He Wants Unlimited Access

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/Nsd4Nm6Fpa4?si=p4a1uxXd0KR5Icu5

“He Wants Unlimited Access”

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

 

In this day and age, we have so many different subscription plans offering us unlimited access.  When we sign up for a membership, I think most often we are looking for the most perks we can get for our money.  Most phone plans nowadays all include unlimited talk, text and data.  I remember back when you had to pay extra for going over certain amount of calling minutes, texts and data caps.  That’s becoming a thing of the past.

 

So much of what we pay for these days usually provides unlimited access.  We like paying a price and getting unlimited access to the plan we’ve paid for.  We don’t want any hindrances to what we can do.  We don’t want to be restricted.  And, if there’s ever an issue, we are sure to contact customer service to get things straightened because we are a paying customer.

 

At church Sunday, this passage was used and talked about how Jesus charged His men to take His message to everywhere in the world.  He wasn’t just sending them through their town, but to other countries and all over the world.  He didn’t want them limiting themselves.  He wants full and complete access to their lives and to send them wherever he needed them to go. 

 

God wants unlimited access to our lives.  His desire is to send us wherever He leads.  However, so often, we limit Him and give excuses because we don’t feel like doing what He wants us to do or going where He wants us to go.  We always seem to have an excuse to not go certain places where He leads.  We get selfish and don’t want to leave our comfort zones.  But it doesn’t work that way if we are committed to the Great Commission.  Jesus told His men and tells us to go and make disciples of ALL nations.  There’s very inclusive! 

 

Jesus asks us to give Him all access to our lives so that He can send us wherever He chooses.  Are we giving Him all access and saying to Him first, “Yes!  Lord the answer is Yes!  Now, where do You want me to go”?

 

He wants all access of our lives.  He wants to send us wherever He desires for us to go.  Are we willing, ready and available? 

Give Thanks In All Things

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/09QIA5GAN9s?si=Eg_UpIjafWHieYkv

“Give Thanks In All Things”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

 

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to run my first half marathon here in Mankato.  This past week I have been mentally processing what happened and thinking through the whole experience.  I’ve thought about how I prepared for many months to increase my distance and endurance, and then the day came in hopes for all the preparation to pay off. 

 

I did my best to take into account what all issues I could possibly face.  I wasn’t preparing for a bad race by any means, but I just went through several scenarios in my head as I mentally prepared for what might come.  For months, I had been focusing on a certain pace that I wanted to keep, but as the time got closer within a couple of weeks, I finally just came to the mindset of, “I just want to finish and enjoy the experience”.  That’s the attitude I took into it.  I wanted to complete it…..running the whole time.

 

On race day, the hype of everything was amazing.  Being around thousands of runners definitely gave me a “runners high”.  The Saturday before I had run the course by myself to get a feel for it so that I knew what to expect.  As I ran the race, I just enjoyed the experience and asked God to give me the endurance.  After mile 7, I started having a side pain and knee problems.  I decided to slow my pace down to help with making the pain tolerable.  After a few more miles, I felt like I had it managed enough to keep running and finish.  I just kept praying for God to help me finish. 

 

As I think back, I ran into issues and I was prepared to deal with them.  Thankfully, God blessed me to finish while still running.  Every runner in the world would love to run a race with NO issues at all.  However, that’s just not reality.  Almost every runner experiences some setback at some point that is not expected. 

 

This past week I have remembered this is exactly like life.  We simply cannot expect a life that is void of any problems.  That is not reality and not the life God promised us.  However, He did promise to always be present with us, guiding us and helping us through.  Throughout the race, I was doing my best to give God thanks no matter the outcome.  No matter what obstacles I was facing, I wanted to focus on being thankful for the experience.  In life, we all experience setbacks and obstacles and we need to learn to give thanks no matter the circumstances.  God will bring us through.  We need to adjust our attitude and see things in a different light and perspective so that we can focus on Him and trust that He knows what He is doing. 

Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/PZ4gbjq3YBg?si=_3oBNa6BwLjkWUaK

“Trying To Impress Or Being Genuine?”

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 

A few weeks ago, I had my 6 month dental cleaning checkup.  As I prepared and flossed and brushed my teeth before going in, it brought back some funny memories of when I was a kid and how I prepared for my check ups.  I wasn’t always great at taking care of my teeth as I liked to eat a lot of candy.  I’m sure I didn’t brush twice a day and didn’t brush the best when I did brush.  I also didn’t floss on a regular basis.  The day of my dentist appts, I would usually brush my teeth really good and hoped that the dentist would be impressed.

