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When I started this message, I thought I was going to speak to you about the benefits of giving.  I’m sure most of you have heard reference to this saying, “It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.”  Paul makes reference to this in Acts 20:35. He tells us to remember that Jesus had said this to us earlier.

I cannot find the exact place in scripture where Jesus said those exact words.  But that doesn’t really matter.  What I understand is this.  Paul is saying to us we ought to position ourselves in life to be givers more than we are takers.

As I considered all this, I also understood that oftentimes many of us feel like we cannot give because we do not have anything to give.  And we believe that what we do have is only enough to sustain our lives and the ways we want to live.

So, I can see now the Lord wasn’t asking me to speak to you about giving.  He wants me to speak to you about being a place that gives.  A well is a place that gives.  A river is a place that gives.  We may not have much in the way of material things, but when we are a well, we will always have something that others can draw from to sustain a part of their lives.

In John, 4:7, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well—Jacob’s well.  Jesus was tired and exhausted from the trip He had made that day to reach that point.  A woman came to the well to draw water.  Scripture says Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

The woman was surprised Jesus would ask her for a drink.  She reminded Jesus that she was a Samaritan and that the Jews didn’t associate with them.  Jesus responded by telling her if she knew who He was and she asked Him, He would give her living water.

At this, she even said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.”  I believe we are in many ways like this Samaritan woman.  We are accustomed to going out to the wells in our lives and drawing for ourselves daily the things we need to sustain us.

But Jesus is asking us to be something greater.  In the world He wants us to live in we ought to be the wells others use to draw from for their needs.  People are around us daily who are tired and weary of the issues of life.  They are seeking rest and a break.  They want something to sustain them and to get them going again.

When they see us, they wonder if we have anything in our lives which they can drink.  Jesus wants us to dig wells of life sustaining blessing right into our lives.  He wants us to build wells that contain the things people need to keep going.  He wants us to dig wells that offer life to others.

Yes, all of us ought to understand that giving is better than receiving.  There blessings in giving, for if we live by a giving heart Jesus will measure His love back to us by the same heart.  But it is in being wells of life-sustaining blessing that we go farther.

So make sure you have dug a well of patience in your life for those who will come near seeking patience.  Dig a well of compassion and mercy and grace for those who come near seeking restoration.  And dig a well of love for those who will come near needing to be loved today.

If you have no wells in your life, you will have no way to meet what others will need in their times of need.  You see, if Jesus asks us to give what is important to us, we will hesitate to do that.  We will find it difficult to give up some of our hard-earned wealth to someone who we believe doesn’t deserve it.

But a well is there for anyone with a need who comes near.  The well is there for the good and the bad.  For the person of status and for the person who is unknown.  Jesus wants us to be wells of living water to the people He directs to come near and seek.

Dig your well today and be a well of blessings to others.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Scripture gives us an account of how God made man.  After God formed man, He had to bring man to life.  In Genesis 2:7 scripture says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”  Man was made from the dust of the earth, but he was brought to life with something that was Life.

Dust and dirt—we probably all understand what these are.  But what exactly is that thing that God breathed into man that brought man to life?  What is life?  This is a difficult question to understand.  But we must understand it because it is critical to having life itself.

Jesus later tells us something similar in John 10:10.  He says, “The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about people who are His sheep.

His reference to the thief is to people whose purpose is to attack the life of the sheep.  The thief wants to limit your life, but Jesus came so that you may have life abundantly.  The Pharisees were thieves who wanted to keep life in people in bondage to their rules.

So, this is what life is.  Life is the thing that awakens what is possible.  Life does not bring death to life.  Life is the thing that brings to life something that is intended to have life.

An ocean or a sea or a river without water would be nothing.  Water is the thing that brings life to each of these.  Water is what allows the oceans to thrive in abundance.

I used to try to live an abundant life, but I didn’t have the Life in me to live the way I wanted to live.  I thought abundant life was about having much and getting even more.  I was all wrong.

