Controlled by the Spirit

More and more it occurs to me how important it is to be controlled by the Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to control our mind, we can have life and peace. Romans 8 vs 6 says that this is the real secret to life. Being controlled by the Spirit frees us to think of others, to care for them, and to trust that God will take care of us. When we know He cares for us, then we are free to care for others and help them without thinking of the cost to us. I believe that there are Christ followers that for some reason don't have the desire to seek this type of relationship with the Holy Spirit or God. This kind of relationship is what being a Christian is all about. To continually seek to grow in our relationship with God is what God deserves. After all, He did die for our Sins and make it possible for us to even have a relationship with a Holy God. Isn't it our duty to push ourselves to know Him better and to submit to him more and more? Then we will have a greater understanding of what He wants us to do. The best part is, we receive a gift for our pursuit. We get the real life and the real peace; the peace that passes all understanding.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Ask yourself if there are areas of your life that are not submitted to God.
                               
2.) Ask the Holy Spirit to control your mind.

Pressing on with Excellence!!
Keith

 

Do you struggle with low self-esteem?

http://hissideofthelookingglass.com/self-esteem-scripture-verses/

I bet you will find that people (myself included) who judge and condemn have low self esteem. Low self esteem causes me to be judgmental because if I can point out something in someone else, then I don’t have to look at myself. In other words, because of my own insecurity, I seek to find something wrong with others, to point it out and tear them down to make myself look better.

Poor self esteem is a sin and a lie to myself. How? Because I don’t accept God’s love and forgiveness---if I say to myself I’m fat or I’m stupid, I can’t do anything right or I should be better than this, then that is wallowing in self pity and guilt. If I do this then I’m not accepting God’s love and forgiveness. This is really a pride issue because God says he forgives me. But I can’t forgive myself and that is putting myself above God and I am greater than He.

This is one of the reasons self forgiveness is so important. I believe that Satan uses this guilt and self pity to keep us as Christians from being effective. See the thing is, Satan knows you’re forgiven and if he can keep you from feeling this freedom, then he’s won. Because with this feeling you can’t stop it. It will show. What we need is God esteem because we fail often. But God’s forgiveness is real and refreshed every moment.

Taking it to the street 1.) Ask God to help you to see when your being judgmental with others and to be sensitive to how you talk to yourself. 2.) Practice forgiving your self.

Pressing On With Excellence!!
Keith

The little things

I wonder why I struggle so much with the little things? I think it's a pride issue. I will give you an example: Say someone I know has gotten into a car accident. They are seriously injured. I may go to the hospital and visit them and feel sorry for them and even pray with them and for them. I may even feel their pain, but really I can't do much for them. I will pray continuously for them because I ultimately know that their welfare is up to God. But I am powerless to do anything for them. I know that and I am content with leaving them in the hands of the Creator. But, say something small comes up, something simple and I don't go to God in prayer. I say I got this and fail miserably, it usually happens with small, insignificant things. I really think that God wants to be the Lord of our lives and wants to be involved in the small things. He loves us and wants so much to be involved in our lives; every aspect of our lives, especially the small things. This is where we can get an intimate glimpse of God and how much he knows about us and wants to show it. But my pride often blocks me off from this intimate time with God. God won't step in if we don't want him to. He will let us try on our own until we have a Dr.Phil moment and ask ourselves "how's that working for you?" For me it doesn't always. I'm far better if I invite him into helping me with the small things as well.

Get into the solution

So I went to a meeting tonight and there was a guy that had gone to a wedding and gotten drunk over the weekend. He had been sober only a month. The discussion took on the usual; things to stay away from, wet places, and how to have a plan of escape. Don't allow yourself to be tempted. The problem is, no matter where you're at you can be tempted with anything. Whether you're an alcoholic or just a regular sinner, temptation comes. So really there is no safe place. The Bible says in 1 Cor.10-13">No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." (MSG). Even then you still have to have a desire to not give in. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. To the extent that we allow Him to control our mind he will give us the desire to say no. So the solution is to prepare ahead of time by submitting control of our mind to Him over and over again until it almost becomes a habit. Ro. 8:6 says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." Think about this: when you're being tempted you are not at peace, in fact you're in turmoil. So you will know when you have overcome temptation because you will have peace. The peace you receive when you overcome temptation is real life and the only real solution. 

