Smiling with God...

“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice- not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.” Jer. 10:23-24. So I guess I am not the only one. Here Jeremiah openly confesses that he at times tries to direct his own steps. Kind of weird considering that this guy had a constant direct connection with God. He was living in the “end times” of Judah. He was given prophecy to speak, direct answers from the God, and all the fixings of being a spiritual leader at that time, but still he had problems with a small problem called “control”. Personally I like being in control. You feel as if you have a say, you have some sort of bearing of what is going on, and most of all you feel like you are in command. Kind of like Captian Kirk on the star ship Enterprise, or like Han Solo in Star Wars. They were the Captian of the ship and don’t let anyone tell them otherwise. There is a sense of power, comfort,...

“They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worshiped the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.” 2 Kings 17:33-34 After a hostile take over, a deportation, and another warning from God, the Israelites still did not listen. The continued in their ways. The word that stuck out though that was used in this translation, was that the word persisted. Persist in the dictionary means “continue stead fast or firmly in some state.” Another definition says it means “to last or endure tenaciously.” Here the Israelites instead of turning back to god, they continued stead fast in their ways and endured it with tenacity. Here their persistence worked against them. If they applied the same energy of persistence to pursue the Lord with a...

“You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your live, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is our love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!” Song of Songs 4:9-10 In the book of Song of Songs, Solomon gives us a very graphic, visual, and stirring description of what a God centered love relationship with a man and a woman can look like. Make no mistake about it, this is not an analogy of God's love for man, this book is purely a love relationship between a man and a woman.  It is very passionate, exciting, erotic, and at the same time, it is intimate, gentle and sweet. Which I wouldn’t expect anything less, being that an awesome God created love and sex. To have this kind of passion for another person is not only good, but it is very good. Yesterday I was at McDonalds eating my Kung Fu Panda Happy Meal, and I herd behind me a couple sittin...

“As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” Proverbs 27:19 Though this verse is simple it reveals a wonderful truth about all men. Our hearts are very much reflective of who we are. Here Solomon wisely says that if you examine the heart of a man you will see what he is really like. Here he is describing the inner soul, the inner sanctuary, the inner most part of him. That is where the real person is. Past the disguises that each person puts up, you dig deeper you will find what really makes this person. My nieces are back in town, so you know what that means, I am watching more and more Disney movies. But a couple of nights ago I was forced to watch a movie Mulan again, and again. About the 3rd time I was watching it, something caught my attention. The song that Mulan sings, “When will my reflection show who I am inside.” What caught me was that what she was seeing was not what she wanted to be. So when I read this verse here what I see sometimes the refle...

"Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for nobel purposes and some for common use?" Romans 9:21 God's sovereign choice to do what He desires for His creation. Though this is a tough concept to really think about because basically what Paul is saying here is that you could be a common folk. Not exactly what you want to hear. A common use?! Who wants to be that?! Here in America, you are constantly fed the idea that you could be SOMEBODY. But what Paul explains here is that well, you could be somebody in man's terms but you could be common use kind of person, and God chooses who is who. Not exactly the most soothing message to hear. You are a common person. That's great. But it really is great. If you think about Paul teaches in another book that we are part of a body of Christ a body has zillion of parts, some are visual and big and well known, others are small and in the background. But you need all of it ...

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations just as it had been said to him, ‘so shall your offspring be’” Romans 4:18 Wow, what faith.This is what it means to live by faith. To firmly believe in the promises of God and know that it will come to pass. I can now say that God’s promises will be fulfilled. I can now embrace that God’s work shall be completed in me. I trust that God will finish what He started. If He says it, it will be. Against all hope God is working. But there is a part two, Abraham in hope believed. We must have faith in God. Be confident in God through the thick and thin. There are many things in my life where I fail to realize that God’s will come through. There are promises that are yet unfulfilled that I now know that I can trust in now. I am now confident that God can and will bring me out of the this season better and stronger. God is orchestrating, God is putting the pieces together, God is bring the plan for ...

The word of the Lord came to Solomon: “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations, and keep my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.” 1 Kings 6:11-13 God here lays it out to Solomon before he starts building the temple. If you do this... then I will fulfill. Before the building of the temple, before anything is completed, God lays down the real law, a simple command, be obedient. Be obedient to His command, be obedient to His following. Be obedient to His order and structure. That is what God asks Solomon here, that is what he is asking me to do today. I can’t stand when I am forced to do something that I don’t want to do. I remember I was working for this place and I they made us do something I just had a problem with. I hated it, I couldn’t stand it. I pouted about it, I tried to “reason” my with the b...