TO OBEY OR NOT TO OBEY by Nina Keegan

TO OBEY OR DISOBEY.. EVERY DAY WE ARE FACED WITH THESE CHOICES...

 Reading today about the death of Saul in first Samuel 31 .. I realized that there are 2 tales of obedience and of the lack there of all intertwined.

Saul was tall physically but small in God's eyes, his sin made him ugly even though he was very handsome and his lack of faith made him very weak.. Saul was dedicated to himself, he was self serving..

Saul was rich but he was spiritually bankrupt.. Saul tried to please God with tiny spurts of religiosity. Do we ever get in the flesh and then try to back it up by twisting the word to fit our own agendas? Well.. Meet Saul! ..Saul had a disobedient strong willed,spirit. Saul faced death the same way he faced life. He took matters into his own hands without thinking of God or asking God for his guidance.

In the end, Saul's poor choices and lack of obedience was the death of him. What stands out to me is that when Saul knew he was finally cornered and at the very end of his rope, with nowhere to turn, knowing that if the enemies captured him he would greatly suffer; he yet again took matters into his own hands and asked his right-hand man to kill him..

1 Samuel 31:4-6

Saul groaned to his armor bearer "take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me."But his armor bearer was afraid AND WOULD NOT DO IT.. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 

When his armor bearer realized that Saul was dead, he fell on his own sword and died beside the King. Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer and his troops all died together that same day.

The armor bearer had had a choice to make. He knew that if he would have slain Saul even though the king had ordered him to do it, he would have been disobedient to God. There's a great difference between following an order with which you don't agree and following one you know is wrong. It is never right or ethical to carry out a wrong act no matter who gives you that order or what the consequences for disobedience may be.  We must always have courage to follow God and his laws above anything earthly or our own personal desires. 

The armor bearer had a choice of whose rules he would follow, would he follow his king or God? He had to choose the hard road..but he had to choose eternal life even if it meant that he would lose his own. He would not stand trial before God for the crime of murder. He chose to be obedient.

God LOVES obedience even when it's so hard.. When we know we are to do that hard thing and we are disobedient, and when we like-wise do what we shouldn't, we will also suffer the consequences even if we don't immediately see them.

 There will always be consequences for disobedience!

Always! 

 Great and epic spiritual lives are built by stacking times of obedience one on top of the other. Like a brick, each obedient act is small in and of itself but in time, the acts of obedience will all pile up and a huge wall of strong character will ultimately be built..This is the greatest defense against sin and temptation. 

This strong wall of obedience brings layers and layers of protection. We should strive for consistency in obedience each and every day. Build your strength !! Fortify your hedge, your protection! God is trusting you and with each lesson learned and obedience task mastered.

 You are moving to a new level with God. He begins to trust you with more and more. He builds our character one brick at a time.. He mortars our bricks together with love, mercy kindness and patience and favor.

We do not want to spend another year in the wilderness, let's amen God and get to the promised land now. Let's receive the blessings here and now that God longs to give us an bestow upon us.

Be obedient to those nudges you feel.. Follow peace! 

God is NOT the author of confusion or chaos ..if he's called you to do something, or not to do something, he will always confirm it. 

Ask God for revelation ask for confirmation and step out and do that which he has called you to do.

I promise that you will be so glad you did!

Obey God like Abraham.. Even when it makes no sense to you. Faith is not always logical but obedience serves a purpose higher than we can imagine and the blessings on the backside of obedience are amazing!!

Daniel 9:12 - And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

1Peter 4:16-17

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

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A Page From God's Playbook by Nina Keegan

Football is nearing its end for another season. The men in my household are gearing up for the Super Bowl! The main event!! The end of the road for football FANatics. It's time to separate the men from the boys in this mega contest of who's who in football. Which team will reign supreme?

I listen to my boys discussing the football players on the field, arguing and strategizing over each and every play they make, agonizing over their team's defeats or celebrating their glorious victories. Being heavily armed with a spread of football grub, while anxiously yelling at the TV is pretty much the norm around here during football season.

I think about each of these teams and their players and all of the hard work they put in during a season. Each team member must fully rely on the others for complete safety,dedication and for advancement. The Coach must accurately and efficiently write hundreds of plays that make up the team's official playbook. Each athlete must memorize, learn, and skillfully execute the plays in this manual. If one person is off, messes up, or forgets the format, the play will not work out as planned and they will fail to gain any yardage or momentum needed to score. The play book is a blue print, a pathway to a victory, a brilliant plan, one that when followed correctly, could lead the team to the championship game and a monumental victory.

