Fall Creek Christian Church

"A man's wisdom gives him patience, it is to his glory to overlook an offense."  Proverbs 19:11 "Ouch!", I said to myself.  The words that were being spoken were not only disrespectful, they were false, insulting and demeaning.  I just kept reminding myself of the truth that God is my Defender.  Any attempt on my part to fight for me would have expressed that I thought I was the big deal.  The Lord reminded me very clearly in that moment that it was not about me.  So, I kept still and watched God do what only he could do. We humans tend to operate from a fundamentally self-centered perspective.  The writer of the verse for the day nailed squarely on the head two symptoms of the self-focused life: impatience and defensiveness.  From a Biblical perspective, there are two things that are true of those who move away from these normal reactions. They are wise. They are esteemed in the eyes of others. Today, you will be tested. Opportunities to be...

“But don't be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives." Genesis 45:5 As I walked away from one more difficult conversation, I began to really get discouraged and frustrated. "What is this all about?", I asked myself and God. My character was being attacked and my integrity questioned. I was confused and hurt and absolutely clueless as to what to do about it. The tunnel of perceived chaos is one, in which, God is powerfully at work. I couldn't see it at the time, but God was doing something in my life that required that tunnel. In our verse for the day, we find Joseph discovering this same truth in his life. He was, after 13 years of grief, able to see that his brother's mistreatment of him was actually the vehicle, in which, God carried him to fulfill his destiny. If not today, pain from mistreatment or pain from circumstances is headed your way. Someone is or will soon...

And when trouble came to King Ahaz, he became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, 'These gods helped the kings of Aram, so they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them.' But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Israel." II Chronicles 28:22-23 After about the fourth or fifth pop rivet that tore away from the metal I was working with, I finally concluded that pop rivets just might not be the solution to my problem. I know, I know ... I'm a genius. One attempt wasn't enough. Not 2, Not 3, Not 4 ... You've been here before haven't you? The billion dollar question for the day is ... Why is it, after proving an idea to be bad, do we continue to try it thinking that the outcomes will be different the next time. If I only give it more time, more energy and more resources, it will finally work. So ... we pour more money into a sinking business. We stick with rel...