Living Unfiltered for God

It startles me to think of how many Christmas Eves I've experienced in my life. My how the years pass by quickly. There are different kinds of Christmas Eves... Joyous ones, sad ones, those that cause us to be tentative. Our circumstances and situations have a lot to say about our feelings on this night. But one thing never changes - the reason we are celebrating - the birthday of our Savior. Like so much and everything else, circumstances change, our feelings change, our situations may be in constant Flux, but Jesus - He stays the same. Our loving, grace-filled, hope-instilling Savior... He NEVER changes. We can always count on Him to be exactly what He has always been and ever will be. Our Savior. Those two words: But, Jesus. What is on your heart tonight that can be soothed by those two words? "Lord, my finances are a mess." But, Jesus. "Father, I'm worried about my child's salvation and future." But, Jesus. "Lord, my parent is in very ill health

While reading one of the Advent devotionals through the YouVersion Bible app this morning, I came across this commentary… Luke 2 says that when the angels told the shepherds the Good News about Jesus’ birth, they “hurried off” to find Him. Instead of waiting around and letting doubt creep in, they responded immediately. This took great faith! Certainly, they wanted to meet Jesus, but they also had earthly concerns. What would they do with their flock? Should they tell their families first? Were they dressed appropriately? Were simple shepherds really worthy of meeting the King of Kings? They didn’t let any of the questions we might have asked in the same situation keep them from quickly responding to God. I immediately thought, what a great example of living unfiltered for God! It is this kind of behavior that I have been trying to practice myself and encourage in this space for a while now. How amazing was it that these shepherds heeded the call, no questions asked? It makes

When was the last time you took a chance for God? What I mean is, when was the last time you did something that, in the natural, was probably a bad idea, (or you could at least convince yourself that it was), but you knew that, since God wanted you to do it, it would all work out okay? Let me back-up a short step… For you to do this you would have to hear from God in the first place. So, let’s start there. Do you hear His voice?   I’m not talking an audible voice (although it’s been known to happen), but more that “still small voice” that you sense in your spirit. That’s really what this whole blog is about – hearing his voice and acting on it – no filters, no ifs, ands, or buts, just do what He says! Now, back to my question – When was the last time? I would argue that if something hasn’t already popped into your head, then maybe you’re not taking enough “God chances” in your life. They don’t have to be big ones – like some biblical ones we’ll mention shortly – they can

Recently, I’ve been watching a series of sermons from Pastor Miles McPherson ( Rock Church in San Diego ) about prophecy. One definition that keeps getting repeated is that prophecy is a word , that becomes a thing , that in turn gets transformed into God’s Glory. Maybe it’s because my wife and I have been talking about this a lot lately, but when I felt the Lord give me a word this morning – out of nowhere, by the way, (and isn’t that often the case?) – I knew I was supposed to share it in this manner. I’ve written in this space often ( here , here and here , for a few ) about the family camp we attend every summer. There have also been posts about the scripture stones that the youth receive on the last day of camp. This is always one of my personal highlights of our camp – to see which scriptures resonate with the kids. As part of this tradition, I ask one of them to choose a stone for me. I can’t begin to tell you (although I attempted to in a previous post ) how much these s

Last week, Barbara and I spent our 25th anniversary celebrating with a little much needed R&R and “just us” time in Charleston, SC. There were several times in the weeks leading up to our trip, however, where it seemed we might not make the trip. Looking back, I’m sure it was the enemy trying to keep us from some very important divine appointments. While not everything went the way we planned, we made some new friends and came home with some wonderful “God stories”. This is just one of them… One of our main objectives for our stay was to visit the Charleston City Market. When we had been to Charleston years ago, we only had a little bit of time there and so we were looking forward to taking our time while we perused all the booths and wares. We were specifically looking for gifts for several grandchildren’s birthdays, while also looking for a special anniversary gift to, and for, each other. About an hour into our shopping, I noticed Barbara striking up a conversation with th

We often hear the expression, “Be a light!” If you are a Christian, we are taught that we are to shine Christ’s light – to emanate His Light that lives within us to the world around us. Have you ever really thought about what that means, though? Or how to practice this on a day to day basis? He said to them, “ Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open . ( Mark 4:21-22 NIV )   Several weeks ago, I was reading through a devotional with some others that posed a question I had never thought of before. In the “For Reflection” area, it stated the following: “There are different kinds of lights (traffic lights, flashlights, spotlights, florescent lights, candle lights, lighthouse, torches, lamps) - which one best describes you? Why?” This really got me thinking. Like anything else when it comes to bible study,