It's All In The Plan 4/16/2015

Good Morning,

This day I choose to have a praise for God on my lips and I am ready to share with anyone who would want to share one right back with me.
I just filled my mug with Door County Mocha Mint Coffee. Something tells me that I am up to something good.



Every building starts with a plan or blueprint. We built our home and it all started with a plan. The only time anything went wrong is when the builder strayed from the actual plan and actually talked us into changing something that we later found out was only to benefit him.

Jeremiah 29:11New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has plans for each and everyone of us. Where things go wrong is when we don't consult the Great Architect and ask Him what those plans are so we can follow them to the exact last detail. We, like my home builder all want to take short cuts or redesign God's plan to fit our thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

 

Stop before making any decisions and pray. Ask God to show you the direction He wants you to go or not go. Then go or not go obediently and quietly.  Trust Him to know best.

 

God bless,

Marty

 

 

Timber and God 4/15/2015

Good Morning,

How about that? It's Wednesday already and I am looking forward to Friday with a passion. My coffee pot is calling out my name as the last drop of Door County Highlander Grog is brewed.
My goal this weekend is to do some final trimming on some apple trees and a little concrete repairs.

Where my family comes from there has always been a timber industry. Basically logging timber for wood products or paper has supported a few of my family members in one way or the other. As a kid I watched my uncle log, my grandfather cut fire wood and I have stacked my share. What every logger has to do is keep whatever cutting tool he is using very sharp. There is nothing worse than trying to take down a tree with a dull axe or a dull chain saw. Both need to be honed to perfect sharpness to cut safely through a log.

Every Christian man needs to keep sharp also.
Accountability. It’s an often neglected discipline in the church, especially in the life of a Christian man. The writer of Proverbs gives us a good look at  the purpose of accountability: As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17 -
The fact is, we were never meant to walk this life alone. God made that very clear when he stated it as His very reason for creating a partner for Adam in Genesis 2:18, “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.’” After God repeatedly says “it is good,” we get our first picture of what God deems to be “not good.” But why is it “not good” for man to be alone? Because we were created for community and partnership.
To hold each other accountable and make each other strong is not an option, it’s a command of Scripture. Paul commands in Galatians 6:2, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” This brings forth the question, “How does sharing your burdens allow you to obey the law of Jesus?” Because when you have someone encouraging you to do what is right, and kicking your butt when you screw up, you’re going to be walking in the Spirit and following His law.

Proverbs 12:15 tells us, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” This was likely written by Solomon, the wisest man in all of Scripture (aside from Jesus). Why would the wisest man alive have a need for counsel? Because counsel makes you wise. The Holy Spirit speaks through others, so it is wildly important that you keep close trusted Christian friends whom you can trust to advise you biblically. -

Men pick an accountability partner and start meeting with each other and praying for one another. Make sure this accountability partner is not of the opposite gender and do not use your wife to hold you accountable.

Be wise in your choice, but make haste to do so.

God bless,

Marty

Anger and Hurt Part Two 4/14/2015

Good Morning,

Last night I was working on a message for this weekend with the window open in my den. It was warm enough for kids to be outside playing. Their laughter and the bounce of a basketball let me know that spring is here. This morning started some time ago with a hot cup of Door County Coconut Crush Coffee.

 

As I promised, we will continue and finish looking at what Psalm 37 has to say about Anger and Hurt.

We will start where we left off. I have high lighted the areas from yesterday in red and today's thoughts in green.

A Psalm of David. Psalm 37:1-8

37 Do not fret because of evildoers,

This is where we all at times try to play God and handle the wrongs all by ourselves. If you find that interacting with people who hurt you has you physically tired, you are trying to manage this alone. Worrying and fretting over the behavior of others is tiring. Anger by itself is physically draining. We find ourselves instead of praying, telling God how to handle other people.
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

Envy often kicks in here when you see people prosper who are causing you grief. Notice these two commands do not allow for debate. God just plain says "Don't go there".
² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.

God does not tolerate the wrong doings of others. But in His time He corrects them. Remember in His time. During the process of His timing He might be teaching you something. This is not always accomplished in the time frame we want.

