Listed here are only a few of the promises that God has given us and since God cannot lie you can build the foundation of your life on them.
It doesn't get any plainer than this, God says He will be with us, that He will protect us, when we call He will answer, He will give us our salvation.
Psalm 91
14 The LORD says, "I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.
God says the He will guide us along the best pathway for our lives
Psalm 32
8 The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
*In Progress*
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Easy ways to praise God during your day
Here are some of the ways that I have come up with to praise God throughout the day.
1) I sit at a computer all day and the computer is set to require the password after 3 minutes of inactivity, so I changed the password to a phrase that praises God. Every time I get up from my desk, come back to the computer after doing paperwork or being on the phone I have to enter my praise password.
2) I have around 35 verses that I read daily (I don't do so well on the weekends) and I have them up on my computer (I use the Sticky Notes program that came w/Win7) so a least every workday I start out my day by reading them.
3) Family participation- I'm doing a discipleship program with Pastor Mark and part of that is every few weeks we get a new morning prayer and several verses to memorize. When I get these my wife takes them and puts the morning prayer and the verses on post-it notes and sticks them to the bathroom mirror. That way I really do not have an excuse to not read them every day. Without that support, I would have a really hard time remembering to read them every day.
4)Bible Reading- I use a Bible app called YouVersion which has just about all the versions of the Bible you could want. It also has reading plans which are groups of verses by subject as well as read the Bible in a year, 90 days ect. One of the features that I get the most out of is it's ability to read the bible to you, I spend a least 2 hours a day in the car and there is no reason, for me to not be able to read (or listen to) God's word.
5) Joel Osteen app- Joel is the pastor of Lakewood church in Houston TX and is one of what I can best describe as my circle of support without which I would have never made it through this. There is an app on the Droid platform called "JoelCast" the full version has all of his TV messages back to April 2006. If you are in a place where you can't see a way out, where you are about to give up hope then .99 is a very small price to pay, the messages are only 30 minutes and are very uplifting. If you are wavering even a little in your faith or your trust in God, it is time well spent.
6)Leading the Way app- Dr. Michael Youssef is the Pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta GA you can listen to many of his sermons on the smartphone app as well as watch many of his broadcast sermons. If there is any doubt about God's salvation for you then I recommend a little time in the electronic pew listening to Dr. Youssef.
These are all I could think of at the moment, and I felt the need to get this posted now and not wait so if anyone who reads this has any other ways than the five here please put them in the comments and I'll copy them into the post.
1) I sit at a computer all day and the computer is set to require the password after 3 minutes of inactivity, so I changed the password to a phrase that praises God. Every time I get up from my desk, come back to the computer after doing paperwork or being on the phone I have to enter my praise password.
2) I have around 35 verses that I read daily (I don't do so well on the weekends) and I have them up on my computer (I use the Sticky Notes program that came w/Win7) so a least every workday I start out my day by reading them.
3) Family participation- I'm doing a discipleship program with Pastor Mark and part of that is every few weeks we get a new morning prayer and several verses to memorize. When I get these my wife takes them and puts the morning prayer and the verses on post-it notes and sticks them to the bathroom mirror. That way I really do not have an excuse to not read them every day. Without that support, I would have a really hard time remembering to read them every day.
4)Bible Reading- I use a Bible app called YouVersion which has just about all the versions of the Bible you could want. It also has reading plans which are groups of verses by subject as well as read the Bible in a year, 90 days ect. One of the features that I get the most out of is it's ability to read the bible to you, I spend a least 2 hours a day in the car and there is no reason, for me to not be able to read (or listen to) God's word.
5) Joel Osteen app- Joel is the pastor of Lakewood church in Houston TX and is one of what I can best describe as my circle of support without which I would have never made it through this. There is an app on the Droid platform called "JoelCast" the full version has all of his TV messages back to April 2006. If you are in a place where you can't see a way out, where you are about to give up hope then .99 is a very small price to pay, the messages are only 30 minutes and are very uplifting. If you are wavering even a little in your faith or your trust in God, it is time well spent.
