Thanks for visiting Serious Things. I pray that God’s grace flows through this site and blesses you. Current postings are below or to the right. Please feel free to join in the discussions, link to us, share an article, ask questions, or however else the Spirit guides. God bless you and yours. – Joseph
Posted by Joseph - 06/10/2010 at 12:38 AM
All that can be said is that “God is Good, Good, Good..” Amen. Here is something I titled God’s Bicycle Testimony. A testimony of God’s work.. I pray this encourages any readers to seek to hear His voice and most importantly, to be a doer of the word that we hear. In Jesus name, amen.
For many months I have been praying and waiting for whey protein powder to go on sale. Since it is a staple food item for me, it’s bought in bulk. It was realized last week that I’m getting down to my last couple of pounds (again), so I reminded the Lord. :)
A few days ago while riding my (His) bicycle to Church, the Lord guided me to a man standing on the opposite side of the road with a bicycle. “Go talk to that man.” I rode over and asked what he was up to. He said he was traveling north to find work (homeless). After a short discussion about his confusion of which direction to go, I invited him to come along for a ride to Church. He accepted. While we were on the way, I noticed that the man had a 1/2 flat rear tire. I decided to help him by using an air compressor at a gas station after Church.
Before and after Church, the man was talking a lot about his 2 ex-wives, the last being 14yrs ago. He was very bitter. He revealed that they both committed adultery. Outside of his travel plans, it was pretty much the only thing he discussed. His heart was obviously scarred.
After Church, we rode to the gas station. I asked, “What are your other needs besides air?” He said he was good on everything. (He had water, 2 bags of food, and received another bag of food at the Church). He said all he really needed was his bicycle tire fixed. We looked at it and the tube was blowing out. He said that it’s holding air for around a day of riding and that he would be ok with just getting some air. As I grabbed the quarters out of my pocket to place them in the air machine, the Lord pressed in, “Is that all you can do? The need won’t be met tomorrow.” I decided to run home and get a wrench to swap a tire off of my bike. All during this event, in the back of my mind was that still small voice, “Give him the bicycle.” I quenched Him with my own reasoning.. “Replacing the tire will meet his need.” bla bla bla *sigh*
Upon returning with the wrench, we realized a swap wouldn’t work because it was the back tire. Oops! Imagine that! My own understandings fail, once again. There was a difference in the sprocket/gears.. they were not interchangeable. Then again, “Give him the bicycle that I have blessed you with. Don’t worry, have I not been faithful in taking care of your needs?” Ugh.. I bow, “Yes Lord.” So I gave him God’s bicycle. The man was obviously thankful.
As I was taking personal items off of the bike, he continued to talk about his ex’s. The Lord laid the word ‘unforgiveness’ on my heart and ’7×70′. When we were ready to depart, I asked, “Do you recall a verse that mentions 7×70 in the bible?” He did not. I explained that it’s about forgiveness. We discussed how unforgiveness ushers in bitterness, stress, depression, anger, and other things of this world and compared it to God’s way of forgiveness, which ushers in peace, contentment, love, kindness, etc. He had that look.. praise God, seed dropped. After we were finished discussing this, we prayed. During the discussion about 7 times 70, there was a song in my head..
At the moment I began to depart on his bicycle, I was singing: ~7 times 70 times, there’s healing in the air tonight~ Just as I pressed down on the pedal for the first crank, I look down:
My eyes immediately fixate on a 7 at the same time the word seven was rolling off my lips.. confirmation.
As always, God doesn’t stop there. Later in the day, I receive notice of a sale for protein powder. I’ve been ordering protein powder for around 5yrs, always keeping eyes out for sales. This was 20% lower than the lowest sale price that I have come across in 5yrs. Thank you Lord..
This evening, I learned of another branching out from this event (the homeless man’s bicycle that I had). God is Good! Good! Good! When this originally happened, the bicycle was offered to a neighbor. He was very thankful because he was needing new pedals for another bike. As I was talking to him tonight – “I hope you don’t mind.. but I gave that bicycle to my neighbor. For a long time, he has been talking about how he would love to have 2 bicycles so him and the wife could go for rides together. I gave him that bike and his wife is using mine. You should have seen them leave together for a ride the other day, they had smiles stretched from ear to ear.”
Lord, I’m sorry that I almost grudgingly and selfishly held onto that bicycle. Thanks for keeping on me.. and thanks for the lesson..
1 Peter 4:9-10 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Categories: Testimonies Tags: Bicycle, God, Testimony
Thank you to brother Marlin for sharing his heart with this writing. I pray that the manifold grace of God is also received by you -
Do you remember the moment that God first spoke to your heart and convicted you of your sin? Well, I will never forget the night the Lord opened my eyes to who and what I really was. For twenty-one years I had convinced myself that I was a sure enough decent fellow, “a good ole boy,” you know. My parents had raised me with manners and respect for others and I figured that was good enough.
