Time and Study

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you–and more [besides] will be given to you who hear. (Mark 4:24 AMP)

As a musician in a band, I need to practice at home, going over the same piece of music over and over. I can  always tell when I have not practiced (thinking I know it already), and I show up at rehearsal with the whole band and I pretty much do a horrible job. The same goes with God. How much time to we spend in His word, reading and studying and thinking about it? How  much time do we spend with Him? The Bible is very clear on this, the more you study and think about God and HIs word, the more of His word is going to come back to you. But if you spend very little time with Him or in His word, you are really not going to see much of what He says in His word come back to you.  "Well Kent, I tried that one time and it didn't work for me." Well one time isn't enough! Scripture says you got to study and think about His word. To study means going over that part of scripture thats dealing with your problem, meditating on it until you know it inside and out. You know you've been reading and thinking about His word whenever a problem comes up and your thoughts are still on His word and not your problem. If you are not spending time in His word on a consistent basis, then I encourage you to take time daily and read and think about His word. When  you do this, you will see that same measure come back to you as Mark said in Mark 4:24. It may take a while for you to see results, but they will happen!

Responsibility and Blame

The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. (Ezekiel 18:20 NLT)

Generational curses, I've heard this so many times, in fact there are times I was believing this. But the word of God is very clear in this area. We are responsible for our own sins, we are responsible for our own lives. We are the ones who make our life what it is. We can continue to blame those that went before us, our parents, our bosses and our piers, for all of our problems, but the reality is, we are responsible for how our lives our right now. If we continue to blame someone or something else for the problems we have today, we will never see change. By pushing blame on to someone else we take no responsibility, and if we take no responsibility, then our lives will remain the same. I could blame all my problems on my past, on the way I was raised, on the teachers who taught or didn't teach me, on the pastors who taught well and those who taught me right, on the bosses you were fair to me and on those who were not fair to me, I could blame all of those and more. But I made a choice a long time ago that this is my life, I am the only one who walks in my shoes, I am the one who has to answer for the things I've done in my life. As children of God, we need to take responsibility for our lives if we are going to make changes in our lives. If you have been blaming others for your problems, look in the mirror and start telling yourself "Self, I am no longer going to blame others for my problems, I am going to take responsibility for my own life, and with God's help I will see change in my life!" By doing this, you open the door for God to come in and start helping you make the changes.

Unbelief and Trust

He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. (Romans 4:20-21 NET)

Abraham knew without a doubt that what God said He would do would happen. At this point in scripture Abraham was 100 years old, but God told Him He would be the father of many nations...and that's exactly what happened. God has made many promises in His word, but how much do we really believe He will do what He says?  When He promises that He will supply all your needs (Phil 4:19), do you really believe that, or do you get stressed out and frustrated when what you are trying to do doesn't work? When He promises He will give you what you need when you need it (Heb 4:16), do you wait on God, or do you try to figure things out on our own, and end up getting angry, anxious, frustrated, etc. When I finally started letting God be God in my life and started trusting Him instead of trusting in myself, peace replaced frustration, a settled mind replaced anxiety. There are times when I do get frustrated at what I am doing, and that is a "red flag" for me that I have crossed over from trusting God to trusting in Kent and that I need to believe God will do what He says He will do. When you are faced with a circumstance that you don't know what to do, instead of trying to figure it out on your own, talk to God, trust Him and do what He tells you to do. If that means wait, then you wait. If it means you do something, then you do something, if it means you say something, then you say something, but in everything, be fully convinced that what God says will happen.

Rushing and Being Still

"Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world." (Psalm 46:10 NLT)

