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If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9 What good thing do I have in my life as a result of my superior decision making, hard work or careful planning? If I am honest the answer is none. I have great gifts: a beautiful, loving wife, an incredible daughter, fantastic greats and grands. I can claim credit for none of these; each was and is a pure gift from God. Yet I continue to live as if my next decision or effort or thought will make all the difference. History teaches me it’s not significant. Whether I go right or left means considerably less than whether I go in faith believing that right or left is the direction He would have me go. A life of faith is a life of “allowing” God to make your choice for you. Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard […]

. . . do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on —Matthew 6:25 My post this morning was for Tomorrow’s Utmost. I was a bit ahead of myself. This is based on today’s Utmost. We need to note that over care for our lives is unbelief. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . .” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— “the cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22 ). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when I cannot see”— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit. We have a clear choice: have faith in God or put faith in ourselves and our ability to provide […]

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead —Revelation 1:17 Most of the time, God’s impact on our lives is subtle. We have to be alert to know that He is working. But if we know Him, if we are truly His, there will be times that He reveals Himself dramatically in His majesty. This results in what OC calls, the Delight of Despair. It is despair because it occurs at a point when only God can make things right; delight because He comes and does just that. The smaller everyday annoyances of life are there so that we will know His quiet, gentle touch on our lives. The big things, the tragedies have purpose as well; that we will know His very real, dramatic and hero-like interventions in our lives. “He laid His right hand on me . . .” ( Revelation 1:17 ). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, […]

. . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us . . . —John 17:21 Wednesday was the first day without Kaydence. She has begun her month with her father. The separation from her is painful. God created us to be in fellowship. With Him and with each other. Once a bond begins to form, whether it be with our natural family or our brothers and sisters in Christ, separation becomes painful. If we feel any pain or loneliness now, it’s because we are separated from the Father and union with Him is our ultimate purpose. It was Jesus’ prayer for us. It explains why, when we are His, we are never alone. In fact, we are in process of becoming permanently never alone, but one in Him and one with all of His children. It’s what makes the idea of the Christian Lone Ranger so ridiculous. It is also why our Father must be pained with some of our attitudes toward each other: racism, failure to care for the poor, widowed or imprisoned, simple lack of love of our neighbors. If […]

I am blessed in that it is unusual that I spend an entire long day on business. Yesterday I had to be in Houston for a 4 p.m. meeting. With travel there and back it was a long day with everything focused on a one hour meeting. As I spent most of the day driving, I was listening to a book, but essentially the entire day was focused on that one hour meeting. It did make me think how important our focus is. If our focus is right so will our priorities be right.  I wonder if I will ever get my priorities straight. Sometimes I think I am seeking first the Kingdom, and the next minute I know that I am not. In those times that I do seek Him first, I have peace and joy and when I don’t I have worry and concern. It seems I would make the connection and keep Him first always. But I don’t.  When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. “. . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . .” Even the most spiritually-minded […]

This is St. John’s Wort. It’s suppose to help control moods. We are obsessed about our moods. I have to admit that I tend to be controlled by my moods. My decisions to tackle projects require a certain mood. I don’t write well, without the mood (or is that the muse?) Moods affect my spiritual life as well: a mood for prayer or worship or service. I also know that moods should not control me. Praying about it isn’t enough. There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with […]

Pray without ceasing . . .  1 Thessalonians 5:17 Our biggest misconceptions about prayer are that it is an occasional conversation with God which He occasionally answers. OC beautifully refutes those mistakes. “Prayer is the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered.  We are learning that the answer to our problems is Jesus. Any confusion in life is cured by focus on Him. Any temptation is best dealt with by looking to Him. Guidance is found in seeking His mind for us. It is a natural conclusion that our life will be improved in direct proportion to the percentage of our time spent focused on Him. Our goal should be constant, unending communion with Him. When we know that we will know complete blessing. Lord teach us that anything that distracts from You is worthless distraction. Keep us looking to you, the only source of our love, our hope and our life. Nick

Look at the birds of the air . . . . Consider the lilies of the field . . . —Matthew 6:26, 28 I wore my National Day of Prayer T Shirt today. I just felt like I was suppose to. I can’t say the voice of God told me to; but maybe He did. It made a couple of my breakfast buddies uncomfortable. A little old lady in a wheel chair asked me about and we had a good conversation. At the end of the day, I am sure I was suppose to wear it. I know it’s not a big deal. It wasn’t a great “Christian” move. I’m not sure what impact, if any, it had on anyone. It was just what I was suppose to do. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said […]