Food For Thought Fridays

I have been pondering this question:

Do I have enough faith to fail?

In this life, people are evaluated on their ability to accomplish great things. Some fail and some succeed, but even those that have great accomplishments are not satisfied for long. There is always a thirst for even more.

Our desire to fulfill the purpose of our lives IS a gift from God, but sin has twisted us so dramatically that we put ourselves on the pedestal and our desire for purpose is really a self centered lust for a trophy in our honor.

But when we come to Christ, all of that should change. We should embrace a spiritual philosophy that sits counter to the ways of the world. Contrary to the prosperity gospel, success for the believer, should be opposite of that of the world.

Luke 9:24 says, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

When Jesus died, it seemed He was a discredited, rejected failure while the wealthy and successful ordered Him to the cross. It took three days to show them that the magnificent Creator was the victorious one and the governor had utterly failed.

Have we still not learned any lessons? Does the "church" measure success according to man or God?

It has been said that no man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail.

Our exceeding joy is to be found in being just like Jesus was and is.

One day Jesus will show all who won and who lost.

Food For Thought Fridays

Have you ever wondered why prayer is one of the most difficult disciplines for believers when it should be the easiest?

I believe that this could be the key: Legalism is the enemy of God.

Legalism is strictly adhering to the letter of the law (the rules) rather than the spirit. Basically, the idea that if I follow all the rules, God will like me and do what I want Him to do.

Many of our brains are so wrapped up in what prayer "should" sound like (the rules of prayer) that we just get bored with it and feel like we are wasting our time.

It has to start with "Dear Heavenly Father" and end with "In Jesus Name" and we have to put a lot of spiritual phrases in like "lead, guide, and direct" or "yea, though thou theeist the thou."

There is nothing wrong with any of that, but how many of your kids talk to you like that?

Again, legalism is the enemy of God.

Luke 11:9-13 says,"And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

God tells us to come like a child.

The REAL messy you with all your junk and with all the wrong things to say and with all the bad attitudes needs to, no, has to meet the REAL God in a REAL way.

Legalism says clean your self up, get on your knees, say the right things, and your prayer life will be awesome.

I say you will never be able to clean your self, you will never be submitted enough, you can't say the right things, because legalism and false words only bring death.

Food For Thought Fridays

Yesterday was a busy day for Amanda and the Langley family. Caleb and Isaiah had appointments with the allergist in Fayetteville. They are allergic to a ton of stuff. Amanda had to go to the store and by casings for the mattresses and pillows. All of the linens had to be washed in HOT water. The casings had to be put on the beds. The floors had to be vacuumed and mopped. And last but not least, Caleb and Isaiah needed to go to Vacation Bible School.

Amanda had to do all this on her own because I was working 9 to 6.

When I got home around 6:30, the boys were still there. Amanda had given them a choice to go to VBS or spend some time with Daddy.

The boys chose Daddy time over friends, food, fun (even though I am quite the life of the party).

In Luke 6:12 it reads, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God."

Jesus' life was pretty chaotic and hectic. Pharisees, healing the sick, raising the dead, bringing the Kingdom of God. A little more complicated than filling prescriptions and mopping floors.

But in all the chaos, He never forgot to choose Daddy time.

He desired it, He needed, He lived for it, He depended on it.

Can we say the same?

Blessings