 

As you can imagine, as they cleaned and examined my teeth, I would usually hear all the reports of what I wasn’t doing and how I needed to do it better.  I thought by just brushing really hard before my dental appt, that would be good enough.  Nope!  Years later now with numerous cavities and crowns, I’ve learned that I really need to take better care of my teeth.  My dental visits now are not as bad as they used to be, yet I often fear they will find something that is bad and needs fixed.

 

I think we treat our spiritual lives a lot like this.  We don’t always take the greatest care of our walk with God.  I think sometimes we feel like if we show up to church and put in some time, we look good to God and to others.  Just like my quick brushing attempts before going to the dentist when I was younger, we often think we can impress God and pretend with Him, but we can’t. 

 

We can sometimes fool other people for a period of time, but we never can fool God.  I think He often shakes His head in sadness and heartbreak seeing what we do to try to make ourselves look good, but what He truly wants is us being honest and doing our best to be genuine. 

 

Is our desire just to try to impress God and others when we show up Sunday for church and maybe for a small group bible study through the week to look good, or are we striving to take the time each day to grow closer to Him in a very intentional and genuine manner?

 

I know that I often fail in my attempts to be genuine with God and in being intentional in my walk with Him.  He desires for all of us to be intentional and to truly desire time with Him.  He wants our all and not just various times where we try to impress Him. 

 

I hope and pray that our desire each day is to truly be genuine and intentional to grow in our faith.  

What Richness Are We Chasing?

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/Qy1P71pEaCE?si=9_Rf-ICMvxh4OXIX

“What Richness Are We Chasing?”

Colossians 3:16 NLT

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.  Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives.

 

I read this passage recently from the Air1 Radio verse of the day and it really spoke to me.  The phrase “Fill your lives” really stood out.  I got to thinking about all the different things each day that I allow to fill my life.  From the time I get up in the morning till I go to bed, I have choices to decide what fills my day.  Whether I’m at home, at work, at church, shopping with my family or if I’m at different gatherings, I can decide what I allow to fill my mind and my heart. 

 

I admit that I often allow worldly things to fill my mind and heart throughout the day.  When I begin my day, I pray that God will guide me and lead me how He wants me to go, but then it doesn’t take long before selfish desires set in.  I see ads and hear different persuasive things throughout the day that tend to woo my heart and mind to chase after more worldly things. 

 

After 49 years of life, I know full well that chasing after the things of this world will never satisfy or lead me to a fulfilled life.  However, I still choose to chase these temporary pleasures, whatever they may be.  Paul is very clear in this passage to encourage us in that we need to let the richness of Christ fill our lives. 

 

What happens when we let the richness of Christ fill our lives instead of worldly influences?  Lots of great things, of course!  We become filled with eternal satisfaction that the world cannot provide.  We shine the light of Christ to show the lost His love.  We become a light others cannot ignore.  We think of others more before ourselves. 

 

When we let the richness of the world fill our lives, we become influenced in all the wrong ways and we tread down very bad paths.  Everything is temporary and we often wonder why we remain thirsty and longing for more.  When we long for more and more of the world, there is no way we can effectively teach and counsel other people in a Godly manner.  In this times, God’s not filling our lives and the world is! 

 

When we are filled with the richness of Christ, there is no comparing!  The world can never match what we receive through the richness of Christ.  Our hearts are filled and there is so much satisfaction!

 

I challenge all of us to watch closely each day what we are filling our lives with.  What are we allowing into our hearts and minds?  What are we following and chasing after?  Either we chase the richness of Christ or we chase the richness of this world. 

 

Which will it be?

Search My Heart...BEFORE

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/2pYj3fuXB2k?si=PtRQwpN4kfWn1omE

“Search My Heart…..BEFORE”

Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

From the time we wake up each day to the moment we go to bed, we are all preparing in some way throughout the day.  Many of us wake up early and head in to work.  Kids have to wake up and get ready for the school day.  When we are applying for a job, we have to fill out an application and go through an interview, possibly multiple.  When we graduate high school, we have to prepare for our college experience or what the next step is if we choose not to go to college.

 

We spend a lot of time preparing for things in our lives.  Why is that?  Why do we put so much effort into preparing for things each day?  Because we want to be sure we are prepared for the day to the best of our ability.  Most of my, if not all, do not like surprises that come up and throw our day off.  All of us have experienced this in one way or another.  We’ve all been caught off guard with unexpected schedule changes. 

 

I like to prepare for things in my life.  When I don’t feel prepared, it bothers me a lot.  I don’t always like sudden changes.  I do my best to deal with them and adjust, but I’m not always great at that. 

 

With us preparing every single day for so many different things, why do we not put more attention into how we prepare to respond to other people?  It’s easy when others are nice to us, but when they are not, it’s definitely challenging. 

