Listen and Pray.

I have found lately that I’m stressed and tired and weak and distracted. It comes from a current scenario in my life that I’ve been walking through for about a year. And we all have those difficult moments in life when we tell ourselves we just need to grab the bootstraps and get on with it.

You and I have had moments when there seems no end to the pressure…no solving the problem…your thorn in the flesh is so imbedded, you’re not sure if you will ever be able to remove yourself from it. You wake up thinking about the issue and it’s the last thing you think about before you finally drift away at night. You and I have had questions about endings and new beginnings.

In those moments, I tend to pray a lot. I tend to have detailed conversations with God. I ask questions about the longevity of the situation and horizons of brighter sunlight. I know you have as well. Those moments create some vulnerability in your life. You depend on family and your inner circle of friends like you never have before.

One place I go repeated to gain strength is God’s Word. He reminds me that I’m his child and he has not forgotten me. I’m reminded he is my strength and my advocate. I’m reminded when I’m weak, he’s strong. He reminds me that he is in control.

I love Psalms 86. It is an open, vulnerable prayer. I read it and feel the connection to my Heavenly Father. It reads like this:

“Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you.”

“O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me. No pagan god is like you, O Lord. None can do what you do! All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name. For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God.” (New Living Translation)

So, where ever you are in your journey, know you have a Father that will listen. He’s a whisper away. Talk to him today and enjoy the refreshing conversation. He’s waiting for you. Blessings on the journey.

Obvious Devotion.

We are all devoted to something. Simply pull back the curtain of our life and it will be obvious. Some of us are fans of our favorite sports team. You can tell because we have season tickets, wear the colors everyday and fly the flag on our house. Some of us are devoted to our kids and we let them dictate to us adults how things are going to go in the home. Some of us are devoted to our careers and our marriages, parenting and spiritual life suffer for it.

But Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6) to invest in things that will last forever. Don’t waste time investing in things that will eventually fall apart. Jesus essentially says that we were created to pour, not store.

There is a story of a guy who was a great farmer who had a scarcity mindset. He was good at his job although he didn’t give any credit to God nor did he think about others. He simply thought about himself. He had a mindset of scarcity so he wasn’t willing to share or have a relationship with others and include them in the blessing God had given him. Luke 12 is where Jesus tells that story. Jesus reminds us in that story we are created to pour, not store.

Jesus tells another story in Luke 7 about a woman who had an abundant mindset. She was willing to give and share and include. So Jesus is invited to this dinner party at a religious leader’s house and once seated at the dinner table, a prostitute comes in and kneels behind Jesus and at his feet. The text says her tears fell on his feet and she wiped her tears with her hair. She had also brought an expensive bottle of perfume which she broke and poured over his feet. She had a mindset of abundance. She realized we were created to pour not store.

Then Jesus is preaching to this large crowd in another story found in Luke 9. We call it the feeding of the 5000. The people are getting tired and hungry and the only thing to eat is a little boy’s lunch which consist of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Once Jesus has the sack lunch, he divides it up so that everyone, all 5000+, has enough to eat! They even have 12 baskets of leftovers. It’s a reminder we serve a God who always provides more than enough. And there is a principle we can learn here which should flow into every part of our life: what you keep is all you have but what you give, God will multiply.

We are created to pour and not store. So, during this Thanksgiving season, be someone with a generous heart. Generosity is not an act, it’s a posture of the heart. God’s promised to take care of us. You can’t out give God. He even challenges us to test him in this very idea in Malachi 3:10.

I know, like me, you’re thinking if I start being a person who pours out, who gives, who shares, I might have to rearrange my life…like putting God first. YEP! If I decide to give like Jesus did, well that would take some crazy faith in God. YEP! God’s promised to give us more if we live this way. So this season, discover how you can change your life to one that shows your fully devoted to how God has blessed you. Blessings on your journey.