Devotionals from Dad

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When I was young I would get up on Saturday morning and watch cartoons for the majority of the morning. On of my favorite cartoons was the Justice League. The Justice League featured Batman & Robin, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aqua-man, Wonder Woman and Superman. Superman of course was my favorite. By day Superman took on the identity of Clark Kent who was a near sighted reporter who never seemed to quite get it right, but when the evil villain put innocent citizens in danger Clark would slip around the corner into a phone booth and out would come Superman to save the day! Superman seemed to be invincible. He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane.... No it's Superman! My question to you is this, does your Christian faith more closely resemble the near sighted bumbling Clark Kent or are you a “Super Saint?” Do you think it is possible to be a “Super Saint?”

Matthew 19:26 ESV But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. 

This phrase, “With God all things are possible, speaks of God’s omnipotence, his absolute power to do what he pleases. It’s a theme that is echoed all throughout the bible. When Sarah and Abraham doubted God’s promise to give them a son, God said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Genesis 18:14. When God displayed his absolute sovereignty to Job in his distress, Job replied, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” Job 42:2. Jesus himself, when he prayed to his Father in the garden before he was crucified, cried out, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.” Mark 14:36. The phrase, “with God all things are possible,” proclaims the absolute sovereignty and uncontested power of God. If you have absolutely no doubt, if you have complete faith, nothing is impossible, You could be a Super Saint! You could move mountains. 

Matthew 17: 20-21 ESV He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 

 But even the disciples, those who were closest to Jesus, who witnessed first hand his miracles, still lacked faith at times. When a young boy with a demon was brought to them they were unable to cast it out. So his father brought him to Jesus and said “Sir, have mercy on my son, for he is mentally deranged and in great trouble, he often falls into the fire or into the water; so I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t cure him.” Jesus replied, “Oh, you stubborn, faithless people! How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy. Even those closest to Jesus failed at times for all of us are human and we all fall short of the glory of God! Is it possible to be a “Super Saint?” Is there a moral of the story of Superman? I believe there is. We must learn to live with the fact that we can't save everyone. If you let the weight of all those you are unable to save rest directly on your shoulders it will crush you! Your child may be far from God. Someone you love maybe on the wrong path in life, a path that leads to destruction! But don't ever give up! Be a “Super Saint!” Pray earnestly for the lost! Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. 

Psalm 123:1 ESV To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 

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In the world of sports the media is always talking about what player is “The Goat,” the greatest of all time player. Every sport and every person has their opinion of who is the “Goat” in their favorite sport, so I am not going to start that conversation, but it did get me to thinking, what is man's greatest of all time invention? Some people consider the wheel to be the greatest invention of all time. The wheel led to other innovations, including wheelbarrows and chariots, which changed the way people lived, worked and traveled. Mills, steamboats, and a few other inventions, also owe their creation to the basic, but incredible, wheel. In 1436, Gutenberg refined printing in a way that forever changed history. Gutenberg’s press used metal blocks and molds. He used a wine press to exert even pressure on the metal type. His crowning achievement was using his press to produce 200 copies of the Bible within three years, which was astoundingly fast at that time. Vaccines go back to Buddhist monks who drank snake venom and people in 17th century China who purposely exposed their skin to cowpox in an effort to protect against smallpox. British doctor Edward Jenner pioneered the field of vaccinology with his development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796. Louis Pasteur made advances in vaccines, developing cholera, anthrax and rabies vaccines. The computer and the internet, it’s hard to think of an aspect of modern society that hasn’t been affected by the computer. Although many people have contributed to what we call the computer, several great minds are noteworthy. Charles Babbage, envisioned a device that could execute math operations and would include a memory unit. His invention was named the analytical engine. John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, two scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, created the first general-purpose computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. No matter what you may think is the greatest invention of all time all of these very intelligent people all had one thing in common, all of their inventions used elements that were created by one that is truly the “Greatest of all Time,” God! 

