I want to share a Jesus story from yesterday’s congregational service. It’s an example of how listening to and following Jesus every day everywhere is so relevant to your life…today.
Jesus is the message and He, at times, uses messengers to give His message. It is important, then, for the messenger to know how to listen to Jesus and then follow through on what Jesus says. He gave me the message for yesterday’s congregational gathering.
I was about three-fourths through it when I saw commotion taking place within the congregation. People were getting text messages, who relayed to me that a couple from our church who had just been in a head on collision were being taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. I stopped the message and we talked to Jesus for and about this couple. Now, what did that have to do with the message the Lord gave me?
One of our prayer leaders sent the following email prayer request to the entire congregation, which began as follows: “The message this morning was ‘Who is your God, and who IS your God”.’ My God is Jesus Christ, and He is an awesome Healer, Comforter, Peace Giver, Provider…just to name a few of His attributes. The message also said God gives us challenges in our lives that give us the opportunity to experience WHO He is, and the message was interrupted by this news of Don and Denise’s accident.”
Jesus knew what His people needed to hear. We had just read Acts 8:1-3 where it took persecution to get believers to follow what Jesus told them to do – go make disciples in Judea, Samaria and the rest of the planet; and yet, they were still in Jerusalem.
I shared that it took the death of Stephen to get the church to know who their God was. Then, bang, we were hit with this news. We often think that being a believer in Jesus will make all our pain and sorrow somehow magically go away. Wrong. What it does mean is that we have a God who will walk with us through that pain and sorrow as we continue to listen and follow Him.
Jesus works! As His secure children of God, He really does want to talk to and with you, if only you’d listen. He absolutely wants to walk with you through life’s daily challenges, if only you’d follow. Who is your God? And who IS your God? Hopefully, it’s the One who wants more than Sundays (Saturdays), but an every day walking and talking relationship with you.
In case you need to know how to do this, you can read another message He gave in A Personal Walk in the Presence of Your God. It will give you the necessary tools to experience Jesus in new and fresh ways. Get a copy. Read it. Then tell others who your God IS and what He’s doing in your life.
“S”et Free Nowww

In case you didn’t know it already, I have to share a very odd truth with you. Being like Jesus will feel weird at first. I know that sounds crazy, but let me explain.
Fish don’t know they’re wet. You only know what you know when you know it and you can’t know anything else until you’re exposed to something new. Normal is what you know and feel at the moment. It isn’t until you’re exposed to something new that the realization sets in that your normal isn’t healthy (i.e. sinful and separated from the source of real living – Jesus).
When this happens, you have two choices. One is to stay the same, even though you know there can be something better. And two is to change. Yet, with positive change comes a weird feeling because you’ve never felt that way before.
When you have an encounter with the Living God, you’ll be exposed to a new way of thinking, choosing and living. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” He is the normal that is fulfilling, satisfying and meaningful. When you choose to let Him change your life, this new normal will feel weird for awhile as it is just that…new. You’ve never felt that way before, which is why you came to Christ in the first place. You realized your way of thinking, choosing and living, though normal to you, wasn’t working.
Expect to feel weird when your life has been transformed into Christ’s image until the new normal sets in place.I know this is kind of weird, but that’s completely normal.
S“ET” Free Nowww

I sit here typing this entry with a literal painful reminder of a recently reinforced lesson. I love to surf and desire to get out every opportunity that presents itself, which isn’t too often these days. I recently was given a board that fits me perfectly due to my infrequent opportunities and current shoulder issues.
I was presented this past Friday night with a chance to surf with my son and his friend. I jumped at the opportunity. We checked the surf report and prepared for our way too early morning departure. Problem. I never asked the Lord about it.
The reason this is important is that He’s been trying to teach me: My schedule isn’t mine. It’s His. I need to retrain my brain as my drug of choice is to control my schedule by choosing what does and doesn’t go on it and in what order items get done.
I was given a fresh reminder of why His way is better than mine two days prior. I was given “divine appointments” to minister on His behalf because I was in the right place at the right time. This only happened because I let Him set my day’s agenda.
Well, I paid a price for this lesson reinforcement. Lets just say that the waves were a little too big. I lasted about an hour and half in the water, even though it took almost that long just to get to the beach! I paddled more than I surfed. Broke my leash and had to swim over 50 long exhausting yards through several crashing waves to get by board.
As I sat on shore, shoulder throbbing and pride bruised, I just smiled. “Lord, I get it.” He lovingly reinforced “it” all the way home until my friends Ibuprofen kicked in. Yeah, I’m still a little sore, but if it helps me to remember what He’s teaching me, it’s worth every ache. I thank Jesus for the truth: never give up yourself as He won’t. It takes time retrain the brain (aka renew the mind). Praise Jesus that He gives us this time.
It was a painful reminder, as all bad choices bring pain. But one I hopefully remember tonight when I…oops…He lays out my schedule for tomorrow.
Set Free No“W”ww

I heard a very thought provoking statement the other day. “The world has enough greatness, but not enough goodness.” In our search to find meaning in life, we often forget that goodness spreads faster than greatness.
We seek the impossible. We want the miracle. We desire the visible power of God. Okay, sure. Want to know what will make a bigger difference? Doing good. Only Jesus is truly good. As we let Him transform our lives with each decision, with the next choice, and follow Him, our actions will be good – every day, normal, vanilla good.
Think about that for a minute though. With all the evil we’re seeing in our world, what would happen if we all followed Jesus to let Him shine each day, how much good could be done to over come that evil? Remember, it was Jesus who said that the gates of hell can’t withstand the onslaught of Him making more and healthier disciples.
We see our brothers and sisters throughout the Middle East being murdered. You might be thinking, “What can little old me do?” Maybe nothing and therefore you’ll do nothing because you don’t feel you can do anything about it.
Wrong, we can do the good thing each day by listening to Jesus and following. And if enough of us who call ourselves believers in Jesus Christ choose every day goodness over a one time act of greatness, can you imagine the difference we could make in the battle against evil?
Doing the great thing, well, it kind of depends on too many circumstances. Yet, I can do the good thing each moment of today because of who lives within and empowers me – Jesus. Frankly, I’ll choose goodness over greatness anytime. How about you?
Set Free Now”W”w

We saw last time that our walkie-talkie is our last piece of God-given armor. Let that sink in. As a secure child of God, you can talk with the victorious Commander-in-Chief at any moment. You are that special to Jesus. That alone should make your day.
Now, let’s finish this thought from Ephesians 6:18. Paul writes on, “With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the holy ones (saints).”
The word “always” means to do something continually. In this case, using your walkie-talkie for other children of God (saints). We’re to stay awake (alert), ready to do battle for each other. I know I talked about this last week, but the Spirit put upon my heart to reiterate this truth. We need each other to fight our battle with us.
It’s interesting that the word for “struggle” in verse 12 describes a wrestling match. Now, wrestling is usually a one on one match. Yet, the Spirit is telling us, “Why fight fair against your enemy? He won’t. Why should you?” It’s a wrestling match where more than one wrestler can enter the ring. We must have each others’ backs. Soldiers do not go to war alone and neither should believers.
First, have someone who is entering the ring with you. Second, be ready for the Spirit to nudge you to use your walkie-talkie at any time, day or night, work or at play, to do battle on each others’ behalf. And finally, don’t be afraid to text/call/email/Skype/Facebook messenger or whatever other device you have at your disposal to reach out to your prayer warriors so they can do battle for you…no matter what time of day it is! Battles are not always fought when it’s convenient. But they will be won as we hit our knees for each other.
You need it. They need it. And we both win when we do it.
“S”et Free Noww“W”