Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

God asks crazy things of us at times.   If there was a crowd on the scene when Abraham raised a knife to his son Issac, those onlookers would have thought Abraham... Crazy Evil Ungodly No longer worthy to be a leader We don’t always appear to be doing the right thing when we fully obey God, to be in our right mind. But look at the example we have in Abraham and his perfect obedience to God!  We learn about God's faithfulness.  We learn that God provides a solution always.  We learn that God is always trustworthy, even when He tells us to do unimaginable things. The lesson here?  So many! 1. It doesn't matter what "they" think 2. Obey God no matter what 3. Trust God no matter what 4. Just do it! 5. Do not hesitate in obeying God 6. Know God's character through obedience 7. God will always provide, make a way for us If you knew that you heard God telling you to sacrifice your son, would you do it?  I'm guessing no, you most likely would not. Yet God told Abraham

 If you are a Christian, you are probably familiar with the term convicted, or conviction. A conviction from the Holy Spirit is there to protect us from harm.  A conviction from the Holy Spirit is God's way of leading us back to the right path. But I have noticed something that disturbs me about conviction.  I have seen the Spirit move in people's hearts to convict them of sin and what disturbs me is that they ignore it.  How do I know? I see no change in their attitude or behavior. Conviction is nothing at all like shame.  God never, no never, shames us.   So when He convicts us of a bad attitude, outright sin, or whatever else needs convicting in our lives, it is always for our own good.   It doesn't make us feel "bad."  But if not acted on through repentance, the Holy Spirit will give up.  The Holy Spirit never forces Himself on us.  He will not force us to repent, mend our ways, and humble ourselves before Him.  That is up to us.  He leaves the decision up to

When Paul was Saul, he thought he was doing the Lord's work by killing Christians.  I know.  Doesn't seem possible, yet that's how it was. Job's friends thought they knew best when preaching at Job, yet they were thorns in his side at a time when he really needed some good friends.   So how do we know when we are truly doing God's will?  How do we know when we are working for Him and not the enemy?  Yes, I believe it is that black and white.   Jesus Himself said we are either for Him, or against Him. So all of you “grey area" thinkers, listen up!   There are two forces at work in and around us at all times. One is Almighty God (what most call "good" but they don't attach the Lord to it).  The other is Satan.  I really hate capitalizing his name, but that's how it is spelled.  When you are born again, you now have spiritual discernment.  Without the Holy Spirit, we can't really discern right from wrong, good from evil, to the extent that we

Some Christians are concerned that when they're not sure of God's will, if they do something anyway - even if it is a good thing - that they will be out of His will. God knows our hearts.  He is fully aware when we behave out of willfulness and when it is our desire to do His will and not our own. But discerning God's will can be tricky. There is His overall will for each of us, and that never changes:  that we know Him. Problem is, we've confused doing  with being  We want to know what to do  for God, when all along He is after our being  first and foremost. So what about when we are being who He calls us to be to our utmost and we're still vague, or even clueless, as to the doing part? We wait. We wait on God. Remember, He has all eternity and if we only surrender to it, so do we! That means that perhaps we will not get to do it all here and now.  In that sense, none of us ever finishes our work here.  Yes, we finish what He gives us to do on earth.  But wait!  Th

Day 1 of practicing my songs in obedience to the Lord. I ended up having fun!  This is one that I wrote for the kiddies.  It's chock full of Scriptural truths and Bible characters in a catchy melody. So what I'm re-learning about obedience is this: when I obey God, though what He tells me to do may seem daunting or make no sense, I end up enjoying myself.  There may still be hard work involved, but it becomes filled with God's Presence, which equals joy, because obedience is a form of worship. The minimum time slot I have alloted to practice my song-per-day is 10 minutes.  Since most songs are around three minutes long, that's running through them approximately three times.  I set this time for myself knowing that some days are busier than others, and I may only have ten minutes on a given day. But today is Saturday!  I started practing around 9:30 in the morning.  I played from memory and also checked myself against my sheet music that I self-published.  In this case,

A New Year!  A fresh start!  That is what we feel each January 1st.  We praise God for another year of life! As I read from one of my favorite devotionals this morning, "Joy and Strength," a compilation of writings from some of the greatest saints gone by (compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston), I thought that I would share with you today's reading.  The writer puts it so well and beautifully what we all need to hear today. "The year begins; and all its pages are as blank as the silent years of the life of Jesus Christ.  Let us begin it with high resolution; then let us take all its limitations, all its hindrances, its disappointments, its narrow and commonplace conditions, and meet them as the Master did in Nazareth, with patience, with obedience, putting ourselves in cheerful subjection, serving our apprenticeship.  Who knows that opportunity may come to us this year?  Let us live in a great spirit, then we shall be ready for a great occasion."  George Hodges Yes! 

Are we in search of an immediate breakthrough from the Lord?  A miraculous healing or deliverance?  Or are we in it for the long, hard work, painful haul? Be all in.  Yet another one of those catch phrases that becomes trite-sounding after awhile.  But when you are truly "all in" with Jesus, there is no turning back.  When the road gets rough - and if you are truly "in," it will get rough - what then? I saw a book on a co-workers desk once (back when we worked in the office - remember those days?), with a title something like, "Here's Your Breakthrough." I thought about it for a second. Then the Lord spoke to me, "Forgive others.  That's her breakthrough." The Spirit knew that she needed to forgive others.  Maybe someone from long ago in particular.  Once she did that, and stuck with it, she would get her breakthrough. So buying a book and reading it is very easy.  Most anyone can do that.  We want that magic "deliverance" that

How do you take things off the "back burner" of procrastination and doubt? Well, the best way I know to stop putting off something is to just do it!  That is not new advice!  We've all heard that before.  So why, then, don't we just do it ?   Effort, energy, being decisive - these are all things that we decide to do. Have faith!  Believe that it is possible to finish that project or assignment from God!  He wouldn't have told you to do it if you weren't able.  And if you still don't think you're up to task, ask Him to come along side you and empower you to get to work and finish! We're all fighting the blues a bit more these days, what with being in quarantine and just the plain weirdness of it all, how our lives have changed as a result of this pandemic.  And it is still happening. Now more than ever we need our resolve! See this as a huge opportunity for good!  Take the extra time you may have on your hands and do  something with it! I am a big b

Early in August of this year, the Lord led me to do a 40-day fast.  It would be the Daniel Fast.  For those of you not familiar with the Daniel Fast, it is based on the diet that Daniel ate in the book of Daniel, chapter 10.   Now the Lord led me on Daniel Fasts in the past, but they were always for 21 days, the length of time that Daniel fasted.  So when He very clearly spoke to my heart that I was to fast for 40 days this time, I was surprised.  My first reaction was not good.  I actually got upset.  I am ashamed to admit this.  I wish I would have been eager to obey.  But instead, my mind went straight to what I would have to give up.  I was thinking how deprived I would be.  And for 40 whole days!  I was not happy about it, to say the least.  I had been through this before, so I knew the suffering involved in fasting.  And even though the Lord provides grace and enables me to endure the fast, I still don't like it at first! I think part of my response was due to how previous fa