Rush, rush, rush, that seems to be a common theme among Americans, and quite likely western civilization as a whole. We got to get this done, and we got to get that done, if we don't do it, who will, and it has to be done yesterday. These are all reasons we give for doing what we do, and then we wonder why we are stressed out, getting sick all the time, cranky, and just not a nice person to be around. Wouldn't it be nice to take a few moments and just do nothing? That is what God wants us to do, be still and just know that He is God. He wants us to stop doing, and just be. Joyce Meyers said it very well, we are not called human do-ings, we are called human be-ings. This is so true. God wants us to take time just to sit with Him and just be...and that's all, just sit. In the story of Mary and Martha, Mary chose to sit at Jesus' feet while Martha was distracted. Jesus even told Martha to chill and look at Mary as she chose wisely. "But Kent, I just don't have time to stop for a few minutes, I've got a deadline, I've got to get this done." That should be a red flag going up saying you are headed in the wrong direction. Take direction from Jesus, take a few minutes each day to stop and just sit still and be with God. Clear your mind (I know this is a difficult thing to do at times, but it is do-able), and focus on God. You'll find that as you do this more and more, there will be more and more peace coming into your life, and those things you thought HAD to get done, really aren't as important as they once were.

When Past Thoughts and Behaviors Resurface

If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. (Heb 11:15 HCSB)

In this passage, the writer of Hebrews was talking about the Israelites as they were wandering through the wilderness to the . He was saying that if they thought about their lives back in Egypt, they could have returned, but instead they pressed on to what God had for them. The same goes with us. Our "Egypt" is our ways of thinking before we were saved and/or before we got victory in that area of our lives. Once we get that victory, in all honesty we really can't relax about that area. In fact we still need to maintain our guard so that if we ever get weak, we don't revert back to our ways of thinking before we got the victory. For example, I came out of a background where I had insecurities. God, through His word, showed me how to overcome those insecurities. However, whenever I am weak, when I have not had enough sleep, when I am sick, etc, those insecure thoughts of my past will start to rise up. I have two choices at that moment, to dwell on the insecure thoughts and reap the consequences of those thoughts, or as I like to call them, the "woe is me" thoughts. Or I can choose to ignore those thoughts and feelings (feelings can lie to you, in fact they lie to you most of the time), and I can choose to get my focus back on God, and start speaking His word over those thoughts. In my case, I need to speak "I am the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 6:21)", "I am the head and not the tail (Duet 28:13)", "I am accepted by God (Rom 5:16)". As I speak these words, I feel life coming back into me and I start to feel strong again. 

Whenever you are weak and old behaviors or thoughts start rising up inside of you, get into the word and start speaking God's word to yourself, and keep doing it until you those old thoughts subside.

Choices

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭30‬:‭19-20‬ NLT)

We make choices every day, what to eat for dinner, what to watch on TV, what trail or road to ride on, where to go on vacation, etc. These are every day, common sense decisions, and they are relatively easy to make. It is those decisions that affect our character and behavior that are the tough ones to make. What is interesting in Deut 30:19-20 is that we are asked to make a choice, life or death. God wants us to choose life by loving, obeying and committing ourselves to Him. Sometimes those life choices are difficult and we say "let me do it my way just one more time God, and if that doesn't work, then I'll do it Your way." And we say this knowing that if we went ahead and did it God's way, we will be blessed. So why don't we just go ahead and do it God's way. It may be and probably will be tougher, maybe even more painful, but in the end we reap the blessings that God has promised. And how do we know what His way is? Read His word, talk to Him and then listen to Him. After that comes making the choice to do what He says or not do what He says. If you choose what He says, you will receive the blessings.

Precious Thoughts and Disappointments

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! (Psalms 139:17 NLT)

There was a time when I felt like I disappointed my dad for not being who he was wanting me to be. My dad always wanted a son who was an athlete. As it turned out, I was the artist, a musician. Through out our lives people have been disappointed in us, that's just life. However, and this is a big however, God is NOT disappointed in us. In fact, the Psalmist says in Psalm 139 that God's thoughts about us are precious and so many that they cannot be counted. We will never be able to understand the love God has for us and how He loves while we are here on this earth, but we have His word which tells how He sees us. Reality is that people will continue to be disappointed in us for a variety of reasons over the course of our lives, we can't get away from that, but that is their problem, not ours! We can rest assured that God is not disappointed in us, He loves us, He thinks precious thoughts about us. Why? Because of what Jesus did for us! Because of His sacrifice, we can enjoy a relationship with God, who is not disappointed in us!

