You Can't Hear If You Don't Listen

How many times do we ask God why, or Where are you? When we do, what are we doing to listen for Him? Are we standing in the midst of our storm with our head hung low? Are we trying to beat up an invisible enemy we can't see? Are we ignoring the things others are telling us about what is going on in our lives? Why not just go right to Gods sources...The Bible and Prayer ? This is where the answers and confirmations come from.

Recently God has shown me some of the weaknesses in my life and told, not asked me to fix them so I can server Him better. For a couple weeks I just did my thing everyday and just tried to be better, I didn't seek any help from His sources. This week I got into the Word again and things really came alive for me. The book of James really showed me what God was talking about for me, made things very clear.

There is one other way to hear from God, and sometimes you don't realize the power from simple lyrics to a song. I posted on Facebook yesterday the fact that I am the Little Drummer Boy. I have played for about 35 years, including being the actual drummer boy in my 5th grade Christmas pageant. After posting this , I went and read the lyrics to the song:

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

I welled up inside with tears. This really was me. God has given me the gift of being able to play the drums. This is how I want to serve him til I can't play anymore. How can I serve my God but to come and play for Him, play my BEST for HIM. This is what God wants from me right now, my Best ! So I will give it to Him and get myself to the Best I can be.

I encourage you to go find your gift from Him, and serve Him with your Best!

...... "Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum.....Me and my drum."

New Beginnings

Sometimes God has things for us and we don't even realize it because we are so caught up in self. We always want more or better. James 4:3 says "When you ask, you don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures"

We need to ask God for the things in our lives that will help us serve Him and serve others, not ourselves. He will provide what we need on a daily basis.

He wants us to have things in life that we like, but He wants us to seek Him first in Everything.

Let me say this, God wants us to have the desires of our hearts, whatever they may be. Sometimes He just wants us to be where He wants us to be before we get these things. We need to put Him first and these things will fall into place, if it is in His will for you.

What Will You Do ?

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (New Living Translation)

²⁰ Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

With this in mind, how do you handle when someone you know has sinned against you or you are upset by their sin? Jesus calls us to forgive one another for everything. To Him, all sin is just that sin. There are no levels of sin, except for the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit as described in Matthew 12:31-32, which is not forgivable by God.

So, If 99% of sins are forgivable by God, and sins are not labeled with severity levels by God, and we all sin, should we not as Christians forgive each other no matter what the sin was, put it behind us and move on with lives.

Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. ( Wikipedia )

Should we not be able to treat each other as we always have no matter what based on the definition of forgiveness. If someone makes us angry because they sinned against, should not our forgiveness relieve that anger and allow us to once again interact with that person? I say yes and have been down this road. When you truly have forgiven someone with Gods help, it is truly possible to carry on as you once did with someone, I know. I am not saying you won't have reservations or doubts depending on what they have done, but forgiveness does not give any of us the power to judge or label anyone based on a past offense, especially if they have truly repented for what they have done.

Fitness

Summer is here and I can not complain about it being too cold out anymore...although this humidty is awful! I am going to make a huge effort to shed some extra pounds this summer...my means of doing it will be by bike. I am going to combine taking pictures with my new camera with riding my bike ( not at the same time...that would be dangerous. ) I love old rustic farms and rural buildings as well as trains. I figure I can bike to locations with these features and kill to birds with one stone.

If you know of any good place to photograph these things or a great bike route, please feel free to let me know in a comment or email.

Have a great day !

New Year, New Start, New Goals

I woke up this morning and was greeted with a situation in which I really don't know how to make better quickly. I laid in bed and just kept thinking about it. I decided to just get up and go to work early and I told God I really needed to hear from him today.

As I sat in my chair at work I decided to read my Bible, I was a couple days behind on my reading plan so as long as I had some extra time, I read. During the 20 min or so of reading I was able to pull so many things from the Word, but I still didn't feel I had read what I needed. It wasn't until the last 2 verses I read that God showed me how to fix some of the things I needed to.

I love how God can do that for us. Trust in Him with all your heart, and He Will make your path straight.

At The End ? He'll Be There !

It's been a tough couple of years for me. Life just doesn't seem to want to play fair sometimes. In these days though I learned that God is always there when we need Him most and He does intervene when we don't know what to do anymore.

He proved Himself again yesterday. I was dealing with something that was really heavy on my mind and just didn't know what to do about it anymore. I just sat down, and prayed "God, I don't know what to do anymore" Pretty original huh? Sometimes we just need to be honest and trust. A few hours later something happened that totally changed the situation. The awesome thing about it was, only He could have made the change that needed to be done. He is so awesome!!!!

