Author Archives: oneminuteministry

Turn Here

Isaiah 30:20-21 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. 21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.

Who wouldn’t want that; God standing behind you directing your life’s path? When we look at it in Isaiah’s proclamation though, God is judging sin and betrayal of his chosen people. They had focused on everything but God, not listened to the prophets from God, and God was judging them for their sin. Also look at the sovereignty of God woven into this passage. He “lets us” go down tough paths in life, the food and water we live upon as tough times. His innermost workings of the details of our lives boggles the mind. How can he give us a free-will, yet align our paths with his control? That is why he is our God! We cannot explain the complexity of control and freedom by the One who breaths stars into existence. We cannot imagine the limitless potential of an unlimited God who by creation put limitations on our minds. We cannot fathom the Creator even as we are the pinnacle of his creation. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” How would we call him our God, if we could explain and understand him?

I am feeling from the bread of adversity and drinking from the waters of affliction right now. My world was crushed by someone I had put hopes and plans upon, and now I find the weight of the business world heavy upon me. I am worried about my health and well-being. My industry is suffering from lack of employees, much less ones who have integrity, and the desire to look beyond money and greed. I find myself again working 80hr weeks, and killing myself doing so. On a job-site late Saturday afternoon, I laughed with a customer telling them the only time I stopped working was to talk about dirt bikes or the Gospel, for I was passionate about both. The freedom to share my faith is what I truly love about my job. The encounters God designs, the opportunities that arise from obedience, are the only thing that keep me going, and the things that I hope to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant,” whenever Jesus calls me home.

Even if God has you in a tough place, even if in the midst of worldly blessings you are overwhelmed such as I, know it has all filtered through his hands. The strains of business rob us of many pleasures in life, many missed opportunities, but make the most of whatever opportunity He has given or blessed you with. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Look deep at where God has you, in prayer and time in his Word. Don’t excuse life’s load for missed opportunities to encounter God at work. To see God at work, you must join him, not ask him to join you. He has and already is at work around you. He has lovingly guided you to be upon the path you are at now. Spend some time in prayer and his Word, and you just might hear his voice behind you, such as Isaiah wrote….”Turn here.”

Paul Saw

Galatians 4:8-16 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. 12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

I heard a great sermon series recently; a lot of it was about Paul’s life before Christ, and then the changed testimony after that Damascus Road encounter with Christ. I have heard about the years between that encounter, of how God worked on Paul. Memories are always stirred when I hear sermons such as these of how God breaks those for his purposes. God cannot use a prideful man, for he will rest upon what is his god, himself. God breaks those he wants to use for his purposes so that they may rest on Him, not on their own strength. It has been said of many of our Lord’s greatest servants always walk with a limp.

I have been doing a lot of reflecting recently, looking back trying to learn why God has me struggling now. I see the patterns of highs and lows, by worldly and spiritual standards. I see the patterns of sin and season of less; I see the relations of God’s sovereignty and free-will in them. I see intimacy and mis-guided focus. I see blessing and sufferings. I see spiritual warfare throughout all of my recent years to a point it scares me. God opened my eyes sometime in this walk of sanctification to glimpses of the unseen, and to be honest it is scary sometimes. I see how Satan uses those closest to us. I see how every spiritual high is followed by a spiritual attack. I see how many times I have fallen prey to the enemies tactics and failed to keep my eyes on the victory I have in Christ. Satan is your greatest foe, your greatest enemy, your adversary on a level you might not grasp, but he is defeated.

Are you feeling the pressures of the world? Are you feeling like you are far from God and alone? Does life just have you at a really tough place, and you don’t know where to turn? God is showing you your need for him. God is showing you that he may be removing something from your life that is taking your eyes off eternity. God may be using this really tough spot you feel like there is no end to, to draw you to a deeper personal relationship with the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of this world than you can possibly imagine. Let your tough spot, be a blemish that you can testify to the power of God to others. Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Keep looking, Paul was able to see too eventually. It took an encounter with Christ, scales, a physical infirmity that tormented him, years of suffering, but he saw eternity and what awaited him there with Christ.

