Ministering reconciliation...

  1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. I have read this verse, heard it quoted, seen it on different signs and artwork for many years. One thing I can tell you is that it has to be one of the more misunderstood pieces of scripture out there. People believe that this verse, this wonderful example of God's provision, indicates that he will bail us out of any and all problems we face. I believed that too, but I have come to see that it is simply not the case. For those of you just finding this now, my name is Sam. I am a mid-thirties white male. I stand here today, working 4 jobs, trying to squeeze every ounce of energy, and time, I can before falling asleep next to the love of my life and doing it all over and over again 7 days a week, for the last 2 yea...

2 Corinthians 2:1-14-16 When I arrived in Troas to proclaim the Message of the Messiah, I found the place wide open: God had opened the door; all I had to do was walk through it. But when I didn’t find Titus waiting for me with news of your condition, I couldn’t relax. Worried about you, I left and came on to Macedonia province looking for Titus and a reassuring word on you. And I got it, thank God! In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse. Pray: About 2 years ago now, my wife and I needed to buy a new roof for our house. We were given the option for delayed payment to buy some time to get s...

Week’s Key Verse 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” – Exodus 34:6-9 Introduction Ad Infinitum: again and again in the same way; forever. God’s faithfulness truly is Ad infinitum. As we begin today’s devo, I want to start by looking at verse 6 above as our key. “6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God ...

Philippians 4:4 (ESV) 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Setting the Stage Recently, my wife and I have been looking at housing. Part of it is the ever increasing desire to get out of apartment dwelling and the perpetual noise, confinement, and, more often than not, marijuana smells from our neighbors. The other part of this is we have a looming end of lease coming up very soon. We have a tight window of time between now and what is the constantly-relentless approach of November 2nd, the end of our lease. The last time we looked things were completely different. We didn't have children, we didn't have much money and we had a mountain o...

Matthew 1:20-21 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” I was using this verse for my verse of the day on twitter (click link on the right to subscribe -------> ), when God dropped a little more into my spirit about than I thought. Did you know that God sometimes uses the ideas and creativity we already have to carry out his will? No really! I have gone on so long in my life asking God to speak to me without fully realizing that he has been speaking to me. He has chosen to use the circumstances of life to show me how to live for him... I have gone through so long asking for a new word, a new vision for my family, a new hope, a new this a new that. Sometimes God wants to give you s...

Genesis 9:7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.” This portion of scripture is tricky. The promise of Noah, well it seems as though it happens for everyone. Now, as a Christian, I grew up hearing about and singing, and believing "Every promise in the book is mine." So I get a bit defensive when I see a promise like this and it isn't happening in my life. "God why am I not multiplying?" that exact prayer, and variations of it have been on my heart a lot lately. The interesting thing about that is that this promise seems to be applicable even to non-believers of God. However, if you think about it, it's not exactly the same. See man's inherent nature, after the fall of man in Genesis 3, was degrading. The idea that man was once perfect, but the original sin injected degradation and pollution at what I believe to be a genetic level. That said, any promises towards mankind come with a twist....

Proverbs 14:20-21 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. 21 It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. What is amazing to me is how poverty grips and chokes out life. If you go to a "third world" country, or even to the poorest part of your community and see poverty first hand, you can see this play out. However, you don't have to go to that distance to find out if it is truth. Poverty is more than just a financial or socio-economic status. It is a pervasive spirit, an attitude. If we let it, it will sneak into our hearts and allow us to do things that separate us from the kind of generosity that God wants us to have. I personally believe that if you look at the extremely rich, yet extremely stingy people... You know the one's who amass wealth, but hoard it instead of giving it, those people have a spirit of poverty. Please understand, though, when I say spirit, I am not...