Holy Fire - Fill Me

I'm sure you've head the song, but I'll post what I know of the lyrics here. I hear it and repeat it as a prayer and it really means a lot to me.

Holy fire, burn away

my desire for anything

that is not of You and is of me.

I want more of You and less of me.

Empty me. Empty me!

Fill me .... With You, With You.

I pray that we can be emptied of all that this world has pressed into our lives and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Abominable Prayer?

Proverbs 28:9 - One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

I don't know if it happens to you, but I get it a lot. I'll say a prayer and request something from God, but then immediately I'm convicted that I asked for something that was against God's will.

I've heard it said that a follower of Christ can ask for anything in prayer and God will always give it to him. The way this works is simple: The follower of Christ desires only the will of God, so his request should be aligned with God's will. The failure is that as a follower of Christ, I still have to contend with my flesh. So even if my heart desires only God's will, my flesh and mind manytimes will ask something of God that is contrary to the scriptures.

The verse today from Proverbs points us to the answer to our struggle. We can align our will with God's will by the hearing of the law. We do this through the study of the Scriptures and strengthening our walk with God in prayer. The conviction I get during prayer is a result of me stepping outside of God's plan for my life and I need to correct that error.

I don't want my prayer to be an abomination to God. I want Him to hear my prayer and consider it/me to be righteous. Therefore, I have to continue to grow in my walk with Him and hear His law. As my walk is increased, my prayers will be heard and honored by God. My desire is always for the will of God, and by growing in my faith, I can leave the struggles with my flesh behind and let my relationship with the Creator flourish.

"Empty me, empty me. Fill me...with You, with You"

Family Scripture Reading

Duskianna and I were discussing some creative ways to work leisure Bible reading into our daily routine without it being early or late in the day and without it taking away from our family time....Answer: Read together as a family.

What a simple concept? Read together. We wanted to get ourselves into a routine of reading the Bible for fun and family scripture reading time is great. Tonight we started our quest. After supper, I opened God's word and read the day's proverbs - chapter 26, and then 3 chapters of John. I read from the NLT since my kids are little and the NLT was written on a 3rd grade level. It also helps with making the reading a little more fun.

It only took about 20 minutes, but we really enjoyed our time. Yazzi (9 years old) said that it was answer to prayer because she had been asking God for someone to read the Bible outloud to her. I'm not sure why, but "Praise God".

Zoe (3 years old) wasn't too interested in what we read, but she sat quietly through it. The funny thing is that she understood what was going on, but just not the stories that were read. When we finished, Zoe went straight to her room and got me her Christmas story kids book and asked me to read it. I was blessed because: #1 she was so cute and #2 she wanted to hear more about Jesus. My stories were over her head, but this put it on her level.

Duskianna seemed to like it, too. As a family, I think we can set aside 20 minutes a day to read through the Bible. I'm not sure what we'll read each evening, but I think we'll set our first goal to read through the gospels, then the new testament, and finally the whole scriptures. It may take a few years, but if they keep wanting to hear it, I'm going to keep reading it. I suppose that I'll be reading to them even if they don't want it - I am the dad after all so they'll have to obey.

A word of encouragement: Read the Word outloud in your home. What your family will hear will change their lives forever.

P.S. We need some ideas about what to call our little time. Remember my kids are little, so a cool name for the activity will motivate them to attend. Leave your ideas in the comments. THX.

Serving

Today was my first chance to finally cut loose in the media ministry at church. I've been on the team for a month or so and I've had so much supervision it seems like the work I did wasn't needed. Today, however was a little different. I did my duties on my own with little help and was able to serve God completely. I have to say that serving the Lord completely is a great experience.

We had our first 2 meeting Sunday morning this week and I served both services. It was great to be able to be a part of what God is doing in our community. Pastor has always said that many people in the church won't grow until they start serving. I can now see how that would be. I look forward to many more opportunities to serve.

I'd encourage anyone reading this to stretch out to God in a ministry if you aren't involved aready. The way He will work in your life will be personal and and experience for you and Him to share. I couldn't say what my experience has been like, but I know that my attitude toward serving will be different from now on. As a follower of Christ, we should be serving; and this is not a chore but a blessing. So go get yourself blessed by serving and not asking for anything in return.

Shalom,

Illness

Well, we're sick again.

I would like to request prayer from anyone and everyone regarding this lingering illness.

My 3 girls, my wife and I have all been sick off and on for the last 6 months. The 11month old has been sick about 90% of her life.

Please pray for our health and request healing from God on our part. Thank you for lifting up my family.

Psalms 127:2

Psalms 127:2 - It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep. (NKJV)

I kinda like the way the NLT puts it: It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

My wife reminded me of this verse today because I went to work an hour early to make up for some time I missed last week. I sometimes feel like a 50 hour workweek is a must and we might struggle if I don't turn in the extra hours.

It's always interesting what the day brings and how God will give us what we want, even if we didn't fully understand what we were getting ourselves into. I went in early for extra hours, which worked out fine, but by the end of the day it was clear that I wasn't going to finish my required work and I would have to work late in the evening to finish. God said, "it's a vain thing to try to get hours just for the sake of making a buck. You wanted the hours, now here is the work to satisfy the need." It is funny because I didn't want to have to work late, but there really wasn't productive work to do in the morning, so as a result of the one hour of milking the clock this morning (which is sin), God gave me legit work later that was manditory and I was left working until midnight.

