward. 

Thank Him for sending Jesus to die for your sins, washing you clean of them, and making you righteous in His eyes. 

Then ask Jesus to come into your heart as your Lord and Savior. Acknowledge that Jesus is God in human form and that he is the true pathway to salvation.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Rom. 10:9-10

The next thing you need to do is find a Bible-believing church to begin attending.

Find the pastor and tell him you’ve recently accepted Christ into your life, and that you’d like to be baptized as an outward sign of your acceptance of Jesus as Lord of your life.

The steps to accepting Jesus and becoming a Christian are simple. But if you’ve been living in sin for a long time, they may seem like a huge commitment. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t mean that everything will be completely rosy after you accept Christ.

You’ll still have problems, but you’ll now have God in your corner helping you, as well as Jesus and the Holy Spirit interceding on your behalf with the Father (Rom. 8:26, 34).

Don’t put off making the biggest and best decision of your life. One day it will be too late.

Our Difficulty in Relying on God

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He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Rom. 8:32

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb. 4:16

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 John 5:4

Why is it so hard for many of us to rely on God? After all, He is our Creator and Father. We should look to Him for everything in our lives, from the very small to the very important.

Whether it’s help getting us to work on time with a good parking spot or we’re trusting Him to see us through a bad diagnosis we just received, it should be the same.

Why do we waiver back and forth so much?

I believe that the biggest answer to these questions lies in the fact that we’re taught to be self-sufficient.

Especially for those of you reading this who grew up in the United States, we learn from a young age that it’s us against the world in many instances. 

If we’re going to get anywhere in life, we’ve got to buckle down and work hard, relying on help from no one but ourself. Because, ultimately, ourself is all we’ve got.

I don’t believe this same deep sense of self-sufficiency exists in other countries to the degree that it does in the U.S. 

Our country was founded on a spirit of independence, and this ideal is ingrained in us beginning at a young age.

Think of the founding fathers who broke away from rule under England to form their own country. That’s the kind of independent thinking we Americans are dealing with.

Going back to God—I believe that many of us feel more comfortable with the idea of fighting through the jungle of life by ourselves rather than waiting on God and relying on Him to help us fight through the bush.

It’s a quaint thought that God is there to help us, but do we really need Him? After all, we’ve been living this whole independence thing all our lives. 

Surely, we’ll be fine on our own.

Oh, if God wants to lend a hand here or there or open a door for us, we won’t object. We just won’t expect it or wait for that to happen.

The problem is that God doesn’t want us to embrace this individualistic attitude. He wants to be our everything, our all. 

Just as the famous verses in Proverbs 3:5-6 instruct us:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

In addition, several times in the gospels we are instructed to put God first and He will provide for us, like this passage in Matthew:

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matt. 6:30-33

For those of us used to relying on ourselves almost entirely to get through life, it is a difficult change to let God have His way with our life.

I think to really embrace the sovereignty of God in our lives, we need to saturate our minds with His word (the Bible), especially any passages that talk about trusting God, relying on Him, or waiting on Him.

We get impatient when things don’t go exactly as we want them to, and we often try to force changes that are better left to God. I know I’ve been guilty of that more than a few times.

As God tells us through the prophet Isaiah:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isa. 55:8-9

There’s no way that we can comprehend all that God has in store for us if we’ll simply trust in and rely on Him. Nothing we could imagine could even come close. We’re told so here:

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Cor. 2:9

So, to overcome our deep-seated desire for self-sufficiency, we need to stay in God’s word, paying close attention to any passages that deal with God’s sovereignty, relying solely on Him, and being submissive to His will. 

Doing so will help us get a lot farther along in life on the path God has chosen for us—and also with much less stress.

The Seen Versus the Unseen

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Cor. 4:18

Have you ever paused to think that everything you see around you—including your home and all of your belongings, your car, the buildings in your city, and even all of nature—will one day cease to exist?

That’s right, just as the above verse says, everything we see is transient, or temporary. One day all the things we’ve worked for in our lives will be gone. 

It kind of makes you wonder if we really should be putting so much emphasis on things, doesn’t it?

