From Pity to Praise

When God Speaks Things Happen

When the Bible speaks of the “Word” of God He speaks using scripture. It’s called Logos which is the principle of divine reason.

There’s also another word not many hear about it is Rhema. Rhema is a specific word that addresses the need of the hearer. It is about one if those times when God speaks directly to your heart.

Sometimes when my pastor does a sermon part of what he’s teaching I know is just for me. As if I’m the only one in the room. It also can happen when we are reading the Bible and thoughts jump off the page at us that answer our question, confirm your faith, or rebuke our sin, it encourages us to trust Jesus or simply blesses the situation we are in. It’s light the proverbial light bulb that lights up in our heads.

When God speaks, He is not talking idly. His words have a purpose. In the beginning, He spoke the world into existence, He spoke to Abraham and Abraham believed Him and became the “father of faith.”

The Word of God is powerful, not because of literature or because it is loved by God’s people, but because He wrote it and uses it to talk to us. 2 Peter 1:21 says,

“For no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.”

It’s the Rhema word that changes the lives of those who believe it and continue to read it.

“For the word of God is giving and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” – Hebrews 4:12

This is why I keep reading it, studying it, never assuming I know it all. Every time I read it, I get different insight in what God is saying. When God speaks to me it’s not an academic exercise or a theological project. I hear Him in my heart.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the shower and bread to the eater, so shall my Word be that goes from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it“ – Isaiah 55:10-11

Favorite Sport

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

My favorite sport is Baseball. My son grew up playing baseball. That’s what drew my attention to the game.

I find it the most relaxing game, because it’s slow paced, and there is no clock ticking down. And it’s easy to follow and understand because there is no complicated rules to follow.

Playing baseball is a great way to develop motor skills. It involves throwing, catching, and running and all these motor skills are essential for everyday life.

Don’t Box Up God

I’m sure we’ve heard the saying, “Don’t put God in a box.” Don’t put limitations on God, let God be God, and don’t try to limit His capabilities

I get caught up in planning my days out. And if anything other than my initial plans occur, I get frustrated.

I have to remember that God is still about bringing glory to Himself. And often that means His mighty plan is going to be bigger than anything I could ever comprehend.

God is not limited to our likes and dislikes, our timeframe, of our personal goals. God does not fit into our little boxes. He loves us but sometimes His plan may look different than ours.

God tells us in Proverbs 3:5 to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

The Lord constantly speaks to us and gives us His direction. It’s never God not speaking to us, it’s that we are not hearing.

Many people are too busy pleading with God about our problems but there’s an issue with their receivers.

I have a habit of always being in a rush to get the things done on my to-do list and I tune everything out (including God). People tells me “I saw you the other day, and said hi but you ignored me.” I wasn’t ignoring them, I just blocked everything around me out.

It is easy to do this when God is speaking to us. If we’re not listening for His voice we won’t hear it. Have you ever been going somewhere and you get that check in your spirit to not go that way? And then hear about an accident that happened on that same road you decided not to take. That’s God protecting you. That’s God speaking to you.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

It is in stillness, not busyness, that we tune our spiritual ears to hear His voice. God always speaks to us in a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), but it’s often drowned out by all the turmoil of our daily lives.

We think that God won’t speak to us outside the church. But that’s putting Him a box.

It’s easy to mistake God’s voice for our own thoughts. God speaks to us in our spirits, not in words but in thoughts and impressions. God will not typically say “You do this or that,” but He will impress on our spirit to do something and our spirit says, “I think I should do…” Therefore, we often miss the leading of the Lord, thinking it’s our own thoughts.

Every one of us has done something stupid and said afterward, “I knew that was the wrong thing to do.” I once drove 4 hours to see a specialist at a doctor’s office, the day before I knew I should have called and canceled the appointment but I followed logic and drove the 4 hours ad I was pulling into the parking lot my phone started ringing. I picked it up and it was the doctor’s office calling to say the doctor had an emergency and they had to cancel. I immediately knew I should have listened to the check in my spirit.

Psalm 37:4 says,

“Also delight yourself the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

This verse is often interpreted to mean that God will give you whatever you want and has been used to justify selfishness, greed, and even adultery. But it doesn’t mean that at all. It means that when seeking Him, He will put His wants or desires into your heart.

God promises to take care of us, if we follow and obey Him. So many times we want to put Him in one of our little boxes. But that’s not how God works. Don’t limit God. Trust that check in your spirit. If we want Him to take care of us, we have to fix our receivers.

If I Won The Lottery

What would you do if you won the lottery?

