Mid-Week Mining

God Gold of the Day

No matter what kind of day you are having, no matter what kind of day you had yesterday or what day you think tomorrow will bring, it doesn’t matter. You can stand confident in who God is and His powerful presence in your life!!!! No matter what obstacles stand in your way, no matter how impossible it looks, it’s all NOTHING compared to the Creator, Savior, and Lord of Lords!!!! When you begin to doubt, when you want to give up, take your eyes off of you, your weakness and what your situation looks like and place them above to Jesus!!!! Out of all the constantly changing things in our lives, there is one that never changes and that is GOD!!!! His faithfulness, His love, His grace and mercy is never-changing and always abounding!

Here is some FIRE from deep in the mines for you today, not just to pump you up but to raise your eyes and hearts to the One in control of it all! Let God be where your confidence is found, and nowhere else!!!!!

The Lord of Your Life

God Gold of the day

‘After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” ‘

John 3:22-30 

Farming

God Gold of the Day

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:7-9‬ ‭

I had the chance to hear a message preached about this subject of “sowing” and “reaping” last week from a youth pastor. It’s been a message that has pushed me this past week, it’s challenged me and it’s honestly woke me up a lot. What’s cool to see is that this world God has created runs from a simple farming system. I grew up next to farms and spent a lot of hot summers working on them so I’ve had the chance to see this process up close.

Sowing seed—Cultivation–Harvest

Im sure we’ve all heard of this process and most of us had heard of these verses before but do you truly believe that this process is not just for farmers, not just for plants, but this process is also true in YOUR life.

It’s a daily process of sowing seeds. Whether we realize it or not, we are sowing seeds every single day. The unfortunate thing, which I’ve noticed with me is that I’ll get upset, complain, and compare my life with someone else that may have different fruit growing in their lives. They have all the things I want, I look around and see no results so I want to give up, make excuses and complain but at the end of the day, how does that help? It simply doesn’t. It’s a simple process, if you sow to your flesh, if you decide well I really want this piece of cake because your flesh desires that sugar high and satisfaction. Then, you enjoy that so much you decide to do it a few more times and as you sow seeds to your fleshly wants and desires you’re going to reap a harvest of bad health. Obesity. Not being able to go and do all you have been called to do, because you are too weighed down by all the bad seeds you’ve sowed. What you sow is what you’re going to reap. It’s simple.

And sowing to your flesh is bigger than just your health, it’s everything. If you watch things on tv or the internet that you shouldn’t watch, you chase the desires and sexual lusts of your flesh then you are sowing seeds to your flesh that will bring you reaping a harvest of lustful thoughts and actions that you can’t control. You look at your spouse differently, you hinder your relationship with the Lord. There is so many areas that you can sow bad seeds in our lives that can reap a harvest that really really sucks. So what do we do about it?

Instead of complaining and wishing for better, sow better. Sow good seeds, sow seeds to the Spirit. Those seeds can be staying in the Word and spending some serious time with the Lord there. Talking to the Lord and spending time with Him in prayer, where sowing good seeds begins. Ask God for help and guidance in doing this. When I first heard this message I just wanted good fruit in my life for myself but after sowing some good seeds, being opened up to a harvest of seeing God and all He has done and continues to do in my life. And seeing just how amazing this relationship with Him is, I don’t just want good fruit for me, I want it for God, because I love God and I want this fruit to impact others to show them how great this life with God is!!!

Sowing good seeds to the Spirit, you’ll notice some quick returns on your investment if you are investing in Him and investing in knowing Him deeper. But the hard part about farming and this process of sowing good seeds, it takes time for the seeds to grow. That’s where I struggle the most. The middle part of the process, “cultivation.” It can be hard when you don’t see any of the results coming from all the good seeds you’ve been sowing. You’ve went against your flesh, the desires and wants you have and sown seeds to the Spirit instead. That can be hard and extremely painful at times to go against your natural desires. And when you don’t see the fruit it can be easy to give in and give up. “Why should I do this, nothing good is coming from it?”

