What is Faith

Hello Everyone,

    Today I want to talk about how to define faith.  Sometimes Christians say that they are people of faith.  What they typically mean is that they believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  That's a great place to start but it's really only a start.  Now when I talk with the Lord about words, I want a working definition of the word because I realized that there are many words that Christians use and say with no true understanding of what the word actually means.  I think "faith" can be one of those.

    I have heard people say, and I have been one of them, that they have faith but what do they really mean?

   

    Hear is the definition of faith the Lord gave me.  Faith is believing that God will do what He said He would do.  God does this every time we let him.  Now many times people pray for something but they pray in hope not in faith.  Those are two different things and prayers in hope, not faith, won't work.  In fact in Mark 6:58 and Matthew 13:58 it says that Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief (lack of faith).

    So let me show you the difference.  If I go ask a friend of mine to borrow his car, when I ask (or pray) I am doing it in hope.  I don't know what he will say but I sure hope he let's me borrow his car.  

    So think about this situation.  I want to borrow a friend's car so I call him on Saturday and ask him if I can use the car on Sunday.  He says, "Sure.  Come get the keys from me on Sunday morning and you can borrow the car."  So when Sunday morning comes, I go to him and ask for the keys.  But when I ask, because he is a man of his word, I know he will give me the keys to the car because he told me that I could borrow it on Saturday.  

    Do you see the difference between faith and hope?

    Well you might ask what this has to do with God and the Bible.  It's exactly the same thing.  I have heard many people ask for prayer about something without knowing what God's Word says about their prayer request.  They are asking in hope, not faith, because they don't know what God said He would do.  But on the other hand, when someone goes to God and knows what He already said in His word about a situation, then they can ask in Faith fully expecting God to do what He said He would.

    So for example if you need a financial miracle, you can go before the Lord and say, "Lord You said in Philippians 4:19 that You would supply all my needs according to Your riches in Christ Jesus.  Now you know I need the electric bill paid and I am asking You now to pay the electric bill."  When you do, if you believe that He will, then thank Him for paying it.  

    In the case of me borrowing a car from my friend, when I called on Saturday, I would tell him thank you when I got off the phone before I ever saw the keys.  We should do the same with God because it's good to be thankful but also because we believe He will do what He said!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Holding Grudges

Hi Everyone,

 

Someone who follows me on Facebook, NP, asked me to write about holding grudges so here's my take.

 

We've all been there.  There's that one person who has really done something wrong to us and we want to get back at them so bad we can taste it.  We dream of all the witty things we would say or how we would act given the chance and we think about how good it would feel to finally let that person have it.  I mean we deserve to get even with someone if they have done something wrong to us.  If you are a Christian you have to turn the other cheek once but after that you are out of cheeks and it's time for payback.  Now many times we don't pay the other person back we just think about it.

 

But even when we do pay them back, we often feel worse for what we did to them than we did before we did it.  One time I was in a movie theater with my brother and his wife.  We were in line to get popcorn and all the things you need to see a movie and there was this guy who said that my sister-in-law didn't pay for her hot dog when I knew she did.  I don't remember how it started but he said something that was kind of insulting and I didn't wait to hold a grudge, I let him have it right there.  I said some really mean stuff that cut him down to size.  Then we went into the movie theater and I felt so terribly awful for saying the things I said.  See my mom always told me that two wrongs don't make a right.  So what did I do?  I went back and found the kid and apologized profusely for my words.

 

So now let's deal with what happens when we hold grudges?  First of all, the real person it hurts is us.  Grudges don't normally hurt the other person because they normally don't even know about them.  But what they do to our insides is pretty bad.  They make us feel all sorts of negative emotions that really can do us harm.  If we are not careful, we can spend a lot of time mediating on all the negative stuff which is really bad for us.  

 

But also did you know that when we hold things against other people that it will hinder our prayers to God.  The bible tells us to forgive others so God can forgive us.  That's pretty heavy stuff.  So I can hear some of you saying, "That all sounds good but I've tried everything and I just can't let go of this grudge."  Well that's not true.  Did you know that there is a lot of power in the words we say.  When we go around saying things like I can't let go, we only make it harder to actually let go.

 

The answer to this lies in that hole under our mouth.  If you want to let go of a grudge, make a conscious faith decision to let go.  Then say out of your mouth, "I let go of that grudge that I have against so and so."  At that point, it's a done deal.  So what do you do three minutes later when that negative feeling starts coming up?  You say to it, "Nope I have already let go of the grudge and forgiven that person."  If you keep saying that, eventually it will become a reality in your life and you can finally be free of the grudge.  Remember, if you are a Christian, you got saved by faith.  You can let go of a grudge by faith as well.  When you do, God will help you let go.

 

That's another Opinion of the Minion

The Apple Seed

 Today I want to encourage you to hold fast to the dreams that God has put in your heart.  Sometimes we have to continue to work a while before we see results.  I bet there are some of you who read my blog that are saying to yourselves, "I want to quit.  I've been working toward a goal for quite a while now and it seems like I will never get there.  I'm not even seeing results or at least not the results that I want to see." 

