I Need a New Attitude

      I am unappreciative of the things that I do have. I always feel like I need something more and when I do get more I am still unsatisfied. I thank God for what I do have. It is not his fault that I am not happy that fault lies with me. I take responsibility for my own actions and my own attitude. If God is pointing me in a direction to a better life and I refuse to walk down that path it is me to blame for my own life's condition.
     People do blame others for their unhappiness and they say it is all their fault. The truth is we let them take it away from us. We give them the power to make us happy or to make us sad. How they treat us is how we feel about our own lives. We are like people with outside switches attached to our bodies whenever somebody feels like hurting us all they have to do is to flick that accessible switch to make us feel sad or angry. They become our controller. You become the puppet and they your master.
     The new attitude that I need is taking control of my own life. It is saying to myself I am responsible to where I am headed and if I want to change I must take action and make the effort to change. My new attitude is no longer waiting around for somebody else to take charge. If I want something to happen then I will try to make it happen.
     In truth people are struggling with their own lives and trying to find their own way. I to must find my own way as they are trying to find theirs. I realize my anger is not at them it is at myself for not being more self-reliant. I do not need to be waiting on somebody else to make me happy but to find that happiness within myself and even to love myself in spite of everyone else. I am not going to wait around until everybody is happy and then live off the leftovers. I am going to have a giant scoop of it for myself. I am going to fill my life up with joy, happiness and love. I am going to live in peace and hope that others will to. I will always place my faith in God and ask him to keep guiding my way in finding that new attitude.

Lukewarm or Hot?

     What am I thinking and doing about my life? I hope and pray that I am doing enough to enter in God's kingdom. I have walked along the edge of the fence between good and evil for to long. Many are saying they wish the Lord would return very soon but I wonder are they really ready for his return. The Lord is merciful, kind and loving but on his return to Earth he is bring a sword of God's judgement with him. I even question myself, "Am I ready to meet the Lord?" I do want him to come however will I be received or to my dismay, will I be judged?
     In my mind I believe I will be received but I do not want to be in error on that final day. I rather face the hard truth about myself now than to face my Lord and be rejected. I do not want to be living a lie and deceiving myself. I want to live with the truth with my eyes wide open. I want to see myself how the Lord sees me. If I am doing something that will keep me out of his kingdom I want to know about it so that I can correct it and be accepted.
     So many are walking on the borderline, me included and here is what the Bible says what will happen to those who are walking on that line. In revelation chapter three verses fifteen and sixteen, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Those who walk the border will be rejected on judgement day. I have to commit to God and make up my mind totally and unswerving in serving him. No more little bit of the world and a little bit of serving God. It must be God over the world every time. I must put God first in everything that I do. God must know my devotion to him. I have to make my stand for God now.
     What made me think that I can get away with only doing token worship. One small coin out of my surplus is not enough. God demands a whole a lot more. Am I going to be counted worthy by slumbering my days away while others for God put their lives on the line? Throughout history men and women gave up their very lives in serving God. What they fought and die for, I to must fight and even be willing to die for.
     Satan and a third of the angels that fell from heaven is still among us and there still is so much work to be done. Slumbering is not an option, it is a surrendering to evil. I must put myself in the front lines of battle, no matter what hardships I will face. I must carry a banner for God all the way to victory. I want God to see and all the angels of heaven that I am a loyal and unquestionably a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
     Awake my soul to the condition of my life. Look through the eyes of our Lord and know the truth. From this day forward slumber no more. Take up the sword of the truth and the large shield of faith and run to the battlements and make your stand for God. Dig in deep and do not let Satan advance no longer. Push back the evil that is upon our Earth and make room for our Lord.
     Let him see me doing good works on the day of his arrival. In so doing there will not be any question on who side I am on. No more walking along the border but standing squarely in the territory of our Lord. No more being lukewarm neither here nor there but being hot on the side of God. I want to do what is right and no longer doing what is wrong. I want the Lord to know that I love him and want to be with him in his kingdom.

A Child's Understanding

     I have often asked God why can I not do this or that. I point out to God that our society and most of the people today practice certain sins and I asked why do you keep us, today Christians restricted. Why not give us a little bit more freedom. I then remembered why we are called children of God. He is our Father and does not a father or mother sometimes say no to their children, especially those who are about to hurt themselves.
     A small child does not sometimes understand the action of their parent when they say no. The child will cry and scream because it cannot get it's way. It believes the parent is being mean. However the child does not understand the parent is protecting him from harm or teaching him the right way to behave. The parent's action may appear to the child as cruel and restrictive but in reality those actions are beneficial and life sustaining. The parent is showing love to the child not cruelty. In a like manner our heavenly Father is saying no to us out of his love for us. He wants us also to live and not to die. His word said that the wages of sin is death and not life.
     Our Father wants us to know that sin equals death. He wants us to love him not to hate him when he says no to us. Even if he did give us an explanation and told us exactly why, would we being his small children understand? Would a small child of ours understand if we were to carefully explain our actions? It depends on the age of the child or his maturity. If the child is to young then he will not understand why the parent is saying no. How are we to understand our God whose age, knowledge and wisdom is limitless. It also depends upon our maturity, our spiritual maturity.
     Many of us, me included still do not understand all the ways of God. Sometimes we just have to believe by faith and not by understanding alone. Even if we still cry and scream for not getting our way we need to still remember our Father's love for us. He wants us to be healthy and happy. He is our creator and he knows what is best for us. Even if I do not always understand him I will always show honor and respect to him. We need to be patience with him as he is with us, for the day of our maturity will come and so will our understanding.          