If I won the lottery I would pay off my bills and then go purchase a beach home with some acreage and live happily ever after.

Hopefully I would be able to help some people along my lottery journey. One thing about getting a large amount of money is you can never forget where you came from. So many people who have money turn into greedy jerks, i would not want to be that way.

Reading Books

What books do you want to read?

Right now I am reading “The Real Faith” by Charles A. Price. And “Unshakable Hope Building Our Lives on the Promises of God. And “The Holy Bible.”

I usually read books based on Faith, because I believe that what you put in your head comes out of your mouth.

Learning To Trust That God Will Take Care Of You

We’ve probably heard people say, “God will make a way.” I remember thinking “Ya right,” You have to take care of yourself first cause no one else is going to, right?

But then I learned that God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

I think many people doubt if God really cares about them. I didn’t think He cared for me for nearly 35 years. But God does care, Jeremiah 29:10-11 says,

“For the Lord says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you hope and a future.”

This is one of many scriptures that tells us how much God loves us. When you read this scripture, does it make you feel faithful or fearful? I have gone from being fearful to faithful when reading this scripture over the years. Because I fear disappointment, the idea that God would take care of me and give me hope and a future used to scare me. The thought of being disappointed robbed me of the joy I should have felt younger in life.

In Numbers, God answered Moses, “Had the Lord’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen of not.”

Have you ever told someone that you are there and let them know that you will help them and they doubted your love? It doesn’t feel very good. It makes you feel rejected and hurt.

God promises to take care of us, And God doesn’t like it when we doubt His love. The great thing about God is, that He isn’t like us and even though we can doubt Him, He will still come for us.

God cares about what we care about.

“Casting all your cares (all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all) on Him, for He cares about you.” (with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully). – 1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified)

God knows we worry about things, have desires for things and get concerned about many things and He cares. This scripture says He watches over us with the deepest affection and very carefully. The closest comparison I can think of is a parent tending to their newborn baby. They are attentive and ready to help at any moment, working overtime to calm fears and comfort their little ones. This is what God does for us. All we have to do is tell Him what is on our minds and what we are feeling.

During prayer or even talking to Him in form of conversation can tell Him everything. He wants to know what’s going on in our hearts so that He can relieve our fears and replace them with hope.

One way God takes care of us is through the people around us. Even before I was a believer God used people in my life to take care of me when I needed it. If I look back I can see where God protected me through others during the hard times in my life.

Can you see in your past where God took care of you, when you least expected it?

“Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He will do this: He will make your righteousness go out as the light, and your justice as the noon day sun” -Psalm 37:6-7.

This scripture promises that when we choose to depend on God, He will take care of us.

Family Traditions

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

I love my Hungarian family traditions. family get-together, with lots of food, and music. At Christmas, my Nagymama would make poppy seed desserts of strudel, and rolls. The rolls had 2 fillings symbolizing richness and good health and walnuts, which were believed to protect against bad luck.

My nagymama came here from Hungary when we was 16 and she taught me so much about Hungary. She always smelled like the lily of the valley.

I loved dancing with my Father . He would dance and sing the Hava Nagila. Which is Jewish, but for years I thought it was Hungarian.

Hell Is Never Satisfied

“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied” -Proverbs 27;20

Sheol and abaddon mean hell and destruction and the words says Hell is never full, and interestingly the next part speaks of human desire: the eyes of man are never satisfied, which suggests that greed is tied to eternal damnation.

If you think about the greediest people you know they are usually already high in status, having wealth or power and the need for more wealth. Politicians that are elected to office have power, but that isn’t enough, they have to have money and power and end up making shady deals and taking bribes to get more money while they have power, because one isn’t enough, which is the case with human desire and human depravity. That nature is in all of us because we inherited it from Adam and Eve, when they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden.

But what is scary, is that God’s Word says in one verse ties human desire not being fulfilled, to hell not ever overflowing. The reality is we can make all this fame and fortune in life on earth, but in the next God is not going to let anyone into heaven because the have the largest bank account, Greed separates us from God.

If we remember Jesus and the rich ruler, the rich ruler says, teacher what do I need to do to get into heaven? Jesus told him sell everything you have and give it to the poor, the rich ruler walked away crying because he loved his wealth, and couldn’t part with it.

It’s easy for us to point fingers at the ones richer than we are and say, this applies to them, but it also applies to us. Human desire is not exclusive to just rich people, it is every one of us who come from Adam and Eve, the entire human race. It is sin, and the only One who shows us our sin and takes it away is Jesus. We have to remember what He tells us, “do not state us our wealth in earth because it will just fade away.” Instead, we should store up our time and resources in heavenly places that are eternal.

