Acknowledge Him

"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:6

We "acknowledge" God - or in my paraphrase "make a plan and give it over to God in prayer acknowledging that He has the authority to do as He pleases with our finite yet prayed through plans" - and then something goes wrong and the plans look different than we imagined they would. Immediately we begin to think that we missed God somewhere.

It is difficult for us to accept that sometimes, after we had made prayerful plans, they do not go as we imagined they would and we immediately question where did we go wrong? We have made our plans but God is the one that guides the steps - often in ways that we could not see or understand. When things become difficult we immediately assume we are off the "path" however it is more than likely that our Sovreign God is guiding us.

Do not be so quick to jump ship when you have prayerfully sought out God's direction and "set sail" and encounter difficulty. Life is an adventurous journey for the Christian.

Listen to these words and let them bring you peace:


"If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand."
Psalm 37:23,24

"A mans steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way." Proverbs 20:24

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."
Proverbs 16:9

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” I Corinthians 2:9

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

Do you doubt God's goodness towards you? Do not let the devil steal the peace and joy of knowing that you have a Father in heaven that is absolutely overjoyed with you. Do not doubt that a heavenly Father that sees us as so valuable that He would choose to send Christ to die for you and I. Do not doubt that God is working all things together for GOOD in your life and to His Glory. He IS watching over you!

Mike



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Embarrassment

Something that I have been thinking about a bit lately as I have started new employment. I felt like God was asking me a question one day last week. "Do you love and trust me enough to be embarrassed for me?" Not embarrassed about the gospel but the being placed in a circumstance that may cause me to feel embarrassed but provide a door of opportunity for the gospel.

There is one thing that I fear more than "how" I will die one day - being embarrassed - to look like a fool. It goes way back to my grade school days when I was "spanked" in front of the class for making a simple mistake on an art assignment in fourth grade. It was one of my "Diary of a wimpy Kid" moments. I'm not bitter :-). It probably goes back even further than that. Anyways - I hate the feeling. You know what I am talking about. I do everything possible to avoid the uncomfortableness of embarrassment. Its like vomiting (I'm sorry).

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." ICor. 1:27-29 (NIV)

When I consider all that Christ did for me - the humiliation of public flogging - the rejection of the people that He created - the pain of the cross - the being forsaken for my sin - I am shamed by the way that I shy away from the occasional situation because of my fear of embarrassment. Well - I am going to trust God more today - that He will be the one speaking through me when I find myself in a potentially embarrassing setting. I am going to choose to stand in His strength knowing that whose I am is more important than how I appear to people. I am going to choose to receive the peace of the Father that always comes when I am doing something that makes Him smile - even though it is a challenge for me. He loves it when we trust Him and His goodness.

Will you join me? Let's be royalty and make God smile!!

Mike

Leaning

"Lean not upon you own understanding." Prov. 3:5

Have you ever thought you had a situation all figured out only to discover that there was more that you did not understand. I think everyone of us would raise our hand to that. I have been in a place before where I did not know what to do and I made a choice quickly and incorrectly. It was a moment when I had this incredible urge to "do" something because of the pressure of the moment. I leaned on my own understanding.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is found in II Samuel 5:17-25. David had just become King of Israel and the Philistines were gathering to attack him at Baal Perazim. David inquired of the Lord and said should I go up and attack them. God said - "Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you." David attacks and defeats the Philistines. The story goes on to say, "Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rehaim." v. 22 David once more inquires of God and God tells him to not go straight up but circle around behind and attack them in front of the Balsam trees. "As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the Balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean that the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army". v.24

I love the Story because of the unusual way that God "showed up". I wonder what David was thinking? Was he irritated with the heavenly plan? Were his men frustrated? (Maybe by this time his fighting men were growing accustomed to unusual behavior from their king.) I wonder if he was under pressure from them to just "go for it" after all they have defeated the Philistines many times before. Regardless - David leaned in on God with his faith that God would provide the means to victory. He chose to trust in a plan that he did not devise rather than move ahead of God with his own resources. David had a heart that would choose to do what God asked even if the men surrounding him - mighty men - put pressure on him to engage. This is what seperated David's kingship from them that were before him.

