Money isn’t anything like air. I can live a very long life and experience all the really important qualities of life without money, but I can only live a few minutes without air. In God’s economy of sovereign abundance He has made all the most important things for the abundant life the easiest to obtain and most freely available.

Air is first on the list, followed by water, food and shelter. Money never appears on God’s list of important things. Money is utilitarian at best, not essential. God is our source. He is sovereign  and He can and will provide all we need to do all He wants - with or without money. Money is never the limiting factor in doing what is most important to Him.

I know that this sounds like radical thinking but it really isn’t, in fact it is eminently logical and Biblically provable. Let’s take a couple of simple examples.

Perhaps the most obvious is God’s total and sovereign sustenance of the nation of Israel in the desert for 40 years. He didn’t use money or any other medium of barter or exchange to care for them.  He just supernaturally provided all they really needed to live. He doesn’t need money to care for us either.

When Peter asked Jesus how they they would pay the temple tax Jesus told him to go catch a fish. The money for the tax was to be in its mouth. I call that fish God’s bank.

Did you ever notice that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray He told them to prays “Give us this day our daily bread” not, “Give us the money to buy our bread?”  Money was used while Jesus was here. He knew about it. He knew all about it.

How about this; there is no mention of money in the garden of Eden. It wasn’t needed. It’s not mentioned in any description or discussion of the New Jerusalem either. Adam and Eve worked, but not for wages, they tended the garden as stewards and God provided all they needed to do all He asked.

Here’s a really radical thought about money; it is an alternative to trust in God provided by Satan as part of an alternative worldview that he has been promoting since he appeared to Eve as a snake. What he did then, and all he really does now, is offer plausible sounding but false alternatives to trust in what God has said to man. It is true that the world system that has developed and is the result of the first sin of disobedience does need money, and also that as He does with all things, God does use money, but He doesn’t need it. Neither do His children although they may use it too. God uses everything but He doesn’t need anything.

What we need is faith… Faith to trust God and to take Him at His word…First, faith that He loves us so much that He sent His Son to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins… faith to accept that gift.

Next, faith that His written Word is true, all of it. In it He promises over, and over, and over again to provide all we need to do all He asks and to take responsibility for it. Think about it friends! If God can’t or won’t do this He isn’t God at all and our faith is a joke!

If God has a unique plan for each of our lives, which He says he does in His Word. (Ephesians 2:10)

And, If He will judge our performance within that plan, which He says He will. (II Corinthians 5:10)

And if there will be consequences, both reward and loss, based on that judgement, and He says there will be. (I Corinthians 3:11-15)

Then how can He judge us unless we have the ability to do what we are being given to do? Is the God of the Universe just? Is He?

Yes! He is just! And that’s how I know – I WILL ALWAYS HAVE ALL I NEED TO DO ALL GOD WANTS. If you trust Him you will too!

Take it to the bank!

There is a hooker though, it’s the phrase that says “to do all HE wants.”

                                                                                                Galatians 6:9

 “Let us not grow weary….” Do you ever feel weary? Tired, wornout, burned out? Does the burden of being somone chosen by God to deal with the particular frustrations and difficult people that make up your life and relationships in its environment ever make you wonder if it is all worth the effort required? Do you ever feel like just chucking the whole deal and simply taking a walk? I do.

One thing is for sure, if you answered “no” to any of the above you will lie about other things too! We all grow weary at times. If life were easy we would never need God. He would be irrelevant. God is never irrelevant.

No one gets a pass from the challenges of life, everyone has a piece of the action. A perfect life without trail or pain doesn’t exist, yet. But the Bible quote that we started with tells that we shouldn’t “lose heart.” Have you ever lost heart? I have. When I take my eyes of the reality of life and look through the lens of wrong expectation it’s easy to do. Let’s ask ourselves some probing questions and reflect on our answers. Jot down your rresponses to:

• What is the “good” that we are called to do in our roles as Christ-followers? And who calls us to do it?

