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Hello everyone! It sure is cold here in East Tennessee this morning. Thermometer says it's 23 degrees! Burrrrr! Had a great night last night bring a message to some youth @ Camp Living Stone in Etowah, TN. I was sharing with a couple of them before we got started and they were telling me that fear kept them from even talking about Jesus. They felt different when they were in their youth group but, everywhere else fear shut them down. Let's dig into the good stuff and see what it shows us........
Bible Verse: Psalm 34:4 "I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
I will be the first to tell you that I have been totally scared at times trying to share my Jesus with someone. I know your probably thinking, Tony can talk to anyone right? Well, I can but, something about sharing Jesus is scary. See, the problem is we have an enemy. When you go to witness to someone you are really going into battle with Satan. Here's the deal, the times that will most strengthen and enrich your life are those when you go barehanded, armed with only the Spirit of God, against the devil and prevail. Remember Samson, who killed a lion with his bare hands, then ate honey out of its carcass (see Judges 14:6-9). Whatever is hounding and threatening your life right now, you must hold onto to the Word of God that promises deliverance and hope, power and strength, wisdom and guidance. I promise it works! Also remember that problems are opportunities for God's power to be manifest in your life. Just saying! Have a great day and God bless!
Good morning! I am blessed to be able to bring the Word to a group of teenagers tonight at a youth retreat! Must say I'm pretty excited. I was talking to someone last night about blessings. I had a lady trying to do something very nice for me a church one day and I kinda stiff armed her and kept telling her "No", "You don't need to do that". She finally looked at me dead in the eye and said "Listen, I feel led to do this. Now, don't you dare steal my blessing!" I sat there and soaked that in for a bit and realized she was a very sweet woman that was trying to help me. I was standing in the way of her blessing. Possibly even sort of stealing it from her. That is when I realized that we sometimes need to allow others to help us even when we don't need it. It is not always about us. Ouch, that stung when I just said it. See my pride of being able to do things on my own got in the way. Let's dig into the good stuff and see what it says...........
Bible Verse: Psalm 1:1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Here is the deal. I love being "happy" but, I don’t know if I like the word “happy.” It’s a slippery word for a slippery emotion. As soon as I start evaluating the level of my happiness, it starts fading. On the other hand, sometimes I’m hit with a wide-eyed awareness: “I’m really happy right now.”
Now, some say the word “blessed” that we’re going to talk about today means “happy,” but it’s more than that! It means something like “happy because God likes me and he’s taking care of me.” As a Christian, I can always say I’m being blessed by God even as my mood rises and falls with my hunger level. See, God want to bless us!
So, in other words, blessing can be an emotion, but it’s backed by rock solid evidence of God’s goodness. Any good things or feelings I can point to in my life absolutely come from him. And when I start counting all the good things I have and feel because of Jesus, it’s easy to call myself blessed. Maybe even happy. Definitely happy. How often do you apply these words to yourself - blessed or happy? What’s the difference between feeling blessed or happy and knowing for a fact that you are blessed by God?
Let's thank God for all the ways he has blessed you with good gifts and good emotions in your life. Have a great day and God bless!
Day by day! Are you a organized planner? Sometimes we planners need to throw the planner out the window and just go with the flow. This is very hard! Wait, extremely hard for someone like me. I struggle with flying by the seat of my pants. It might even be exciting if I can mold my mind around it. I guess I am trying not to look to far in the future and live for today. That sounded good saying it..... Day by day! Let's dig into the good stuff and see what we can find..........
Bible Verse: Proverbs 27:1 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."
I read that 94% of the 3,000 people surveyed were enduring today in order to get to tomorrow. What? Are you like that? Do you know anyone like that? Perhaps it's just me! I am not so much enduring today to get to tomorrow. It like I'm play chess. Trying to think 10 moves ahead. I need to be playing monopoly and going one roll at a time.
Is this you? Tomorrow, you're going on vacation. Tomorrow, you're going to get the house cleaned. Tomorrow, you're going to start your diet. Tomorrow, you're going to balance your checkbook. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Thinking about tomorrow all the time. The only problem is...tomorrow never arrives. When it gets here, it is today. And today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Man, that flowed so easy but, is so hard to live! Here's the thing. It is always today. So, we must act accordingly! Have a great day and God bless!
What's up everyone? Are you having a good week so far? I had to go to the range yesterday for about 7 hours and shoot. The cool thing about that was the gun we were shooting was a Dillon M134d mini gun. It shoots 3000 rounds a minute and we had to shoot it during daylight and then at night with night vision and lasers! Yeah, a pretty cool night! I laid in bed last night just before drifting off to sleep and thought about my hunger and how I was doing? Well, I awoke thinking the same thing. So, I thought I would write about it! Let's dig into the good stuff and see what it shows us........
