37 Days – Take A Step: Risk

Pastor Randy’s devotional:

About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost! “But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Matthew 14:25-30

January 17^th Prayer:

Jesus, if it’s really You, tell me to come! If you are calling me to take a risky step, then help my heart to know Your voice. And, if it’s You, I’ll do it. I do not want to live safe and risk free when You have so much more for my life. I don’t want to coast in to my finish line. I want to take big steps of faith. Give me the courage to obey You . . . in Jesus’ name!

(If you have a decision in front of you now that involves risk, write it down and pray about it. A tough conversation that needs to happen . . . a business decision . . . a financial decision, etc.)

My thoughts:

What does it mean to trust in the Lord? 
Does it mean to believe in Him? Yes.  Does it mean to follow His teachings? Yes.  Does it mean to share His word with others? Yes.  Does it mean to step out and do what He is asking you to do?  Yes.  Peter stepped out of the boat, David picked up 5 smooth stones, Mary listened and followed the angel Gabriel, John the Baptist baptized others, knowing the Christ was coming, Abraham raised the knife above his son Isaac bound body – all examples of individuals in the scriptures that stepped out in faith, trusting God without knowledge of the outcome.  They took risk, which in turn lead to great things for the Kingdom.  So what is God calling you to do, and will you step out?

There are so many huge opportunities to make an impact in this world, but most of us aren’t willing to actually step out in faith and trust in the Lord’s promise that He will be with us.  We contemplate the risk to our current lifestyle and often times retreat back to a place of comfort.  By nature, most of us will evaluate a scenario and upon seeing the potential risk required, will find ourselves unable to fulfill His request.  Rather than stepping into it with faith and seeking the wisdom of the Lord, we pass and stay put in our comfort zone.

God calls each of us to greatness.  This cannot be achieved by staying in place, it takes an act of courage, and act of faith and getting out of your comfort zone.  In Houston and surrounding area there are around 6 Million people.  By national statistics 35% of those are 2.1 million claim to believe in God and saved by Jesus Christ.  Because we are in the “Bible belt” you could raise that percentage to over 50%.  So 3 million +/- would make this claim, and 3 million +/- would say they don’t believe.  How will these folks come to know the truth about Jesus Christ?  What about your city, your area or your state?  Think about those that are destined for eternal separation from God the Father simply because someone did not take the risk to step out and have a discussion with them.  Perhaps today is that day.  Praise be to God the Father.

Be Blessed,

Rich

 

Join us on Facebook @ 10 Minute Reader Daily Thoughts or on Twitter @Sondove
If you would like to be added to the email distribution, please send an email here.

Let Go of the Past

37 Days – Week 2 foundation

After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant: “Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the people of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on - just as I promised Moses.” Joshua 1:1-3

“Moses is dead!” It almost appears insensitive of God to state it so emphatically. Apparently God didn’t want Joshua to take time to regret, rehearse what could have been, or bemoan the fact that Moses was originally supposed to lead this moment. God was jolting Joshua out of the familiar position as “assistant”—out of the comfort he had grown so accustomed to and encouraging him to step up in a time of transition.

2017 is dead! It’s over! There are many things to be grateful for as we look back. But it was also a hard year. Jobs were lost. The economy in our region was stagnant due to issues in the oil industry. For some, relationships were fractured, marriages strained, financial plans failed. For others, old sin crept in and reestablished patterns of defeat and shame. Still others had battles with fear, doubt, and faith-fatigue. Natural disasters were at an all-time high, creating new fears and concerns. Regardless, today is the day we say goodbye to the past and hello to the future. God is going to help us walk away from some things in our lives that were once productive, but no longer bring life. It’s the painful and powerful work of pruning. 

Dr. Henry Cloud tells the story of a friend of his who bought a business with $25 million in revenues and grew it to $500 million in six years. Henry inquired as to how this happened. “When I bought the business, it became clear that the real life and future of the company was in about 20% of its activity.” After tough leadership and a lot of hard work, he was able to bring the company together around that activity. “So, the other 80% was not productive?” Henry asked. “Actually, it was all profitable. It was just clear that the real life was in the 20%, so I cut the other 80% even though it was profitable.”

This is a great picture of pruning in the business world. And this is what God wants to do with us and for us so we can be more fruitful.

This week we will sync our heart and minds with His. We will open to anything He desires to cut away from our lives. Repentance is a healthy part of our Christian lifestyle. It is changing direction. It’s letting go of an old, unfruitful way of thinking. Letting go can be painful. But, it’s necessary for us to embrace new seasons, change, and times of transition. Let us walk with Him this week and surrender to His pruning. Praise God!