• Why do we get “weary” even doing what God asks us to do?

• When that happens, what or who would you suppose is the most likely cause?

• What do you think might be the most powerful cure for weariness?

• What can we do to avoid getting weary?

• Who determines what “due season” is?

• What shall we reap if we remain faithful and don’t lose heart?

Take your time and think through these questions and then ponder this statement; “The circumstances of life don’t make me what I am, they reveal who (whose?) I am.” Only by accepting and adopting the true eternal perspective on life abundant”can we have any chance of not growing weary and losing heart and, even then, to maintain perspective we need the encouragement we gain by association with other like-minded Christ-followers to sustain it.  

So, how’s life workin’ for you?

The good news is…IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!!!

For Christians it doesn’t matter because our God, not our government or any world power or economic system, is our source! It is He who promises to supply all we need to do all He asks… period! What God asks of us is faithful, dependent, obedience to His Spirit moment by moment. If the sun shines or it rains, in good times or bad, in sickness or in health, in democracy or totalitarianistic socialism – our call is to trust Him for all we need to do all He asks AND HE WILL!!!

There is no need for weeping and wailing or gnashing of teeth! IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Don’t waste time or energy!

This is like the endless and wasteful debate over the return of our Lord, whether He will come before, during, or after the tribulation! IT DOESN”T MATTER! It is just a distraction! What matters is moment by moment trust and obedience now, in the moment. He will come again for each of us and when He does, whether that is before, during, or after the tribulation, all that will matter will be our trust and obedience. He has a plan for each of our lives and He will always provide all we need to fulfill it! No power in heaven or on Earth can stand against Him. Jesus isn’t dependent on any form of earthly government or economic system. He is the absolute sovereign and infinite power of the Universe.

So, don’t be discouraged. Of course we have preferences concerning our government and who is best qualified to lead it, and we need to be informed and vocal in support of candidates who represent our values and views. But no matter who leads the country this is not our home and it will never be perfect or even really close, and it will never change our Source or what we need to do to receive all we need to live abundantly from Him. We are here for a short term as Ambassadors for Christ and then we’ll go home. Faithful Ambassadors don’t look to the country where they are sent to serve to supply their needs, they look to home. Press on, the Bema awaits!

I have been asked to briefly give a couple of keys to what we have found to be a way to do marriage that works. There are so many things that God has used and is using that it is hard to pick just a few. For me, not to try to over-spiritualize, but it starts with understanding, and accepting God’s role for me in our relationship. The basic concept that I am to love Bonnie as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it is where it all started. I had failed in marriage twice before coming to Christ. I know how to fail at marriage, and I’ve learned, I should say I’m learning, how to succeed. There are three things that we have done that have really helped us and that I would encourage others to do in some form without question.

FIRST, from the get-go we committed on our knees together that we wanted, and would strive for, God’s best in our marriage – no matter what! We knelt before Jesus and promised that divorce would never be an option. But, more than that, we said that we wanted the marriage that God wanted us to have. Not to just stay together, but to know the joy and “oneness” that He wanted for us.  We didn’t know at the time that there would be a thousand challenges that would test our commitment, and there have been, but so very often, when it has hit the fan, we are reminded, and remind each other, of our promise to Jesus and our commitment to His goals for us as husband and wife. Somehow that always breaks the problem down and reminds us that God is able to bring resolution and healing to whatever it is that we have let slip in.

