They Stole my iPad, Lessons Learned

Find my iPad!

For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes will joyfully look on the tin tablet in Zerubbabel's hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord , which constantly range across the whole earth.) -Zechariah 4:10
The first day of my vacation in the Dominican Republic, someone steals my iPad out of my back pack in baggage claim. This little tin tablet is my life line to my work and the world. I was deeply incensed that one of the workers would go in my bag to take my iPad. After being frustrated with the efforts of the airport officials with Delta, I left with a half-hearted assurance that they would search the surveillance cameras for the culprit who took my iPad.

Once I arrived at the Hotel I logged onto "Find my iPad" to erase the content and send a signal that it was lost. The Apple representative said that the signal and the fact that it was in lock mode might have frustrated the criminal because it is still in pending mode for the information to be erased.

I'm sitting out on the deck, looking at the ocean, having devotion on the third day of my vacation and God speaks to me about my "tin tablet." He says:

1. I have seven eyes that go through the dark corners of the earth. verse 10, in other words, what they think they got away with I have seen. God has eyes on everything that is going on in the world.

2. There's a curse on the thief. And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. (Zechariah 5:3 NIV)

3. The power is not in the Pad but the Person. So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6 NIV) God gives Power to the Person not the Pad.

4. Appreciate the little things. He tells Zechariah "despise not small beginnings." I had to stop and look at the poverty of the people who worked here and reaize the things that I take for granted are considered a luxury to them. It made me stop to take inventory of my blessings and forget about the "tin pad"

5. This is a test to see how I measure up. The other word for "tin pad" is plumb line. It was an instrument used to measure a bulding, in this case, the Holy Temple. This was my test to see how I measured up. My sister in law called me on my birthday and reminded me of the words I had shared with her after being broken into 6 times! She said, "Brother, God will restore what was stolen. There are greater things to come." What I lost didn't measure up to what she had lost. I came back to my self.

6. It's no good if it's not in your hands. That thief can't enjoy my iPad because it's locked and erased. But it also taught me to guard my gift and don't just lay it down anywhere.

7. It's time for an upgrade anyway! I had the iPad 2 but now I"ve got to get the iPad 3. When the enemy takes one thing God replaces it with something better. On the first day, they took Jesus' life, but on the 3rd day, God gave it back, but this time they could never take it back, because he got up with all power in his hands!

Dear God,

Thank you for the gift of your word that you have put in my hands. My power is not in my pad but in You. You will restore what I've lost, for your eyes are on everything. I may have lost my iPad but I am still an I-Witness that I Am Blessed!

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Did God Sign Off on This?

Psalm 127:1

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

It's been said that, "Man plans, God laughs." Oftentimes, we set out to accomplish something on our own without including God in our plans. Much of our activity is futile if God is not the architect. God has the blueprint for our lives and we must make sure we follow what he has laid out because if he's not in it we are wasting our time.

There is nothing wrong with having goals in life. We must write our goals in concrete and our plans in sand. Even without goals, we must seek God's will for our lives so that we will not frustrate ourselves moving in a direction he is not telling us to go. We are currently getting ready to remodel a department store in Holly Springs, MS for our fourth worship location. It's exciting work! We can't wait to reach more lost souls for Jesus Christ but even in that excitement we have to submit our drawings to the code enforcement before we are able to begin the work.  They must approve the drawings before we can even start.

It should be the same way with our lives. We can't really start living until we submitt our lives to God's will. Lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him. This is how we get God's approval:

1. Pray and ask God for direction for your life.
2. Write down the vision you have for your life. Habakkuk 2:2
3. Start building but expect delays. a delay is not a denial.
4. Measure twice and cut once. Make sure you think about every detail of what you are getting ready to do. Examine every scenario so that when you cut you want have to waste any time or resources.
5. Count the costs so that you can make sure you finish what you started. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.  Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Luke 14:28
6. Use only the best material. The workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day of judgment will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. 1 Corinthians 3:13
7. God will put on the finishing touches. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work unitl it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6

Dear God,

Help me to finish the work you have called me to do. No matter how other's want to stop the work, if you called me to do it, there is nothing they can do to stop it. I just want to make sure that I hear you clearly and do everything you tell me to do. Give me your plans and I will be faithful to do everything you tell me to do.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Stop Crying, It Ain't Over!