January 8^th - Pastor Randy

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
   - Philippians 3:12-14

We tend to find our identity is our past success and/or our past failures. What we use to excel at and find esteem from will fade. And our past sin and failures have no authority to identify us. We can release both of these false identities today in prayer.

Heavenly Father, You are my Father. You are the only authority that can name me—give me my true identity. Help me to release the past. Prune from me my attachments to past hurts, failures and sin. And prune from me any nostalgic memories of success and “glory days” that cause me to long for the honor of the past. Heal me Lord! I release my past to you and turn towards my future. I keep reaching for what lies ahead. Ignite vision in me for the future You have for me . . . in Jesus’ name!

My thoughts:

It is so easy to get caught up in the “when I was young ……..” philosophy in life.  We have all experienced situations in life, and based on these experiences, we try to apply the same thinking to similar problems that come our way in the future.  In doing so, we come to rely on our own knowledge and wisdom, and we limit our ability to grow and expand our intellect.

Let me give you this example:
For the last 20 years I drove a 1997 Ford F150.  I loved that truck.  It got me from point A to point B reliably, consistently day in and day out.  Because I drove that truck every day I knew it’s particular quirks, noises and tendencies.  When something went wrong it was easy for me to recognize it.  If this happened, I could generally go to the garage and get out my socket set, wrenches and screwdrivers to “attempt to” fix it.  Granted, I’m no mechanic, but I knew enough to at least track the problem in a general sense and determine if I could take on the challenge or not.

I traded this truck in last year for a brand new F150.  I love my new truck as well, but by no means do I have the same knowledge with this truck as I did with the past one.  Certainly, the technical attributes of this truck far exceed the technology that was in my older truck.  Automatic speed enabled fan shutters which open wider as the engine heats up and close when at cooler temps, automatic shutoff at stoplights to conserve gas, backup cameras, sport mode, eco mode, push button gear shift rather than stick on the floor, Bluetooth, wireless, etc. etc.   Not to mention the improvements in emissions, electronics and transmission.  If something were to go wrong on the way home from work today, I would have no idea where to even begin to investigate.

You see I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about the functioning capabilities of a car/truck.  My dad worked for GM for years, and taught me how to take care of and look after an automobile.  His dad taught him, and I’m sure his dad taught him.  If I had rested on that wealth of knowledge handed down from generation to generation as my only source of experience I would be completely lost with the technology of today.  But, I continue to educate myself on these things because I want to be able to pass it on to my children as well. 

We have to take what we have learned, cut away the obsolete data, the old information, and continue to expand in new areas.  This is how we will become proficient in our wisdom and experiences.  It’s the same with our spiritual life.  There are things we have learned in the past that will bode us well to hang on to, but there are many things that are simply not as relevant in today’s world.  The method of communicating the gospel is changing in this world of social media and limited attention disorder, suffered by many in today’s culture.  In many cases the ways of teaching and evangelizing in the world 20 years ago or 30 years ago, though very valid in their time, do not resonate today.  The message is still solid, but the process of communicating has changed.  We need to be flexible, teachable and humble to cut those things that do not benefit the Kingdom and focus on the new opportunities ahead to do so.  Let 2018 be your year of expanding your reach in a new and useful manner.

Be Blessed,

Rich

Join us on Facebook @ 10 Minute Reader Daily Thoughts or on Twitter @Sondove
If you would like to be added to the email distribution, please send an email here.

More than Words

Make 2014 a year for sharing

“And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead” – Acts 10:42

Remember as a child when your parents would tell you, “Just do what I said”?  Remember how hard it was to follow their instructions, even if in your heart you knew they were right?  Yeah, me too.  If I had only followed their advice, done what they said and given them the respect they deserved.  But, then again, I was a young man and knew what I wanted.  I had my own dreams, my own visions and my own plans for what I wanted to do with my life.  I didn’t have time to make the bed, take the dog for a walk, clean up my room, do the dishes or any other chore around the house that was expected of me.  Despite their repeatedly asking me to be home by 10, I was often out till the wee hours of the morning, doing things that I dare not ever let be known.  Now as a father and grandfather I look back and think about the choices and decisions made, but without regrets, for the Lord has continually blessed me and provided for me throughout.

Likewise, we read the word and lift our hands in prayers, but are we actually doing what it says.  Peter and Paul tell us throughout Acts that we are to take the gospel to the nations.  Is that a request or a directive?  We believe it, we want the salvation that comes through God’s Son – Jesus Christ, but are we truly willing to abide by what the good Word tells us to do.  Is sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning’s sufficient to meeting the requests of Jesus to serve our fellow brothers and sisters in need?  It is so easy to leave the sanctuary on Sunday filled with the Holy Spirit and dreams of impacting those around you only to wake up on Monday overwhelmed by the week of work, bills and commitments ahead.

