A Heavenly Viewpoint

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Squished against a couple of strangers, as you share the immediate space around you for two hours, doesn’t really appeal to most people. In fact, I really don’t think it really appeals to anyone! Most of the time, I would rather drive than fly in those conditions. However, recently flying has put an amazing perspective on life.

Whenever you fly, you can oversee miles of landscape. Whether that be the majestic mountains, the open plains, the beautiful canyons you can see some amazing sights. You look down upon the twists and turns of the roads, the fields and towns. You are able to see a completely different viewpoint of the earths topography that you wouldn’t be able to see as well on the ground. This really put into perspective how God looks upon our lives for me. He oversees everything. Scripture teaches that God knows even when a sparrow falls to the earth. He knows the hairs upon your head, and ultimately, He knows what is best for you.

So, What do you we with that kind of viewpoint? Well, I’m glade you asked.

Trust. We get so uptight and concerned of what’s around the next corner that we soon forget that God has all things under His sovereign control.  I so often look upon my life and believe that right after the bend in the road is going to be a broken down bridge that will bring me to my falling and I have no way of slowing down or stopping. Failing/falling to whatever problem that came about. Ultimately, it goes straight to overthinking. Overthinking is completely taking your trust away from the Lord and trying to take control of whatever situation you are going through alone. Personally, I hate being alone and I know full well what happens when I try to take control by myself. We all know that doesn’t end well.  God knows what’s around the corner. He deeply desires that we trust in HIM!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
~Proverbs 3:5-6

God knows what we need and what is good for us. He knows you better than you know yourself! That broken bridge may not be there at all but a beautiful time that God has planned for us. Our minds get so wrapped up into what might happen and lose sight of what God truly has in plan for us.

When you devote your life to Christ you make a huge decision in God, you are not going to know what is around the next corner. Why should you?! If you knew absolutely everything that was going to happen to you in this life, would you really be trusting God? NO, of course not! You would be trusting in your own deity. .A deity that truly doesn’t know what you need. GOD DOES! He knows what is good for you and He desires to give you the things that are good in life. We need to learn to put our trust into our heavenly father.

Is this easy? No. If anyone tells you that trusting God is easy they’re lying. Trusting the Lord takes time and an enormous amount of prayer. You will know the direction that you are to go by the answer to prayers. If God is leading you are answering those deep prayers in a manner that you should keep following that path, you obviously should continue down this road. He has planned something great for you even though in the beginning of this road it may seem difficult. God is working this beautiful story for you!

I had someone not too long ago remind me that just because we want something in life and pray dearly about it doesn’t mean that’s what God desires to give you. How will we know the difference? Through those prayers. Like before, If  the prayers are leading you close down the road, keep going. However, if doors feel like they are continuously being closed, seek after the Lord and guidance in what you should do. Trust. Always know that God desires to give you what is good and maybe what is good is a different road than you are going.

In Romans 8 it explains that we don’t even know how to pray as we should so the Spirit is interceding for us. It goes on to say that Jesus is interceding for us. He want’s what is good for us. Anything that is good comes from above! (James 1:17) When you truly see God working to bring things together, be patient. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but the blessing that overwhelm when you are giving your trust to the Lord will overflow your heart. It’s something that I’m truly learning now and know will continue throughout my life. When you have something that you can’t help see God placing in your life that is good, make sure you give it right back to Him. He is the one that rains down the blessings and He is the one that deserves all the credit and glory.

When we practice this level of trust in God, true joy will come upon you. Divine happiness and contentment. Paul expressed in his letter to the Philippians that he has learned to be content in all circumstances. In the good and the bad we ought to always give everything to Him through prayer and supplication. You will find that to be closest to God comes when we are on our knees giving Him our requests and desires.

Philippians four teaches that we ought to let our request be known to God. An all knowing God wants you to tell Him what He already knows. Seems kind of pointless, doesn’t it? Of course not! He wants that communication. He wants that connection with us. How amazing! God wants you! Trust in Him that He will provide and guide you down this road in life. Cling to what is good! For it comes from above!

“Delight yourself in the Lord
And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
~Psalms 37:4

Keep remembering the viewpoint that God has on your life.

