Who Is Your Lord?

As you start this new year, you are probably signing up for various forms of life transformation such as exercise, Bible reading plans, diets, prayer, etc. One of the keys to life transformation is relationships.  The most important one is your relationship with "lords" in your life in comparison to THE LORD of your life.

The dictionary defines "lord" as: one having power and authority over others; ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience is due.  With that definition, who or what gets our service and obedience?  What do we give preeminence to in our thoughts, heart, actions? Who has power and authority over our lives?

That rightful place belongs to Jesus.  He is not someone or a "god" for us to use in our life as just as one of the "lords" in our life.  He desires to be THE LORD of your life.  That is how much He loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.  Jesus keeps it simple by just wanting time with you.  Establish times of prayer and devotion to Him at the very start of this new year.  Jesus loves us sincerely to the point where He will tell us the truth about our life yet provide hope for a better way and a brighter future.  That simplicity and sincerity leads into His supremacy.  The Bible states that Jesus is supreme from the beginning to the end.  This powerful Savior, Healer, Provider, Redeemer, Friend, Brother, and King is available to you.  He will not force Himself on you but He knocks on the door of your heart and hopes to be invited into your life.

Give Him the rightful place of being number ONE in your life as the ONE LORD of your life!  I believe if we can keep Him as our ONE LORD, He can do whatever He wants for us and through our lives to be a blessing to others and to His Kingdom!

Enjoy The Ride,

Pastor Cee

What Happens When You Find It

Have you ever misplaced or lost something?  Have you ever had that "oh no" feeling? Have you ever had to stop thinking about your next step and try to remember your last steps?  The keys, credit card, wallet, or these days more important than those might be our smart phones.

Psalms 112 is a song of 10 verses with no author mentioned or even context given for the inspiration to this psalm.  However it calls out in its first verse itself a statement that might make us scratch our heads.  (Read Psalms 112)  If you fear someone, you are blessed?  If you are delightfully obedient to someone's commands, you are blessed?  That is what verse one reminds us.  The "someone" is not just a random "someone", but the Lord God Himself.

Verses 2-9 list all the miraculous and gracious things God is ready, willing, and able to do for you and I if we find delight in His commands and fear Him out of reverence and honor.

• Your generations will be blessed! That means your kids and grandkids. 
• Your integrity and character will endure. Wealth and riches (not just financially) are in your home.  
• Your life will be lit up by His presence, love, and power.  Even when in the dark days of life and darkness has hit all around you, He will shine a light on your life and bless you. 
• Your generosity and consistency will be reciprocated by God.  God wants to reciprocate on your generosity.  He's looking to bless you even more if you are willing to be generous with what He has blessed you.  Worship Him in your giving to the house of God, to those less fortunate, find a missionary to support, bless someone randomly in your daily life. 
• Your trust in the Lord must be unshakable. Bad news will find you, but that will not shake you because you trust in the Lord. 
• Your heart will not be troubled because the God of Angel Armies is on your side.  Your enemies will look to see your demise, but you always stand tall with God on your side. 
• You will be a conduit of blessings. Find a way to give yourself away to others with the physical and spiritual gifts God has invested in your life.  For that you will be honored by God and maybe He could do it in front of man. 

I believe the author of this Psalm is anonymous because this is my song and your song.  I believe there is no context given to this Psalm because its for this moment of your life and my life right now.  That joy or even relief when we find that item we misplaced or thought we lost is probably indescribable.  There's a freedom in a resolution to that unanswered dilemma of "where could it be? or what if someone found it and didn't tell me?"

If God is capable, desiring, and excited to do all this and more for you, what keeps us from simply delighting in His Word and living to honor Him in all the ways of our life.  You are blessed if you fear God.  You are blessed if you delight in His commands.

Enjoy The Ride,

Pastor Cee

Bent But Not Broken

I had to post this devotional written by my beautiful, smart, wise, and powerful wife! I'm so blessed, honored, and proud to have her in my life! Be blessed!

Based on Psalms 34

Written by Sherin Mathew for This Is My Song devotional series:

My life testimony is not a victory story about how I am spared from troubles and tragedy but how my Father carries my family and I through the midst of our darkest nights. I look back and wonder how I make it through each season. I realize it is when I get up each day, I CHOOSE to praise Him and trust that He’s got my life in control, no matter the circumstance, be it sickness, death, uncertainties of life or even lighter hardships such as difficult day at work or the everyday busyness, it is then that I am filled with immense strength, faith and boldness to face the day and push through. As I keep my focus on Him every moment and not be distracted by the discouragements life throws my way, I can trust in His promise that He will always keep my face radiant with His glory.

During seasons of drought, it is harder, almost impossible to keep our chin up, shoulders back and face each day. But verse 5 reminds us that as long as our eyes are fixed into His, we should have no reason to doubt His promise that He will make ALL things, the victories and the wish-it-never-happened seasons work together for our good. Our faces will automatically emit the radiance of ‘the peace that passes all understanding’ and we can rest assured that the hardships of this life are never meant to put us to shame.

We cannot truly say we know what something tastes or feels like unless we have actually experienced it. Just as important as it is to cling onto His life giving promises, it is equally enriching and empowering for us to remember the miraculous ways He led us to our mountain tops and sustained us in the miry clay seasons.

So when we feel discouraged, despair sets in and when life seems unfair, before feelings of anger, shame and bitterness takes root in our hearts and minds, let us make every effort to choose to remember that our Lord is close to the broken hearted and will save those crushed in spirit (vs 18). Although He does not guarantee us a trouble free life, He does promise to walk by our side and will not allow one of our bones to be broken (vs 20).