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Key word here TRUST. Do you trust God to keep His word? When His timing is right He moves. But God gives you something to do in verse three to carry you until His timing arrives. Trust Him and continue to do good, especially to those who are hurting you. Now dwelling in the land is God telling you to enjoy the blessings he has bestowed on you and not to coop up in self pity. Dwelling means to live and enjoy. You might want to sing praise choruses or hymns. Feeding on His faithfulness is where you pull out your Bible and read seeking comfort. Also feeding on His faithfulness is taking time to go back and remember all the times God has come though for you and others. I don't think people do this enough.
⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord,
I look at this the same way I look at a scoop of frozen Custard. Custard always leaves me wanting more. We need to remember God's love for us and all He does for us. This makes us want a deeper relationship with Him when we learn to appreciate Him.
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
When we reach the point of appreciating God and working on our love relationship with Him, He alone becomes the desire of our heart. Everything else seems secondary. If we are as close to God, as we can be and He fills our heart, is there any room for anger and hurt?

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
This type of love and appreciation takes commitment.
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
Again God days to trust Him and he will bring it to pass. Have you ever eaten spoiled food by accident? The results are truly some that you can't wait to pass. But the process is painful and sometime smelly. But God is faithful and He alone brings it to pass, in His time.
⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
While keeping yourself right with the Lord, and if your actions toward others are not sin, you are justified before Him and that's all that matters. He approves of you.

⁷ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Here we are invited to sit by and wait on God to show us the way. We do not need to go on the attack. No need to play God and award punishment.
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
⁸ Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
Last but not least. Do not let your wrath get the best of you. It only makes it worse. In this passage God knows that you have already plotted some type of answer or revenge. When He says cease, He means it because He knows you have already gone too far in your mind.

So my friends, God has much to say about anger and hurt. He is the only answer that can soothe a hurt and wounded heart.

God bless,
Marty

Anger and Hurt Part One. 4/13/2015

Good Morning,

Monday arrived as promised and I really had a nice weekend. That makes it much harder to say goodbye to Sunday and then embrace Monday. My coffee today that has me waiting for the pot to finish brewing is door county Peanut Butter Crunch. For the next couple of days instead on a devotional I have been led to teach a little. We will take a look at a portion of Psalm 37.

We have been hurt by others at one time or another. More often than not the hurt can and does turn into anger. God warns us of this and encourages us to take a Biblical approach to anger and hurt. I will add my comments in red between the verses. as a reminder, this will take two days.

A Psalm of David. Psalm 37:1-8

37 Do not fret because of evildoers,

This is where we all at times try to play God and handle the wrongs all by ourselves. If you find that interacting with people who hurt you has you physically tired, you are trying to manage this alone. Worrying and fretting over the behavior of others is tiring. Anger by itself is physically draining. We find ourselves instead of praying, telling God how to handle other people.
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

Envy often kicks in here when you see people prosper who are causing you grief. Notice these two commands do not allow for debate. God just plain says "Don't go there".
² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.

God does not tolerate the wrong doings of others. But in His time He corrects them. Remember in His time. During the process of His timing He might be teaching you something. This is not always accomplished in the time frame we want.

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Key word here TRUST. Do you trust God to keep His word? When His timing is right He moves. But God gives you something to do in verse three to carry you until His timing arrives. Trust Him and continue to do good, especially to those who are hurting you. Now dwelling in the land is God telling you to enjoy the blessings he has bestowed on you and not to coop up in self pity. Dwelling means to live and enjoy. You might want to sing praise choruses or hymns. Feeding on His faithfulness is where you pull out your Bible and read seeking comfort. Also feeding on His faithfulness is taking time to go back and remember all the times God has come though for you and others. I don't think people do this enough.
⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.

⁷ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
⁸ Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.

 

We are going to stop here for today and will complete this tomorrow. In the meantime pray for one another. Love at all times. God loves you friends, and so do I.

 

Marty

Hunters Safety And My Mouth 4/12/2015

Good Morning,

We have a nice refreshing day here in Wisconsin and I am enjoying some quiet time before heading to church. I have a big cup of Door County Mocha Mint Coffee sitting next to me as I write some thoughts for the day.