What do we do?

We all have days, weeks or months when things are not going the way we want them too, or we find ourselves in the middle of a situation where we don't want to be. How do we handle it? How should we handle it?

In Genesis 37 and 39 we read about a young man named Joseph who was first sold by his brothers as a slave, and then later thrown in jail for something he never did. After he was thrown in jail, the bible says in Genesis 39:23 "The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed."

What do we do when we are thrown into a situation that seems hopeless? Most of the time I am sure we just panic, we think of everything that could possibly go wrong in the place where we are at. What if we looked at it in a different way? What if we looked for God in the middle of our situation? The bible tells us in Joshua 1:5 " No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Wherever you are, whatever you are going through, look for what God is doing for you in the situation, or what He might want to do. He is right there and will guide your every step if you put your faith and trust in Him.

Another answer to the question " Why? "

We often think why did I have to undergo that circumstance or trial. Then we realize maybe it is because God wanted me to learn something from the experience to help mold me into a better person. I heard something this morning that adds yet another perspective on the " Whys " of my life.

We read in Mark 1:17, Jesus tells his disciples ""Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." The key thing here is : I will make . None of us are a natural at going out and leading a person to Christ. The things we go through in life both good and bad are what prepares us to go out and do this. Andy Stanley puts it this way, " It's not the message that wins a person to Christ, it's the messenger sometimes". What he means by this is that sometimes when a person is in a particular spot, God will use someone else who has been through a similar situation to help make sense of things to someone.

It never ceases to amaze me at how God is constantly at work in our lives in so many different ways. :-)

Be Persistant

We always need to come to God in prayer. The bible tells us this. In Luke 18 verse 1 it tells us Jesus told his disciples that they should pray and never give up. Never give up! We all know we need to pray, that's no secret. How many of us come to a point sometimes where we think we have given it all to God and there is no sense praying any more for something? Sometimes we pray for little things, sometimes we pray for miracles, but aren't those petitions one in the same to our heavenly Father who loves us? No matter what the situation, don't just stop!

What if the people stopped marching around the walls of Jericho after 6 days because they felt they had given enough? God calls us to be persistent, to not give up. By giving up we tell ourselves we don't believe God has the authority over a situation in our lives. Whether it be finances, relationships, health or Gods will for your life, be desperate in prayer until He gives you what you seek.

Change

I love when God starts doing a changing work in my heart. One that draws me closer to Him. I will admit, it does come fast and furious and sometimes hurts a little.

Yesterday I was reading the Andrew Murray Daily Reader and it talked about how we need to meet with God First thing each day, not somewhere during the day. I have always read my bible at sometime during the day, but never really made it a first priority. That's change #1.

Change #2 came this morning when I was listening to the devotional they do every morning on Shine.FM . They talked about how when we pray we need to not only pray for the things around us, but we need to pray for ourselves as well. We need to ask God for things such as the Fruits of the Spirit to be more evident in our lives as well as for God to use me to help others to know his love.

Both of these are things I am definitely putting into the forefront of my life. I love when God changes me from the Inside Out. We do a worship song in youth group entitled From The Inside Out that talks about just this and how it draws us closer to God. Here is a part of the lyrics to that song:

" my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out "

When we let God change us from the inside out, it is more of a genuine lasting change and it will stay with us. 

Integrity

A friend of mine posted the bible verse "Nehemiah 7:2 I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do."

I decided I want to be like this man Hananiah, I want to be known for my integrity. This I feel would be a good thing to have as I go through life ministering to students as well as adults I God may lead me to. If I don't have integrity, who would want to listen and actually believe what I have to say.

After I make this decision, I go and check some email. I have an email from Netflix stating that they had some technical issues last night that interfered with the streaming portion of the service I have with them. They stated in the email that if I expereienced this difficutly, I could click on a link and I would be refunded a full 3% of my monthly payment. All I need to do, is click on the link, no questions, just click!

I thought wow, I make a decision to have integrity and not 10 minutes later I get tested on it. Needless to say I did not click on the link. There was day when that might not have been the case.

I am glad I can serve a God who cares enough about me to test me to make me a better person.

Why Hide? God is there!

Many times when we struggle with something or are just going through a difficult time in our own lives, we tend to seclude ourselves from everyone else. We close everything out and drown ourselves in our own pity. This is not what God would want us to do, and is exactly what the enemy would want us to do. When we seclude ourselves, we lose the accountability and encouragement we would get from our friends and family members.

