The Righteous Lord Loves Righteousness

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire! (Luke 24:32)

 
The righteous Lord loves righteousness.

That’s what it says in Psalm 11 verse 7.

God loves righteousness, so I want to love righteousness, and live a righteous life.

You know those laws in the Old Testament, like the ten commandments?  Those come from God’s righteousness.

If you want to write off the Old Testament, don’t forget 2 Timothy 3:16.  All Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness.

Psalm 119:172 says that all God’s commandments are righteousness.

So read your Bible, Old and New Testament, and learn about God’s righteousness.

We should hunger and thirst for righteousness. ¹

We should seek first the kingdom of God...and His righteousness. ²

His righteousness is like the great mountains! ³ It endures forever! ⁴

In Isaiah 45:19 the Lord said, “I, the Lord, speak righteousness.”

So we don’t toss out all those righteous laws in the Bible.  They come from the heart and mind of the righteous Lord who loves righteousness!

Of course the problem is that we have a sin nature and can’t live up to God’s high and holy standard of righteousness.  Isaiah 64:6 says, “...all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags...”  And Romans 1:18 says that the wrath of God comes against all the unrighteousness of humanity.

The good news is...that’s where Jesus comes in.  He took our unrighteousness upon Himself on the cross, shedding His blood and paying the price for us to be made righteous before God.

Now, through faith in Jesus, we can receive the righteousness of God apart from keeping the law.  In Romans 3 and 4 we see that God’s righteousness is imputed to us by our faith in Jesus.  We receive the free gift of righteousness.

But don’t stop there.  God still wants us to LIVE righteously...not in order to be saved, but since we are saved!

1 Peter 2:24 says Jesus bore our sins in His own body...that we might live for righteousness!

Romans 6:13 tells us to present ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.

Romans 6:19 goes so far as to tell us to present ourselves to Him as “slaves of righteousness.”

And what if we don’t?  First John 3:10 says, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God...”

So how do we do it?  How can we live a righteous life?

Romans 8:4 tells us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  On our own we won’t live a righteous life, but as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will.

The righteous Lord loves righteousness.  He gave us the law, spoken out of His righteousness.  We sinned, so He sent Jesus to pay the price for our righteousness.  Then to all who receive Him, He gives the Holy Spirit to empower us to, once and for all, live the righteous life He intended for us from the beginning.

Yes, we are saved by the grace of God...AND...Titus 2 says that the grace of God teaches us to live righteously.

The gospel of grace and living a righteous life go hand in hand, one follows the other.  We are saved by grace, and then we live a righteous life, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The Good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness. ⁵

Lord, I want to follow You in Your paths of righteousness.  I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness.  I seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness.  I want to love righteousness!

Because You are the righteous Lord, and You love righteousness.

May God bless you today...as you seek to live a righteous life in the power of the Spirit.

I’m Doug Apple.

¹ Matthew 5:6

² Matthew 6:33

³ Psalm 36:6

⁴ Psalm 111:3

⁵ Psalm 23

Other verses:

Psalm 145:17, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways...”

Zephaniah 2:3 says, “Seek righteousness...”

Proverbs 2:20 says, “...keep to the paths of righteousness.”

Proverbs 11:8 says, “...he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.”

Isaiah 32:17 says that righteousness brings peace and quietness and assurance.

1 Corinthians 15:34, “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”

1 Timothy 6:11, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

Ephesians 5:9, “...for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth...”

This Is the Way, Walk Ye in It

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

We talk about being led by God, but what does that look like in real life?

Dr. Gary Chapman shared one powerful example from his own life this week on Focus on the Family.

Here it is, Gary Chapman talking to Focus on the Family host Jim Daly.

“You know, Jim, when my marriage turned around, it was when I finally said to God, ‘I don’t know what else to do. This is not getting any better, and I don’t know what to do.’  And as soon as I said that, there came to my mind that visual image of Jesus on His knees, washing the feet of His disciples.  And I heard God say to me, ‘That’s the problem in your marriage. You don’t have that attitude towards your wife.’ Hit me like a ton of bricks.”

So there’s the great Dr. Gary Chapman, best selling author of The Five Love Languages and renowned marriage expert, sharing the powerful moment that changed his own marriage.  And what was it?

