I know, I know, here comes the question,
Where has Mike been and why has he not put something on his blog.
No lame excuses, but the Lord moved me this morning and I wanted everyone to read this and ask themselves a few questions.
http://blog.faithteam.org/faithnotes.php/2009/11/23/should-we-keep-thanksgiving
1) Am I the one who continues to come back to the Lord with thanksgiving as we let the world takes us away from Him?
2) or will I be one who 'walks with Him and talks with Him' as we go and not let the world take us away?
3) Am I going to make this Thanksgiving one which I and others can recall in the next year and say, it was a glorious day because we allowed Jesus Christ to be the main focus of our thanksgiving.
Amen.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Glorify God (Part 3)
We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. In the night sky of this world God appears to most people, if at all, like a pinprick of light in a heaven of darkness. But he created us and called up to make him look like he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God. We are meant to image forth in the world what he is really like.
End of Quote
Lord, may we live our lifes to magnify You in everything we do. In how (and what) we eat and drink whether it be physical or spiritual. In how we love our family, friends and even our enemies. In how we work each day at home or in our vocation. In how we spend time alone with You and 'be still' before You.
May we look at the stars in the sky and let them be a reminder of the opportunity to magnify You as the Hubble Space Telescope magnifies the heavens.
You are majestic and worthy of all our praise. Amen.
End of Quote
Lord, may we live our lifes to magnify You in everything we do. In how (and what) we eat and drink whether it be physical or spiritual. In how we love our family, friends and even our enemies. In how we work each day at home or in our vocation. In how we spend time alone with You and 'be still' before You.
May we look at the stars in the sky and let them be a reminder of the opportunity to magnify You as the Hubble Space Telescope magnifies the heavens.
You are majestic and worthy of all our praise. Amen.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Glorify God (Part 2)
What does it mean to glorify God? It may get a dangerous twist if we are not careful. Glorify is like the word beautify. But beautify usually means “make something more beautiful than it is,” improve its beauty. That is emphatically not what we mean by glorify in relation to God. God cannot be made more glorious or more beautiful than he is. He cannot be improved, “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Glorify does not mean add more glory to God.
It is more like the word magnify. But here too we can go wrong. Magnify has two distinct meanings. In relation to God, one is worship and one is wickedness. You can magnify like a telescope or like a microscope. When you magnify like a microscope, you make something tiny look bigger than it is. A dust mite can look like a monster. Pretending to magnify like that is wickedness. But when you magnify like a telescope, you make something unimaginably great look like it really is. With the Hubble Space Telescope, pinprick galaxies in the sky are revealed for the billion-star giants they are. Magnifying God like that is worship.
Final part tomorrow, Grace and Peace
It is more like the word magnify. But here too we can go wrong. Magnify has two distinct meanings. In relation to God, one is worship and one is wickedness. You can magnify like a telescope or like a microscope. When you magnify like a microscope, you make something tiny look bigger than it is. A dust mite can look like a monster. Pretending to magnify like that is wickedness. But when you magnify like a telescope, you make something unimaginably great look like it really is. With the Hubble Space Telescope, pinprick galaxies in the sky are revealed for the billion-star giants they are. Magnifying God like that is worship.
Final part tomorrow, Grace and Peace
Friday, October 2, 2009
Glorify God
I have started reading and studying the book by John Piper titled, Don’t Waste Your Life.
These words jumped out at me as I was reading it. I do not want to waste my life (one year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute or one second) and want to live it to glorify my Lord and Savior.
Chapter 2 - Breakthrough – The Beauty of Christ, My Joy p. 31
The Crystal-Clear Reason for Living
The Bible is crystal-clear: God created us for his glory. Thus says the Lord, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6-7). Life is wasted when we do not live for the glory of God. And I mean all of life. It is all for his glory. That is why the Bible gets down into the details of eating and drinking. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) We waste our lives when we do not weave God into our eating and drinking and every other part by enjoying and displaying him.
More on this will follow.