 Taking it to the street:
          1.) Identify those areas that are your greatest temptation create a plan of escape.
          2.) Ask the Holy Spirit to control your mind.

The Trick To Loving Others

 Matthew 22:36-39 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (NIV) Jesus said to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love others as you love yourself. One thing I have experienced in my own life is that, if you learn how to love God with all of your heart, soul and mind, loving your neighbor is almost a by product of that. I say almost because some people really make it difficult to love them. This is not an option, we have to love them, but how do we do that? This is where prayer and the greatest commandment comes in. If we love God with ALL our heart, soul and mind. He makes it possible to love others and yes, even forgive them, for what they do to us. After all He created them too. Who am I to condemn them? They were made in his image as well. I have to make a decision to love them. It might mean walking on eggshells around them to try to keep from offending them. That is a difficult task at times but God will give us the grace to do whatever it takes to learn to love them.

Taking it to the street: 1) Praise God for every good thing he has done in your life.
                                 2) Ask him to teach you how to love like he loves.

Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Try Something New

I wanted to let people know that Sunny and I have been chosen to go to Belize this summer on a mission trip. We are excited and looking forward to trying something different. I would ask you who read this blog to pray for the team, the leaders, and for the people that we meet; for safety, for wisdom and His provision. Also, pray that He would prepare the way for us all that we would be most effective. This is not a vacation as most people think of when they think of Belize. Where we are going is a unimaginably poor area. This is something that I never dreamed that I would be doing. I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing but I want to see what life is like for others. I think we as Americans take a lot of things for granted. I also know that God has been teaching me to be grateful for all that He has given me. One thing I'm looking forward to is seeing how God is going to work to change me and my daughter's thinking about where we are in life and I know He will! When you put yourself into uncertainty and try something new, God has a way of showing up.

Taking it to the street:
1) Ask God to help you to think of something new that you could do that will stretch your faith in Him.
2) Remember to pray for us!

Pressing on with excellence!!

P.S. If you would like to help in financial support for this trip, contact me at 1handymansmitty@gmail.com    

Quit Chasing Rabbits

One of the things I would like to do is to focus more on the important things in life instead of wasting my time on things that don't really matter. Nice thought, but where do you start? I think you need to look at some things and decide what's really important. Goals are nice but if they don't lead you to what's really important then they're just a list of accomplishments. Or things that you want to accomplish. I'm not saying that goals are bad, they just may be a distraction from what is really important. What does God have for you? Trying to figure out what God's will for your life can sometimes be difficult. But if you don't figure that out and pursue it, then you're just chasing rabbits.
It says in 1 Corinthians 13:1, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." I sometimes wonder if I complicate it too much. I have said that I may not know what God's will is for my life, but I sure know when I'm not doing his will. His will is not complicated. His will is to be like Him and to love others since he is love. His will is to, wherever you are in life,
bring glory to him through all that you think, say, and do. Your relationship with God is most important. To love people is what his will for all of us is. The biggest problem I have with that is self.
Taking it to the street:1) Ask God to help you to realize his love for you.
                                2) Ask God to point out to you thoughts that are not glorifying to Him.
Pressing On With Excellence!! Keith

God Is Good

Well, it's a new year, I hope your last one was as blessed as mine. I've been reflecting and thinking about the many blessings our family has had this past year. We were able to purchase a house and visit with family for a week in Tennessee. My daughter wrote her first book, (proud papa that I am, contact me to find out more.)  My wife and I have become small group leaders in our church. What a true blessing that has been seeing and being a part of others spiritual growth. I know others have not had such a blessed year. I know of three families that have lost loved ones unexpectedly. I have had a personal friend diagnosed with cancer and has been out of work for two months and my prayers go out for all of them. I watched a friend throw his future away for nothing. So life is a mixture of triumph and tragedy. Still, I choose to focus on the good. I will be here to help those who make poor decisions. I will pray for those who are grieving, and I will be here to listen to and walk with him who is suffering. I also will still help others on their spiritual journey. All in all, more good has come this year than bad  and I am grateful to God for all he is doing in and through me. God is Good and I choose to focus on the good!
Taking it to the street 1.) Practice looking for the small, good things in your life every day.
                                 2.) Thank God for those good things every day!
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith
P.S This is my 100th blog!!

