Quality Time

Our Heavenly Father looks at each and every one of us like a parent looks at his child. Left on our own how do we grow up? At home with our children or with our Heavenly Father, it all comes down to quality time and relationship. God wants a relationship with us so that through it we can become the person He has called us to be. May each of us take time throughout our day to spend quality time with Him in prayer, talking to Him, reading His word, or just the things all around us given by Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Follow Him

We grow up and realize that most of what we try to do in this life is centered on our self. No longer does it seem to be about pleasing others, rather it is about 'what is in it for me?' We give to get in most everything we do. 'You owe me!' is not a unexpected remark to hear when someone does you a favor. They expect something in return sometime in the future. To follow Jesus, all that has to go. He is not looking for a give to get attitude. No, He expects all of us, all the time. There is no room for 'self' in a relationship with Him. Shouldn't we put aside all thoughts of us and follow Him each and every day? ~ DickEvans.org

Only He

As we grow in Christ, we become more like Him. But to be like Him, we must spend time with Him. It is through those daily experiences that we take on His nature; through the experiences as we walk this walk through life with Him. The imperfections on the inside are gradually replaced with more and more of Him. Only He can change the inside. ~ DickEvans.org

Retasked

Some of us knew who God was when we were growing up and thought there was no more than that. God was God and He was the creator of all and knew all that was going on. It was like He was a peering down on each of our lives like one of those reconnaissance satellites. He saw what they saw and more. The fact is that we were born into the enemy's camp. We were born with the sin of the first Adam in our system. We knew who God was, but there was no way we could have a relationship with Him. We had to escape first. Jesus gave us the escape plan and by faith we took it. We got out of the enemy's clutches. Because someone somehow showed His light to us, we became free. We were retasked so that our eyes were now on Jesus. Now it is our turn. We have each been tasked to do the same for others; to bring them the Good News and see them reconciled to God. ~ DickEvans.org

God's Word

I believe that every single page of the Bible was inspired by God. We need to pick up our Bible, God’s Word, no matter which translation is our favorite, and ask Him to reveal Himself to us in those pages. If we ask Him, He will do that. He does that for me and He will do that for you. ~ DickEvans.org

Wisdom

When a person is allowed to excel in what God has truly gifted them in, when we begin to excel in that gift He planted deep within before we were born, it is time for more wisdom in that area.True wisdom comes from the creator and it is His wisdom we truly desire. As we seek Him, and step out in faith as He directs us, He will provide all the wisdom we need and we will become wiser. He will teach the righteous and they will learn more. ~ DickEvans.org

Strengthen Me

Isaiah 41:10 NLT

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Sounds like advice, minus the God reference, you might give to your own children. We would do anything for our children as they were growing up. Sometimes ever to the point of standing up for them when later we found out they were in the wrong. They were out kids and they could do no wrong.

Yet as we go on day by day in our struggle here on earth we can feel weak. Things can be going on all around us and even to the point of consuming us. When in our lowest point, God is there with us helping even when we don’t see it.

2 Corinthians 12:9 - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  

We have Holy Spirit, a gift from Father God, in us. He is the spirit of Christ the living son of God. He is in us and His power is there for us. As we practice His presence acknowledging that the Kingdom of God is within us He will come upon us enabling us to do amazing things.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

And there is no limit to what we can accomplish with Christ in us working through us. There are no limits on Him and He is in us. Therefore the only limit in us is the one we place there. For the impossible is nothing for Him. It is not by our strength, but His.

