Importance of Prayer

Sorry for the length of the blog post below "Running Late". I don't like the long posts, I don't think people read them.

Well, I just wanted to take time to encourage my readers to find a regular time to pray. And don't let that time be interrupted. The story in "Running Late" gives a good example of worry when prayer was neglected. If you go back in the archives of this blog, you'll see how prayer has dramatically changed my walk with the Lord. You don't have to go back, just take my word for it. I've been walking with God for 15 years now. Thru prayer, He has graced me with the ability to see His will and hear His conviction in my life, but I didn't learn about this gift until recently.

Be encouraged in my past tragedy of a weak prayer life and my new relationship with my God as a result of a healthy prayer life. Be encouraged to pray, regularly and with energy and passion.

Ask yourself, Ask God if your time in prayer is enough or if He deserves more time or passion. Don't worry, I'm being convicted now, too.

I hadn't realized how crippled I was, until I went out on faith and prayed.

Running Late

This evening after work, I stopped by my parents' new home to say hi. Today they just started moving into a new house that works out to be on my way home. The visit was to be short and then I'd leave to make it home at regular time. Well, I told Duski I'd be home at 5:30, but I noticed while I was driving that I would be about 15 minutes late. I'm really big on keeping my word with Duski, so I was worried about what would happen when I let her down.

So while I'm driving, I start to think of some fair excuses that I could give her for the delay. I thought of true excuses like traffic or construction, but they hadn't really slowed me down so I'd be telling her a half truth. I even re-set my watch back a few minutes so I could excuse the time because my clock was slow, but that would be an outright lie. What started to trouble me more, was that my rides home are typically filled with prayer and fellowship with my God, and tonight I let this 15 minute delay get between me and God.

There is a happy ending. Once I realized that I had excluded God from our regular prayer time and replaced Him with worry, I asked for forgiveness and returned to prayer. God revealed to me what was going on internally and made it clear that it was foolish to worry about making an excuse. He was going to make it all work out if I just asked Him for help. I did and was blessed and I give glory to God.

When I arrived home, I found my wife outside in the street speaking with a new person. It was a teacher from High Point Christian Academy, where Yazzi goes to school and she has just moved in across the street. So instead of a possible conflict when I arrived home, I encountered a blessing. My wife met yet another Christian woman her age. I'm sure Duski won't realize I had this conflict until she reads this blog post, and then God will have a chance to make this a blessing to her as well.

Pray without ceasing...include God in your worries.

Gospel

I am a sinner.

As a result of my sin, I will be seperated from God for eternity.

Jesus, however, being God - became man and lived a perfect and sinless life. By grace, He willingly died to represent the perfect sacrifice for my sin and therefore purchased my freedom and life. Jesus arose from death into life and has provided the same eternal reward for me.

Now, I am alive in eternity! I will live eternally with Jesus in Heaven!

Because He lives, I also live and choose to follow Jesus!

Rapture

What if Jesus came tomorrow to take us home?

Would you be excited or scared? Would you worry about what Jesus might think about your lifestyle or quality of walk with Him? Or would you be unable to contain your excitement?

I'm the one that might not make it to tomorrow because of the excitement. If I knew that the Lord would bring me home tomorrow, I would want to make sure I told everyone I encountered until then about the good news. I would want to take them with me.

Jesus tells us to be prepared for His return. Part of my preparation would be to share the good news of His return, to tell the world about Him. Well, at least that would be my preparation if I would be leaving for home tomorrow. But what if He waits a little longer, does that change what I do to prepare for His return? I was convicted when I thought about my zeal for the short period, but really saw my lack of it in the broader picture.

I have a job to do for Jesus, He has made it clear. I don't have the freedom to reserve my hard work for the last day, God wants my hard work for now. If you've been convicted about your excitement to share the Good News of Jesus, then join me in celebrating Jesus' soon return by reaching out, now, while the harvest is plenty.

John 4:35 - Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Fast

We've all heard of a "fast" before. It's when you stop eating for a while to return your attention to God in prayer and worship. Actually it can be a little more than that, but we won't go too much into it here.

Well, I'be been on what I call a "tech fast" for the last week. I've found that I have become geek-level crazy over technology news, podcasts and websurfing and I just didn't realize how much it got in the way. God shined His spotlight onto this issue in my life recently and I decided to do something about it. So what I have done is return my homepage back to the average google website, turned off all my podcasts that aren't related to Jesus in some way, and thrown away all my bookmarks that I usually surf throughout the day.

