As my grandson and I met yesterday afternoon for dinner (what I mentioned in yesterday’s entry), I was able to share with him the material I’d brought supporting the message I was wanting him to hear about his identity in Jesus Christ. When we were done he asked if he could keep the material? Of course I’d brought it with that purpose, but it was so nice to know the message had brought Light into the darkness he was experiencing. He hugged me several times before we departed.

Being able to share Christ’s promises in His Word with others is something God wants us doing. I use to fear this not knowing when the right times were for doing such. I was thinking we were all to do it just like my grandma did. She knew no stranger when it came to sharing Jesus Christ and His desire to be their Savior and Lord. What I now realize is that grandma was obeying Christ’s nudges. That is exactly what Christ wants me doing and each one of us. My eyes were on grandma and how she followed Christ’s nudges rather than on Christ Himself. Today I can know the joy of following Christ’s nudges rather than the frustration that I didn’t do it like grandma.

It is important to know that Christ made us the way we are and He wants to use us just that way. Lets remember to keep our eyes on Jesus and follow His nudges.

The curriculum being used with our Saturday morning small group of men is dealing with our role as husband, father and grandfather. Three of the 5 men are not married but wanted to go through it in hopes they will be. Yesterday’s lesson’s focus was parenting and grandparenting. An assignment is to meet with one of your kids or grandkids and have a nurturing time with them. I’m taking that time later today with a grandson who recently graduated from barber college and is now ready to enter the workforce. Problem–He’s scared. I don’t mean nervous. I mean scared of genuine failure.

In the last couple of years having stepped into this biblical counseling role, I’ve found such great material supporting one’s belief in their identity in Christ. The most recent one I wrote about a few days ago is one I want to share with him.

This grandson and I have always been very close. Today I am praying he can see just how much Jesus wants to not just be his Savior, but now his Lord. The joyous side of living truly comes about when we can trust Jesus enough to surrender our fears to Him and follow the steps He wants so much to put before us. God is so GOOD!

Today is my sis Bonnie’s birthday. We’ve talked a couple of times already this week. She is in S. California. She is just older than me and the two of us have been very close our entire lives. She was one who in our childhood years was my encourager and cheerleader. She saw things in me that I could never see. The things my dad would criticize me for were things she’d praise me for. She is now 76 and I will soon be 74. I didn’t know it then but I sure do now. Bonnie is a gift God gave to our family, but more purposely, God gave her to me. I thank God for her!

Two days ago I got a phone call from my Oklahoma granddaughter. It was a facetime call. I don’t recall I’ve ever had a personal call from her. As I opened the call I was greeted with her bubbly smile and I asked what brought this treat about? I was instantly shown a beautiful engagement ring and the fiance was standing right behind her. I knew they were getting serious and this was a genuine confirmation! We are going to Oklahoma the end of April for this granddaughter’s mom’s graduation from seminary. Then, after last night I find we will be going back again for a wedding on June 22.

The gifts God gives a parent and grandparent are so touching! I can hardly wait to see just how God will use these two for His Kingdom!

Today I’m going to write something that I find to be a powerful piece of writing, helping ones who struggle with self-esteem. It was in my devotional reading this morning and I’ve recreated it for ones I counsel. It’s entitled POWER IN IDENTITY. Here it is:

Power in Identity

“Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us…We are His people.” Psalm 100:3

Our understanding of who we are is the rudder that directs nearly everything we do. Therefore, we must believe the truth about who God says we are: A NEW CREATION, II Corinthians 5:17; HIS CHILD, I John 3:1; REDEEMED, Galatians 3:13; CAPABLE, Philippians 4:13; WORTHY, I Peter 2:9; WANTED, Romans 8:15-16; CREATED TO COMPLETE GOD’S ASSIGNMENTS, Ephesians 2:10.

Working through each of these scriptures and to believe each one of them for oneself is a miraculous step. God has done this for me and it is truly my heart’s desire to help others find their own truth in why God created them. God never made a single mistake!

The material I’m using with the Saturday morning group of men is now into the 2nd book which is all about marriage and parenting. Only half of the group is married so I wasn’t sure if the group wanted to go into it. Yet, even the single men said they’d like to do it as they hoped to be married someday and have a family. At the time I had no idea just how beneficial this section would be. I’m use to using curriculum that goes deeply into the topic helping the user to go to the root of the problem they’re facing. This curriculum is helping one to grow more fully into a true disciple for Jesus Christ living a balanced life for Jesus so their prayers are never hindered by choices made.

The lesson for Saturday is regarding parenting and grandparenting. One needs to take a look at their own days of being reared and apply strengths from it and address weaknesses by replacing them with Godly wisdom from His Word. As I approached this portion of the assignment I wanted to just skip it. In the little space for the parenting weaknesses from my childhood I simply wrote that I’d written a book about this. As I did write it God reminded me of a positive I’d set aside from dad. It was the spring of my senior year in high school, 1968. A cow had given birth that night and as I’d finished the milking she was walking up the lane with her newborn. I didn’t have time to milk her so I went on and readied myself to catch the bus for school. As I was walking out to the bus stop my dad asked if I’d milked the cow? I told him yes so he’d leave me alone. Two days later I was very guilt ridden so I told him I’d lied and hadn’t milked the cow. His response was simply, “I knew from looking the cow hadn’t been milked. I also knew you’d come around and tell the truth.” It felt like a compliment and that was a rare thing from dad.

Dad had lots he needed to learn about being a parent, but this one moment was something he did that was very right and I thank God for it.

