Have you ever been surprised to hear from God? I mean you pray and ask Him if He has anything to tell you and then when He does it surprises you. Well, that happened to me this morning. I am continuing to read through 1 John in the New Testament, but afterwards the Lord directed me to Romans 8: 12-14. It says, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (NIV)

I recently came to a point of my life where I can say that I surrendered my life and will to God. Yesterday, however was a day where I followed the “misdeeds of the body” rather than being led by the Holy Spirit. Now I know that I am forgiven after repenting and that I am still His child, but I desire to do life His way. The NLT version of verse 12 says, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” As a child of God you and I don’t have to do what our old, natural, sinful self tells us to do. God says clearly that we are no longer obligated to follow its dictates because He has given us an alternative, His Holy Spirit. It is also clear in this passage that God will do His part in helping you and I to live according to His will, but we have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to say “NO” to our old self. By consistently saying “No” to the flesh, and “Yes” to God we put to death the “misdeeds of the body”. There is now way to live and do the will of God without the power of God’s Spirit to help us. No amount of self-effort or willpower is ever enough. God was telling me this morning that I needed to cry out to Him and ask Him for His power to help me to obey His will and word rather than caving into my old habits, and yes, addictions. Come on now, be honest with yourself. Some of your habitiual sins are to a point of being a life controlling addiction. God says clearly here, that with his power, you and I can put those misdeeds to death. I want to be led by the Spirit of God from now on. ve you ever been surprised to hear from God? I mean you pray and ask Him if He has anything to tell you and then when He does it surprises you. Well, that happened to me this morning. I am continuing to read through 1 John in the New Testament, but afterwards the Lord directed me to Romans 8: 12-14. It says, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (NIV) I recently came to a point of my life where I can say that I surrendered my life and will to God. Yesterday, however was a day where I followed the “misdeeds of the body” rather than being led by the Holy Spirit. Now I know that I am forgiven after repenting and that I am still His child, but I desire to do life His way. The NLT version of verse 12 says, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” As a child of God you and I don’t have to do what our old, natural, sinful self tells us to do. God says clearly that we are no longer obligated to follow its dictates because He has given us an alternative, His Holy Spirit. It is also clear in this passage that God will do His part in helping you and I to live according to His will, but we have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to say “NO” to our old self. By consistently saying “No” to the flesh, and “Yes” to God we put to death the “misdeeds of the body”.

There is now way to live and do the will of God without the power of God’s Spirit to help us. No amount of self-effort or willpower is ever enough. God was telling me this morning that I needed to cry out to Him and ask Him for His power to help me to obey His will and word rather than caving into my old habits, and yes, addictions. Come on now, be honest with yourself. Some of your habitiual sins are to a point of being a life controlling addiction. God says clearly here, that with his power, you and I can put those misdeeds to death. I want to be led by the Spirit of God from now on.

I have recently been watching and re-watching as many Tyler Perry DVD’s as I can get my hands on.  I especially love his stage plays.  His character Madea is regularly saying the phrase, “I aint lyin, I aint lyin.”  Over the past week or so I have been reading 1 John.  There is a concept that has been repeated in this book of the Bible that has stuck with me.  The idea of “deceiving” or lying to yourself.  1 John 1:6 says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”  Then verse 8 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 

I can easily tell when I am not telling the truth to someone else about something.  The phrase, “not telling the truth” is a nice way to say, “You’re lying!”  But, when it comes to recognizing that I’m lying to myself, now that is harder for me to pick up on.  How about you?  Can you tell what “lies” you have told yourself without realizing it?  I think for me it was just easier to float down that all too familiar river.  Oh, you know what river I’m talking about.  The river named “De Nile”.  I have lied to myself that my spending habits aren’t so bad.  I have lied to myself that I can continue to live with this habitual sin, after all God will forgive me.    I have lied to myself that my relationship with God is ok even thought I don’t pray much.  I have even lied to myself about who I am.  I am in debt and there is constantly “too much month and the end of the money”.   God clearly calls me to live in victory and not defeat.  As for my third example, 1 John 2:4 says, “The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  God also says that I am His child and not a loser.  God makes it clear that we can easily be self-deceived and convince ourselves that things are good, when they are clearly not. 

The question or challenge that this brings up is, “Will you and I pray and ask God to point out any areas of self-deception and help us to make them right?”  I hope and pray that God will lead us in truth and that we will consistently walk in the light.

Wow, it’s a new year!  2010 is now just a few days old, but I can sense a difference in my life already.  Have you ever been so sick of the way your life has gone that you just knew change was needed?  I know that’s what I was feeling on New Year’s Eve during our church’s “Watch Night Service”.  The praise band was playing and people were singing, but I was just going through the motions.  I knew God was trying to get my attention.  A very dear friend of mine shared with me that I needed to come to a point of real surrender to the Lord.  She was right.  I looked at my life and knew that I hadn’t really surrendered my will, my plans, or my attempt to control my life to the Lord. 