Well I can tell you I have been there before and I even face that now (well sort of).  There are a couple of areas in my life where I truly believe I know what the end result looks like.  But right now it doesn't exactly look that way.

Do you know what happens when you plant an apple tree seed?  If you water it properly and take care of the soil sooner or later it will sprout up an apple tree.  After a while the apple tree will produce apples.  But guess what.  The apple tree doesn't start producing apples the day after you plant the seed.  As a matter of fact, if you were to dig up the seed and look at it right after you planted it there would be nothing different about it.  It would just look like a dirty seed. 

See that seed needs to go through some days where there is no sunlight.  It goes through days that are rainy and it goes through days where people are putting fertilizer (that is manure) on top of it and all around it.  It needs to go through some days where there is nothing but darkness and pressure all around it.  If you left it above the ground where it was always bright and there was no pressure, it would wither up and die.  It would turn to dust.  But if you take away the sunlight, throw in some pressure, manure and plenty of rainy days the next thing you know that apple seed will begin to multiply and push it's way through the dirt to the surface.  It takes the pressure of the soil and the manure and takes nutrients from them.  It takes those rainy days and uses the water to grow.

I believe we are all in places where there is pressure in our lives.  For me personally, I know of a couple of places where I feel pressure.  If I look with my natural eyes, I don't see much movement or much way of getting through the dirt to the sunlight.  I've seen plenty of rainy days lately.  But I know what those rainy days mean.  Those rainy, pressure filled days where I see know light at the end of the tunnel mean that I am one step closer to getting above the ground and bearing fruit.  I'm one step closer to the success that I want and to the goal that I set.

So let me encourage you in this.  If you are facing what seems like an impossible situation right now.  If you are trusting God and putting your faith to work but you aren't seeing the results you want, don't quit.  All the bad stuff that is being thrown at your dream is a sure sign that your sprout is about to push through the surface!  You may only be one step from getting the result you wanted.  So don't stop trusting God to do what He said He would.  This could be your last day in the pressure!

It's happened again.  I've blogged myself happy. 

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

Is God in Control?

Hello everyone, I recently had someone tell me that they did not understand why bad things happened. They were speaking about something that happened in their life personally that affected our family when they made the comment. I heard this person say, “Well God is in control, why didn’t He stop that?”

 

I want to address that today. For the most part, God is not in control in our world today.  There is going to come a time when Jesus returns and then God will be in complete control.  But right now, we are in control of what we allow and what we don’t in our lives.

 

Think about it.  If God is in control, He is really bad at running the world.  As a matter of fact, He isn’t very good at just running the city where I live.  Everyday, people die here from murder.  People steal and do other bad things.  Our country is even worse because of all the bad things that happen.  There are wars that kill people.  If I was God and I was running the world, I wouldn’t want to put my name on it.

 

God can only operate where we allow Him to do so.  God is not going to just come into your life and make everything OK. The Bible says the God works all things for good but that doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing and “poof” God makes it all better. How many people reading this are struggling?  God can take control of things were we let him. But he can’t control things that we don’t. 

 

The reason bad things happen on this earth, is because there is a real devil that still has control of part of this earth. And he does bad things to people all the time. God allows this because he is not in control of all the earth. He owns it but he’s not in control of all of it. I have complete ownership of a company. But I don’t control everything that goes on in our company.  I need to add this – God doesn’t make anyone sick.  1 Peter 2:24 says that by Jesus stripes we were healed.  The devil puts sickness and disease on people – not God!

 

I know this is going to sound strong, but the truth is it’s our job to take the weapons that God has given us and drive the devil out of our life. The devil is not going anywhere on his own. We have to drive him out using God’s power.

If you are reading this and you don’t know Jesus, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my friend Jesus. Would you like a personal relationship with Him? All you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. The Bible says that Jesus will always be with you. He wants a relationship with you.

If you prayed, would you please leave a comment saying, “I prayed”. We would love to know you did.

 

Also, if you would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

 

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

 

That's Another Opinion of the Minion

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk to you about your identity. I’m not sure what it looks like in other parts of the world but I know in the United States we are seeing a huge identity crisis. People are struggling to identify who they are. We struggle to identify who we are sexually, politically, emotionally, etc.

The reason we struggle so much with this is because we don’t know how to define who we really are. If we want to see the definition of a word, we look in the dictionary. If we want to see the definition of who we are, we should look to the Bible to see who God says we are. If you are a Christ follower, God says you are righteous. God says you were made in his image. Just think about that for a minute. God loves you so much that he created you in His own image. No other creature in the universe is created like that. You are unique and special.

