I will serve the Lord

I Will Serve the Lord
December 18, 2010



“Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.


-Joshua 24:14-15


~


I read this passage this morning before going to church. By way of background, Joshua is giving the Israelites his final charge. He had accomplished the mission God had given Him of leading the People of Israel out of the dessert and into the Promised Land. He has been there every step of the way since the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, to the time God delivered them from bondage through His servant Moses. He was a witness of the mighty hand of God parting the Red Sea, provided food and water for His people, going before them defeating their enemies, and His glorious, awful presence on Mount Sinai. He also watched as the Children of Israel turned from the LORD again and again, faithless to the covenant of their God when they made and worshiped the golden calf, filled with grumbling and complaining to the God who had taken pit on them, stubborn and rebellious to shrink back from entering the land of Canaan because of fear, and arrogant and obstinate to disobey the LORD over and over again.


Joshua knew these people. So he gave them a charge that they must make a decision whom they would serve. They could not serve YAHWEH, the One True God, as well as all the other gods they had served and the people around them served. They had to choose whom they would serve, love, worship, honor, and cherish. As for Joshua, his mind was made up…He was going to serve the LORD.


As I meditate on this passage, I realize that I should not be so quick to gloss over Joshua’s charge to the Israelites, failing to ask myself the same question. True, I do not live in a society that bows down to images of gold and silver and stone; but I do live among people who worship themselves, they worship the gods of comfort and ease, the gods of wealth and success, and the gods of pleasure and sex. I live in a world where Christians join right in chasing after the “American Dream”, pursuing and living for the same things that this world is, and finding God to be quite boring and old fashioned.


Well, I have a choice. Will I join in with this world and go along with them serving false gods? Will I settle for cheap Christianity and just go through the motions of going to church and wearing the religious mask? Or will I serve the Lord?


My heart answers with everything in me, “I WILL SERVE THE LORD!”

A Soul Awakening

A Soul Awakening


Lately I have been struggling knowing what to say when I share my faith and witness to my fellow Coasties. An overwhelming fear and dread has paralyzed my heart and I have not known what to do. I have cried out to God, but continue to struggle. However He is perfect in wisdom and faithful to make me like Jesus, and He has been teaching me to wait on Him, but as I have been reading Macarthur’s book, He a great soul awakening has been taking place in me by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have been worried and anxious about what I should say when I am sharing my faith---because I have been trying to make it appealing. BUT I KNOW WHAT TO SAY!!! The Bible is clear---enough trying to please men for I am a slave of Christ.

So may the Lord’s name be praised for He has shown me my sin and forgiven me! And now through the Spirit’s power I must destroy it and not allow even a remnant to survive. I have been weighed down by the burden of sharing my faith because of fear of so many things because I have fallen into the trap of watering down the Gospel to make it sound good. But God has delivered me by His power and continues to deliver me---to preach the truth of the Gospel as His Word declares without fear for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe…I have been entrusted with the message and God is in control of the results.

What great weights have been lifted from my soul, what renewed joy is mine in Jesus!

I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SAVE!

Holy Spirit, help me live this out every moment.

Without Compromise

Without Compromise
December 5, 2010


God has truly blessed me today by challenging me from one of John Macarthur’s I have been reading: Hard to Believe. In a nut shell, Macarthur wrote this books to “Christians” pleading and urging them to examine their faith, realizing that true faith requires taking up ones cross and following after Jesus. He delves into the traps we have fallen into of making Christianity into some sort of social club and how we water down the Gospel to make it easier to believe; when truly the Gospel, without our light shows, is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans1:16).

So tomorrow I commit to praying that I would live, speak, and share the truth of the Gospel WITHOUT COMPROMISE. I have been watering it down trying to make it look good and appealing. I am wrong---O God, please help me! This message…Your message….is foolishness to the world. May I not compromise because I am trying to please them.

One Life

One Life
December 5, 2010



I find that all too often, which is almost all of the time, we spend our lives in a fantasy world of our own making; as though we were building castles in the sands of time only to find that they will all too soon be swept away once the tides of reality come in. Life is only a vapor and it will soon fade away like the last rays of the sun before it finally sets below the horizon and is hidden from sight and darkness falls. We only have but one life to live on this earth, and it will soon be over.


So as I think over this reality, that God has placed me here on this earth for such a short time to declare His praise and live for Him, I charge my soul in the sight of God:


Put off all wickedness, and put on Christ. Cease complaining, arguing, speaking worthlessness, and belittling others to make myself look good; and instead give thanks to God, live at peace with others, set a guard over your mouth and say things that point to Jesus and encourage those who listen.


Run hard for the goal. Fix your eyes on Jesus, O Soul, and think of your true HOME, which is not this earth. Set your thoughts on heaven where Jesus is and be filled with eager excitement and joyful expectation of the day when you will finally be home with Christ.


Testify to the Gospel of God’s grace with all boldness and gentleness. Share the hope that Jesus has given you and do not hesitate to be an ambassador of our mighty Savior. Soul do not cower in fear but remember the Jesus is always with You and that He is your greatest Treasure. Acknowledge Christ before men and He will acknowledge you before His Father in heaven.


