Are You Made In 'His' Workmanship?

Tonight Barb and I are in Huntington Beach, California just finishing up the movie "Extreme Measures" and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow at 6 AM, we will "dawn" our little baseball caps and race down to the beach parking lot and try to secure a space for us and our trailer. Got here too late today for ANYTHING. Tomorrow we will have a better chance.

I was sitting here thinking about how blessed a person I am. Sitting in my little "house on wheels" with my best friend and "Cap't Jack" too (sometimes he gets in the way but he doesn't take up too much space). Beautiful beach weather (a little chilly tonight but it is sure to be beautiful and somewhere in the 70's tomorrow. We will pull out our "beach lounge" chairs, open up the awning on the trailer and sit out sipping tea and enjoying the sun.

Of course you might imagine it would remind me of a verse in scripture. It is Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Remember when it was said in Titus 2:11-14, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds?" Well today, just like any other day, I sinned against God and went before Him asking for His forgiveness, and just like the faithful God that He is, it was so given.

And later on today, He gave me yet another chance to mention Him to another person. Why? Because we are "His workmanship" designed by Him to do His good will here on earth. I don't know about you guys, but that excites me to no end, just knowing I am following His will at those moments.

We will be having a wonderful time while "bathing in the sun" at the beach, but we should never forget that we brought Jesus Christ, our King, along with us.

By the way, it's Memorial Day and I am so very grateful for those who gave their lives in battle, so that I might have the freedom I have to speak the truth of God, without threat! Ain't God Great?

Good night,

Dave

Facing Giants In Life

Tonight I watched the movie "Facing the Giants." A Christian movie about a high school football team that eventually surrendered completely to God's purpose and it was an amazing story of facing obstacles in our lives. I've had obstacles, you've had obstacles! There's not a person on this earth who has not or will not "Face their Giants" in life.

It seems to me that the longer I live, the more difficult the "Giants" in my life become. Am I the only one who feels this way? Sometimes it is very hard to deal with these "everyday" life situations. And believe it or not, sometimes I even feel sorry for myself.

Now tonight, after watching this movie, I feel very confident in my trust of God and His ability to carry me through these "waters." Facing our life's difficulties are so much easier when we have a Father that we can trust to care for our needs. And of course, it brought to mind a verse in scripture that says, in Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." So what is it that we have to fear in life. Now I am NOT of the opinion that the above scripture verse means I can pick up an automobile because of the strength He gives me, but rather, I can do ANYTHING that the Spirit wills in my life according to God's purpose for my life.

And so these "Giants" show up from time to time, and what God wants us to do is know that we have the power of the Almighty Himself with which to carry ourselves over the mountains of physical, mental and emotional dilemma's in life.

You are probably facing some kind of "Giant" in your life today. Are you confident in your relationship with God? Are you trusting him for EVERYTHING in your life? If not, then why not? We cannot get through these times without our faith in God.

So what I saw tonight showed me that it is vital that we place ALL our trust in Him. Try to put God in the place of your "Giant" tonight and see if He can give you peace!

Dave

Go In Peace

Last night was a very heartbreaking experience for me. As we began our travel time, heading toward the beach for some fresh air, sun and sand, we made a two day stop in Bullhead City, Arizona to visit a couple of siblings of mine. One who has always confessed that God wants nothing to do with him and the other who appears to have used God, in the past, as a "means to an end." In other words, this sibling appeared to be as those Pharisees & Sadducees who were referred to as "brood of vipers" in the Gospel of Matthew.

Nothing hurts the spirit within us as a person who would be willing to use God as a way to achieve something earthly (and so filthy). But as difficult as it is to admit, I have a relative who seems to have done just that. To except the love of God, merely for the sake of convincing others that you have changed, is a "mockery" of the one who went to Calvary, to save my soul. It offends me deeply and I am sure it does others as well.

So I was prompted by God to address the issues "squarely" and was obedient. Of course, the person that my sibling has chosen to "share a bed and drugs" with believes that they will go to heaven because "that is what someone told me." Later in the same conversation this person confessed that they did not even believe that God really exists. I wanted to run as far away as I could, however as I started quoting scripture to prove this person wrong, they ran from the room themselves, never to return again.

Then I was laying in bed tonight thinking about the events of last evening when God brought this scripture to mind: "And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that [house or] city." (Matthew 10: 14,15).

I take very seriously, my relationship with our God and do not wish to watch ANYONE try to use Him or His love, for unholy purposes. God can use any of us in a mighty way if we have surrendered ourselves to His will and purpose for us. And last night looked like an "exorcism" of some sort as demons fled from the mighty Word of the Lord God.

