Captain Picard's Journal

Captain Picard's Journal

Definately worth checking out if you are a Trekkie. Enjoyable.

Moses' father-in-law

I pray you are having a great week! Just remember, no matter what is going on, GOD is right there with you. He will NEVER leave you or forsake you. He helps you through each and every battle. Aren't you glad you have a God that is always with you? I am. So many people tend to forget this very important factor. As long as God is with you, as long as He is there to prop you up, then you are going to make it! Be encouraged! Be filled with hope! Be energized with His power and His Spirit! OK, now that you KNOW God is with you, it's a perfect time to dive into what the Lord has for us today. Let's go!

Exodus 18:13-18 GW - The next day Moses was settling disagreements among the people. The people stood around Moses from morning until evening. (14) When Moses' father-in-law saw everything Moses was doing for the people, he asked, "Why are you doing this for the people? Why do you sit here alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?" (15) Moses answered his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to find out God's will. (16) Whenever they have a disagreement and bring it to me, I decide which person is right, and I tell them God's laws and instructions." (17) Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you're doing is not good. (18) You and your people will wear yourselves out. This is too much work for you. You can't do it alone!

What a GREAT lesson we could learn right here! OK, let's break it down into some NUGGETS OF TRUTH.

1. "Why do you sit here alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?" Too often we ALL have the tendency to try to do EVERYTHING OURSELVES! That is NOT the way the Lord wants us to do things. Listen, just like Moses' father-in-law says here, "You will wear yourselves out!" There is a reason why God set up the BODY of CHRIST. He did this so no ONE PERSON has to do it all. Even though it may be easier if you were to "do it yourself" it is NOT always the best way to do things. I know it can be hard and frustrating to try to TEACH someone how to do what you do.......but we must do it anyway! If you are doing something that is worth doing, then it is also worth TRAINING someone else to do it. "But if I train someone to do what I do, then I will lose my job to them!" NO......what will happen is now that you have someone to DO what you were doing, God can PROMOTE you to something else! "But they can't do it as good as me!" Maybe not at first, but give them a chance. The same way God taught YOU, He can also teach them IF He is given the chance. DO NOT BE A LONE RANGER IN GOD'S KINGDOM!!! (18) "You and your people will wear yourselves out. This is too much work for you. You can't do it alone!"

2. "Because the people come to me to find out God's will." BEWARE of trying to tell someone else what the will of God is for their life! That is God's job! Now, if He gives you a word of knowledge or something – that’s different. But, I am talking about something else here. Do you want to know WHY people try to get YOU to tell them what God's Will is for their life? It is usually because they are TOO LAZY to get down on their face to find out for themselves! OUCH! That hurt! It's true though! So many people come to pastors and ask them this same question. Folks, even pastors cannot tell you what God wants to do in your life. They can give you general things the Bible says, but when it comes to specifics, you MUST go to the Lord for that kind of wisdom. And guess what? It takes WORK! Yes, W-O-R-K! But listen, anything that is worth anything is going to take work to acquire. The will of God for our lives is certainly worth whatever it takes to get it. It may mean we have to do some fasting! We may have to pray till we can't spit! we may have to get alone with the Lord for a whole weekend or something! The bottom line is, no matter what it takes, it's worth it.

Exodus 18:24 GW - Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

3. MOSES LISTENED! This is my final point for today. Moses listened. We need to bring back the lost art of "listening". Too often we don't want to hear what someone else thinks. We don't want their "opinion." Well, let me share something with you, usually NOT LISTENING is a sign of PRIDE in that person's life! OUCH again! Most of the time, the reason we don't want someone else's opinion is because we already think we know it all. Right? This creates problems because like I said earlier, God made the BODY of CHRIST so that each MEMBER works together with the others to make it complete. No one person has it all. Also, if we are not careful, the whole "not listening" thing spreads over into our spiritual life. We start thinking we don't even have to "listen" to God........because we already know it all. Well, I think we can agree this is certainly not the truth. We do NOT know it all! And THAT is why we need God AND the Body of Christ, which is made up of other people. Learn to listen!
I hope this helped you today. It helped me.

Have a blessed day!

Manna from Heaven

I mentioned a couple of days ago how I had to spend a time in prayer & fasting. I haven’t been very faithful in my reading lately. I’ve let life get in the way and have not been putting God first. Well, I read my devotion for today and BOY did it speak volumes.

Well, I was reading scripture from the book of Exodus. Exodus? Yes, Exodus. It talks about Manna. Manna was the "bread" that God provided for the hundreds of thousands of the children of Israel as they made their way through the desert to the Promised Land. God ALWAYS provides for those who are coming after Him.....even when they are going through the desert! That ought to be encouraging to those of us who are going through a "dry time" in own lives right now. God will rain down manna from heaven if He has to just so you can MAKE IT. Check out these verses that give the instructions on what these people were to do concerning this "manna."

