Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

I have read scads of books over the years - Christian books - that were aimed more at me than God. What I mean is that they pointed me to me instead of Christ.  Under the veneer of trying to "help" me, they did little for me in reality. Make art for God.  Unleash your potential for God. Create something for God. But, you say, they all talk about God!  Yes, but indirectly.  They focus on self and not Him. It would be like looking at a newborn baby and giving no credit whatsoever to the mother.  The mother birthed and gave life to the baby.  The baby wouldn't exist apart from the mother.  Yet we ooh and aah over the baby, not the mother. It may not be the best analogy, but maybe you catch my drift. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus! (Hebrews 12:2)  Look though I may, I cannot find a single verse in Scripture that points me to myself, other than making me realize my need of a Savior. The Bible is not a self-help book - it is the revelation of God to ma...

What is bugging you?  What is beyond your control?  Actually, that last question isn't fair - because nothing is really  under  your control and if you think it is, you are most likely stressed out. Holding it all together, are you? Talk about a stressful job! Am I suggesting that you let it all fall apart?  That depends.  Everything you try to "control" or hold too tightly has no real power to give you what you are looking for.  Controlling everything cannot offer you the peace and contentment that you really crave. A few years ago, I was lying in an ER bed stressing not about my health, but about how everything would run, or not run, without me.  My home, my family, my job - all that I felt responsible to and for. I will never forget the words a wonderful ER nurse spoke to me while I was lying in that bed - I don't even remember telling her about my worries, but she probably "smelled" them on me.  She said, "Sometimes, you just need to let ...

What situation in your life is not as it should be?  We all have something  we wish were different.  This is not even out of discontent or complaining.  Some things are just not as they should  be. Life is not perfect.  We all know that much! But what is that thing in your life that is not as it is "supposed" to be - at least in your estimation?   If a loved one refuses to seek God and is living a life of rebellion and sin against Him, we know that this is not as it should be.  "Lord, I've done everything I can to help him/her.  He/she is not changing, Lord, no matter how hard I pray or even fast.  When are You going to fix this for me?" Maybe you live with physical pain and you just can't take it one more day. Maybe you are discontent with yourself and wish you could respond to your trials with more grace instead of frustration, doubt, or fear. Maybe, just maybe, you  are not as you are "supposed" to be yet. Do You think the Lord d...

While watching "The Chosen," I saw the most moving scene I've ever seen in any movie.  Ever.  Nicodemus met Jesus. Nicodemus was a scholar, the head rabbi - very intelligent, well-respected, and learned. He, like all the other Jews of his day, were waiting for their Messiah to come. When he met Jesus, he had all sorts of questions for Him.  Jesus spoke plainly to him telling him that in order to see the Kingdom of God, he needed to be born again in spirit. Nicodemus had never heard such teaching ever, nor had he read it in the Scriptures he knew so well. Yet in his spirit, he felt that he was hearing truth.  He felt that he was standing on holy ground, and he was. Nicodemus was now not only learning about truth, he was meeting Truth.  And he would bever be the same again. What a difference between reading about God - head knowledge  - and meeting Him face to face!   Nicodemus was a chnaged man after meeting and talking with Jesus.  With all o...

So if you are a Christian, this topic should interest you.  How much?  More than your "dreams."  More than raising your family.  More than your career.  More than anything and anyone in your life - this should be your main purpose in life. Oh to be sure, He uses  all of the above-mentioned parts of life.  But how? It is a process.  There are no "three easy steps" that I know of to get this done.  But there are ways of being - attitudes - that help the process along. Christ does the work in us.  But if we don't let Him or cooperate with Him or obey Him in everything - yes, everything - then we will not be conformed into His image the way He has in mind for us. For me, it's always in the hard times.  The trials and tests of life have a way of whittling away the sharp edges in our souls.  This hurts.  I mean if a slab of marble could feel when the sculptor chisels away at it, I don't think it would be enjoying it! I believe i...

Think you know best?  Think you can dream up a better plan than Almighty God?   I want only God's plan for my life. I don't want my way, I want His way. I don't know the way, only Jesus knows the way. Do you know how long it has taken me to reach this point?  Decades, friends, decades. So be careful because you can spend an entire life - even as a follower of Christ - seeking your own will, way, and plans.  Millions all over the world are doing just that.  How do I know?  I think the world would look completely different if we were all totally on board with God's plans.  Because His plans are good!  His plans are best!  His plans are beyond our wildest imaginations!  There would be many, many more souls won to Him. What's wrong with making plans, you may ask.  It's only wrong when done apart from God's will, without seeking Him or acknowledging Him.  If you bulldoze forward because you pride yourself that you are a "planne...

Can you feel blessed and favored by God and also cursed by man?   Things are getting weird out there, folks.  Really weird. The more we shine our light for Jesus, share the Truth - not your truth or my truth, but the Truth - the more we experience hatred and disdain from others. Get used to it. Or as Bette Davis famously said in All About Eve, " Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night."  The confusion happens when we mistake being mistreated by others as mistreatment from God.  After all, God is Sovereign.  So He could stop others' persecution of us, right? Yes, of couse He could. Yet stuff happens. There is a huge spiritual battle raging around us 24/7. Those who oppose Christ - many, ignorantly - they don't even know why  they're opposed, but they just are - are rampant.  Haven't run into many?  I'd say you are in the Holy Huddle, then.  This is not how Jesus lived His life. Jesus was "out there" among the people - many o...