This may seem like nothing to most of my readers, but I figured that these things take up about 9 hours a day on average. I found ways to multitask these things into my workday, evenings and weekends. That's a ton of time wasted, that God wanted to get back! He deserves it back! He deserves my focus on Him!

At the beginning of the fast, I found it hard to ignore but simple to stick to since I was able to just throw these things out. They were gone so I wasn't tempted. (This is much simpler than your normal food fast, I guarantee.) As I distanced myself from those distractions, I was able to return my focus to God. The many hours of useless podcasts have now turned into wonderful hours of bible study with my favorite teachers. The hours of surfing, have turned into time of reading God's word and fellowship with my family. My prayers aren't just dreams and vapors anymore because I can focus with a clear head and heart.

I dedicated myself to this fast for 2 weeks, but I might just have to make this my new lifestyle. (Again, with a normal food fast, you cannot continue to fast for more than 2 weeks.) The lesson learned here is simple: When God points out something that gets between you and Him, with prayer and fasting he will remove all distractions. We are to be in constant fellowship with Him, and with prayers never ceasing. I encourage you to ask God in prayer if there are any distractions that He can reveal that need to be removed to allow Him to fellowship with you fully.

Rainbow Vacuums

Have you ever sat through one of those demos for a Rainbow Vacuum or other similar product? Well, let me tell you, it is worth it! Not for the product, however cool it might be and no matter how much I want to buy it, but for the eternal value that it might hold for the salesman.

When he comes knocking or calling, be very welcoming and entertain his sales pitch. He's committed to 2 hours for this deal and he'll stay around for easily 1 more hour after to do anything he can to close the deal. These guys are very attentive and patient... and good at what they do. The last 1 hour of the deal is when he slowly packs up his gear and waits for you to ask questions.

We asked him what he thought about Jesus. He wasn't put back at all, but did change the subject back to the product. However, we convinced him to stay around longer to hear the gospel and accept an invite to church. We talked for about an hour about our love for the Lord and the Bible. We made sure to mention the importance of Jesus and really made the most of our captive audience. We gave him copies of our favorite sermons on CD and let him know we would pray for him. You see, all we need is opportunity to share the gospel and the Holy Spirit will keep him captive. So next time the sales guy calls to take up an evening, be very willing and be sure to return the favor by treating him with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

P.S. (my sales pitch to you) If you'd like an opportunity to further water a planted seed and entertain a lost soul, let me know ASAP and we'll get him over to your home for time of ministry within 2 weeks, guaranteed! Email - ih8s8n@gmail.com - Jamie

Faith like a child

It amazes me how a child can know, trust and love God with such excitement and peace. They are innocent little lives, but their faith is full grown. Sometimes I think that our faith shrinks as we get older and then it suddenly explodes again as a result of some major interaction. Hopefully that explosion in your faith brings you closer to God instead of faith in something of the world.

Ask a child that attends Sunday school faithfully about God and step back to be amazed. They trust in Him with their whole heart and believe so easily in what they cannot see. And they don't have any reservations about sharing what they know about God to you or even perfect strangers.

Teach your children about God, and show them scriptures to introduce them to our Savior. Leave a legacy and strengthen their faith. As parents, our mission field is right here in our homes. Who do you want to shape your child's faith? God or the world?

2 Timothy 3:14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Give Glory to God

The roofing guy was on the roof of a 3 story office building doing some repairs to the structure when he started to slip. His thoughts sped up or time stood still because he had plenty of time to plead with God to help him stop falling. "God don't let me hit the ground, don't let me die, please help me!" He felt like his life would end. When he nearly reached the edge of the roofline, his belt got hung up on an old nail that had been sticking up. This tiny nail, held the man to the roof allowing him to get his grip and crawl to safety. After this trial, he cursed God and said, "It sure was good that the nail was there because God sure wasn't going to catch me."

It's funny how we never forget to call on God when in need, but we frequently neglect to give glory to God for the life changing miracles that he performs in our life. The nail might have been left from a previous worker, but it was God that allowed that nail to catch the man. Don't let yourself be like the ungrateful roofing repair man. Always look to see how God showed up in your trial and give Him the glory He deserves. Like the nail that saved the roofer, Jesus' nails saved your life and mine.

