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Making men MEN again. The David Alliance will help you slay your giants.
Episodes
Tuesday May 09, 2023
Tuesday May 09, 2023
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7 things God hates…
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes:
2. A lying tongue:
3. hands that shed innocent blood:
4. A heart that devises wicked schemes:
5. Feet that are quick to rush into evil:
6. a false witness who pours out lies: This deals with perjury. But when the Proverbs writes about a false witness, the principle is so much deeper than the mere avoidance of lying. This is talking about making right confession. The word confession is a word that literally means to speak truth that is revealed by God.
So our second Hate we covered was that God hated a lying tongue, what is the true difference between that and a false witness, both are lies. Well it is one thing to lie to get ahead, to look better than you are, to escape penalty or save yourself etc… but when you lie and it tears and maliciously hurts another person. When it vilifies them and is untrue… God hates it! The underlying theme here is God is saying “look if you lie, I will deal with it between you and me. Simple simon. But when you lie about someone else, now multiple people are involved and believing the lie. Now it goes beyond a one on one problem between you and God… now it is defaming and destroying a person in front of an audience…
Have you ever noticed that God never humiliated and shamed anyone regarding their sins except the Religious leaders… the pious pharisees and sadducees who were all about religion and control. God hated what they stood for… but when sinners came to him and asked him for food, healing, deliverance, wisdom, answers… anything- he never said “really, you the guy who lusted after your bosses wife, you the woman who stole, the person who gossiped about your stepmother… He sure could have, but he chose not to. He had the power and the right, but never tried to make anyone purposefully feel shamed or look bad… so how much more should we be careful when we do this on a false pretense. We do lie about others… Jesus could have made people look bad with the truth and didn’t, but we make people look bad with a lie… thats not going to go over to well. Maybe this is why God hates false witness so much.
One more intricacy in this passage… the understanding in the Hebrew text of a false witness denotes the idea of a pre planned attack on someone. you have deliberately chosen to lie about someone… to attack their witness with your false witness.
So if God hates this- what is the opposite? Well he loves it when you speak the truth to uplift someone. To encourage them, to love them, make them feel a part of something special and big. To point out their Godly characteristics. Do you take time to speak hope, life, love, encouragement to those in your life? Friends, neighbors, family, co-workers. Do you plan out Godly contact with those you will run into daily, weekly and monthly? You know we live in a world where a little bit of love and encouragement goes a long way. Take time today and this week to pull out your phone and speak some life into people and watch how much God loves it.
Monday May 08, 2023
Monday May 08, 2023
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Have you ever heard someone use the saying “hurry up and wait”. it sounds crazy when you think about it, but if you have ever been to the DMV you understand completely… you hurry there, get there early and still wait in line. Well thats where were going today.
7 things God hates…
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes:
2. A lying tongue:
3. hands that shed innocent blood:
4. A heart that devises wicked schemes:
5. Feet that are quick to rush into evil: To rush into evil is to demonstrate a great delight and enjoyment of evil and an eagerness to participate in it. Looting, smash and grab, robbing others, acts of violence… you think well they deserve it, or the system is rigged agaisnt them so they needed to steal that stuff… God hates the enjoyment of evil. A lot of people like to witness evil and yet they would never think of doing it themselves. God says not on my watch. Look we know that God is love, God is capable of great love and sacrifice… thus his sons death on the cross… and for God so loved the whole world… ok, we got that - but God is also able to Hate… hate that scorches the earth…
Why might you run in to evil… surely we as followers of Christ wouldn’t just run to evil… would we?
Well, do you get excited when an enemy gets hurt, killed or injured… or even if it is their reputation? Are you quick to jump on the band wagon and talk trash about those you don’t like or who have hurt you? Do you find joy in hearing stories of misery and pain regarding those who hate you?
Now scripture is clear that vengeance is the lords and we should eagerly want people to be saved from their sins… but we do often enough find it easy to let our minds rush into evil…
There is also a dual meaning here in this verse… it also entails the idea of being ready and willing to pull one over on someone. You see that you can make a quick buck, or a quick promotion, or quickly make someone look bad and you jump at the chance. I bring this up because it is easy to excuse our actions as those that are not really evil… but honestly I am guilty much like you. But if God hates feel that are quick to rush into evil what must he love? Well the opposite would be simply one who is slow to anger, slow to respond, slow to judge and slow to speak.
