Blog Archives - The Remarkable Blog

People have a life time pattern of not attending church, so what can we do to change that?

11/16/2018

Only 10 % of first time guests return to church. It is not because we don't do church well, it's because people are not use to coming to church. Just like people are used to eating bad opposed to eating healthy, it's hard to start making right food choices. Then there is the problem, not knowing what a healthy choice is. The grocery store will tell you things like, "All Natural", "Healthy Choice", "No GMO's", and several other misleading labels. Recently my husband was to bring home all natural peanut butter. It was to only contain peanuts. Even though is said everything I told him, the ingredients said, (sugar and palm oil). Let's all say, "Misleading". Needless to say, we were not able to eat it. So, people try but they just don't have enough information to know why we need to go to church. The church has lost it's relevance. The church isn't welcoming, open, and helpful. We can all do our part to change that. Be the church that God intended us to be. Loving, king, considerate people attract others. People want to trust people. Be trustful. Be concerned. They will come.

Hebrews 10:25 "not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

With all these people not going to church we don't have to be concerned about another church stealing our people, we need to be concerned with the 80% of people who don't even go to church. People all want to belong. People are all needing help in raising their children, keeping a positive attitude, hanging onto their marriages when so many are letting go, how to stay faithful to parenting when so many are walking away... The reasons go on and on. We the church can help. We have the answers. However, if you and I don't bring them in the door and help them make church part of their week on a regular basis, we can't help them.

Action Step: Go to church with fresh eyes. Go to church like a first time guest. What's it like to park your car? What is it like to go to the bathroom? What is worship like? Is it too loud? Welcoming or clubby? Is there a place to bring children that is safe and inviting? Are the pew seats all taken in the aisles? First time visitors don't want to have to get in the middle? Did anyone shake your hand? Did you feel welcome? Go home and think about your experience. Would you go back?

Now, what can you do about it? Yeah, you. Because U R part of the chURch.

Generosity

11/15/2018

2 Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”11 You will be enriched in every way – –
to be generous in every way,
which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Generosity is not something that happens because we have more than we need. Generosity is not something that has a tipping point. Generosity is a grace. Generosity is God flowing through us. If we aren't connected to the vine then the fruit will not be being produced through the branch; and we are that branch. However, when we are connected to God then His compassion flows through our life out to the lives of others.

The most generous thing that has ever been done for any of us, is Christ giving His Son. We can never repay God for the greatest gift ever.

Action Step: Choose to be generous today. Choose to put the needs of others above our own needs. Trust says, "You can have this ___________, because I know God. He is my Jehovah Jireh, my provider." See, I know God will meet all my needs according to His riches. I know Daddy God and what I ask of Him, He gives me. I don't live in lack. I live in abundance. I want others to know the abundance of my Father too, so I am going to show them generosity.

We may not say it all like the above dialog but, this is what it speaks. Be generous. Being generous is an opportunity to show the love of God in a tangible way.

Working too hard or not hard enough?

11/14/2018

Psalm 127:2 ". It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones."

In America we use to be known around the world for working too hard and eating too much. It had been said Europeans eat to live, and Americans live to eat. Europeans travel and Americans work too much to travel. However, like all pendulums we as Americans swung way out there, and today I believe too few of us work. The few that do, still work too hard to make up for the ones that don't, so we still eat bad and don't travel. The Bible tells a great story I think of often.

Matthew 20:1-16 New International Version (NIV)The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

ACTION STEP: Find a Biblical medium between working enough and not enough. Ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment. So often our own insecurities or guilt and shame, comparison or greed, drive us rather than, us being lead by the Spirit. Yes, we are to work, but we are also to enjoy the fruit of our labor, and the spouse of our youth, the children God gave us, and the earth and all of it's beauty. We need to weed the garden but also stop to smell the flowers. Remember, Satan drives--Jesus leads.

Being a good steward

11/13/2018

Genesis 2:15 (KJV) "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

God put the original man and woman in the garden to work. Before the "Fall" there was work. Dressing and keeping things up is work. Somedays even taking care of my body is a full time job. Taking care of my clothes is work. My shoes keep me busy. So, the bottom line is God created us to do something for Him, to be a steward of all that He created and all that He placed in our care.

Thoughts: What has God placed in your care? What condition is your home? Your body? Your car? Your yard? Is there an area where you are not keeping and dressing what the Lord has given you charge over?

Action Step: Challenge yourself to live and work like everything you have belongs to God, because it does. We even belong to God. We will give an answer for all that we have been entrusted with. Just as the first Adam had consequences for his actions and choices, we will have consequences for what we are doing with our part of keeping and dressing the garden we have been placed in.

A change of season.

11/12/2018

Upon arriving back in my home state of West Virginia I was surprised to see a huge change. The trees were bare. When I left for Texas the trees were just beginning to turn and the majority were still green. Very few leaves had fallen to the ground. What happened while I was gone? The temperature dropped. When the temperature drops things change, and many things die on the vine (the tree in this case.)

Interestingly enough, I have seen this happen many times over my life time. Experience has taught me that the leaves will bud again, the trees will be green once more and it will look as though nothing happened. But, something did happen. If we were to look at the rings of the tree we would notice that there has been a growth season. The tree got bigger. The rings proof that the tree survived the season. Temperature change is normal. All trees (those that are the Lords) will go through change and the temperature change will reveal our strength.