Genesis 1: 1-5 ESV In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

When God began creating the heavens and the earth, it was a shapeless, chaotic mass, Then God said, “Let there be light.” and light appeared. God stepped out of no where and using nothing at all, He spoke all that exists into existence!

 Genesis 1: 14-15 ESV And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

Nobody knows for certain how big the Universe is because we cannot see to the edge of it. We don't even know if it has an edge. The greatness of God is infinite! We serve a God who can be described as AWESOME and THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME! 

1 Chronicles 29:11 ESV Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 

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Work, work, And more work! The stacks of paper on your desk, the things you must get accomplished seem to have no end. You feel as if you have a mountain of unconquerable work. Many people burn the candle at both ends in an attempt to save enough money to be able to do all things they want to do during their golden years. How much money is enough? Can you ever have too much? There are some people who have more money than can spend and yet they are still not happy. So what is the right amount? How much money is enough money? For John D. Rockefeller the answer was “just a little bit more.” At the peak of his wealth, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the entire US economy. He owned 90% of all the oil & gas industry of his time. Compared to today’s rich guys, Rockefeller makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffett look like paupers. And yet he still wanted, just a little bit more. In Luke chapter 12 Jesus tells the parable of the rich farmer. Jesus says, There was a rich man who had some land, which grew a good crop. He thought to himself, what will I do? I have no place to keep all my crops. Then he decided to tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and other goods. Many who hear this parable, may wonder: why is the rich farmer called a fool? One could easily argue that the rich man is a wise and responsible person. He has a thriving farming business. His land has produced so abundantly that he does not have enough storage space in his barns. So he plans to pull down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his grain and goods. Then he will have ample savings set aside for the future and will be all set to enjoy his golden years. 

 Luke 12: 18-20 ESV And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 

The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions. Most of us go to school for 18 to 25 years so that we can secure a job, to earn a living and save for our golden years. Then we spend the next 40 years working and saving, so that we can live it up during our golden years. The average person lives to be 75 years old before they leave this world. So on the average you only get to enjoy the labor of your life's work for about10 years. 

2 Peter 3:8 ESV But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

So what are you investing it? Are you like the rich farmer in the parable and investing in worldly things or are you investing in eternal things. I put together a spreadsheet and developed a formula I call the, “Eternity Formula.” I calculated the number of hours in 1 year, multiplied it by the number of hours in a day and then by the number of hours in 1,000 years. Then I divided it by the average life span of 75. Then I divided that by the number of hours in the average life and finally the number of hours in 1,000 years. If 1,000 years is like a day to God, then in the light of eternity our lifetime is equivalent to about 7 1/2 hours! In the light of eternity those 10 years that most of us consider to be our golden years, using the eternity formula, are equal to only a few minutes. Like the rich farmer, we are tempted to think that having large amounts of money and possessions stored up will make us secure. No amount of wealth can secure your life with God.

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 According to Pew Research the majority of U.S. adults say they believe in heaven and hell. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults say they believe in heaven. While 73% of U.S. Adults believe in heaven only 62% believe in hell. Here’s an important question for you..., really, it’s the most important question anyone could ask: What do you need to do to get to heaven? Or, put another way...What Must I Do to Be Saved? In Luke chapter 10 Jesus responds to a Jewish leader when he asks, “Teacher what must I do to get into heaven?” 

 Luke 10:25-28 ESV And behold, a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 

The Jewish leader may have known the correct answer but what he really wanted to know was how to justify his actions. So he asked Jesus another question, “Who is my neighbor?” This question brings us back to the most important question, what must I do to get into heaven? What must we do as Christians in order to be successful in evangelizing or in other words witnessing to the lost? The most important task you have when you witness to the lost is to convince them that what matters most is the next life because it is forever and this life can be very short! Many people die way to young. If you live to reach the average age you will live to be 73 years old, and a handful of us are lucky enough to live into our 90's. Even if you live to be 100 years old, that is only a momentary blink in comparison to eternity! The next life is what is most important because you will spend it either in the bliss of heaven or in the horrors of the conscience punishment of the flames of hell!

