God's Natural World: Who are you trying to impress?

God's Natural World: Who are you trying to impress?: At one time or another we all try to impress someone.  It has been said that "we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impres...

Who are you trying to impress?

At one time or another we all try to impress someone.  It has been said that "we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."  That may be true for many of us at least in America where credit is so easy to get and so hard to pay off.
It seems that many of us have to have the latest gadget, newest car, etc.  I'm not sure why that is but I'd like to share with you some of my ideas on this topic. 
All the advertisements we see and hear are geared toward making us want the newest item, the best of things, even this credit card over that one because this one will make us popular and the envy of all our friends so we are made to believe.  They are all designed to make us covet something we don't have so that we can "impress" someone and feel important if only for a short time. I think that is what is all boils down to: feeling important. From the clothes we wear to the car we drive to the neighborhood we live in; its all to impress others so that we are more important, more powerful, more influential.  And you know something?  It works!  We tend to promote those into positions of authority over us that "seem" successful, that look the part.

However, God is not impressed, not with that anyway.  Do you know what pleases Him?  Obedience!
First and foremost God wants us to love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. If we will do that, then we will want to obey His laws; stay within his boundaries and live a life that is pleasing to Him.  I challenge you to read your Bible. Notice the way ordinary people and not so ordinary people pleased God.  It was through obedience every time!  And do you know what?  It wasn't easy for those people to be obedient. No!  They had nay sayers who opposed them. Those who made trouble for them simply because they chose to obey God rather than man.  It takes courage to do the right thing instead of going with popular opinion.  Even Noah had many who made fun of him for building the Ark. Jeremiah, the "weeping" prophet was given a not so popular message to proclaim and he was put in jail and almost killed for it!  Ezra and Nehemiah were opposed greatly for rebuilding the temple and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem even though they had been given the authority by a king to do so!!!
Do you think these people who were obedient to God were trying to impress others?  If they had been, then don't you think they would have given up in the face of adversity?
Instead they were being obedient to God who gave them courage to do what was right in the face of opposition.
Recently we just had presidential elections.  I would love to see a candidate stand for what is right and bring this country back to God than to pander to popular opinion and trying to impress others with what he or she can do for them rather than trying to be a godly leader.

I challenge each of you who read this devotion to live your lives in obedience to what God wants for your life.  It won't always be easy and you may face opposition and ridicule.  Most likely you won't impress those who won't understand.  But you will impress God. You will please Him!
And after all, isn't that what matters more?

God's Natural World: Where can you go to escape?

God's Natural World: Where can you go to escape?: Have there been times in your life where you just wanted to escape from everything? Well I have!  Sometimes the pressures and stresses of e...

Where can you go to escape?

Have there been times in your life where you just wanted to escape from everything?
Well I have!  Sometimes the pressures and stresses of every day living just get to you and you find yourself wanting to get away from it all. At times I've thought "If I could just move to another town or place where no one knows me and get a fresh start on life...."
But then I remember that even if I could do such a thing that I'd still have "me" there.
The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said "No matter where you go, there you are."
You can change your surroundings, your friends and even your job but you can't change who you are down deep inside.
I was reading Psalm 139 this morning and felt like I just needed to share it with someone. Maybe today you're wanting to fresh start on life.  Maybe you'd like to get away from everything, even God!
No rules to follow, no boundaries, no failures. 
Psalm 139 is a song that King David wrote.  Perhaps it will change your perspective. Quoted below is verses 1-10.  I challenge you to read the whole song.

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;  you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in -behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;  if I make my bed in the depths, you are there too.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, or if I settle onthe far side of the sea,
even there your right hand will hold me fast.

God knows me better than I know myself.  Now my parents know me pretty well and my wife and kids know me too.  They know all my faults and weaknesses, my passions, and even my strengths.  But God knows me even better than that!  He made me in His image and since I have accepted his one and only Son Jesus as my Lord and Savior, His Holy Spirit lives in me and changes me to be more like Him.  What you may consider to be a weakness, God can use to bless others and bring glory to Him!  God knows what makes you tick.  He knows you and loves you "warts and all."
Today, be honest with God.  Confess your weaknesses and your shortcomings.  Ask God to use you and to help you to overcome your inadequacies.  Also ask God to use your strengths so that He may get the glory and honor.