The Blinders of Life

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Have you ever driven down the road and you see a horse and buggy traveling along the road? If you have, I’m sure that you noticed the horse (or horses) have blinders on. They will put those on the horse so that they don’t get spooked by whatever may be coming up behind or on the side of them. They are only able to see what is right in front of them.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see a human wearing blinders? It was quite comical looking up pictures of such attire. (I see a new fashion coming soon) As humorous as it may be, so many Christians are wearing such contraption. Now, it may not be a physical blinder, but a spiritual blinder.

Too often my head can get the best of me. For whatever reason I will get in a frustrated mood. Once in this mood I will start to overthink whatever area of life that is giving me frustration or disappointment. From there, it only grows. I will get more frustrated because of my frustration. (Makes sense right?) My mind will start to believe whatever lie that has festered in my thoughts until I believe it to be reality. That’s when the spiritual blinders are put on. The reality around me turns into tunnel vision that looks right down on the dirt path I’m walking on. We see the potholes and mud puddles and forget to look up and see the beauty that surrounds us. It really boils down to ones pride and selfishness. One tends to see only what we want to see and not what God is trying to show us. In part, we forget who we are in Christ. In these times, I get thoughts of depression and negative self worth.

In our day to day lives we can get so caught up in the business. We quickly lose sight of our surroundings and all that God is providing. There are flowers flourishing and we see the dirt around our feet, He places paintings of awe and wonder around us in the sky and all we focus on is the cloudiness that dampers our day. He passionately pours out His love to us that we barely notice it because of our spiritual blinders. STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES! Satan loves the spiritual blinders, and he will gladly put them on for us. (Even though most of the time we put them on ourselves)

When these times of depression come, it’s like being in a small boat and it’s slowly sinking. I watch as I feel hopelessly fall deeper into thoughts of failure and doubt. Satan wants to destroy us in any way that he can. (John 10:10a) He would love to see us fall and to sink into these mindsets. Now the beginning of verse ten expresses the destruction that Satan would love to see. However, in the latter part of the verse it expresses to resist. Resist clearly means to block out or stop. He WILL flee from you! You have God on your side!

These blinders are just as easy to put on as they are to take off. Read God’s unfathomable Word, and get on your knees and pray. The greatest ways that you can resist those thoughts is by diving into the Love Letter from God, to get on ones knees in supplication and we should be in constant prayer throughout the day. What greater way than to spend time alone with God. Read about all that He has, is and will be doing in your life! I have a hard time being in a depressed mindset when I read about His love for me. Then spend time talking and pouring our your heart to Him. When we make a common practice of spending time devoted to God, we will experience a spiritual high that words will only dim the true breathtaking high.

Lately, I’ve started a habit that has greatly helped me in my day to day life. It helps keep these blinders off and be able to constantly see the blessings that God places all around me. Anytime a thought or lie creeps up into my mind I will immediately stop what I am doing and take a short time to ask God for help. God is the one that will give us strength to overcome whatever thought, sin, depression may try to creep into our heads. (Phil. 4:13)

So, will you join me in this quest? Life can get really difficult at times. Strive to keep the spiritual blinders off and to see all the blessings and beauty that is around us. God deeply desires a personal relationship with us! Take the blinders off and see what He is doing.

Know who you are in Christ.

The Conversation of a Lifetime

Posted on by stevenlucht1

What if I told you that I recently got off the phone with Aaron Rogers, 21 Pilots, Billy Graham, Donald Trump, or any famous person out that you really want to meet? Let’s say we were catching up on life and try to call each other every other week. You would be fairly impressed, or even have some kind of desire to be able to talk with that person also. I feel like most of us, if not all, are willing to admit that we would get pretty excited if we had the opportunity to sit down with someone we really look up to in the “famous realm”. Whether that is someone in the music industry, sports area, or in the mission field we all have someone that we would really like to meet.

Here is the interesting predicament that I find. We would do so much to be able to have that conversation with that famous person and get all giggly or excited about it, but have little affect over our personal conversation with God Himself. “Wait, hold on a minute….” you may be thinking, “I definitely value my conversation with God more than I would with a famous person.” Now, let me challenge this thought. Are we the type of people that mention our relationship with God or would you boast to your coworkers and friends that you were able to talk/be a close friend with a famous person. Think about this for a minute. When is the last time you mentioned to anyone how God answered your prayer, small or big? When’s the last time you even expressed your relationship with God to any nonbeliever? Now if you had the opportunity to talk with Aaron Rogers, whether you like him or not, I almost guarantee you that you will be telling others about that conversation.

