We might wish our lives were predictable and manageable, defined within clearly identifiable boundaries and absent the unexpected or unplanned-for moments that create our anxiety and fear. It is fun to live life with the wind at your back…to feel the push of momentum taking you to an intended destination with little effort and only the desire of anticipation. But life is not so! Rather, life consists of constant challenges and repeated experiences testing our courage and raising our capacity to believe in God. Without these kinds of experiences, our lives would be unprepared and incapable of surviving the attempts by our enemy to distract us from our Kingdom assignment.

Never underestimate the strategy of the enemy to keep you locked in on your struggles and keep you from focusing on your future. It is your potential that scares the devil. He understands the promises of God—that God has determined a life for you that is abundant and fulfilled in the completion of a Kingdom assignment. He knows a simple truth that when our lives are surrendered to God and we allow Him to work His purposes and plans in us; we become partners with the Living God for all He has ordained for our lives. So struggles come and will come. Things will test your faith and resolve because it is the way life is. However, this moment now and others that come are the not the full picture of who you are and who God has chosen you to be. You must know this. God has great plans for you and the thoughts He thinks concerning you are ones filled with hope, anticipation and joy. I’ve often said that the final chapters of our lives are still being written and this moment is not the end but is part of a larger picture God is painting.

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(Last update: August 21, 2008)

There have been many times that I have been so frustrated by the events in my life that I just threw up my hands and asked, “What am I supposed to do?” When our circumstances get “out of control” (or at least, out of OUR control), then we tend to get frustrated and accept that we don’t have a clue!

That probably describes the feelings of the people who came to the river where John was baptizing. They recognized that the situation was not consistent with their previous experiences and knowledge. So they asked John, “What should we do, then?” (Luke 3:10). And, just as it is in the present, each person felt that THEIR situation was different from all the rest and, they were convinced that no one else could have it worse. Each of the three groups mentioned asked the same question. And I believe that they put the emphasis on the word, “WE.” (Compare verses 10,12 & 14.)

The story in Luke tells us that John preached three things: Repentance, recompense & readiness. Look at each element: Read the rest of this entry »