Tag: king

King of My Heart?

Today’s reading is John 2. This chapter of John includes well known Scriptures about Jesus’ first public miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana and turning over the money tables in the temple. However, we are going to focus on the last 2 verses.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

John 2:23-25

In full transparency, much of my writing today is based off notes written in my Bible from a past sermon which was likely by Pastor Mike Baker from Eastview Christian Church. We must ask ourselves, what is the condition of my heart? As we read here in John 2:23-25, Jesus knows. There are 3 questions we can take a step back and objectively as ourselves to examine our heart.

  1. Where is my money going?

Matthew 6:21 clearly tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It’s been said that you can tell a person’s priorities by looking at their bank account or credit card transactions and their calendar.

  1. What fruit am I bearing?

Matthew 13:23 says, “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Another way to examine this may be from my calendar question above or whether or not those around me in my family, business, or teams/organizations are yielding good fruit and impacting the world positively through the help of my leadership and guidance.

 

  1. What am I speaking? I would also add, what am I watching?

Matthew 15:18 says, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” I’m sad to admit my temper often gets the best of me or my desire to crack a joke or make a comment in an attempt to make others laugh which may hurt someone else or include language I know God would not like.

These are humbling questions for us to ask, and no matter where we are on our walk with the Lord, we all have opportunities to grow and shape our heart to look more like His.

Here 5 are ways to help us grow and help change and shape our hearts.

  1. Pray

David prays in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David is asking for God to examine him so he knows if he is going in the right way and then to redirect him towards God’s will if he’s going astray.

  1. Yield to God’s Spirit and Heart

Again, David gives a good example of how…ask God to help you do so!

  1. Yield to His teaching in the Word by reading our Bible.

A friend of mine who is what I would call a newer believer was commenting the other day that the more he reads the Bible, the more he is convinced other leadership and self-help books he previously read for years are just saying what the Bible has already told us in a different way and are teaching us to live and lead like Jesus did. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We also discussed how crazy it is when we read our Bible and whatever we are reading that day speaks to us right in the way we need it to based on what is going on in our lives and minds. This verse in Hebrews reminds us this is not a coincidence. The Bible is the Living Word.

  1. Walk with God’s people

I love the quote, “Who you will be in 10 years is a result of the books you read and the people you surround yourself with.” Just like reading the Bible above, who you spend time with will influence you. I still have a lot of growing to do in my walk and to live more like Him (this is a gross understatement), but I can tell you I would not be where I am today not only because of the foundation of faith my parents laid, but also because of the professional mentors with my company I spent much time with who I looked up to and who loved the Lord and His Word. This lit a spark in me to want to get into His Word more. I thank God for putting me in that environment with those people. In more recent years, our small group has helped us walk with His people and grow.

  1. Serve His Church

Jesus gave us maybe the greatest example of serving His people and church when He washed the disciples’ feet the night before He was killed, even when He knew they would run, deny, and abandon Him.

So, let us ask ourselves, “Is He the King of my Heart?”

We can examine ourselves through these 3 questions above and no matter where we are in our walk with Him, improve the condition of our heart through these 5 ways. We will also learn tomorrow in John 3 how much He loves no matter where we are in our journey.

Check out this awesome song.

 

 

Why I Believe – Part 2: Chet Bandy

Today’s reading is Psalm 18 which David wrote when God rescued him from the hand of his enemies and Saul.

I will primarily focus on Psalm 18:27-30.

For you save a humble people,

but the haughty eyes you bring down.

For it is you who light my lamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over

a wall.

This God- His way is perfect,

the word of the Lord proves

true;

He is a shield for all those who

take refuge in Him.

 

The night before beginning to write this our family watched the new Disney movie Safety about a Clemson football player who cared for his little brother while his Mom was in rehab so he would not have to go into foster care. As I saw some of the scenes of football practice it reminded me how much I loved football and even the practice..the intensity, the hits, and the sounds of the pads popping. I mentioned in my last post which I’ll call Part I of “Why I Believe” that I had never had a rock bottom moment so to speak that caused me to believe when I didn’t previously. However, that does not mean that I have not had challenges that seemed very great at the time with some making me wonder how I would get through them.

Growing up in the small town of Auburn, IL, high school football is huge. At a young age I asked the coach to be ball boy and my dreams began to be the star quarterback someday. I always picked the teams and played quarterback on the playground and also played quarterback from youth football all the way until my junior year when I had the opportunity to realize my dream to be the starting varsity quarterback. I had not only worked my whole life up until that point for this, but also put in extra work the last year to try beat out my competition in a quarterback controversy if there is such a thing in small town high school football. This dream came crashing down quickly when about a week into practice a broke my elbow throwing a football. Yes…you heard that right..I snapped a growth plate in my elbow just throwing which is unheard of. I had done the same thing to my other elbow the year before and came back later this year only to break a growth plate in my shoulder. If your counting along with me…that’s 3 bones in 2 seasons spending most of my sophomore and junior year first semesters in a cast, and I’m sure you can imagine the “jokes” from high school classmates about my frailty. This also doesn’t do much for a high school boy’s confidence when he’s trying to get a date! The doctor said this was due to weak growth plates and since I was still growing I decided not to play football my senior year. It was crushing. These were the guys I had grown up with and lead as quarterback since the 6th grade.