Trust Him

Trust is the key to adventure (Alex Rover, Nims Island), so it is with our relationship with God. When we trust him fully we can have confidence in the unknown. Confidence that all will be alright and that we can do what he wants us to do when we are in His will. Then we are in for an adventure of a lifetime where we need not worry, but trust and see what he does next. If you put your trust in to a 401k or a job or on a credit card or people, you're not living to the fullness of life that God has for you. I'm not saying those things are bad, just where is your trust really? Things and stuff and people come and go. There is only one that won't fail you, only one that deserves your full trust. That one is God may you find him now. So what is your confidence in? See, God wants to help us, he want us to succeed. But it will not happen if we don’t accept his help. If we don’t trust that he will help us why should he bother? Does that make sense? Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ, I can do nothing of any lasting value without Him. It may be a radical thought but it is biblical. So take a spiritual adventure and see what you've been missing. Put your trust in Him and enjoy the ride of a lifetime.
Taking it to the street. 1.) Ask the Lord to help you to trust Him daily maybe even hourly.
                                     2.) Ask yourself if you're putting too much trust in other things beside God.

Pressing on with Excellence!!
Keith

Realize

I had been a Christian for at least 15 years, yet there was clearly a disconnect between myself and God, almost a split personality of sorts. If I knew you were a Christian, I could mostly act like I thought a Christian should act. If I knew you were not a Christ follower, you probably would not know that I was a Christian. Some of the things that would come out of my mouth would make a sailor blush. I want to make it clear, I was a Christian. I believed in God and I had a heart for a closer relationship with him. I would read my Bible every day in the morning and that did help, but I had very little fruit in my life, meaning the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 &23 says, "but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." I believe it is possible to limit God's power in our lives. 1st Corinthians 13:11 says, "when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." So maybe part of my being unfruitful could be blamed on spiritual immaturity. But I still believe there are ways to spur spiritual growth so that we may become spiritually mature quicker and stop wasting our lives. That is what this blog is all about!
Taking it to the street. 1.) Do an inventory of fruits of the Spirit in your life this week. (Are you lacking?)
                              2.) Ask someone to hold you accountable about the changes you want to see in your life.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Friend

There many names given to Christ. You know the list: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace, just to name a few. There is one that I'm especially thankful for. One that if it were not true, I personally would be finished. Many others would be too if it were not so. That name is Jesus, Friend Of Sinners. If He is a friend of sinners then I am in good company. I can trust that he loves me and forgives me and wants me to be his friend no matter what. Some friends write you off if you hurt them. Not Jesus; He would still have gone to the cross even if I was the only person in the world. Talk about hurting someone, my sin sent him to the cross yet he still wants to be my friend. What is a friend? A friend is someone who you can talk to about anything; a friend knows what makes you laugh or cry. A close friend may even be able to finish a sentence for you. A real friend will listen when you're down, help to lift you back up, and encourage you to keep going even when you think you can't take anymore. A friend knows your weakness and your strengths, your good and overlooks the bad. A friend knows your potential. John 15:15 says, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Jesus is my friend and he can be yours too! He is a true friend and will never let you down. As the old hymn goes, what a friend we have in Jesus.
Taking it to the street: 1.) Identify some things you can do to become a better friend.
                                 2.) Look for chances to implement those ideas and become a better friend.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Listen

With the last post being about prayer, I thought it might be fitting that I share some of my struggles with prayer. One of the hardest things for me is to do is to take the time to listen. I'm not sure why. Deep down I want to know what God has to say to me, but I hardly give him the chance to speak to me. I think that is one of the reasons I enjoy hunting so much. It gives me the chance to get alone and be quiet with God. Those are two things you need to hear His still small voice. Even when I'm alone and quiet I can still become distracted. I really have to focus my thoughts, push them out of my head and just listen. He doesn't speak to me every time I pray, but if I can get alone, quiet, and focus my thoughts on Him, I have a real good chance to hear Him. On my way to work in the morning is also potentially a good time to practice listening. Once again I'm alone and quiet, although I often get distracted. Wherever you are it doesn't really matter. What matters is making it a priority to listen.
Taking it to the street:
      1.)  Plan a time when you can get alone, quiet, and focused with God. (Jesus did it in the morning.) Check this out: Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed". I figure if Jesus needed to do this, so do I.
      2.) Develop a habit of focused listening during this time of prayer. This takes practice. Don't give up before the miracle happens.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Prayer

