I'm Late...I'm Late...For A Very Improtant Date!

Things have been a bit hairy around here, and for someone who isn't a multi-tasker I'm sure juggling a lot of stuff today.
Oh well, it happens.
Please be on the look out in our podcast section next week, as Barry Hooks is sharing his story tonight at the Church@Rapha. Barry has finally found the peace and serenity that evaded him all the years of his using, and will be sharing what God has done in his life over these past 7 years. I think you'll truly enjoy hearing Barry's story and might even find encouragement from it.

I received several phone calls this past week from former clients who are doing well and living this new life we talk about every day here at Rapha.

Randy T.   -----who are you man? You are insanely sober. I mean you have taken the insanity of the addictive life you once lead and gave it to Jesus and now you are just off-the-hook on fire. Randy is taken on the role of checking on and encouraging others who are in addiction.

Terry C. --- He is all about doing the little things. Terry came by this week and shared with me, "If I can watch the little things and keep them in check...being where I'm suppose to be..doing what I am suppose to be doing, then I can do this....just for today." 

Wayne M. --- Going strong and working with a rehab outside of Cullman. Still uses the declaration daily in his sobriety. Oh yeah...and God healed him of cancer. Do you think Wayne has something to be thankful for? I think so.

Mark C. --- Thankful to simply be alive, Mark approaches each day with a joy and zest for living. He may not move as fast as he use to, but his heart beats strong for Jesus. I have never seen such gratitude in an individual as I do in Mark. He knows that he should have been dead years ago, but God has given him another chance and Mark does not plan on wasting this one.

Vance R. --- He is light years ahead of where he use to be. Vance has found the value in working the 12 Steps, now he is giving back. Proud of you man!

These are just a few of the good stories that are out there.
God on you.....]
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Funny how no one sets out to be old. You hope that you live a long life but it really doesn't become a goal. It just kind of slips up on you. You're so focused on raising a family....holding down a job (sorry, I never had a career) and just making it through the day. But then one day it happens. It might be on your birthday or maybe you're getting ready to attend a high school reunion, but you are suddenly aware that you have accumulated a number of your years.

Being older isn't a bad thing. I know that there are those who want to hold on to youth so they try all manner of surgeries and creams, tonics and potions that will help them find the elusive fountain of youth.
Not me.
I am who I am and I am quiet comfortable in that place.
Learning to be content with today is important for me.
It helps me to stay balanced spiritually as well as mentally and physically.
The apostle Paul writes about this in Philippians 4
"Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need."

Did you catch all the scenarios that Paul mentioned concerning his living conditions?
He had much...he had little.
He had a full stomach.....he had an empty stomach.
The secret was looking to Christ.
Jesus is our sufficiency in all things. When we have lack, Christ becomes the portion that fills me up.
I know...
Your thinking..."Michael, you spiritualizing everything." Duh? Yes I am.
Because the spiritual side of the Kingdom is what brings in the rule and reign of Jesus right here in the natural. Did Jesus not interact with those around him when he walked here among us? Yes. Did he not heal in an effort to draw people attention to the Kingdom of God? Yes he did. Did he not feed the hungry so that they could see the love of God in action as 5 fish sticks and two biscuits became the currency of the Kingdom of God and fed 5000+? Yes he did.

Looking to Jesus as my  sufficiency put me at odds with this world.
Yet looking to Jesus as my sufficiency in everything, enables me to live here in this world.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Did you notice Paul never said, "I can do all things through Christ, while I am young."
In fact, the older I get, the more sure I am of who Jesus is.....
and...
What he will do.
There are some incredible benefits from seeing a few years...and it's more than a senior coffee at Jack's.
Relish life no matter what age you are.
If you are older, then enjoy the gift of memories that God has given to you.
Think on the good things...
The good relationships you have experienced....
Laugh today. That is important. Not enough people laugh anymore.
Love today...
Speak first to someone today before they speak to you...."Good morning! Great day ain't it?"
Talk to your heavenly Father....
Take time to listen to what he wants to say in return.

God on you.....
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God Or Mammon? Who Are You Going To Serve?

......And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
Sounds to me like Jesus is saying that I am no longer the center of attention in the new relationship I have with Him.
That my wants and desires have been laid down in order to fill myself with His wants and desires for my life.
The cross signifies a daily dying which is a choice I make.
I know those who proclaim the prosperity message.
I know that they truly believe that it is sent from God.
But what I see when I watch the prosperity gospel in action, is that "self" has become the focus and center of attention again. God loves me (which He does) and God wants to bless me (which He does) but the blessings of God are for those who obey. Those who have left everything to follow Him. Old lifestyles, old friends and old hangouts surrendered to God in order to find life and purpose.
II Chronicles 16:9 says that "The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over the earth searching for those whose hearts are totally committed to Him, that He may strengthen them."

The blessing of God do not always measure out to things which can be valued in dollars and cents.
Don't get me wrong about what I am writing. I believe that there are people who God does bless with wealth and position. The greater responsibility comes with such wealth as to be a good steward of what God has given. God does not mind people having things....it turns nasty when "things" have people. When the pursuit of material wealth and goods is the measuring rod by which our salvation and relationship is measured, then our grasp on the truth of God has been replaced by our own sinful lust and desire. Lust and desire which has been clothed and couched in the garments of religion. We possess a form of godliness and deny the power of the cross in our own lives.

I have posted this video here before, but felt the need to do so again.
Think on these things....

God on you....
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Ain't No Giant Gonna Hoo-do Me!

Joshua 14:8
Nevertheless my brethren who went up with  me made the heart of the people melt with fear, but I followed the LORD my God fully.

This verse comes as a result of Joshua retelling his story of the trek from Egypt to the promised land.
It came at a time when Moses picked twelve men to cross over the Jordan river to spy out the land to see if it was everything God had told them.

