And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Mathew 18:3-4 NIV Watching my children evolve and grow, I can totally understand why God would want us to be more like them. There are so many qualities about their mind and spirit that allow for growth and strength. Children are miraculous creations that even in the womb can take on quite a bit of stress and still move on with happy hearts. What marvels me the most about them is their ability to ask for forgiveness and give it in return. My son and daughter fight and argue with each other as often as they smile and love each other. The funny thing about them is that when one comes to tell about what the other has done to him or her, all I have to do is stop and listen then make the “guilty” party apologize and have them hug each other for everything to be okay. Th...

To day in a National Day of Prayer. I thought Psalms 32 would be perfect. 1Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2Blessed is the man whose sis the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is not deceit. 3When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sis to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the might waters rise, they will not reach him. 7You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. 9Do not be like the horse of the mule, which have no understanding bu...

The Lord in my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? 2When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. 4One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gave upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 5for in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. 6Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at this tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. 7Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. 8My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek....

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over the the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. ~ Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 If you can't find God in your work then put Him there. Working is a big part of our lives and we take it for granted. There are those folk who moan and groan about their jobs (secretly raising my hand and putting it down real quick before anyone sees me) and how unsatisfied they are when they should be thanking God for having the jobs. Since life should be about God's purpose, we should spend some time trying to figure out how we can do that at our jobs or why we are there in the first place. Pleasing God in all that we do will bring peace and co...

The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only eivl all the time. 6The Lord was grieved that he had mad man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyse of the Lord. ~ Genesis 6:5-8 I feel like there is so much going on in this verse that it is slightly overwhelming to fathom how much God loves us. As a child, I am sure that I dissapointed my mother on an occaision or two; however, I am confident that it has never been to the point that she would want me out of her life. On that same note, I remember feeling so sad that I had lost favor in her eyes. I remember wanting to be better and wanting to do things so as not to dissapoint her. My mother, ...

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”~ Genesis 4:6-7 Well, we know that Cain does not master much of anything because later in the chapter he winds up killing his brother. Even more disturbing is that when God is telling him what the consequences of his actions are, Cain is only thinking of himself and the suffering he will go through. The brother that he killed seems to be the farthest thing from his mind. Aren’t there times in our life when we blatantly and knowingly do something that we know is wrong, whether it be passively or actively? It could be something we say or think and we know we are wrong for it, or something that we do, or a place we go, or a man or woman we talk too inappropriately or anything like that. God is saying that there are consequences and we really should not be s...

And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not eat from?" 12The man said,"The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13The the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." ~ Genesis 3:11-13 This scripture is a trip to me. The moment we defy God sin becomes an integral part of our lives. First off, God is walking in the Garden with them (Genesis 3:8)! That is the type of relationship they had with God. They used to just chill together, shooting the breeze. God, knowing what happened, did not really need to question them but asked them for an explanation anyway. This is where we (mankind) start digging our hole. Neither Adam nor Eve took responsibility for their actions. Adam even hinted at blaming God. He basically said well you put Eve here and she gave me the apple, so it's your f...

For this reason man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. ~Genesis 2:24-25 In this day in age, that whole one flesh thing is not really working for us. Christians and non-Christians alike are experiencing about a 50% divorce. According to enrichment journal on the divorce rate in America: The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41% The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60% The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73% Hmmm, we could not get it right the first time around so let's keep trying. Well, based on the above, that's not working too well either. There are so many reasons why this is happening that stem from that first sin. Adam and Eve were naked with each other and felt no shame. How many of us can say that we are completely naked with our spouse? I am sure that there are hidden feelings, secrets, unexpressed desires, and ...

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. ~Genesis 1:3-5 God said it and it was. He is so glorious that simply speaking His desires can make them happen. Can you image having the power to speak something and have it happen? I do not even want that kind of power if I could have it because a whole lot of things would be happening that would not remotely be of God. I would speak a Mercedes in my garage. There probably would be some people that just vanished into thin air. Debt? What debt? And all of a sudden that excess baby fat would just melt away. No it is better that we do not have that type of speaking power. God knows that we would not be able to handle it. Nevertheless, He gave us all that we could handle. He gave us Jesus and through Him the Holy Spirit. Now, I bel...

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in his toil--this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. ~Ecclesiastes 3:11-14 God is God--awesome and powerful and mighty and all the things that we cannot even begin to wrap our minds around. Scientist and scholars have devoted their lives to trying to figure out how God has gone about doing his thing. Scholars and philosophers have spent generations trying to unearth and expose the Bible. Whether a person is a believer or not, the Bible is an awesome book and phenomenon. God has given us the world and we don't even know how to act. God has not o...

Psalm 73 (NIV) 1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 Thy have no struggles; thier bodies are healthy and stong. 5 They are free from the burdens coomn to man; thy are not plagues by human ills. 6 Therefore pride is thier necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. 7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; they evil conceits of thier minds know no limits. 8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in thier arrogance they threaten oppression. 9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and thier tongues take possession of the earth. 10 Therfore thier people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. 11 They say, "How can God know? Does the MOst High have knowlege?" 12 This is what the wicked are like-- always carefree, they increas in wealth. 13 Surely in vain have I kpet my heart pure; in vain have I washed my...

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement whether it is good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 I am sure you have heard the expression, "I'll put the fear of God in you." I have heard it plenty of times but I do not really think most people take it seriously. If a person does not care for God or even believe in God why would they worry about fearing Him? Personally, I have always had a problem with fearing God. Since I have a selfishness issue, I have pondered my real motivation for being saved. Ultimately isn't it my selfishness and sense of self preservation that leads me to wanting to go to heaven? Seriously, I don't want to be in hell for the rest of my existence. However, I have realized that I fear God because I love Him and believe in Him. It is like a child that does not want to disappoint her parents. Of course fear is a factor because he loves them. They nurture her, take care of ...

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I think that some people think just because a person is a Christian that everything should be all good. That Christians should be perfect and that everything in our lives should be perfect. Well, Lord knows I'm not perfect, not even remotely close. I have got issues and faults to overcome like everyone else. My life has trials and hard times like everyone else. Although God wants to give us the world and wants to bless us without boundaries sometimes our human nature blocks his blessings and sometimes we are blessed regardless. We have free will to make choices on a daily basis and many times the choices we make take us away from Christ instead of bringing us closer to him. However, what makes me saved as opposed to someone else? What makes me a Christian? I love Jesus and accepted him as my Lord and savior. When I let...

Romans 12:17-21 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing thins, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do no be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. How about the above is so much easier to read over than to actually put into practice. Personally, I am pretty decent at letting things go. I do not hold grudges for years or even days. Once I forgive, I do work earnestly to move beyond the situation (too bad, I am not very successful at the forgetting part). It may take a while but eventually, with God's help, I move on. However, there are times when I feel like a good ...