It reminds me of the story of the chinese farmer
A farmer and his son had a beloved horse who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbours exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild horses back to the farm as well. The neighbours shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the horses and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The neighbours cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg. The neighbours shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
The truth is being slow is a gift from God, a quality that he himself displays… scripture says he is slow to anger…
We can’t always see far enough ahead to justify rushing anywhere in regards to anger or evil. Our best bet is to wait, pray, pray some more and ask God to give us his wisdom and his heart. Don’t rush to evil, rush to wait.
Friday May 05, 2023
Friday May 05, 2023
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Scheming
7 things God hates…
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes:
2. A lying tongue:
3. hands that shed innocent blood:
4. A heart that devises wicked schemes: Throughout Scripture, God reminds us that He alone searches the heart. God knows what we think and he sees the plans and purposes that are conceived in the souls of all people.
Scheming is like streaming… I don’t mean as in streaming movies or downloads… I mean as in no one just decides “hey Im’a gonna scheme some bad stuff today”.
it starts out as a trickle… then a small stream, then a river and finally a flood.
King David is the perfect example of a heart gone bad… and remember he was called a man after Gods own heart, but on one particular day he got it all wrong. He is supposed to be out killing bad guys… doing his job. But he takes a day off, he is kicking back … next thing you know he is a peeping tom. Checking out Bathsheeba and Sheba Bathing! next thing you know David is Wango Tango with Bathsheeba. Now she is pregnant… oh this is just the beginning of Davids scheming it went from a trickle to a stream and getting ready to be full on river/flood. Now David schemes to get her husband to come home and sleep with her, but it don’t go that way…. SO DAVID KEEPS SCHEMING… now he kills Uriah… and in time the bottom falls out. David loses his son, loses respect, loses the favor of the prophet and his whole family from that point on gets poisoned and reaps nothing but calamity.
So if God hates scheming… what’s the opposite? Well the opposite of scheme is Naive - now being naive doesn’t mean you blind, stupid or simple minded. In this context it means naive as in trusting … you do what you can and let God do the rest. You are naive yet excited as to what he is going to do. You have planned, you have prayed and you trust… now some would call that naive… yep, but it is prepared naivety.
Prov. 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
A man's steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
You are naive in that you don’t know or always understand your outcome, but you are confident in your trusting in God.
about 8 years ago I was fired from a church… long story, I did not deserve it - does anybody? LOL, but I truly didn’t and in fact the pastor who fired me was a few months later fired for her behavior…anywhoooo
I was asked to start preaching at a very small methodist church… none of this is making sense to me. All my youth groups as a youth pastor were bigger than this church, but I naively took the steps… Long story short, 8 years in I FREAKING LOVE MY CHURCH. I love the people, I love the location, I love the ministry. We are growing and in fact are cutting out and breaking new spiritual ground… we are now poised for a huge growth spurt and spiritual impact… I took steps- didn’t know where I was going - trusted God and now I am reaping the benefits of a life of naivety.
Thursday May 04, 2023
Thursday May 04, 2023
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7 things God hates…
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes:
2. A lying tongue:
3. hands that shed innocent blood: Innocence does not imply sinlessness. But to shed innocent blood is to take the life of one who has done nothing worthy of death. God loves and wants us to protect the innocent. And yes this scripture screams at the top of its lungs that abortion is absolutely vile and evil and perverted in the eyes of God… to be stopped at all costs….
But it does also have a nuance that states that if you shed blood by fist or instrument be it gun or car or brick… it is still hated by God.
It is not the act that is detestable, but rather the motive. Scripture is clear that murder is wrong, killing is not if done for punishment and or protection. If you are mad at someone and feel cheated and just walk up and hit them over the head with a steel bar… thats a no no. God hates this. There are many ways to first try to work through situations. However if you hurt a child, take another life or are in the current situation of protecting yourself - we see clear evidence in scripture that we have the right to shed guilt blood. Now if God hates the shedding of innocent blood, what does he love… what would the opposite of shedding of blood be? Well we understand the mindset of a person shedding blood in this situation is vengeance… so quite the opposite would be forgiveness.
But not just any forgiveness, but forgiveness from someone who is innocent and willing to stand in the gap for someone who is to be punished… even if neither deserve it. What do I mean.
In Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai. The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was
missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing
shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer
got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious
the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward.
The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death.
When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it
with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing.
Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread
like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to
die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The
men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies
swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors
(and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more
killing. Now what we need is forgiveness." Sacrificial love has transforming
power.
Wednesday May 03, 2023
Wednesday May 03, 2023
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Things that people hate and things that God hates… One thing that I hate is when people drop sentences… like “Oh I wanted to tell you that…..