When is the last time you really thought about who you are talking to when you pray? The Almighty God, the I AM, the All Knowing, the Lover of your Soul. He is actually listening to what you are saying! Even thinking about this should get you excited! I AM!!! There is no greater comfort knowing that we have the opportunity to reach out to the Almighty God!

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”
~Corrie Ten Boom~

Open God’s Word to I Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without Ceasing” (ESV). It’s an incredibly short verse that packs a mountain of meaning. Praying shouldn’t be something you feel you HAVE to do, it should be a passion and desire. Keep in mind the One that you are talking to. Here’s something that might throw you off. If you don’t want to pray… DON’T. However, you are going to miss out on one of the most incredible relationships you could ever be involved with.

So, How DOES God answer prayer? Well, we will touch on what I see the three most common answers: No, Yes, and Wait.

No: This is by far one of the hardest answers. Whether this involves a huge opportunity/”door” closing, or a change in careers. The answer spans to all kinds of areas of life. The majority of the time this is not the answer that we desire from God. However, it’s one of the greatest teaching moments that God can bring you closer to Him. He always knows what is best for us and “no” might turn into the biggest life-changer that you needed. The verse that I always try and keep in mind when I feel God has told me no is I Thessalonians 5:18:

“Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (ESV)

Yes: Now I Thessalonians 5:18 is really easy to practice in this answer. “Yes” can give you absolute joy, depending on the situation. The warning I give when this is the answer God gives you is give the praise right back to God. He has allowed whatever circumstance to happen and He is the one to get the praise. Don’t be going off boasting about how you did whatever to get that new job, promotion, or dating relationship. It was God’s hand that guided and helped you along and He is the one to get the praise.

Wait: For some, myself included, this can be the most challenging answer. What am I suppose to do in this wait??? “Wait” never means to stop praying. I find the waiting period to be the most growing and challenging. Whether that’s praying for a beloved friend or family to deeply desire God more than this world, or waiting to be in that relationship you desire to be in, or even that next step in your career path. Wait is the time you spend all the more time in prayer. Luke 18 expresses this well.

“And he told them a parable
to the effect that they ought to always pray and not lose heart.” (ESV)
~Luke 18:1~

One of my favorite activities to get alone with God is going for a walk. Some people call me nuts, but I love going for looong walks. Recently, I went for a 20 mile walk. There was a specific area of my life that needed deepened prayer. It forces me to get away from the distractions that may pull me away from my time of prayer at home and focuses me on why I am walking. Sometimes it’s to focus on a person struggling or asked for prayer, or to pray about different areas of life (either present or future.) Prayer is one of the greatest parts of our relationship with God.

Now, we have looked into how great prayer is. Why is prayer so important? Why is it something that I need to set time aside for and to practice praying more often?

You have an open communication with God, and you abuse that communication. He desires so deeply to have a personal relationship with you!

“Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving
let our requests be made known to God” (ESV)
~Philippians 4:6~

Why should we let our request be known to God? Isn’t God all-knowing? I’m glad you asked! I see this as a deepening desire between God toward us. He desires to have a personal relationship with you and wants the best for you. He wants your attention! Are you giving it to Him?

What if someone you desire to be in a relationship or someone you are in a relationship with never talked to you or barely talked to you. The relationship isn’t really going to be healthy. There is no communication. How can you grow towards someone when you don’t communicate. God communicates to us through the Word of God and through our day to day lives. We need to be spending some serious time in prayer and in reading the Bible.

First, I suggest getting a prayer book and write down prayer requests. Leave some space by the prayer request so that when time comes you can see (and write down) how God provided and answered for that prayer request.

Second, Get people in your life that you trust to send prayer requests to. I have a few people in my life that when life is getting hard or something is really tearing me apart, I send them a quick text to pray. It has helped incredibly in my walk with Christ.

In conclusion, You may have a once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to a famous person. Whoever that person would be for you. Just remember, that you have an opportunity to always have a deep and incredible communication through prayer to the God of the universe.

