How Do I Pray When Life Comes Against Me?

Are you experiencing grief in your life right now? Does it feel like your plans have been snatched from you? Is your life not what you expected? Are you struggling to catch your breath and keep your head above the water of dashed hopes and forgotten dreams?

First of all...my heart breaks for what you're going through.

I am so sorry this has happened to you. Sometimes life happens despite our best plans, and I know this is not what you planned. I am sorry.

Secondly...be honest with God.

Are you angry? Tell Him. Are you frustrated? Tell Him. Are you lonely? Tell Him. Be totally open and transparent when you pray, God wants you to share what you're feeling, He wants to hear about every emotion and your deepest needs, don't hold back, and don't limit your prayer to short, compact, religious words.

Just talk to Him, as if you're talking to your best friend.

Open your heart to God in its complete and rawest form because that is what God wants. It's okay to express your anger, your frustration, your fears, your hurt, your deepest longings and emotions because God understands. Prayer is simply having a conversation with your Father, so it doesn't matter how you say it, just say it and God will fill in the rest.

Thirdly...my advice to you is...ignore well meaning people when they inadvertently judge your situation.

We all have issues and problems, and unfortunately those things color our advice and the way we deal with things. Everyone will have an opinion about your situation. But...Only God's opinion matters. And God loves you deeply, and truly, and without hesitation or hangups. You are His best creation, You are His daughter or son, You are His bride. The Bible says in Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed."

It doesn't matter what other people think you should do, or should have done...the only One who matters is God.

Nestle in close to Him, pray and seek His perfect will, be open and honest in your conversation with Him, live every day for Him and with Him, allow Him to be your comfort and strength, and one day when you pass through the valley and are standing on the hilltop you will be able to look back and know that God's perfect will for your life has come to pass.

Dr. King's Dream is Dying...Does the World Even Care?

Sorry, I just don't feel the need to write another blog about celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of equality.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I truly do believe the man was articulate, brilliant, and more than qualified to teach what he taught. I agree with his dream of living in an America where everyone is equal, where bigotry and hatred no longer exist, where every human being has the right to have their voices heard.

But I’m afraid that today’s America is far from the ideal that Dr. King preached and prayed for, and to be honest, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

When my Christian faith is being hunted down and extinguished at every turn, but every other dogma, belief or religion is given the freedom to flourish without restriction, there is no equality. 

When babies are slaughtered by the millions before they even take a breath, but people will march endlessly in their fight to save an animal, there is no equality. 

When men are vilified and labeled toxic, treated as if they are no better than pond scum,
and our sons are pushed to assume a more feminine manhood, there is no equality. 

When women are not held accountable for their actions and words, encouraged to be crass and vulgar, and our daughters are told that in order to find fulfillment they must abandon anything traditional, there is no equality. 

When the children of our nation are hungry and homeless, veterans go without needed assistance, yet those who storm the border are given a free pass, there is no equality. 

When violent actions take precedence, and are excused, over peacefully orchestrated protests, and victims of racial bigotry and hatred are ignored because their skin color does not match the approved profile of the world, there is no equality. 

When political ambition and personal gain take precedence over truth and justice, and the elite and the media join forces to circumvent our founding fathers and the Constitution simply because they don't like a duly elected official, there is no equality.

When the average American  can no longer voice an opinion or belief because they are afraid of the social justice mob chasing them down, verbally assaulting them at restaurants and Broadway plays, hiding in their pantries as an angry mob attempts to break down their doors, there is no equality.

Dr. King had a dream, and from where I’m sitting the world is doing its darnedest to rub it out.  

But I’m not saying his dream is not possible. We still have a chance to make this dream happen. While we still have breath there is still a chance to make the change.

It begins with you…and me…and every single person in the world taking a step back to think before we speak, to measure our need for social justice against the need of another person, to not only preach tolerance but to live it, to agree to disagree gracefully and without hidden agendas, to champion truth and justice instead of violence and lies, to treat each other with the same respect we are asking for. 