God has a good sense of humor and I am laughing now that my work is done. I wanted work to do to get the hours, but I didn't want to have to work for it or take away from my evening. God did what He said He would do...He provided for a need. I guess I just wasn't ready for the blessing.

Daddy God, lead me away from vanities, and direct me towards You. Continue to fill our needs and prepare our hearts to accept the provisions You give us. Forgive me for milking the clock, and strengthen me to be a harder worker. I want to do my work for You, not man. Give us wisdom and faith to follow you closely. Thank you for Jesus and I love You. -

Moving

They say that you find out who your true friends are on moving day. Well, we just got our new home and decided that this week we would make the move. We had family and friends volunteer to help us with moving. These brothers and sisters gave of themselves selflessly to help us. Through all the sweat and scrapes and backaches, we accomplished the move from one place to the other. The best part was not completing the move, but that we were able to fellowship and lift up the name of Jesus while we worked.

Thank you to everyone that gave of themselves to help us move. May God bless you in return for the blessing you gave us.

Valentine's Day

Well, it's Valentine's Day, so I just had to make a post like everyone else related to the day. My wife and I don't do much on this day because we pretty much treat each other special every day. Even though we've been married for over 6 years, we still feel like newlyweds.

I'll spare the love story between my wife and I and move on to the greatest love story. Jesus is fully God and fully man and He chose to die for me. He loved me that much. I do not deserve His love, yet He always gives it. I cannot earn His love, but He still gives it to me. Nothing can seperate me from His love. Can I ever love my wife that much? Never. I feel like my love for her is strong, but it pales in comparison to Jesus' love for us.

Thank you Jesus for loving me.

Bumper Sticker

Tithe if you love Jesus, ANYONE CAN HONK! This is similar to the bumper sticker Pastor was talking about last night. This requires much more commitment than simply blasting your horn.

Fill Me

You might ask God to fill you with His Love or His Spirit. I ask that all the time. God does want to fill you, but some of us are already too full. First, give from what you have and empty yourself to someone for God's sake and He will refill you even fuller. Don't think that God isn't ready to fill you, because He is. Give everything and He will return it to you.

Die to self (short version)

"When you get to the end of yourself, you get to the beginning of God." -Greg Laurie

God Moved in my Home

My home is with God's people in fellowship. This evening God impressed Himself on His people at Calvary Chapel of the Triad. I was a little late and entered service half way through the first song, but as I found my spot I noticed God's presence in everyone around me. Even though the music was loud and singing was filling the room, I could hear shouts of praise coming from all around me, and this was just the opening song.

We lifted up more than our voices in praise, we lifted our hearts. As we continued in praise, I don't think there were any of us that didn't realize that Jesus was doing an awesome work in our lives. The music could have repeated for hours or even stopped and I wouldn't have noticed because the shouts of praise to God were stronger than any words could express.

Pastor opened the Word and started reading Joshua 23. Who would have thought that this passage held so much for all of us. There was a blessing happening. Pastor said it himself, "I could probably stop preaching and just read the scripture and y'all would be blessed." He's right. When God speaks through Pastor, and uses his voice to speak to His people, the man just becomes an instrument for God.

When I got home, filled with excitement from the service, I asked my wife what she thought made that message so special, and the answer is simply: GOD. I read back through my notes trying to find something that stood out more than everything else and I couldn't find it. What took place was a filling of the Holy Spirit that cannot be traced or explained, but only felt. I was called out at the very end of service to retrieve my youngest girl from nursery, but when I returned I saw that the chairs were emptied and everyone, if not in body then in spirit, had approached the front of the room to bow before the Throne of God. People were saved and believers were refilled. The experience was awe inspiring. I cried with my wife kneeling below me and my baby in my arms. A brother came and prayed with us while music continued and we were just flipped right-side-up as a result of Jesus in our lives.

This was just one of those services that doesn't end this night. If you were a part of this event, I hope that you were blessed like me. Give glory to God for the work He has done. Praise Him and never stop lifting up His name.

Follower of Jesus

You might notice the new header for this blog. It's made up of some cool letters from flickr.com . I want it to be clear who it is that I serve. We're taking a course at church called Treasure Principles from Crown Ministries. The major focus of the class is our eternity in Heaven with Jesus. I've learned that even though we are not dead in our flesh yet, we are however, currently alive in eternity. This fact weighs heavy on how I conduct myself daily. Give of yourself to God, now, and your reward will build up in eternity.

Follow Jesus. Do this by knowing who He is. Know who He is by reading His message in the Bible. Understand the message by talking to God. Build a relationship with God, by following His direction in your life. Follow Jesus by allowing Him to be your best friend.

Sickness

Have you ever noticed, that when you get things going great with God and your walk is upright and strong, that Satan attacks harder than ever. Well, I leaned on God and relocated my family across the country in search of a new life. Let me tell you, God gave us new life and we have been having the greatest time walking with Him. As a result, Satan has attacked our health. Everyone in my family has been sick pretty much for the last 6 months. My girls lately have been running 104+ fevers and we just get worn out with the colds.

I would consider this attack on our health to be an attempt by Satan to knock us away from our walk with God. Recently, we've missed church meetings and bible studies and thrown away chunks of money paying for doctors and medicines. We know that God will continue to use us, but the struggle is difficult.

Please pray for my family's health so that we can continue to serve God with all of our strength.