Last week I wrote about beliefs. This week I realized that if my belief in God is real, then why don't I take more things to him in prayer? Why do I try to do so many things alone? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray continually; Do you pray continually? I know I don't. But when it comes to having the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, belief and prayer go hand in hand. It is pointless to pray if you don't believe that God is going to do something. I think that a lot of our prayers are hindered by unbelief. Why? What makes me pray, then believe that God is not going to do anything? I struggle with that. I hear myself say that He wouldn't do that for me because I don't deserve it. Thanks be to God that I don't get everything I deserve because I wouldn't be here right now. What's the point I'm trying to make? The point is that the way I talk to myself is, in a way, almost a prayer because God knows what I'm thinking. He can tell by my innermost thoughts whether I believe He will answer my prayer or not. We can also listen to our own thoughts and tell if we believe or not. I think we sabotage our own prayers by our negative thoughts and words.
Taking it to the street:
1.) Think about what you're thinking about. Is it negative or God honoring?
2.) Practice continual prayer.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Spirit led

It's funny, last week I blogged about focus and this week I lost mine. I could give you plenty of excuses but I won't. I made a decision to not write last Saturday, mostly because I was tired both physically and mentally.  I was listening to our pastor the other day, he said that there are 64,000 unchurched  people living in our county. He also said that if each one in our church would lead 32 people to Christ we could have a huge affect on our county. So, I want to do my part and I was wondering how to go about it. Is it realistic to have a goal to lead 32 people for Christ in a year? See, the thing is, I can set a goal of that, and I might even be able to have a plan of action of some sort, but I think that if it was left up to me alone there would be no one lead to Christ. I believe that the whole process has to be Spirit led. I can set a goal of 32 people in a year, but the Holy Spirit has to do the work in their heart. He would have to lead them to me. He would have to give me the right words to say. He would also have to help me to want to. So, do I just give up? I don't think so. I think I can set a goal of 32 people in a year. My job is to be led by the Spirit to abide in Him, and to be so in tune with him that I don't hesitate when I hear him. I will have to be aware of my surroundings and what people are talking about. I would have to be sensitive to others' emotions and where they're at and with what's going on in their lives. That's a tall order for anyone, no matter where you are in your spiritual walk.
Taking it to the street. 1.) Ask God for a heart  for people.
                                  2.) Practice listening to the Holy Spirit.
Pressing on with excellence!! Keith        

Focus

I have decided that if I want to try some new things I may need to give up some things to do that. It is very easy to spread yourself too thin. So instead I try to figure out what God is speaking to me about and focus on that. It's okay to drop some things from your life and try something new, it may not even be a permanent thing. But sometimes we need to just let some things go temporarily to get where we need to be, where God wants us to be, and where he can better use us. It might even be a good thing that we have to give up. For example, I serve as security at our church, and I want to take a Christian counseling course at church. I decided that I would have to give up the security position for now so that I could better concentrate my efforts on counseling. There is quite a bit of material to cover and I need to make time to read it. Plus the security position sometimes runs at the same time as the class. While security is a good way to serve others and a good thing to do, I need to let go of that so that I can better focus on what God wants me to do. Life is full of choices and when we lose our focus then we are wasting precious time.

Taking it to the street: 1) Is there something in your life that is distracting you from giving your full attention to what is most important? 2) Ask God to help you to see if there is.

Pressing On With Excellence!!
Keith

My Biggest Sin

I filled out an application for church leadership to be a small group leader at our church recently. One of the questions got me to thinking. The question was, do you have any recurring sin in your life? I wanted to answer this honestly, but I also want to lead a small group. I don't want to be disqualified by answering the wrong way. So, I decided to answer the question honestly and let the chips fall where they may. My answer was that I have a tendency to use profanity when I'm not allowing the Holy Spirit to control my mind. You can ask my kids; they have, I'm ashamed to say, heard some terrible things come out of my mouth. Especially when I'm working on a car. I don't know why that is. I used to think that you could judge how hard  a job was by how many swear words came out, not how many hours it took. I still struggle sometimes with that although not as much as I used to.
My biggest sin is living a life of mediocrity. Slipping back into old habits is more of what Satan would want me to do than what God wants for me and my life. I wasted too much of my life living in mediocrity; no more. I will not let my fire for Him go out. I want more than ever to be effective for Him. To see others come to know Him. To be in a position to see God at work in their lives. I have a passion for Him and His ways. I know that if I let up, I will soon be going backwards. So never, never, never, give up.