It was a powerful experience with God as he cried out to Him for help, and God gave him a sudden revelation.

That is one example of what being led by God looks like in real life.  In this case, he indicated that, as he prayed, God brought to his mind the image of Jesus on His knees, washing the feet of His disciples.  And then he says that God delivered these words to him, “That’s the problem in your marriage.  You don’t have that attitude towards your wife.”

And it hit him like a ton of bricks.

And that’s how God often does it.  As we seek Him, even cry out to Him, at some point He gives the direction we need.  And it can happen in a variety of ways.

Of course not every whim that pops into our head is from God.  It needs to be balanced with Scripture, and with the wisdom of other believers.

But our goal is to seek God, and learn to hear Him when He leads, whatever form that takes.

I’ve experienced it in different ways.  I won’t say it’s 100% for sure from God, but I believe it is, and it balances with Scripture and other believers.

Of course I guess thousands of times I’ve received God’s direction from Scripture, and from godly teachers and preachers and authors and friends.

Other times it has come from what I call “guiding words,” where certain words just hit me, as Dr. Chapman said, like a ton of bricks as they popped into my head.  Often that has happened during prayer, but often it has happened seemingly randomly.  I’m doing something else, then bang...guiding words come powerfully into me.

And other times I think God has led me simply by raising up a conviction inside me, “I must do this.”

I love what it says in Isaiah 30:21, in the good old King James, “...thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it...”

That is one of the great benefits of being a Christian, of being saved, of being in a right relationship with our Creator.  We can seek Him.  We can come boldly before His throne.  We have His Holy Spirit inside of us, and He will lead us in the way we should go, a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

It comes in different ways, but as believers we can bank on this fact.  One way or another, God is going to lead us.  He’s going to say, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Dusty Layers of Disobedience

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)
Dusty layers of disobedience.

Maybe that’s why it’s hard to hear the Lord these days.

Maybe our ears are covered with dusty layers of disobedience.

There are some things He’s told us to do, but we haven’t done them.  Oh, maybe we intend to, someday, but like my wife tells the children, “Slow obedience is no obedience.”

So when we know what God wants us to do, and we don’t do it, another dusty layer of disobedience covers our ears.  We grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, and His voice becomes muffled.

Have you ever heard voices through a wall, like in a hotel or a dorm?  It’s so aggravating if you want to know what they’re saying but all you hear is wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah.  They could be celebrating a birthday or plotting your murder, you just can’t tell.

That’s how God’s voice can sound when our ears become covered with dusty layers of disobedience.

Jesus is the light of the world.  He said, “Whoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

His light is shining!  His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  Do we see it? 

If the light seems dim, maybe it’s dusty layers of disobedience covering our eyes.

Dust gathers little by little, layer by layer.  You don’t even really notice until the bright and clear and brilliant becomes dull and gray and lifeless.

Is that your walk with God today?

First John 1:7 says, “...if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another...”  Is your fellowship with other Christians strained right now? 

Could it be the dusty layers of disobedience?  We stray from the Lord, His light becomes clouded, and the less light we have, the more strained our relationships become.

The good news is that repentance is the great dust remover.  “Lord, forgive us our trespasses.  Lord, I repent of all disobedience.  Lord, forgive me and clear away all the dust from my eyes and ears.  I want to see You.  I want to hear You.  Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear, and a heart that is wide open to obey You every day, in every circumstance.  Lord, I want nothing to come between You and me...not even the tiniest little layer of disobedience.  Amen.”

May God bless you...as you seek to obey Him today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(Close with Trust & Obey by Chelsea Moon with The Franz Brothers)

Husband Love Your Wife

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Husband love your wife.

That’s what it says in Ephesians 5:25. 

The husband is to love his wife.

That’s been God’s plan from the very beginning.

Adam was to love Eve.

Abraham was to love Sarah, even when she was a hundred years old.

All those husbands in their Old Testament robes, living the hard life – they were to love their wife.

If she got a little older, a little sun worn, a little chunkier under that robe, he was to love her.

Husband, love your wife.

When she’s pregnant and big and maybe a little cranky.

Love her.

