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This is the final episode in our 4-part series about my book, Holy Spirit Unlock the Path Forward

We have explored the themes in the book that deal with prayer, faith, and legacy. Today we are talking about getting unstuck, by focusing on God, in order to move forward in the Christian life.

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This is part III in the 4-part series about my book—Holy Spirit Unlock the Path Forward.

Today we are talking about Leaving a Legacy.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:22 that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children and

Psalm 145:4 says that one generation shall commend your works to another.

So, are you preparing your legacy? Your life is so much bigger than the right here, right now.

Knowing this should give you a sense of urgency about leaving your legacy.

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What do these stones mean?

Leaving a Legacy

God gave Joshua specific instructions for the Israelites in order that they might enter the Promised Land.

1. The priests carrying the Ark would step into the Jordan River (which was overflowing its banks during this time of year) first, before anyone else.

God would then stop the flow of the water into the river.

2. The priests would then carry the Ark into the middle of the Jordan River on dry ground.

3. The whole nation would cross over the Jordan River on dry ground.

4. One representative from each of the twelve tribes would gather a stone from the middle of the Jordan near the Ark and carry it over to the other side.

5. They would then all set up a memorial for when their children asked, “What do these stones mean?”

This story begs to ask the question to each of us—Do you have traditions, special dates, or special places to let your children know about God?

Just in case you need some ideas, here are some things to think about.

· Only what we do for God will last. Salvation – being born again, is the first step and tops everything else. Have you been born again and how are you impacting the lives of your children and grandchildren to ensure that they receive salvation?

· Think about creating a family mission statement—something like:

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Or “Christ is the head of this House.”

· Keep a family Bible and allow everyone in the house to underline their favorite verses and put dates and commentary regarding what these verses mean to them. This special Bible will become a keepsake.

· Speak often about how God is speaking to you through His Word.

· Talk about how God has worked through your faith in your life—Give your testimony and tell your stories.

What do these stones mean? Stones—a metaphor for the things that you’ve collected or done that represent the goodness of God. These things are your legacy—your memorial of your life; for when your children and grandchildren ask, what do these things mean. But remember, only what you do for God will last.

God Bless You!

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Today we are exploring Part II of my book Holy Spirit Unlock the Path Forward.

In my book I talk about specific incidents in my life that required that I have faith in an all-knowing God.

I talk about my highs, when I received something that I always wanted; and my lows, when I was mad at God for the No that He gave me, to teach me that He is all-knowing, protective, and that I must trust His judgment.

Purchase your copy today on Amazon.

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1 Sam. 17: 45-51

A Faith That Works

The world around us—the people around us cannot see the faith that is inside of us. But what they can see are the good works, the good deeds that you do because of the faith that you have.

Remember when you were first learning to ride a bicycle; it was all about balance. Many aspects of life are about balance. We need a balance between work and play

between waking hours and sleeping hours and so on.

We need a balanced theology as well.

We need faith---It is impossible to please God without faith. Faith means that we believe God is! We believe that He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.

But the balance comes in when have our faith on one end of the scale and our works (what we do because of our faith) on the other end—so that the scales are balanced.

Faith and Works operate like a seesaw—up and down is a smooth movement of balance.

But if one gets off—there is no balance—no more smooth up and down—Plunk! No more seesawing.

James 2:17 says: Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead!!

In James’ day some people spoke the language of Christianity---talked like they had a lot of faith but you couldn’t tell it (could not verify) it by what they did.

They did not have a faith that works! What about you? Do you talk your faith or do you live it out?

Throughout the Bible you see men and women, average people just like us, who lived out their faith in the middle of the circumstances that they found themselves in. Look at Hebrews 11. You will see a host of faith heroes listed—people we know who found themselves living life and then God called and interrupted all that.

Noah, who had never seen rain, had to be obedient to God and build an ark in the midst of the desert with people laughing at him and calling him crazy.

Abram, who became Abraham and then Sarai became Sarah and together travel to a distance land to affect the world population, having a child when they were far past child-bearing age.

Moses who forsook Egypt and a life of ease to save his people.

And so on.

Read it for yourself. And then at the end of Hebrews 11, it says that all those people who obtained a good testimony through FAITH, did not receive the promise. Why? Because God had something better in mind for them that they should not receive it apart from us. He wants us in on the reward.

So, God is giving you and me an opportunity to show off your faith, by our works.

The poet Edgar Guest once wrote:

I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.

I’d rather one would walk w/me than merely show the way.

So let’s look at 1 Sam.17. We see the well-known story of David and Goliath. Today I want you to look at this story through the lens of the faith of David---that David did not just talk his faith, but he courageously, fearlessly, and almost recklessly lived it out.

That is the kind of faith that I’m striving to have---a bold, fearless, reckless faith in God.

Chapter 17 begins by telling us that Saul is king of the Israelites, and they are in a battle with the Philistines with a valley in between the two armies. The Philistine army isn’t doing much because they have a giant man of war on their side named Goliath that is nine feet tall. Shaq is 7’1’, so just imagine an average guy – an average soldier against Goliath.

And not only was Goliath tall and big, but he was also decked out in all this bronze armor—bronze helmet, iron on his legs all total weighing about 125 lbs.

His spear was this 12-foot-long instrument with an iron point. And a smaller spear—called a javelin was slung on his back.

Goliath was the Philistine army’s assault weapon, who came not to just kill his enemy, but to demolish him.

Then here comes along David, just a boy---probably a teenager, 16-19 years old. He was sent by his father Jesse to check on his three o

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It’s now September and this month we will begin a series that covers the 4 parts of my book.  

Yes, the book that I wrote—the story of my life.  We will talk about prayer, faith, legacy, and focusing on God.

I’m excited to share these topics with you, but you will definitely want to get your own book and read it for yourself.  

