Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7:7-8  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be open to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be open.

NEVER I repeat NEVER take this scripture out of context.  God is not offering free genie wishes here.  It seems like we are so apt to tell God what we want and expect it to be given.  With that mindset, you will only be discouraged, defeated and done with God. 

Ask; have you ever stopped to think that God already knows your needs.  He already has in His hand what he wants you to have? All you have to do is ask for it.  "Dear LORD, I want to receive what you have for me." 

Seek;  This isn't a game of hide and seek.  Life can be distracting with all the hurts and hardships we face. In the  midst of our trials we tend to quit looking for God because we think He has left us.  The truth is, He is right there with us.  We have just allowed our struggles to blind us.  Seek Him daily, you will find him.

Knock;  God is not home sleeping.  And He certainly isn't hidden behind a closed door.  What He is saying is this; pursue a personal relationship with me.  Come join me, I will let you in.

Robbing Quality from the LORD

Stating the obvious; people desire relationships.  Do not most people want to be liked, acknowledged, recognized and even respected?  We seek relationships at home, at school, work, church, and even more so on social media.  We may even find ourselves justifying our value by the number of so called friends or followers we have.  We count our tweets, re-tweets, favored tweets, likes, re-shares, followers, friends, favored’s, and so on.  We are so focused on quantity and being quantified, that we have neglected quality. 

Society has come to this place where we have robbed relationships of quality.  Without quality, what you have is nothing more than superficial, non-dependable, unreliable, broken connections.   You may think you have gained the world in popularity by counting numbers, but in fact you have robbed your soul of one of its greatest desires.  We want to be connected to others.  Friends will unfriend, followers will quit following, re-tweets will be forgotten, favoreds will be filled away, pretty much all the quantity and quantifying will amount to nothing more than empty shallow meaningless numbers. 

Have you ever been in a crowd and yet still felt totally alone?  I have.  In robbing ourselves and cheating others of quality communication, we have created gatherings of two, three, and even mass multitudes of physical and digital congregations of lonely people.    

Although people will come and go in life, there is one who will never leave you or forsake you, He wants to be your friend forever and He will always favor you.  His name is Jesus.  He desires your friendship, following, favoring, re-tweets, re-shares and so much more.  He gave everything just so He could become a friend of yours.  He desires quality. 

Have you robbed yourself of the greatest relationship this world has ever known?  Have you chosen not to have Jesus Christ as your friend?  Even worse, are you a Christian who is robbing your savior of quality communication? Have you chosen to rob the one who gave it all so that you could follow Him?

This may be a stretch for some, but here it is.  In Matthew chapter 21 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling, He overturned all the tables and ran them all off.   He was angered because the temple was being dishonored for monetary gain.  Right after, Jesus said “My house will be called a house of prayer, and you have turned it into a den of robbers.”  In 1 Corinthians 6:19 we are told that our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit.  Now, if our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself said in Mathew 21 that His temple is a house of prayer, then are we not robbing Jesus Christ of a quality relationship if we choose not to communicate with Him? 

I cannot help but believe that we are obviously called to a quality relationship with Jesus Christ.  In order to have quality we must communicate and interact intentionally, purposefully, and routinely.   If not, then you are forming nothing more than an empty religious gathering.  Although you may call yourself a Christian, attend church regularly and even share your religion, you will still feel lonely.  Quality, that is what makes it all real.  I challenge you to make your relationship with Christ all about quality each and every day. 

 

 

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s love!

Part 1 -I Finally Found God!

If you read any of my posts, you must read this one, and the next. These are the posts that may make it all click for you in finding Hope in your hopelessness; these are the ones that will show you who God is. It is in this Hope, in truly knowing God, and who He is that has turned my world upside down. It was this hope that brought healing into my heart, brought meaning to my soul, and purpose into my life. I found peace that surpassed all understanding. My soul was brought to life.

