Instant Wisdom

In I Corinthians it talks about how God's wisdom supercedes all the wisdom on this earth. His wisdom surpasses all our obtainable knowledge and great intellectual exploits. I have been racking my brain to find a way to finance Andrea and i getting pregnant again. I don't have $5000 laying around to emplant twins in October. We both want so bad to be pregnant again and bring (hopefully) two little babies into our family. We prayed and felt like this was perfect timing and sensed that God would bless it. Through searching out loans, credit cards, and other borrowing avenues, we didn't feel comfortable with going into more debt along with high borrowing interest rates. Yesterday, we came up against a wall and decided not to go the loan route and trust God. If He wanted it to happen, He would make a way. At that moment of decision, God dropped an idea in my head that I never thought of before. I won't go into details, but lets just say that we won't go into debt and it is no extra financial stress on our family. Thank-you God so much for your wisdom, plans, and ideas. I was stressing out about making this happen for months and God in the span of 15 minutes made it all happen. There is a lesson in this: Don't worry, because God has it all in control. Not only did he pave a way for this to happen, but his stamp of approval and blessing was evident. Thank-you that your wisdom confounds the wisdom of this world. Help me always to search out your wisdom and not the wisdom on this earth

A Prayer From Romans 12

Lord,

Help me not to be hyprocitical with my love. I want to have a strong distaste for evil and pursue goodness. I need to prefer others better than myself. Let diligence permeate everything I do. Let fervency be an aspect of my service to my Lord. I want to rejoice in hope, persevere in every hard trial, and always in everything be devoted to prayer. Help me not to seek revenge on those who curse me, but in return, bless them. Help me to be estactic when others succeed and weep with those who are hurting. Help me not to boast in myself, but associate myself with the lowly. Let me brag on the wisdom of God and not in my own selfish ideas or thoughts. Let me live with moral excellence, Godly character and integrity no matter who is around. I want to be a peace maker in every situation and overcome all evil with good. Keep me humble God. Keep me hungry God. Keep me holy God. I want to be a slave to intimacy

Slave to Righteousness

Romans 6 is such an amazing chapter. I have always been aware of the phrase "slaves to sin" that is repeated several times in the chapter. The Bible admonishes us to no longer be slaves to sin and to stop offering our body to the tools of wickedness. Reading this chapter again, I saw the phrase, "slaves to righteousness". When you are a slave to something, you have no choice but to do what enslaves you. Of course, when we are mastered by sin, we become enslaved and in bondage to the demands of the enemy. On the flip side of the coin, when we are slaves to righteousness we are enslaved to what is holy, pure, and ethical. I have never thought of myself as a slave to righteousness, but that is what Paul asks us to be. I truly want to be at the point in my relationship with Christ, that when i am tempted by sin, I will not give in, because I can't, because i am enslaved to righteousness and not sin. I am dead to the old self (sin) and now alive to the new man (Christ). The word slave brings about a negative connotation in our society, but I want to be a slave to God. Being a child of God brings with it acceptance, grace, love, discipline, and protection, but being a slave to God, brings about commitment, perserverance, dedication, sacrifice, and a martyr atittude. Thank-you god that you chose me to be your child; now I choose to be your slave.

The Difference

As I read some comments from supposedly one of America's top 50 most influential pastors (no names), I was stunned that a lack of moral excellence and holiness has crept into our pulpits. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we have to talk and act with the vulgarity and coarsness the world uses in order to reach the world. Remember, the Bible says we are "in the world" not "of the world". I am a son of my father, so I take on alot of his characteristics and personality traits. I am also a son of God which means my imitations of him should align with who he is and what he stands for. I am sorry to see that so many Christian leaders in the world today have stepped over the line from in the world to of the world. Their character, moral values, belief systems, and integrity are starting to look alot like the world's and not God's. Just in the last 3 days I have been made aware of two pastoral moral failures that shook me to the core. These falls (which none of us are immune from), don't just happen overnight, but are constant daily decisions to quench the Spirit's voice of moral excellence and integrity. God, please don't ever hesistate to speak reproach or conviction in areas of my life that could eventually lead to moral tragedy. Help me not to search for fame in the Christian world by boasting my talent, being controversial, or striving to see my name in a magazine or a headliner at a conference. LET MY PASSION BE TO KNOW YOU AND NOT FOR PEOPLE TO KNOW ME!!!!

Trials equal Joy

God,

I want more desire for you. I want my passions to be birthed through your heart. I want to wake up everyday with anticipation of what you have for the day ahead. Lord teach me to "count my trials" as joy and endure to the end so I will learn what you are teaching me. Father, get rid of my desires for things that satisfy my flesh and may my yearning be for holiness. I don't want to live in the ordinary or operate in mediocrity. Teach me how to be an overcomer, a man of excellence, and a person that is driven by my God-given passions.

Your Child

Complete

This last week, I fully understand the statement that Jesus made about marriage, "the two shall become one". My wife was gone for a week for a speaking engagement in Florida. I consider myself a pretty confident, independent person, but when my wife is gone for an extended period of time, I feel incomplete, isolated, and for lack of a better word, blah. An amazing thing happens when a marriage takes place; you no longer can survive or function on your own, but you have now joined your person, physically and spiritually to another. Thank you God for my wife and the completeness you bring in me when we are together. "the two flesh will be one"!

Creativity

Sometimes I sit behind my desk and can rack my brain for hours and nothing creative or workable comes out of it. I am not a desk person. Put me behind a desk with no people around and I become worthless when it comes to brainstorming or being creative. I am sitting at Panera right now with my laptop and sitting on a plush couch. In the background their is chatter and restaurant noises. There is constantly foot traffic around me and of course the elevator music over the pa system. You would think that in this setting, one would not be able to concentrate, but put a cup of coffee in my hand and I become a modern day Thomas Edison. All of a sudden my mind comes out of its cramped state and begins to pulse creativity, flow, and ideas. My fingers begin to work feverishly on the keyboard as I jot down notes and the virtual ticker tape that is coming out of my mouth picks up rpms. Thank-you Panera for being busy and noisy. You are the iniator of many great projects in my life. A special blessing to you, Panera!!!