Isaiah 66:2 (NASB95) ² “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

In the secular world I live in, I have tried my whole life to be the leader. Captain of sports team, Platoon Leader, manager of companies, now owner of companies and my fleshly goals have always been to lead. Ever since I can remember, I have been in the front of the pack. Leading and having people follow. But all along it was for my pleasure, not Gods.

But over the past two years, God has really been “humbling me”. Rather slowly, but he is. It’s a slow process not because God is slow, but I am unwilling to completely let go. You can call it pride or stubbornness, but either way it’s sin.

I am not saying that leading is wrong; as a matter of fact God needs leaders. But what I am saying is that leading for selfish pride is wrong. When we lead in a manner that is not worthy of God or in a way that says “look at what I did” we are not leading in a Godly fashion.

This past weekend I heard a new song by Jeromy and Jennifer, formally of FFH. The title is called “This is what it feels like to be led“. It basically talks about how awesome it is to let God lead. It made me think about my life as a Christian and how I can look back and see the happiest times in my Christian life where when I was letting God lead. It was an awesome reminder of “letting go and letting God.

So as I continue to lead, I am being led by the one whose hands made all things. Pretty humbling! So where are you? Leader, follower or being led? Let go and let God.

God bless and share your faith,

Pastor Jody

Mark 7:21-23 (NASB95) ²¹ “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
²³ “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

This past week, I had the opportunity to spend it in Las Vegas. I was traveling for work. I also realized why they call it “sin city”. The moment I walked off the plane, I felt this “evil ooze” fall all over me.

The whole city is only there for the pleasure of men and women. There was “sex” on every bill board, ads for booze and gambling at every turn, and hotels, conventions with scantily clad women EVERYWHERE.

As a husband, father and pastor, I have taken pride in the “taming” my mind of impure thoughts. But this week in Vegas was on eye opener- pun intended. I realized, even as close as I felt to God or even that feeling of “I have arrived”, I am nowhere close to where God wants me to be. I thank God that the only thing that ran wild this past week was my mind. If I were a weaker man, things could have gotten out of hand.

This is not necessarily a repentance blog, but a warning blog. I am not bragging or judging, but every day I read the word and every day I pray for forgiveness, diligently. And yet, I still struggled with impure thoughts. But by the grace of God, I was deep enough in the word to stave actions, but not deep enough to stave off thoughts.

1 Peter 1:13 (NASB95) ³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Vegas is not the only place where the mind can run wild. Work, the mall, restaurants, and yes, even church the mind can run wild. It not just men either, women’s minds can run wild just as bad as men. It’s that thought of someone being nicer to you than your husband, or that someone complementing you more than your spouse. It’s always “the grass is greener on the other side” syndrome. We all have it, if we don’t “prepare our minds”.

So how do we win the battle of the mind? Philippians 4:8 (NASB95) ⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Dwelling on God is the first step. It’s not easy to think of evil things when your mind is fixed on God. Daily devotion, prayer and meditation are the most important thing you can do. And another way to stay focused on God is to surround yourself with Godly people. I can tell you know I will never go to Vegas alone again. My wife or a Christian brother will be with me on the next trip. Don’t let Satan control your thoughts; focus on God, praise Him and you will win the battle of the mind.

God bless and share your faith,

Pastor Jody

1 John 5:13 (NASB95) ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This morning as my children were preparing for school, my son in his usual fashion was trying to delay the beginning of the school day. As my wife was preparing to start teaching he kept asking if he could pray. My wife assuming that he was just trying delay the inevitable kept putting them off. But with persistence, my son kept asking. So with that my wife asked him to pray.

As he began his prayer, he began with a pause. After that moment of silence he began to ask Jesus to come live in his heart so that he could be a Christian.

My wife then came downstairs to my office, with both my son and daughter in hand, and told me the good news. I began asking my six-year-old son the typical questions I would ask anybody whose claimed that they’ve asked Jesus to come live in the heart. He answered all the questions to my amazement. It’s not that I’m amazed by his answers, because he does live in a Christian home, but it was the certainty in which he answered those questions. He had no problem in verbalizing his reasoning for asking Jesus to come live in his heart. I have heard adults give less enthusiastic answers.