That playbook on it's own is entirely not so fabulous, it is basically worthless. If it just sat on a shelf, had no team, and no coach to use the wisdom in its pages what good would it be? Used for its intended purpose, however, the information in that book is priceless.

What about our playbook, the Word of the Lord, the Holy Bible? It is after all a brilliant manual designed to give us all the insight we need to be our best selves. Like the team playbook, what good does that book do on a shelf or in a drawer somewhere? There is knowledge, powerful understanding, and wisdom for us to soak up and abide by on every glorious page. It is our very own personal playbook, a perfect outline for our individual and uniquely designed paths.

(Jeremiah 29:11)
For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord; a plan for good and not for evil. A plan to prosper you and to give you a hope and a future.

God very similarly to an NFL coach, has written a playbook for each and every one of us, it is a map of sorts depicting His plans for us. A highly efficient plan that is for our good and not for evil. Each playbook is hand written by God Himself! When God designed our plans, He sat down and wrote them in their entirety. The whole book start to finish. We each have a story so unique and inspiring. When we are faithful to follow God's will, we can flow through our pages with ease, absorbing a bounty of knowledge while breezing through the chapters with gusto and an unparalleled zest for life.

The simple fact of the matter is, we may only get small glimpses and mere fragments of these wonderful pages in our playbooks because we are so busy focusing on other outside influences, we are often bogged down with stresses and life's random issues. We let our problems and our fleshly nature take us on a time stealing detour. We are led down the bumpy, misguided road and off of our beautiful, divinely drawn paths. It's like we took all the pages from our playbook and tossed them all in the air and then as each page gently reaches its final resting place on the ground, we try failingly to piece them all back together. Each page left on it's own or in the wrong order can make no sense, it cannot tell a story, there is no plot to follow. It's us a jumbled mess, and our minds cannot grasp it. To the contrary, our playbook , when left in tact and diligently followed in its wholeness is an absolute masterpiece. It is like a road map for the soul.

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”

Only God, the author himself, knows what our play book says, He gave the pages order and lovingly numbered every one. We may be stuck on page 54 and we do not like what it says. We may be facing terrible trials and are ready to give up. If we do just that and fail to press on through, we may never see how close we were to victory! We may never have read that page 55 was the page we were waiting for. The page filled with words of freedom, joy, and victory! The very next page may have contained the game winning play!

We must stay the course. We must wholeheartedly believe and trust God. We don't want to leave anything out. Every plot, twist, and turn on the pages of our playbooks are there for a reason. They are all a very intricate piece of our story. Without each page our book would be incomplete and we would miss our victory. We must hold strong and follow our author even in the valleys and trust Him for each day, good or bad... They are all leading us to victories beyond which we cannot conceive.

We do have free will. Our lives will follow the paths we choose, we can follow this book of life page by page in sequential bliss or we can live in the wilderness of uncertainty and unturned pages for a lifetime.
Choose the bliss !!!!

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.”

Heavenly Father,
Help us to diligently seek to follow your plan for us even when we can't see the ending of our story. Help us to trust you in all things. We love you... In Jesus name we pray!!
Amen

Step Out In Faith by Nina Keegan Owens

Do you ever look back at some of those pretty rough time periods you have had to face in your life and think in amazement how everything miraculously worked out for the good in the end even though at the time things seemed pretty bleak?

Do you often feel like you are always having to take a detour in your life, the less than scenic route, the long way home so to speak to get the answers you need. Nothing is just simple and uncomplicated. You know now that God was always there with you before but you just could not see it at the time. He is with you now too! Adverse times in our lives are meant to stretch our faith, and strengthen our relationship with God.

In the natural realm things often seem impossible like there is no way out. In the spiritual realm, God is the great I AM. He is always what we need, when and where we need it. His grace is sufficient! He is continually at work safeguarding us, our families and blessing us with His anointed favor. Sometimes it just takes a while to see His hand at work. Just keep the Faith! God will never fail you. He loves you more than you can possibly imagine!

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Some of you may be facing tough times right now and you can't believe what you are having to go through. You pray and trust God but there does not seem to be an answered prayer in sight. Things sometimes appear to go from bad to worse and you wonder what God is doing.

