Author: Scott

Do you believe in the power of prayer? Or let me ask it this way, do you REALLY believe in the power of prayer? I like to think that I do. I believe that there is serious strength in prayer. Sometimes it’s easy for us to get caught up in praying just to pray. I know I have caught myself doing that. But for the past few years, I have been praying prayers of expectation. Where I expect God to hear me. And one thing that I learned a long time ago, be ready for the answer. God may or may not give you the answer you’re looking for. But when he does answer, you’ll know it.

I love it when I get what I call God winks. This morning as one of those times. As I was reading and writing, I read something that my pastor posted this morning. He writes, “Prayer is the single most powerful tool we have on earth. And yet so many people misunderstand it or ignore it all together…prayer is simply our ability to talk directly to God and to listen to God tell us how to live our lives.” Spot on!

We must remember that God is our Lord and Savior. He is our father in heaven. He wants to hear from us. And for him to do so, we must pray. And after we pray, we must learn to listen to God‘s voice. To hear what he is saying. He will give us the guidance we need. But we must listen. We must look for the answer. If you don’t already, let’s make today the beginning of regular prayer to God. Let’s make today the beginning of believing in the power of prayer. Let’s begin praying prayers of expectation. Expecting him to hear us. Let’s realize that God desires to spend time with us. Let’s let God take control. Let’s put him in charge. And then let’s watch the difference that he makes in our lives.

Last night I was able to attend The Sportsman Banquet held at the Neosho First Baptist Church. Basically, it’s a wild game feed that they host on a Friday and Saturday night each year. I believe they’ve been doing it for 13 years. Having to miss 2020 and 2021. It’s an amazing night. Full of faith, fellowship, food, and firearms. Anywhere from 400 to 600 people in attendance. This year the guest speaker was TW Norman.

Years ago when I was teaching and coaching in Carthage, I was also the announcer for the football games. When TW was a senior in high school, his team from Stockton came to our school to play. Being that they were a 1A school, I was a little surprised. We were 5A school. Considerably bigger than Stockton. As soon as he walked on the field though, it was very apparent why we had them there. That was the year he was a USA Today All American. We couldn’t stop him. But he couldn’t stop our entire team. So we won.

But the point of this devotion isn’t about football. It’s about conviction, redemption, and grace. TW talked about how he slipped away while in college and made terrible decisions. How his life did a complete 180. Going in the wrong direction. Much like mine. Our lives also are similar in the aspect of building our faith. Conviction was the first step. We both were convicted because of our sins. Redemption followed. We were redeemed by God. And then Grace. We both felt the grace that only comes from God. You can have these things too. God is there. He is waiting. He will not stop convicting you until you act. After you act, you will be redeemed and then you will feel his grace. And that is awesome.

Sometimes people question me why I like to hunt. They look at it like I am simply going out to kill an animal. It’s hard to explain to them what really takes place. But to me, being in a deer blind is a very healing moment. When I’m by myself, I’m able to connect with my Lord and Savior. Talking with him. Praying to him. Listening to what he’s telling me. That’s what I try to do anyway. And every now and then, I am blessed with the opportunity to take a deer or a turkey. That’s simply the icing on the cake.

Other times, I can do the same thing while I’m driving. Especially on the longer trips when I’m by myself. Do you have some place that you enjoy going to be alone? Someplace where you can take refuge? Someplace where you can heal? In the Bible, we learn about Jesus enjoying the Mount of Olives. He would go there for praying. He would go there to be with His Father. Jesus is our perfect example. He would try to be alone and pray. Especially in the mornings. This helped him prepare for the day. Gave him strength. 

Wherever it is you need to go, make it a habit. Make the opportunities happen where you can be alone with God. Praying to him. Talking with him. Listening to him. This is a perfect opportunity for your spirit and your body to be connected with God. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. You will continually strengthen yourself for what is ahead. Whether it be that day, that week, that month, or the year. You will be prepared. Let’s learn from the example that Christ gives us. Let’s help build ourselves up. That way we can serve him better. We can serve others better.

This morning we’re going to build on a writing from before. It’s very fitting for what we have been talking about lately. With the struggles that serveral people that we know have been going through. It also goes hand-in-hand with a part of a movie that Barbara and I watched a couple days ago. In essence, people wonder why is it that God allows bad things to happen to good people. People wonder if he is in control, then why is it disasters take place. Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Types of disasters that kill thousands upon thousands of people. 

These are real thoughts people have. They are questions people have for God. And I bet if we’re honest, they are questions many of us have ACTUALLY asked God. Why this? Why that? It’s human nature to want to know why. I remember when the tornado hit Joplin, I was interviewing people who had been in the middle of it. One of them was a manager of a local store. Had people around him die. Another guy I interviewed lost his son. They were together on their way home from his sons high school graduation. The young man was literally pulled out of the driver’s seat and died. During the interviews, I asked both of these individuals, “Where was God during the storm?” Their answers amazed me.