With no one around, we tend to do things we probably should not do. Many people turn to alcohol, drugs or whatever can help them escape the reality of what is going on. Many teens turn to cutting or self abuse to ease the 'pain' of life.

I recently heard a Junior High student share in front of her peers about some struggles she was going through. God made it very clear what He wanted this to be shared. Why? To help others out who might be going through the same type of situation or might be thinking about it. He does not want us to just expose what we are going through, He wants us to share and encourage others who might be dealing with something similar.

We might think we are all alone which might make us want to go hide and do things to try and make the situation go away but most likely there are others going through similar things. Don't run and hide, God will always be with you and there to help you. Instead of running and hiding, go look for someone whom you can encourage. God loves to work through us when we are going through struggles in our own life.

Prayer

Here is something I posted back in the fall of 2007. I still feel the same way about it now as I did then. Prayer is important!

I pray for my wife and children everyday. I didn't used to. I would be too busy to get to work to start on some mindless time consuming project or server update or just go in and surf the net and read countless emails from technology listserves I subsribe to. That's all changed now. I pray with purpose now for things that God wants to do in my life and the life of my family.

This weekend we spent some time down at Grand Bear Lodge in Utica Illinois. They have a wave pool, water slides a a lazy river. It's a great time. There are signs posted all over about no shoes, no food and no running. Three year olds can't only not read, but they have a distinct way of forgetting to remember what you have told them, especially when they are having fun. We were talking in the shallow end of the pool when we turned and noticed Macie lying on the ground holding her head. She had slipped and fallen while running on the wet pavement. Heidi and I rushed over and Heidi picked her up to see where she hit her head. At this point Macie had arched back her head as if to let out one of those blood curdling cries of it hurts!! I noticed she wasn't really breathing at the time, and so did Heidi. As we rushed over to the lifeguards office for help, Macie passed out for about 20 seconds or so (give or take). Heidi panicked (as any mother would do if there daughter passed out in their arms). There were no guards in the office so I ran and grabbed the closest one. Macie did come to and began crying...for the next hour. That was a good sign.

To make a long story short, Macie was transported to the closest hospital for a CTScan and X-Rays to make sure she was OK. The tests were negative and the CT showed she had a very mild amount of swelling but nothing threatening. As I found out at the pool, a lady about 10' away heard her hit the ground. Ouch! After we returned the villa where we were staying, we looked her over and could not find a bump on her head....ANYWHERE ! She had a small scrape on her leg, but nothing else. God had so totally protected her when she fell.

The last thing on my mind that morning, or any morning for that matter , is that my kids are going to need Gods divine protection during the day. Don't ever under-estimate what God can do in your life or the life of someone you pray for for. He will be there when you don't even think you will be needing him.

Strength For Our Trials...

This is a repost from Oct 2007...I thought it might be of some importance to some......

We all have trials in life, some big and some small. Have you ever noticed that sometimes the smaller ones get us down more then the bigger ones? I was thinking about this after I read one of my email devotionals today. Why is it we let the little things worry us so, but we can often trudge through and over the large mountains and deep valleys life often throws at us? I am pretty sure it is the supernatural strength that God allows us to have during these times because we seem to give the big things up to Him and fight the little ones alone.

Something else the devotional pointed out was why we suffer greatly sometimes. It was something I never really thought about. One of the reasons we suffer in our trials on earth is so in a way we can relate in a tiny microscopic way to what Jesus went through on the cross for us. The devotional has one sentence in it I must share direct with you. This is from The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional Oct 12, 2007 " But the Good News is that our pain, our heartache, our confusion, our doubts, our mountain-sized difficulties can push us – if we allow it – into the very center of God’s all surpassing power." I like some of the things that 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 brings to light in my life:

When people ask me how I get through trials I can say what 2 Cor 4:7 says " We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. "

Here is how Gods power protects us 2 Cor 4:8-9

We are pressed on every side But not crushed

We are perplexed But not driven to despair

We are persecuted But not abandoned

We are knocked down But Not destroyed

Why? verse 10 says "Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

The song 'Trading My Sorrows' puts these versus into great perspective.

Have a great weekend!

Late Night Discoveries

Not feeling well in the middle of the night is not fun. Not being in your own home makes it even worse. Instead of laying in bed feeling like bleh, I went for a walk outside. It was the right choice.

Since it was 12:30 AM, it was a very comfortable 60 degrees with no wind. Not something I get to see all the time. What I noticed was some of the sounds. There were some coyotes off in the distance howling at something, frogs in the pond croaking and various birds that weren't asleep yet sang some quiet songs.