I refer to these times of uncertainty as loving faith stretchers. When we are at our very lowest and when we can finally get out of our own way to make room for God to work, is when we will begin to rise above our circumstances. God will always give you the help and the strength you need not just to win the battle, but to win the war. Scripture says, with one touch of God's favor the tide of the battle turns. God is a warrior when it comes to us. He will never stop loving you nor stop fighting for you!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I believe there are so many messages and lessons learned during our times of struggle. I believe God wants to strip us down and bear our souls as we trust Him to take over and work on our behalf. He meets us right where we are in the midst of our giant mess. He allows us to go through such uncomfortable situations and circumstances so in the end, we are left alone with only Him and our faith in all He can do. He again is all we will ever need!

When we have finally given rise to the unmerited fact that there is no earthly way we can go it alone and crawl out of our own depths of despair, we are left on our knees submitting all to the one that can and will always take care of us. We need to stay fixed and focused on Jesus. Seek his face first! When we are weak, He is strong! 2 Corinthians 12:10.

When we realize that we cannot go through these trials on our own, when we commit them to God, we start to see results. We need to stop giving our problems an out of control, life of their own. We talk about them, analyze them all, call all our friends to talk about them some more,and we do everything in our own power to the point of exhaustion to control the situation. The answer is always as close as the name Jesus! The name above all names. We at long last need to relinquish it all and cast it completely off to God. Only then, will we begin to receive answers to our prayers and solutions to our problems.

John 14:13-14
Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

When we step out of our comfort zone of trying to control everything in our lives and take that blind leap of faith, we will finally get that break through coupled with the realization of knowing it was nothing but the shear grace of God that had removed the burden from our lives, or saw us through it all.

Sometimes God needs us to first be obedient, responsible and step out in faith. He needs us to take action. Activate our faith. We must take the steps, trust God, and put forth the effort to let Him run the show. We open doors full of blessings and solutions in our eyes of faith. God works through our uncomfortable times because we are more easily shaped through our own vulnerability.

The Bible says we are all like clay in the potter's hands. If you have ever worked with clay you know that it starts out very hard and not easily pliable. You have to really knead it and work it to break it down. It takes time and muscle but eventually it becomes soft and smooth and we can then mold it into beautiful things.

We are that clay, we start out hard and rough but every time we fully rely on God and step out in faith, we soften just a bit more therefore allowing Him to shape us into who He made us to be.

There is so many stories in the Bible where we see people having to completely step out in faith and first be obedient before they saw their miracles come to pass. I recall the story of when Jesus met up with a blind man requesting that Jesus restore his sight. Jesus made a paste of mud and put it on the blind man's eyes. Then what we see next is a real faith stretcher. Jesus tells the blind man to go off to the river and wash the mud from his eyes, then his eyes would be healed and he would see again. Now we all know that Jesus could have healed this man's eyes instantly yet he chose not to. One touch is all it would have taken yet Jesus sent a blind man off to find a river to wash in first. This had to be a rather difficult task for someone that was blind. Why would Jesus send him off like that? Jesus wanted the blind man to step out in faith and trust Him. Imagine the thoughts and the excitement the man felt on his way to the river. His faith was growing in every step he took. His anticipation of being able to see for the first time in his life was strengthening his faith. He first had to obey and step out in faith to activate the healing power of God.

Once when Moses was in the wilderness with the children of Israel, they had been walking a very long way and were exhausted and extremely thirsty. When they finally came upon a river, the water was bitter and not fit to drink. Moses, discouraged, cried out to God. God then told Moses to chop a certain large tree down that was beside the river and cast it in to the water then it would become clean and pure for drinking. I imagine the last thing that they wanted to do at that time was chop down a large tree! They were already so hot, tired and thirsty. They had to step out in faith believing and trusting God for the clean water. With every chop into the thick tree bark they were growing in certainty and testimony. When they finally cast the tree into the river, the water was instantly made clean and clear.

Sometimes we need to go through the rough times and flounder out of our comfort zones for us to grow in our faith. Each time we trust God with a our problems, we are putting another stepping stone of faith on our path. God wants to test us and make sure we are trusting Him. We must bring all our cares and concerns straight to Him and cast them off like the tree was cast into the river. When we do just that, we set in place the motions we need for our break throughs. God will always give you a plan of action. He may give you tasks first, big or small, but any task He gives will serve a mighty purpose on our road to peace, faith, security, health and prosperity. Just pray you won't have to build an ark!😘

Remember always to step out in faith and trust in the Lord for all you need and for anything you are going through. You are so much closer than you think! God's timing is always perfect and someday soon you will look back at this time and say, "God you were right there with me the whole time, I see that clearly now!"😇

Thank you Father that you are always right here with us and no matter what is going on in our lives, we can step out in faith and trust you to handle it all according to your will for us.
We praise you in Jesus name!!
Amen!!!🙏

