Then God Said...

God is active in the Dark -Jason Upton Some seasons do not make sense until another season arrives or is completed. It's easy to devalue or degrade the less appealing or the harder seasons in life, and sometimes we can even write them off as countless, but that it not our Father--He is always purposeful and good in our lives. He is also calling us to walk beyond, into the invisible, in those seasons, because there's something greater at work; there's someone greater at work. We may not understand one season of life until another comes, and in those places our faith will lead us into understanding; further, one season of life may not make sense until the beginning or completion of another. God is the God of generations, and He participates with us in every aspect of our life, and He's also a builder who is constructing a masterpiece with our whole lives--some of us, lie our fathers of the faith, may not see this masterpiece come to fruition in our life, but in the ...

One thing I love about scripture is the raw honesty you see from the individuals God calls such as, Jeremiah, David, Moses, Isaiah, and many others. I am specifically refering to how they say things to God when their lives are upside down with confusion, heart-ache, pain, and suffering. It is in those moments that they say things to God that almost scare most Christians today. When reading some of their replies you almost get the feeling that major discipline is coming from the heavens after they say those things. Listen to what the Psalmist said in Psalm 44:11-15 (NASB): 11  You give us as sheep to be eaten And have scattered us among the nations. 12  You sell Your people cheaply, And have not profited by their sale. 13  You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those around us. 14  You make us a byword among the nations, A laughingstock among the peoples. 15  All day long my dishonor is before me And my humiliation has overwhelme...

Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” This past weekend Haley and I went to the biggest Bass Pro Shop we have ever seen! When we arrived we expected to go in and enjoy all that Bass Pro Shop had to offer, but as we were getting out o...

Genesis 3:8-11 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” I first want to propose that if we really knew who God was then we would not try and hide from Him. We have a God who has not abandon His creation after this horrific event in history; rather, we have a God who has not only been faithful in our lives, but in the lives of those in history past. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God has been Fathering, teaching, admonishing, rebuking, leading, giving, cursing, blessing, raising up, tearing down, and a myriad of other things...

Luke 7:1-10 When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this...

Galatians 6: 7-9 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. During the training days of my military career this was the banner over my life- do not quit! Keep going! At the time I learned the lesson of reaping the benefits of not quitting when employed with a good task. Although in the moment everything inside me was telling me to quit, it is too hard, I cannot do this, still I did not give up. I may not have been as successful as some of my other comrades, but I did not give up. We can take this same lesson and apply it to our spiritual life and relationship with God. The scripture is clear, if we sow of the flesh we will reap corruption from the flesh, but if we sow of the Spirit we will reap...

It has been far too long since I have posted a blog. It's time to get back on the horse! This week is an excerpt from the book of Job, not to be confused with the occupation. Job 1:1-8 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord...