God First

Luke 12:21 
"Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God." (NLT) 

Most have a difficult time getting to the next paycheck never mind storing up earthly wealth. You pray you don't run out of money before you run out of month.

If you own a house--well if you live in a house the bank owns--you are storing up for a time when the bank turns that deed over to you and gives you a "Paid in Full" stamp on your mortgage.

Even though it is a struggle getting to that paid off place, it is worth it when those monthly payments go away. This does not make you rich, but it is earthly wealth. So are the big screen TVs, the iPhones, the cable and Internet connection, the two automobiles, the boat, the one or two vacations a year, and so forth. Don't these things make up our earthly wealth?

How much of our time is spent toward this accumulation of wealth and how much toward our relationship with God?

God wants us to enjoy life and that means accumulation of some stuff. However, He wants us to put our relationship with Him first--before taking time to get more stuff or even to use the stuff we have.

When that relationship is rich, then we will have the time to do all those other things important to us. But, God needs to always come first in all we do.

The Trinity

Father, Son, Holy Spirit; the three in one, the Trinity. We know about the Trinity but is it part of our reality?

Jesus taught us how to pray when he gave the disciples the Lord's Prayer. Not as what to pray but how to pray. And it was as all his prayers were directed to Father God. Do we pray during the day to the Father?

We all have friends and communicate with them regularly. Without communication can there really be friendship? In our high tech society where communications is no longer face to face, we email, tweet, Facebook, text, and of course talk on our cell phone. And as a result our friendships are not only local they are global.

Is Jesus our friend? Do we communicate with him like we do with our mortal friends daily? In other words are we in relationship with him?

When we are looking for an answer where do we go? Do we go to the source of all knowledge to the Holy Spirit given to teach us all things? Or do we Google instead?

The Trinity is real and desires our involvement throughout the day so let's pray daily without ceasing in the spirit and in the natural to God the Father. Jesus wants a closer relationship with us so let's get our fingers off the keyboard and chat with Him as we go about our day.

And last but not least let's allow the Holy Spirit to comfort us, to guide us through our day, and to teach us all things.

Virus Protection

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (NLT) On our computers we add virus protection so malware cannot find a way onto our hard drives. The protection software filters out the unwanted material before it does any damage. When I was growing up I could be pretty sarcastic. It was like whatever popped into my mind just fell out of my mouth. Finally I realized what was going on and began to think first, speak second. I added a filter to my mouth. This did not get rid of the thoughts. When I first was involved with computers IBM gave out these plastic signs that you would place on your desk that simply said THINK. The implication was that before doing something you should think first and act second. So it is up to us to clean up what comes out of our mouth. The cussing does not just stop because we believe in Jesus. The nasty comments to family and friends do not go away on their own. The verbal reaction to the driver that cuts us off does not stop on its own. As our relationship with Jesus builds, the times of slipping into unwholesome talks lessons. However, when we are around others not at that same place in their walk, temptation always lurks and we find ourselves having to stop our mouth from taking us in the wrong direction once more. When we speak, we must consciously build others up according to their needs. Let the Holy Spirit be our filter so only good pours out of our mouth.

Abba Father

What is your mental picture of God?

Is He that untouchable God on the mountain with Moses when he received the Ten Commandments? Is He only found in a special room where only the select few are allowed to enter and not actually see Him? Is He someone you live in fear of? Are you afraid of what He might do to you if you offend Him? Is this your image of God?

Or is God a gentle, caring, loving, forgiving, daddy to you? Is He the one you can go to at any time and sit on His lap? Your Abba Father?

We have a dog who loves us unconditionally. She depends on us for all her needs. No matter what we do, she still loves us. Now, I and not saying a dog is a god. What I am saying is that our Father God loves us in the same way--unconditionally, no matter what we do.

And what about Jesus?

Is Jesus your friend? Or do you have Him in the same box as God?

In the end we will be one with Jesus--we will be His bride; the bride of Christ.

In earthly marriage we marry our best friend. Although often it goes the other way--after marriage husband and wife become best friends. When those in marriage are not best friends divorce lurks in the darkness waiting to pounce. Perhaps that is a marriage that was a one sided friendship or even just physical with no friendship involved at all.

Father God wants to be our daddy and Jesus wants to be our best friend, our BFF. He wants us to become His bride so He can present us without a spot or wrinkle to Father God in the last days.

Wait and See

Luke 17:14
He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. (NLT)

It is so easy to take a wait and see attitude to much going on in our life. This is especially true with the political situation no mater what year it is. Once we have voted someone into an office, we then wait and see what s/he does. If we like the results, we vote for them when they are up for reelection, otherwise we vote against them.

But how often do we take a wait and see attitude with God? As we read our Bible, we come across many promises for our day to day lives. All we have to do is believe, and yet we wait and see if they will happen without any action on our part. If it is God's will we say. Well, hello! He put it in His word so we know it is His will.

This story in Luke is about the ten lepers. They cried out to Jesus as He was passing by them. All Jesus said was "Go show yourselves to the priests."  Jesus did not lay hands on them. He did not pray a long flowery prayer. He just gave them an action to perform.

The lepers knew they could not show themselves to the priests unless they were healed. They believed and as they walked forth in that belief they were totally delivered from leprosy and healed.

As believers we have been saved from our sinful existence. Our spirit man has been reborn. All the promises of God are yes and amen. What lacks is not God's will, but our belief and action. We do not have to wait and see. As we trust in Him and walk forth in faith, we too are delivered and healed.

Can Christians be Mean?

How come some who say they are Chistian are mean or easy to anger?

Anyone who says they are a Christian is saying they follow Jesus. However, what that means to them may not be the truth. You can tell a Christian by what they say combined with who they are--how they act and react to situations in life.

And remember that we have both a material (old man) body and a spiritual (born again) body. So someone could be born again, but still dealing with anger and meanness in their old man.

We are to love all our fellow believers, but are not to follow them in all they may do

Bad Example

3 John 1:11
Don't let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God's children, and those who do evil prove
that they do not know God. (NLT)

People set examples in everything they do. Our parents actions set examples for us to follow. It was not the words out of their mouths but those actions that influenced us. Each of us can look back and see the things our parents said or did and think forward to today and see the effect the actions had on our own behavior.

I know some of our children have remarked about saying things to their own children that we had said to them when they were growing up. They had promised themselves they would never utter those words, but the influence we had on them was too great and the words eventually came out.

Now we are saved and guided by the Holy Spirit. When someones actions tempt us into doing evil things He shows us the right path to take. However, someone appearing to be doing good is not necessarily a Christian.

There are many good people working hard to do the right thing each day. So the appearance of doing good is not necessarily proof of a Christian. But, doing evil is proof of not being saved.

As believers guided by the Holy Spirit, we should be setting good examples for our children, our friends, out co-workers, and everyone we meet in the marketplace.

Were you that good example today?