The store manager told me that it’s not our place to question that. Questioning death is not for us to do. God‘s plan will be revealed. If anything, he said it made him closer to God. One reason was he believed that he needed to seek God more often. Another reason was because, hundreds around him survived. The father’s answer was even more amazing. He told me that God was there and allowed him to hand his son over to him. Read that again! Very powerful. I have been asked, “If God is such a loving God, why did he paralyze you? Why hasn’t he healed you? Why does he let you struggle each day being paralyzed?” My answer is simple. “He didn’t paralyze me. I did. He kept me alive. Because he uses me daily in this chair, more than he would have out of it.” It’s in these questioning times that we have to stand on what the truth is about God. 

We all have heard the saying: “I wish I could go back 20 years ago, knowing what I know now.” Or you might say 30 years, or 40 years. The years really aren’t important for the saying. It’s the “knowing what I know now” part that makes it interesting. Another interesting question to add to this is, “Would you really want to change anything if you went back?” Think about your life now. How different would it be if you were to make changes years ago? That’s some real food for thought isn’t it.

Let’s go a different direction now. Let’s think about what life would look like if we knew the outcome in the future. If we knew where we’d be, or what we’d be doing. Would our decisions now be different? Would how we view our daily lives be different? I would like to suggest, that yes things probably would be different for us now. Knowing what’s coming ahead. We would definitely make preparations. That would be human nature.

Here is what is awesome about being a believer. We don’t have to know what’s ahead if we know God. God has a plan for us. Our futures are in his hands. We can rest assured knowing the path has been paved. He will see us through. Through both our triumphs and our trials. Being human, and being part of this world, we get to make decisions. Sometimes those decisions have real lasting impacts on our lives. Like the one that I made 33 years ago that led to me being paralyzed. But, now with God in my life, I know what my future holds. I know the lasting impact of being a believer. That is eternity. Eternity with him.

Raise your hand this morning if you have never struggled with anything. Raise your hand if everything has came easily to you with no obstacles. Raise your hand if life has been so smooth for you, you have never worried about anything. I’m guessing every one of you kept your hands down. I know I did. Because one thing I know, or at least I believe, is that everyone struggles at one point or another. If you breathe, do you have struggled. Or you will struggle with something.

Being human comes with trials. We all have that in common. That was the point of the breathe comment. Being human requires breathing. If you breathe, you will struggle. And it seems lately, several of my friends have been going through things that have caused real struggle in their lives. Divorce. Financial. Accusations. Anxiety. PTSD. The list goes on, and on, and on. It’s moments like these that we find ourselves doing anything within our power to get out of them. Which is natural. Nobody wants to go through hard times. Sometimes we even catch ourselves begging to God. Begging that he would take the difficulties away.

If you don’t mind, I would like to share a couple thoughts on this. I believe that God is able to remove whatever he sees fit. I also believe that God chooses to allow us to go through hard times intentionally. Some may call it punishment. I’m not sure I agree with that. Although he can punish us if he wants to. Maybe he does. But I look at these as times that we are being built for what’s coming ahead. These are times that we seek God like never before. We trust him like never before. We have our faith in him like never before. And that builds us. Strengthens us for what lies ahead. I realize that at the moment, it may seem impossible to get through. But you can. And you will if you let him help you. God loves us. Loves us all. Always has. Always will.

Let’s start this morning with some questions. And when you think about them, be truly honest with yourself. Sometimes real growth comes from tough questions. As you read these, please know that these questions are for me too. I think they are for everyone. So here we go. What does your relationship with God look like? What does it really look like? I know you probably know who he is. But do you really know him? Are you a follower? Or are you a disciple? 

There are many people out there who don’t understand Jesus. They don’t GET it. They proclaim to be followers. And that is awesome. But they don’t understand the abundant life that someone can get with a true relationship with Jesus. If I’m honest with myself, I did not know what a relationship was with Jesus until I was in my 30s. I remember being a new believer. And I thought being a Christian meant going to church, bowing my head and praying, listening to Christian music. I tried to copy who I thought were good Christians. There’s nothing wrong with doing those things. But there is so much more to be a believer. Working on a relationship with Christ is the key.

So today let’s work on building a relationship with Jesus. A real relationship. He wants to hear from us. He loves us and wants to see us succeed. And he is here for us when we go through tough times. Having a relationship will help us get through those moments. Plus we can rejoice with him during our successes. Let’s remember we have eternal security with Jesus in our lives. And for that alone, we should work on building our relationship with him. Let’s all work on becoming disciples. Let’s strive to show others how to do the same thing. If we can do these things, more and more people will come to know Jesus. And that will be awesome and glorious.

