1 Peter 2:18-23

18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters. Do whatever they tell you – not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are harsh. 19 For God is pleased with you when for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing what right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you. 21 This suffering is all part of what God has called you to do. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in his steps. 22 He never sinned, and he never deceived anyone. 23 He did not retaliate when He was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

I was challenged in a devotion the other day to rate myself in my faith using the ranks of military command. After a bit of easy research I found out that there several rankings from Private, to Corporal, to Sergeant to General, to Major, all the way up to the General, there were 19 rankings in all. I had no idea that there was such a chain of command in the military. Anyways it didn’t take me long to realized that I am still in boot camp. Boot camp is a disciplined period of time where you need to focus your attention on training to prepare yourself for battle. I feel as though I am not yet prepared for graduation to Private, even with all of the bible studying that I have been doing over the 3 months. Or maybe I am ready and I am just to humble to admit it.

The next days devotion talked about submission to authority. This is where 1 Peter 2:18-23 comes in. God always does things in his timing, not ours. This was perfect timing on Gods part. I have been dealing with some stuff at work that is unfair, unjust, and just plain not right. I was almost to a breaking point when God allowed me to rediscover this verse about submission. It opened my eyes to who I am. I am a servant of the Living God. God is my General, and I do his will, not mine. God commands us to submit to those in higher authority that we are weather they are right or not. It is Gods job to judge those who are wrong, not ours. That doesn’t mean that we can’t stand up for what is right, but we need to respect higher authority in the end. One day, we will all stand before God on our judgment day.

It is not our job to complain, because complaining never does anybody any good. If you are going to complain to anybody, complain to God first, and if you need to complain to a person, it should be to a very selective group of people whom you trust, these people would know God, and you should only complain to them looking for constructive feedback, as well as accountability.

Let me get of topic for just a moment to express an opinion. There are over 6 million Facebook users today. That is more that the population of the USA, even though less than 20% of the people on Facebook live here in our country. Anyways, I have 56 facebook friends, which is weird because I used to have 58, someone must have dropped me as friend. I cannot believe how many people use Facebook to complain. Facebook is a great tool, it has revolutionized the way we communicate to the world. It is meant to update statuses, and pictures, and videos of you and your family, it is not meant to be a complaining tool. People abuse that privilege way to much. I have a few friends that have almost 1000 friends. If you complaining to the wrong people, it can come back to haunt you. I know someone who lost a job from what he complained about on his Facebook. You never know who is listening, your information is not as secure as you may think. Use Facebook for its intended purpose, not to complain to the world. Instead of complaining about your problems, focus your energy on doing something about it.

Ok, that was my Facebook tangent, thanks for letting me vent. So my point is that we submit to God and his authority, and he commands us to submit to the authority of those higher than us, he will deal with those who abuse it in his own way in his own time. Please understand that I have a hard time with this verse, as well as submission to authority, but that devotion the other day was a great gentle reminder that we serve God not man.

On a final note totally off topic, I would like to tell you about a personal decision that Jane and I made last week. We are currently tithing about 6.5% of our income. We started out at 5% and we are slowly working our way to 10%. Our 10% date was going to be the first Sunday in January 2011, about a year form now. We had a 3 year plan. We decided to take a step of Faith, so on Sunday January 3rd 2010, a year early, we are going to start tithing a the full 10% of our annual income. The reason that this is such a huge step of faith is because we are going to be short about $200 a month. We have no idea where this extra $200 a month if going to come from, but we are trusting that God will provide. We are both a bit nervous, but we trust God. I tell you about this for encouragement and accountability. We won’t go back, it will 10% from here on out no exceptions, but like I have said before, I want people to know that I am striving to be the real deal, not just some self righteous Joe who is going through the motions, No, I am not perfect, and I never will be, but I sure am going to strive to be my best, not to look good for man, but to live for God the best that I can.

