Feeling Can Lead You Wrong

Do you ever feel unimportant to people all around you or that you are living in the wrong place? I know that I am important to God and I know that for a fact. Sometimes I feel people are not willing to take a chance on me anymore. Maybe it’s because I have burned bridges from my past sins. Maybe it’s because of my chronic illness and the excuse I hear over and over is that I can’t be dependable due to the ups and ad downs of my health. I have been feeling like I have no purpose in life right. I moved back to central Iowa so I could see my kids more but again due to my health that has happened either. I have always been an idea guy and so I have tried to do ministry in different non traditional ways like doing my podcast, trying to write in my blog, reach people through social media and other different ways. Some days and those days are right now I don’t feel like I am doing much good.
Continued and long term suffering is not easy. Some people call this the dessert place and for me it’s almost been three years. I am getting very tired and weary. I feel stuck in place that I feel that I don’t belong and I grew up here. Old friends won’t have anything to do with me and new ones are hard to make.
The Bible tells us to wait on the Lord. And that is the hardest part. And that is what I need to do. Is it easy, not at all but obeying the Lord is the best thing I can do today. One thing the Bible teaches me see I can’t go by feeling! I feel like a huge looser and no one cares or loves me today, but I know that the Bible says even if that was true that God loves me and cares for me. The truth is people do care and love they are just not acting like I think they should. 

So I am going to probably keep feeling a little lousy today but a little less lousy since I just reminded myself my feeling are wrong and the the Truth of God’s Word is right!

Religious Abuse......

I am not trying to offend anyone here. Just some truth as I see it. If you don't agree that's o.k.

Christianity gets some bad press. And the sad part it's us Christians that give us a bad name. We fight among each other and we judge those that are outside of the Church. It's been said that the Church kills there own woumbed. That is a pretty sad thing to say about a religion that follows the teaching of a guy who did the complete opposite. When I was in college I had a boss at the college that always said, "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!" When I talk to friends of mine who are not Christians one of there main complaints is how mean and narrow minded we are. I listen to them and I hear the pain in there voice as they talk about the religious abuse that they have faced. Yes religious abuse. We might not be physically abusive as a group, but our words do cut deep into peoples lives. I would say that most Christians don't attend to harm someone, because they think they must give out the message they believe in no matter at what cost. I have seen other church's picket other church's. I was a part of a church that belived the same thing another church did, but our church did not want to picket or come out looking hateful. So since our pastor sent a letter to this church expressing that we need to love and asked them not to come up to our area and cause a scene of hate. So this other church picted us and they in my opinion were not acting Christ like.

In my life I have been on both sides. Before I started drinking I thought that I new everything when it came to God. You could say being a Pharisee or a total hypocrite! Once I started with my struggle with Alcoholism I pretty fast saw the other side. The total misunderstanding of what I was going through. And again, the pastors and church's thought they were doing the right thing. Some or many Christians in America feel that we need to change the world through politics. You can not legislate morality. But, it seems some try to do that and it does not all ways work.

So, we in my opinion have a problem. So what do we do. First we don't change the message we change the method. Christians can still stand on the truth of the word of God. But, I think we need to be reminded of a few things. Paul and James tells us not to judge the world. In the bible world a lot of times means non-Christians. We are not to judge them we are to love them. What did Jesus do? He loved those who did not know Him. He fed the poor, healed the sick and loved the sinner, the down and out. Who did Jesus condemn? Those who thought they were better than every body else. So we need to love and show grace to those outside of the church, not beat them up. We all so need to love people inside the church. It is a silly thought that as a Christian I am suppose to be perfect. Many times real life is messy. I, we all of us need to show more Grace.

 

Secound, we need to have a real understanding of church disapline. A great example of this is found in Paul's writtings in 1 and 2 Corinthians. In first Conithians he tells the church to deal with the sin that is among them. Cast him out. But then we see in 2 Corinthians that Paul says basically, O,k now is the time to restore this guy. He has repnted from his sin. The whole point of church displine is restoration of the christian that is in church disipline. Restroaction back to the church. I have been told it's only restoration back to Christ. But scriputre shows diffrent.

 

 Is it better to be right or is it better to love? Does it really matter if I read the King James version of the bible? If I disagree with you can't we still be friends? Some where Christians got this idea that if people disagree with us we can not be there friends. That sounds kind of dumb, but some believe so strongly on an issue that you must be wrong if you don't agree and then some wont even be your friend any more.

