Posts

The Trial of Choice

Image
  “Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!”   Daniel 3:28 I think this was the easiest part of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s walk of faith. Being thrown into the furnace required no choice on their part. They were bound by men far stronger than them and they had no choice. They could not recant, they could not do anything to save themselves. Their paths were set, all they could do was see how their choices would play out. The harder part was what came before, choosing not to bow. For me, the walk of faith is the most difficult in the choice. Once the choice is made, following it, as long as I believe in the choice, is easy. It’s that moment of choice that trips me up more often than not. How do I know what God wants me to do? How do I know
1 comment
Read more

Seeking God First

Image
  “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come.”   Daniel 2:28a The biggest things that Daniel accomplished, what he is known for throughout history, came from times that he sought out and heard from God. If he was to be known for any accomplishments, it would be for being a man of prayer. This often catapulted him to fame and high position, but as the country’s leadership changed, so did his position. Even when Nebuchadnezzar’s son came into power, he did not keep Daniel in his position as a wise man but put him out to pasture until the day he needed his services. Then, once more, he offered him a high position, but it was too late because that very night his kingdom was taken from him ( Daniel 5 ). Daniel never sought glory for himself. He never took credit for his accomplishments or the things he knew. He always gave the credit to God and pointed back to Him. In the same way, we nee
Post a Comment
Read more

Dreaming Dreams

Image
  “In the day of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.”   Daniel 2:44 In Daniel chapter 2 we read about King Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. I’m inclined to believe that his dream was given to him by God. In any case, it was so impactful that he was ready to kill a bunch of people in order to have it interpreted for him. Really, killing all those people wouldn’t have gotten it interpreted, he was just throwing a fit. Sometimes it seems like kings are no better than toddlers when it comes to getting their way. But his decree certainly got the word out and motivated everyone to do what they could! Thankfully, Daniel and his friends knew the One God who was able to give the answer the king was looking for. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream detailed several kingdoms that were to come, start
Post a Comment
Read more

Seeing the Bible Through a Facebook Mindset

Image
Scrolling through my Facebook feed is often discouraging, even depressing. You wouldn’t think that seeing all that people are accomplishing and enjoying would make me feel that way, or you’d think I was a pretty awful person if it did. The thief of comparison steals my joy for them though. I wish I could hike like that, travel like that, clean like that, paint like that, homeschool like that. I wish I had grandkids. I wish I had the energy to do those things. I wish I didn’t have pain so I could go to those places. I wish I could eat those things and not be ill. Jealousy. Envy. Ugliness. For a long time I couldn’t be on social media because of it. Slowly, over time, I was able to learn to celebrate and be glad for people, even though I couldn’t do the same things. I stopped comparing and I acknowledged that what I saw in their feeds were happy moments of their lives, not complete pictures. Funny thing, but I’ve had to learn to do the same with the Bible! “O God of my fathers, I ackno
Post a Comment
Read more

The Will of God

Image
Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.   Romans 12:2 This world is not our home. Its goals are not our goals, its values not our values. I live in America, but I do not share the American dream. My heart is not set on building wealth or establishing a financial legacy for my family. Of far more importance is the legacy of grace that I am attempting to live into. This verse in Romans calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our fleshly minds, those we are born with, tend to think of themselves. As we walk with Christ and live life with Him, we watch and are taught to think of others, to see others more highly than ourselves. We are taught to love God and trust Him, even when our fleshly mind doesn’t understand what He is doing. Over time practicing this way of thinking, our mind is renewed. We start to think in ne
Post a Comment
Read more

Under Pressure

Image
  I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the LORD. I will be their God, and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly return to me.’   Jeremiah 24:7 You know how when you were little adults would tease you that if you were bad Santa Claus would put coal in your stocking? Today I’m thinking a little extra about that coal. More specifically about the carbon that it is primarily composed of. Carbon, and coal, are boring, ordinary things. They, like us, are not very special or spectacular, until they are put under pressure. You see, when you put carbon under pressure, it becomes graphite. Now graphite is something truly useful. We’ve all used it – it forms the center of every pencil everywhere. You can’t do math without it or take a test where you fill in those little bubbles! But let’s be real, once you graduate from high school, pencils loose much of their usefulness. I’ll pick one up now and again, or use one to help a kid with math, and I do use them when d
Post a Comment
Read more

In the Hands of the Potter

Image
  “I, the LORD, say: ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’   Jeremiah 18:6 Are doctors prophets? Maybe, sometimes. I don’t know what their spiritual giftings are, they usually don’t list those on their profiles. Can God use them in those ways in my life? Definitely. God has sent several different doctors into my life that have affected its course and direction. Sometimes I listened to them, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I was supposed to and sometimes I wasn’t! Most recently I had an encounter with a neuro radio oncologist who prophesied sunshine and roses for me. He told me that the best and only information available for my extremely rare tumor stated that I had a 95% survival rate and so I shouldn’t be in the least concerned. I could have walked out of that appointment with a false sense of hope and gone about my life in peace. The reality was that his
Post a Comment
Read more