Leisure Time

What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?

In my Leisure time, I enjoy being in nature, long drives with the music and my dog. Spending time with friends. And reading.

Walking In The Spirit

“Jesus said (John 3:8) that the Spirit’s action is like that of wind. The movements of the wind have a mystery to them. You can’t tell where the end comes from or where it is going. Likewise the Spirit. Indeed the Spirit blows where he wills. No one is master of the Spirit” -Grahan Cole

We tend to take for granted walking until it becomes difficult or impossible. Some people even where devices that track the number of their steps taken in a day as a way to encourage them to live a more active lifestyle. How a person walks is so distinctive that it is even possible for software to identify people based on their gait.

The Bible uses walking as a metaphor for a person’s way of life, encompassing beliefs, attitudes, desires, and actions. This metaphor is used in prominent contexts in the Bible in contrast between two different ways of walking/living (see Psalm 1-6; Proverbs 4:10-19). In Genesis 5 what set Enoch apart was that he “walked with God.” God’s people are called to walk in God’s ways (Psalm 119:3) rather than walk in the counsel of the wicked (Psalm 1-1).

The New Testament expands on the walking metaphor. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, believers “Walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). True believers are called to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

But maybe the expression that stands above them all in the New Testament is the concept of walking in or by the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 say,

“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

The Apostle Paul uses a similar expression in Romans 8:4,

“The righteousness requirement of the law (is) fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

It doesn’t matter if the New Testament speaks of walking in, by, or according to the Spirit, each expression sets the larger idea that the Spirit is the One who defines how we live.

Walking in the Spirit means living a life that depends on the Spirit’s power to grow in godliness, obey God’s commands and experience increasing intimacy with God.

God’s power to orient all the different aspects of one’s life towards God. According to Romans 8:5, “Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The Spirit helps us direct our thoughts, emotions, inclinations, and desires in ways that are pleasing to God and are consistent with His character. As we depend on the Spirit, He transforms the desires of our hearts to align with God’s heart which enables us to resist sin that is still experienced in the fallen world (Galatians 5:16).

What Is Your Personal Mission In Life?

One of the most important things that leader do is define their purpose, and identify what they ultimately want to achieve.

If purpose missions are so important for leaders, why don’t we spend any time creating them for ourselves?

All of us have different ideas about success. What’s important though is that we send time defining our version of success individually. Otherwise, how will you understand what you should be working toward and how will you if your decisions are helping you move towards your goals.

Mission and vision statements are useful for bringing sharp focus to your most important goal and help you quickly identify where you should start and what you should pursue.

January isn’t over, so this is a good time to begin working on this. I need to get my vision statement figured out and begin working toward my goal for the year. I’ve done this in the past but always get distracted before the close of the year.

Shaping this goal into a mission statement helps to keep it in the front of your mind, and helps to focus your energy and resources on it. Without focus, we can become distracted and causes us to spread out effort too thinly across multiple goals.

There is a difference between a mission statement and a vision statement.

Mission Statement – This defines your purpose. It’s what you ultimately want to achieve in your life expressed in a specific measurable way.
Vision Statement – This is a bit more emotional. Here you define your core values, and how you will apply those values to your mission.

Identify what you best. Your unique strengths will point to what you would like to do most with your life.

Think about what success means to you. If you get stuck try making a list of accomplishments that really made you feel like you’ve done something worthwhile. If you make a short list to track your progress.

Take the time to explore what you want to do with your life. Narrow down the goals you want to pursue most.

After doing the first 3 steps, look at your goals, and your unique strengths and then identify one goal that you most want to achieve.

Focus on the goal you have chosen think about it every day. I find that spending a few moments at night to recall where I am with my goal, helps me.

It’s so easy to just push our main goals aside when get busy or distracted by something else that we often forget about our main goal. If you get off track, don’t give up. Pick it back up and start working on that goal.

Five Things I Do For Fun

List five things you do for fun.

Things I do for fun. Most people would not think some of the things I do for fun are fun. But here it goes,

1. Being in nature. A walk in nature to calm my soul.

2. Bible Studies. It’s a satisfaction I derive from knowing and understanding

3. Weekend road road trips. I love road trips because of the different scenery and people you get to meet along the way.

4. Reading and writing. I love reading and then sharing with others what I’ve learned. It’s what I thrive on.

5. Helping others. I’m always up for helping someone in need. It makes me feel good to connect with others and creates a sense of belonging for me, and is a great way to decrease stress.