Author: talk2shari

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How to Mess Up a Blessing

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In the midst of our annual tent meeting and a great moving of the Holy Spirit through the people, I have to examine my own life; because I believe that every Word of God, jot and tittle in the King James Bible is truth. So when I read Mark 11:26 – “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasss,” I believe it. And I think to myself, is there anyone that I have not forgiven? Because it’s certainly possible. And though I’m not a grudge bearer, (I don’t waste my time with people who have wronged me because I truly consider it their loss), I still have people in my life who when someone brings up their name, my heart sinks a little. And I don’t want that coming between me and the full blessing of God.

Did you catch that? Not only will we not be forgiven of our own sins (which for me is many) but we’ll also miss out on the blessing of God. Let’s look at the scripture leading up to the previous text. Mark 11:22-26. It lays out a message outline as clear as day on how to mess up a blessing.

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Doubt. Woah baby! I’ve messed myself up with that one on more than one occasion. I did not realize that there was a method to this mayhem that I created. Jesus said if we have doubt in our heart it will come to pass. Good night a mighty! How many times have I doubted something good was going to happen and what I essentially did was cause it not to? Now God’s allowed many things to happen in my life that I doubted… that’s called grace. But how much more would He have allowed if I had not doubted it; and spoke it aloud allowing Satan and his band of havoc wreaker’s to hear.

The second step to messing up a blessing is to ask for something while carrying un-forgiveness in your heart. Jesus said that God wants to give us our heart’s desire, but… as you’re standing there praying for it, examine your heart because God won’t give over un-forgiveness.

If you ask me the desires of my heart today I can tell you flat footed and eye to eye it is this:

  1. That my church catch fire to see soul’s saved.
  2. That my entire family get right with God so that there will be no eternal separation.
  3. And for health and stamina to continue on in the ministry that God has blessed me with.

Three serious prayers with eternal ramifications. Why on earth would I let anyone stand between me and those requests? Look seriously at your own life. What has anyone done to you that is worth holding onto and losing that?

I hope today find you and I both with hearts full of love, faith that moves mountains, and forgiveness in abundance.

Psalm 51:10 ~ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

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God called… He wants His Church Back

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God called… He wants His church back.

That was a statement I heard a preacher make on a podcast and my first thought was “I could hear God saying that very thing! It’s for sure we’re not using it the way we should.”

Jeremiah 4:19

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

It’s no wonder Jeremiah was a weeping prophet. He preached, they ignored. He cried, they partied. Come on! Enough is enough. Can you hear him today? Better still, can you hear an alarm going off inside of you? I sure did. I attend one of the best churches in the country, hands down, I won’t apologize for making the statement… but… we could be better. We’re in the midst of our annual tent meeting and it’s exciting. The preacher is preaching his heart out, the altar is lined and yet still I feel as though there is a cloud over the tent. I feel we are on the edge of the blessings of God falling from Heaven, or a storm cloud.
I keep hearing an alarm in my soul trumpeting “Why is this church here? Yes it’s a beautiful building, yes it’s got great people, yes My presence is known in there but it’s not known out “there.” Why are you not evangelizing my people?”

Owch. I just stepped on my own toe. The church building is a place to worship and hear the Word of God, but they’ll never hear it unless we compel them to come in. Jesus didn’t send His disciples to church, He sent them into the world. Hello? Why do we not get this? When Jesus and the disciples went to church they served; or they turned over tables… either way there was a commotion. I like excitement in the house, what can I say.

Today I need to

b.o.l.d.

If that’s not reason enough, what is? He gave His life for me. I say it, and I believe it, but I sure don’t live like it. God gave us the church organization to encourage one another, to have a place to call home while we wander here on earth, to worship Him and to get re-energized to do His bidding the other 6 days a week, but we’ve turned the pews into lounge chairs. We are way too comfortable; perhaps we should go back to the old wooden pews. I needed to hear this today, did you?

Let’s go tell someone about Jesus!

