Parents

My personality type has always been the type to learn from other peoples' mistakes. From a very early age, I have had an observing-type mentality where I sit back and watch people who are older than me both in their successes and their troubles. I have found that it has helped me direct my thoughts and path through life. When I choose not to follow the lessons I learned, I usually end up in trouble. Little did I know that God had already written about this in His word. (Prov 22:6 - detailed later)
I have been learning recently that the thought processes of a child are usually directly correlated with those of their parents or great influences early on in their life. If parents spend all the money they make, then they are demonstrating a behavior for their children to follow whenever they begin to handle their own money. Proverbs 22:6 (New International Version) Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. We have to realize that we are always leading by example. It is important and impactful for us to demonstrate christlike qualities at all times because childrens' eyes are always on us. We must allow God to change our way of thinking. The New Testament word "repentance" means "to change your mind." We must allow God to transform our mind through the Holy Spirit.
Parents being older have a certain wisdom about them. The nature of a child at a young age is to come to their parents for protection, then during adolecense try to do things on their own. By the time we are teenagers we think we know everything there is to know about life, even more than our parents. (Funny how parents had to go through their teenage years as well...but we don't consider this as teens.) Then we reach our 20's and 30's. Our minds mature. We see that we've made mistakes. Once again we call on someone older to help us understand certain situations. We use mentors, parents, pastors, people whom we can look up to for solid wisdom and advice. We look up to God for direction.
I stumbled upon this verse today in Proverbs 13:1 A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke. As products of our parents, we should be encouraged to seek their advice with an open mind. I know that as I have aged to the ripe age of 25 I have gone through times of stuggle with not wanting to follow my parents advice. Well the truth is this verse shows that God has given our parents divine wisdom and knowledge to raise and help Him shape us. In comparing this to allowing God to be our eternal parent the reward comes at the time when we look back and realize the successful path was better because we listened to Him.
Call you parent or mentor today and thank them for the time that they put into raising and shaping you.

Putts

Have you ever seen golfers on TV (like the guys in the photos) looking hard, studying, "reading" something that doesn't have words? I have, and as a casual golfer I often find myself trying to better one of the parts of my game that is most important. I have read books on becoming a better putter. I have taken lessons and practiced the techniques. There is in fact a whole lot of work involved in order for a golfer to sink a putt. There are many factors that the golfer must pay attention to such as slope of the green, which direction the grain of the grass is growing in, the side-to-side tilt of the green either from left to right, or right to left, the length of the grass, etc. Professional golfers are where they are and making the gross amount of money that they make in part because they have put the time and energy in learning the "art of putting."

I was out at a local golf course yesterday spending some quiet time with God. I decided to take some time out from my busy schedule to go whack the ball around for 9-holes. I have always used golf as a soothing therapy. Golf is a dynamic in a sense that it can be fun in competition and it's also a relaxing pastime.

On the first hole I scored a par. Hole number two gave me a little trouble as I hit my approach shot (shot played to the green) over the intended target. My ball landed 30 feet past the green behind a pine tree. I was faced with a difficult shot through some low-hanging limbs to hit the ever escaping green. Fortunately, I was able to maneuver the ball through the limbs onto the green. My ball ended up about 20 feet from the hole. Normally in a competitive round of golf, I would take my time and really read my putt from all angles to give myself the best opportunity of sinking it. This time was different, I didn't care to take my time and read this particular putt. Since I still had a wedge in my hand, I walked up and skulled the top of the ball to get it rolling toward the cup. In my head I thought "God this ball is in your hands..." And, I'll have you know it, the ball fell in the hole!

I took a step back and realized something in that instant about Trusting God. Sometimes I find myself being so methodical, well-planned and thought out. I need to give some of my burdens and situations to God and just TRUST Him that He'll take care of me and allow His will to be done. God freely took that golf ball in His hands and humured me by placing it into the hole. If He'll do this with a golfball, it goes to show that He wants to do it with EVERYTHING in our lives. We just need to trust Him. 1 Peter 5:7 (New Living Translation)
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Faith By Obedience (intro)

It is 7:00 on Friday, and I am still sitting at work. Tax season has hit full force and I have mountains upon mountains of piles of work to get done as soon as possible. Lately, I am feeling very stretched. Priase God, I have found some things to get me through the day. For instance, one of the new passions and ministries that I am serving in is Financial Peace University. I found Dave Ramsey's radio show podcast. Even though it is only about 30 minutes long, I look forward to the insight about personal finances that I receive from it everyday. I am very thankful that God has used him in such a way. Dave's ministry is growing and helping people achieve financial freedom. In my breakout groups in FPU, I am seeing some inspiration in the eyes of people looking for peace in their relationships through their finances.
God is giving me many revelations lately, of which, I find myself too busy to get on the blog and discuss. I am able to share with my girlfriend Jen, but beyond that I am stuggling with the idea that my time is at too high of a premium to break away and pour out everything that I am feeling, hearing, sensing and recieving. It is a very unfortunate feeling.
One person that I have been thinking about lately is Noah. His story is full of faith and obedience. Noah went against the grain and never followed the current of the people around Him. God clearly spoke to him about building the Ark and No did not hesitate to obey the call. Noah probably did not have any clue what he was doing. He was building a huge boat to exact specifications. He was an amazing display of obedience by faith.
We should strive to have faith and obedience like Noah. God calls people to all different areas of ministry. I am finding out that it works in seasons. Sometimes the current or pool might be drawing you in a certain direction. But God has called you to either stand firm or journey in the other direction. What will you choose? We can see what Noah chose. He and his family was blessed due to his obedience. God spared them from the great flood. They were the survivors and their decendents prospered.
There is so much more to this story that has been rattling through my head for a while....I hope to share the rest soon.
Lord, I love you and want to honor you through faith and obedience. Please continue to give me strenght and motivation to carry out and fulfill the call that you placed inside of me. Lord, we know that the gate to the kingdom is narrow and if I ever lean to the right or the left, be with me to hold me up. Thank you for you loving kindness that lasts for eternity. God I want to make you proud. Thank you for being with me in all things. I LOVE YOU LORD!