As many times as I’ve listened to that lie, I’m here to tell you, KEEP SOWING!!! Even when you don’t feel like it, even when you don’t see any of the fruit, KEEP SOWING!!! Think about it, the farmer doesn’t plant the seed then go back the next day to a full grown peach tree with ripe, beautiful fruit ready to eat. It takes a time of cultivating, not growing weary in doing good, watering that seed, throwing down fertilizer, being patient and persistent in each seed! It’s in that middle process that beautiful fruit is made! It’s in that hard, nasty, sweaty part of the process where God brings a beautiful and abundant harvest to your life! So KEEP SOWING!!! Why? Because it’s worth it to live a life pleasing to God, it’s worth it for your life to mean more than constantly chasing down temporary pleasures of your flesh, it’s worth it for others to be impacted and changed by watching your example in the seed process!

It’s easy to put bad seed in that brings temporary pleasure. It’s easy to wish for a beautiful harvest to just appear out of nowhere. But it’s not real life. If you want good, if you want better, sow to the Spirit! Sow seeds that grows you closer to the Lord daily and keep going back day after day to water and fertilize that seed, be patient and persistent in your faith, in the harvest that can’t be seen at the moment but the harvest that God is bringing! What you sow is what you reap! If you want better fruit, sow better seed! And above all, take this process to God, ask Him for help and lean on Him, He’ll give you everything you need to continue sowing good seed and the strength to not grow weary, setting your sights above to Him and the harvest that only He can bring!

Remove the Box, Christ is Supreme

God Gold of the Day

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:15-17‬ ‭

Back in Colossians today!

So much hit me with these verses but one thing in particular stuck out to me that’s something I desperately struggle with and I pray this Gold can be of some benefit to you in your life! Things may get real and some things may be hard to hear in this Gold because God has showed me a lot about me that’s not too great. If you get hit by some truth just know I got hit too and praise God!!! He’s breaking us down to rebuild us better!

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m going through the motions in my relationship with Christ. Checking off all the religious to-do boxes and even praying in a way where I found myself trying to say all the right things instead of actually sharing my heart with the Lord. It’s an easy thing to do and that’s what makes it so scary that I do this and so many others fall into this trap. These verses struck something in me that showed the root of my routine with Christ and why my faith has become seemingly small. It’s all because of the size of Christ in my life.

Before I dig into the verses and share with you the bigness and just how SUPREME Christ really is, I’ll tell you how I or I guess I can say we so easily and often make Christ out to be much smaller than He really is. How we shrink Christ to the size that makes us feel good putting Christ in a box.

Paul is writing this to the church of Colosse to teach and remind them of the magnitude of Christ because they were having problems with false teachers telling them differently. These teachers were false because they told them that Christ wasn’t enough to be saved because there must be more added to it. You can see in what Paul says here describing who Christ is and what He’s done that he wants these believers in Colosse to know, Christ is enough. He’s actually more than enough and there’s nothing more to be added to Him or taken away from Him to make Him what He already is to us, enough.

Very similar to these early Christians we live in a world that screams false teaching at us constantly. “You need this, do this, try this, be this.” The world says we need to have all these “things”, do all these “things” and be all these “things” because without these “things” we’ll never make it. It’s easy to fall into this “things” influence because if the majority of people around us are investing their lives in “things” don’t we want to fit in? Be more like everybody else? And from years and years of living in this world, especially America where “things” are of abundance, we are used to them. We’ve made it this far off “things” why change it now? Or we enjoy these other “things” so much that we are scared without them we wouldn’t survive. I say all that about “things” because when we fall into this “thing” trap, we drawn away by these influences, we are saying that Christ isn’t enough.

The world says “it’s okay” and we feel “normal” living with our trust in all these “things” but is it?? It hurt realizing how much in my life I make these little, temporary “things” bigger than Christ. You may not want to admit it like I didn’t, but when you take some evaluation of your life, decisions, actions, and thoughts, there’s a lot of “things” telling us that we don’t think Christ is enough.