Will we let Dr. King’s dream die, or will we realize that equality begins with me…and you?

Some Might Say the 10 Commandments Are No Longer Required...I Wonder if They Asked God His Opinion on the Subject.

So, I read an article recently about a mega church ‘pastor’ who says the Ten Commandments no longer apply to modern day Christians.

Dear friends, if you are attending a church where this type of belief system is being preached from the pulpit..don't walk...RUN out the door and never look back.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,"

Did you catch that, it says ALL SCRIPTURE, not just the New Testament, ALL of it.

The Bible also says in Matthew 5:17 - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Yes, that is Jesus speaking, not just some disciple. The Law required a blood sacrifice; Jesus fulfilled that by his death and resurrection on the cross. Jesus did NOT do away with the 10 Commandments (the Law), he gave us the remedy for redemption of our sins, because we cannot keep the Law without His help.

This 'pastor' says that we are no longer required to obey the Law, which means, if you truly follow his logic, according to him it's okay to rape, murder, steal, lie...whatever the Law forbids no longer applies.

MADNESS!

What this man is doing is appealing to man's fleshly desire for no judgment, no restriction, a sort of greasy Grace that will allow people to slip more easily into hell (Proverbs 14:12) instead of pointing them towards heaven.

We MUST be careful of who we allow to speak into our lives. Sound doctrine is crucial to our salvation and spiritual growth. God warns us repeatedly in Scripture to avoid false teaching, to learn to recognize false teachers so that we will know when we are being led down a path that God did not intend.

How do we do that? We take what someone preaches, or teaches us, back to the Word of God. Holding their words, beliefs, actions up against the light of the Gospel will reveal whether they are leading us down the narrow road of salvation, or steering us down the wide road that leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)




For further reference, please see the following Scriptures:

Ezekiel 13:9 | Jeremiah 23:16 | Luke 6:26 | Matthew 24:24 | Matthew 16:11-12 | 2 Timothy 4:3-4 | Acts 20:28-30 | 2 Peter 3:14-18 | 1 John 4:1-6 | Matthew 7:15-20 | 2 Peter 1:12-21 | Titus 1:6-16 | 2 Peter 2 | Matthew 23:1-29

Why Quitting Those New Year Resolutions is a Good...No, GREAT...Thing to Do

In years past I’ve noticed that every New Year would bring dozens upon dozens of posts on social media about making New Year Resolutions. This year…not so much. In fact, it was hard to find any at all.

Did you have any resolutions? If so, can I ask, how are you doing with them?

If you‘ve found that once again, it’s been a bit difficult to keep them and you’ve chucked them out the door already, no worries, you are in good company! According to Statistic Brain by the end of the first week 27% of us have thrown in the towel, at the two week mark 31% have quit, and just barely half make it through the first month.

So if you’re among the 27% who’ve already chucked those resolutions out the door by the end of this first week of 2019…pat yourself on the back and realize you’ve done a good…no…GREAT…thing!

Eh..what’s that your saying?

That’s right, quitting those resolutions is a GOOD thing.

Resolutions are failures waiting to happen. I mean, think about it. Most resolutions are made based on emotions or activities, not long term goals. Or they are so huge that it would take forever to accomplish, which causes us to lose heart before we’ve even made a dent in them.  That’s why I stopped making them years ago, despite my best intentions I just couldn’t keep up with them, and without a deeper motivation, or reason that went beyond me, I lost interest and gave up. I set myself up for failure every single time.

Quitting resolutions was good for me.

I finally realized that change doesn’t happen overnight; I couldn’t just wave my New Year’s sparkler and wake up January first a new me. It just couldn’t happen.  But what I learned was that if I set some long term goals, committed them to God in prayer, and patiently began making some small changes in my life those little changes would eventually lead me where I needed to go.

And suddenly, those long term goals weren’t so overwhelming.