Just like trees we go through seasons. As the image above shows, our life tells a story. We can see the tree above shows a rainy season, a dry season, and even a scar from a forest fire. We all have some rainy seasons, a few dry seasons and most even have a fire or two in our lifetime. However, like the trees that greeted me upon my arrival home, they were still standing, their arms stretched toward the heavens. They may have been naked, but they were not hung over and had not moved.

We can learn a great deal from the tree. As you and I go through seasons, let us keep our arms lifted to the heavens. Let's stay rooted and grounded. Let's stay faithful to where we are planted. Regardless of what the season may bring forth, if we refuse to quit, we will be left standing.

Psalm 92:12
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Action Step: Stand tall. Keep those arms lifted to the heavens. Refuse to quit! Refuse to lay down. The Lord is faithful and just. The season will change! Be encouraged that you have survived the season of drought, rain, fire, or whatever season you have weathered, and that this season too, shall pass. Just as I was greeted with the bare and naked trees standing on the mountains, I pray the Lord will find us faithful, our arms lifted high!

Seeing beyond where you are.

11/9/2018

In the presence of possibility thinkers, it's easier to see beyond the obstacles. Where there is encouragement, things seem more doable. As people who see beyond where we are right now, we need to surround ourselves with those that have vision beyond what they can see. When we are surrounded with those who see beyond natural eyesight, we begin to see beyond as well. It is amazing how real the supernatural becomes, when we are in the atmosphere of the super natural. As we worship God and praise Him, He drawls near. The word says, "He inhabits our praise." When the atmosphere is charged with His presence all things become possible.

Action Step:Trust sees beyond what the eye can see. Peter never walked on water before, but in the presence of Jesus his trust went beyond where he had been, so he was able to do what he had never done before. If you want to do what you've never done before, you must begin to see it possible. In the presence of Jesus all things are possible.

Changing our mindset.

11/8/2018

I love being in the presence of big thinkers. Big thinkers are possibility thinkers. Big thinkers ask, "Well, I know you say it can't be done but, if it could be done how would we do it?" I am learning to ask questions more than ever before. If all things are possible with God and Christ is in us, then all things are possible for us. The Tree of Knowledge is limited by what we know. However, the Tree of Life is unlimited because God is limitless. I am challenging myself to take the limits off. I am asking myself, "Now what?" I believe this will be my best year yet! It can be your best year too.

Romans 12:2 (KJV) "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

ACTION STEP: Begin to renew your mind daily. Get into the word of God, and let the word of God get into you. You will know when you are getting the word in, because it will be what comes out of you. If I were holding a full glass of water and you bumped into me, water would spill out because that is what was in me. Likewise, when I am full of the word and I run into an obstacle, crisis, or dead-in, the word of God will flow out of me; as a way making, illuminating, solution. Jesus is the way maker, and God is light. So, that's what comes out of me, a way making revelation!

Celebrate the little wins and pray.

11/7/2018

God bless everyone who prayed and voted. Let's continue to be in unity. Prayer can turn a nation. We can check the box on this one but we have lots of boxes yet to check. More tomorrow.

ACTION STEP: Pray like it rest on us and rest that it rest on God.

Election Day, a day to pray and vote.

11/6/2018

“Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” ~ William Penn, founder, Province of Pennsylvania

Voting and politics are sometimes avoidable, but why not use your voice to make your country better. As Christians we are told to pray for our leaders and to submit to their authority. Elections of government leaders is found in the Bible and we can even see that the “king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord”. Consider how you can make a difference by participating in the process to get good government leaders in place. “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” ~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America

Action Step: Get up and get out there and vote. Your vote matters. Get informed. Ask people you love and respect to help you. Make your vote and educated one. You can go to lots of webs sites and find out how to vote and why. Here is a great website to help you make the right decisions when voting http://www.familypolicywv.com/west-virginia-election/ Remember to pray today for our nation and it's leaders.

Plan to be kind

11/5/2018

Knowing ahead of time how to behave is helpful even for adults. Let me share with you this recent experiment. I noticed when I travel people are rushed, short, grumpy, and a bit preoccupied. Knowing this I decided the day before my trip that I was going to plan to be kind. I wasn't going to hurry. I was going to pace myself and be overly considerate of others. This is exactly what I did. I didn't stand in line to get on the plane. I decided to remain seated until everyone else went ahead. After all we all had our seat assignment. Then, I checked my carry on. Why fight my carry-on into overhead for take off, and then wrestle to get it down upon landing? Besides, checking your carry on now-a-days is usually free. There is no leg room anyway. This gave me free hands to help others. I also smiled more. The trip was much more pleasant except for a coughing, runny nose passenger infesting the entire plane....I prayed for her and the rest of us.

Action Step: Make a plan how you intend to behave and what attitude you will have before you go to bed. When you wake up tell yourself how you feel. Don't wait for your body to tell you how it feels. Your body will rarely, if ever agree with the word of God and the will of God. Discipline yourself to stick to your plan. When you exercise yourself in one area of discipline it spills over into all areas of life. Go ahead--make someone's day. Be kind to yourself so you can be kind to others.