Amazing Grace

Isn't it awesome how God loves us no matter what and all we have to do is ask forgiveness when we mess up? I sometimes wonder how he does without ever losing sleep. There are times as a parent that I wonder man are they ever going to grow out of this disobedience stage, and let me say that my kids are really good...most of the time. But God has to deal with the entire human race who without remorse runs headlong into sins over and over. And each time the simple words "Forgive me God" brings it back right with him. Now sometimes there are periods of punishment so to speak such as with David and Bathsheeba. This is the man that God had a respect for and in the end David is someone we can all relate to in one way or another and know that God has an amazing plan of salvation for us.

Faith

I have been thinking about Faith a lot here lately and in its application to the various portions of our lives. For those of you who have actually read my blogs you may know that I think in terms of a big unlimited God. But there are times that I feel I limit what God can do. Here in the city of Cleveland, TN people are always praying for rain, "because the good Lord knows we need it"! While several states perhaps they pray for no rain. Praying for rain in Cleveland, TN or for no rain in Killeen, TX and having the faith that God will answer your prayers is easy. But God promises us so much more, in fact in his word there were times when the impossible happened for his people. The first faithful man of God to request the impossible and to expect it to happen was Joshua. He stood before the people of God in prayer and said let the sun and moon stay where they are so that we can finish the job. He didn't pray that they could hurry up and get the job done or that the enemy would turn around and come back. These things would have been the easy faith thing to do, instead he asked for the passage of time to pause. Elijah was one who came to mind when I thought of all the prayer rquest for rain. He did something that truly required faith, in fact if he had been wrong he would have looked rather foolish.
Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” It happened just as he had faith it would and God honored him for his faith. Can you imagine if we prayed for no rain in Cleveland, TN until the wicked people turned to God? Can you imagine going up to someone and instead of saying "hey I prayed for rain and it came", you said "man I prayed for no rain until I said so and its been three years and still Cleveland, TN hasn't seen rain!" I am not saying that praying for rain is wrong, just that limiting your prayers to the normal course of things is. Pray Faithfully for the impossible it will shock you with the things that arent really impossible.

Africa or Bust?

When I talk to people about answering God's call (for example becoming a Chaplain) I sometimes talk about my friend who is called to be a missionary in Africa. It seems that so many people are afraid to answer the call into the ministry because they don't want to be placed somewhere that they will hate. My friend was called to Africa almost from the time he was saved. He in fact dreamed of living in Africa for more than just the ministry he liked the whole thought of wide open country for some weird reason that I could never quite put my finger on. Personally I couldn't think of a more horrid calling to have to answer. For some people my calling to go back into the Army after my initial escape befuddles their minds. For me I enjoyed, for the most part, my military service and honestly can think of no ministry that could be nearly as exciting, much like my friend and his Africa. You see God calls people that he created to those things he created them for. To be quite honest I am yet to hear of someone who was called to a ministry that they just didn't like, if you know someone who is ask them truly if they are called to that or do they feel obligated you will see at first a look of outrage, then followed by a look of hmmm yeah that's true. Recently in church service we had a visiting missionary from the Congo(Africa). Now many of you are thinking awww that's nice he came back to fill the congregation in on his mission field. Nope he was from the Congo, missionary to the United States! Now who in the world would want to come as a missionary to the United States? But God placed a calling on his and his families life and here they are. My entire point is this, don't be afraid of Africa God has people with a heart for Africa. Where is your heart?