Ok, I have talked your ear out long enough, I can’t thank you all enough for all of your support and encouragement. I love you all.

A voice from Hell

You lived next door to me for years;

We shared our dreams, our joys and tears.
A friend to me you were indeed,

A friend who helped me when in need. 


My faith in you was strong and sure;
We had such trust as should endure,
No spats between us ever rose;

Our friends were like - and so, our foes.



What sadness, then my friend, to find,
That after all, you weren't so kind,

The day my life on earth did end,

I found you weren't a faithful friend.



For all those years we spent on earth,
You never talked of second birth.
You never spoke of my lost soul,

And of the Christ who'd make me whole! 


I plead today from hell's cruel fire,
And tell you now my least desire

You cannot do a thing for me;

No words today my bonds will free.



But do not err, my friend, again
Do all you can for souls of men.
Plead with them now quite earnestly
Lest they be cast in hell with me! 


Author Unknown

What's really been going on

Going back and reading my previous blogs, I notice that they are all intended for words of encouragement. They make it sound that I have my perfect little life all put together. Well, here a news flash for you. My life is not peas and carrots, or tea and honey, take your pick. The things that I write in this blogs are my struggles, I am writing these blogs for myself, as a journal if you will, but I am making them available to anyone who wants to read them. But please don’t assume that everything in my life is going peachy keen. I am a human, and a sinner, just like everyone else on this planet. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 I make just as many mistakes, and I screw up the same as anybody else. I am still terribly disgusted with my prayer life. I am doing great at work, my work life have been life changing because of my prayer life. But at home is a different story. When I am at home, there are no problems, all that I have is love for my family. I play with my kids, and talk to Jane about her day, and they typical stuff that that husbands and wives talk about. Our home life is a perfect word, with virtually no problems. There are no distractions, no conflicts. So what’s wrong with that. It’s because things are going so well, that I don’t feel the need to think about or rely on God. Sure I spend the first hour to hour in a half with my bible every day, but than for the next 6 hours until I goto work, nothing. I hardly think about God. That’s what the problem is. When we are distracted in life from trials, and problems, and dead end jobs, and chaos, we turn to God for comfort, patience, and understanding. But when things are going our way, and life is going great, we leave God on the sidelines, and he sits on the bench until the enemy starts to win, than we call God in for defense. When life is going great, this is need we need to be thanking God for His glory, and His peace, and His love. Things at home are going great because God is good, God has blest my family more than I will ever know. But do I spend my time at home worshiping God and giving his thanks for everything that He has done in my life. No, well, at least not nowhere near enough. That is my struggle, even though I have made a huge conscience effort over the last month to do better in prayer, I am still a work in progress. So there you have it, I am a work in progress, but so are we all, but be encouraged today, because even though we all fall short, God still loves us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and whoever so believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

