You love me for me

Tonight Lord, I thank You just for the fact that You are God. You are my God. You pour out grace and mercy on me. You answer prayers that have been given from over 2 to 3 years ago. You show me that though I am a sinner, you love me. You hold me, keep me warm, reasure me and protect me.

I bring you praise, the joy of my heart because though I am nothing, truly I am not righteous, I am not worthy, for my righteousness is like dirty rags to you and I epically fail in comparison to Your Son. Yet You notice me, You love me, You turn to me and You listen, You hold, You guide and help. How could I ever choose anything but you?? Where would I be without you?

You are a God who knows the future, who guided the past, who loves the unloveable. You are the God that has compassion on us, You look at us and see we are sheep without a Shepherd. You sent Your Son to die on a rugged cross for us, to restore a relationship with us. You rescued us! You sent us Your Holy Spirit to do greater works in us than Christ did. It is You that move within us. You are a mighty God who deserves everything we can offer, our very breath! Tonight I ask you to forgive me, to cleanse me and to use me. Forgive me for not being bold when I need to be. You are a mighty God!
AMEN

Salvation is a Good Friend

I can't sleep tonight! Too much on my mind perhaps, or I am just used to being tracked out and able to stay up so late! Either way, here I am Lord. Listening to bluegrass music, wanting to blog, to pray and grateful for you. Who am I to argue with You? Life is great and worth living because of You. I would rather be here, now, up, then in bed, letting my mind wander to sinful things. I have salvation through Your Son and I am an heir! How amazing is that?

I thank You for my friends, for my church, for my youth, for Facebook, for this house, these dogs, freedom, Your mercy and grace. I thank You for hot showers and clean water. I thank You for my car, for my clothes, for the food you provide, for my family, for everything. EVERYTHING. Regardless of my situation, through peaceful times and the rough, through the rain and storms or sunny weather You are my God and I am forever grateful! Thank You Lord.

AMEN

Here is Our King

Today Lord, I thank You for being my God. I thank you for a great night out with my wife last night! I thank you for the two interns I have working with our youth! I thank You for the opportunity to teach a 3-week class on prayer and I thank you for Your love and grace. I thank You for our house, for our dogs and for our family. I thank You for being our KING! I thank you for a good breakfast and a chance to serve You by doing demolition work today!

I ask that You watch over me, speak to me, give me wisdom in how to handle the various situations I will see come about in the lives of my youth. I ask that you strengthen me when I need to be tough and to discipline and help me be gentle and loving when compassion, mercy and grace are in order. Help me be a loving and faithful husband. Lord, I do not want to incur Your wrath, not be rebuked, though if I step out of line, as my loving Father, I ask that you do rebuke and discipline me.

I pray that Jay and Eva's wedding will be amazing this summer and that You will bring Anthony to a full relationship with Your Son. I pray that His relationship with Cindy will help lead to that but that also it will be good for his heart too. I ask that You watch over my wife and be there to guide her growth and her walk in You.

Finally, I beseech You Lord, please give us a child. We love You and we want to share our love with our own child.

Thank You Lord,
AMEN

Random Today

So many thoughts as I finish Philippians today. I first off thank You God for a great month and for the strength to get through it. It has been crazy; crazy busy to say the least! I still enjoy time withf riends, family and my kiddo's and for that I am grateful. You have truly blessed Miranda and I. We may not be rich, well-off, or have the latest gadgets, we still have You and that is all we need. You bring us comfort through those down days, through the tough days, through the pain and strife and give us peace to live on. We have peace with You in two ways, one being we are not enemies, instead we are friends, we are close, we have an eternity together. Secondly, we have peace because You grant us it. When the things in life, such as the strong desire for a baby, don't turn out the way we want them to, You still hold us, comfort us, whisper Your sweet words in our ears and remind us that You love us. God, life without You was horrible, it was chaos and I did not like it. I am grateful for the fact You never gave up on me, on my dad, on Sara Shillinglaw, on Troy, and I ask that You never give up on Andy.