If you’re in (or even close) the Grantsville, WV area I want to invite you to our 14th annual Old Fashioned Tent Meeting. We’ve been havin’ a time with Dr. Sebby Volpe, our evangelist. He’s exciting. He rev’s your engine and has you pointed to the altar of Grace ever step of the way from service start to end. Come and join us! We’re HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

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A Lesson in Leadership

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2 Timothy 3:14

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

As the Pastor of our church gave his departing message yesterday morning my heart was divided. Although I was glad that the Lord was allowing him to move on to new and exciting places, he had played such a pivotal role in who I was as a Christian. In 1996 he pierced me with the words of Christ and I gave my heart to Jesus. He then didn’t just turn me loose to ride with the wind, he and many others discipled me into servitude so that I would become a leader in the ministry. Humbling…

As he spoke on 2 Timothy 3:14 I reminisced over the past 17 years of my life under his ministry and was grateful for the lessons I’d learned. I will continue on! I’ll lead as I’ve been lead…

Leaders are not Entertainers

Although I love to laugh and have a great time in the ministry if that laughter does not edify your soul I’m nothing more than an entertainer. I’ve witnessed dozens of speakers who I would love to orate as well as, but when they were finished orating I wasn’t moved with compassion or inspired to do great things for the Lord, I was entertained.

When Paul healed a man and the excited crowd wanted to do obeisance to him as if he was a man of great power, Paul quickly pointed them back in the right direction. Acts 14:15 – And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

When speaking or teaching before people everything we say and do should point back to Savior. It should never be about us, it should be about Him! Encourager… not entertainer.

Leaders lead through Experience

I was not born a leader. As a matter of fact I was born a stray-er. I was that one that the Shepherd had to seek after that strayed away from the flock. Likely lured off by something shiny! It was through experience, trial and error and sometimes trial and error again that I have managed to be recognized as a leader in the congregation of the Lord. And I don’t say that trivially. As a friend said to me recently, experience isn’t always the best teacher, it’s sometimes the only one we’ll listen too. Were it not for the grace of Almighty God, and His interventions to get me to this place, under the ministry of these people, I’d still be straying. But instead He has allowed me through the education of experience to be able to point people to Christ. Who would have ever thought that the “directionally challenged” me would be put in such a position? Only God can do that!

Leaders lend an Ear

Isaiah 49:1

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

From a small child I heard God calling my name, but unlike Isaiah I wasn’t in tune with the Holy Spirit enough to understand what God was doing in my life. It wasn’t until years and years later that I look back on those times and realize that God called me for such a time as this. I’m still learning to listen. Not only to God but to those that I lead. I have a tendency to run ahead and in so doing I sometimes miss what’s been said. I inadvertently offended a co-worker not too long ago by getting out of the car and walking ahead of them, rather than waiting until everyone walked in together. I live with the mission of Point “A” to point “B”. Let’s get where we’re going! I often lead that way too, wanting to get to where we’re going without slowing down along the way to listen to someone along the journey. I’m learning to slow down, it’s a hard lesson. But a worthy one.

I hope today finds you encouraged! God Bless You!

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Have You Heard It?

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Galatians 4:6

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Have you heard it? The Holy Spirit within your heart desiring to be in the presence of Almighty God? It’s Sunday morning and I’m thankful for the Spirit that dwells within in me, the One that reminds me that I have been adopted into the family of God and that His desire is to commune with me as Father and child.  I am reminded of the feeling of hopelessness that filled that spot prior to salvation, when Sunday mornings didn’t matter in more than Saturday morning; both were just the weekend. That feeling makes me nauseous. The feeling of “not belonging.”

We all have that desire within us to belong, do we not? We may squelch it down beneath the pride of “I don’t need anyone to make me happy,” remarks but if we’ll allow ourselves to get real for just a minute we know that it’s a lie. A lie fabricated by Satan himself to make us feel that we are responsible for our destiny and happiness.

This morning you’ll find me in the fellowship of my brothers and sisters at Abba’s house. It’s a place I’ve called home since 1996 and I love even the aroma of the building, because I know that it is where I first met God. Where I first felt a part of the big picture of creation. The world had let me down, I was frustrated with the circumstances of life and then in one sparkle in the eye of my Heavenly Father, the feeling of disconnect was gone. I belonged!