Which takes me to 2 Corinthians 4:8 we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair. Our hardships are not meant to destroy us, but to build us up from the inside out. He may allow us to be bent, but will not let us reach the point of breaking.

May the name of Jesus always be our song we sing in the night.

Amen and God bless!

Do You See That?

Has anyone told you to look at something off in the distance?  They are pointing in that direction and describing it with their words.  You try to find it based on their guidance. However you can't see what they see.  Maybe at some point, they will give more obvious reference points like see that building, or that sign, or that light, etc.  Those are not the intended targets but they are just guideposts to get you to your final destination.  You find those guideposts, then your friend give another step towards that "thing" you both are trying to see at the same time.  Slowly you are working your way toward that "thing" via many buildings, moving objects, "guideposts"! Finally, your eyes get to the final destination and are now able to see with others the same thing.

Psalms 123 is the final destination.  Starting with Psalms 120, the first guidepost, the next few Psalms guide us towards Psalms 123.  The writer tell us to first CALL on the name of the Lord in our distress.  Then their eyes are lifted to the HILLS for help assuming He resides on Mt. Zion.  Then their eyes went with them to the HOUSE of the Lord.  Then finally in Psalm 123 the writer's eyes look to the LORD GOD Himself.  Not the mountains or the house of God, but to God Himself.

How many times have we looked to people, brothers and sisters in Christ, our pastors, our small group leaders, our ministry leaders, our spouses or children for help?  How many times have we gotten so desperate we decide to drop in at the church down the block one Sunday?  How many time have we turned to things that could host God or have a connection to God as a last resort?

Today, in the middle of your last resort, I encourage you to turn and fix your eyes on Jesus.  Look to Him alone.  People and things will fail or may last for a season, but Jesus never fails and His love and mercy is everlasting.  In Hebrews chapter 12, it reminds us to throw off every care, weight, sin, burden that holds us back.  It challenges us to run your race with perseverance.

If you have still not set your eyes on the "final destination" that people or God has been trying to get you to see, today make a dedicated decision to fix your eyes on Jesus Himself.  All that you are going through have been "guideposts" to get to you to see Jesus.  He is the author and perfecter of your faith.  When you finally see HIM, what a joy, love, peace, and hope you experience!

Enjoy The Ride,

Pastor Cee

In Your Loneliest Hour

Psalms 22 is a song that is a cry from a heart of anguish, despair, loneliness, and pain. However, it is littered with declarations of God's promise and power to deliver and strengthen those who believe, follow, and fear Him.

There have been moments in my life where the silence was deafening, the malaise was debilitating, the proverbial fog in my mind was so thick, the questions were countless, the doubts were running rampant, the confusion was chaotic, and I didn't know what to say, think, or do next.

I can say I'm not the one that tends to be a loner in life. Whether with family, friends, new church folks, ministers, or haters in disguise, I'm surrounded by people most of the time. However, being surrounded by people and things to do does not mean you can't be lonely. Have you every felt like you are part of a crowd but still as alone as can be? Have you ever felt like you are surrounded by such busy times and action but still not sure why or what you are doing?

When we got news during Sherin's pregnancy with Kayla that the baby might have some health concerns during pregnancy and possibly after birth, I felt like where did God go? Our family and friends were happy and rejoicing with us for the fact of expecting another child. The conversations, plans, and joy of that experience were all happening with great people in our lives. But when we got this news, it seemed like even if we were surrounded by a great support system, we were alone. More than people abandoning us in this moment, my question was "my God, my God, why have you forsaken us?" The only thing I didn't realize at that moment was that He didn't abandon us. He was with us and the baby in the womb. We had to trust in God and ask for His delivering hand to be revealed in this situation. The Holy Spirit reminded us of whose report will we believe, and we prayerfully and with faith responded, "we will believe the report of the Lord!"

In your times of anguish, cry out to God and trust Him. During the rest of the pregnancy, birth, and even until this moment, we can thankfully declare that Kayla is a strong, healthy, adventurous child growing in all ways. God is great! He didn't leave us, He just wanted to know if we trusted in Him.
There will be times in your life that people will not be there for you in your life and will watch from near and far and see what you are going through. They might not say it TO YOU - but I promise you some of your haters are going to think like the onlookers at the cross where Jesus hung and say like in verse 8 of Psalms 22, "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." My question to all of us is this, will people around us know that we TRUST IN THE LORD for them to make that kind of statement? Will they know that our heavenly Father delights in us for them to say or think that?

Jesus felt the loneliest hanging on that cross about to die not because of his physical predicament. He did so because at that point when all of our sins, shame, guilt, sickness, and pain was draped all over Him, His heavenly Father couldn't stand to look at His Son any longer and had to turn His face away from Jesus. Jesus experienced that loneliness so that we would never have to. He died so He can have a relationship with us. He did it so He can abide in us and we can abide in Him.

In your darkest and loneliest hours, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Stare down that crazy predicament you are facing and declare life, victory, freedom, healing, power, and peace over it. In verse 25, the scripture encourages us a couple of things: from God comes the reason for our praise AND our purpose in life is not yet complete. We have a destiny to fulfill for His Kingdom purpose. You are not alone for He is with you even until the end of the age was the promise Jesus left for all of His disciples - in the Bible and today!

Enjoy The Ride,

Pastor Cee