Jesus is the Life we need to live the abundant lives we all want to live.  He teaches us to live a lot with what little we may have.  So, don’t be like I was.  If you want to live abundantly, get ahold of an abundant amount of the Life of Jesus.

If you want to live with the respect of others, learn to accept the life of respect Jesus offers you.

If you want to live with the love of others, learn to accept the life of Love Jesus offers you.

If you want to live a life of status and position, learn to accept the life of status and position in Jesus that He offers.

When God breathed this breath of Life into man, He was saying that man would come to life and that it would be possible for him to have an abundant life as he lived.

Now, listen carefully.  God was thinking of you when He breathed life into Adam.  Scripture referred to Him then as The Lord God.  It is as if God was saying, I am going to breath life into Adam now.  But later I am going to send Jesus to everyone else so that they too can have life and have it abundantly.

So, this is what life is.  It is Jesus running around in each of us stirring us up to a way of living that reflects the abundance of the breath of Life that is in us.  Life is crazy.  It says to the thief who would steal or kill or destroy, “You cannot have what is the life of Jesus living in me.”

Jesus will never stop chasing after you with His offer of giving you Life more abundantly.  Stop trying to live your life on your own.  Let Him catch you so He can fill the river of your desires with His life of abundance which He offers everyone.  This is what is Life.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

I am reading in the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles 14. In verses 5-12 it tells of a time when King David and his men were moving the Ark of the Lord back to its rightful place among the people.

At one point, the cart carrying the Ark almost fell over so a man named Uzza touched the Ark trying to keep it from falling. Verse 9 says this is what happened to Uzza. “And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put his hand to hold the Ark, for the oxen stumbled. The anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the Ark; and he died there before God.”

David was angry at God for this because he thought Uzza was doing a good thing. Uzza probably did what any good man who wants to do good would have done – even you and me. But what did he do?

Uzza acted presumptively. He presumed he knew what to do so he did it. Uzza died that day trying in his mind to do something right and good.

I asked myself as I read this today, why Lord did you have to kill him? He was doing what he was told, and he was doing what he thought was right. The Lord responded by showing me I was asking the wrong question.

“Ask yourself, Allen, this question. Who do you think you are that you can ask God to explain His actions?”

The Lord is God. He doesn’t have to explain Himself to me. Who am I to think that He should or would?

I was thinking presumptuously. I presumed I would know if God acted right if He explained Himself to me.

“Really Allen? Are you to judge if God is right or wrong?”

I presumed that I could know if He did what was necessary. My idea of necessary is not His.

The Lord is not anxious. He doesn’t get to a place and fret over anything. He does not worry about what is happening. He wants us to learn not to worry about what is happening as much as He wants us to take time in our moments of anxiety, even good anxiety, to ask Him how we should move.

“Instead, Allen, ask Me how you should move.”

When you ask how to move, God will show you what to do. We may feel like there is no time to ask how, but God is all the time we need.

The Lord has to be our standard for what is right and wrong, good or bad, necessary or not. There is no other. Even if we do not understand, we cannot presume that we know better that He knows.

Uzza it is said, died that day before God. I pray that the day that I die, it too will be before God and not before all my own ideas of how I have tried to do good for Him.

Learn how to do good before Him. You will learn to find areas of your own life where your assumptions lead you to think and act presumptively. Letting go to our presumptuous nature is one of the last things of the self we find and let die.

Put your hand out on your presumptions and let them die before God today. Free yourself from yourself so you don’t entangle others with the things that entangle you.

Live A Delivered Life. Love you.

Abundant living for the believer is not the same as abundant living for others.  God does not want us to seek after the abundance of the things we want in life the same way that nonbelievers seek to satisfy their wants.  The believer is called to find abundance in the middle of their needs rather than from the pursuit of their wants or desires.

