obedience

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God’s simple answers

  Great news! I am very close to having Rhema paid for this year.

This is all because of God’s faithfulness. 

Several months ago, God spoke to me in a time of prayer about paying attention to the opportunities right in front of my face. 

The wisdom of God is awesome. A lot of it is quite simple too. 

There was no angelic voice or writing in the sky. 

Pay attention. 

Look around. 

That’s all I heard and all I needed. 

Maybe it’s all you need too. 

I encourage you to see the hand and wisdom of God in the simple things. 

Don’t get flustered if it’s not shown in a grand gesture. The still, small voice is the primary way we are led by God. 

I am convinced now that the reason we miss God sometimes is because He didn’t use a megaphone. 

We wanted something cool like the story that one guy or gal told at church that one Sunday night. 

Why can’t you talk to me like that, God? 

We whine and our pitiful cries drown out His instruction.

Pray. 

Be quiet. 

Listen. 

Obey. 

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Guard your response 

Be careful who you offload on….

Have you ever waited on hold for longer than 30 minutes and no one has a solution to your problem?

Talk about a frustrating situation. 

I’m not proud to say that on many occasions my response was not what it should’ve been. 

Yes, I repented and felt guilty–the whole gamut–but you can’t take back your words.

Let me say that again: You can never take back your words. 

The quicker you learn to surrender your tongue to the authority of the Holy Spirit, the better. 

Getting frustrated at the customer service men and women–most of whom are from India–will not make your problems go away. 

Frustration only begets more frustration. 

I’m not trying to excuse companies with poor customer service or faulty products. 

It’s just that our angry dialogues to customer service representatives aren’t changing anything. 

So why waste your breath?

Why work yourself into a frenzy?

The only person who ends up looking bad and feeling worse is you. 

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Wrestling with the Truth

IMG_1694Who doesn’t love stories about go-getters who look adversity in the eyes and say, “I know you don’t believe in me, but I’m going to do it anyway”?

I know that I love to read about the tenacious efforts of other people.

Their lives are filled with adventure and learning. No amount of barriers or persecution will keep them from achieving their goals.

Are you excited yet? Can I get a hip, hip, hooray?

But there’s one person you don’t cheer loud enough for. One person who you think is limited or needs to be limited. One person who must not try unless success is guaranteed.

Yourself. Or, in my case, myself.

I’m not talking about becoming a pompous jerk who is self-absorbed.

I’m not talking about getting angry when others do well.

So what am I talking about then?

  • Allowing yourself to believe that you are talented, equipped, and able to do all the things God puts in your heart to do.
  • Allowing yourself to believe that now is the time to live your life.
  • Allowing yourself to try–even if you fail–and knowing that your efforts are not in vain.

Maybe I should just stick a Dear Audra at the front of this post and call it a day……

I struggle with these truths.

In the face of a great adventure with a greater purpose, I want to throw up. Knowing that all of the risk and work will result in a beautiful story, a God story, doesn’t make it any easier.

Remember what we talked about yesterday?

Following the voice of God does not always leave you comfortable.

But I would rather have holy discomfort than stay in any comfort zone I build for myself.

I want to be tenacious, but I need some help. Help from the Holy Spirit and help from you too.

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The voice that leads you

Praying with strangers can be scary. 

“Lord, are you sure about this?”

The prompting of the Holy Spirit, though, is strong. 

“Okay, here I go…”

At least, that’s how it’s always been with me. And it happened again today. 

I stopped and helped a lady put her car tag on in the Taco Bell parking lot. 

Nothing really special about that deed. It took less than 2 minutes. She was excited because it was a new car. I listened to her tale and met her grandkids. 

Then it happened. 

“Pray with her and bless her new car.” I heard the Holy Spirit loud and clear. 

So I did. 

Velma (the lady) was very thankful for my prayer. I found out she was a pastor who had a lot of car trouble last year. This car was provision from God. 

Wow. God used me to confirm His blessing in her life. 

And all because I was willing to get over my nervousness. 

I think we need to pray more for people when we’re with them. Writing down there requests and praying later is awesome and necessary. 

However, there’s something special that happens when we pray together for that need. 

I know that it’s weird,  especially if they’re strangers.

We have a great helper in the Holy Spirit. He won’t let you down. If he leads you to do something, listen. 

There are many miracles and blessings that are missed when you don’t trust the Holy Spirit’s prompting. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to serve God and help others see him more clearly. 

Be bold, my friends, in following the Holy Spirit’s prompting and mighty things will happen. 

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Technicalities and Cuteness

I’m visiting a friend today so my post will be short and funny. 

Courage didn’t want to wear pants today. 

He kept taking them off and throwing them at people. 

I said, “Courage, you need to wear pants.”

This was his response: 

  He technically was wearing his pants so I can’t complain. 

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Want to vs. Need to

Putting off tasks that are not fun will not make them more fun later.

No one likes to pay bills.

To budget.

To exercise.

Some things need to be done–whether you enjoy them or not.

When I first started exercising, I hated it.

I hated when the alarm clock went off.

I hated leaving my warm house on cold winter mornings.

But I still did it.

After a while, once I saw the results, I began to enjoy it more and more.

We need to quit making people feel guilty when they don’t enjoy something at first.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 21:28-32. Let me paraphrase it for you:

A father asks two sons to go work in the yard. One son says, “Are you kidding me? I won’t do it!” Later on, he feels bad and decides to go. The other son said, “Sure, Dad! I’ll be glad to help!” and then didn’t show up to work. Jesus said the first son was obedient.

Jesus was looking at their hearts and he saw what was really going on. He was telling this story to religious leaders (it was really about them). He was talking about their refusal to accept Him as the Messiah.

We need to realize, though, that this story can be applied to more than just “spiritual” things like missions and evangelism.

The principles in the Bible apply to all areas of our lives–spirit, soul, and body.

Keep this text in mind next time you’re struggling to want to do something.

Maybe you should just do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Your heart and attitude will catch up with your decision.

Remember: Words mean nothing without action behind them.