Pure Hearts

I stumbled upon this verse today 1 Samuel 16:7 For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. God created each of his children to look the way that He designed. Our outward apearance and physical composition is not something that we can change a whole lot. Why would God care about how our hair looks, how well we train our bodies, how well we may even diet? Some might say that he doesn't even care about our health or physical well-being, which do not matter in an eternal perspective. God wants us to keep pure hearts. By heart I mean spirit. Not the physical heart that pumps blood. It is the spirit that God is concerned with. God wants us to have a pure heart that reflects His love for us and our relationship with Him. Think about a child's heart that has not been manipulated by the ways of the world. Children are not naturally mean. They love people. They are always looking to do the right thing and make mommy and daddy proud. The want to be held, loved cared for. They care for others. This is a great example of a pure heart. I believe with a pure heart comes "child-like" faith. There is something to be said about how Abba, God the father sees His children. He wants us to come to him for comfort. He wants to hold us. He wants us to love on Him.
My goal is to do everything in life with a pure heart. Some things will come up that will make it very tough to not compromise, but I know that if I am faithful to my saviour and the promise spoken in Matt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, then He will be faithful as my Lord and leader of my life. Isn't the goal to see Him? This verse tells us that if we keep our hearts pure, never do anything for selfish gain, He will open our eyes to the amazing mysteries of His heart.
Walk this message out. Is there anything in your life that you are committed to with an unpure heart? Are there any areas of your life that you are being selfish in? Are you prepared for God to take you on a journey to a place where you will actually see His face?

Obedience leads to Miracle

As believers we understand that the Bible tells us to seek God. Matt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. This verse tells us that the top priority of our life is to seek God. Amen...
I stumbled upon something this morning. John 5 tells the story of a blind man being healed by Jesus through the prescription of Holy Spittle rubbed on his eyes.
"he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing" John 9:6-7
The part that really sticks out to me is not the fact that Jesus was able to heal the man's sight...There are two essential parts for the manifestation of the miracle. Jesus had to do His part and the blind man had to do his part. The Lord's act was to spit, create and rub the concoction on the mans eyes. The blind man's act was to go and wash in the pool.
In our lives the spittle has already been rubbed on the miracles that we are believing for. God has already done His part. Jesus has even instructed us where the pool is for us to go wash our eyes in. Our role and responsibility is to be obedient, walking out the call, and find the pool and wash our eyes.
What miracle are you believing for? Has Jesus already spoken where the miracle will be manifested? Are you answering the voice of God and walking it out in obedience?

Finishing

I feel like I am on the verge of a major breakthrough...last night I was at Panera trying to study for the CPA exam and right around 6:00pm I realized that I didn't really have the energy to search through all of the random numbers that had gone through my head from the entire day to recite the correct answers to the questions on the CPA study material. I work as an accountant and it is the beginning of my 4th tax season. The nature of this business is staring at tons of numbers throughout the day. Also, it is important to learn a lot of short little tax trivia facts in order to convey the information in an orderly manner to the clients whom it affects. Yesterday, wasn't anything special at work. Little did I know something was brewing...
Jen (my tutor/girlfriend/best friend/most special person to me) and I were going through the first set of cards. After about the 3rd card, I decided that I was ready to quit because I hadn't gotten the answers right on the previous couple of cards. It made me feel like I had hit a mental roadblock and I had no power to bust through...So I began to talk to Jen about unrelated issues and the stress that I have found with holding an accounting position but not truly having a passion for it. Jen in her divine wisdom was able to relay to me that my problem has nothing to do with not having a passion for accounting. She was able to see from an outsider's perspective that I was having a hard time finishing the task that I had set out for. All along, the CPA exam has been hanging over my head. Throughout my career I have told people that I don't truly have a passion for it. It's not the passion that I am lacking. The problem lies in the fact that there is a huge mountain in my face and all I can see is the bottom of the mountain on the other side. That I am not ready to take the steps necessary to get there. I am in too much of a hurry for myself. I want the results without wanting to put the work in. It is uncomfortable for me not to know the answers to the smallest questions. It is going to require work that I didn't before want to put into it.
I listened to a sermon that fell into my lap this morning. It was called Finish It, by TD Jakes. It's funny how God will just absolutely drop the perfect word into our laps when we need it. There are 3 phases of finishing which I would like to share.
1. Finish in Phases - Dont try to finish the entire project or race all at once. Take smalsteps and celebrate small successes.
2. Finish your course - Don't finish someone else's course
- Don't be the next, somebody
-Paul told Timothy (2Tim) That he fought the fight & finished his course
-Things get more difficult as you get towards the end - Kinda funny how Most car wrecks occur less than 1 mile from the person being home.
3. You will see more than you can finish - This means that you might see more of God's plan than the segment that He has called you to perform or execute. A 4x50M relay is a 200M relay. Each of the four athletes are capable of running the entire 200 meters by themselves. But it is a relay, therefore, each of them has a 50 meter leg to run. These athletes can see the entire picture and plan but can only participate in their set 50meters. God might show us more than just the leg that He wants us to run. It is our job to run our portion to the best of our ability until COMPLETION.