Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, 
   to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon^[a] his shoulder,
   and his name shall be called^[b]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 


This year I truly hope we will get to know Jesus as the prince of peace.  It seems to me that each year violence is becoming more prevalent, hate is showing itself in new ways, and we seem to be finding new reasons to consider war.  I pray this Christmas we can look to peace across the world.  I pray that their will be peace in each person's home, each person's family gathering, and I pray that their will be peace in each one of our hearts.  Merry Christmas.


Blessings,


Greg

The Reason for the Season

Obviously not the reason for the season but a great picture of my dog with a new toy at Christmas when she was a pup :)

Don't miss the reason for the season. This time of year is not about gifts, food, or even family. This season is about remembering the precious gift that was given to us in Jesus coming down to earth to save us. Don't lose sight of this wonderful event. If you have never recognized Jesus as savior and worshipped in the true glory of this season, accept Him into your heart today. You will never regret it. He will fill the hole in your heart and bring you a peace and joy you have never known. Trust him and truly know him today! Merry Christmas.

Blessings,

Greg

Its Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! This is not due to snow but the aura in our home and feelings in my heart. We have setup all the Christmas decorations, wrapped all the gifts, and last night started making Christmas goodies. I am so excited to spend quality time with my family. I am so excited to see the joy on each persons face as they open their gifts. I am looking forward to the wonderful food and incredibly fun conversations.

I really had a slow start this Christmas. I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit and felt pretty detached from the season. Then we began to setup the decorations, focused on advent with our young adults and decided to make most of our gifts this year. My heart slowly began to remember the true reason for the season. I remembered how precious, simple, and poignant the Charlie Brown Christmas movie is. I remembered the beautiful act of love our Savior performed by coming to our world as a baby. I remembered the love I have been shown by my family and the wonderful Christian example that have demonstrated by their lives to me. I am so greatful and excited for such a wonderful time of the year. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas also!

Blessings,

Greg

Speaking in Christ Only

Foot in mouth syndrome is something that I struggle with greatly. The more frustrate, scared, or uncomfortable I am with a situation, the higher the possibility that I am going to say something that I shouldn't. Within the same realm of struggle, I also have difficulty speaking what I mean in a none threatening or insulting way. Many times I do not mean to insult or hurt another person but the way I word my response accidentally harms them anyway. Needless to say this has caused quite a few intense "discussions" between both my wife and I and many of my close friends.

I am reminded of the verse in James 1:19 saying, "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." Many of the times that I struggle with saying things I shouldn't involves either me not listening or me becoming emotional. I find that in these times I am not trusting God in my situation. Do you ever find yourself depending on only your own ability instead of letting Jesus guide you? Well if your anything like me then those times probably don't work out to well for you. I pray that I would be more like this verse in James. I pray that I can listen more and speak less. Trust in Jesus and he can help you with any weakness you encounter.

Blessings,

Greg

Endurance in Christ

Today, I spent a majority of my day cleaning because my wife's sister and her husband are coming to visit this weekend. I have to admit that the house may be cleaner tonight that it has been in a very long time. I even dusted the house, which I have to admit does not get done very often. There is something so wonderful about a clean house once everything is said and done. To be able to walk through the house with clean floors, counters, and furniture, is simply delightful.

Though a clean house is wonderful, having the motivation to clean the house is not always present. This is especially true when the house has been let go a little too long. It can be quite a task to completely clean the whole thing. You have to commit to continuing even when your tired and aching. Honestly there were plenty of times I wanted to quit today and just let my family deal with my house how it was but I compelled myself to finish the job.

There have been many times in my life where I have given up on a difficult task. I have learned as I get older that just because I want to quit doesn't mean I should. I have to fully lean on the Lord for strength and direction daily. I truly believe that without Jesus I couldn't accomplish anything. He is my strength. He is my direction. He is all I will ever need in this world.

Blessings,

Greg

Prayers Appreciated

My wife and I are dealing with some extra struggles lately.  Tonight I just ask for your prayers.  I want you all to know I appreciate each of you following this blog.  Some day soon I hope to be able to share the events of our lives in the past months.  Suffice it to say that we appreciate all the prayer you can muster.  No matter what we face, we know that God is good and with us.  Our full faith is in Him and I know he never fails.  Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Blessings,

Greg

Resting in Christ

A picture of the beach in Florida by Jim Ivey

Tonight my body hurts all over from the end of a five day work stretch, which involved heavy lifting and moving, painting a room, and many of the other weekly task I perform.  Needless to say, I am really looking forward to my day off tomorrow.  I hope that I can be productive by cleaning up the house, finishing up gifts for Christmas, and especially taking a little bit of much needed relaxation and healing in Christ.  I know it seems that hard work develops the muscles, stamina, and character that makes us stronger but actually without rest none of these can happen.

