My Thoughts and Reflections

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV1984) Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day! Happy All Hallows Eve! Today is the day of the year that many choose to celebrate evil, death, devils, witches, and many other abhorrent things and ideas while others celebrate the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. Today is also the eve of the day that the church celebrates the lives of all...

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5 (NIV) When we come to church each Sunday, we come expecting an encounter with God. However, do you expect an encounter with God on a daily basis too?  What do your daily encounters with God look like?  Are they a quick thirty second prayer to get the day going? Are they mealtime prayers and a quick one before you drift off to sleep?  Or, are they consistent meetings each day in scripture, prayer, and solitude?  Whenever our meetings with God take place and however our meetings with God take place, we’re still meeting with the one and only holy God of the universe!   When Moses met with God at the burning bush, he was not expecting to meet God and he certainly did not understand how he should have been prepared to be meeting with God too.  God told him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.  T...

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. - 1 John 4:11-12 When I read these verses this morning, I was struck by the words, “No one has ever seen God” and “God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”  Even though no one has seen God, God lives in us!  This means that anyone can see God when God’s love is shown through us!  People can see God when we love one another like God has loved us.  That love can only happen when God is living in us. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is our goal to emulate the one who we follow.  God loved us by sending his Son into the world as the sacrifice for our sins and the gateway for us into a redeemed relationship with God.  Jesus showed us what true love looks like throughout his life and ministry and especially through his death on the cross.  With that examp...

The L ORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one L ORD , and his name the only name. Zechariah 14:9 (NIV) We live in a world with many competing powers, authorities, rulers, and names. This is all a result of sin having a hold on every part of humanity. When I sit down and think about how we live in a state, a country, and a world where the authorities generally do not honor or respect our God, it brings some uneasy tension to my life. However, because of the hope that Jesus Christ provides as a result of his death and resurrection, we now have a firm and solid promise that someday we will get the privilege of experiencing a world where there is only one king over the whole world and that this king will be the L ORD . How exciting is that?!?  As followers of Jesus Christ, we certainly do suffer for him in our own country, but our brothers and sisters in other countries suffer much greater peril for the name of Jesus Christ than we do here i...

I posted an article yesterday on Facebook about the abortion video made by Emily Letts. I believe that this video displays the disgusting, despicable, and demented culture of death that is spreading throughout our country. One of my former youth group members responded negatively to my post and my views and here is my response to him. I am calling him "Bob" in this post. I would love to receive anyone's comments on this. Hey Bob, Here's my response in full to your comment on the article I posted yesterday. I can accept it if you don't agree with me, but be patient and hear me out as I try to address each of the concerns you've raised. The government does have the right to make you do something even if you don’t like it or don’t want to  (a prime example would be the Obamacare legislation) . The government seems to have a lot more rights than it should, but that is not where the argument is. A government can make legal something that is w...

Lord of Heaven and Earth!   Your love for the world caused you to send your one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world so that he could die for our sins.  Thank you that he not only died, but that he also rose again to life.   Thank you that you provided over five hundred witnesses to your resurrection so that on account of all of the evidence we find in the Bible, we can come to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he is the Son of God.   Lord, bless us this week with boldness as we proclaim, "Christ is Risen!" to our coworkers, family, friends, fellow students, and to all other people that we meet this week.  Give us boldness as we bring the good news of the gospel to all those who have not hear and accepted it yet.  Give us the words to say when it is time to say them.   We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior.  Amen!

Where could I go to get away from your spirit?  Where could I go to escape your presence?  If I went up to heaven, you would be there.  If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! Psalm 139:7-8 (CEB) As we move closer to the end of this Lenten season, I continue to marvel at the innumerable things that I can praise God for!  My main focus, during Lent, is obviously on Jesus and that is cause for constant praise.  However, these two verses in Psalm 139 really are something to praise God for today as well. Earlier and later in the psalm, David is praising God for the fact that he intimately knows each an every one of us.  In these two verses, David is reminding us that there is no where we can possibly go where God cannot find us!  No matter where I go in life, no matter what I do, God is still there right beside me.  I can go to the furthest location away from heaven and earth and God would still be there with me! God ...

L ORD , you have examined me.  You know me.  You know when I sit down and when I stand up.  Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.  There isn't a word on my tongue, LORD, that you don't already know completely. Psalm 139:1-2, 4 (CEB) During this season of Lent, I have read and talked a lot about how Jesus experienced abandonment from his closest friends and followers and ultimately from God before his death in order for us to never experience what abandonment from God is like.  Not only are we never abandoned by God, but God knows us intimately. God examines each of us and knows us.  He knows us so intimately that he knows when we sit down and when we stand up!  Even from the far and unfathomable distance of heaven from our location on earth is, he still knows and comprehend's our plans.  How amazing is that?!?  God knows us!  He knows each and every word that we will utter even before that word come...

Lord , you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1 (NIV) What a beautiful verse to start the day with!  Proclaiming praises to God's name, worshiping him, and singing about the great things that he has accomplished in this world!   I admit, it is easy to sing praises like this at the beginning of a sunny, blue-sky morning after an awesome evening of worship on Ash Wednesday.  Last night was an incredible beginning to the season of Lent and what better way to celebrate God's forgiveness of our sins than by praising his name? I am so thankful that the Lord is my God.  There is no other in all of creation.  He is the one and only, the Great I AM.  I love being able to exalt and praise God's name for this reason and many more.   Isaiah proclaims that in perfect faithfulness God has done wonderful things that were planned long i...

