At our local church fellowship, we have had Dr. Talley as a guest speaker. He has been sharing with our fellowship about the importance of having a personal prayer ministry. For the times I’ve been, it’s been some pretty good stuff.

Tonight was really cool. I’ll admit that when I saw the title (something like “how to be emotionally strong through prayer”), I wasn’t all that excited. As we unpacked Philippians 4:6-7, a few things stood out. One thing that I thought I’d share was the “bologna sandwich for worry”. Here’s how it goes (from Philippians 4:6):

Our pastor’s message for the Graduate Recognition service this past Sunday was awesome.  It was what should be in that kind of service: something for everyone but with a hint towards the graduates.  In the message, our pastor made a great point that stuck with me and has me mulling it over.  In Luke 2:41-49, Jesus was left behind by Mary and Joseph after the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem.  Three days later, they found Jesus in the temple talking and questioning the teachers about God.  Jesus’ statement was priceless…

Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

The point that our pastor made was that Jesus was shocked that His earthly parents took so long to find Him.  Didn’t they know who He was and what He was here for?  Where else would Jesus be but other than talking about His Father and making sure people understood the truth about Him?

Then the question gets turned back onto us… Where would we be found if we went missing for three days?  Would the search party find us in a church?  bar?  ditch?  football stadium?  Jesus later taught that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).  Whatever holds our heartstrings is where we’ll find our feet going towards.

Make it a point today to let Jesus be the treasure of your heart and follow Him wherever He leads.

I have been reading through the book of Exodus in my daily readings for the past couple of days.  This has been a great journey through God’s word for me.  As I came to the familiar passage about God using Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, one thing stood out to me: the mentality of Pharaoh.

Exodus 5-12 accounts how God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh with many “signs” or “plagues” so that Pharaoh might see that God was calling for a release of His people to worship Him and live in freedom.  Over and over again, we see that Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not allow the release.  Then God brought the ultimate “plague”: the death of the firstborn.  This led to the release of the Israelites to finally live in freedom.

What stood out to me was the repeated instances of Pharaoh saying one thing then doing another (Exodus 8:8-15, 8:25-32, 9:27-35, 10:16-20).  Over and over again, God showed His great power and victory over the false gods of the Egyptians.  Over and over again, Pharaoh made a “deal” with God to obey.  When Pharaoh saw that everything was good again, he reneged on his promise and faced something worse.

How many times does this reflect our hearts?  God allows things in our life to crumble or get uncomfortable, and we make a “deal” with God only to renege on our part.  God is not interested in our “deals”.  He is more interested in our hearts and obedience to Him as a loving Father.  Let us make a “deal” with ourselves today: stop making “deals” with God and just be obedient to Him.