But how do we know a need from a desire?  For most of us, it all seems the same.  I say that I need a car so that I can get to work, and I want a car so that I can get to work.  But these are not true statements.  We have a basic need for food and water and shelter.  But we may have desires for a steak, cold water and a big cool house.  Our wants almost always are bigger than our needs.

When we know the difference between our needs and our desires, we can move God to work on our behalf.  Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.”

Paul isn’t just saying God is good; we all know that.  He is telling us that God is a provider of all our needs when, with humility and gratefulness, we keep those needs before Him.  This is a spiritual principle that will allow you to live in greater prosperity when you know it.

Everyone—believer and nonbeliever—has the same basic needs.  God simply does not want us to act like the nonbelievers around us when it comes to fulfilling our desires.  When the Israelites were just 45 days in the desert, they complained to Moses because they had eaten the last of the food and water they brought from Egypt.  They did not see how their needs would be met.

We know God responded by raining manna, bread and meat, down from heaven to meet their needs for food.  He brought water from a rock to meet their need for water.  Still the people complained and wished they were back in Egypt where they could live by their wants and desires more than by their needs.  Exodus 16-1-14,

You must understand this principle of humble gratefulness if you are going to live abundantly just as you are.  When we are humbly grateful with the basic things that we have, God can multiply what we can do with the little we have to meet our needs.

With humble gratitude, He can feed a family for many days with a jar of oil and a can of flour.  Paul tells us that he knew how to live with much and he knew how to live with little.  Either with much or with little, Paul lived big.  Having your needs met with contentment brings joy to the heart of God.

The believer does not need to have a big house to live big in the house God has provided.

The believer does not need a big car to be the instrument God uses to provide a big ride to someone in need.

God can take the little money you have as a humbly content believer and make you spend it like it’s a million dollars.

God can take you, when you are humbly content, and use you just as you are and with just what you have to meet all of your needs and your desires too.

He does this because when we are happy with what we have, He is happy to give us more of what we would like to have but would never ask.

Learn to live in the prosperity of your need.  Humbly accept that you don’t need more of anything to live like you have more than you will ever need.  You must be both full and hungry; you must be both in need but completely fulfilled.

When you are humbly content, it does not matter what you have or how much you have.  Whatever it is, you will live better than those who live unfulfilled lives despite seemingly having more.  With the Lord it is always more than enough for you to live abundantly.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

None of us need to think hard to find something about our lives that gives us great challenge.  I have often thought to give up on some things because I didn’t think I could endure.  This is especially true for us when we are faced with things seemingly outside of our control.

Sometimes we make simple things harder than they need to be.  Sometimes we allow hard things to make us hard.  We allow incurable things to make us sick.  We feel helpless when we feel like we cannot help someone overcome something.

All this happens because we want things to either change, or we want to give up and move on.  But often, neither giving up nor moving on is what is best for us.  We need to learn to stick with some things until we come through to the other side.

In 2 Corinthians 4:16, scripture says, “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”  Paul is saying that even though things are tough, he will not give up.

Paul saw that the key to living with tough things is to understand that tough things are needed to put to death a part of our humanity that keeps us from being renewed in our spiritual being.  Every time we allow something of our humanity to die, we give life to more of our spiritual being.

This is a spiritual principle.  Dying to live and living to die.  This will work for your good if you do not give up on the things that come at you.  God has given us an amazing treasure, the Love of Christ.  But this treasure is held in our earthly lives when we need to move it to our spiritual lives.

When we don’t give up on what the Lord can do for us, we learn to die more so that we may live more.

We can be challenged all around but never overcome when we don’t give up.

We can have the weight of the world come at us, but we will never be crushed when we don’t give up.

We can be wrongly persecuted and hated but we can always keep our joy and peace when we don’t give up.

We can be knocked down time and again, but we can always rise again when we don’t give up.

How can this be?  When we carry the life of Christ who died to the temporal, we will live with Him.  He has died for your wayward children.  He has died for your sick spouse.  He has died for your impossible work environment.  He has died for your addiction.  All this so that you may live in the glory of His victory.

