What's Inside You?

Then Jesus said:
What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.
Mark 7:20-23 CEV

How many times have you seen recently where someone famous says something stupid, then denies it, then an audio or a video of their comment surfaces and the spin machine starts? Excuses range from “I didn’t mean it”,” I was frustrated”,” I was having a bad day” to even “it was my ex-wife’s fault.”

Isn’t it great that something spoken 2000 years ago can give us the answer to a common dilemma today? Jesus knew where the rage and anger and other vile things lie in us. In our hearts. If someone is caught on tape yelling racist remarks we know it’s coming from the inside and pouring out at a weak moment.

What would happen if “Big Brother” had cameras in our homes and we watched them with a stranger at a later date? Would it be “G” rated or “PG-13” or even “R” rated. When you get mad at your spouse or your kids what kind of words are flying?

The beauty of this verse is it doesn’t just deal with anger issues. It addresses other “unclean” items that may be in our heart and we may not even know it. I haven’t thought of murdering anyone lately, but what about pride? We live in a culture that feeds pride. We’re to be proud of everything from our skin color to our sexual orientation. Jesus calls it sin and the reason I love this translation is He says we’re not even fit to worship God if this is on the inside.

How about meanness and foolishness? Not two things we probably think about too often when it comes to our sins. In fact, being a guy, I thought foolishness goes with the territory or was a spiritual gift. It seems I do dumb things all the time, just ask my wife. But kidding aside, foolishness is address heavily in the Proverbs and it kinds of runs counter to the wisdom that God wants to give us.

The point of this list is they are all things we can’t see when we walk up and greet someone whether it’s your best friend or a stranger. These things are either cultivated or exterminated based on what we put into our minds. The process looks like this: what goes in is what comes out. It’s a lot like our diet and exercise.

This is all to say we need to be fed daily with things of God and less of things of this world. We need to be versed more and more in the word of God so we can draw upon His ways when we get into a crunch or a weak moment. We need to surround ourselves with people that will build us up and hold us accountable to whether we need a “roto-rooter” on the inside.

Meditate on this list above and ask God if any item in this list is creeping into your heart. Tell a friend about it, pray and ask God to help you remove it and deal with it. Those around you will notice the results.

Being Up In Down Times

Have you watched the news lately? It doesn't matter if it's local or cable news. It all seems the same. One negative story after another. Whether it's the culture going to pot or another weather disaster or gas prices going through the roof it's enough to make you scream and say, "Jesus, come get me now."

If I wasn't staying tuned to get to my favorite weather forecaster I would be tempted to change the channel, but it's not as though there's a great choice there. I don't believe God expects us to bury our head in the sand when it comes to the culture just to avoid the bad stuff. This has led me to blog for the next two Friday's about having a positive attitude when so much seems wrong today.

My scripture reference today comes from that funny sounding name of a prophet, Habakkuk. He sounds like he should be a character from a Star Wars movie. It's only a three chapter book in the Old Testament, but he has an awesome prayer in the last chapter. His prayer addresses the people of Judah as they're about to fall into the hands of the Babylonians.

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights." Habakkuk 3:17-19 NLT

Did you catch the operative phrase in these verses? The words even though and yet. Habakkuk pointed out six scenarios that were going on in his time, but he could still rejoice in the Lord. I thought I would give you my translation of the above verse with an application from today.

"Even though gas prices are heading toward five dollars a gallon, and my property values are dropping; even though marriage seems to be taking a beating and is now being redefined; even though food prices seem to be rising as fast as gas prices and politcal correctness seems to have overtaken our society, yet I will praise the Lord! Mark 6:27/08

Even though we seemingly have all these problems and worries today about who's going to be our next president, we can still find peace in the fact we serve a big God who is bigger than our culture and our elections and this is of no surprise to Him. We don't have to go around with our heads hanging and thinking the worst.

If you haven't noticed, it is so easy to go negative. You listen to the news and it's predominantly negative, you read the newspapers and you want to scream and then if you happen to be around people that complain about everything you will without realizing it, suddenly start grumbling yourself. The apostle Paul tells us not to go there. "Do everything without complaining and arguing." Philippians 2:14

I have always found it best to avoid people I know to be complainers and instead hang around people that are going to build me up. It doesn't mean that we ignore today's problems, but instead we can have a different outlook because we know that we are under the sovereignty of our heavenly Father. As the verse says, "He will be the strength that you and I need."

