hballingerLeave a comment

Consistent not Common

The Lord is good. His mercy endures forever. His faithfulness endures throughout every generation.
Psalms 100:5 GW

Yesterday, we learned about our being persistent in our prayer.

And in discussing our persistence in prayer, we talked about how all good gifts come from God — and how His good gifts are in contrast to the things of this world that are perishing.

We learned that persistence in prayer is about receiving. Consistency is about abiding, keeping, staying. God demonstrates consistency for us in His goodness, mercy and faithfulness to us.

Another way to look at it is that persistence is striving for what we realized we wanted but did not yet have — and consistency is how we demonstrate that we still want it now that we have it. A child might be persistent about asking for a new “thing” but tire of it quickly and move onto something else. But if that enjoyment remains and they consistently use it and enjoy it year after year, it proves itself to be more valuable to them. In fact, the value may not be as conscious to them as they may still be chasing “new things”, but it’s consistent, abiding presence in their life every day demonstrates clearly to others its value.

I might ask myself, “What am I persistently seeking, and what do I carry consistently with me each day that others can see is most valuable to me?”

I have only been awake for an hour this morning, but there have already been thousands of blessings that I’ve encountered this morning:

  • I woke up healthy.
  • The sun rose.
  • The birds sang.
  • My wife woke up healthy.
  • My daughter woke up healthy.
  • Our dogs woke healthy.
  • The power, water and utilities were all on.
  • The hvac had kept the house confidante through the night.
  • Our house is still providing shelter.
  • Our toilets worked.
  • My body successfully relieved itself of yesterday’s waste to make room for today’s nutrients.
  • I have a good job that I enjoy and that challenges me.
  • Technology allowed me to restart a server (planned outside hours restart) early this morning from the confort of my bed in minutes.
  • I am loved by Almighty God the Father whose mercy provided me a way back into His arms through Jesus Christ the Son, and who provides me each day His abiding presence the the Holy Spirit.
  • My Bible App allowed me to consider, contemplate and study The Word this morning.
  • The WordPress App and connectivity across the globe allows me to share the gospel across every nation, tribe and tongue.

I got up this morning, and so many blessings were present like they are almost every morning. It might be easy to overlook them because they are “consistent” in my life, but my familiarity with these blessings doesn’t make them any less valuable or important. Even just one of these blessings not being present this morning would have impacted my day significantly.

My point is that it may take me stepping back and considering the consistency of God’s goodness that this morning’s verse mentions.

It not only reminds me of who He is, but it sets my heart and mind up in a healthy alignment in order to make contact with the day.

Yes, today will have its challenges, it’s trials, it’s temptations, and it’s struggle — but how much deeper and wider and full is the mercy and love and faithfulness of our God in blessing us every day? Amen.

hballingerLeave a comment

Open Door Policy

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:8 NLT

This section in Matthew is about prayer. It’s worth a quick read:

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Matthew 7:7‭-‬11 NLT

Now, admittedly when asking for things, sometimes we might be asking for stones (heavy burdens) or snakes (things dangerous to us) and not even realize that what we “WANT” is not what is actually “BEST” for us. There are times when the “good gift” is to NOT give my daughter what she thinks that she wants. This is usually when she has locked her eyes onto something and has blinders on about anything else.

When the “desires of the eyes”, “desires of the flesh”, or the “pride of life” have taken over our focus so strongly that we are asking for bad gifts — we must realize those aren’t good gifts from the Father.

1 John touches on this:

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
1 John 2:16 NLT

So I might ask myself:

Am I craving and asking for this because I think that it will bring me physical pleasure?

Am I craving and asking for this because I see it and want it (like bait in a trap)?

Am I craving and asking for this because it will make me proud to have it and show off to others that I have it?

Asking for these things is not asking for something from the Almighty, Good, Good Father but is loving this world and the things it offers us at a painful cost and price.

So we might do well to understand that asking, seeking, and knocking for such things might be the same as the prodigal demanding that the door be open for him to leave with his inheritance — rather than us asking to “come in” to what is truly a gift and blessing.

What are we discontent about today? What are we not at peace about in our lives?

Have we asked God about it?

Have we sought to have wisdom revealed to us about the situation?

Have we been persistent — persistent, not just demanding (like a Karen who didn’t get their way)?