What does it mean to "lean"? My take on this phrase is to not put more trust in what you "think" and "see" than we do in our faith and trust in God. Leaning means trusting that what you lean against will stand firm - that it can support our need. Our Heavenly Father is the "Solid Rock" - does it not make sense that we can lean on Him and rest all our care upon Him?

I'm not ignoring that God expects us to use our minds to make good and right choices. However, when we get to the place of not knowing what to do where all we can do is "stand" we need to trust in God and lean in on Him - not on our finite understanding.

Mike

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All Our Hearts!

Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart...

God tells us to use every portion of our heart when we trust Him - not just half a heart or 90% of it but all of it. What is hiding in the nooks and crannies of the excess of our heart that is not trusting completely is fear, worry, and anxiety. They are the by-product of distrust. We are to trust Him completely and totally. How do we do this? I would suggest that it comes from a lifetime of trusting more and more and experiencing God's faithfulness in every situation. Building trust may take us time but God asks us to chase out every shadow of distrust in our hearts as we witness His deliverence in our lives.

What causes us to distrust? - an inaccurate perspective of the love of God. Many of us do not take God completely at His Word when He say's that He loves us. We have a distortion in this maybe because of how we have recieved and experienced human love from others that was unfulfilling and lacking. We think this is how God loves us too but it is not true. When I became a child of the King it was out of a realization that God loves me so much that He would allow Christ to give His life for mine - that means that I - You - WE are very special in His eyes. We are His treasure - they that have a heart after Him. We are literally His Kids! Let me ask you this - Do you really think that He would not be completely trustworthy when He values us this much?

I pray that you and I would see the all powerful hand of God bring our great "deliverence" in every situation as we Glorify Him with COMPLETE Trust.

Peace
Mike


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Continued Trust

One thing that is observable about the Israelites is that they had a hard time getting the point of trust. God repeatedly rescued them from danger and yet they continually forgot what deliverance God brought them. After the whole Red Sea crossing experience you would have thought that they would have responded with a state of perpetual trust in who God was and what He was capable of.

Today, Like the Israelites, there is a real danger of thinking that once we have trusted God for something and He has delivered us, that the trust stops there. "We'll take it from here God!" The reality is that God wants us to live in a perpetual state of trusting in his hand of deliverance and provision. Continual trust is something that God has been encouraging Anna and I with lately. We have our jobs in Texas however there are still a lot of other issues that need to happen with our move that will require trust in God's guiding hand.

I think that our greatest difficulty with living a life of continual trust is that it is an "uncomfortable" place to be without the "peace" of God gaurding our heart. When the peace is absent we tend to feel out of control. When Gods peace is missing we fear instead of simply trust. The Peace in place helps us rest in the unfailing promises of our almighty God who truly has His eyes on those that fear Him. May you experience God's Peace today!

Mike

Deliverance

My typical responce when things do not go according to my plan is frustration. My personal bent is to have a tendancy to become discouraged. My family and all those around me have felt it. I have been in Texas for a week and a half looking for work (A process that has been ongoing for two years now). When I came down I had the promise of a door that was most assuredly open and available - It closed on me. Something is different this time around however. Instead of getting the usual down cast spirit and frustration I read about how when the Israelites trusted God He delivered them.

This was not trust when things were just a "little" messed up - this was trust when they were about to be killed by an enemy that hated them. They had no response other than to trust. I decided to accept that posture in my life. I am at a place where I have no more human means of accomplishing my goal - a solid family raising job. It seems that today this should be an easy task. I never thought I would have difficulty finding work. All doors have been shut. I've tried everything and have been peering down on an empty bottomless fall IF God does not provide. There is no more safty net - EXCEPT God. He is my only hope. I believe that this is where He wants us to be sometimes. Sound cruel? Not if the intent is for His people to truly believe. How will we ever develop trust in him if we are not sometimes placed in a position where He is our ONLY HOPE!