I’ve always been a part of an awesome family; parents and siblings who loved me, a husband and children, and now grandchildren! But it’s not the same. It’s not the same as realizing that you are a child of the Creator of the universe and that He now travels with you where ever it is that you go. Hearing your heart cry… “Abba, Father, are you there?” and your soul answer “Yes, I was waiting for you today.”  Oh, my soul leaps within me!

What about you, have you heard it? If not then you need some one to One time with the Lord. Here’s how the adoption conversation goes:

God, I can look at creation and know that it didn’t “just” happen. (1 Corinthians 11:14) I can feel love and know that it didn’t come from an organism that evolved into something else. I believe You are the creator of all. And I want to be Your child and feel a part of that wonderful family of God. You are a holy God that I’ve been separated from by the rejection of Your Son. (John 12:48) I believed I could do it on my own. But I was wrong. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) I need You and I realize that the only way that I can come to You is to accept the sacrifice that made it possible. I believe Your Son died on the cross of Calvary to pay the debt I could not pay, I believe He rose again the third day and ascended back to Heaven to be my intercessor. I don’t have to understand it all, I believe that because I hear You speak to my soul. (Romans 10:9-10)

If in reading that statement you believe it and you felt your heart leap within your chest you’ve just received your adoption certificate. I encourage you to click on the scripture links and read what God says, don’t take my word for it! And then you need to go meet your family at a good bible believing, Spirit filled church that preaches the Word of God. As Preacher T.D. Jakes put it, they preach “Hell hot and in 15 minutes.” And I’d love to know, please message me below and let me know of your decision or find me on Facebook and private message me there. God Bless you!

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Things that Restore a Relationship

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#thingsthatdestroysarelationship

Trending today on twitter ~ things that destroy a relationship

I find it somewhat odd that most everyone wants a great relationship with those they love but the media caters to anything but. Television, social media, print media and most all other forms of media have a fascination with promoting the worst of the worst. It’s a most definite trend for people young and old to make their heartaches known to the world on social media and then in the next post tell the world to mind their own business. What irony! And the end result of all that ranting is more heartache and a destroyed relationship, the very thing they didn’t want.

So… how do we not destroy our relationships?

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.

The greatest of the three is love, but love alone is not enough to keep from destroying a relationship else many couples would still be together; all three are crucial.

Faith

While a foundation in the faith of Christ Jesus is key to any good relationship, I have unfortunately witnessed many Christians with lousy relationships, in many of these cases I’ve seen that a relationship moving too fast destroys the entire relationship. Somewhere between “I do” and “I’m done” they lost faith in one another. I don’t throw stones; I may have the 33 year wedding anniversary tee shirt but it’s got some holes in it. But as I grow closer in my relationship with Christ, what I discover is my relationship with David grows closer too! We haven’t always been perfect, or anywhere close, but there are some things that have kept us together, and faith in each other is one of them.

Mariam Webster’s definition of faith is:

1)     Allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty. A fidelity to one’s promises,  sincerity of intentions

2)     Belief and trust in and loyalty to God: belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust.

3)     Something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Can you see why it’s so important? Allegiance, fidelity and a sincerity of intentions… that’s what we all want! But we’re human, we let each other down, break our promises and sometimes our sincerity is about as real as a signature at the bottom of a letter to “To Whom it may concern.” I speak truth, do I not? But when faith in God comes into the picture we learn to trust Him to help us trust each other and it’s that “strong conviction” that will keep a relationship together in the toughest of times.

Hope

1)     To cherish a desire with anticipation; to desire with expectation of obtainment

2)     To expect with confidence: trust.

3)     To hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment

Sometimes that’s all we have. Faith appears to be gone, the “I love you’s” are no longer spoken, but we hope (a cherished desire) that a certain relationship will be mended. It would be a sad world without it. With it we can dream and imagine of that day when our relationship with that person is restored and whole again and with faith God can align all the circumstances for that very thing to happen. I have that “tee shirt” too.

Charity (love)

The greatest of these. And why is it the greatest? Because it is the foundation of both faith and hope.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the ultimate relationship with both Him and those we love. He gave His Son for an example that we might understand loving people takes sacrifice.

