Worship like David!

2 Samuel 12:20a- Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. I want to live a life of worship like David! This passage is from the account of David after he committed the sins of adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife and then sent him to die in battle to cover it up because she became pregnant with David’s baby. Nathan the prophet confronted him about it and David was repentant and forgiven by the Lord but the Lord told him the newborn baby would die because of his sin. (God has to discipline us) David fasted and prayed begging God to save the life of his baby but the Lord did what He said he was gonna do. BUT, after David realized the baby was dead, he rose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD to worship Him!! He could’ve easily stayed there on the ground in the fetal position for days in shame and disgust with himself, and feeling that God could never love him again the same way, but he went and worshiped, remembering that Nathan said God had forgiven him (2 Sam 12:13).

No matter what trials this life may be bring, may our first response be to worship the God who is control, who knows the very details of our lives better than we can ever know, who throws our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:11-12) when we get off the path of His perfect plan He has laid for us, and who loves us farther and deeper than any love relationship in our lives. This is true worship; not worshiping because we feel like it but worshiping because He is worthy and because of our love relationship with Him.

Sin is Serious!!

The Lord reminded me of a picture that I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere else in a sermon or something of the effects of sin and it’s called the “ripple effect”. When you throw a rock in the lake, ripples form around where the rock penetrates the water that protrude outwards in many concentric circles. Depending on how heavy the rock depends on how many circles are formed. This is a picture of sin in that the worse the sin is usually can determine the amount of damage it is capable of and the further it can spread to other areas of our lives and can especially affect others around us and potentially their spiritual walks with the Lord. The Bible says that sin brings death and destruction. Satan is determined to cause as much destruction he possibly can and negatively affect as many people (especially believers) as he can. Sin is destruction in our personal walks with the Lord but I believe that Satan has the greatest victory when he can get us to sin and bring others (especially believers) into participation with it. All you need to do is look at the damaging effects of the recently exposed sins of Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife. Also, the higher the platform the Lord has provided due to our position in the world or in ministry makes this sin more damaging and to have the greater ripple effect. Our “personal” sin has the potential to destroy our testimonies and wreak havoc and destruction in the kingdom of God and the world in their views of Christianity and the power it has to change lives for eternity. When the world sees that professing Christians cannot live up to the life and morals (based on the Bible’s teachings) they claim to, all of Christianity is looked at as fake and Jesus becomes “just a man” and not God Himself. Just turn on the news and you will find that the world is hemorrhaging right now and literally on fire. They need professing Christians to walk the walk in their spiritual lives, resisting the “personal” temptations leading to sin, so that they will have the connection with the Lord and Holy Spirit to share Jesus with them, which is the ONLY cure for the destruction and deception from Satan we see every day! Christians we need to remember and keep forefront in our minds (especially during times of temptation) that sin is DEADLY serious.

James 1:13-15- When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Posted to Facebook 9/5/20

Smash that idol!!

Transparency time! Sitting here this morning reflecting on the events of last night’s Chiefs’ AFC Championship game the Lord is reminding me that being a Chiefs fan used to be such an idol in my life! I used to make my late wife miserable during football season because I would watch football all day Sunday (no church) and if the Chiefs lost, I would get really frustrated/angry/depressed and make everybody around me miserable for nearly the whole week until I start it back up again the next week. UNTIL, the Lord graciously gave me an opportunity to smash this idol and choose something better. (and make life better for my family)

Towards the end of my military career I was a member of a great small church with a really small choir that I sang in. The “dilemma” became during football season because choir practice was after church that let out at 12 pm. We would practice for maybe 45 min to an hour and I would get home near to kickoff. Not bad…but when my choir director started realizing the voice God gifted me, he started asking me to sing solos. Stay with me here….this means that choir practice was from 12-1 pm, but working extra on practicing solos with my choir director was probably another hour or longer! The Lord used this to begin the path He would take me on into participating in worship ministry in churches and that being priority, no matter the season, which would continue on (9 years later) to pursuing Him in training to be a worship leader and now having the privilege of leading His people in worship!!