God says you were loved. It doesn’t really matter what someone else is says that or not. And I know people have said hurtful things. But I want you to know that God thinks you are someone worth loving. And according to the way God identifies you, you’re special. He identifies you a special no matter what you have done. See there’s nothing you could do that would change how much God loves you. Maybe you’re reading this and don’t know anything about Jesus. If so, I want to know that Jesus loves you so much that he died for you. Even if you don’t feel worthy, he believes that you are so important. If you’re struggling with who you are, if you’re struggling with your identity, I encourage you to take a Bible and start reading about who God says you are. He says you’re chosen. He says you’re of great value. And he loves you very much.

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to have a personal relationship with Him, all you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. Congratulations! If you prayed, would you please let us know.

Also, if you are new to the family and would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

That’s Another Opinion of the Minion

Mind Control

 Hello everyone,

Today I want to talk about mind control. When I think of mind control, I think of Jedi mind tricks from Star Wars. How cool would it be to have the ability to change someone’s mind? Well we can. We can change our own minds. Have you ever heard someone say, “Well I can’t help the way I feel about something?” That’s just not a true statement. Your thoughts control how you feel. Is there someone you want to forgive but just can’t seem to do it? Is there something you would like to get rid of in your mind but don’t know how? Hopefully this will help.

Our minds are constantly feeding on something. We get to choose what we let in our minds. I know people who listen to every news report about the bad things going on in the world and that is always a topic of conversation with them at some point. They feed everyday on the news and they talk everyday about the news. They are renewing their mind everyday with the news. Unfortunately, this is toxic thinking. I am not suggesting we should be ignorant of what is going on around us but if we constantly feed or mind on things, it will effect us.

Maybe you struggle with something someone has done to you. Do you rehearse it over and over again in your mind? Do you think about what they said or what they did and how wrong it was? What are you feeding your mind with? You are feeding it with thoughts about what that person did. Consequently, you stay in a strong emotional place around them. Even if what they did was really wrong, you don’t need to feed on those thoughts. You might say, “Well there is no way I can change the way I feel and I can’t control my thoughts.” Good news – Yes you can!

How do we control what we think? The Bible says that we should renew our mind with the Word of God. In Romans 12:2 it says don’t be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How? Spend time in the Word. Spend time reading your Bible or listening to it online. When we do that, the way we think and feel will change. It may not change overnight but it will over time.

Do you want to be free from old bad ways of thinking? Then feed your mind something else.

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to have a personal relationship with Him, all you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. Congratulations! If you prayed, would you please let us know.

Also, if you are new to the family and would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

That’s Another Opinion of the Minion

News

 Hello everyone,

Today I want to talk to you about the news. I think we spend way too much time watching what is going on in the world today. Now don’t give me wrong, I do believe we should keep up with current events and know what’s happening. But I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed and caught up in Covid or what’s going on in this country or what’s bad that potentially could happen in that country, etc. And if we’re not careful we can spend hours watching.

I think we would be better off if we decided to be the news instead of watching the news. I heard a story onetime about a person who was going to commit suicide after school one day. I believe it was a girl and she had very low self-esteem. While she was at school, someone walked up to her and told her how nice she looked in the dress she was wearing. It changed her whole day, and she didn’t commit suicide. Wouldn’t it be great to be the person who paid her a compliment and changed her trajectory? What do you think the world would look like if we all found a way to encourage someone? I think that’s what it means to be Jesus ‘s hands and feet in the world.

We get the opportunity just to help someone else feel better about themselves. So today I want to encourage you to find someone to encourage and blessed with your words today.

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to have a personal relationship with Him, all you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. Congratulations! If you prayed, would you please let us know.

Also, if you are new to the family and would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

That’s Another Opinion of the Minion

Is Religion a Crutch

 Hello everyone.

Today I want you to know that God loves you. His love is unconditional. There is nothing you can do to earn it and there is nothing you can do to cause Him to stop loving you. Some people may see God’s love as a crutch but it’s actually the most powerful force in the universe. I know this from personal experience.

I am married to a beautiful woman. We were both married to different people before we met. For years, I felt bad for divorcing my first wife because the Bible says that God hates divorce. What I have grown to understand is that His love for me didn’t change because I divorced my first wife. He still had and has a great plan for my life. Now don’t get me wrong, God does hate divorce, but He loves divorced people. His love for you doesn’t change based on what you do. Romans 8:38-39 says, “ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In the first years of my current marriage, we had a very hard relationship with my wife’s ex-husband. He owed her a lot of child support and it seemed like we were always frustrated at each other over something. My wife and I would spend time talking about him and all the ways he frustrated us. One day, I was on a road trip to pick up my youngest daughter from camp. My wife called and said she had a crazy idea. She suggested that we give her ex-husband a car. This seemed like a ridiculous idea at first but it was so crazy and such an act of love that I decided we should do it! She forgave him all the debt he owed and we gave him a car. It changed our whole relationship. God’s love transcended debt and frustration and our family was completely transformed!

I want to challenge you today to engage God’s love. First of all, engage it in your own life and see how much He loves you. After that, release it into someone else’s life and watch what it does. It’s not a crutch, it’s the ultimate power source!

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to have a personal relationship with Him, all you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. Congratulations! If you prayed, would you please let us know.