 

As Christians we are given GRACE, FREE grace at that. So let's show grace to others. We don't deserve the GRACE of God, but we sometimes act like we are god by not showing others grace. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that the greatest thing is Love. Some of my good friends despise Christianity, but I still love them and still want to be there friends.

 

It's time that we stop playing church.

It's time to care about the poor and feed the poor.

It's time to love the suffering and love the sinner.

It's time to clothe the needy.

It's time to stop saying we act like Jesus and start acting like Jesus.

 

Dealing with Suffering part 1

I was given a book recently called "Living Successfully with Chronic Illness". My first reaction to the book is laughter. Now I have not started reading the book yet and I am sure it will be helpful. But if you struggle with a chronic illness you will understand my response. People struggle with many things in life. When I was 14 I was diagnosed with Type one diabetes. Changed my life forever. The last year and really the last couple of months have been rough. Got some other health issues not related to the diabetes that they are trying to figure out. But the title of the book got me thinking, how should I as a Christian handle Chronic Illness or just plain suffering. Pain, suffering, illness, death, and a lot more is going to happen in our lives. I will be hontest, I have not all ways handled my bad health the best. It is so easy to go into self pity. I had a thought the other day. And I think it was from God. First, I believe that some people are just called to suffer. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10 "that is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in harships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong". Christ is Paul's

Christ's is Paul's every thing. The one he clings to. And we should all so do that.

Here is point number 2, and this is where I am at. We suffer so we can encourge others. Maybe I am called in this life to suffer to bring Him glory. Maybe not, but we should all encourage each other. Epically if we can understand what that person has gone through.

2 Corinthians 1 New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,^(H) the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us^(I) in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ,^(J) so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation;^(K) if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings,^(L) so also you share in our comfort.

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed,^(M) brothers and sisters,^[a] about the troubles we experienced^(N) in the province of Asia.^(O) We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God,^(P) who raises the dead.^{(Q) 10} He has delivered us from such a deadly peril,^(R) and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope^(S) that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers.^(T) Then many will give thanks^(U) on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

This is part one, so stay tuned to the next post. Brain not working very well these days, well it never worked well any way.
Keep walking...

Laugh a little!

 

I think to many of us take ourselves to seriously. If you have been alive long you know that God has a sense of humor. We get so caught up with life that we forget to enjoy it. In some church's I think it's sin to laugh! I sure get in my moods where I think the sky is falling, but even if it is I know God is in control. So let's all do ourselves a favor today and laugh a little! 

Bad Hair day, God looks at the heart

 

 

 

Ever have a bad hair day? And if you do, you probably try and fix whatever you can before you go out of the house. We are so concerned with our look good! With how we look to others. Our clothes, cars, houses and you could add to the list. When we go to church we tend to want to look our best. Maybe you make sure you wear the nicest suit you can or the prettiest dress so you can impress someone. We tend to judge people by there outer appearance. Many of us are so good on putting on our "look good" on the outside, but we might be hearting in the inside. We might look like the "perfect Christian" to everyone on the outside by doing the right things in front of people and dressing nice. There is an old saying, " I don't drink, chew, or go out with girls who do".

 

1 Samuel 16  ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, ^(K)“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, ^(L)but the Lord looks on the heart.”

  

We see here that God looks at our heart! The church today has a problem with being real with each other. Someone might find out that, wait for it, or sinners! We snub our noses at certain people and sins. We rush to our car so we don't have to give our change to a homeless person. We judge the single woman who just found out that she is pregnant. As we judge others by the outward appearance we might be struggling with pride, bitterness, anger, over eating, lust and again the list could go on.

A lot of times we act more like the Pharisees than we would like to admit. Look at the verses below:

 

Matthew 23:25-28English Standard Version (ESV)

^25 (A)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(B)you clean the outside of ^(C)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of ^(D)greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of ^(E)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
^27 (F)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like ^(G)whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and ^(H)all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also ^(I)outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of ^(J)hypocrisy and lawlessness.

 

As we look at the above passage could Jesus say this about you? You might do all the religious activities, but are we walking as Jesus did? I struggle with pride. I never thought I did, but the more I grow in Christ the more I see it. I tend to think I am better than others. That's kind of funny since I am nothing without Christ. On my own I made a mess with my life.

