Greatest Command

2 Kings 1, three times the king sent his army captain along with 50 soldiers to arrest Elijah. Two times the captains addressed Elijah as the "Man of God", but they did not bend their knee to him and give him the respect he deserved. They ordered him to come with them. Two times God sent down fire from heaven and destroyed the men. The third captain sent, fell low before him and begged Elijah to come with him. The third captain was genuine in his calling Elijah the "Man of God", where the other two before him were just addressing him with no belief behind their words. God was not in their hearts.

How many times have I addressed the Living God with no respect behind my words? My life was no reflection of my true belief; I was not willing to bow before Him. I knew who He was and I knew the appropriate name to call Him, but there was no respect for His authority in my life. Matthew 10:37, Jesus said,"If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for Me, you will find it."

Each new day of my life, I have to look at reality. Am I loving anything or anyone, more than I love Him? He is not asking for small, mediocre sacrifices from me. He is asking for everything.
1 John 3:9, "Those who have been born into God's family do not sin, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they have been born of God." Do we go on sinning so that grace may abound? No, we cannot live that way. So why are so many people living in sin? They are not rejecting God, as God, or their belief in Him. They are rejecting His moral laws. I never rejecting God or my belief in Him. What I was rejecting was His moral law, which was the core of God Himself. I was at my core, selfish. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. This is the root of all sin. Selfishness.

What is the greatest command? Matthew 22:39, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Look at your life, and I will look at mine. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Do you love others, more than you love yourself? We must continually look truthfully at our lives. What is the most important thing in your life? John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." He loves us so much. Do you love Him enough to even give up your selfishness for Him? What are you holding on to? Let it go, so you can live!

Guard Your Heart

1 Kings begins with the blessings of God. I have often wondered, how can God say that David had a heart like His? It is because he never worshiped any other gods. He knew who was the true God and he never turned from Him. Solomon begins his reign with God and he was blessed because of it. God was very pleased with him. 1 Kings 3:8-12, Solomon said, "I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around... Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern Your people well and know the difference between right and wrong... The LORD was pleased with Solomon's reply and was glad that he had asked for wisdom." So Solomon was right with God and he was blessed. God allowed him to search for what would bring him happiness for it always led him back to God. He was the builder of God's Temple and he celebrated the Festival of Shelters with the Ark of the LORD in the Temple. What a contrast. Festival of Shelters was to remind the people that they had nothing. They celebrated this festival in their abundance, praising God for all He had blessed them with.

In all of Solomon's quest for understanding and pleasure God never said that he had done what was evil. He sinned, but God was always with him and helped him. 1 Kings 11, "The LORD had clearly instructed His people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway... And sure enough, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the LORD his God... Thus Solomon did was was evil in the LORD's sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely... The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice."

Everyone sins. There is no one who is just and without sin. We have all fallen and fall short of the glory of God. We serve a patient and understanding God, but he does give us warnings and guidelines to follow. He does this to protect us. His true desire is for us to recognize Him and to love and follow Him and only Him. From the beginning, He warned the children of Israel not to intermarry with the pagan women, because He knew that they could turn His people's hearts away from Him. This is what happened to Solomon. His wives turned his heart against God. In his old age, he turned against God and worshiped other gods.

Here is my concern, people will feel safe and continue in their sin and in their stubbornness and old age they will finally turn away from God and abandon Him. I have seen it happen. I dare not say that a person was never saved to begin with, and that is why they turned from Him and denied Him. I do not understand all of God's ways, I will admit that. But why are their so many verses that start with "If you..I will," why are they even there, if we had no choice in what happens to us? I do believe that He chooses us and He desires that none parish, but that all will turn and follow Him.

We must turn our entire life over to God. God helps us to desire Him. He gives us His Holy Spirit in order to help us and without Him we cannot do anything. It is all His power and His authority, but if we continually choose to surround ourselves with others and refuse to maintain our commitment to Him, our hearts can change. Philippians 2:12, "you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him." It is by His grace and mercy that I am here today. I know this. I cannot boast about what I have done. I am a sinner, I cannot save myself. It is through Him and by Him that I am even still alive today. God has no contradictions, but it can seem like He does. It can seem like what I have said is full of contradiction, but in reality it is not it is just. He is just and He does expect us to love only Him. Do not let your heart to be misled. Do not let your stubbornness to mislead you into falling away from Him. We must be diligent and careful, put into action God's saving power in your life.