Both the medical world and the Bible support this idea.  The medical world has done experiments and discovered that we actually grow muscle when we are resting not when we are actually working out.  The work out itself actually creates micro tears in our muscles and while we are resting is when they are repaired and made stronger.  In the beginning of the Bible we see God creating the world and after he finished creation he decided to rest on the seventh day.  If the God of the universe who needs no rest decided to rest on the seventh day, wouldn't you think it would be wise for us to do the same?

In the world we live in many of us take no time to rest.  We continue to go on and on slowly working ourselves into a shambles.  Many of us are over stressed, over worked, over tired, and under appreciated.  This is especially true for those in the ministry.  It is incredible to me that people in the church believe their ministers should respond to their every beck and call.  A minister is just like any other person and needs time with their family, time to relax, and time to develop their relationship with Jesus.

We all need to take more time for our God, ourselves, and our families.  I know many of you could give me a million reasons why you couldn't possibly take a day of rest and I'm sure they would all seem like perfectly sensible reasons.  My question to you is: do you really want to get to the end of your life when you finally realize how precious your time and life were and regret all the times you chose not to take care of yourself and your family?  If we are not taking care of ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually, how can we expect to fully live to our full potential?  Living to our full potential in Christ requires each of us to take the time to heal and recover from the demands of this world.

I hope you will take some time to heal this week.  Sit down and breathe without fully guilty because as you do you are honoring God design for you.  Spend some time in the never ending, overflowing, completely refreshing living water of Christ.  Like my blog Painting My Heart a Fresh talked about you need to allow the Lord to heal and repair the damage you have done to yourself.  Let him smooth away the stresses, demands, and disappointments of this world.  In Christ you will alway have what you need to live this life to the fullest in Him.  All you have to do is take the time to allow Jesus to renew you and refill you with all you need for those six other days of the week.

Blessings,

Greg

Painting My Heart A Fresh

For the last three days, I have been painting a room in the place where I work to refreshen it to make it a new office.  First off I have to admit that it has been a long time since I last painted a room and it was not at a place I worked.  Painting a room at your job is quite a different task than painting a room at home.  I wanted to be sure that I did everything as professional as possible.  Painting a room this way involves many steps.  Each one is essential to producing professional results once finished.

Working on a room at a professional level requires quite a bit of heavy work.  Painting a room involves a lot of taping, mudding, sanding, cleaning, painting primer, painting the color, and possibly painting another coat.  As I did each task, I thought about how the room of my heart looks and the work that is needed to make it fresh again.  I am sure that my heart is filled with marks, holes, scratches, cracks, and more.  I would even venture to say the walls of my heart have probably been sprayed with layers of graffiti.

Each one of these blemishes requires quite a bit of time and hard work to repair.  In Ezekiel 36:26 it says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."  To me this says that God will take the room of my heart and make it new.  Through Jesus your heart becomes as if it is new and perfect instantly allowing you into heaven through the grace of Jesus also called justification.  The Holy Spirit continues the hard work of repairing your room and to bring you into the likeness of Christ called sanctification.  This is a long process and is one that is not completed while you are alive but there is such peace knowing that the Holy Spirit is constantly working in you. 


The Holy Spirit has so much work to do in my life.  There are so many ways that I don't look like Jesus.  I am a work in progress.  I'm not even sure the Holy Spirit has made it past the mudding phase especially since I keep putting new divots in the wall.  Though I have so much farther to go in my pursuit to walk like Christ, I find peace in knowing that the Holy Spirit is not done with me yet.  I am a work in progress and everyday through the work of the Spirit I become more like Jesus.  This doesn't mean I won't have my days of absolute failure but it does mean that I will never without the saving grace of Jesus or the renewing power of the Spirit.  In these assurances, I rest.


Blessings,


Greg

Tough Choices

I have found that as an adult tough choices have to be made.  It is no longer okay to do what is easiest or bury your head in the sand like an ostrich.  As an adult, the tough decisions have to be faced.  It is also true that most of the time hoping things will change produces no results.  Sometimes these tough choices have to be made to provide the best environment for your family.  Sometimes they have to be made to offer the best opportunity for healing and growth.  Sometimes these choices have to be made for no other reason than God leading you to make them.