The Cornerstone

We can live a good life, caring for others and giving out to others, but that does not get us to eternity with God. He must be the foundation of our lives. When we ask Jesus into our lives, He becomes the foundation. From that point on our life changes. With Him as the cornerstone we have the chance to build as strong a building as we choose. Our walk with Him becomes a series of choices that take us from layer to layer as we build on that foundation. We must be certain that man does not entice us to follow a wrong path. We must always look to the cornerstone as we make those daily choices. ~ DickEvans.org

The Walk

As we grow in Christ, God changes us from the inside out. This does not mean that anything goes. No, we are to work hard to walk the narrow path. As we grow the walk becomes easier and the tongue tamer. The key is to be in relationship with Him. The closer we get to Him, the more we change. The more we change, the easier the walk. ~ DickEvans.org

Serve Him

We must not be lazy with what God has for us. We should serve Him enthusiastically each and every day. Sure we go to church on Sunday and sing and shout and raise our hands. It is easy to be enthusiastic when we are in the middle of a crowd just like us. Our enthusiasm needs to come from within; not from peer pressure without. We must truly want to serve Him every day. When that desire comes forth there is no way we can be lazy ever again. There is no way another will walk out in the gift instead of us. ~ DickEvans.org

Relationship

A relationship that is static is not a relationship at all. It is simply an acquaintance. We all know who Jesus is. As believers, we have all met Him in some unique way. So we have an acquaintance with Him. He wants a relationship. He does not want each of us scattered, going our own way. He does not want us to leave Him alone. No, He wants us to reach out for His help. He wants us to listen for His voice and heed what He tells us. ~ DickEvans.org

Teach Truths

It is only through a close relationship with Jesus that we can get to know Him. As we get to know His voice, we will know what He has for us to do each day. As we experience more of Him walk in what He has for us to do, we will have the experiential knowledge we need to teach others His Truths. It is not where we are in the world that gives us this knowledge; it is where we are in our walk with Him. ~ DickEvans.org

We know

We have it all when we receive Jesus as our Lord and savior. We have all our sins forgiven. We receive Him and all that He has. We become righteous in his sight. But all of this is accomplished because we know that we know that we know it is accomplished. We step out in faith into the reality of it. ~DickEvans.org

In Us

Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

In this life we are schooled by our parents about life and in school about numerous subjects. Many of those subjects I questioned while taking them. I just could not fathom why I needed to learn that. Some I still wonder about.

The real learning in my life did not come from schooling. That learning kicked started me on my life journey. And it has been in that journey with successes and failures I have learned much and grown even more.

The same can be said about my walk with God. For years that consisted of going to church with my parents weekly and being reminded daily that He was with me, protecting me. The only time spent in the Bible was at church when I attended a Sunday School. My experience in God was limited while my experience in the world was growing exponentially.

When I left home to be on my own I still knew God was with me, but I no longer even went to church on Sundays. Much later in life God showed up and miraculously healed my wife and we gave our lives to Him. We were consumed with Him and our new relationship with Him. Jesus was becoming the center of our lives together.

Jesus said we would do greater things than He. We had seen what He did through another believer and we began to allow Him who is in each of us who believe to use us. We began to see Him heal others and even to see miracles as we allowed Jesus to work through us. Our knowledge of who He is began to grow and grow as we continued to allow Him to reach others.

I pray, in the name of Jesus, that you may know that you know that Jesus is in you. That you have all the promises of God working in you and through you today. Practice His presence. Let Him use your hands, your feet, and your mouth to love all God's children.

Be compassionate

In Luke 6:36, Jesus tells us we must be compassionate, just as our Father is compassionate. So if we follow His example, we too will have compassion for others in all circumstances. In the world we become like those we spend a lot of time with. The same is true in our relationship with God. Spend enough time with Him, and we become like Him. When that happens there is no decision to make; we have taken on His compassion. ~ DickEvans.org

What we see

We are a society that moves to action based on what we see. We see commercials on television as to which movies to watch or what pain killer to buy or what the best new car is. And we watch and listen. We are moved by emotion based on what we saw, and then we buy it. And others are moved to God by what they see. They watch us too. They know who we are and they know that we know God. They watch us to see what difference that makes in our life. They watch us change and as they do they change. They watch and then they begin to see out of the box. They begin to see the God we see. ~ DickEvans.org