I confess I am, indeed, heartbroken and wounded because of the lack of compassion and deception brought about by my own family, however I am richer tonight than last night because God used me to take "victory" away from the devil. Tonight, I better understand the words of the half brother of Jesus, James who said in Ja:5:16 "confess your sins to one another..." God can and does bring about the "power of effective kneeling" as we give ourselves to His will.

Perhaps you have a friend or family member who confesses to be a child of the King, and lives like a cousin of the devil. Find your way to your own knees as you ask God for the wisdom to speak truth in love to them.

Go in peace,

Dave

By the way, so that there is no cofusion, I too, consider myself nothing more than a "sinner saved by the touch of the master's hand."

What "Bugs" You?

Well Barb and I are on the road and really enjoying time spent together, relaxing and having fun in the travel trailer. Before we left, my wife (bless her heart) spent 10 hours with her friend Robin, making new curtains for the trailer just because I didn't like the "mini-blinds" that were originally installed. And they look GREAT! Would I possibly say anything else? Just kidding, they do match and look wonderful.

So today we got a chance to visit with my older brother for a few hours and have dinner together. Everything there still the same. Once again, glad I live several hundred miles away from everyone. We will go with them to beautiful "downtown" Oatman, Arizona tomorrow (I'm not sure why) something about a lot of donkeys to look at - not sure.

So today I had to ask myself what was bugging me about family members and try to get some understanding about why we don't get together any more than we do. I won't go into detail except to say some of the reasons (just as with other family members) are valid. And tonight, since my whole body felt "agitated" I couldn't sleep so I got up to read, and sure enough (Ain't God Great), He lead me to just the right passage of scripture to give me peace.

Listen to these verses of scripture in Genesis 1:24,25 which says, "Then God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind; cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind; and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good." Notice that I underlined "creeping things". Not sure why but the scriptures made me think of flys. They are such a bother to everyone. It doesn't matter where they land, within your "space" they are still "creeping things" that are bothersome. We hate them. We go out of our way to destroy them. We swat them with flyswatters, spray them with dangerous chemicals, throw things at them and they still continue to "bug" us to no end, it seems.

Some of us may experience distant relatives like that and they just "bug" us. Is that rude? Oh well, I'm just typing the way I hear God leaning.Check this out. This was a thought I had while reading these verses and thinking about how difficult flys are in our lives. Answer this question for me: " How close to the ceiling does the fly have to get before he knows to "flip" over so he can land on his feet." I know, I need to get a life! I guess the point I am trying to make is that there are several things in life that really "bug" us (especially like the fly) and we just don't know what to do about it.

We cannot take a "flyswatter" to our family and friends so perhaps the best thing to do is to come to the understanding that God created them, just as he did "all the creeping things" that crawl on the earth and these are things that we have to co-habitate with here on earth. I guess there are just some things we need to ignore.Something bugging you today?

Perhaps you don't like the way I write or you have people in your life that "suck all the air" out of the room and just suffocate you with need. Like the fly, we don't know when he decides to "flip over" to land on his feet and perhaps some of our family and friends are the same way. I know; another long explanation for something that perhaps should just simply be ignored. But it is important to remember that even though there are people and things that may "bug" us, they too, were created by the same God that created you and He loves them just the same.

I remember a lot of years ago when a black man, Rodney King, after being beat up by a few police officers, got on TV and said "Can't we just all get along?" Maybe we will never discover when the fly decides at what point he needs to flip over to land on his feet on the ceiling. Maybe we don't need to know. Perhaps simply being thankful that the "fly" which God created serves it's ultimate purpose in the overall scheme of God's plan here on earth and just leave the guy alone.

I know! By this point, you are all thinking I have completely lost my mind. But actually, being out of the brown air of the Phoenix Metropolitan area has actually cleared my head and I'm throwing out my flyswatter in the morning. Now that I think about what I have written, if God hadn't given the fly the talent to achieve his "ceiling landings" we would be crushing hundreds of them all over the floor every singe day. So this is a good thing. Hopefully, you got a little chuckle out of this thought.

Dave

"The Main Thing, Is To Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing!"

Barb and I are in the Travel mode and the first stop, Laughlin, Nevada to see my brother, Dale and make a small charitable donation. From here we will travel northwest toward Hesperia, California, where we will see our Nephew Ronnie and his family along with Barb's sister, Linda. I just heard that Med and Gail will be there on Friday so we will visit with them. Strange that we have so much trouble getting with them because they live about 40 miles away, but after driving almost 400 miles we will catch up with them...LOL.



