Blessed How?

Dr. Mike Knowing God , , ,

Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

We all have different expectations when we hear that God wants to bless us?

Some think He will put the winning Powerball lottery ticket into our pocket. Others think he will open doors for us to build the next Google or Microsoft company. Others may be more personal like having good health so we can abuse ourselves eating all the ice cream, chocolate, and candy we desire without any ramifications. Or we will find Mr. or Mrs. Right and marry with a handful of children and a home second to done.

Now God may include these physical outcomes in the process, yet there is so much more about being blessed than the fulfillment of our dreams. The 34th Psalm hits the target right in the middle. When God is the center of our lives, when we run to him with all our problems and praise, and when we come to know Him as HE IS, we will experience the life He promises to humanity throughout Scripture.

Our challenge is focusing on the spiritual outcome rather than the physical means.

For many of us growing up in commercialism USA, we have the tenancy to associate blessings with physical or social outcomes. We want to be happy and believe certain “things” will make us happy. And we associate certain “things” with happiness. We have difficulty understanding this with-God life.

For when one begins to know God and experiences His life within you, you quickly realize that everything you ever wanted is already included with Him. He is the Source of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control. His presence alone generates all the positive feelings mankind seeks through physical means.

Security, self-actualization, acceptance, and all the other physiological functions are found in Him.

That is why saints of old have constantly repeated that HE is all they need.

The blessing is having a personal relationship with the living God and allowing Him to share His life with you as you share your life with Him. Through this relationship, you will experience a blessed life simply because He is a generous, outgoing Being who naturally loves and gives and shares His best for you. And yes, He tempers His generosity with the purpose of raising His children with godly character.

So, if you want to experience the blessed life, don’t focus on your dreams. Instead pursue God and let Him live His life in you.   

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Desire God

Dr. Mike Knowing God ,

Psalm 42:1

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 

How strong is your desire for God? Is it the strongest desire of everything you want?

When temptation comes, do you immediately lean on God or is it the second or third tactical move on your list of priority?

Is God our weekly desire or our minutely thirst?

Intellectually we all know that prayer is our immediate contact with the Almighty. But how often do we pray?

Or have you lived such a comfortable life as a Believer you now take God for granted?

You state you love God, but yet you continually do ungodly acts of spiritual terrorism.

Mentally you know God is your life source, full of grace and unconditional love, but you selfishly take advantage of His compassion.

You deliberately make unwise decisions to please your fleshly desires rather than deny yourself for God’s glory. You spiritually rape your sister or brother in the Lord to please your insecurities.

Instead of battling temptation with spiritual weapons, you deliberately succumb to your Biblical ignorance knowing God has already forgiven you.

Your passion for capitalistic rewards, the American dream, and personal fanfare is more important than maintaining an honest and open conversation with the living God. We quickly turn our head away from God because we want to please our eyes. Like a child stealing a cookie from the cupboard before dinner, we behave in the same fashion with God.

Yet our Triune God knows our weaknesses. He pours his grace upon us knowing we will eventually come to a place in life where our eyes are open, and we realize our attitude or behavior until then doesn’t successfully work, and therefore we need to change.

Repentance is changing our thinking and mental habits as we refocus our relationship with God. The decision to earnestly make God the center of our life – whether in the sinful pit of repeating temptation failures or recurring successes of victory – is the motivation to seek God. To love him more and more which means we come to know more about him today than yesterday.

Like a deer seeks to quench her thirst from a running stream of water, our soul needs to learn to thirst for God every day, every hour, every minute. Our heart needs to lay on the bosom of God as we come to know him in every detail of life.

So, the next time you seek to satisfy your inner desires with physical comfort, cry out to God and ask Him to intervene so He becomes your #1 satisfaction for living life.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Empty Words

Dr. Mike Life Tools ,

Ephesians 5:6

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

You ever listen to a person speak for twenty-minutes and realize he didn’t say anything of substance? All you ever heard were many adjectives and action verbs with emotional tempos thrown between the lines.

Politicians are notorious for such gimmicks. Advertisers are a very close second. And you can throw in a few religious ministers who use the same worldly techniques. In fact, one career assessment guide includes all three personalities in the same classified box. The same skill sets are needed to be effective in each of these three roles.

Yet the Bible warns us not to be deceived by such people who may say much with great form but maintain no substance in the pudding. 

They tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to know.

They cover their words with strong emotional content so your mind becomes clouded with explosive nerve endings rather than a calm, logical reasoning conclusion.

They seek out your trigger points and use words to explode them rather than outline the cause and effect of their position.

They blind you from the best solution to move you down a path where they may best benefit themselves.

They flip-flop on positions or as the Bible calls it – being double-minded. It all depends who is their audience.

They may even change the definition of a word for their personal agenda.

They hide behind smoke screens of illusion; like magicians they have you focus in one area while they manipulate another toward their personal ambition.

Unless one is grounded in long-term, eternal values which outlasts all fads and temporary demands, one may quickly fall prey to their cunning deception. This is one strong reason to study the Bible and its historical significance as it relates to human affairs.

The Word expounds on values and principles which lead to more favorable outcomes in living. When one knows the truth, one quickly recognizes the lies and deception of the enemy. But unless one is grounded in the Truth, one may quickly fall prey to the cunning deception of the Evil One.

In most cases, when you come to know a person’s heart, and when you spend enough time with them to recognize that they actually walk the talk, it will take time to separate the facts from the illusions. But reading your Bible and knowing Him who the book points to, is one of the best tools to help us separate the truth from deception, form from substance, and real value from artificial imitation.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2019 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved