Love you all, praying for you.
 
What is the greatest threat facing this country and this world right now?  The lack of truth.  Those that don’t recognize it, those that suppress it, those that claim it’s something it is not.  I just love God’s Word.  It is truth in an ocean of lies.  It is God’s truth.  All truth is God’s truth.  He is truth, the devil is a liar and the father of lies.  God’s Word creates belief.  But only if it becomes your word.  Only if your word doesn’t say something different.  Have you ever thought something, and said that thought, and it came out in a catchy rhythm or phrase, that sounded so cool you repeated it, and even began to believe it must be true?  It’s easy to do... “God helps those who help themselves.”  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”  “Money makes the world go round.”  How silly.  But what you say you believe.  What you repeat the most you will believe the most.  Even God’s word cannot overrule your word.  It will eventually, but not right now.  That’s why Proverbs admonishes – My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding… then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  That means you need to recognize God’s Word, distinguish it from something different, and choose to believe what He said, over what someone else says – even if it’s you.  If you accept and agree – it becomes belief for you.  But if you say something else – that becomes belief for you.  That’s how people get deceived, tossed by the wind of whatever they hear and say.  Their discernment becomes dulled.  That’s why the devil is always trying to get you to hear something, or say something that is not true, or only part true, or true, but with wrong motive.  Anything He can do to twist what God said, and make you believe differently – he will do it.  Some people are guillible, others become willingly gullible.  And the most gullible are those who are vehement in perpetuating false truth.  Rarely do people perpetuate lies, most often they perpetuate what they falsely believe to be true, or good or right.  Isaiah 5:20 – Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. God wants you to be very careful with idle words, with the things you say or repeat.  Better not to say anything.  Better to humble yourself and just say – I don’t really know yet, or I haven’t fully considered.  And if something comes out of your mouth, or someone else’s – be sure to use your New Information Filter - #1  Is It True?  #2 Where is the evidence?  #3 What’s In It For Them? #4  What Does God Say?  And the best thing to make sure you are creating belief, and not mis-belief.  Stay in God’s Word.  Your PRISM Time is important!  God wants to grow you, and prepare you for the deception attempts that are coming.  When it comes to wisdom vs. deception – you can’t cram for it like a high school exam.  Your best defense is a steady diet of Truth from God’s Word.  Proverbs 19:27 – If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.  (You will turn your back on knowledge – that means you will embrace ignorance, deception, and delusion).  PRISM is important – if you’re word-starved, you’re wisdom starved, you are effectiveness starved, and success starved.  Proverbs 4:10 – Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many.  John 12:47 – Jesus said, “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person.  For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.  Praying that you will guard your idle words – and eliminate them.  That you won’t have idle words anymore.  Praying that every word you say will be truth and right, that builds you up, and encourages obedience, not perversity – a turning away.  Praying that your diet will always be God’s Truth.  He will give you what you need for each day! 