But the joy of this morning is an amazing feeling. To have one of your own come to know the Lord and to know that what you are doing is making a difference. The life that my wife and I live compared to five years ago is a total 180 difference. So to see the fruit of our labor in our children brings joy like no other.

I can only imagine what God feels every time one of his wayward children finally calls upon the name of Jesus and accept him as Lord and Savior. If you haven’t called upon the name of Jesus, don’t waiting longer.

God bless and share your faith,

Pastor Jody

1 John 2:17 (NASB95) ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Scripture is very clear about those who live in the world and those who live for the world. But as a Christian, I struggle every day with separating myself from the world and not completely alienating myself. Because I still have the duty as a Christian to spread God’s good news, which means I have to be involved in the world. So how do we fully function as an obeying Christian and not getting caught up in the world?

There are three things that we must do in order not to fall into the world’s trap. First and foremost, we have to be disciplined in our Bible reading, prayer time, and repentance. We have to understand that Satan will use whatever he can to get us off our guard. Let me give you an example; over the past few months work has become busy and has caused me to focus on it, rather than the spiritual growth of myself, my family, and the others that are around me. It’s not that I’ve completely stopped working on both but I have allowed my work to take precedence. Thus, allowing the world to win.

Priorities are a discipline, and we have to place God first in all we do. Otherwise it is extremely easy to allow the world to step in and take control. The good thing about having a disciplined routine is when you start falling off that routine is easy to see. Your days become longer, your problems become bigger, and self-reliance becomes the norm.

Second, we have to apply the knowledge and understanding of our discipline to our daily lives. Nothing will impact a lost person more than them seeing you live the life of a disciplined Christian. We’ve all heard that “actions speak louder than words” and this is true as well for the godly life of a Christian. As we get deeper into our Bible study, a deeper prayer life, and the life that has less sin, godly actions become second nature. Don’t ever allow your lack of discipline to affect the views of the lost world that is watching you.

Thirdly, we must witness to the world of the changed life that God has made in us by being disciplined. Alongside of our actions, the verbalization of what God has done in your life, will plant the seed of the lost in this world. God commands us to spread the good news to all nations. But that command is not an easy one if you’re not disciplined in the spiritual growth of yourself. Be diligent every day to make sure that you make God a priority in this will give you the strength not only to act like a Christian but talk like one to.

So I ask you this, can anyone tell the difference between you and the world?

God bless and share your faith,

Pastor Jody

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB95) ¹⁵ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Every day I do my devotion and every day I find myself wanting more. I can’t seem to get enough of God’s word. I currently am reading three books along with my daily devotion. But yet I still can’t read enough.

The deeper I get into my devotion, the more knowledge I obtain, and the more of the truth I need. I find myself not only wanting the knowledge, but holding myself accountable to live out what I am learning. By no means have I perfected Christianity, nor do I claim to know it all. But what I find is that the “word” is contagious. It allows me to have a true and deep relationship with God. That in turn, allows my soul to be at peace. Then from there, it snowballs into my marriage, then to my kids, then to my friendships, and into my church and so forth and so on. Like a virus, it is spreading throughout those I come in contact with.

It takes discipline to do your devotion, not something I have been known for (discipline). But over the years, I have learned that by taking a disciplined route, when it comes to my devotion, my life, my soul is in a better place than without. I have learned not to be ashamed of the truth, but it’s because I discipline myself to read it every day possible. I discipline myself to apply it every day and I pray for God to use me in any way that He deems necessary.

God will only approve those who are diligent in handling His truth. But if you’re not reading the bible, how do you know what is truth? Don’t take it from anyone else; don’t even take it from me, but read Gods words. They are the one and only truth.

Start today, be disciplined and read your bible daily. If you do, I promise you to will want more.

God bless and share your faith,

Pastor Jody