Red Flags

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5 NET)

Trust God. We say this all the time to each other, but how often do we really, and I mean really trust God? I would venture to say that for most of us, we trust more in what we want, more in the people around us, more in the government, and more in society than we do God. How many times have we been faced with a crisis, and God is telling us in His word what to do, but we go the "easy" way out, we go the route that is less painful, the route that wont require us to trust in something we can't see. A good guage of where your trust is in God is the level of frustration you are experiencing. If something isn't going your way and you are frustrated, that is a sign that you are not trusting God but that you are wanting something that He isn't ready to give you for whatever reason. We've got to remember that He sees the big picture, and above everything else...He wants the best for us! He is our Father who loves us with so much love that we could never comprehend it. So why would we think that we know better than He does. Whenever you are feeling frustrated, or angry, or anxious, use these as "red flags" and go before the Father and say "God, things are not going my way, but I trust in You because you see the big picture and You want the best for me, so I am going to put this in Your hands and not worry about it any more, and I thank you for taking care of it." The more you do this, the easier it gets, and a less anxious and frustrated life you will have.

Imperfections

But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NET)

Tradition has it that Paul had some kind of deformaty in his body. I don't know if this is what Paul was talking about but it sure sounds like someone that has something about themself that others would insult, harass, bringing difficulties to him about. What stands out here is that God replied to Paul that His power is made great in our weakness. Paul, in his weakness, spoke and continues to speak to millions of people, preaching the gospel. We all have our weaknesses, things we don't like about our bodies. My nose is too big, my torso is too short, my voice is weird, I have a limb missing, I can't see...list goes on and on and on. God spoke to me the other day and said although I do not create imperfection, I can use your imperfection to minister to those that others can't. Wow! God can use my imperfections in a way that no other person can in order to minister to a son or daughter that He loves! How great is that! The next time you start getting down about something about your body, look to Paul and use his encouragement so that God can use you to minister to those that only you can.

Push Past The Pain

Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. (1 Corinthians 9:24 NET)

If we want to see changes in our lives, we have got to step out of what makes us comfortable. Comfort is easy, it is manageable, it feels good, but if we stay there, nothing changes. It is when we think like an athlete, push ourselves and get out of our comfort zone, that we will see change. That pain may take many forms such as rejection from people, taking a less paying job, cleaning the bathrooms at a church, it may mean humiliation at times. But if you push past the pain and aim for what God has for you, the rewards are endless! Not too long ago, my best friend and I went mountain biking and he was really pushing me on the trails. I was suffering a lot, but I kept moving and pushed harder than I normally would. Jesus talked to me about that, and He gave me these words...pushing past the pain is only way to get stronger. Counselors have a saying: to do the same thing over and over and expect different results is called distorted thinking. So if we think that if we can stay in our comfort zone and see change, then we are deceiving ourselves. Push past the pain, trust God and follow what He is telling you.

Road Blocks

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. (Acts 16:6 NET)

Interesting that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from speaking the message in Asia. Not really sure what the exact reason was. It could have been the Holy Spirit was keeping them from harm or the folks in Asia may not have been ready to receive the word or some of the folks with Paul may not have been ready to speak the word, or whatever...the point is Paul trusted the Holy Spirit and did what He told Paul. But how many of us can do what Paul did? Most of the time we think we know better, and when things don't go our way, we get mad, frustrated and upset with God. What we need to understand is that if things aren't going our way, and we are getting frustrated and upset, then we need to take a step back, get before God and ask Him what is going on, why am I acting like this? Usually, with me, it is something that I need to learn, something that God is trying to work out in me. If I choose to work with Him, then eventually what I got frustrated about I am no longer getting frustrated about. When the Holy Spirit prevents you from doing something, sometimes something you really want to do (and you'll know this is happening because everytime you try to do something, a road block gets in the way), take a step back and seek Him.

Overwhelmed

When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you. (Isaiah 43:2 NET)

There are many times in our lives that we get overwhelmed, in over our head so to speak, through circumstances that have developed around us. When these situations happen, we need to remember that God is God, and He knows exactly what is going on, and for whatever reason He is allowing to happen what is happening. It is at these times where we need to trust Him and know that whatever is happening to us, we "will not get burned, the flames will not harm us." He is there protecting us, watching over us, and He sees the big picture. Sometimes we think we are smarter than He is and that He doesn't understand what we are going through. The truth is, He knows EXACTLY what we are going through, and though it may seem overwhelming at the time, like you don't think you can make it, the truth is you can by trusting Him. He is there protecting you and He is there seeing you through this. Remember, the streams WILL NOT overwhelm you, and the flames WILL NOT harm you. If you are going through something where you feel overwhelmed and in over your head, meditate on Isaiah 43:2, trust in His words and not your circumstances.