Also, if you are new to the family and would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

That’s Another Opinion of the Minion

What is your calling?

 Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk to you about your purpose in life. Why am I here. That is such a huge question. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says that God has a plan for your life. The Bible says He knew you before you were born. That means before you were born, God had a plan for your life and it’s a really good one. As of this writing, I am 49 years old and I know my purpose. My calling in life is to build God’s kingdom on early. My vehicle for my calling is my business. My mission is to use the profits God causes in our life to fulfill the missions He gives us.

Let me ask you this. Do you have a 1 year plan? Do you have a 5 year plan? Many people might answer both of those questions yes. But do you have a 300 year plan? Interesting question right? You will be somewhere in 300 years. It won’t be on the earth as we know it. You will either be in Heaven by then or you will be on the new earth. In 300 years if we are still waiting on Christ to return, I want to know I left something on this earth that is still causing me to see rewards in Heaven.

How do I do that? I leave something on the earth that causes people to get saved and come see me in Heaven. To date, through this blog, I believe 26 people have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I hope many people over the years will be encouraged to accept Jesus through these writings. That’s one of my missions. In my next blog, I am going to talk about dreaming bigger. You won’t want to miss it.

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to have a personal relationship with Him, all you have to do is pray this simple prayer. Say, “Jesus, come into my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.” If you prayed that prayer, I believe you got born into the family of Christ. Congratulations! If you prayed, would you please let us know.

Also, if you are new to the family and would like to learn more about who you are and how God really sees you, please click the link below. We would love to send you study material absolutely free.

http://eepurl.com/gLci8D

That’s Another Opinion of the Minion

You are Priceless!

Hi All,

I’m not sure who this is for, but I know someone needs to hear this.  I want to talk to you about what you are worth.  I believe many of us have a very low opinion of ourselves and think we aren’t worth very much.  Some of us value ourselves based on how much we weigh or how good we look.  Some of us value ourselves based on how many likes we have on social media.  I believe there is a young girl somewhere reading this who places a value on herself based on what a boy thinks of you.  I also believe that this person is using sex as a way to get boys to like them.  They are basing their sense of self value on how a boy treats them.

I want to encourage you to see yourself for who you really are.  Your actions or the things that have been done to you don’t tell the true story of who you really are.  You need to see yourself as extremely valuable.  As a matter of fact, you are priceless.  How do I know this?  Because Jesus gave his life for you.  Sure, He did it because He wants you to go to Heaven, but He also did it because He loves you and He wants you to have a good life here and now.  Here’s another cool thought.  No matter what you have done in your past, His value of you doesn’t change.  You can’t have done anything so bad that He doesn’t see you as a priceless work of art and He will always look at you that way.  He set your worth 2,000 years ago and the value will never change.

Do you know what the worst thing ever done in the history of the world is?  It was when Adam ate of the fruit in the garden of Eden.  When he did that, he condemned the world to all sorts of horrible acts.  Every awful thing you can think of, came from that one act.  Every murder, every theft, every horrible crime came from that act.  Guess what God did when He found out about it?  The first thing He did was come up with a plan to fix it.  As soon as He found out, He made the decision to send Jesus to pay for Adams sin and He sent Jesus to pay for ours too!  After that, He clothed them, and He still had a good plan for their lives. 

No matter what you have done, God always has a plan B.  Guess what plan B is always a good plan!  He’s also got a plan C, D, E …  He never runs out of good plans for your life!  He loves you that much!  Now if He sees us as that valuable, isn’t it time we start seeing ourselves the same way? 

That’s another Opinion of the Minion

Is There A Plan for Your Life?

Hello everyone,

Today I want to answer a question that we have all struggled with at some point in our lives.  Is there a plan for our life?  Let me ask it another way, does God have a plan for your life? 

The answer to that question begins with the most despicable act ever committed in human history.  Do you know what it was?  Think of all the horrible things you know about - murder, racism, hate crimes, mean words, assault.  The list goes on and on.  Here's the answer - eating fruit from a tree.  I know it sounds bad, but when Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they gave the devil all authority over the earth. 

The Bible says that the devil came to kill, steal and destroy and that's exactly what he did.  He killed the divine link between God and man.  He stole man's right to be part of God's family and he destroyed the tight relationship between Adam, Eve and God.  The devil hasn't changed.  He's still doing this today.  I can't imagine how it felt to Adam and Eve. The whole Cain and Able thing would never have happened if they hadn't eaten from the tree because the devil wouldn't have had authority to operate in the world.

Here's where it gets interesting.  The first thing God did after He found out what happened was deal with the devil.  He told the devil that there would be enmity between him and man and that man would bruise the devil's head.  God knew how bad this was for the world and for His children.  He knew what the devil would do throughout the years.  He could see all the holocaustic things that would happen over the next several thousand years.  What did He do?  He immediately announced the plan to bring Adam and Eve back into right relationship with him - Jesus.  This is what He was talking about when He said he would bruise the devil's head. 