Is Christ enough? Let’s look at what God’s Word says. “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” Woah, that’s intense but what does it mean? Paul is saying if you want to know what God looks like, then look at Christ! Jesus Christ is “God in the flesh.” Jesus perfectly revealed to the world God’s nature, character and love. So often we make this image of God that fits into our box, that fits with our own thoughts, desires, and wants. For Jesus to fit in our box that means we end up shrinking Him down to a much smaller size than He actually is. When we place Jesus at the same level or below all the “things” in our life, then the size we see Jesus at, the magnitude of His power and presence in our lives is shrunk to fit.

Look at what else Paul shows us about Jesus, “He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.”

Jesus existed before all these “things” were ever created. Before we were ever created. And He is SUPREME over every “thing.” Supreme means, “strongest, most important, or most powerful.” Compared to every “thing” Jesus is above it all, He is the stronger, more important and much more powerful.

And, “Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”

We say and live as if Christ isn’t enough. How can that be? Do we see what God’s Word says about Christ, Who He is and what He’s done????

How could there be any”thing” that we put above or trust before the Maker of all things? How could we put so much temporary including our temporary earthly lives above the One who is eternal, has always been and will always be? How could we trust in ourselves or any “thing” to do more or to be in control when Christ holds all of creation together? The One who’s in full control even in control over each breath we take!

How could there be anything that does more or means more than Him? There’s no magic pill, 10-step plan, fancy cars or houses, any amount of money or fame greater than JESUS CHRIST!!! There’s no one person or no one thing of this world with any more significance, power and control than JESUS CHRIST!!! There’s no”thing” that we can try in this world for temporary satisfaction that fills us with more peace or joy in our lives than the never-ending, all-powerful, constantly faithful love of JESUS CHRIST and the LIFE He gives us!!! There’s no tough situation or circumstance, no addiction, no sin, no problem that Christ can’t deliver you through because He is SUPREME!!! Head over everything, the most powerful, most awesome, the BIGGEST of all!!!

When we take away the box we put Jesus in, when we take away our wants and desires, when we take away all these “things” in our lives, the box limits Jesus but when we see how HUGE Jesus really is we wonder why we ever had a box in the first place? Why would we ever try to put limits on God who has no limits!!! When we simply realize that Jesus has done it all, we can trust and live faithfully knowing there’s nothing in our lives that He can’t do!!! Why?? Because He’s already done it all!!! How awesome is that?!?!

We have Christ and Christ has us! He’s all we need and gives us more LIFE than any “thing” or we could ever have! He’s not just enough for us, He’s MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!!!

There Ain’t No Pit Low Enough, Ain’t No Pit Wide Enough, To Keep Us From Being with God Today!!!!

God Gold of the Day

Hhaha I hope you know what song the title of today’s message is from because if you don’t, I’m sure you’re thinking I’m one weird dude! Just in case you don’t, it’s from “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” by Marvin Gaye, which most of you probably know it from Remember the Titans!!! I just wanted to share this chapter from Psalms with you today. It’s a piece of God’s Word that has helped me in a lot of tough times, from beginning to end, it shows so much of God, Who He is and how awesome He is. But since it was written by David, a human, no different than me and you, it shows a lot of us too, our struggles, the internal and external battles we are faced with in this life and a level of dependence that we get the chance to have in God. It’s so cool as I’ve read this a lot of times, it hit me today that there’s nothing different between David and us, or any person in the Bible for that matter. It may seem like they all had so much faith and did so many amazing things but the only One behind their faith and the amazing things is the God they had a relationship with. The same God that we get the opportunity to have a relationship with.

How stinkin AWESOME!!!!! What’s really awesome to see to is that David here speaks of struggles, enemies, and tough situations just as me and you face in our lives. YES, the great King David struggled too. It’s comforting to see David speak of his own humanity. To know that not just him but every other human to ever walk the earth has had similar struggles and battles in their life. It’s comforting to know that, and it’s okay if you go through some stuff in life. That’s apart of this journey with the Lord, but as David speaks to his lowliness as a human, he also speaks of the magnitude of how great our God is! It’s okay to not be okay, but when we see what David says about God, we know that it’s not okay to be like that for long. Why? We don’t have to!

