What If?

May 4, 2019May 3, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Charlie 106 I almost blew it! What if I hadn’t of done what I had committed to God to do? I had told him a few years ago I would do my best to never miss a deadline to writing a blog. If I had what would have happened? I know one thing, the end result wouldn’t have been the same.

So why didn’t I want to write the blog? I enjoy writing the blogs twice a week, even though I don’t always know the results of the words I type. We had been swimming all day in the hot sun and I was tired. The blog was already three hours late in posting. I thought, it will be okay to miss just one blog post. While I was making ice, we found the recipe again, I sensed the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart to write something.

I asked God, “Do you want to love on your people, or encourage them?” I sat at my desk, and the blog seemed to have written itself. Those usually turn out to be the best ones, but don’t tell anybody.

About forty minutes after I had posted the blog I received a phone call. It was then I knew why the Holy Spirit impressed upon me to write and what to write. A person was discouraged, but God used the blog to encourage. It’s not me, or about me. I’m not special, just obedient, most of the time. I have learned, God can do everything himself, but He delights in using his people to accomplish his will. Is, or has the Holy Spirit been whispering to you to do something?

“Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God…” (Psa. 143:10 NASB)

It’s All About Obedience

October 20, 2018October 19, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

simple truth I have been reading from the Bible book of Exodus. Today, I read a portion of chapter 12. The true story of Pharaoh and the children of Israel has always intrigued me. In meditating, upon this portion of God’s word, I realized one thing, being with God, being in his presence, is all about obedience.

You see, it was disobedience, by Adam and Eve that caused mankind to be separated from God in the first place, when they ate fruit from the tree, God told them not to. Then, God gave us his son, Jesus, and it takes obedience of accepting him to be back in God’s presence.

Growing up in an Assembly of God church, we sang the song, Trust and Obey. Some words in that song say, “there’s no other way.” Simple truth, but truth none-the-less that will save your soul from eternal damnation. God knows that when you obey him, and come into his presence, you enter into the greatest love story ever written. It’s an amazing feeling to wake up loved, to lay down at night and close your eyes wrapped up in love, and living in between with God’s love abounding in your life. God welcomes you, invites you, to partake of his love. All you have to do is obey him, and stop eating the fruit the devil keeps putting in front of you. A simple verse, but a true, loving verse none-the-less:

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. (Joh 3:16 AMP)

FLOW

March 10, 2018March 10, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

080412 335 A river flows downstream. Life in a boat, doing nothing, on that stream, comes easy, natural. It takes no effort, but to go upstream is another story. The mightier the current, the harder one must paddle, or use external power. You stop for one instance, or turn off the engine, and you begin going back down.

We can’t get to our destination upstream on our own. We must have the power from the One who has been in the boat. From the One, who has walked on the water. From the One who has made it to the other side. From the One who said, “It is finished!”

I desire to FLOW with God. I will do my part, but I will rely on Him for the power I don’t have in and of myself. Following His FLOW will take me where He wants me. The more I make this my life practice it will get easier, and become more natural.

Keith Hector, recently preached a message at my church on FLOW. He said flow is:

F aith
L ove
O bedience
W isdom

Flowing with God, and in God takes all of the above. It requires trusting Jesus. It demands following the Holy Spirit. God asks us to do things that are not natural to our flesh, so we cannot boast in and of ourselves. He also knows the joy we experience when we FLOW with Him. He knows the confidence we experience, and He knows it encourages us to go further.

Check it out: “My main attempt in this short life is to deeply love humankind. I long to love like Jesus: intentionally, authentically, and with no boundaries. So here I am, a messy 14 year old making art, learning to love, and writing.” Click: ~ ava lucia ~

Moving the Holy

October 28, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

20171026_142958 Moving the Holy is moving the heart of God. One thing that moves his heart is obedience. Whenever I didn’t obey as a child my unholy backside got moved! When God speaks and directs you through his Spirit, you have two choices, obey or not. It may be extremely painful and difficult to obey, but you should do it anyway. You may feel silly, do it anyway. The other, who may be a recipient of what God told you to do may not understand, do it anyway. If God’s direction causes you to sacrifice something, well then it moves the heart of God even more. GOD IS HOLY!

Rev 4:8 The Four Animals were winged, each with six wings. They were all eyes, seeing around and within. And they chanted night and day, never taking a break: Holy, holy, holy Is God our Master, Sovereign-Strong, THE WAS, THE IS, THE COMING. (MSG)

The more difficult it is to obey, the greater the victory will be on the other side. There is no higher feeling than knowing you made God glad. Your obedience may bless another, but honestly, you will be blessed beyond belief! Obedience exercises your faith, which causes it to grow, which causes it to mature.

Do You Trust Me?

September 10, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Trust. It’s hard to trust someone else, and sometimes even ourselves. God, throughout the centuries has asked people to trust Him. Some did, others didn’t, but most did so with some fear and trepidation. Another thing that is difficult is change. Either change a job, a living location, but the hardest thing to change is yourself. Putting the two things together will just about overwhelm you!

Whenever God calls you to change an area of your life, take it from me, it is best to blindly believe, and then obey. Will you know how it will all work out? Probably not. Will you know ahead of time how you will make it? No! But the point is; God does. That is where the trust comes into play.

One thing I have learned, the hard way, is God loves obedience. When you figure out a direction God wants you to go, and then you go when the time is right He blesses you like nothing you have experienced before. So when God asks you that question, say, “Yes”.

God?

April 30, 2017 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

It would be so much easier if you could see God, touch Him, and hear Him audibly. But if all that was possible don’t you think it would cheapen your faith? I mean faith’s value goes through the roof when you chose to believe in who you can’t see, touch, or hear, and yet the things you have been talking to God about, happen.

If you asked God for His will for your life and the next morning you found an email in your inbox from God telling you to do something that you didn’t like you probably would label it as “Spam”. Or, you might be tempted to click on “unsubscribe”. You see God has a way of taking His desires for our lives and developing them in us to the point we start asking Him for the same thing. Thinking it was our idea. Steering wheel isolated on a white background

One thing about God’s will is the timing. Maybe you do know His will, but do you know His timing? A good way to discover His timing is by moving. It’s hard to steer a car when it is parked. When you are moving in the direction you think is God’s will He can steer you, but you have to prayerfully watch the road signs. It’s like this, just because someone offers you a job out of the blue, doesn’t mean it is God’s will for you to work there.

Another way to find His will and timing is to talk to mature Christians who have been there and have done that. They can counsel you in the ways of God, and also be praying with you. Remember this verse: Isa 55:9 “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (MSG) Trusting, believing, and obeying provides you the greatest adventures you will ever have and the most rewarding, and satisfied life.