Obedience, not Fear

Then Samuel said, “Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as he does in obedience? Certainly, obedience is better than sacrifice; paying attention is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22 NET)

Hearing someone speak, and listening to someone speak are two entirely different things. Most times people hear, but they don't listen. Listening requires not only hearing, but acting on what is said. God wants us to be obedient to Him. But so many of us, myself included, hear Him, but we are not putting on our "listening ears." In order to be obedient we must hear what He is saying and react to what He is saying. One major thing that has kept me from being obedient to Him was the fear of man. God would tell me to do something, but because of fearing what people would say or do would keep me from being obedient. When I read Psalm 118:6 (The LORD is on my side, I am not afraid! What can people do to me? (NET)), I realize that some people will accept what I have to say, and others will not, but that is not my problem. When I am obedient to God, then it doesn't matter what others say or do. If He asks you to jump, your response should not be "why?" but "how high?" If He asks you to talk to somebody, your response should not be "why?" but "what do You want me to say?" God requires obedience, so when He is telling you do to something, no matter how "scary" it may seem, do it.

Performing for Love

No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39 NLT)

For most of us, the relationship we had with out earthly dads is translated into the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. In other words, if we had a good relationship we our earthly dad, we will have a good relationship with our Heavenly Dad. Conversely, if we had a bad relationship with out earthly dad, we will more than likely have a bad relationship with our Heavenly Dad, which is what happened to me. I was always trying to get my dad's approval and love, which developed into a performance based mentality. This translated to my Heavenly Dad. I was always trying to perform to get His love and approval. If I did something wrong, I would try harder to do something right. If I did something right, I would try to do it more righter. For me, what I did was never enough. But that is not how our Heavenly Father works. He already loves us and approves of us. There is nothing we can do or not do that will keep Him from loving us. When I finally realized that no matter what I did or didn't do, God loved me and approved of me. What a freedom I have experienced since I realized I no longer have to perform for God...He loves me! If you have a performance based mentality, meditate on Romans 8:39 daily, get this inside of your soul until it becomes a reality to you! God loves you and there is nothing you can or can not do that will change that!

What Are You Looking At?

I will be careful to live a blameless life— when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them. (Psalms 101:2-3 NLT)

It is very important that we safe guard how we conduct our lives through out each day in what we say and even what we look at. In order to do this we've got to do things God's way.  In Psalm 101, King David knew the importance of living in integrity and one way to help him in this is to refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. What he is saying here is that although we can't stop actually seeing vulgar things around us, as that would be impossible, what we can do is not dwell on the evil things that we see. We all have a choice, we can choose to look at something or we can choose to turn away from something. For me, it is very important what I see when I wake up and when I go to bed. I want my day to start out seeing the word of God and I also want that to be the last thing I see before I go to bed. Its tough to make a habit of this, but if you do this over and over and over it will become a habit. I have found that as I have done this, walking in integrity is not as difficult as it may seem.

Living in the Past

“ For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer. ” (Hebrews 8:12 NET)

When we became Christians and accepted Jesus as our Lord, God stopped remembering our sins. Why? Because they are covered by the blood of Jesus, and it is ALL sins, past, present and future. Another way of saying this is that God no longer holds those sins against us, we are now free. However we, ourselves, continue to hold on to the sins of the past and we continue to judge ourselves for the things we have done in the past. I remember when I was a kid and I lied about who started a fight at the bus stop, which lead to a whole series of events for the one I lied about. This particular incident lingered in my mind into my adult years. Finally, after reading this verse many times, I got it. Although what I did was wrong and most likely caused trouble and pain for the one I lied about, God has forgiven me and no longer judges me on this! If you are still holding on to something you have done in the past, no matter how bad it was, confess this to God and allow Him to take the pain and regret from you. It is only then that you can start receiving His peace and stop judging yourself.