Fantastic Friday #402 - Hole

Hole

⁹ It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
    Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
    the moths will eat them up.
¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God. Isaiah 50:9-10

Do find those people in your life that wear you out or take a toll on you?  It's almost like that hole in your pocket that things fall out of, and the more you mess with it, the larger the hole gets.  Maybe it isn't people that annoy you that wear you out, but people that attack what you believe in or find any way to place their own hole in your moral code.  They aren't doing it to you directly, but you see it on the news, in the media, or in social media and it makes you question where you are and what you believe in when they start poking around.  There are people in our lives every day, whether you know them or not, who will attack your belief in God and how He guides your life.  The thing is, these kinds of people who are near and far should not take a toll on us or wear us out, because they can only get in our pocket to start a hole if we let them in.  If you fear God and are humbly obedient to His commands, you will walk in the light and nothing these people say or do can extinguish that light.  They won't be able to punch holes in our belief system and they definitely won't make that hole larger. As the scripture says, Our "Sovereign Lord helps me", he doesn't allow the hole in our pocket to grow bigger and allow things to fall out.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #401 - Arrogant

Arrogant

Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. ³ Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.  Malachi 4:1-3

Arrogance is an interesting trait.  How many people do you know that have a complex of self-importance?  Maybe you, like me, can tend to have a superiority complex from time to time.  You are probably thinking, no not me.  I am person of humbleness and filled with grace.  Well the funny thing is, we all have some sense of superiority in our lives.  Maybe it is with that person that you aren't really sure about their actions and you begin to judge their actions against your beliefs.  Can sense a feeling of superiority sneak in?  Maybe it is that person struggling with providing for their family, yet you are doing pretty well for your family.  Feeling a bit superior?  Arrogance comes out when we forget our humble beginnings, and I am not talking about where we grew up.  I am talking about our humble beginnings before we had Christ in our life.  Having Christ in our lives provides that feeling of security and that sense of love and lack of importance on the the things of this world, especially when we see what He did on the cross for us.  Picture this, a person with an arrogance for what "they" provided for themselves, versus someone who recognizes what is provided by God and who also has a humbleness knowing where their true reward is in the end.  Who do you think is less arrogant?  Take a moment to rid yourselves of your arrogance, for we all have some of it however small it might be, and humble yourselves to God for His righteousness. 

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #400 - Days

Days

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8
 
The days in our lives come and go.  The days in our life pass sometimes with no notice of the things around us depending on what is going on, or they pass with a great deal of observance of our surroundings.  Do the days ever go by without you taking a moment to offer up a prayer and petition to God?  If they do, you aren't unlike a lot of people who struggle daily to make sure God is a focus of their day.  Many of us have a great desire to be like Jesus or live like Jesus, but we always fall short because we aren't Jesus. However, we can take steps to come closer to our Lord and Savior daily if we just take those few moments to thank God for who He is, and ask God what He wants in our life.  Notice, I said what God wants in our life, and not what we want.  Many times what we think is obedience to God ends up being more of a checklist for us.  Take a moment and every day humbly pray and petition our Father in Heaven for what He wants in our life.  They are really His days in the end, and nothing is really ours. 

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #399- Protect

Protect

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him. Psalm 91:13-15

I cannot go another week without acknowledging what our father-in-heaven did for my family.  Normally I write these so someone can relate to the writing, but this week might be something just to show who God is and what he as capable of.  As we were leaving to my parents on Sunday, we were pulling a camper behind our vehicle.  At about 2 hours outside of Fort Worth, a gust of wind pulled the trailer and I lost control of our vehicle and crashed.  It was quite the stressful ride, and the trailer was completely destroyed.  However the most amazing thing happened, and that was our car did not flip over with the camper and all we did was slide to a stop with the camper still attached to our vehicle.  Even more of a blessing was the fact that not one of my family members was injured.  For whatever reason, God decided to keep us safe and protect us from injury and potential death.  I can't tell you how thankful I am that God protected us through His mighty hand, and that we are still here.  Before we had left that day we prayed as a family for God to keep us safe, and sure enough He did. All I can say to you all is just remember He is our protector.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #398 - Own

Own

²³ Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.
²⁴ Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
    not in your anger,
    or you will reduce me to nothing. Jeremiah 10:23-24
 

Why do people feel like their lives are their own at times?  Many times I get caught up in the day and forget that my life does not belong to me.  I try so hard to direct my own steps and that is where I get so distracted from God and who He is to me.  If you look around today, that's where many believers and non-believers alike get drawn to where they don't need to be.  They get drawn to being that person that solely relies on their own and not what God wants in their life.  As believers we can easily get drawn into judging others and their lives because maybe they aren't living the way they should, or more likely how we think they should.  As Christians, we need to remember that our lives are not our own and our Judge is our Father in Heaven.  We can't sit around looking at how other people should live, we should live the life that is not our own, but God's life for us.  God is loving and we need to focus on Him directing our steps and not trying to direct our own.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #397- Wait

Wait

¹³ I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

Four hours and fifteen minutes.  That is how long I spent in traffic on Tuesday going to and from work in what people are referring to as icemageddon.  Most of that time was spent waiting for the vehicles in front of me inch forward. As I was waiting, I was able to spend a lot of time thinking.  Have you ever noticed that waiting is always the hardest thing to do in our lives most days.  We always seem to anticipate what is going to happen next, and along with waiting comes that emotion of worry which tends to sneak up on us.  While I was thinking, it crossed my mind that I always seem to want things done on my time and not God's time.  I don't ever want to seem to wait on the Lord.  Whatever is happening in your life right now, be it good or bad, wait on the Lord, for He is good.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #396 - Prayer

Prayer

3 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. ² And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. ³ But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. ⁴ We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. ⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Do you ever think that during this time of the year that the enemy works twice as hard trying to get us distracted from Christ and His goal for our lives. I see people in all walks of life getting distracted by work and other events that keep us so busy that we can't seem to give time to God and be reminded of Christ's first coming and what it actually means.  Without His first coming, we wouldn't be able to anticipate His second coming which fulfills God's plan. Now, how do we avoid those distractions to spend time focusing on Christ, prayer of course.  Prayer is very powerful and is important in our lives. It is our way to communicate with God and give Him thanks for His gift of salvation.   It also gives us a way to battle the enemy that is always there trying to distract us.  It also gives us the perseverance and confidence we need to live as followers of Christ.  So, pray for others and for yourself and be strong.

Have a great weekend.