Are You All In?

or are you sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the wind will blow?

In today’s sermon, my pastor discussed how it can be deadly to just pretend to be all in when  you just trying to look like other church folk.  In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look like  good church folks.  They even had their lie together so whether you questioned them together or separate, you would get the same answer.

What they failed to realize was that God knew their heart and their game.  It cost them everything they had thought they gained. Are you building up treasures in the right place?

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We only fool ourselves. God is not surprised by our actions.  It is kinda like those lights above. The white lights are rising above the fray.  There are some white lights mixed in with the colors. They look like they are all going the same direction. But. They. Are. Not..

Darkness and fake light does not fool God. He sees right through to your heart. It is our hearts that decide if we are all in or not.  Pray for a responsive contrite heart. It is a battle everyday to lay it down and not pick it back up.

Lets remind ourselves of Joshua’s words in chapter 24:  Choose for yourself this day the one you will worship. As for me and my family, we will whorship, Yahweh! Joshua 24:15.

My Private Inventory

If you would like to buy some books before Saturday please let me know because I may run out.

Connections $18
Destiny’s Dilemma $10.00
Privateers $8.99
ReCovery $8.99
When You Forget Your Phone $15
Caught in the Crosswinds $15

Comfortable is Not Your Calling

Do you find that in a day that is designed for 10 things, you do 20 because you are wonder woman or captain america? You are tired, but you can handle it. Let me just say that this is not your calling, One of the things you have to learn to say is NO.

NO

God will not call you to be so busy you don’t have time for this gift He has given you called life. I think we get so wrapped up in other people’s callings that we wear ourselves out trying to accomplish things that we were not meant to do. Learn to say no so some stuff that looks good so that you can get what is better.  One of the things I prayed for was a spirit of discernment. Lord, teach me what to do and when to do it.

Since I have let go of other people’s callings, God has taken me places I never would have imagined. I stopped trying to be what others wanted me to be. I began to embrace the things God called me to. I have found myself doing several things I never thought I could do.  In the next two weeks I will meet new challenges as an artist, as a photographer, as a writer and as a jesus follower. I am amused and scared at the same time.

 

One of my ahha moments this year was that God has a different idea of what success looks like that does not always match mine. Sometimes God just wants us to try some new stuff.  Some of us are so caught up in the same ol same ol that we won’t try anything new without a good reason. (I know from which I speak)

I have been on this journey with God for a while.  I have not looked up to Him and said “Lord, I’m bored.”  Kinda like a kid on an amusement park ride, there have been days I have asked to be taken off the crazy ride or to slow it down.  It is like when you start trying to teach your baby to walk.  Some of them find it scary because they fall and their legs are so unsure. Once they get used to it they appreciate the new ability.

God is the same way. There is so much He wants to teach us, but we get so scared we sit in the floor and say “I am not ever going to do that, it is too scary.” But God knows that once we trust Him and get the hang of it, we will love it.  He created us for it.

Over the next couple of weeks I have some amazing challenges before me.  There will be the tendency to sit in the floor and say “I can’t do that.” But I am going to put everything I got into it because success is not defined by me or determined by me.  I find my confidence in Christ because He called me to it.

Some Call It A Hard Rain

while others might refer to it as a storm. A metaphor for struggles in life, we  all encounter them in our lives and have to decide how to deal with them. In this collection of short stories, Dancing During the Storm, each main character had to decide what they would do when their life turned upside down.

This book is available:

Books2Read

Amazon

 

How to Raise God Wise Kids in a Satan rich World