Undone

Isaiah 6:5-8   So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

It has been the longest dry spell in this ministries history that I have not written. Since 2012 I have written over 1,100 entries, never once not writing for over a month straight. I have shared my life’s highs and lows, and my faith to praise and endure all of it to my Lord Jesus Christ who’s hand it has filtered through. My faith in the sovereign power of God is what sustains me, what keeps me from crumbling in times such as these. I am hopefully, slowly, emerging from the worst depression ever, and only time will tell. Without the details, my plans were crushed, and a perfect storm that came with it, resulted in a near breakdown. It is still a very tender subject and one I guard closely, but it has truly taken the drive out of me, I only seek to get through the day, and likely change will come as a result of the last couple months.

The passage above is seemingly impossible to unpack into a OneMinuteMinistry. The evident power of God, the immense realization of sin, but the beauty of grace and forgiveness by the One whom gives it. Isaiah’s entire prophetic ministry is rooted in these three passages. In this heavenly vision and encounter, Isaiah would never be the same, and how blessed with are with his account of it through God’s design and provision. Has the weight of sin ever sat upon your chest? Has the realization of sin ever been so heavy that you are “undone?” Sin is not preached any more. Sin is a byproduct of the grace gospel preached in so many pulpits today. We hear all of what God can do for us, but we don’t hear our NEED for him. It is not about what you can get, but what he is gracious enough to give. The weight of sin, the realization of how much you NEED God, is where a humble heart is broken for God, and can be used by God. How can you be such as Isaiah and not realize how lost you are, and then the awakening of how lost those around you are?

God placed an incredibly tough call upon my life; the call of repentance of the American church, the supposed religious just like in the Bible. Sure, I seek for the lost to repent and believe just as much as anyone does, but God’s tug on my heart is for the ones whom think they are saved, and not. I grew up Christian, and questioned my salvation after the Lord showed me my sin such as Isaiah. I became undone, and pled for God to use me. The road of sanctification has been rough, and the pricks of Satan’s fiery darts hurt, but may all my life be used to draw glory to God. I am far from religious, far from perfect, fail daily, endure consistently, repentant prayers inadequately, seek diligently, but pray for him to send me….and for you to join me on this journey of becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ, going against what the world cares, following God’s call and direction, and desiring only to hear those words, “Well done good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of the Lord.” Amen

Speakers

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

I am at a stage in my life, Lord willing, that I am having trouble getting my words out, or many times saying the wrong words than what I meant to say. My thoughts don’t seem to be connected to my lips, or it becomes a jumbled blended mess of what I may have intended to say. It wells deep anxieties within me from my families DNA, and even drug abuse for many years before Christ. Stress levels increase these struggles, and I am under great strains right now. Satan takes these anxieties and creates wars within my mind that leads down the highs and lows of those of us that battle the roller-coaster of anxiety and depression. It is my battle, my spiritual war, the greatest weapon my enemy has against me, but my God allows it, sustains me through it, and I draw closer to Him as a result of it. The unseen battle that many of us face, the smiles we hide behind, the reasons behind only what people see, are most times the battles within; (There is more to see, that what you see.) This battle of speech God really spoke to my heart the last 36 hours after a sermon and prayer request at a track-side church Sunday. I had shared how I wish the ministry would grow, and how those on the outside hearing God’s Word proclaimed, would be drawn in. Our pastor shared how he struggled with memory, and how wanted to be able to remember more scripture. His message had a central plea for us to spend more time seeking God so we might discern truth in today’s society.

That got me thinking, God brought this passage above to memory, and the understanding of just a glimpse of how he is working in what we don’t see. A pastor can stand before you, simply clearly read scripture, and somewhere within earshot of his voice, God is stirring a soul within. God’s Word concisely proclaimed will never return void, never be of no use, never wasted to hear itself spoken, never minced with self-proclamation for self-edification, never used for any false ideal, never glorify anything but Christ alone, and never not for anything but God’s purposes in eternity. Where the error comes, is in the more we interpret our opinions mixed with scripture. Matthew Henry said, “So shall my word be, as powerful in the mouth of prophets as it is in the hand of providence; it shall not return unto me void, as unable to effect what it was sent for, or meeting with an insuperable opposition; no, it shall accomplish that which I please.” The prophet Isaiah had just proclaimed a few passages prior of how great God is, and how he is working above all we can fathom. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater.

