Living Unfiltered for God

  Recently, I’ve found myself studying and reading a lot about wisdom. It hasn’t been an intentional thing, it just dawned on me this morning that much of what I’ve been consuming in terms of books and podcasts have had this underlying theme. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. (You can definitely place me in the camp of “ all things happen for a reason ”, so I generally don’t put a lot of stock in the “ it’s just a coincidence ” explanation.)           What struck me earlier today was something new. I will typically journal (for those unfamiliar, yes, that word can be used as a verb) about what I read during my early morning “quiet time.” Often, it will turn into a prayer of sorts, for myself or others. When I did so this morning, I gained a new understanding of the depth and importance of wisdom, as a concept. This is my attempt to put in into words and share with you what I learned.   Wisdom is a three-fold process of disc...

The second day of our Dock Devotions focused on one of my personal favorite characters, and stories, in The Bible: Abigail. Her name appears in only a couple of different chapters, but the part she played in history – particularly the future King David’s history – was enormous. The discussion was based on 1 Samuel Chapter 25. As usual, a bit of context first. David and his mighty men as they are called, had been on the run, trying to avoid King Saul. King Saul knew that David had been anointed King and wanted to kill David so that this would not take place. Shortly after the Death of Samuel (who, many years earlier, had anointed David to be the future king), while still trying to hide from Saul, they came to a town called Carmel. They arrived during a festive time, so David instructed his men to ask Nabal, a wealthy landowner, for any provisions, “you can find for them.” The request included the fact that they (David and his men) had been in the area and had done nothing to h...

This is going to be one of those shorter posts that I mentioned would be coming... Mostly because I really want those of you that follow this blog to share with others your thoughts on something I've been thinking a lot about lately. How do you go about making a really important decision? I've had several things come up in my life the last few weeks where I've had to make decisions that were not of the " what do I wear to work today? " variety. These are the decisions that you know God is not only paying attention to, but He no doubt has a stake in what you decide.  This goes to the root of living unfiltered for Him - What does He want us to do? What is the decision He wants us to make? What is HIS WILL for our life in this particular matter at hand?   So my question for you is this: How do you go about making these decisions? What is your process? Do you turn to scripture? Do you pray? Do you seek wise counsel? And how do you know when you have your answer? ...

What came into your mind when you first read the title above? Did you even think about it? If not, and even if you did, take a brief moment now to think about what it is that causes you fear. I'd like for you to have something in mind as you read what follows.  Now that you have something specific in mind, let me ask you another question... Is God bigger than whatever it is you came up with? Before you start arguing with me in your head, think about it. Whatever that thing is that you're thinking about, don't you think that God, specifically your faith in God, can help you overcome that fear? It has been said many times that the opposite of fear is not courage, but faith. Faith is what gets us through. Faith is what gives us the ability to be courageous. When God spoke to Joshua and told him to "be strong and courageous" it was followed with the assurance that He (God) would be with Joshua "wherever you go" ( Joshua 1:9 ). Joshua had to have faith...