My Rock

2 Samuel 22, "The LORD is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Savior; my God is my Rock, in whom I find protection. He is my Shield, the Strength of my salvation, and my Stronghold, my High Tower, my Savior, the One who Saves me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, for He saves me from my enemies. The waves of death surrounded me; the floods of destruction swept over me. The grave wrapped it ropes around me; death itself stared me in the face. But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I called to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry reached His ears... He reached down from heaven and rescued me; He drew me out of deep waters. He delivered me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was weakest, but the LORD upheld me. He led me to a place of safety; He rescued me because He delights in me... The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock!"

If you have ever been surrounded by death, then you can understand this verse. Sin can so overwhelm you that you truly do not know if you will be able to breath. Often we tend to wait until we reach our breaking point, then we cry out for His help. In His mercy He is always there. We can turn from Him, but He is always there to rescue us when we cry to Him. There are however, warnings that we need to be aware of. Hebrews 10:26, "Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins."

I have been to this point in my life. I believe that I could have died in the pit that I was in. He is the one who opened my eyes. He was the one that was yelling to me and warning me that if I did not take His help, I would not have made it. I was the one that had to finally allow Him to help me. My eyes were opened to the full knowledge of this truth, but if I had refused, I do not know what would have happened with my life. What I do know is what has happened since I did allow Him to help me. Why take that chance? Why not accept His gracious help? I hear many say that if you turn from Him, then you never really were His to begin with. I cannot agree with this. I do not know and I do not have all of the answers; what I do know is that I was dead, but now I am alive. I was dead in spirit because of life choices, and I was close to physical death because of situations that I placed myself in. I also know that I was saved. I struggled with this for many years. It has been recently that I finally understood my salvation.

It does not say that if you sin you will have nothing but His terrible judgment to look forward to, for we have all fallen short and sin, every day. It does say that if "deliberately continue sinning, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins." It is not really that easy to see. It is not really that easy to understand. I was still believing in Christ when He took me out of my previous life. I am so thankful that I listened to Him and allowed Him to lead me to a place of safety. I am so thankful that we serve such a patient God. His choice is that non should perish, but that all would worship Him.

Hebrews 10:16-18, "I will put My laws in their hearts so they will understand them, and I will write them on their minds so that they will obey them. I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds. Now when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices." He paid the price for everything that I have ever done. "For this, O LORD, I will praise You among the nations; I will sing joyfully to Your name." 2 Sam 22:50

Where Dry Bones Weep

It seems that everything is new to me; every day my eyes are open to something new that has happened in my life. When I was working at the club, a man said to me, "What are you doing here? You don't belong in this place." At the time, I took offense to this. What did he mean that I didn't belong here? I didn't feel there was any difference between me and the other girls. I didn't understand, I couldn't see.

I am now on the other side. I have a young friend and from the moment that I met her, I knew there was something different about her. I had a different feeling around her, even though she was making some poor choices. Recently, I have been talking with her and I have discovered that she accepted Christ when she was younger. Now she is going through a tougher time, because of her life choices. I asked her if she felt she had lost her salvation, and she did. Oh my goodness, how awesome this conversation was... You see, I could see me in her, just a few short years ago. I can see in her what that man saw in me. I see Christ in her; like he saw Christ in me. I thought I had left Him, but what I couldn't see was that Christ never left me. Just like He hasn't left my friend.

Romans 4:7-8, "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the LORD." I am so thank full that my LORD saved me. I had to walk through a desert, but He was with me the entire time. All of us have to travel our own path. We all call it different things, but we all have our hour of testing in our moments of despair. My friend calls her desert "The valley where the dry bones weep." Oh, how I know how she feels. There is nothing more despairing than feeling your choices have completely turned Him away form you, but thankfully He will never leave us.

Psalm 40, "I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the LORD." Christ walked with me during my darkest moments, and He walks with you. He will never leave you, nor will He forsake you, but He will walk with you. There is only one thing that we need to concentrate on, Christ and His death on the cross. For this reason, I walk with my head held high. I cannot brag and I cannot boast about anything that I have done, but I can sing on the mountain tops, for He has set me free. He came and was born for death. His sole purpose was the cross, for it is through the cross that my sins are forgiven. It is because He paid the debt that I owed, that now, I am saved.

Psalm 25, "To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. I trust in You, my God! ...Show me the path where I should walk, O LORD; point out the right road for me to follow, for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you... Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth; look instead through the eyes of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O LORD. The LORD is good and does what is right; He shows the proper path to those who go astray..." Ask Him to show you the way, and He will not fail you. Turn your eyes toward heaven and walk with your head held high.