Are you praying or complaining? By Nina Keegan Owens

I know some people, christian people, that just can't seem to get it all together. They are endlessly complaining, and eternally battling something. For some it's never getting ahead in their finances, for others, they are constantly angry and upset and easily offended over every little thing. We all know them, the people who are never happy and have a string of continued complaints that could circle the globe a few dozen times. The ones that constantly feel jipped and overlooked by God. They act like He doles out scads of blessings to everyone else and purposefully passes over them. They fervently feel like the last kid picked to be on the elementary school dodge ball team during gym class.
You know those certain individuals, that when you happen to see them on the street or spy their number on your caller ID, your heart just sinks. You think to yourself, I hope they didn't see me or you talk yourself out of answering their exasperating call. You may all be shocked at my honesty, but you know you are all thinking of those exact senerios you've fallen victim to in your own lives at one point or another. Or just maybe, you yourself, are wondering if you are guilty of being one of those continued complaining perpetrators.

Sometimes we start feeling selfish because we did not want to listen again to those same old rants of negativity we've heard way to many times before. We dodge them like the a speeding bullet. We certainly don't want them putting any rotten apples into our shiny new apple cart! After all, we are having a great day and we selfishly do not want or need any negativity entering our minds and tainting our pleasant afternoons!

Well, what you do not realize, is that it was probably not by accident that you were put in their paths at that exact same moment. It was not a random happenstance that you were at home when they had phoned you. Perhaps in these situations God is trying to use us to be a blessing to someone else and to help change their negative mindset. Maybe, we just need to come up a little higher, take some time to cast some positive light on to others and their unfavorable circumstances. God uses us and gives us these assignments and missions to speak some positivity and hope into other's weaknesses. We need to unselfishly lend an ear and give ourselves over to the work God has for us to do. We may be the only opportunity they ever get to hear a positive word spoken over them. We should never miss a God appointed chance to be a blessing to someone else.

(1 Peter 4:10)
As each has received a gift, employ it in serving others, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

Why are all Christians living so differently if we all can have,
be, experience, and live in God's best?Why are we still not seeing our blessings, counting them repeatedly and being ever thankful for His amazing promises?

The difference is the choices we as individuals make each day. When you go before God in prayer, are you praying or complaining? Do you spend your precious time whining over how unfair your life is? Are you jealous and contrite about your neighbors being so blessed while explaining to God that they are not even as Christian like as you are? Well, if that sounds familiar, you need to lay it all down and stop wanting what everyone else has. You need to stop telling God, your creator how to do His job, and start focusing on the many wonderful blessings you do have. I guarantee you there are always neighbors looking over your fence wanting what you have too.

You need to decide right now that you will be happy today, tomorrow and everyday of your life whether or not you ever get another blessing or see another prayer answered. We need to be faithful and thankful for everything we do have and count our blessings daily and at the very least, another 100 times per day.
You can choose to pray for the Lord to handle your issues as He sees fit and in His perfect timing. Turn it all over to Him, cast all your burdens on to the Lord and trust in His enduring love for us all. Trust that His son already paid the ultimate price for us to live wholely and victoriously. Then, know He has heard you and every last, drawn out prayer you've prayed. Then go about enjoying your day. Get your mind off of yourself and your problems and go be a welcomed ray of happiness in someone elses day.

(Luke 12:48)
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

We have all heard that verse from Luke. Summed up, it simply means, to whom much is given, much is required.
This is not solely talking about monetary gifts, but the gifts of the heart. As a Christian, you have been given many gifts, a new life to enjoy, amazing peace, and unbridled joy. You can dwell in the gifts of complete and utter safety. You have amazing compassion and are expected to be kind, helping, caring, and giving. When you begin to get your mind off of yourself, and set about using these many new gifts you've received through salvation, you will begin a new life of living of victoriously reguardless of your circumstances. You will be an amazing presence of hope to others who are suffering.

(Matthew 16:24-25)"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Stop living in the flesh! The Bible says we need to die to our flesh and all its woes and anger, complaining and fear, and live in the light! In order to be living in God's will, we need to be out of our own. We have already tried it our own way and failed. We need to stop trying to tell God what to do and how to do it. It's offensive to Him when we think we can do His job more remarkably than Him. Yet, this is what we do every time we choose to go it alone, and not listen to and follow the plan of our creator. When we complain, we remain!