James 3:2-10English Standard Version (ESV)
² For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,^[a] and set on fire by hell.^{[b] 7} For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,^[c] these things ought not to be so.

Yesterday our church sponsored a Hunters Safety class for those wishing to obtain a license to hunt wild game. It was mostly kids and their parents who attended. I however decided to attend. I was grandfathered because of my age and am not required to have a certificate from the state to obtain a license to hunt. But since the class was offered at church Grandpa decided to attend. I am proud to say that I graduated. One can never be too safe with a gun.

But while I was there learning a few things and realizing I was already doing the safe things but just never had to complete a written exam and a field test, my mind could not help but equate gun safety to mouth safety.   One acronym we had to know was TABK.

T  Treat every gun as if it is loaded.  We need to treat our mouths as if they were loaded guns and
     could go off on purpose or accidentally. We need to think before we speak.

A  Always have the gun muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Speaking kindly is always a 
     safe approach to keeping your mouth pointed in the right direction.

B   Be aware of your target and what is in front of it and beyond.  What collateral damage can the
      words that are coming out of your mouth going do to the target of your words and possibly
      others? It might be best to be quiet and not take that verbal shot.

K   Keep your finger at all times outside of the trigger guard until ready to shoot. This reminded me
      that if we all shoot with our mouths  first and ask questions later in life, we are going to assume
      that we had all of the information and we could be speaking out of turn and worse yet out of
      ignorance.

So in closing I think we should all obtain permits to use our mouths!! No not really. We just need to practice good mouth safety.

God bless,

Marty

Rock My World 4/11/2015

Good Morning,

My day has started a long time ago and it I am going to be moving all day long. This will be one busy Saturday right up until bed time. So I will be brewing some Door County Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti Coffee thanks to a good brother. Thanks Todd. It warmed my cup and my heart.

Matthew 24:35New King James Version (NKJV)
³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

2 Timothy 3:16New King James Version (NKJV)
¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

The two passages above point us in a great direction.
1. God's word is good for yesterday, today and always.
2. The Bible is the inspired word of God.

Now as we look at the rest of 2 Timothy 3:16 we can also know that the attributes of God's word. 

Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, are attributes of expectation. When  we open God's word and read, we should expect it to accomplish something within our lives and souls. Opening God's word and then obeying it as God speaks to our hearts through it, is a sign of desiring a closer relationship with God.

"We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior". (John Stott)

We should desire with deep passion for God's word to do something when we read it in faith. We have the Living Word and anything with life has an impact on it's surroundings.

When you read the Bible, are you just reading? Or are you reading with expectation?

Faith is a matter of choice. If the Holy Spirit speaks to you through the Word of God, you have to make a choice to follow it or reject it. The Christian living an "expectant faith" accepts the Word as truth and applies it to his own life or the lives of others.  

Have a great day?

Marty
 

Come to Me 4/10/2015

Good Morning,

A cup of Door County Peanut Butter Crunch Coffee sits next to me with the steam rising slowly into the air. I am writing this morning and I find it difficult, as I am physically and emotionally drained. It usually takes quite a lot to wear me down but I am there for sure.

I am sure that I am not the only one who feels like this from time to time. This warrior has a dented helmet, my sword is dull, my armor is chaffing me, and I am tired. So I need to withdraw from the battles of life and run to Dad. I know that eventually I will return to normal and get right back into life. It won't take too long. I need to spend time with God and let Him heal some wounds, restore some pride, fill my heart again with love from above and then send me back in.

So since I am not the only one that this happens to let me show you the way to be rested in the Lord.

Matthew 11:28-30New King James Version (NKJV)
²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

You see, the problem is this. I tried to solve the world's problems that surrounded me in my own strength. I forgot that Jesus is with me and I am yoked to Him. I didn't stop and ask for directions, I did not learn from Him. So the world ate me up a little and spit me out. I ran on my own power and I ran out of power.

Scripture is easy to understand when we apply it to our lives. I missed that part of the equation. So learn from my mistakes and do better than the teacher.

God bless,
Marty