What If?

What if two and a half years ago you decided to stop doing your daily devotions or going to church, knowing that some day you’d come back to it again.

What if two years ago you started a relationship with someone of the opposite sex even though you were married.

What if three months into that relationship your spouse found out, and three months after that the divorce was finalized.

What if six months after that the “other person” decided to leave you.

What if three months after that your kids decided they didn’t want to talk to you any more.

What if today you were working on a project involving power tools and had an accident.

What if you died there all alone in your workshop as there was no one there to hear your cries for help.

Now, what if instead, two and a half years ago you decided to fight back against the Devil and increase your time in His Word.

What if you strengthened your marriage by suggesting to pray with your spouse instead of spending time apart.

What if you spent time with your children playing and teaching them about God.

What happens if you have that accident now….

Every day we are attacked by the Devil one way or another. He tells us that skipping a day of our devotions isn’t a big deal. He tells us that we don’t need to build relationships with our spouse, our children, or our extended families. He tells us that this one day won’t be a big deal and that we can pick it up another time.

What do you think now, is it a big deal? What if you spent more time with God the next time you were attacked? What if you spent more time praying and worshiping Him who deserves our adoration? What would your life be like now?

Sure this may not happen to most of you reading this, but what if something like this did happen? What if you stopped spending time with God on a daily basis? What if.....

Worship

So, what is worship exactly? We talk about it a lot in the music we listen to, the songs that we sing, the studies that we do, and the messages that we hear. Yet, do you really know what worship is?

Let’s look it up in Webster’s dictionary, shall we?

Main Entry: 1wor·ship
Pronunciation: \ˈwər-shəp also ˈwȯr-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English worshipe worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, from Old English weorthscipe worthiness, respect, from weorth worthy, worth + -scipe -ship
Date: before 12th century
1 chiefly British : a person of importance —used as a title for various officials (as magistrates and some mayors)2 : reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence3 : a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual4 : extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem <worship of the dollar>

Well, I’m sure that helped clear things up for everyone, right? Ok, maybe not, so lets look it up in a thesaurus as well:

Function: noun
Meaning: excessive admiration of or devotion to a person
Synonyms adulation, deification, idolatry, idolization, worshipping (also worshiping)
Related Words adoration, deference, glorification, reverence, veneration; idealization, romanticization; affection, fancy, favor, fondness, like, liking, love; appreciation, esteem, regard, respect; approval
Near Antonyms condemnation, disapproval, disfavor, dislike, dismissal, disregard, hatred, loathing, scorn

Now I’m sure we all have it, right? What do you mean that those responses aren’t exactly how you feel about it? Well, I think that can easily be explained, read on:

Worship for me is something deeply personal. It’s probably different for everyone, and how you get to that point is also probably very different. For me I can get into deep worship with the right music in no time. I listen to the words of the songs I am hearing and can very easily feel God’s presence. To me that is what worship is all about, finding God and showing Him my appreciation for all that he’s done for me. I’m not one who will be outwardly showing that, but deep inside I’m screaming for Him. I know other people are quick to throw up their hands, sing loudly, clap, pray in tongues, etc. All of the above is approved by God as He just wants to have that relationship with Him.

How do you get into worship? How do you connect with God on a daily basis? Not only should we pray daily, but also spend time in worship and connecting with Him in every level that we can. The more we connect with Him, the less chance the world has to get in the way. Have you worshipped Him lately?

Prayer

One of the things that we value at Norwalk Alliance Church (and most churches for that matter) is prayer. This is something I don’t feel I’ve touched on enough so I thought I’d give you a different view of what prayer is….I hope you enjoy:

Prayer to me is like the Bluetooth device for your cell phone. It is something that allows you to talk to God no matter what you are doing, hands free even! Think about that for a minute….could it be that Jesus was the original Verizon Wireless guy walking on the earth looking up at our Heavenly Father and asking him: Can you hear me now? Seriously, with Holy Spirit Wireless (which you get for free when you sign your own personal I want a personal relationship with Jesus contract) there are no dead zones, right? You can be in the shower, on the road during your daily commute, leaving a deposit at the bank or the toilet, or even at church….can you say that about your worldly wireless plan?

