Magnifying the Negative
(I wrote this back in the spring of 2015 but I wanted to give a follow-up report! This is one area where the Lord has truly answered my prayers! Over the last couple of years He has worked in me to sidestep putting in my two-cents-worth on negativity – my goal is to encourage not discourage. Praise the Lord for His ongoing work in my life!)
I am determined to persevere! Each and every day sin is out there to tangle us up to try to wrap around enough to make me stumble or fall. Lord, I am here with You to build up my strength and stamina to be able to better focus on You(!) So I can resist temptation and be victorious! I know that the Adversary wants me to fail, but You are mightier than he and remaining in You, trusting in You, will surely result in his defeat in my life.
Ephesians 5:15-20 (<<click to read the passage)
Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit! It’s so easy to be negative about multiple areas in my life – it is the norm in the world in which I live. Complaining about work, about other drivers on the highway. Looking down on other people because of the way they dress or do their hair or how they act. It’s bad enough to think such things but way too often I verbalize my thoughts! What good does that do anyone? It just perpetuates the negativity! And becomes a vicious cycle.
I’m a “music” kind of guy, that’s the way You have made me. 🙂 Lord, please bring that out in place of the negativity. When I want to complain, help me to thank You for the never-ending list of blessings in my life! Help me to praise You for who You are in my life. Help my tongue to bring glory to You and not to magnify the negative!
May 5th, 2015, Tues, 6:32 am
I’m the One Who Needs Forgiven
Good morning, Father! I am so grateful that this has become a regular part of my schedule. I would ask that You would help me to never take it for granted but that I will always cherish our time together. And I think that’s what is foundational is that I cherish You! I have incalculable reasons why I should cherish You, I just need help realizing them. As Your Word directs, may I love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength!
Colossians 3:13 (<<click here)
Forgiveness – Lord, over my lifetime we have worked through so many incidents where I have needed to forgive. Most I can’t even recall but a few of them were huge! Being asked to step down from an associate pastor’ position with no reason given, being unable to refinance our home because of an employer’s comments, being encouraged to leave the nest of security in another associate pastor’s position to became a Senior pastor when I felt I wasn’t ready. In those situations the hurt, the confusion, the anger – they consumed my every thought it seems. In the heat of the moment, I was unable – make that unwilling to forgive. Together, You helping me, I have been able to forgive. Thank You, Lord, that I no longer have to carry that baggage.
And looking back, I am the better for the experiences I have had. Sometimes things just don’t make sense – we just have to move on. Sometimes people are just apathetic to our situations, but we just must press on towards our goal – and sometimes we are the problem. Many times people love us and want what is best for us but we are blinded by fear and uncertainty. When the dust finally clears we find we are the ones who need to be forgiven.
Lord, thank You for taking the hard times, the extremely difficult times of my life and using them to make me stronger, to make me more sensitive to the needs and predicaments of others, to make me more and more appreciative of what You have done for me.
June 22nd, 2015, Mon, 5:58 am
Tasted Death
Father, thank You for Your guiding hand throughout the day. I still haven’t driven yet but praying to get my license after the morning route. I am so grateful for You putting me where I am at – Your blessings, Father, overflow!
Hebrews 2:9-10 (<<click here)
“… by God’s grace Jesus tasted death for everyone.”
Wow! Could more be packed into so few words?! Lord, my mind is a swirl just trying to figure out how to write it all out! Oh, my!
Lord, the Father’s grace – His unmerited, undeserved favor has been freely given. And by that grace You, Lord Jesus, came – in the flesh! – to live amongst us, so that You would be placed into the position where You could take what we did deserve – death. Romans 6:23 Death – the indisputable penalty for sin – for thumbing our nose at God – for in defiance doing what we want – for turning our back on You.
But there is also a very interesting use of words here. Lord, You “tasted” death. It is an irrefutable, historically documented fact that You died but…You only “tasted” death. For three days You laid in that cold, dark tomb…no pulse, no breath, no brain activity. But that was it! Three days was enough – it was a “taste” but it was enough! Praise God it was more than enough! Death had You firmly in its grasp…but no more. It only had a “taste” of victory until You were wrenched from its hands!
Jesus, You “tasted” death as You “swallowed it up in victory!” ”O death, where is your victory?…where is your sting?” “…for sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14
And the last bit of today’s passage states “…for everyone.” No restrictions, no exclusions! Everyone is every one! Our petty divisions do not factor in from any angle – all are included, all are forgiven, all are loved. Praise be to God! What more needs said?! Amen!!
