cup of joe

Last night I had the privilege of seeing Casting Crowns at First Baptist in Ft. Lauderdale. It was perhaps one of the most encouraging and real presentations of Christ that I have seen. 
It always seems a bit daunting to share our faith with complete strangers. We worry about how we will will sound, exactly what we will say and how we will be perceived and received. Fact is, none of these really matter because it's never about US! The candid, down to earth dialogue of front man Mark Hall with the audience was so refreshing, heartfelt and effective. I found myself wanting to become more like Christ and completely engaged in His plan for ME! My heart was stirred and my faith was increased throughout the evening. I left with the understanding and hope that nothing is impossible with God. And isn't that what a Christian music event should do? Couple that with the soothing vocals and praises from Lauren Daigle and you have a night that was perfectly crafted to lift up Jesus and help o…

I heard a young person say this the other day. I try to stay current in todays language changes:) Seems that we add a few words to the dictionary every year! Most of you are probably already familiar with YOLO which means "you only live once". I agreed with that one. I live once but with Christ I live forever!! They were using YOYO to say "you're on your own". I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary and here is what it said... Abbreviation for You're On Your Own. Something you say after a stupid person says YOLO, letting them know that you have no part in what stupid thing they're about to do. Guy 1: Hey, I'm gonna go bungee jump off a bridge, YOLO! 
Guy 2: Uh, YOYO bro. Go be stupid by yourself. YOYO? Oh NONO! The great part of being a fully devoted follower of Christ is that I am part of a family...the family of God. In fact, Jesus told me that He would never leave me or abandon me in any way. He would stay close, like a brother. He would be an ever-…

God is good all the time! And what he requires of us is to do good with what He has provided to us. I think that we stress out many times about things that haven't even happened yet! Remember that you can only make a decision based on the information that you presently have. Our responsibility is to always and in all ways do our best. In Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah has some work to do on rebuilding the wall. He's doing the best he can with what he has. In the story we find adversaries trying to disrupt the progress of the building program:

"When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no more breaks in it—even though I hadn't yet installed the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent this message: "Come and meet with us at Kephirim in the valley of Ono." I knew they were scheming to hurt me so I sent messengers back with this: "I'm doing a great work; I can't come down.
Nehemiah knew …

There was a blind man that heard Jesus was coming to town. Jesus had a reputation for making things work that didn't work.  Legs, arms and even eyes! This man could not see but he could speak, in fact he could yell. And that's just what he did! When Jesus was coming by he yelled "Jesus, have mercy on me!" His voice was so loud that it could not be ignored. His voice stopped Jesus. Jesus had him brought closer. When the blind man was standing before him, notice that Jesus didn't touch him, he didn't pray and he did not anoint him with oil. He simply asked him a question. What do you want me to do for you? What a landmark moment! Its what we would call a divine appointment. Our pursuit places us in the presence and the power of Jesus. And what does He ask? What do YOU want? What if the blind man had said "I want to win the lottery and I need some winning numbers?" Or "I'd like to have a nice home in the burbs." Bartimaeus could have foc…

Seriously? The pumpkin spice latte has barely been sipped on and now we are in Christmas mode already? Well I do love me some Christmas and I gots to have my pumpkin spice latte! (limited time only)
So for all of you that would like to get a jump on Christmas shopping before you eat your Halloween candy, I want to remind you that I have a fun little book called Christmas Cookies: Edible Treats for Your Body and Soul. I've put together a dozen of my favorite scripture teachings and a dozen of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes so that you can feed your body and your spirit! It's one of my favorite seasonal books!
The links are available on this blog page and you can download it on a Kindle or through Ibooks too. The best part about it...you can have your Christmas shopping done before Halloween:) 
Hope you had a great week!

The essence of a great writer is their ability to touch your heart and shake your emotions with a simple sentence. In the Bible Paul had an incredible ability to encourage and build up people that were going through tough times. It was evident that he not only knew how to relay his heart though written words but you get a sense that he lived through the experiences he warned us about. Though in prison, he was able to set you free with a simple letter of exhortation. 
I always try to build up hope in the people that read and share cup of joe. It's important to me that no matter how I feel or what is going on in my life personally, I take time to pray, seek the Lord and share some of that hope that He continues to bring me. Paul wrote some incredible words as a prayer of encouragement that I highlight for you today. Maybe they will help pull you up and take you forward towards what you were designed to be. This is also my prayer for you today: more love, more knowledge and an amazi…

