NCarolinian

I am close to my parents.  My parents have always tried to be there for me. Through my childhood and teenage years they were an immediate presence, then there came college.  I will never forget my first day at college. I was driven down, settled and they drove away. I had a strong 50/50 mix of emotions. Half of me screamed, "Don't leave me alone! Stay on campus somewhere!" The other half of me had the adventurous spirit and was ready to sing, "A whole new world...." (from Aladdin). I can only imagine, after the Disciples spent quality time with the Messiah for three years that their hearts and minds were torn at the news of His departure.  Think about who and what they saw. They saw the perfect representation of Father God in Jesus. They witnessed His healings, His teachings, His Holy anger, His compassion, His power over demons, His authority over nature, and His command over death. Then Jesus laid down His life and left His followers in death, but not w...

Jesus Christ fulfilled many names prophesied about Him and will fulfill many more. In studying Psalm 91, believers know God in the beginning of this Psalm as "Most High", "Almighty", "Lord" and "God". "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” "Most High" or Elyon is the portrayal of God as incomparable. Nobody is higher than Him.  "Almighty" or Shaddai is the God of more than enough. When speaking of God's capabilities and provisions, He is not just satisfactory with His love and blessings, He is abundant. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, " And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."  Yehovah/Yahweh or  "Lord"  is the covenant-keeping God. Did you know that Jesus...

Faith comes from hearing testimonies. Testimonies come from witnesses. Witnesses come from overcoming challenges. The singer/song writer, Michael English, sang "There's Not A Crown Without A Cross" many years ago. This is still true today. Then after "The Crown" is achieved, testimony is an awesome way to build-up The Body - the faith of Christian believers. Hebrews 12:1 encourages us in this vein by saying, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses..." . The phrase "compassed about" in the original Greek is peikeimenai . This is a compound of the words peri and keimai . The word peri means completely and highly surround . The word keimai means to lie down . When we combined the two we have something to the tune of - Where as we see nothing but all these biblical examples piled up and lying all around us... So, Hebrews makes it clear that when our faith needs a boost we can jump back into the...

Life seems to be over-saturated with square/rectangle Frames. Everywhere I turn - at work, at home, and on the road - I see frames. Desks, walls, windows, television monitors, road signs and parking spaces litter my daily vision.  Some lives are framed. These people seem to have their whole lives mapped out for them - on purpose or not. One "side of their frame" could be Generational Expectations. Another side might be Economic Weights and Challenges. A third side could be Social Pressures to be a certain person. The fourth side I reserve for our own making - a culmination of all three sides and our self-made boundaries/limitations. Now, don't get me wrong - some boundaries, some structure is appropriate - everything in moderation. I have heard the phrase, "Stay within the lines, the lines are our friends." But life is fun and creative when we can explore off-road some. I believe we hold better perspectives, our batteries are charged more and we are healt...

Did you have an invisible buddy growing up? Some people did. About the safest place I get away with saying publicly that, "I have an invisible friend" now-a-days is in church. However, The Holy Spirit is, in fact, My Invisible Friend. One might say to me, "Chad, He is a spirit, He is going to be invisible." Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I have a special invisible friend and would respond - " since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) Throughout the ages, my friend, The Holy Spirit, has come in the form of a thought (1 Chronicles 28:12) , whisper (1 Kings 19:12) , prophesy (1 Samuel 10:10) , wind (Acts 2:2) and tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) to name a few.  Not to limit my limitless friend, but now-a-days, at least for me, He nudges me through teachers, printed material, special songs, special ...

There are many marvelous Scripture verses worthy of committing to memory. However, three passages that I would like to place in your mind and spirit to not only memorize, but confess out loud are - "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;" (Isaiah 54:17) "Don't be afraid, those who are with us are more than those who are with them." (2 Kings 6:16) One might say, I would not have thought about that third verse Chad. I know, The Bible is wonderful, isn't it? You can read it time and time again and each time the Lord can reveal something valuable and different from the same passage. This is what happened to me recently as I came across 2 Kings 6:16 . This verse reads -  “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” The back-story to this verse is that the formidable Syrian army was sending their latest troops ...

Do you remember what James 1:22 says? No? Allow me to refresh your memory. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Pretty straight forward, right? Sure it is on the surface. Now let's dive a little deeper. Two points - (1) take the guess work out and (2) get creative with your doing.  To the first point, we can sit and hear someone speak about a topic that requires action points, but if we continue to roll over and over in our mind what the speaker actually meant we run a great chance of deceiving ourselves . The encouragement is to hear, get clarification if needed but not live here (in the hearing and any more clarifications) - go and do. Doing begins the process of taking the guess work out. To the second point, did you know you are a poet and don't even know it? The word "do" in the phrase "do what it says" or in other translations - "doer of the Word" - comes from the orig...