When her hair turns a little gray, it’s probably because of you anyway, so...love your wife.

If, God forbid, she’s going through something and her hair falls out.  Love your wife.

Husbands were to love their wife in the dark ages, when some lived in castles but most lived in poverty.  Either way, in the castle, or in the hut...the husband was to look at his wife and love her. 

You, newlywed husband, maybe it’s dawned on you that marriage isn’t quite the playground you thought it was.  Well, love your wife.  I mean love her.  Give it all you’ve got.

And when you’re 3 or 4 or 5 babies in, love her!  Love her with the big God kind of love that He puts inside of you.

If you want to please God, if you want to be in His will, if you want His blessings to shower and shower and keep showering on you, here’s a key.  Love your wife.

And as you get older, and you’re not what you once were, and she’s not what she once was, love her.  Look at her and love her.  And I promise you, God will be there, showering His love and grace and mercy and tenderness all through your life and relationships and family, because You have been obedient.  Because you’ve trusted Him and believed and stepped out on faith in this one little but gigantic area.

You loved your wife.

May God bless you...as you love your wife today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(Close with I Will Be Here by Steven Curtis Chapman from his album All About Love)

Pray for Extra to Give Him Who Has Need

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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.

Every Plant Which My Heavenly Father Has Not Planted Will Be Uprooted

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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.

How I Pray the Lord's Prayer

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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)

He Satisfies the Longing Soul

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

You gotta have the want to.

That’s the title of an old book on my shelf by Pastor Allan Oggs.

You gotta have the want to.

As we square up for a new year, 2019, do you have the want to?

Even if you feel battle weary, even if 2018 wore you out – maybe you don’t have the motivation, maybe you feel depleted, maybe 2018 drained you – but do you WANT to do better?  Do you WANT to rise up and be all that God wants you to be in 2019?

WANTING it is the key.

Look at Matthew 5:6, where Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...”  It doesn’t say, “Blessed are the righteous” though the righteous are surely blessed, but it says, “Blessed are those who HUNGER AND THIRST for righteousness.” 

In other words, blessed are those who WANT it.

I’ve spent the year 2018 doing a deep dive into the Psalms, and my reading today stopped suddenly at the powerful Psalm 107 verse 9, “For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

What is my part in that verse?  My part is to have a longing and hungry soul.

I long for the Lord.  I hunger for more of Him in 2019, more of His character in me, more of His will done in me and through me, more of “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” in ME 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.  HIS will be done.  I hunger and thirst and long for that.

And the good news is, He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness!

Do you feel it?  Are you hungry for it?

Psalm 42:1 – as the deer pants for the water, Lord, my soul longs for You.  I need You and want You and desire You.  I want to walk in Your Spirit and live by Your Spirit and bear the eternal fruit of Your Spirit.

I want it, and long for it, and seek it, and pray for it.

And everyone who asks, receives.  And he who seeks, finds.  And to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

And today I plant my flag of hope firmly in Psalm 107:9, for He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with good things.

May God bless you as you long for Him today.

I’m Doug Apple.

They That Seek the Lord Shall Not Want Any Good Thing

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

“They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”

That’s what it says in Psalm 34:10.

Now I might need to explain the King James English.  When it says, “shall not want any good thing,” it means you won’t be lacking any good thing.  Of course you WANT good things.  You desire good things, and here’s how you get them.  You seek the Lord.

You seek the Lord by drawing near to Him.  We enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.  We come boldly before His throne of grace.  We draw near to God in our personal prayer time, alone, seeking Him, seeking His truth and His light and His heart.

When we seek the Lord, then His will begins to unfold in our lives.  We obey Him more; and when we walk in His ways, we become more pleasing and more attractive to other people.

When you are living a life that is pleasing to the Lord, it is a life full of love and joy and peace and patience, and people like that!  People will be drawn to you.  They will like you.

And they will be glad to help you get the good things you desire.

So that is one way that, when we seek the Lord, we shall not want for any good thing; because God makes us into a good person, and other people will be glad to bring their blessings into our life.

And when you are a good person, you will always be doing good for other people.  That is a blessing in itself; and then the Bible also says, “give and it shall be given unto you.”

I like the quote from Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough other people get what they want, they will make sure that you get what you want.”