John 5: 28-29 ESV Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. 

The next time you attend a funeral, take a look at the faces of the people there - especially the unbelievers. Look closely into their eyes and you'll see questions. Questions like: Where are they now? What actually happens after death? Is there really a literal heaven?...a literal hell? I don't care how much education you have or how many degrees hang on your wall, a face-to-face confrontation with the reality of death will make even the most educated person stop and think. The truth about heaven and hell is a powerful thing. John 8:31 says; "And you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free." However, merely acknowledging the existence of heaven and hell is not enough. I'm convinced that very few believers have ever really grasped the reality of heaven and hell. If they had, they wouldn't act the way they do. Back to the most important question, what must I do to get into heaven? It is so simple that it doesn't even seem possible! Believing in Christ means that I understand that I am not good enough to earn my way into heaven. We don't get to Heaven by being "good." No matter how hard we try to be good, we end up stumbling. Jesus is our salvation and our redemption. Through him, we can find forgiveness for our sins and rejoice in the life to come. 

Romans 10:9 ESV because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

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Revelation chapter 2 begins with a series of letters to seven churches. One of those was the church in Ephesus. The city was famous for its temple of Diana and pilgrims came to Ephesus from all over the Mediterranean to worship the goddess. Jesus affirms the Ephesians’ positive actions. He tells them, I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. The Ephesian church was a hard-working group of believers full of fortitude. However, Jesus also notes their shortcoming. He said, yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. They were hard-working, but they no longer had the same passion for Christ as when they first believed. Their work was no longer motivated by love. To explain this better let's our imagination for a moment. Suppose I told my wife Joyce, we need to talk. We sit down and I tell her that I just don't love her anymore. I tell her that I haven't been unfaithful and I am not going to leave her. I am going to continue to do all the things a husband should, I will provide for our household and family. I will take part in all the activities that we have always done. I will attend church, go to work functions and come home every night as if nothing has changed and as far as the public is concerned no one will know any different, but I simply don't love you any longer. How do you think Joyce would respond? I am confident her response would not be, okay no problem... This is what was happening at the church at Ephesus. They were still working and serving but they had lost the love they once had for Jesus Christ. All your effort and hard work is worthless if you don't have love!

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 ESV If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Like the Ephesian church, we can easily fall prey to a cold, mechanical observance of religion. Like the Ephesians, we can have everything but the greatest thing, love! Many tend to focus solely on hard work, programs and events for everyone, children's church, Sunday school, bible study and a multitude of other programs and forget that the most important thing, the greatest thing is a true love for Christ. As the letter the Ephesians shows, no amount of zeal for the truth or true doctrine can replace a heart full of love for Jesus. The 16 inches between the head and the heart can be the greatest distance of all!

1 Corinthians 13: 13 ESV So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

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Do you want to be spiritually strong and have a moving impact on your lost friends and family, do you want to hear the words, well done my good and faithful servant. If so, you must whole heatedly follow God! Your life, your walk with God needs to be fully devoted, completely surrendered, a sold out walk with God. If you gonna be a Christian, than be a Christian! Be a 100 percent sold out Christian! There are a lot of half hearted, part time people, attending church today. The Barna Group has been gathering survey data on the long-term shifts that have occurred in the United States over the last several decades. In their survey they collected data from among 96,171 separate surveys, over more than 20 years. Just one in four Americans is a practicing Christian. A practicing Christians is someone that identifies as a Christian, agrees strongly that faith is very important in their lives and have attended church within the past month. Perhaps the most significant change is that practicing Christians are now a much smaller segment of the population. In 2000, 45 percent of all those sampled qualified as practicing Christians. That has consistently declined over the last 20 plus years. Now, just one in four Americans 25 percent is a practicing Christian. One-third fewer Americans attends church weekly now than in 1993. Don't be a part time Christians, be a sold out Christian. You need to live every day of your life as if it is your last day, because one day it will be!

