Rethink Our Spirituality...

Most of us have an idea of what constitutes good spirituality. Scripture reading, prayer, church attendance, and worship are probably on most people's lists. But take a look at this divine reaction...

"Away with your noisy hymns of praise! Instead I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." ~Amos 5:23-24

Perhaps our ideas of Christian expression aren't as aligned with scripture as we think. I read one author who stated, "does it disturb you that most of the things we do in Christianity today aren't found on any of the pages of scripture?" That is a interesting observation. Our Lord has communicated in scripture what He is looking for. In this verse He wants to see His people engaged in actions that are making wrong things 'right'. Further He wants to see His people restoring justice to those who can't do it for themselves - the oppressed. In Isaiah 58 He states that He is not looking for those who are fasting nearly as much as He is looking for those who are helping the poor find bread. Don't get me wrong, great worship services and prayerful fasting have their place, but perhaps they are not on the same level as lifting up the poor and oppressed. We all need to stop once in a while and align our expressions of Christianity to what our Lord has actually requested in scripture. There is a time to RETHINK OUR SPIRITUALITY. ~Verlon

Secret To Love in a Nutshell...

Where does love come from?...And how can we get more of it in our lives? Those are two questions we can all appreciate. We know that love makes many things work better in our lives, but we can't just produce it as an activity of human will, can we? We know God is the author of love, but does that mean we should just pray for it? Here is an interesting insight...

"Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love...now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you." ~Hosea 10:12

Having large doses of love show up in our lives is the result of something - Righteousness! That word doesn't get much air time in our day, but it is actually a phrase that the Kings English crammed together. It actually reads, 'Right - ways - ness'. That helps our understanding of the term. Scripture is filled with many 'ways' that mankind should go. Interestingly enough, seemingly disconnected 'ways' produce an outcome of love in our lives. Go figure! When layers upon layers of 'right ways' are occurring over and over again, it produces love in a persons life, in their family, and among their neighbors. Those most likely to find these 'ways' are those who seek the 'ways' of the Lord as their first priority. And those are the same people who find themselves becoming showered with 'right-way-thoughts' and 'right-way-plans' and 'right-way-words' and 'right-way-actions'. And that is the SECRET TO LOVE IN A NUTSHELL! ~Verlon

Grab On To Trust...

Have you ever felt greed creeping up inside of you? I'm sure you have; it's common to man. While it feels powerful and justified, it always leads to a dark place.

"Greed causes fighting; trusting the Lord leads to prosperity." ~Proverbs 28:25

Some people have been friends with greed for so long they don't even recognize it in themselves. It motivates some to be work-a-holics, some to pay the price for certain kinds of success, and others to be outright mean as they insist on their self-centered agenda's. But one thing for sure - it always leads to conflict. You'd think that to deal with greed we'd need to dismiss our desires and wants. Surprisingly, that is not the solution. That just leaves us with nothing and no plan with which to improve our situation. The better way to look at greed is to realize it is a symptom revealing that something is missing in our lives. To restore that something causes greed to dissipate. That something is trust. When we are trusting our Lord with everything in our lives, greed no longer makes sense. Greed only has a job when we think it is up to us to make our own way in this life. Trust is a completely different paradigm - a different world view. When we trust, we are anticipating that the daily blessings and the promised favor of the Lord will flow into our lives. So the next time we feel the pangs of greed whelming up inside of us, perhaps it's time to once again GRAB ON TO TRUST! I am pretty sure we are going to like that outcome much better. ~Verlon

Best Form of Stress Management...

There is plenty of pressure and stress in days like these. Not enough time, not enough money, and not enough people to help are just a few of the stressors that are common to man. How do you handle these stresses when they begin to a boil in you? Here is an interesting insight...

"As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands." ~Psalm 119:143

Have you ever thought about using joy to deal with stress? Joy is quite different than happiness. Happiness is a by-product of favorable 'happenings', thus 'happiness'. But joy is something that flows into the human spirit from the Divine Himself. When we tune our ear toward Christ's daily plans and engage in those plans, something wonderful occurs. Pure undefiled joy begins to pour into our souls and literally overwhelms stress and pressure. I don't know about you, but I find Christ's daily plans for me and His daily infusions of joy to be my BEST FORM OF STRESS MANAGEMENT! ~Verlon

Pondering The Love Of God...

Following the leadership of the Lord can be hard at times. Especially when we feel He is saying 'no' to something we really want, or advising us to engage in something when we really don't want to engage in. These are the times when we most want to wrestle the control of our lives away from Him. So, how do we strengthen our resolve to follow Him no-matter-what?

"I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord; therefore, I obey your instructions". ~Psalm 119:55

This was David's secret of followership. He meditated upon God's trustworthiness in the evenings when he was falling asleep, so he would be more prone to follow the still small voice of God during the days. This is brilliant! The loud voice of self-will is going to show up in all of us - in the heat of the moment. If we haven't filled up our awareness of God's deep and abiding love for us in the night, it will overwhelm us. Is it possible that we can overwhelm the voice of self-will before it overwhelms our desire to hear and follow our Lord? When I take time to reflect on my Lord it doesn't take long before I am thinking about His great love for me and the purity of His motivations for my life. He is worthy of our trust in His leadership! Perhaps it is the wisest use of our evenings - PONDERING THE LOVE OF GOD! ~Verlon

Spirit Of Courage...

Most of us do not realize how much the Lord wants us to live our lives with boldness and courage. One of the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel, once had a vision in which he saw God's dream temple. In this vision he walked through the temple while an angel pointed out the different parts. When he got to the inner room there were carvings on the walls of cherubim with two faces looking in opposite directions. This is what they looked like...

"One face - that of a man. The other face - that of a young lion." ~Ezekiel 41:19

Interesting imagery. What do you think that meant? My sense is that God has long desired for all of his children to have the lion-like nature of His Spirit infused into us. We have invited the Spirit of Christ to live in us, and in so doing we have invited the 'Lion of Judah'. Simply stated, we have a lion-like nature stirring within us. Each one of us can express a boldness and courage that is far greater than our personalities when we need to. Somewhere in our souls God has welded us to His SPIRIT OF COURAGE! ~Verlon

The Unshakable Kingdom...

It is common to feel uncertain and unstable...like we are walking on thin ice. Money shortfalls, relational conflicts, job uncertainties, and many other disruptions create these kinds of anxieties in us. This is why scripture often referred to mankind as sheep, because nervousness is a sheep's most common trait. But we have been invited into something this is quite different than the nervous world we are accustomed to...

"Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful..." ~Hebrews 12:28

Christ's world is not like our world. His strong soul is quite different than our tentative soul. Some people have a hard time making the shift. They receive Christ into their life, but they maintain their nervous soul. Truly you and I have have been granted the opportunity to leave our fickle and uncertain and unstable emotions behind. We have been invited into THE UNSHAKABLE KINGDOM! ~Verlon