I Am Blessed!

Posted on April 17, 2006 by gophumek | Permalink 0

I Am Blessed!
Deuteronomy 7:13

I heard a wonderful sermon yesterday morning, an absolute astounding message of hope. Then last night, I received some very bad news that had me down for most of today. However, with the bad news last night and my melancholy mood today, I’m still quite happy for I have been blessed.

I found out today that my son ate chicken basted with paint thinner on Saturday. He has had no ill effects since my wife usually takes the skin off of chicken when he eats it. Praise God for that. I was also blessed today by having a wife who was a model Christian despite our record temperatures, both inside and outside. It was 101 here today outside. It was 90 inside (we refuse to use our air conditioner until June. It costs way too much).

On top of these big blessings, we had a calm evening after I arrived home today. There are times in our life when things just don’t go as smoothly as I would like. After I arrived home, I sat in the car and said a special prayer to God that I would act in a Christ-like manner, and that I would be more gentle and patient tonight. I prayed the same for my wife and son. With this heat, I needed more help than usual. God answered my prayer with a big resounding “YES!”

Although deep inside there’s something that is really bothering me, God has bombarded me with blessings today and this evening. They may have been small ones, but for me, a blessing is a blessing. “Count ‘em all,” I say.

God's Love, Hope, Peace

Spiritual Growth

Posted on April 10, 2006 by gophumek | Permalink 0

Spiritual Growth
2 Peter 1:5-9

I regularly keep a journal. Recently, I looked over it in a search to see where I’ve gone wrong physically. I was specifically looking at my weight. Let us look at the statistics:

In June 2001 my weight ranged from 169-173.
In December 2002 I weighed 180.
In August 2003 I weighed 182.
In March 2004 I weighed 186.
In June 2004 I weighed 192.
In 2005 I ranged from 186-195.

As of a day or two ago, I weighed 196.

Woah! This is a trend that must stop. It is a lot easier to stop a negative trend when we keep track of it. One thing we should notice is that not every negative trend is physical in nature. There are spiritual trends also. Speaking of those trends, let us look at our prayer and devotional lives. If you don’t keep track of them, how will you know when you’ve lost your way? When will you know that corrective spiritual behavior is needed? I want to help create better spiritual lives among the readers of this devotional email. I am extremely qualified to warn you of the dangers of getting spiritually sidetracked. Let me tell you now, it’s not a family friendly tourist attraction.

I can lecture you all day about the importance of staying spiritually active but I think you know that already. My plea is that you keep a record of your spiritual activity. Keep a prayer journal. Keep track of your quite times and Bible reading. These items are only for your eyes and your personal knowledge. No looking in your little book and saying to your friend, co-worker, or spouse,“Naaa, na na naaaa na, I’ve read my Bible every day this month!” Keeping track of your spiritual life is a private matter between you and God. I only suggest this spiritual record keeping for the sake of helping you know when you need to buckle down and make more time for God.

As always, I welcome your comments. I take prayer requests too. If you who want to be more spiritually active but need a little help, I especially want to pray for you. I will get down on my knees and lift up before God, your desire to be closer to Him.

Christian Graces

What Kind of Faith Do We Have?

Posted on April 3, 2006 by gophumek | Permalink 0

What Kind of Faith Do We Have?
Matthew 9:27-30

It’s wabbit season. Oooops, I mean it’s baseball season. This is another year that I get to show the world I’m a great man of faith. How do I accomplish this feat? I simply wear my Chicago Cubs baseball cap in public (baseball fans will understand this comment, Cubs fans will understand it even better).   

I was reading Matthew 9 this morning and I came upon the story of the blind men wanting Jesus to heal them. He asked if they believed he could heal them. They did. Jesus then said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” Wow!

Can you honestly list some things that Jesus has done in your life recently? If not, why not? Jesus’ words are soul-piercing to me. We need to have faith, He says. Sometimes that is very difficult. Like the proverbial chicken and the egg, the question has always been, “Which one came first?” So it is with faith, does a faith producing act come first or does faith come first? If Jesus is not performing sight-giving type of miracles in my own life, I have to take responsibility for that. Remember His words, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” I need to have more faith than simply being a Chicago Cubs fan. I need to have a life changing faith in Jesus. I need to have faith that He can change my life. And finally, I need prayers to help live that type of faith, do you?

By the way, I began writing this a few hours before baseball season began. But now, opening day is over. And guess what y’all, the Cubs won 16-7. 

Faith

Barely Hanging Onto Life by a Thread

Posted on March 28, 2006 by gophumek | Permalink 0

Barely Hanging Onto Life By a Thread
Mark 2:17

Sunday, a return guest to our congregation was having problems. Like her previous visits, she sat on the back row near the door. She came for a quick dose of encouragement and an even speedier escape. There are many folks who attend church each week with this same plan in mind – hear some good news and encouraging words and then make it out the back door before they can be engaged in conversation. Some people just want to be anonymous. With God’s help, I prevented her from leaving anonymously. I found out that she was having some bad problems. I prayed with her. I talked with her. She made me realize the truth in the statement, “Each week someone walks into our churches barely hanging onto life by a thread.”

Many of you who read this attend church. Some of you do not attend anywhere. I am glad this devotional reaches all types of people. I think the situation described above can be helpful to everyone. To those who attend church, remember that there are people barely hanging onto life by a thread in each of your church services. These individuals need to be found and engaged in conversation. These individuals who are having problems do not need to be judged. Our guest Sunday had one big concern. She didn’t want me to look down on her because she is functionally homeless at this time. Being judged was her big concern. That is the biggest concern of all who are struggling. We’ve got the misconception that those in the church need to be perfect or pretty close to perfect. How wrong and shameful for us to ever think that way. To those of you who do not attend church or who are pre-Christians, remember that if you are barely hanging on to life by a thread, a congregation of believers should make you feel welcome and help you. If it doesn’t, I don’t think that congregation is doing its job.

Jesus ate with tax collectors and “sinners.” We need to show that face of Jesus to the world. We need to eat with the tax collectors and “sinners” too. I would call such people “the hurting” and they include both those inside our churches and those who simply wander in from time to time. And don’t even get me started about going to the hurting…. I’d be sitting here for weeks typing away.

Please pray for our guest. I am sorry to not name her, but God knows her by name. She needs so many prayers at this time in her life. And after you pray for her, think about someone else you know who is hurting and pray for them.

Struggles