He announced the plan to save the world from all the destruction that would come from the devil.  Adam and Eve would one day have a chance to get back in right relationship with God through Jesus sacrifice.  God didn't abandon them.  He had a plan B.  It was Jesus and it was perfect.  It was a great plan for the world because it allowed us to be part of his family again.

Let's fast forward to today.  Are there things in your life that you think disqualify you from having a good life?  Have you ever done something you wish you had not?  Maybe you have done something so bad that you think God can't help you anymore.

Is what you did worse than what Adam and Eve did?  Absolutely not!  The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 that God still has a good plan for your life.  It may not be his original plan but He always has a plan B and C and D and E....  There is nothing you can do that disqualifies you for the good plan He has for your life?  Why?  Because for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son and when He did that, it provided a great plan for your life!

So don't let the devil lie to you anymore telling you that you have done something so bad that God can't give you a good life.  It's a lie.  Start believing what God says about you.  You will be surprised where He can take you.

That's another Opinion of the Minion. 

For Men Only

Hello Everyone,

Today's post is really for men.  It's a challenge that I believe the Lord is putting on my heart to talk with men about.  Now I know it's not as popular to do today but when I was growing up a lot more people went to church.  Why?  Well that's just what we did.  Doing this and watching my dad and others grow up helped shape my vision of what a real man should be.  You know, we should be Mufasa (from the Lion King).  We should be king of the jungle and protect our families.

I have heard guys say things, "I would die for my wife and die for my kids."  "I let my wife do the praying and all the God stuff.  I'm the provider for our family." 

So here's what I find interesting about those ideas.  I know this has happened and I am not taking away from any man who has paid that sacrifice for his family or his wife.  I cannot begin to understand something like that.  But men, let me tell you saying that doesn't give you the right to do nothing else.  Instead of saying "I would die for my family", why don't you actually give up yourself for your family everyday.  They need you.  Part of the biggest problem our country faces today is that we men have forgotten how to be men! 

Husband, tonight instead of sitting home and watching ESPN while you relax, why don't you die to yourself and spend some time listening to your wife or your kids.  It's time we invest in them if we don't want our relationships to continue to suffer.  Your wife doesn't need you to die for her, she needs you to live for her.  She needs you to spend quality time with her.  She needs to know how much you care for her and she needs you to be present in her life.  Do you know what that's called?  It's called being intimate with her according to her definition of intimacy.  If we do that, it will lead to our definition of intimacy in a way that is beyond the normal.

If I asked you, how many of you have a good marriage, how many people would say yes?  I would be one of those people.  Guess what, I have decided that I am no longer satisfied with a good marriage.  I want to have a great marriage!  As a matter of fact, I want to have all the amazing things God has in store for marriage in mine!

So what do I need to do?  On top of some of the things that I have said above, it's my job to get on my knees before my Father as the head of my house.  Guys, it's not enough for us to just have our wife respect us and let her do the God thing.  God wants a relationship with YOU.  He's not looking to have a relationship with you through your wife.  He wants one direct.  How many times a week do you spend time with the Lord asking for direction for you, your family and your marriage?  I thought I was doing that fairly well, until recently the Lord told me that I need to spend more time with Him.

Well, "I don't know how to pray," you might say.  Let me tell you just how easy it is.  Just say "Hello Lord," and wait for Him to respond.  He longs to talk with you just like we long to be with our children.

Well, that's enough for one day and that's another Opinion of the Minion.

God Spanked Me

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to take a break from writing about love to tell you how the Lord disciplined me.  This is what He told me to write about today.  So here goes.

This week, I found out that while I have some spiritual intelligence, I am lacking in spiritual maturity in an area.  I know of  a couple of people I though were very smart but not overly mature lately.  It's funny because the Bible says that we should not judge people unless we want to be judged.  Guess what, that is exactly what happened to me.  I noticed that I have been pretty quick to judge.  Normally this applies to our kids.  Now don't get me wrong, as parents we have to look at their actions and provide discipline.  But we don't have to provide so much judgement.  But that's a different blog.

Here is what I noticed that I was doing.  I have heard for a long time that we should love a sinner but hate the sin in their lives and I believe that we should always stand strong in our convictions about what is right and what is wrong.  I think I've done this.  For me, it's simple.  If the Bible says it's right, then it's right.  If the Bible says it's wrong, then it's wrong.  End of story.  And this is true but it's not the whole story.

Let me tell you about Jesus.  He would go and eat with people who were considered "sinners" in his day by the religious leaders.  But there isn't record of Him disciplining them.  We don't have record of what they talked about but I would imagine that if He was always beating them down, they wouldn't want to be around Him.  In any situation, He could beat someone down with the Word of God and told them all their sins.  After all, He is the Word of God.  But many times he didn't.  He just loved them.

