What's eating your flowers?

I planted some new flowers at the house the other day... what I didn't realize is that I was planting rabbit food. Yeah... apparently the rabbits just love to eat the very kind of flowers I planted. The result? The flowers that were once full, beautiful, and standing tall. Quickly became nothing but a green nub sticking out of the ground.

How could something that looked so cute and innocent cause so much damage? I see the rabbits on a regular basis running from one tree to the next... looking so shy, unobtrusive and innocent. Yet apparently when I'm not looking this little "innocent" looking animal is jacking up my flowers. I sense have learned that there are certain sprays I can put on the flowers that will keep the hungry little rabbits away.

I felt like the Lord was teaching me something through this. Allow me, with no fluff, to just lay it out here.

Reality is, there are little things in all of our lives that on the outside don't look that dangerous in fact they look innocent. Yet it is often those little things that can cause so much damage to our lives. It's the little things that have the power to keep us from reaching our destiny and living in the realm of excellence instead of average.

Little things like:

1. Excessive busyness... in place of taking time to rest mentally as well as physically.
2. Not taking time with family/spouse. Trust me taking 30 minutes a day to talk with your spouse pays off huge.
3. Stressing out over things, instead of waiting and trusting in the Lord. Can we just call stress out for what it is? Lack of faith.
4. Unhealthy alliances... remember all relationships are like elevators - they either take you up or down. I have to ask myself, where are the people I'm around taking me? And do I really want to go there?
5. Lack of focus... What's the one thing that can divert a person from their dream? Another dream. I think of the prayer King David prayed for his son Solomon - Father, give my son an uncluttered, focused heart, so he can obey all of your commands!
6. Too much TV, instead of reading a great book, listening to a pod cast, or simply hanging out with the family. TV looks innocent enough, but it can also suck the life out of a marriage and keep you from reaching your God given potential.

I pray for you today, that God will give you the wisdom you need to put a guard around your heart from the "little things" in your life. My desire is that you will reach your full potential in the Lord. Have an ear that hears his voice and a heart to obey. That you, your marriage, your ministry will be the middle of Gods very best!

Dealing with the "rabbit's" in my life,

Kevin

Keep Looking At The Ocean

I was in Florida for Pastor Dave's Church Planters School last week. Renee and I had taken a few days after the school to hang out and enjoy the sunshine, beach, ocean, pool... you get the idea.

Our hotel room had a balcony door that allowed you to walk right out onto the beach, only yards away from the ocean. I loved sitting out there early in the morning. I could hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore, but it was too dark to see it.

As the sun began to rise inevitably the seagulls would too. Which was fine until another guest in the hotel directy above my room starting throwing food out to feed the birds. The crumbs of bread or whatever it was landed right next to my foot. Ug! The birds began to swarm the area, screaming at the top of their lungs, crapping everywhere. The movie "The Birds" flashed through my mind. I stood up and said, Hey... hold up buddy... and the person stopped throwing food.

After quite a while the birds finally gave up... (maybe because they had a sore throat from all "feed me" yelling) and took off. I began to notice a few pieces of trash on the beach right in front of me. I started to get mad... thinking that they person in the room above me who delights to throw food off their balcony, probably were the onces who through trash out of the window. Then to make things even more enjoyable, another person from a couple rooms down started throwing food out to the birds again. Unbeleivable... cant they read? There are signs on all of the sliding glass doors that say, "Don't feed the Birds!"

And then to top off the experience all of a sudden a ciggarette butt drops from the balcony above me and lands right in front of me. I about came unglued. Everything in me wanted to go grab trash out of our bathroon and hurl it up onto their balcony. I thought of several things to say and do... none of which were too Christ like.

It was about that time that the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.... Look out at the ocean. I looked up and there it was... beautiful sand, water as far as I could see. I had a choice, I could either stare at a few pieces of trash and be ticked off... or I could look up and see the absolute wonder and beauty of Gods creation! I chose the later.

Every day we have the same choice - will we look at all the trash, junk in our lives. The dysfunctional parts of our families, marriage, finances, business, and ministries. Or will we LOOK UP and see all the good that is all around us. I choose to look up and see all the good around me... and with eyes of faith all the good that is yet to come. The beauty of Gods creation and destiny for my life.

You biggest and brightest days are your days yet to come... but you will miss those days if you are too busy looking at the trash.

Have a GREAT day!

Pastor Kev

I need to hear the Lords "Marching Orders."

Numbers 9:20 Tells us that:

"... the moment God issued orders they marched."

