In the last blog post I mentioned a friend living overseas who had not found a church yet where he is getting a steady diet of spiritual nutrition. Not that he hasn’t tried.
We are very fortunate here in America to have many churches where the pastor feeds the people the word of God, and we can turn on the TV at any time of the day and find religious programming. Now hold on, I agree there are some that are much better than others. In fact there is a very small list of who I will give my time to. There is also opportunity to see some speakers of God’s messages on YouTube as well.
My approach in preparing to speak publicly is this, I pray and ask God what He wants to say. I call this process getting the meal plan. Then I want to get God’s recipe for the items He wants to serve. In other words, I don’t want to say the same thing the way I would, but I want to say those things the way God would if He was standing in front of the people himself. This step is my studying. Then, when I speak I serve God’s meal, his words, to the people.
Your pastor feeds you every week. When a guest speaker talks, it’s like eating out!
After more discussion with my friend, he got revelation that he needed to stop relying so much on others to feed him, and start preparing home cooked meals. We aren’t talking about TV dinners that you heat up in 4 minutes either. He is going to get back into God’s word. He is going to study. He’s going to pray. He is going to cook his own meals as God directs. He may have to eat alone, but then he can eat as much as he wants, and after he is full he can then go out and feed others.
Dietitians have been telling us for years that eating healthy foods, prepared at home is good for us. There is nothing wrong with eating out. There is nothing wrong with going to church and eating with others. There is nothing wrong with ministers on TV or via social media, as long as they are preaching the word of God, but remember to have a balanced diet.
“He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.” Psalms 107:9 (MSG)
Copyright © 2020 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
There it is. Another ugly, races, hateful, hurtful word from one I know very well. “I don’t understand,” has been cried out to God many times after one of their zingers comes out of their mouth. “God, why do they still feel, act, and say these things? After all, they go to church!”
Satan is religious. He loves churches that try to get you to follow a list of dos and don’ts knowing when you fail, you will probably hate yourself and possibly hate God. Satan religiously tries to get you to believe the lie that you have to follow a list of rules. The problem is simple: you are trusting man to tell you what God desires from you instead of finding out for yourself.
Well, here you are. In the middle of life, and honestly, it’s not what you expected. What do you do? Give up? Run away? Get a divorce? The attraction is; wherever I go has to be better than this! Disappointing job, house, spouse, church, etc. doesn’t really matter. It sucks!
I was in a court room this week. On trial was my perception of someone. After hearing arguments from both the accuser and the defendant, the judge was ready to rule. I was found guilty of thinking I knew someone and the motive behind their behavior. If the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God was told, the fact of the case was, I didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t know them at all. In court, both parties in the case, sat down and explained their side. Each party was heard.
Confession: I have never been inside a confessional booth. I grew up in a church where doing so was not part of our spiritual practice. I am at a temple where there is one. I am writing this blog post while sitting inside it. Not intended, but in order to see I brought a small, but bright LED light. It is casting such a white glow I think it scared a couple checking out the temple.
I was sitting in a church admiring the grandeur, the architecture. Then, I opened my Bible to a random spot.
they worship me from their soft, warm, living hearts. They feel their good deeds achieve tally marks on a chalk board by my chair. I would rather the receivers of those deeds feel me. They step into a dark, small closet to confess their sins. I say confess them loudly from your roof tops, so you are less likely to repeat them.
After my father passed away, recently, I reflected on his life, and realized there were a lot of gifts, “life lessons” he gave me, but today I want to share the 5 biggest ones.
“Look, I’m not hurting anything. I just want to sit here and rest,” he said. To his right my church had a sign that stated, “No Loitering”
You might be asking, “How would I know?”