Stepping Out Of The Boat

We really like it when life is easy and everything seems to be going well for us.  We like our set routines.  We like the predictability that we have arranged for ourselves.  We get up in the morning at the same time.  We go to the same job at the same time.  We go home after work and watch our favorite shows on the television.  We have formed a well worn rut and we like it.  When someone or something tries to get us out of our comfort zone we do not like and we make sure everybody knows we don't like it one bit.

The only thing we forget is that sometimes things change and sometimes we need to change.  It may not be easy.  It may hurt, but there are things that need to change in our lives if we are honest about it.  There will be times when the Lord calls us out of our "safe place" and we should obey His call because the end results will be well worth it.

Sometimes we like the little boat that we are in and we would rather stay in it.  I am reminded of the time when Peter was called out of the boat by Jesus on the Sea of Galilee which can be found in Matthew 14:22-32 which says,

"22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.

References for Matthew 14:22

23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

References for Matthew 14:23

• Cross References

• 14 14:23 - S Luke 3:21

24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

References for Matthew 14:26

• Cross References

• 15 14:26 - Luke 24:37

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

References for Matthew 14:27

• Cross References

• 16 14:27 - Matthew 9:2 ; Acts 23:11
• 17 14:27 - Daniel 10:12 ; Matthew 17:7 ; Matthew 28:10 ; Luke 1:13,30 ; Luke 2:10 ; Acts 18:9 ; Acts 23:11 ; Revelation 1:17

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

References for Matthew 14:31

• Cross References

• 18 14:31 - S Matthew 6:30

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Getting out of the boat isn't easy.  It takes faith and a focus on Jesus Christ.  There will be times when our faith flounders and we will begin to sink, but the Lord is ready to catch us when we call out to Him.

The Lord wants us to come to Him in prayer.  He wants us to read and study His Word so we can know Him better.  The Lord wants us to trust Him with our very lives.  The Lord calls us to live for Him and love others by telling them the Gospel.

When the Lord calls you our of Your comfort zone I pray that You will do as He says and trust everything to His care.  The Lord will prepare You to accomplish His will. 

Is the Lord calling You to step out of the boat that you are in?

If He is I urge you to take the first step with your focus on Jesus Christ and have faith that He will lead You and guide You to where He wants You.

Lord,

You call us out upon the stormy sea.

Sometimes our faith fails.

Help us to keep our faith in You.

Help our focus to be on You Lord.

Lead us and guide us.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Trusting The Lord In The Dark Valleys

Life can be hard at times, but we can find comfort in the Lord during those difficult days.  The Lord wants us to find rest in Him and in Him alone.  The Lord will walk us through the deepest and darkest valley.  He promises us in His Word that He will never leave us and never forsake us.

The Lord cares for us and He will take care of us each and every day because He truly loves us with a deep unconditional love.  Sometimes we fail to see how much God loves us.  We can rest assured that God is for us and He is not against us.  We must come to Him on His terms and not ours. 

We have all sinned and we all need a Savior.  There is only one name under Heaven in which people must be saved by and that is the name of Jesus. 

We sometimes stumble along in life like sheep having gone astray.  The Lord is our shepherd who leads us and guides us to greener fields.  When times get rough I like to quote Psalm 23 to myself which says,

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

References for Psalms 23:1

• Cross References

• 1 23:1 - S Genesis 48:15 ; S Psalms 28:9 ; Isaiah 40:11 ; S John 10:11 ; 1 Peter 2:25
• 2 23:1 - Psalms 34:9,10 ; Psalms 84:11 ; Psalms 107:9 ; Philippians 4:19

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

References for Psalms 23:2

• Cross References

• 3 23:2 - Psalms 36:8 ; Psalms 46:4 ; Ezekiel 34:14 ; Revelation 7:17

3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

References for Psalms 23:3

• Cross References

• 4 23:3 - S Psalms 19:7
• 5 23:3 - Psalms 25:9 ; Psalms 73:24 ; Isaiah 42:16
• 6 23:3 - S Psalms 5:8 ; Psalms 85:13
• 7 23:3 - Psalms 25:11 ; Psalms 31:3 ; Psalms 79:9 ; Psalms 106:8 ; Psalms 109:21 ; Psalms 143:11

