I just want to say thank you

^12 How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? ^13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. ^14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. (Psalm 116:12-14)

 

How can I pay the Lord back for all the fantastic things He has done for me.  Reality is I can’t.  Reality is neither can you.  You think about all the things you have, all the blessings life has given you, and the very breath you breathe.  It is all from God.  There is nothing you have had or will have in life that has not been given by God.  There are also things that did not happen that God blocked that you will never know about.  When all this comes to mind we start to think, what can I do?  How can I repay God for so much that He has done.  Your life, your family, your career, your kids, your grandkids, I mean everything is from Him.

 

Reality is reality.  We owe too big a debt to repay.  We can’t repay for our salvation, neither can we earn it.  We cannot repay what God has done for us, it’s just too much to fathom.  With that being said the psalmist gives us two ideas of things you and I CAN do to let God know our appreciation in our hearts.  Thanksgiving to what God has done should motivate us to two things.  Two things that would make the God that created and sustains us smile.

 

One is call upon the name of the Lord.  Talk to Him.  Sounds simple doesn’t it.  I don’t mean sit down and give God your list of things you want and/or need, or your list of sick people.  I am talking about going throughout the day and have conversations with your Creator.  He is your best friend, so when was the last time that you just had a conversation with God.  Share your hopes, dreams, and fears.  Have a laugh.  We should be talking with Him throughout the day.  It will build on your relationship with Him as well as let Him know you appreciate Him.  God knows your heart, why don’t you tell Him what is going on in there because He already knows and He WANTS you to talk to Him about it.

Two, is fulfill your vows to Him.  I would venture to say that many of us have so many broken vows to God.  We get into a bind and we make a lot of promises and deals with God.  First of all, that is a huge mistake because God doesn’t work that way.  He does things out of grace and love and not because you struck a deal with Him.  However, God has granted us all gifts and talents and if you promised God you were going to use those, then you need to.  If you promised God you were going serve Him, honor Him, and follow Him then you and I need to fulfill those vows.  Just as we have made covenants with our spouses, you and I make covenants with God.  There is no better way to show thanksgiving to Him than fulfilling those vows as an act of love.

 

Remember, none of things affects your standing of your place in heaven, for its “not of works lest any man boast” (Ephesians 2:9).  Anything we do is nothing more than just an overflow of thanksgiving and showing our appreciation to our Creator.

Have a great day, Chris

well, I voted today

I have sat down several times the last couple of weeks and tried to think about how to articulate my thoughts on the Presidential Election this year.  I have wrote several copies and went back and deleted for various reasons.

I am gravely concerned as an American Citizen regarding our main two political parties and who they have put their weight behind for the candidacy.  I realize there are other parties and other candidates, but the reality is this country will elect a new president in November and it will either be Clinton or Trump.  I am a social fiscal conservative Republican (and am unashamed of that), and have voted since I turned 18.  Fiscal conservatism is a political-economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility advocating low taxes, reduced government spending and minimal government debt. Free trade, deregulation of the economy, lower taxes, and privatization.

I believe it is our right and responsibility as American Citizens to vote at EVERY election.  I have voted main party every year except when Dole ran I voted for Perot.

I was talking with a lady today in line waiting to vote and we talked about the "good old days" when you could vote for a candidate and actually believe they would do America a good job as Commander and Chief.  We talked of Reagan's presidency and how united the country used to be.  We had this candid conversation and guess what, she was voting Democrat today and I was voting Republican.  You ask what my point is?  That is an uncommon conversation, because we are more divided today as a country than we have ever been.

As I listened to people around me today I clearly heard people say they where registered Republicans but they where voting for Clinton because they hated Trump, and I also heard people say they where registered Democrats that where voting for Trump because they hated Hillary.  All I could think of is "is this really why we are voting"?  Voting for another part because we hate the personality of a candidate, is this the best way to decide our next president?

I will be the first to tell you that neither candidate has the capability of uniting a country, nor have we had a President that could since Reagan.  As an American Citizen I long for unity in our country, but instead the gap gets wider and wider, and it seems as though each side is getting more and more angry at the other.  Name calling, threats, bodily harm, and the list goes on and on.  All over politics.

Freedom is what makes this country great.  Diversity is what makes this country great.  You don't have to agree with me, and I don't have to agree with you.  It is what makes our country great.

When I voted today, I did not vote based upon a personality or some affluent speech they made.  I did not base it upon who called each other the worst name, or who had the sleaziest commercial.  I voted based upon who I thought was the most Fiscally Conservative.  I voted on who I thought was going to do something about the current financial debt ($19,754,257,061,882.16 as of today).  As a socially conservative person, I am not satisfied with either candidate, and morally I know and recognize you can't legislate morals and values.

It bothers me that as a country with our two main political parties that the choices of Clinton or Trump was the best they had to offer.  This has been by far the hardest election as a citizen to look at, listen to, and talk about because neither candidate has really convinced me that they can do anything to help America to be America, or that they have the average American's best interest at heart.

In every election I have ever had the privilege to vote in, I have been able to get behind our GOP nominee pretty quickly (with exception of the year I voted Perot).  In the race for GOP nominee this year, I had some troubles.  My first choice was Huckabee, then Carson, and finally Cruz.  Trump was never really my favorite, and I'm not the only Republican that feels that way. 