SECOND, and following from the first, after about 12 years of marriage and two children, we realized that, while we were investing a tremendous amount of time and energy into their lives, we weren’t investing much at all in building our relationship. We had forgotten why we were attracted to each other in the first place and the romantic portion of our relationship had slipped drastically into “yesterday’s mashed potatoes.” After the realization and some thought and prayer, we decided to take one weekend a month and get away for at least one over-night. We found reliable sitters for the girls and committed to get away and do something “fun” every month. There isn’t space or time here to list all the benefits that this practice brought us. The planning and discussion around it brought out all kinds of issues and helped me see how I had neglected my responsibility as Bonnie’s husband to nurture the part of her that needed to feel feminine and wanted. We explored Bed and Breakfasts and “antiqued” together. (Guess whose idea that was?) I learned to enjoy Bonnie’s enjoyment, and yes, sometimes we played golf. After the girls left for college we had no “empty nest” problems, we enjoy being together.  Since then we try to have a weekly “date” for the same reason. It takes time and some money, but it is more than worth it. I’m 71 years old today and I’m still romantically attracted to my wife and she to me. Romantic love doesn’t have to die but we can kill it by neglect. I don’t do as well as I would like to, and writing this will help me to press on, but even a little effort over time is a whole lot better than none.

FINALLY, and simply, the most important thing we do, is to have quiet time with the Lord each morning and to finish it by holding hands and praying aloud together for our family, friends, ministry, and each other. There are many other things we do, but none more powerful, meaningful or helpful. It’s really hard to have a hard heart toward someone you pray with every day. And somehow hearing my wife pray tells me more about what’s going on in our lives than tons of general conversation. We spend about an hour at it each day, the last 10 minutes or so, depending on what’s going on, in prayer. We also hold hands and close every day in a short prayer of thanksgiving before we go to sleep each night. We’re not really Bible students or prayer warriors by any means, but we do a little everyday. There is nothing that I know of that helps more, and, if all Christians would do just this one thing, the statistics concerning Christian divorce would change dramatically.

There you go – three simple things. I hope that someone who reads this might just give them a try and, if they do, that they will be as blessed as we have. God is more than good. He’s the source of all that’s good. And marriage was His idea in the first place. Committing to His best, nurturing our love in His, and talking about it all with Him all the time really helps!

We are in a unique condition as we read this material, a condition that is temporary but very significant, a condition that, in all of eternity, we shall only experience once. We are as we are because God has created us to be so. He has chosen to create us to be, at this moment, spirit beings that temporarily inhabit a human body. We will not be forever as we are now. A day will come when each of us will end this human life experience and we will go on to another experience of life called eternal life. But, for the moment, we are living in the human experience of life.

During our human experience we have spiritual experiences because we are spirit beings in our essence. The part of us that really matters is our spirit.

There is now a part of us that says with God, “I AM.” We could go on, but our point today is not to do deep theological exposition on the subject, although we pray to have piqued some interest along the way that may lead to deeper study, but to lay the groundwork for establishing a different way of seeing the mundane of life. After all most of what we do appears to be mundane. Perhaps by lifting our eyes to the infinite we can learn to see the mundane differently. And if we learn to see the infinite in the mundane, then the mundane will never be truly mundane to us again.

Our great need is to see God in the mundane. Our failing is that we tend to only look for Him in the extraordinary or the obviously spiritual realms of life. Because we do, we miss so much!

God uses the ordinary circumstance of life to reveal His extraordinary glory and grace.

Where is He when we spill our coffee? He is there, telling us to laugh at ourselves, that it is no big deal. He is using the circumstance to build the character of Jesus in us, to conform us to His image. Circumstances reveal our inner selves. Our reactions to them allow God to show us our need for Him and to experience our unity with Him, if we will let Him.

Where is God in a demanding customer? Why doesn’t He just handle it when we need Him to? Why does He allow us to hire brothers-in-law who He knows won’t work out?

Can you begin to get a sense of the difference it would make if we could learn to see the glory of God in the moment?

The basis for all discontent and all unhappiness is unwillingness to be content in the present moment.

Joy, peace, contentment, love, happiness and every good thing exist only in the moment. Life in this human form is composed of a series of frustratingly variable trials and problems, interrupted by momentary respites of serendipitous glimpses of grace. No one gets a pass. The rain falls on the just and the unjust and the sun shines on wicked and good alike.  Most days are a combination of problems and trials galore with God always present, and His glory always just a choice away.