I can’t help but think, and the Lord is ministering to me about it so powerfully, if I would’ve made the “wrong” decision to turn down the solo opportunities and make sure I was home for my precious football game. I would be sitting here today maybe just a fanatic and miserable Chiefs fan that is sad/mad/depressed, and that’s it, NOT on fire for the true prize Jesus Christ, and a minister for the Lord and to His people who just happens to be a pretty fired up Chiefs fan. This is why I can truly look at last night’s game and feel like we just missed it!…but to also think what I would’ve missed if I wouldn’t have allowed the Lord to help me smash this idol a LONG time ago. Wouldn’t trade it for 50 Patrick Mahomes!

Thank You Lord!!

Posted on Facebook 1/21/19

Reflection of God’s Faithfulness

As I sit here chilling with my roommate’s dog Maddie, watching football, I am reflecting back on my school career. To think that I started this journey with Liberty University way back in 2012 through LU Online, doing 1 or 2 classes at a time, and then shortly after I started, my grandmother and brother passing away within months of each other, and then my wife of 14 years the next year, along with her mom in December of the same year, and then my grandfather in 2015, all the while pressing through and completing the LU Aviation Maintenance program (which was basically a 1-year intensive, going to school for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week for 50 weeks) and completing my FAA certification which lasts for a lifetime, then immediately after following the Lord into the School of Music, which was challenging in it’s own way, not to mention the spiritual attacks along the way the closer and closer I got to the finish line (especially this semester) is nothing short of absolutely amazing! Nobody can ever tell me that God and His Son, Jesus Christ is a “fairly tale,” because there is absolutely NO way I could have ever done that all in my own human strength. It was the Holy Spirit empowering me to continue to press forward through school despite going through the grieving process through the many losses and to achieve all that I have! All the glory and honor goes to Him. I feel so relaxed right now…more than I have in a very long time…and so much more in love with my Lord. Thank You, Lord.

Also, thank you so much for all those that have prayed for me through everything…I love you all.

Posted to Facebook 12/9/19

The Layers of the Spiritual Life

The Lord just gave me an analogy of life, by looking at what is happening to my guitar playing fingers. You see, I have been playing guitar more in the last month, than I have in awhile, because I …

Source: The Layers of the Spiritual Life

We NEVER Arrive

If I never learn another lesson in my entire life, the Lord reminded me tonight, that He has already taught me the most important one, and one that spans an entire lifetime, in that we NEVER arrive…

Source: We NEVER Arrive

The Layers of the Spiritual Life

The Lord just gave me an analogy of life, by looking at what is happening to my guitar playing fingers. You see, I have been playing guitar more in the last month, than I have in awhile, because I have been playing with my church’s praise band. This means, on top of my personal practice, we practice an hour during the week, and an hour on Sunday, before we play for 2 services. I have seen my fingers go through a cycle, where they will build up calluses and become really hard, then the outer layer of skin dies and peels away, and my fingers become a little more tender, making it a little more painful to play, and then the cycle repeats…but with each cycle, the calluses come back harder and thicker, making playing the guitar easier and easier. This is a picture of how God has worked in my life, through the many losses of family members over the past 4 years. My grandma first passed away in Aug 2012, then my brother 3 months later, my wife in May of the next year, her mom in December of the same year, and my grandpa just this passed March. I have always said that God, in His sovereignty, used the loss of my grandma and brother to prepare me for the hardest loss of my wife, but I have also seen that through each loss, He gives me more and more of a resolve, to keep going on with life. So, just as in the building up of my fingers, so God worked in my spiritual life, in trusting Him. A layer of “skin” was torn away, when my grandma passed away, and my life was “tender” and painful, but then a “callus” of faith was built up. Then, when my brother passed away, a new layer was torn away, and so on. Through the passing of each family member, God has built a stronger and stronger foundation of faith, and given me a new resolve to trust Him, through whatever storms/trials that this life brings. He is ALWAYS there to walk through each and every one of them with me. But, I know that He has comforted me, so that I can comfort those He brings across my path (or who are reading this post), who are facing the same kind of trials, and to be a testimony of His love and grace, that they can experience, and can be assured that they can put their faith in Him.