In the end I voted today based on one thing:  I picked the person I felt like could do the job of President.  I voted GOP.  You may disagree with me on that, and guess what its ok.  One thing I have learned about me in this process is that I can live with agreeing to disagree.  I'm going to love you whether you are Republican or Democrat, and I will respect your decision as long as you respect mine.  Just do me a favor and make your voice heard and vote.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."  (preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America.)

I am "We the People" you are "We the People".....

Vote 2016, let your voice be heard.

Chris

God's building a case against the nation

There where seven charges against the nation mentioned by Hosea that caused a spiritual collapse in the nation of Israel, these are equally relevant to church society today, they are as follows:

1. lack of knowledge (4:6), this sent Israel on a downward spiral.  If you around the modern Christian long enough you will hear misquoted scripture, misapplied scripture, and total ignorance of the word.  How can we say we Love and wish to follow Him, when we don't know Him through His word.
2. Pride (5:5), always has been an issue in mankind, and is the root of many of our problems.  We have such a pride issue today in modern church.  We feel we are the center of the universe, thus removing God from His center point.
3. Instability (6:4), forget God and we forget our place and puts us on shaky ground.  We build a relationship with God mostly at face value and when we do we find ourselves instable.
4. Worldiness (7:8), God is absent from their lives thus they seek the world for fulfillment.  Today you cannot tell much difference between the believers life morally and ethically and the non-believers.  We have bent our ways towards the worlds ways.
5. Corruption (9:9), the nation was rotting from the inside out.  We find ourselves becoming more and more rotten from the inside out, corruption comes from within.
6. Backsliding (11:7), turned their backs against God.  When things don't go the way we think they should or they way we want it to, we are quick to turn against God.
7. Idolatry (13:2), anything that takes the place of God in our lives is idolatry.  We are far too often putting things like work, money, fame, family, significant others, and etc. in front of God when we do it is nothing short of idolatry.

These things are what we are confronted with still today in the spiral of sin of society, and quite frankly within our own churches.  We are warned ahead of time that people are not going to want to hear it, in fact they will want it sugar coated and to make us feel good even though we are on a path of self destruction:

 

3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.   4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.   5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (The Holy Bible  : New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), 2 Ti 4:3-5.)

We have got to keep our head in the game and be bold like Hosea in telling the truth, they may not want to hear it but it is for their own good, and for my own good.

Help me God

^1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you (Psalm 102:1)

 ^17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. (Psalm 102:17)

When you read the psalmist’s initial words in Psalm 102  you get a sense of a desperate need.  It was what I would call an “SOS” prayer, “God I really need help”.  His cry for help is a desperate plea for assistance.  His hearts cry is for God to help him in his greatest time of need.  You get a sense of the struggle that he is dealing with.  Maybe questions and doubts arising because the prayer hasn’t been answered when and where he wanted it to.

Does this sound familiar.  I’m sure it does to a lot of us.  We get stressed, we get worried and we find ourselves like this psalmist wanting help and desperately begging and pleading with God to answer.  Our problem is we want it on our timing, we want it NOW.  We want quick action.  We want things to go away.  We want our prayers answered immediately.  Of course we do, why wouldn’t we?

As you have probably figured out by now, it doesn’t work that way.  Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes God does answer them almost immediately.  Sometimes that very minute, sometimes the next day, or even the next week.  But what about when He doesn’t.

Here is what you and I need to know, verse 17.

He will respond.  Enough said.  He will respond to the prayer, He will not look past our plea.  Do you believe that?  It is a hard one to swallow.  He will respond, just not right away always.  He will respond, when you are ready and He is ready.  He will respond when He is ready to make it fit into His great big Plan for life.  God is painting a much bigger picture than you and I can ever imagine.  Hold on dear child of His, He may not answer today, but keep in mind “He will respond”.

God grant us patience and assurance to know you will respond… Chris.

When you feel you've lost your footing

 

^18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord, supported me. ^19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. ^22 But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge (Psalm 94:18-19, 22)

 

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you feel like you are slipping deeper and deeper, like you are losing your foothold on life.  Yeah, we have probably all been there.  First of all, breathe.  This is not the end.  How do you, how do I make it when we feel like we have lost our footing and are falling.

 

We make it with faith.  Faith in believing in One who is greater than I.  Faith in the One who called all things into existence, and faith in the One who loves you and I more than we will ever understand.  When I feel like I’m slipping it is His love that supports me, His love that keeps me going.

 

Anxiety.  That is another big ugly word and emotion we have to deal with.  The psalmist tells us how to deal with that as well, He says that God’s consolation brings joy to our soul.  What is consolation?  Consolation is the Hebrew word: תַּנְחוּמִים [tanchuwm, tanchum, tanchuwmah /tan·khoom / this basically means to comfort.  To put us at ease.  To put our minds at ease.  Another part of faith.  When we have faith, it is that faith that puts us at comfort when the anxiety of the world comes crashing in around us.  Through that comfort it brings joy to our soul.  It’s like getting a hug from a parent, there is just a comfort in that hug that cannot be described.  So it is with your Creator.

The psalmist adds that the Lord has become His fortress, so the question is this:  Has the Lord become your fortress.  Is He your strength?  Is He the one where you find your refuge (shelter)?  He wants to be, will you just let Him.

I really needed this today, well I guess probably everyday, God thank you for being my refuge, my comfort, my support, especially when Anxiety is high within me….

Have a great day, Chris