Half Heartedly

Half-heartedness never won a battle. – W. McKinley  

Gideon started with 32,000 men and God whittled it down to 300 warriors. Hmm!  

The pre-game chat. The Sales Team meeting. The self-confidence pep talk. We’ve all seen, possibly heard and/or participated in something similar to these. That time where we are gathered, greeted, focused, and inflamed with a passion to put forth our all, to achieve victory, conquer the enemy, or finish the task. Life is challenging, but it is necessary to prove us and improve us. God is after those that have a heart after Him, a heart that is willing to give all to Him and for Him just as He did for us with Jesus. And just as we become suspicious when someone offers us a limp handshake or wry smile, imagine how God feels when we offer a half-hearted effort. Today is given to re-ignite your passion for God, here’s hoping it works.  

Until tomorrow….  

Pastor Botts  

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” – Matthew 5:8

For those tough times...

When God solves your problems, you have faith in His abilities; when God doesn’t solve your problems He has faith in your abilities. – Anon  

God did not call Gideon ‘mighty warrior’ just for fun. Amen!  

Anyone familiar with the ‘A-Team’ knows their leader’s catch-phrase “I love it when a plan comes together.” And for most of us it’s a truth we live by and fully depend on, trusting God will always work it out. We faithfully believe God cannot and will not fail, and because He is true to His Word He won’t fail. There is nothing God can’t do, but there are many things God won’t do. He has trusted those things to us, and has instructed us, trained us, gifted us, and surrounded us with support for those times. So if times are a bit tough as they can often become, while we’re faithfully waiting on God’s ability, we might want to check to see if He’s not just smiling and waiting on us.  

Until tomorrow…..  

Pastor Botts  

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” – John 14:12

Why Procrastinate?

Somebody said it couldn’t be done – it wasn’t God. – Anon

God was willing to work with Gideon and the ‘fleece’ in any fashion to show him the time was now. Hmm!

It’s amazing how we always want our turn when playing a game or receiving a blessing, but how we want to put our turn off when it comes to something unpleasant. We don’t seem to mind procrastinating then. When you really stop to think about it the habit of procrastination takes a 2-fold toll on us. First, important work that needs to be done goes undone. Second, valuable energy we could use in doing the work gets wasted in activities we ‘drum up’ to avoid what we should be doing. So what results is delay, followed by anxiety, then a hurried, harried attempt to catch-up, leading to more anxiety or stress. The truth is we procrastinate out of fear, fear that we’re somehow inadequate at the time to do the job. But God gives us all we need beforehand, or will equip us with what we need ‘during’ the test so we need not fear, only ask His help to tackle the task. So if we meet the challenge head on we can avoid untold trouble, worry, and stress. Life doesn’t procrastinate – neither should we.

Until tomorrow….

Pastor Botts

“….Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself….” – Matthew 6:34

Stand Your Ground

It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. – E. Kenny

Little scrawny Gideon was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat when God called him to battle. After finding his courage the rest was easy! 

The world today preaches a ‘tainted’ tolerance. We’re to tolerate everyone and their views and desires except when it comes to promoting Christ and his kingdom. This only works to the advantage of the enemy. We took prayer out of schools – look at schools today. We’ve spared the rod on our children – look at children today. This was not the example Jesus gave. Everyday he was challenged by the ‘religious right’ and everyday he stood his ground and told them what his Father said. Jesus had a backbone then and he should have one still today. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “It’s not so much the noise of the bad; it’s the silence of the good.” God is expecting us to be witnesses not observationists.

Until tomorrow………

Pastor Botts

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then…..” Ephesians 6:13-14