Luke 8:52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing.” Jesus said, “She is not dead but asleep.”

When someone or something you love is appealingly dead it is overwhelmingly sad. The thing you gave life to is laying there lifeless. It’s enough to make you want to collapse in grief. There are so many people grieving this season. The fall and holiday season is a hard time for many because we remember our loved ones who have passed away. But when we have Jesus, we don’t have to weep as those who have no hope because we know that Jesus is the Resurrection and the life.

When someone or something does, Jesus has the power to give life back either now or later. Sometimes, what we think is dying or dead is really in sleep mode. When my computer is left on and idle, for a period of time it goes into sleep mode so that it can be saved. So the computer won’t burn up, the manufacturer created a sleep mode to protect it. What looks like a dead computer is really a computer that the manufacturer equipped to save itself. When the operator comes back to the computer he or she is able to restore its use.

When Jairus' daughter died, people were weeping and wailing. Jesus told them to stop crying because she was in sleep mode. They started laughing because they knew she was dead. There are some people who are laughing at your optimism and your faith because from a human perspective your situation is dead but from the manufacture’s perspective it’s in sleep mode. Jesus said, “Stop Crying!” Why?!

1. Because Jesus is here. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died, his sisters told Jesus if you had been here our brother would not have died. Jesus said, “Your brother will live again.” Martha said, “I know he will live again at the end of time at the resurrection…” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. If someone believes in me they will never die, and if they die believing in me they will live again. Do you believe this?”
2. She’s just sleep. Death is just sleep mode for believers. God will awaken all the dead in Christ first at the end of time and sometimes he awakens the dead in this lifetime. There are countless stories of people dying and being brought back to life. A young man ran up to me last night and said, “Pastor, my mama died…” before I could say that I was sorry he interrupted me and said, “but the doctors brought her back to life.” Thank you Jesus!
3. Jesus is about to restore her spirit. When Jesus said, “Little girl get up.” The bible says her spirit came back to her. Jesus is able to restore the spirit back to whatever was dying in your life.

In the book of Ezra, Chapter Four, when the exiles returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Everybody was crying. The young were crying because the new foundation for the temple was being laid, they were crying for Joy. The old folks who remembered what the original temple looked like before it was destroyed were crying as the foundation was laid out of sadness. Both were crying but no one could distinguish the cry of joy from the cry of sadness. Question: Why are you crying? Either way it’s going back up!

Dear God,

I thank you that what I thought was dying is going to be restored. You have the last say so and I need you to speak life in what everybody else said was dead. I’m foolish enough to believe that it ain’t over until you say it’s over. I believe that I will not die but live to proclaim the works of the Lord’s hands. God you are amazing and I thank you for giving me new life.

In Jesus Name,
Amen

I’ve Got to Get Back in the House

I’ve Got to Get Back in the House

Psalms 84:2
My soul years, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

There is something very comforting about being in God’s presence in God’s house. Just as the geese instinctively fly south every winter for warmer climates so my soul yearns every week for God’s house and his presence. My week is incomplete if I do not make it into God’s house.

The psalmist talks about how weak he is if at the end of the week and he does not make it into God’s house. My 9-year-old son recently returned from a trip to Chicago with his football team. I had to pick him up at 6am Sunday morning. He was still sleepy and tired from his trip but when we turned in the driveway at home he rose up and said, “Finally I’m back home, there’s no place like home!”

Your heart and flesh may enjoy where you go and what you do but they also long to pull into the driveway of God’s house. When you are able to get into God’s presence there is an overwhelming feeling of being home. Often when I am in a good praise and worship service tears involuntarily come down my face. One of my theology teachers said that the reason we cry or shout during worship is because of in involuntary response of our soul being reconnected with God’s spirit.