All kidding aside, prayer is a fundamental building block for your faith. How many legit reasons can you make for not praying today? No, that first one that came to your head doesn’t count, that is just a lame excuse. No, that one doesn’t count either, we can all say we don’t have time! Oh, and what kind of things should you be praying about daily? Would you like your kids to do better in school? Have you not only asked God for that to happen, but expected him to fix the situation? Yes, He might give you more to do in order to fix it, but He IS answering your prayer, people! Stop hoping that God will take care of what you ask and instead expect Him to fix it.

Now I know, I haven’t always been the same way when it comes to prayer. Let’s take a look at where I’ve been in my prayer life.

Stage 0: No prayer
Stage 1: Praying only when something is needed for myself or someone else, and at church. Always hoping he’d help.
Stage 2: Praying when something was needed, for others, at church, and when I had time for it (barely ever). Still hoping
Stage 3: Praying when stuff was needed, at church, and because I felt it made the day better. Still hoping
Stage 4: Praying more often since it seemed to work for everyone else, and it made me feel better. Still hoping
Stage 5: Praying because I knew I should be praying, starting to hear others pray differently…more expecting than hoping, and trying to figure that out.
Stage 6: Praying with purpose, knowing He’ll answer….but not always expecting yet
Stage 7: Prayer on fire, knowing that God already has it answered, and I just need to open my eyes as I KNOW He wants to take care of all that I expect.

Now, you may have noticed one thing, I never say that I’m a super prayer. In fact I know how people feel about others who just have it flow off their tongues….while the rest of us can’t do that. Let me tell you something bub….it doesn’t matter! So what if your prayer won’t be taped and sold worldwide as THE example for the world. He doesn’t care about that, He wants all of to be ourselves and talk to Him. That is all that prayer is…a conversation between you and God. Take full advantage of it, as your time here on Earth is limited, and you just may want to get to know Him better…and prayer is just the way to do that.

Bud....Wise.....Errrrrrr

I think most people who are over the age of 18 remember those ads, right? You know, the ones with these guys:



Now most people at this point are wondering why I'd put up the Budweiser frogs onto a blog focused on Christian values, etc. Well, let me tell you: those frogs had one thing on their mind didn't they? Sure they might have said their part of the word at variable times depending on the commercial and the circumstances they were in, but they always got their point across!


So, if a frog can become famous for shouting out what is on their mind, why can't you and I? Why is it that we all don't have just one thing on our minds - JESUS! Those dumb frogs spent all their time shouting out their one love and in the long run we should want to be just like them. We should be talking about God and showing Him in everything we do. Go spread the message from the mountain and roof tops people! You should want to share Him with everyone you come in contact with, just like those frogs did all day long!

It's not our timing but His instead

Did you know that statistics show that 1 out of every 1 people die at some point in their lives? I know that is a staggering stat, but I don’t think we look at things that way very often. Did you know that the variable in that stat is not if someone dies, but instead when!? You and I cannot predict when that will be with any degree of certainty.

I bring this up as last week a guy I played basketball with died in an accident. It kind of shook me I have to be honest. He was 19 when he died. Todd had started coming to play basketball with us at the church on Sundays last fall/winter. He was a pretty good player and with some work many of us thought he’d be very good. But, the other night that promise was taken in a car accident.

Now I’m not writing all of this to bum people out. Instead, I want to make a point and use Todd and myself as an example. Todd came to church off and on although this summer he was working all the time trying to get a better car. Before he’d made that decision he was scheduled to play softball with the church team. I had thought how great of an opportunity that was going to be as that way we’d all have more opportunities to witness and mentor him. When he decided to work instead of play I just figured that I’d have more opportunities in the future to do those same things.

