When raising children, we always need an excellent example to follow, and God is the perfect example, so why look further? Hebrews 12: 4  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5  And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6  because the Lord disciplin

There is a spirit of apathy and indifference in our world, and it has leaked into the Christian faith as well. Satisfied is the new "buzz word" for being happy and contented, and the only problem with that is it takes away the vision of the on-fire believer. Jesus was not satisfied to just come into the world and walk around teaching and healing; in fact, Jesus did some of His best work "immediately" and without procrastination. What a witness!! Immediately (def) - at once

Consecration (def) - the act of dedicating something or someone to a sacred purpose, which can involve a formal religious ceremony to make it holy or set apart. To be or not to be, in this case, is not for a Shakespearean play, but for a sacred commitment to serve Jesus as He calls us to a higher calling. To be called is one part of the whole thing, and that is important and cannot be taken lightly because of the requirements of such a calling. A person will direct their l

Contrition (def) - the state of feeling remorseful and penitent . Matthew 6: 5  “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7  And when you pray,

When God completes something that completion is perfect and DONE or finished. When Jesus died on the cross there was a point where He said It Is Finished, and that statement proclaimed the completion of the eternal sacrifice that paid the debt for the sins of man forever and it was over. OVER. John 19: 30  When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” or tetelestai , Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. All that was needed to pay the penalty for the sin d

Mark 4: 35  As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36  So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38  Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to

Have you ever been frustrated? Here is the definition and it may hit you right between the eyes, and if it does, I relate. Frustration (def) - the feeling of being upset or annoyed , especially because of inability to change or achieve something. For whatever reason, I am a mover and shaker. I tend to stay focused on completing this thing to get to the next thing. I want to be a great finisher and then.....next. But, what if God is the one frustrating me to the point of

We know this ole world has nothing of value to offer to any of us, but in the opposite direction, God offers us a beautiful final curtain call for heaven, our eternal home. We have descriptions of heaven and one of those descriptions was given by Jesus to the thief on the cross, where He described the final destination as "paradise." Praise God for paradise. Those who have gone on before us are not dead, but truly alive in glory or paradise. Andra and my nephew Chase McCle

I always sign my blogposts with the words The Pilgimage Continues, and those signatures now hold me captive to continue to follow the vision for ministry that God has given me. As I share this podcast I will be as transparent about the vision as I can be, and stay true to the course He has birthed in my heart and mind. All of this began at my salvation when a dear lady by the name of Audra Lea Stone came through the welcome line at First Baptist Church, West Plains, Missour

Confession in my faith walk is a growing necessity. Why? Because John, in 1 John, lays out the importance of that confession for self-realization and growth. The critical part of our faith walk is the realization that "we are supposed to grow stronger as a believer." We cannot grow stronger without the eternal, perfect guidance of the Word of God. A "THINKING" person might say to themselves, "I need to figure out life according to God's Word." 1 John has some powerful t

Manipulation (def) - the action of manipulating someone in a clever or unscrupulous way. Have you ever been manipulated? It can happen so easily, and the action of manipulation done in an unscrupulous manner is very evil at best. A person will feel the need to manipulate to get their way if they feel they are no longer in control of a situation. Pure truth needs no manipulation because it is perfect, and nothing can be done to make it purer. Thus, the point of followin

Our faith is very fluid as we do not let it stop with us, but pass it on to other reliable people. Paul wrote the following words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2: Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2  You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. There are some important factors to think about when

When Jesus broke down the wall of distance between our heavenly Father and us, He gave us a closeness to God that Paul emphasized again and again to the believers, especially in the Galatian church. If we keep God distant in our lives, then it is easier to deny following Him and hearing His call on our lives. There is purpose in everything God does, but our human reasoning can put barriers to the purposes of God. Hear Paul's words to the Galatian church and his call for th

When you make a commitment to "step out" and say, "Here am I, send me," you are putting a target on your back that is being hunted by satan. So what do we do, quit? I think not. Our Almighty Father is right here with us, and he watches the steps of His children and leads us, if we will listen. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by life and all of its foibles, but we are exhorted by God Himself to have faith and keep on moving. So we do. God spoke these words to Joshua in

Scoffer (def) - a person who mocks or makes fun of someone or something, often of religion or moral values. The moment you take a firm stand on believing "all" of God's Word, the scoffers will come in force. God is not sending them, by the way. These are false prophets, whether official or not. 2 Peter 3: 3  Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4  They will say, “What happened t

When you do things, why do you do them? What is your motivation? When you give to your church, what is happening in your heart? For some, it is a matter of duty. To others, a matter of power and position. And the goal should be "giving out of love", no matter what the action. When you speak to someone, why do you say what you say/. What is your motivation? Is it to influence, tear down, or belittle? To be pure in your motives is a good thing, but many times being tha

We are all capable of forming and organizing a religious belief, because we have inherently in each of us a desire to have a god. The Romans were polytheistic,so they believed in many different religions, and thus some real "doozies" can come out of that weird belief system. Religions are a huge part of our world, and the desire to fill this black hole in our hearts comes up with many opinions about how to fill it. Thus, the formation of religions that are based on man's r

John 3: He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. Strong words by John the Baptist as he realized the "real" salvation, or the Messiah, was truly here and working. Jesus' ministry that went on for 3 years and culminated with His death, burial, and resurrection was moving forward, and John did not offer what mankind needed, but Jesus did. We all need to come to the realization that there must be more Jesus seen in our lives of less of us. This

I love the scripture in Proverbs (NASB) 27: 17  As iron sharpens iron, So one person sharpens another. NLT - 17  As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. ESV - 17  Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. When reading these three different versions of scripture, it is easy to see that the correct kind of friendship is a must. In other words, there are proper and soul-building friendships that cause us to grow stronger in our faith walk, and there are

We cannot minimize what happens to a lost person who is born again in the Spirit. And we should never make it a usual, "whatever" type of thing in our thinking, because that is a life that was bound for eternal damnation that is now saved from it and ushered into an abundance of living! To some, those may seem like just a bunch of "church" words that all people who call themselves inherited to say. If you have made them empty words that have no depth in them, it is time to