It is this very Hope that has sustained me in spite of any and all sufferings I have and still face. It is this very Hope that has brought my life face to face with the one true living God through Jesus Christ Gods sinless, crucified and resurrected son.

Larry and I began our discipleship during the spring of 1993. I must say, it was not what I thought it would be. It had nothing to do with joining a cult or any other bizarre ritualistic behaviors. Larry simply began sharing with me what the Holy Bible was, how it was arranged, how to find scripture, spiritual truths, attributes of God, the Holy trinity, the death of Christ on the cross and His resurrection.

God got my attention, and now for the first time I was about to discover who God was. Not just discover who God was, but literally experience permanently the presence of the Lord in my life every moment of every day that day forward. There were many other things that Larry taught me, but one particular lesson made it all click. Jesus Christ truly is the way, the truth and the life. Just as He says in John 14:6.

I am just going to cut to the chase with this. Larry shared three very important and critical spiritual truths. Here is what they were: First, we are all sinners. Second, we deserve punishment for our sin. Third, God wants to give us the gift of eternal life instead of death.

All this time before I thought I would find God in a church, through an idol, and maybe even through my own spiritual focus. I allowed man to define who God was; I allowed life circumstances to prove if God was love, and simply I tried to define God by my terms. God was not in my definition, God was not in a makeshift cross that I could wear, God was not in a Saint Luke pendant, God was not in the walls of a church, God was not in a wax Buddha, He was not in Scientology, He was not in transcendental meditation, and God was not even found in religious rituals. He was not anywhere that I was expecting.

I had always expected God to do something to prove himself to me. The simple fact He already had. Two thousand years before, He already proved himself. He did it by dying on a cross in my place and rising from the dead 3 days later. He did by suffering brutal beatings, horrendous persecution, a terrifying death surrounded by people cursing Him, spitting on him, and mocking Him all while He was completely innocent. And what did He do? He willingly surrendered His life in order to forgive those who have persecuted him unto His death. Then He shreds open the curtain separating us from His Holiness and says "come follow me, welcome in." Immediately the holy people whom had died were all raised to life in and through Jesus Christ. And it gets even better, Sunday is coming! What more could I ask for?

Prior to this point what my heart was really saying was this: "God what you did on Calvary was not good enough, I expect more." In my next post I will share how God spoke to me revealing Himself and changing my life forever more.

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

The picture is of children from Niquenohomo, Nicaragua. It reminds me of the child like faith it takes to truly discover God.

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!

The Word Disciple Freaked Me Out

Larry and Susan truly were an amazing couple. We were in our early 20's and they were in their early to mid 40's. The age gap initially made us feel like they were second parents to us, but as our relationship grew, they became more like best friends. Larry was a retired police officer from Pompano Beach, Florida. I was an active paramedic with Broward County Fire Rescue. For obvious reasons, we related very well to one another. Larry had a way of encouraging me to be a better person, husband and father.

I never felt awkward around Larry that is until one night when he asked a very random question. We were all eating dinner at their house together, just talking, telling stories and laughing. Then all of the sudden, Larry cleared his throat and said "Bill, Carri, Susan and I have been praying about something. We want to disciple the two of you. What do you think of that?" I will tell you what I thought of that. "Disciple, oh wow! I'm just a little freaked out, are these people really apart of some cult and they have sucked us in and now Larry wants to marry my wife and move us to some commune where we will never see our families again? I've seen this stuff on TV before." That is what I was thinking, what I said was very different, "That sounds nice, Carri and I should pray about that." Larry and Susan both smiled and said, "That would be a good idea."

After we Left their house, Carri asked me if I even knew what "disciple" meant. I said "no, not really." Then I may have said what I was thinking earlier, but i am nit sure. Carri laughed at my lack of understanding and then proceeded to tell me what disciple meant. I would bet she knew what I was thinking. Carri then explained; all they wanted to do was spend time with us, teach us what the Bible says and show us who God is. After she explained I thought "Oh, wow! Aren't I stupid?" I was so glad I never opened my mouth and inserted my foot in front of Larry and Susan. Being a very shy and meek person was a blessing in disguise that night.