The title is Holy Spirit Unlock the Path Forward, and it is sold on Amazon. Order your copy today.

Now, let’s talk about prayer. First of all, prayer is simply our way to communicate with God. How awesome is that! We can talk to Almighty God and then listen for Him to speak to us. Let’s be sure not to forget---talk, then listen for what God says and how He directs us.  

So how do we pray? What do we say? Where can we do it and should we kneel and close our eyes? And how do we know when God is speaking?

These are all legitimate questions, but the answers might surprise you. The truth is that we can literally pray anytime, and the only posture requirement is a heart focused on God. 

Standing, kneeling, walking, driving along, lying down—it does not matter, as long as your heart is postured to God. 

But to hear Him takes practice. It means that we lessen the distractions, we’re open to His Will and His Way, and some things are required---like being honest with God, forgiving others, and letting go of any fakery, phony-ness, or image management that we have.

Then, we must listen to and be led by God’s Holy Spirit. Hence, the title of my book—Holy Spirit Unlock the Path Forward.

Who is Holy Spirit?   He is the third person of the God-head—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

How does He operate?  Well, listen to this excerpt from my book.

I’ll leave the rest for you to enjoy. God bless you.

Join us next week when we talk about how faith has played a role in my life, on God’s Toolbox, the Bible.

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Psalm 90 is the oldest Psalm. 

Written by Moses---Moses’ life gives him the right and authority to write this Psalm. There was no one else like him in the Bible.    

We know that even from birth, his life was a miracle. Pharoah had ordered that all Jewish males that were born be thrown into the river. Only the females could live. 

Moses’ mom hid him for as long as she could and then constructed an ark and put him into the river. God’s providence caused him to come upon Pharoah’s daughter, who took him in as her son to raise. And God’s providence once again came about as Moses’ very own mother was summoned to nurse him and care for him. So, Moses grew up knowing that he was a Hebrew, of Jewish descent. 

No doubt in Pharoah’s house he gained knowledge, confidence, and leadership skills, but when he was 40 years old, he saw an Egyptian taskmaster mistreating a Hebrew, one of his people. In anger, he killed the Egyptian and ran away.

For the next 40 years, he was on the back side of the mountain tending the sheep. Someone who was an Egyptian prince was now living a lowly life with sheep, but no doubt he learned humility, patience and probably survival skills. Then he noticed a burning bush that was on fire but not consumed. He talked with God who told him at the age of 80 that he was sending him back to Egypt to tell Pharoah to let his people go.

After a series of miracles Moses lead the children out of Egypt and by another miracle across the Red Sea. Here in the wilderness, they roamed for 40 years. Moses learned trust and obedience to God. The Bible says that he talked to God face-to-face as friends, but after an incident of obedience, not even Moses was excused. He was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses died in the wilderness and God Himself buried him. 

Somewhat of a sad story. I like happy endings and was feeling badly for Moses until God showed me that this story really did have a happy ending, because Moses trusted God.  The Word says that nothing shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus—not life or death, nor angels or demons, or anything shall separate us from the love of God.

But in this Psalm, Moses is telling us to realize that life is short.  Even at 120 years, life was short for Moses. Whatever we’re going to do, do it now.  We’re not like God in that God is not bound by time. Verse 4 of Psalm 90 says that 1000 years is like one day to God. God is not bound by time. He is eternal—but man is transitory.

We were never created to stay in this state—on this earth forever. We have a beginning, middle, and end. In other words, we have a past, present, and future. Our end is our future. 

Moses goes on to say, “Lord, you know all about us, even our secret sins, the terrible things that no one else knows.” Verse 8

The average length of our days is 70 years—or 80 years, if we are blessed but are they are still filled with sorrow and labor. We are like grass that opens up and stands up bright and beautiful in the morning but by evening they are withered and dying. 

So, teach us to make every day count—to take advantage and treasure our lives. We don’t know where on the timeline of life, we fall. 

Ask yourself—What does God will for me to do with my life?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done for beginning to the end.”

So, three things we know. 

1.     God has put into our DNA a spiritual thirst

2.     We have eternal value—our soul and spirit are immortal, and we are able to get a now body, if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

3.     Only God can satisfy us. Even when we do our best here on Earth, we somehow know that this is not our home. A

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Today’s topic is affirmations. Yes, affirmations—positive statements spoken in specific 

terminology to help you overcome negative, possibly self-sabotaging thoughts.

 It has often been stated that the French psychologist and pharmacist Emile Coue is the father of affirmations because he introduced the treating of patients by using optimistic psychotherapy. In other words, he had patients repeat positive statements over and over to retrain their negative thinking. Eventually they became positive and gained a healed mindset.  In the field of psychiatry this is called autosuggestion.

 However, I’d like to introduce you to the real father of affirmations. 

 Genesis 1 records the history of creation.  Several times in the passage it says that God saw what He had done and said it was good.  And verse 31 states, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. 

 So, the truth is that the Lord God Almighty himself affirmed what He had done in a positive manner—not once, but over and over again.

 We need to do likewise. In fact, Romans 12:2 tells us to be released from worldly conformity; to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

 In other words, we need to affirm within the battlefield of the mind—what is good and acceptable and pleasing to God. 

If that means repeating positive affirmations, then so be it.

 In fact, say this popular affirmation with me, like you mean it.

 “God is good, all the time.

And 

All the time, God is good.”

 Now don’t you feel better. Certainly, you do!    God bless you. 

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In a sermon from Exodus 17:8-13, Rev. Janice Casey tells us how we can take the Kingdom Authority given to us by the Lord to live lives of power, freedom and faith. 

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Do you ever doubt God’s ability to  impact change in your life and in the world? You have access to all that is God’s. 
Note: Correction  Jeremiah 32:17

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