Bible Verse: Psalm 91:16 "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Psalm 91:16
I remember when I graduated boot camp in 1992, we had a day pass and went in Chicago for the day. We ended up eating at a cafeteria kinda downtown that fed military for free. I remember sitting there when the door of the restaurant opened and a man ran in. He rushed over to a table that had been abandoned by some people just shortly before. He began to stuff his face with the leftovers, when the management saw him. He took off out like a squirrel high tailing it to the safety of their tree. He had no pride. He didn't care what people thought of him.
I remember thinking at the time how gross that was. I think a total different thought now! A man who is starving is totally serious about getting food. He's focused. He will do whatever it takes to eat! He's only got one thing on his mind!! Where is his next meal? He's not concerned about popularity, position, or possessions!
So, what are you hungry for today? Is Jesus enough to satisfy your appetite? When a person is thirsty or hungry enough, he will pay any price! He will do anything to get fed! Now, stop and ask yourself this question..... How hungry for God are you? Have a great day and God bless!
How are you doing???? Has someone asked you that question and you didn't give them the real answer? You said fine, when everything wasn't fine. Really, if you would have said "Really struggling right now." I bet some wouldn't even acknowledge that or maybe would say "Good, good!" Because they really didn't care, they just asked that because that is what we do. We train ourselves to ask that question so that it shows that we care. Now, they're are those out there that actually care about your response. They are genuine and will be there for you. Those people should be important to you. Try to surround yourself with those kind of people. Let's dig into some of the good stuff and see what it shows us.........
Bible Verse: 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
Sometimes in life we come to a Y in the road. We have to decide which way to go. It's the decisions that we make that shape our future. Now, I can only speak for myself but, maybe you struggle with this too. I am anxious at times. I guess when I feel I am doing the right thing, I am all in and committed to choosing which way I should travel. See, God has given us His power and enriched us with His love. Wait, there's more, not only that, He has enlightened us with a sound mind. Now, these two words "sound mind" don't mean the opposite of "You insane". It actually means discipline and long with that, it is the ability to discern between truth and falsehood.
So often, the devil gets us running from our thoughts of "what if's". Proverbs 28:1 says, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion." Have you ever been scared to make a decision? This is what this verse is talking about. We must claim victory and not allow the devil to get in our heads and mess with us. The road that we are meant to be on should enlighten our lives and not drain them. That road should help us to be happy, not cause us doubt everything. Life is about choices. We must make the best ones we can and pursue love and happiness. Remember God has given us His power and His love.
The bottom line is, we must pull back the mask of darkness from the devil's ploys and expose them for what they are and see the things that count in the here and now and that will count in eternity. God has given you a sound mind by trusting in His Word, not in the devil's schemes. Bathe everything in prayer and when God answers your prayers, don't question His answer. Don't let the devil cloud your mind. He doesn't want you to listen and obey. He want's you to stay confused and messed up. Sometimes we have to get out lock in the hubs and go down that road that we know God has called us to. Even though it might scare the daylights out of us cause it looks rocky and we aren't sure of what's around the corner. We must push fear aside. Have a great day and God bless.
Good morning! Lately I have been chatting with some friends and it seems like a lot of people are struggling with one thing or another. With a job situation, a relationship that is struggling, or maybe someone in your life that just always takes from you and never gives back. I worked nights last night and came home to crash this morning. I was wanting to sleep more but, that wasn't going to happen. I awoke from a dream about being in fog and not seeing what was ahead. When I woke up I felt anxious and kinda confused. I guess the fog might represent uncertainty. I don't know! I guess I need one of those dream books! That got me thinking about the stuff my friends were dealing with and drove me to the Word for a bit. Let's dig into the good stuff and see what it shows us..........
Bible Verse: Psalm 116:5 "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful."
Ok, check this out! My mom is a flight attendant. They don't like stewardess anymore. Ok, imagine you are in a plane, ready for take-off on the runway. The pilot has come on the intercom and announced there's a delay because of fog. You glance out your window. It looks so gloomy and dark. You wonder if the sun is shining.
The fog lifts enough for the control tower to give the pilot the green light, and the plane takes off. It's still cloudy, but the plane starts climbing, climbing, climbing. Suddenly, the plane bursts through the clouds, and it is so gloriously bright that you have to blink your eyes. Now, you realize the sun has been there all the time.
Here's the crazy part! That's the way it is with God (check out Malachi 4:2-3). He is always loving, always giving. He is waiting for you to see Him now. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to show us today the true condition of the sky--above the clouds. Let Him speak to us about what is really there beyond the fog. Things are not always what they seem. Sometimes there is something amazing waiting just beyond the fog!!! Remember God has His hand upon us!!! Have a great day and God bless!!