As I leaned against the van to gaze into the heavens, I noticed there were so many more stars to see where we were staying then if I were back home. I love the country. At once point I looked skyward and a few seconds later was treated to a shooting star. It has been a long time since I have seen one of those. Kinda made the ickiness in my tummy worth it.

As I continued looking up at the sky, my eyes grew accustomed to the low light and even more stars began to appear. I was in awe. I told God thanks for creating all of these so I could enjoy them in my time of not feeling do well. It was then I was reminded that He created them for me to enjoy and worship so to speak, but that I was created to worship Him in return with all I do.

Sometimes when we aren't having such a good time, we need to just take a little walk to see what else God has done that we might not normally see.

How Much....

One thing I have heard people say about why they won't go to church or they don't want to become a christian is because God would not like someone like me, or I have done too many 'bad' things for him to accept me. That could not be farther from the truth. How much does God Love us? God said He would love us no matter what:

Romans 8:38-39 (New Living Translation)

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We all mess up and fall far short of what God would want us to do in one way or another, yet "Nothing in all creation" can seperate us from his Love. We need to let others know that there is nothing they could have done that would prevent God from loving them. We too need to love others as best we can also.

In The Middle

I get a lot of joking about being in the middle because my name is Malcolm, sometime though I actually do instigate it. Yesterday the enemy decided he was going to try and disrupt my life a little bit by creating a small storm in our lives. I won't go into any detail because it's not important. What is important is how we handled it.

At first there was some anger and some amazement at the situation. After that and some prayers and calls to some friends, a peace began to settle over us. It was similar I think to what the disciples encountered in the boat with Jesus. When the storm came up, they panicked a little a got off track a bit. They woke Jesus and He eventually told the storm to calm and they went on about their business about the boat and the journey at hand. ( My interpretation obviously )

After we had prayed, the Holy Spirit came and gave us a peace in the situation. As we talked last night I mentioned to my wife how if was very awesome to be sitting in the middle of a storm in our lives, yet we were at peace because the Holy Spirit was covering us with his love and grace.

The middle of a storm is an ok place to be when it's the Holy Spirit who clears the path for you.

Always there for us

Everyone and a while, a trial or storm comes into our lives. How we choose to handle it is entirely up to us. How we react, how much we worry, it's all on our shoulders. One thing to know is God is always there for us,and His word says in Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

This past February God gave me the following paragraph in our quiet time during our annual Junior High retreat. I felt impressed to publish this today because I know I have some people in my life who are going through some tough times.

Be encouraged:

I am there when things are good.
I am there when things are bad.
When you think I am not there, look again. I won’t leave you.
If you still can’t see me, turn your eyes away from your problems and turn them on me.
I am in the good and the bad.
I will work the bad for good.
Just seek me with everything you have, do not give up.
I am always with you.

Do Not Live In Fear

Fear is something we don't want to have run our lives. Sometimes God places before us something Ginormous ( I made the word up, or did I hear it on The Disney Channel ) that we don't have any real control over. Our first reaction is to run and hide. But that doesn't solve anything. We can't be afraid of something we can't control. We need to give it up to God....ALL of it! 2 Timothy 1:7 Says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."

So if God didn't give us a spirit of fear, where do you think that might have come from when we are faced with these tough times in life? I am not saying that there are some types of fear that are good, but having a fear that God can not work something out in our lives is not from God. God gives us Power ( In the Holy Spirit ) Love (From His very own heart ) and Self-Discipline ( through the Holy Spirit ) to help us overcome and get through anything.

Gods power (strength) will give us what we need to endure the trial. Gods Love will let us know he is in control of the situation and we can turn it ALL over to Him (Remember Jeremiah 29:11 from the other day) The spirit of Self-Discipline will help to keep us focused on the task that God has on hand for us and not let us slip in what God is teaching us.

A Great Day!!

Yesterday was a really good day. How do I know, because the enemy tried to give me a miserable night and upset me before NXT Worship. Why did he do this? Because he thinks he can win..what a fool.

Yesterday, through some friends I have never met, God shared with me that some of the things I have written down in the past do have meaning to others and that they were not just random thoughts by me. I was in a great mood all day! NXT Worship was AWESOME!! Nice try Satan...you dumb fool.

Last night after worship practice for Calvary West, one of the members told me how much my playing had improved over the years. Usually being a drummer you only get the negative comments, too LOUD, too MUCH. It was nice to get a a compliment from a seasoned veteran of music, especially when it regarding the aspect of my playing I have been working on for the past few years.

Thanks God for speaking to me yesterday and letting me believe in me more!