Some Things Look Better When Your Eyes Are Closed

Before we had the Internet and email I used to write letters to people or send postcards. Although I still send postcards to people from time to time most of my letter writing days are behind me now. When I did write letters, and sometimes when I wrote a postcard, I would end with my name and sometimes with a little smiling face next to my name. But, the thing was that when I would draw the little smiling face I would always draw it with the eyes closed, on purpose, to make a point for myself and anyone else who I told this "secret" to: some things look better when your eyes are closed. That statement is based on a verse from the Bible, 2 Corinthians 4:18.

"while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV)

There are things we can see in the Bible that do not always agree with what we see in our everyday life. For example, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is a Christian that person is a new creation and old things have passed away. By just looking at a person physically and from a natural standpoint that does not always make sense because that person does not change their physical appearance when they become a Christian. So sometimes we must look past the natural things we see to the spiritual truth the Bible teaches us.

Another example of this is when we face a difficult situation in our life or our physical body is attacked with sickness. We have the choice of what will we "look" at. Will we look at and focus our attention on the natural and physical reality that we see or the spiritual truth that the Bible shows us? While we cannot deny the reality of the situation in our life we need to realize that there is a higher reality that we need to look at if we want to have victory and success in our life.

We cannot just say to someone "I am not having a problem" or "I am not sick" or "I do not have a bill to pay" when that is the natural reality. But instead we can say like the Bible says, "No matter what situation I face God is on my side and He will help me" or we can say "Jesus took my sickness and pain on Himself at the cross and I declare myself healthy and healed" or in when we find ourselves in a challenging situation financially we can say "The Bible says God will supply everything I need". When we do this we are choosing to look at the spiritual truth in the Bible and we are choosing not to look at and focus only on the natural situation. When we do this we are doing things the way God would have us do them and by getting in line with God's Word and declaring it we are on the pathway to success. Sometimes things do look better when our eyes are closed.

Preparation For Tomorrow Starts... Yesterday

The other day I was out running and on my route there is a hill that is a bit steep. Most of the time when I see people riding their bicycles get to this hill they have to stop and walk their bikes to get to the top. While I was running the other day and starting on my way down the hill there was someone riding their bicycle the other direction approaching the hill. This person was not going very fast and as he started going up the hill he continued to peddle trying to make it all the way up without dismounting from his bicycle. As I saw this taking place I thought to myself that there is no way he will make it all the way up the hill because he waited until it was too late to really get the speed necessary to go up the hill.

As I watched this happening I got thinking about how this is just like what so many people do in life, they wait until it is too late to try and do something that they should have been doing all along. Most people wait until they have financial problems before they really try to get a handle on their finances. People don't go to see the dentist until their teeth start to hurt or they wait until they experience health problems before they begin an exercise program. These natural examples have a parallel in the spiritual realm because most Christians really don't get too serious about God and the Bible until they are in a crisis situation. By the time all of these things are taking place it is past the time to have started to do something about the situation.

My title for this blog of "Preparation For Tomorrow Starts... Yesterday" is not a mistake but an attempt to emphasize the point that we need to start right now to do the things that will help us be ready for our future. Some people have come to me with problems that they are facing and what I want to tell them is that the real answer is that they should have been doing something about this a long time ago and if they had they would not even be in their bad situation. As Christians, if we spend time with God though reading and studying the Bible and fellowship with God in prayer on a regular basis we will keep ourselves built up spiritually and then when problems come, as they always will, we will be ready to meet the challenge and come through victoriously!

Now I am certainly not trying to put guilt or condemnation on anyone with what I am saying. The good news is that even when we make mistakes and don't do what we could have or should have done in the past God will still help us, but think of the difficulties we could avoid if we would prepare ourselves as best we can beforehand. Start where you are today and get your spiritual life in order and begin to build yourself up in God's Word so you are ready to deal with any kind of difficulty. If we do all we can now to prepare ourselves then we will be in the position to stand strong and overcome in the storms of life and help others to do so too.