 
Love you all,
dad

​Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  Every story, every account, every book, every chapter, every word is awesome.  But some chapters are special - if that’s even possible.  Genesis chapter 1, Psalms 34, John 14,15, Acts 2, Ephesians 4, Hebrews 11, James 1.  But one of the best chapters ever -  John 17.  Because it’s what Jesus prayed.  What you pray reveals your heart.  For God and others.  A godly young woman once told me.  You can tell a man by the way he prays.  Praying that you will review the Prayer Packet.  That you will be fervent and effectual, but most of all that you will pray the prayers that God wants you to pray.  So many verses are so powerful in that chapter but one was interesting.  Jesus is about to be arrested, and this was his prayer before he left.  He prayed for his disciples, “Father the time has come, Glorify your son that your Son may glorify you.   For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life:  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  And then, John 17:4 – I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work that you gave me to do.   What a revealing prayer.  How does God get glory from your life?  How did God get glory from Jesus’ life?  He told us.  God gets glory by you completing the work that God gave you to do.  Would God have been glorified by Jesus if he just hung out in Gethsemene all the time?  Just spending time with His Father?  No one can practically do that, everyone has to go to work.  But those with the time to, rarely do anyway.  But if they had the time and did it.  Would time in His presence alone bring glory to Him?  Time in His presence gets you His plans and a glimpse of His Power, so you can do what He has given you to do.  He will help you!  That’s why He left, so His Father could send the Holy Spirit.  This isn’t work-required acceptance, He loves you no matter what you do.  But God created you for a reason – He has things He has for you to do, and doing them – bring glory to Him!  David had sheep to tend, skills to develop, lions to kill, and bears and then giants.  Then a nation to lead, and enemies to defeat, and a son to crown as King.  When Jesus spoke of himself He said, “I glorified the Father by completing the work He gave me to do.  When God talked about David… He didn’t say – David’s heart is after me cause He spends the most time with me, or he plays a mean guitar, or he writes cool songs.  It says “I’ve found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.  He will do everything I want Him to do.   Just like Jesus completed the work that God gave him, and Adam, and Moses, and Esther, And Jeremiah, and Paul.  How do you complete the work God gave you – so bring glory to Him?  #1  Know His plans  #2 Know His Heart.  Praying that your PiVAT before dinner is a never-miss.  So He can reveal what He has planned for you for tomorrow, so you’ll remember and finish strong, everything He put in your hand for today.  Praying that your PRISM time in His Word – has you hearing His heart, His love for you, and love for others – that He wants to send you to.  If you are in His Presence, know His Word ,and His Power, you won’t default to others words, your own plans and your own power – which is nothing without Him.  Praying that you will bring Glory to your Heavenly Father today – getting His plans and His Heart – so you can complete in His power everything He gives you to do.
 
Love you all,
dad 

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word – it doesn’t just train you in righteousness, it trains you in excellence.  It works.  It’s proven.  It is trustworthy, it never fails.  Courage And Character.  Different, but inclusive.  One is an assessment, the other is an action.  Can you have one without the other?  What is Character? – what you do when no one is looking.  What is Courage? – what you do when no one else will.  Character – The peculiar qualities, engrained by nature or habit, that distinguishes you from others - your character.  You can be of good character, or bad character.  Sound of character or lacking in character.  Can you have one without the other?  Can you have courage but lack character.  Perhaps.  Ecclesiastes 7:19 – Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.  Proverbs 16:32 – He that is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he that ruleth his spirit (that has self-control) than he that taketh a city.  So a person with courage and strength to take a city, might not possess the character to keep it.  Can you have character without courage?  Courage without character is mere bravado – a boast or a brag, a menace or threat, lacking substance to truly follow through, or to overcome for honorable purpose.  Does a bully really have courage?  No.  They merely display selfish overbearance.  Weakness posing as strength.  When challenged with equal or greater strength, or less strength but great courage, they usually fold.   Similarly – can you possess good character if you lack courage?  The ability and willingness to stand for what is right when no one else will, or when the odds are against you.  Courage. Bravery.  Boldness.  Fortitude. That quality of mind which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, ignoring fear out of a sense of honor, righteousness and duty.  What you do regularly - forms character.  So how do you grow in character and courage?  The English word – character – does not appear in the King James – it uses words like virtue, moral excellence, integrity, and trustworthiness to describe it.  Interestingly that word virtue – means voluntary obedience to truth.  And it includes strength, bravery, and valor as a part of virtue, courage is a part of character.  When it comes to virtue, Courage is associated with Character.  God wants you to have courage, and He wants you to have character.  Deuteronomy 31:6 – So be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.  For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  (He will never fail you or abandon you).   Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and of good courage.