(Click to Listen)
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
Give us this day our daily bread...and extra to give him who has need.
That’s how I pray it, as I pray the Lord’s Prayer each day.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread...and extra to give him who has need.
I get that from Ephesians 4:28 which says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”
Now let’s break that verse down. I love the progression.
“Let him who stole...” That means you’ve got a guy who is currently stealing. He is taking what rightfully belongs to someone else, and taking it for his own selfish desires. It’s all about you, man. It’s all about you.
Now follow the progression. “Let him who stole steal no longer...” That’s obvious, right. Thou shalt not steal, so stop stealing.
So you stop stealing, but now what? You suffer a loss because, wow, you were stealing, and now you’re not. How can you make up that loss?
It says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor...” Ah, there it is. Get a job, man. Get a job.
Then it says, “Working with his hands what is good...” I love that. There’s so much packed into it! I see a man getting a job, and then growing. He discovers his God-given giftings and callings, what he’s good at, what God blesses! It’s like the parable of the talents, he takes what he has been given and multiplies it. He is faithful, like Joseph, even when it’s hard. He grows and advances. He rises up due to his faithfulness, “working with his hands what is good.” Isn’t that great?
And then Ephesians 4:28 completes the progression. The guy goes from stealing from others to giving to others! Working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give him who has need.
I love it!
And that’s what I pray for nearly every day.
“Lord, give us this day our daily bread...and extra to give him who has need.”
May God bless you...with extra to give him who has need today.
I’m Doug Apple.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Every Plant Which My Heavenly Father Has Not Planted Will Be Uprooted
(Click to listen)
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
That’s what Jesus said in Matthew 15:13, and wow, those are sobering words.
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
I really don’t like wasting time. And I REALLY don’t like wasting money. Waste of all kinds irks me, because it means loss. If you wasted time, you lost the time. If you wasted money, you lost the money. You lost the potential. You lost what COULD have been.
Now imagine you take time to plant beautiful flowers all along the street in front of your house. You test the soil and treat it. You cultivate and plant. You water and weed, and as the months of effort go by, you finally see some beautiful flowers. Eureka!
Uh oh. One day the city comes along, and guess what? Your beautiful flowers are actually on city property. They need to do some work, and they think nothing about completely uprooting all your flowers.
Oh the humanity. All the time and money and effort. All gone. All wasted. All because you made a slight miscalculation by planting on city property instead of your own, and you didn’t even know it.
My friend, that is what we are in danger of as we go about our lives.
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
If we go about making life’s decisions without consulting our Father in heaven, we are in danger of planting our own plants instead of His plants, and every plant which our heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
Think of Jesus’ story about building on rock or building on sand. In Matthew 7 Jesus said, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
If you build your life’s house on sand, it will fall. It will be uprooted.
I don’t want that.
I fear that.
You’ve heard of the man who spent his life climbing the corporate ladder, got to the top, and realized the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.
I fear wasting my life like that, climbing the wrong ladder, building on sand, planting the wrong plant.
So I run to the Lord. I walk with Him. I submit to Him. “Show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths. Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Only then can I move forward in faith, working to plant all my plants according to my Father’s will, knowing that every plant which He has not planted will be uprooted.
May God bless you today.
I’m Doug Apple.
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
That’s what Jesus said in Matthew 15:13, and wow, those are sobering words.
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
I really don’t like wasting time. And I REALLY don’t like wasting money. Waste of all kinds irks me, because it means loss. If you wasted time, you lost the time. If you wasted money, you lost the money. You lost the potential. You lost what COULD have been.
Now imagine you take time to plant beautiful flowers all along the street in front of your house. You test the soil and treat it. You cultivate and plant. You water and weed, and as the months of effort go by, you finally see some beautiful flowers. Eureka!
Uh oh. One day the city comes along, and guess what? Your beautiful flowers are actually on city property. They need to do some work, and they think nothing about completely uprooting all your flowers.
Oh the humanity. All the time and money and effort. All gone. All wasted. All because you made a slight miscalculation by planting on city property instead of your own, and you didn’t even know it.
My friend, that is what we are in danger of as we go about our lives.
“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”
If we go about making life’s decisions without consulting our Father in heaven, we are in danger of planting our own plants instead of His plants, and every plant which our heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
Think of Jesus’ story about building on rock or building on sand. In Matthew 7 Jesus said, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
If you build your life’s house on sand, it will fall. It will be uprooted.
I don’t want that.
I fear that.
You’ve heard of the man who spent his life climbing the corporate ladder, got to the top, and realized the ladder was leaning against the wrong building.
I fear wasting my life like that, climbing the wrong ladder, building on sand, planting the wrong plant.
So I run to the Lord. I walk with Him. I submit to Him. “Show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths. Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Only then can I move forward in faith, working to plant all my plants according to my Father’s will, knowing that every plant which He has not planted will be uprooted.
May God bless you today.
I’m Doug Apple.
Friday, February 01, 2019
How I Pray the Lord's Prayer
(Click to listen)
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
I pray the Lord’s Prayer nearly every day, and here’s how I pray it.