7 things God hates…
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes:
2. A lying tongue: A lying tongue is a reminder that all words count. All words have weight, they have meaning and they have consequences and all our words will be judged by God. This is why in Proverbs 18:21 we are warned: life and death are in the power of the tongue. When we lie, we plant seeds of death in those that God created from the dust of the earth… We poison the soul that God has placed in all humans.
Once upon a time my son who was newly married was talked into buying a used car… actually trading in his current car for a used car… Now typically my son is an adult and he can make his own decisions… but this time he was talked into it by a man from our church. When all was said and done my son had been lied to, the new used car was not only a bad car, but it was a bad trade and a bad deal. THIS DUDE LIED TO MY SON. he made a quick buck off my son - but not with business acumen… but rather by lying to one of Gods children.
Now I know how God feels when I lie to his children.
Lies are not just things we choose to do to OUR reputation, but rather indignations we cast on Gods kids… we decorate them with our sin… that is inexcusable.
But again if God hates lies… it means he loves the truth. Who is Jesus? the son of God? - well yes, but he is the Way and the TRUTH…..
WHEN i love the truth I am loving Jesus. When I speak the truth I am speaking Jesus, When I protect the truth I am protecting Jesus reputation and his children… and in all these things I am treating Gods children with love by speaking the truth.
There is a reason people want to know the truth… why do you really want to know the truth… why do you hate being lied to? Because I know anything but the truth keeps me from what is best for me. God is what is best for me, his truth is what is best for me and if you tell me anything other than the truth you are stepping into the shoes of God… Danger Danger Danger….
Think of it this way… truth brings life, freedom, hope
Ever get diagnosed by multiple doctors and none can figure out what is wrong… they call kind of guess. but then you go to that one specialist and he knows the truth… there is a freedom there. he knows what’s wrong, he knows how to treat you and HE TELLS YOU.
GODS WORD IS TRUTH, WE SHOULD SPEAK HIS WORDS OF TRUTH, WE SHOULD SPEAK THE TRUTH AND WE SHOULD LIVE THE TRUTH.
The truth is loved by God, because as John 17:23 tells us God love Jesus,
Tuesday May 02, 2023
Tuesday May 02, 2023
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Things that men hate…
a shot to the fun pocket…
Being taken advantage of…
Made to look gullible…
Get beat up in front of others…
Manipulated by a women knowing that you have to let her have her way because its just not worth the hassle…
Men hate failing… at anything
Men hate looking weak at anything
Men hate feeling inadequate at anything
Men hate disappointing the people they love
But what does God hate? Maybe we would be wise to hate what God hates, and not so much focus on what we hate… just saying.
So what does God hate? Prov. 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1. Haughty eyes: Haughty eyes deals with pride and God hates pride. The eyes are the windows into pride. The phrase, “That person looks down on me!” That’s the haughty eye and its full of pride. Pride is the original sin that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Man wanted to be like God (notice the pride) more than he wanted to be with God. He looked down on God.
But even before that it was the first sin recorded in the history of eternity… even before time existed satan was kicked out of heaven because of pride.
And can we be honest… don’t you just hate when people are prideful, arrogant conceited …. when I say hate you might say… well thats kind of strong. But God hates these things… So we can as well. Yes love the person but its ok to hate this sin… so much so that you don’t want to be around them.
But if God hates this… then he must love the opposite… and that would be humility.
The Bible defines humility as “the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 22:4). Its etymological root is in the Latin word "humus" meaning "of the earth." To be humble is to be face down in the dirt, submitting to the authority of another, without personal pride. This is the Christian's proper position before the Lord.
James says "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." (James 4:10)
Did you know that in scripture Humility is a critical and continuous emphasis on godliness in the Bible.
Do you want to be humble, be Godly, do you want to be Godly, be with God… daily.
One of my favorite examples of becoming more like God is looking at my friends who grew up with me in Wisconsin (insert nasal tone) and have moved down south… after just a few years they all started to talk with a southern drawl… now what I didn’t realize is that when you move down south you can take classes to learn how to talk with a southern drawl… uhm no - that would be false… how does one acquire a southern drawl? You hang around people who have a southern drawl… how does one become humble? They become Godly, how doe they become Godly… they hang around God, his word, his people, his spirit, his church.
Hate pride, be humble, spend with with God and be Godly.
