Living Unfiltered for God

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...

In the last four posts, we have been studying some lesser-known, or at least less talked about individuals from the Bible. All of them have played an important role in the broader story that is HIS-story. Our final character though, Ananias, exhibits perhaps the best example of what it means to live unfiltered for God. That is, when we hear God prompt us to do something (however that may work for you), we do it. We all know the story of Paul. How he was originally known as Saul and made quite a name for himself by persecuting (and worse) any and all Christians that he came across. We also know of his “conversion experience” as he was on the road to Damascus one day. Scripture records it like this:   As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”   “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.   “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, ”...

(Continuing some reflections from Youth Devotions and Communion at Florida Family CFO camp last month...) The purpose of our discussion on the third day of the week, was to go a little deeper into the story behind one particular, well-known verse. I’ll start this post the same way I began the lesson that morning with the teenagers… Which verse in the Bible do you think is the most popular to quote, or at least the most well known? Who said it? Who was He talking to? After the first question, there were several good answers provided, but the consensus of the group settled on John 3:16. (I’ve said before, this was a smart bunch of kids!) Of course, I had to follow it up with the question, “Where is that verse found?” After a few seconds of looks of confusion, they realized I was just seeing if they really were awake that early in the morning! The second question was trickier. Their initial answer was John. A logical and reasonable choice. But then, they zeroed i...

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...

As I mentioned in my previous post, while we were at Florida Family CFO recently, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend each morning with the youth of the camp. Every morning at 7:30 we would meet on the dock that reached into Lake Yale to discuss The Word and share Communion together. (We would also watch – and keep an eye on – the occasional alligator that would float by, as well as shoo away the water birds that were overly interested in our communion bread!) I’ve done this for three years now, and each year it stands out as the highlight of my week. I am continually impressed with these young people and it gives me great confidence in the future. Every year we have a theme of sorts on which our devotions are based. This year, it was less than 12 hours before our first gathering that the Holy Spirit showed me what we were to study this year. It was Sunday evening and John Kimer, the main Youth Speaker this year, was sharing briefly about what God had put on his heart to...

I spent last week at one of my favorite places on the planet. It isn’t really the place itself that makes it so special (although it is beautiful), rather the people that I see there. And the God that I get to spend so much time with while I’m there. We were attending our annual CFO (Camp Farthest Out) family camp at Lake Yale, Florida. For my wife and I, this was our fourteenth consecutive year. Some folks have been going for more than 30 years, and about a quarter of the people attending this year were there for their first time. It’s always an incredible week of learning, worshiping, fellowshipping and soaking. Funny, we say we go there to rest but “rest” is not really what happens. In the Spirit, yes, but in the natural we are typically pretty busy!  Any of you who have read my words in this space before, know that I speak – and write – about this camp a lot. It’s at this camp where God first put it on my heart to begin writing and start this blog. You will be seeing me ...

We just returned from our annual trip to Florida Family CFO, a Christian family camp that my wife and I have been attending for the past 12 years. I say my wife and I, but there are lots of other family and extended family that are always there, as well. And, as the camp name implies, even a first-timer who has come by themselves becomes family very quickly. It is one of the highlights of my year to go to this place. It was there at camp four years ago when God gave me the idea to write this blog and to generally live, “Unfiltered for God.” Every year there are many stories and situations that occur that we end up talking about throughout the year. When we came back a year ago, I wrote about having Communion at 7:30 every morning on the dock with the Youth of the camp. I was blessed this year to be able to do that again, and it is a story that originated on that very same dock that I am going to share here, now. Unlike last year, I knew that I was going to be spending this ti...