Real Rest And Being Refreshed

We live in a very busy society today where there is so much going on that sometimes it seems like it never stops. People make out to-do lists and instead of checking things off and completing it the list seems like it just keeps on growing. Everyone has things that they need to do and work that has to get done. But what we do in life should not bring us to the point where we can't go on anymore or we have to take a break before we have a breakdown.

Many people look forward to a time of vacation as the answer to their problem. The trouble is that often people take a vacation and come back home just as tired as they were before and sometimes even more tired. Some people dream of changing jobs or better pay at their current job only to find out that advancing in their career is not as satisfying as they thought it would be. Other people think a change in a relationship or a change of address will be the answer only to find that any new relationship or place of residence still includes them and the same issues that they faced before. Many people today live under a lot of stress and not many people seem to have a real lasting answer to the problem; but, as always, the Bible has the answer!

Jesus said: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NKJV)

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Acts 3:19 (NKJV)

First and foremost a relationship with Jesus as the Savior and Lord of our life is the starting point for any real answers to what we face. But, even when someone is a Christian they are not immune to this same busyness and stress that comes from the workload that many people carry today. Personally I know what it is like to have more things to do than there seems to be time to do them. The main thing we have to do is look to God as our source of strength and satisfaction. Just doing this and keeping our focus on God will help us with what we are dealing with.

Setting priorities is definitely something we all need to do. There are also times when people are busy with things that have no real place in their life and this is causing them problems as well. Jesus said if we would come to Him He would give us rest. Acts 3:19 points out the important fact that real refreshing comes from God and nothing else. If you are facing what seems to be an overload in your life maybe you need to spend more time with God and less time with some other things. Setting your focus on God and the things that God puts value on can help you see any areas in life where there needs to be an adjustment. God wants us to live happy, healthy, and satisfying lives. We all have a lot of things to do but by looking to God and building our life on Him and His Word we can live in a place of real rest and keep ourselves refreshed.

Opportunities For Influence

Unless you are a hermit and live in a cave somewhere you interact with people every day. There are a lot of days that I work at home and even then I still have some interaction with other people either through a telephone call, an email, or through some other means over the Internet. No matter how we make our connections with other people we have an opportunity to be a positive or negative influence on them. Even if you just go shopping or something like that you are still around people that you can have an influence on one way or another.

About a year ago a couple of people encouraged me to create a Facebook account. It has been a good experience overall as I have been able to connect with friends and family that I might not otherwise have had much contact with. But I have also noticed that Facebook and other social networking Internet sites are great opportunities for influencing others. Through the Internet we have opportunities to reach out and influence others in a way that was not possible just a few years ago, but I wonder if we are all using these means we have in the best way possible.

Recently I was thinking about some people I have known in the past and what kind of an influence they had on me. There are people that I have known who helped me get to the place I am at today because they took advantage of the opportunities that were available to make a positive impact on my life. At times I have wondered how different my life would be if some of these people had not done what they did for me. It inspires me to want to do more to make an impact on others and to use every tool I have available to me to get the job done. If I am able to be in direct contact with someone then I can do it in person. If I am on the phone, writing an email, or even posting some status update on Facebook I want it to be something that will help to point people in the right direction and make a positive impact on their life. It would be a good thing if we all made the choice to take advantage of the opportunities available to us and to be a positive influence on the people around us in every way we can.

Change Your Words And Change Your Life

"A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands will be rendered to him." Proverbs 12:14 (NKJV)

"A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled." Proverbs 18:20 (NKJV)

These two verses tell a very important Bible truth; our words will have an influence on our life. In November of last year I wrote another blog about the importance of our words. This is such a vital topic that I wanted to say some more about it. This subject is something that we see over and over again in the Bible but it seems most Christians do not really understand what their words are doing for them and even to them.

Some people would say that their life is just not what it should be and that they are not satisfied with how their life is going. My answer would be Proverbs 12:14 and Proverbs 18:20, our life is what it is now because of the things we have said in the past. There have been times when I have told people about these verses and said that if they are not satisfied with their life then they should check what they are saying. When people take a look at their life and see that it is filled with things they don't like and they are in situations that they want to change I tell them that they need to change what they say.