I am beginning to so how unhealthy it is to stew in negative emotions and remained unsatisfied.  It does nobody any good when you are constantly lamenting your situation and bringing others down to your level instead of building them up.  In choosing to avoid tough decisions you are essentially telling God that the burden He has put on your heart is wrong.  Many times making tough decisions and sticking to them requires complete trust and faith in God.

If you are facing any tough decisions in you life today, I pray that you would have the courage to make them.  Spend time in prayer seeking the Lord's guidance and act when you feel Him move you to a decision.  I truly understand how hard these decisions can be.  I don't like to make them and I often doubt my final stand.  I have found that fully leaning on God is the only way to find peace in tough decisions. I ask that you pray for me in the tough decisions I face and I would love to pray for you also.  Feel free to email me anytime at realchristianwalk@gmail.com.

Blessings,

Greg

Don't Relax in Your Faith

Today I had the day off because my wife and I both had doctor's appointments we needed to go to with only one car.  I also have to work this weekend so my boss wanted me to take the day off to break up the schedule so I wouldn't be working 10 days straight.  I am so thankful that I had a break today because my back had really tightened up last night and I needed a day to allow the muscles to let go and allow me to do my job to the best of my ability.

After my wife and I finished all of our doctors appointments, I decided to take a muscle relaxer to help encourage my back to return to normal.  I know that a muscle relaxer can make you drowsy but I was not prepared for how drowsy I would feel the rest of the day.  A couple hours after taking the pill I decided to take a nap but I did not want to wake up after taking it.  I felt an intense desire to sleep.  I literally had to force myself to get up and start moving.

The rest of my evening has been one long struggle to stay awake so that I can get normal sleep tonight.  I definitely do not believe I will be taking a muscle relaxer during the day again even if I am off work with no where to go.  I do not like the feeling of my energy being drained from me.  I also do not like having to focus to keep my attention on things.

As I sit here still in my muscle relaxer stupor, I can't help but think about how my walk with Jesus feels like this sometimes.  Sometimes I struggle to stay close with Jesus.  I feel like I have no strength to walk in Him.  I feel like my mind focuses on everything but Him.  Have you ever been there?  Has the distraction of work, school, holidays, family, friends, tv, and music caused you to struggle in your walk with Christ?  Have you ever considered that maybe like my muscle relaxers these things are used by the devil to lull you away from a passionate walk with Jesus?

Unlike the muscle relaxer, the devil only has power over us when we give it to him.  We allow ourselves to walk off the narrow path.  We allow ourselves to be distracted by the many things of this world.  We take our eyes off Jesus.  The devil cannot make us do any of these things.  As followers of Jesus, the devil has no power over us.  James 1:13-14 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire."


We allow ourselves to be pulled away from Christ.  We allow the devil to have power over us.  1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."  As I had mentioned in my blog yesterday, we already know that we can do all things through Christ in Philippians 4:13.  The power we have against the devil is fully shown through John 16:33 where Jesus tells the disciples, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."  


So if you are sleepily struggling in your faith, take heart because Jesus can help deliver you from any struggle you are facing.  He is strong enough to deal with any situation you find yourself in.  He is strong enough to overcome the devil's hold on you.  Just completely trust and lean upon Him (Proverbs 3:5).  Put your complete faith and assurance in Him and He will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:6).  


Blessings,


Greg

Sufficient Indeed!

You know, pain is a funny thing.  Pain can affect you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  Sometimes pain can be to much to bear and other times pain can be something tolerated for a lifetime.  Pain can be caused by our own actions, the actions of others, and the actions of no one.  Pain is something none of us wants to experience and yet we are united through the pain we have all carried.  


I have suffered from a lot of pain in the last few years in the form of tendonitis and tight muscles.  Much of my suffering has been difficult for my doctor to fix.  I find myself managing the pain by dealing with it till the point that I can no longer handle it.  Some of my pain has been with me for more than half of my life now.  Other pains I have experienced, have lasted only short but intense moments.  


I have begged and pleading, like Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, for God to remove these thorns from my flesh and yet I feel like I have received the same answer Paul did, "My grace is sufficient for you."  I have to admit that I have not wanted to accept God's answer at times.  I don't want His grace to only be sufficient.  I want to be healed.  But I have realized the danger and error of these thoughts.  Without God's grace, my state of pain doesn't matter because ultimately I would never be with God.


It is easy for me to only focus on the pain I am experiencing and forget about the pain the Trinity has endured from me.  Jesus died on the cross because of my sin.  The Father can't even be in my presence in my sin  And I know that I have grieved the Holy Spirit in the addiction of my sins at times.  I can't even imagine the pain and betrayal God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit must feel each time I sin.  My pain is nothing in the grand scheme of things.  


