Halloween

I am a father of five kids and as such they love to be kids, go figure. Anyway I struggle every year with the whole Halloween thing. This year in particular I have struggled with it. I was talking about it with my nine year old and I told him that I think that it desensitizes children to think that evil is fun or somewhat fairytale like. As a Christian I wrestle with that. I ask myself "what is the heart of God in regards to children going out trick or treating when they don't realize the origins. As a father I desire for my children to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. I know that I used to trick or treat and I turned out okay, but for some reason I feel that the stakes are higher. Maybe it is maturity.....Maybe not. Anyway hopefully some day I will have a biblical argument for why I believe what I do regarding Halloween. For now though it will be based on "Hate what is evil and cling to what is good."

Demon behind every bush

12 years ago I started getting serious with God. It was at the time that the renewal movement was getting off the ground. I remember going into a Vineyard church and the pastor was talking about the five step healing model. I was amazed that God had the ability or desire to heal people. Anyway I learned about spiritual warfare at that time also. The bondage breaker was very popular at that time. We had entire conferences on defeating the evil in our lives. It was electric, it was kind of exciting, down right mysterious as to how it really worked and if it did how would you have a story to tell. Well for ten years I learned about this, reading, praying, going to conferences etc years ago I started to understand a bigger picture of spiritual warfare.
2Peter 1:3 says His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Gods written word is saying that he has given us ALL we need for life and godliness. So many people run around chasing after demon's or spirits and never take ownership of their problem. Lets take lust for example. A person raised in the renewal movement would say "Oh boy that's the spirit of lust keeping you in bondage" That sounds all fine and dandy, but where in scripture will you find that in the end God will judge Satan's demons for what they did to you. They already have their curse. The bible that I read says that God will judge each and every one of us according to the way we lived our lives. So where does the spirit of lust fit in to that equation? When we are before the throne of God as he holds before us the path of our life, is it going to be as easy as saying "Oh sorry God the devil made me do it" I don't think so. James teaches us to resist the devil and he will flee from you. If there is an area that we are wrestling with in our lives, it is probably due to the fact that Jesus Christ is not lord of that trouble. Spiritual warfare is simply this, being faced with a choice between two roads. The road of the wicked (this is where Satan is in his element, this is where he pulls out all of his shots to get you to choose the wrong path) or to walk the path of the righteous. When we choose the right path we have defeated the enemies wiles to take us off course, thus he is powerless in our lives.
In summary I strongly believe that spiritual warfare is more about setting up the necessary disciplines in your life to keep the enemy at bay. Also a key to this is giving lust, pornography, deception, poverty, rebellion, etc over to Jesus Christ and submit it under his lordship, for he gives you everything that you NEED for life and godliness, so lets start making godly, wise choices that are better for our lives and give glory to God.

there's hope for me yet

Well I must say that I am very happy that I just figured out how to get Links on this blog. You see I know as much about HTML as I do about nuclear physics....Anyway the saga of understanding blogdom continues ...

Repentance, rest, quietness and trust....or not

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.

What a profound verse. I am utterly amazed at the context of what is being said here. So many of us are running here and running there, strive strive strive!!!!Ugh it gives me a headache watching some folks hustle and bustle about. I believe that we miss out on Gods best when we strive. When we are striving we are solving this problem and dealing with that. Jesus said that his yolk is easy and his burden is light. Why do we feel the urge to get busy. I can literally say that I hate busy-ness. In quietness and trust....ssshhh stop moving....stop striving....just be.....relax....I will provide for you....don't worry about your broken car, or your ripped clothes, I will take care of you. Wow what a place of blessing to be content in your situation..I know I long for that and hope that God has me down that path.

Seeing with Elisha's eyes

I want to share with you something that is dear to my heart. For many years my prayer to God has been to give me Elisha's eyes. I am reminded about the servant that went out of his tent one morning and saw that his camp was surrounded by the enemy. Well needless to say, he freaked and ran to Elisha. He replied "Oh my lord, what shall we do" Then Elisha responded and said "Oh Lord open his eyes that he may see" then he saw a multitude of Gods army surrounding the enemy. WOW that is so cool.I want that. I don't want to see my situations and freak out, I want to remain calm (allowing the peace of Christ to rule in my heart) and see what the bigger picture is. I want to be a watchman, someone who watches at the gate for trouble then alerts the proper people. Plus what a blessing to have eyes that can truly see. Who knows what God has intended for me but I am going to train my eyes to see further that what the physical eyes can see.

Men of the word

. Ephesians 5:25,28

“Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loves the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of the word, and to present to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way Husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”

Men of God

We are called by our living God to be mediators of the word. It is our God given responsibility to know the scriptures. According to this verse alone we are to know the word. Let me explain. Read the above verse. God gives us instruction to lead our wives as God intended. 1. Love your wives cleansing her with the washing of the word. I want to explain what that means. God is calling us to disciple our wives. God is saying in essence. “Get into the word men, seek out it’s truth’s, eat the meat, chew the fat and get the nutrition that is in it. Then you can take what you have learned and teach it to your wife. This is no macho stuff here. It is the written word of God. Wash her in the word. Bathe her with the truth revealed in the scriptures, we are to be ministers to our wives men. God has commissioned us to know the word, teach the word and then to use the word to purify our wives and ourselves. Do you see the big picture here guys??? Look with open eyes. Want me to share what I believe God is saying here.
“Men of God, It is my desire as your father God that you get into my word, that you meditate on it day and night, dig deep my sons, dig deep. It is my desire that you take what you learn and teach it to your wives. This is your place in the home to be the spiritual leader. I will give you all that you need but you do need to teach your wives the truth from my word. It is your mission to present her to me a radiant wife, without stain or wrinkle, or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Consider this your life mission.”

Why is it that we men run after everything that seems pleasing to the eye, yet leave behind the very thing that God has established in our lives…. family. We run after the fun, exciting things that build us up. I am starting to realize more and more that the “fun” we are having is on thin ice and has no foundation as our wives and children are at home longing for spiritual leadership. Lets not jump ship too soon men. We need to be ministers of the word.
I challenge every one of you (I include myself in this) Get into the word of God. Heck, lets get into it together. We could all read a portion of scripture each day and hold each other accountable. Lets start to love our wives, take a step back to minister to them and disciple them.

What does God's supply really look like ??

Matthew 6 talks about not worrying about our needs and seeking the kingdom of God. But what is Gods perspective on supplying our needs? We are called to be set apart from the world and live a holy and God pleasing lifestyle. I wonder if God would clothe us in designer clothes or value priced clothes from Winners or Walmart. I think that as we become more Christ like, we will humble ourselves to the place where it truly will not matter what we where becase our focus will not be on the things that moths destroy but on things that will last forever. I'm not saying that designer clothes are wrong, but I think that as christians we need to have a fuller picture of what Gods heart is for us. I dont think that God cares if we are in sweat pants or a three peice suit. He looks at the heart, not the appearance we so often like to paint ourselves with. And what would it be like if we waited for God to supply a direct need that we could attain. How often do we run out ahead of God and get second best ? I would love to be in the place of rest where I didnt have to stress out doing things, but allowing God to take care of me, knowing that he knows what I need in advance and will give me way better things physically and spiritually if I just trust him.