This post was prompted by answered prayer. My friend had a need that many have been praying for and God granted favor in his trial and the glory can only be given to God.

Praise Him

Isn't God worthy of our praises?

Take a moment now and praise Him for 10 things. Make it fun and try to praise Him for 10 things in 10 seconds. It's easy if you try. Remember that everything good comes from God. Now, think of how long it takes you to go from where you are now to your car...or your mailbox...or your bathroom...etc.. There will be lots of 10 seconds in your day. Fill them with praise to the Father! Imagine what a difference this will make in your relationship with Him...and it only takes a few seconds at a time.

technorati tags: praise, God, Jesus, is, Lord

Fellowship in Marriage

My wife is my best friend. We became friends before we courted for marriage and I'm very thankful for the way things worked out. We talked about dreams, and our fun life experiences. We were comfortable in our communication and we agreed on many things. You might say that we were compatible as friends. It's no surprise to me that she is still my best friend. You could say that we have common ground and a solid foundation.

We didn't talk much about our faith in God or belief in Jesus. I think that we both sort of saw it in each others lives and there was an unspoken security in just knowing that we loved the same Lord. As married partners in life, we were missing out on the most powerful blessing in marriage. We should have been including God in our conversations, but we didn't (at least not that much).

We go to church to fellowship with other believers. We call our time at men's retreats: fellowship. Some churches are named a fellowship of some sort. In Christianese - we don't just attend a church, we fellowship at a gathering of believers.

Fellowship belongs in a marriage. Don't neglect it in your marriage, and if you are not married then encourage someone you know to include fellowship in their marriage or in the marriage of your parents. My wife completes me and even finishes my thoughts for me. I do the same for her. With that sort of intimacy, God can cause both of you to grow exponentially in your walk with Him. The greatest support I receive from my wife is in times of fellowship when we lift up the name of Jesus and praise Him together.

Use what you have, now.

Exodus 4:2 - So the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

He said, "A rod."

Sometimes I wonder, "How is God going to use me?" "What tool, knowledge, or skill is God going to equip me with to do a good work for Him?" The answer is simple: Use what you already have.

In Exodus, Moses asked God to equip him for his approach to Pharoah to release his people. So the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" Moses had a rod in his hand and God chose to use it for His good work. We allow ourselves to be blind to our current status and think that we don't have what it takes. God used Moses' rod and David's sling with a few stones or the jawbone of a donkey in Samson's hands. God doesn't need to give us any new tools or skills, we need to let Him use us with whatever it is that we already have to do His will.

I have a computer and a blog that I'm going to use for God's work because that is something that I already have. I can't wait for an education from Bible college or the experience of a missions trip to Hungry before I start doing work for God; I have to start now. If He wants to give me these other things to improve on my efforts, then I will be praising Him for that. But for now, He will use me where I stand. What do you have that you will allow God to use in your life for His glory today.

-What on Earth are you doing for Heaven's sake? -Dr. Kent Hovind

technorati tags: God, Heaven, work, serve, Moses

Jesus Freak

I've heard that some radical Christians have been referred to as Jesus Freaks. It's an affectionate term that is not necessarily meant to be negative. Jesus Freak is a term that was made popular by the rock band, DC Talk.

I think about how we refer to other nations sometimes by their national religious beliefs. We talk about the Arabs, Muslims, Jews, etc... Some nations might refer to us as Jesus people or Christians. I'm saddened by the way that the world sees us in America as Christians, but a huge portion of our current population, in fact, rejects Christ.

My local church prays that we can reach the Triad, with the hopes that once we reach our area we can then expand out into our nation. I think that if we are going to reach our country, we really need some of those Jesus Freaks and extremely radical followers of Christ to lead the way and evangalize the unsaved and desciple the believers.

So go and be a Jesus Freak....Our country needs it!

Bride of Christ

Revelation 21:9 - Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."

As a man, I find it difficult to relate to Christ as being His bride because it's not really a manly thing. We know from the scriptures that we are His bride so to say that I am a follower of Christ is basically the same as being the Bride of Christ. I accept the relationship, gladly and I'm proud to be Christ's bride, just the same as I am proud to be a follower of Christ.

