A Godly Answer in A Confused World!

Luke came home from college at OU this weekend and Carrie was telling me about an answer he gave to questions in his philosophy class. I believe in my heart I needed to share it in this blog. The question was similar to this. “If a person does no wrong are they happy? Will a wicked person suffer? and is life ultimately fair?

As Luke’s father I felt led to share his answer to his teacher.

First of all, I would like to state where my beliefs come from. As the son of a Christian Pastor most of my belief system stems directly from the Bible. I disagree with a part of the question itself. The question talks about a person who does no wrong. Whether this is hypothetical or not is beyond me, as I believe that the only person that has ever existed that was without flaw was Jesus.

You Are Secure

Have faith and do not doubt your salvation for you are saved by grace through “faith” and not feelings or works. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We must learn to accept the free gift of salvation. It places us securely in the palm of God’s hand.  So many times our mistakes make us “feel” condemned and unworthy of this great gift.  We are unworthy of the gift.  That is the very point of being saved by Grace.  This is not a license to sin, but rather the security of the father’s unconditional love for us.

Question:  Do you feel unworthy?

Revelation of the Glory of Heaven

(A Vision from the Holy Spirit)

Carrie and I were headed to Oklahoma City early one morning.  She was scheduled for minor surgery on her knee.  As I was thinking about her having this surgery and the love I have for her. It reminded me of a vision I had that I wrote about in my first book.  I wanted to share it with you.

One day I was driving down the road and meditating on how much God loves us. He has great things in store for us now and forever.

I had a vision that began with me in heaven. I saw the glory of God shining so brightly that His awesomeness was consuming my every thought. All bad things had passed away. I can only remember the magnitude of God’s love. It was so deep and powerful that it brought complete trust. Every care was completely obliterated by His love.

You’re Not Alone

I have made a point to parable sports to life and this morning is no different.  Sometimes the batter’s box can be a very lonely place.  When we stand in the batter’s box all eyes are on us. It is a place where we are close to success and failure at the same time.  In a matter of seconds we can be found accepted by our success or somewhat shamed by our failure.  

Each day we place ourselves in this same spot light.  We are going out into the world and have to make choices.  Today we will have many chances to fail or succeed.  When we know Jesus Christ as savior we can maintain our peace because all things work together for those who love the Lord.

Romans 8:28  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.

Your Grace Leads Me Home

Who need some Grace today?.  This morning I was going through my past blogs and this really spoke to me.  I wanted to share it with you today.

I’ve been blessed to receive some great revelations from God through His word, ministry and even dreams.  He is not a respecter of persons and will reveal Himself to anyone who seeks Him.  God revealed another element of ministering to me through music.  I had been leading worship, playing rhythm guitar for about 3 years when I woke up with a message in the form of a song.

It was about 2 years ago and I was struggling with some changes that I needed and I felt distant from God.  The trials of every day life were weighing heavy on my heart and I was in need of a break through.  When this happens, we may begin to lose focus and start to feel sorry for ourselves.  Sometimes in life we reach a point when we throw up our hands and say, “That’s it God, I can’t take it anymore, fix this.”  I’ve learned this is a good place to be.  We need to let go and let God take over.

Close Enough to Matter

(Revelation) 

I had a dream where I was coaching my son Luke’s baseball game. As I was standing in the first base coaching box, I noticed my son was on deck and ready to hit. I was distracted for some reason and I began to pay attention to the dugout. They were having trouble with their computer and needed help fixing it. As I walked over to help them, I was watching my son bat. Instead of immediately going back to the coaching box I walked down the first baseline to pick up a ball that had been left on the field.

I was about a hundred feet away when my son got a base hit into right field. It was just barely fair down the line. He was safe at first, and a run scored on the hit. As the throw fell to the ground a few feet past the bag in front of Luke, he took a couple of steps off the base and gladly tossed the ball back to the umpire.