Galatians 5:22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Most folks gauge their success by how much money they have or how many things they can acquire. They look at all of the things that are said about them and the number of friends that they have. I have always believed that it was ok to have stuff. Just be careful that the stuff does not have you!
The measure of a truly successful life in God is "fruit". We are enthusiastic, sold-out fruit producers! Each day you should become a dispenser of fresh produce! 
The kinds of things that are important to God are things like love, joy and peace. Being patient, kind and good. Live faithfully and be gentle and self-controlled. You get these by developing a close personal relationship with Jesus and allowing His spirit to produce this wonderful fruit through your life. Fruit is what …

The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. EPH 1:14
There aren't many "true" guarantees these days. A "guarantee" is a formal promise or assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled. I know we hear that phrase many times on infomercials and in local retail shops. But when you really try to cash in those guarantees, many times there is a great amount of "small print" that makes it frustrating and irritating. You and I have some divine guarantees that we will inherit heaven by living for Christ. He promised this to us and God can be trusted to keep His promise. HEB 10:23 But just so you will know that He means business, He gives to you life in the Spirit so that you are always aware of His hand upon you and His voice speaking through you. You know those "inclinations" you have to do …

2 Samuel 22:34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
When I think about the imagery here I see a fleet footed, graceful, deer running quickly through the woods. Whenever I am fortunate to see one in a field, I notice how quickly they move and break to the right or the left. Sometimes I wish that I had their graceful feet when I am in difficult situations so that I can make a quick cut away or a mad dash out of the difficulty and into the wide open spaces. The deer is able to move to high elevations because of those feet.  God makes us like the deer...able to climb higher and move suddenly and quickly in any direction. I encourage you today to be flexible. Take the high road and look at your difficulties through the eyes of the Lord. It's time to go to new heights. Now start climbing! "As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you."(O Lord)

4My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me. 
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me. 
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest. 
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert; 
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.” Psalm 55
Many times when I read the psalms I have this feeling that David and I would have been great friends. We seem to connect on many levels and share so many emotions. I am certain that you too have had troubles and difficulties that made you wish you had wings so that you could just fly out of the drama, away from the storm and land in a place of safety. You and I don't have wings because we were not designed to fly away but to try and stay. That's right, to plant your feet firm in His Word, to proclaim His promises and to expect the mountains to move and the enemies to leave. The only truly safe shelter is to be "in Christ". You get th…

"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!" Hebrews 10:35
I am becoming less and less of a hoarder. I used to keep just about everything because I firmly believed that I would need it some day in the future and there is nothing more frustrating than needing something that you had just got rid of! I would take boxes upon boxes from one place to the next and never even open them! So now if I have something that I neglect using in one year, I give it away. In my recent transition to the next adventure of ministry, I let go of nearly everything! But there's one thing that I won't toss out. One thing that I can never let go of. That one thing is the confident trust that I have in what the Lord can and will do in my life. God is interested in everything that happens to us and He truly wants some amazing things to happen through us. We must not only believe that...we must place confident trust in the fact that he can do wh…

"Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised". Heb 6:15 Abraham was blessed by God and was told that he would be the beginning of an amazing lineage…a father of many nations. God made a promise to him. But it did not happen overnight. Abraham had to wait.  Most of the things I find myself praying for seem to come after a period of waiting. How we wait is important. What we do in the waiting is as well. Abraham had tenacity when it came to waiting. He waited patiently and with unshakeable resolve. He held on to the promise and did not let go until it came. Most would have said that his window for starting a family was over…you must have missed God. But he didn’t. He received what God had promised. You may be "waiting" on your own personal promise from God today. It may have been some time since you prayed about it and all you do now is wait. Don't give up! Hold on to the hope you have and don’t waver. Stick to it until God brings you to it!

Mark 1:4, 7 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey. As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.” 
I wonder what people thought when they came upon John the Baptist? We're they drawn to his thundering voice calling them to repent? Perhaps they were intrigued by his camel hair clothing and steady diet of locusts. Whatever the reason, they thronged around him. And he wasn't doing a book-signing at the mall...he was in …

Romans 5:3-4 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  It's hard to learn how to rejoice when we are in the midst of tough times. No one is naturally happy when things are not going well. To rejoice when we run into problems is a learned skill. Why is it so important to learn this?
Its important because some crucial parts of your spiritual DNA are developed by rejoicing in trials: endurance, character and hope. People quit too easy these days. They have a lack of "stick-to-it-iveness". Staying joy-filled will help strengthen your ability to endure. The Bible tells us that our gift, our abilities will take us into great opportunities. Our character will determine how well we do those opportunities. Hope will fuel us with the energy and stamina we need by k…