Front End Alignment

I don't know if anyone else has ever had a car where your tires weren't properly aligned. But if you have, you probably noticed that the car had a tendency to veer off course without constant attention to the steering wheel to make necessary adjustments. You also likely noticed that even if you forced the car to take the path you had chosen, the misalignment of those tires caused extra, and often uneven, wear and tear on your vehicle's tires. I'll be honest, I didn't notice that part until after it happened when the problem got expensive and time consuming in having to buy new tires and pull away from other duties to stop and have them replaced.

But how often in our lives, do we spends weeks, months, or even years living in our will instead of God's? We decide where we want to go to college. We decide who we want to marry. We decide what career path we want to take. We decide what house to buy. We make these major decisions without consulting someone who has all the answers and then we wonder why we are constantly pulled off course, why life gets more expensive than we planned and why we're experiencing more wear and tear than we anticipated. Simply put, our life is the sum of the choices we make. Shouldn't we consult a knowledgeable advisor. Three thoughts...

1. God wants to help us! Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us that God "chose us" and has "adopted us." God has been planning this moment in your life for years - centuries in fact. He wasn't just planning for us, he chose us and has claimed us as His own for a purpose.

2. If that's true, why wouldn't we just follow His plan for our life? Well, it's not that simple. Paul, the same Paul who wrote 1/3 or so of the Bible, even referred to God's will as a "mystery." We've got to remember that God is looking at things through an eternal lens while we can only see things in the limited time that we view as our total existence. A quote in this week's lesson reads, "We may not fully understand what God is doing, but certain things about God can be known. Scripture reveals God is love; He is full of grace and mercy. So in those moments when we do not understand, we can trust He will work those moments out with grace and love."

3. Paul encourages us in Romans 12:1-2 to "present our bodies as a living sacrifice." That sounds simple in some ways doesn't it. But have you ever tried to grill a live cow? Or fry a running around chicken? It's hard to keep a living sacrifice on the altar! We are constantly bombarded with the ways of this world. But he tells us, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed." How? By a "renewing of your mind." What you read, listen to, and think on is what you will become. If we truly want to get aligned with God's will, we must seek His wisdom and guidance daily.

Look, maybe you're like me and really aren't sure what God's telling you to do sometimes. I'm encouraged by what I've heard recently from two pastors who touched on this subject.

God does not speak to us in an audible deep 'Morgan Freeman' voice. If He did, we'd be fine. We could hear and we could get it. Instead, He speaks to us through thoughts, feelings, and gentle tuggings and desires of our heart. So now we think this is what we should do, but we're not sure - how do we know? We don't. That's where faith comes in. One pastor called it 'Maybe Faith.' For it to be faith, we can't be certain of it - that would be knowledge. Maybe faith means that if you are 51% sure that what you're feeling led to do is from God, you should pursue it. It's not going to be crystal clear, so don't expect it to be. Trust that if you're seeking God's will, He will watch over you. After all, He didn't choose you for nothing.

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

Worship > Fellowship

I believe that worship, true worship of God, is more important than fellowship with other believers. Now I'm not saying that fellowship and relationships aren't important. But I am saying that if I'm not worshiping God, if I'm not right with him, then my other relationships can't be right. My fellowship and worship with him is more important than my relationship with my wife, my son, family, friends, my church, and my community. Think about it. How can I love my wife like Christ loved the church if I don't love Christ? I wouldn't know how to love without knowing him. Why should she submit to me if I'm not worth submitting to? And yes I do believes wives should submit, but I also believe that won't be an issue as long as she's submitting to a godly husband. (Ephesians 5:22-25) Our love for others must flow from our love and worship of God. 1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says,...

Do You Need Revival?

"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?" - Psalm 85:6 The thoughts below were in my devotional this morning by Dr. Lee Sheppard: "So how can we know if we need revival in our lives? Well, we need revival when our salvation has lost its joy, when our sin does not break our heart, and when we make little to no effort to witness to the lost. We need revival when worship becomes boring, when we are at odds with believers and see no need for reconciliation, and when we fail to believe God for the impossible. We need revival when we have to be begged to give and serve in church and when we would rather make money than give money. We need revival when we have to be entertained to be drawn to church and when we are indifferent to the fact that there are 2.5 billion people on the planet who have never heard the name of Jesus. We need revival when we don't regularly see the supernatural evidence of God's power and when ...

Growin' Up Gregory

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