Grace and Peace
These words jumped out at me as I was reading it. I do not want to waste my life (one year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute or one second) and want to live it to glorify my Lord and Savior.
Chapter 2 - Breakthrough – The Beauty of Christ, My Joy p. 31
The Crystal-Clear Reason for Living
The Bible is crystal-clear: God created us for his glory. Thus says the Lord, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6-7). Life is wasted when we do not live for the glory of God. And I mean all of life. It is all for his glory. That is why the Bible gets down into the details of eating and drinking. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) We waste our lives when we do not weave God into our eating and drinking and every other part by enjoying and displaying him.
More on this will follow.
Grace and Peace
Saturday, September 5, 2009
One by Phil Stacey
On August 29th, Carol and I had the pleasure of attending a CD release party for Phil Stacey’s album (old school wording) Into the Light. It was a wonderful evening and this album has become my favorite listen. It is full of great tunes with uplifting lyrics, but the song which has become the anthem of my life in Christ is ‘One.’
What is the one blessing, one prayer, one hug, one phone call, one e-mail, one $, the Lord wants me to give today, this hour, this minute?
You can hear it on youtube at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skjPLRNnLPo
One by Phil Stacey/Cindy Morgan/Jeremy Bose
One simple man
One simple plan
Not a blaze, just a spark
No certainties
No guarantees
Just taking steps in the dark
Not for fame or the glory
For the words that add up to the story
One drop in the ocean
One prayer from your heart
One mercy
One struggle
One cup of cold water
One dollar
One promise
Even though it seems small
Sometimes one is the biggest thing of all
Too many words
Too many hurts
‘Til you can’t hear your heart
Too many ways to make mistakes
That you don’t even start
But you can’t change the world
With your one chance to live
Until one day you wake up
Knowing all you must give is
One word
One life
One truth that will shine like the sun
Shine a light on your path
‘Cause the road leads back to . . .
One drop in the ocean
One prayer from your heart
One mercy
One struggle
One cup of cold water
One dollar
One promise
Even though it seems small
Sometimes one is the biggest thing of all
Written by Phil Stacey/Cindy Morgan/Jeremy Bose
What is the one blessing, one prayer, one hug, one phone call, one e-mail, one $, the Lord wants me to give today, this hour, this minute?
You can hear it on youtube at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skjPLRNnLPo
One by Phil Stacey/Cindy Morgan/Jeremy Bose
One simple man
One simple plan
Not a blaze, just a spark
No certainties
No guarantees
Just taking steps in the dark
Not for fame or the glory
For the words that add up to the story
One drop in the ocean
One prayer from your heart
One mercy
One struggle
One cup of cold water
One dollar
One promise
Even though it seems small
Sometimes one is the biggest thing of all
Too many words
Too many hurts
‘Til you can’t hear your heart
Too many ways to make mistakes
That you don’t even start
But you can’t change the world
With your one chance to live
Until one day you wake up
Knowing all you must give is
One word
One life
One truth that will shine like the sun
Shine a light on your path
‘Cause the road leads back to . . .
One drop in the ocean
One prayer from your heart
One mercy
One struggle
One cup of cold water
One dollar
One promise
Even though it seems small
Sometimes one is the biggest thing of all
Written by Phil Stacey/Cindy Morgan/Jeremy Bose
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Will you persevere? (Part 3/Final)
Then in Joshua 14, Caleb and Joshua fulfilled the opportunity to enter the Good Land. In Joshua 14:6-11 (NIV) it is written, “Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kennizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.”
So how does this relate to perseverance? Since Caleb (and Joshua, I believe) ‘followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly’ he was able to persevere for 45 years in the desert. He and Joshua were the only ones alive who had been at the ‘entrance’ to the Good Land the first time. In fact, the Lord provided ‘perseverance’ for Caleb to the point that he could say ‘I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous . . ‘
May we all ‘follow the Lord wholeheartedly’ and be able to be strong and vigorous as we persevere for His Glory and His work. Amen.
And Caleb and Joshua did not have the Holy Spirit residing in them. Hmmm, interesting.