So as we go through our hot season and experience record heat ask the Lord to help you not to go negative. One way that has worked for me is to turn the negative into a thankfulness. While we may have 115 degree days, my house is also not up to its roof in water either. While gas if setting records, I also don't have to drive to work as people in other areas.

I'm off to fill up my wife's car with gas (no doubt it will be more than it was last time), but thank you Jesus that I have a car to drive. Have a blessed weekend and praise the Lord extra this Sunday. Amen.

Don't Forget To Share

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:7 NLT

I have to admit. I love testimony. I love the story of God’s transforming power in people’s lives. For most of us though, we often think of testimony as the story of our salvation, how we came to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

For some, it’s dramatic. God rescues people from the lowest of lows or He calls people to himself to fill a void that is missing in their lives. God wants to see everyone redeemed, but He always does it differently. Some call to receive Him at a big crusade like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie or others call to receive Him in the quietness of their misery in a jail cell. You call. He always answers.

Sadly, for many, the story ends there. They receive the free gift of salvation, but then like Jesus teaches in Matthew 13, the seed doesn’t grow. Jesus teaches of three seeds that don’t hold, but the seed planted in fertile soil produces greatly.

And that’s the kind of testimony I love to hear. I love to see the changed lives as a result of having Jesus as Lord of their lives. If we’re growing in our walk with Jesus and fruit is being produced we need to tell others what God is doing. That’s the beauty of this verse above and it’s one of my favorites from Ephesians.

God wants to point to me and you and tell others, “if I can save Mark Hyde and use him for the kingdom and if only you knew what I know about him, then I can really use you.” I believe that God can’t point to us as examples of His goodness and His grace if people don’t know what God has done in our lives. It’s not about us necessarily becoming famous, but instead making Him famous and giving Him the credit and the glory.

It’s time for people to take a stand for God. Either we believe what we believe or we don’t. Either God has made a difference in our lives or He hasn’t. Either His word is truth or it’s a lie. We can‘t ride on the fence in a bi-partisan way any longer. It doesn’t mean we all have to find a pulpit somewhere to preach, but as the apostle Peter says we need to be ready to defend our faith. “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” 1 Peter 3:15

May you feel and experience the presence of the living God with you as you go through your week and may you be thinking about the story God is writing about your life for you to be the narrator of. Bless you all.

I Need You, Yes You

This is how the Lord responds:
"If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!
Jeremiah 15:19 NLT

There are so many things I love about being a follower of Jesus Christ. One of the biggies is the forgiveness thing. No matter how much I mess up, as long as I repent and confess, the blood of Jesus forgives my sin every time.

The beauty of this verse to me is it shows a process of how we can go from sin to being used by God again. The first thing we have to do is confess and return to the Lord to be restored. The process of restoration is not the same as rebuilding. Rebuilding is being made to work again from a state of brokenness, but restoration is to be made as good as or better than new. We can not only blow it, but come out better on the other side after God is through with us.

After the Lord has restored us, He will put us back to work for Him. He doesn’t just send us to the back of the line, but if we’re willing to speak good words (that would be words from Him or from His Word), then we can be a spokesman for Him. Have you ever noticed some of the most powerful testimony for God has come from people whose lives have been to the gutter and back?
Every speaker for God has a different story. Some come from homes that loved God and have passed that love from generation to generation and others started their walk with the Lord from a prison cell. Some have had God at the center of their entire marriage while others are turning to God to show the way in their third. The point being it is never too late to turn back to God, even if you feel that He is so disappointed in you because you have made the same mistakes over and over.

My favorite part of the verse is the end. God wants us to influence the people, the culture and those around us. He wants us to transform those around us, not us to conform to them. God wants to take little ole you and me and go out into the big bad world and show them what they’re missing. The way we can do that is by our testimony.

That same life that Christ has turned around is now a testimony for Him that can be shared with others to influence them in a positive way. We’re not out to brainwash people, just point the way to the One who can restore us to a position higher than we have ever achieved before. That stirring in your heart to get back to work for God is the Holy Spirit. He’s not done with you yet. You’re still here aren’t you?

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Healthy Fear

Last week I touched upon the subject of fear and how the Bible tells us there is no fear in God and that perfect love cast out all fear. I thought the perfect follow-up to that blog would be on the one thing we are supposed to fear. God.

Unfortunately, it's the one thing or person we don't often thing about when it comes to be afraid or fearful. At times we've been afraid of just about everything on the planet from the dark to the IRS, but the Bible is very clear to whom we should fear. Let me share some passages and then share my thoughts.