You have great reason never to give up.  When you give up you are saying, “I love what I’m losing more than I love what I stand to gain in Christ.”  Don’t give up on that!

I know some of us face some difficult things daily and some of us seem to get no relief.  But you must not give up.  Learn to face your goliaths with a David-like conviction to live free of bondage to your humanity.

Use your challenges to free you from the things that hold you back.  There is a bit of health in your sickness; there is a bit of patience in your impatience; there is a bit of confidence in your fear; there is a bit of control in your lack of control.

When you don’t give up, all this you may be yours because the Lord will bring you a new life that is eternally perfect.  You can live this life today in an imperfect world when you decide you will not give up.

Live a Delivered Life.

John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins.  They were born just a few months apart with John being a few months older.  I think we all know John was set apart to go ahead of Jesus and proclaim the coming of the Lord to the people.

I imagine those two grew up together as little kids.  Perhaps they even played together.  But at some point, John took to his calling and started his ministry.  And after that, when Jesus was around 30 years-old, He started His work as the Lord.

John probably got to witness a lot of stuff with Jesus that is not written anywhere.  Imagine playing a game of baseball when Jesus is the pitcher.  Or imagine trying to beat Jesus running home from school.  Yes, John probably witnessed a lot of stuff.

But, even with that, John had his questions.  He had his doubts.  Not questions about Who Jesus was, but questions about if Jesus was.  John knew Who Jesus was, but he didn’t know if Jesus was the One that he was proclaiming to come.  How on earth could that be?

In Luke 7:22-23, John has been put in prison by Herod.  He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if Jesus was the One.  So, the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “John is wondering if You are the One Who is coming or should they look for another.”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard.  That the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

John had a moment when he forgot all that he had witnessed in his life and in the life of Jesus.  He was in prison for proclaiming the Coming One, but he let his circumstances move him to doubt if Jesus was the One.  

Sometimes, we are like that today.  We are so busy with doing the work of the Lord that we forget sometimes to let the work of the Lord do its stuff with us.  Jesus’s response to John was a reminder to John of the things done in life that only the Lord could do.

Sometimes we need a gentle reminder of the amazing things the Lord is and has done, not just in our lives, but also in the lives of the those around us.  Jesus told John’s disciples to go tell him what they had witnessed.  Sight restored to the blind.  Lame people walking again.  People healed of leprosy.  Deaf people hearing.

Like John’s disciples, we need to remember to be witnesses to the things we see and hear.  I have never seen sight restored to the blind or hearing restored to the deaf.  But here are some things we have all witnessed:

God tells the sun where to go and sit for the night.

He tells the wind where to come from and where to go.

He causes the ocean tides to come in and out.

He causes oxygen to sustain the humanity of our lives.

He keeps the stars above from falling down on us.

He tells the clouds when to stay put and when to move on.

He decided we didn’t need an ocean in the atmosphere, but it is from there rain falls to sustain us.

He tells the day where to go when night comes.

And though we cannot see love, He makes sure we can know it because He is love.

We are a witness to a lot more than we think or know.  We just have to open our eyes to the wonder of the things around us.

So, let this be your time.  Go and tell someone what you have seen and heard and witnessed.  And when they question you on these things, just let them know you’ve witnessed it all because we serve a living God and Lord who doesn’t live in a stone.

No, God is not a stone or a carved figure.  He is not the result of our imagination.  He is a living God.

Jesus lives in a place called anywhere.  And He operates in a time call anytime.  And He can be found in a place called any place because He is a living God.

Let people know you’ve witnessed that for yourself.  It’s there for them to see and hear for themselves.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

We may change many things over our lifetimes, but God never changes.  Never.  In Mark 7:8-13, Jesus gives the account of how the people changed the commandments of God by creating a tradition of man.  He tells them in Mark 7:12-13, “Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.”

