Smiling with God...

“But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibilities for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God.” 1 Chron. 9:26 Assignments are important. Here there was an upmost importance that the Levites had in making sure that the temple was kept pure and was kept right. That was a good thing. Here they had an assignment and they knew exactly what to do. The key word here is entrusted. They were given the responsibility to take care of the temple not by man but by God. They realized that God owns everything and they were given the charge of taking care of what was His. So, how does this apply to me? Sometimes I forget that everything belongs to God. I truly don’t own anything. It seems that sometimes I need to be reminded that I am really just a steward of what God gives me. He provides the money, He provides the way, He brings the resources. I am just responsible to steward all he has given me in the correct fashion. However to do that ...

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. Matthew 3:15 John must have been pretty surprised here. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t expecting to baptized Jesus. To him this must have been somewhat crazy. I mean Jesus was God, John knew that. So why he have to baptized Him. John was right, it should have been the other way around. But what is interesting here is that Jesus said this must be done. It must be complete. He did it to fulfill everything that it would be proper. This marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This was the start. The intro to the next three years that rocked the world. So it was only fitting that it begin this way. Now for me there are several lessons that you can learn from this. One is that like Jesus, I must complete all things. Even if it sounds or looks ridiculous, or if it is embarassing, or if it weird. To complete everything is necessary to end one season and begin the nex...

“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1 Here Paul says to purify yourself form everything that contaminates the body and spirit and reach for holiness. Interesting, at least what you can draw here. Last night I was watching this special on the History channel and what it talked about was the seven deadly sins in Christendom, with a special emphasis on lust. Besides the awesome interesting history it talked about, towards the end of the program they were discussing how scientific it was to lust. What they found that when people are exposed to lustful images certain chemicals begin to dominate their brain and it begins to dominate their thinking pattern at that time. Then what happens is the part of the brain that dominates cognitive thinking is reduced. Thus the phrase “thinking with the wrong head” is actually correct. But what the prog...

His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) Judges 14:3-4 This is really an interesting passage. Here it states that though Samson did not do things the traditional way, nor did he listen to the advice of his parents. But what is crazy is that it was the Lord that was behind it all. It was God who orchestrated this and it was God who allowed this to happen. It was an opportunity for God to develop Samson to engage with the Philistines. Unknown to everyone God knows what he was doing. So what does that mean for me? It means that there are some things that happen that are out of my control but it...

His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) Judges 14:3-4 This is really an interesting passage. Here it states that though Samson did not do things the traditional way, nor did he listen to the advice of his parents. But what is crazy is that it was the Lord that was behind it all. It was God who orchestrated this and it was God who allowed this to happen. It was an opportunity for God to develop Samson to engage with the Philistines. Unknown to everyone God knows what he was doing. So what does that mean for me? It means that there are some things that happen that are out of my control but it...

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High.” Psalms 50:14 When you make promises to God, you must fulfill them. This verse sums up my devotion today. It seems that there is a theme. If you look at it Judges 11 Jephthah made a request that if he won a victory, he would sacrifice whatever came out of his front door first. I wonder what he was thinking. But he made the boldest move and made that. I bet he was hoping that a servant, or maybe one of his wives, or if he was lucky a goat. But what who comes out? His one and only daughter. That sucks. I mean come on, you can’t wonder but why in the world would God do something like that. But that is God, he ask nothing but the best of us, even if it hurts. Not because he doesn’t love us, but because he know and where our heart might drift off too. If the sacrifice isn’t worth it, then it’s not a sacrifice. And though it pained Jepththat, he did it. Lessons to learn. Think before you make promises to Go...