Let me see if I can describe the Christian life from my own walk and perspective. For me, as I walk with God, it seems that my walk looks more life a long walk through the desert with an occasional stop at an oasis for refreshment and rest. An oasis is a strange place. In the middle of miles of sand, suddenly and for no reason, water, trees and life suddenly appear. It’s at the oasis where a weary traveler can rest, get water and gain new strength.

It’s my experience that my walk with God can best be described this way- There are many dry days as I continue to walk with God. All the way I know God is with me and caring for me, but days of joy, inspiration and great victory are rare. Then, suddenly and for no reason, I come to an oasis. It’s wonderful! Refreshment, rest, water and revival of spirit. If I can, I linger at the oasis for a while…it’s such a wonderful place, but at some point I must continue my walk and so I head back into the desert to continue my walk with God.

The oasis is great. They are needed. I would get discouraged and might give up if it weren’t for the occasional oasis, but life with God has to be a life of dependence. It must be a life in which I look to God and trust him. I won’t find that relationship at the oasis. I have to go out into the desert to discover this kind of relationship. It’s the dry days when I learn to trust God. It’s the days in the desert when I look to him to help me and give me what I need for the day. It’s the dry days in the desert when I grow in my faith the most.

Some pray for an eternal oasis. They never want to leave the cool springs, the wonderful shade of the fig trees, the comfort of the oasis. But if you depend on the oasis you will never learn to depend on God. So, off to the desert we are led. Led by God to meet with him there. Dry days when we will find our richest walk with God. As I’ve tried to think through my own walk with God I think this describes my odyssey so far. It’s not glorious. It’s not always full of great testimonies to share. It’s often dry and difficult, but it’s my time with God in the desert where I find an intimacy with God I can never find at the oasis.

This is what I would call the normal Christian life. I think it’s the real life of every Christian. Many linger long at the oasis not wanting to leave the comfort there, but some find a hunger for God more powerful than the comfort of the oasis and so they head off into the desert. It’s there we find an intimacy and relationship with God that will never be found at the oasis. It’s this strange contrast between oasis and desert that describe the walk of the Christian. It’s not always glorious, it’s not always easy. It’s not filled with wonderful stories although there are some. There are days when the best we can say is, with God’s help, we got through the day, but between rest at the oasis and walking with God through the desert we grow in faith. The goal? A walk with God that is lived in dependence on him. As best as I can describe it, this is my walk with God.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

Watch this beauty video from the heart of a loving mom who just wants to share her gift from God with the world! You can also check out Lacey’s blog by clicking here and consider donating Special Kids, a Christian foundation that provides therapeutic rehabilitation and professional nursing services to children with special needs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcVYFxGixkU

“We are a fragrance of Christ.”  What an amazing thought.  God has scented us as Christians to be a fragrance of Christ in the world around us.  You don’t have to tell anyone you are a Christian, they can “smell” it.  We have an aroma.  It’s the presence of God, of live in us that gives off a scent to everyone we meet.

I have often been with someone who didn’t know I was a Christian and shortly in the visit they will ask, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”  They can “smell” us!  But what is it they smell?  What is the fragrance we give off?  It’s the fragrance of life.  It’s a scent that isn’t common on our planet where everything dies.  The only smell we know is the stench of death, but when the perfume of life shows up it’s a smell everyone knows.  It’s a smell that reveals something the world is missing.

For the Christian, as they “smell” the presence of another believer, they smell the sweet fragrance of life.  Another person who has life living in them, the presence of God. It’s a sweet fragrance and a wonderful reminder of the life we share.

For the world, as they “smell” the presence of a Christian, it highlights the reality to them that they don’t have life, they live in death.  It’s a fearful awaking for their senses.  It’s a smell they don’t like, a realization of their lack.  Often it’s the reason those in the world disdain Christians….we remind them of the truth that they do not have life, but simply await the final death.

Without a word the presence of a Christian communicates that life is available, that we have something the world lacks.  Without a word the world “smells” the presence of life in us.  This witness of the fragrance of life calls us to a Godly lifestyle because the world is watching, their noses know who we are, it’s critical we live to the glory of God because we can’t hide who we are.  The world around us, by the fragrance of life that comes from our very presence, knows we are Christians.