I ask that You lead me today. That Your guidance is shown through my words and actions as I lead these Middle and High Schoolers as their pastor. I want to bring them to You, help them grow in their relationship with You and be a Godly and Christ-like influence. Lead me, and when I stray from Your path, bring me back. COme get me like you the one lost sheep You chased after. I thank You for Philippians, I think You for 4:19 which got me through Liberty and gets me through now! Thank You!
Amen

My Kiddo's

Father, you know my love for my youth. They are my kiddo's, my boys, my girls, my teens, you name it. I want them to grow up chasing after You. I want them to follow You, to love You, to read Your word, to pray to You, to talk with You, to find You, to look for You....do You get it? I want their world to be wrapped around You. They are all so different. Some are hurting, some are scared, some are lost, some don't get it, but some do...
Father, be a father to the ones who need a daddy. Be strong to those who are weak. Comfort those who are sad, lonely, depressed. I would give my heart, my very soul to know they have peace in You. I am nothing without You, so I need You. I want, I crave even to make an impact on their lives. I can pour my heart into them, my world, my very life! I ask that You use me. I ask that You send me, that You pour into them everything You have.
Life isn't worth living without You. You are our rock, our Savoir, our Lamb who bled for us. My students, my kiddo's they worry about so much. They get caught up in the wrong things. They make bad decisions, but grant them mercy and grace. Lead them, teach them, and help them be covered in Your dust. You are my God, be theirs too!
Father, all I can ask is this;: save them, love them, mature them, in You and for Your sake.
AMEN

If I know Different...

If I know Different, then I ought to live Different he said. THe wisdom, dripping from his mouth as he said it. How true that is! If I know Truth, then I ought to live that Truth. If I control my feelings, then I ought to live in those moments where I know everything is at peace and alright because of my God. If I sin, I am wrong, I am a sinnger, but there is HOPe and a VICTORY. Did Christ die on the cross for defeat? Did He die for my ransom, my hope, my victory? I love sin, if I am honest. My desire to sin comes natural, easy to me, I want to give in. However Christ died to give me freedom. Christ died to give me victory and there is victory. If for over 5 years I have not gone to a strip club, I can claim it is only because of Him. The desire is there, still, but Christ is bigger and my desire for Him is bigger!
Christ, help me hate the sin in my life. Help me hate the fact that I desire sinful things. Help me love what and who You have given me. Give me the strength to love my wife today, to love her in great and amazing ways. Help me show her what a Godly husband looks like and be the man You want me to be to lead her. Help my say no to sin, but not just no, help me detest it. Help me see the error in sin, help me desire You so much more. Heal me, help me, lift me up, rescue me! You are a big and great God. If You are for me, then who could stop me? You are with me, who can stand against me? I need You because I hate having to be a sinner, yet I love it so much. I need You, I need you to build up a hatred in my heart for sin, a hared in my heart to turn my eyes away from You, away from my wife, away from the responsability you have charged me with. You are awesome in power.
AMEN

Run to me Papa

Lord, do my tears count as worship today? These worries I have, being scared, unsure...does the fact I am here telling you this, does that count as worship? I have no doubt that you love me and I trust that You are a mighty God but why now do I cower, shake, tremble in these fears that Lord, right now life is tough? If Your affections are great for me, I ask, will that be enough? It sounds stupid realy, to ask, but am I not a finite, sinful child of Yours? Do I not struggle with these things? So many different things to be scared of and doesn't most of it tie into some sort of financial issue?
Lord, I want to be the most amazing husband I can be, the leader of this household but how can I be when it seems so tight. I know, I get it, I am putting my worth and value into how the cash flow is around the house, but next month it gets tight. Next month every cent matters and this seems somewhat new. Father, oh my precious Father I am so sorry for being scared. You know me though, You know how emotional I can be and how scared I can get. I am running to you now, crying out for you like the Prodigal Son and I just ask that You run to me and meet me. Hold me in You great big arms, love me, comfort me for God I am weak and I feel like I am barely holding on!
I love You. You are this God who sees me cry, who wipes the tears away, You hold me, You care for me. You laugh with me, hurt for me, You took the CROSS for me! You alone answer prayers. You alone know my future. You created me, I am Your workmenship! You crafted me, made plans for me and you created good works for me to fulfill for Your glory! Life is great and I miss out on so much of seeing that. When I struggle I am still blessed. I have so much but most of all I have You! Having You, a relationship, Your love, grace, mercy, salvation, and a promise is all I need.
I am running to Your arms Papa. Will You run to me like You always have? Run to me Papa...
AMEN