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.  Ezra 10:4 – Arise, for this matter is your responsibility, and we will support you, so take courage and do it.  Psalms 27:13-14 – I remain confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait patiently for the LORD, be strong and courageous, and wait patiently for the LORD.   Psalms 31:23-24 – Love the LORD, all you his faithful people!  For the LORD protects those who are faithful to him, but the proud he pays back in full.  Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.  God wants you to be of good courage.  Because He promised to be with you.  He will never abandon you.  And He wants you to grow in Character – in reputation and esteem.  Ephesians 5:11 – Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible. (GWT – Light exposes the true character of everything.) 2 Peter 1:5 – For this very reason, (what reason? The inheritance reserved for you in heaven…) you must make every effort to add to your faith, character, and to your character, knowledge. Character (virtue, moral excellence, integrity)  Hebrews 13:5 (NASB) Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you.”    Acts 17:11 – Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Philippians 2:22 – But you know Timothy’s proven character, how as a son with his father, he has served with me in the gospel.  (v20) I have no one else like him, who genuinely cares about your welfare.  Proverbs 31:10 – A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  Ruth 2:1 – Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a prominent man of noble character.  I Cor 15:33 – Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”  Romans 5:3-4 – Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  I Peter 1:6 – In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to endure various trials, so that the proven character of your faith – more precious than gold (which perishes even though refined by fire) – may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.  Philippians 1:11 – May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ – for this will bring much glory and praise to God.   God wants you to have courage – as a part of your character.  So how do you get courage.  Know that He goes with you, He will never leave you or forsake you. And how do you grow in character?  #1 Obey what you know so far, #2 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  #3 Speak words of faith, #4 Stay in God’s Word – to add knowledge to your character.  #5 Keep yourself free from the love of money, value character over money.  #6 Be genuinely concerned about the welfare of others like Timothy.  #7 Avoid bad company, choose friends wisely.  #8 Count all your trials as joy.   Rejoice in your trials, because they will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus appears.  Praying that God’s Word, and Your Obedience, will grow you in courage and character – so His praise and glory will always come. 
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  It gives actionable truths in steps that bring success.  Above all else, get wisdom.  I just love Proverbs – that chapter that God gives you for every day – the wisdom you need – just in time.  I love the short verses, the simple truths, that remind you, that you can fully depend on, and put into practice – that always bring the fruit of wisdom in your life.  Proverbs 14:1 – The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.  Some things in life are complex, they have many inputs, many factors and conditions, and depending on certain things happening, then other things have to happen… but this is not one of them.  This is simple.  You are either building.  Or you are tearing down.  Your faith, your peace, your hope, your joy, your marriage, your children, your relationships, your household, your progress, even your destiny! You are either wise or foolish, you either build or tear down.  Building and tearing down start with a thought, and the thought that becomes thoughts that you entertain, and give mental real estate to.  Whether doubt or unbelief that comes from a question or disappointment, that you allow to turn into doubt or unbelief.  Something didn’t happen the way you hoped, or blindsided you from out of the blue, whether unfairness, or injustice, or inconvenience, or legitimate threat of loss.  Your thoughts – that you allow to fester and grow – will either build or tear down.  The next building block after thoughts are words.  Thoughts you give word to.  Words of doubt or unbelief, or accusation or slander will tear down.  But words that believe, that believe the best, that cover over wrongs – those words will build your house, and build your faith, and build your humility, and build your joy.  Words will build you or undo you. They will lock in and add to what was being built… or tear down what was becoming good.  A third block that builds or tears down - obedience.  Obedience builds – Ignorance, or disobedience or delayed obedience – tears down.  Anytime you take God at His Word, receive what He said – for you, and do it.  It builds.  Have you ever played with a toddler?  Building with blocks?  Every time you build a tower.  What does the child do?  They have to knock it down – so the blocks scatter.  Why?  Because they are a child.  Children are not wise, wisdom comes with truth and obedience over time.  Children don’t have that yet.  Some adults act like children, they will try to knock down your blocks, and they knock down their own, sometimes all at once, but more often one by one.  Is that you?  Are you like the foolish woman or the wise one?  Do you build or tear down?  With thoughts and words, and obedience?  The next block that either builds or tears down – Diligence.  Diligence builds, laziness tears down.  If you’re lazy, you’re tearing down.  There’s a time to rest, but there’s a time to work. If you have no interest in work, in doing what needs to be done at the time appointed.  Things that should already be finished, aren’t even started, stealing from you the opportunity to do the new thing, the bigger thing that God would have brought - because you now have to do the smaller things, and you may not even not do them at all.  