Peace In The Storm-Acts 27

I think everyone has a role model. We all have someone we want to be like. Some are athletes. Some are businessmen, or politicians. Some are preachers, teachers, and strong Christians. Paul had a role model too. Paul wanted to be like Jesus. And he did that so effectively in Acts 27, that I decided to blog on this chapter twice!
Paul is in the middle of this huge storm. People are panicking. Everything is chaotic. And Paul is thinking about food! Doesn’t this kinda remind you of when Jesus was in the boat during the storm, and the Disciples got mad at Him because He was sleeping? Jesus had peace because He had heard from Heaven. Paul also had peace because he had heard from Heaven.
My goal is to become more and more like Jesus. Hopefully, someday I will get to where Paul was. Not shaken. Confident in the God’s Word, not matter what is happening around me.
Make me more like you, Jesus!

Just A Little Farther- Acts 27

Remember when you were little and your mom would say it was time for bed, or time for dinner, or time to go home, and you would beg, “Just 2 more minutes!”? My kids do it all the time, but this is nothing new, we’ve all done it. This is essentially what happened to Paul and the guys who were taking him to Rome. They knew they should probably stop where they were, but they just wanted to go a little farther. Then, it would be better.
Check out a map of this trip. Phoenix, the place they were shooting for was just a little ways down the coast from where they were, but that’s not where they ended up. They ended up over miles of open ocean, and eventually shipwrecked on Malta. Malta is roughly 13 times farther away from where they were than Phoenix was. They covered a lot of ground they hadn’t planned on.
Sometimes there are things we know we shouldn’t do. God has warned us in His Word that we shouldn’t. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit that we shouldn’t. But we tell God, “Just a little farther.” The old adage is so true: Sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go, keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay and cost you more than you ever expected to pay. We say, “Just a little farther,” but really we are swinging open the doors of disobedience. After those doors are open, they can be very hard to shut.
Are there areas in your life that you are telling God, “Just a little further”? Are there things you are doing that you know you have no business doing, and you keep making the excuse that it is just a little more? Before you get carried away by the storm of sin, listen to the Guidance of the Lord. Be patient and obedient, and live in the blessing of God. Say goodbye to an arrogant or disobedient attitude, and say hello to God’s pleasure with you.

Back.......

So, it has been a while since I posted something new to my blog. The whole purpose of this blog was to allow the Word of God to speak to me and affect my life, and write about that process. Over the last few weeks, I have been up against probably the most formidable personal foe I have ever done battle with. This battle I have been fighting has made me question nearly everything in my life, including my salvation. I am not sure I have ever been shaken like I have been over the last month. So I took some time off of the blog so that I could collect my thoughts, and once again approach the point where I could allow God to speak to me and through me by using this platform.
Starting tomorrow, I will begin again to regularly blog my way through the Scriptures. I will pick up in Acts 27, right where I left off. I will post 5-7 times per week, just like I had originally planned. I know God will help me to make obedience to His Word a top priority. I pray He will help you too . We show that obedience by trying to gain truth about life, and personal insight through His Word. I pray that will be the case for both you and me.
One of the most incredible things that has happened in my heart over this month has been the total destruction of who I thought I was as a man, a pastor, and a Christian. I am not who I convinced myself I was. Although I am actually terribly insecure, I began to see myself not just as a good person and Christian, but I saw myself as very good. I think this was somehow to compensate for my insecurity, but no matter what the reasoning was, that is what happened.
The Lord has been gently, lovingly, and sometimes violently reminding me that He is the One who sits on the throne. I am not victorious because of anything I say or do. My only victory lies in the fact that I have chosen to live my life for Him. Any victory I can win on my own doesn’t really matter, because it is confined to this world. When God wins for me, those prizes are eternal. Nothing can take away what He does in me.
Lord, I desperately seek you. My desire is to know Your desire. Let my heart beat as Yours does. I have vacated my throne, and can’t wait to see what happens next, now that You sit on it.
I hope and pray that my blog will be a blessing to you. Let God’s Word sink into your spirit, and daily transform you into the image of Christ.

Clear Objective-Acts 26

The more you read, the more obvious it is that Paul had a clear objective. He wasn’t trying to get out of jail. He was trying to win the lost. He even almost convinced Agrippa while they were in court!!
This guy didn’t care about comfort. He Didn’t care about freedom. He didn’t even really care about his rights (he just used them to get to Rome). He cared about the lost. He cared so much that all hose other things were of no interest to him.
Lord, give me a hunger to win the lost like Paul had. I don’t want anything else to matter.