NCarolinian

Have you ever grinned and felt good all over when you heard a certain person's name mentioned? Usually that kind of response comes from a personal relationship with the named. In the movie "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" the lion's name, Aslan, has this impact on the children. I have a handful of people around me that garner that type of reaction from me. But there is another person that does as well - God, in particular, God's Son - Jesus. Jesus has done so much for me that title after title has to be named to describe our relationship. I know Him as Healer, Deliverer, Provider, Protector, Giver, Teacher, Counselor and Lover of my soul. Yet, what moves me most is knowing Him as Jesus, Yeshua - The Lord or Master Who Saves. Just within His name we have definition. There were others named "yeshua" in the days of my Lord, but no one was like Jesus of Nazareth. Notice Jesus does not have a last name. He has a location that identifies Him. He ha...

We need to trust in God's programming for our lives.  When we come into this world, we automatically arrive with infected programming. But God has Virus Ware - Salvation 3.0 that He has purchased for everyone, we just have to choose to Run it. Some accept and Run the original programming - Rebel 0.0 - with eternal consequences. But if the decision is made to Trash the original programming, use God's Virus Ware and install New Creation 7.0, then there are benefits eternal.  The only thing that remains is to receive a hardware upgrade - Rapture 1.0 - some time in the near future. Looking at God as our Programmer/Installer, a summary of Psalm 139 states - God knows us better than we know ourselves. His presence in our lives is inescapable. God saw who we would be and what we would look like in His mind's eye long before creating us. God's creative "Workshop" for all that makes us who we are was our mother's womb. "If only you, God, would......

We need to allow God to repave us. I have traveled over many bad roads in my time and to just have the road crew re-surface these bad roads will only see the issues return. Before long potholes come back with a vengeance and major cracks, bumps and dips show their ugly selves again. The underlying problem is just smoothed over for a while. What is needed is a total repaving of the area. This is where the pavement is dug down, gutted out and leveled then fresh road is poured into the cavity. Put another way, an iceberg is said to only present five to 10 percent of its floating, mountainous self above water. While its shape, features and beauty can be observed and even admired from above the water or in public, possible dangers lurk beneath the waves with the other ninety to ninety-five percent of the iceberg. What is needed is an iceberg specialist . This would be someone who could chisel away at the ugly parts above the water and see through the water enough to remove the dangerou...

When I was growing up, I could tell you without looking, who was walking from one room to the other simply by the way my family members walked. All the times I have been on a team, in a job or part of a church family for an extended period of time - I knew them.  Because I shared so much time in my relationships, I could distinguish voices out from the opponents on the court as I played against another team. Because I saw them everyday at work, I knew the cadence of my coworkers from afar in the parking lot. Because I sang, worshiped, traveled and learned with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I knew their voice, cadence, heart and presence when they were around me - seen or not. Has your name ever been called from where you cannot see the caller for the moment, but just by the voice you recognize the person? That is familiarity. That is relationship. That is recognition of a bond that is close enough to have developed to that level. John speaks about Christ's voice when ...

A huge fact jumped off the page as I studied Matthew 4:1-11 - the devil attacked at the end of Christ’s fast of 40 days. I am sure that the devil has attacked many believers during their fast and/or trying seasons at different times throughout the experience. However, beware for the post fast or post wilderness attack. Scripture records that following forty days and nights of fasting, the devil approaches -  “ After  fasting forty days and forty nights… The tempter came to Him..." (v.3) . We are not told how long Christ was going to fast, but we do know that at the end of forty days and nights, Satan personally approached and tested Jesus, because he personally left - "Then the devil left Him and angels came and attended Him." The enemy started by attacking Christ’s Sonship -  “If you are the Son of God," .   He then used the condition of fasting/hunger to test Christ's power of Provision to meet the physical needs – " tell these stones to become br...

Have you ever blatantly disobeyed your parents? Perhaps you did not care for a rule that was established and wanted to challenge their system. Maybe you desired to see how far one can go like many kids do. But when it comes to testing boundaries on a God-based relationship, the consequences are dire indeed.  Unfortunately, I fall into both categories of people - I have deliberately disobeyed my parents and I have deliberately disobeyed God. The specific reasons do not matter, the fact is the reasons are always selfish.  Genesis 3:6  says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Notice that the woman " saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food" . T he word "saw" here deals with reasoning. The next part of the sentence relates to vision when Eve observes ...

There are some positions in our jobs and within The Church that places the individual or group front and center with much, if not all, of the attention. When public speakers like The President or a Pastor address their audience, all eyes are expected to be on them.  However, Christ has instructed that the lives of Christians not resemble this look-at-me spirit that haunts all of us from birth.  Right at the beginning of the chapter Jesus gives His opening declaration - "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." Notice the warning - Pride.  "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them."   Christ alerts those who are "righteous" to Not Exhibit with prideful intent their right standing with God in front of others. Do not have a haughty spirit about your faith. Do not stick your nose up in the air concern...