Victor Frankl was a Jewish man sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Aushwitz during WW II. He made a profound discovery during the horrible trial of deprivation and torture that he experienced there. He realized that he was helpless at the hand of his captors in all ways save one. They could take away everything material, they could torture his body, and they could kill him if they chose. But they could never take away his freedom to choose his response to what they did to him. He survived, and after the war taught others about what he learned to call the moment between action and reaction. It is in this moment, he taught, brief as it may be, that we choose our reaction. We own that moment. No one can take that moment from us.

Now, if Victor Frankl could use that moment to choose his reactions to the brutality being forced upon him and survive, could we learn to use it to see the glory of God in our moment in the midst of the tests and trials of this human life? We can, indeed we can. And as we do, life is transformed, changed in an instant from mundane to sublime.

Practice taking God into the present moment. For the next week or so, stop in the middle of something and mentally realize that, at this moment, you are One with God. You in Him and He in you. Let His glory overcome the circumstance and capture the moment. It’s all we have and He is all we need.

Many friends have agreed with the concept of journaling over the years but most have struggled to find a consistent format that helps to keep the practice coherent and on track. In the hope that some may find it helpful I will share a very simple but effective journaling practice that I have used, and that has made it work for me for years.

1- For my journal I use a simple three ring notebook with a clear cover and dividers because they are so readily available and cheap. I slip my personal Mission Statement into the clear cover where I see it every day. I use the dividers to separate my journal and prayer list which is also pretty simple. (Consistent prayer over a few things is much better than occasional prayer over many things)

2. The way I set up each page is like this:
a) The first thing I do is write the day, date, time I get up, and my weight (I have been on a diet for 40+ years!) in the upper right hand corner.
b) Next I write the chapters of scripture that I will read (minimum) on the first line – center of the page. (Always one from the gospels and another usually from the New Testament.)
c) Next I drop down to about three lines up from the bottom of the page and write Blessing #…. I started with 1 and today was #7766. I then stop and reflect on what I am thankful for that God did in my life the day before, the previous 24 hours. I list as many as I can think of. I start this list by writing “Thank You Father for…..and write them down. (You will be amazed at how quickly we forget God’s blessings and kindnesses.)
3. Then I proceed with my reading, study, and reflection, beginning always with Scripture, and always including a chapter from the Gospels as I always want to be under the direct teaching of Jesus,  but also including other works that I feel God leads me to. Some sacred, some secular that will help me develop in the calling God has placed on my life.
4. The last thing I do is write a letter to God. Mostly they are just one page and are a combination of thanksgiving and praise for His Grace and questions about what He wants me to do. Sometimes I think He answers directly and I note what I think He has said. Sometimes I ask questions, sometimes I confess sin. Nothing is off limits! I write what I think His Spirit leads me to write, period. He doesn’t seem to mind how I do it or what I ask!
5. Every Saturday I review all that I have written during the week before I write to Him. This is an awesome practice and I highly recommend it. I keep tab markers handy and when something appears that I want to remember or review I tab it and go back over the tabs at the end of each year, or earlier if I am looking for something. Each January I spend part of the time reviewing the previous year, again, an amazing exercise. We forget so much of His grace and goodness!
6. Finally friends, and again, the thing that makes it all work is that the first hour of every day belongs to Him. This is the non-negotiable commitment that I made 7766 days ago. In all the years have missed three times to the best of my knowledge. These caused by red-eye flights or other unavoidable travel intrusions.

If you are serious about growing in your faith and have struggled to have a consistent and quality quiet time with God and want one,  try this; make it the first hour and non-negotiable and try this format for journaling for 90 days. You’ll never regret it and you life will never be the same.

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., etc.)  Been there, done that! Decide on the positive and don’t negotiate!