I think that is what I have been doing mentally.  I see someone that has a particular problem in their life and I judge the problem.  I can tell them why something is wrong or right because any many cases, I can see in the Word where it is right or wrong.  I can see this in many areas of our country today.  But my problem was I didn't see the people, I only saw the right or wrong.  I could be quick to go straight to the "answer."  But the Lord told me, "Son, while you may know a few things, you are spiritually immature."  See, God can't trust me with all of His power, which I want, unless He knows I am spiritually mature enough to handle it.  It would be like turning a two year old child loose with a car.

Here is what I have to do.  I have to be quick to listen and to love.  I need to stop judging people's actions because in reality, I am judging them.  I need to be quick to meet a need and quick to try to help.  As I do that, I will grow in spiritual maturity which will allow me to experience more of the power of God in our lives.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love - Watch Out

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to take a small detour from talking about the attributes of love to issue a warning about our study.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have had more opportunities to be unloving than I can remember in the last year.

For instance, just this morning I was sitting in Starbucks reading and going through my daily routine.  When I got done, I had to take my SUV over to get the air conditioner fixed.  While I was driving through downtown Fort Worth, I turned onto a street and pulled up a little and stopped (I was playing Pokemon Go).  When I did, the lady behind me honked her horn at me for stopping.  Now she couldn't see me so she has no idea I did this but I immediately said something ugly to her.  Why?  Because the devil doesn't want me to learn to really walk in love.

He met someone 2,000 years ago who walked in perfect love all the days of his life, Jesus.  Guess what, the devil couldn't touch him because perfected Love was Jesus' shield and protection.  Love is another name for God and he was walking in perfect God all the days he was here and it protected Him.  Now I am not saying we are going to be perfect because we miss the mark sometime.  But what I am saying is that the more we walk in Love, the more impact we have on this earth.

Jesus walk was so different that it impacted the people around Him long before he ever died on the cross for our sins.  See the devil doesn't want me (or you) to walk in Love because he knows it will drive out his only weapon - fear.  The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear.  It also says that Love never fails.

So are you believing for a loved one to turn to Jesus?  Are you believing for a situation to change at work or at your school?  Are you believing for restoration in a relationship?  Are you believing that you can change something in your life that you don't like?  Are you battling addiction?  The list of questions could go on and on.  But what's the answer to any of these problems?  The answer is perfected love.

I know my love walk is not perfect.  I also know that perfected love lives inside me right now and He is working on my behalf to get me to the right place.  Are you struggling with the whole "God thing?"  Would you like to have perfect love living inside you?  You might say something like, "You don't know what I did.  I did something that nothing can fix.  I did something really bad and God can't love me."  Well have I got news for you.  Jesus' blood was shed for ALL sin.  No matter what you did, Jesus' blood is stronger.  Would you like to start a relationship with Him right now?  All you have to do is say, "Jesus, come into my heart.  I make you my Lord and Savior."  That's it.  If you said that prayer and believed it, something just happened inside you.  You got born again and that Perfect Love now lives inside you.

If you prayed that prayer, would you please let me know.  Also, please find a good Bible based church so you can start to learn more about the Love that has been put into your heart.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Love is Not Rude

Today's we are going to talk about another aspect of Love.  Today's topic is rudeness.  Before we get into this, I want to you notice that again, this is not a feeling.  Love is not concerned with whether or not you feel rude.  That doesn't even sound right.  Love doesn't act rudely.  This should be a fairly simple one as we all have been around people who are rude.

I can't tell you that I am around very many people who I would consider just openly rude.  I don't have any friends that would call someone something ugly to their face. And honestly, I wouldn't either.  But let's think about rudeness for just a minute.  Did you know that as we are studying love, no where in the Bible does it say that the person who we are rude to has to know about it to make it unloving.

Ladies, have you ever noticed some other girl who looked like maybe you wished you did and said something to your girlfriend about how she was dresses.  The reality is she's probably dressed fine but you are a little jealous because maybe you can't dress that way?  Guys, have you ever seen a guy driving a nicer car than you and said something rude about the guy just because you are jealous that you can't drive what he drives (I confess I have done this one.).  Well guess what?  That's rude.  Whether or not the other person heard you, doesn't matter.

Now I can hear someone saying, "Well if they didn't hear it, what does it hurt?"  That's easy.  It hurts your faith.  How?  Well, doesn't the Bible say that faith works by love? (Galatians 5:6)  If we aren't walking in love, it will hinder our faith.  Before I go farther, I don't want anyone to stand in condemnation and you need to know that God is a graceful, merciful God.  I know this because there are several places where I have acted unlovingly and God is blessing us tremendously.

But here's the thing - I don't want ordinary faith.  I was in a Starbuck's several months ago and there was a girl in a wheelchair.  I wanted to pray for her and see her healed and out of that chair.  When I thought about it, I heard the Lord say, "If you pray for it, I will back it."  I know it was the Lord's voice!  Guess what I did!  Nothing!  I left that girl in that wheelchair and left the store without speaking to her.  Why?  My faith wasn't strong enough.  I want my faith to be stronger and stronger every day.  I've had a vision for a long time of us walking into hospitals and emptying them because God healed every person in them.