As we go we grow

The Father expects us to work at our walk with Christ. It is not supposed to be over the minute we accept Him. Sure, we are saved when that occurs from our heart. We will be with Him in eternity, but there is more. He wants us to listen to the plan He has for us and then to work it. It is through our hard work that our soul grows spiritually, and as we grow we receive much more. So take the time today to ask Him for the plan. Then go and work it hard. As we go we grow! ~ DickEvans.org

Prosperity

It can be discouraging to see how much others are able to accumulate with their dishonesty. Businesses thrive and the leaders make millions. But dishonesty cannot last forever. Eventually, the dishonest lose. They are destroyed by their greed; by their accumulated wrong choices. So we must continue to follow the honest path, the path that God leads us on. We will be tugged and pulled by the world around us to cheat a little here and lie a little there. We will be told that nobody will ever find out. But He knows. Our true prosperity comes from God. ~ DickEvans.org

God Knows

No matter how much we think we know about God, we will never understand His decisions or His methods. He knows what we know not. He knows all the players and He knows the beginning and the end. How much easier our little decisions would be if we knew the results first. We must turn it all over to Him and let Him lead us. His decisions are what we seek after, not His agreement with our decisions. It is in our obedience to Him that we grow as we walk this transformation walk. ~ DickEvans.org

We are forgiven

We have been set free of the law. We have been forgiven all of our past sins. We have been forgiven the sins that are to come and come they will. Yes, He does cover us with His grace, but that does not give us a license to sin. Each time we fall short, we must repent by turning from that sin and look back to Him and try very hard not repeat it. The key word here is change. We must not repeat the error. We must change our ways. Maybe that means changing those we hang around with so we will not fall into that same temptation again. We can't buy His grace; we just receive it. By the blood of Jesus we walk in that grace every day. Thank you, Jesus! ~ DickEvans.org

Encourage

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

When our children are very young we encourage them and build them up telling them how good they are doing. We applaud their achievements like taking that first step, eating that strange new food we have them try, their first base hit in little league, getting a good report card from school, and more.

We also correct them by letting them know when they have messed up. Even in those down times we try to lift them up by saying things like "you will do better next time". We tell them how much we love them and how proud we are of them. Then we speak to the actions that we are not pleased with. And we finish by encouraging them in how to react in the future to similar circumstances.

Just like our children, we need to be the same with each other; with our spouse, our best friends, our acquaintances at work and at church. So often we come down on others with not so nice reactions to their mistakes. Or they are not doing things our way so they must be wrong. Our attitude towards others can be damaging.

And yet God's attitude towards us is always with love. As we delve into His Word we find encouragement as we read His promises to us, as we read scripture that tells us who we are in Christ. No matter what we do, God loves us. He may not be happy with some of the things we do, but that does not change His unconditional love for us. After all isn't that what unconditional means? Our sin saddens Him, but will never change His love for us.

Thank you, Jesus for being there for me no matter where I go in my walk today. Help me to be encouraging to others and help me keep my eyes on You. In Jesus name I pray.

Our Actions

How do we behave when we are outside the circle of Christianity, when we are out of the box? Sure, none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes. We are all working out our salvation. But we know how we should behave; it just might not be natural for us yet. We must be careful to put into action God's saving work in our lives, because everyone's eyes are on us. Others look to us to see if our actions support the belief we confess. In all that we do we must obey God with deep reverence and fear. ~ DickEvans.org

Just Ask

Whatever kind of wisdom you are reaching for, the key is God. He has the answer, all the time. We just need to reach out to Him and ask. He will gladly tell us and not resent our asking. ~ DickEvans.org

When all else fails

When all else fails us, all our worldly knowledge does not seem to be enough, we call on God. And yet, He is ready to help us out at the get go. All we have to do is ask. Wow, whatever we need to know, He has the answer. We have the source of everything made and unmade at our disposal. All we have to do is call on Him. But in our human stubbornness, we try to do it on our own, first. If all else fails, we may ask God. Isn't it time to go to Him first? ~ DickEvans.org

