“No one is likely to experience real church life without times of hurt, disappointment, or rejection. Those who overcome these by growing in love, patience, forgiveness, etc., can make huge strides forward in their spiritual lives. Those who allow hurt, frustrations, or disappointments to dictate their courses will likely go from defeat to defeat, shipwreck to shipwreck, until they resolve to be over-comers instead of being overcome by these things.”  – Rick Joyner

If you are in a local church, and I hope you are, you will experience both joy and pain at the hands of other believers.  Raise your hand if you have been blessed by others in your church.  Now, raise your hand if you have been hurt by or disillusioned with others in your church.   When we experience the hurt part, there is a tendency to run and never darken the door again!

I know many people who have turned away from the Church after painful experiences.  I understand, more than I wish I did!   Yes the church is filled with brokenness and imperfection, but I  am still  convinced that the local  church is the primary means of forming believers and setting them on a pathway to spiritual maturity.

I must admit that I have been hurt by the Church, and I have hurt people in the church.  I’ve tried to learn from my mistakes and be a healer and not a “hurter”.

Be careful about assigning to God the “mess-ups” of His children.  God did nothing to you; people did!  Don’t give up on the church!  Please don’t.  I think there are many grace-filled, caring, loving and forgiving people in most churches. Seek them out. Spend time with them. If you have really made an effort, and cannot find them, then find another church.

God thought the Church was a good idea.  I want to be a part of anything that has been blessed and created by Him.  Don’t give up on the Church!  Even God is often pained by its behavior yet He doesn’t give up on His  Church and for that I am grateful!

“Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” – Jeremiah 17:14

I love dividing words to really grasp their meaning.  Words like nothing, NO THING.  Nothing is impossible with God – and NO THING is impossible with God.  Today I am focused on remind, RE-MIND.  Our thoughts lives can wreak havoc on so many levels.   As a child of God, when our minds are bombarded by thoughts that do not line up with the Word of God, we must RE-MIND.

When someone or the devil puts the thought in your mind that, you are nobody, it’s time to RE-MIND with what God says. God says you are His child and none of His children are nobodies.   1 John 3:1 (NIV) “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 

When you are tormented with the thought that you are not going to make it, it’s time to RE-MIND:   Philippians 1:6 “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

When your head is saying you have sinned so badly, God is finished with you, it’s time for a RE-MINDER:  Psalm 103:  “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons ALL your iniquities…”

When your mind is saying, the doctor can’t do anything else, RE-MIND with Psalm 103:”Bless the LORD, O my soul,  And forget none of His benefits; Who heals all your diseases.”

When your thoughts are filled with, “God does not hear my prayers.”  Let’s do a RE-MIND:  Jeremiah 29:12: (NIV) “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

What is your mind saying to you today?  The Word is filled with RE-MIND-ers.  It might be time to get the Word of God out and RE-MIND yourself who God is and who you are!

“Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should RE-MIND himself of this: just as he belongs to Christ, so do we.” 2 Corinthians 10:7

A young man stepped to the podium to sing a solo in the morning service.   I sat there on the front row, and along with the congregation, awaited a song that would cause us to look heavenward.  Oh boy!  The music was in one key and he was in another.  He left the music way behind and nothing fit together. Instead of causing us to be lifted heavenward, we all wished he would hurry and finish, which he did, way before the background music!

In a conversation I learned that the man loved to sing but was tone death.  He wanted us to be receptive but the wrong tone killed the whole thing.    The problem was not the message but the tone.  Tone has to do with using different elements: volume, speed, pitch of voice, body language and gestures, etc., to name a few.

We are in a time when we have to boldly stand for truth.  BOLDLY!   I refuse to accept what the Bible does not accept.  I understand everyone is not going to like my stand or agree with me. What I don’t want to do is add fuel to the fire by my tone.    We live in a time of too much anger and hostility.  Couples scream and yell at each other.  Politicians berate one another.   Christians “tell each other off”.   Facebook posts are often rudely stated.  People are quick to give the middle finger of fellowship.  Parents declare that the only way their children will listen is if they yell.   (By the way, that is only true if you conditioned them that way.)   God is saying to sing in one key, yet we often we sing in whatever key we want.  We have a tone problem.

I don’t want to be an angry, ugly, red-faced, condescending, name-calling, arrogant child of God.  I want to stand boldly for God.  I want to have the best relationships I can.  I want to be a good communicator of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I might be rejected but I don’t want it to be because of my tone.    I want to set the right tone.  How about you?