Carri and I both agreed that discipleship was a great idea. After all, her mom told me I needed to figure out who God was. Up until this point of my life, I only had just a taste, just a little brush of seeing and feeling who God was. Little did I know, the gates were about to be flung wide open. God was about to walk right in to my heart and soul. The one who had been knocking on the door of my life, I was about to meet face to face.


The picture is a homeless boy in Nicaragua that we ministered to. Yes he knows Jesus now! The picture reminds me of how I felt trying to figure out who God was on my own.


Revelations 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!

God Used Her Yes To Lead Me Right To Him

Shortly after Carri and I had made amends, we both quickly realized that we were meant to be together. More than just friends. We had a bond that just seemed so natural, like it was meant to be. Although we had our issues and our differences, we had a connection than ran deep into our core. To me we were soul mates chosen before time by some celestial being or goddess. I say that because at this point in my life I still had not figured out who God was.

I made the investment, I bought the ring. I had all kinds of romantic plans on how and when I was going to pose the big question and present the diamond ring. Candle light dinner, romantic music, have the ring delivered on a silver platter, maybe just simply get on my knee at sunset on the beach.... I had lots of ideas. But before I knew it, excitement got the best of me.

We were driving home from Boca Raton Florida and we had just pulled on to the Sawgrass Expressway into Coral Springs. I was excited, nervous, shaking, voice quivering, sweaty.... Carri gently asked me "are you OK?" immediately and sharply I barked back "NO!" Then I pulled my Isuzu pickup off the road rather abruptly, Carri's eyes got as big as a full moon and fear was all over her face. I told her to get out of the truck, she almost freaked out. She had thought I had lost it and was going crazy. After she got out of my truck, I pulled the seat forward and retrieved the gold and diamond ring. I rushed over to her side of the vehicle, got down on one knee and said "I can't stand this anymore, I can't wait any longer....will you marry me?" After the shock wore off, tears streamed down both of our faces and she said "YES!"

That day, that yes was a defining moment for my life. I didn't realize the impact it was going to have at the time, but I knew I had been given a gift. This gift could never have been created, planned or prearranged by just any celestial being or even a make believe goddess at that. It was obvious that Carri was a part of me and I of her. We would soon become husband and wife and our lives would soon merge together as one.

I share this story because I am certain that this was all in God's plan in revealing himself to me. God put Carri in the center of it all and she never even really knew it at the time. God was using her to lead me to Him.

God did not just plan for me to marry some girl, He planned for me to marry Carri before either one of us were ever born. Because of this I have faithfully prayed for my children's spouses ever since each of them were born. My eldest child Mackenzie was recenlty married in May of 2012. There is no doubt that Morgan, her husband, is the man I had been praying for all these years. Just like me and my children, God has someone chosen already for each of us if we are to be married. Trust Him in bringing the two of you together. You don't want to settle for less, I promise.

The picture, yea that's me and my amazing godly wife! Just wait, you won't believe the testimonies and how God is using our marriage! I won't say much right now, but I will say this; God has blessed us with what many people call a curse. It's name is Huntington's disease.

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!

Trying to Figure Out Who God Was

So I thought I knew what Sandy was trying to tell me.  You know, "Figure out Who God is."  So I went back to the drawing board so to speak.  I went over in my mind the things I had tried before.  Catholic Church check, Scientology check, Transcendental meditation check, Buddhism Check, Universalism check, New age check, just simply believing there is a god and telling him what I needed check, and on and on check, check, check, check,….  I'm pretty sure I even threatened God a time or two.  "If you do not ____ then I will ____."  After every Check I was still left empty, full of questions and doubt.  The mystery still remained.  Why had nothing I had desperately tried ever work? 