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

References for Psalms 23:4

• Cross References
• Footnotes

• 8 23:4 - S Job 3:5 ; Psalms 107:14 ; Job 10:21-22
• 9 23:4 - Psalms 3:6 ; Psalms 27:1
• 10 23:4 - Psalms 16:8 ; Isaiah 43:2

• – 23:4 - Or "the valley of the shadow of death"

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

References for Psalms 23:5

• Cross References

• 11 23:5 - S Job 36:16
• 12 23:5 - Psalms 45:7 ; Psalms 92:10 ; Luke 7:46
• 13 23:5 - S Psalms 16:5

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

The Lord will guide us throughout our lives here on earth.  He refreshes and restores our very souls.  He will lead us through those dark and gloomy times that we all experience.  One day the Lord will take us Home to Heaven to be with Him for all eternity.  We must come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in order for that to happen.

When we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ His goodness and love will follow us throughout our days.  That doesn't mean our lives will be pleasant or even easy.  Our lives won't be easy at all, but the Lord will give us a peace in our hearts that surpasses all our understanding if we are trusting in Him.

We can trust the Lord to lead us through the darkest times of our lives and we can know that He loves us and He will take care of us.

Lord,

Thank You for loving and caring for us so much.

Lead us a guide us.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

Dealing With Our Frustrations

Sometimes it seems all to easy to get frustrated with the things that go on in our lives.  There will be times when we struggle to be heard by others.  There will be times when our voices must be raised to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that we believers have in Him.  We must do this with love and gentleness. 

The Lord wants us to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, bodies, and our entire being.  He also wants us to love others as ourselves.   Sometimes both of those seem hard.  There maybe times when we wonder if God loves us at all and the answer is of course a resounding, "YES!".

The Lord demonstrated His great love for us by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect sinless life and to go obediently to the Cross where He shed His blood for our sins.  God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and one day He will return to establish His Kingdom upon the earth in full completion.

Sometimes we get frustrated when we feel like the Lord is making us wait too long,  but He knows best.  We may need to learn a thing or two or three before He can move us to where He wants us.  We may have to wait a little bit longer for the Lord to open the next door. 

We may have to mature Spiritually a little bit more, but during those times the Lord can still use us and grow us.  I am still climbing the ladder of Spiritual maturity.  Sometimes I feel like I slip down several rungs and need to climb back up. 

The Lord will help us grow as we pray, read our bibles, and walk in the Spirit.  We must humble ourselves and submit to His authority.  The Lord wants the very best for us and He wants us to trust Him with those things that frustrate us.  Sometimes He places those frustrating times and people in our lives to teach us something.

I have a lot of work to do in dealing with things that frustrate me I must admit.  I think of what David says in Psalm 51:10 which says,

"Create in me a clean heart O God, and create a steadfast Spirit within me."

Lord,

Forgive us when we get frustrated over things we can seem to control.

Forgive us our selfishness at times that lead to our feelings of frustration.

Help us to love others as You love us.

Lead us and guide us.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

Keep On Praying

Sometimes we believers in Jesus Christ fail to see the importance of prayer in our lives.  We sometimes treat prayer as something we do when we have tried everything else to solve the problem on our own. 

We find many times in the Gospels where Jesus went and prayed.  If Jesus thought prayer was so important shouldn't we view it the same way.  The Lord is still listening and He still wants to hear from His children.

There are times when we get so busy with life and other things that we fail to take time to pray.  We should never fail to pray.  Prayer is vitally important.  The Lord is still in the business of answering our prayers. 

We forget that the Lord always answers our prayers.  We always like to hear a yes to our prayer request, but we forget that a no and wait are also answers that the Lord gives.  He will answer in accordance to His will. 

We must also remember to pray in faith.  Sometimes we pray in automatic mode without even giving a thought to what we are saying. 

The Lord wants us to come humbly to the throne of grace with many request and prayers.  He wants our worship and praise as well.  There is no concern too small or too big for our Lord to handle.  We should never hesitate to call out to the Lord in prayer both in the good times and the hard times of life.

The Lord loves us and He wants us to call out to Him and trust that He will answer our prayers according to His will and in His timing. 

We must keep on praying and trusting the Lord. 

Lord, 

We praise Your Holy Name.

Help us to offer up our prayers to You more often.

We pray for those who don't know You.

We pray for those who are sick and facing serious illnesses.