We may change many things, but God never changes.  We make laws to make abortion lawful, but God frowns on abortions.  We make laws that say we can choose our genders, but God created just two genders, males and females.  Now don’t worry.  This is not a message to condemn people.   It is a message to show people how much they are loved.

Malachi 3:6 say, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.”  In a simple way, the Lord is saying He will never change Who He is towards us because He grows tired of us.  He is our father.  He will always take care of us.  He will not implement a change that says only if we permit Him to live in us will He have to take care of us.  Man would do that; Jesus does not.

So, what does it really mean, “for I am the Lord, I do not change”?  Well, for me it means God is already love and perfectly good; two things we want most in life.  Because He is love, we cannot improve on what is perfect, and we cannot improve on what is already the essence of good.  And this Love and perfection and goodness is what He means to us.

God is Love and perfect in every way.  He is the essence of good.  God’s grace and mercy assures us that He is never going to change his Love toward us.  Love, tempered with grace and mercy is enough to keep us from changing what we cannot change into something God alone can change but He will not.

Though we may lie sometimes, perhaps lots of times, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates our lies.

Though we may cheat, steal, or commit adultery, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates the things we do.

Though we may be hateful sometimes or we may deal deceitfully with others, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates what we do.

Though we may even give the excuse that we are human and not perfect, and that God loves us anyway, grace and mercy keeps God saying we are right but not right enough.  Indeed, we are born human and sinful.  This is true.

Grace and mercy give us the desire to live trying to be who God wants us to be instead of trying to get God to accept us just as we are in our imperfect sinful ways.

There is not much you and I can change that will make any real difference in life, save our attitudes and how we think about the things that are difficult.  The Lord wants us to learn that we cannot change what He has created.  We cannot create our standards for what is good and then change our behaviors to live by our standards.

The Lord wants us to learn to accept His Loving, perfect, and good work just as it is.  If it seems imperfect to us, perhaps its because our hearts are not filled fully with His love.

If your marriage, your children, your work, your church, or anything else does not seem to be perfect to you, give it your best loving, perfect, and good effort.  Grace and mercy will help you get through what you cannot change.

You must remember that you are not alone.  The Lord will help you change something about you that will change the things that go on around you.

God does not change.  We can count on that with all certainty.  God is not a man; His steadfast love remains forever.  His counsel is sure and perfect.  And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The only thing you can change is how you feel about the things you go through.  Change your attitude and trust that God does not change His toward you – no matter what.  He does not change.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Waiting!  How many of you enjoy the idea of waiting for something, anything?  We have numerous examples throughout the bible of people having to wait for God to move in their lives.  Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, the woman with the issue of blood, and so on.  These are just a few of the people who had to learn to wait on God.  

And did you know that King David had to wait over 20 years from the time he was anointed King to the time he became king of all Israel?  Why the wait and why so long?  Psalm 27:14 encourages us to learn to wait.  It says, “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

Have you ever prayed and asked the Lord to make you wait?  If you have ever asked Him to help you, if you have ever asked Him to strengthen your heart, if you have ever asked Him to help you get through something, then you have asked Him to help you learn to wait.  Our problems are not God’s emergencies.

Is it worth the wait to have your heart strengthened?  Is it worth the wait to grow stronger today than you were yesterday?  Is it worth the wait to be made better as He moves in your life and circumstance?  I believe God wants us to know that waiting is part of the process of His moving in our lives.

Waiting is God’s way of teaching us how to talk with Him, how to hear Him, and how to recognize His ways.  He teaches us how to be faithful when we wait.  He teaches us how to be confident and not complain when we wait.  He teaches us how to be content in great times and to be hopeful in difficult times when we have our time of waiting.  I’d say all that is worth the wait.