If every person that went to church on Sunday actually woke up Monday morning and lived out what they heard or learned in church, we would have a much stronger impact on the evil in this world.  You see, there is an evil in this world that occupies so much of your time, thought and actions that you are unable to actually seek and grow in your Christian walk.  It’s not complacency, although that is also a problem to be reckoned with, it is a problem of prioritization.  We seem to be willing to prioritize everything in our life except the most important purpose, mission and reason for living; and that is serving God Almighty. 

At some point in our lives we must choose to commit to Him, or commit to ourselves.  When we commit to ourselves, we seek the happiness, wealth, desires, success and recognition in the immediate and present time.  In reality, by committing to Jesus Christ and living for Him, we are actually improving the life ahead of us and securing our place for our eternal life one day.  As the scriptures tell us in Acts 10:42 (also: Acts 17:31, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Peter 4:5), there will come a day when we will stand before the Judge and be reconciled to the actions of this life.  I know when I stand before the One judge and hear Him ask, “What did you do with the gifts I gave you?”, I want to be found as one who, despite the many times I failed, I used the gifts He gave me to further His Kingdom on this earth.  I would ask that you do the same.


© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
If you would like to be added to the email distribution please click here: Daily Thoughts

No Excuses

You are His Ambassador

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” – Romans 15:7

The driver never saw him.  Every day he drove the same path home at night and every day the man was sitting along the side of the road.  His jeans torn, hole in his left shoe, a beard that I’m sure hadn’t been shaved, cleaned or combed in 5 years or more.  His eyes were sunken in his aged leather face, overshadowing the bluest eyes ever seen and his baldness was covered by an old John Deere hat that was tattered around the edges.  The driver passed right by him again on this cold winter day to pull into the drive thru at Starbucks and get his grande-extra hot-double Expresso Latte with light foam. 

As he pulled to the window, the girl slid the glass open and looked down into his Mercedes Benz.  Her dark black eye makeup, pierced lip, pierced eyebrow and nose drew his attention once again, but today the red and blue streaks in her hair caught him by surprise as she reached her fully tattooed arm towards him for his American Express, in exchange for his cup of coffee.  Shaking his head he drove away from the Starbucks and merged back into the traffic which separated him from his 6,000 square foot home in the ‘burbs and his martini by the fire.

Periodically, he would weave out into the oncoming traffic as he tried to pass that large Suburban in front of him; but to no avail.  He could see the dual DVD players in the car playing different cartoons for the children in the back seats.  Every now and then he would see one of them hit the other and he would see the Mom turn around from her driver’s position and try to calm the problem, as she cradled her cell-phone near her ear.  Finally, the opportunity cleared and he whipped his car out into the left lane as he attempted to pass.  Looking into her drivers window, he saw her face.  The tears had caused her mascara to leave streaks down her cheeks, as she tried to adjust her disheveled hair to save complete embarrassment to his gaze.

He exited into his subdivision, and pulled up to the security gate.  The afternoon guard gave him a nod from behind his small glass cube, and the gate slowly opened.  Looking at the guard, he realized that something was definitely wrong as he saw a second guard behind the window with his fingers pointing at the man’s chest.  At that moment the first guard slowly removed his badge and handed it over to the more aggressive man.  Not to be bothered by it, our driver proceeded through the gate and up the long driveway to his home.  Parking the Mercedes in garage number 2 (of 7) he closed the door behind him and walked into the large empty home for the night.

In every city, in every state, in every country around the globe similar things happen every single day.  We live, but we don’t see.  We see, but we don’t care.  We care, but we don’t act.  We act when it benefits us.  These are God’s children we see all around us.  We claim to be His child, yet offer no love or compassion to our brother or sister.  We are comfortable with Jesus as our Savior, but are we comfortable giving Him our life and making Him our Lord?  The blood that was shed, was not uniquely for you or for me, but for all of mankind.  Is it our right to refuse to offer the same love and compassion, that He poured out for us, to a stranger?  We are His feet, we are His hands, we are His eyes, we are His church.  We (you and me) have a responsibility to share His gospel, His truth, His love with everyone we meet.

Have you seen others in need?  What stops you from being Jesus to them? .  Jesus didn’t come to help the Pharisees, but the prostitutes, leapers, sick and poor.  Stop with the excuses and start with the action.  Let them see Christ, for it may be the first time, and it may be just in time.  For if tomorrow, the man is not on the corner, and the girl is not at the window, and the mother gives up on her family and the guard is not behind the glass; will you get another shot?  You are an ambassador for the living God and you need to take part in this experience of life.  Quit judging them and start loving them.  Start with your own home and work out from there, but start today.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
For more Daily Thoughts go to: http://sondove.blogspot.com
If you would like to be added to the email distribution please click here: Daily Thoughts