My Take

Have you ever felt like God wanted you to serve Him in some greater capacity? Then you considered yourself and decided that you were not up to the task? That is how most people feel as well. There are a couple of issues here though. First, we need to get our eyes off of ourselves and then we need to realize that God will enable us and anoint us to do anything He calls us to.  Let's consider David in this subject. In all David was anointed three times in his life. Each time he was anointed there was an escalation of blessings as well as responsibilities. The carnal man wants blessing without responsibility - but God looks for those He can use that are willing to help bear the burden of ministry and that He can bless as a result. The blessing I'm talking about is not of material goods, though God provides such things for us, but the blessing is to be use of Him in His service in a greater way for His kingdom and for His glory. David, even in his youth, was already serving and bea...

Have you ever felt like your life is distracted or scattered?  That your best laid plans for the day are often routed by some type of distraction, mishap, unplanned visit, problem, or even catastrophe.  Life is busy with many responsibilities and then even more challenges come our way. Add to those, our greatest responsibility in life is our relationship with God and service to Him.  How do we do it all?  Are we able to keep in focus as we should? It can be daunting.   Paul shows us that it can be done. In Acts 16:16 - 17:10 we see how that even in his life, he was able to keep God first while dealing with a great number of problems and unforeseen challenges.  In verse 16 we see a demon is cast out of a woman.  Paul and Silas have a great day, right?  But then, in verses 22 and 23, they are beaten and whipped and in verses 24-25 they are thrust deep into a prison and locked in the stocks.  I gues...

I remember I had a football coach, Coach Bush, he was the HIGH SCHOOL varsity coach, now I was a 185 lb middle linebacker my sophomore year – I was second string, played all the Junior Varsity games on Saturdays but would dress for the varsity on the Friday night before. He would allow me in the game a little at the beginning of the season, but not a lot, end of the game type stuff. Then our defensive end, Mike Finnessey, a senior, got hurt. The coach put me in having never even played the position before. It was 4th down and they were punting. On the punt return team, there are only two basic plays, return punt (mock a rush and run backwards to block for your return man) or you go and block the punt. I don’t even think I knew that at the time what the play was – I was going for the kicker. Well the ball was snapped, I started charging, you know what, before I knew it, I had sacked the kicker, we got the ball and we scored on the next series. I was the hero, I went to the sideline an...

"A girl who received a book from a young man, read it and said, "What a tiresome book!" The young man said, "Did you notice who wrote it?" She looked at the front page and saw that the love of her life was the author. She began to read it again, and at the end she said, "I never read a greater book." What made the difference? Her relationship to the writer. Look at God. Is He good or evil? It all depends on whether you are single in heart or evil in heart. If you look at Jesus, you may see Him either as a deceiver or as a Savior. What makes the difference? Your attitude, your eye."   Bible Illustrations - Bible Illustrations – Illustrations of Bible Truths. You and I, at times in our lives or even right now, have not enjoyed the things of God. Particularly, His Book, His Church, His Will & Ways, and His People have all at times been a bore or even an annoyance. The problem we have is that we often do not love God like we should or we do ...

Philippians 4:13 has been used much in our society today as a popular slogan.  It is varied in its use but the most common way it has been used is on the t-shirts of several sports stars and famous personalities.  The slogan though goes like this: “I CAN DO ALL THINGS.” While some are thankful for it as it is a Bible quote, in reality – it is a watered-down, mis-appropriated and inappropriate statement that gives a false message. As Believers we should never emphasize what we can do.  It has never been about us but has always been about God.  Obviously, the real quote is “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  It is our precious Lord who redeemed us from our lost condition by faith and repentance – and has promised to be with us and to bear our burdens and has also empowered us to be faithful in any situation.  To leave God out of Philippians 4:13 takes the TRUTH out of the verse and renders it worthless...

From my Scripture reading this morning in the section from the Psalms we read a phrase three times in Psalm 42 and 43 with one small variation. It is in Psalms 42:5 & 12 and also 43:5. On its face value alone it such a great reminder that I need to question my souls when it is down. If I am redeemed of God then I have no business being down very long. I can ask for God's help to: Reveal if there is anything I need to repent of and seek forgiveness.  Reveal any way wrong attitude I have and confess it to the Lord. Show me if I am harboring any bitterness, anger, or grudge toward someone or concerning a circumstance. Give all of these things over to the Lord once found and allow Him to carry the load.  Then I take a moment to command my own soul. It says here: "...hope thou in God:.." Every moment of every day, I need to command my souls to this position. I cannot excuse, deny, or ignore any sin or feeling that is not right before God. It must be dealt with n...

We have all heard the quotes and the illustrations about being prepared, and they are all good, such as a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln - “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Everyone of us (hopefully) spend time preparing for work, an exam, for an upcoming presentation, etc. One thing we are often intimidated by is being the godly person that God wants us to be. He commands us to be holy as He is holy ( 1 Peter 1:16 ) which is a very high calling. When we look at who we are we realize that we have a very long way to go to even start to be who He expects us to be. Let me encourage you - IT IS NOT AS HARD AS YOU THINK! There are some basic things that each of us can do to become that holy spiritual person. Now, I'm not saying that you need to become a monk which is not what God wants nor is necessarily holy. I am talking about WALKING WITH GOD. If we can learn to walk with God, spend time with God, get to know God...