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He didn’t restore sight to just one eye. He didn’t feed most of the 5,000. He didn’t calm the storm on only half the Sea of Galilee. And He didn’t give part of His life on the cross to pay for some of our sins. The Hymn, “Jesus Paid it All” doesn't say, sin had left a crimson stain, and He washed it light pink. NO it says; Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow! 

Romans 5:8 ESV But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

1 Corinthians 7:23 ESV You were bought with a price; do not become bond servants of men. 

Christ paid the full price to set us free from the curse of the law. He absorbed it completely. He became a curse in our place. What a powerful truth! Jesus paid the full price to set us free from the curse of sin! Jesus told us, in John 14:12 “ I tell you this timeless truth. The person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do and even greater miracles. Jesus is the perfect example for us to live by. What He did in His 3 1/2 years of ministry here on earth is what we’re called to do. As Jesus was in this world, so are we! As Jesus went about teaching, we are to go about teaching. Jesus did miracles signs and wonders. We must be 100% sold out and believe and expect the same, miracles signs and wonders! 

Mark 16:17 ESV And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues.

There seems to be fewer sold out Christians, and an increasing number of sellouts. Sellouts are those that say they love Jesus, own a Bible or two, occasional visit a church, but do not show evidence of a transformed life. They claim to follow Jesus and genuinely believe the Gospel, but their enthusiasm to actually follow Jesus ebbs more than it flows. So decide today! Will you be a 100 percent sold out Christian! 

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What is the process you go through when you are making a new car purchase? How much time do you invest studying the vehicle you’re about to purchase before you buy it? I will spend some time comparing features and comparing prices but all together I doubt I spend more than an hour or two, for a couple days, definitely less than a week, before I make the purchase. I may look at and test drive several cars before I decide but in the big scheme of things I do not invest a lot of time. With the cost of new vehicles being so much it is a decision that must be discussed between my wife and I because it could potentially be a life changing decision, at the very least we will have to change our spending habits, maybe put in some extra hours at work or dip into the rainy day fund to pay for the license and taxes after the purchase. How different would the car industry be if we treated purchasing a new car like we do bible study? How would the salesman at the dealership react if you asked him for a copy of the owner’s manual to vehicle so you could study if before you bought it? Once you receive the manual, you take it home and spend 1 maybe 2 hours a week really studying each section of the manual then you put it away until the next week. I know this sounds ridiculous! By the time you have read through the manual and made yourself familiar with every aspect of the car it would be sold, or next year’s model would come out and it would be different, and you would have to start the entire process all over again! In the book of Matthew Jesus gives the disciples the great commission. The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28 19-20 ESV Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

The most important word in these verses is the first word “GO!” When you finally make that new car purchase you don’t spend months studying the car before you drive it. You get in the car, and you drive it until the day comes when you don’t understand something about the car, then you get out the owner’s manual and you study it until you figure out your problem. I am not saying that you shouldn’t attend bible study on a regular basis and gain every ounce of knowledge you can about the scriptures, no not at all! What I am saying is that you need to put feet to your faith. What good does all that knowledge do if you never use it to witness to the lost? How different would the church, the entire world be today if the disciples had listened to Jesus words and then started a weekly bible study on them and never followed through with Jesus’ command to “GO!” As Christians we have a duty to “GO”, make disciples, teach, and baptize. Although the command was initially given directly only to Christ's eleven Apostles, it is a directive to all Christians of every time and place.

Mark 16:20 ESV And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

We need the whole Church to band together to minister to the whole world. We have three options in responding to the Great Commission: Go, send, or disobey. There are many ways to participate in the Great Commission, and each is an extension of God’s individual call on your lives. What God, does not do, is leave as an option to not to participate at all. We Must GO!