While on a ministry trip to Ohio, I spent three nights in a hotel.  My schedule made it necessary to arise and shine early each morning!  I would go down to the breakfast room at 5:30 to get my anointed cup of coffee and read over my message.  There were two women who stocked the breakfast area, and they told me their day started at 4:30.   As I watched hotel guests eating breakfast, very little thought seemed to be given to these women.  It was not a “limelight” job.

God spoke to me to bless those two women daily with words of thanksgiving and praise, and I did.  The last morning, I felt God leading me to bring them a gift of thanksgiving.  As I placed it in their hands, I thanked them for a job well done.  I thanked them that I had fresh coffee so early in the morning.  They begin to grin, and you could almost see their shoulders lift.  I could see them in the back room, and as we say in the south, “they were tickled pink!”   I honestly think I was more blessed than they were.

We often think of great ministries or ministers as those who stand up front, those in the limelight.  I have certainly known great men and women of God who have gifts requiring them to stand in the limelight.  But, there is a ministry that is so needed in life today, and it’s a great ministry that all of us can do.  Don’t even take a spiritual gift test to see if you have it!  It is the ministry of EN-couragement!

Everyone, from babes to senior citizens, needs EN-couragement. To EN-courage is to put courage into someone. To DIS-courage is to take courage out of them.   You don’t have to go to seminary to have a great ministry!  Be an EN-courager!  Today speak a kind word; tell someone you appreciate them; say thank you to your boss; tell that nurse how much you appreciate her care; tell a child how glad you are God made them; post on someone’s Facebook complimenting them.  If you will look around today, you will have many opportunities to have a great ministry – the ministry of EN-couragement.

Show the love of God by being an EN-courager.  Make a point of putting courage into your spouse, your children, your friends, your pastor, your mentor, the clerk checking you out at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the single parent and countless others.  Be a blessing today through EN-couragement.  Go out of your way to do it, and one wonderful thing that happens, is that in blessing others you will be blessed yourself.

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life …”  Proverbs 10:11

Between my speaking schedule, and my visits out of town with family, I can be on the road for quite a few weekends, with little time at home. When I am home, there must be time given to study to get ready for the next trip, time to catch up at home, and time given to spend a few precious hours with family.

This week, I finally ventured out into the Birmingham metro to do a little shopping. I was amazed at some of the things I saw. While I was away, much work had been going on. What had previously been a cleared field being prepared for construction, now had the walls of a building going up. As I got off the interstate, there were no longer signs saying “Work Zone,” for the road and intersection were completed.

How amazing it is that while I was going about God’s will for my life, lots of work was happening without me being aware of it!

This is a great picture of how God is at work in our lives. He is doing far more than we comprehend. He is building things and tending to details on our behalf. There will be times when it seems like nothing is changing, nothing good is happening and there is little hope. BUT GOD … is working behind the scenes. He has never let you out of His sight. He is doing things for your good that you aren’t even aware of. He is working out situations. He is lining up details. He is giving you favor. He is protecting you from the enemy. God is at work!

Child of God, be encouraged today. As we continue to walk faithfully with Him, He is faithful to us. Farther down the line you will look back and see that God was putting all the pieces of your puzzle together.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28 NLT

Last week was a whirlwind week for the Bentons.  Gaylon and I drove about four hundred miles to Baton Rouge to see our daughter-in-law Alica receive her Ph. D.  We would not dream of missing this great accomplishment.   We returned home on Friday night, and left Saturday morning to travel more than four hundred miles to Hickory, NC, for a ministry engagement, and we would also see our grandson Tucker.   We got back at 10:30 Sunday night.  We drove seventeen hundred miles over four-and-a-half days.

On Monday morning, while in my garage, I looked at my car, and the front was covered in bugs, scores of them.  My windshield was also a graveyard for many bugs.  I was shocked at how many bugs were on my front bumper.

One thing I knew – I had to wash my car that day.  The longer the bugs stayed on my paint job, the greater the damage, and the more difficulty to remove them.  So, off to the car wash I went!  Before going through the wash itself, I had to stop at the “bug station” to remove bugs.  It was no small chore. It took a lot  of elbow grease, under a scorching sun.    I was hot; I was tired; but I could not let the bugs remain.

I didn’t intentionally get bugs on my car.  I just picked them up on the journey.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, and one who tries to live by the word of God, I find that I often have to go and wash in God’s presence.  My mind often gets “bugged.”  I don’t intentionally set out to pick up bad attitudes and wrong mindsets; but as I journey through life, I am exposed to things that fly into my mind and heart.  It is a never-ending battle, but one that must fought.