But God knew I needed something else to lead me to Him.  Now on January 2nd I received a piece of mail with bad news that was the catalyst for a breakthrough that I needed and God desired for me to make.  During a worship time at a meeting at church that night God made it clear that I needed to “know Him” this year.  I was a pastor and preached His word, but I didn’t really know Him.  I was a believer, but I wasn’t trusting Him completely.  So putting this together with the bad news I got, I spent several hours in prayer and in tears.  God gave me encouragement from His word, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”  Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)  The Lord was telling me that I need to know Him and to trust Him even when circumstances are painful and hard.

I have had a peace the past few days that I have not felt in a long time.  I asked this dear friend of mine how I would know if I had really surrendered.  She said if I can honestly say, “Lord not by will, but thine be done.”  I know that I have surrendered and I am enjoying my times of private worship more these days.  If you need to make changes this year, the first thing I encourage you to do is to surrender your life and will to Christ and let Him do what you and I can’t do on our own.  I am so glad that I did and I’m looking forward to whatever God has in mind for me this year.

Have you ever tried hiding something from the LORD?  No, not you, people you know do, but not you.  Let’s be honest.  I’m sure there are some things and areas of your life and my life that we attempt to keep from God.  As if we could really hide anything from Him anyway.  Adam was the first to try and hide from God, literally, back in Genesis 3:8.  It didn’t work out for him and I came to realize this morning it won’t work for me either.  I was checking my email this morning and I came across something a file that I should have deleted a while ago, but I just let it sit in my email.  I know that it is not beneficial or emotionally healthy for me to have kept it, but it has just been difficult to put into the Trash file. 

Now I’m driving to get my haircut and the LORD decides to mention how I am trying to hang on to this thing and attempting to hide it from Him.  I ignored Him for the first mile, the second, and finally on the third I had to say, “OK, when I get home, I will delete it.”  I had no peace and I knew I would continue to feel this way until I removed this “secret”.  How silly it is to think that you and I can pull a “fast one” on the One who knows us far better than we know ourselves.  Hey, there’s a thought, God love you and me even though He knows all of our quirks, insecurities, and hangups.  Just read through Psalm 139 for some insight into this idea.  I need to get  grasp on this concept so the next time I can just deal with my “hiding places” quickly and thoroughly.

Bible reading plans are a great tool.  I have used them over the past few years in my devotional time.  We have Bibles that are published to be read in one year, Bible plans that follow a chronological order, and many others.  I heard a pastor this past weekend, Pastor Zac Poonen,  who asked the question of the audience, “Why the rush to finish the Bible in one year?”  He went on to say that they don’t hand out awards or medals for finishing the Bible in one year, or reading the Bible all the way through 10 times. 

That really struck a chord with me after reviewing my sermon notes.  I agree with this pastor that we should be sensitive to what God may be telling us in one verse, one passage, or even one book in the Bible.  For the past 3 days I cannot seem to get away from Hebrews 12:1-3.  God has been using this passage and one other to focus my attention on some of the distractions in my life that have hindered my walk with Him.  What would I gain by moving on in my reading plan if I ignore what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to me?  What might any believer be missing if they simply kept reading along and ignoring what is speaking to them and taking the time to meditate upon it? 

Reading the Bible is not a race.  It is time for you and I to hear from God and talk about those things that He shows us from His Word.  What has God been bringing to your mind from His word lately?

I recently bought a slow cooker at Target.  I spent two days trying to decide what I should cook as my first meal.  I have virtually no experience with a slow cooker so whatever I decided would be a first.  I chose pot roast.  I went to Costco and got the chuck roast.  I put all the fixings in according to the recipe I found on-line.  Then I set it on high and needed to wait 4-6 hours until it was ready.  It’s called a slow cooker for a reason.  It takes time for things to cook in it. 

But, being the impatient person I tend to be after 3 hours I decided to check on it.  I pulled it out and sure enough it looked cooked on the inside.  In fact it looked over cooked.  Now I had forgotten that pot roast should become very tender and cut easily with a fork.  It’s not a steak.  I panicked and took it out and cut it up and started eating.  But I knew something wasn’t right about it.

What does cooking a pot roast in a crock pot have to do with Bible study or Christian living?  Well, God often spends a great deal of time (on our end) preparing you and I for His purposes and plans.  God is patient or long suffering.  He doesn’t panic and rush things.  He knows exactly when the time is right.  There are so many areas in my life that I think God is allowing me to “cook” too long.  I’m single and I think He is taking too long to bring the woman He has in mind for me.  I am currently unemployed and I tend to think He is taking too long to bless me with a job.  I had a good friend of mind remind me all the time, “Don’t shirk the preparation time”.  In other words, don’t try and pull yourself out of God’s prep oven too early. 