I was recently with a group of our Celebrate Recovery leaders. I mentioned this I believe in Monday’s blog. There was a statement made by one of the folks I’d heard before but forgotten it. The statement is, “God is a gentleman when it comes to how He deals with us and our sins.” Everything He does with us is done to help us see the sin as such and to come back to Him. He even created us to sense guilt when we have done wrong. The guilt is personal so no one else knows it but ourselves. If man were in charge of this, in most cases, the world would know of our wrongs and we’d be shamed. This is exactly what Satan wants man to do–create shame.

As I look back on my life I cannot put a finger on any time when God used my own sins or those done to me to shame me in public. I was scared to death of this happening, but it never did. God is such a gentleman. I can say however, that I had thought God either created this fear in me or allowed this fear to punish me only to eventually find that man’s choices were responsible for it–not God. God waited and continued to wait for me to recognize this and begin to believe the truth that He will always be a gentleman as I come to Him.

Helping others see God in the True Light of Who He is, is a genuine blessing. Knowing God is not only with me, but His Spirit is within me is such a powerful blessing. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus who is God’s Greatest Gift to you and me!

I don’t want any reader of this blog to think that what I write each day is simply generated from the devotionals, etc that I use for my daily devotions. Yet, today I need to write again using the context of the message. Its focus is centered around what privileges God gave to us starting with Adam and Eve. God gave to Adam and Eve the entire garden of Eden for their delight. In that garden there was probably 100’s if not 1,000’s of trees from which they could eat. Only one was forbidden. We know the story from there.

One of Satan’s deceptions is to tempt us to think about what I can’t do rather than to take a look at all I can do. We can get so lost in the narrow view of “can’t” rather than the huge view of “can”. Until I was almost 60 years old I thought I can’t ever let the world know of my past and what it did to me. I’d never be accepted if they knew. Now, almost 14 years later I find such freedom with what I can do. Not only do I find great freedom, but the freedom also includes being able to serve God more fully.

I don’t know if any reader of this has something you’re facing where Satan has you bound, but, if so, I’d encourage you to take a step back and look at it from the can’t vs can and let God’s Light of Freedom shine into the situation. From there I believe we find the path for moving forward.

Months ago I came across a tool on the biblical counseling website I use. Its title is Walking By Faith Not By Sight. I made several copies of it knowing it would be useful for some of those who come for counseling. Yesterday afternoon was our monthly Celebrate Recovery leadership meeting. I brought copies of this tool for the group knowing there is no one who comes to CR who hasn’t struggled with this topic. Little did I know just how significant this tool would be.

A major quote from this document states: “‘Let God be proved true and every man a liar.’ What this means is, if my perceptions, thoughts, or fears are different from what is contained in the truth of God’s word, then I should believe God’s word as true and consider my own belief a lie. For example, God’s words says He will never leave us nor forsake us and that He is an ever present help in times of need.” I lived so long wanting to believe fully in God and trusting His word. But I was scared to death of what those consequences would mean if people actually knew what my past was. Only in my last 15 years have I been able to start living more fully in real Faith.

Satan truly takes advantage of our fears and twists what God’s word tells us. This document, I had thought would be useful for those of us who help others with their accountability, which is true. But, before we do this it became a tool of helping us better walk by Faith ourselves and Trust more fully the God we love and serve.

A remarkable thing happened this morning as I was journaling. I had written yesterday about the line in the Serenity Prayer regarding “one day at a time” and its connection to God’s Name–I AM. (I’ve written several times in the last year or so about this connection). God has helped me in so many areas of my life applying this principle. The one area I never like to write about is the one I’ve thought was my “thorn in the flesh”. This thorn is the gay thoughts which can enter my mind unexpectedly. All three counselors I’ve seen over the years have said the same thing–the roots of some events in our lives are too deep and so living with this might have to happen. The remarkable thing which took place today was when I asked Jesus what He wanted me to know for today? His response was that it’s time for Him and me to address this item. We will apply the “one day at a time” principle believing The GREAT I AM is bigger than this issue.

This partial quote from my devotional followed the journaling I had just done. It is, “There is absolutely no substitute for personal intimacy with God…it is the key to fulfillment and purpose…the emptiness within us was only ever meant to be indwelt by God’s presence.” As I read this I stopped and realized the time has come where God wants to replace the emptiness I’ve always felt when these thoughts come. Then, after my devotional reading, my Bible reading in part was what Samuel told Saul in I Samuel 15:22, “…Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice….” I heard God’s voice in my journaling and then it was reinforced in my devotional message and finally it was told in God’s Word. He wants me to obey by believing His Intimacy is stronger than any old belief or even a statement from a christian counselor.

Today I believe!

The line from the Serenity Prayer that states, “…one day at a time, one moment at time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace” is a gold nugget when it comes to living out a committed life. A couple I’ve begun to work with is needing to make some major adjustments in their daily living if their marriage is going to work. As we were meeting yesterday afternoon each one of them was unwilling to take a step unless the other one was willing to be just as committed to the step. They had wounded one another that much. As I asked them if their assignment was for only a day would they be able to do that? Both said they could. As I tied this statement to the Serenity Prayer, there seemed to be glimmer of hope. Talking with them also about God’s Name being “I AM” added more hope to this.

I can never lose sight of these words from the Serenity Prayer. I personally need to keep them in front of me. I am so grateful God sees the intent of our heart because our flesh doesn’t always look like our heart wants. When we put into perspective the awareness that God is asking us to live this day obeying Him, it gives such hope. Satan is always wanting to twist God’s Wisdom making it seem “impossible”. That’s why it is so important to keep I AM in the front of each day’s start. I can do this for today!