“TAKE A STEP”

This morning I looked back into my earliest blog writing to remember the revelations that God has showed me during my walk with Him.  This blog had been titled “Activating God’s Plan”. I touched up what spoke to my heart from reading the message and reposted it this morning.  I concluded this morning that it’s time to “Take A Step” forward!

The lack of knowledge of the God’s Word keeps people bound up wondering why God is not moving in their lives. We need to learn God’s nature and stop trying to pull on what we “Feel” and simply trust His plan, which is found in the bible. 

It’s Your Move

My brother and I used to play the game of Chess.  I was the one that always wanted to be the white pieces.  My reason was simple: I got to move first.  This is often how we have to look at life. 

Possibly the biggest revelation I received by digging into God’s word is that it is my move.  

John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

At the cross Jesus finished God’s work and made our redemption complete.  Our sins were forgiven and we had acquired salvation by our faith through grace.  It was up to us to simply believe in the completion of God’s work.

A SEASON OF SACRIFICE

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear!

I have been blessed to coach the Travelers for many years and this summer I witnessed again the spiritual side of life that we are all a part of.  Spiritual things seem silly to the “WORLD” but once you have trusted God at his Word and implement it into life, you begin see how “REAL” and “True” His plan is for us.  

As our 2018 Travelers concluded that we all are capable of failure, the group began to “HUMBLE” themselves.  We concluded that we are ALL in this together and the pride of pointing fingers was no longer an option.  “Together” we would be responsible for our overall approach to the game.  This included myself as head coach getting guys thrown out at home plate in key situations among others.  All of us needed to unite in a common bond that would protect us from fear of failure.  

Tip of the Sword 

(The Power of God's Word)

Being a coach and understanding what it means to battle to win games, I learned a great revelation. We are in spiritual warfare. The war is taking place in the heavens, not in the flesh. God is building up a team to fight His battles for Him. The maturity level of Christians varies.

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The Undo Button 

(Revelation)

One morning I was asked to preach at our local church. I had spent many days working on the message for this particular Sunday. When I awoke that morning, the Spirit of God gave me a revelation and an analogy that would support my message.

I made my way to the computer and began typing out this revelation. When finished, I went to wake up my children, Luke, Parker, and Grace. During this time, my cat had made her way to the computer.

When I returned to finish up the message, I realized that the revelation I had written had disappeared. I saw my cat jump from the table and realized that she had erased the word I had just written by stepping on the keys.

Press On!

When we grow in Faith we begin to want more and more of God’s plan because we have discovered that it’s better than ours.  Some questions I began to ask are “What is important in Life”?  How can I obtain everything God created me to have?

Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thingI do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

No Strikeouts

(Parable of Choices)

Baseball is a great sport and like any aspect of life the foundation of God’s word is the foundation for success and failure.

This parable is not about strikiing out in the literal sense of the game but using the act of striking out in baseball to teach us about choices.  In baseball everyone strikes out at times.  Babe Ruth struck out more than any player that ever played and is considered one of the best of all time.  Here is the analogy that I learned about comparing striking out to our choices.

I had a dream about standing in the batter’s box. In this dream I remember being afraid that I might strike out. The reason that I am afraid is that I realize I already have two strikes on me when I am approaching the plate.  

Being a part of baseball my entire life, I have looked at the success of hitters with different counts. The highest batting average or chance of success is when the count is three balls and no strikes or three balls and one strike. The lowest chance of success comes when the count is no balls and two strikes. These statistics are true from Little League to the major leagues.

SEEK A GODLY LEGACY

One thing I have learned about God’s word is its foundation works in all aspects of life.  Sports are a great comparison to life’s challenges.  This parable about coaching team sports provides opportunity of how we can leave positive value to our youth.

A coach has the ability to influence for a lifetime. We must learn that leaving a negative path of influence will cause damage in youth that will someday have to be dealt with by those individuals. There are consequences in the choices we make.

Just Do It!

As the world tries to conform us to the normal standards of “Society” we are faced with decisions to do what’s normal or to make Godly choices based on spiritual things.

When Jesus performed miracles in the bible it required people to do what “He” said. 

John 2:1-5 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”