Patience is a Virtue

Posted on by stevenlucht1

When I was little boy, I would sit at the top of the stairs, in complete anticipation. I waited for my dad to walk through the door when he was done with work. Before he came through the door, I would quickly put his slippers, aligned just right, on the stairs. All my dad had to do was slip right into the slippers and walk right up the stairs to greet me. He would pick me up with his large arms and always have the best greeting.  This was the best time of the day.

Waiting for my dad to get home was the hardest. I would keep looking out the window right around five o’clock to see if he had pulled in yet.

My family loves to go camping, and each year we would go camping at the same lake for years. As soon as we got there, I would ask my parents right away if we could get the boat in the water to do some water skiing or tubing. I would usually get the response to “just wait” or “be patient”. This didn’t really sit well with me.

As a young kid, I was always a “go, go, go” type person. Just ask my parents…. wait…. no, don’t ask them. Even so, I loved to explore and keep moving to the next fun activity or project.

…Our society lives off of this mentality…

We always want to create something to make our job go faster so we can work on the next project, and then have that go faster. It’s almost always about speed. Now don’t get me wrong, this can come with plenty of benefits, however, it can cause quite a strain in life too. We transfer this mentality into our daily lives.

“Be patient!” I don’t know about you, but I heard that plenty of times growing up. Patience, for the most part, does not come to us naturally. If you were to look up the word “patient” in the ESV bible, you would find 21 verses. The Bible expresses plenty of times on the importance of being patient.

  • Romans 8:25
  • II Corinthians 6:6
  • Galatians 5:22
  • Ephesians 4:1-2

Look them up! Don’t just skip reading the word of God. He teaches us that it is a good thing to wait. We may not see it, but it is!

How many times have you shown patience and good things come from it?  Almost always! Then, why don’t we actually practice this? We want what we desire ten minutes ago. We have no patience to wait for things in life. Whether it is with a relationship, a new job, moving or just that next step in life. We have a hard time waiting days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years until we know fully that good things will happen, if we wait.

I am currently seeing impatience ruin families, relationships, and ones relationship with God. We don’t like the idea that we have to wait, so we take our own initiative to rush our lives.

So then, what are we supposed to do when we wait? Isn’t it obvious? PRAY! God wants us to go to Him and express what is on our hearts.

God is trying to teach me right now to be patient. It hasn’t been easy. I have to pray that God gives me patience each day. If I don’t pray for patience, I end up over-thinking different areas of life and I tend to lose trust in God.

At the very beginning of each day, take and make time to spend at least five to ten minutes in prayer. Ask God for patience in specific areas of your life. Have people in your life that can encourage and strengthen you in being patient. Don’t fight your desires on your own.

Above all, focus on the One
who loves you beyond life itself.
He WILL bless you in being patient on His will.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End of the Beginning

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Next week is it… It’s the official start of the summer with the kids. My excitement is growing in anticipation for them to be here. At the same time, my heart turns when I think about where these kids are coming from. It pains me knowing that some of the kids that will be here for the first kid’s camp have not heard of the beauty of our Savior, knowing that the some of the kids are coming from very rough backgrounds. I ask that you join me in prayer for those kids, and the kids that do come from good homes.

This past week has been very long. It seems that every time that my heart starts really getting excited and pumped up for the kids to come, Satan decides that he is going to throw a curve ball and distract me from the reasoning that  I am here. It has been quite the lesson to have to endure. Thankfully God is the one in control and taking over. It is absolutely amazing when we truly give things to the Lord that He WILL take over. The catch is that we need to truly give whatever is on our mind to Him (Easier said than done.)

As summer staff, we have gone through quite of bit of training. We have been trained in TAC elements (Team Adventure Challenge), archery, paintball, various nature times, the tower, swing, and the tree climb. Writing it out makes it sound like we just have been playing this whole time. However, these days have become very long with a lot of training. We obviously have been having an incredible time, but it does seem like we’ve been here for at least a month when we only have been here for a little over a week. I can definitely say that I am more than ready for the kids to come.

It’s incredible that God can use us for His work and for His glory. Please pray for us summer staff that we keep in the mindset that we are here to give glory to God and none of it comes to us. It’s too easy for us to get prideful and forget what we truly are here for. God is so good and we are so excited to see what He is going to do and impact this summer.