 

It's time! Time for what you ask? It's time for us to focus more on our hearts and minds and less on the outside. I could go and by my almost two year old nephew a brand new suit. Made him look like a million bucks. He would start the day out looking pretty good. What would he look like at the end of the day? He would still look like a two year old. With food on his clothes and that new suit coat might even be ripped or muddy. So when you dress up and look at nice what do you look like at the end of the day. The answer is you. You can try to put on the best looking mask but you come home with your feelings, your thoughts, and your sins.

 

I think we would be different people if we were honest to our Christians brothers and sisters! I think the world would see a difference if we stopped acting like Christians and being like Christ!

 

Keep walking....

 

 

A lesson from Hosea....

Don't really know why but yesterday I read the book of Hosea. What an interesting book of the Bible. God used Hosea as an example of His love for His people. He instructed Hosea to marry Gomer who was a prostate. And like Israel she was not faithful.

Hosea Redeems His Wife

3 And the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a ^(B)homer and a lethech^[a] of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You must ^(C)dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel ^(D)shall dwell many days ^(E)without king or prince, ^(F)without sacrifice or ^(G)pillar, without ^(H)ephod or ^(I)household gods. ⁵ Afterward ^(J)the children of Israel shall return and ^(K)seek the Lord their God, and ^(L)David their king, ^(M)and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the ^(N)latter days.

 

We see here in Hosea Chapter three that the Lord told him to go again and love Gomer. Hosea went and bought her. This is a great picture. Even though she was not faithful to him. God told Hosea to go and get her. Today he probably would just have divorced her. And he could of rejected what God told him to do. But he obeyed the Lord. God used Hosea and Gomer as an example of His love for His people. Even though they were not faithful to Him, He still loved them.

 

God has patience for His people. Here he is talking about the Jews. But we can apply this to our lives as Christians. How many times have we been unfaithful to God and yet He still loves us and wants us to come back to Him.

 

Then I start thinking about my life. And how I sit here today as a divorced man. When we get divorced many times we try to justify it. And yes, my ex-wife had "Biblical" reasons to divorce me. But as I read the story above it makes me think that maybe divorce is never really the answer. I am still mourning over the lost of my marriage. Which I single handley destroyed. I have all so done a lot of acting out as an excuse to not deal with the pain of it all. And if I would of turned from my sin earlier than the divorce would not have happened.

 

In Matthew 18 before He gave the divorce clause He said this V.8 He said to them, Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was snot so."

 

While going through the divorce I was told by some that it was God's will for us to get divorced. Yeah, not sure if it is ever God's will for anyone to get divorced since God hates divorce. And now I know some of the reasons He does hate divorce. It breaks up a family. And it affects a lot of other people. I am trying to get passed the past. But the last couple of weeks I have been really hurting and having the what if's and all that fun stuff.

 

I don't know if I am making any sense today. And I do take responsibility for my actions. But even if it is my fault, it still hurts. With being divorced and all my struggles with type one diabetes I wonder sometimes what God's purpose is for me. I sure did a good job at destroying parts of my life. And the sickness keeps me from doing things that I would like to do.

 

Hope all of this makes sense. A verse comes to mind that is used out of context all the time. It is used for sports and other things. But I think this needs to be one of my new verses I hold on to. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

And I know that God can restore. And I pray that God helps me through all of this pain.

 

I am going to keep walking.....

Is God's grace enough?

Is God's Grace enough? We say it is with our lips, but do we really believe it in our heart of hearts. If you have read my blog for awhile it's clear that I have had times in my life that I have fallen on my face. I surprised a lot of people in 2006 when it came out that I had a problem with alcohol. At that moment I lost a big part of me. I was living for the God of ministry. I thought that was what I was suppose to do. That a true fired up Christian should be in ministry. Well, I burned my self out because I did not have a tight relationship with my savior. 2006 started a big process for me. I was sober, than I was not, sober, than not. That continued for a few years. I lost a marriage because of actions that I did while I was drunk. I have lost great relationships because of my continued drinking.

Finally through God's grace I have stopped drinking. I try to walk as Jesus did, but I do full short. I have noticed that there are some who are Jesus followers that have a hard time showing me grace. In one way I don't blame them. I did do some horrible things. But, Christ has forgiven me. So His grace is enough to forgive me of all my sins. His Grace is enough.

