November 24

I did a little shopping after Thanksgiving. This was something new for me because I’ve always avoided the madness. As it turned out, I was right about it! I stood there waiting for the doors of Macy’s to open, noticing the mix of people ready to get a great deal on whatever they could find. The rush to the escalator was incredible, and complete strangers were pushing in on me and touching me! I like Macy’s bath and bedding section, and since I go in there quite a bit for those types of items, I notice that the things that were marked for 65% off had never been priced that high before! I decided that it’s not for me! I’ll take the lazy, midweek, before Thanksgiving shopping experience over that foolishness any day! I can understand the art of getting a deal and I guess it satisfies the need to hunt, but I’m content with the normal shopping experience! The lesson today: Contentment.

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1 Timothy 6:6-8

November 23

We all have so much to be thankful for. The words from our lips do not match what we’ve been given and pale in comparison to the praise that should be offered to God. Even though there is no way to give the Lord what He deserves, it should be our mission to try. As we fill our tables and stuff our bellies with the fresh harvest, we must remember who made the sacrifice and set the table before us. I look at it as a small sampling of what the wedding feast of the Lamb will one day look like, as we are seated in His presence. We have many things to be thankful for today, but above everything, we should be thankful for Jesus and the sacrifice He made so that we might one day be in His heavenly presence. We must also remember the Holy Spirit, that special gift, and the reminders He gives us daily of our Savior, and for the comfort and peace He brings. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. Psalms 116:17

November 22

What is your reaction when people are under the attack of the enemy? My first thought is: What are God’s plans for this person? The enemy doesn’t come after people who are on his side; a house divided will fall! Then I begin to get excited because God’s plan never fails. When the enemy is fighting so hard to keep you down, he probably knows the outcome and it may be bad news for his plan! I don’t know what James was thinking when he said to consider it joy when you face trials, because there’s nothing joyful about it! You may be struggling now, but hold on to what you have until the end. It is then you will see God’s plan fall into place and it will be oh-so-sweet. When you're going through it, you're not sure when it will end and all you want is for it to be over. God already knows the end, and knows you can handle it! Anything worth having is worth fighting for. Armor up!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-3

November 21

Sometimes you come to a crossroad and are not sure which way to turn. If you’re following Jesus, and He hasn’t given you a signal, it’s not time to turn! So, you’ve been on a treacherous road, the path is narrow, there have been boulders that were hard to squeeze by, the potholes were deep, and you can barely see the Shepherd because He’s a great distance away; have no fear, He’s closer than you think. Adversity can make it hard to see our guide in this life, but He assures us that He’s right there carefully watching our every move. I know you’re getting sick of this particular road, everything is beginning to look the same and the travel is getting much harder, but until you hear a definite answer to your prayer to turn off this road, stay the course. I can guarantee you that what’s waiting at the end will be worth every ounce of grief you’ve suffered. Stay the course!

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:20-21

November 20

We can approach this life as timid reactors or we can stand strong when we face our trials and fight back. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power! If you are shrinking back and refuse to fight the good fight of faith because you are afraid, you are listening to the wrong commander! The way we wield that power is quite different than what you would think. Our weapons are linked to the Spirit of God so it’s not by our own power that we win. But, you must remember that the enemy doesn’t fight fair and will use your own earthly desires to draw your attention away from God to send you off course. God wrote the playbook on how to win, but if you never read it, you will be fighting a losing battle, and the enemy will win. When you have fought in your own strength and are battle weary, go back to the Word and try God’s strategy and use His strength!

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

November 19

The mighty hand of God cannot be denied by those who’ve witnessed His power. Ask anyone that has had their soul snatch from the depths of despair and felt the compassion of the Almighty overwhelm them with His love. Ask me if you need a witness. His passion for His lovely is unmatched; and to watch it unfold before your eyes is unlike any other site. My heart sings for joy when evil turns and runs as the battle ensues, and to see the work of their hand destroyed by the warriors enlisted by Him. I am grateful for His love for me. Who could possibly need more than Him? Open your hearts, praise His name, because there is a battle going on that you know nothing about unless you tune in. He has fought and won and it’s fast approaching the time for evil to be sent to it’s forever home in the depth of Hades! But until that day comes, praise the King for His mercy!

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Psalms 107:31-32

November 18

Prayer works! God is listening to the cries of His children and is ready to respond. Just when you think that a situation is too hard for God to handle, and it looks like there is no way it could work out biblically, He surprises you with a last second pass into the end-zone! After questioning the direction that I felt God was sending me in, and praying for Him to please throw roadblocks in my way if it wasn’t His will, He didn’t, so I kept going! It turns out that there was no other way to handle it and be effective. I just kept praying and crying out to Him. My heart and head were out of sync, which made it very hard to continue on that path, but wisdom prevailed; not my own, but God’s! Sometimes I don’t like the way He works, but when I saw the pieces fall into place, I knew that His plan was the only way. Trust Him and when you think you’ve prayed enough, pray again, and don’t pray alone!