Another blessing from seeking God is that He lavishes His love on us.  When we receive His love, especially during our personal times with Him, that gives us good mental health, and good spiritual health, and good emotional health.  It gives us hope and a positive outlook on life. 

When we seek God, then we stop grieving and quenching His Holy Spirit inside of us, which unleashes the power of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  And that really opens the flow of every good and perfect gift that comes down from the Father of lights!

So you want good things?  You want a blessed life?  You want God to flow through you and your family, then do this with all diligence:  seek the Lord.

For they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

May God bless you as you seek Him today.

I’m Doug Apple.

By the Power Vested in Me

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

I love this little phrase, “by the power vested in me.”

Like they say at weddings.  “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

It means you didn’t have the power, then someone “vested” the power in you.

That’s the way it is in our Christian life.  There are things God wants us to do, but we can’t do them faithfully in our own power.  We need His power to work in us.

For example, it’s not easy to forgive people like God wants us to forgive, but we can do it…by His power vested in us.

It’s like we’re saying, “I can’t forgive you for that, at least not in my own power; but by the power vested in me...I forgive you.”

God’s power is vested in us through His Holy Spirit inside of us.  God puts His Spirit inside every believer when they are born again, and He begins His good work in us, exercising His power to bring us to maturity.

So when Jesus says, “Love your enemies,” and you really do have an enemy?  In the flesh, in your own carnal power, you just can’t do it.  You can’t really love them like God wants you to love them, except by the power of the Holy Spirit vested in you.

How can you “count it all joy” when you go through trials?  You can’t really do it...except by the power of God vested in you.  But with that power,  you can literally “rejoice in the Lord always.”

So you’re a believer, and you know the Holy Spirit is inside of you, but maybe you aren’t really enjoying the full fruit of the Spirit.  You’re not really feeling His power vested in you.  Now what?

Maybe you need to waste some time with God.  That sounds strange, doesn’t it?  But that’s what a Christian counselor told Pastor Paul Westbrook when he was going through some problems.  He said, “Paul, do you ever waste time with God?”

As a pastor, of course he SPENT time with God, he studied and prayed and whatever; but WASTING time with God, that’s different.  It means hanging out with God, and talking to God, and listening to God and generally just being in the presence of God, or as the counselor said, “Wasting time with God.”

Time with God helps you stop blocking and quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit.  It helps you get tuned in to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. 

And as we do that, we can feel the power surge, and God can enable to do all those things that He wants us to do...by His power vested in us.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(See the interview with Pastor Paul Westbrook here: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/media/daily-broadcast/healing-our-hurting-marriage-pt1?_ga=2.196215396.914203855.1544012371-1157135065.1543493115

Lean on a Broken Reed and Pierce Your Hand

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

It’s one of the most powerful illustrations in the Bible, if you just think about it.

If you lean on a broken reed, it will pierce your hand.

Ow!  I don’t even like stubbing my toe or stepping on a Lego.  I can’t imagine using a reed like a cane or a walking stick, leaning on it, and having it give way and pierce right through my hand.

But that’s what happens when we trust in things that aren’t of God.

You’ll find the illustration in 2 Kings and Isaiah and Ezekiel.  It’s when the Israelites want to trust the Egyptians instead of trusting the Lord their God.

Just imagine leaning on a reed, and it breaks, and it pierces right through your hand.

That is when you put your trust in something other than God and His principles.

When you lean on lying, but God says be truthful.

When you lean on anger, but God says His joy is your strength.

When you lean on revenge, but God’s way is forgiveness.

When you lean on alcohol to help you make it through the day.

When you lean on a little pot to ease your mind.

When you lean on mother’s little helper, you’re leaning on a broken reed, and it will pierce your hand.

Karen Wheaton’s daughter has written a book called The Way Home, by Lindsey Wheaton Doss.  For reasons described in the book, Lindsey began to lean on broken reeds.  She leaned on the broken reed of the attentions of another man, not her husband.  She ended up leaning on alcohol and parties and other men, and that reed broke and splintered into her hand and her mind and her soul and nearly destroyed her.

When we lean on anything but God and His ways, we are leaning on a broken reed, and it will pierce our hand.