How do we not destroy a relationship? We continually take an honest look at ourselves first and in so doing we’ll see that we’re messed up too. If Christ can give His life on the cross for us, surely it’s not too much to ask for a little compassion and understanding from us toward our family and friends.

#ThingsThatRestoreARelationship

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Go Up!

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Deuteronomy 1:21

Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

In one of our teen camp sermons this week the teens where taught from the life story of David on the giants in our lives. At the end of the session I passed out index cards and ask them to list some of the giants in their lives so that we might pray over them and work on defeating them. One of the giants that was repeated was that of “discouragement.” I loved their honesty. I understood their giant, because I had been up against it too. He has so many tools, but I’m not sure that discouragement is not Satan’s best because it tears at the very heart of your enthusiasm for life; and bit by bit you find yourself struggling to move forward. You can’t get past this valley, it’s an uphill battle all the way.  But God said Go up! I love it in Deuteronomy 1:6 when Moses says the children of Israel “The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:”

I hear that this morning. “Shari, you’ve been in this place long enough, it’s time to move forward. Why is it that once we get in the valley of discouragement it’s so doggone hard to get out of it? I have great attitude toward life. I’m not one that discourages easy. But it happens. Usually when I take eyes off God, and turn my ears toward people. Listen to Israel’s reply…

Deuteronomy 1:28

Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

I guess David wasn’t the only ones with giants in his life was he? And neither are we. Which is what I discovered when those cards came back from the teens. And my first thought was “discouragement? Really? You’re so young and fun with opportunity galore before you, how can you be discouraged?”

For the same reason I’m discouraged. We’re letting people define our purpose. God said “fear not, neither be discouraged.”  Man said “People discourage us.” I’ve come to the conclusion that not everyone wants out of the valley and they sure don’t want to walk it alone. So they share their point of view, and point to the giants as if we hadn’t already noticed them. Some people are satisfied with the valley. The problem for me is I’ve had the mountain top experience before! I’m not satisfied in the valley. People still discourage me, and I still see the giants, but as Preacher Ed pointed out (he’s quite the encourager) we’re looking at the giants from earth, God views them from Heaven. When David went up against the giant in his life he didn’t talk about the giant, he talked about God. All of Israel talked about Goliath. David talked about God. We spend so much time talking about the things that are going on in our life, we forget about what God can do.

When we begin to talk about what God can do, something begins to happen. Our attitude changes, our point of view changes. We begin to think of what can be rather than what is. We see behind the giant. David looked right through him to victory. He heard the people, but he seen God.

Turn the people off. God said “Go up!”

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Cross Examination

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Haggai 1:7 ~  Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

For many years I worked for the Magistrate Court of Calhoun County, West Virginia. You wouldn’t believe the Christians I ran in to in that setting. I say that somewhat facetious and somewhat serious. It was during those years that I got saved and people witnessed for the first time in me that faith mattered. I had a bible on my desk, I talked about Jesus… a lot. I still do; and because of that the people who came into my office, no matter which side of the law they were on had a tendency to turn to me for a prayer or encouragement. It was such a blessing to stand in a government building and have the freedom to pray. That blessing is at risk of extinction if our leadership has anything to do with it.

But yesterday as a young man stood in our teen church camp and preached the gospel with the wisdom of a much older man I was so blessed to see young people serving and responding to the Word of God. Just in passing he mentioned “cross examination,” and my thoughts did not turn to the courtroom, they turned to the cross of Christ and I wondered. How would I fare if I examined the cross in my life?

Is it the old rugged cross that matters most or the pretty shiny gold one? They both represent the blood our Savior shed for our redemption; but the difference in my mind is the gold one is worn around the neck as symbol of my royal state in the family of God because of what my Savior did for me. But the rugged, blood stained cross is to be carried on my back.  It’s not pretty, it’s real and it’s the one that Jesus said to carry, He never mentioned the gold one. Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 16:24 “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

This week’s teen camp is around the curriculum “not a fan,” meaning completely committed follower. A fan wears the pretty gold cross, a follower picks up the rugged blood stained one. A fan would carry it through a parade as symbolic of their position in the church, but they wouldn’t carry it on the job. The gold one is looked upon with fond affection and often times may be worn as a status symbol because of the financial cost of the gold, the rugged blood stained cross bears the blood of the Savior which reminds us of the cost of our sin, and the fact that we couldn’t buy it. This teen retreat was as much for me as it is the youth. It’s a reminder that daily I need to examine the cross and what it means in my life. I don’t want to be just a fan. I want to pick up the cross and follow Him. When I get to the end of this journey and I stand before the God of all creation and I’m cross examined, I want to be found still carrying it. Amen.