This last week I was talking with a friend of mine who is going through a very difficult time. Let’s just say that people that he has been very close to you for several years have turned on him. He is seeing a side of people he did not realize existed. A very ugly side. It’s so unfortunate that sometimes we go through moments like these. We go through moments where it seems like we are being attacked and we don’t know why. 

It’s moments like these that I believe God is building us. He is preparing us for something. We don’t know why at that time it’s happening. But, it could be he is setting us up for what is coming ahead. Times like these are hard to get through. Especially when those around you have turned their backs on you. But it’s times like these that I believe God is telling us to turn to him. To let him take control. To let him do his work. God is asking us to trust him. And I also believe he’s wanting us to forgive those who have wronged us during these times. Oh boy, how hard that is. It can be beyond our understanding. No doubt.

But we must remember, God has forgiven us. And that is also beyond our understanding. He has forgiven us even though we don’t deserve it. Sound familiar? I bet it does. I bet those who have wronged you, don’t deserve forgiveness. Releasing the resentment that we have helps purify our hearts. Releasing that resentment might require us to have God help us. Chances are, we are unable to do so by ourselves. Which is also part of us being prepared by God. He is working on our hearts in ways that we cannot understand. But no matter what it is, we must remember it is for our good. So maybe today is the day for us to go to our knees and ask God to take control. Maybe today is the day to LET him take control. Let him take our hearts. Let him begin working on us like never before. Maybe today is the day that we truly learn to trust him for his love.

This morning I was watching ESPN as I was getting ready. In their spotlight story they talked about a young wrestler from New York. Dunia is his name. If you haven’t seen it, look for it. It was pretty incredible. I have a link to a similar story about him below. Without giving the way what happens, let me just say it involves a horrific attack when he was younger. But the point of this devotion isn’t about the attack. As I was watching the story, three things stuck out to me: Perseverance. Love. Hearts of servants. 

This young man persevered. He persevered out of a situation that was terrible. After the attack, he was the only remaining survivor. Moved on in life to become a wrestler. A successful wrestler. Very inspiring to say the least. Also, his story is a great example of love. He now lives with a family in New York that fell in love with him immediately. Took him in and now care for him. Finally, the hearts I’m talking about are the ones that the doctors and the foundation have. His care was done at no cost. There would’ve been no way that he could’ve covered the expense. Serving others is a tremendous blessing. Not only to those being served, but also to those doing the serving.

Everything here reminds me of Jesus. Reminds me of his life on earth as human. He left his throne to join us. To live a life as a man. He had to persevere through so many things. The obstacles in his path. The hate and anger he endured. He never wavered. Kept on pushing through. The love he showed those that he came across. Amazing stories. The Bible is full of stories showing examples of his life. And how he preached about loving others. Something that we should all learn from. And I can confidently say that we all agree he had a servant’s heart. Just think about a story in the Bible. Any story. I’m sure you can see the point here. Constantly serving others. Ultimately dying, serving others. Serving us. All three of these are ways that we should live. We should persevere through what the world puts in our way. Never wavering. Staying constant. We should love others. We are even commanded to love our enemies. Difficult to do. Believe me, I know. And we should serve others with open hearts. Putting them above us. Valuing them over ourselves. Once again, I know this can be hard. But we can do it. We can do all of these things with God in our lives. He will lead us, if we let him. Because he loves us. Always has. Always will.

Dunia link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lYBNve6V5F4

The last two days were the first round games of the NCAA Division One Men’s Basketball Tournament. Better known as the Road to the Final Four. This is also the time of the year that high school teams in Missouri are playing for the state championship. The NBA season is beginning to move towards the playoffs as well. I love this time of year. I especially love watching March Madness.

All of this reminds me a Coach Armstrong. We would be talking about the games we watched. The players that were making the biggest impact. I was always looking forward to our conversations. One thing he used to say was, “You better have your ducks in a row.” Basically saying, you better be prepared. You never know what’s coming. Not only was he talking about basketball, he was talking about life. And he was spot on. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Preparation in basketball takes practice. Perfect practice. That’s how you get better. Hard practice leads to easy games. The same can be said about life.

We aren’t promised tomorrow. We aren’t promised the next few minutes. We never know what’s coming around the corner. Or when the end is going to be here. When we are born, we are promised one thing. There will be an end. So maybe we need to look at our lives. Maybe we need to take inventory and make sure that we are prepared. And the only way to be prepared for eternity is to have Jesus in our lives. That’s the only way to ensure that we are ready. If you don’t know Jesus, let’s talk. Let’s make sure you are prepared. Let’s make sure you are ready for when life here ends. If you do know Jesus, make sure that you are living life like he wants you to. Love him. Love others. Serve the world.