There's no escaping yourself and there's no escaping God.  You can't be too bad for God not to love you and there is no place you can go where He does not see you and can find you.
He knows you get anxious and long for change. Let Him do the changing and see what happens!!

VS 23-24 end this song with this thought..."Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there be any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Today I challenge you to not run from your situation or to even try to run from God.  Rather run TO Him, telling him all about it.  You can't surprise him nor shock him for he already knows all about you.  Remember that no matter where you go, not only will you still be there but so will God!!!

God's Natural World: What kind of soil are you?

God's Natural World: What kind of soil are you?: I'd like to retell a story that Jesus told his followers. In Matthew Chapter 13 vss 3-9 Jesus tells the story about a farmer sowing seed. It...

What kind of soil are you?

I'd like to retell a story that Jesus told his followers. In Matthew Chapter 13 vss 3-9 Jesus tells the story about a farmer sowing seed. It goes like this:
Now a farmer went out to sow some seed. As he was scattering the seed some fell along the path. Now a path is kinda hard dirt. Its worn by many years by many feet walking on it and the wheels of charriots on it too. So its no surprise that the seed that fell on the path didn't take root at all and was quickly eatten up by some birds even before any rain could hit it and give it the least bit of a chance to grow.
Now some of this seed happen to fall along rocky places. I don't know about you but rocky areas may collect a little dirt but you can't count on it to grow much but weeds! The seed did grow some but since the roots couldn't go very deep the plants that grew withered when the sun beat down on them. You see, they needed moisture and deep roots to withstand the weather and rocky places just aren't very good for that.
Some of this seed did grow in one area, but unfortunately there were weeds and thorns that grew up right along with it and they choked the plants from getting a chance to thrive. You see, plants need room to grow and they can't become what they were meant to be if they are restricted from their potential.
Finally!!! Some seed fell on good soil that had been plowed up and fertilized and had good watering!!! These seed grew up and then do you know what they did? These plants produced seed and lots of it! Now it might have been corn or it might have been wheat. What kind we really don't know and to be truthful it really doesn't matter.

Many times I've heard sermons about this and the focus is always on the seed producing fruit or not. I'd like to change the focus a bit this time around on the type of soil the seed fell on. Are you living your life in such a way that nothing positive can work its way in and do any good?
Or maybe you are rocky and maybe God's word can't go very deep because you don't give it much of a chance. You might hear it and you might even pay attention and agree with it but religion is best left at church and on Sundays and it just can't be expected to be applied to every day living.
Maybe you are the kind of person who tryies so hard to live right and really wants to be a Christian but you are trying to do it in your own strength. Oh you might offer up a prayer or two when things get tough but its just not for every day living and when things do get rough you give up on God and fall out of going to church and reading the Bible. The troubles of this life are like thorns and weeds that choke out the truth of God's love.
Then there are those few (yes few for the road is narrow and few there are that find it) who accept Christ and all He offers willingly. They pray often and search the Bible for what God would have to say to them. They look to God daily for guidance and have a deep, abiding relationship with Him. No, their life isn't perfect and sometimes they don't do everything the way they shojld. But their lives are spent trusting Jesus to guide them and provide for them. They know they can depend on God, not to judge them for every misstep, but to love them when even they don't deserve it.
As they thrive in God's grace daily there are many whose lives are affected in a positive way and it is obvious that God is working in their lives consitently to make them more like Him!
So I ask you, which kind of soil are you? Today I challenge you to trust Him fully for everything you need. He made you and designed you for a purpose and wants to bless you not for your own glory or recognition but for His!!!

God's Natural World: Language and Cheap Imitations

God's Natural World: Language and Cheap Imitations: Over the past few years our language has changed. Oh, I'm not speaking about some foreign tongue but the words we use seem to me to define o...