“And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate…” Luke 15.15
Viva LOST Vegas
Yeah,forbidden fruit can cause many jams.That's what happened to the prodigal.Ungrateful,selfish.Here is a picture of a guy that has given up.Settling for the temporary.Excuse me, but I would rather have the corn on the cob,than the cob.This guy is in serious need of a faith lift.
Mr.P took his inheritance and headed for Lost Vegas. A few days of the swallowing and wallowing will change a guy’s tune. Jonah got “swallowed” whole and it brought him back to his senses and then he followed God's will. The same happened to the prodigal after a few days feeding porky. Soon the enemy convinced him that he could do no better. Wallowing becomes disastrous to self-image and identity. The boy squandered the inheritance.Big city life costs more than green acres, you know. Sin pays out a demeaning paycheck. Soon he had lost all respect for himself. The smell of the pig lot got in his beard, his clothes, his nasal passages. He probably tried to wash and maintain former hygiene at first but the relentless condemnation of the evil one battered his self-esteem. Tide could not take it out.Finally, I believe the barrage took its toll and the guy gave up. That’s what happens to an unshaven, unclean, unkempt wino, for instance. The passerby sees him wallowing in it. Wallowing in the self-pity, the grief, the bitterness and unforgiveness,depression.Its my pity party and I'll wallow if I want to.
Pity Party Pig Pen
We are too blessed to remain depressed! Diana and I just arrived back in the state from our mission trip to Chemax Mexico.A remote place on this planet where the people have everything to complain about but happily live their lives without.No self pit,no pity party.The pity party is the loneliest party we can attend. No fun,no games,and it really stinks.There’s a wide chasm between following and wallowing but wallowing can happen even to Bible-toter's. The sore festers. The old pain of he said/ she said rises up again and next you’re laying awake counting offenses instead of counting sheep. The prodigal wallowed in the hog pen begging for husks “and no one gave him anything”. That makes it clear, there is no profit in sulking, not so much as a hog’s husk. Some wallow in regret. They rehearse the past instead of letting God reverse the past. You can’t unscramble an egg and it takes a few broken ones to make an omelet.The judge said the divorce was “final”. What part of “final” don’t you understand? Get over it and get on with it. "That's easy for you to say",you might retort,But I have been there done that and I would much rather be at Fathers House than wallow with the pigs or for that matter live with one.Understand and get it in your brain that God stands in your future and waits there for you with open arms. When you’re wallowing you’re not following. See Peter warming himself by a fire? See Elijah sulking under a juniper tree? Some wallow in grief. Sure it hurts and everyone needs recovery time. But something is not right about a wound that oozes and never heals. Let the cut breathe.Arise and follow and say "ba-de ba-de-ba-de that's all folks" to the pity party pig pen..........
A Royal makeover
Our current culture is wallowing in filth and indulgence. Paul predicted that “perilous times shall come, for men shall be lover of their own selves…” (2 Timothy 3:1) It is one thing to makeover the body, quite another to make over the heart and let me say a change of mind doesn't necessarily alter the heart's condition,but its a start. From MTV to the covers of magazines at the grocery check-out, it is clear that America has been baptized in moral debauchery. The prodigal could only bear so much wallowing. He made a decision, “I will arise and go to my father…” The backslider and cold christian have tasted just how un-nourishing the husks are, and they want to come home. Well, the Father’s door is ALWAYS open. The key is still there on the ledge, son.daughter,friend. The prodigals’ problem was that he was still wallowing in regret. “How can Dad ever let me come back after all that I’ve messed up?”He changed his mind to come back to Father,but the heart hadn't changed....yet.As when he neared the home gate his father ran to him, embraced him and kissed his son. He traded husks for hugs. There was a restoration, a picture of justification. No mention was made of the past. Dad never mentioned the squandered inheritance or the nauseating odor.He gave the kid a royal makeover. He suited his son with a new set of clothes and a restored family identity.The son traded his self pity for peace.A pity party for a cookout feast.Wow! Speaking of feasts,among a hard week of labor God did give us a levity break every now and then.Came across a family where a couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary and the mans gift to his wife? A fat pig! God wants to throw us a party too if we can pick ourselves up and get back to Dad's house. Its time to wake up, rise up and come back to Father...Get motivated!
Nuff Said,
Friday, November 5, 2021
Sunday, June 6, 2021
"Sensational Sunday" Leaving Smallville
We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small but you’re living them in a small way…Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!” (2 Corinthians 6:12,13 The Message Bible)“The smallness you feel comes from within you”. Ooh, what an indictment. So we have no one else to blame. Before we blamed it on what side of the tracks we were born on or whether anyone in our family tree ever went to college, Mommy or Daddy, alcoholism or drugs,a broken heart. Our pain and disappointment fenced us in. Here, Paul, paraphrased by Eugene Peterson, says the constriction is internal, not external. “Your lives aren’t small but you’re living them in a small way” What a waste of good potential. God who is big enough to fill the universe is also small enough to live within our hearts. So faith capacity shouldn’t be at issue. No need to stay in "Smallville" forever.