Matthew 10:13-16 explains how Jesus let the children come to Him. I am so ready for these kids to come so that we can pour out our hearts to them. My desperation to want to share the love of God to them is beyond all measure. Wednesday morning I will be teaching at the chapel time. For approximately six months, God has laid it upon my heart for this message. My biggest prayer is that it is all God speaking through me and not anything of my own accord.

All this said; please pray dearly for my fellow summer staff and our walks with Christ. I have been more encouraged this year than ever in my walk with Christ and being challenged in my own growth. We have a healthy and strong bond with each other and get together each night to spend some time in prayer. We couldn’t do this without God’s help. It truly is amazing what God has been providing already in this summer year.

 

Time Well Spent

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Where is it? Where are we spending our time?

There is a jealous God waiting for us to spend time with Him. Oh too often I neglect my personal time with God, time set aside that I build myself closer to Him. A relationship takes time and effort.

Time:
While looking at several different articles, the average American spends approximately five hours watching television. That’s JUST watching television and not including how much time we are on our phone or computers…etc. Fairly ridiculous if you ask me.

We are completely wasting our time! There God is waiting for us to start talking with us. Personally, if I were to be in a relationship, I would get quite jealous if she spent the majority of her day wasting her time and neglecting conversations and time with each other. That is exactly what we are doing to God when we neglect spending time with Him. He’s jealous of us. The Bible speaks about this several times. (Exodus 20:5, 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Joshua 24:19)

Why would we not want to talk with God and have our own personal time with Him?! It just shows that God just wants to have this personal relationship with us. He wants us! I don’t know about you but that definitely pushes me to invest more into my personal time with Him.

So many people say that they don’t have time, or it’s hard to work around their schedule to spend devoted time with God. Some even say that Sunday church should be good enough. Personally, Sunday is wonderful but I most definitely need to be fed so much more spiritual insight and guidance other than 45 minutes on a Sunday morning. Make time. I would struggle to say someone has a strong personal relationship with God and neglects personal time with Him. It’s like saying that I’m a really strong person, yet I only work out once a week for just an hour. Sure, you may be able to do a couple of push-ups, but don’t expect me to come to you for exercise advice.

Make time. It’s that simple. He made time for you, it’s your turn to make time for Him. If you have accepted Christ into your life then you have this relationship that you need to invest into.

 

Effort:
As it’s said, it takes effort to make something work. This relationship that we have for God takes a lot of effort. Those days that we are just too tired to set time aside and all we want to do is sit back in the lazy boy and relax are those very days we need to get into the Word of God all the more.

I very much enjoy my time of listening to messages online through trusted pastors that really challenge me and help me get into my Bible during the message. Most times after I listen to a message and look over my notes, I spend some time in prayer.

My weekends I try to be all the more into my relationship with God. I have thoroughly enjoyed putting different messages on my phone to listen to. When I work on the weekends I enjoy playing those messages and keeping myself encouraged while working. If I don’t work on Sunday afternoon that is when I take a nice long walk. Most of those walks last for four or more hours, but it’s valuable time spent with God.

Never let anything, and I mean anything, get in the way of you spending personal time with God. It is one of THE most important times that is very well spent. I can not describe the love I have for God on my walks. Everything in life seems to dwindle while my relationship with God goes to an entire new level.

Now, I will say, it takes a lot of effort some days. Today it started to rain and at first really didn’t want to go. However, it didn’t take so long for me to have that desire to want to have some personal time with God.

Find a place that you will not be distracted from your time with God. Preferably a place that doesn’t have any kind of electronic device. If that’s too much to ask then I highly suggest turning them off and putting them away for the time being. It’s way too easy to get distracted whether by the internet or communication with others.

 

All this said, I pray that we make it more of a priority in our lives to have a time each day to spend alone with God. Even if it means to say no to some activities we would have done otherwise. We have lost the importance in our alone time with God. It’s time we changed that and bring our relationship with God to a new personal level.