Now I know that the whole message of what our words will do for us has been taken to an extreme by some people but this does not do away with the biblical truth that our words will shape our life. In James 2 it compares our tongue to the rudder on a ship showing us that we can set the course for our life by the things that we say. If we will use our words wisely and say the right kinds of words it will change our life. If we would start saying what the Bible says about who we are, our life today, and our future and less about what things look like and what other people have said we would change the course of our life. If you aren't satisfied with how things are going in your life and your world seems to be filled with nothing but trouble then change what you say and you will change your life!

Walking In Love - Putting Others First

Here in Germany I live by the Rhine River and that is where I like to go when I do some running. But I am not the only person who likes to make use of the path by the Rhine and some days there is quite a bit of congestion on that path. Sometimes with other people running, people riding bicycles, and people walking there is not much room available. Besides that, it seems that a lot of people don't have any interest in moving out of the way for anyone else and I have heard some angry words and seen some mean looks that people give one another just because no one seems to want to make room for anyone else.

Well, recently I was thinking about some Bible verses that fit with this situation. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 the Amplified Bible says: "Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self seeking". Then Philippians 2:3-4 in the New King James Bible translation tells us, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." While these verses are probably not what most people would consider their favorites, they are powerful verses that show us an important truth; we should put the needs of others before our own desires.

Now, I am not saying that you should let people push you around and take advantage of you. But what I am saying is that as much as we are able we should do things that help and benefit others even if it is not something that directly helps or benefits us personally. It is easy to get so caught up in our own world and what we want or need to do and then just plow ahead in life no matter how others are impacted by what we do. This area of walking in love towards others is something we must continually work on because we all tend to be too self-centered.

After my thoughts about this the other day I have been making more of an effort to try to find ways to help others and not just focus on what I want. Just today I stopped to wait and let someone go into a store, and even open the door for them, although I myself was in a bit of a rush. The result was that the person just looked at me a bit surprised and that made me smile. Romans 5:5 says that as Christians the love of God is in us and I think it would do all of us some good if we found some ways to let that love out by putting the needs of others ahead of our own needs. What a different world it would be if this was something everyone did!

The Bible - The Christian's Instruction Book

Last week I bought a new computer. My old computer is almost 5 years old and it began to have some problems with the hard drive. Try as I might I could not fix this problem and realized that a new computer was the best solution. So, I spent some time checking out what was available, found a computer I liked and bought it. After I ordered my computer I found the manufactures user guide for this model on the Internet and started to familiarize myself with what my new computer could do and what features were available.

My excitement over having a new computer tempted me to fall into the trap that many people do when they get a new computer or something else new. I was so happy to have this wonderful new computer that I wanted to just start using it without reading the user guide. But I realized that if I did not read the user guide then there would be many things involved with using my new computer that I would not make the best use of, if I even knew to use them at all. The user manual for my computer is 192 pages long and I just wanted to skip around to read about the parts I thought were most interesting to me but I put that off too and made my way through the document. Now, while I am still learning how everything in my new computer works, because I read through the instruction book I believe that I am having a much better overall experience with my computer than I would have had otherwise.

For Christians, the Bible is our instruction book. If we want to have the best "Christian experience" we should read the user guide given by the manufacturer. So many people are excited about God and being a Christian but they fail to take advantage of all of the great things that God has provided for them and sometimes Christians fail to use what has been given to them in the right way because they have never read the entire instruction book. There are parts of the Bible that people may want to spend more time focusing on than others but to get the best results we need to read and know everything that our instruction manual, the Bible, has to say.

As I talk with people it is surprising and sad to see how many Christians really do not know very much about the Bible at all. While I would never claim to know everything in the Bible I do know from all of my years as a Christian and a minister that most people really do not know what the Bible has to say and they live below what God intended them to have as a result. The best thing we can do as Christians is to make it a habit to read the Bible often, and not just the parts we think are interesting, and learn everything we can about what God has provided for us through Jesus. It's all in our instruction book, we just have to read it and make the proper use of it.

