LiveFreeLoveHard

I shine as a bright star.   I cannot blend in and fit in.   I stick out.   I am sanctified.   Just one glance at me and my uniqueness is spotted and proclaimed.   My light cannot be hidden.   The enemy will not dismiss me and go along his way because I try to blend in.   No. He still attacks relentlessly.   He desires to completely destroy me.   I don’t have to be in the fight.   He will bring the fight to me.   Why?   Because he knows how powerful I really am, even if I try to hide it.   And if he can destroy me while I am weak, he will never have to fight a mighty adversary.   But friends, I have decided not to be an easy target for the enemy.   When he comes upon me, I will be ready to fight the good fight of the faith and to stand firm.   I have no intention of cowering or wavering.   I refuse to bow out of a race I am slated to win anyway.   I have no desire to give up my for sure vict...

Our relationship with Christ is weak.   It won’t survive wealth. And that’s why so many Christians are broke today.   God loves us too much to allow wealth, or anything for that matter, to get in the way of our relationship with him.   The inheritance is stored away for an appointed time until we will be able to handle it, if ever at all.   So, we can stop shaking our fists at God, wondering why he hasn’t saved us from our financial burdens.   It is not his storehouse that is empty, it is our devotion to him.   In Howard Dayton’s book, Your Money Counts, he cites, “Someone once observed that for every 99 people who can be poor and remain close to Christ, only one can become wealthy and maintain close fellowship with Him.”  Deuteronomy 31:20-21 states: “When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods ...

Amos 6:1-7 is a call to action for the blessed, full, contented individuals of the time.  During this time there were some who lived incredibly rich and abundant lives, while others were extremely poor.  Kind of like today, isn't it?  The Lord said, there will always be the poor among us.  Knowing that, I'm not sure he was looking to fix the economic imbalance, but more so fix our internal dispositions.  The Lord desires us to take care of one another.  He desires the fortunate to consider the unfortunate.  He desires the haves to look after the have nots.  He is pleased when the wealthy take care of the poor. The thought behind it is simple.  If you can, you should.  Giving keeps us from becoming greedy, insatiable people.  I often find myself saying "But I barely have..." and the Lord corrects me.  "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11:25. My pastor, Josh Teis, in his...

When I found this scripture in the Bible, I started laughing so hard.   It was there, waiting on me to become a professional real estate agent, so I would actually understand it. “It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer; then off he goes to boast about his purchase.” Proverbs 20:14 (NIV). “The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,” then brags about getting a bargain!” (NLT). Hilarious.   All of my real estate agents know what I’m talking about.   We have buyers like this.   We have seen this first hand.   This morning I grabbed my Bible, looking for it’s truths to touch my life and help me along my day, and I found this.   It just goes to show that when people start saying that the Bible is outdated and doesn’t deal with the issues of today.   Or when they say they can’t get specifics, everything is generalities and we have to come up with our own understanding.   This is how God responds to that! ...

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  I will praise the Lord who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."  Psalm 16:5-8 This is one of my favorite bible verses.  It may be thee favorite bible verse.  There is something so comforting in the power and contentment, the acceptance and the position of the psalmist life.  It is as if he has arrived at a place of total dependence and acceptance of wherever he is in his life.  It's beautifully peaceful.  Speak this scripture aloud, over your life, with where you are in mind (financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically) and see if God doesn't meet you right there where you are. It's a 'thank you' to God.  It's a 'hats off to you, Lord' kind...

Unless you're exercising on a treadmill, most people don't like to run in place.  No one desires to exhaust themselves to no end, only to look up and be in the same predicament you were when you started out; to be in the same mess time and time again. Yet there are some people who pray the same prayers and read the same few scriptures all their life.  And their lives show the stagnancy of their prayers.  Now, I have some oldies but goodies myself, but I've come to realize that God has written a whole book to be digested and not just picked through.  He's laid out a buffet and you keep eating that same ol' spaghetti. Memorize a new verse.  Read a new chapter.  Venture to some part of the bible that you have never read before.  Even if you have read all of the bible, there are some parts that you haven't spent as much time in - meditate on that. Put a new prayer in your heart.  Ask God for something new.  This is not a materialistic exercis...

I'll admit, I'm exhausted.  There seems to not be enough time in the day for me to do what I need to do. The clothes make it to the washer but not the dryer, then they start to smell and need to be re-washed (geesh!).  Then if I do happen to get them from the washer to the dryer, they sit waiting to be folded for several days in the laundry basket.  I haven't cooked a meal at home in weeks.  When I made chicken enchiladas the other day, they loved it and haven't stopped praising how delicious it was - probably out of sheer bliss that it wasn't another frozen pizza.  My blog hasn't been written in two weeks and my morning prayer time is getting shorter and shorter.  Do I want to be successful that bad? I've been waking up earlier and earlier but still not getting a chance to study my word.  I have been giving my all to my real estate business - building it up, studying, listening to real estate coaches and what I consider self-help teachers. Has there...