We pray for help for those in need.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

Standing Firm With Our Armor On

The world can be a dark and dangerous place.  Things seem to get worse and the wickedness of things seem to increase day by day.  The devil is running around tying to stir up trouble.  Our enemy knows his time is running out so he is tying to stir up problems and sometimes we believers just seem to walk right into his traps.  There are times that we are lead astray by our own sinful hearts as well.

The Apostle Paul tells us in the letter he wrote to the Ephesian Christians that we should stand firm in the Lord and we should put on the full armor of God.  We can find that passage in Ephesians 6:10-18 which says,

"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

References for Ephesians 6:10

• Cross References

• 13 6:10 - 2 Samuel 10:12 ; Psalms 27:14 ; Haggai 2:4 ; 1 Corinthians 16:13 ; 2 Timothy 2:1
• 14 6:10 - Ephesians 1:19

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

References for Ephesians 6:11

• Cross References

• 15 6:11 - ver 13; Romans 13:12 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:8

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

References for Ephesians 6:12

• Cross References

• 16 6:12 - 1 Corinthians 15:50 ; Hebrews 2:14
• 17 6:12 - Ephesians 1:21 ; Ephesians 3:10
• 18 6:12 - Romans 8:38
• 19 6:12 - S Ephesians 1:3

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

References for Ephesians 6:13

• Cross References

• 20 6:13 - ver 11; S 2 Corinthians 6:7

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

References for Ephesians 6:14

• Cross References

• 21 6:14 - Isaiah 11:5
• 22 6:14 - Psalms 132:9 ; Isaiah 59:17 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:8

15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

References for Ephesians 6:15

• Cross References

• 23 6:15 - Isaiah 52:7 ; Romans 10:15

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

References for Ephesians 6:16

• Cross References

• 24 6:16 - 1 John 5:4
• 25 6:16 - S Matthew 5:37

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

References for Ephesians 6:17

• Cross References

• 26 6:17 - Isaiah 59:17
• 27 6:17 - Isaiah 49:2
• 28 6:17 - S Hebrews 4:12

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

We believers in Jesus Christ must stand firm against the wiles of the devil and we need to be standing in the Lord's mighty power.  We believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling us and He will help us to stand firm.  We are weak in our flesh and our hearts are so easily led astray, but the Lord will sustain us during the enemy's attacks.

We need to put on the full armor of God each and everyday.  We can put it on prayerfully.  We can pray that the Lord would protect us against the devil's attacks.  We can put on each piece of armor on by prayer.  We also need to come to the Lord with all kinds of prayers and request.

We also need to pray for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. 

Let us call out to the Lord in prayer and put the full armor of God upon us and stand firm in the truth of who He is.

We must resist the devil and he will flee from us.  May we not allow ourselves be thrown off course by our enemy and may we stand firm in the Lord and His Word.

Lord,

We praise Your name for You are Holy.

Forgive us our sins and help us forgive those who sin against us.

Come soon O Lord with Your Kingdom.

Place the full armor of God upon us.

Help us to walk in the Spirit and give thought to the flesh.

Lead us and guide us.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

Humbling Ourselves Before God

There are times in all of our lives when we allow our frustrations get out of hand.  There is not one of us that is perfect and the Bible reminds us that there is no one that is good except for God Himself.  There are times when we start thinking we are doing pretty well for ourselves in our walk with the Lord.  There will be times when we stumble in our walk.  I was walking one time from the Church toward my vehicle which was parked in the parking lot.  I walking pretty well that I failed to notice a small patch of ice in my path.  I stepped directly on it and went down like a sack of potatoes.  I felt kind of shocked and a little embarrassed.  I also felt humbled especially when people saw me fall.

We must humble ourselves before the Lord and follow His lead.  Sometimes He has to humble us at times to get our attention and get us back on the path He wants us to go.  The Lord humbles those who exalt themselves and He exalts those who humble themselves. 

Humility isn't easy for us at times because we live in a culture that bombards us with messages that make us want to exalt ourselves.  We can be so prideful at times.  We can become so boastful if we are not careful.  Sometimes we think we are really good people and even better than those around us.

There is no one that is truly good.  We have all sinned and have fallen short of God's standards.  We are all deserving of Hell because of our sin.  It is sin that separates us for the True Living God.  We are all law breakers.  That is we have all broken God's rules for living.  If we were to stand before the Lord on Judgment Day on our own we would be found guilty and be cast away from God's presence into a literal Hell.