2 Corinthians 1:3,4- Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

We NEVER Arrive

If I never learn another lesson in my entire life, the Lord reminded me tonight, that He has already taught me the most important one, and one that spans an entire lifetime, in that we NEVER arrive. We should never be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and be satisfied in who we’ve become, so much that we stop desiring to grow. The Lord desires us to never arrive at becoming a godly man/woman, more and more holy each day, a parent, an employee, a romantic partner/spouse, etc. Retirement was never God’s idea, and will not be found in the Bible, but is entirely a man-made concept. There may come a time, when we have to physically retire, due to our bodies wearing down, but we should never “retire” of pushing ourselves to become more efficient in every area of life, to never stop wanting to learn, to be challenged, molded, and fashioned into who God designed us to be, and more importantly, who He has called us to be, for the purpose of ministering His life through us, to others. Also, this motivation/drive should not come through comparing ourselves to people around us, but by comparing ourselves to ourselves, and allowing that to be the only competition we need. But, this process doesn’t happen through our own human ability and strength, but should be coupled with the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through Him, we can step back and take an honest assessment, be convicted in areas we need convicting, and be encouraged and empowered to make the desired changes, even as scary they may be sometimes. Then, when we make those changes….we set out to make more. The final goal….be like Christ. We never arrive.

Philippians 3:12-14– Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

The Sin Problem Solved

The book of Romans, chapters 1 through 8, is a treasure chest filled with everything we, as Christians, need to know of our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Paul outlines the “sin problem” from Adam to our daily struggles today. He also writes about the solution for all sin through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Through these eight chapters we learn about the natural world, human identity, human relationships, culture, and civilization of biblical times and of our day today.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, by partaking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world (Gen 3). The Bible says that “just as sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin. . .death came to all men, because all sinned.” (Rom 5:12, New International Version; Rom 3:23) When Eve gave Adam the fruit from the tree which God had deemed off limits, all of creation was given over by God to frustration (Rom 8:19-21). We can plainly see this frustration more and more through our media. The frequency of natural disasters and the depletion of the ozone layer are just two examples of how creation is “groaning as in the pains of childbirth.” (Rom 8:22)

You can also see this frustration in mankind. Many of the major issues people deal with in this world are because they are searching for something or someone to fulfill them. These physical, mental, and emotional needs have many sources from which people seek fulfillment. They can be sought through alcohol, drugs, relationships, money, power, success, and spirituality, etc. As believers, we have found that nothing fills this deep longing for relationship like a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Those who do not have this relationship do not know that through all these sources they are seeking one thing: their identity.

Our identity comes from God through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are justified before God for our sins, through the blood that was shed on the cross for our redemption, or release from slavery to our sin (Rom 3:24-25; Rom 6:6). There’s nothing that we can do, no amount of works that we can perform, that will make us right before God. We are reconciled to Him only by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, and receive the righteousness required to stand faultless before the Father (Rom 5:10-11; Rom 1:17). After receiving God’s forgiveness through Jesus, we then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that gives us the comfort, guidance, and strength as we strive to live as Christ wants us to live, in a world that wants to live and behave completely opposite. This Holy Spirit sanctifies us, and sets apart from the world, the more we choose to live by Him, and not by the sinful nature which wars against Him. More and more, as “we put to death the misdeeds of the body,” we testify to the world that we are God’s children (Rom 8:12-16). Because we are God’s children, we will one day be glorified to reign with Him and Christ in heaven for eternity (Rom 8:17,30).

The world will know that we are God’s children by the way we handle our relationships. Relationships are important to us because once again, we are made to be in relationship to God. Paul talks about in Romans the sinful relationships of indulgence, which are still being practiced today. Men were having inappropriate sexual relationships with other men, and women with women. There is a progression which led to this behavior. The people, although they knew God, refused to worship Him, but instead they chose to worship created gods made by human hands, because their hearts had been darkened due to their rejection of God. Then, God gave them over to the sinful desires in their hearts of sexual impurity and the degradation of their bodies with one another. This is the danger a society encounters when it forgets God (Rom 1:21-27).

