Month: March 2024

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 being 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.

Recently, 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 might not 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. I’ve been there.

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. But releasing the resentment that we have helps purify our hearts. Releasing that resentment probably will 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.

There’s an incredible story that ESPN did about a young man from the Congo. I’m not going to share with you what happened in case you watch it. What I am going to say is that it is truly amazing and inspiring. ESPN did the story because the young man featured in it is a young wrestler from New York. Dunia is his name. If you haven’t seen it, I have a link about him below. Trust me. The six minutes is worth your time to watch. Without giving away what happens, let me just say it involves a horrific attack when he was younger. Actually, horrific does not describe it enough. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean. 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. Having a heart to serve others is a 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. Yet, 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 while he was doing what…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

NCAA Division 1 Basketball Tournaments start this week. Both for the men and the women. I follow them in pretty closely. And I’ll watch some of the women play. Especially Kaitlyn Clark. These tournaments are known as the Road to the Final Four. This is also the time of the year that high school teams in Missouri are done playing for a state championship. The NBA season is beginning to move towards the playoffs as well. I love this time of year. To me, there’s not much better to watch than March Madness.

This time of year makes me think about Coach Armstrong. We would talk about the matchups. We would talk about the games we watched. The players that were making the biggest impact. I always looked forward to our conversations. As much as I enjoyed talking about basketball, he would always shift the conversations to life lessons. Definitely a skill that he was amazing at. 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. The only way. There’s no question. There’s no alternate. The only way is through Jesus. 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. Let’s do these things for others will also have eternity with Jesus waiting for them.

Here’s another tough one. And believe me as I’m writing this, I am pointing this at myself. It’s directed towards me. But I’m guessing others out there probably need to hear it too. It’s tough because it deals with our thoughts. Because our thoughts can consume us. They can control us. Our thoughts can have their way with us if we let them. Sometimes we find ourselves losing control of them. And that’s not good. Especially if they are toxic. Unhealthy. Any of you know what I’m talking about? I’m guessing that several of you, if not most of you, probably know exactly what I’m talking about. 

When I first became a believer in 1992, I was still struggling with who I was. I was struggling with who I was going to be. I wasn’t even 21 years old yet. And I was trying to figure out my path. What was it going to look like. I knew I needed to shed my old self. But I was struggling with that because that’s what I had been for so long. And let’s just say that my thoughts at that time in life were not very pure. As I’ve gotten older, I have learned to control them. There have been times that I could feel the wrong things coming into my head, and then I would intentionally steer my thoughts other directions. One thing Barbara said to me years ago resonated with me. And I hope she still believes it now. She told me that she appreciated way I would turn my head away from other women. She might not have known it, but that was intentional. I was intentionally turning my attention to my beautiful wife. That way I would keep my thoughts on wanting her. And only her.

You see, our thoughts have so much control over us that sometimes they can lead to action. My example earlier is just a small part of what I’m trying to say. We live in a world that tries to control what we believe. What we think. Telling us that this is ok, that is ok, this is fine, that is fine, etc. Look at this. Watch that. Listen to this. Do that. So many things coming at us from so many different directions. We must learn to control what we think, and let that help us control what we believe. If we can keep in control this way, then our actions will follow. So today, let’s pray for God to help us keep our thoughts pure. Keep our thoughts on things that he wants us to focus on. Let’s pray for his wisdom when temptations do come. Let’s remember that we are created in his image. And we can defeat anything that comes our way. Especially, when the evil one tries to creep in to our minds.

Lately have you found yourself in a place where nothing seems familiar? A place where you have nothing left? Has your faith been tested? What about having doubts? Doubting that you are capable of anything. Sometimes these things can be overwhelming. That can cause fear. We can lose confidence that we can help others. We don’t believe we are good to ourselves at all. So, how can we possibly be good to others? Fear not though. It’s moments like these that God is there waiting to build us back up.

We are all aware that Satan is a snake sneaking around. He uses whatever opportunities he can to destroy us. And it is moments like in the first paragraph where he thrives. Doing all he can to assure us that we are unworthy. We are hopeless. That God has forsaken us. So let’s work on battling him back. Putting him back in his place. Where he belongs. Let’s declare God‘s truth in our lives. We can shout it out. We can pray it quietly. We can speak it softly. Whatever way we decide to do it, let’s declare God is in control. Because he is.

So today let’s go to our knees. Let’s talk to God. Tell him are concerns. Let him know that our faith is weak in moments where it is. Let’s tell him we trust him. Let’s pray for strength that can only come from him. Today is the beginning of us knowing that we may stumble. We may fall. But today is also the day of us knowing that we can rise up with Jesus. We can press on. We can be confident and crush our doubts. We can face whatever comes our way because the Lord is our strength. And it is perfect. Finally, let’s believe that God has us. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.

I’ve been asked many times about that night 33 years ago when I was paralyzed. People wonder if I would’ve done anything different. Such a great question. Ever wish you could go back in time and do something different? Make a different decision than what you had made? Maybe go somewhere, try something, or not go somewhere, or not try something different? Erase a mistake that you made? Or add to the successes that you had? Sure you do. I think all of us have had that thought at one point or another. Go back in time, knowing what you know now. Truth is though, we can learn from our past. Our mistakes and our successes.

But today, I think we should focus on where we are and where we are going. Let’s not focus solely on the past. Let’s move forward. Let’s move forward knowing that God has us. Think of it this way: “The person I was isn’t the person I am, nor is it the person that I hope to become.” Let’s look forward to what God has planned for us. We don’t want to forget where we have come from. We don’t want to forget where we have been. That’s part of knowing who we are. But reminding ourselves of our past, especially our mistakes, can get us into a rut that is hard to get out of. And that can limit us on serving God and showing his glory to others. Then that becomes a victory for the enemy. Not good!

So today, let’s try to be ready to move forward. Let’s try to build on our past. Not forget it. But, not dwell on it. Let’s use it to catapult us forward. Let’s believe that our best days are ahead of us. If we allow it, our faith will guide us. It’ll keep us on course. I know it’s not easy to do this all the time. Believe me, I’ve been there. I understand. But, faith will give us the strength to carry on. Despite what has happened, or what we are going through, faith will get us there. God has us covered. Whatever we are going through, he already knows. He will see us through. Which is exactly what he has done for me. He has seen me through. Of course, I wish I wasn’t paralyzed. But, I wouldn’t change my life one bit. He has blessed me. He will bless you too.