So what are you leaning on today?  What are you putting your trust in, for your hope, for your pleasure, for your satisfaction?  For your provision?  For your mental needs and spiritual needs?  For the sanity of your soul?

Lean on Jesus!  Lean on the Lord and His Word!  Put your trust fully in Him!  He is the rock we can trust in and lean on and build our lives on.  It’s Him and only Him and all Him all the time.

But if we lean on the world’s very poor substitutes, they will all turn out to be a broken reed and pierce our hand.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Three Ways That Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

First John 4:18 says that “perfect love casts out fear.”

Here are three ways that happens.

One is, when you really love someone, then it drives out your fear of them.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies.”  The problem with enemies is that they stir up so much emotion, you can’t even think straight.  And one thing they make you feel is fear.  They are out to get you.  That is a fearful thing. 

But when we obey Jesus and love our enemies, which we can only do in the power of God’s Spirit inside of us, then that love drives out our fear of them. 

It’s the same for people who give you anxiety or make you nervous.  When you love them with God’s love inside of you, then all fear is driven out.  You are free to truly love them as God wants you to!

Another way perfect love casts out fear is when other people fear you.  Who knows why they fear you.  Maybe you have power over them, or hold an important part of their life in your hands; but when they know that you love them with the love of God inside of you, then their fear of you is cast out!

“But maybe I want them to fear me,” you say.  “I need to keep them in their place.”

Well that’s not God’s way.  God’s way is that you amp yourself up full of His Holy Spirit, and then you love and you love and you love.  That’s God’s way.  Read all about it in First John chapter 4.  That chapter is brimming with God’s love for us, and the love we are to have for one another.  Check it out.

And another way perfect love casts out fear is when other people want you to fear them – like the old bumper sticker, “Fear this.”  They want to hold power over you through fear, but if you love them with the love of God inside of you, then once again, perfect love casts out fear.  It casts out fear in all equations!

It’s like a multiplication problem where perfect love is the number zero.  You know, it doesn’t matter what numbers you are multiplying.  Make it 10 times 10.  Make it 10 times 100.  Make it a thousand times a thousand!  Those are all the fears, thousands of fears. 

Then bring in the number zero.  Make it a thousand times a thousand, times a thousand…..times zero.  What’s the answer?  How much of the fear is left?  Zero.

Because perfect love casts out fear.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

The Trees of the Lord Are Full of Sap

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
And I am one.

I want to be that mighty tree in Psalm 1, planted by the water, delighting in the Word of God, full of the water of the Word, dense with it, heavy with it.  Strong with it.

The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
And I am one.

I want to be dense with the Spirit of God, full of the Living Water of John 7, filling me, like a mighty tree, dense and mighty and alive...to every branch and leaf and twig and sprout...full, and growing, in the Spirit of the living God.

The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
And I am one.

Mighty in Christ Jesus.  He is the Vine.  He gives the life.  He gives the strength.  He gives the power.  He gives the wisdom and the knowledge from His limitless treasures, abounding and abounding and abounding with life, the ever expanding, growing, filling, abundant life in Christ. 

I hunger for it.  I thirst for it.  I long for it.  I desire it.  I need it.  Nothing else matters if I am not that tree, planted by the water, soaking up the Word in rivers, and letting it flow in me, from the roots to the tips.  No bad spots, no blemishes, no part unreached by the sap of God as His Spirit flows up and up and up, filling me and stretching me and growing me as the Kingdom of Heaven becomes in me that mighty, life giving, life nurturing, life sustaining tree, filled to the absolute most dense fullness that is possible.

The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap.
And I am one.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(Psalm 104:16)

Tiny Drops of Life

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

How does a tree get its water?

If you as a person want to get water, you take a drink.  You pour it into your mouth.

But how does a tree get water?

You might think, “Well, water falls on it, and it soaks it up, like a sponge.”

So if you take a bath, it’s a like taking a drink?

No.  People take in water through their mouth.  And trees take in water through their roots.

The life-giving water starts at the roots and it flows to the rest of the tree, one tiny little drop of life at a time.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” 

Life flows from the vine to the branch.

So what does that look like in real time?  How does that spiritual life, that living water, flow from Jesus to us?