Little things build character before big things.  Some people never get to the big things – because they have never learned to be faithful in the little.  So they are never given the opportunities – that they could have had if they possessed the diligence that builds, rather than the laziness that tears down, like the foolish woman – who tears her house down.  Habits are another block that either build or tear down.  The lack of good habits, by default creates a different habit.  People don’t lack habits, everyone has them.  They’re just one of two kinds.  Habits that build, or habits that unbuild, that take you backward not forward.  Praying that you would be like the wise – that build their house, not the foolish that tear theirs down.  Another block that builds or tears down – listening before speaking builds.  Speaking before listening tears down.  Some marriages and relationships suffer from unkind words.  Rather than trying to eliminate them, just listen first.  Build and you won’t tear down.  If you listen, unkind words are null and void.  The opportunity to say them up front, no longer exists, because your goal is to listen - not just to what they say – but what they feel.  Sometimes what someone says really just reflects how they feel, not what’s completely true.  Praying that you will understand the choice you face today.  Be wise or be foolish.  Build or tear down.  Praying that your thoughts, your words, your obedience, your diligence, your habits, and your listening – has you always building.  And finally, the two things that are guaranteed to build!  His Plans, and His Word – if you know and follow His plans for you today – you will always be building!  If you know His Word today – wisdom will reside in you, comfort, confirmation, commitment and contentment.  Wisdom always builds – His Word that’s written, and His Word to you – will always build, they’ll never tear down.  You’ll be the wise, not the foolish, your house will be great, and the blessing even greater.    
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
As you were growing up, I trained you to work.  To be diligent in planning and effort.  Not your plans, God’s plans for you.  Not your effort, but the strength that He provides.  To always add value.  Always give more than you are paid, and you will always be working on a raise.  I taught you to work a system.  If you don’t, you’ll miss something, and that’s all they will remember.  Work a system, so your work is excellent in everything you do.  It honors God, it blesses others, and it reveals your character.  What is a system? Top Left to Bottom Right – every blade cut, every line straight, every square clean. And always do something extra – more than you were paid for.    It’s not difficult to stand out, because most people aren’t excellent.  And finally, I taught you that your final glance – is their first impression.  Why would you spend two hours cutting someone’s grass in the blistering hot sun, only for them to see a gum wrapper or leaf in the yard the first time they pull in the driveway.  That’s all they’ll remember.  Never leave a job you’ve done, without taking the time to do a final glance, it’s their first impression.  It’s always worth the final check.  I know a young couple who have devoted their life to the LORD.  Their marriage, their career, their money, their children, their possessions, their dreams, their goals, their time.  He shared something with me recently that God revealed in His PRISM time with the LORD. That time in God’s presence, and in His Word.  He shared that God gave him a revelation that He wanted this young man to implement in his life.  It’s really a final check for your day.  And it’s called the 4P’s.  It caught my attention because I’m familiar with the 4C’s – those practical Biblical principles of financial stewardship – that help you obey with God’s money.  He doesn’t need you to be a better money manager – (He can do it all by himself) He needs you to be a better money obeyer… So He can direct His resources through you for His increase.  Seed to the sower and bread to the eater.  So if the 4C’s are for money – what are the 4P’s that God showed this young man, as a final glance... a final check for your day?  Presence, Prayer, Purpose, People.  At the end of each day – their final check… Did we spend time in God’s Presence? in Worship? In PRISM that time in His Word, where God can speak directly to you – to give you the wisdom you need, and the confirmation you crave.  Did we spend time in Prayer? – the prayers that God wants us to pray. So we can bring our requests before Him, and align our prayers with what is on His heart?  Did we fulfill the purpose that He created us for today?  Did we do PiVAT before dinner, and check back throughout the day – so we can know His assignment for today, and finish strong – fully completing His plans for us - today?  And did we invest in People – His Heart?  Did we know who God wanted to help, and encourage, and bless today using our hands, and our feet, and our voice?  Those 4P’s are a pretty good final check for each day.  So you don’t leave a gum wrapper on your perfectly cut lawn.  So you don’t lose days, not finishing everything He had for you, so you can get the next assignment, rather than delaying your progress, and the blessing that comes with it.  God said He will never give you something beyond what you can bear, He said He’s with you wherever you go.  He said He has good for you!  So your final check isn’t a burden it’s a blessing.  It will increase your victory, and your testimony.  And it’s just another conversation you can have with your best friend.  Your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than you can imagine, and who can’t wait to share the next wonderful thing He has planned for you!  Praying that you will final check each day.  Presence, Prayer, Purpose, and People.  That you will redeem the time, and walk in the fullness and the abundance that He has for you. 