Christian Confidence

This coming Sunday is Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday as many Christians call it. This is a day that Christians celebrate the fact that Jesus has risen and is alive today. What most Christians fail to realize is exactly what that means for their lives today. Of course we understand that because Jesus is risen our sins are forgiven and through accepting the work of Jesus in His death and resurrection Christians will one day go to heaven. The really good news is that we don't have to wait until we get to heaven to experience all of the benefits and blessings that Jesus has provided for us.

A person could actually write quite a lot about all of the good things that God has provided for us through Jesus Christ but I just want to write a bit about our Christian identity. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus took our sin and we became the righteousness of God in Christ. This is a wonderful statement that, at least in my opinion, most Christians do not fully understand. Rather than think of ourselves in light of the redemptive work of Jesus most Christians view themselves through their feelings, their good or bad deeds, and even their natural background (such as national or ethnic origin, etc).

To have an effective life as a Christian we need to do as it says in Colossians 3:2 and "exercise our mind" on things above because our real life, who we really are, is hidden in Christ. When facing difficult circumstances too many Christians wilt because they have no real Christian confidence (based on who they are in Christ), they only have their own self confidence (based on who they are from a natural standpoint). Instead of boldly facing any challenge of life that comes to them they shrink feeling inadequate to do what is necessary to succeed. If we focus on who we are in Christ we can have a true Christian confidence knowing that God is on our side (Romans 8:31), God will help us (Hebrews 13:6), and He will lead us triumphantly at all times (2 Corinthians 2:14)! In ourselves we really don't amount to much but with God on our side and Jesus as our Savior we can have great Christian confidence.

Another Part Of Missionary Life

When people think about someone who is a missionary they normally think about what that person does in the country they live in, which is usually not their country of origin. However, one necessary part of missionary life takes place away from where the missionary normally works. This is the part of missionary life that has to do with connecting with ministry partners and raising financial support.

Currently I am nearing the end of a three week trip in the USA where I have been doing a bit of traveling to speak in churches, visit with supporters, friends, and family, and I also attended some meetings at RHEMA USA in Tulsa, OK. My time in the USA is always enjoyable and I try to make the most of it. It is important to connect with and thank the people who support me in the work that I do in Germany and Europe and it is also good to look for opportunities to talk with other people who may be interested in what I am doing.

One thing I find over and over again is that people are excited about what God is doing around the world. It is good for everyone to have a vision for reaching the world and when I can tell others about how God is changing people's lives through the work I am involved in it can help in this process. For the people who currently support me it is great to have the chance to share with them about what they are helping me to do.

While I am in the USA there is a lot of traveling and visiting with people to talk about what I do, but this is just another part of life as a missionary. I certainly look forward to my returning to Germany next week but having the opportunity to let people know about all of the good things that God is doing around the world is also very enjoyable for me.

Our Standard Of Measurement

When I was growing up in the USA everything was measured in inches, feet, and yards. I have learned that this system of measurement is called the English System of Measurement. Today I live in Germany where everything is measured in centimeters, millimeters, and meters, this is known as the Metric System of Measurement.

In a similar way before I was a Christian things were measured by my thoughts, emotions, and circumstances. But today, as a Christian, I have just one standard for measurement: the Bible. Today everything I think, feel, or experience needs to be checked against my new standard system of measurement.

Over the years I have had different conversations with people about what they believe, how life works, and what is right and wrong. When I would ask people to give me their basis for what they believe I would get all kinds of answers. What I have found over and over again is that everyone has some standard system of measurement, whether they realize it or not. Most of the time people just wanted to do what they thought was right but that kind of reasoning leads to anarchy because what one person believes is right is wrong in the view of another person, there has to be some standard system of measurement that everyone can go by.

