Who is He to you?

If we want to know God more deeply and grow closer to Him, we have to learn who He is.  And I think that we not only need to know who He is, but who is He to you?  That is a personal question that I cannot answer for you, but I can tell you a little about who He is to me.  I was raised in a church my whole life, but it was not until I was about 21 years old that I started to have a relationship with Him.  In doing so, I have found deeper ways to know Him more.  

He is my God, my Savior and my redeemer.  He has blessed us through trials and hardships.  He has given me direction and guidance.  He supplies us with His armor to withstand the lies of satan.  This is something that we are teaching our kids right now.  

He is my rock, my fortress and my strong tower.  The one who allows me to lay beside still waters and rest.  He is my all in all and His mercies are new every morning.  I thank the Lord for this because it allows us to start the day fresh.  My sins from yesterday do not have to be repeated.      

He is my good father and wants what is best for me.  He cannot be explained or totally understood.  He is all-knowing, all-seeing, everywhere, at every time.   He is sovereign, the beginning and the end. 

To me He is my friend.  The one who I can turn to and be helped with my problems or sins.  The one who uplifts and sustains me and never lets me down.  He is closer to me than my wife and children.  And like David said in Psalm 27:4, I cannot wait to "dwell in His house all the days of my life."

John 14:6, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way the truth and the light.  No one comes to the father except though me.'"  

So how do you get to know Him and see how He can change your life?  Make time to spend time in His word.  Ask your pastor questions.  Invite an older member of you church over an talk with them.  Either one would possibly want to be a mentor.  YouTube videos from Dr. Tony Evans, Billy Graham or others are great to watch.  A bible commentary can also help you learn new things and dig deeper into His word.  

If you cannot do them all, please start somewhere.  

Why?

Yesterday driving home I asked myself two questions.  Why do I write these and what do I expect to happen with them?

The why is hard to explain.  Well, no, not really.  The why is God.  God has placed it on my heart to write these posts.  When He lays something on my heart, I cannot sleep until I get at least a few words on a page or in the notes section of my phone so I don't forget it.  Okay, but why?  Why does God want me to write them?  I feel that God wants me to write them for His glory.  

I do not play politics.  I am not a "yes man", nor am I a man who stays quiet when something needs to be addressed.  Sometimes I rub people the wrong way.  Some people don't like me.  And that is fine.  But when I see something that needs to change, I speak up.  That is who I am.  That is how God made me.  I feel that men (myself included) need to be better.  I feel that men need to be better for themselves, for their wives and children.  I feel that men need to be better for God.  That is why I write these.  That is why I want to get these into the hands of as many men as I can, so that we will be better.  And through God be the increase, to Him be the Glory.  

I do not write well.  I mean if you have read any other of my posts you know that.  I have my wife look at these before I post them.  She is the one that helps with editing and polishing it up a little.  And I thank her for that.  But God is the one that uses my fingers to say what He wants me to say.  He wants us to be more than we are.  He wants us to climb mountains, to show our children that it can be done.  He wants us to learn how to pray better and, to be overcomers, and giant slayers.  He wants us to be a different breed and to be set apart in this world.  I want to turn the world on its ear with you, for Him.  

The other question of what I expect to happen with them?  Everything.  God can use these for His glory and through Him all things are possible.  I have no idea where He is going to take them.  If no one reads them, I would still write them.  If one person gets the tiniest seed planted because of them, praise God.  If one man becomes a better husband or father then it is all worth it.  

I am a country boy from central Arkansas.  Other than to my wife and children, immediate family and a few friends, I am a nobody.  If God can use me, He can use anyone. 

Pray it boldly

We all know that prayer is an important part of our lives.  However, most of us do not pray like we should.  Our prayers have become watered down, hurried statements for what we want, myself included.  We have turned them into half-hearted, desperate words that we expect to be answered right away.

What happened to our prayers?  Prayers like Elijah praying for the drought and it happens or for rain and it rains.  Look at his prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-39.  36 "And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the profit came near and said, 'Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel, let it be know this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have I have done all of these things at Your word.  Hear me, o Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Your are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.  Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces;  and they said 'The Lord, He is God!  The Lord, He is God!'"

These prayers are not "Well, you know Lord, maybe if you could..."  These are fierce prayers.  These are emphatic statements saying "This is God and I am His servant, this will happen".  But guess what?  There is a God and I am His servant.  We that believe in Him and on Him and through Him are His servants.  If you want something or need something claim it in prayer.  Pray for your family and spouses.  Pray for your children and their friends.  Pray for your finances and pastors and do it boldly.

Praying for your children is one of the best things that you can do for them.  I love what Mark Batterson writes in his book "Praying Circles Around Your Children".  He states, "Prayer is not about our agenda for God at all; in fact, it is about God's agenda for us".  How do we know how our children will turn out?  We pray for them.  We speak life over them.  We boldly tell satan that he cannot have them, that they belong to God and are for His glory.

Want to know how one persons prayer can change the world?  Let me reintroduce you to a mother that is often overlooked in the bible, Hannah.  Hannah was not a mother yet when she prayed to have a child.  But she was praying so hard outside the temple in 1 Samuel 1:14 that Eli the priest thought she was drunk.  Hannah soon had a son and she named him Samuel.  Samuel became the prophet that anointed David as king.  Through David's lineage comes Jesus.  One persons prayer.  A mother's prayer.

I have a new found passion for prayer.  I believe that through prayer our needs are met.  Even in the conversations that God and I have I can feel how close He is.  I have found that the more we pray and listen to His voice, the easier it gets to hear Him.  And when it is easy to hear Him, it is easy to act on what He wants us to do.  On Sunday, I had the impression to talk to a lady during church but I do not get a chance.  Then out in the parking lot, my wife and her strike up a conversation.  In the car later before we pull out of the parking lot, I tell my wife that I had the feeling that we should talk with her and she said that she had the same impression.

I fully believe that our prayer life is a mussel and the more we exercise it, the stronger it gets.     

Pray boldly