I have a Picture

     I have a picture within my head of God's future kingdom. Its a picture of a land flowing with milk and honey. A picture of men and women living in peace and having hearts filled with love. A picture of a world working together to make our lives much better. A world filled with a kinder people, a gentler people, a people who show God's love between themselves.
     I carry that picture wherever I go. I hope to find it existing somewhere and seeing it take hold and grow; But for now the picture is still within my mine and I pray that it is in the mines of others as well.
     I cannot let my mine settle for anything less when I know there is so much more our world could be doing. I have a choice and I choose the best picture we can have today and for all of our tomorrows.

Where are Your People Lord?

     I have asked this question of the Lord many times in prayer. Where are your people Lord? The Lord did not answer me right away or maybe I could not understand the answer. It was only when I got close to some people that then I truly understood where his people are. They were not in some faraway place or hidden away in some secret location. To my surprise they were all the time standing right in front of me.
     What I saw as a stranger to people and not as their friend was a mask that they were wearing. A mask that reflected the world instead of their true selfs. Some people are afraid to let down their guard for fear of being hurt. They put on a hard veneer in order to deflect any blows that might come their way. I could not see them as they truly are because of that protective personality that they were showing me. They put a shield over their true personality because of their fear of rejection.
     I thank God for having the opportunity to see past the mask on a few occasions. I saw people as they truly were. They are not so hard as they pretend to be. I saw people who are afraid and confused. I saw people who are lonely and are hurting inside. I saw people who were not so different from me. The only difference was that they have gotten use to wearing the mask and I wanted to throw mine away. I want to be myself all the time and be that person that God wants me to be. A person who is not afraid of what others might say. I want to be a person who is happy and comfortable with his own existence.
     I did lay down my mask and took a chance to reach out to people and (to my surprise) they in turn reached out to me. I then saw clearly the answer to my question. Where are your people Lord? They were always there, hiding behind their masks and standing right next to me.

What I am Afraid of

     What I am afraid of that makes me feel lonely and cold during the day and at night. It is looking in the orchard of our Lord and not finding one ripe fruit left upon a branch. I shiver at the thought of our Lord's return and I am standing in an empty orchard.
     Lord have mercy upon my soul and let me see the ripe fruit that are still left upon the branches. Let me help in someway in keeping the fruit upon the branches and save me from my fears and worries.
     I see the devil with a stone as large as a boulder and he hurls the stone at a large tree representing God's people. With all his might he throws the stone at the tree. It is a large stone representing immorality and greed. With the might of the stone he brings down the ripe fruit of God's people. When the tree is hit it rains down fruit upon the Earth and once the fruit is upon the ground a rot of corruption sets in.
     To many times I have seen those who once was on fire for God cool off and become seduced by the world. They who was once servants of God become instruments for Satan. They were once ripe fruit upon the tree but were shaken to the ground by the stone thrown by the devil. Innocent and pure were they to God but now stand unclean and blemished before his throne. I have seen many come to God and many walk away.
     I know by the words of God I will not be standing alone when our Lord returns but I still have the fear of it. When I see many leaving the ways of God, I fear that the orchard of the Lord is becoming empty. I want to reach up and hold the fruit on with my bare hands but I cannot keep the fruit on if it has already disconnected from the branch. Everyone of us has to make a choice whether to stay on or to fall off. I choose to stay on however I would like to have some others to stay on with me.

Honoring the Image of God

     The image of God is who we are. We have a reflection of him within. Runaway and hide from him we cannot do for we carry apart of him with us. Respect to that image and honor for it, for out of innocents it was born. Tainted not by the world but made pure by God's spirit, each of us at birth a perfect image.
     I cannot harm that image of God without doing harm to my soul. It was never meant to suffer or to be in pain. It was never meant to bleed or to die. The image of God was meant to be perfect and to last forever but the devil is having his way. He is rolling that image through the mire and the filth. He is enjoying in doing harm to it in every way. For not with honor, nor with respect will he give to it. Out of his disgust he will trample upon it with his hate. He demeans it and humiliates it and makes it bow before him. The image of God he does not want to see. He wants to see an image reflecting himself.
     I believe the blessed image of God will always stay and become even more brighter everyday. No devil can permanently dim his image or make it go away. We the image of God will overcome and be what we were meant to be. I believe a new world lies ahead of us filled with the image of his love. Bright as the sun and all the stars in heaven our spirits will be. We are the image of God and no one can take that away.