At times the battle of the mind is so fatiguing, and it never ends.  Satan knows that he can do his best work if he can “bug” our minds and stay there. In 1965, Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote a book about it called The Invisible War.   Quoting Barnhouse, “It is the battle for your mind, and that battle is vicious. It is intense. It is unrelenting, and it is unfair because Satan never plays fair. And the reason why it is so intense is that your greatest asset is your mind.”

Beloved, none of us is exempt from “bugs” hitting our minds.  As soon as we know they are there, we can go to God and wash them off.    Don’t believe everything you think.  Don’t act on everything you think.

Guard what you allow in your mind.  Let me give you an example.  I would never let someone walk into my living room, start using foul language, pull out a bottle of liquor and begin to get drunk, and then undress and get in provocative positions. I’d never allow that!  Yet, I have the opportunity every day, to watch these very things on television or film.   I must guard my mind.

When those “bugs” want to splatter my mind, the answer is to run to God, and allow Him to fill my thoughts with, “… whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

God’s presence is a good place to wash off the bugs.

I often find myself listening to the song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me.

I can only imagine, What it will be like
When I walk, by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine, I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus, Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence, Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine, I can only imagine.

Recently I went to pick up my grandson from therapy.   Joseph’s mom told him that Grammy would be picking him up, and he would be spending the night with Papa and Grammy.  Joseph understood that first he had to complete his work, then Grammy would come.  Joseph was enthusiastically waiting for the moment I arrived to get him.   As a matter of fact, he told the therapist several times that Grammy was coming.  There was a never a doubt in Joseph’s mind that Grammy was coming!

As I entered the therapist’s office, the timing was perfect!   Joseph was walking  towards the waiting room.  A gate separates the hall and the waiting room.  As Joseph stepped into the hall and saw my face, his joy was uncontainable.  He leaped down the hall.  He laughed with glee.  His leap of joy was so high, I thought he was literally going to jump over the gate.  When he got to me, he took my hand and said, “I want to go to Grammy’s house.”

Joseph’s work was over, and it was time to go with one he loved.

Immediately, and I do mean immediately, I saw of picture of what it will be like the day I finish my assignment here on earth.  I shall walk down the hallway from earth to heaven.  I see myself leaping, laughing, and taking the hand of Jesus, and walking into His house to live forever.  I can only imagine!

Child of God, it is so easy to get caught-up in the temporal, forgetting that this is not our final home.  We will change addresses one day, and it will be our final address!  Those who have accepted Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior, will live forever with Him in heaven.

I can’t get the visual of my grandson Joseph out of my head, nor do I want to get it out! Will I leap high when I see Jesus?  Will I dance and laugh as I see the One I love?  Will I break into tears as I see His face, and thank Him for taking a life full of sorrow, and filling it with joy?  Will I kneel and wash his feet with tears of gratitude?  Will I simply stand in silence as I stand in awe of the Son of God?

I can only imagine!

Is Easter over? I mean it is the day after – it is Monday. We’ve packed our churches, hunted Easter eggs, sliced the ham, eaten Cadbury eggs, dressed in vibrant colors, and hailed the resurrection of the Lord as the greatest day in the history of the Church and the world. For many Easter is now over, and it’s time move to the next thing.

How easy it is to move from Easter Sunday to an ordinary Monday, living life as if the resurrection was just an event! We’ll ask others how their Easter was, and then move on to the weather, politics, work, the latest TV show and how irritated we are with people.
Too often we are unaware of the significance of all that we heard and celebrated the previous day. We celebrated a risen Lord who now resides inside of us, giving us power to walk in this life. Yet, too many will continue to fight sin in their own strength, walk through life as if they walk alone, and battle a nagging fear of death and even a fear of life. The resurrection will fade into the white noise of life, making no noticeable impact.

We are not sure what the disciples did on the Monday after Easter. Perhaps they stayed together celebrating the news of the resurrection. Perhaps they laughed, worshiped and Easter joy flooded their day. Maybe they kept a low profile in case soldiers or other religious leaders were looking for them. Perhaps they sat around having conversations trying to piece together exactly what occurred. We can’t be certain of anything that happened on Monday, but we can be certain of one thing: their lives were never the same. The men who had been so timid and fearful were now brave and courageous. They became emboldened to preach the good news, live the good news and in many cases, die for the good news. Easter changed their lives!

