The Critical First Step – Non-Negotiable!

Most Christians who struggle to have a consistent time of Bible reading, study, prayer and reflection do so because of one fatal mistake; the mistake of negotiation with the flesh! Get this! The flesh doesn’t want you to spend time with God! Neither does the world or the devil! They will never make it easy, always will oppose you in your effort to do so. When we make any profitable discipline or habit negotiable the most likely result is failure to maintain it. This is as true in exercise or diet as in any of the spiritual disciplines. The key is to not negotiate! It is infinitely easier to make one simple decision than hundreds or thousands of difficult complicated decisions. (I’ll have just a bite this time! I’ll skip running while I’m on vacation! etc.,etc.,...

Two Steps to Your best Hour

I didn’t meet Jesus until I was 35. Today I am 72. My first 35 years were lived as a worldly disciple of Hugh Hefner, the last 37 as a Christ follower. There isn’t enough space or time in this medium, and really not enough words,  to tell you all of the ways the “second half” of my life is better. Maybe another time. For the first 15 years of my life as a Christian I heard others talk about having a daily, early morning “quiet time” with our Lord. Since I am not at all a ‘morning person” I resisted the advice and tried every alternative I could think of to justify my resistance. (I do know all the reasons you can’t do it!) I did make a commitment to read the Bible for at least 5 minutes every day and involved myself in a broad...

Why Pray?

Do you pray? And if you do pray, what is the major emphasis or focus of your prayers? Is it to somehow persuade God to do what you want or believe that you need? Or is it to learn what God wants you to do or be? Think deeply about this question because the answer reveals much about your understanding of the relationship that you have with the Father. If the  answer is that the vast majority, as I would say it is in most cases that I have observed, the focus of our prayers is to tell God what we want Him to do  or ask Him for what we perceive we need, then our fundamental paradigm is that God exists to serve us and or please us. What percentage of your prayers are focused on asking God what He wants and then listening and watching for His direction? In reality we exist to serve and...

To A Great 2010!

Happy New Year! On this first day of 2010 I am looking forward to the New Year 2010 with genuine excitement and expectation! At 72 I feel great and have already accomplished more in my life than I ever imagined because of God’s grace manifest. I have nothing left to prove and no pressure to do anything but I am anxious to get going in 2010! I am a blessed man and extremely grateful for the life I have and have lived. My only remaining goal is to finish my race strong and run through the tape! It wasn’t always this way for me. I have known the emptiness that comes from following the world’s system of hedonistic materialism. I have set meaningless goals and accomplished them over and again without ever gaining lasting satisfaction or peace through the processs At 30 I...