Power of Praise

Sorry it has been at least a week since I wrote on this blog but things have been a little busy... Now that the disclaimer is out of the way. Onward and upward.


I am listening to a song call "Mighty to Save". It is a powerful praise and worship song talking about our Lord's ability to save us from any and every situation.

Savior, He can move the mountains. My GOD is Mighty to Save. He is mighty to save.
Forever Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the Grave.
Jesus conquered the Grave!

Let God arise and his enemies be scattered! His enemies are your enemies.
There is something about praise and worship to our Father and changes the atmosphere around us. It causes devils to flee while simultaneously ushering in the presence of God. Praise and worship makes our problems small and magnifies Our God. Think about it, Saul was only comforted from the spirit that plagued him when David came before him to play his harp. The Israelites did not defeat the people of Jericho with their swords and spears but with the musicians, dancers and the people caring banners at the front of the army that caused those walls to fall.

What is praise and worship? Is it great music and gifted singers??? No, those can be a part of it. At its core, praise and worship is warfare. It is one of the best weapons in our arsenal to defeat the enemy. Remember, Satan was the chief, ace number one Worship leader in heaven before his fall. What better way to bruise his head than with the very thing he was the best at.

The best part of it is. We don't have to be in a corporate setting at church to experience the power of God in our praise. We can have His presence there, but how much more sweet is His presence when He meets us alone in our homes.

So my final thought on this post is simply this. When life and everything that comes with it starts to weigh you down both physically and mentally. Make time to unleash your praise on that situation and watch what God will do.

Pursuit

Did you ever wonder why everything that is good in life must be pursued, sought after? Our founding fathers realized this truth because they placed it in some of our country's founding documents. Remember the inalienable rights of " life, liberty and the Pursuit of happiness? Whether we want to admit it or not we can make no excuses for our lot in life because we are what we pursue. If I desire a great marriage then I will go after it. If I want a great career then I will chase it. Lots of money... I will find a way to hunt it down. Under this as well, if I desire failure, poverty and the like, I will pursue those things also. It just so happens the failure is easier to catch than success. The good things in life are difficult to attain because in some way they say to us how bad do you want us and what are you willing to go through to get us. Sadly many of us fall short because we are unwillingly to follow through. I believe we as humans have an incredible ability to attain almost anything we desire. The problem is in many cases we expect it to be given to us. We don't want to put in the work to earn it. Let's face it, we have become a society that in some ways seeks to find the path of least resistance. Unfortunately pursuing that path will not lead to happiness or all the other good things in life.
I coached my son's football team and the one constant thing I would tell them after a hard practice was that this game is not easy. If it was then everybody would play it. How much sweeter is the reward for something that was worked for, earned with blood, sweat and tears and pursued with ever fiber of your being.
Let us commit to not pursue the path of least resistance, but instead chose the path that though difficult leads to excellence, greatness and fulfillment.
The bible tell us to get wisdom and once we get it we must not let it go.

What are you pursuing?????

Nothing to Say

I haven't posted all week and that is partly because I really didn't think I had much to say. So let me say it... I went to work, paid bills, kicked the wife and kissed the dog-just kidding-I didn't kiss the dog :) Watched basketball etc. I basically just lived life. Did I live it to my fullest potential? Not even close. Will I look back and remember the past 7 days as a significant time in my life? NO
This week will go down in history like so many weeks have gone before. Insignificant and unremembered. Wow, John why don't you just have a pity party. I am not upset, depressed or anything like that. It just serves as a reminder to me that I should try to live every day as though it were my last. My wife has a plaque hanging up in our room that simply says: "You gotta dance like nobody's watching, Dream like you will live forever, Live like you're going to die tomorrow, And love like it's never going to hurt."

As I read over this post I think, not bad for not having anything to say!

Excuses, Excuses

What are they??? My excuses for sin. Was it disappointment? Rejection from some loved one? Validation for feelings of inadequacy? Could be all of things or none of them. Maybe it is just plain rebellion. Whatever the reason it does not matter. What matters is that they are not sufficient anymore for me not to do what God has created me for. It is part of our fallen nature to look for scape goats... Adam and Eve did it in the garden. They gave us a perfect example that is alive and well today. We don't even bother to get creative with our excuses to God anymore. Just trot out the same tired ones over and over again. Recycling them to fit whatever the problem area. We don't realize or care that we are trampling under foot the grace that God so freely gives. Now God's grace is not a blank check to cover our sin, but rather a way of escape when the temptation becomes to great. Jesus said He would make a way for us, not an excuse to fall short. We make excuses when we don't want to accept the responsibility for our actions. I have practiced defeat in my life for far too long. I want to practice victory.

New Season

It's a new season ... It's a new day... Fresh anointing is flowing my way.

These are the words to a great song By Israel Houghton. Today is a new day. Yesterday is gone. Today, right now I have the opportunity to forget what is behind me and press on. So that is what I have decided to do. FIDO ( Forget It and Drive On)!

My father told me once that we never stop growing up because we will always face new challenges that did not exist for us yesterday. I do not pretend to know alot of things but the thing I cling to, is that there is hope for me. God has brought me too far and watched me go through too many things to leave me hanging with the job incomplete. I actually prayed for my children this morning.(without their knowledge) I lifted them up and prayed for them as the bible says with groans and utterances that words cannot express. They are my most precious gift. Left unguarded and to their own devices they would eventually be consumed by this world. The bible says that when the enemy seeks to rush in like a flood that He will raise up a standard against him. I am that standard that will hold back the assault. I will declare again, devil will not have my children! As long as there is breath in my body I will stand against him who seek to destroy my kids. Awakened from Slumber and Ready to stand on the Wall!

Failure

What does it mean to fail? What are the implications... consequences? Tonight I discovered first hand what it means to fail as a parent. Yes I have made mistakes before and will again but tonight is something different entirely. I failed my son in one of the most monumental ways. I did not set for him the example that he needed to follow. I let him down. I am his father. When he sees me, he should see what it means to be a Godly man. He should see how a man is supposed to treat his wife and most important I am supposed to be his earliest example of God's love and direction. Because of my inconsistency he made a wrong impulsive choice. The curiosity of an eleven year old can be very powerful. By God's grace and mercy, my wife and I discovered what he had done before it went too far. Unfortunately in the process there was some measure of his childhood that was taken away.

We talked with him for over an hour, asking the questions that should be asked, and to his credit we received honest answers. In the end we prayed together, I asked that God and my son would forgive me for not being the Priest and head of my house like I should have. I committed to him, my wife and to the Lord that I would make it right.

As I write these thoughts I declare again that the enemy has NOT won anything here. He will not gain a foothold in the life of my son. I declare again, tomorrow is another opportunity for God to show Himself faithful to me and my family but it is just as much another chance for me to be faithful to HIM!

I have been shaken from my slumber....
"As for me and my house, we WILL SERVE THE LORD!"

My Declaration

News Flash.... Life is not fair! Bad things happen to good people. Evil will some times prevail in this world. But what is our response to be... Should we search for an endless supply of excuses and reasons why we failed, or should we take the high road and decide that no matter the difficulty, Our God is great. Yes, I have decided that all I need is one more day for HIM to show Himself faithful to me. With that in mind, I know I can withstand everything that would seek to destroy me and crush my spirit. This is my little corner of cyberspace. It is my hope that the things written on here will inspire and encourage all who stop by.