If our goal is to be in God's will all the time. We need to go through some processes to purge ourselves of pride, self-will, selfishness, self-esteem, and all the other things that cause us to think about ourselves first and God second. Those processes will continually lead us on a journey that will involve a certain humility, strengthening of our faith, and will ultimately result in holiness, blessings and a life of unspeakable joy. God makes no mistakes, He has very specific reasons why you are where you are in your life right now. Learn what it is that He expects of you. Change your attitude, live a 'what can I do to help others?' kind of life. When you shift your mindset from yourself to the blessing of others, you will rise up and be blessed in every area of your own life. You are the one that places the shackles on your own feet, and you are the one that holds the key.

I love the lyrics to an Irving Berlin song from the 1954 movie, White Christmas.
Bing Crosby beautifully sings these words, "When you're tired and you can't sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings......."

Thank you Father as we take time today to count our blessings. Thank you for loving us and giving us repeated chances to forget the crazy lives we live and just follow you and your peace. Let us never miss a chance to bless someone through you and may we continually have a grateful heart reguardless of our circumstances!! We praise you, in Jesus name!
Amen

Gods got this!

My oldest son Kyle is a senior at Baylor University. Baylor is about a 4 hour drive from our home in Houston. When he left home as a young freshman, I could hardly handle the sadness, I missed him so much, to say I was an emotional train wreck, a basket case, would be putting it mildly. Then my baby Kris left for college last August, he chose a college in Philadelphia!!! He was recruited to play golf and after careful consideration, he decided to go 8 states away!!!!! A get a ride to the airport, stand in a long security line, possible bad weather flight delay, 4 hour plane ride, pick him up at the airport, distance away from me!!!!
How was I going to cope with this one? I was a mess just thinking about it....He would be so far away from me, his family.
I would have to learn to let go, I could not be there to make sure he was eating right, doing all his assignments, hanging out with the right kids, getting to classes and practice on time. Who would take care of him when he got sick??? What if he got in trouble or hurt or homesick??? The worst case scenario check list played out like a bad movie in my mind , this particular movie had no buttered popcorn, junior mints, or Icees, just a bad plot that I could not walk out of.
I seriously had to talk myself off the ledge!! How is it that I would be an empty nester? They were seriously babies like a week ago!!
As the time came closer for Him to leave, I knew God was giving me the ability to stay strong, the last thing I would ever want is for Kris to feel like he made the wrong choice because I was so sad. I found bible verses that showed me that this was God's will for Kris and that HE would take care of him when I could not. They were daily doses of positive affirmation that things would be OK. He loves Kris more than I could even imagine and He knew the college Kris would choose even before Kris did. I was reminded that God is their Father first and that He only loans us our kids for a short while, but yes they are indeed His.

Jeremiah 18:6 says, As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are my children in the hands of the Lord.
How comforting is that? God would be
molding him and shaping him into the man he would become, I imagined God's wonderful hands, strong, steady, secure, safe... lifting up my son...holding him, protecting him.
God's got this!!!!! Nothing is to hard for Him!! In the heavenly realms, this was a piece of cake for God, after all He could part the Red Sea and raise people from the dead, an 18 year old college kid.... a cinch!!!

God's tougher job though was dealing with me!!!!!
I needed to just let God be God! The Bible says to cast ALL our cares and burdens on to Him, and that there is no problem to big or to small for God to handle. Me worrying is me not trusting God!! This would be a huge faith stretcher for me for sure. Worrying about things I have no power to change is just" stealing joy!"

One of my favorite Bible verses is
Isaiah 41:10, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you, do not be discouraged, I am your God, I will help you and strengthen you and raise you up in my righteous right hand"!
What an amazing promise!!!
Those same hands that are taking care of my college boys will be helping and strengthening me too!!
The Bible also reminds us to stay in the present and to not worry about tomorrow today. We never know what is around the corner but God does, He is already behind the scenes taking care of everything so we don't have to. God's timing is perfect, our steps are ordered. He makes no mistakes.

I am so greatful and thank the Lord each morning for the many wonderful blessings in my life, the blessings God has given to me, the blessings God takes care of and watches over for me and for the peace and joy in knowing," yes!! God's got this"!!!!!!

Kris is enjoying college in Philadelphia. He is captain of his golf team, playing tons of golf, getting great grades, and being quietly molded into the great man God has created him to be!!!
As for me, I am learning to let my kids fly, trusting that they are covered in God's love and protection. Keeping my mind focused on God and His truths helps me to keep the mom worries at bay. I miss my boys very much but I am resting in God's peace, God's grace, which by definition is the Holy Spirit helping us to make the tough things easier, and I am learning how to cook a lot less food for dinner!!