Let it be the same for you and me! Do not allow the day after Easter to take away the power, encouragement, hope and celebration that was experienced yesterday. The tomb is still empty and no matter what Monday brings, Jesus is still alive! As you face today, this week and the future, keep the empty tomb at the forefront of your thoughts. There is still real power, hope, victory and confidence because of a risen Savior.

As I reflected on Easter this morning, I found myself asking God to make me soil for the resurrected life of Christ to begin to germinate, grow, come forth. Oh God, break up the ground of my heart and plow me deep, deeper than I have ever been. I long to let the power of new life work within me. God, I don’t want Easter to be an just an event in life, but an event that changed my life.

Don’t let today be the Monday after Easter. Let today be the day that the empty tomb empowered you to be a victorious child of God. Easter is not over, and never will be.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” – Romans 8:11 (NLT)

Defining moments in life can mold us, shape us and direct our lives.

Some defining moments can be traumatic, and others can be incredibly wonderful.   For example, after the first instance of abuse at the hands of my father, my life direction and thought process were profoundly impacted.   For years that event and subsequent events molded me to be angry, agitated and headed in the wrong direction.  These events bred a lack of belief that I could ever be healed, and make anything of my life.

I’ve also had defining moments that were wonderful and changed my life.  Giving my life to Jesus Christ, and going to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, was life-changing for me.  For the first time, I was in a stable, Christian environment, and over time I no longer lived in fear.    Marrying Gaylon Benton and birthing three children were defining moments in my life.  What kind of wife and mother did I want to be?

Did those moments define me?  Not really.  How I responded to those moments determined the course of my life.

Because of childhood abuse, miscarriage of my first baby, church hurt and the painful reality of losing a son, I have the right to be angry.  Mix that with other hurts and betrayals in life, and I have the right to live angry.  But, I did not want that to define my life, so instead I chose to give up the right to live an angry life.

At the age of seventeen, I made a choice to follow Jesus Christ, not just go to church, but follow Jesus Christ.   I chose to let that decision define who I would become over time.    I gave up the right to live angry, and allowed God to give me abundant life.  I do not regret that decision for one moment!  Not one!

Moses could have been defined by the murder he committed, but he was redefined by a burning bush experience.   Peter could have been defined by sinking into an angry sea, but he was redefined by the power of the Holy Spirit, and became a powerhouse for God.   Saul could have been defined by his involvement in the killing and persecution of many Christians.  Instead, he was redefined by an encounter with God, and renamed Paul.

What defines your life?  The negative moments?  Those moments do not have to control your destiny in life.    I am so grateful for a God who offers us defining moments, and once you affirmatively respond to a defining moment from God, you are never the same

“How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” –  Psalm 13:1,2

No newsflash is necessary for people to know how much I hate cold weather.  Much of the chatter from me during winter is about how cold it is, and the countdown to spring.   I dislike my present season, and my desire is for the next season to hurry its arrival. Yet, the truth is I can’t hurry the next season!   I must learn to live in the season I find myself. I can’t wish away my present season!

No matter how much we try to wish it away or long for the next season, we must learn to live victoriously in the present, until the new season arrives.

God has been reminding me that life has seasons, and that at some point, one season must give way to the next.  Think of how winter becomes spring.  It is not instantaneous. It’s still very cold and then “suddenly” there will be warm day, then back to cold, repeat and repeat.   In time the cold is gone and the warm is present every day. There has been a change of season.

As David wrote Psalm 13, he was on the run from King Saul and found himself in the hard place of losing hope. He was in dire need of encouragement and strength.  Words of anguish filled his heart and then came forth as words from his mouth, as he cried out to God, “How long?”

Are you living in the unbearable days of “How long?”  How long will I be unemployed? How long will my marriage be like this? How long will I have financial problems? How long must I continue to pray to become pregnant?  How long will my child be a prodigal?  How long will I live with this life-threatening diagnosis? How long will I be lonely? How long will my family continue to hurt me?  Our stay in “How long?” can seem “very long.”

You might be in a season that is difficult, the winter of life.  Let me be honest enough to tell you that I have never experienced the winter of life like I have for the past several years.    There has been one thing after another.  At times, I wondered if anything else could possibly happen!   In many ways, it has been the season of “How long, Lord?”    How thankful I am that the words of David can become my words to God.  I can bring my pain to Him.  It strengthens my faith to know that He will bring me through the season of “How long?”

Don’t give up, child of God.  He knows where you are and what the cry of your heart is!  A change of season will come!