So how does this relate to perseverance? Since Caleb (and Joshua, I believe) ‘followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly’ he was able to persevere for 45 years in the desert. He and Joshua were the only ones alive who had been at the ‘entrance’ to the Good Land the first time. In fact, the Lord provided ‘perseverance’ for Caleb to the point that he could say ‘I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous . . ‘
May we all ‘follow the Lord wholeheartedly’ and be able to be strong and vigorous as we persevere for His Glory and His work. Amen.
And Caleb and Joshua did not have the Holy Spirit residing in them. Hmmm, interesting.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Will you persevere? (Part 2)
In the last post, I asked the following questions about perserverance:
“And how many of us would have quit the first month, the first year, second year or even the third year. What if the ministry, the Lord has provided you, did not show fruit for 3 years. Would we persevere, would we be patient and wait on the Lord?”
My own personal answer to this question (and I believe many Christians' answer) to these questions would be Yes or No.
Yes – if I am walking in the Spirit. If I am letting the mind of Christ through the Spirit provide direction for my life, if I am letting Him have His way with me.
No – if I am walking in my own power. I could persevere for a while in my own power, but even if I did, would the Lord bless the work? No.
A question like this always makes come back to story of Joshua and Caleb in the books of Numbers and Joshua. Most of us know the story (Numbers 13-14) where Moses sent out the men to explore the land of Canaan. All of the men came back afraid except for Joshua and Caleb. In the end, the Israelites did not go into the Good Land. The Lord was upset with them. In 14:20-24 (NIV) it is written, “The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Amen
Stay tuned until tomorrow when I will finish my thoughts.
“And how many of us would have quit the first month, the first year, second year or even the third year. What if the ministry, the Lord has provided you, did not show fruit for 3 years. Would we persevere, would we be patient and wait on the Lord?”
My own personal answer to this question (and I believe many Christians' answer) to these questions would be Yes or No.
Yes – if I am walking in the Spirit. If I am letting the mind of Christ through the Spirit provide direction for my life, if I am letting Him have His way with me.
No – if I am walking in my own power. I could persevere for a while in my own power, but even if I did, would the Lord bless the work? No.
A question like this always makes come back to story of Joshua and Caleb in the books of Numbers and Joshua. Most of us know the story (Numbers 13-14) where Moses sent out the men to explore the land of Canaan. All of the men came back afraid except for Joshua and Caleb. In the end, the Israelites did not go into the Good Land. The Lord was upset with them. In 14:20-24 (NIV) it is written, “The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Amen
Stay tuned until tomorrow when I will finish my thoughts.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Will you persevere?
From Devotions for the Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley
He slowly turned his eyes to explore each of our faces; then he began to speak, deliberate and restrained. In the next few minutes he revealed an astonishing addition to my understanding of who he was.
“When I arrived at my first church,” he began, “weeds had taken the place over. The building was in shambles. Five pastors had come and gone in three years. No one in the community had any confidence that I would be any different, so no one come to worship.
“My wife and I patched and painted and replaced the broken windows. Over time we restored the church building to a functional state. I made calls around the community, but still no one seemed the least bit interested.
“So, not know exactly what to do, I decided to prepare and preach my sermons as if the place was full. Every Sunday morning I stepped into the pulpit and preached my best sermons to empty pews – completely empty pews except for my wife. Every Sunday for three years I preached as though the place was packed, but in reality it was still emplty.
“Finally, after three strained years, God gave us one family. He became our Sunday School superintendent – his kids were the only ones we had in Sunday School. Slowly, over the next few months, however God began to bless. He rewarded my faithfulness all those years. My preaching to an empty church may not have been smart, but it was faithful; I was patient, and I perservered” (page 9-10)
All I can say is Amen.
And ask, how many of us would have quit the first month, first year, second year or even the third year. What if the ministry the Lord has provided us did not show fruit for 3 years? Would we persevere, would we be patient and wait on the Lord?