6)Leading the Way app- Dr. Michael Youssef is the Pastor of The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta GA you can listen to many of his sermons on the smartphone app as well as watch many of his broadcast sermons. If there is any doubt about God's salvation for you then I recommend a little time in the electronic pew listening to Dr. Youssef.
These are all I could think of at the moment, and I felt the need to get this posted now and not wait so if anyone who reads this has any other ways than the five here please put them in the comments and I'll copy them into the post.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Past
We all do it, we look back and think of the "good old days". Memories of past times that are far enough in the past that all we remember are the good, fun parts. We gloss over the hard times, even looking at them as better than they really were. These last few months I have done this alot, looked back at the past and thought things wern't really that bad, certainly not compared to what I have been going through. I've even thought, that if I could just go back and "fix" the actions that led to my current predicament, that would be so great. But would it really? In the natural it would be, but what would I have to sacrifice to do that? My salvation, that's what I would be giving up. When I hit rock bottom, I finally turned to God, finally repented and welcomed Jesus into my heart. To go back and "fix" things would undo that and I don't know if I would have ever come to God on my own. So, now when those thoughts enter my mind, I rebuke them right then and think of what I have gained through Christ and I praise God.
The past is best left right where it is, in the past.
The past is best left right where it is, in the past.
My Hero
If you asked me who my hero was and I was not allowed to pick a fictional Star Trek character, I would tell you that my hero is my wife. She is truly one of the best things that have ever come into my life (the other being our son). She is beautiful, talented, strong-willed has a never give up attitude. She almost always seems to know the right course of action and given enough time can usually come up with a solution to whatever situation we seem to be in. I could not have asked for a better woman to spend my life with.
During the Storm
I was listening to "Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns yesterday and it occurred to me how easy it is to praise God when everything in our lives is going well. When things go sideways, well that's another thing entirely, but it shouldn't be. When we are in trouble, or things don't go the way we want or even asked God for them to go we have a tendency to move away from God. Sometimes we even blame God for the circumstances that we have found ourselves in. In these times, when we need Him the most, shouldn't we be praising him and moving closer to him and not farther away? It's during these times that our faith is tested the most, it's easy to praise God when things go well, but when our lives don't go the way we want that's when we find out just how strong our faith can be. At the end of Joshua 24:15 Joshua says "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You probably noticed that he said we will serve the Lord, period nothing else. He did not say "we will serve the Lord" as long as things go well, as long as I don't have any problems or trials or difficulty. He just says "we will serve the Lord". It's a wonderful thing to praise God when all is well in our lives but when things don't go the way we want them that's when we really need to start praising God. God will never give up on us the least we can do is not give up on Him. I'd to close this entry with another of my favorite verses that seems appropriate.
Isaiah 41:9-10
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying 'You are my servant.'
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
10 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.
Among others, I read these two verses every day because when the storm comes, I also have difficulty remembering that God is in control of the storm taking what was meant for our harm and using it for our good. No matter what happens, how bad things may seem to be getting, keep praising God and keep believing in Him. He believes in you after all and really what do you have to lose by praising Him during the difficult times?
Isaiah 41:9-10
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying 'You are my servant.'
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
10 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.
Among others, I read these two verses every day because when the storm comes, I also have difficulty remembering that God is in control of the storm taking what was meant for our harm and using it for our good. No matter what happens, how bad things may seem to be getting, keep praising God and keep believing in Him. He believes in you after all and really what do you have to lose by praising Him during the difficult times?
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Take the First Boat
Have you ever heard the parable of the man in the flood? A man is trapped in his house by rising flood waters and a boat comes along and offers to take him to safety. The man says refuses, saying "I know God will provide" so the boat leaves him there. The waters continue to rise and now the first floor of the man's house is flooded and he is trapped on the second floor. Another rescue boat stops and they also offer to take the man to safety. Again, he refuses, saying that he believes the God will save him so the boat moves on. The flood waters continue to rise and now the second floor of his house is flooded and the man is now stranded on his roof. A helicopter comes and they offer to take him to safety and once again the man declines the offer because he is sure that God will save him. The helicopter leaves and eventually the man drowned. When he reaches heaven, he says to God what happened? I believed that you would save me. To which God replies "I sent you 2 boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?
