You have probably heard someone use this expression when they seemingly have tried everything to get something accomplished, “What’s it going to take to…….”

In the Old Testament, God sent prophets to the people to try to get them to change their ways. One of these prophets was Amos.

In Amos 4:6 he tells the people God’s message saying, “I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me. says the Lord.”

God is saying in essence, “what’s it going to take to get you people to return and follow me?”

We cannot know if the causes of problems in our lives are put there by God to get us to return to him, but they may be. Either way, however, we should turn to him for help, comfort, and resolution of the struggles in our lives.

Dear Lord, When we have negative experiences, may they remind us to return to you. You are our strength, protection and salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” ~ Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis”

We all get our physical traits from the genes and DNA we receive from our parents. Our hair color, eye color, height, and even many of our personality traits come from the DNA we receive.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

He says we are God’s “adopted” children, but we are more than adopted in the natural sense, we have God’s Spirit in us. I like to think of it like we have God’s spiritual DNA. With the Holy Spirit in us, we take on traits God desired for us replacing our wrong natural behaviors.

John 1:12-13 “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”

Paul writes more about being God’s children in Romans 8:9, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you….8:11, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.”…8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

Dear Lord, We are so blessed that you have given us your Spirit to live in us, and to be your children. Help us submit ourselves to your Spirit so that we may live as your obedient children. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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It is interesting to look at the lives of people and see how the many seemingly unrelated events and circumstances come together to create the lives they have at any point in time.

We can see this in biblical personalities as well. Would Moses ever have thought that he would become the leader and liberator of the Jewish nation, or Joseph becoming so powerful in Egypt after being sold as a slave by his brothers, or Paul at one point persecuting the early Christians, then later becoming the leading spokesman for Christianity?

We can see some of these things in our lives to today; how we came to know our best friends, how we met our spouse, or how we ended up living and working where we do. We cannot predict what God has in store for us, even tomorrow.

Proverbs 16:9 writes, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” and in 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

We don’t know why things are going the way they are for us at any one time, but we can know that God loves us and has plans for each of us.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the peace of knowing that you have control of all that happens to each one of us. If we only surrender ourselves to your will, our lives will be the beautiful picture that you are painting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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I heard someone say once, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” I had to think about that for a bit. I think there is truth to this concept when we think about the principles we live by. If we are honest, in one area of our lives, we will likely be honest in others. If we are caring and compassionate in one area of our lives, we are likely to be so in others as well. However, the opposite is likely true

In Luke 16:10, Jesus tells us a similar concept, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

We need to look at ourselves and evaluate whether we are living up to the standards we desire. If we see that we are slipping in small areas, we are probably slipping in big areas as well.

Dear Lord, help us examine our thoughts and actions to make sure that we are striving to be the person who can be trusted with little and with much. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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As some of you may know, I was a military fighter pilot for a long time, and as a result, I was required to maintain a high level security clearance. The security clearance level required me to have a background investigation every few years, during which, an investigator would come around and talk to my neighbors, and friends, to determine if I had any vulnerabilities like financial problems, infidelity, drinking problems, etc. These types of problems could allow someone to take advantage of me through blackmail or other coercion and manipulate me into sharing secrets or other acts against the country.

In 1 Timothy 3, Paul is explaining to Timothy the criteria he should have for selecting elders and leaders of the church. Paul writes in verses 6,7, “An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.”

Just like the risks of manipulation by the enemies of our country that a soldier may face, we as Christians must be wary of the manipulation the devil will try to use against us. The devil will try all kinds of tricks, manipulating our fear, pride, jealousy, insecurity, looking for weakness to get us to compromise ourselves. Elders and church leaders must keep an even higher vigilance, because if they are manipulated by the devil, they may influence others in the church to go astray.

Dear Lord, we know we can resist any temptation when we rely on your power. Protect us from the deception of the devil, and help us protect each other from getting manipulated off your way. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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