A Begging Prayer

Posted on by stevenlucht1

An incredible challenge came to me this evening. I was sitting in a Bible Study at the church doing an inductive study on Philippians 4:1-9. For the purposes of what I’m going to talk about are verses four through seven which states:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. and the peace of God. which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
~Philippians 4:4-7~

These verses completely blow my mind… First off, lets focus on the the rejoicing part. How often do we get up out of bed and rejoice? How often do I rejoice in the hard times not knowing whats the next turn? It’s so easy to rejoice in the good times of life. Those times when you know that God is all around you and taking care of you… quite frankly when life just seems plain simple. Recently, I’ve very much come to the more falling deeply in Love with God. It’s been an amazing journey becoming closer and closer to God, but do I truly rejoice ALWAYS?

That was my first mind blower and challenge in my own life.

Second, how often do I spend in genuine prayer? Now, I am very much of a person that likes to talk with God all throughout my day. It’s truly a wonderful feeling… To be constantly talking with God.

I was in my car the other day and I talked with God about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. So, I sit down in my car and start out with, “alright God you know what’s on my heart, but now I really want to talk to you and pray about this to you.” Within a minute I’m completely distracted and thinking about some random topic and lose track of my prayer. I started getting frustrated with myself because I know what I need to talk to God about is a serious matter yet I’m getting myself distracted from praying about it. This happened several times during that car ride until I finally got home and distracted myself again with other things.

Supplication. In verse six it says that we should be in prayer AND supplication. I’ve always partially known what supplication was but out of curiosity I looked on google what a definition of supplication was. This is what I found:

sup·pli·ca·tion
noun: supplication; plural noun: supplications
  1. the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.
    “he fell to his knees in supplication”

(Google definition)

Typically when I think of begging I don’t usually think about me sitting there praying in my head. When I think of someone that is begging its usually in a kneeing form, or even on their hands and knees! When do I get on my knees, let alone my hands and knees, to pray to God? Now, in my own life I need to get on my knees more especially what’s been going on in life and my future.

Is there something in your own life that needs prayer. I’m not talking about the “praying while driving and get distracted” kind of prayer. I’m talking about the “It’s time to get on my hands and knees” kind of praying. I know I do.

“If life gets too hard to stand, kneel.”
~Tony Evans~

“Sometimes I think …
I just prayed …
and God just LISTENED to me …
and He just ANSWERED me!
Is there anything more amazing,
anything greater than that?!?”
~Francis Chan~
“We ought to see the face of God every morning before we see the face of man.”
~D. L. Moody~
Thirdly, in verse six it also talks about thanksgiving. God is teaching me so much about being in constant thanksgiving to Him. The little things in life I take way too much for granted. It’s been a great challenge in the past couple weeks to constantly be thankful for all the big things God has placed in my life all the way to the most minute thing in life.
I was watching a sermon with Francis Chan and when the video started there was cheering and clapping. Francis was praying and thanking God for a great worship time. He finished and told the congregation of a gentleman that was cured of cancer. At that moment I heard a shout, “THANK YOU GOD, PRAISE GOD!!!” I’ve really never heard someone genuinely cry out to God at the top of their lungs in praise like that before. When’s the last time that we truly cried out thanking God for all the things He as done in my life, not worrying about what other people think about us?
Finally, at the end of verse six it states:
“…let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6
What was an amazing reminder that an all knowing God wants to know what we need and want. He already knows so why should be telling him what he already knows? The only reason that I could think of (and they’re might be others) is that He wants to hear us talk to Him. Now I may not be in a relationship here on earth with anyone, but I know that if I had an attraction for someone I would want them to talk to me. I would want to hear their voice. Taking that a step further… If someone was married and knew absolutely everything about their spouse and what they were thinking, yet still wanted their spouse to tell them what they need want could only be a picture of genuine love to their spouse.
This thought is nearly overwhelming to me. GOD, The Almighty, wants to know what’s on my heart and my requests even though He already knows them!! That is an amazing picture of His love for us!
Once again, I am completely overwhelmed by the love that God has for us and what He has in store for our lives. It shows more and more that we just need to trust Him and to invest our lives into this relationship that we have in Christ.
It’s time to get on our knees and truly be in prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving to God.

The End of the Beginning…

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Words do not really describe the end of the summer. Looking back on all the memories with the other staff and with all the campers. It’s crazy to think that it’s over. I remember one of the first nights, I looked over at one of my fellow summer staff, and told him that this summer was going to be the greatest summer ever. This summer exceeded every expectation I could have put in place for it.

