There is a real reason to never, and I mean never, trust stepping into a temptation. The alluring side of it seems so safe and inconsequential. However, for someone like myself, I know the JOY OF THE LORD, and stepping into temptation will destroy this joy. The long term effect of knowing this Joy can always be with us. It will quickly turn to regret if temptation is allowed to enter into our actions.

This very issue is the reason we are given God’s Strength in the very day we are living in. It is the reason God wants us to seek Him in each day. It is also the very reason Satan works so hard to try and interrupt this intimacy with God.

I’ve lived a long time and I will never be, so I’ve learned, without temptation. However, I’ve also learned that keeping myself focused on this very day with God allows me to be strong in Him for the day. This promise is good for each and every one of us!

I’m always amazed with the way God uses time away from home to open my eyes to things He wants me to see more clearly. When I’m close to the issues I am directly connected to at home I get too involved in the problem itself rather than seeing the bigger picture. I’m writing about the things God wants to use to grow us by allowing the problems to exist in our lives. I can do this much more easily when I’m counseling someone else, but doing it for me, well, it takes someone else to point it out and often a trip away from home.

This morning in my devotional time I was experiencing just what I’ve written in the first paragraph. It makes me eager to get back home so I can take the necessary steps addressing it. I won’t enjoy less the remaining time here, but it does change my attitude about going back and facing a dilemmas I’ve had on my mind for sometime now.

It is simply amazing how God works!

The flight to Oklahoma went smoothly and we settled into life here quite seamlessly. Our granddaugter is in college so she is not even living at home any longer and their son was at school so we had the afternoon to visit and catch up with one another. Last night was their midweek church night. Amber, being a children’s pastor, was busy with her responsibilities. They have a celebrate recovery program so I was happy to attend it.

As their CR began I had someone come and put their arm around my shoulder. I quickly looked to see who this is to find it was their pastor. She asked me if I’d be willing to share my testimony with them? I hadn’t brought my written one not even thinking about sharing it. I’ve done it a couple of times in years past so it hadn’t crossed my mind. In a few quick moments I said I’d try. They were planning to have a video testimony and this would replace that. Well, Kathy said it was the best one I’ve ever done. If that were true it would only be due to God’s Holy Spirit.

I love coming here once a year. It is like being with our second family. All of our kids’ friends are like our extended family and they are so welcoming and fun. I took time this morning to thank God for His Gift of love He provides as we come each year. God is like that!

In a couple of hours we will be in the air headed to Oklahoma visiting our kids there for a week. Looking forward to this! God is AMAZING in the ways He takes us into His fold and cares for us as though we have always lived for Him. He doesn’t see any of our past and only sees His Son Jesus in us if we simply ask Jesus into our lives. How grateful I am for our loving Savior and Lord. And to think, He gives us His own Holy Spirit to guide our every step each and every day! Wow!

Have you ever thought about the differences between belief and truth? When we’re children our beliefs are thought to be truths because we have been taught the beliefs by the adults in our lives. As we enter into our adult years the beliefs are often challenged to either stay as truths or to become a lie.

One of the beliefs I had as a child was that I could and would lose my salvation if I sinned. Thus, I went to the altar most every week throughout my high school years. If I hadn’t committed a sin, it was done to me by my brother so I was almost always needing to reestablish my salvation. By my college years I’d heard that there was a belief that sin didn’t cause salvation to be lost, but it caused one to be separated from the closeness with God in their relationship. I wished that were true for me, but I clung to what I was taught.

When I began to receive counseling help as a middle aged man I found my truth. God never had abandoned me because of sins done to me or sins I’d committed myself. I found that God is a most faithful and loving God who was wanting me to realize this to be true for me. The belief of losing salvation was only a belief and not a truth. Yes, I believe today that our relationship with God is bruised when we sin, but our salvation is not lost. After Christ has entered our life from accepting Him into our hearts, we confess our sin to reestablish the closeness with God. He is most patient with us and I’m forever grateful for this!