Here we are living in Smallville, the town "Plano" Illinois. Not living within the limits we sometimes place on the Living God, You've done it, I've done it. We limit God at times based on our own personal inventory of disappointment, When plan "A" failed and plan "B" fell short we went to Plan "o" Plano. Disappointment may be divine re-appointment. Where is God is calling out to you to trust him? To live expansively and open? Believe me, Life has become anything but plain in Plano.
You have to SEE it to BE it. Maybe you can't fit a new house into your faith because of a bankruptcy, divorce or your not making enough money but if you can see it,visualize the impossible, call something out of nothing,it can happen. Can you fit whatever you desire into your inner man? Once your spirit-man has caught the vision the rest will be history,Then God and you can make history.
What can you fit into your inner man? Will a new house fit in there? Is it wide enough to accommodate opening up a business, taking that vacation to Europe, or drawing up blueprints for a ten-thousand seat sanctuary instead of five-hundred seat? I’m stretching the elastic to accommodate my life for a few faith "things" like a new lawn mower. Well, you have to start somewhere. Seldom does a man sit in the cockpit of the plane until he has first visualized it. That is called a flight simulator. No red cape under the suit? The Bible is a faith simulator (and stimulator). When you see what Paul could do, what Peter could do, what Jesus did, your own faith is stirred with that motivation that voices, “I can do that!” Capacity stretches and moves you on to the Big "Metropolis" of "I can do "...
What can you fit into your inner man? Will a new house fit in there? Is it wide enough to accommodate opening up a business, taking that vacation to Europe, or drawing up blueprints for a ten-thousand seat sanctuary instead of five-hundred seat? I’m stretching the elastic to accommodate my life for a few faith "things" like a new lawn mower. Well, you have to start somewhere. Seldom does a man sit in the cockpit of the plane until he has first visualized it. That is called a flight simulator. No red cape under the suit? The Bible is a faith simulator (and stimulator). When you see what Paul could do, what Peter could do, what Jesus did, your own faith is stirred with that motivation that voices, “I can do that!” Capacity stretches and moves you on to the Big "Metropolis" of "I can do "...
Time to leave "Smallville"
What you couldn’t do at sixteen doesn’t determine what you can or cannot do at thirty-five, forty five even seventy five. Paul said, “We didn’t fence you in”. We are our own worst enemies. We dig our own post holes, pour in the sack of Quick-crete to secure the base then string the wires of our own defeat. We build our own walls of doubt, fear and insecurity. Blame it on a lack of collateral, lack of mother’s affection when we were small, lack of education or lack of whatever, but usually it is more a lack of spine, lack of vision or lack of temper.“Winners are just ex-losers that got mad”. Our spiritual “insides” will stretch or shrink just like the spare tire under the ribcage, according to what we feed it. Faith has to be fed a strong diet of God's Word, the promises of God. Once you can see yourself at the wheel of that new car or holding the keys to your new house, then you can free yourself to believe enough to SOAR…or whatever else you think God desires for you.
Leave
"Smallville" the smallville of your doubt and God may lead you where you never could have imagined he would.
What you couldn’t do at sixteen doesn’t determine what you can or cannot do at thirty-five, forty five even seventy five. Paul said, “We didn’t fence you in”. We are our own worst enemies. We dig our own post holes, pour in the sack of Quick-crete to secure the base then string the wires of our own defeat. We build our own walls of doubt, fear and insecurity. Blame it on a lack of collateral, lack of mother’s affection when we were small, lack of education or lack of whatever, but usually it is more a lack of spine, lack of vision or lack of temper.“Winners are just ex-losers that got mad”. Our spiritual “insides” will stretch or shrink just like the spare tire under the ribcage, according to what we feed it. Faith has to be fed a strong diet of God's Word, the promises of God. Once you can see yourself at the wheel of that new car or holding the keys to your new house, then you can free yourself to believe enough to SOAR…or whatever else you think God desires for you.
Leave
"Smallville" the smallville of your doubt and God may lead you where you never could have imagined he would.