After that, it's a "free-for-all at Huntington Beach, California, where Barb and I plan to stay for several weeks, if possible. We will work very hard and doing nothing but laying out in the sand in our "Ergonomically" designed lounge chairs outside the trailer, soaking up the sun. "West and Wewaxation" as Elmer Fudd would put it.



From there we will go to Barb's cousin's (I think), daughter's wedding and meet up with lots of family and friends in the Santa Barbara area. And then off to visit my mother and other brother in Calimesa, California. Hopefully we can find a secure place to park our trailer for a week or ten days while we come home to the dreary task of doctor's visits and blood work. I'll tell you, if Barb doesn't get well soon, she's going to have to stay at home...LOL.



Then we plan to go back and retrieve our trailer for another "several week" stay at the beach. In fact, forget everything above. We're just going to the beach.



Naturally, I have God's Word with me so I will try to put up a few devotions while we are on the road.



Those of you who have to stay in the lovely, Phoenix Arizona area where the temperature will soon past the century mark, God bless you in your ministry. We are on ours!



We love you,



Dave & Barb Stallings (and Cap't Jack)

Does HE Have Your Attention?

Stress is hard on your knees, makes your head ache, bad on your back, hurts your heart, and "drains" a person, both physically and emotionally; "a real killer"! Matt. 11:28 says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." I Lord, along with a whole cast of others need your rest today......Thanks for the promise, Lord.

Our lives are "full of it". Ever heard that saying before? I have. But I'm not talking about the worldly "obvious" statement made when people think we are "full of it"! I'm talking about the stressors of life that fill us up daily and create in us an inability to walk, talk, or think of anything else because we are so stressed out with a little bit of everything.

Barb and I were having dinner last night with some close Christian friends of ours and we were talking about how "fast" we could actually see the world "spinning out of control." Some of you probably don't even notice it. You get up each day and go to work, sometimes, not even aware of the news of the day. Then you come home to your families and tend to the business of caring for them.

Then some of you notice it, but just shrug it off as "just another catastrophe" in today's world, sort of like, "this too shall pass."

But after over thirty years of being a Bible-studying Christian, I don't see it quite that way. I see the Revelation of the Apostle John fast approaching us and each day it seems to come faster and faster and I wonder; How many of us are ready?"

The Bible is the final authority on our "Eternity" and it has a lot to say about our preparedness or the lack thereof. It is the trials of life that I have experienced along with my salvation through the Lord, Jesus Christ that has given me the preparedness required to look at today's world and know with a certainty what is taking place.

The "Terminator" (Arnold) was not the first one to coin the phrase "I'll be back"! Our Lord Jesus, when He left this world, made us plenty aware that His return was eminent and that we should expect His return for the church. First Thessalonians 4:16,17 says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord."

That tells me that we, as "fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ" should not only be prepared, but looking up as well, because He could be here, "in the twinkling of an eye"!

Does HE have your attention?

Dave

Resist The Devil

For decades I have heard exultation's from the pulpit about how wives should submit themselves to their husbands and that the husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. And I fully agreed over these years, most of the dissertations presented in these cases. Just wanted to say that because, I have yet to hear from the pulpit or in Bible Study the following passage:

James 4:6-10 which says, "...Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."


I personally believe that these words are mystical and courageous. They were written by the half brother of Jesus, James, who was not always "in step" with the Lord's plan. But James absorbed all of the events of the countrymen, the disciples and Jesus Christ Himself and at the end, it is James who makes what I think is a most conservative yet, faith-based statement within God's Holy Word. And that statement comes from verse 7 which says, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." What he said here is very dynamic because of the time and study to prove in his heart that his very own half brother, was indeed, the Son of God. And when this realization is made, he becomes one of the most dynamic, on fire, set free of all the disciples.

"Resist the devil and he will flee from you" is the exact opposite, here near the end of the Bible to what we read at close to the very beginning of the Bible as satan has his discourse with Eve in the Garden and he finds himself successful in the deception that he presented in her hour of weakness. All the way back "in the beginning" in chapter 3 verse 5 satan presents to Eve the most convincing argument against God's Word when he says, "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Now I must say that way back then, when you were one of the first persons of significance, a statement like that is hard to completely dismiss.

And so I think, given the above facts, that it is only fitting, that it would be a loved-one of Jesus that centuries later would be the one to "refute" satan's claim in Genesis 3 with these words. They are precious and they are ALL POWERFUL in the Christian walk today. Listen to them one more time: "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you...Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

Remember that it will be extremely difficult to share the love of God, as you listen to satan sitting on your left shoulder.

God Bless you,

Dave