Who am I

There Moses is sitting in the field watching the sheep. I imagine he was daydreaming about what might have been.  You see he had grown up in Pharoahs house but in the process of defending his people, killed a man & fled in fear.  Little did he know that God now had him watching sheep to prepare him to watch Gods sheep. In the middle of his daydream, God shows him a burning bush to get his attention.  I would like one of those once in a while for direction.  God told Moses to go back to Egypt to confront Pharoah.  Moses, one of the greates figures in all of Christianity, responded with "Who am I to appear before Pharoah?".  How could God use me after what I've done?  But remember, He wasn't "Moses" yet.  Just like you haven't become who God has made you to be yet.  Maybe He has planned for you to be one of the greates figures of Christianity.  However, know this, God has a great work for YOU to do.  What is your response to the work God has for you?  Is it like Moses & you're asking "Who am I, am I qualified?" Have you got people telling you why you're not qualified?  If you feel like Moses or the nay sayers are chirping in your ears, remember Gods response to Moses.  It was "I'll be with you" & "I Am has sent me." Moses had a speech problem.  What's holding you back?  What makes you feel unqualified?  One of the main characters of the bible felt unqualified.  But he remembered the Great I Am would equip him.  Because of that he went on to do great things for God.  Why can't that be you?

What makes me qualified

A couple of years ago after much prayer, encouragement from others, & Gods leading I decided to go into ministry.  While thinking about it I kept thinking what makes me qualified to preach Gods word. I have been a Christian all of my life, a deacon at my church, youth group leader, my grandpa was a pastor, but was I qualified?  I thought I'm not a Peter or Paul, Billy Graham or any other great figure of Christianity.  Then I thought about Christ telling His disciples to follow Him & He would make them fishers of men.  What made them qualified?  They were fishermen, tax collectors, & Paul persecuted the church before going into Gods ministry.  How did that make them qualified?  Second Timothy 3:17 says "so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." So if I am called then I am adequate & equipped to do Gods work.  I believe every Christian has a ministry to do.  Every Christian has been "called to do Gods work.  We need to be about doing Gods work.  My grandpa didn't graduate from high school, didn't go to seminary, bible college, or college anywhere else.  Today he would have had a hard time getting a chance to pastor a church but God called him & equipped him to do a great ministry for years.  Today we place more emphasis on seminary degrees than Gods ability to equip someone to do ministry.  So begins the journey. I don't have a seminary degree, probably most of you don't either.  So the question is are we qualified.   We're the disciples qualified?  God has a ministry for us to do & the world needs us to do it.  If God has called you to do something don't wait for the seminary degree if thats not what God has called you to do.  Allow Him to equip you & get to work!

Intro

So I felt like God was saying it was time for a new direction for this blog.  I feel that it still has to be Christ centered.  The challenge has been to follow Gods lead & not get caught up doing my own thing.  I have made some cosmetic changes to it (thanks to my wife) while also trying to make it easier to share.  I wanted it to be easy to share because that's how Gods word will spread.  Then it was to decide what Gods purpose was for the blog.  I feel that it is to encourage, educate, & motivate.  I'm not exactly sure where it's going to lead but God does.  I feel like God has been showing me something & Ive found out that many others are dealing with it as well.  The title of this journey is going to be -The Journey of An "Unqualified" Christian.  It will take us through many bible stories, personal stories, & story of others.  All in an effort to show how Gods word applies to us.  There will also be a promise of the week.  I encourage you to claim it, memorize it, & live it each week.  He has many promises for us if we will just claim them.  I also encourage you to feel free to send comments. One other thing I felt needed to be included is the plan of salvation.  I will put it on the blog.  I'm excited about where God is going to take us so please join me on this journey.  I believe God is going to do great things.

Construction

I'm in the process of making some changes to the blog.  I should have them done in a couple of days. Keep checking back & in the meantime remember that God loves you & He has great plans for you.  See you in a couple of days!

Speak life

Then He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" "O Sovereign Lord," I replied, "You alone know the answer to that." (Ez. 37:3 NLT)

Have you ever felt like dry bones?  Do you feel like your hopes have turned into dry bones?  You were once so hopeful, so excited, so fired up.  And then one day you realize that time is passing by & that your hope shave become drier & drier.  I want to take you on a trip.  I want you to visit the Valley of Dried Up Hopes & Dreams.  Picture that desire that God placed in your heart, maybe years ago & you see it lying there collecting dust.  Satan (the prince of lies) is in charge of this valley.  But it goes on to say in the next verse that God tells him to speak Gods word over those bones & they will live again.  So today I'm asking you to do the same.  Speak Gods word over those dried up hopes.  Don't declare death over them any longer, but declare life.  Declare the life that only Gods word can bring.  Bring them back to life again.  Think about whether you are speaking the life of Gods word or the death of human reasoning over Gods plan for your life.  Now revisit that valley & see that the dry bones are gone, the dusty valley is no more, & all you see is life dancing around.  God dwells there!

Keep it the same

"But some of you do not believe me." (John 6:64 NLT)

This was Christ talking to some of His "disciples" who wanted to leave Him.  Some people saw Christ & still couldn't believe.  How sad.  That shows me that you can show Christ to people but you can't make them accept Him.  The other thing it shows me is that Christ was who He was.  Even when they were thinking about leaving, He stayed the same.  He don't negotiate, try to persuade them,  or condense His word.  He gave them the opportunity to follow Him but He didn't try to force them & He didn't chase after them.  Sometimes I think we try to water down Christs message, create a new program, entertain them, etc. to get them to follow Christ.  That was not the example we were given.  Christs message is enough.  It is powerful & it changes lives.  If we start trying to change it or make it easier to handle or picking & choosing what we share, we lose it's power.  Keep the message the same.  Present it & let God do the work.  Don't be one who saw but didn't believe.

Who walks beside you

The eyesnofmthe young man were opened & he saw.  A wonder!  The whole mountainside full of horses & chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!  (2 Kings 6:17 Message)

I've been listening to a song lately that talks about the God of angel armies.  It always makes me think of this passage.  A king had sent an army after Elisha but the king didn't know that the "God of angel armies" had sent a bigger & stronger army to protect Elisha.  That same God Who did that for Elisha, will do the same for you.  He loves you that much & He's still the "God of angel armies." When problems, struggles, & circumstances are coming against you, tell them you have an army of angels to defend you.  Tell them you have a God in charge of those angels who loves you & will protect you.    How does that change your perspective & approach to your day when you know that the Most High God & His angels walk beside you?  With that knowledge, will you live defeated or empowered?  Go through your day knowing that an army of angels is ready for your defense.  Knowing that, be bold, be courageous, & do the work God has for you!