"The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them."
"Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him."
"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."
Psalm 34:7,9,11

The Hebrew word in these texts is yare and it means to revere, to be afraid and the adjective for the word means to be timid or anxious. We have two types of fear being described hear. The first is the anticipation of getting in trouble if we do something wrong and number two is positive feeling of reverance for God.

Don't we all remember the first kind of fear, especially when we were kids. We do something we know we're not supposed to do and of course it leads to something breaking. (Mom always said, "Don't play ball in the house.") Sorry, a little Brady Bunch humor. We wait with great trepidation for our parents to find out and how bad a whooping we're going to get. The fear in us can be overwhelming.

The second fear is where I like to be all the time, but much of the time it comes over me when I go to church on the weekends and the flood of reverance for God comes over me that it puts me in a position where all I can do is worship Him. It's where God wants me all the time. "Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." Psalm 33:8.

Can you imagine how much better this earth would be if we all took time to stand in awe of the Creator of the universe? I know when I pray I try to acknowledge God for His goodness, His faithfulness, His creation, but often I forget and get right to my needs and my desires. I need to remember that while God is okay with me "cutting to the chase" I can't forget my reverance for Him.

I love the fact God desires a personal relationship with me, but I also know that it's good for me to live my life with the desire to please my heavenly Father out of fear, a healthy fear. A fear that says I know I can't earn my way to heaven, but one that gives me the desire to be obedient because I know the consequences for disobediance are unhealthy.

So many in our world live with no fear of God and consequently they live like their choices and actions are not accountable to anyone. Integrity is a lost virtue because people only own up to something when they're caught and even then they are full of excuses.

Over twenty times, the Psalms refer to the phrase "to those who fear him." Here is a short list of the promises of God for "those who fear him." He promises honor, goodness, his confidence, his angels, his eyes over us, salvation, his love and compassion and that's just in the Psalms. And this is all because we have a healthy fear of Him.

I can't wait to stand in awe of Him today. Amen.

Lord, Let's Cut To The Chase

How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing? Rescue me from their fierce attacks. Protect my life from these lions!
Psalm 35:17

How’s your prayer life? Do you talk to God often? When you pray do you find yourself trying to impress him with how long you can pray? The answer at times for all three of these questions has been yes for me.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject of prayer, but I do know it’s about honest conversation with the Lord so I have tried to make a regular habit of it. I know the Lord wants to hear from me, but what do I say? Isn’t it a little awkward talking to someone whose physical presence is not right in front of me? Maybe, but try what David did in the Psalms.

I’m always amazed as I read through the Psalms and some of the Old Testament prophets at the way they prayed. They don’t pray like I do. David talked with the Lord like they were best friends and I know we should, but I think we get caught up in trying to use all the holy words and using things like “your will be done Lord” that we forget the honesty part I think He craves.

Do you think you could say what David did above in Psalm 35? “How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing?” I think if I talked with God like that he would zap me dead from heaven. David always seemed to be in peril with someone trying to kill him and in this psalm he was just being honest. “Lord, I could use a little help here. There’s a bunch of people on my tail here with big spears and swords.”

As I was talking with a friend the other day, this kind of prayer with the Lord can only work if this is the kind of relationship you have with Him. I’m not saying I would recommend this for everyone, but what I am saying is to be honest with Him when you get to your prayer requests. Don’t hem and haw and go on forever and just cut to the chase.

It’s been told to me before that sometimes the best prayer is as simple as one word, “HELP.” If you’re praying for someone that is sick God is okay with us asking for healing and for Him to be glorified. We don’t have to pray with a backdoor plan as well so it looks like our prayer was answered. Our prayers will always be answered. Sometimes the answer is just no.

So I challenge you and me today to check your prayer life. Are you honest in your prayers and specific of your requests? Try something different if you find yourself rambling on and on to get to the point quicker. Do you try and give God a back-up plan in your prayers? Don’t quit trying and take it to the Lord. He hears you.

No Fear

I was doing a call recently at a friend's house and as were talking she mentioned that she often has trouble sleeping at night because she's worried about what life will be like for her kids when they're older. It's not as though I couldn't empathize with her as I am just one of many who is frustrated by the turn of our culture in recent times and it's only getting worse.