Monday May 01, 2023
Monday May 01, 2023
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The worst and the best draft picks and the grades given them…
First off my son is a sports writer for YES… Chicago sports, but also The Bills and the Ravens. This weekend he was busy 3 days straight 24/7 with analysis, writing, creating content, social media posts etc…
So I know a little about football… however with that being said these are not my grades these are straight from the NFL website… so cool your jets if you get mad at me and speaking of Jets… They were dead last in the grade… now yes they spent a mint on Aaron Rodgers… and he is a stud player… wait Garth are you giving the packers some credit…no I still hate the packers but I have never knocked talent - no matter how much I hate the packers… and of course this is sports hate, not biblical hate. And speaking of packers… yikes… did they take a nap or was everyone on Benadryl… how do you fail like that after losing the best QB in football…
hey if you break up with your girlfriend and she is a 11 out of 10… you better be lining up at least a 10 if not a 13… but the packers landed 2’s and 3’s….
They were rated the 5th worst draft team this year.. but lets talk about the top few teams… the Steelers did great, the eagles… I think they paid people off they did so well. The Bears were rated an A and scored in the top 5.
Why all this talk about the draft…
When you look at the worst draft picks in the history of the NFL you see a few trends…
No work ethic (all the talent in the world, but not willing to sacrifice) Jamarcus russell
Horrible relationship skills - ryan Leaf
his own teammates hated him… I think maybe his mother did too.
Tony Mandarich… what could have been. he believed his own hype, he was an ego maniac or as I like to call him an Ego Mandarich…
Charles Rogers… played 15 games… OVER 3 SEASONS… inconsistent was his name’O
Many of these guys were found out after the draft… found out they were drug users, Attitude junkies, Ego maniacs, lazy… the list goes on.
What if I ran a draft for building a Jesus team of 11 Men of God… the 11 positions would range from Healing, teaching, preaching, evangelism, worship, Wisdom, Miracles, Faith, Spiritual warfare, Serving, and of course Giving
Here are a few questions…
Do you even play?
Would we even look at you?
Do you have a track record?
Do you currently play for a great team… great prospects typically come from great colleges… Do you go to a great church for Xn growth?
Would you get solid references from your coaches about punctuality, attitude, work ethic… who are your coaches… your head coach if you are married would be your spouse, then your kids, then your pastors, your boss, your parents and finally your neighbors.
Look the truth is, you are on a team wether you like it or not if you are a Christ follower… Step up and live up to the price paid for your draft.
You might look at yourself and say Garth I don’t have what it takes to be in the NFL let alone in the MFL… Men of faith league…
But Paul tells us in Romans 8 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [d]through His Spirit who dwells in you.
That is your super power, you have Jesus living inside of you…
Rookie Sam Bradford got paid 70 million… he did not live up to it… Jesus paid for you with his life… don’t be a Sam Bradford. - you have been drafted, You have been empowered… no go live up to the hype.
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Friday Apr 28, 2023
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The hebrews… the Jewish nation is under slavery by the Egyptians for 430 hundreds years… I believe,
They are crying out for deliverance and God sends Moses… and you get the plagues… but why should God get them out?
When Moses goes to Pharaoh he tells them let my people go… but why?
Quick question… why should God get you out of your problems? Do you believe he cares and that he can? Do you believe he can take you out of your slavery to financial hardship… can he take you out of slavery to your health problems… out of your slavery to Relationship challenges…
Most people feel like they are a slave to something…
But why should God set you free?
Its a good question and the answer is clear in scripture… God speaks through Moses to Pharaoh and says “Let my people go so that they may serve me”. Not worship… (as some translations use that word… and to some degree it makes sense, but I can’t get into that right now) you can worship God in any circumstance - nothing can stop you from worshiping God, not even slavery. But to serve him him… The idea is to use all your energy, resources, time, money etc… to be able to serve God using all of who you are.
So when you are a slave in Egypt, you are worked to the bone, you are drained emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically. Have you ever truly been so tired so wiped out that going to Church on a Sunday almost seems overwhelming… or being involved in serving in a ministry on Tuesday night or Saturday… seems taxing. you have fallen again into a form of spiritual slavery…
I believe one of the fastest prayers answered is God allow me to serve you more with my resources… time, money, energy, health, education, relationships… what ever seems to be holding you down and enslaving you - help break this bondage of slavery to my circumstances so that I might serve you. God wanted his people free to serve him, he wants you free to serve him. God did the impossible to free his people so that they could serve him, he will do the same for you if that is your motive.
Pray today “God set me free so that I may sever you’ and watch God send his freedom.
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
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I remember back in the day I got a CD to load the newest Microsoft software in my computer, the CD had been a copy of a copy and it had the Key written in black sharpie on the front of it… I am pretty sure it had been used in about 25 computers… but the point is everyone was using the same operating system… and someone was making billions off of it.