Exodus 16:4 GW The LORD said to Moses, "I'm going to send you food from heaven like rain. Each day the people should go out and gather only what they need for that day. In this way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

Exodus 16:14-30 GW When the dew was gone, the ground was covered with a thin layer of flakes like frost on the ground. (15) When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, "What is this?" because they didn't know what it was. Moses said to them, "It's the food the LORD has given you to eat. (16) This is what the LORD has commanded: Each of you should gather as much as you can eat. Take two quarts for each person in your tent." (17) So that is what the Israelites did. Some gathered more, some less. (18) They measured it into two-quart containers. Those who had gathered more didn't have too much. Those who had gathered less didn't have too little. They gathered as much as they could eat. (19) Then Moses said to them, "No one may keep any of it until morning." (20) But some of them didn't listen to Moses. They kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and smelled bad. So Moses was angry with them. (21) Each morning they gathered as much food as they could eat. When the sun was hot, it melted away. (22) But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts per person. All the leaders of the community came to Moses and told him about it. (23) He said to them, "This is what the LORD said: Tomorrow is a day of worship, a holy day of worship dedicated to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Save all that's left over, and keep it until tomorrow morning." (24) So they saved it until the next morning as Moses had commanded, but it didn't smell or have worms in it. (25) "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a day of worship dedicated to the LORD. You won't find anything on the ground today. (26) You can gather food on six days, but on the seventh day, the day of worship, you won't find any." (27) On the seventh day some people went out to gather food, but they didn't find any. (28) The LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to do what I have commanded and instructed you to do? (29) Remember: The LORD has given you this day of worship. That's why he gives you enough food on the sixth day for two days. On the seventh day you may not leave. Everyone, stay where you are." (30) So the people never worked on the seventh day of the week.

I know that's quite a bit of Scripture but I wanted you to get the full picture here. Notice they had to gather the food they needed for each day FRESH each morning. They could NOT live on the previous day's manna, except on the Sabbath. That is EXACTLY how it should be for us today. The only difference is that with us, it is SPIRITUAL MANNA that we are to be gathering instead of NATURAL MANNA. So many people read their Bibles every once in a while and then they try to LIVE OFF OF THAT "MANNA" for weeks to follow. It won't work that way!!! God wants us to gather FRESH MANNA from Him every day. No matter what it is you have need of, you can find your answer in the Secret Place. The Secret Place is that time of day when you gather up your SPIRITUAL MANNA for the day. It's a time of fellowship with the Lord where you gather up HIS NOURISHMENT that only HE can provide. You CANNOT manufacture this type of nourishment on your own. It MUST come from the Lord. Oh, if we could only learn this principle. So many Christians are living on manna that has been gathered days and weeks before. It's not fresh. It's stale. That is NOT what the Lord has for us. He has FRESH information for us! He has FRESH life for us! He has FRESH revelation knowledge for us! But, WE must come to Him and gather it DAILY!

So, how about you? Are you gathering FRESH manna daily? Are you spending that "quality" time with the Lord as you make your way through your busy day? Have you taken the time to gather your MANNA for the day? If not, it's time to do so. Stop trying to live off yesterday's provision. God has something FRESH out of the oven JUST FOR YOU! Don't miss out on it. You will never have this moment again. Make sure you get all that God has for you for this very moment. He is a God with NEW THINGS for those who are willing to PAY THE PRICE to come to Him and "gather the manna." I am going for it! How about you?

Have a great day!

Father's Day

Father's day was yesterday and it was bittersweet. My father and father-in-law have gone on to be with the Lord. Both were very dear to me.

Michael, my dear husband, was stuck in Boston for the weekend. we only have 2 children at home, Joshua & Ruthanne, both in school (does the BIG school count?). David's iback in Okinawa now.

He called about 9:30 in the morning which translate to 11:30 at night for him. He still had 30 minutes and he wanted to wish his dad a Happy Father's day - so we quickly made a 3-way call. That was Michael's second Happy Father's Day wish (his sister called him a few days early). Joshua & Ruthanne quickly got on the phone also. While Mike will have to wait on his gifts until he gets home, I know that these calls mean a lot to him.

Ruthanne has said that one of her heroes is her daddy because he can fix just about anything!

The children aren't small anymore, and neither are we, but do we ever outgrow the thought that there's nothing our father's can't fix? And so I supposed that's what we are to remember about our heavenly Father - He can fix it all.

Been a while

It's really been a while. Today's really been a bummer of a day. I've been working on a PowerPoint presentation of Marines KIA that will be shown at the Marine Parents United Conference. My heart breaks for the famlies of these hereos, not knowing if they know Jesus or not and for the hurt many are feeling.

Then, some people were supposed to do some ministry work and didn't end up doing it and then I get an e-mail at work from somone that wants to be removed from needs; newsletters and any other mailings we do.

I need to enter into a season of prayer and fasting and get my focus straight. My eyes need to stay on the Lord and I need to quit looking at man.

I am reminded of words a former pastor and dear friend told me - his words were, "Welcome to the ministry."

Yep, need to keep my eyes on God and keep my prayers going,