His grace should be enough to help us forgive others of there sins. His Grace and forgiveness is for all people. I have not all ways been that graceful to others. What I have walked through as showed me to not only receive God's grace in my own life, but to give grace to others. Even to those who don't show me grace. Which is a hard one!

We tend to cheapen God's grace, His Love, And even his forgiveness. There is nothing I can do or not do to loose that grace from Jesus Christ!

So, is Gods grace enough?

Telling others about Jesus!

When I received Christ as savior at the age of 7, I was pretty excited. I use to tell everyone I knew about Jesus. I remember being on the school bus in 6th grade. I was telling a friend that Jesus was the only way, the bus driver rebuked me in his gruff way. It did not stop me I just made sure he did not hear me so I sat closer to the back of the bus. That fire for telling others about Jesus continued until about my senior year of High School. I was not as bold that year, part of the reason I was pretty sick. Then after High School I worked for Boone Biblical Ministries where I could use my gift of Evangelism. I was on the radio and we did a youth ministry out reach.

While in Bible College I got that fire back to tell others about Jesus. While working as a youth pastor that was my favorite part, seeing teens coming to Christ. Now since I started drinking my desire to have that gift has faded. When you are living in sin and not following Christ you don't want to tell others about your faith. The last ten years I have had points of sobriety and would run VBS's and was able to lead kids to the Lord. Since I have been sober this time around it has been like learning how to live the Christian life all over again. I and maybe others feel that if I am not the perfect Christian I should not tell others about Jesus.

What I am learning is that is wrong thinking. People want you to be real. Not acting supper spiritual but being real. A real Christian does struggle with sin, but does not stay in it. A real Christian deals with his sin and if he falls again gets back up and keeps on going. I think we have done a real unjusist to grace when we try to act like we are perfect! I am no perfect nor will I ever be, but I strive to be more like Jesus Christ!

When I tell people that they need Jesus it's not to judge them. It's that He has done so much in my life that I want others to experience. The last few days I have been feeling the Lord pushing me to be more open about my faith. I don't know what that looks like but I need to be willing and ready to give the hope that is within me!

I have been asked why am I so open about my past. And I say that if my past can help others then I will be open. I have been a Christian for a long time, but I have fallen into sin many times. I have fallen short of the glory of God. But God can restore. Sometimes it seems like that restoring takes forever. And I am still in the midst of being restored. I can still share the hope of Jesus with others as I am being shape and formed. I am all ways going to be shaped and formed by God, it's a lifetime kind of thing.

If God has gifted me in an area, I better do what He has gifted me in. People need all of us to be more bold. Not just those that are Evangelist.

Here is a simple plan of Salvation below. It's called the Romans Road.

Riding the Fence

When I was a youth pastor I would tell my students not to be riding the fence, because that fence is a bardwire fence. I told tell them with all the passion I could muster up that they need to fully follow Jesus with all they got or they may slip and fall.
I was remained of this last night at Bible study while the Holy Spirit was convicting me of me riding the fence. I did not think it was very nice of the Holy Spirit to use my own words from like 8 years ago to convict me, just saying. We are studying first Corinthians in the men's Bible study.
I am at a cross roads with my faith in Jesus. I am growing in Him more than I think I have ever. But in my heart there's things that I am having a hard time giving up. And those things are talked about in Chapters five and six. And if I follow the path that Jesus wants me to go many will think I am crazy.
As I was sitting there hurt and shame flooded over me. We started talking about church discipline and all that fun stuff. I have been kicked out of some church's, and that has left some hurt. But I have done some bad stuff, but I need to remember that is all in the past.
So the question is this, do I want to please people or God. The answer is I want to please God. In earlier sobriety, I know I am still in earlier sobriety, but I did things that I knew were wrong in my heart. I am not doing these things now, but the struggle within is still there.
The positive is that I am aware of these things now and I can let God work these things out. I am not a fan of being single, but instead of me trying to make some thing happen, I am going to try, key word try and wait on God.
I am so glad God forgives me, but true repentance is not doing the sin again. I get to lead the Bible study on chapter six on Monday. An area hat I have confessed and now need to do it Gods way.
Oh if u want to know what I am talking about read the passage.
And at the end of the day God has used all that has happened in my life to help ne be more of a Jesus man.