Categories: Testimonies Tags: God, Jesus Christ, Marlin Prentice
Here is a great blog post by a sister in-Christ that gives great guidance to the abused. In my opinion, it has a great top 10 list for real Christian love. Also, the 4 points she makes on finding real love as a Christian is just as good as the top 10. Great wisdom. I love the title of her post too – To get the right one, ya gotta be the right one. Too often we look externally/selfishly at what we want instead of focusing on what God says we need.
Top 10 ways to Christian Love
When I was living a life full of selfish desires and a believer questioned my lifestyle, my first response was, “Who are you to judge?!” or “Who that is without sin may cast the first stone!” Basically, I used their belief against them in order to evade the truth that they spoke. It was an attempt at making them the scapegoat for my sin. This scripture was front and center in my life:
Romans 1:21-25 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
The fact is, I played a dangerous game of evading because the pride of life does not like wrongdoing to be revealed. The challenge is that my pride and self-serving ideologies did not make the truth all of a sudden untruth. It was merely scapegoating to keep myself puffed up and feeling ok in my sin – turning the truth into a lie. The problem with this is that I was holding onto the lie (the sin). It’s an attempt to remove my sin from the spotlight so I could feel better.
What is found in the midst of this is a portion of the gospel at work. My conscience bared witness to the truth and it made me uncomfortable. It did not feel good to be revealed, thus I glorified Him not as God, but became vain in my imaginations. My heart was darkened and was blinded by stinking pride. When truthfully examined, I wanted this feeling taken away. The only way I knew how to do this was to make someone else the problem. It’s evading, scapegoating.. It’s a redirection tactic to take the sin and try to make it the problem of someone else. This is exactly what I am attempting in such a situation -
Leviticus 16:8-10 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
It is an attempt to get rid of my sin by making someone else the scapegoat. It goes like this in my member: The truth of God hits, it’s uncomfortable, there is a need to eliminate this uncomfortable feeling, and I play the evading game by making another person or circumstance the scapegoat. “He/She made me…”, “Well, if this thing would not have happened..”, “You’re just acting all holier than thou!”, “Judge not!”, “Who is without sin may cast the first stone!”.. or, in simpler/more accurate terms: “I chose to act in this manner and instead of confessing my wrongdoing (humility/agreement with God), I’m scapegoating/evading the truth (pride/disagreement with God).” The problem with this is that it’s deception at its finest. I’m trying to cover my sin by using justifications v. agreement with the truth. We end up deceiving ourselves. We are trying to cover our sin through deceptive means. This is an internal spiritual response to the Light hitting our darkened areas, but we end up trying to atone for our wicked wrongdoings ourselves by hiding it and making someone else/something else the scapegoat.
There is only one Real Scapegoat.. His name is Jesus Christ. This Scapegoat takes our sin and replaces it with His Righteousness. The real Scapegoat has taken the sin -
John 1:29 The next day John seen Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Reader, if you believe in God, please examine yourself. Our pride will deceive us. I’ve done it, many others have done it, and Jesus has healed us of our blindness. There is a point of breaking through the pride and being humble.. being truthful. When we think we are above this and/or we think we are not partaking in this lie, we are blinded. Ask Christ to help with the correct vision. It takes humility.
In summary, God is Light. The Light is Truth. The Truth has been revealed in the Word of God/Jesus Christ. When the Light hits our darkness, it doesn’t feel good. At this moment, we want this not-so-good-feeling taken away, thus we must take action to cover it. We can only choose 1 of 2 paths to appease the conscience:
1 John 1:5-10 This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and are not in the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
I highly recommend this book – The People of the Lie. –
A predominant characteristic of the behavior of those I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts, they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection. The evil do not serenely bear the trial of being displeasing to themselves. In fact, they don’t bear it at all. And it is out of their failure to put themselves on trial that their evil arises. – M. Scott Peck
Categories: Teachings Tags: Jesus Christ, life, sin
Praise God for the Body of Christ, thank you Lord. You surely are a help in time of need and you give the strength of an eagle when needed. Here is a testimony of God’s confirming word. It’s restful, peaceful, and edifying to know that I’m in relationships with the right people. I pray this testimony blesses and edifies you too -
Categories: Testimonies Tags: confirmation, Testimony
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Last night, I was invited to a gathering of prayer by a couple of brothers. They were unable to call and inform me that the place of prayer was not opened and plans had changed. That’s ok, as all things work together for the good for those that love God. I pray this water giving testimony blesses your heart.. Thank you Lord
Keeping track of words from God that are speaking to me in response to prayer. These entries may not make sense to you because you don’t know what I’m praying. :) At any enjoy the scripture if you do read.. I pray He speaks to you through the scripture pertaining to your walk with God and your life.
