How Rich I Am

An inheritance is what we get for being part of a family that’s rightfully ours. If I am an heir to a multi-billionaire, and he dies, you’d better believe I’ll be there for the reading of his will. I am certain that I don’t have a wealthy grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle or anyone else who has named me in their will. I know that because every one of those family members have gone on to heaven already and my name was never called at the reading of their wills – if there were wills. I came to terms with the fact, long ago, that I wasn’t going to be wealthy in things that money can buy. I'm okay with that.

It's not the things or treasures or inheritance -- the tangible things that make us. What makes us, and the legacy we leave to our children, are the things that money could never buy. The influence of my passed family members are the values they left me and even if I didn't have faith and value-filled family members, God has given me mentors and role models who showed me what matters most -- to be honest, to love and care passionately, to put my faith in God during the best and worst of times, to give, to suck it up when I've been hurt or offended, to trust in God's plans for my life and to leave my family with something much more than the things that can be bought.

The Bible says, “Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance — an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Such good news! I AM in line for a “priceless inheritance” and so are you! But even better news -- we don't have to wait one minute longer. We have real reasons for hope because God's "will" has already been read and we can be living in the riches of His grace now.

What a shame it would be if we went through our entire lives and we didn’t know what benefits were available to us as children of God right here and now! Our loving Father didn't write a document that He put away in a safety deposit box and someday we’ll find out what the document says about our inheritance. He offers it to us now and for all eternity. We can already be enjoying the benefits of peace, joy, hope, love, overcoming faith, and walking in confidence in Whose we are, and best of all -- living eternally with Him! On this side of heaven, there seems to be so many reasons to be hopeless. Thank God, we are not those who live without hope. We are the rich kids of our Father Who paid the price for an abundant life right here. Right now! On this Thanksgiving Eve, let's get the gratitude on for our great inheritance!

Floccinaucinihilipilification – Our Words Matter!

Our words matter but does the word, floccinaucinihilipilification, one of the longest words in the dictionary, really matter? I can’t say that I’ll ever use it in a talk, but it brought me inspiration for today’s post. It came up randomly in a pop-up advertisement. It intrigued me and I even looked up its origin. Back in the eighteenth century, Eton College had a grammar book which listed a set of words from Latin which all meant "something of little or no value". In order, those were flocci, nauci, nihili, and pili (which sound like four of the seven dwarves). "Fication" was tagged on at the end and now it means the “action or habit of estimating as worthless or no value.” That, my friends, is a word that no one should ever speak over you because you and YOUR words have great worth and great value when they are especially God’s words flowing through you.

We do matter and so do the words we speak. I’ve been given words of life and I pay attention to others to pay it forward and offer them words of life. When I saw a couple of dear friends going through some challenging times, I knew I needed to encourage them. I paid attention and I wanted to help them use the RIGHT words that will help produce a harvest of blessings. Oftentimes our words of negativity can be what digs up the seeds of faith and hope that we’ve planted. So, when the pressure comes, it is vitally important to use faith-filled words of hope and expectation.

As I read the Bible, I fall more and more in love with Jesus. He noticed people and usually they were the people that others overlooked -- the rejected, the outcasts, the crippled, the thirsty, the broken and the sick. He cared about them and often went out of His way to speak to them. He paid attention them. He gave them His voice. Sometimes He would have detailed conversation with strangers like the Samaritan woman at the well. He gave her words of life, and because He did, she brought truth to an entire village. Many were saved because she received words of life. And, she gave words of life.

You, and your words, may be the exact, one-of-a-kind expression of God’s love someone needs today. It doesn’t matter how loud your voice is. What matters is using the one He gave you. It doesn’t matter how much speaking experience you have or how many Bible verses you know. What matters is you caring and sharing your own unique story of God’s amazing grace and how you made it through your own set of challenging situations.

You are positioned within your family, friendships and community to offer something only you can. Offer your voice. Offer words of life to someone today. Be a life giver. That’s all God asks us to do. When we step out in faith and trust that He is speaking through us to others, lives change. All we need to do is watch and listen for the right moment to us words of life to change a life!

