Is love blind ?
I ask this in the nicest possible way of course.
Think about it, when you first fell in love with that special someone, didn’t you want to tell everyone?
Did you show everyone their picture and tell the whole world about the wonder of all they are?
I bet you wanted to spend every moment with them. When you were away from them you couldn’t stop thinking about them.
When we are in Love we have endless energy, we are happy, full of joy. Things that normally drive us crazy seem to be less bothersome.
The people who are written about throughout the Bible share one thing in common. They are in Love with their God and have an unquenchable passion and thirst for His presence in their lives. The knowledge that God loves them even more than they could even love Him is what gets these men through the challenges they face throughout their live.
No one in their right mind would endure half of the pain and torment that Moses and Joshua went through. Peter and Paul were both murdered, Stephen was beheaded.
Everyone will face challenges in their life, some will be bigger then others. Difficult times do not mean that God is not with you. Usually it is quite the opposite. God brings us through a challenge to transform us into the Men and Women of God we need to be, to accomplish the purpose He has for us.
Fall in love with God, dive right in to His presence, read His word and drink of His spirit and watch how God transforms you into a new person.
You are called to a great purpose!
Deuteronomy 6:5
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Have an awesome week, talk to you soon.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Keep it Simple
Keep it Simple!
Easy to say, but not so easy to do.
Life is so busy, it’s not just now, suddenly that things are busy. Life has been busy for a while. It’s true that the modern man has more things to distract him, but really it boils down to the decisions that we make.
Everyday decisions that seem so mundane are actually having life long and life shortening effects on us.
From the moment we wake we are setting up our future, with every choice we make.
Should I get up 15 minutes early and spend a couple of minutes praying about my day ahead? Or should I sleep in a little later and rush around trying to get ready.
Should I eat a healthy breakfast? Or should I eat one of those 1000 calorie muffins from Crispy Cream ( Yes I know they taste good.) … ( But you know they kill you the rest of the day.)
When your children or friends are sick, do you reach for the Tylenol, or do you reach out your hands and pray for them?
When you are asked about your faith, do you tell people how you really feel about God, or do you shy away from the conversation?
I spent about 2 weeks out of this past month on my back with the Flu and a nasty stomach virus. It is amazing how simple things can get when we are forced to slow down and take it easy.
There is nothing that God has planned for you that you will miss out on.
But their will absolutely be a time in your life that you will question God and wonder if he has forgotten you. You will be sure that you should be doing something or should be somewhere, and you will not be happy.
These are the most important moments to remember to simply trust God.
In the book of Daniel, Daniel is walking along with some friends and is probably wondering if God has forgotten him. Daniel has been praying about something big and has gotten no answer from God. Suddenly a man appears in front of Daniel and his friends. Daniels friends don’t see the man, but Daniel does.
Daniel’s heart and mind were set on seeing an answer from God, even though the circumstances around him said God had not heard his prayer and that he was seeing things, his heart told him to continue to believe for an answer from God and that, yes indeed there was a Man standing in front of him and his friends.
Having faith is not about blindly expecting things from God, simply because you want something and can’t figure out how to get it on your own. God is not a magic genie.
Faith is the belief in a truth. Faith comes and grows when we see God move in our lives and in the lives of those around us. It starts small and grows according to how much it is exercised.
Trust God with something small and see how simple life can get when you say, God I trust you with this “thing”. I can’t do it without you. Help me grow my faith in you.
Then trust God, Pray and read the Bible.
Have an Outstanding week!
Talk again soon.
Steve
Easy to say, but not so easy to do.
Life is so busy, it’s not just now, suddenly that things are busy. Life has been busy for a while. It’s true that the modern man has more things to distract him, but really it boils down to the decisions that we make.
Everyday decisions that seem so mundane are actually having life long and life shortening effects on us.
From the moment we wake we are setting up our future, with every choice we make.
Should I get up 15 minutes early and spend a couple of minutes praying about my day ahead? Or should I sleep in a little later and rush around trying to get ready.
Should I eat a healthy breakfast? Or should I eat one of those 1000 calorie muffins from Crispy Cream ( Yes I know they taste good.) … ( But you know they kill you the rest of the day.)
When your children or friends are sick, do you reach for the Tylenol, or do you reach out your hands and pray for them?