The one simple decision that will make you successful in having personal time with God every day is this; give Him the first hour! Let the other 23 float on the winds of chance if you like but Give the first hour of every day to God. Make it His and not an option to anything or anyone else!

I can hear the groans from many of you but look, here are some things that I have learned about the concept:

We all set our schedules by the first obligation of our day. That is; if we work, we know what time we have to get up to be at work on time, many of us to the last minute! So all we have to do is back that time up one hour and spend it with Jesus! It doesn’t matter where we are or what we are doing this WORKS! Making it the first hour of the day, every day makes it easy! It is non-negotiable.

(No, you don’t really need the last hour of sleep that you think you do and if you do you can just go to bed an hour earlier!)

It is impossible to measure how much more or less tired you or I are at the end of a day based on 1 hour more or less of sleep. How do you measure tired? We are all tired at the end of a busy day. I live by this system. Do you really think that I’m more tired than you are at the end of the day? Nonsense! If you have a “tired meter” let me know. The fact is that tired is tired and most days go so much better when we start them with God that there is a great net gain in energy that far offsets any imagined sacrifice.

No, this is not legalism. Not any more than the prescriptive truths about diet and exercise are legalism! If you want to weigh less or be stronger there are practices that you will need to do and others that you will need to eliminate. Success will depend on being consistent and for most if not all of us that means stopping some things that don’t help us and starting and maintaining others that do! If we want our lives to be better in any significant area we need to be willing to change! Change or exchange as in good habits for bad!

You CAN do this! And you will never regret it.

Here are some tips that will make the first hour easily doable;

1: Read two chapters from the Bible. Focus on the New testament.  I always read one from the gospels because I always want to be listening to Jesus. The Old testament is foundational and historical but it’s in the New that we live and learn to apply God’s way in life for us. (Obviously this is a suggestion and for those who disagree or are disinclined the Old Testament is fine. Just do it!)

2: Read from a good devotional or other book that focuses on life lessons from a Christian world-view. Books on personal spiritual development from current writers or past heroes. Pick from authors like Max Lucado, Rick Warren, A.W.Tozer, Mother Teresa, George Muller, Andrew Murray and any others you happen across. Hold what they say up against what you are reading in the Bible. practice discernment! One chapter a day.

3: Read one chapter from a book focused on helping you to grow as a Christ follower in your calling. Christian parenting, marketplace ministry, teaching school as a Christian in a public school environment, etc. One chapter a day over five years will set you far above the crowd.

4: Make a prayer list and use it for 5-10 minutes of your hour. It will come to mind through the day.

5: End your hour by writing a “Thank You” note to God. Tell Him what’s on your heart and listen for a minute or so. He will tell you what’s on His. don’t write it as if anyone else will ever see it. Make it personal. Remember, He’s you dad and He loves you.

Yes, these tips are simplistic. But they work and if you begin and apply even these God will show you a more personal way for you. I have changed bits and pieces over the years and you will too. That’s not the important thing. What is important is the practice and making it non-negotiable. The tips are just to help those of you who need them to get started. The principle in practice will change your life eternally. By the way, today is my 7761st day at this. It’s in my journal! I guarantee that if you follow this practice for 90 days, making it non-negotiable and keeping a short daily journal, that your life will never be the same and you will have established a foundation that provides great benefits now and in eternity.

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 variety of men’s groups and activities. I was a growing follower of Jesus and a new father and husband. There was so much to learn and so many changes that I needed to make in the way I thought about things and in life in general. I grew but continued to resist the early morning commitment.

I am a reader and over the early years read the biographies of a wide variety of heroes of our faith. Heroes like George Muller, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, Smith Wigglesworth, Watchman Nee,  Hudson Taylor, and many others. I wanted to look for commonalities among them that I might learn from and adapt to my own life experience. One that jumped out but that I constantly rejected was that every single one of them testified to the blessing derived from, and their absolute need for, spending their first hour with the Lord in Bible reading, prayer, and quiet meditation. Each of them said one way or another that the practice of spending the first hour, or in some cases hours (Martin Luther said that “I spend the first hour of each day with the lord. Unless I have a very busy day planned. Then I spend two! Not what I was looking for!) was the key discipline that allowed them to walk in faithful and fruitful obedience and to grow in intimacy with the Father and the knowledge His will. I wanted those things for my life but still resisted.

