It is Sunday morning and I am all dressed and ready for church. Normally I would say this this is a just like any other church, but today it is a little more special. I am in Naples, Florida at a Ritz-Carlton Resort and am about to go downstairs and have a worship service/prayer time lead by Henry Blackaby - author of the book Experiencing God. I have a tremendous respect for him as I have gone through the workbook with a group of guys in a Bible study as well as have gone through a two month long video course through Christ@Work lead by him. The respect and reverence is deserved.
As I am sitting on the desk reading my Bible and praying earlier this morning, the only thing I could hear in my brain resonating loudly was how much more God deserves our excitement and attraction from our heart. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the creater of the earth and longs each and every day to have an appointment with me personally. If I can be excited to meet with Henry Blackaby, how much more should I be excited to come before the thrown of God and meet up with him. Amazingly, he is equally as excited to meet up with me!!!
So the question before you today is the following: What are you excited for today as you go to church? As you head towards Church as you approaching the experience with great anticipation to see a mighty movement from the God or are you just going through the motions and far more excited to get home so you can get back into bed or watch a football game? Are you prepared to come before the Lord in humility and asking Him to show any part of your heart that needs to be cleansed and refined? Have you taken a moment to pray together as husband and wife before we head to church to pray for God's leadership, guidance, and direction?
I pray you have an amazing day today and please know that April and I will be praying for each and every one of you today. May God touch you in a might way.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
How important is it to be covered?
We are so excited to be a part of this group and are humbled to hear so much vulnerability so quickly. We had a blast reconnecting with old friends and building new relationships with others. All in all, the Lord was present and was glorified!! Amen for that!!
Re-Read Malachi 3:6-12
Question for today: If you are not regularly tithing, are you removing the covering of the Holy Spirit over your life?
Here is my two sense about this topic and would love to hear other opinions about this question. At the core of this topic, I think its an ownership issue. Do we work every day to make a wage and choose to give the Lord a percentage back to me and call it a "tithe" or is everything, and I mean everything, owned by God? If everything is owned by God, then that means we aren't choosing to give God 10%, he is allowing us to keep 90%!!!!
I think that is what God meant when he said during the text, we are "Robbing Him". If we have an ownership stuggle in our heart with God, he plays hard ball with us. Not to punish us, but to let us know that he is a jealour God and does not like other things to come between us. In this case, money! If we allow money to take ownership of our heart above God, he will remove the covering of the Holy Spirit in our life for a season until we surrender that issue back to him. When we do that, his covering and protection of the Holy Spirit will come back.
God was so serious about this issue, he TESTS us. The only spot in the Bible when God allows us to challenge him and see if he would bless us. If we test him and choose to tithe (meaning 10 percent), he will open up the flood gates and allow his blessing to flow on our life. Now that doesn't guarantee financial blessings, though it may, but it does guarantee a "covering" and a "blessing".
I strongly recommend that we have a paradeigm shift in terms of our thinking. God owns everything in our life and that includes our finances. It may not be easy to write that check and/or put that money in the offering basket, but I know God is excited to shower us with his covering. I pray that as you tithe this week, you will sense the moving of God in your life.
Re-Read Malachi 3:6-12
Question for today: If you are not regularly tithing, are you removing the covering of the Holy Spirit over your life?
Here is my two sense about this topic and would love to hear other opinions about this question. At the core of this topic, I think its an ownership issue. Do we work every day to make a wage and choose to give the Lord a percentage back to me and call it a "tithe" or is everything, and I mean everything, owned by God? If everything is owned by God, then that means we aren't choosing to give God 10%, he is allowing us to keep 90%!!!!
I think that is what God meant when he said during the text, we are "Robbing Him". If we have an ownership stuggle in our heart with God, he plays hard ball with us. Not to punish us, but to let us know that he is a jealour God and does not like other things to come between us. In this case, money! If we allow money to take ownership of our heart above God, he will remove the covering of the Holy Spirit in our life for a season until we surrender that issue back to him. When we do that, his covering and protection of the Holy Spirit will come back.
God was so serious about this issue, he TESTS us. The only spot in the Bible when God allows us to challenge him and see if he would bless us. If we test him and choose to tithe (meaning 10 percent), he will open up the flood gates and allow his blessing to flow on our life. Now that doesn't guarantee financial blessings, though it may, but it does guarantee a "covering" and a "blessing".
I strongly recommend that we have a paradeigm shift in terms of our thinking. God owns everything in our life and that includes our finances. It may not be easy to write that check and/or put that money in the offering basket, but I know God is excited to shower us with his covering. I pray that as you tithe this week, you will sense the moving of God in your life.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Down's Syndrome Buddy Walk in Lake Oswego - Volunteer Opportunity
Hey Everyone,
Marie mentioned this the other day at our bible study and so I wanted to pass it along if anyone is interested in volunteering. The event is this coming Sunday, 9/27 - Jillian and I are going to the Duck game and will not be back in time on Sunday. For group volunteer activities we will give more notice in the future to find activities we can all do together. Have a great week.
...Down's Syndrome Network Buddy Walk. The event is next Sunday, September 27 at Millennium Park in downtown L.O. Below is a link to the website with the details of the event. If you wish to walk please click on the link below and complete the registration. This is a wonderful organization and a great opportunity to give back to the community.
https://www2463.ssldomain.com/dsnor/BWRegister.aspx
Marie mentioned this the other day at our bible study and so I wanted to pass it along if anyone is interested in volunteering. The event is this coming Sunday, 9/27 - Jillian and I are going to the Duck game and will not be back in time on Sunday. For group volunteer activities we will give more notice in the future to find activities we can all do together. Have a great week.
...Down's Syndrome Network Buddy Walk. The event is next Sunday, September 27 at Millennium Park in downtown L.O. Below is a link to the website with the details of the event. If you wish to walk please click on the link below and complete the registration. This is a wonderful organization and a great opportunity to give back to the community.
https://www2463.ssldomain.com/dsnor/BWRegister.aspx
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Welcome
We're excited to launch our new blog site where everyone can keep in-touch. The site is meant to be a forum where we can all pose questions about the reading, share thoughts about life and grow deeper in relationship with God and one another. Its also a place to visit to share prayer requests or praises if something great happens in your day.
Now we have a place to visit to lift our spirits and keep us grounded in God's purpose for our lives.
Remember to set aside a couple of minutes at 12:00pm every day to plug back in and reflect on God's grace.
Here is an inspirational verse in which this group was started, to be a place where everyone can be themselves and share openly without being judged.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5
Now we have a place to visit to lift our spirits and keep us grounded in God's purpose for our lives.
Remember to set aside a couple of minutes at 12:00pm every day to plug back in and reflect on God's grace.
Here is an inspirational verse in which this group was started, to be a place where everyone can be themselves and share openly without being judged.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5
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