Tell the story

Night is the time when work ceases. As a believer our work never ceases. We are to be constantly ready to do as the Father asks of us. We are to tell everyone about what our relationship with Him has done in our life. Yes, it is up to each and everyone of us to tell others about Jesus Christ. As the Father leads us and the Holy Spirit guides us, we are to tell the story of the Good News across this land. ~ DickEvans.org

Milk and Meat

We tend to enjoy a movie, once. We have a 'been there, done that' attitude. Yet when we do happen to catch that movie a second time, we hear and see things we missed the first time. At the same time we remember enough to anticipate what is coming next. Even though we saw it before the anticipation gets us excited to see it again. As we read God's Word over again and again we see things we missed as Holy Spirit reveals them to us. We need to soak in the milk of the Word and chew on it's meat. Milk and meat are both necessary for us to grow to fullness in Him. ~ DickEvans.org

God chooses

God still does the choosing today. We may chase them, but it isn't until God chooses them that our words are really heard in their heart. It is then that they are ready to let the Truth deep inside. It is then that they are saved, good works or not. Being saved is free and undeserved. None of us met all the requirements of the law before we were saved and we won't do it even now, that we are saved. But He does expect us to turn our works into good works. He does expect us to walk on the right side of the street from now on. ~ DickEvans.org

Unity

When we are in true unity as God expects, we will be looking to Him. We will be doing the work He has for each and every one of us; not together as a group. But it could be if that is what He calls forth. He wants us at that place in Him where we have that full confidence because we have that complete understanding of God's secret plan. We are in unity with Christ Himself. ~DickEvans.org

Life

Matthew 16:25 NLT
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

Today we remember our forefathers winning the battles for our independence; freedom from England's rule over us. That was a long time ago and the world is not the same. We still celebrate that freedom and many want to come to this country because of it.

Jesus is not talking about our freedom from the rules and oppression of another nation; the life that differs from being under a republic such as ours or being under the rule of one person leading a county.

No, Jesus is speaking about our mortal existence and our eternal one. He is speaking to hanging on to the things of this world. Are we willing to give them up? Are we willing to give up the pleasures of the flesh and follow Him?

If we believe in Jesus, that He came to earth to save us, died on the cross for all our transgressions, and was resurrected on the third day and is now sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, then we are born again. We are born into a new life, We are saved from the effects of this world. We will live in eternity with Jesus.

Our forefathers gave up their lives for our independence. We give up our lives here for a better life in eternity with Jesus. There is no better freedom than that. Praise Jesus!

Tell the Story

We have to tell the story. We have to care enough to let others know about Jesus. We have to warn them so they can get out of the place they are in. We have to point out the road they need to take. We have to. If we don’t tell them about our relationship with Jesus and what He has done in our life, they could be lost forever. We want them standing with us so we can be in eternity with them. Our story is important. Others need to hear it. Tell someone today about what He has done in your life. ~ DickEvans.org

Deep Roots

As we move out in our visible walk, things cross our path that are not from God. Circumstances of life occur. Are our roots deep enough in Him to get through them unscathed? It is in our daily communications with Him that our relationship grows. It is in our daily reading of His Word that our knowledge of Him builds. And it is in our stepping out each day to testify to what He has done in our lives that we grow in faith.Take the time each day to push those roots deeper and wider so you can withstand all the storms of life that come your way. ~ DickEvans.org

Freedom

We were all born in bondage, in jail. We were born under the rule of satan carrying the sins of the past with us all the way back to Adam. We were born with an Adamic nature no matter who we were. The best of the best may have been born into a family of fame and fortune, but they still came into this world with the same nature. God sent His only Son to earth to live and die for you and I. When He died that day on the cross, He shed His blood for you and for me. He became our get out of jail free card. When we are in Christ and He is in us, no jail of satan can hold us. We have been forgiven of all of our personal sins and of all generational sin including Adam’s, forever. All He wants from us is to tell others our story. Preach His message everywhere you go. Tell others how they can get their very own get out of jail free card. ~ DickEvans.org