Word of Truth

1 King 22: 8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king should not say that," Jehoshaphat replied.

The king of Israel had prophets that told him what he wanted to hear. but Jehoshaphat understood the value of a true word, pleasing or not. He wanted to hear instruction from the man of God. The king of Israel’s perception of the man of God was incorrect. Yet he did not doubt that he was from God. This leaves many people hurt and confused about who God is.

* he believed in God and his prophet
* the kings plan and God’s never matched
* he hated the man of God and probably God

What was the king of Israel’s down fall? An incorrect perception of God and a lack of submission. He could not take instruction, or counsel from anyone. If things didn’t go the way he thought they should then it was someone else’s fault, even God’s.

Many people today are living in this situation. Disconnected from God and His blessings because there perception of who God is and what He does is incorrect. Furthermore, when His word or direction does not line up with theirs, they blame Him and accuse God of not being there for them. If you bite into sushi expecting steak, it can be disappointing. However, if you find out it was sushi and not steak; you will understand why it didn’t taste right.

I encourage you today, stop running and blaming God for what you do not understand. Instead, search for Him with all your heart and find out who He is and His plan to bless you not harm you.

Wisdom vs. Weapon

Ecclesiastes 9:18 “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.”

We have been watching a new show called Deadliest Warrior. This show takes two different style warriors and five of their weapons and tests them against each other technically. Last night we watched the Mari from New Zealand and the Shaolin monk. Isaiah like me has this deep respect and longing for the Chinese culture and martial arts so of course we choose the Shaolin monk. While Ant loves the force of the Mari warrior. Not to mention the facial tattoos the stick out of their tongues, and the Haka. No matter who you side with you really don’t want to be up against either.

Both warriors are highly trained from a young age and taught in the ways of war. The one thing that both Isaiah and I liked was that the Shaolin only fight in defense when reason is no longer an option.

Society and even those in the church are easily offended and quick to fight. We need to get back to the wisdom of God. It does not take much to react, but it does take discipline to stop and think of the proper way to approach a matter. In the last year I have learned how powerful wisdom and submission truly are. There is a time to fight, however, without wisdom there are far more casualties then necessary.

Lord, I thank you for your wisdom that you so generously give to us. Continue to open my eyes and heart to your ways and may I walk in your gentle guidance. Amen

You da Man!!

I have the most awesome husband. As I have stated before the past month has be challenging. This past weekend was no different. I caught my daughter’s cold in the middle of us moving.

See, back in January I began looking for ways to decrease our debit and raise a substantial amount of money for our church and personal Hawaii funds. It is great to have church fundraisers and month support from family and friends, however, I felt the need to make a personal change. So, we sold almost everything and moved in with my parents to put the money we are savings towards Hawaii. It was not a struggle for me to sell everything. The hardest thing is not having a place of my own to open up to my kids (you know who you all are) and friends. Many of them expressed sadness as well.

This is not easy for Anthony either. However, he has done so much to make everything, more us. He went and bought new wooden blinds for our room and put them up. He took the time to look for a space saver desk for the kid’s room and hooked it up. He took the kids out to eat so my parents could have some quiet while I worked late. He has been incredible and he still has a sermon to study for this Sunday. I know this is hard for him and yet he knows that we are closer to the dream now more than ever before. I believe in Anthony and the vision for the pacific islanders that God has given us. We have sacrificed our comforts, personal space, Isaiah’s fabulous school, and yes our money and I am so excited.

Ant, I love running this race with you. Thank you for all your hard work.