Feb 19th, 2016, Fri, 5:59 am
Don’t Ever Doubt What God Can Do!
As I come to sit with You this morning, Father, I am still in awe of Your love and providence. I can look at Your Word and see how You orchestrated, from before time even began, our salvation. All the interweaving of people and events to bring about Your divine will. It is amazing! It is awesome! And You did it all for every single one of us – so that we might be reconciled to You!
It is equally amazing and awesome to see Your hand at work not just in the workings and lives of humanity but in my own personal life, as well! What a change You have orchestrated in my life!
Before this past summer was even upon us, a seed was planted. A dear friend and former co-worker stopped by the store and shared that there were going to be several new routes opening up for bus drivers in the school system for which she worked.
Hmmmm…could I do this? Would it be something I would enjoy? After much thought, discussion and prayer, I decided to pursue the opportunity – and my journey began. And it was not a speedy process. I wrote about a lot of my struggles in my “He Saw It All” post on October 15th – but add one more funeral and two root canals into the mix!
So with God’s help and the tenacity only He could give, along with the prayer support of many, I got through training.
Prayer for me really got cranked up the week of my testing: many of my family were praying for me (Mom and Dad fasted and prayed), Beulah – my one church laid hands on me and prayed over me in last week’s service week and members of both churches were lifting me up. The day of my test, I requested prayer from my Facebook family and received 121 responses and 69 comments! I was surely covered!
The day of my test was the first big winter weather advisory of the season. Local schools canceled, my training school had a 2-hour delay. When I texted my trainer she replied back, “Sorry Charlie, you still have to go! Roadmaster (the testing facility) never closes. LOL.”
I prayed tons, too, through the whole ordeal. And, no surprise (!), God was faithful! And because of His faithfulness, I passed my test!
But in the midst of it all, where I would be driving would take an unexpected turn. I was focused on driving for the school district that was training me but when it took me so long to get my training in, a full-time route became questionable instead of guaranteed. No one was to blame – it was just a part of God’s providence. I had been practicing with a bus at our local school’s garage and, in the course of events, their transportation director approached me about driving for them. Initially, I declined, thinking I had a route with my training school but when that came into question, I pursued it.
So…long story short, God brought it all together, so that I will now be working for the school Karen (my wife) has served for 17 years. Karen and I will be on the exact same schedule – delays, snow days and all! It is just a little over a mile from home instead of almost 20 miles from home. It will save me almost 400 miles a week on my truck and almost 2 hours a day in drive time!
A huge reason for pursuing this transition was to make more time for ministry. I will have more time for service preparation and whatever else God leads me into. And, a big thing for me and the people of my churches, I will actually be able to get out and visit them in their homes! Unheard of! Only God knows how this all will impact His kingdom.
So…don’t ever doubt what God can do. Don’t box Him in. He is still in the miracle-working business – I’m living proof!
Nov 18th, 2018, Sun, 6:25 am
Same Old, Same Old
Father, thank You so, so much for Your presence and guidance today. All praise to You for getting me through my bus driving test! I can honestly give You the credit for doing so and every bit of it in Your good time. Praise Your Holy Name!
Revelation 3:12-13 (<<click green)
Sometimes life here on earth gets old. As King Solomon is credited with writing in Ecclesiastes 1:8-9,
8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
Now I don’t want to be ungrateful for what You have given us, Lord. And truly the only redeeming factors in everyday life are the blessings which You so generously pour upon us. But the routines of life can become wearying.
The craving for something new, something different, can wreak havoc in our lives. We grow tired of our jobs, our homes, our vehicles, our friends, our spouses…much to our shame. We cast them aside and move on to the next thing. Much like children, we grow tired of toys we have and desire new ones, different ones.
Lord, help us to be content with the things we have. Help us to grow up. May we love and cherish the blessings You have given us. The new will come if we are faithful. And if we are faithful, we will be victorious!
This passage in Revelation speaks clearly of some of the “new” we will experience. We will have citizenship in the “new Jerusalem” (more on this when we get to chapter 21). And something that I’ve never realized before, Lord, You will write Your “new name” on us!
In reading the study helps on Biblegateway.com, specifically the MacArthur Study Bible notes, I read, “At the moment we see Christ, whatever we may have called Him and understood by that name will pale in the reality of what we see. And He will give us a new, eternal name by which we will know Him.”
Lord, I yearn for the day when the routines of life will be something left behind. What a glorious day it will be when we live with You in Your re-created world and when we will have your “new name”! May I be faithful! Amen.
July 27th, 2017, Thurs, 7:00 am