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 An encounter with Jesus is not something that is spooky, super natural or made up by fanatics. There are many ways you can encounter Jesus in the every day details of your life. Some people may encounter Him when they are serving Him, some while they are worshiping and others may encounter him when they are in the midst of a turbulent storm in their life, I had such an encounter. I was recently divorced and I felt like my life was unraveling at the seams. My girls were away for the weekend and I was alone, something that I was not comfortable with. I went to bed, during the night I had the worst nightmare I have ever had in my life. I dreamed that my home was on fire and I was crawling on the floor trying to get my girls and myself out of the house, but I couldn't find my girls or the door. I woke up from the dream wrapped up in the blankets on the floor, drenched in sweat. The dream was so realistic that for a few moments I was unsure if it was real or a dream. I immediately called my mother because I was alone and needed someone to reassure me that it really was a dream. This may seem like a strange way to encounter Jesus but He was speaking loud and clear to me that I needed to be closer to my family. It was not long before my girls and I moved back to Bethany to be near family, because I desperately needed their help! Saul, who later became Paul, didn’t know the Lord at all in fact, he was a persecutor of believers. He had a miraculous encounter with God. He was on the road to Damascus when he was blinded by a heavenly light and heard Gods voice say: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” God had a plan for Paul, but He knew it would take a radical event to break through to him. God will do whatever it takes to break through into your life too. After Jesus was crucified some of his apostles were walking to Emmasus when they had an encounter with Jesus. As they walked along the road they were talking of Jesus’ death, when suddenly Jesus himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. But they didn’t recognize him. You seem to be in a deep discussion about something, he said. What are you so concerned about? Cleopas, replied, You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about the terrible things that happened there last week. What things? Jesus asked. The things that happened to Jesus, the Man from Nazareth, they said. He was a Prophet who did incredible miracles and was a mighty Teacher, highly regarded by both God and man. But the chief priests and our religious leaders arrested him and handed him over to the Roman government to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had thought he was the glorious Messiah and that he had come to rescue Israel. Then Jesus quoted to them passage after passage from the the prophets, beginning with the book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about himself. By the time they arrived at Emmasus it was getting dark and so the apostles invited him to stay the night. As they were sharing a meal they had their encounter with Jesus. Luke 24: 30-31 ESV When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. We talk to God, pray, read our Bibles, and interact with Him daily, but a true encounter with him is different. It usually happens when we least expect it. It is deeply personal and relevant to your situation at the time. It may be life changing in some way. It's purpose is to reveal God's glory. A true encounter with Jesus is timely, specific and purposeful. Finally an encounter with Jesus may leave you breathless, speechless or immobile while you process what has happened, or in Paul's case even blind. When you experience such an encounter, what makes it so wonderful, is the realization that God sees you! He knows you, your name, and the intim

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No where in the bible will you read that the Christian life is an easy one. The Christian life is no walk in the park. Matter of fact what you will find is the opposite. In John chapter 16 verse 33 it says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” If you want to have a strong faith, a muscular faith then you must exercise it. If you have ever broken a leg and been unable to use it for a time, you know that you will have to work hard to rebuild the muscle that has been weakened by prolonged inactivity. The physical therapist will work with you to rebuild what has been lost through lack of use. So, faith is like a muscle and needs to be exercised. Here is an example of someone that devoted his life to being intentional and diligent to achieve his goal. Rowdy Gaines is a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Gaines set 10 world records between 1978 and the 1984 Olympic Games. The three-time Olympic gold medalist also tallied 16 total medals (12 gold) representing the United States at the World Championships and Pan American Games. For 8 years leading up to the 1984 Olympic games Rowdy Gaines swam in increments of 50 yard laps a nearly 20,000 miles. After he won the gold medal for the 100 meter freestyle swim he said, “I swam around the world for a race that lasted 49 seconds.” To everyone that claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, is your faith so strong, so muscular and dedicated that you, like Rowdy Gaines you would swim around the world for a race that lasts 49 seconds? As Christians what kind of diligent devotions should we be striving for with eternity as our goal!!!