Does this make my pain it any less real?  Does this make it any less intrusive?  I would say no but there is a peace and assurance that come from knowing that I will not experience this pain for all of eternity.  In Revelation 21:4 it says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."  Even Paul who asked for the thorn to be removed from his flesh said this in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."


If you are feeling pain tonight, no matter what kind, know that there is hope.  Know that it is temporary.  Know that there is a place where it will be no more.  As far as I know, there is no promise that we will make it through this life without pain as Christians.  Even Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me,"  promises we will be given all the strength we need to handle this life but does not promise it will be easy.  So also know that the Lord will always, always, always give you the strength to handle the pain even if He sees fit to not remove it from you.  I exhort you to hang in there, trust Jesus, and know that God's grace truly is sufficient for all you will face in this life.  I hope in this you will find peace.


Blessings,


Greg

Relational Breakdown

For most of my life, I have felt like a loner.  I have friends but most of them seem to be friends of convenience.  What I mean by this is friends at work, church, and through my wife.  I don't want to come across as cynical but I always feel like the friends I have are only there because of the shared connection.  I believe that I have come to this belief because of the multiple times this has been true in the many moves of my life.  I can count on one hand the friends I have in my life in whom I believe wouldn't change or disappear if I moved towns, jobs, or churches.  

I had a brief conversation at work today about one of my coworker's disdain for cars.  I made the case that cars were wonderful and that no one would really want to go back to walking and/or riding in a horse and buggy but she claimed that she would.  We continued the talk by discussing how going back to a horse and buggy time wouldn't be all bad because everything would've been much closer.  Our towns would shrink back to the horse and buggy radius.  You would only know a limited amount of people because of a limited travel ability and it would be necessary to depend on the people you knew because of these limits.

It is so hard for me to conceive of a time when everyone in a town knew everybody else.  I think for most of my life these towns have been disappearing.  With the telephone, the automobile, airplanes, and the computer, we have had the ability to travel and communicate in ways not really imagined by most of historic humanity.  Ironically in all this new found travel and communication breakthroughs most of us in the western world have actually reverted to a state of less personal and real communication and friendships.  

The distance has created more of an opportunity to not communicate instead of an opportunity to meet more people.  The cell phones, texting, internet, and more have seemingly created an impersonal form of communication that makes us feel connected and yet has succeeded to make most of our friendships superficial.  We find ourselves wanting to communicate through text, emails, and within massively multiplayer online role playing games instead of meeting people, calling people, or even picking up a pen and writing a personal message.  Many of us have become recluses from direct contact desiring to only develop deep relationships through a computer or cellphone screen.

The implications to Christianity, in my opinion, has been devastating.  Many of our friendships within the church are acquaintance level at best.  We no longer want to take the time to know how the person next to us in the pew is actually doing.  We have lost the community aspect of church.  We also have developed a great fear of deep conversation with another human being in the flesh.  The idea of having to go out meet people and tell them about Jesus terrifies the average church goer today.  

If Jesus, the disciples, Paul, and all the prophets of the Old Testament had been afraid of human interaction or having tough discussions, Christianity would not exist today.  Christianity requires relationships.  There is no other way to truly show another person the love of Jesus that resides within you.  If you find yourself falling into any of these traps that tend to pull you into yourself and away from others, I implore you to run to Jesus and pray that He open your heart to His will.  Paul said in Romans chapter 10:14-15, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news," is taken from Isaiah 52:7.  The Bible always intended for us to tell the good news to others.  This was the original purpose of the Hebrews.  They were to be the people who would demonstrated God's glory to the world.  Jesus also came to demonstrate God's glory to the world.  Through these examples we can see the importance of us demonstrating God's glory to the world.  Though I do believe that texting, Facebook, twitter, etc can have a positive influence in evangelism, a direct personal relationship will always be the most effective tool for the kingdom of Christ.  Spending the time to share your life with another and live Jesus' love to them is ultimately the most effective way to touch a person for Christ.  So I hope you will turn off you computer, cell phone, and tv for a while, even if it means taking a break from my blog ;), and go out to spend some time with people in the flesh, and share the love and salvation Jesus gave to you.  Like in the picture at the beginning of this blog, you may be the one who has the opportunity to reach down and help a brother off the steep cliff they are struggling with.

Blessings,

Greg 

Forever Faithful is my Lord

My Buddy and I through the reflection of a sunglass lens

I am so thankful that the the Lord is always faithful!  I got to see a dear friend who was deployed in Afghanistan and now home today.  It was so wonderful to see him home and looking healthy and strong.  We had fun hanging out together.  We passed our time by eating at Cracker Barrel, playing video games, and talking about his time in the middle east.  It was so delightful to see him face to face instead of only being able to communicate occasionally through Facebook.  It truly reminded me of how faithful Jesus is to protect His sheep.