The Good News is we don't have to go to Hell.  God has made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins.  God demonstrated His great love for you and I and for the whole world by sending His One and Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to the earth to live a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus obeyed God's law here on the earth.  God became Man in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus went obediently to the Cross where He shed His precious blood for all of our sins, past, present, and future.  Jesus bore the punishment that you and I so rightly deserve.   God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day to show us that He is truly God.   One Day Jesus will come back to Judge the living and the dead.

In order to have forgiveness for our sins and have a place in Heaven when we die we must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We must humble ourselves.  We must realize that we are not good enough to make it into Heaven based on our "good" behavior.  There is no one that is good enough on our own.  We need a Savior and thankfully there is One who still Saves and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are saved when we trust Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior.  We do this by going to Him in prayer.  We say something for our heart in our own words.  The words don't have to be perfect, but they need to come from our hearts and be in our own words. 

I am not a perfect person.  I am just an ordinary man.  I try to be nice,  but I admit sometimes I am not.  I try to be good, but sometimes I stumble.  I try to look the part of what a follower of Jesus Christ ought to look like, but oftentimes I fail.  I am sinner saved by the wonderful Grace of Jesus Christ.  I can't save myself because I am just not good enough on my own. 

I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  I have received what Jesus Christ did on the Cross for me.   My prayer is that many people will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before it is too late.  

There are many people that come across our paths everyday that need to know Jesus Christ.  I have many co-workers that I am concerned for because they don't know the Lord as their Savior.  Sometimes I don't feel like I am very good witness to them for the Lord and that bothers me.  I try to allow my light to shine, but I know some days I fail miserably.  Would you pray for my co-worker's and that the Lord would reach them some how?

I would very much appreciate it. 

Lord,

We humble ourselves before You this night.

Life is hard and sometimes we allow our frustrations to show and it harms our witness for You.

Forgive us when we fail You and help us to stand upon the Rock for You are our Rock.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

I uplift my co-workers to You O Lord.

I pray for all of those who need to hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Help us to be a witness for You in this dark world.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

No Coincidences

The longer that I walk with the Lord by faith the more certain that I am that there are no such things as coincidences.  Today my brother and I took my mother down state where she had a medical test that went very well I might add ( Praise the Lord).  Thank you all who prayed for safe travels and good test results.  I really appreciate it.

The Lord blessed us with great travel even though the weather reports said it was going to snow and the wind was going to blow 40 MPH,  but thankfully it wasn't bad while we were on the road.  I was able to drive down and that was a great blessing to be able to do that. 

The nurse that prepped my mother for the test that she had was a great blessing as well.  Let me back track a little bit.  About 19 years ago my mom was in the hospital for two months.  She was at a local hospital for a month and down state for a month.  Well there was a nurse that took care of her at that hospital during that month down state and her name was Jody. 

The Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways because today that same nurse way back then was the same nurse that help my mom get ready for her test today.  I thought that was a great blessing.  I even remembered her full name which kind of took her by surprise. 

I don't think nurses get the credit they deserve most of the time.  They work hard and have to deal with all the hardships of what the job entails and sometimes people just don't treat them with the respect that they deserve.  I takes a special person to do the hard work of a nurse and I think that goes for anyone in the health care field.

The Lord puts people in our path for various reasons.  Sometimes people need encouragement.  Sometimes people need a shoulder to lean on.  Everyone needs to hear the life changing new of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We who are believers in Jesus Christ have a purpose that we are to live up to and that purpose is to live for Jesus and to tell others about Him.  May we learn to use our time wisely and may we use our time to live for the Lord in such a way that others would be drawn to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Lord,

Thank You for Your love.

Thank You for life's blessings that You shower upon us.

We pray for nurses and those in the health care field.

I pray that Your light would shine through me drawing others to You.

I praise Your name O Lord.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

God Is With Us In Our Trials

There are times in life when we feel like we are in an extreme battle and we wonder if we will make it through to the other side.  The Lord promises us that He will always be by our side when things get rough.  Sometimes the problems that we face may seem overwhelmingly large, but it is during those moments that we need to realize that our God is so much bigger than any problem that comes across our path.

