Christmas all year long! Mark 12:43-44; Joshua 24:15

Good morning everyone,
It seems as though I've been hearing Christmas music even before Thanksgiving.  At heart, that is okay with me because it reminds me of a lot of old memories but it also is how I think we should be all year long!  Instead of making it a holiday that you remember about what you got, make an effort to make it a holiday about what you give.  I'm not necessarily talking about physical gifts; I'm talking about giving the gift of your heart.  Do you know how many people suffer this time of year for various reasons; loss of a loved one, homelessness, being alone, being hungry, separation due to miles, financial difficulties and the list goes on and on.  You will quickly forget about the previous gift you were given or you purchased, but I can guarantee you will not very quickly forget serving a homeless person a meal!  It has become very apparent that I have been given way more than I deserve and who knows for what reasons.  We can justify that we deserve things because we work hard for them and we manage our money like we think we should.  Do we manage it like the widow who gave all she had or do we use it to satisfy our own wants and desires.  Mark 12:43-44 says, Calling His disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on."  You may say to yourself that you have no idea where you can help out because there are many scam artists out there that misrepresent being needy.  Remember to ask God to provide you with a need that needs to be met and I promise you He will not steer you wrong!  Look at you own situation and praise Him for something you are thankful for and He will duplicate that blessing.  See, we all have difficulties that we could choose to focus on or we could praise Him for the air that we breathe!  He will multiply ever thankful praise in more ways than you can imagine.  Joshua 24:15 says, choose for yourself this day whom you will serve.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Your brother in Christ,
p

No sense complaining or trying to run away! Jonah 1:10

Good morning everyone,
Sometimes sleep eludes me as well as it does many of you!  You have a choice of whether you lay there and be miserable wondering why you can't sleep or you do something.  Most of the time, I feel it is the Lord telling me to get up because He has work for me to do.  It is times like those that give me some of the best connecting times with Him that I've experienced.  For many years, I've fought restless nights because I thought it was eating too late or just too many thoughts running through my brain.  Sometimes it is one of those reasons but more so than not, it is His way of getting my attention.  He wants to spend time with me and if I'm not going to give Him the time of day during the day (which happens more than not), then He simply wakes me up for His 'special' time!  See, I can run from Him, but when I'm at my weakest, then He simply tells me He has me right where He wants me.  I'm too tired to elude Him and I find that I pour my heart out to Him in those moments.  There is no sense complaining about what is eventually the best thing for me.  It is ironic that we run, a lot of the times, from the things that are good for us.  Are you running from Him?  Moses tried to, David tried to, Jonah tried to and many other Biblical characters tried to.  Jonah 1:10 says, This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?"  (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had told them so.)  It didn't make much sense because when they became tired of running, they finally decided to listen.  When they did, each of them had 'God life changing' moments!  Are you ready to stop complaining and start listening to Him more intently.  He is persistent and He will accomplish much through you if you will just spend time with Him.  Don't try and figure out the process.  He has a much better plan than the one you are conjuring up!  He knows you because He created you and He wants you to accomplish so much more in His name than you think you are capable of accomplishing.  Jeremiah 1:5 says, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.'  He doesn't make junk, so (as my wife would say), quit complaining and do something!
Your brother in Christ,
p  

Plunge into the deep part! Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 25:10; 145:17

Good morning everyone,
When you go swimming, whether it be in a pool, a creek, a lake, or the ocean, do you plunge in or do you tip-toe into the water?  I know with my wife, if you can't see the bottom then you don't need to even get wet.  The mystery for some folks is just too much to handle.  For folks who are just plumb scared of the water, they stay as far as they can from the water.  When you ask Jesus into your heart and begin the relationship with Him, He doesn't want you to just tipsy-toe around.  He wants you to plunge in with all of your gusto.  Humanly, we have a tendency to check the temperature of the water before we decide if want to enter.  We do the same thing with our relationship with Him much of the time.  If it gets a little uncomfortable (hot or cold) in what needs to change about us, we have a tendency to want to retreat!  Anytime we enter into the water, we are going to be changed immediately, if we plunge in with our whole body.  You can't hold on to the things that are the old self because He wants to change you completely.  That right there folks is an extremely hard lesson for me because I live in a comfort zone with my income and life style that affords the things I think are important.  Does God have that same attitude toward my comfort?  I don't think so!  I'm learning life lesson #5000 as we speak or is it #5001?  To recklessly abandon my old ways, checking with Him first, and trusting that His ways are better than mine!  Deuteronomy 32:4 says, 'He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.'  Stop depending on your own intellect to make your pathway smooth.  The more you allow intellect to rule in your decisions, the less you will rely on Him to make the impossible, possible!  
                            Trust and obey,
                            for there's no other way
                            to be happy in Jesus,
                            but to trust and obey.
Your brother in Christ,
p