I remember the questions that bounced around inside my head.   Was this God just simply a way of life? Do your best, live right, treat people good, and have fun?  Maybe god was just simply Karma?  What goes around comes around.  Maybe God is up in the sky and He just can't hear me.  Maybe God once was but now He is dead and can’t help me until I die.  I remember thinking if I try talking to loved ones that have already died, maybe they could tell God what I am asking for?  I even thought I could find God in nature and connecting to the things around me.   I had questions after questions.  Nothing fit, absolutely nothing I had tried, thought, and even desired worked.  I was always left empty inside.   

I really did want to figure out who God was.  Questions just led to more questions.  Answers, well nothing seemed to be just right. One thing I did know is that the answer should be like a revelation, a total “Wow!” moment.  I was not going to settle for just anything.  The answer to who God was, that was going to have to reach my heart and pierce my soul.  Why was religion not working?

In the mean time the relationship Carri and I had was only creating more chaos and confusion with my emotions and thoughts.  I so desperately wanted to hold on to her.  After all she was the first thing outside my family that ever reached my heart.  Well it was deeper than that Carri reached my soul.  The girl I loved dating another guy was killing me inside.  Carri was not God, but there was something there that I just could not put my finger on.  I had to have it.  There were times I felt like I was experiencing heaven and then there were times it felt like hell.  I was consumed with our relationship.  Well more like obsessed. 

No matter what, I was going to figure out who God was if that was what it was going to take to win Carri's heart.  The problem I had now; my motivation was having a relationship with Carri.   At that time, me figuring out who God was created more confusion and chaos because it all depended on a relationship.  If the relationship was good, then God was good.  If the relationship was bad, then God was bad.  If I had only knew then what I know today.   How much easier things would have been.   

This picture I took reminds me of all the
times I would go to the beach and ponder
"Who and where was God"

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me

when you seek me with all your heart. 

 May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ’s love!

She Was Not a god, but a Reflection of God.

My friendship with Carri grew and became something even bigger but not better.  Carri became my god.  Our relationship was not your typical fairy tale, or was it?  I guess you can decide as my story unfolds over the next several days.   As you read, remember the purpose of me sharing my testimony is not about Carri, it is about how I found hope in the midst of hopelessness.  As my life story unfolds, you will see how it all came together.  You will also see how God used Carri and life circumstances to lead me to Christ.  I hope it will encourage and inspire people around the world and that many will find the hope that I have found.  This hope will turn your life upside down, in a good way. 

Our relationship was typical for most teenagers, except for one interesting fact.  Carri and I always remained best of friends.  We never became bitter enemies.  Sure we had our fights, we had our breakups, we had our hopes and we had our dreams.   We dated off and on over the years. 

The biggest problem I had is that I made Carri my god.  No, I did not worship her religiously but I did allow her to become my reason to live.  I liked what was happening in my heart and being a part of who she was.  Like I had said before, she was different.  There was something so special; it was real and not a show. Carri was not fake.  Whoever she was on the inside is what I wanted the most.  Wanting that meant, I had to have her no matter the cost.

Frankly, the thought of losing Carri to another guy was devastating and heartbreaking.  I honestly did not think I could live without her.  Then, it happened.  She began dating another guy.  My world came crashing down.

Carri's mom, Sandy, was like a second mom to me.  I so clearly remember her advice.  She asked me if I loved her daughter.  I said "yes".  She said, "I don't like the guy she is dating right now, I like you."  She went on to say that who Carri was, dating was Carri's choice, even if she did not agree.  Then she said this "if you want to win my daughters heart, you will figure out who God is."    It was this statement that made me realize, there has to be something greater. His name is God, but who was He? Sandy helped me to realize that what I loved so much about her daughter was really who God was.  Carri was not a god; she was only a reflection of who He was.  At this point, the slow journey began to figure out who God really was.  This journey was not without hurts and failures, but its rewards would come in His time. 

 

Some Hawaiian god's...

but not the Real God

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

 

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's Love!