But waiting also helps us to understand the idea of God’s timing.  It is in waiting that we learn He will move in our lives in due time.  In due time helps us to understand God will move in the right ways and at the right times.  If God is going to take us through the river, He may have to teach us first how to swim.  So, in due time, we will get across our rivers.

There is one thing we can do while we wait that will make the Lord keep His eyes on us and on the work that must be done in us as we wait.  We can use the time we wait to learn to be humble and grateful.  I believe humility and gratitude are the things that help the Lord to see that due time for us is closer today than it was yesterday.

1 Peter 5:6 says it this way, “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” Therefore, if you want the certainty of living in the grace of God and in knowing He is working in your circumstance, you must learn to be humble.  But this is not just being humble in your tough circumstance, it is to be humble in life.

Resolve within yourself to make sure you live humbly in all things.  If you must have your way to be happy, you are probably not humble.  If you must be well in order to feel well, you are probably not humble.  If you must have much to believe you can do much, you are probably not humble.

Humility as God sees it is the voluntary submission of yourself to the will of God.  It is to wait on God to make the right things happen at the right times in the right ways here on earth for you. Humility is saying though this thing is mine, I will not possess it unless it is given to me of God. It is saying though I have the right to have the things I can through my own ability, I want to have only the thing given to me by the ability and will of God.  Humility says in due time, the time for what is right for me to have or to do will come to me by the grace and the love of God. 

In this way God will be glorified as He exalts you because of His great love for the humble of heart.  This is why in due time the problems and issues of life for a humble person never seem to overcome them.  Instead, in due time the humble person always seems to rise above the challenges to their lives.

Learn what it means to wait in humility on the Lord, and in due time you too will enjoy the exalted life of one whom the God of Creation continually blesses with His grace and favor.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

I was reflecting with a friend of mine recently about how difficult it seems to be for us to find honorable people or companies to work for.  Seems like everywhere we turn we are more likely to find someone or business that is all about itself.

Why is that?  Why does it seem to be so hard for us to work for someone who is so focused on what is good for them more than on what is good for many.  Then I realized, things now are not much different from the way things have always been.  Today we are simply more aware of it because there is so much more of it.

In Colossians 4:17 we can find the answer to my question.  This scripture says to us, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

When I put this into my understanding I say it this way:  No matter how things may be, when it is my duty to do or to say something, make sure that it is done in the name of our Lord.

I know this will be hard for many of us to accept.  The world tells us to stand our ground and defend what is right for ourselves because no one else will do it.  Perhaps that is why so many of us choose not to do it.  But then we need only to think of Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Moses, Paul, and Jesus to see it is not hard indeed.  In fact, it is the easy way to get through a hard situation.

Someone else will do what is right for us.  That someone is the Lord when we live as unto Him.  But how do we do this?

First, I believe our own selfishness, self-righteousness, and pride is why we choose a different path from what scripture asks us to take when we are challenged with circumstances we cannot control on our own.  Even though God wants us to think of ourselves and others, He wants us to think of Him first.

The people in Noah’s time did what was right in their own hearts.  Scripture says Noah was the only one whom the Lord found His righteousness.  Noah was for God; the people were for themselves.

Daniel served God while he was in captivity in Babylon. but the people served other gods.  Daniel was for God and the people for themselves.

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because of their jealousy and pride. They were for themselves but Joseph was for God.

Those who speak and do as if they are speaking and doing unto the Lord do so with their minds focused on how their actions and behaviors will be received by the Lord.  They are not worried about whether man is right or wrong as much as they concern themselves with how their actions will represent what is right with Him.

As unto Him.  So what does this simple statement mean?

Perhaps it means you may work for someone who is unfair towards you.  Work diligently anyway as if they are being unfair to what the Lord wants from you.  He will be fair towards you.  That is better.

Perhaps it means you are in a relationship in which you are expected to give more than you get.  Give more anyway as if you are giving back to the Lord.  He will bless you more.  That is better.

Perhaps it means you never receive the recognition you deserve for the things you do.  Do those things anyway.  God will let others know that He recognizes you for your service.  That is better.