When you are asked about your faith, do you tell people how you really feel about God, or do you shy away from the conversation?
I spent about 2 weeks out of this past month on my back with the Flu and a nasty stomach virus. It is amazing how simple things can get when we are forced to slow down and take it easy.
There is nothing that God has planned for you that you will miss out on.
But their will absolutely be a time in your life that you will question God and wonder if he has forgotten you. You will be sure that you should be doing something or should be somewhere, and you will not be happy.
These are the most important moments to remember to simply trust God.
In the book of Daniel, Daniel is walking along with some friends and is probably wondering if God has forgotten him. Daniel has been praying about something big and has gotten no answer from God. Suddenly a man appears in front of Daniel and his friends. Daniels friends don’t see the man, but Daniel does.
Daniel’s heart and mind were set on seeing an answer from God, even though the circumstances around him said God had not heard his prayer and that he was seeing things, his heart told him to continue to believe for an answer from God and that, yes indeed there was a Man standing in front of him and his friends.
Having faith is not about blindly expecting things from God, simply because you want something and can’t figure out how to get it on your own. God is not a magic genie.
Faith is the belief in a truth. Faith comes and grows when we see God move in our lives and in the lives of those around us. It starts small and grows according to how much it is exercised.
Trust God with something small and see how simple life can get when you say, God I trust you with this “thing”. I can’t do it without you. Help me grow my faith in you.
Then trust God, Pray and read the Bible.
Have an Outstanding week!
Talk again soon.
Steve
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Creating Atmosphere
Last time I wrote to you I started to touch on the subject of “Atmosphere”. Today I want to dive a little further into this idea of creating Atmosphere.
It is a good idea for you to go back and read the previous message (Jan 28th) if you have not done so already, to better understand what this message is all about.
1 Corinthians Chapter 2:
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
The Apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Church in Corinth that he knows nothing except Jesus Christ.
Paul knew that he had to set a strong message right up front, “It is all about Jesus!”
Nothing else matters because all things are subject to the authority and power of God.
Creating Atmosphere is really all about you cultivating your relationship with God. Spending personal time in prayer and worship are spiritual food and supernatural steroids to the Christian life. Your relationship with God will develop and your world and everyone you influence will be blessed because of your pushing into God.
Equally important is the removal of the walls and dividers in your life. Look at it this way, from this point forward you are always in church. No matter if you are at work or at home or at a ballgame. You carry the spirit of God with you where ever you go.
You are the church!
Everywhere you go people will know something is different about you, they will be attracted to the Atmosphere that you create because you will be dripping with the spirit of God.
Remember Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save it, so that should be our goal as well.
Lets stop here this week and let’s try something, and let’s make it attainable. This week commit to spending 3 minutes of uninterrupted prayer time. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and talk to God. Open your heart, pray in the spirit, get excited about all that God is doing in your life, just go for it .
For some of you it will seem like a very small amount of time, that’s OK if you want to spend more time, go for it, BUT for everyone else lets just try for 3 minutes.
Your life will never be the same, your marriage will be better, your family will be stronger, your job will be more rewarding.
While you're praying ask God to fill you with His spirit to overflowing and then let God loose in your world.
Have an awesome week and we will talk again soon.
Be Blessed,
Steve
It is a good idea for you to go back and read the previous message (Jan 28th) if you have not done so already, to better understand what this message is all about.
1 Corinthians Chapter 2:
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
The Apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Church in Corinth that he knows nothing except Jesus Christ.
Paul knew that he had to set a strong message right up front, “It is all about Jesus!”
Nothing else matters because all things are subject to the authority and power of God.
Creating Atmosphere is really all about you cultivating your relationship with God. Spending personal time in prayer and worship are spiritual food and supernatural steroids to the Christian life. Your relationship with God will develop and your world and everyone you influence will be blessed because of your pushing into God.
Equally important is the removal of the walls and dividers in your life. Look at it this way, from this point forward you are always in church. No matter if you are at work or at home or at a ballgame. You carry the spirit of God with you where ever you go.
You are the church!
Everywhere you go people will know something is different about you, they will be attracted to the Atmosphere that you create because you will be dripping with the spirit of God.
Remember Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save it, so that should be our goal as well.
Lets stop here this week and let’s try something, and let’s make it attainable. This week commit to spending 3 minutes of uninterrupted prayer time. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and talk to God. Open your heart, pray in the spirit, get excited about all that God is doing in your life, just go for it .