Needless to say I more than miss this summer. It felt that it went by way to fast. So many opportunities to share the love of Christ. I love what God has done down here at camp. Not only do those who come down to camp as campers become impacted but also the staff here as well. I am more than blessed to have had the opportunity to come down here and serve.

I want to thank those who are continuing to pray for me and that have been an amazing encouragement on my life. You are definitely apart of my family and I cherish those who have been challenging me and encouraging me in my walk with Christ.

God has challenged me in a few areas this summer. The biggest area God reached out to me was my trust toward Him. So many times I have been taught in my life that we need to take care of ourselves and make sure we have things under control… I highly disagree. The more I have trusted in Christ this past summer the more He revealed Himself to me.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding”
~Proverbs 3:5~

“Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”
~Isaiah 26:4~

So many times this summer, and partially before, God kept telling me to just trust in Him. I kept failing at trying to do things myself and I had enough. Life runs so much smoother and easier when we truly put all our trust in Him. A lot of times, I had to just shut up and listen to what He was trying to tell me. It gets too noisy when we keep worrying about what’s next. The peace comes when we trust in God and let HIM work the miracles in our lives.

The second thing that God taught me is essentially that I am not going to understand why everything happens. I have so often tried to understand why things are going on but truly will never understand.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
~Isaiah 55:8-9~

There are something that happen in life that we are just not going to understand. THAT’S OKAY! We just need to keep in mind who is in control of all things. If we understood everything in this world it would defeat the purpose of having a god because we know all things. It goes back to the first thing God has taught me this summer, in that we need to just trust in Him and allow Him to do the work.

Again, it’s hard knowing the summer is over and most of the staff are gone. I am now back down at camp after a long weekend of traveling through several states. It’s so exciting to see where God is going to bring me next in life. The less I worry about life the more exciting it is to look at God and say “I’m ready!”.

Prayer requests:

  • A possible job opportunity has been in sight for a while down here near camp as a police officer. I would very much appreciate the prayers that I could get this job, but above all that God’s will is done.
  • For camp to get some more help during these next couple of months since most of the summer staff are gone and more guest groups keep coming in.

A Neglected Conversation

Posted on by stevenlucht1

Do we undermine and underestimate the power of prayer? Is prayer something that we take for granted? Is this “prayer” thing something that we neglect?

I work in a retail store and last week my right foot started to have this shooting pain. At times it was hard for me to even stand, as I have to stand all day at work. As I was helping one of my customers, I started to complain that my foot was hurting and it was hard for me to stand up. The gentleman, who looked like he was in his fifties, looked down at the counter and started praying for my foot. He said something like “God take this man’s pain away in your name, ahmen.” Now I don’t remember the exact words in which he said, however it was on those lines. Immediately I thought, when he was praying, that this is really silly and why would you pray about something so insignificant. I chuckled a little bit and handed the man his receipt and he was on his was way. Almost instantly I noticed that the pain in my foot was gone.

It’s incredible how God works through prayer. I never once thought about praying for my foot to stop hurting, it just seemed like a weird prayer. However, I know that God healed my foot at that moment. It gave me an amazing learning opportunity showing that God knows what’s hurting in our lives but He wants us to tell Him about it and how He can help us. It’s all apart of this personal relationship we have in Christ.

James 5:13a ~ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

I’ve always looked at prayer as a continuous phone call between God and me. A phone that I could always pick up and immediately start talking with God. We need to pick up the phone and actually start talking with God.

Imagine a couple that have been together for years. They both know a lot about each other. However, this couple hasn’t spoken in six months. Do you think that this relationship is going to last without any form of communication? Of course not! In the same way we have this relationship with God and we should not be neglecting our communication with Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ~ Pray without ceasing

In the ESV it has the word Pray written in text 94 times and in 90 different verses. That’s a lot of different times saying that we need to pray. It just shows all the more that God wants to have this personal relationship with us.

Matthew 21:22 ~ And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith
Mark 11:24 ~ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

In times that we are struggling with physical or emotional pain we need to look toward God and pray no matter how insignificant it may seem to us at the time. If we trust that God will heal us through His miracles and have faith in Him, God is going to answer that prayer.

So let’s stop neglecting this amazing opportunity that we have to talk with our God. Let’s spend time each day expressing our needs to God. Prayer is a big step in creating our relationship with God all the most stronger.