What a great picture of what I need to do! Have you ever noticed that there are so many good people, great books, and pod casts all telling us what we need to do. Then of course there are the commercials that tell us that we MUST ACT NOW... and if we do there will be a bonus of some kind. Not just one set of knives, but 2! They all have "marching orders" for our lives

At times I get overwhelmed by all that I should be doing, all that I need to still do, all the things that people think I need to be doing. Reality is I NEED TO DO WHAT THE LORD TELLS ME TO DO! I need to follow his marching orders for my life... not everyone else's marching orders.

God has some marching orders for your life today!

Will you take time to listen to them?

The children of Israel had a cool thing going on when it comes to being directed by the Lord. Do you remember the story. A cloud would settle over the tabernacle all day long at night it would be a flame so that it could be seen day or night. When the cloud lifted, they knew it was time to pack camp and move on. So they would follow the cloud. At times the cloud would be for a couple days, sometimes months... either way when it moved they moved! When the cloud lifted, it was the Lords marching orders for His children to get a move on.

What a cool deal... there was no second guessing, wondering if the cloud had lifted or not. There was no "I wonder what the Lord wants me to do?" "Should I stay here or move on?" All you had to do was open your eyes and check out where the cloud was.

This was all under the old covenant and today we have a better covenant. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of believers in Jesus Christ. Thanks to the blood of Jesus we can come boldly before the throne of our Father, we can hear his still small voice directing us... helping us make decisions. We can personally hear his marching orders for our lives. For the guys back in the day... all they had to do was to open their eyes... all we have to do is open our ears and hear his voice!

Oh how I long to hear the Lord marching orders for my life today and to follow them the moment God issues them! Earlier today I was talking to the Lord about my need for his marching orders and he reminded me that he has given me some that I have yet to follow. Ug! I teach leaders that they should never have to be asked something twice... it's a key to greatness. And how humbling it was this morning that the Lord has had to ask me more than once to do the same thing.

Part of being able to hear the marching orders of the Lord has everything to do with our obedience in following the previous orders he has given us.

May you hear the Lord more clearly this year than you ever have before. May you have ears to hear and a heart to obey - the moment the Lord speaks to you.

Blessings,

Kev

The Power Of Prophetic Words

What a great reminder as I read Mark 11 yesterday. Perhaps you remember the story of Jesus passing by a fig tree, he was expecting to find some breakfast, but there was nothing but fig leaves. Scripture says, he addressed the tree... stop right there.

He addressed a tree... Jesus spoke to things and they listened and obeyed. He spoke to waves and told them to calm down and they did. He spoke to a tree and cursed it, telling it no one will ever eat fruit from you again... and it shriveled up and died. He spoke to dead bodies and they came back to life!

I remember years ago when I worked for the Apothecary Shop. I would go into work early in the morning and walk around the building speaking to it. I would speak to the business and command it to flourish, expand, and grow for my boss. I had a godly boss and I wanted his business to prosper.

When I as a teenager I had a friend who was riding his bike down Saginaw Hwy. and was hit by a car. He was in a coma... every day his mother would read the word of God to him. What a great mom! Anyway, I remember going up to the hospital and speaking to Kurts body and he sat up and said Hi, Kevin. Wow!

This week I went up to the hospital to visit some friends who's 5 month old baby wasn't able to hold down his food. I laid hands on his body and commanded it to be healed. Speaking to the mountain of sickness in his body, I commanded it to get up and go! Before I made it back to the office, I received a voice mail that he was doing much better, tests came back negative, looks like he now won't be needing surgery and will be heading home. Praise the Lord!

Jesus told his disciples in Luke 11:22-25 MSG

"Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain for instance: Just say, go jump in the lake - and it's as good as done. That's why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you'll get God's everything."

Will you take time to prophecy over your life today? Speak to your spirit man, speak to your marriage, speak to your children, speak to your finances, speak to your business, and speak to your ministry. Speak to everything in your life ranging from small to large... fully expecting the miraculous to take place in your life.

I prophecy over you now my friend. I speak to your ears and tell them to open up to Gods voice. I speak to your heart and tell it to obey the voice of the Lord. I speak to your spirit man and say "GROW!" May you walk in personal revival and the adventure of speaking prophetic words!

Enjoying the Journey,

Kev

You're not in the drivers seat!

Wow... I read Mark 8:34-37 this morning. In the message Jesus said,

"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the drivers seat;

I am... Self sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself."

Have you ever noticed when we try and take the "lead" in our lives we only mess things up? I know I have seen what happens when I take the lead. When I'm led by my own fleshy desires, when I'm led by what I want, when I'm more concerned about me than I am about others. It's not pretty!

Yet as I glance over the years of my life and look at the times I moved myself out of the drivers seat, when I embraced not ran from difficult times, when I was willing to follow God's way - the way of self sacrifice, when I was humble instead of proud, when I trusted in the Lord not myself. It always turned out beautiful!