Lord, you know what we truly need before we even ask. Thank you for being a faithful and good Father who always gives good gifts. Help us to see farther than our eyes, our hands and our mouths — to recognize the many blessings and the true treasures that aren’t of this world. Thank you. Amen.

hballingerLeave a comment

Above All Else

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT

Today’s verse comes from chapter 4 of the book of Proverbs. This chapter is “A Father’s Wise Advice”, so it seems quite fitting to be mentioned after having just celebrated Father’s Day this past weekend.

I want to focus this morning on the phrase “above all else”.

It seems that when giving or receiving advice that we should pay most attention to the phrase “above all else”. As long as it isn’t over used (there should really only be one “above all else” if used properly) it should be effective in highlighting THE most important thing, ONE most important thing, a SINGLE most important thing.

And here, we see what that is — our heart, that we should guard it “above all else”.

It is our heart that is either surrendered to God in trust and in gratitude and respect (and yes, even in “Godly fear” like we studied yesterday) — our that is hardened to only be led by our own feelings and desires. When surrendered, we can stand firm and walk straight ahead, because there is One Way along the narrow path that leads us through an abundant life of purpose. But when we are blown back and forth by temptations, circumstances, and our own personal feelings and desires, we will waste so much effort and lose so much progress.

I read recently that with runners, swimmers, and other athletes, that any energy spent moving outside the plane of their intended travel is completely wasted and steals from their capability (for example, arms flailing out to the sides while running instead of pulling efficiently back and forth in the direction of travel). In sports science for professional athletes, they will even take videos of the athletes in action in order to identify the motions that are counterproductive towards improving their progress. Athletes must be single minded with a singular purpose and put all effort in that direction in order to reach their full capabilities and continue to break their own personal best records.

And this is so true of our lives, my friends. We must guard our hearts because this is the engine that will drive our everything today.

Do we not fully believe and trust in God and the fatherly wisdom that He has provided in The Word? Then we should decide today fully whether or not we will run this rave, whether or not we will follow in The Way. Because we are heading somewhere with our choices, decisions, words, and actions today — and it will influence and impact more than just ourselves. It matters.

Lord, help us today to be mindful of the critical importance of guarding our hearts, of choosing to believe and trust you, because it determines not only our day, but the direction of our lives. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

hballinger2 Comments

My Father’s Day is Today

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
Psalms 103:13 NLT

This past Sunday was Father’s Day and my wife, my daughter and I celebrated at home and at church together as a family. Since my parents have moved 4 hours away to the beach, and since both of my grand fathers have passed, and since my inlaws didn’t do the normal Saturday get together with all their kids and grands – it has been a bit different this year. There seems to be “a new normal” in much of our lives these days as we adjust to post-pandemic changes and losses of loved ones.

This is a sweet time with my daughter, as she grows into a pre-teen and still enjoys time with us — even as she starts paying more attention to the things that young people eventually are more interested in. It is wonderful that our relationship is so close and healthy that I can be tender and compassionate with her and that I don’t have to breach the peace in order to insure her attention. So I spend these years trying to lay the ground work about important topics that will come later in her life. We speak together now, so that hopefully I have to tell a little less later on. She has many lessons to learn in life and I tell her that I’ll still respect her whether she chooses the hard way of learning lessons on her own or the wise way of learning from our advice and God’s Word.

The Lord has taught me that being a good father is about the character and fruit that our children’s lives will produce in this world, and being engaged enough in their lives to apply the right nutrients to their soil. If she is flourishing, she may just need acknowledgement of her progress today and preparation for tomorrow as a daily treatment to basically check for weeds and enjoy her beautiful growth. If life’s circumstances are testing her — weeds, bugs, and sickness are starting to wear her down — encouragement, assistance, and commitment to work through it together is helpful. And in seasons where those things have hurt her growth, correction is necessary — even pruning things away from her life that are dangerous might be necessary. All of these things look very different, but when applied in the right timing they are all loving and helpful.

It is the same with the Lord’s love for us. If we have a healthy respect and fear of God, we can trust that His Word is not a burdensome set of rules to measure and judge ourselves and others — but is tender and compassionate and wise advise to help us live an abundant life, serve others well, and reveal God’s presence to an otherwise unaware world.

Our Father has made us in His image and has offered wisdom and love to lead us through today better prepared — if we will listen, if we will truly hear, if we will believe, if we will value His Word, and if we will follow in His Way.

And each of us will choose…

Thank you for being a great Father, Lord. Help us to be wise children and not so foolish as we have been in the past. And help us to share your wisdom not just in our words, but what we teach those around us in how we live. Let our lives be a living testimony that you are with us, and that it is you alive in us that proves The Way so that they too might walk with You. Amen.