For some of you it will seem like a very small amount of time, that’s OK if you want to spend more time, go for it, BUT for everyone else lets just try for 3 minutes.
Your life will never be the same, your marriage will be better, your family will be stronger, your job will be more rewarding.
While you're praying ask God to fill you with His spirit to overflowing and then let God loose in your world.
Have an awesome week and we will talk again soon.
Be Blessed,
Steve
Monday, January 28, 2008
Atmosphere
Happy New Year to all, hope your Christmas and New Years were wonderful and that this year is the beginning of an incredible adventure in your relationship with God.
We live in an incredible time in history and in an amazing place to see all that God is doing all around us.
One of the greatest gifts I have ever been given has been the privilege of being part of an amazing church on Long Island NY. What made this church so special for me was the constant visits from men and women of God from all over the globe. On average we would have a guest speaker every two months, many were from places you would not go even if you were paid a lot of money
The interesting part was that everyone who spoke had amazing stories about what God was doing all over the world, not just in Greenlawn NY. My worldview and my God view was shifted and enlarged. It is hard to be unhappy with your house and the car you drive when you hear stories of teenagers in Africa who walk for two hours to go to a bible study. The world starts to look different and inevitably so does God.
So very much of our lives are viewed from a very narrow window, everybody wants to believe that they are aware of all that is going on around them, but only the truly wise know that we are living life, spiritual life that is as though we are blindfolded.
1 Corinthians 1:18
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
There can be little debate that our natural mind and our spiritual life are at odds. Most of the everyday things we worry about are of little consequence to our spiritual calling. We are always looking for God and His call and purpose for our lives and it seams like the harder we look the more elusive God is.
There is never just one thing we need to know or understand about God.
There is however one thing that makes an enormous difference not only in how you see the world but how the world views you; Atmosphere.
Take the finest seed the most fertile soil and the purest water, put them together in Napa CA. In April and in a couple of months you will have an incredible harvest. Take the same seed, soil and water and bring them together on Mars and you get nothing, the atmosphere simply can not sustain life.
We fight through life and try to bring life to a lost world within a caustic atmosphere and don’t understand why there is no harvest. We have to create an atmosphere of God, a place where people breathe in the breath of the Spirit of God in a positive loving environment.
Create an Atmosphere of heaven around your life and watch how your world changes, lives are healed, chains are broken and devils flee.
Think about this; corporations spend billions of dollars to create a certain atmosphere in stores and places of business to make you spend more money and be more productive. Sounds, smells, colors are all used to influence you and create the illusion of an atmosphere; this causes you to think or feel a certain way.
Begin today; you can change the world around you.
Next month we’ll talk more about how to create a godly atmosphere that is in touch with the world today.
Have an awesome week,
Talk to you soon.
We live in an incredible time in history and in an amazing place to see all that God is doing all around us.
One of the greatest gifts I have ever been given has been the privilege of being part of an amazing church on Long Island NY. What made this church so special for me was the constant visits from men and women of God from all over the globe. On average we would have a guest speaker every two months, many were from places you would not go even if you were paid a lot of money
The interesting part was that everyone who spoke had amazing stories about what God was doing all over the world, not just in Greenlawn NY. My worldview and my God view was shifted and enlarged. It is hard to be unhappy with your house and the car you drive when you hear stories of teenagers in Africa who walk for two hours to go to a bible study. The world starts to look different and inevitably so does God.
So very much of our lives are viewed from a very narrow window, everybody wants to believe that they are aware of all that is going on around them, but only the truly wise know that we are living life, spiritual life that is as though we are blindfolded.
1 Corinthians 1:18
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
There can be little debate that our natural mind and our spiritual life are at odds. Most of the everyday things we worry about are of little consequence to our spiritual calling. We are always looking for God and His call and purpose for our lives and it seams like the harder we look the more elusive God is.
There is never just one thing we need to know or understand about God.
There is however one thing that makes an enormous difference not only in how you see the world but how the world views you; Atmosphere.
Take the finest seed the most fertile soil and the purest water, put them together in Napa CA. In April and in a couple of months you will have an incredible harvest. Take the same seed, soil and water and bring them together on Mars and you get nothing, the atmosphere simply can not sustain life.
