SERVING SIX ONE

Did you ever think about Moses’ rod? You know the one he held up when the Red Sea parted.  The one that he struck the rock with and water came forth, the one he threw down and it became  a serpent. The one that he touched the Nile with causing it to turn to blood. That rod. Did you  ever really think about it. It was just a rod. Just an ordinary stick that Moses used to poke, prod,  direct, and protect a bunch of sheep. It was just an ordinary rod, and would have remained an  ordinary rod if he had not obeyed the voice of God and let it go.

God asked Moses “What is that in your hand?” (Ex.4:2) to which Moses replied “A rod.” Now of  course God knew what it was, he just wanted to make sure Moses knew. But what happened  next is what is so profound. God told Moses to throw the rod down. To let it go. To give it to  Him. When Moses did the rod became a serpent and then of course that rod accompanied him  as he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. A simple man, with a simple rod, doing miraculous things because of a willingness to let go and let God!

You know, there are things right now that you are holding that God wants to use. Little things that could be great when touched by God’s power. So, what do you have that the Almighty could use? Are you willing to let it go? Are you willing to trust Him with it?

Just as there are things you are holding that God can use if you give them to Him, there are also things you are holding onto that God wants you to let go of . Things that are keeping you from following after God. Things that are keeping you from hearing Him, trusting Him, and knowing His will for your life. Are you holding on to something that is affecting your relationship with God? Something that is keeping you from the blessings God has for your life? Is it a relationship, a hurt, a fear, a grudge? What is that you may be refusing to let go of because it is familiar to you, something that you are used to carrying around with you for so long that you have become attached to it?

God is saying “Let it Go”. Let go of the past so the past will let go of you. Then and only then will you be able to live and enjoy the fullness of what God has for your life.

So, what are you holding on to? Do you have talents, ideas, dreams, abilities, thoughts, or desires that God could be using for His glory? Or do you have bitterness, unforgiveness, secrets, broken dreams, or spiritual ties with people that you know needs to be severed? God says Let it Go! The choice is yours, and so are the repercussions.

Your life is like a garden; whatever you plant in it is exactly what it will produce. This is so true. Whatever you sow, you will reap. It is the Law of Reciprocity in action. God’s law, set in motion from the very beginning. Look at where it got Adam and Eve– booted out of paradise. Bad choices have consequences to go along with them. And the sooner we realize that and start making good choices, the better off we will be.

I am reminded of this law of reaping and sowing every time I go out and have to pull weeds out of my flower beds. I really hate weeding. I don’t like having to get down on my hands and knees and pluck, pull and sometimes wrestle with those little aggravating, persistent things that grow where everything else won’t. But it has to be done. In order to enjoy the beauty of my flowers, I have to take the time and tend my garden.

So, while I am out there doing the dreaded chore, I think and pray. I think of all the weeds I have sown in my own life and in the lives of those I love. I think about all the times I said something I shouldn’t have said. I think about all the things I did that I shouldn’t have done. I think about the ugly weeds that have poked their unsightly heads up in my life, or my loved one’s lives, that I had a hand in planting.

As you can see, weeding is an especially daunting task for me. But it is also a necessary one. It makes me realize how foolish and how serious our actions can be. One little negative, harsh, condemning, or condescending word we say can cause major problems later on. With that unique  little gardening tool called the tongue, we can plant so very many seeds, many of which can be devastating to the garden that they are sown in.

With just our words we are able to sow discouragement, doubt, insecurity, fear, hate, jealousy, anger, distrust,lies…and the list goes on. And all of those seeds grow in the garden in which they are planted, sometimes being very destructive and at times even devastating.

I recently read about an 11 year boy who killed himself because of the teasing and cruel words of some of his peers. He simply couldn’t take the pain, the hurt, the discouragement, and the insecurity that had sprung up inside of him due to what was carelessly sown by others. Seeds sown. Weeds grown. Life gone. Just like that.

The seeds we sow have more of an affect that what we realize. And, we will be held accountable for every word said, every deed done, every seed sown. We will reap the harvest for every seed we sow. It may not happen right  away, but believe me, every seed counts. Just like  the old cliche’ says, “What goes around, comes around”, what you do and say will come back to you.

You see, God holds us responsible for our words and actions. He expects us to say and do what is right. To treat others as we wish to be treated. To love one another. Be kind to one another. The law of reaping and sowing is a law He established and it cannot be avoided. The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:7-10:

“Don’t be misled— you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”

We need to be mindful of what we sow, because we will get back a harvest. Weeds, or flowers. Good fruit or bad fruit. The choice is ours. We control the garden of our life. We have to live on the crop of what we have sown. We have to pay the price for the sins we commit.

So, be careful where you sow, what you plant, and how well you tend your garden. Your life depends on the harvest it will bring forth!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Dad lately. This May will be two (2) years since he has been with us. It seems like yesterday when he was still lingering in that hospital bed and I was able to lean down and kiss his forehead and whisper that I loved him, something that I had been too embarrassed to do or say for most of my adult life.