So if our sovereign God and his Holy Word, are always at work and of use, how greatly can it benefit us and his purposes to spend time studying scripture, can it not? God through his Holy Spirit can bring to remembrance the perfect passage, at the perfect time, when you know not where it came from. God takes the study, the hearts plea for knowledge and understanding, and stores it deep within. He may raise a great prophet, a preacher, or simply you and I to encourage someone before us, or even ourselves when he reminds us of his promises at our times of need. Jesus Christ even reminded his disciples, when they were going to be persecuted, and likely even stand trial for their witness, not to worry about what to say. Luke 12:11 Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” The immeasurable gift of God lives within you as a believer; his Holy Spirit is the one who teaches you all truths, who brings those truths to memory, who pains us when we sin, who encourages us when we are down, who tugs us back to Christ when we stray, who is our Comforter as Jesus proclaimed, God lives in you as a seal of eternal security to bring faith and knowledge to those who believe.

If you are like me, and at this time, at any time in your life struggling with memory and articulation, there is one place that will help you – God’s Word. If you will plant God’s Word each day in your heart, the outpouring of it will encourage those God places around you. God will begin to use you through all your highs and lows to bring others into his kingdom. God will give you just the right words at just the right time, and you will know they are his. You may be blessed by witnessing someone before you, seeing their face change as God spoke to them through you. It also may be in Heaven, when they tell you about the speakers at a little trackside church, where God changed their heart for eternity. Amen.

Eternal Deal

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

This week has been the peak of a stressful season in the business side of my life. I carry the weight of our company, the inner load is greater than anything physical that we do. To carry the responsibility of multiple families well being, the burden of providing for people outside your own, is a burden only business owners understand. The strain of it likely killed my grandfather who died at work at 52, and my grandmother told me of it’s strains. We signed a lease this week, stepped out into the unknown, and made a huge leap of faith on where I believe God is calling us. Satan knows my weaknesses and has come at me with waves of anxieties, broken sleep, and the inner weights upon my chest that the mind begins to think it is a heart attack; these strains are the inner wars that nobody sees, and I do my best to hide.

What is Moses speaking about in the passage above? He is addressing dishonest business practices, the same practices that the sin within us drives the economy today. If you have a scale that allows you to buy more for less, then a different weight that allows you to sell less for more, your profit margin is much greater. The person that is buying and selling from you is trusting you and your scales, and we can see the evil within us tugs to make bigger profits however we can. Look how the wisest man who ever lived addressed the dishonest business man in Proverbs 11:1 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight. 2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. 4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust. I deal with and make decisions every day against my competitors, many of who practices dishonest sales techniques, false promises, high pressure, lying, cheating, and selling less for more just as the Bible talks about here.

Do you see where Solomon in Proverbs tells us God is watching us? God knows all that we do, the dishonest dealings to make more money. The little lie that we hid inside, that closed that deal, that got us that bonus, and nobody knew……but God. David wrote in Psalm 139:O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Seek to honor God in all that you do, the seen and the unseen. Seek to trust God in all that you do and know that he will sustain you, never leave you, and build in you a testimony unto himself for all to see. Put down that dishonest deal, walk away from it, and testify why you are doing so, and God may reach that person you are sharing your faith with. You may play a part in an eternal deal.

Why Not Start Today?

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

As I sat and prayed just now, thoughts flooded my mind of all going on in my life and this world around me. I thought of how God, of how the name Jesus Christ alone, has been mentioned more openly in public arenas this week than any time in recent history. Billy Graham brought the good news of Jesus Christ to more people that likely anyone by the design and grace of God. The highest compliment I heard, was he was the greatest man to deliver the gospel since the Apostle Paul; he truly could carry that title in my eyes. We have seen a unity, a humble respect paid to the man who wanted no accolades, yet his faith was what triumphed. Many a news reporter stepped out in their boldness and crossed the lines of corporate policies to boldly proclaim Jesus in front of cameras and print. Many felt the call of God to be obedient at levels new to them, and Jesus Christ was proclaimed from the rooftops this week; Matthew 10:27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. May by the power and grace of God, you feel the tug to be bolder in the proclamation of your faith; may this week bring boldness to your witness and you honor your generations greatest evangelist too.

The grace of God is upon me, and I am in a huge season of transition. I am stepping out on faith in many ways, and so Satan comes at me with anxieties and likely the storms of depression in his arsenal. God blessed our business last year to the point we must expand again, taking huge steps of faith and signing leasing contracts for warehouse space. God seemingly laid before me a young Christian man, a new employee, who applied because we openly proclaimed our faith. God laid out before me the perfect building, in a place not so long unattainable, under budget and answered prayers. God is clearly laying out this path for me, for our company and the lives of us in it, all to draw glory to him. Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. Our little HVAC company is no different from where you work, no different from where you are each day, all your days can be used to draw glory to God. I get asked sometimes how I hear God’s voice, and my reply, the root of my testimony past the gospel, is the passages above.