Taking it to the street: 1.) Bring glory to God with what comes out of your mouth this week.                  
                                  2.) Practice excellence is the small mundane things you do this week.
Pressing on with excellence!!
 Keith        

Subtle Influence

So, I have been writing  lately about the Holy Spirit's power in our lives and how we can tap into that power. What I want to point out is that the Holy Spirit's job is to transform us into the likeness of Christ. 2Co 3:18, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (NIV) Are you reflecting the Lord's glory? I know that is a tough question; my answer is sometimes more than other times. Even though I'm far better than I used to be, I still have a long way to go. So, once again this week, I noticed that what you allow into your head affects you and your closeness to reflecting the Lord's glory. I was driving the company truck and I usually change the station, but I didn't Thursday morning. It was on a classic rock station and I allowed myself to listen to some music from the past. I got a song stuck into my head and caught myself singing it the rest of the day; Elton John's, The Piano Man. I remembered most of the words, but I didn't think too much of it. But I did notice that I had a hard time controlling my mouth. But today I listened to the radio and got  the Christian song: Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher stuck in my head and had a much easier going day. I felt more at peace and had noticeably more self control over what words came out of my mouth. I'm reminded again that what you put into your head does affect you good or bad.
Taking it to the street 1.) Be careful of what you allow yourself to listen to or to watch.
                                 2.) Ask the Holy Spirit to control your mind.
Pressing on with excellence!!
 Keith

Time Management

Our pastor brought up a point about Jesus and his day planner. Jesus made a daily habit of spending time with God. I have thought about that before. We have all heard about tithing our money where you give  ten percent to God. What if you were to give ten percent of your time to God? Do you think that would make a difference in your life. That would be 2.4 hours a day or 16.8 hours a week. Time is the great equalizer, what I mean is that rich or poor, skinny or fat, short or tall, smart or stupid, we all get 24 hours a day and it is what we do with that time that will make a difference in your life or others. What would your life look like if you got into the habit of investing some time with God. In prayer, in studying his word, in praising him,and in helping others.
Taking it to the street: 1) Take an inventory of where your time is going and put it down on paper.
                                    2) See where you can make adjustments to invest more of your time with Him
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Words Have Power

So, last night the pastor was talking about the words we speak and how they can effect us good or bad. This is so true. Our words can hinder our own spiritual growth. James 1:26 says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." Two things that the pastor gave us to help us to put this into practice was to think before you speak; Proverbs 15:28, "The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil." Speak less; Proverbs 10:19, "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." It was a great message. I would add, to not allow yourself to get into a debate when you are physically tired, because I have noticed it is easier to let your guard down about what you say or how you say it if you are tired. Sometimes it is better to not speak at all if the words you're about to say does not bring honor to God.
Taking it to the street: Try listening more than you speak.
                                 Ask God to help you to think before you speak.
                                 Ask God to help you to hear what words you are saying to yourself.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith

Actions have consequences

As some people know around here there was an elderly woman who came up missing. After much searching and many prayers she was finally found after four days. She has survived, praise God. But that is not altogether what this blog post is about. It seems while searchers were looking for her they discovered a still and some marijuana growing behind someone's house. Evidently the person that was doing this thought that this was a good idea. I may sit here and think he is stupid and laugh. He thought he could get away with it and for all we know he has for a long time. This man made a decision based on self which put him in a position to be hurt. Don't we do the same things, maybe not as blatantly illegal? But we make selfish decisions and they come back to bite us. Paul says in Php 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Eph 5:17 "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." In Ga 5:16  "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Someone once told me; Keith, God's will is not your will so try doing what is not your will and you will be a lot closer to doing God's will. When it comes to making decisions based on self, he was right on.
Taking it to the street: Ask yourself am I making a decision based on self?
                                 Practice giving the Holy Spirit control of your thinking.
Pressing on with excellence!!
Keith