In a way, his 5-year struggle with cancer was a blessing, as it was a wake-up call that we all recognized as a message from God saying, ‘Life is short. Live it while you can. Family matters. God matters.”

I don’t know if I ever would have kissed my Dad again, had he met his demise in some other way, such as a heart attack or sudden accident. Sure, he displayed affection to me when I was a little boy. I remember him taking me in his arms and swinging me around and hugging me when he was proud of something I had done. But sadly, somehow, when boys start to grow into men, many lose the ability to show affections that were once perfectly natural in our younger days.

So, with him lying there, I bent down and kissed him. It was so hard because men are not supposed to do that, right? But I am glad that I was able to overcome my inhibitions and do it.

Dad taught me a lot about emotions. His favorite emotion (if you can call it an emotion) was laughter. He loved jokes – clean ones. And there are some of my dad’s jokes that I probably heard over 100 times. Most were pretty corny. In fact, many of the times when his jokes elicited laughter…his audience was not laughing with him, but at him and how stupid his joke was.

Yes, Dad taught me how to laugh; but he also taught me how to cry. He wasn’t afraid to cry in front of his children. He would always cry when a movie ended happily. Dad would weep for joy when he heard about our accomplishments and accolades.

I remember when our dog got hit by a car when I was in the 7th grade. Dad cried louder and harder than me or younger sister.

In the final months of Dad’s life as he battled valiantly with cancer, Dad kept telling us how he wanted to go home. “I want to go HOME,” he would say over and over again. “Dad, you ARE home, ” my sisters and I would answer. “No, I’m not. No, I’m not. I want to go HOME.”

They say there’s no tears in heaven, but my family knows that this is not true…because on May 15th at 5:16 p.m., 2007, my dad was probably so excited that he cried as he embraced Jesus and heard the words, “Welcome HOME.”

Effective prayer can be powerful. Whether you believe in Christian prayer, Catholic prayer, Muslim prayer, or any type of religious prayer I think most people would agree with this statement. Even folks who are not necessarily religious, but consider themselves “spiritual” profess to the power of quite meditation or prayer.

Now, I personally believe that the only effective prayer is one that is made earnestly to God through Jesus Christ. James 5:16 says that “…the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (NIV). Another way of saying it is “…the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available…(Amplified Bible).

So we know prayer can be powerful when used effectively and applied the right way, but what if there is no prayer at all? It’s kind of hard to benefit from the power of prayer when we don’t pray at all or very little, isn’t it? Well, I believe there is a little solution that can go a LONG way in helping us with our prayer life (or lack of it).

The power of 10. 10 minutes a day multiplied by 365 days is 3,650 minutes a year. That equates to roughly 60 hours a year. Now what is 60 hours a year? Suppose your boss told you that you were being sent to a conference to learn about a new piece of software…and that you were going to sit for 1 1/2 weeks 8-hour, 5-day weeks to learn and practice this new software.

Don’t you think when you came back home 1 1/2 weeks later that you would know a lot more about it than when you left? Depending on the material to learn, there is a decent chance that you would be a bonafide expert on the subject if you applied 60 hours to it.

Well, that’s what can happen when you learn to harness the power of 10 in your prayer life. 10 minutes a day. Just 10 minutes equates to 60 hours a year. The fact is that most of us don’t pray 60 hours total a year.

Oh, we pray in little spurts. 5 minutes one day, two minutes a couple of days later. We may even pray for a solid hour on occasion…or perhaps pray really hard for something when we need it…but if God was to do a spiritual audit of most of us Christians, He would more thank likely find a lot less than 60 hours of prayer during the course of a year.

But now we can change all that in just 10 minutes. 10 minutes of prayer a day. Now let’s suppose that we don’t think we have 10 minutes. I, personally, believe we do, but just for the sake of argument let’s say that you work 90 hours a week and sleep or drive back and forth to work for the other 78 hours and don’t ever mindlessly surf the internet, make casual cell phone calls, play with Twitter or Facebook, watch your favorite television show or movie. I would still bet that you DO somehow make it to the bathroom a few times a week…and I certainly hope you take a shower once in a while. What about fixing your hair of brushing your teeth?

I found that when I did my own “personal” audit, that many of these times I was either daydreaming, worrying, or simply not using my mind consciously at all. I also found that when I was able to consciously say little focused prayers during these necessary activities that the time added up. In fact, it added up to a LOT more than 10 minutes a day – more like 30-60.

If we would look hard, we would find even more opportunities for prayer. What about the drive time to and from school or work? What about exercise time? What about the first few minutes after we close our eyes at night or the first few minutes during the morning as we get out of bed? As Ecclesiastes 8:5 says “…Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right.” (NLT)

And for those religious people who believe prayer should only be done on one’s knees over long periods of time, I would ask: Could it be that the reason people don’t pray as much as they should is because of people like you who make them feel guilty when they don’t do it your way?