Smiling with God...

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are they clay. You are the potter; we are all the work of your hand,” Isaiah 64:8 We are all clay. Modeable, to something that is awesome by God and God alone. We never realize that it takes a lot of energy to make something out of clay. I know that God must really love us in order that He wants form us and shapes us to be something better than before. God is in the business of change. We just have to be willing to be molded. In order to be molded we have to be willing, and it all starts there. One of the hardest thing to say, and hardest thing to do is when you are all in. My biggest fear is that I will not be all in for a part of the time. Going out for God is tough, yet it is what he commands. In order to be molded we first have to willing to be molded. When we get to that point, God is gong to take us and then mold us to be awesome. However, the clay has to stay molded and has to be able to be ready to be molded. Tough work, but li...

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:9-10 Here Peter explains to everyone that God really wants all of the people to come to repentance. God wants nothing but good for us. He wants us to prosper, He wants us to live with Him forever. He wants us to have that abundant life that Christ talks about in John 10:10. But in the subtle but serious tone, Peter explains that God is patient with you, He is willing to walk you through your sins and bring you back home, but He is not foolish and one day it will come. Like Peter says, “like a thief.” Meaning it will come quick, it will come unexpectedly, it will come, that is for sure. God will bring us back home, He will la...

This is what the Lord says- “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 What an awesome passage. A promise from the Lord that there is a new thing that is rising up. Even though Israel was unfaithful God still wanted to make things new. This is amazing. I am just at awed on how God loves his people so much. He is will ing to forget the things of the past and make things anew. What caught my attention is not so much that there are things that will pop up new. That is awesome, however what caught my eye is right in the middle where God ask the Israelites, “do you not perceive it?” That is what he ask. Do not dwell in the past and look out for the new thing. I wonder how much the Israelites were not looking out for the new thing God is doing because they were too stuck in the past. Their eyes were too much stuck in the...

“Yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not grow faint.” Isaiah 40:31 This verse has been with me all my life, but I haven’t really put total effort in to pondering about this verse till some one pointed it out to me today. It is a verse that is so true, but it’s meaning can be lost in so many ways. Here it ask that we need to wait upon the Lord. Which also could mean, those who hope, those who trust, those who eagerly await, those who earnestly trust. The concept of total trust, total reliance, total dependence on God and God alone. The trust in the Lord is totally dependent upon this, it’s me trusting him completely. Total trust. So in reality how much do I really trust the Lord. Often I have the Lord’s Plan, then the back up plan. But if you truly trust in the Lord, there is no back up plan. There is only one plan, His. Though he says it will be a perfect pla...

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, so not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” James 3:14 I love what James is saying here, “Don’t cover it up, just admit it!” If you have anything evil in your heart don’t what is worse and try to cover it up. God is calling all of us to be transparent with one another. Especially in areas of jealousy and selfish ambition, we need to have accountability. These traits can easily become poison to one’s soul. It can easily become poison to one’s heart. Thus in turn it can affect the whole group, the whole congregation, the whole Christian community. I am human no doubt, there are times were I am jealous, where I am selfish. Often what I do is, I hide in a corner, and say very “Christianess” things. Like, “Oh, I am so glad God is blessing you!” or “Wow, Jesus does reward hard work!” First of all, I get a good practice at acting, because inside I am extremely jealous. Often inside, I’m like, “Why not me?!” ...

“For he who keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10 James makes a great point here. If you stumble in one part of the law you are guilty of all of it. It means that you have to reap all the consequences, even if you just stumble over one small section. So even if you keep most of it, it doesn’t count. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you didn’t keep the law at all. This is a humbling verse, because truly it says that we are powerless without Jesus. It also means that we cannot do anything under our own strength to get salvation, because essentially we broke the law. We break the law all the time. We cannot ever see God’s face without the savior. You know at the same time this verse tells of our utter doom, but it also frees us from trying to go overboard. It doesn’t discredit the fact that you still need to have faith and works but what it does , it frees us from trying to cling to salvation with our own ...

“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:2 I love what James is saying here. He says that those who actually look at the law and studies it intently and does it routinely and applies the law to his heart will be blessed by what he does. The key phrases is “intently” and “continues to do this”. The law scans the heart of a man and if one who surrenders to it’s principles will become fruitful, but the ones who do not and continue to not take it to heart will eventually falter. Funny how this came about, I was doing an antivirus scan on my computer as I was reading this verse and the image of the virus scanner and the bible came to my mind. It is a perfect example of what devotions and studying the bible should do to my heart. I for one know that the most effective way to not get viruses in your computer is to scan it every day. Just lik...