Basic Truths | Finding God in Everyday Life

    I’ve been horseback riding a few times. I enjoyed it but I’m not very proficient at handling a horse.   I’m told that I’m too gentle with the horse. I try to nudge him to get moving but he doesn’t pay attention to me. I nudge a little harder and still nothing happens. Finally I have to give him some stronger urging or a tap of the whip before he pays attention to what I want him to do.   God loves us so much that He wants only the best for us. If we aren’t moving when we are supposed to or if we are going in the wrong direction, God will give us a nudge to try to get us back on track. If we don’t pay attention to the nudge, God may nudge us a little harder. If we still aren’t paying attention, God may need to allow us to have a little discomfort in order to get us going in the right direction.   We need to be keeping in touch with God in order to be aware of the little nudges God gives us.   We should be grateful that God loves us enough to wa...

  We love having visitors to our home. When we’re expecting company, we try to have the house as spotless and nice as it can be. We try to make our guests feel welcome by the things we say and do. We want them to feel comfortable in our home.   I asked in my last post whether Jesus through His Holy Spirit was with you at home, at work, and in everything you do.   The other half of that question is - how welcoming are you to Him? Does He feel at home with you? Is He comfortable with the living situation you are providing for Him? This exercise might be helpful. Imagine that Jesus was standing beside you throughout your entire day today. What do you think He would have to say to you about your day?   Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John how we should prepare for Him. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23). We should be faithful in our bible study to remind us daily o...

  I’m a homebody. We were married for over 10 years before I was ever away from my family overnight except for being on-call. My wife is occasionally gone for an overnight trip and I miss her when she is gone. The house doesn’t feel the same without someone to share it with (no disrespect to our cat!).   Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20). He is with us through His Holy Spirit. He never barges in if He is unwanted. He only comes when we invite Him in. God speaks to us in the book of Revelation, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).   Take some time to see if Jesus is with you throughout your day, or are you going it alone? Is He with you in your work? Is He with you in your car? Is He with you at home, in all your relationships and activities? He desires to be with you in every area of your life, to be with you t...

  Growing up, we went camping on our summer vacations. Later we bought a trailer and put it on a campsite in the hills of Pennsylvania. I remember many evenings sitting in front of the campfire at night. They were peaceful, enjoyable times, listening to the crackling of the fire and watching the flames and looking up at the starry night sky. It seemed for that moment in time that life was reduced to that small place in front of the fire and everything else was shut out. We have a fireplace in our home and I still enjoy having quiet winter evenings in front of the fire.   The Holy Spirit dwells in us as Christians. He is a peaceful fire within us. He gives us peace in the midst of our trials and the fire to go forward in our work and life.   If you are troubled today, ask the Spirit for His peace. If you are feeling burned out, ask Him to reignite your fire for whatever you do. Live in Him today and block out all that the world will try to do to take you away from ...

  Many is the time a patient has asked me to give them a tonic, something to pep them up, give them more energy, and help them with their mood. We live in stressful, fast-moving times. It can be hard to relax and to have much joy in our lives.   The letter from Paul to the Philippians is a good spiritual tonic. Paul was imprisoned at the time he wrote to the Philippians. Despite that and despite all the other trials and tribulations he had experienced, Paul was filled with joy and encouraged the Philippians to be joyful. The letter is a treasure chest of encouragement in the Christian life:   “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” (Phil 2:14-16). “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Ph...

  We visited my mom last summer. While we were there, my wife and daughter went rummaging through the attic for old clothes that our daughter could adapt for some of her class presentations. They found a dress that was perfect but it was stained. After some internet searches and a fair amount of work, they were able to get the stains out.   We get upset if a favorite piece of clothing gets stained. We’re willing to expend time and money to try to get it restored to normal. Our joy in bringing something back to a useful state often goes far beyond the value of the item itself.   God loves us and He feels bad when He sees that our lives have been stained by sin. He has provided the ultimate stain remover for our sin. Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished what we could never do on our own, i.e., obtain forgiveness for our sins and right standing with the Father. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Je...

  I’ve worked with electronic medical records most of my career. They give you the option of what unit of measure to use when entering vital signs. That leads to some interesting results if you pick the wrong measure. I’ve seen babies with a recorded birth weight of 18 pounds (if you enter kg instead of lb) and adults who were 19 feet tall (if you enter meters instead of feet).   Obviously, you need to use the proper unit of measurement if you want an accurate assessment.   God has His own measuring stick for evaluating our lives. He measures us by our faithfulness to His will and calling to us. He called Jeremiah to preach a message of repentance to the Israelites, telling them of the consequences if they failed to repent. In the eyes of the world, Jeremiah’s ministry was a total failure. The people didn’t listen to him and the nation was conquered and the people sent off into slavery.   In God’s eyes, though, Jeremiah was a success because he remained faithful ...

  When you are driving at night, you don’t need your headlights to illuminate the road a mile ahead. You just need to be able to see far enough in front of you to be able to safely drive on. Only being able to see a little bit of our surroundings might actually be a good thing. It makes it easier for us to focus on our driving without being distracted by things off to the side of the road or far in the distance.   Sometimes we expect too much from God. We want Him to light the way for as far off into the future as we can imagine. When it is important for our life’s path, He may show us a glimpse of things far off. Many times, though, He just gives us enough guidance to see the way that we should go for this current day. Just as we ask Him to give us each day our daily bread, we can ask Him to give us each day our daily direction. His Spirit will guide us and keep us from going astray.   “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I w...

  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not very handy around the house (and that’s probably an understatement!). I can think of several projects where I had to eventually admit defeat because I wasn’t able to do them properly. I suspect some of the problem is that I want to learn how to do specific things but what I really need to do is learn to be someone who can do these things around the house.   It’s easy to feel defeated at times in our spiritual lives. We want to do something but we can’t make it happen. We face a problem that we can’t overcome.   Our inability may stem from trying to accomplish things through our own power rather than letting God work in us.   We all should step back once in awhile and see where we stand with God. If we draw close enough to God to let go of our will and allow Him to make us into the person He created us to be, we will be in a position where God can use us to accomplish what He wills in our lives and to overcome whatever obs...