We know everything on earth will one day disappear, as John tells us in Revelation 21:1:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 

In the following verse, we find that John then,

saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

Rev. 21:2

The new Jerusalem is where all believers in Christ will eventually live with God throughout eternity.

In fact, in that same verse in 2 Corinthians above, we read that it is the unseen things that are eternal. 

And guess what? We’re not taking any of our things with us to this new and beautiful city. All the stuff that we’ve become so attached to here on earth will be gone in an instant. It’s that temporary.

Nothing we see on earth now will last; however, God himself, the multitude of heavenly angels, and the new Heaven and earth will all last forever.

Think about it. There is a whole world that we can’t see right now, which will actually live on throughout eternity. 

And all the stuff we’ve worked to accumulate during our lifetimes will all vanish in the blink of an eye.

It kind of makes you want to rethink your priorities, doesn’t it?

However, we can actually send treasures on ahead to Heaven while we’re still here on earth. Jesus tells us,

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matt. 6:20

What exactly does He mean by treasures? Your Heavenly treasures are the good works you do here while spending your time on earth. 

Paul encourages us in the book of Ephesians,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Eph. 2:10

God has a plan for each of us, and while it doesn’t necessarily include stockpiling a bunch of “stuff,” it does include good works like loving and helping our neighbors and other people who touch our lives in one way or another.

These works can take a number of forms, but in the end it all boils down to showing the love of Jesus to those we come in contact with. 

This means helping them, encouraging them, and giving to them as God leads us.

That is the true treasure that we’re storing up in Heaven. And while we can’t see it, we know through faith that it is as real as anything we see on earth (actually more so). 

Better yet, we know this treasure will never deteriorate, fall apart, or pass away, unlike the latest gadget we just had to buy.

So, with that in mind, are you going to focus on the things that are seen, or on the eternal unseen things?

Worship God for the Right Reason

/ Clay D. / Leave a comment

Why do you worship God? That may seem like a simple question, but I believe that how we answer it reveals a lot about our motives and attitudes.

Simply put, we should worship and fear God because of who He is. 

As the our loving Father and the Creator of the universe, we should naturally revere the Lord and give Him the respect He deserves.

However, we may be guilty of worshiping God out of selfish motives.

We should ask ourselves if we honor and worship God because of His awesome, loving nature, or because we hope to get on His good side and perhaps receive more blessings?

I know that I have been guilty of falling into that trap of selfishness. 

Many times, the enemy has planted the thought in my mind that if I just give God His due, then He will cause my life to be better and more fulfilling. 

It’s like I was playing a game with God, thinking that I could somehow buy His favor if I “worshiped” Him more or better. 

This approach sounds like how we might look at our job, trying to win brownie points with the boss by buttering him up and being a “yes” man or woman.

By giving the boss praise and compliments—and getting on their good side—we might score a raise or promotion sooner.

However, God isn’t our boss. He’s our loving Father, and he wants us to love Him and worship Him out of this love as well as a healthy, reverential fear.

This isn’t the fear that he will hurt us, but fear that recognizes He is the Ruler of the universe and that all power is in His hands. 

So, if we’re worshiping Him for any other reason, it’s wrong, and we need to rethink our motives.

God is not some sort of cosmic genie who will give us more stuff and a better life if we pull the right strings. 

True, there are many verses in the Bible that tell us God gives favor to those who love and fear Him:

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

Ps. 126:1

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Cor. 2:9

The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive.

Deut. 6:24

We can find many more such verses in scripture, but these are enough to give you the overall picture that God rewards and blesses us when we fear, love, and honor Him as He so fittingly deserves.

However, He doesn’t want us to worship Him just out of a motivation for reward. 

God desires a mature, intimate relationship with us, one that is built on love, not just His love for us, but our love for Him.

He gave us free will so that we could freely choose to love, respect, and worship Him. 

That’s the way God made us. He didn’t want robots that simply worshiped Him because that’s the way they were programmed. 

He made human beings in His image, with a free will who will either choose or refuse to worship their Creator out of love and reverence.

So, the next time you’re praying or singing praises to God, think about why you’re doing it. 

Is it because you love Him or because you hope to get something from Him?