When we allow the Lord to take the drivers seat of our marriages, finances, families, ministries... it's an absolute adventure. Are there difficult, challenging times? Of course! There are times of self sacrifice, testing... and other not so delightful things. But the pay off is huge!

Huge returns tomorrow are not made unless sizable

investments are made today!

Every time we give up the drivers seat and embrace the Lords way of doing things. We are making sizable investments in our future... and we can fully expect huge returns.

Enjoying the journey,

Kev

What do you want from the Lord?

Wow.. it's been a while since I've written a blog, it's amazing how time gets away from you.

We'll my dog has been kind of sick. A few days ago, he would not move - not even to eat. I tried putting the food 2 feet away from him... and he just wouldn't budge. And this is just not like him he normally goes down 3 set of stairs to eat and acts like he's been starving - he loves to eat. He was breathing heavy and just not being himself. I picked him up (not an easy thing to do... he's a pretty big dog) carried him to the vet only to find out that he has some pretty bad back pain and is simply getting old. The gave him a shot for the pain and some pain meds and we went back home.

The next day he would eat, but only if it was out of my hands and he didn't have to move.
I laid down next to him early in the morning for about an hour. Oh, how I wish he could talk and let me know what I could do to help him!

Think about this for a minute... I'm longing to hear what my dog wants, I'm longing to do whatever he desires, just to make him feel better. If I long to meet the hearts desire of my dog - how much more does the Lord desire to hear from you? After all you are more than a pet to the Lord, you are His very own child! How much more does he desire to give you your hearts desire?

I read this morning in Ps.20:4-5b

May He grant your hearts desires and make all your plans succeed... May the Lord answer all your prayers.

Praise God! What a precious prayer from Gods Word straight to your heart today. Would you like to receive your hearts desires in 2009? Take 3 simple steps:

1. Know what you desire and hope for in 2009!
Pr.10:24 says the HOPES of the godly WILL COME TO PASS. Take time to right down the things you hope for in your relationship with the Lord, in your family, in your work, in your finances, in your ministry and in your church. And why not grab some pictures to help you create faith movies about the very things you desire from the Lord. I keep a power point complete with pictures on my phone so it's with me at all times. I call the file: My life at a glance!

2. Make some plans.
Did you notice the prayer was, May the Lord make your plans succeed. It didn't say may the Lord make your desires succeed... but your plans. Take time to make some plans to see your dreams become reality. And ask the Lord to bless those plans and make them succeed. Bottom line is we have to practically plan and then go to work and take action on the plans the Lord drops in our hearts.

3. Pray.
May the Lord answer all your prayers. In Matt.15:28 MSG - we see a woman who had a desire that her daughter would be healed, she made some plans to talk to Jesus and took actions. And she asked (prayed) in such a way that she just wouldn't take no for an answer. And her persistent petition paid off! Jesus looked at her and said, WHAT YOU WANT IS WHAT YOU GET! Right then her daughter became well.

I pray for you today my friend, May the Lord grant you the desires of your heart, give you strategic plans from heaven and make them successful, and may he hear your prayers and say to you: WHAT YOU WANT IS WHAT YOU GET!

May 2009 be one of the greatest years of your life!

Kevin

Where do you go when the strom hits?

So here I am this morning sitting in my living room enjoying a nice cup of coffee and spending some time with Jesus. Out of nowhere I see lightning through the sliding glass doors. It's December 27th! Your'e not supposed to see lightning in December when you live in Michigan. And then the thunder started... it was shaking the house. Wow... what a strom and sure enough the rain followed.

I was was being totally disracted from my Bible reading thinking about how odd it was to see such a huge thunder storm this time of year. My dog came up to me... he just stared at me like.. "HELP." I noticed he was physically shaking and then I remembered that he freaks out over thunder. He's a big pit bull but he was acting like a scared litte girl. He laid his head on my lap and I began to pet him and tell him everything was going to be Ok.

Where do you go when you are freaked out? When an unexpected storm hits your world? You know what I'm talking about... those times when a realtionship goes bad, a job is lost do to downsizing, or your just not sure what decision to make.

I thanked the Lord this morning that I can always go to him. My dog may have been scared because of the storm. But he was smart enough to know who to go to when the strom hits. I pray I will always be smart enough to run to Jesus when the storms of life come my way. He is my refuge, my place of shelter and the shield around my life. It's in those times that I run to him when it seems like all hell has broke loose that he calmly and confidently tells me all is going to be OK.

His gentle words and the touch of His Spirit bring peace to my troubled soul.

May you hear His Spirit speak to you this morning. Is. 3:10 says, "Tell the godly all will be well with them..."

The storms of life will come... and at times when you least expect them. Just remember who to run to.

Blessings,

Kevin