Whats your operating system? Remember back in the day when you would go to use a CD rom or download a particular software and it would say it must run on the latest version of Windows 97 and up. Or people would ask, what is your operating system you are working with…
What is your operating system you are working with. its a good question… BTW I often use that line “it’s a good question” and you should write those down. and reflect on them… any way
You ask Garth, what do you mean what is my operating system… well I basically mean this… why do you ask. Why do you look? Why do you debate?
let me break it down for you. There are a lot of people out there that when they ask for your opinion they are only asking to try to reinforce their already made up opinion. They only want to be re-assured on their already supposedly factual opinion. They don’t want advice, they don’t want wisdom or guidance… they are not even fact finding… they are only looking for others to support their predetermined mindset.
This is not growth operative… in fact it negates any possibility of growth.
So when a person asks seeks or looks they have excuses, they easily dismiss the obvious, they have “intelligent reasons” why they won’t listen and why they are right.
I can ask right now if this is you… but 99% of the time you can’t even recognize it in yourself… but there is one thing you can do to change even if you don’t see it in yourself. Just go ahead and give the advice a good long try.
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel
OR
Prov. 12
15
The way of fools seems right to them,
but the wise listen to advice.
16
Fools show their annoyance at once,
but the prudent overlook an insult.
How quickly do you dismiss advice vs. how quickly you try it out?
How many questions do you ask when given advice?
How many times have you changed your opinion regarding your belief system?
But the bottom line is this… when asking God for direction, advice, insight, help, wisdom… GOD DOESN’T OFFER… HE DEMANDS.
If you choose not to change according to Gods word or his still small voice… thats on you… But God does not offer an opinion he offers the truth… You choose not to live according to his truth than you have chosen to live under a lie… did you hear what I said? If you don’t listen to his truth, you don’t then chose to listen to another good voice… you chose to live under a lie. You have chosen to live under your own operating system and not his… and much like many of you remember when you operate under the wrong operating system… it will crash. Remember when I opened with saying someone is making billions off of your operating system? Well it is the same in the spiritual world as well… if you live according to your own opinion or the worlds opinion - you are simply profiting the worlds agenda. its time to stop and upgrade your operating system and start seeking Gods opinion…
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
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Identity theft…
Facial recognition…
Voice recognition…
Eye scanners…
Finger prints…
How to tell when someone is who they really are… Can you see them for who they are? Great question but thats not where we are headed today. We are asking the question can you see where God is at in the murky details. it can take 3-5 days for fingerprints to come back and identify someone. Facial recognition can be almost immediate… eye scanner pretty fast… But the point is- how fast can you recognize Gods handiwork in your life.
I honestly believe one of the greatest skills in your life is to be able to discern where God is at in the murky details…
I was always amazed at my doctors when they would sit me down to look over X-rays, MRI’s, sonograms etc… Even all the colonoscopy’s that I have had simply look like a horror movie … you know a submarine ship traveling through the bottoms of the ocean waiting for a prehistoric creature to eat the sub… or I guess camera.
But again… the point - can you identify where God is at in your life, in your problems, in your relationships, in your health, in your job, in your kids, in your finances, in your circumstances…
If you google how to know Gods will in your life- you will find a lot of great stuff… but thats not exactly what I am talking about - Im challenging you to understand where God is at in the dirty details of your life… here is the best, quickest way to see where God is in the details… simply take a situation like “my marriage is rocky”… and ask God this question.
how can this make me more like Jesus?
Now you know where God is in this area.
What about your high blood pressure or your weight problem… how can this make me more like Jesus?
You are short on money?
How can this make me more like jesus.
HONESTLY… THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS.
This is why having a foundation of scripture in your life is so important, it gives you some direction or compass to see how, and what God might be doing, and or why he is doing it.
Early on when my marriage was really struggling I simply asked God “why? Where are you in this? How will this make me more like you”?
I quickly came to realize that I would have to rely on Gods grace, patience, mercy and love more than ever… that is how it will make me more like him.
IN fact I now love the hard times in my life because i understand more than ever it is what makes me more like Jesus.
You check out a crime scene and you go oh… I know who’s been here
You track an animal and you understand who has been here
When I meet someone and get to know them and see huge amounts of Joy in tragedy -I know Gods been there,
when I see mercy instead of revenge,
the wisdom in the uneducated…
the faith that shuts a tornado down…
the patience when other would crack…
the Power that calls out a multi million dollar building with no money in the bank
The Kindness to those who have persecuted you
The generosity in light of your own need…
Take time today and look at where your needs, struggles and problems are and realize Gods right there… and trust that it will make you more like Jesus.