The society which makes up the audience of the book of Romans is a culture of Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were the people who followed the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They held strictly to the Laws of Moses, given by God, but did not believe that Jesus Christ was the long awaited Messiah spoken of by the OT prophets. The Gentiles were non-Jewish people from other parts of the known world who practiced pagan religions. Christianity influenced these two cultures with the belief that Jesus Christ indeed was the Messiah prophesied from the Old Testament, and was crucified, buried, and resurrected for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. Everyone who believes this is called to put their faith in Jesus, receive the forgiveness for their sins, and receive the gift of eternal life. They also would receive the promised Holy Spirit to guide them in their walk with Christ. These promises were available to Jews and Gentiles alike, and are available to anyone who believes today.

Romans chapters 1 through 8 is an excellent portion of scripture which describes the “sin problem” and solution, of our world today from which we, as Christians, can use to frame our worldview. Paul does an outstanding job of explaining the progression into sin from Adam to our day. He then uses this to lay down the foundational doctrine to support our faith and belief in Jesus Christ, the only one who can reconcile mankind back to God. There is so much treasure in these 8 chapters which could take a lifetime to uncover.

The Body of Christ Needs Individual Discipline

When the alarm clock goes off in the morning at 6 am, I am quickly reminded that I set it before going to bed last night, but why? Oh yeah, that’s right, I was supposed to go to the gym this morning and workout. Part of me doesn’t want to get out of bed, but then another part reminds myself that I am making great progress at knocking off this extra weight that I have gained over the last few years. What is it that gives me the motivation to get out of bed, especially after a night of only 5 hours of sleep, due to many, many hours of studying my college work this week, for 3 back to back to back tests? This would be something we call discipline.

As humans, our flesh bucks up against this word. Things in our lives that require discipline, are usually things, if we are honest with ourselves, we don’t exactly like to do, at first. For some reason, there seems to be this invisible wall, that when the alarm clock blares at us in the morning, our body would rather just not do anything, especially get up and accomplish a discipline such as getting to the gym, or even, dare I say, meeting with the Lord in His Word, and in prayer. However, there is something that happens, when we battle through that first rejection by our flesh, and get up and fight through this invisible force, to accomplish the vital discipline, whether it’s physically, mentally, or emotionally good for us.

Lately, since being a full-time student at Liberty University, I have found myself, sadly, slipping in the disciplines that I used to enjoy, which are the most important in all of life. These disciplines are making room in my schedule to meet with the Lord in His Word, prayer, and in journaling. I can remember a time when these 3 things were absolute priority in my life. I could say it’s because I am extremely busy, but that’s not the complete truth, because back when I was more consistent than I am now, I was pretty busy also, just in different ways. Please don’t misunderstand, I haven’t completely stopped in these important disciplines, but there was a time when I made time to spend with the Lord in the morning and at night reading His Word, and praying (with praying being less consistent). Now, unfortunately, I can go a week with cracking my Bible only 3 times, or less, and it absolutely frustrates me. As a believer, this simply cannot be the routine of our lives, to be spiritually malnourished, especially in the area of prayer. We live in a dark, evil world, and it is spiritually dangerous to go into the world and not be equipped with our spiritual Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), and without a daily feasting from God’s Word, so that we are prepared to not only face the world, but to have the wisdom to walk rightly in our relationship with the Lord. Even as important as our personal walk with the Lord, is our grounding in the Word, in order to be God’s mouthpiece to a lost and dying world. We are at all times to be prepared to “give the reason for the hope that [we] have.” (1 Peter 3:15).

This morning, when my alarm clock went off, and I successfully fought through that initial feeling of wanting to stay in bed, the Lord really ministered to me, while shooting around on the basketball court, believe it or not. He gave me a picture of how my basketball skills (little as they are, lol) are a picture of my relationship with Him…now, hear me out. You see, since being here at Liberty, I have developed a great habit of relaxation in which I will put all my books down on Friday nights, and do absolutely no homework. It is what I call my “reboot” day. Friday nights, oftentimes, you will see me running up and down the courts with the 18-20 year-old young bucks, which does wonders to keep my 35-year-old body in shape. What I have found though, just over the past few weeks, is that while I enjoy running up and down the courts because it is excellent exercise, my basketball game is kinda week in a number of areas. However, one area that is very strong, is my ability to shoot a 3-point shot. This area is much stronger than any other, because when I shoot around by myself, this is what I practice over and over and over again. What the Lord has been showing me lately, however, is that there are other areas I need to practice on my own, if I want to enjoy playing with the guys. There aren’t too many serious basketball players who want someone on their team who drives down the court on a breakaway and misses an easy lay-up. There definitely aren’t too many players who want a teammate that just about every time he gets the ball, he shoots, which often times I do….yes, I’m a “chucker” (cue Seinfeld episode).

