Step up the plate

Guys we need to do something. There is a need. Not enough people to do it. I know everyone is busy. Work, relationships, career, ministry, dreams...

We need to equip ourselves to know the Bible. We need to protect against wrong teachings.

We need men of prayer.

We need men to guide younger men.

We need you!

Guys we need to step up the plate!

/*****/

I'm kind of rethinking about my ministry and gifts. I mean I'm not multi-talented. I have some gifts but i can't do all of it. Got to choose one that will make me more effective.

I'm praying now that that God will lead me to it. Back of my mind I'm thinking I don't want the extra load. Am I lazy?

You know what makes me happy: Making people feel God's love.

Not my will but yours be done.

O failures, O failures...

I woke up in the middle of the night and had this poetic streak. A friend told me to just start writing when i have the thought I might forget it in the morning. So I started to write this out...

O failures, O failures why do I think of thee
Thou makest me sad, thou makest me lack sleep
O failures, O failures what was I thinking?
They are shameful, they make me sick.
My God is not proud, my God I need forgiveness
If I could go back and make it right.
If I could go back and change what I've done.
O failures, O failures I know now why
It is a teacher to make me wise
It is a teacher to make me meek
Now give me strength to move on
Now give me wisdom to do what is right

I've been bothered lately by my mistakes and failures in the past. I prayed to God to help me deal with them.

The next morning I woke and talked to God and its going to be a different day today. Had this LSS: O Happy day by Tim Hughes. So I started work at 8am. One by one it did not start out the way I wanted it. I looked at my watch and by 930am I've realized that I've made 6 mistake already. Oh man my day was not going the way I wanted. What was going on? Happy day?! this is not a Happy day!

Then I realized God was teaching me something. I got these mistakes now what am i going to do about it?
1.)I can dwell on those mistakes all day and have a crappy day!
2.)Admit my mistakes and start to do something about it.

So I started to do #2. Tried to fix it one by one and by the end of the day everything went well :)

Had this thought: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Paul... all these godly men made lots of mistakes in their past, I wonder if they ever thought about their mistakes how they dealt with them?

Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..."

Have a Happy day!

1 John

I was reading 1 John and i started to notice something. John summarized his statements.

1 Jn 1:3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Jn 2:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

1 Jn 2:5b This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

1 Jn 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

1 Jn 3:11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 Jn 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

1 Jn 3:19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 Jn 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 Jn 3:24b And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 Jn 4:2b This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

1 Jn 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

1 Jn 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 Jn 4:13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

1 Jn 4:17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

1 Jn 4:21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

1 Jn 5:2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

1 Jn 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

1 Jn 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.