Our Father, who art in heaven...in the secret place, (Matthew 6:6)
Lord, I’m in my secret place of prayer right now, (Matthew 6:6)
and I’m drawing near to You, and I know that You’re drawing near to me. (James 4:8)
Hallowed be Thy name, Lord. Holy is Your name. Righteous is Your name.
Thy kingdom come, Lord, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
In my life, Lord...as it is in heaven.
In my mind...as it is in heaven.
In my heart...as it is in heaven.
In my family...as it is in heaven.
In my work...as it is in heaven.
In my church...as it is in heaven.
In this city...as it is in heaven.
In this country...as it is in heaven.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread, please, and extra to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
And forgive us our trespasses...Lord, I repent of everything right now, of every sin of omission and commission, Lord, of everything I’ve done or said or thought that was sinful...I repent of it. And the good I haven’t done, Lord, not loving, not obeying, not taking action when I should, Lord, I repent of it all, I lay it all at Your feet right now, and through the blood of Jesus I just receive Your grace and mercy and forgiveness, fresh and new, clean before You in every way.
As we forgive those who trespass against us. Lord, right now I forgive everyone for everything; any sin against me, any hurt, any offense, any crime...whether they did it on purpose or on accident or by neglect or just not caring...whatever anyone has done, Lord, I forgive it all, right now. Their debt is canceled in my mind. And Lord, whatever anyone WILL do to me, I forgive them now, in advance, PREEMPTIVELY. God, I forgive them now for whatever offense or crime or hurt or pain...all of it. I forgive them now so that I am set free to love them with all the power and the force of Your love, loving them through me, with no offense getting in the way because I have already forgiven them. (Luke 17:1)
And lead us not into temptation...Lord, no temptation. God, please keep all temptations away from me. Lord, I want to walk so much in the power of Your Spirit that any temptations will be worthless and powerless, just falling away to the wayside, not pulling my eyes away from You for one second.
But deliver us from evil...Lord, save us and spare us from all evil and harm and sickness and disease and crime and natural disaster and poverty, Lord, all the things that would hurt us and harm us and cause us pain and grief and despair. Lord, anything that turns our eyes away from You for even one second, God, please keep it far away from us.
For Thine is the kingdom...I love You, Lord.
And the power...I love You, Lord.
And the glory...I love You, Lord.
For ever and ever,
Amen.
May God bless you...as you pray the Lord’s prayer today.
I’m Doug Apple.
(close with the finale of The Lord's Prayer by The Collingsworth Family)
I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)
I pray the Lord’s Prayer nearly every day, and here’s how I pray it.
Our Father, who art in heaven...in the secret place, (Matthew 6:6)
Lord, I’m in my secret place of prayer right now, (Matthew 6:6)
and I’m drawing near to You, and I know that You’re drawing near to me. (James 4:8)
Hallowed be Thy name, Lord. Holy is Your name. Righteous is Your name.
Thy kingdom come, Lord, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
In my life, Lord...as it is in heaven.
In my mind...as it is in heaven.
In my heart...as it is in heaven.
In my family...as it is in heaven.
In my work...as it is in heaven.
In my church...as it is in heaven.
In this city...as it is in heaven.
In this country...as it is in heaven.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread, please, and extra to give him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
And forgive us our trespasses...Lord, I repent of everything right now, of every sin of omission and commission, Lord, of everything I’ve done or said or thought that was sinful...I repent of it. And the good I haven’t done, Lord, not loving, not obeying, not taking action when I should, Lord, I repent of it all, I lay it all at Your feet right now, and through the blood of Jesus I just receive Your grace and mercy and forgiveness, fresh and new, clean before You in every way.
As we forgive those who trespass against us. Lord, right now I forgive everyone for everything; any sin against me, any hurt, any offense, any crime...whether they did it on purpose or on accident or by neglect or just not caring...whatever anyone has done, Lord, I forgive it all, right now. Their debt is canceled in my mind. And Lord, whatever anyone WILL do to me, I forgive them now, in advance, PREEMPTIVELY. God, I forgive them now for whatever offense or crime or hurt or pain...all of it. I forgive them now so that I am set free to love them with all the power and the force of Your love, loving them through me, with no offense getting in the way because I have already forgiven them. (Luke 17:1)
And lead us not into temptation...Lord, no temptation. God, please keep all temptations away from me. Lord, I want to walk so much in the power of Your Spirit that any temptations will be worthless and powerless, just falling away to the wayside, not pulling my eyes away from You for one second.
But deliver us from evil...Lord, save us and spare us from all evil and harm and sickness and disease and crime and natural disaster and poverty, Lord, all the things that would hurt us and harm us and cause us pain and grief and despair. Lord, anything that turns our eyes away from You for even one second, God, please keep it far away from us.
For Thine is the kingdom...I love You, Lord.
And the power...I love You, Lord.
And the glory...I love You, Lord.
For ever and ever,
Amen.
May God bless you...as you pray the Lord’s prayer today.
I’m Doug Apple.
(close with the finale of The Lord's Prayer by The Collingsworth Family)
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