The potatoes, carrots, and zucchini were all cooked, but the main course was not cooked as it should be.  If I would have followed the instructions, I would have had a great meal instead of a “just ok” meal.  What are you trying to speed up on God’s timetable?

It’s Sunday morning, or Saturday night if you’re like me, and the worship service is about to start at church.  The worship leader comes on to the platform and welcomes everyone and then begins the first song.  Maybe it’s a hymn or perhaps its a modern praise chorus.  Everyone begins to sing along and you join in as well.  Do you sing the song because everyone else is singing?  Do you sing the song all the way to the end?  Have you ever paused to reflect on what you are singing?  What does your facial expression tell the person next to you about your attitude in worship?  What do you do to prepare yourself to worship the LORD?  How would you describe your atttude in worship?  I have been asking myself this question since yesterday after reading Psalm 100.  It says…

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.  ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before him with joyful songs.   ³ Know that the LORD is God.
       It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving  and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.  (NIV)

I can say that I come to church often distracted by the cares of the week, or by conversations with friends at church.  I am not one who is accustomed to shouting, but I am slowly trying it out at each service.  Many of the verbs listed here are lacking in my own corporate and personal worship.

Psalm 100 is a call to worshippers to prepare themselves to worship the LORD, and instructs us on our attitude and how to do it.  Look again at the passage.  What does it tell us that we are to do in our worship of our great God and what kind of attitude should we come before Him with?

I am not going to answer these questions for you but would challenge you to seek the answers in the Psalm and allow the Holy Spirit to make your times of worship reflect that of the psalmist.

Have you ever had to have your ears cleaned by a professional because they were so blocked with ear wax?  Yechhh.   Well I will confess that I had to have this done on my left ear recently.  It was very uncomfortable as the nurse shot pressurized water into my ear to clean out the hardened wax that was causing my loss of hearing in that ear.  Now I have been trying on my own to clean out my now blocked right ear.

So why am I writing about cleaning out ear wax?  Well, Psalm 95 speaks briefly but powerfully about the issue of a spiritual hearing problem.

“… If only you would listen to his voice today!
 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
      as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
 ^“For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
      even though they saw everything I did.
For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
   ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
      They refuse to do what I tell them.’So in my anger I took an oath:
      ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”   Psalm 95:7-11 (NLT)

This is the Psalm I read today for my daily Bible reading.  It is a Psalm that calls people to worship the LORD and how they can do that.  The writer of Hebrews in the New Testament also refers to this Psalm in Hebrews 3.  Part of a follower of Christ’s daily practice should be prayer.  Part of prayer is to worship God.  Worship also involves taking the time to listen to what God has to say both in the Bible and through His indwelling Spirit.  Yet, just as our physical ears can get clogged up with ear wax, so our spiritual ears can get blocked by the wax of unbelief and lack of obedience to God’s leading. 

 One way to clean out our spiritual hearing is to confess and repent of any areas of unbelief or disobedience to His word.  1 John 1:9 promises that He will forgive and cleanse us from our sin.  So how is your spiritual hearing?  Is it in need of a cleaning?

I just began to participate in my first two IBS (Institute for Biblical Studies) classes.  The first one is learning to lead Bible studies for small groups.  Simply attending the first meeting helped me to see an entirely different way to teach biblical truth and principles.  I had been trained in a rather classical approach, and this is more in line with what I see as the way Jesus would have taught a modern Bible study.

The second class revolves around learning and practicing the core habits of what a follower of Christ should practice in every day life.  These 7 habits are based upon Acts 2:42-47.  One example that was given was for us to see a very real grape vine and branches up close.  It brought the real meaning of what Jesus spoke of in John 15 to life.  In order to even put into practice these essential habits it is important that you and I remain or abide in the Vine (Christ) each moment, each day.

“Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. “               1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

Always… continually… and in all circumstances, what a tall order for living on planet earth every day.  It’s verse 18 that I want to focus on here, and that I am currently wrestling with these days.  Giving thanks in all circumstances.  Does this verse state that you and I are to be thankful for all circumstances? 

I am currently at a job that I don’t particularly enjoy, doing tasks that I feel are below my skill levels, at a pay rate below my standards.  Yet, this verse clearly says I am to give thanks in this circumstance.  To give thanks to God who is my source for a job in these challenging economic times.  To give thanks to God that I have an opportunity to be a witness to the not yet believers I work with.  To give thanks that He continually provides for my needs regardless of the pay challenges. 

Am I to be thankful in my current, continuing season of being single?  Yes.  I can be thankful that I am not married to the wrong person.  I can be thankful that I am still in the process of becoming emotionally healthy, and I can be thankful that He promised that He would never leave me or forsake me.

To be thankful in all circumstances that you and I face is clearly God’s will for us.  It is an act of our will to not allow our circumstances to become so large that we forget about the God we serve who not only saves us from sin, but is intimately involved and cares for our needs and situations.

Thanks Brother Jimmy for reminding me and our growth group of this verse.