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  It’s a different measuring stick.  It places value on things that we wouldn’t expect to be most valuable, and what we tend to value it exposes sometimes as worth little.  John 13:1 – It was just before the Passover feast.  Jesus knew the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the extent of his love.  This is it, the end of the story, the final chapter is about to be bigger than anyone would have ever imagined.  And as the whole book of Jesus life on earth was ending – it indicated the value of his life, what He did that was most important.  Having preached to one hundred thousand people!  Having healed five hundred people!  Having conducted six hundred miracles, having raised three people from the dead!  Having preached in every synagogue in Galilee and Judea!  None of the above.  When it was time to go – what did it record that Jesus had done while He was on this earth?  Not having healed or preached, or donated, or built or established…  Having loved his own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of his love for them.  Jesus life was measured, not by numbers or accomplishments – but by love and obedience.  Of all the things you did!  Did you love them?  Starting with your wife or your husband, your children, your family, the family of God that you belong to, those who believe in Jesus’ Name.  Do you love them?  John 13:34 – A new command I give you.  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples.  If you love one another.  Judas had left to betray Jesus, and only eleven remained.  Jesus said, I’m only with you a little longer, and where I’m going you cannot come.  They had left their nets and their families to follow Him.  For the last three years, everywhere He went, they went with Him.  And now He says He’s leaving, and they can’t come?  So now He gives them a new command.  It’s Thursday at dinnertime and they have no idea that the garden of Gethsemene is just an hour away…  and life will change forever.  And He tells them a new command – a focus from now on.  When I’m gone… Love one another.  Love each other, just like I loved you.  That’s how people will know that you’re mine, that you follow me.  Yes, we are to love our neighbor, and love our enemies, but Jesus said we’d be known by our love for one another.  What does that look like?  And how are you doing?  If you love someone, you talk with them, regularly and intimately.  If you love someone you are there for them, in those important times in life – the highest highs and lowest lows of their life, you help them when they need it.  You show up on moving day, when everyone else is too busy.  If you love someone, you speak life and build them up, always encouraging them in humility and obedience, not apathy or self interest.  If you love someone you spend time with them, you give to them if they need, you pray for those you love, you put their needs above your own.  Have you ever wondered,  Who does God have on His heart for you to love today?  If you ask Him, He'll tell you.  Praying you will remember that God’s measuring stick is different.  And that today you would love God, love your spouse, love your children, and love one another.  That His new command becomes how you live your life.    
