Ponderings of the Heart

As I have been reading over the past 2 days I have noticed a theme: God’s people turning away from Him.   Isaiah 65:1-2 “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.” Isaiah 66:4b “ For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.” I am reminded and feel the urgency of the need for His people to turn back to Him.   How can we reach a world that is dying without Him when they can’t see Him in us?   Are we stumbling blocks or stepping stones? It’s so easy to get in a rut and start living for me, me, me.   The enemy is constantly luring us to be selfish and slowly creep away from God’s presen...

We all have those “turning points” in our life.   When something happens (big or small) and changes the rest of your life.   Can be good or it can be bad.   Wednesday night at church we were going through Matthew 6:10 and it reminded me of one of those time in my life.   My uncle was in the hospital in Panama City.   He had been there a while, and he hadn’t been himself since he had gotten there.   The hospital was basically across the street from my office where I was working at the time.   I was working in Panama City and we lived in Greenwood, so my commute was about an hour and a half one way each day (I loved my job!).   So I would go to the hospital during my lunch break to see my family in the waiting room and we would take turns seeing my uncle.   One particular day I was about 2/3 of my way home from work and I was talking to my mom on the phone (this was a normal occurrence).   She was at the hospital and at that moment I ...

Directions from God…. There are times in life when God gives us specific directions on what, when and where.   Those other times are the spots in life where you aren’t quite sure what to do.   Sure God is speaking…just not at our speed or with enough detail for us.   Aren’t those fun times.   ;)   So I had a discussion with myself tonight and knew it was the next blog topic!   How do you know how to proceed in these times of questions?   Here is what God has laid on my heart… 1)   Know it probably isn’t an overnight answer!   Sure sometimes it is, but often its not (at least in my experience).   We can’t be proactive and guess or do what we want.   Instead we must wait on God to give us clear direction for the next step.   2)   Sometimes all we may get is the next step…not the next five, or even the next two…just one.   I am reminded of Abraham when God told him to go.   That was all…just “go.”   There w...

Matthew 26:14-15 says: "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, 'How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?' And they gave him thirty pieces of silver." I was reading this verse a while back and it made me think... how much will I take to betray Jesus? Or maybe a good question is what will I take/do to betray Jesus?  And then I read "Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, 'Rabbi, am I the one?' And Jesus told him, ' You have said it.'"  (Matthew 26:25)  This, of course, provoked the question in me, "am I the one?"  Could I be betraying Jesus with my life?  Am I living in a way that brings honor and glory to Him?  What in our life are we doing or not doing that betrays Him?  Could it be not praying before meals in public or how we treat people and our attitude?  There are a million plus ways that we could be betraying Jesus and we don't really even reali...