Or perhaps it means you receive less than others for the same work that others do.  Accept what you receive as if your work is for Him.  He will bless you by making what you receive go further than it could have gone.

As unto Him means that when you stand for Him you stand against your idea of what is right and wrong for you.  It means things do not have to go your way for things to go well for you.  It means you do not have to be satisfied by man because you are satisfied with Him.

So, when things are tough, and you look around to see everyone else doing what seems right in their eyes consider for yourself as unto Him.

Nothing can change things to your favor more quickly than when you speak and do all things as unto Him who is your righteousness.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

When I think about many of the things happening with and around us today, I wonder sometimes what’s going on?  How can it be that we can seem to be so far from where we should be.  I started looking back at some of the things I’ve heard from the Lord, some of which I captured in messages like this one today.

One such message I did in 1997.  Yes, it was that long ago.  Back then I focused my messages on “Renewing Your Mind.”  When I reviewed that message today, I asked the Lord what has happened to me – to us?  Here is what I learned.  Time doesn’t make all things better.  Time often can be the thing that causes us to go astray.

Here is some of that old message and some of the new things I heard.  “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105.  I told the story of a small boy and his father.  They were walking in the way.  The father explained to the boy how he must be careful to hold onto the father’s hand for safety and to listen to the father as they made their way.

That was back then.  Today, we have so many earthly homes without fathers and mothers that we would naturally think that we can live without earthly parents and even without our Heavenly Father.  Back then we were taught we needed the steady hands of our parents to help us through life. Today we are influenced to believe we can do anything we put our minds to do.

Back then, the boy explained to the father, “I don’t need to hold your hands because I can follow your footsteps.”  The father was pleased, but he explained that there would be times when the boy would not be able to see his footsteps.  Holding hands helps us to understand the Father’s way, so we can follow Him in tough times when it’s difficult to see clearly.

Today, we are taught that holding the hands of an Almighty God shows how weak we are.  We believe God made us to live and to make the best decisions for our lives on our own.  We say we don’t need to see His footsteps as much as He needs to see ours.  We are not looking for His way; we are looking for our way.

Back then my message was about “Seeing Your Way.” Do you really know where you are going?  Do you really understand the path you are on? 

Today my message is about “Seeing His Way.”  Do you really see His footsteps?  Do you really understand His path?  And if you see and understand, do you really want to follow Him instead of yourself?

I am reminded today that we are just like that little boy in our relationship to Christ.  The boy was willing to try to follow some footsteps rather than his father.  But we should never settle for footsteps when we have the Person of the Living God we can follow.

Today we may think we know where Christ wants us to go; we may think we know the way He wants us to take, but life makes it hard to see our own footsteps, let alone the steps of anyone else.  Sometimes our lives are so complicated that we cannot see our feet, nor can we see where we are going.

So today, lets take the hand of God’s Word and allow it to light up the path we take with our feet.  We don’t need to wonder where we are going when we can see clearly through His Word where we are and where we are stepping.  The Word lights up everything around our feet so that we step onto solid ground, and we walk in secure places.

His Word is also a light to our path. With it we can see what is before us; we can see what is ahead of us, and we can anticipate what is around us that is hidden from us now.

Today I believe we have gotten off the right path because we want to light our footsteps with our own words.  I believe  we are stepping into insecure places because we want to light our paths with our own lamps.

But back then and even today, the Word is True.  We cannot see our feet, nor can we choose the right path when we do not have the word of God as our lamp.

PTL (Praise The Lord) today and learn to hold onto His hands and to listen to His instructions.  You will need to do both to make sure you choose His hand to steady your life. You will need to do both to make sure you choose His path and not your own.

Back then we were more focused on seeing His way.  Today we are focused on seeing our way.  We need to get back to where we were then so we can clearly see the way He is leading us to go today.

Live A Delivered Life.  Love you.