Tag: kingdom of God

Message from Kla at Circuit Riders

As many of you know, my daughter is in a ministry program through Circuit Riders, and she sent a message for our church this week. I just wanted to share this with you.

I am so proud of her and all she is doing. She has always had such a heart for God, and God has blessed her with this wonderful opportunity. She has seen God heal, deliver, save and restore in these last few months, and I know this is just the beginning!

Also, if you have not signed up for the Send on May 14 at Arrowhead here in KCMO you can do so here at https://thesend.org/

I would love to see you there!

Love and blessin’s

Flatland Dave

Kla from Mexico! 4/29/2022

Add this to your Thankful list

Not long ago a friend asked me what food I miss the most while traveling. I first thought about the foods that I like: Mexican, chips and dip (kinda Mexican), Chick-Fil-A, Panera, Thanksgiving dinner, etc. Then, I realized what I really like about food. Here was my answer:

Continue reading “Add this to your Thankful list”

Busy on purpose: Three steps to better your busyness

We arrived home after a few hours at the grocery store, and asked our three year old to carry in a bag of bread. Her arms dropped in exhaustion and her knees buckled as she exclaimed, “I’m too busy!”

Continue reading “Busy on purpose: Three steps to better your busyness”

The Kingdom of God is not a diet

As a Christian, I can’t tell you how many discussions I’ve had about whether Christians should dress up and go trick or treating on Halloween.  One side will bring up the pagan roots, and all the evil that this day represents. Another side will say, “Dude! Free candy!”

A friend once asked me if I was concerned that I would somehow be honoring or worshiping Satan if I were to celebrate Halloween.  Continue reading “The Kingdom of God is not a diet”

Give God the Pen

Give God permission to write your story. Give Him the pen. Then willingly step into the story God writes for you. 

First, I want to thank you for your patience while I went “blog silent” for a while. I also want to wish my beautiful daughter a Happy Birthday! I love you daddy time! I love you Big Time! (only she will understand ♥ ) Continue reading “Give God the Pen”

What do you do when the worship doesn’t lead you to worship?

Two techniques to enhance your worship experience.

I love intimate times of worshipping God. I love to feel lost in God’s love for me. I love when God speaks His honest words of life, hope and healing. Often, these times happen at church during the worship (song) time.

Sometimes I get distracted from focusing on God during worship. I have two “go to” techniques in these moments I want to share. I am interested in what you do to enhance your worship time?

What do you do when the music just isn’t doing it for you?

Jason Ellsworth, a great friend and incredible worship leader (click the link to learn more), once told me, “music is a tool to lead us to worship.” That comment has stuck with me for many years.

Music is a powerful tool. In the church there are old and new songs that really resonant with me (these are often “songs I like”). And, there are old and new songs that do not really resonate (ok…let’s be honest, these are usually “songs I don’t like”).

The sad part is, some people actually like those “songs I don’t like”! (gasp!) Even worse, some people do not like those “songs I like”! Travesty!

My heart goes out to all the worship leaders!

When it comes to the age old debate about “what songs should be sung on Sunday”, there seems to be a few options to choose:

  • List – Give the worship leader a list of “songs I like” and ask them to solemnly swear to only play those songs. OR,
  • Liberate – Let the worship leader do their thing, while I allow the music to be a tool to focus my heart towards God (whether I like the song or not).

“Music is a tool to lead us to worship” – Jason Ellsworth

Let’s be honest, the music is usually not the reason you or I cannot worship God. In my experience, I have left worship services where I loved every song, but did not have a close encounter with the Almighty. And, I have had very intimate and life changing times of worship when I didn’t like the songs being played. The change wasn’t the music, it was how prepared my heart was.

Even still, there are often times of distraction for me during church where I find my mind drifting. Here is what I do.

Two main activities that enhance my time of worship.