I think we’re usually looking for big things, the thunderstorm, the flood, the spiritual tsunami that sweeps us into God’s plan.

But I think it’s more like how water flows from the vine to the branch:  one tiny drop of life at a time.

For example, here’s a tiny drop that I believe God dropped into my life.

At the time my wife and I had four small children, and I was working each day until about 6 p.m.  I would come home and the kids would have already eaten.  It was a bit scattered, but I don’t think we even thought about it. 

Then I went to a Promise Keepers event.  There were thousands of men, singing and praising God and it was powerful.  So there I was, standing and singing with the rest of them, my hands in the air, and all of a sudden a phrase popped into my mind, “Start having family dinners.”

It was so out of the blue, I stopped singing, sort of stunned.  I finally just sat down to let it sink in for a minute.  And while the rest of the men stood around me, singing, I wrote down this little note.  “Start having family dinners.”

And we did!  We started having family dinners.  There was bonding and conversation, and it really brought a good, new dynamic to our family.

It was a tiny drop of life that I believe flowed from Jesus, the vine, into me, the branch.

And I think that’s how our spiritual lives usually work.  Yes, sometimes God speaks to us in the thunder and the flood, but I think most of His work in our lives probably comes in these daily little ways, where His Spirit talks to our spirit, and He pours Himself into us...one tiny drop of life at a time.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Don't Water Down Your Will Do

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Don’t water down your will do.

What does that mean?

It’s so easy to shoot someone this email or text, and it’s just two words:  Will do.

Just two words, and yet your reputation, your character, your core integrity hinges on those two words.

If I say, “Turn out all the lights before you leave,” and you say, “Will do,” then you had better do it.

If I say, “Stop and see me the next time you are in Tallahassee,” and you say, “Will do...”  Uh oh.

If I say, “Say hi to your mom for me,” are you going to say, “Will do?”

Don’t water down your will do.

If you say “will do,” then make sure you do it.

Of course it’s not about saying “will do.”  Don’t start legalistically avoiding the phrase “will do.”  It’s about keeping your word.  It’s about doing what you say.  It’s about being trustworthy.  It’s about letting your yes be yes and your no be no, like Jesus said in Matthew 5:37.

I love what the old timers used to say.  Your word is your bond.

If you tell someone, “I’ll pick you up at 8,” then be there at 8.

If your wife tells you to pick up something on your way home from work, and you say you will, how are you going to remember that?  Set an alarm, tape a note to your steering wheel, whatever, just keep your word.

I gave my grandkids a “papa lecture” the other day.  I heard one of them say to the other, “I promise.”

I said, “You should never have to say, ‘I promise.’  If you say it, it’s a promise already.”

You should never have to say, “I guarantee it.”  If you say it, it’s already a guarantee.

Don’t say, “I swear to God,” or “I swear on a stack of Bibles,” or “I swear on my mother’s grave.”

Why would you have to say something stupid like that?

Here’s why:  because you didn’t take this life-changing advice.

Don’t water down your will do.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Love It Anyway

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

“I wanted her to live her life.”

“What?”

“My mother.  She had some bad things happen in her life.”

“What did you want her to do?”

“I wanted her to love it anyway.”

That’s a quote from a movie that really stuck with me.  Although his mother’s life was riddled with hard things, he wanted his mother to love her life anyway.

Have you ever met someone who was just a downer?  Either life had given them a beating, or else their life wasn’t so bad, they just thought it was; and they became a downer, a crabby little Eeyore singing woe is me and raining on everyone’s parade.

Well, what can you do if life gives you a beating?

Love it anyway.  You can embrace it and run with it and milk it for all it’s worth.

I think of Jesus’ parable of the talents.  Some were given more than others, but all were expected to take the hand they were dealt and play it for good, for improvement, for growth and expansion and increase.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!

This is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Giving thanks always, for all things, to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Think on these things, whatever is true and noble and right, whatever is pure and lovely and admirable.  If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.

Yes, maybe life has dealt you a blow.  Maybe your life is in the dumps, but...love it anyway.

God has given you life.  Love it anyway.

Your children aren’t doing what you want?  Love them anyway.

Your husband isn’t St. Peter?  Love him anyway.