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Crazy like that!

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ministry begin

Mark 3:20-22 ~ And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.  And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

Let the ministry begin…

Jesus had just ordained the twelve disciples that He might send them forth to preach and the ministry explodes. The people had just seen Him heal the man with the withered hand, they’d heard the wisdom by which He spoke that even awed the religious leaders, although they’d have never said as much. And now they’ve gathered themselves in such great multitude around Him that they couldn’t even get a bite to eat. Crazy times!

And then I read that verse, and re-read that verse thinking surely it did not say what I thought it said. His friends thought He had lost His mind? I resorted to commentaries. They thought it said the same thing. Why on earth would His friend think that He was “beside Himself” in the midst of great things happening in the work of the Lord. What kind of friends of the faith do that? Many of them then and many of them now. Ministry growth scares people. It’s as if it’s a car plummeting down a steep grade without brakes. When God’s doing a great work people are excited, religious leaders lose control, crazy things are happening, people are getting healed, nasty people are getting nice, undesirables are hanging around to see if it’s true, and when  they discover the Lord they are still undesirable people to many. The religious leaders say that He’s of the devil. They’re totally freaked out by the whole thing. They just don’t “get” God.

But I go back to the friends… why would His friends think He was crazy? I guess it’s because crazy things are happening that made them uncomfortable. New people were pushing in as close as they could get to Him, there was a flurry of excitement around Him, people were getting healed, religious people were getting upset and Jesus, well, I guess He was enjoying it so much that He didn’t even care if He got a bite to eat. And His friends think, “He’s crazy.”

I want to get crazy like that! I want my church to be so exciting that it makes the religious uncomfortable, and those with a pre-conceived notion of how church people ought to behave to question it. I want our church to attract the undesirables, who are only undesirable to the religious, Jesus can’t wait until they get to church. I would rather have church in a house because Jesus shows up, than in a church where He’s not welcome. I want a radical reaction from people who hear the gospel, not “reverend religion” that makes Jesus nauseous. Maybe that is why He didn’t eat. I want to be crazy like that!

It’s Sunday morning, I have one hundred things that need done for church camp, but I’m excited about Sunday morning services. Are you crazy like that?  Let’s go to church today and wait for the radicals to show up, or better still let’s lead them in!

Mark 3:20-22 was the first day of official ministry for the disciples and it just got crazier from there. Hallelujah! Let the ministry begin…

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In the Audience of God

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1 Chronicles 28:8

Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.

As I read the words in 1 Chronicles 28:8 and the commentary, I said to the Lord, “I cannot tell anyone anything new about this verse, but please help me tell them something relevant to the day.” And He is faithful.

Earlier in the day I was blessed to receive a call from Dewey Moede, Pastor, Evangelist, man of God and friend from New Mexico, and during our conversation mention was made of his desire to someday hear me play the fiddle. It might be short lived if he were to actually hear me play, but I was humbled none the less. You see, my fiddle playing skills are not concert worthy by any stretch of the imagination, I play because I love the music and the fellowship involved.

When a group of bluegrass musicians congregate together on the streets of a festival or the Bearfork Trading Post Bluegrass venue it’s a sweet time of camaraderie. Even an amateur fiddler such as I is permitted the opportunity to take the break (play the melody solo) as the audience gathers around to enjoy the music. It’s both enjoyable to be in the audience and in the congregation of musicians yet the pressure on the performer can be in degrees higher from none to extreme, depending upon their ability to play. You can guess which end of the spectrum I’m on. But when you stand in the audience of God… wow. Then the pressure’s on.