 

This passage popped up in my morning reading time and it hit me again.  I need to ask God to search my heart fully and bring up anything that is not clean and anything offensive and ask Him to lead me.  In all my interactions with people each day, I need to pray “Search my heart….BEFORE”.  Before I react to something that may come off negative, I need God to search me.  I need to pause and think for a moment if this will encourage others or discourage them.

 

Sometimes, we feel like we need to get the “last word” in to a conversation.  We have all been there!  However, we need to ask God to search our heart BEFORE responding.  We always, always, always need to do a self-check and see what gremlins are hiding deep in our heart.  We always need to point inward and check our attitude before assuming others are wrong.  We need to approach everything in love to the best of our ability.

 

My encouragement to us all is to ask God to search our heart…BEFORE we react or respond to anything.  

They Think We Are Crazy

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/LauFlzYdeMs?si=Y-d3gmNPRAU-hj8w

“They Think We Are Crazy”

1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

 

As I’ve shared much in the past months, I started running April 2024 again.  I am now preparing for a half marathon in October.  It’s been a long process of continued training getting my pace down and preparing my body for the endurance.  There’s a lot of work going into this process and figuring out what I can handle.  But also, it’s been a very rewarding experience as I go on my long runs.  Just being out in nature has been really great.  There’s a nice long trail that runs 40 miles west of where I live, so it’s been my go-to for most of my long runs. 

 

I have to laugh and shake my head as I come home from each run.  My wife and daughter think I’m crazy every time I run.  They don’t understand why I like it so much.  A few weeks ago, my wife made a comment that totally cracked me up.  After she asked me about a long run, I said it was fun.  She then said, “I wouldn’t put fun and run in the same sentence!”  That was funny! 

 

The thing I’ve discovered in the past months and year is that many people just don’t get the fun of running and I get it.  Not everyone likes it, of course.  You either like it or you don’t.  I often joke around with other running buddies and tell them my family thinks I’m crazy for liking it and wanting to run more. 

 

I guess I’ll just be crazy!  I can’t expect my family or others who don’t get into it to understand.  It’s just something that runners get and it’s a rush to get better and better and chat about it.

 

As I think about these experiences of people not getting it and thinking I’m crazy, I can’t help but to think that’s exactly how some unbelievers look at us with our faith.  We talk about our experiences with God and how He has worked in our lives and many people just don’t get it.  They consider us wacko or crazy.  It makes no sense to them why we live the way we live.  They don’t see the fun of why we live for Christ.  They don’t understand why we give up certain ways of the world to be faithful to God.  It makes no sense to them.

 

Even though they don’t understand, it’s still up to us to continue living this way and showing the light to the lost.  Some will never get it or want to live that way.  Hopefully, they will respect us, but some just won’t.

 

God calls us to continue to live faithfully and that’s what we are called to do to the best of our ability.  The world is still going to call us crazy and we most likely will hear that from people for the rest of our lives.  All we can do is be proud of the “crazy life” we live for Christ and be a light to them. 

 

They think we are crazy and it’s our job to continue to show them why we live a crazy life. 

I Have All That I Need

 YouTube Channel Video Devo

https://youtu.be/LYLYCvXeb-M?si=Fr8kElb7yH2Z2sbh

“I Have All That I Need”

Psalm 23:1 NLT

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

 

Philippians 4:11-12 NIV

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 

 

For the past month, these two passages have been on my mind constantly.  Mostly because I have really struggled with being content in life.  I have to admit that I so often find myself comparing our lives to other people and my life to others and wanting more.  There are a couple of immediate problems this presents for me.  First, always wanting more. Second, not being grateful for what God has already given to me. 

 

What really stands out to me in the Philippians passage is the word “Learned”.  The state of being content for Paul didn’t come naturally.  It was something he had to learn.  We all have things in life that we’ve had to learn and did not come easily or overnight for us.  The experience of life is so much learning and none of us are exempt to this.  As we continue to fail at different things, we learn how to move forward. We learn what to avoid and what to strive for that will help make us stronger. 

 

I really believe what we need to realize more and more and is what Psalm 23 states.  The Lord is our Shepherd, we have ALL that we need.  That sums it all up!  We could be so content if we just stopped comparing with others who have more and realize that Christ is all we need.  He provides and always will.  I’m often wondering why I get so discontent and I realize that I’m focused on the wrong things.  Instead of focusing on what I don’t have(there will always be these things), I need to focus on what I already have(God has definitely blessed me). 

 

I want to wake up each day and be grateful for what I do already have.  I want to focus and remember that if I have Christ, then I have everything.  He is ALL I need. 

 

It’s not easy to be content in this world.  It’s so easy to compare our lives and be discontent and always long for more.  While seeking out new opportunities in life is often an encouraged endeavor, we must check our motives for doing so and keep an attitude of contentment.