Today I was able to show God's love and share the gospel with someone on my way to work. This blog is by no means about Greg. It's so amazing to see God work. I arrived at work a little early to do my devotions. John MacArthur's devotions today was incredibly good. We have a "Royal Heritage" in God through Christ Jesus. Here is the meditation: "In love [God] predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will" (Eph. 1:4-5).

Moses told Israel that God didn't choose them because of their great numbers or any inherent goodness on their part, but as an expression of God's sovereign will and sacrificial love (Deut. 7:7-8). That's true of you as well if you're a Christian.

The Greek word translated "love" in Ephesians 1:4 speaks not of emotional or sentimental love but of love that seeks God's best for others at any cost. It is marked by sacrifice rather than selfishness--giving rather than receiving. It seeks to forgive rather than condemn--to dismiss offenses rather than count them.

Such love is epitomized in God Himself, who loved you so much that He sacrificed His Son on your behalf, who willingly laid down His own life for you (John 3:16; 15:13).

While false gods are worshiped out of fear and ignorance, the true God--your Heavenly Father--has eliminated all fear so that you can confidently enter into His presence (Heb. 10:19; 1 John 4:18). You have received a spirit of adoption and can address Him as "Abba! Father!" (Rom. 8:15), the Aramaic equivalent of Daddy or Papa.

Your Heavenly Father delights in your praise and glories in your obedience. Be a faithful child. Make this day count for Him. Live out your royal heritage. Seek His wisdom in all you do. Go to His Word and follow its counsel. Demonstrate His love to others in practical ways.

I'm doing an amazing study with Andy Stanley on the life of Joseph. The study starts with a question that seems shallow but yet is so deep. Here's the question: What would you do considering your current circumstances,accomplishments,trials, everything that you have and has gained if you knew that God was with you? Its so amazing! I will continue to update this blog as I learn more.
One of things that has touch me today in this study of Joseph's life is that, how people around Joseph knew that God was with Him. When we learn to respond in light of everything we are going through and current circumstances as if God is with us people around us will know. My daily prayer is to ultimately not allow people to look at us but that they see God through it all. Everything (we) stand for needs to lead back to God's glory The Cross..........

So I finished the study today and Wow! Joseph operated in his life as if God was with him his whole life. He was confident that God was with Him,and guess what? He absolutely was. Three different time lines in his life.


1) When he was at the lowest point of his life

2) When he was more prosperous and wealthy than we can imagine.

3) When he was very powerful and had the upper hand on the people that had hurt him.

Two things I took from the end of this study.


The way life works is that the people that has hurt you will need you again. ( How will you react) Hopefully as if God is with you.


You will never experience all the good that can come from the bad in your life until you first are willing to admit that God is with you in the bad and refuse to play God when things are good.

I learned so much from this study.

Like the father of the Prodigal Son, our heavenly Father will not force us to remain with Him. If we ignore His guiding Holy Spirit and insist on following an ungodly path, He'll let us go our own way.

Examining the parable, we learn what happens if we move outside of God's plan.

• Our fellowship with the Father is significantly affected. The wayward son was no longer in close contact with his dad; their relationship was not as important to him as it had been. If we wander and make ourselves top priority over the Lord, we will also experience a disconnect with our heavenly Father. As Christians, we cannot move off God's chosen path without first closing our mind and heart to His truth and His call on our lives.

Our resources—time, talent, and treasure—are wasted. The son squandered his money on frivolous things and ended up worse off than the laborers at his father's house. God has bestowed spiritual gifts and material resources to build His kingdom, and He's also provided His Spirit to offer guidance. Pursuing our own plan wastes what He has given us.

Our deepest needs go unmet. Chasing after dreams that are outside of God's purposes will lead to discontent. Only in Christ can we find true fulfillment.

A great weariness will overtake us if we live apart from God. Poor choices can result in lifelong regrets, but they don't have to dictate our future. The heavenly Father will welcome us with great joy and love when we repent and turn back to Him. Have you wandered away? He's waiting for you.
Thanks Charles Stanley for this Devotion..

Woe to us if we speak of our existence, or our being , for its own sake. It is God who has given us existence. we were created by Him, through Him and for Him. Rom. 11:36. From the book "God is the Gospel"---Thanks Holly and Philip. (This book along with God's word changed my life, perception and view of God.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Phil. 3:8

My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for you; to the living God(be the glory) Psalm 84:2.

People search their whole life looking to fill voids. To find something they are missing. We fill it with lots of different things, countless things. I'm one dimensional when it comes to finding what will fill that void. It is Jesus and Jesus only. He created us with a void that only He can fill. We must come to a place in our lives where we become tired of searching in all the inadequate places and insufficient things of life. Like the prodigal son I spoke of earlier in my post. God is waiting with open arms for us to surrender our lives to Him. We must just simply say yes.

Life can take you for a loop sometimes. Its easier than we think to loose focus on God. In my devotions today. Charles Stanley drove it home. It is so true that we have enemies(pride, lust and satan) who seeks to divert us from the Lord's will, a world that places desires above God, and "flesh" tendencies which prefer pleasure over obedience. To avoid self-deception, make Scripture your basis for living—and adjust your thought life and choices accordingly (Rom. 12:2).

Luke 15:11-19

The Prodigal Son's journey away from home began with a desire. Perhaps he wanted to leave behind some of the restrictions that come with living under a parent's roof. Or maybe he wanted more money to pursue life's pleasures with friends. Whatever the case, his desire gave birth to self-deceptive reasoning which assumes, There's no harm in what I am doing. I deserve this. That thinking led to a decision—to prematurely ask for his inheritance—and to his departure, both from home and from everything he had been taught.

A Christian who has turned away from God follows a path similar to the prodigal's. It begins in our minds with a craving for something other than what we have. The longer we allow the idea to linger, the stronger our desire to have it. When we cling to a yearning that is outside of God's protective will, then we likewise deceive ourselves and find ways to justify what we want. We will base decisions on our faulty reasoning and move away from the Lord to fulfill our self-centered dreams. Like the wayward son, we may enjoy the pleasures of the world for a time, but ultimately, we will find ourselves without the essentials we need—unconditional love, security, and a meaningful purpose for living.

As adults, most of the time we don't try to clean up obstacles before we come to God. When tragedy, hurt, lost, or other life pains come we don't think about the obstacles. All in life becomes personal. God becomes personal. Doctrines, miracles, prophecies they are thrown out the window.
So what keeps us from having a personal relationship with God? What obstacle is holding us back?

This begins a series I'm studying with Andy Stanley (Its personal).....

My prayer for us all is that we want to know God more than we want answers in life.

God exalted Christ "and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23).

Does your life complement Christ? Do you "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect" (Titus 2:10)? Do you "let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16)? You have every spiritual resource to do so, so don't let anything hold you back (Heb. 12:1-2)!

2009 was the most roughest trying year I have ever had. At the same time it has been one of the most God rewarding years of my life. God has been so Awesome in this past year. I know him better today than I've ever known him.

I have identified with just a glimpse of his suffering and love for me.

Along with the trials, that I faced this year came a host of friends . I'm honored to have true friends in my life. My family has been like a rock too!

Well more to come Stay tuned.

ABOHG

This is exactly what I needed today. 2010 is going to be a year of setting myself apart for God. I have to pitch my tent. (Make quiet time for God) Jesus is Awesome.
He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord —Genesis 12:8

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20 ). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.

Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram "pitched his tent" between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must "pitch our tents" where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.