Well, God is not done awakening me to Himself. Yesterday was a perfect example of this. I wrote yesterday morning about our quartet singing for a couple of places during the day. At the assisted living place, I gave portions of my story connected to two of the songs we sang. This is nothing new, but what followed was very new for me.

I got home last night and found myself completely exhausted. It was only 5:00 pm. Usually by that time I am ready to sit down, but to go to bed? Never. I didn’t go to bed but I just sat in my recliner for the evening yawning and wishing for 9:30 to hurry up and arrive! When it did, I hit the sack and I hardly recall anything beyond pulling the sheet over me.

As I began my devotions this morning I was journaling with God about this exhaustion. He awoke me to something I never expected. Yesterday was the first time I “gave an audience a portion of me”. I have told my story now hundreds of times. Each time I “tell” them the story. Yes, there is emotion connected to it, but for the first time yesterday, I left a portion of me with them.

Last week when Christ entered into the area of my fearfulness, He replaced my need to protect me. I don’t need to protect “Earnie” from fear. I can now let Christ do this. I wasn’t afraid of sharing my story yesterday for fear of judgment, chastisement. I honestly shared my story connecting it to God’s healing love. Yes, I was exhausted from doing so, but I didn’t walk away with any fears–only hope that God was glorified.

I know this message might seem strange, but for me it is a genuine awakening to something God has been working patiently with me about. I love our Father God! He is simply AMAZING!

At the beginning of last week I thought it was going to be one of those times when I was being attacked on all sides. Everything I am not good at was attacking full force. I wrote about these times in entries this past week. I also wrote that I was able to find Christ in these weak, fear evoking moments where I never had before. This has left me with a very humble thankfulness. On top of all this, the past couple of days God has abundantly blessed with some small, but important things.

God is so amazingly patient and kind. He waits for times like this past week to reveal Himself in the troubling parts of life and then incredibly reveals Himself in kindness where only you notice, but know beyond any shadow of doubt that what took place is a gift from Him. I am so grateful!

Today our quartet sings for a couple of places. One is a church service this morning and the other is an assisted living place later this afternoon. I will be including some of my testimony connected to a couple of the songs being sung. I pray God will be seen for His kindness and love for those needing to be comforted. God is so amazing in doing this! I know this full well.

Last night I had a phone call from a young married man who meets with me each Saturday morning. He had succumbed to a fear which was gripping him and had caused him to act on the fear in a troubling way. He wanted to know what to do at this point? We talked for a while on speaker phone so his wife could be part of the conversation. We agreed that this morning we will continue this topic of fear.

God’s amazing strength cannot be ours if we rely on our own strength when times hit like this. I had this happen to me earlier this week as I had written about. The roots of fear and helplessness from it had extremely deep roots within me which Jesus has now replaced just a few days ago. I am praying that this morning our young man can see how Jesus will replace his fear with confidence when he gives the fear over to Him as it hits him.

I wouldn’t even know that fear is often caused from a lack of confidence until most recently. The confidence was never in me when fear has gripped myself. However, now that I have Jesus at the root of this old nature I know the confidence is my trust in Him and fully knowing I don’t have to deal with the topic of the fear on my own. That helpless sense doesn’t need to own me any longer. What a refreshing and gratifying sense this is too! God is AMAZING!

What I wrote yesterday has not ended. Today as I was having my devotions I had this deep sense within me that Christ IS in me. My devotions were talking about keeping my eyes on Jesus. As I was processing this statement I no longer had this sense of seeing Jesus outside of me. To be honest, I’ve always known that Jesus’ home was my heart, but I have never known fully until this morning just what that was like. Today, as I was seeing Jesus, I saw Him within me and I am confident of it rather than hoping for it. It is utterly amazing what this is like!

There is a deep settled peace in my soul today. I can only describe it as a confidence I sense. It is not of flesh but of spirit. I just have to praise God for His patient endurance waiting for me to finally find the work of His Son Jesus in the depth of me where fear had abound. That fear is now replaced with the assurance I am a child of the King! Wow!