So, lately I have been going in early before school, and as a part of my workout, I will sometimes run up and down the courts, practicing my layups, the area in which I am weaker. I also, of course, practice my 3-point shots, but not nearly as much as I used to. Today, I actually practiced free throws, only to find that because I have spent so much time practicing my long shots, only 1 area of my game, the easier and closer free throws were a little challenging to make, at first. Another area I need to work on is understanding the movement that needs to happen on the court with the ball, and with the shifting of players around the court. I have never really learned how to do this shifting, and ball movement, so this is why you will find me usually moving around a little bit during a game, and then just going to the 3-point line and waiting for the ball, to shoot the shot that I can make best. This is a problem, however, because as I said before, you are not going to get the ball passed to you too much if all you’re going to do is shoot it every time you get it in your hands. At this point in time, I am not a well-rounded basketball player, and I still need some work to get there. I can tell that there are some kids I play with who get kind of frustrated with me because of this fact.

So, the fact that I am not a well-rounded basketball player, is a picture that the Lord is using lately to show me that I am not as well a rounded Christian as I used to be either. As I said before, there was a time in my walk with the Lord, when the frequency I read the scripture was much more than it is now. Due to this decrease in frequency, I can see that I don’t enjoy reading scripture as much as I used to, and I battle with temptation much more, which is bound to happen, as all believers should know. In the battle to wake up early in the morning and set out time to read scripture, I lose the battle more often than not. This also goes for the discipline of prayer, which is vitally important for a believer. Prayer is where we receive the power from the Holy Spirit for what the Lord has called for us to do for the day. I say that I struggle in the area of prayer, but I do pray throughout the day, as I walk with the Lord; I would call these “popcorn” prayers, but there needs to be a more significant time set aside in prayer, especially the more we are being used by the Lord for ministry to others. In the third area I spoke about, journaling, it has also been awhile since the last time I journaled to the Lord. Journaling is a great way to get our thoughts down on paper and especially what God is doing in our lives, so later down the road, we can pull out these journals, especially during rough patches, and remember what God is doing and how He has been faithful. We so often forget how good He has been to us, but this is nothing new….so did the Israelites in the Bible. They constantly had to be reminded through Moses, how God brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promise Land.

So, if you can’t see by now, the picture of my weak basketball all-around game can be applied to my weak all-around Christian walk with the Lord. Even when I was much more consistent with reading God’s Word, I found that I was much stronger in this area (much like my 3-point shot) then I was in prayer, which as I said has been the least consistent, although I have experienced extremely powerful experiences in prayer with the Lord. So, needless to say, I have been convicted about being more consistent in the most important discipline for a believer, in my walk with my Heavenly Father. Even more than that, God is using something so insignificant as my basketball game, to show me that just as I need to work individually on the areas of my game that are weak, so I need to work individually on the areas I am weak spiritually. My basketball game and my walk with Him are 2 things He has chosen to mold me physically and spiritually, but this requires me to practice them and work hard on an individual basis, so that they can be used in a corporate setting. Just like I am not very effective on the basketball court with only my 3-point game, so I cannot be that effective in the much more important participation with the body of Christ, and its work in the Kingdom of God.

If we, as believers, do not win the first battle of the day to get out of bed and get into God’s Word and in our prayer closets (not necessarily a closet) with the Lord, and strive to put more effort in the disciplines that are more weak (in my case, prayer), then we cannot be as spiritually all-around effective in God’s Kingdom. God needs us to do the hard work, individually, “work[ing] out our salvation,” (Phil 2:12) to play our role in the body of Christ, in reaching the lost in this dying world which He has ordained, before time, for us to reach.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27- Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.