Isn’t it funny how we have those same plans with people all the time? We just figure that we’ll have more time to be a witness into other people’s lives, or that someone else will do it for us instead? We deny ourselves the opportunities given by God because we figure there will be more. Well, with Todd there was not.

How many people have you put off witnessing to because you didn’t want to spend the time that day or were too busy doing something else, etc.? Don’t expect those opportunities to keep coming, as God has other plans than ours at times. Spend time witnessing and mentoring others whenever you are given the opportunity….you never know when those opportunities will end.

Who Do You Rely On?

Don’t Rely on Washington…

Now, I don’t normally get all political on things, and I haven’t yet before today in this blog. Yet, I have to get this off my chest as it’s been sitting there for awhile now: Don’t rely on the government to solve your problems. They have no idea what is best for you, and frankly they don’t care about you that much (unless you haven’t paid your taxes recently!)

Do you want an example? Let’s look at the math on this brilliant Cash for Clunkers Program they just had to shut down because so many Americans thought it was so wonderful:

-Your car must be a 1984 or later model and get less than 19 miles to the gallon
-You have to go to a dealership who gives you the discount, and then the government repays them and we all win, right?

Let’s look at the math for a moment:

Car Price: 25,000
CARS discount 4,500
---------------------------------------
Total Cost = 20,500

That brand new car you just bought in 4 years time will depreciate to roughly a value of 8,000. More than likely during that time you’ll be making payments of 450 a month. So, not including taxes / interest and all you’ll have that car paid for in around 46-50 months. Or you could say 3.8 – 4.2 years.

Now, let’s say that instead you paid yourself that 450 car payment for 20 months. Guess what, you could have the cash in hand to buy a car worth 9000 much faster! In fact, you could do that twice in the time it took you to pay for that brand new car you just bought!

So, if this program wasn’t great for you and I, then who was it good for you may ask? The credit companies were the biggest benefactors. Some would say the dealerships because they got product off their lots, but the program also took away a number of people who would have bought cars and kept them going for a longer period of time. The companies that gave everyone the credit are the ones making that difference between what you could have bought and did buy if you took part in the program.

The reason I mention this is two fold. First is to help you start thinking like a millionaire. I hate to tell you this, but most millionaires drive used cars. Many will tell you that over and over again. Sure, they have nice cars, but they also aren’t brand new. Secondly, I say this to tell you not to rely on the government to make your life better. There is only one person looking out for your well being. That person isn’t even on the Earth but instead is your Heavenly Father. He cares for us and has the best plans and programs for our lives. When we get inpatient and try these programs because we can’t wait for His timing we get ourselves into things that benefit others instead of ourselves. God wants all of us to prosper and knows how you’re going to do that in the future. When we start relying on Him to help us instead of the government we will become more prosperous than we can ever imagine.

-CARS example was mostly gathered from the Dave Ramsey newsletter. As always, I put my own little spin on it all.

Going Through The Motions

Have you ever felt like you were going through the motions in your life or relationship? You know, the day to day routine has become ordinary, or that your marriage or friendships have become stale? I know it's very easy to get into a funk like that right now with school starting up for the kids, summer ending, etc. What does it feel like to be in this type of status in life?

How can you prevent this from happening? How about trying prayer on for size! Pray that God will protect you from these feelings of boredom or blandness. Pray that He keep your relationships fresh and exciting so that you don't feel your heart straying. Pray that He protect you and all that you love from all of this as He is more than capable of doing just that for you.

Yet, let me direct you on one thing....don't go and ask for Him to help, go expecting Him to help! When you pray for this, or anything else for that matter, don't go doubting or questioning if He'd want to help you out. God has told us time and time again that He wants to help, and all we have to do is ask. So, go and pray confidently that He will take care of your needs and does not want any harm to come to you. He WILL take care of His children and keep you from feeling like you are just going through the motions.