Then in 1987 I was given the opportunity to become the Area Coordinator in Florida for the Fellowship of Companies for Christ, an organization that ministers to Christian business owners and CEOs. The work was definitely in my sweet spot and fit my background as an entrepreneur and chief executive. From my conversion in 1973 I had worked for most of the previous 14 years as VP of sales in a chemical business that used as the business model the question “What would this business look like, and how would we make our decisions, if Jesus Christ was the owner and Chairman of the board?”  What I had experienced had led me to hope to share with others the wonder of working for God in business, I still do (am)!

One day as I was ready to launch into the work I heard God speak to me. Now don’t freak out, it wasn’t an audible voice or anything weird. God has never spoken to me audibly. He speaks in my thoughts and in impressions that are hard to describe but very real. Often He speaks to me as I read His Word and sometimes in just a still, small inner voice. We can talk about this at another time but for now just accept that I heard Him say to me; “Buck, if you want to be effective in the lives of others I want the first hour of your day.” I can’t explain how, but I knew that I knew that this was real and could be a go-no go deal.

In what I look back on as my ignorance and even arrogance I said; “OK Lord I will give it 90 days. If after 90 days I can’t see any difference I’ll give it up.” (Can you imagine giving God a 90 day performance review?) I started the next morning and I must tell you that nothing that I have ever done has had the powerful and positive effect on my life that giving God the priority in my daily life that He deserves has had.

Since that first day almost 22years ago I have missed only about three days. God has taken me through the FCCI experience to starting The C12 group, LLC in 1992 and has grown it to the national presence we now enjoy as Americas leading resource for Christian CEOs and owners. I have been used to speak and write across our country and abroad and I have taught this principle in person and in seminars to hundreds of leaders. Nothing else that I have ever done has had the influence for good or been as fruitful. There is no Christian habit or discipline that I could recommend to you more highly if you desire to grow in your faith and effectiveness as a Christian. In fact I am so bold to say that without a daily quiet time you will never be ALL that God wants you to be. It is the foundation that a successful Christian life stands on and there is nothing else that takes its place.

There are two keys to having a consistent and successful quiet time that I will give you today and flesh out in a later post.

First, commit the first hour of each day to God. Give it to Him and let Him own it. And here is KEY #1 – make it non-negotiable. The first hour of each day is His every day – period. As long as it is negotiable the devil will negotiate you out of it!

Second, Key #2, write about it! At the end of each quiet time write a letter to Him in a journal. Tell Him what you think you learned. Ask Him questions. Jot down the answers you think you hear. Tell Him thanks for your blessings and tell Him that you love Him. Tell Him anything that is on your heart. Use ordinary paper like a three ring binder. Don’t be fancy just do it.

I guarantee that if you give Him the first hour of your day every day for 90 days you will never be the same and you will never stop or struggle with it again. In fact, I have a special offer that I make to those willing to try this process that I will share with any of you who write to me and ask about it. Give it a shot! You have nothing to lose except being ordinary.

This piece was written by “Anon”, a pastor’s wife, whom I wish that I could credit. I think that it is spot on. 

“And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land
called America , having lost their morals, their initiative, and their
will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that
person known as “The One.”

He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He
hypnotized the people telling them, “I am sent to save you.” My lack
of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my
association with evil doers are of no consequence. I shall save you
with hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the
land that he who proceeded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation,
and that all he has built must be destroyed. And the people rejoiced,
for even though they knew not what “The One” would do, he had promised
that it was good; and they believed. And “The One” said ” We live in
the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!”
And the people said, “Hallelujah! Change is good!”

