Just Thinking

Well I went to bed early tonight (last night actually) and then woke up with pain. In the last hour I have been up I have been thinking about life, God's blessings and then the things that we forget to thank God for. About two weeks ago we started having revival in our home. This started after watching a christian movie made totally by volunteers with God's hand all through it..."Facing the Giants". What a great movie! If you have not seen it, I strongly advise that you do. It is not one of those sappy christian movies that you sit and role your eyes at the whole time you are watching it. You can actually see real life unfolding before your eyes. The whole premise of the movie is the fact that we are always asking God for His blessings, but yet we are never prepared to receive it. As the old folk proverb goes..."there was a great drought and famine in the land. Two farmers prayed for rain, but only one prepard his fields to receive the blessing." Too many times in life we ask God for "rain", but how often do we actually prepare our fields for it.

It is amaizing how God works. A week after we saw the movie, the quartet was heading up to Oregon to sing at a church that we have been working with for years. My heart was open, soft and pliable to the moving of God's hand. Three souls were touched and redeicated to God that day. It came time for me to introduce an old familiar song that I have the solo's on, "Sinner Saved by Grace", God got ahold of me and for about five or ten minutes I started to preach. During the last two songs, "Sinner Saved By Grace" and "Broken Vessels", the Lord was moving in the house. I have continued to see things like this since then...and I have been seeing Satan's attacks. The more we commit to God the more Satan will attack us. And it seems that when we are being attacked is when we blame God instead of thanking Him. Yes, Thank God for the attacks from Satan. Why? Because it is only when we are in the Lord's will that Satan will attack us. And, sometimes, like with Job, God will allow these attacks to test us and to strengthen us.

So, the next time you pray for "rain"...get in your tractor and plow your fields. The next time Satan strikes your fields with lightening and the entire harvest is lost; thank God that your family is safe, your home is still standing and you can replant next year.

In all things, give God the thanks. Pray for God's blessings and prepare for the bounty. ALWAYS, give GOD the glory and take none for yourself.

Darren