Walking in the presence of God

Last week I blogged about my struggle with prayer. I said that I read a devotion about being in Gods presence all the time. I actually read that in chapter 12 of the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. You remember that book, it was popular like 5 or 6 years ago. Rick Warren quoted a from some letters written by Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence spent the latter part of his life living in a monastery in Paris back in the 1600’s. Brother Lawrence spent his life mastering how to live in the presence of god 24/7/365. He wrote 15 letter which were published into a book called, The Practice of the Presence of God. Curious, I sought out this book online and was pleased to find out that is was available to to read online at http://www.practicegodspresence.com/brotherlawrence/practicegodspresence09.html. I printed it out and it is only 22 pages long, a very easy read. His book of letters is absolutely inspirational. It was amazing at what I learned, I highly recommend clicking on the link and reading it. Without spending time with to much detail, the gist is how Brother Lawrence mastered living in Gods presence all the time. What I want to focus on is when I learned from it. I had previously started praying several time throughout the day for short amounts of time instead of praying for a big chunk of time in the morning or at night. This has been life changing in itself. What I learned from The Practice of the Presence of God is how to do it better. This past week I have been spending a lot of time at work in prayer, which is probably where I need it most. The results have been amazing. People are are telling me, “you seem different, not in a bad way, but I just can put my finger on it.” I am turing heads, I love under cover ministry. Anyways, I don’t know about you but for me, work is the place that I have the hardest time, thinking about God, and being the same person that I am at church in Sunday morning, which is the person that I want to be all the time. Since putting this into practice, I have since started praying for every guest that I come in contact with each day, which is anywhere between 100 and 200 people depending on the day. The prayer is basically, ”Lord, I ask your blessing on (guests name) this evening, in Jesus name, amen.” This is not a very long pray, it is quite short and generic, but if helps to keep me in Gods presence all day, plus I get to bless people, which is way cool. I have also started praying for each person that I work with. I still do get distracted quite easily and forget to pray for my guests, but that’s ok. When I do miss a few, I soon think about God, and pick up my prayer with the very next guest. It is no where near perfect, but it is something that I am working on, and I am noticing that it is not going to be easy, but it is a challenge that I am excited to overcome with the help of God. I encourage you to ready this short book, and pray to God to see what he might have you do to improve your prayer life.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

What does this verse mean to you? I have noticed over the past several weeks that my knowledge of God in my life is growing quite a bit, but my prayer life is suffering just as much as it ever did. I have been studying up on worship. Worship is not just something that we do on Sunday morning, worship is a lifestyle. It is the lifestyle that I want to achieve. My goal is to be able to be aware of Gods presents all the time 24/7. I read in a devotion a few days ago that when you try to pray for any extended amount of time, it is easy for your mind to wander, therefore you loose focus, and the prayer is no good. So what I have been putting into practice is praying lots of times each day for short periods of time. So my prayer is broken up during the whole day. This has been a really cool experience for a few different reasons. First, I am praying throughout the day, therefore, I am aware of Gods presents throughout the entire day. Because I am aware of Gods presence throughout the day, I find that I am finding other things to pray for through out the day. I was at McDonalds today, and being aware of Gods presence at that time, I said a prayer for the cashier, and while I was at it, I said a quick prayer for the whole staff. This is just one example of many. So now I am looking for things to pray for through out the day, and am actually getting excited about it, keeping me all the more aware of Gods awesome presence. It is very cool to see how God is working in my life. I am still a work in progress, and I am still struggling, but I am really excited about my new prayer life.

My prayer oh' God

Oh Lord my God in you I find my hope,
Oh Lord my God in you I find my Peace,
Yet I struggle everyday, as a sinful and broken man.
Lord, why are you so good to me when I don’t even deserve it?
Am I really as devoted to the lives of others as I am to myself?
Do I have the patience to endure difficult people and trying circumstances without losing the sense of your presence?
Am I kind to those who cross my will?
Am I truly living in subjection to the Holy Spirit everyday?
Lord the answer to all these questions are no,
Yet you are so good to me.
Help me Father God to answer yes to all these questions.
I know that I can not live in sinless perfection,
But I know that I can live without sin ruling my life.

The full Armor of God Ephesians 6

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)

I was encouraged last week trough a devotion to study Ephesians 6, talking about the full armor of God. I thought for a few days how I was going to do it. Because God works in mysterious ways, low and behold I went to church on Sunday morning and the sermon was about the Full Armor of God, it was one of those, this sermon was written for me kind of Sunday mornings.

I have a lot that I want to say, but first here is my disclaimer. I did the research, but I can not take credit for anything written in this blog. I am only writing what I found in my research on the Full Armor of God. I have 3 sources, first, Londa Ramsey, my pastor who did the sermon on Sunday morning. Second RealArmorofGod.com a division of Optimus International, Inc., and third Got Questions Ministries www.gotquestions.org. So understand that none of this is coming from me, but from my research. So Here it is.