People have so many ways to measure and judge things but the Bible is the only safe standard that we can use to measure things by. If more people would follow the guidelines God gave us in the Bible the world would be a much better place. By that I am not just talking about people who do not know God but I am including Christians too. Even Christians base things in their life on all kinds of things outside of the Bible, like their feelings, what someone else has said or done, and even on how everyone else does things. None of these standards are a safe guide for us. My goal is to base what I do on what the Bible says and to measure everything that I think, feel, or experience by the Bible, how about you?

How To Have A Happy New Year

Today as I have been out running some errands people have been wishing me a "Happy New Year". No one has wished me a "Bad New Year" or even an "Average New Year". All of this got me thinking about what it would take to actually have a Happy New Year and to make 2010 better than 2009.

Normally people will make resolutions as a New Year approaches about what they want to change and areas they want to make improvements in. Often the initial commitment does not last and this can lead to an Average New Year or even a Bad New Year because of the disappointment and lack of change or improvement that actually happens compared to what the desired result was. One suggestion I have for a Happy New Year is to make realistic commitments to things that really matter and stick with it. Making a commitment to things like growing and developing spiritually, getting more involved in your local church, being sure you are an asset and not a liability to the place you work, and even working on relationships with family and friends to do what you can to make those relationships better; all of these would be good things to make commitments about and to stay with in 2010.

Another thing that really hinders people from having a Happy New Year is that people go into the New Year while looking back at problems and failures that they might have had in the last year. We can never really move forward when we are always looking backward. If some things did not work the way you wanted them to or you made some mistakes last year then plan on doing better in 2010 and make any necessary adjustments to make sure you don't run into the same problem again. Don't hang on to the problems of the past, let them go and look forward to something better.

Finally, another thing we can do to make it a Happy New Year is to take action for yourself and not just wait for everything to happen to you. What I mean is that so many people are waiting for something to happen in their life without them doing anything about it themselves. We need to do what we can, when we can, to make the difference in our own life and not just expect someone or something else to do everything for us as we just passively sit back and wait. Too many people miss an opportunity because they fail to act when they have the ability and possibility to do so.

So as we enter into another New Year my wish would be for everyone to have a really Happy New Year and to make 2010 a far better year than 2009. I have some high expectations for the coming year and I look forward to some great things happening in 2010!

Christmas With Family And Friends

First of all I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! This is always a great time of year as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are many people and things that try to take away from the significance of what Christmas is all about but we should not let anything change our own point of view. No matter what others may say Jesus was born and He came to restore the lost relationship between God and man. I for one am so glad that He died on the cross for my sin!

One thing about being a missionary is that this normally means you move away from family and friends. When holidays like Christmas come around those exact things of family and friends are what can make the holiday so special. Today I was thinking about just this when I had another thought about all of the people that God has brought into my life, the people who are a part of my spiritual family.

We all have a natural family that we are born into and when we become a Christian we are "born again" into another family. Currently I live in Germany and while I have a wonderful natural family back in the USA that I love God has also connected me with so many people here that form a sort of second family. This will be a unique Christmas for me as I will be with my spiritual family tomorrow for our church service and afterward I will leave to fly to the USA where I will spend some time with my natural family.

The people that I work with at RHEMA Germany are like family to me, as are the people in our church and in our Bible schools. There are so many wonderful connections and relationships that God has blessed me with over the years that I now have friends all over the world who are a part of my spiritual family. I am grateful for my natural family and I certainly look forward to spending some time with them during the holidays. But, I am also very thankful for all of the people that God has connected me with that make up my spiritual family.

Improvements In Missionary Life

In October I celebrated 11 years of being a missionary in Germany. I truly enjoy what I am doing here and feel privileged to be able to share the truth of God's Word with people in our Bible schools, church, home groups, and in various other settings. Recently I was thinking about how much things have changed for me in these 11 years and beyond that how much things have improved for missionaries over the years.