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  It is truth and life.  And it is simple.  God gives simple instruction.  (Not easy, but simple) - uncomplicated.  First step first, then next step next.  He instructs, he tells stories, and he demonstrates. He gave us an example so we can see it and follow it.  John 13:12 – When he had finished washing their feet, He put on his clothes and returned to his place.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?  He asked them.  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘LORD’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your LORD and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  I tell you the truth.  No servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.  Jesus had told them, if you want to be great, don’t be like the world, who wants to lord it over people.  Instead if you want to be great, be the servant of others.  Don’t aspire to be their boss, but the one who serves them.  Now He demonstrates what it looks like, and tells them ‘don’t just do as I say, do as I do.”  Now that you know, the blessing comes if you obey.  Know and Do – simple, not easy.  Serve instead of be served, simple, not easy.  Two very important things.  Know and Do.  To know is irreplaceable.  If you don’t know, how can you do?  But to do is critical – if you don’t do, how can you really know. Know to do, and do to know.  How important to you is knowing?  Will you spend the time to get the knowledge of God? Or stumble along in your own?  Will you Do PiVAT before dinner so you can know what He wants you to do? Will you do PiVAT Weekly for this week? So God can reveal what He wants to do in you, and do through you, so you can become what He is leading you in, and leading you to?  Will your PRISM time be a priority, so you know how to do, what He told you to do, so He can confirm it, and reveal the heart and mind and wisdom with which to do it well?  Will you overcome this week – simply because He said?  Exhort one other daily?  So you can overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of your testimony?  To know is so important, and if you know (He will surely tell you if you ask Him.)  How quickly then will you do it?  Knowing without doing isn’t really knowing, it’s just an awareness of what you haven’t done yet.  Praying that you will know what He has for you to do this week?  And how He wants you to do it, so you can be so effective in it.  Praying that you will do it completely, with humility and joy – so that He gets the glory and you get the blessing.  Just like Jesus’ example, he only did what His Father wanted him to do.  He knew it because of the conversations they had… Praying that your conversations this week with your Father in Heaven, will be so intimate, so clear, so transforming, so submitted, that you know and do – everything in His heart – for your good! 
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  It tells you what blessed is. (Made happy and prosperous, enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God. Enjoying heavenly felicity (great happiness, the joys of heaven, prosperity, blessing, and the enjoyment of good.)  That’s a good life.  Not ‘the good life’ that the people always associate with the trappings of the world, but a fully good life that enjoys God’s favor, the blessings of heaven as well as the blessings of earth.  God’s blessing makes you fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. It means you lack nothing (Deuteronomy 7:14) It means God gives increase (Deuteronomy 28:3-4) When you’re blessed, setbacks don’t bother you, dark clouds don’t worry you, you know who you are and whose you are, and what you go through doesn’t matter because you know your end is sure.  You enjoy the journey, you don’t fear the storm, or the future, you live for heaven, while being completely faithful on earth.  Psalms 84:4 – Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.  Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength, til each appears before God in Zion.  What a picture of a blessed life on earth.  If you dwell in His house, if His presence is your priority – worship and His WORD – coming back again and again to your PRISM time with Him.  To hear His voice, His love, and confirming His plans for you.  You will be blessed.  If you dwell in his house, you will praise, and if you praise – you will dwell in His house.  You enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into His presence (His courts) with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless His Name, kneel before Him, remember what He has done for all of His people, and what He’s done for you.  If you put your strength in Him, not in yourself, your own ideas, your own plans, strategies, or effort – you will be blessed.  David said, “I praise you O God my strength!  If you do things in His strength, not your own, you will be blessed.  It starts with His plans over yours.  PiVAT today – walking in what He planned for you, that conversation with Him where He reveals His plans for you for today.  Which you fully complete in the grace and strength He provides.  If He’s your strength, you will be blessed.  When you set your hearts on pilgrimage.  It means you live for eternity, not the present.  You remember and act like you are just passing through, this world is not your home, you’re storing up your treasure in heaven, not down here.  You don’t spend money remodeling the hotel room, or putting new rims on the rental car – you won’t be here for long!  You’re living for up there, not down here.  That’s why you submit everything you think and say and do – to God.  You have set your heart on pilgrimage – and you will be blessed.  As they pass through the valley of baca they make it a place of springs.  Those who are blessed, are game changers, environment changers.  Your job, your company, your school, any room you walk into - is different the moment you walk in – the whole atmosphere changes. You bring the Holy Spirit of the living God with you!   Deserts are changed into pools.  Barren wilderness becomes lush with produce.  Dry and lifeless becomes a place of springs.  That’s what happens around you when you’re blessed. You bring life and joy to dead places.  You go from strength to strength – God gives you strength for today, and strength again for tomorrow.  Your obedience in this thing, releases His grace and strength for the next thing.  Nothing intimidates you, or is too great for you.  You can trust Him, His plans for you are good.  And He will lead you in victory until the day you go to be with him in glory, forever and ever.   Praying that you will praise Him today, that you will obey him today – that your trust and hope will be in Him today – so you will be truly blessed. 