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. - Psalm 91:9-12 Recorded in the Old Testament, in the time of Joshua, the nation of Israel established six cities as places of refuge to seek when someone accidently killed another and the relative of the deceased sought revenge. The cities were Kedesh (Galilee), Shechem (Ephraim), Kirjath Arba (Hebron of Judah), Bezer (near Jericho), Ramoth (Gilead) and Golan (Bashan) (Joshua 20:7-8). In the Psalm, David poses a question within an "If...Then" statement - " If you say, 'The Lord is my refuge', and you make the Most High your dwelling..." Let us all just stop right here and answer that question. Is Jesus our hiding place and counsel when t...

Have you ever dealt with a friend or regular acquaintance who had a history of bad breath? I have dealt with a couple. Have you ever handled a situation where a friend or regular acquaintance had bad body odor? I have. I also have a friend who has worked with someone like this. My friend, out of the goodness of his heart, took into his home someone with all the hygiene problems you could imagine. Imagine Pig-Pen from Peanuts. In an effort to help restore some cleanliness and teach some good hygiene, my friend got him into a shower and all polished up. His skin was cleaned. His ears cleaned. His nails were un-gunked. His mouth cleaned and smelling minty fresh. His hair combed. He was a new, almost unrecognizable man afterward by my friend's account. Then "what to my wondering eyes should appear" - the man put his old stinking, ratty clothes back on his new clean body with no afterthought to the new clothes laid out for him. Some Christians do the same thing with the...

Ephesians 4:30 says, "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." The original Greek word for "grieve" is lupete . This word comes from the Greek word lupe , which expresses pain or grief between two individuals who love each other. The image that is portrayed is one of unfaithfulness between a husband and wife. As a result the injured party is shocked, hurt, wounded and grieved because of the pain associated with the offense. This tells believers that we have a special, intimate relationship with The Holy Spirit. A marriage which is valued by the Spirit of God at the cost of Jesus' life. So, it is no wonder when we purposely rebel against God, our relationship with The Holy Spirit is strained. Remember, He is always with us, even through our mire we take Him through.  Rick Renner says of this - "The Holy Spirit convicted us of sin and brought us to Jesus; then He indwelt us, sanctified us, empowere...

Maybe you are in a sticky situation right now in your life. Maybe you are in some big decision-making calls right now or soon will be. Maybe your life is just grand right now and needs no assistance. In any situation, at any point of your life you not only need to know Now What, you need to do it. The idea I want to convey is to be more than just the monkeys that portray - see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. While it is good to shun evil and with God's help keep it at bay in our lives, we can't just sit on our haunches and acknowledge there's a problem. We have got to be part of the solution. Being part of the solution means not only reading/knowing God's Word (eyes), not only hearing The Word (ears), but speaking The Word (mouth). "When our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He did not merely think about Scripture. He spoke it out loud. You can memorize thousands of Scriptures, but if you don't learn to say, 'It is written...,...

My earthly Father's work has been the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of people. He has worked for The State of North Carolina in providing a plan for developmental children as his main job for the majority of his life. He has also cared for the mental state of adults by being a Christian Counselor in a private psychiatric practice. Now, he is an Associate Pastor at River of Life Church - being a fellow shepherd and teacher of Christ for people's souls in this area. He has impressed me greatly with his balance of work and home-care over the years. He has touched me with his love and compassion for people, especially children. However, what has inspired me most is what I have found to be the key to his success - dwelling with his Father God. The key to protection and all other blessings in Psalm 91 is first dwelling with God. In Psalm 23, we get a picture of us as sheep first resting or dwelling in green pastures, beside still waters where our souls are refreshe...

When God manifests Himself as the God of Peace in our lives, His grace is the believer's unequaled defense and offense against the enemy's attacks. "the God of Peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with with you. Amen." (Romans 16:20) Whenever the devil can get your eyes off of Christ and on yourself, he is winning the battle; whenever Satan and his schemes turn your attention to self-based success, your faith can then be misplaced or redirected to the glee of our enemy. If this is the case - "You will disqualify yourself mentally and inwardly from receiving whatever you might be trusting the Lord for." (The Prayer of Protection, Prince, p.69) . However, Grace is the Christian's undefeatable defense. If Christ's sacrifice on the cross does not account for our salvation, our healing, our protection, our deliverance, our redemption - our everything, then His free gift or unmerited favor, otherwise...

Every time I see and hear the commercial for "The Most Interesting Man in the Word" saying his tagline, "Stay thirsty my friends." my spirit and The Holy Spirit always take that Spiritually. One of the ways believers in Christ can stay thirsty for more of God in every aspect of their lives is to remain humble. Qarah is a Hebrew word in the Bible used to explain God-ordained happenings. This word is found in Genesis 24:12 concerning Abraham's servant and his quest to secure a bride for his Master's son Isaac. The verse says,    " Then he prayed, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.' "   If you keep reading you will know, as Paul Harvey says, "The rest of the story." The outcome is as the Hebrew word states - a God-ordained occurrence. However, for such an honor and a responsibility as this servant had, I want to magnify the servant's posture of humility. Of all...