I think the judgment of the church is taking place while we are here, but we alone will one day be in the audience of God to stand accountable for how we lived our lives before our family, and they may or may not inherit the Kingdom of God because of our testimony. Scary thought…

While in a congregation of musicians I can miss an occasional note and the audience may not even notice, but when I stand across from my music instructor and expert musician, he knows. And while as a congregation we may appear as if we’ve got it all together, our Instructor knows the truth. While God does not expect perfection He expects us to at least be practicing for it. If we lived every day with the idea that we were performing life in the “Audience of God,” what would change?

I know for certain I’d have read the manual more. Evidently I’m not alone. According to a recent study

  • More than 60 percent of Americans can’t name either half of the Ten Commandments or the four Gospels of the New Testament.
  • Some 80 percent including “born again” Christians believe that “God helps those who help themselves” is a direct quote from the Bible.
  • And 31 percent believe a good person can earn his/her way into heaven.

I think we need to do a little more seeking so that we may be found also keeping those commandments.

There’s a couple of life lessons you can learn from a fiddler.

  1. If you don’t practice you’ll never get any better. And practicing requires picking up the fiddle and playing.
    1. If you never read your bible, you’ll never understand it. It too requires picking it up.
    2. There’s a need to be in the congregation. If a fiddler never plays music with anyone else, their timing gets off and it becomes harder to hear if you’re playing in tune.
      1. The same hold true if you’re not a part of a congregation of the Lord. If you’re not in a body of believers who can walk with you and encourage you, you’ll have a hard time staying in tune. Your heart will stray.

God said to keep and seek all the commandments. Well… I have yet to play a fiddle tune to perfection, nor have I lived a life of keeping all the commandments. Some days I feel like I’ve broken all ten. But I keep practicing. So that one day when I stand in the audience of God I will hear Him say “Well done!”

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Bear Hunting With a Switch

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I can

There are days of discouragement (yes even the Jesus Chick) where the world thumps on me and I just don’t think I can do it, or they will get it, or it will pass, or it can happen. When Satan points out my flaws with a laser pin point to make sure that I know what an utter failure I am. As if he needs too, I’m pretty good at that myself. And then God points out to me who I once was and what we’ve been through using my grandsons who at the ages of 3, 5 and 6 really do believe that you can go bear hunting with a switch. Because that switch is not a stick it’s the biggest and baddest (I know it’s not a word) rifle that anyone on earth owns. And they are the greatest of all hunters having never missed a shot. If you want to get similar guns to these, then check out this 9mm Semi Automatic Rifle or the Hunting Rifles for Sale. 

I asked my friend and retired schoolteacher, Gloria Jones, “At what point do kids decide they don’t like school?” Her response is seared into my mind “When they have their first bad teacher.” When I speak to youth leaders or at leadership events I remind them of an experience I had as a nine or ten year old child at a church Christmas play rehearsal, when as I read the script for the first time I read a word in my part which was “deny”; for which I pronounced “denny.” One of the youth leaders laughed me to scorn for my mispronunciation and as a child I thought, “When I grow up, I’ll never be like you.” And praise God! because that incident has stayed so fresh in my mind, I’m very careful when dealing with youth to never shatter their “bear hunting experience.” I don’t ever want to be remembered as “that leader” because I do remember it, and her as if it were yesterday.

When Jesus said to the disciples in Mark 10:14-16 ~  …Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

The disciples had forgotten about their bear hunting days. They’d read the story of David killing the bear (1 Samuel 17:36), but now they were a part of the ministry team, there was no time for crazy things like bear hunting with a switch. But Christ reminded them that it was that childlike faith that believed that God could do anything and so can we that was necessary for salvation. And as I was reminded by Luke, Noah and Nicolis, it is needful for everyday living. There are many days in life when the bears I fight with aren’t bears, they’re people or circumstances. It is during that battle that I need to remind myself that a ruddy little boy like David didn’t even stop to think about what he was doing when he killed the lion and bear, he just did it. I need to stop thinking about the people and the circumstances in my life and just do it. What about you? Has someone smashed your bear hunting dreams? Pick up your stick and fight!