One thing that I like to do is read. I have read about other great missionaries like George Muller and Hudson Taylor. There is another missionary I read about who I think has the best name for a missionary, "Jonathan Goforth". With a name like that I guess you just have to leave home and go somewhere else. All three of these men, and their families, left everything and everyone that they knew to go to another country and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I have read about these people and others like them I think that those of us who follow God's direction to go to another country today have it pretty easy by comparison.

Muller, Taylor, and Goforth all lived during the 1800s. They did not have the luxury of flying on an airplane to their destination; they all had to sail on ships and some of their trips lasted for months! None of these people had email, Facebook, Twitter, or even the Internet to keep in contact with others or to find resources to help them in their work. I can use the telephone or Skype to talk with family and friends without any difficulties and these early missionaries spent months and often years without having any contact with family or friends. Just this past week, I have had contact through the Internet or by phone with people on every continent, except Antarctica, and that was not possible for these early missionaries. Besides that, I am using a computer to write this blog and I use it for much of my work also; when I first came to Germany I did not even have a computer and I know that computers were not available in the 1800s!

No matter what anyone does to follow God's plan for their life there will be challenges and some sacrifices to be made. There is always a price to pay for serving God but the rewards always make it worth it! When I look at the improvements that have come for people who serve as missionaries I am very thankful for living in the day and age that I do. I know that no matter what circumstances we face that God will always make a way for us to succeed. But I am glad that there are many natural obstacles that I do not have to face today as many of my predecessors did and I am grateful for their hard work and sacrifice that paved the way for missionaries like me.

The Importance Of Our Words

In September I was back in the USA and towards the end of my trip and then when I got back to Germany I was having some trouble with a cold. The second day back in Germany I almost completely lost my voice and had a hard time talking. Because of that I limited how much I talked so that I would not put any unnecessary strain on my voice. Some people would probably say that my not speaking as much would be a good thing, and you might know someone who should talk less. But, all kidding aside, it is not how much we say that matters as much as what we say.

When I was in this situation of not speaking much it got me thinking about words in general and the things that people say. There is actually an important truth here that we need to learn, our words are powerful and have more impact on our lives than we may think they do. One thing that we must realize is that we need to find out what the Bible says about us, our life, and those around us and then say what the Bible says about each of these. The Bible has quite a bit to say about our words and what our words can do.

Here are a few things that the Bible has to say about words, just from the Book of Proverbs. Our words can bring life or death (Proverbs 18:21); our words can deliver and preserve us (Proverbs 12:6, 13:3), our words can be pleasant (Proverbs 15:26) and promote health (Proverbs 12:18), or our words can destroy others (Proverbs 11:9) and ourselves (Proverbs 13:3). Another good place to read about the value of what we say is in James 3:2-12. Let's make it our goal to be the kind of people who say the right kind of things and have words that bring life and encouragement instead of words that do nothing but bring harm to ourselves and to others.

Quick To Remember, Quick To Forget

October 1998 is when I moved to Germany to begin working with the ministry of RHEMA Germany, which is always a nice thing to remember. There are some other things I remember like when I asked Jesus to come into my life and I became a Christian, my experience of going through Bible school at RHEMA USA, and various things that have happened in the past 11 years I have been in Germany. While we can never live a successful future just based on the accomplishments of the past I still believe it is good to remember the good things that happen in our life and the blessings that God brings to us.

On the other hand, there are a lot of things we need to be quick to forget about: mistakes we have made, wrongs that other people have done to us, and past bad experiences. The problem seems to be that we have it all backwards; we spend a lot of time thinking about all of the negative things and not so much time remembering the good things! We need to take control of our thoughts and be sure that we are quick to remember the right things and quick to forget about and put behind us the wrong things.

There are a couple of good examples of this in the Bible. In Psalm 77 and 105 it talks about remembering the things that God has done and in Philippians 3 Paul says we should forget about the things that are behind us and reach towards the future. The Bible tells us to remember the words of Jesus, the words of the apostles, and that Jesus was raised from the dead. By focusing on and remembering the good things it will be easier for us to forget about and leave behind the wrong things and to live a successful Christian life.