Then He said, “We are going to tax the rich fat-cats.” And the
people said “Sock it to them!” “And redistribute their wealth.” And
the people said, “Show us the money!” And then he said, ”
redistribution of wealth is good for everybody.”

And Joe the plumber asked, ” Are you kidding me? You’re going to
steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??” And “The One”
ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe’s personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, “Isn’t that Marxist policy?” And she was
banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, “With no foreign relations experience and
having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with
radical terrorists?” And “The One” said, “Simple. I shall sit with
them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they
will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!” And the people
said, “Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons
into free cars for the people!”

Then “The One” said “I shall give 95% of you lower taxes.” And one,
lone voice said, “But 40% of us don’t pay ANY taxes.” So “The One”
said, “Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!”
And the people said, “Hallelujah! Show us the money!”
Then “The One” said, “I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell
your homes!” And the people yawned and the slumping housing market
collapsed. And He said. “I shall mandate employer-funded health care
for every worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every
person unlimited healthcare and medicine and transportation to the
clinics.” And the people said, “Give me some of that!”
Then he said, “I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.”
And the people said, “Where’s my rebate check?”

Then “The One” said, “I shall bankrupt the coal industry and
electricity rates will skyrocket!” And the people said, “Coal is
dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don’t care for that part
about higher electric rates.” So “The One” said, Not to worry. If
your rebate isn’t enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out.
Just sign up with the ACORN and your troubles are over!”

Then He said, “Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let’s
grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches,
free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing…” And
the people said, “Hallelujah!” and they made him king!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and
ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others
simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto
a rock dropped from a cliff.
The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a
crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then “The One” said, “I am the “the One”- The Messiah – and I’m here
to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have
enough!” But our foreign trading partners said unto Him. “Wait a
minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have
to pay more… And “The One” said, “Wait a minute. That is
unfair!!” And the world said, “Neither are these other idiotic
programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and
a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!”

And the people cried out, “Alas, alas!! What have we done?” But yea
verily, it was too late. The people set upon The One and spat upon
him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation
was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or
shelter or hope. And the Change “The One” had given them was as like
unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that
consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish,
“give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!” But it was too
late, and their homeland was no more.”

You may think this a fairy tale, but it’s not.
It’s happening RIGHT NOW


_ ]]> http://buckjacobs.com/the-one-by-anon/feed 4 http://buckjacobs.com/why-pray http://buckjacobs.com/why-pray#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:48:32 +0000 Buck Jacobs http://buckjacobs.com/?p=328 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 please Him. The most important feature of prayer is to hear Him and learn His will for our lives 24/7. He already knows what we need to do His will and He will never withhold it.

He didn’t create us and plant us here at this exact time so that we could make a great plan for our lives and share it with Him. This another modern, but completely backwards paradigm.  Before He even created heaven and earth God created a plan and purpose for your life and mine. (Ephesians 2:8-10 et.al.) He established a way to communicate with Him to let us in on it and has given us His Spirit to empower us while we are here to do it.

Ultimately our success or failure during our tenure on planet Earth will be measured not by how much of our plan for our lives we accomplish, or how much of our parents plan for our lives we accomplish, or by what anyone else thinks we should be ot do, but by how much of God’s eternal plan for our lives we accomplish. Our performance will be judged on that basis alone. (See II Corintians 5:10, I Corinthians 3:11-15, Romans 14:10-12)

If we don’t use prayer as it is intended we can only accidentally find and do God’s will, we might just stumble into it once in a while. Who would trust something so important to and accident? Turn the paridigm around. Spend more time asking God to speak and listening for His answer than in telling Him what you perceive you need or want. Trust Him to be true in all He promises that can be summed up in this; “I will always have all I need to do all God wants.” This can change your life forever! And I do mean the real forever! LISTEN!