We fight through life and try to bring life to a lost world within a caustic atmosphere and don’t understand why there is no harvest. We have to create an atmosphere of God, a place where people breathe in the breath of the Spirit of God in a positive loving environment.
Create an Atmosphere of heaven around your life and watch how your world changes, lives are healed, chains are broken and devils flee.
Think about this; corporations spend billions of dollars to create a certain atmosphere in stores and places of business to make you spend more money and be more productive. Sounds, smells, colors are all used to influence you and create the illusion of an atmosphere; this causes you to think or feel a certain way.
Begin today; you can change the world around you.
Next month we’ll talk more about how to create a godly atmosphere that is in touch with the world today.
Have an awesome week,
Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Gift Ideas
Do you remember when you were 5 years old, how about 6 or 7? I don’t mean every detail, but maybe some special memories you still carry with you today. For some of you that was a long time ago, for others maybe not as long ago. What ever the case we all have something from our past that we still carry with us today, a memory that has stayed with us and has effected our lives in a positive and profound way.
This is the time of year when we remember those days when we were all much younger, full of hope and expectation. We believed what we were told and expected everthing our parents told us to be truth and absolute. .
On November 23 Americans spent $ 8.96 Billion. In one day folks flooded the stores, malls and internet sites and spent more money on gifts then many countries have budgeted for an entire year of operation. .
Many of the hot items on the “Must Have List” are elusive and expensive, Apples I Phone and I POD Touch are flying out of Apple stores, HDTV’s are moving like they were being given away. New video games and DVD’s are a big hit as well. WOW $8.96 Billion is a big number and yet if you quadrupled that number you still would not come close to putting a smile on every childs face this December 25th. .
After walking with Jesus for nearly 3 yrs the disciples still struggled to understand what Jesus was saying and what he was doing. In Matthew 19: 13-15. Jesus is brought a group of children to pray for and lay hands on. His disciples were upset with the children being there, they wanted to have the children taken away so Jesus would not be bothered by them. They started to yell at the adults who brought them, when Jesus sees what is going on He tells His disciples to bring the children closer and He prays for them all and lays hands on them. Then Jesus sort of rebukes His disciples and tells them that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little ones, just like the children they were turning away from Him.
This Christmas give your children the hottest, most expensive gift ever given, bring your children to Jesus, introduce them. Don’t worry about what anyone else has to say. Talking to your children and friends about Jesus and your relationship with Him is the greatest gift you can give them and they will remember your gift to them for the rest of their lives.
It will change their lives and it will change your life.
If your brave enough to go into the mall the day after Thanksgiving you are brave enough to talk about God with Family and Friends.
Have an awesome Holiday
This is the time of year when we remember those days when we were all much younger, full of hope and expectation. We believed what we were told and expected everthing our parents told us to be truth and absolute. .
On November 23 Americans spent $ 8.96 Billion. In one day folks flooded the stores, malls and internet sites and spent more money on gifts then many countries have budgeted for an entire year of operation. .
Many of the hot items on the “Must Have List” are elusive and expensive, Apples I Phone and I POD Touch are flying out of Apple stores, HDTV’s are moving like they were being given away. New video games and DVD’s are a big hit as well. WOW $8.96 Billion is a big number and yet if you quadrupled that number you still would not come close to putting a smile on every childs face this December 25th. .
After walking with Jesus for nearly 3 yrs the disciples still struggled to understand what Jesus was saying and what he was doing. In Matthew 19: 13-15. Jesus is brought a group of children to pray for and lay hands on. His disciples were upset with the children being there, they wanted to have the children taken away so Jesus would not be bothered by them. They started to yell at the adults who brought them, when Jesus sees what is going on He tells His disciples to bring the children closer and He prays for them all and lays hands on them. Then Jesus sort of rebukes His disciples and tells them that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little ones, just like the children they were turning away from Him.
This Christmas give your children the hottest, most expensive gift ever given, bring your children to Jesus, introduce them. Don’t worry about what anyone else has to say. Talking to your children and friends about Jesus and your relationship with Him is the greatest gift you can give them and they will remember your gift to them for the rest of their lives.
It will change their lives and it will change your life.
If your brave enough to go into the mall the day after Thanksgiving you are brave enough to talk about God with Family and Friends.
Have an awesome Holiday
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