Life every second in the shadow of the cross, relying fully on the grace that was given you from God to enter into His presence with sure confidence because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. He has ransomed you, He has cleansed you, He has put His robes of righteousness on you and now you are hidden in Christ. O Soul, live today with this close to your heart so that joy overspills from your life.

Singing Praises to my King

Singing the Praises of My King December 5, 2010



Over the weekend we moored up to San Diego, CA for a night. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to my family one more time before heading down south and out of cell phone signal area. Then I unburied my guitar from the dark corner I had placed it in my locker and enjoyed some time playing and singing. For Christmas my family gave me a notebook filled with my brothers songs and my songs (I was so happy and excited!). So I was playing away on the mess deck singing some of our songs.


My prayer is that God would use my guitar playing and singing for His honor and glory, and if ever there is a moment when I start doing it for my own praise and glory that He would take away my ability to do both because it is by His strength and grace alone that I can play and sing.


So I sat there on the mess deck playing and singing praises to my King whose love is matchless and amazing. He deserves all glory and honor for He is the Lord Almighty---the Maker of heaven and earth.

One Final Voyage

THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT

The Watches of the Night                                                                                                       November 30, 2010

Last night we began getting into some rough waters around twenty-two hundred. We found out very quickly how well we secured for sea, as things that were not secured properly went crashing to the decks. Throughout the night I would wake up, fearing that my laptop would fall off the shelf I had placed it on. So I tossed and turned and did not get much sleep. The loneliness and distance of loved ones back home seemed very great last night as my heart struggled with contentment. As the waves of the sea rocked our boat my own doubts and fears swirled around me causing m heart much turmoil. Yet Jesus is greater than all my fears and He is mighty to save and to sustain me. As I lay awake in my rack, listening to everything banging and rolling around, I had to surrender once again to God’s perfect and beautiful plan. The Holy Spirit comforted me with verses from the Psalms, bringing to my mind Psalm 23, 91, 130, and some others. He is my Shepherd, under His wings I find refuge, and His promises shine brighter and stronger than all my fears and doubts.

I went to watch, feeling very sea sick for the first time. With all the rolling and pitching out boat has been doing, my stomach was all in knots. The mess deck was a wreck as I got my cup of tea. Coffee grounds covered the floor and as I walked by we hit a roll and I went sliding across the deck, knocking a pan of oranges off a table in the process. I did finally get my tea though. Watch was long and we nearly lost MID II which is one of our small boats. The pin had come out of the cradle it was secured to, which caused it to dip and snapped one of the lines. So I had to round up some people to take care of that.

Up on the Bridge it is something else to watch the waves crash over the bow of the boat and the water was reaching up all the to the Bridge where we were at! All the weather decks and outside decks are secured to everybody because the waves and rolling is so bad. So it has been sort of exciting this morning. It is almost sunrise, which is nice because throughout the night it was so dark we could not see how high the waves are so now at least we can see what is going on, but it is all cloudy and gray outside, but one thing I know for sure even though I cannot see the sun shining, it is beyond the clouds that surround us.

MY ROCK AND REFUGE

November 29, 2010


The Lord comforted my heart this morning with verses from the Psalms. I was reminded once again that He is my rock and my refuge, He is my God in whom I trust and the sustainer of my soul, and He is my fortress and my Deliverer. Storms arise in my heart, and the waves and breakers of this life crash over my soul like the angry waves crash over my boat, but Jesus stands as my Savior, walking on the water that threatens my faith. He reaches out and pulls me up from angry torrents that swirl around me, and I am saved. He is God, His is the Almighty One who by the word of His mouth spoke the universe into being. So I trust in Him, I will fix my eyes upon Him, I will be satisfied with His love and rejoice in His salvation. My God is mighty to save, and He is mighty to sustain! Blessed be my God; blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ!

November 29, 2010

November 29, 2010



This morning the USCGC Midgett set out on a patrol, heading down south; and so begins the start of my third patrol. It is hard to believe that we are already heading out again because it feels like we just arrived back here Seattle not so long ago. I am excited about this patrol because I know that God is going to do mighty things and teach me many lessons, stretching me in my faith and reminding me to ALWAYS trust in Him.


We had a few delays this morning that caused us to leave a couple hours later than we had planned. Our engineers had to work on fixing a major lube oil leak before we could start our cruise down the pacific. Things cleared up and we pulled out of Seattle after lunch. I finished the work day with some odd jobs here and there: securing things for sea, searching for a flag, velcrowing a thermometer so it will not fall out of its box, and other fun things of that sort. After sixteen hundred, I studied a little of my boat crew packet, worked on learning French (Bonjour! Ca va?), and ate dinner. Tomorrow I have 0400-0800 watch, so I’ll be getting up around 0245 to get ready for that…so an early morning for me! I enjoy the early morning watches though, because the boat is all quiet and everyone is sleeping.


So now I am having my cup of tea before bed, and I am going read my Bible.


So my new adventure has just begun, and I do not know what God has in store, but I know that His hand leads and guides me forth as He sustains me by His grace and mercy.