That type of dream doesn't come to reality with weak faith.  That's why I am working to get rude behavior out of my life.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Love Does Not Dishonor Others

Hello Everyone,

OK everyone.  Before we get into today's topic, I want to tell you what I've seen in the last week.  I thought I was pretty good about not bragging on myself and yet I caught myself doing it three times that I remember in the last seven days!  The latest time was just this morning to a friend of mine and I was bragging about this blog!  That's completely ridiculous because I strive to write what the Lord tells me and so I can't take credit for any of this.  I have been before the Lord and asked for forgiveness.  So let me encourage you to watch what you are doing this week and see if there are any areas were you can improve.

So let's get on to today's love topic which is love does not dishonor others.  So what does this mean?  Dishonor is means to bring on shame or disgrace. Now this an interesting topic to me because there is a big difference between bringing shame on a person and telling someone about an inappropriate action.  As a parent, it's my job to train my children so when I tell them about something they have done wrong, I am not trying to bring dishonor on them.  I'm trying to keep them from getting hurt.

That's exactly what God does with us.  We know He is Love so everything He does is based in Love.  When He tells you not to do something, He's trying to keep you from getting hurt.  For instance, when He says that we should not steal, it's because He knows the effect it will have on us both in this world and in the spiritual realm.  But let me be very clear on something - He IS NOT shaming us as a person.  He's trying to correct our actions.  He knows that these actions will get us hurt and He loves us too much to see us get hurt if He can correct us.

What does that tell me?  In order to determine if you are walking in love in this area, examine your heart and check your actions.  Notice again that this definition of Love is an action word.  It's still not a feeling.  When we have to correct someone, are we being clear that we love them and they are valuable?  Are we being clear that they are extremely valuable?  If so, then correction is coming the right way.  If not, then we have to change the way we correct someone.

The other point I want to discuss is something a little more obvious.  When we talk about people are we bringing dishonor on them?  Even if they never hear us, it doesn't change that what we said or do is not walking in Love.  If you are an American and a Christian, are you saying bad things about our current president?  Did you say bad things about our last president?  I am not telling you that you should support what they do or what they believe.  It's OK to disagree with that but if you are saying bad things about their character, then you are not walking in love.

The worst thing about this type of problem is when we are not walking in Love, it stops faith from working in our lives because the Bible says, faith works by Love.  So when we speak badly about someone who isn't around, we aren't really hurting them because they may never even know it.  Unfortunately, we are hampering our faith in our own lives.  It's time we all start walking in Love more and allowing our faith to produce the great results in our lives that we all desire.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love Does Not Boast

Hi Everyone,

Today's topic is boasting.  When I looked this word up in the dictionary, one of the definitions was to brag about yourself or to brag about your stuff to others (that's the Minion translation).  It's interesting because it is very similar to pride but we will talk about pride in the next post.  Again, I want you to notice that bragging is an action, not a feeling.  We don't feel bragging, we say something that is bragging.  So what does this mean?

We all know the one upper.  In fact, sometimes we have been the one upper.  You know the person.  If you tell as story, they have a bigger one.  If something good happened to you, something better happened to them.  So we shouldn't brag about things in our life right?  Well if that's the case, then we should never tell anyone when something good happens to us or when we do something great right?  Wrong!  I want to stop and say that just because you tell someone about something you have or did, does not make it bragging.  When you tell a story to puff yourself up, that's bragging.

Let's look at God for a minute.  If God is love and love doesn't brag, then what happens all the times in the Bible where God talks about who he is and what he's done?  Is he bragging?  Certainly not.  When we brag, we normally do it to impress people and I don't think the Creator of the universe needs to impress His creation.  So what is He doing?  He's trying to build our faith.  When God tells you something about Himself, it's not because He's trying to brag.  He wants you to know that He's able to provide all things so that when you have lack, you can trust in and rely on Him.  He wants you to know that He can heal people so that when you are sick, you will go to Him for healing.  He wants you to know that He created everything so that when you need anything, you can go to Him.

So here's what I have learned today.  There's a difference between bragging and telling someone about something that's happened to you.  That difference is motive.  When you brag, you want people to look at you and how great you are.  When you tell someone about something great that you did or happened to you and you do it to encourage them, then it's called ministry not bragging.

Let me finish by asking you this question.  Do you find yourself ministering or bragging when you tell people what's happening with you?  I know there are places in my own life where I can do this better.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

I Want to Know What Love Is

"I want to know what love is.  I want you to show me...."  Have you ever heard that song?  Those are lyrics from a song in the early 80s.  Yes, I am dating myself a little because that was the golden age of music for me.  But it's a popular theme these days.  We want to experience love.  We want to be in love.  We want to feel love.

It's interesting that in every song on the radio and for most people when you ask them about love, they tell you that they want some feeling associated with love.  Have you ever heard someone refer to love as a matter of the heart?  Have you ever someone say follow your heart?  Most of the time that means follow your feelings and let me tell you that can lead to disaster.