I'm sure many of you have heard this one before. What I am trying to say is when it comes, take the first boat. In my life (and probably yours) I have noticed little signs or hints or nudges, when something is wrong or there is something that I should do. I think many of us have a habit of ignoring these when we should be taking action. Before our audit we received many of these, from plots on TV shows to spots on the radio and as the time came closer they became more blatant. What did I do? I tried my best to ignore them, if I had taken action things would not have gotten quite as bad as they did. As a result, I am doing my best to watch for that sign or nudge and take action then.
Today was one of those times. Last night about 8:30pm our company's phone system went down and after a late night trip to the office (on a Fri night no less) it was determined to be the PRI Circuit (phone co). I called and after an hour and a half on hold they put in a service ticket, gave me a ticket number and told me someone would call. This morning, I checked and the phones at the office were still out so I called AT&T and found out that they had marked the trouble ticket "No Testing" which means they were not planning on testing the circuit, ever. After holding for an hour Friday night just to be told I needed to call a different department and holding for over a half hour with the correct department they mark the ticket don't test when that is exactly what needed to be done. When I woke up the next morning (Saturday) I called our office to check if the phone system was back up and it was not. I had one of those feelings or nudges, whatever you want to call them, that I should call ATT and check on the status of our trouble ticket. Now normally I would not do this, my attitude would be "I did my part, I called for service now it's their job" and I would not follow up on it. This course of action does not usually work out well. When I called, the automated system told me that the ticket was still waiting for a technician to pick it up, meaning it had not been acted on yet. So, I waited to be connected to a tech and when I did get one on the line he tested it remotely right away and then dispatched a technician to our office (on a Saturday no less). Without testing the circuit there would be no resolution to our issue and since we run a call center phones are a must have.
My point is this when God sends you a boat, take the first boat don't wait. Don't wait for something better, don't wait to make a wrong that you have committed right, don't wait for someone else to do something that you have to have done without checking on their progress. Do it when you get the sign or the nudge or feeling, don't wait.
I'm sure many of you have heard this one before. What I am trying to say is when it comes, take the first boat. In my life (and probably yours) I have noticed little signs or hints or nudges, when something is wrong or there is something that I should do. I think many of us have a habit of ignoring these when we should be taking action. Before our audit we received many of these, from plots on TV shows to spots on the radio and as the time came closer they became more blatant. What did I do? I tried my best to ignore them, if I had taken action things would not have gotten quite as bad as they did. As a result, I am doing my best to watch for that sign or nudge and take action then.
Today was one of those times. Last night about 8:30pm our company's phone system went down and after a late night trip to the office (on a Fri night no less) it was determined to be the PRI Circuit (phone co). I called and after an hour and a half on hold they put in a service ticket, gave me a ticket number and told me someone would call. This morning, I checked and the phones at the office were still out so I called AT&T and found out that they had marked the trouble ticket "No Testing" which means they were not planning on testing the circuit, ever. After holding for an hour Friday night just to be told I needed to call a different department and holding for over a half hour with the correct department they mark the ticket don't test when that is exactly what needed to be done. When I woke up the next morning (Saturday) I called our office to check if the phone system was back up and it was not. I had one of those feelings or nudges, whatever you want to call them, that I should call ATT and check on the status of our trouble ticket. Now normally I would not do this, my attitude would be "I did my part, I called for service now it's their job" and I would not follow up on it. This course of action does not usually work out well. When I called, the automated system told me that the ticket was still waiting for a technician to pick it up, meaning it had not been acted on yet. So, I waited to be connected to a tech and when I did get one on the line he tested it remotely right away and then dispatched a technician to our office (on a Saturday no less). Without testing the circuit there would be no resolution to our issue and since we run a call center phones are a must have.
My point is this when God sends you a boat, take the first boat don't wait. Don't wait for something better, don't wait to make a wrong that you have committed right, don't wait for someone else to do something that you have to have done without checking on their progress. Do it when you get the sign or the nudge or feeling, don't wait.
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