Walking and Wondering

March 21, 2020 Here’s a thought for the day … Psalm 91:15 – I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. Chances are you have either seen or have been a part of a “faith fall” before.  It’s a simple, but powerful illustration of what it means to put your faith in someone.  How it works is pretty simple.  Using two people, one person stands directly behind another person.  The person in the front is asked to fall backwards into the arms of the person behind them.  It’s a test of whether or not they have faith that the other person will actually catch them.  I like to put a little twist on it. What I like to do is have the person who will be falling backwards be blindfolded.  After all, faith is the evidence of what we can’t see.  I would stand behind them and tell them that they could trust me.  Then, as I’m talking to them, I would move from behind them to in front of them.  Keep in mind they ...

March 20, 2020 Here’s a thought for the day … Psalm 91:15 – He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;         If you asked my wife what is at the top of her “Most Frustrating Things That I Do” list, her answer would be this … “When Wayne doesn’t answer me when I ask him a question.”  Why?  Because she is looking for an answer?  Possibly.  Because she wants my undivided attention at that moment?  Probably.  Because she wants to know that I care enough to give her my attention.  CERTAINLY! What I love about God’s response in Psalm 91:15 is His promise to us.  He says, that, “he (meaning us) shall call upon Me (meaning Him), and I WILL answer him.”  Can I propose that a natural byproduct of what we have been discussing, which is setting your love upon God and knowing His name, is calling upon Him.  The phrase “He shall call” is the word qara’ in Hebrew and means to “cry out (for help), to call (with the nam...

March 19, 2020 Here’s a thought for the day … Psalm 91:14 – I will set him on high, because he has known My name. There’s something so powerful about a name.  When Heidi and I were starting our family, each time one of our 4 children were born, it was another journey to discover what their name would be.  I remember thinking to myself about how stressful this decision would be.  After all, their name would follow them the rest of their lives.  What if they hated the name we chose?  What if kids made fun of them in school?  What if we called them Ryan, but God designed them to be a Jonah?  Man … pressure!  In fact, we came to decide on each of the names of our kids in a different way.   Joshua – I just always loved that name from as long as I could remember.  Meaning … “God is Salvation.” Jonah – In the movie Sleepless in Seattle, one of the main characters was a boy named Jonah.  Heidi and I struggled a bit with ...

Here’s a thought for the day  … Psalm 91:14 -  “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;” Question  …  What does deliverance mean?  The Hebrew word used here is “ palat ” and it means  “to escape, to slip away, to be carried away safely.”   But what does God’s deliverance look like?  I’m thinking about Daniel in the lion’s den.  Rack, Shack and Benny in the fiery furnace, Joseph in prison, Jeremiah in the cistern  …  and the list goes on and on.  I wonder if deep down inside they struggled with fear.  I wonder if they prayed for the Lord to deliver them from the trial.  And I wonder what they thought as they saw no “apparent” response to their prayer.  What were they thinking as they were thrown into the furnace  …  the lion’s den  …  the cistern  …  the cell.  Did they waver in their faith, or did i...

Here’s a thought for the day  … Psalm 91:14 – “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him” So much here to meditate on.  God speaking to us says that I will deliver him that SETS HIS LOVE UPON ME.  What does it mean to set your love upon God?   I’m sitting here drinking a cup of coffee as I’m writing this.  I love a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning.  I’ve set my coffee mug UP and ON the table beside me.  I trust it will hold the cup and not drop it.  I trust it will keep it from spilling.  In a grand sense, I trust it will hold that which I value.  In the same light, I can trust that when I set my love upon God, He can hold it, value it and protect it.  We all have the capacity to love.  And without even knowing it, we can give many different things our love.  People, hobbies, things, philosophies, dreams, work, etc....

"I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and you mother, Eunice.  And I know that same faith continues strong in you.  This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."  (2 Timothy 1:5-7 NLT) Question ... Have you ever found yourself fighting fear and timidity in your life?  Okay another question ... what is timidity again???  The dictionary defines timidity as lacking self-assurance, bravery or courage; being fearful.  Apparently Timothy, a young pastor in the city of Ephesus, was fighting this very thing.  So Paul, his spiritual father, writes to give him some great council.  (Side note ... it's so important to have spiritual fathers and mothers in your life to help in times of need.  Pride says you can do it alone; wisdom say...

Luke 12:15 - Then He said, "Beware!  Guard against every kind of greed.  Life is not measured by how much you own." While at first glance this seems so simple, the complexity behind monitoring this in our lives is SO challenging.  We so easily drift towards measuring life by earthly standards, rather than Heaven's standards.   The backstory here involves someone coming to Jesus and asking him to tell his brother to give him his portion of their father's estate.  Jesus, rather surprisingly, responds by saying, "Who made me the judge over this situation?"  In other words, don't drag me into your conflict.  The bigger issue here isn't the inheritance, it's what's driving your emotions.  Then He goes on to explain the bigger picture ... GREED!  Where we so easily think that the amassing of wealth and possessions will lead to freedom, it can actually lead us to bondage.  It can cause us to judge people based on what they've a...