 Colossians 3: 23-24 NIV Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

Faith is the gift of God. It is not of ourselves; we receive it from Him. It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to who Jesus is and to show us our need of Him and to create within us the capacity to trust Him. He gives you a new heart, the gift of faith. But Jesus in Luke 8:25 makes it clear that you can have this gift of faith and never use it. “Where is your faith?” He asks the disciples, after a storm blew up as they were rowing across the lake. Jesus had been asleep in the back of the boat, and the disciples panicked! But Jesus awakens, calms the storm, and then asks, “Where is your faith?” In other words, “Why aren’t you exercising the faith I have gifted to you?” Having faith in God often requires choosing to have confidence in Him, who He is, what He has done for you, and His promises. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and believing what you have heard and read. When you believe God’s Word as truth, you are exercising your faith. To exercise means to use or apply something. As Christians, we use or apply our faith when we believe God’s Word as truth and live our lives according to the principles and lessons found in it. In times of difficulty, it is helpful to read first John.

1 John 4:4 NIV You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

In times of doubt or confusion, you can rely on Proverbs 3:51 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.” Reading and knowing God’s Word is not the same as the act of obeying His Word. When you live by faith, obedience is extremely important. Every time your obedient, you exercise your faith, your faith becomes stronger. You develop a muscular faith!

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I am not good at remembering dates. I can barely remember my wife and children's birthdays and don't even ask me to tell you the birthdays of my grandchildren. I do remember events and things that happened during those special events but God just didn't gift me the ability to remember the day and date of special events. I remember the moment I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. It was at the First Baptist Church in Stanberry, Missouri. I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I remember the floors of the sanctuary sloped downward to the pulpit. I especially remember the feeling of warmth, comfort and peace I felt during that moment. The day I accepted Jesus as my Savior must have really irritated Satan, because after that day I faced many trials and tribulations. When I was 14 to 15 years old I was sexually assaulted by a male school teacher who was also my wrestling coach on several occasions. When I turned 16 years old I began using drugs and drinking alcohol in great excess. I drove my car like the devil was chasing me and on at least one occasion probably should have been severely injured in a car accident, “But God” had different plans for me. On the night of my Junior prom I drank so much alcohol that I passed out and my friends put me in the passenger seat of my car, drove me home and parked my car in the drive. When I didn't come in my father came out and carried my lifeless body into the home. He later told me that for a moment he couldn't find a pulse, I likely should have died of alcohol poisoning, “But God” had different plans. My parents and our neighbors, Jim & Sherry Lerette, prayed over my lifeless body until I finally awoke. During my senior year in high-school I was dating a young girl from Albany. I started double dating with another friend who was then dating, Dena, the woman who became my first wife. One night Dena confided in me that she had been sexually assaulted by the person that I thought was my friend. I think this common experience may have been what initially attracted me to her. I wanted to try and protect her. When we got married I had just turned 19 in November, she was 16 years old, and our first daughter was born in January. I will let you do the math on that. Our second daughter was born just 18 months after that. When I was just 23 years old my first son, Jerry Craig was born. He was very ill and spent 3 months in neonatal intensive care and only 1 day at home. The doctors finally told me they didn't think they would ever be able to cure his illness so I told them to take away all his drugs and just care for him like you would any other child and in just a week he passed away. My heart was broken. For the longest time I felt like I had killed my son. In 1990 my wife Dena gave birth to our second son who was still born. On Christmas day of 1991 I chased a life-flight helicopter and my youngest daughter, Sara was born prematurely. When she was born she weighed 2 pounds 9 ounces and was only 14 inches long. Looking back on all these difficult days I still don't know how I managed, “But God” had plans for me that I didn't yet understand. In 1993 after 8 years of marriage I was served with divorce papers. I am not going to go into the details of why my marriage failed other than to say, we were both immature. We both thought that if we were not getting our needs met by the other, our marriage was a failure. I can tell you now that I am much more mature. One characteristic of a good marriage is when each person looks to give more than they receive.... In the 1990's it was very uncommon for a father to get custody of his children, especially when they were all 3 girls, “But God” had plans for me! Hindsight is 20/20, but I feel very confident that the main reason I got custody of my girls is because I was surrounded by family that was present at court dates and prayed for me constantly. My parents prayed. I had 4 Christian grandparents that prayed and a wh

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