If you have a relationship with God no matter how deep your “pit of despair” is, He will lift you out of the pit and set your feet on solid ground. When I usually look through these verses, it’s because I’m in a pit myself and today is no different. But what is different, beyond wanting to put my trust and depend on myself or “things” of this world to get me through, it was God who reached down and opened me eyes to see Him in the pit with me. He isn’t just above the pit to lift us up, He’s there in the pit, in the deepest and hardest struggles of our lives. His loving presence is right there with us helping us see outside the pit. Helping us see that this pit isn’t meant to break us or keep us in chains, this pit is teaching us to depend. Teaching us to give up trusting in anything besides God and trusting in Him alone. This pit seems so so terrible in the moment until you look over and see God with you, that’s how David speaks like a man with incredible amounts of faith because with the powerful, graceful, loving Father right beside him in his struggle, seeing God in the pit with us helps us see beyond our current circumstances into seeing the journey ahead God has for us outside the pit. As we see our salvation standing beside us, He allows us to see our salvation through the eyes of faith. Although we’re still in the same pit, it’s not so much as a struggle anymore but a moment of strengthening. We’re still in the same pit but the Lord gives us joy and gladness knowing that He is there with us!!!

Our perspective and attitude changes through how we see Him like a drone lifting our vision outside of the pit and we begin to see the WHY behind the pit. The WHY that keeps us seeking God, keeps our dependence on Him and Him alone! God gives us a purpose in this life and it’s not to stay in the pit and cry. We have God by our side so we have no excuse to stay in our self-reliant, weak and lowly mentality any longer! God gives us each a purpose that is far greater to anything that we could ever imagine working a Kingdom that is more awesome than any Kingdom ever built! With God in the pit, He opens us up to see what He has in store for us, and not just for us but the people’s lives that will be affected so greatly when we walk out of the pit so daggum joyful and so daggum full of faith that it’s impossible for them not to see the One behind it all! Wherever you are today, I pray this can be an encouragement to you. God is with you, in the pit, out of the pit, He’s with you all the time. Don’t waste your  time rolling around in excuses, self-doubt, and weakness in the pit. This life God has given us is so much bigger than me or you! And God is so much greater and so much mightier than any pit you could ever find yourself in!!! Yesterday, we struggled but today is a new day, still in the same pit but noticing God right beside us, we rejoice in His awesome and loving presence!!!! We rejoice in the unique and specific WHY He’s each of us, the awesome and abundant joy filled, LIFE He’s given us!!! We rejoice because we know that this pit of our current circumstances is not where we’re going to be forever!!! The pit is no match for the awesome, powerful God we serve, lean into Him!!!! Place your trust and dependence fully on God and have an awesome daggum day!!!!!! I’m praying for you today and please pray for me!!!

“1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,

and he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground

and steadied me as I walked along.

3 He has given me a new song to sing,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what he has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.

4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,

who have no confidence in the proud

or in those who worship idols.

5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.

Your plans for us are too numerous to list.

You have no equal.

If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,

I would never come to the end of them.

6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.

Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand—

you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

7 Then I said, “Look, I have come.

As is written about me in the Scriptures:

8 I take joy in doing your will, my God,

for your instructions are written on my heart.”

9 I have told all your people about your justice.

I have not been afraid to speak out,

as you, O Lord, well know.

10 I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart;

I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.

I have told everyone in the great assembly

of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

11 Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me.

Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.

12 For troubles surround me—

too many to count!

My sins pile up so high

I can’t see my way out.

They outnumber the hairs on my head.

I have lost all courage.

13 Please, Lord, rescue me!

Come quickly, Lord, and help me.

14 May those who try to destroy me

be humiliated and put to shame.

May those who take delight in my trouble

be turned back in disgrace.

15 Let them be horrified by their shame,

for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!”

16 But may all who search for you

be filled with joy and gladness in you.

May those who love your salvation

repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!”

17 As for me, since I am poor and needy,

let the Lord keep me in his thoughts.

You are my helper and my savior.

O my God, do not delay.”

– Psalm 40