This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a “Strong Men’s Conference” at my church in Charlotte, North Carolina that was both inspiring and challenging. Men in particular need the challenge to rise above the day-to-day things of life and focus on one key question……Are they acting like men or lambs?
Many of us have a romantic notion about visiting a cabin in the mountains. Somehow we think that being in an old cabin with no running water or electricity will make us happy and rested. For people in the US, who actually grew up in this manner, and I know some, it was anything but romantic. It was hard work and consumed your time with chores like going to the creek for water and cutting down trees for fire wood.
“Perspective”….it makes all the difference in the world!
Many of us live from our “Old Memories” rather than from the “Precepts” of God’s word. Consequently, we live as “Slaves” of our past rather than in the freedom that God’s word was meant to birth in us.
I started writing this topic on “Discovering God as a Lover” in two previous articles, which some have found to be either hard to grasp or accept, and so I wanted to continue the topic. So much of people’s Christian faith is anchored in the notion that knowing facts about God is all that is required to have a satisfying Christian experience. From a Biblical position, this is the farthest thing from the truth.
We first talked about the scripture from 1 John 4:7-8 which identifies God’s very nature. God’s nature is defined as love, and unfortunately that word in the english usage has so many different meanings today. We use the same word to say, “I love steak” or “I love tacos”. With the same word we say,”I love my dog” and “I love my kids”.
A recent survey by American Psychiatry says that nearly half of American households have had someone seek mental health treatment this year! This is just one such survey revealing the struggle and confusion of the human soul. Believing in God but not trusting Him practically is like the above picture.
Another study done in 2007 found that 3 out of 100 people struggle with depression. The same study showed that people being treated for depression tripled in the early 1990s. Overall about 8.7 million people were treated for depression in 2007 compared to 6.5 million in 1997. Today it is estimated that 11% of people world-wide suffer from some form of depression and among adolescents under 18 years of age its closer to 70%. Is it any wonder the suicide rate is up so high with teenagers?
One of the few things children are not taught is how to be humble enough to ask for help regularly. If you were encouraged to ask, you were a fortunate child. As adults, we assume kids will figure out they need others in their lives to learn and navigate this life. Too often, kids experience criticism in their quest to learn and end up being afraid of showing any kind of weakness with regards to their intelligence or skills.
All to often, when kids become adults, they carry this baggage of insecurity in their souls, which cheats them of a rich life with others. With all the electronic devices we use, we have become so unaccustomed to asking for help from another human being, and instead, refer to the internet to solve our ignorance or lack of inexperience. Now the internet is a great tool, like all the YouTube tutorials, but t’s so sad that we are becoming more insecure rather than well-balanced as human beings because of using it. Texting, emails and the like are convenient, but have a cost of isolation and further awkwardness in interacting with others.
The background of this word came from the Lord as I was flying from North Carolina to New York, to minister at Saratoga Abundant Life Church, in Saratoga Springs, New York. the day was April 5, 2018.
I intended to put music on in the plane and go to sleep. After not seeping much for a number of days I knew I really need the rest. I felt directed by the Hoy spirit to put the sound track to the movie “The Last Samurai” on and settle in to go to sleep when just after the first song ended the Holy Spirit told me to take out my iPhone and start writing. I attempted to disagree with the Lord’s instruction, claiming my keyboard on my iPhone had small keys and I had fat fingers, but the Lord was not changing his mind or my instructions.
I’m reading a new book that many of you will find beneficial and just might save you from a lot of pain.
The book is “Killing Kryptonite” by John Bevere.
John says – “As Christians, there is a “kryptonite” that neutralizes our God-given power and character.”
Recently, I lost my balance and fell from a ladder from the first story roofline onto a cement patio at my house in Charlotte, NC. I had been working on installing gutter guards on the first story of my house and now was moving to accomplish the same thing on the second story, with the help of my son-in-law.
This last Sunday, while waiting for the service to start in a church which Sue and I visited, I purposefully put my spiritual antenna up to see if God would speak to me about, well anything. I figured, being in God’s house is the best place to hear his voice right?
John 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
You see, I believe God speaks more often than we realize, but because we are so preoccupied with “stuff” like things around us, worry, desire and a multitude of other distractions, we don’t hear, or dare I say we “Can’t Hear”.
This is the second day of our pastors school with Jimmy Evans in Texas, and I am so blessed to be in this conference. Two hundred pastors are leaning from some of the best teaching in the country, and Pastor Glenn, John and myself are getting filled and challenged is a special way.
I have discovered over the years, that if you want to grow in Christ, there is a price you will need to pay to do so. Sometimes it’s just making time to receive, and sometimes it may cost you a great deal in time and resources. The point being is that God provides many opportunity for us, but attached to that opportunity are certain requirements that motivate us to be partners with God in our development.
