3 strikes you're out

In my OT journey I came to the story of David and Saul. Saul was king of Israel and he was jealous and afraid of David and his skills that God gave him. David was a great harp player, and Saul was a horrible spear thrower. Dave used to play harp for Saul and I'll let you read the rest.

1 Samuel 18:10-11(NIV) The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.

Two misses equals two strikes. God had told Saul that he was going to be de-throned, so Saul was fearful because God sent evil spirits to Saul to remind him every day that Saul was going to be punished eventually, and that David would succeed him and be a way better King than Saul ever was. Then a chapter later.

1 Samuel 19:9-10(NIV) But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

And its one, two, three strikes your out at the Old Testament game. If people are continually trying to harm us emotionally or physically and it happens three different times, then we should probably do what David did and get away from the person. Dave chose not to strike back or even talk bad about Saul. He continued to respect Saul by not getting back at him because of David's respect for God. I got one more part just to show how bad of a spear thrower Saul really was.

1 Samuel 20:32-33(NIV Jonathan talking to Saul about David) "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.

Bottom Line - If someone is continually throwing spears at you (trying to harm you), you should probably get away from them.

Weather Report

Not the jazz band that Wayne Shorter was in. It has been nasty weather outside for the past 2 weeks. It has also been nasty weather for me as far as my health also for the past 2 weeks. The sickness and the weather together have seemed to interrupt my life some for the good and some for the bad. I have missed some work due to both, which was not good. I have missed some church events due to both, which was not good. I had a miserable trip to Arizona due to my sickness which was not good. I played alot of Wii on my down time which was somewhat not good. I have had the chance to read alot of the OT on my down time, which is good. I created this blog on my down time, which is good.

I have basically been very uncomfortable for the past 2 weeks. I'm ready to overcome the sickness and move on and back to a normal life with regular living energy. I also plan to continue the journey through the OT, because it has been wonderful. Look for the weather outside to continue to be nasty, but hopefully it clears up inside.

Bottom Line - The weather forecast is only a prediction that may or may not come true. God's forecast will always come true.

dancing fool

My journey through the OT has brought me to David and the verse from the "Undignified" song that everyone loves.

2 Samuel 6:22(NIV) I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

I like the message version much better.

2 Samuel 6:22 (The Message) I'll dance to God's glory—more recklessly even than this. And as far as I'm concerned, I'll gladly look like a fool.

I really love dancing even though I'm really not that good at dancing. Dance parties are my fave, especially classic Stegman ones. I like the idea of dancing in worship, but I'm not as bold as David was to dance in the middle of the streets and look like a fool in front of people. I'm not sure why I am scared to dance for God and look like a fool, because I always dance at weddings and look like a fool. I might as well start dancing for Jesus, or as Family Force 5 says "getting crunk for Jesus".

Bottom Line - Hold up, wait a minute, put a little love in it.

short term memory

Have you ever gone on a great vacation and then the next week after getting back in town and back to work you forget all about? Then you see the pictures and it brings it all back? Have you ever seen a great sports game (the Super Bowl two weeks ago), but now you can not remember who even won the game? Have you ever prayed for something so bad, then all of the sudden you kind of forgot that you were praying for it and the next week it turned out that the prayer was answered, but you didn't even realize it because you were on to the next thing?

In the book of Judges from the OT the people basically forget about God over and over again. When I first read some of it I remember thinking, how can these people forget God, especially after He delivers them from slavery by overcoming overwhelming odds and perfoming miracles right in front of their eyes? I couldn't understand how they could forget, but then I really thought about it and remembered that I always forget too.

I look for ways not to forget, and I have found one way that helps through personal experience. If you do not live every second you can in the Presence of God then you forget rather quickly. Living every second in the Presence of God does not mean that you live sin free. Although you can try, you still can't do it, but if you are in the Presence of God often, then you quickly realize and identify your daily sins and deal with them on a daily basis. I often brush through a quick non-heartfelt prayer before I eat dinner because it is what you are "supposed to do". Then I thought, why not try to pray on the spot all day, every day whenever I think of it. I have latched onto this idea for some time now and feel a greater connection in my prayer life instead of waiting for specific times of the day to pray. When I am practicing this, I tend not to forget all of the blessings in my life. I tend not to forget to notice beautiful clouds in the sky on my way home from work. I tend not to forget to be encouraging to others.

There are still times where I find new things to think about, then I fall out of range and I forget about God. There comes a time during the forgetfullness where it hits and you realize the time that has passed since you have forgotten. Then you are crushed and you come running back to return to God. I'm sure this is how the people in Judges felt. I can relate to them.

Bottom Line - The only things we remember are the things we have engrained into our hearts. What is engrained in your heart?

Namesake

I was named Joshua after the Joshua from the OT. As I recently read through the book of Joshua in the OT I realized that Joshua really only did one thing to solidify his leadership skills. He listened to God. Thats it. He got direction from God and he followed through with no hesitation as if it were no problem at all. Without any doubts even though the path may have been overwhelming or the numbers stacked against him and his people, Joshua did exactly what God told him to do every time even though he may have been faced with fear.

Listening for God is tough, and once you hear from God, then acting on it is even tougher. Things usually stand in our path blocking us from following through on what God has set us to do. Fear, doubt, and lack of confidence are 3 of the main ones on my list. In my life I have had major times of hearing from God and not so major times of hearing from God. Sometimes I seek and listen, sometimes I don't seek or listen. There have been many times where I have acted on God's voice and there have been several times that I have not acted on God's voice.

In my entry below we all saw what happens when we choose not to seek or listen. The next step is following through. God usually gives us things to do that we probably hate doing or would be scared or uncomfortable doing. That is why he gives them to us. We must become fearless and put aside our doubt and go for it. Easier said than done, but we can help encourage one another.

Bottom Line - If You say go, we will go. If You say wait, we will wait.

Sam I am

I have been taking a journey through the OT (Old Testament) and recently came upon this quote from Samuel talking to Saul (the current King of Israel)

1 Samuel 15:22-23 - The Message

Then Samuel said, Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God's command,
he says No to your kingship.

Wow, Sammy says that God does not want us to sacrifice just because it is a ritual. Sambo also says that going to church and doing spiritual and religious rituals mean nothing to God if you don't listen to Him. Then Sam even goes to say that hearing from God and not following up on it is worse than getting into the occult. Saul was doing all the right things, but he was failing to listen to God.

I'm sure that after God gave the words to Samuel to speak to Saul, God might have used a line that was stolen from Him and used by the verizon cell phone guy.


Bottom Line - "Can you hear Me now?" (If we choose to say yes, God Replies) "Good"