The twelve spy's surveyed the surrounding territory and then made their way back to the camp of Israel to report to Moses and the people what they had found. The report started out simple enough. "We went into the land where you sent us and it certainly does flow with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27)."
But then some of the spies, ten be exact, began to talk about the people who inhabited that land.
1.) They are strong.
2.) Cities are fortified and very large
3.) We saw the descendants of Anak there (Giants0
4.) It is a land that devours its inhabitants.
5.) We became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their (giants) sight.

12 men went into this land.
12 men saw the same thing.
Only two had reports that God indeed would give them this land.
What happened?
The ten who gave the negative report did not trust God and his ability to carry through with his promise.

We see this type of mentality and belief everyday in people of addiction.
They doubt the Power of the twelve steps (which by the way is JESUS CHRIST)
They acknowledge that the steps might work for others, but not them.
In their own eyes, their addiction is that giant that is unbeatable.
They acknowledge their desire to occupy this new promised life of sobriety, but the evidence of addiction in their live overpowers their need to be free of it. They are not to the point of trusting in a Power greater than themselves who could restore them to sanity.
They are not to the point of making a decision to turn their will and their life over to the care of God as they understood Him to be.

It takes this Power to break through the defenses set up by addiction.
It takes one who like Joshua or Caleb (Numbers 13:30) who will step up and say, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it (this promised life), for we shall surely overcome it."
Don't let the giants of your addiction hold you at bay from this new life of sobriety by their taunts and bad reports of others.
Lay down your fear and doubt and realize the truth of God.
That God is who He claims to be.....
And....
God will do what He has promised to do......

May you find what has been given to me...
Not of my own doing, but by the loving, gentle hand of Jesus.
God on you......

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Who Am I?

Not a pretty sight is it?
When I look at myself in the mirror, I sometimes wonder, "Who is that man?"
The face is familiar, but the it looks a lot older than the mind remembers.
In my mind, I'm still 18 - 20 years old. Full of vim and vinegar, ready to take on the world.
The body says, "Nope...your 60 years old and you have the aches and pains to prove it."

Knowing who you are in Christ is one of the ways  that we are able to make through each day.
To wade through the problems and situations that each of us find ourselves in daily.
Maybe it's health issues....
Maybe it's financial troubles....
It could be relationship troubles....
No matter what we face, we have to remember who we are in Christ, as a believer.

I like what James wrote to open the book of he wrote.
James 1:1 -  "James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ..."
Even though James was half-brother to Jesus, he understood, as he wrote this book, exactly who he was in relation to God and Jesus. He was a bond-servant. Doesn't sound too glamorous does it?
In James' day, a bond-servant was someone who had been set free by their master but chose to remain being a servant. I think that salvation puts us in that same place as James. Jesus gives us our freedom from sin and the penalty associated with it, but we have to make a choice. Do we accept the freedom and recognize it as a new way of living by remaining in contact and following His leading....
Or do we reject the offer of this new life so we can do what we want to do?

I choose to be a bond-servant.
I choose to remain close and follow Jesus.
Why?
Because over the years I have found the value and sense of purpose that comes from being a believer and, more than that, a follower of Jesus.
Here again, the Declaration at Rapha is a daily reminder of who I am and whose I am.

Because of Christ's redemption
I am a new creation of infinite worth

I am deeply loved

I am completely forgiven
I am fully pleasing

When my performance reflects my new identity in Christ

That reflection is dynamically unique

There has never been another person like me in the history of mankind

Nor will there ever be

God has made me an original

One of a kind

Special person

and so are you....

God on you.....

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Encouragement

We all need encouragement.
We all need to be lifted up when it seems that life is getting the best of us.
We need a word that goes beyond what we feel....what we see....or even what we think.
We need something that strikes at the heart of faith and causes it to burst into flames, igniting hope in our soul.
Such a word for today is found in II Corinthians 4:16-16
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

To sum it up....
The situations and circumstances we find ourselves in today, want to rob you of your peace and hope. They want to dull your hope and bring despair and spiritual darkness upon you.
Don't let it happen.
Lay hold of Jesus today with a tighter grip than you ever have before.
Pray in faith.
Ask in faith.
Walk in faith.
Believe in faith, and let Him do the rest.

God on you.....
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Blessed.....

Vicki and I went to Lincoln, Alabama last night to a football game.
Our son, Chad, is a coach for the team and our 5 year old grand daughter, Ashley, an aspiring cheerleader, got to cheer with the varsity team cheer leaders.
It was huge stuff for Ashley.
She sat with us until it was time for her to go down and take her place with "her cheerleaders" as she refers to the varsity girls.

Ashley is akin to a super-ball in a concrete room.
All energy and movement.
An imagination beyond belief and a penchant for a little mischievousness.
She is all girl and makes no apologies for it.
Here we were.
The two grand parents........Ammie & Poppa, watching her scream and yell and jump.
I couldn't help but thing of how awesome God's blessings and presence has been to our family.

I love the what scripture says in Job 42:12 --- And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginnings. Somehow, I can't help but feel that my life is turning out like Jobs. These days are the most wonderful times I could have ever imagined. To see my children become established and have homes and families of their own. Vicki and I falling in love even more, just truly enjoying each others company daily.
God has knitted us together not only as husband and wife, but also as co-workers at Rapha.  I see the hand of God and the blessings of God every where I turn. He has surrounded us with good friends....
Barry Hooks, Deb Hood, Debbie Handy, Wayne Wimpee, Brendon Davit, Jeff Adcock and many others to numerous to mention.

I like the way Job's life turned out....
In Verse 17 we read:  And Job died, an old man and full of years.
I want my last days, whenever that may be, to as Job's.....
Full of years.....

God on you...
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