Once my friend left, I spent the rest of my evening working on music for our service tomorrow.  Though I had picked out the songs, I was unsettled with the order and arrangement of the songs.  My wife and I worked on each piece together and made quite a bit of progress but I still was not satisfied with the song order.  God was so faithful to give me a call from a dear friend who informed me that she had been praying for Mel and I for two days.  He lifted my heart greatly and helped give me peace and assurance through receiving the call.  My friend prayed a wonderful prayer for us and helped us to drop our worries for the service tomorrow.

After getting off with my friend, my wife and I choose to take a break and eat some food.  It was so wonderful to truly relax for the first time today.  I enjoyed watching a show on the television while we ate and went back to the music afterward.  When I revisited the music, the Lord showed me how the order should go tomorrow.  I ran through the songs a couple times with my wife and I believe we are both at peace with the order of service for tomorrow.

I write all of this to confirm in your hearts that Jesus is so faithful to work in each of our lives.  All we have to do is fully trust in Him for guidance and direction.  Jesus is even working in each of our lives in unseen ways like my friend who had been praying for us for days because the Lord laid us on her heart.  If your struggling with something right now, I hope you will lay it at the Lord's feet and let Him do a great work in your life.  Take time to remember the Lord's faithfulness today by checking out this website: Encouraging Bible Verses.


Blessings,

Greg

Resting in Jesus

I am so thankful for the weekend.  I hope to be able to rest a while during it.  I need time to heal and I need to restore my heart and soul.  Have you ever felt so run down that every task feels like it is too much.  I am there.  Maybe it is because I am not sleeping enough  Maybe it is because I am not allow myself enough time to de-stress each night.  Maybe it is because of the injuries I sustained this week.  In reality it is because I have not spend enough time resting in my Lord and letting Him restore me lately.

If you can identify with this blog, take some time to rest in Jesus this weekend.  Let Him fill you with living water.  Let Him bring you rest.  Feel His strength as He yokes up to you and helps make your burdens light.  What a wonderful Savior we have!  If you do not have personal relationship with Jesus today, please write me because I would love to share who Jesus is so you may know Him today.

Blessings,

Greg

Making Sense of a Life Best Lived

One thing I love very much about being a maintenance technician, is the the problems in my job make sense 98% of the time.  I love putting things together, installing new products, and performing my daily tasks.  Today because of my knee injury I got to spend most of my day cleaning our new offices and putting together desks.  With the right tools, a little bit of patience, and a lot of elbow grease I am able to finish the task I have been given.

There is something so gratifying about repairing, fixing, and putting something together.  You can see the work that you accomplished.  There is no doubt when you get to the end of the day that you have accomplished something.  In my job, it is so easy to look back over my day, see what I have accomplished and know that I did good.

In my view, it is much more difficult to daily see results and often understand the problems presented by life.  I know what needs to be done and I know how to do it at my job but I am often clueless when it comes to life in general.  I want desperately to have this world figured out.  I wish that I could conquer the many challenges I face in this life but the reality is that I need help.

I rely on Jesus daily to help me navigate this life.  Many times in life, I feel like I am driving down a river to an unknown destination with no GPS or map but with Jesus as my navigator I have peace because He knows the way.  Jesus may only tell me the next segment on my journey at a time but at least I have security in knowing that He will tell me where I need to go as I need to know it.  I find complete security in knowing that even though I don't have my life figured out, Jesus does.  There is such peace in following His direction

I have heard it said many times that people who believe in Christianity are just weak people who need a crutch.  I wonder if these people would say the same thing to someone who has no leg and chooses to get a prosthetic limb.  Is that person just weak for not striving to make it in this life without the limb or is that person wise in accepting that they need help to be able to be restored again.  Following Christ is not something to do because you are weak.  Following Christ is acknowledging that without Him you cannot fully live.  Jesus is the key to your fullest and best life both now and after death.

So if you ever find yourself struggling in this life, lean on Jesus.  He will show you how you can live your best life.  Be for warned though that your best life may not include riches, material possessions, or power. Your best life may not even include all the dreams you have for yourself.  I am not saying that fulfilled dreams or material blessings are not possible in Christ but I want you to know that they aren't necessary in Christ.  Jesus will help you make some sense of your life and as you continue to walk with Him you will be able to see the results of His work in your life.  How wonderful is our Savior and Lord!

Blessings,

Greg