I am happy to be able to tell you that this morning I recieved a call from a door long ago closed asking me to come and work for them. Hallelujah!! God recieves all the Glory for IT IS HE THAT HAS DELIVERED - NOT A HUMAN HAND! I tell you this because some of you are in a place of a need to be delivered. It is a scary place to be. We want to be in control. I encourage you as one that understands - relax your grip on your own solution and trust in an Amighty and Faithful God who will not fail you!! He is everything that the Bible tells us that He is - and infinitely more!

Peace to you!

Mike

Deepest Trust

How do you develop trust? Trust is such a rare commodity in America. Who do you really trust today? The person that most Americans trust in is themselves - the only one that will "never fail". What do you do when you have exhausted all of your own possible solutions to your situation and there are no more human ideas? Who do you trust? Have you been there? I'm not talking about ignoring our responcibility to work out every possible solution to our various life situations - to work at any and all opportunity that is before us. But what do you do when every door seems to be closed? Trust!

This is the place where God forges deepest trust in Him for do we really trust in an all powerful God when we are able to accomplish God given goals in our own strength? When we come to the end of ourselves - this is the anvil that trust is forged upon. When there is no safety net - we learn to rely on the Almighty who never fails. This is the place where no human can recieve any glory or praise because no human can provide the answer. This is the place where all Glory goes to our Faithful and Almighty God. Trust is forged when the moment may seem the most bleak and empty.

Psalms 22:4 say's, "In you our Fathers put their trust, they trusted in you and You delivered them..." That they were "delivered" means that they were in a place of great difficulty - not in a moment of peace. They trusted in the moment of difficulty when there were no other options. They trusted.

You may be in a place of great difficulty today. Your options are gone. This is the place of the miraculous - where God alone will recieve the Glory before men and women. I encourage you to place your trust - your hope - in an unfailing Father who will deliver you.

Peace

Mike

Trust

I am in Texas searching for a job that will bring my family to Texas - where we feel God has directed us to go. I have experienced many closed doors. (This is not a pitty party in the least.) The latest came from a company that had already presented an offer and then retracted and chose to go another direction. I'm getting better at the emotions of it. Today I kept hearing the words "Trust!!" "Trust!!" "Trust!!" when I felt the twinges of emotion creep up - Something the devil knows how to do is pile it on - I heard the word "Trust!!"

When it is God's doing it does not mean that it will be easy. Somewhere along the lines I heard this spoken in our churches. "Where God gives vision - He also provides the resources". You know what? I believe that this is partly true - God absolutely does provide but not always in the "easy" or "express" way that we Americans like to have it. Walking by faith does not mean "ordering it up and having it delivered to us. Walking by faith is not saying all the correct things in a vision statement and then seeing it all magicly appear. Walking by faith is not seeing it all with your natural eyes. More often - when we are walking in faith - we will not understand because the Bible tells us that faith is believing that which we do not see.

Walking in faith is not easy but it is what God requires of the church - the Body of Christ - US. it is not easy - God is building something within that only He can do - maybe He is building tenacity within me - a stick to it attitude. The words God will Make a way from the old Don Moen chorus continually come to my mind these days.

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me

He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and Earth will fade but His Word will still remain
And He will do something new today

Are you in a wilderness? Have you exhausted all of your human efforts to make it happen? Are you in a place where you do not understand your circumstances? If you are a child of God - get this inside you deep - HIS EYES ARE ON YOU and HE HAS A PLAN FOR YOU! This is the place of faith. This is where Anna and I and my kids are. This is where many of you are. This is the place of the miraculous - where God recieves the Glory - for "Great things HE has done" not of human hands.
He may even do it TODAY!

Peace
Mike
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