 
Love you all,
dad

​Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  It tells you and it invites you.  If you respond, it will position you.  Psalms 84:1 – How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the LORD.  My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God.  How did David get that way?  How did he get a soul that yearned for God, and a heart, mind and body that cried out for the Living God?  Does your soul yearn for His courts?  Does your heart and body cry out for the Living God? Or other things?  How did David get this way?  Time in God’s presence, and time in obedience -  doing what God told him.  It’s an acquired taste.  The more you spend time with Him, in His Word and In His Presence, the more your love for Him grows.  The more you obey what He reveals (the first thing, at the first opportunity, right now) the more your love for Him grows.  Acts 13:22 I’ve found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, He will do every thing I want Him to do.  This is an acquired taste, it’s un-natural.  You get to that place of longing for Him, but spending time with Him and doing what He says.  That’s how your heart for Him grows.  Praise God -Jesus said ‘It’s good for you that I go, so the Father will send the Holy Spirit.’  No longer do we have to take our family to Jerusalem every year.  God now dwells in the hearts of men, every time we turn to Him, we can be in His presence because of His Spirit that filled us and lives within us.  But we need to turn.  Praying that your time with Him will increase your yearning for Him.  It’s where peace is and wisdom and direction that you need.  In His presence, you’ll find peace, and your peace will remain, when panic is all around you.  In His presence you’ll find joy – real joy, not the kind the world gives, that is just temporary, and fades in a moment.  In His presence you’ll find your purpose – that for which you were created.  In His presence you’ll find wisdom – that you need for today.  In His presence you’ll find strength, you’ll know truth, you’ll know the love of your Father in Heaven for you – far beyond any earthly love you could ever know.  Praying that His dwelling place, that place of worship in His presence, and sitting at His feet – hearing His Word, and doing it quickly – will grow your love for Him so every Good thing that He is and He gives – will grow His Great Name in your life.  So that your heart yearns like David, and God can say if you -  Just put your name in… I’ve found ____  a man after my own heart, a woman after my own heart.  He will do everything I want him to do.  She will do everything I want her to do.  Praying that PiVAT for today has you knowing and obeying what He assigned for your good. That PRISM today has you hearing his great love for you and specific direction for what you will face, that your Daily Call has you overcoming with another – just like He commanded, (Hebrews 3:13) so you walk in the joy of the LORD, the strength of His Might, and the purpose that He has called you to. For His glory and your good!
 
Love you all,
dad

Love you all, praying for you.