I'm pretty sure I didn't have the answer to alleviate her fears, but I was able to pray with her that God would give her the peace to remember that He is in control. It did get me thinking about fear and the future and what does God really have to say about the matter.

I'm sure we're all a bit concerned about the upcoming elections since it doesn't seem like we have a clear-cut follower of Jesus or even one who seems a bit bothered by the decline of the culture. I have to admit I have been afraid and concerned about the safety of this country depending on who wins in November.

The Lord led me to study the book of 1 John to try and find some answers. Now I have always remembered this book as one on love, but I found it to be so much more this time. 17 times it mentions "the world" and I think our selfish tendency is to believe "the world" has never beens in as bad a shape as it is right now. And that may be.

I found the fourth chapter of 1 John to have a lot to say on fear and two verses especially grabbed me. Not necessarily new, but God's word always comes to me at a time I need it most. " You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4 NKJV

The "them" refers to the previous verse meaning "the world" or the "antichrist." I like this translation because notice the first He is capitalized because it refers to our big God and the other "he" is not, referring to the devil. The comfort I get from this verse is the God we're serving now will still be the same big God my children and my friend's children will be serving long after I'm gone. If God is great in me now He'll still be great in the future.

" There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18. Because God's essence is love it is impossible for Him to fear, but it's not for us because we haven't perfected love. I was thinking that for all the things we strive to be "perfect" at like being "the perfect husband or wife" or "the perfect child" or "the perfect employee", we probably never wake up and say, "I think I'll try and perfect love today."

Imagine that, the better we get at love the better it will help us drive out the fear. Paul assures Timothy of that in 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Now I'm not sure how sound my mind is at times, but nonetheless God never intended for us not to live in a state of fear.

Of all the verses I researched on fear or being afraid, all but one started out with "do not" in front and it didn't matter if it was the Old Testament or New. "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10 NKJV.

And finally Jesus said in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Go in peace today my friends and know that the God who loved and cared for our parents and generations earlier is still the same mighty God who will care for our children and grandchildren no matter who is president or how marriage is defined or whatever the next cultural breakdown is.

Bless you all.

Okay Lord, You Can Drive

It’s all around me today. Everywhere I look. People I know are facing some serious trials, tests and dilemmas in their lives. All of them love God, obey His word, but nonetheless, life can really beat us down. What do we do?

For me I can do nothing but praise God for being God. I thank the Lord I have a savior and don’t know how people get through life without Jesus. Life’s struggles are for everyone, not just Christians. Because of what’s going around me today, it’s no accident that the Lord has had me in the book of Job. This book has always been a hard one for me to comprehend. I remember the last time I read it I had to use the Message paraphrase just to understand it.

That wasn’t the case this time. God made it very clear to me what He had to say as Job was crying out Him in the midst of his life seemingly going down the toilet. Job was allowed to be tested by Satan as his children were killed, he developed a terrible skin disease and God seemed to be hiding. It got so bad that his wife even encouraged him to curse God and die.

Job heard the so-called council of his three friends as they kept telling him his problems had to be because of sin in his life. Meaning Job had brought this upon himself. Job kept asking for the Lord to show Himself and answer his charges, but Job could not find Him. Then the verses that jumped off the page for me came from the words of Job as he realized the Lord is sovereign. He’s in control.

“But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.” Job 23:10-12.

Could this not be life-verses for all of us? Let’s look at the different elements to this passage.

First, if we’re tracking with the Lord like Job was, then we are not lost. If you let go of the wheel God will do just fine as the driver thank you very much. He knows where you need to go and He knows the best way for you to get there.

Second, we’re going to face tests. Notice the verse says when and not if we face tests. I don’t think I could pray for anything better than coming out as pure as gold. Do you know valuable gold is today? As we learned in church today from the book of James, we pass the test when we persevere and don’t quit.

Third, if we don’t give up on God and try and take control back we will get through to the other side. It’s not obeying His word one day and then following man’s ways another. This is called being lukewarm. One foot in, one foot out. Jesus spoke to the church in Laodicea about this. "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16. I don’t want to hear those from Jesus and I don’t think you would either.

And finally the kicker part of Job 23 for me was the challenge, “Have I treasured his words more than my daily food?” If given the choice would I rather feast on the word of God or a prime steak? Am I being nourished by the things of this world rather than the pages of my Bible? A friend of mine shares this often, “A Bible in the hand is worth more than three on the shelf.”

May we all have a super-size portion of His Word today and don’t worry, the Lord’s got the wheel, right?