I must be less

       Today I was reading in John's Gospel John 3:30 where John the Baptist tells his followers that He (Jesus) must become greater and I (John) must become less. This got me to thinking that many of the issue I face are not because the enemy of my soul is so strong. It is because I try to be more than I should. I am just wondering how many believers could have a better walk with Christ if we could learn to stop wanting to have our way and die to self. Placing Christ completely at the forefront of our life and lived a life that said I want to please Jesus and not myself. I know as I did some soul searching, praying and talking to the Lord I found that I am guilty of want some things my way and not his. So starting today I want to change;  I want Christ to be first in all I do. I want my actions to reflect the love of Christ for my fellow man. I hope that is your prayer also.

Chaplain Steve

I was doing my devotions this morning. I've been reading Exodus, I got to chapter 34 and I felt God drop something in my heart that I really feel I need to share here. So here goes.... Chapter 34 of Exodus is the end of Israel's first rebellion against God at Mount Sinai. A gold calf jumped out of the furnace after Aaron threw in all their gold ear rings and jewelry and they worshiped it. (Aaron was a victim) you can read about that in Exodus 32. Then God tells Moses He's not going with them because they are rebellious and stiff necked. Moses intercedes for them and God agrees to go with them and he shows Moses his glory. Now we are up to speed here is what God showed me 34 The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.” 4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. (NIV) Notice that God Calls Moses to present himself to (God) alone. At times God calls us to get alone with him and we need to shut out all the business of the world so he can restore us and what we have destroyed out of frustration of the rebellion we see (remember Moses destroyed the first set of the laws in Chapter 32) So the question would be this what have you destroyed out of frustration, that God is calling you to get alone with him so he can restore it? I hope this has been a blessing to you.....

God Loves Broken People

I started to read this book and never finished it. I think the reason behind this, the issues of my own life took precedence. This is no way a reflection on the author or the context of this book. What I did read I enjoyed. I would recommend this book.

I just finished reading the book Going Deep Becoming a Person of Influence by Gordon MacDonald. If found this book moved me deeply. As I read I realized that the American Church has been so focused on quaintly rather than quality when it comes to the spiritual issues. For example how big is your Sunday service running, pastors have been in many cases reduced to CEOs rather than shepherds. I found it refreshing that a pastor and congregation was willing to step out of the “normal” church model and return to the model that Jesus gave in the New Testament. I also found the longing in my heart to see this kind of model being repeated over and over again so that we once again begin to grow spiritually deep people, who will be able to change our world for the better. I would recommend this book to every pastor or church leader with the Challenge to grow deep people who will change their city one deep person at a time, for the Kingdom of God.

Peace Be with You

After I finished this book I found myself asking one question. That question is, Is America Christian in name only? The views that were presented caused me to question some of my own beliefs about dealing with those who have wronged me, hurt me, or despitefully used me. I found that if I am going to represent Christ I must be like him. This means that I must learn to overcome evil with good and leave getting even to God. One of the interviews that David Carlson presented really brought this idea of being Christ like means that we must respond to evil like Christ did and our heavenly father did at Calvary with forgiveness and restoration. I would recommend this book to anyone who maybe questioning “Why do we as American Christians feel we have the duty to destroy those who attack us?”

MAX ON LIFE

I finished reading Max Lucado’s book Max On Life, I would say that his answer’s to many of life’s hard questions were well thought out and scripturally based. The biggest struggle that I had with this book was after a few chapters the answer he gave seem to be repeated over and over. I understand that the Bible does hold the answers to all of life’s struggles. But it seemed that he used the same scripture to answer all the questions. So for me by time I reached the end of the book I found that I somewhat bored. I would recommend this book for anyone who may be struggling at some point in their life and are look for answers. I do think that this book would be a better reference book that you would turn to when you are looking for a place to start when looking for answers to life’s hard questions. Because I do think if you read this book straight through you’ll find that many of the chapters will sound very much alike. Over all I would give this book 3 stars.

The Final Summit

Just finished reading “The Final Summit” to be honest it was not what I had expected. I even considered not finishing it. However the story line kept pulling me back. I just had to find out what the answer for humanity’s redemption was. This book is a great book for the history buff. I thought it was great how the Mr. Andrews used some well known individuals from history. It was also interesting how he was able to incorporate the very personalities and even a few well known quotes into the story line. I would call this book a spiritual allegory and mystery novel. I would recommend this book. I did find this book an enjoyable book. I give this book 4 stars.