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Psalms 107:28-30

November 17

Some days are just made for praise! God doesn’t have to do anything to be worthy of your praise. He doesn’t owe you a thing! He is worthy because of who He is. Your wants and needs being met, should not be required of Him for you to give Him the praise He deserves. He is the giver of all creation! Are you not just in awe of who He is? Oh, if we only understood the magnitude of our mighty God, then we might give Him all of ourselves, all of our praise, all of our worship, and be completely undone because of Him. Do you not realize what kind of being it takes to create each of us individually, with our own mind, body, and spirit? His magnificence is beyond our capacity to understand, and yet He has given us a glimpse of who He is through Jesus. Jesus says that if you’ve seen Him you’ve seen the Father. Spend some time worshiping Him today, He deserves it!

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (5)And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Isaiah 6:1 & 5

November 17

I can almost taste the pumpkin pie right now! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and all the festivities surrounding this holiday are in full swing. Oh, but wait, what am I saying? We’re already in full swing for Christmas, and Thanksgiving is not even here yet! Candy canes, Christmas trees, and twinkle lights are already on full display! What happened to my favorite holiday? Have we forgotten it? Now, I know this is not a biblical holiday, but neither is Christmas! I love that we all pause with our families and speak out loud the things we are most thankful for. God has blessed all of us who live in the United States with freedom and plenty, but we sometimes take that for granted. That’s why we should never overlook this important holiday, and keep it centered around God and our thankfulness to Him for all He has done for us. Let the festivities begin!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalms 100:4

November 15

Most people may not realize this, but as a real estate agent, you work for months without pay. It can take quite a while to match a buyer with their perfect home. Then, once they are matched, you are still about a month and a half away from payday. It’s not a job for the faint of heart, and sometimes it takes selling a home a couple of times before a contract actually sticks! But when it comes, it is oh so sweet! It’s like that with most things you work hard for. Christianity seems the same way; loving Jesus is not hard, but loving people for Jesus can sometimes be. We work hard to love the unlovable, reach the lost, and bring the word of His saving grace to the world, all while trying to maintain our faith in Him ourselves. It is a fulfilling life and the payoff will one day lead us into His very presence. I can’t think of a better reason to keep doing what I’m doing. I hope you feel the same way.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

November 14

The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, but what do you do when anxiety sets in and your nerves are in overdrive? You’ve prayed for peace, but it seems distant. The things you’re dealing with may be overwhelming you because you know that you need to carefully consider your steps and use wisdom, but at some point it changed from wisdom to worry. I wish I could give you some kind of exercise that would help you alleviate your uneasiness, but you need to consider that you may be lacking trust. Do you trust that God has your best interest at heart? We must remember that for those who love God, all things work together for good. The root cause of anxiety is fear. Your best bet is to take whatever is causing your fear and set it at the foot of the cross. Trust that Jesus will carry that burden and that His plan will prevail no matter what your circumstances are.

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22

November 13

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Ikea on a Sunday, but that’s a crazy place! You know immediately what kind of day it’s going to be when you pull in and can’t find decent parking in that giant parking lot. People turn off the world when they go in there; standing in the aisles, stopping abruptly, and running into others with those uncontrollable carts. It’s as if they are the only ones there! That store has anything and everything you need for a house except for the outer walls and the roof; maybe not the toilets, I didn’t see any of those. A lot of times I think we throw out our consideration for others when we get into a frenzied place, all bets are off and people become less than human. Though we may have the tendency to jump in and follow the behavior of the crowd, we still have the image of Jesus to uphold. Remember who you are! You are royalty and should behave as such.

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:26

November 12

Do you recognize patterns in your life where you can see the hand of God working? He has a well laid plan for each of us, however most people don’t see it or understand it. Some of our trials may be used by God to set us on His path. Be careful though, the devil will lie to you and get you to think that no possible good could come from this, which will end up being true if you believe those lies. Most don’t see how He could use it because of the pain they are suffering right now. It’s like you're in a tunnel, but you can’t see the light at the end of it. You’re straining hard to see that light because you still have hope, but you forgot to take your sunglasses off. If you're going through something right now, God will send someone to counsel you; it could be a human who’s been through a similar trial, or it may be the Holy Spirit; either way, you’re in good hands. Receive His counsel.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:26-27

November 11

So often we relegate Jesus to be our genie in a bottle rather than our loving Savior. Our relationship is sometimes superficial and without the heartfelt love that should define the true nature of who He is. Do you want to be closer to Him? Then, think about a relationship that you’ve pursued. What were the steps you took to cultivate it? Let's take, for instance, a first date; you might go to dinner and begin chatting and telling the other person about yourself and then listen intently when they tell you about themselves. You don’t start it off by asking for something. You get to know them to see if you’re compatible. Even though you haven’t taken the time to pursue Him, you still ask Him for things. He has been pursuing you for your whole life, stop and let Him catch you. This life is not about what He can do for you, it’s about a loving relationship with Him.