We will encounter troubles in this life.  There will be tough times and hard seasons that we must go through.  The Lord will lead us through those difficult times if we just let go and trust Him.  The Lord loves us so very much.  He loves us more than we realize.  He is our God.  All things are possible with the Lord. 

The Lord is working in our lives in ways that we can not see.  The Lord will help us and He will care for us each and everyday.  Sometimes we forget how Awesome the Lord is and that He is in control. 

I was reminded of the time in 2 Kings 6:15-17 when Elisha's servant looked out the window and saw a large army he grew afraid as anyone of us would.  Elisha responded with his faith in the Lord and said to his servant, "Don't be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Then Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his servant's eyes to the truth of the matter.  The Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw the enemy army and he also saw horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.  The Lord was protecting Elisha who was God's servant. 

The Lord will protect us during our most difficult days.  He works in ways that we don't see and in ways we don't completely understand.  Sometimes that Lord allows us to go through dark and difficult valleys.  He doesn't do this to harm us,  but He allows this difficultly to help us grow deeper in our faith in Him.

The Lord loves you so very much and He wants you and I to love Him and trust Him with every aspect of our lives.  I hope that you are trusting in the Lord this day and each and everyday.

God demonstrated His great love for you and I by sending His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth.  Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life and went obediently to the Cross where He shed His blood for our sins.  The Lord wants us to realize that we can't save ourselves because none of us is good enough.  We have all sinned.  There is none of us who does good.  We must repent of our sins.  We must confess to the Lord that we are sinners and then we must receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Jesus is the only One who can forgive us our sins.  He is the Only One that died for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  The Lord raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and He is seated at the right hand of God in Heaven and one day He will return to this earth to judge the living and the dead.

We don't know what tomorrow will bring.  We must be ready for eternity. 

I would encourage you to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Lord,

Thank You for being an Awesome Loving God.

Thank You Jesus Christ for dying for my sins and saving a sinner such as I.

I owe everything to You O Lord My God.

I pray for those who have not come to know You yet.

I pray that You will open the eyes of people's hearts that they will see You high and lifted up.

You are Holy and I praise Your Name.

I pray for traveling mercies for myself, my brother, and my mother tomorrow.

I pray for my mom's test to go well.

I pray for those going through difficult times and trials.

I pray for healing of those with all kinds of ailments and sickness.

I pray for revival in the Body of Christ and I ask that it would begin in me.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

What Is My Motivation?

Sometimes it is good for us to take a close look at ourselves and ask the all important question, "Why am I doing this?"  or "What is my motivation?"

There are times we just do things out of habit or maybe even sometimes we do them to gain praise from someone.  I want to be able to say the reason I do things is because I do them for the Lord.

I must confess that is not always the case, but I want it to be.  I sometimes act so selfishly.  Let's face it we all like to be liked by others.  That isn't always going to happen in this world.  There will be times when we are misunderstood.  There will be times when people will question our true motives for doing things.

There is something deep within us that drives us.  If we are believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior our motive for doing good things should be to bring Him glory, honor, and praise.  We are told in the Word to love the Lord with all of our mind, body, soul, and our entire being and we are to love others as ourselves.  Our motive in serving others should be to show the love of Christ to others and let them know that we are serving them because Jesus loves them and He wants us to show His love to them through us. 

That last sentence kind of made my head spin a little bit, but the point is we need to let others know that Jesus loves them so much that He chose to die for them on the Cross.  When we serve others we need to let them know our motive for serving them is because of Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us and for them.

I remember the other day I was working at the Grocery Store where I tend to the produce section and a man came up to me.  I recognized him and asked him how he was.  The man told me he had a long winter.  I mentioned that my church family and I have been praying for him and he thanked me.  We had a nice talk and I encouraged him that the Lord would help him.  In that brief encounter he mentioned his son wanted nothing to do with God or church.  I told him I would pray for his son.

During that conversation I definitely felt the Lord's presence there at that moment.  My motive in that moment was to serve the Lord by encouraging that man and in turn I felt encouraged.  The Lord wants to use us to encourage others and lead them into a deeper relationship with Himself.

Are we allowing the Lord to use us for His Glory?

What is our motivation?

I pray that my motive would be to serve the Lord and point people to Him.  I am just an unworthy servant trying to do what the Lord would have me to do.

Lord,

Help us to know what our motive is.

Help our motives to be pure and God honoring.

Lead us and guide us to where You want us.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.