5. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Thought of the day….

Who or what is your God? It’s the first commandment. Have no other God’s before me and worship only me. What are you putting before God? The things we put before God can become our first priority and thus become like our God. Money? Career? Friends? Family? Even though all these are important in life they should not consume us or dictate our life in such a way we neglect our first relationship, God.

Today I ask, what are you placing before God?

(About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

Thought of the day….

Five thousand men! Wow! Can you just see that many men hungry to hear the word of God! Several years ago I went to a ‘Men at The Cross’ event in Dallas, Texas. There were probably one thousand men present in the assembly. As we began worship and hearing God’s word it was amazing to see hundreds of men stand to there feet and surrender themselves to God. You could see the passion and love of God on the expression of there faces.  We as men tend to hold things inside and resist fully surrendering to God.  When they do as they did at the men at the cross event or in the above verse it is not only amazing to us but it is what God expects from us. 

Today I ask, are you willing to surrender to God?

29. She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.

Thought of the day….

“ A man of God” what does he look like? Is he tall? Short? Rich? Poor? Several years ago my family and I worked with homeless people in Dallas. After a shower and new clothes they looked just like us. Today I went to a maximum security prison and saw several prisoners. I kept thinking that with different clothes they would look just like me. That made me think about how God made all of us in His image (Genesis 1:27). In His image, not to just physically look like Him but to possess His spiritual appearance. So what does a man of God look like? He has a worldly body but has the spiritual image of God because he is filled with the Holy Spirit.   

Today I ask, are you a man of God? Does your body possess God’s spiritual image?

1. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Thought of the day….

“Follow my example” I don’t know about you but in my past, my example would not have been one to follow. In my life I have gone from not following Christ to going through the motions and then to having a relationship with Christ and striving to be His example. If you read the “About” section of this site you will read my testimony without the gory details. In my story I tell you that I learned by example from all the adult men in my life. I learned all I thought I needed to be a man from those men I was watching. I learned to drink, smoke, not go to church, and many other things that were not glorifying to God. As I have grown in the Lord over the years I have strived to be an example of Christ just like today’s scripture says. I have many times fallen short of God’s glory but each time I had to admit my failures and get back on the mission of following God and being His example.

Today I ask, what example are you presenting for others to follow?

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Thought of the day….

I recently talked to a friend of mine at work about how she had difficulty in submitting to her husband. Because of this I wanted to post a past thought of the day. 

It’s funny, when my wife jokingly says she can’t read verses 22 thru 24, it does make me think how difficult it is for wives to submit to their husbands and allow them to be heads of the household. I think the key to this submission is based in verse 25. We should love our wives as Christ loved the church and that we would be willing to die for them. When we, as husbands, are reluctant to take the role of the spiritual leader of the home or the head of the household it may be because we are comfortable in leaving that role to our wives. Other times, the wife has taken that role because the husband is too busy in his career or other activities. It is our responsibility to be the leader of our homes and to lead with love. We are to lead with our wives and not by dictatorship. It’s much easier for the wife to take the roll of submission when the husband has fulfilled his role of loving and caring for his wife.

Today I ask, are you ready to love your wife like Christ loved the church? Are you ready to be the leader of your home?

 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD.

Thought of the day….

What can separate us from the Love of the Father? Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! We often go through life felling down and blue because we messed up in some way by sin and feel God has turned away from us. Sure we disappoint God any time we sin and He wants us to live for Him and repent but His Love of His children is permanent. So what can separate us from His love? Nothing, not sin, not the economy, not the loss of a job, not prison, not divorce, nothing. In fact in these cases the Father draws nearer to us if we seek Him in these times. God allows us to go through some things so we will draw nearer to Him. So what can separate us from His Love? Nothing!

Today I ask, are you willing to accept His unfailing free gift of Love?