Every week we should strive to get back into the presence of God in his house. David said, “Better is one day in God’s courts than a thousand elsewhere.” When we get back in God’s house:

1. We are restored. The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.
2. We are refreshed. I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Jeremiah 31:25
3. We are revived. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence. Hosea 6:3
4. We are renewed. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Dear God,

One week without being in your presence makes one weak. I pray that someone reading this devotion that has been away from your house for a while would make his or her way back to you. I pray that your children who have been away on a trip would come back home to you and realize that there is nowhere like home. I’d rather be a doorkeeper in your house than to dwell in tents of wickedness. I can’t wait to see you again on Tuesday night when I come to Bible Study, because in your presence is fullness of Joy. I’m coming back home.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

It's Time for a 180

A Turn Around in the Desert 180

Luke 1:80 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

If you want to find God go to the mountain top, if you want to find your soul go to the desert ~ Rev. Otis Moss, III

There is a process of preparation that you have to make before God can fulfill your purpose. You need a 180! You have to turn your life in the direction that God wants you to go and sometimes it starts in the desert. It's in the solitude of the desert where we are able to introspectively seek God and our true selves. The desert is a place devoid of luxury and distractions but it is also a place of development. God led the children of Israel through the desert for 40 years before entry into the promised land.

By the time you reach 40 you should have a firm grip on who you are and what your mission is, especially, after living in the desert. When we take a 180 like John the Baptist we should:

1. Grow. The word grow means to mature cognitively, emotionally and spiritually. What are you doing in the desert to ensure you are still growing?
2. Become strong in spirit. Your spirit man slowly grows when you pull away from worldly distractions in the desert.
3. Live in the desert until your public viewing. You can't leave the desert until God releases you into your assignment.

John came out of the desert as a voice of one crying in the wilderness. It's time for you to make a 180 and move out of the desert into your purpose.

One of my relatives told me that when you see somebody coming out of the woods you should talk to them because they can tell you what they learned and how to survive on your way into the woods.

Dear God,
Thank you for my 180. My turn around is now. The desert made me stronger, now I'm on my way out.

In Jesus name,
Amen

I Have to Change My Outfit

Ezekiel 42:14
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
14 When the priests are ready to leave the temple, they must go through these rooms before they return to the outer courtyard. They must leave their sacred clothes in these rooms and put on regular clothes before going anywhere near other people.

Back in the 70’s I was a little boy watching my Aunts, as teenagers themselves, preparing to go out with their friends; whether it was a Parliament-Funkadelic concert in Nashville or the skating rink in the next county, they always had to get a “new outfit.” What they wore at home was not the same thing they wore out amongst the people. They had to make themselves presentable before they went out, hence the word, “outfit.”

In the Old Testament, God put more emphasis on the “in-fit.” When the priests went into the inner temple to serve God they had to wear special priestly garments made out of linen. They had to be consecrated. This is a good principle for us to hold on to. When we go before God we need to be consecrated. It’s not so much what we have on but what we have in. Our mindset and our hearts should be holy when we enter into the Holy presence of God. Our outfit ought to match our inner attitude of reverence for God.

When we go out to face the people outside, we need to change our “outfit.” It’s not that we are two different people but the posture we take before God is distinctly different in front of the people on the outside.

Ezekiel 44:19
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
19 And before they leave to join the other people in the outer courtyard, they must take off their priestly clothes, then place them in the sacred rooms and put on their regular clothes.[a] That way, no one will touch their sacred clothes and be harmed.[b]
The reason the priests had to change clothes in the Old Testament was because there was separation between the sacred and the secular in the Old Testament. If the common person touched Holy garments they would be harmed, or they would trivialize what was holy.

