Be Still

Hide me now

Under Your wings

Cover me

Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with You above the storm

Father you are King over the flood

I will be still and know You are God

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/hillsong_united/still.html ]

Find rest my soul

In Christ alone

Know His power

In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with You above the storm

Father You are king over the flood

I will be still and know You are God

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/hillsong_united/#share

It has been a while since I have heard this song and once again the Lord has used it to keep my heart calm and my nerves settled. The first time I heard this song was when life was just spinning so fast and it seemed that there was no way out; that was 10 years ago. Today, life is much different than 10 years ago, however, there are still many factors of this life that can seem too heavy to carry. This song reminds me that I do not have to carry any of it. I can trust the Lord with my yesterday, my today, and even my tomorrow. Though we are in a good season of life, this week started feeling heavy and a bit strenuous. I am pleased to know that there is nothing that I have to make happen, there is truly nothing that I am in control of, and there is absolutely nothing that I can mess up so bad that God doesn’t know what to do with it. This realization causes me to climb back into the hands of the Lord and to simply be still; trusting that He knows all of the answers to those questions and is aware of each step I should take in this life.

Be encouraged today!

BE STILL.

Contentment

This week the Lord has placed a contentment in my heart that is different than I have ever felt. It is a feeling that consistently brings me joy when I focus on it. The funny thing is that nothing has shifted in this life that would bring this feeling. There has not been new experiences, extra money, or great fulfillments. The Lord has simply reminded me that He is walking with me and is the giver of life. This contentment causes the people and circumstances that are surrounding me to shine in a new and spectacular way. It reminds of when sunshine flows over a person and they take a breath of relief and soak in that moment of peace. It is at that moment everything seems like it is going to be OK.

If you feel that your life is overwhelming and you can’t hold it all together, I encourage you to quit trying to hold it together. Quit chasing after the idea of success and simply love and appreciate the daily blessings that the Lord has placed in your life. Contentment will not be found by looking to our past, our by chasing the unknown possibilities of the future. It will be found when you are willing to simply be thankful for the Lord’s presence. Rest in His grace, in His truth, in His amazing ability to provide the sustenance needed to live a life of joy that will transform the world surrounding you. Contentment is one of the great gifts from the Lord.

1 Timothy 6:6-7

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

A Reflection for 2011

If we are not careful, a year will pass away and a new year will begin without taking the time to realize how amazing it truly was.

• ·      This year, the Lord consistently was present and showed us that He is more powerful than any situation we might face
• ·      This year, the Lord allowed His favor to shine and open new doors
• ·      This year, the Lord gave us new obstacles to overcome, new moments of faith to grow
• ·      This year, while the world was distracted by what they might lose, the Lord was focused on whose heart He might win
• ·      This year, the Lord gave the world many opportunities to repent and surrender before His imminent return
• ·      This year, God healed the broken hearted, set the captive free, and gave hope to the hopeless

These are all things that I personally am a witness to in my own life and in those lives that surround me.

This year, I am thankful for my relationship with the Lord and His unwarranted, undeserved, and incomparable love He has for me.

This is the same love He has for you! 

May 2012 begin as a year of surrender to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is the only way to find life.

John 14:6-7

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

A Disciplined Godly Life

This title has the potential to either cause you to stop reading this devotional or possibly challenge you to evaluate who you are and what you are doing. My true hope is that this devotional is more of an encouragement for you to live out a practical life that honors the Lord and the people that He has put around you.

For me, a Godly life begins at 5:30 AM. This does not mean it has to be this way for you, however, it is a crucial element to honoring the Lord in my life. When I get out of bed at 5:30 AM, I get into my running clothes, tie up my shoes, get my dog leashed and ready, and go for my morning run. This a Godly discipline that is crucial for my cholesterol count, but also gives me the time I need to think through my day and make decisions of who I am going to be. Then after my run, I sit on my patio and read the Bible or one of books that point me towards the Lord and who I am supposed to be. When I finish reading I take a few minutes to pray for those people that come to my mind and heart and ask the Lord to be in charge of my day.