The first element of our armor is the truth (verse 14). This is easy to understand, since Satan is said to be the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Deception is high on the list of things God considers to be an abomination. A “lying tongue” is one of the things He describes as “detestable to Him” (Proverbs 6:16-17). We are therefore exhorted to put on truth for our own sanctification and deliverance, as well as for the benefit of those to whom we witness.

The belt of truth can secure anything that will cause you to stumble or fall when moving around quickly in Christian daily battle. We need to always be spiritually sharp, alert and ready to respond with spiritual mobility and spiritual agility.

Also in verse 14, we are told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate shielded a warrior’s vital organs from blows that would otherwise be fatal. This righteousness is not works of righteousness done by men. Rather, this is the righteousness of Christ, imputed by God and received by faith, which guards our hearts against the accusations and charges of Satan and secures our innermost being from his attacks.

Verse 15 speaks of the preparation of the feet for spiritual conflict. In warfare, sometimes an enemy places dangerous obstacles in the path of advancing soldiers. The idea of the preparation of the gospel of peace as footwear suggests what we need to advance into Satan's territory, aware that there will be traps, with the message of grace so essential to winning souls to Christ. Satan has many obstacles placed in the path to halt the propagation of the gospel.

The shield of faith spoken of in verse 16 makes Satan's sowing of doubt about the faithfulness of God and His Word ineffective. Our faith—of which Christ is “the author and perfecter” (Hebrews 12:2)— is like a golden shield, precious, solid, and substantial.

The helmet of salvation in verse 17 is protection for the head, keeping viable a critical part of the body. We could say that our way of thinking needs preservation. The head is the seat of the mind, which, when it has laid hold of the sure gospel hope of eternal life, will not receive false doctrine or give way to Satan’s temptations. The unsaved person has no hope of warding off the blows of false doctrine because he is without the helmet of salvation and his mind is incapable of discerning between spiritual truth and spiritual deception. 

Verse 17 interprets itself as to the meaning of the sword of the Spirit—it is the Word of God. While all the other pieces of spiritual armor are defensive in nature, the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in the armor of God. It speaks of the holiness and power of the Word of God. A greater spiritual weapon is not conceivable. In Jesus' temptations in the desert, the Word of God was always His overpowering response to Satan. What a blessing that the same Word is available to us!

Think about the sword of the Spirit this way. Each particular relevant individual scripture is a sword unto itself and very effective in battling Satan and temptation. Think about it, not one sword, but thousands of swords. Pick the verse best for the temptation, the best sword for that battle. It’s just like golf, you have to pick the right club for the swing.

How does this effect you, you need to get up and get dressed in the full armor of God, every day. What, you say that you already accepted Christ. Well that’s great, your a naked body with a great big helmet. Oh, you read the bible everyday too, terrific, now your a naked body with a helmet and a big sword. No my friends, you need to put on the full armor of God. This is why, we need to win the lost, and defend ourself against our enemy.

Accepting Christ is just the beginning. God can change a man or women in an instant, but it takes time to build character. All six pieces of armor are imperative to another.The only part of the body that is not protected from this armor is the back, and Paul has a great explanation for that. We are never running away form our battle, we are always on the offensive facing our battle and enemies head on.

As we previously heard, the sword in the only offensive weapon that we have. However, the sword can only extend as far as our hand can reach, so we need a few weapons of our own. Let me give you four.

Number one is prayer. The most powerful and lethal weapon that we have is prayer. And if you have the ability, you need to pray in the spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually. This is one of the two verses in the bible that it only two words long.

Number two is praise. Praise and worship will silence Satan.

Number three is the preaching of Gods word. Read 2 Timothy 4:1-4. Even Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not my word like a fire?” By preaching, our word is like a hammer that can break a heart of stone. Do you know anybody with a hardened hear?

Number four is our testimony. We need supernatural power to witness with our testimony. With God, we have that supernatural power.

In closing my friends, we need to ware the full armor of God everyday if we are going to win this was. Who’s side are you fighting for?