How will you ever hear God if you don’t seek him daily in prayer and his Word? How will you ever discern God’s voice in your ears if you don’t know what he sounds like? How will you begin to comprehend his voice, until you have heard it first in his Word? It comes not audibly, but as a still, small, whisper within you. A voice that does not repeat itself; attention must be paid and eagerly sought. If you want your life to change, you must change your life. If you want to hear from God you must seek him every, single, day, in prayer and his Word. I promise you, I can attest you to, you cannot remain the same person as the day before when you do both of them. He will begin to make you more like Christ, his ultimate goal for all our lives, each and every day you seek him with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. Why not start today?

Testimony Evidence

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
John 5:34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

This week, especially in the last few days, by the grace of God, I have shared much of my story, my testimony, the evidence of God’s work in my life. I have shared different facets of recent years, my testimony is alive, and growing, seeking to draw glory to God in all the highs and lows of my life. I truly believe I was saved as a child, but turned my back on God at age sixteen, and I ran from God into the pleasures of sin for close to twenty years. I tell people sex, drugs, rock and roll, I have been there done that, and will not glorify it. Many things I did I held as trophies of sin, but now I hang my head in shame and thank God for his mercy upon me. Even after my life changed, when I began to respond to the tug of God upon my heart, when I truly wanted to change, I still fail today. God began to wrought out sin from my life (sanctification) , but sin still has it’s power upon me, and I seek to draw glory to God through all my current highs and lows of life, showing the mercy and grace of a God that loves me and you to a level we cannot comprehend. There is nothing different about me, there is nothing you have ever done, nothing can prevent you from receiving Heaven as a reward when you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he came and died, arose, and paid the sin debt you cannot pay, he atoned your debt to a Holy God that will demand payment at the end of time as we know it.

My testimony word search found almost 100 entires in the New King James Bible. As I read many of them, these stuck out to me. The passage in Revelation demands much exposition, but our testimonies are something Satan can never take from us, they are the proofs of our faith, of the evidence of God’s power in our lives; and yes we must not give them up unto death. I spent much time in John’s gospel, in chapter five where Jesus heals the paralytic man at the pool of Bethesda. Of how Christ disappears, then later reveals himself to the man, who goes and shares with the Jews, and they seek to kill Jesus as a result. Even in what they meant for evil, God meant it for good. (Romans 8:28) John chapter five is Jesus’ proclamation to the Jews most zealous religious, “Why don’t you get it?” He points out to them how their minds are so distorted, of how they are so wrapped up in themselves, they cannot see the answer to what they seek, the evidence of God, their Savior standing before them! Can we today as Christians miss the evidences of God because of our religiosity? Can we feel sanctified by fulfilling religions duty of church attendance, of maybe even tithing, of serving on a committee or church duty, but no other heavenly fruit is ever produced the remaining six days of the week? Do those who know us best account of our testimonies of our faith, or do we really live for the world and eventually die in our religion?

At the end of Jesus’ greatest sermon, he addressed false prophets and teachers. In this we also can look at ourselves, of what we produce as a result of our faith. Matthew 7:16-20 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Jesus told us as he ascended to Heaven, his departing words were to go and make disciples, go and tell everyone about me, go and be obedient to what I am showing you, lay down your life for me and let God use you to draw others to himself. You are not saved by your works, but your works are a product of your salvation. You cannot contain what you feel inside; the outside works, the testimony of God’s work within you, is how you proclaim outwardly to all he has prepared to witness. Be bold, share in word and deed the evidence of God in your life today.

Anew

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (ASV)

When things aren’t going your way
You tend to say
A “do-over” I claim
Maybe I’ll win the game.

In life we tend
To wish to restart
Troubles create paths
From which we wish to depart.

We all make mistakes
And life says we must pay
But eternity also demands
An account we shall say.

We go through this life
Preparing for the next one
This life’s problems were solved
By God giving us his Son.

Jesus solved the problem
He died to conquer sin
He rose from the grave
And gave you power from within.

Grasping the power of the gospel
Through your heart understand
Let Jesus lead this life
Let him take your hand.
He said My Yoke is easy
My burden is light
The struggles that bind you
He will carry with his might.

Give your life to Jesus
Let your life become anew
Let your heart understand his gospel
It is that simple to do.