This routine has helped me organize and discipline all of the other areas of my life. This life can truly be an amazing journey for those who turn over the control to the Lord. He not only has the ability to strengthen and guide you, but He also has an amazing way to give me a great joy that is purely and overflow of my time with Him.

I encourage you to find your routine, on a daily basis surrender to Him, and daily strive to find moment-by-moment ways to live a life of honor to the Lord. This means that what you do outside the four walls of the church is as crucial as what you do inside the church. The daily integrity of serving the Lord is and always will be the most important part of this life.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

A Witness To My Life

Looking over the years of this life brings many emotions all at once. It has been a life full of laughter, purpose, new adventures, God’s provision, at times pain and tears, miracles, hope, peace, and joy. I am not only thankful to the Lord for walking with me each step of my past but securing my tomorrow. He also gave me a precious gift that I will cherish for the rest of my days. He gave me a friend that will be a witness to my life. In truth, I can say that we have seen each other at our best and our worst.

The gift from the Lord is not just to have this friend in my life, but that He has given us the grace to weather the storms of this life arm in arm. This friend of mine has been walking with me for half of my life. She is not perfect and yet perfect for me. Melissa and I are coming up on 18 years of marriage this June.

Melissa,

Thank you for being a witness to my life. I love you girl. I have no idea what doors this graduation will open for us. However, I do know that it doesn’t matter as long as we are walking through that door together. Thank you for believing in the goals the Lord has placed on my heart.

Love,

Kristopher

At Rest...

At rest and pressing forward…

The Lord has continued to bring a deep rest to this heart of mine. The more I press into who He is and what He is doing in my life today, the less I need answers for yesterday. It is a wild concept to be at rest, though life is not slowing down or affording me to take my eyes off of the goals ahead. I am finding rest in what I will call simple trust. This simple trust is actually profound. It stems from the realization that I can only control who I am and I must allow the people around me room to breathe and learn. I will simply trust that the Lord will continue to guide my steps and faithfully protect me from the assault of the enemy when it comes. It is a natural response to be worried about explosions when you have walked through them. However, if one is not careful, the explosion of the past will dictate and control the future. This must not be, as there is too much life to live and too large a purpose to live for. Instead, it is better to simply trust that because of where I have walked, I am now wiser and though explosions may still be a part of this life, it won’t be caused because my eyes are shut to the dangers or the path that led to those atrocities.

Though I still look around and at times don’t understand…
And though some mornings the questions that loom are unanswerable…
And though at times all is too quiet and faint memories of war can be heard…
Instead of allowing these conundrums to control me…
I simply smile, trusting in this simple phrase…

My God is good.

And I am at rest once more…

Psalm 116:12
What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?

Decision by Decision

As I walked out of my room this morning I was greeted by a man child with a deeper voice than mine, who had shaving cream on his face, preparing to meet his high school world. I had to stop and take a double take. My brain was incapable of computing how it is that my son had grown up so fast before my eyes. He is an amazing young man, but he is as tall as I am, driving, and dreaming of a future of college, career, marriage, and one day children of his own. All of these dreams of his do not include me in his life on a daily basis. When did this happen?

I believe this happened day by day and decision by decision. Just yesterday, I was approached with a dilemma of being at my youngest son’s basketball game or in a meeting that was important and was part of my responsibilities. I am happy to say that the wise decision was made and I will be at my son’s basketball game. As I evaluate my life and look at the places where I cannot be replaced, there are very few. No one can have the relationship with my God for me, be a husband to my wife for me, the father to my children for me, or build the relationship with my friends and family for me. If I am not careful, decisions will be made to be at those meetings, run those events, and give away those precious moments that can never be recaptured.

At this point in my life it is with clarity that I can see how quickly a couple of years will go by and my children will have grown and be off and running on their own journey. I pray with all of my heart that the Lord will give me the wisdom to say yes to the right things, as it pertains to the precious time given to me. I hope to walk forward with my eyes wide open and capture every moment given to me with those people in my life that I cherish.

This is a good scripture reminding us to keep our focus on what is right and allowing the Lord to take care of the other needs in our life.

Matthew 6:19-33

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.