Live your life well, your fragrance precedes you…..the world already knows who you are.  Live in a way that glorifies the one who gave you life. Know that the fragrance of life oozes from your very presence and witnesses to the life you have.  Live as a child of life that the world will be drawn to the one who gave us life.  And never forget…..the fragrance of life precedes you as walk through your days.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

A new movement has begun for those who live…

Psalm 119:9

How can a young person stay on the path of purity?

By living according to your word

Faith + 0 = Salvation

Download (PDF, 210.42KB)

²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
²¹ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
²³ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”…..

Enjoy this very special BBC video presentation produced by David Attenborough as a celebration of our God’s great creation…!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5opIeLDgSA

In this thought provoking video produced by Alpha & Omega Ministries called 40 Arabic Words, we are presented with the power of what just 40 words can do to prevent a whole group of people from knowing the gift of Jesus at the cross.

In contrast, just 33 Greek words from the New Testament prove to be such a gift to us now….

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOJZRAjvW2U

Alpha & Omega Ministries is an apologetic ministries where you can go to learn more about apologetics. Renown apologist James White is the current director.

This is an amazing book filled with 365 ways to spread joy and encouragement throughout the year. Broken down by month, Marie leads you day by day through a whole year of so many ways to bless others.

Ways such as…

January 25 – Leave a sticky note of encouragement on everyone’s computer today…

February 6 – Recycle magazines by giving them to a women’s shelter or even a nursing home…

June 11 – Give kind words freely.

August 28 – Pay a local teenager to mow a neighbor’s lawn. Two acts of spreading joy in one!…

October 21 – Run errands for a new mom. This is such a valuable gift of time….

December 21 – Make 20 sack lunches and pass out to homeless in your area…

 Why not check out the many ways you can encourage your family, friends, and your community. You too can make an impact no matter how small, like a ripple in a pond…all in the name of Jesus!

Just Give Me Jesus by Ann Graham Lotz is a wonderful testimony to her renewed intimacy with Jesus. Listen and mediate on her message of revitalization through our Lord Jesus that she has shared with countless women since 2000.

If you can, join the expected 8,000 women due to descend upon Augusta GA in September to take part in the next free, two-day event lead by Ann Grahm Lotz. Visit her website at AnGel Ministries for more information on this event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8i460c3ejw

Want to read more about her journey? Check out her book at Amazon.

This amazing verse comes at the end of a difficult treatise by Paul about his people, the Jews.

The question unasked in Romans, that Paul now answers in chapters 9-11, is this- what about the Jews? What is God’s plan for them. Many are still trying to understand all that Paul wrote in these three chapters, but this verse we are looking at today is his conclusion.

From him- God is the source of all things. They all come from him. He made everything. That’s a clear declaration of scripture from beginning to end. Why? He will explain that at the end of the verse, but core to understanding all that exists is this source question- where did all of this come from? God declares clearly, “It all came from me. I made everything that is.” Even science agrees with God on this. The word science uses to describe this “from Him” idea is a term science calls biogenesis. It means that living things come only from other living things. This is a scientific principle that agrees with the declaration of scripture. Life made life. The life that is the source of all life is God himself.

Through him- Not only is God the source of all things he is also the sustainer of everything. One of the things science cannot explain is life itself. Where did it come from? How did life start? What is life? What the bible declares is that God not only gave life to all things, but even holds them all together and sustains everything that is. He keeps it all going, every cell, every life, every breath. (Col. 1:15-18)

To him- And, finally, he is the one all things return to. Life came from him and returns to him. Source, sustainer and finally culmination of all things.

Why? Why has he set it up this way? I love the last part of this short verse, so that “To Himbe the glory forever.” Why did he do it this way? So he would be glorified, worshiped and praised. All that is comes from him, is held together by him and will return to him so that he will be glorified and praised. That’s the right response to all he is and all he has done.

It is, in fact, all about him. Man’s response? In our world today, as Paul describes in Romans 1, is to deny the creator and credit the creation with its own inception, but there is no question in scripture that at the heart of everything is God himself. It is, in fact, all about him! Amen!

Visit Mike at FinishingWell.