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:18-19

November 10

Sometimes I’m surprised by my own actions! After going into the grocery store, I came out and began looking for my truck and spotted it. As I approached it, I noticed that there was something sticky on it and my church bumper magnet was missing. I thought the magnet had fallen off and left a mark. I began trying to get the sticky stuff off. It wasn’t coming off easily, so I left it and proceeded to put my stuff in the back seat. When I opened the door, I realized it wasn’t my truck! Oh my goodness! I had just opened someone else’s door! I shut it and quickly moved on hoping no one saw me! Thank goodness their interior was different, otherwise I may have tried to crank it up! I think God may give us moments of laughter just to help lighten the mood. We can get so caught up in worldly affairs that sometimes our hearts grow weary. Stop being so serious and take a moment to laugh.

A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13

November 9

At some point, each of us has felt like we’ve had a target on our back. You know what I’m talking about! The days when you’re ready to leave your house, where just getting to that point in itself was a chore, you get in your car and spill your coffee! You finally get on the road, only to come close to death three times before arriving at your destination. Wow! You made it! Then, you wait for hours at the DMV just to renew your license and once you finally get everything handled, you go to grab your wallet to pay and realize, during the coffee fiasco, you left your wallet at home! Where was God in all this? He commanded His angels concerning you so you wouldn’t be harmed by those cars who wanted to smash you to pieces on your way there. The coffee spill and the wallet incident are just a minor inconvenience. You were unharmed, and that’s what matters. Praise God for your life!

"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." Psalms 81:14-16

November 8

There is a teaching that I hear often, and it makes so much sense, and it is that we should never do ministry alone. I would stretch that a little further and say that we should never try to traverse Christian life alone. We need other believers to rally behind us and to hold us up when things get tough, and also to rejoice with us through our accomplishments and victories. The Holy Spirit is thick and strong when we link our shields together and have the power of Jesus flowing through us. If you are trying to make it through life and things get hard, find a few believers to stand with you to hold up your arms like Aaron and Hur did for Moses as Israel was fighting Amalek. When Moses dropped his arms, Israel would begin to lose, so Aaron and Hur held up Moses’s arms when he couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve felt this kind of power and know it’s real! The power of hell will not prevail!

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Exodus 17:11-13

November 7

Out of nowhere my tablet lost the connection to the keyboard. I can usually hit a couple of keys and it comes back up, but not this time! It was necessary for me to go into the settings and turn the Bluetooth back on in order to re-establish that connection. In the meantime, I couldn’t figure out what had happened; what in the world did I do to mess it up? I’m still not sure what caused the disconnection. Do you feel this way with God? You keep writing Him letters, but the keyboard is not communicating with the Receiver so He’s not getting them. What creeped in and caused that separation? If you're feeling this way, there is a simple solution, ask for forgiveness. You may begin by asking Him what sins you’ve committed that need forgiveness; then pray and turn away from it. Then your line of communication will be quickly re-established.

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59-1-2

November 6

Fellowship is so sweet, especially among believers. What had started out as a trip to Top Golf, a beautifully designed driving range, ended up at a bowling ally! Though it was still sporty, it was a huge contrast from elegance to, well, not elegance. The best part is that it didn’t matter! We were together, cheering on our strikes as well as our gutter balls, laughing and creating that unbreakable bond as the bride of Christ. We each functioned in a different capacity; some of us were good at bowling and others of us stunk, but loving one another was the common goal, and I would say, we did that pretty well! If the wedding supper of the Lamb is going to be anything like this, we are going to have a great time, and believe me, it’s going to be much better than bowling! This is just a snippet of what it’s like to do life with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Though it may not always be rainbows and butterflies, there will always be love!

And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Revelation 19:9

November 5

God’s main teaching in the Bible is about love. It covers His love for us and how He wants us to love. Does yours measure up to the examples He gives? So much of what we are dealing with in the world today is because of the lack of real love. We use our infatuation for material things as a comparison and not true affection. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he gives us a laundry list of what real love should look like. Read the verses listed below and search yourself and see if yours looks like this. If it doesn’t, ask God to chip away the stone you have for a heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. Our time on this earth is too short to waste it by being arrogant, rude, irritable, or resentful. If you are not patient and kind, what you have may not be love. We all need a check-up when it comes to this, so let the Holy Spirit prick your heart and see if your feelings are true.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7