When Jesus comes on the scene in the New Testament, he changes the fashion and function of priestly clothes. Our inside and outside have the same function for God. Jesus is our great high priest. What he wore on the inside of the temple is what he wore on the outside. That’s why the woman with the issue of blood was able to touch the hem of his garment. She saw him as a priest but still felt comfortable touching his clothes. She said, “If I can just touch the hem of his garment I know I will be made whole!”  When she did touch him, Jesus stopped and said, “Somebody touched my ‘outfit’ because I felt my virtue leave my body.” Your outfit should match your virtue so that whether you are in the church or on the outside people get blessed by your “outfit!”

If your outfit doesn’t match your inside then it’s time to change your “infit” to match your outfit.

Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.

Dear God,

Help my inner life to match my outer appearance. Let my true self be healthier than my image. God change my outfit!

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I Almost Lost My Mind!

I Almost Lost My Mind!

Daniel 4:34

At the end of the seven years, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked to heaven. I was given my mind back and I blessed the High God, thanking and glorifying God, who lives forever:

Do you remember when you were younger and you did something so stupid that your mother came in the room to ask you, “Have you lost your mind?!” What she was saying was that it appears by your behavior that you had a temporary lapse in your sanity, otherwise, you would not be acting like this.

There have been seasons in our lives where we too have had temporary lapses in our sanity. Maybe it’s been months; for some it’s been years. It’s amazing how fragile the human mind is. It’s something that we cannot take for granted. It makes more sense to me every day when I remember what the old folks used to say, “I thank God because when I woke up this morning I was clothed and in my right mind.” I’ve seen too many people lose their mind and lose their place in God. I’ve seen too many people who were doing well at one moment and then their lives took a complete turn for the worst. They were no longer the same person.

You can lose your mind to psychological trauma. When something you encounter tries to break your will. When you see some homeless people walking around talking to themselves or terrorizing people with their unusual behavior, what you don’t know is that behind that behavior many of those people used to be normal. Something happened that caused them to snap. After all you’ve been through it’s a miracle that you haven’t lost your mind. God kept you!

You can lose your mind by becoming detached from God by insisting on our own way. Hell has been described as a place where God let’s you have your way. Tim Keller said that the people who are already in hell would not come out even though they are being tormented because in their mind they have what they want. Hell begins little by little when we refuse God’s rule over our life and he eventually turns us over to a reprobate mind.

You can lose your mind when you think you are god and you think that you don’t need God. It’s dangerous when we think we are God and we are in control over our own lives. That’s the beginning when we lose our minds.

King Nebuchadnezzar refused to acknowledge God and began to take credit for what God did. He also oppressed the poor and ignored the warning of the prophet Daniel. As a result, God took away his sanity and caused him to crawl around like an animal, with his hair like eagle feathers and his nails like animal claws.

The good news is that he got his mind back! How?

1. At the end of time. The Message version says that it was seven years! Seven is the number of completion. I hope that it doesn’t take us that long to get back to a place where God restores our sanity but there is a set time that God gives each of us before we can get it together.

2. He raised his eyes toward heaven. He shifted his perspective back to God. Some of us have been so focused on the physical that we have missed the supernatural reality of God. It’s time to put our eyes back on God and take them off of the material.

3. God restored his sanity. God is the only one that can put us back in our right minds. When we surrender ourselves to God and accept Jesus as our savior, he will give us the mind of Christ. When Jesus healed the demoniac Mark says that he was sitting there, clothed, and in his right mind.

4. He Praised the Most High. King Nebuchadnezzar now realized that there was a Power higher than him. Every chance we get we need to Praise God for all that he has done.

5. He honored and glorified him who lives forever. There is a life after this one. King Nebuchadnezzar decided that he would honor God and glorify God with his new found life. He had lost seven years walking around like a crazy person, lost in his own thoughts and now that God had restored his sanity, he made a decision that I’m going to live my life for God now.

Dear God,

Restore my sanity. I’ve been here too long. I almost forgot who I was. My sin and my arrogance caused a temporary loss of sanity. I’m glad you’re a heart fixer and a mind regulator. Thank you for putting me back in my right mind. I have a mind to praise you! I have a mind to serve you! I have the mind of Christ!

In Jesus Name,

Amen