Nuff Said,
Thursday, February 4, 2021
TURN AROUND THURSDAY A Turn of Events
“...for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he had spoken…” (2 Chronicles 10:15 NKJV)
The old King James says “the cause was from God”. James Moffatt translated, “This was a turn of things brought about by God”. New Revised Standard Version called it a “turn of affairs”, NASB and NKJV, “turn of events”. There is not room here to discuss all that happened to cause the people to shift allegiance from Rehoboam to Jeroboam. Suffice to say that things happen. The ball bounces the other way,realities shift,perceptions change,worlds collide, circumstances converge. The pivotal moment comes and a fork in the road appears.The tide turns.What God doesn't prevent,he step's in and stages intervention.He can turn events in our favour within minutes. Some call it coincidence, some mere incidents or accidents, but we know it’s divine providence.
In the faith-life there are lots of turns of events. God never leaves a calling card but the circumstance is often so remarkable that no thinking man would question who was behind it. He knows how to work all things together for good. The reason for the intervention is “that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he had spoken…” God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). If He has to split the Red Sea for Moses or make the sun stand still for Joshua to validate His promise He’ll take whatever measures are necessary. Whatever it takes.How does a turn of events occur? Eternity intersects. You cross paths with someone who can help you, the right person at the right place at the right time. In Rehoboam’s case the turn of events was negative. Contrariwise, by faith we look for the positive, the serendipitous. We expect favor. We expect miracles.
God is up to something. I don’t know how but He can make the sundial turn backwards like He did for Hezekiah, if He has to. He can still make an ax head swim like He did for Elisha. Joseph would never have taken Mary to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth had Caesar Augustus not required everyone under his reign to return to their hometown to be taxed. Think that through. Micah 5:2 said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. God turned the wheels of the whole Roman Empire to move Mary to Bethlehem in order to execute prophetic fulfillment. Talk about a turn of events! There are a lot of “but God” verses in the Bible – “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20) The other Joseph was sold into slavery “but God was with him” (Acts 7:9). Jesus was nailed to a cross “but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). Blessed turn of events! This text revives hope. No situation is beyond His control. God is the chess champ. He sees the whole board where we only see limited moves. Leave strategy with Him. Relax. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Your disappointment is not a mis-appointment. The bend in the road is not the end of the road. Your steps and your stops are in the divine design. One guy would have been in the Trade Tower on 9/11 but he misplaced his car keys, another had a flat, another got caught in traffic. Each had a turn of events and each had a miracle though it made no sense while changing the flat tire or sitting in the traffic jam. “The turn of events was from God and it can happen even on a Tuesday…”
Nuff Said,
The old King James says “the cause was from God”. James Moffatt translated, “This was a turn of things brought about by God”. New Revised Standard Version called it a “turn of affairs”, NASB and NKJV, “turn of events”. There is not room here to discuss all that happened to cause the people to shift allegiance from Rehoboam to Jeroboam. Suffice to say that things happen. The ball bounces the other way,realities shift,perceptions change,worlds collide, circumstances converge. The pivotal moment comes and a fork in the road appears.The tide turns.What God doesn't prevent,he step's in and stages intervention.He can turn events in our favour within minutes. Some call it coincidence, some mere incidents or accidents, but we know it’s divine providence.
In the faith-life there are lots of turns of events. God never leaves a calling card but the circumstance is often so remarkable that no thinking man would question who was behind it. He knows how to work all things together for good. The reason for the intervention is “that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he had spoken…” God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). If He has to split the Red Sea for Moses or make the sun stand still for Joshua to validate His promise He’ll take whatever measures are necessary. Whatever it takes.How does a turn of events occur? Eternity intersects. You cross paths with someone who can help you, the right person at the right place at the right time. In Rehoboam’s case the turn of events was negative. Contrariwise, by faith we look for the positive, the serendipitous. We expect favor. We expect miracles.
God is up to something. I don’t know how but He can make the sundial turn backwards like He did for Hezekiah, if He has to. He can still make an ax head swim like He did for Elisha. Joseph would never have taken Mary to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth had Caesar Augustus not required everyone under his reign to return to their hometown to be taxed. Think that through. Micah 5:2 said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. God turned the wheels of the whole Roman Empire to move Mary to Bethlehem in order to execute prophetic fulfillment. Talk about a turn of events! There are a lot of “but God” verses in the Bible – “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20) The other Joseph was sold into slavery “but God was with him” (Acts 7:9). Jesus was nailed to a cross “but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). Blessed turn of events! This text revives hope. No situation is beyond His control. God is the chess champ. He sees the whole board where we only see limited moves. Leave strategy with Him. Relax. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Your disappointment is not a mis-appointment. The bend in the road is not the end of the road. Your steps and your stops are in the divine design. One guy would have been in the Trade Tower on 9/11 but he misplaced his car keys, another had a flat, another got caught in traffic. Each had a turn of events and each had a miracle though it made no sense while changing the flat tire or sitting in the traffic jam. “The turn of events was from God and it can happen even on a Tuesday…”
Nuff Said,
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