Something Is Not Going To Get Done

Have you ever realized that when you go to bed at night…every night, in fact… that you leave something to be done the next day? I’m sure that you don’t have all the laundry done, all the dishes put away, the house completely cleaned, yard work completed, etc., every night when you go to bed, right? In fact it’s become so commonplace to all of us that we’ve pretty much accepted this as fact.

So, why is it that oftentimes we put off spending time with God because we’re too busy, have too much stuff to do, etc.? Why do we make excuses for all of that other stuff not being done in our lives, but not for the one thing that matters the most?

It’s all about priorities. When God is the focus of our lives we’ll make him first, over all of the other items we need to do in a day. We take time to pray, read the Bible or a devotional, go to church, etc. When God isn’t the focus, we continually find other things that are more important. We watch our favorite TV shows, play around on Facebook, talk with people on the phone, etc., and put off God until we have time.

Now I’m not going to condemn all of us for not having the proper focus. Instead I wanted to bring up the fact that this is exactly what we’re all doing on a daily basis when we don’t make time for God. Instead of making Him second, we all need to make Him the priority and know ahead that because of our willingness to put things in the right order, some of the to-do list items just won’t be completed today. We need to start being ok with that, because those items that don’t get done aren’t the priority, God is!

Viruses

It seems that a lot of my time at work in 2011 has been spent fighting viruses on the office computers. No matter the security measures taken viruses always seem to creep onto the computers. Often times they go undetected for weeks or months before they have finally created enough havoc to be a real problem.

You do realize that this is the same thing that the devil is doing to each and every one of us daily, right? Every day he has these little attacks on us, many of which we don’t even realize are happening. It could be a TV commercial that puts something in your head. It could be a negative comment someone you work with says that gets you thinking the wrong way. It could even come in an e-mail or an advertisement on your favorite web sites.

No matter how much defense you have, at some point you are going to get infected. The key to making sure viruses don’t become major problems is to instead have good protection on the back end. You have to be able to take out the infections by the root and destroy them before they take over. This can be done in a number of ways, and only you can know what process is going to work best for you.

My point today is to realize that you are under attack at all times. Be ready to fight, as you are a part of the battle. Don’t become a casualty.

Just Ask

You know, one thing that is wonderful about kids is the fact that they aren’t afraid to ask for just about anything. They ask to stay up later than their bed time almost every night. When they get older they ask to borrow the car, to take your money, etc. They ask and ask and ask, knowing that at some point they will probably get what they want.

Contrast that with an adult. I think that years of being told no by others causes people to stop asking for things. The hopefulness of asking as a child has turned into a reality that more than likely we’re not going to get what we are asking for, so we stop asking.

Why do I bring this up? I do so because prayer is often about us asking for one thing or another from God. I think that often we don’t pray because we are afraid that we are not going to get what we are praying for. Instead of expecting to get what we are asking as a child would do, we expect to be let down and get to the point that we don’t even ask.

I’m writing this today to encourage you to just ask! God WANTS to answer your prayers. God wants you to expect to get an answer from Him. He wants to build you up so you can build Him up! It’s time that we all get over the let-down of the world and start expecting Him to take hold of our lives and give us the health, abilities, etc. that He is so willing to give.

Go ahead, I dare you to pray. I dare you to ask Him for those things. Let’s see what happens….together.

Lifesavers

The other day a strange thought came into my head. Somehow I started to think of people “of the world” as Lifesavers candies. They look sweet on the outside, are often different colors and flavors, but all have a hole in the middle. They are missing that something that would completely round them out. They are missing that relationship with Jesus in their lives.

So this week it’s simple: It’s time to help find the lifesavers and help them get filled. Who knew that lifesavers needed saving?

Repairs

Like many of you who read this, I own my own home. (Ok, the bank does, but I’m working on it!) With owning anything comes the inevitable: repairs. No matter how much you do to avoid them, at some point something is going to need fixing.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet this week and cut to the chase. If you truly own your relationship with God you’ll come to realize that at times there will be fixes that need to be made. You’ll work to maintain it, but as you put time and effort into one area there is bound to be something that happens in another. This doesn’t mean that you are failing, but instead you are experiencing reality.

There are too many outside forces for you and me to keep our relationship with God perfect. You’ll have stress in your life. You’ll get too busy and forget to pray or read your Bible for a few days. Remember that He is always there and is happy that you are doing all that you do to keep up the relationship. Without your efforts the whole thing could fall apart. Don’t be dismayed if a repair is needed from time to time. Instead glorify Him in all that you do, and keep up the maintenance and continue to work on any repairs that are needed when they arise. I’m sure He understands!

A Glimmer

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather we’re having. No, I didn’t write this last week when the weather was nice, but I’m writing this on the 21^st, during yet another snow storm. I mentioned last week for a reason though, as I wanted to point out what that was to everyone.

Last week was a glimmer of hope for everyone. God knew that winter had been rough on all of us and He gave us a few days to break up the storms to give us all some hope of what is to come again in the spring. He allowed us to get outside of the house a little and enjoy some decent weather. He got rid of all the snow piles that were on the roofs of our houses, along the side of the driveways, etc. He did all of that as a glimmer.

Have you had other glimmers in your life before? Have you ever coached a sports team and found that a player or two finally got what you’ve been trying to teach them? Are you a teacher, and finally at least one of the students understand the lesson you’ve been teaching? Is your family budget tight, and all of a sudden you had a little extra income to get those couple things you’ve been putting off, or gotten a bill paid you thought never would be paid, etc.?

In God we have hope in the darkness. These glimmers of what is to come help us get through the tough times. You can be physically in winter in Ohio, or in the winter of something else you are going through in your life, and God will give you the hope in for which you are searching. In Him you’ll be able to get through anything, and He’ll give you those glimmers from time to time to prove it to you.

I pray you enjoyed the glimmer last week and are staying safe through the rest of this winter we’re going through. Remember, He will get us all through the rest of the winter and give us spring soon.

The Cheap Seats

Lately I’ve spent a few nights watching some high school basketball. I really enjoy the game as it’s, at least to me, very pure at the HS level. The kids are taught to play the right way and they work together as a team. What I like about it best is you really get a good look from the stands at a team’s strengths and weaknesses, at least if you know what you are looking at.

That leads me to today’s point: Often a weakness can easily be seen from the cheap seats.

Let me explain. As I watch the game I often find players on a team that seem a tad weak at one kind of defense or another. What I really love is when the coach for one of the teams sees the same thing and starts to exploit that weakness. The coach will direct his/her team to do things that will take full advantage of that weakness. They’ll keep attacking it until the other team makes an adjustment. In fact, to me that is the true beauty of the game, the chess match the coaches play in trying to gain their team an advantage, causing a disadvantage to the other team.

I mention all of this because many of us have weaknesses that are continually being exploited in our Christian walk. The devil attacks us over and over again the same way, and we fail to make the adjustment. Then, when we finally do adjust, the devil looks for another weakness to exploit. This is part of the day-to-day battle that we must fight, continually adjusting our weaknesses in order to keep the devil out of our lives.

How is your ability at making adjustments? Do you allow a weakness to continually be attacked, or do you work to keep that from happening? Do you even know what your weaknesses are, or do you need someone else sitting in the cheap seats to help you see what you are missing? If you know the weaknesses and keep adjusting, good for you! If you need help seeing what is happening, then find a friend, prayer partner, spouse, and pray about it. Find the weaknesses and adjust. Your spiritual life will be stronger because of it.