Satisfy Me, Oh Lord

Satisfy Me, Oh Lord
Satisfy: meet the expectations, needs or desires of someone; gratify, fulfill

I've returned home to Frisco, after a packed-full week in Tulsa, and before that, many trips there and back to get Mom's estate sale all ready to go and completed. Our customer, Mom, was completely SATISFIED with the sale that brought in wonderful opportunities to bless a lot of folks with her lifetime of treasures and with the proceeds that came from the sales that will definitely help with her care and budget. Now, her grandson and family can close on the home, get the house ready to move in to make new memories in that wonderful home. All around satisfaction!

As customers shopping and buying in the marketplace, we shop until we drop and we get home and find that important item we purchased to be defective. We have to return to the store and we get less than great customer service. We wait and wait for a service technician to come and repair something in our home, and when they get there, they don't have the part or don't know how to repair it. We just want to be SATISFIED.

We drink a protein shake as a meal to help with weight loss but within minutes, we’ll say “That meal sure didn’t SATISFY me!”

As employers who are responsible for the products or services they represent, they want and must have respectful, efficient, and trustworthy employees. They want to be SATISFIED.

Let’s be real -- from the Moms whose day-to-day activities are mind-boggling -- feeding kids, running errands, wiping faces and bottoms, checking homework, driving carpool, scrubbing toilets -- to the Dads that work from sun-up to sun-down on a J.O.B. to make ends meet for their growing family -- they want to be SATISFIED with their accomplishments.

In the midst of all of that -- we ALL want and need the Lord to SATISFY us, feed us and make us full before life empties us.
The Psalmist David wrote "Relent, LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. SATISFY us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Psalm 90:13-14. That's a paraphrase of Moses’ words when he was pleading with the Lord for relief from those demanding, whiny, difficult people.

Moses gives us valuable insight for how to pray those desperate prayers: "Satisfy us in the morning." He knew about the Lord’s daily satisfaction. Each morning, the Israelites would gather enough manna for the day. They were fed, filled and satisfied by the Lord’s supernatural provision of food in their desert wanderings.

Moses knew the Word of the Lord would give him hope for the day’s struggles with those complaining people. God’s Word would give him patience as he waited. God’s Word would turn his eyes from his day’s circumstances and fix them instead on the character of his Lord.

God's Word is the answer for our SATISFACTION, too. It is powerful – so powerful, in fact -- just reading a small portion of the Bible every day will be like the Israelites receiving the Lord's satisfying care every day, and that's what we need, too. We don't have to read chapters and chapters to sustain us for the week. We just need our daily portion. And just like the Lord was faithful to the Israelites, He is faithful today to all who turn to Him.

Oh Lord, we feel like we are running on empty. We need to be filled, but sometimes we try to fill ourselves with rest, television, social media or food. Nothing fills and prepares us for today’s demands like Your Word. Help us feast daily on Your Word so that we are SATISFIED. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I Believe I Can Fly -- If Dumbo Can -- So Can I

Yesterday, I posted "I believe I can fly!" Let's take it a step further. Do you remember Dumbo -- the Disney character that had huge ears? Other elephants ridiculed him, until he met Timothy Mouse that changed his perspective. Timothy convinced Dumbo that his little feather had magical powers that could turn his ears into wings. He created a sense of hope and expectation in Dumbo that was missing. The more Dumbo BELIEVED "anything is possible", the more Dumbo was convinced he could fly. Finally, despite the voices of opposition from the crows, Dumbo rose to the challenge and elevated his faith with courage. He turned his doubt into faith and turned those huge ears into an asset that helped him fly.

What changed for Dumbo? That brilliant little mouse helped Dumbo see that the power to fly begins in the belief that it's possible to fly. And the same with us -- when our hope rises, so does our perspective.

And what about you? What are the "ears" or "voices" that might be the cause for your discouragement, rejection or weakness? The voices of others who say you can't, or the voice of Father God -- that voice of TRUTH and FAITH, that says "With God, all things are possible"? With those "ears", we can rise above our challenges, our past, and those voices of opposition. Dumbo could fly. I believe I can fly…..AND I believe YOU can, too!