Open Doors

I woke this morning feeling refreshed and unafraid. For the past couple of days I have been in torment, every time I face my past it freaks me out! Here is what happened... The other day I talked to the classes that I am a substitute teacher in. In no way did I want them hearing about my past and fantasizing about what I have done. I knew that many of the kids knew and it was just a matter of time for the fire to spread. Then it would have been very hard to get under control, so I faced my past and talked openly with the kids. I did not give them graphics, but I did let them know the reality behind life choices. In doing this, I also knew that this could have some very serious repercussions in and of itself. So after I talked with them, one day went by and my heart was heavy and I was getting sick thinking about the administration finding out. Everything in me knew that I had to face them and let them know what I had done. Trust me, this was not easy. Yesterday morning I first went to the counselor and told him. He in turn set up an appointment with the vice principal and we had a meeting scheduled for after school. I was a nervous wreck all day!! But, since I was honest and my actions were not motivated out of deception, everything went very smoothly. I was not guaranteed a reaction like I was graciously given, but I knew that I had to face what I had done, good or bad.

This morning my reading is in 1 Samuel 24. David had the perfect opportunity to kill Saul and get rid of his flight, but he did not take it. He could have killed him; when Saul left, he could have never let him know that he was even there, but he showed himself to Saul. He did not stay hidden, for he knew it was better to face Saul than to continue hiding in that situation.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, "'If thou hadst known' - God goes direct to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind. These words imply culpable responsibility; God holds us responsible for what we do not see. 'Now they are hid from thine eyes' - because the disposition has never been yielded. The unfathomable sadness of the 'might have been!' God never opens doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut, doors which need never have been shut, imaginations which need never have been sullied. Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the "might have been" into a wonderful culture for the future.

I honestly did not know what would happen when I shared my story with the students. Nor, did I know what would happen when I told the school what I had done. In everything that I did I was acting out of concern for others around me. I did not want the kids to romanticize my past and I did not want the school to get into trouble. I faced a very formidable situation, but in both cases, I knew it had to be done. Secrets have always been my worst enemy. I cannot sleep when I am holding on to one. Last night I slept very well and today I have faced the day with a new breath and a new hope for tomorrow.

Walk with Him

Our world is changing. When we as Christians enter into the challenges facing us, we have to be determined to either follow Him or abandon the call He is giving us. Have you ever been in a situation where you were truly tested? Have you been in a setting where you knew you could get into trouble, but the whole time you knew you were doing what you were supposed to do? This life is crazy and exciting. My entire life I was going around trying to find excitement and living for the thrill of experiencing what the world had to offer. It is with this life, the life with Christ, that I have found the most excitement. We are not living in a society that protects the Christians, but in a world that is trying to silence them. This is actually very fun for me, yet hard and scary at the same time. I love the thrill and the excitement, but this time it is with Him on my side and Goliath as my challenge. My true hearts desire is to help others not experience the sourness that this life can give, but to find true joy in living life with integrity and peace.

1 Samuel 17:37, "The LORD who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!" Being in the school system, I feel like I am facing Goliath. Basically the whole town knows my past and the kids can take this the wrong way. I have not done anything that I feel is threatening or wrong, but you know I cannot keep my mouth shut, especially if I think they may have the wrong idea. I don't want these young children to hurt like I have hurt. I want them to know that there are dangers in drugs and pornography. I have experienced both and I know how hard it can be. So here I go. 1 Samuel 17:40, "He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd's bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across to fight Goliath." David faced his Goliath and conquered him without any problems. We may sometimes read this and think that life will be easy as long as we are following God, but this is not always right.

Proverbs 3:5-8, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn your back on evil. Then you will gain renewed health and vitality." Joseph, like David, trusted in the LORD, yet life was not easily laid out for either of them. Similarities, between the two, was their faith. No matter what happened to them physically, they trusted in God to do what was best.

God is not calling us to say safe and comfortable; He is calling us to Him. Sometimes this may mean that we face situations in which we really do not know what the outcome may entail, but we must walk in faith anyway. It is not going to get easier for us as Christ followers. It is going to get harder and more uncertain. He has never guaranteed our comfort; He has guaranteed our Salvation.

Hebrews 11, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave His approval to people of old because of their faith... All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God... But they were looking for a better place a heavenly homeland... But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to die rather than turn form God and be free. They placed their hope in the resurrection to a better life... none of them received all that God had promised. For God had far better things in mind for us that would also benefit them, for they can't receive the prize at the end of the race until we finish the race."