I played a lot of golf working on the course in the summers, so I thought I would play that in the Fall instead. After the first few days of golf practice, it just didn’t feel right. Fall meant football to me, and I missed being with my football teammates and coaches. Thankfully, Coach Bates let me be a part of the team and chart plays, along with work with the quarterbacks. It was humbling to not be able to put the pads and work with position I always envisioned playing my senior year. We went on that year to complete the first undefeated regular season for our town in 39 years. I can remember taking pictures after winning that 9th and final regular season game and being sad I didn’t have a uniform on like my teammates (I’ll never forget Coach Mark Dudley telling me to get in and making me feel included), but I was also able to find joy by still being a part of it in some way.  I was also happy for my teammates and the 2 quarterbacks who split time that year and remain good friends still.

This may seem like a silly story as you are reading this and you may be thinking..is playing high school football and being the quarterback that big of a deal? You may be going through some very serious “real world” stuff right now. Well for me, it was a big deal at the time. And the challenges you may be going through right now are probably a big deal to you while others may feel blessed to be in your situation. We need to be empathetic and understanding to whatever our kids, neighbors, friends, and loved ones are going through. The main reason I’m sharing this story is because I believe this experience and even the ridicule from high school classmates prepared me for challenges later. The same way I found joy in being a part of the team in some way can relate to the way we can find joy in our relationship with Jesus, even when circumstances don’t turn out like we expected. The subliminal lack of confidence I had at times later in life likely due this and the teasing from classmates allowed God to put others in my life later to build me up and help me realize these events and people affected me more than I realized, but they didn’t define my life and they didn’t mean that life would always turn out this way in future areas. God had big things planned for me in other ways. I wouldn’t trade being high school quarterback for the “victories” He has given me in making me a husband and father of three.

You may read Psalm 18 and be thinking…I’m a good person and may consider myself righteous compared to others like David speaks of, but He hasn’t made me “king” or helped me reach my vision for what I thought my life would look like. It’s easy for David to praise God because he made him king. But, did David know He would be king when he wrote this Psalm or was this before? Maybe God will make you “king” at some point in the area you want or in a different way or areas. Or maybe you are already “king” compared to the alternate path your life could have gone which God rescued you from, but you don’t even know about it. I’m confident God has rescued us from “Saul’s” and our enemy the Devil and made us “king” in ways we don’t even realize.

Regardless of how our life on this Earth goes, if we make God our rock, our fortress, our strength, our deliverer, our refuge, and our shield,  and we humble ourselves as Psalm 18 speaks of by trusting in Jesus and asking for forgiveness for our mistakes….He will in fact make us righteous and blameless in Heaven someday. In fact, we already are in His eyes today.  I believe in God because we have a God who didn’t have to do what He did.  The Creator of the Universe came to Earth as a human and poured himself out and suffered the pains of losing a loved one, temptation of the Devil, facing rejection and being deserted by friends, and ultimately the pain of a Roman flogging and crucifixion that we can’t even imagine. He did this not only to forgive our sins, but lived and suffered in such a way so that we would know He gets us and understands our pain because He lived it and faced the same and then some. This is why I believe. Thank you, Jesus.

Is God On Your Side?

FB-purple-royalty-EJoshua 2; Psalms 123–125; Isaiah 62; Matthew 10

In the time of Rahab, Jericho’s news reports were filled with stories of the Israelites conquests. They started with wild tales about seas parting and the people walking across on dry land. As time passed, however, the number of stories raised greater suspicions.   Before long, there were reports of the Israelites destroying people. Not just regular people, they were defeating giants.  Amos describes them as mighty as oaks and as tall as cedars! How could it be?  The Israelites were puny!  Sihon had recently been sacked and the latest reports indicated that Og was utterly destroyed. How was it possible? “God is on their side,” was the only possible explanation. With Og gone, Jericho was the next likely target. Every resident feared the inevitable.

Rahab confirmed the danger as she answered the door.  She knew instantly that trouble was imminent. The men standing outside were not locals, they were Israelites. Clearly, Jericho was next. But, she was trapped. There is no way out. Nobody would save her. As a prostitute, Rahab was despised and scorned. Not even God would help her. He was on their side, not hers.

When the men asked for safe harbor, she contemplated the great risk in protecting them. Treason is punishable by death. Even so, she knew that Jericho was doomed. When the Israelites come, they will quickly and easily devastate the city. Nothing can stop them. God is on their side. Surely, Rahab considered how great it would be to have God on her side.

What is your story of God? Do you see great things that he has done? Is he on your side, or are you still oppressed, like Rahab? Did you notice how she turned it around? Rahab realizes that a better life is possible. One that does not live in fear and oppression, but one that is purposeful and filled with opportunities. She saw this living hope clearly in lives of the Israelites. What she saw was God. She confesses to the men, “the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. “ (Joshua 2:11). It’s that simple.

What happened to Rahab? Was her life changed? Was God on her side? Thankfully, the Bible provides the answer. Matthew 1:5 tells us that she gave birth to a boy named Boaz. Boaz son fathered Obed, who fathered Jesse, who sired King David. David, of course, is the predecessor to the King of King’s, Jesus.  Obviously, God honored Rahab’s confession.  He changed her from a slave to the world, facing certain death, and replaced oppression with life. Not just any life, but life worthy of a King’s lineage. Royalty. God was on her side!

There is no other force, no other power, no other name that can compare with the power of God.  Is God on your side?