 
I just love God’s Word.  Praying that it will always be the centerpiece of your day.  You don’t have relationship without conversation.  His Word is Him speaking to you – it’s the love letter you need, and the instruction that will help you succeed.  Praying that PRISM will keep you coming back to it – to His wisdom and direction, and deliverance for you.  So your faith grows, and your peace remains, and your hope is encouraged, and your love increases.  I noticed something recently that I’ve read often but never really stopped to take an honest look.  Proverbs 6:16 – There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.  If you really love God, you’ll love what He loves and hate what He hates.  I never really felt these applied to me.  But could they?  Sometimes it wise to take an honest look.  #1 Haughty eyes, a proud look, it just means that you see things, and see others through a lens of self-superiority, seeing yourself above, and others beneath you.  Whether you wouldn’t do that, or do it that way.  Do you think of yourself more highly than you ought? It’s easy to fall into – if you haven’t developed the habit of considering others as more important than yourself, what they say as more important than what you have to say, you'll revert to that old lens.  Doesn’t mean what they say is always right, the Holy Spirit will give you discernment, but becoming one who values others above yourself, is required to prevent you from slipping into something that God hates.  #2 A lying tongue.  We don’t really set out to lie, but if we knew how much God hates it, we might be more careful not to omit part of the truth, take some credit that’s not really due, allow misperceptions to remain that favor us, or flatter others for personal gain.  Do you speak the truth? Or shade the truth, or hide part of it?  Even what we say to ourselves, if it’s not what God says – it’s a lying tongue.  It will lead to evil – pride, grumbling, complaining, or unbelief.  If we knew how much God hates it, we might fully occupy our mouth with His truth, rather than let idle words condemn us.  #3 Those who shed innocent blood.  Well that’s not me, I don’t kill people.  Do you hate anybody?  Love God, hate sin, but not sinners.  Love and pray for your enemies, while asking God to right wrongs, bring justice and vindication in His way and His time, but still love the sinner.  Jesus said if you hate someone it’s just like murder.  His standard is higher.  What about innocent blood being shed?  You don’t do it, but do you stand firmly against it, or just accept it as the cultural norm.  If we knew how much God hates it, would you let it continue unchecked?  Or confront the lies that perpetuate it?  #4 A heart that devises wicked schemes.  Well that’s not me, I don’t make plans to harm people.  A heart that contemplates evil.  Where do your thoughts go when they are free to roam?  Do you think about things that honor God? Or are they things that dishonor him, that don’t really bring honor to Him because they are worldly pursuits and obsessions? What do you see or hear or consider?  Does this honor God?  If we knew how much he hates thoughts that tend toward evil, we might be more careful of what our eyes see, our hears hear, and where our thoughts roam.  #5 – Feet that are quick to rush into evil.  That’s not me – I don’t run to rob banks.  That’s not the only evil.  Feet that go where evil is.  Where do you go?  Who do you go with?  Is God honored there?  How often do you go where you might fall, or compromise what pleases God, whether conversations or actions.  Where people are – who are not seeking to honor Him, but please themselves.  If you’re a recovering alcoholic, Happy Hour on the way home from work, is not what God has called you to.  That’s feet drawn to evil.  Business Networking is a weak excuse.  If you go where complainers congregate, where slanderers gather – you have a feet problem, that God hates.  Sometimes those situations come to you. Suddenly it’s time to move your feet.  Will you leave a movie theatre, or a conversation that dishonors God, or a place that you can tell temptation is rising or just on the horizon?  That person is not who you’re called to, this environment is not God’s leading you… If you don’t move your feet from evil, God hates it.  You might should not have been there in the first place, but you better move now.  What’s here doesn’t honor God, move your feet.  #6 A false witness who pours out lies. You may not lie about someone before a judge in court, but a witness is someone who repeats what they saw or heard.  How often do you say things that God never said, that you don’t know to be true, but yourself or others.  Doubt and complaining is a false witness – repeating things that aren’t true, just feelings.  #7 A man who brings dissension.  Do you overlook and cover over wrongs? Or do you let them remain, by talking about them, or allowing others to discuss them in your presence.  What you don’t redirect, you participate in.  Sometimes it’s time to take an honest look.  And as for the things that God hates.  A healthy Fear of the LORD – is a protection, not an inconvenience or needless exercise.  Praying that you won’t just avoid what God hates, but pursue the opposite. That you would have humble eyes filled with the love of Jesus for others.  That you would see them like He sees them, how they could be, not just how they are right now.  That you would actively resist the shedding of innocent blood and the lies that perpetuate it.  That you would pursue thoughts that honor God, and never contemplate anything that that dishonors or displeases him, that you would move your feet from any situation that could lead to compromise, That you would always speak the truth in love, because you over-seed His Word in your heart.  That you would lead every conversation you have into blessing, not slander, believing the best, and covering over misunderstanding.  The you would be the peacemaker that God blesses, who promotes kindness and unity.  Praying that you will reverse what God hates in every conversation you have.  And that when God leads you to consider anything you don’t normally consider, that you will take a honest look.  And let Him bring the change that honors Him, and establishes you. 
 
Love you all,
dad