I bring this up because my friend in Finland (Satu) referred to me as a fellow Bride of Christ and it made me think about God with a different relationship or from a different perspective. I'm not going to be able to exhaust my thoughts about this bride and groom relationship until I have a chance to spend time in prayer and study with God. I can at least say that I am thankfully uncomfortable in realizing that there is a portion of my relationship with Jesus that has not yet been explored.

I'm reminded of a passage in Lamentations 3:22-24 - His compassions are new every morning.

technorati tags: follower, bride, Christ

State of the blog...

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

I'm sure everyone has heard this one before but it always gets me a different way each time I read it.

I wanted to make a short post here to mention that I don't want these blog postings to get too long, and I have had a few long ones lately. Please continue to read, even if the postings get longer. There are some real gems in here if you stick around to receive them. Thanks to everyone for visiting. "Jesus is Lord" is up to about 50 daily readers and that tells me that God is doing something amazing here. Keep reading and please invite some friends to read that you would like to bless but might have had trouble reaching in other ways. Lead them to the gospel and let the Holy Spirit take over from there. Also, please leave comments and feedback and add a pin to my Frappr map on the sidebar - I'd like to know what the readers would like to see and where everyone is coming from.

-follower of Christ (Jamison)

technorati tags: followerofchrist, jesusislord, blog, proverbs

Unknown blessing

I had this truck that was given to me that just was driven until it died. I wasn't going to fix it, but there were a few parts still usable to someone with a similar parts truck. I tried selling it for parts for 3 months, but never even got any calls or interest. I lowered the price many times until it was priced less than the value of the gas in the tank.

I finally had to break down and just give it to someone that could tow it away so that I didn't have to pay to dispose of it. I was really bummed. I didn't blame God for getting nothing for my truck, but I did have questions for Him. I asked, "why didn't you bless me with a compatible buyer that would pay for this truck instead of just giving it away?" I struggled with this in prayer for a few hours. I went back and forth trying to find the blessing.

I remembered that I was blessed by it being given to me in the first place, but that didn't really satisfy me. I still wanted to know why God chose for me to give the truck away instead of sell it for profit. I'm not greedy or anything, but I just thought that it was a good place for God to bless me. Again, after a few more hours of prayer I got the answer I was looking for.

You see, God does have a blessing left in that truck, but it wasn't initially planned for me. I gave that truck to someone who will fix it, and give it away when he's done with it. This fellow I gave it to, will not appreciate that I gave him a great deal, HOWEVER the person he will give it to is going to be blessed far more than I could expect. I'm not sure how God will give that blessing, but I was given a sense of fulfillment in knowing that the truck was no longer of enough value to sell... but it will be given to owner after owner... and each time it is given, there will be blessings.

Giving doesn't always reward you immediately, but God is giving rewards. I'm rewarded by knowing that His blessing doesn't stop with me; it continues on when I pass it on (give). Give something to the Lord and ask where the blessing will be and He will enlighten you with a wonderful reward.

technorati tags: followerofchrist, jesusislord, blessing

Giving

Some of you might know, that Duski and I have just completed the Crown Ministries course called Treasure Principles. This course is all about Godly giving and Heavenly treasures. By the way, it is a great class and I suggest it to anyone interested in their Heavenly treasures.

Anyway, we were given a chance to evaluate our hearts in the area of giving. We have been challenged and feel like we want to give more of what we have to God's Kingdom. Everything is God's anyway, so I think He would like to see us give to someone who needs it more than us. This helps to change our heart and to depend on Him even more.

The greatest story we learned in class was about a family that wanted to give $1 million to further the gospel. This was a lofty goal but they just started giving. First they gave 10% of what they had each year and then increased it quickly to 50%. They didn't make much to begin with. After just a few short years, they were giving 100% of their income to the Lord, but they still managed to survive. God just kept rewarding them for their faithfulness. You can read more about the story in the Treasure Principles book.

There is a challenge there to give more. There is a promise of a blessing as well. This is an area that God tells us to test Him. He wants us to try to give more than He can, which is something we can never do. But if that's what He's asking us to do, than are we being faithful in giving according to His wishes. I challenge myself and anyone else that is striving to be a follower of Christ to try to give more than God and be blessed by never being able to outgive the Creator.