He slowly turned his eyes to explore each of our faces; then he began to speak, deliberate and restrained. In the next few minutes he revealed an astonishing addition to my understanding of who he was.
“When I arrived at my first church,” he began, “weeds had taken the place over. The building was in shambles. Five pastors had come and gone in three years. No one in the community had any confidence that I would be any different, so no one come to worship.
“My wife and I patched and painted and replaced the broken windows. Over time we restored the church building to a functional state. I made calls around the community, but still no one seemed the least bit interested.
“So, not know exactly what to do, I decided to prepare and preach my sermons as if the place was full. Every Sunday morning I stepped into the pulpit and preached my best sermons to empty pews – completely empty pews except for my wife. Every Sunday for three years I preached as though the place was packed, but in reality it was still emplty.
“Finally, after three strained years, God gave us one family. He became our Sunday School superintendent – his kids were the only ones we had in Sunday School. Slowly, over the next few months, however God began to bless. He rewarded my faithfulness all those years. My preaching to an empty church may not have been smart, but it was faithful; I was patient, and I perservered” (page 9-10)
All I can say is Amen.
And ask, how many of us would have quit the first month, first year, second year or even the third year. What if the ministry the Lord has provided us did not show fruit for 3 years? Would we persevere, would we be patient and wait on the Lord?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Gratitude
Lovers of Jesus,
Have you showed your gratitude for His love this week, this day, this hour, this moment?
From Morning and Evening by C.H. Spurgeon
Gratitude
April 9, Morning
Luke 23:27 ‘And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.”
“They weep about innocence being mistreated, goodness being persecuted, love bleeding, and meekness about to die. But in my heart there is a deeper and more distressing reason to mourn. My sins were the scourges that lacerated those blessed shoulders. My sins crowned with thorns that bleeding brow. My sins cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” My sins laid the cross on His gracious shoulder.
Jesus being led to die is sorrow enough for one eternity, but my having been His murderer is more, infinitely more grief than one poor fountain of tears can express.
It is not hard to guess why those women loved Him and wept, but they had no greater reasons for love and grief than my heart has. Nain’s widow saw her son raised from the dead (Luke 7:15), but I have been raised in newness of life. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured of a fever (Mark 1:30), but I was cured of the greater plague of sin. Mary and Martha were blessed with His visits (Luke 10:38), but He dwells in me. His mother gave birth, but He is formed in me as the Hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27).
I have a debt as great as these holy women. Let me equal them in gratitude or sorrow:”
Mike’s prayer
Lord, today and even in this moment, may I let Your love for me overwhelm every thought, concern, emotion so out of this may I live for You. May I fulfill your command as given by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment great than these.”
Amen!
Have you showed your gratitude for His love this week, this day, this hour, this moment?
From Morning and Evening by C.H. Spurgeon
Gratitude
April 9, Morning
Luke 23:27 ‘And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.”
“They weep about innocence being mistreated, goodness being persecuted, love bleeding, and meekness about to die. But in my heart there is a deeper and more distressing reason to mourn. My sins were the scourges that lacerated those blessed shoulders. My sins crowned with thorns that bleeding brow. My sins cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” My sins laid the cross on His gracious shoulder.
Jesus being led to die is sorrow enough for one eternity, but my having been His murderer is more, infinitely more grief than one poor fountain of tears can express.
It is not hard to guess why those women loved Him and wept, but they had no greater reasons for love and grief than my heart has. Nain’s widow saw her son raised from the dead (Luke 7:15), but I have been raised in newness of life. Peter’s mother-in-law was cured of a fever (Mark 1:30), but I was cured of the greater plague of sin. Mary and Martha were blessed with His visits (Luke 10:38), but He dwells in me. His mother gave birth, but He is formed in me as the Hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27).
I have a debt as great as these holy women. Let me equal them in gratitude or sorrow:”
Mike’s prayer
Lord, today and even in this moment, may I let Your love for me overwhelm every thought, concern, emotion so out of this may I live for You. May I fulfill your command as given by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment great than these.”
Amen!
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