What signs have you had lately? Isaiah 7:14

Good morning everyone,
Have you ever felt as though you were just going through the motions and wondering what the next step would need to be?  Sometimes I believe God puts us in that state so that we will depend on Him completely!  We have a choice to proceed in a manner that seems to be chaotic or we can surrender to the fact that we need help.  This past year has been a challenging year for the Hicks' family but it has been a year where I can see God moving in ways that I've never seen Him move before.  God is the Creator of solutions for every situation you are faced with if you will allow Him to work in and through you.  It may not be the route that you had intended to take for the solution but it can be the solution that will reveal His pure and perfect will.  Deborah and I have come to a cross-roads of sorts in our life, as I suppose a number of you have, and it is at those times that He stretches us in ways that we may not like how He twists us at the time, but the results are rewarding in His name.  When you are given signs from Him, do you trust His leadership or do you question Him too much and miss the opportunity that He is presenting to you?  When Mary was chosen by the Lord to be the mother of Jesus Christ, she was at a cross-roads of sorts in her own life.  Would she decide to get on board or would she say, 'Lord, not me!'  Isaiah 7:14 tells us, 'Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.'  See when God gives you a Godly job to complete, only God can help you complete it!  If you are placed with a situation that seems too much for you to handle, it is probably time to consider including Him in the decisions that you will be making.  My wife has tried to tell me for several years that the decisions we make are not wrong, even if they seem wrong to us, as long as they are done with Him benefiting from the decision.  May God richly bless each of you as you seek Him to make those changes that need to occur in your life!
Your brother in Christ,
p   

Conversation about Creation! Matthew 6:26

Good morning everyone,
A few mornings ago I was headed to work when I noticed a bunch of birds sitting completely still on an electrical wire and I had these thoughts.  What are they thinking right now?  Are they concerned about where their next meal is coming from or do they worry about being cold tonight?  Immediately I thought of the Scripture in Matthew 6:26 and it says, 'Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?'  They don't worry about the things that they can't control.  How about you?  Do you sit around and worry yourself about the things that you can't control?  Do you consult Him regularly about helping you focus on the more important issues of the day?  He wants you to be aware of the things that He created just for you to notice and praise Him for doing it!  The next time you go outside, make sure and notice something that He created and ask Him to fill you with a sense of 'awe!'  Those little birds are plentiful and forgotten for the most part but I felt as though He said, 'they were important enough to create for your enjoyment so you better start paying more attention.'  Ask God to remind you, if you've forgotten, to be keenly aware of the detail that He has produced so you will be totally amazed!  And then remember the last of that verse because it really identifies how much He cares about you!
Your brother in Christ,
p      

Doing the things we don't want to do! Psalm 119:18

Good morning everyone,
None of us like to do things that are troublesome!  For the most part, I think most of us would prefer to do things that are desirable.  In other words, with the results having a positive outcome.  But if we really think about that scenario, it didn't exist with Jesus Christ.  He was always willing to do what no one else was willing to do.  If we would just stop and understand the magnitude of the place we are in, He will create the phrase, 'For a time such as this' in every situation we face.  If we really trusted Him every waking moment, we would not throw our arms up in disarray!  We would embrace each opportunity as a 'golden opportunity' to trust Him and for His perfect will to be completed!  We want to say, O Lord, if You would but take this bitter cup from me....His perfect will is secured in the things that we see as troubles and inconveniences!  He is your 'Azar' which means helper!  How much are we willing to understand?  If you are like me, I'm simply asking Him to let me know on a 'as needs basis!'  Anything else will be too much information or it will keep me distracted because my desire is to do the things that I don't want to do with a cause for Him that passes all understanding!  Psalm 119:18 says, 'Open mine eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.'  May He open up our mines so that we hear His voice and our hearts so that He can steal them away from the distractions of this world.  He will never leave you, nor will He forsake you!  
Your brother in Christ,
p
http://foodforthesoul-paul.blogspot.com/

Simply amazing if God is your measure! Romans 12:3; Proverbs 11:2; Ephesians 4:13

Good morning everyone,
I really don't know where to begin because I'm not even sure where I've come from or where I'm headed.  I do know that God is with me and has been with me all along the way over these past few months.  As I talked with Deborah this morning, it became clear to me that God is simply amazing in any facet of life if you allow Him to be your measure!  Romans 12:3 says, 'For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:  Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.'  We have a tendency to measure our days on how much we have to deal with and from that, the results seem to effect our ebb and flow.  With God in control, every ebb and flow can brightly shine His character if we allow Him to use us as the vessel He created us to be!  Deborah reminded me that if God needs to keep you in a place that keeps you drawn to Him, then that is His will and that is good!  Proverbs 11:2 says, 'When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.'  Whatever He needs to do to me to keep me in the place that directs my attention to Him, that is where I want to be!!  Ephesians 4:13 says, 'until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.'  Brothers and sisters, I love each of you and let me encourage you to know that you have the same 'Blessed Assurance' available to you that has been given to me!  I'll leave you with the beautiful words of that song:
         Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. 
         Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
         Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
         Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

         This is my story, this is my song.
         Praising my Savior, all the day long.
        
Your brother in Christ,
p