Turned to Look

Exodus 3:3-4 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” 4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Do we hear, do we listen, and do we obey? Some of that may seem redundant, but there is a difference is hearing and listening. We can go through life without hearing God. We can turn our backs on God and live for this world’s pleasure, and be condemned to Hell for our hearts focused on worldly pursuits of any sort. We can never hear God I believe after a supposed salvation, a simple act of accepting Jesus, but moving back to the same misguided worldly focus, that I will not judge where our eternity lies. We only hear God if he demands to be heard, or if we pursue him through prayer and his Word. In biblical truth, we are actually responding in those acts to a pursuit by God towards us first; John 6:65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” He seeks you out first, not the other way around.

If we hear Him, do we listen or just move on? The listening requires a much more intimate relationship, an intimacy that grows in time together, and the acts of obedience. If we listen to him, we begin to understand it is God that is speaking to us, and he doesn’t waste any time or words. He doesn’t speak to hear himself talk, he desires you to be like Christ, and I promise you, that requires action on your part. When you listen, you will hear many things that sting, the pointing out of sin, the denial of your request for the better good, the tough ways God works through pain in our lives and around us, the truths of God do not agree with the world who lives for itself; God teaches selflessness and sacrifice love for others, listening requires change always.

If we hear, and begin to listen, we must act as Moses did. Obedience is the quickest and only way to draw near to God. Obedience is the act of making you a disciple of Jesus Christ, transforming you into his image, and the removal of sin one step at a time. Obedience declares war on Satan, and a true disciple will live a roller-coaster of highs and lows for the rest of their life as they dedicate this life to Christ, who gave his life for them. Obedience is a requirement and spine of every Christian’s life; if not, that is between you and God.

These scriptures are very personal to me. Without an exposition of the last ten years of my life, after feeling the call to preach, I have ridden that roller-coaster of a disciple. I have preached a short time, and stepped down from the pulpit. I have seen the ministries he gave me flourish and fade. I have seen the opportunity outside of church to proclaim the gospel to all that will hear. I have seen my testimony open new doors to proclaim in ways I couldn’t imagine. I thank God for reaching out to this wretched sinner, continually extending undeserved mercy, giving unmerited grace, and for a heart that seeks to listen and obey. I am so glad I turned to look. I pray that you will too.

But God…..

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

I am a word search guy; when God lays a word, a phrase, a piece of memory jogged with a partial scripture, that is where I begin to search. I use online tools to refine my search, and He always leads me to what he wanted to show me, many times not where I even thought it was going. I love how God works when we seek him, especially when we follow his leading. Yesterday the phrase, “but God” was on my heart all day. Later in the day I searched, and the first one was over 600 entries. I found the passage that He spoke to my heart, and posted on social media, which turned into a HUGE encouragement from a lifelong friend, how God had worked in that instance. Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). God moves outside of our boundaries, of what we think we know, and shows us evidences of himself in just these “but God” instances.

This morning very early, that phase still haunted my mind. I found myself deeper into the search, when I came upon this variation, yet a seemingly summary to what I am feeling. Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said the them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The depth of the context of this passage is as deep as it comes, for Jesus was speaking of how to get to heaven, and yet it’s simplicity is found in the “but God.” The rich young ruler was full of religion, yet headed to Hell. The world that commands our attention, that demands we focus on it’s measure of worth, Jesus says that it is easier to stuff a 2000 pound animal through the eye of a needle. We weigh our earthly worth by our wealth of any means, and likely weigh our heavenly worth by our religiosity. The sin within us steers both trains of thought. We must measure by a standard to know whether we have met it or not. “But God” abolishes the standard when he provided what we cannot attain. God provided perfection, sacrificed it, and raised it from the dead to atone for our sins, all bore out of a love for us while we were still sinners. That love is incomprehensible……but God is at the root of the Gospel.

How will you ever know or see the power of the “but God” in your life? How will you ever see the transformation of your life without seeking him more than just Sunday’s religiosity that condemns? 1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. The only way for your life to become a “but God” life, is to let him have control of it; to surrender yourself, to lay down your cross, and to seek him with all your heart, mind, body and soul. To love him with all your heart above everything else in life. To place him above your spouse, your children, your job, and your wealth. You will be used by God to encourage others; you will produce heavenly fruit that you do not see the rewards until Heaven. You will live your “but God” story as a testimony to the saving grace he bestowed upon you through Jesus Christ. Let today be the day you surrender, and become victorious through “but God.”