Whether I like the song or not, I find these two activities enhance my worship tremendously:

  • Pray – My family has told me that singing is not my gift or talent. But that isn’t the reason I don’t sing all of the songs. In some songs the words lead me to prayer for: me, my family, the church, my skatepark friends, work or whatever seems appropriate.
  • Read – Many times a song will make me think of a Scripture. So, I turn to the scripture and begin reading. In fact, that is how this blog came about.
    • Recently, a song at church led me to Psalm 22 and I came across this verse:
    • Psalm 22:27-28 – “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations will worship before Him. For the Kingdom belongs to Lord: and He rules over the nations.
    • This year I have been putting my focus on the Kingdom of God. So, this stood out to me and led me to another level of worship, intimacy, and awareness of God’s presence.

What about you? What do you do during worship that enhances your time of worship? Comment below.

Love and Blessin’s,

David

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Featured Image provided by Jeremy Ellsworth Photography – www.JeremyEllsworth.com – Check him out for your photography needs!

 

Why do signs exist anyway?

I was coming home from the skate park totally unaware of what was about to take place.

I chose a different route than normal, and on the way there was a sign that read, “Road Closed to Thru Traffic”. This sign was on the side of the road, so for some reason I decided that it must not apply to me. I thought to myself, “I can make it through.”

Continue reading “Why do signs exist anyway?”

Why you should stop praying long enough to breathe

Three steps to take when your prayer list is too long!

When I was growing up I had a friend who would talk a lot. We used to say that he only talked when he was inhaling and when he was exahaling. I am sad to say that sometimes my prayers can sound a lot like my friend.

It is easy to make a list of people to pray for and things to pray about. When I pray, I just dive right in. Sometimes the things on my prayer list compel me to make sure God is aware of what I want. And I do all I can to make sure I don’t miss an item on my list. Today, that is how my prayer time began.

Continue reading “Why you should stop praying long enough to breathe”

How incremental change can transform your relationship with God and others!

Recently I have been putting a greater focus on small, incremental changes in my life rather than trying to overwhelm myself with the things that I am not doing. For example:

  • Working out –
    • I USED TO – Work out for at least 30 minutes a day. And when I say I used to, I mean I tried. It never lasted long.
    • NOW – I work out for no more than 10 minutes, and I focus on incremental changes. Example: Ten pushups goes to twenty, and twenty to thirty, etc.
  • Journeling –
    • I USED TO – find myself writing about all sorts of things when I journaled. I loved it, but the time wasn’t feasible on a daily basis.
    • NOW – I journal for no more than five minutes a day with targeted topics: What did I do yesterday? What did I learn? What is the weather? Things like that.

Continue reading “How incremental change can transform your relationship with God and others!”

Where does God put His Focus? You might be surprised.

Do you find yourself focusing on the bad things around you? Does your mind quickly go to all the things that are wrong? It’s not that you are a negative person, it’s just that there are things that must be fixed before everything can be perfect…right?

It is so easy to see the negative things in life and overlook the good…even in ourselves.

It’s easy to believe this lie:

If we just spent our time correcting the bad, everything will be good.

Let’s turn to Matthew 13. There are many simple truths in the parable of the “Wheat and Weeds” below.  And, since Jesus explains the parable after He tells it, it truly needs no further explaination. There is, however, one one statement I want us to look at.

Parable of Wheat & Weeds

24 Jesus told them another parable:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.  

27  “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’  

28  “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29  “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30  Let both grow together until the harvest.

At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

Parable Explained

36b His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed are the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40  “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41  The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42  They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

One thing that stands out to me is this:

The man who sowed the good seed (the Son of Man) did not focus on the weeds.

His primary focus was for the wheat to be kept safe until harvest. 

In our lives, there is evil. And clearly it would be incorrect to imply that Jesus is saying we should do nothing about the evil in our day. In this specific instance, the man was assessing the risk. He knew it would be worse to endanger the wheat until the right time.

 

Sometimes it is better to manage the growth of the good than to spend time tearing down evil.

This week, I encourage you to spend time each day looking at the good around you.

God will deal with the evil. For now, He is focusing on you. Take some time to do the same.

Love and blessin’s,

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