Draw your strength from the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1 (CEB) No matter where I am in life, one thing remains the same in how I conduct my life.  That one thing is the necessity for me to continually draw my daily strength from the grace that is in Christ Jesus. When I rely on myself, I let myself down. Sure, I have some bright moments, but inevitably, I will meet temptation, fail to resist it, and fall flat on my face. Paul's admonition to Timothy in this letter is so important for all of Christ's followers.  If we draw our strength from the grace that is in Jesus, then our passion for Christ will far outweigh the fleshly passions and temptations that confront us throughout the day.  If our passion for Christ increases, it increases as we continually and daily draw on the grace that Christ has made so readily available to us, then we will not have to worry about those temptations when we meet them.   If you failed to start your day...

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35,37 (NRSV) Over the course of my life, I have felt and experienced some of what Paul is mentioning in this verse: hardship, distress, persecution, and peril, but I have not yet, thanks be to God, experienced famine, nakedness, or the sword.  However, when I have experienced the others, I have had in those moments the natural thoughts of "Where is God in all of this?" and "If God is so powerful and so loving, why am I going through this?" It is during those times when Paul's words here in Romans bring about the greatest comfort.  There is NOTHING and NO ONE that can separate us from the love of Christ.  Wow!  Even when Stephanie's and my checkbook was down to $16 in our first year of marriage and we had no clue where or ho...

The Israelites took some of their supplies, but they didn't ask for any decision from the L ORD . Joshua 9:14 (CEB) How often have I gone through my day and made a lot of decisions, but didn't once go to God for direction?  Sadly, as I look back on just the last few weeks, I can see that that has been my modus operandi .  After reading this verse in Joshua, it made me reflect on how I have not been bringing my decisions to God for direction on a regular basis. The context of this passage is during the Israelites' entry into the Promised Land.  God had told them to no make treaties with any of the inhabitants of the land because they were to wipe out the whole population of the Promised Land.  To enter into a treaty would mean that they could not fulfill this task that God gave them.  However, they were tricked by the Gibeonites into entering into a treaty.  They were slightly hesitant, but instead of relying on God's judgment, they went ahead...

Let no one deceive you  with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath  comes on those who are disobedient. Ephesians 5:6 (NIV) Sadly, the world is full of people claiming to be Christians who are full of empty words, or as the Common English Bible says, "stupid ideas."  These people deceive those who are not strong in their faith in Christ and who do not know and understand the words found in the Bible. It is so important to make regular reading of the Bible a part of your daily routine, to make hearing sound biblical teaching at least once per week, and to pray and meditate on God's word so that you are protected against the empty words of the disobedient deceivers that Paul is warning us about.   Paul is clear about what happens to those who teach doctrines that are foreign to the Bible or that twist and distort what is found in the Bible.  He says that those people receive the wrath of God. Read your Bible and do not fall prey t...

But I will sing of your might; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been a fortress for me and a refuge in the day of my distress. Psalm 59:16 (NRSV) Yesterday was Sunday, the day that I worship with my church family each week.  It is the day that we gather to pray, hear the word, celebrate sacraments, and sing.  There are so many things and reasons to sing about regarding our great God.. We can sing of God's might and for his great and mighty deeds.  Throughout history, God has manifested his might through Creation, the Flood, bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and ultimately, through defeating Satan, sin, and death through Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection! We can sing of God's unending love that he shows us each and every day!  How else could we describe it that we are forgiven for our sins and that each new morning brings with it a clean slate with which we can serve God with our day?  Go...

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Psalm 86:5 (NRSV) If you are ever finding that you are in need of encouragement, begin with this verse in the Psalms!  It is so easy to get down on ourselves and to view life negatively.  Just when we are seeing success, "life" throws us the proverbial curve-ball and we are left to pick up the pieces or figure out how to live life with that new set of circumstances.   This verse tells reminds us of who God is.   The Lord, our God, is good!   How often do we blame God for the bad things that happen in our life?  We look up to heaven and shake our fists at God the moment we get a bill in the mail that is much higher than we were expecting or when someone dings our door in the parking lot and leaves without leaving a note.  God is not a God who takes delight in our suffering or in causing harm to us.  God is good and that is something...

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Galatians 5:16-17 (NIV) "Walk by the Spirit!"  What other command can we live by that guarantees that we will be doing exactly what God desires of us in life?  I cannot think of one!   If we walk by the Spirit, Paul tells us that we will not gratify the desires of our flesh.  These desires are the desires that stem from the sinful nature that we were born with and are constantly at battle with and they are completely opposite of what the Spirit desires for our lives.  So we're left with a big choice to make in our daily lives.   Will you choose to walk by the Spirit and obey God's will for your life or will you conduct your life according to your own sinful desire...

"You will seek me and find me  when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) How often do you find yourself seeking God, let alone with your whole heart?  I find that quite often, it is so easy to seek God on a part-time basis and call it good enough instead of seeking him with all of my heart.  However, I must confess, when I seek God only partly, giving him only some of my attention, I do not often find God! Just two verses after God promises that his plans for us are fully known by him and that they are for our benefit and give us hope, God continues to tell us that all we need to do to find him is to seek him with all of our hearts! If you have not taken the time yet today to seek God and to seek him with your whole heart, stop what you're doing and do it now!  When we orient our lives around seeking God instead of trying to "fit" God into our busy lives, we will set ourselves up to be living into the plans that God has for...