Another song from my day said, "What is love, baby don't hurt me...."  So let's tackle things that describe love in general.  First of all, we know that God is love because the bible says that He is.  That means that God equals love and Love equals God.  I will talk in more detail about many of the attributes in later blogs but let's look at a few attributes of Love.

The Bible says, "Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand it's own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I want you to notice something about these verses.  Most of the attributes of love listed are action verbs, not feeling verbs.  How many times to you hear people say, "I feel patient" or "I feel kind"?  I don't know if I have ever.  I have been patient with people and I've been kind to people but I don't know if I've ever felt kind.

Take a look at something else.  All these attributes are things that we DO to other people.  Did you notice that not once do these verses say that we should be expecting this from someone else?  Now you might say that if someone is ACTING this way toward you then they are not acting in love and I won't argue that but if we are walking in love, then we won't keep record of being wronged.  Let me be clear, I am not saying that if someone is abusive to you that you should stay in the relationship and never keep record of being abused.  If you are in an abusive relationship, get out!  But when you do, then chose to walk in love and forgive.

It's when we get past feelings and start living into Love the way God sees love, then we will experience the greatest victories in our lives.  The Bible says that Love never fails.  Are you worrying about your parents?  Are you worrying about your kids?  Are you worrying about some other person?  Then make the decision to act and walk in Love with them.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love is Patient Part 2

Hello everyone,

I wanted to take moment to tell you about a few things where I have/am learning to love by being patient.  I didn't really understand the power of the force of patience until recently.  See, patience provides room for love to grow.  It's critical.  Let me explain.

Last week, my wife and I were going through the normal things in life.  We were working and raising kids.  Now each of our children is fearful and wonderfully made.  That means sometimes we wonder about them.  Just kidding.  That means they are wonderful and amazing children.  They are God's gift to us and I get excited when we catch glimpses of what's really inside them.  But there are other times where they are challenging.

Parent's have you ever been frustrated because your children don't grow up as fast as you would like?  Have you ever wondered if they would grow up at all?  I can't tell you how many times my wife and I have worried over our children because of their choices or how many times I would ride them about a choice they made over and over.  But what I realized was that in some ways, I wasn't being loving.  Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't correct our children because the Bible says that God corrects those he loves.  But what I am telling you is that in other cases if we will be patient with our children and give God room to grow them up, they will progress so much faster than all our nagging.

The other thing I noticed this week is an area in my personal life where I was not being very loving with someone because I wanted them to do something and they didn't do it.  I got agitated and rolled all sorts of things around in my mind to tell them but in the end, the Lord was telling me to be patient.  See, I was walking in selfishness which is many times the opposite of patience.  What I wanted the other person to do was a good and right thing but I was not giving them time to do it on their own.  I have decided to love them and be patient and wait.

Patience doesn't come across as an action verb.  When you give something to someone, they can see what you give them.  When you do something for someone or say something nice to someone, then they know it immediately.  But with patience, the person you are loving, may never know that you are loving them and waiting.  I think that's what makes it so strong.

How many times do you think the Lord has been patient with us.  How many times has he wanted us to make different choices and we make the same mistakes again and again.  But guess what.  He never walks out of love with us.  It's impossible for God to be anything but Love toward us so I know he is patient with me every day.

Let me leave you with this.  If you are struggling with patience, then ask the Lord to help you stand in faith and pray while you wait.  God is able to do much more that we can ask or think so dare to ask big and then wait.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Love Part 1

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to begin a several part blog on love.  This is one topic that I need to know much more about.  See, I love my wife and I love my children.  But what does that really mean?  Does it mean I feel warm inside when I'm with my wife?  Does it mean I really enjoy my children?  The answer to both of those questions is sometimes yes and sometimes no.  But it doesn't change the fact that I love them both.

But, before we get to what love is, I want to take the rest of this blog to talk about what love is not.  For those of you who read this blog inside the United State, we use this word entirely too much and we water down what it really means.  You might hear someone say, "I love my car" or "I love my school" or something else.  But that's not real love.  You can enjoy your car and you can really enjoy your school but real love is reserved for something else.

For all you young ladies let me tell you something else that is not love.  If a guy starts telling you he loves you and then starts pressuring you to have a physical relationship with him, that's not love.  That's lust and selfishness.  See anything someone uses to get something from you, is not love.  When you are dating, you might have heard if you love me, you will do this or that.  But that's not really love, most of the time it's someone trying to con you into getting something they want.

I've even heard Christians say that you are not walking in love if you don't give them the money they need or give them something else they want.  Again, that is not love.  Love does not seek to get it's own stuff.  Now let me ask you this, where are you upset with someone else because you aren't getting what you want from them?  It could be that you need rethink how you love are loving someone.

When we think about love, we often think of a feeling, but that is not love either.  Feelings are great and when I feel really close to my wife and get those warm, gooey feelings about her, I really enjoy them but that doesn't define my love for her.  In fact, I don't think feelings have anything to do with true love at all.

Well, I like to keep these fairly short so we will pick it up here next time with a little more about what love is not.

That's another Opinion of the Minion