Your wife isn’t the virgin Mary?  Love her anyway.

Your church isn’t the best in the west?  Love it anyway.

Your job is unpleasant?  Love it anyway.

God our Father is lavishing His love on you!  He is giving you everything you need for life and godliness.  All His promises are yes and amen.  Every perfect gift comes from above, and how willing God is to give good things to those who ask Him!

So whatever your life looks like today, whatever trash got dumped on you, whatever blows you’ve taken...your life is still a precious gift from God, so...

Love it anyway.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Lord Let This Land Yield Her Increase

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Here’s a prayer I’ve been praying lately, “Lord, let this land yield her increase.”

It’s based on Psalm 85:12 where it says, “The Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase.”

I think your “land” can be whatever God has given you, whatever opportunities you have.  I think your job is your land.  Your family is your land.  Your business is your land.  Your church is your land.

I think we can learn from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents that God gives us raw materials, or land if you will, and He is looking for an increase.

Of course we can work and work and work and work, but like it says in Psalm 127, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

Unless the Lord gives the increase, we labor in vain.

And so I pray, “Lord, let this land yield her increase.”

And then I got to thinking, “You know, that word ‘let,’ it’s kind of weak.  It seems passive.  “Lord ‘let’ this happen.”  I don’t want Him to let it happen.  I want Him to MAKE it happen! 

So I was searching the Scriptures, looking for a way to beef up this prayer, to replace the word “let.”

And then I stumbled across Genesis chapter one, and what an eye opener.  It really puts a new spin on this word “let.”  I mean, when God says “let,” it’s not weak or passive.

Let there be light!

Let the dry land appear!

Let the earth bring forth plants!

Let lights appear in the sky!

Let the waters abound with living creatures and the skies be filled with birds!

Let the earth bring forth every sort of animal!

Check out this Hebrew word, Hayah.  You find it in Genesis 1:3 translated “Let there be.”  Hayah.

So this word “let” is pretty powerful after all, and well fitting for this prayer, which I encourage you to pray over all the “land” the Lord has given you:  your business, your home, your marriage, your family, your career, your church, all your opportunities; over all of it you can pray this simple but powerful prayer.

“Lord, please let this land yield her increase.”

Amen.

May God bless you, today.

With Apples of Gold...I’m Doug Apple.

The Three Levels of Forgiveness

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Here is a teaching that will literally revolutionize your life.

It’s called The Three Levels of Forgiveness.

The first level is Rookie Forgiveness.  Rookie forgiveness is when you get hurt, you suffer for a while, and then you forgive. 

The question is, how long do you wait between the offense and the forgiveness?  How long do you suffer in anger, hatred and bitterness?  A week?  A month?  A year?  Half your life?

What if you do like the movies and just blast your offender and take your revenge.  Would that solve the problem?  No, and here’s why.  The offender will die, but the offense lives on!  It will live on inside of you until…

Until you forgive.

So how long do you wait to forgive?  Why wait at all?  And that brings us to the second level of forgiveness.

After Rookie Forgiveness, the second level is:  Instant Forgiveness.

This is where you forgive your offenders instantly.  As soon as you see the offense coming, you forgive before it even hits you.  You don’t take the hit because you forgive them instantly. 

You hear someone talking behind your back.  Forgive them.  Instantly.

“Well Doug, that means I’m letting them get away with it!”

Ah, and that’s the problem with all of this forgiveness, isn’t it?  We feel like we are letting the offender get away with it.

But you know, you can forgive...AND hold accountable.  The accountability just won’t be in anger, hatred, revenge and bitterness.

For example, when a toddler screams, “Mommy, I hate you!”

The mom doesn’t take offense.  She instantly forgives and goes straight to loving correction. 

So someone steals from you?  Instantly forgive, and hold them accountable...in love, though, not hatred.

So you don’t want to practice instant forgiveness?  Keep in mind the other option is rookie forgiveness, where you go ahead and take the hit, suffer for a while, and then eventually you are going to have to forgive them anyway. 

So that is level two:  Instant Forgiveness.  We should be tossing out forgivenesses like candy at a parade.  Forgive.  Forgive.  Forgive.  See an offense coming?  Forgive.

Like I said, it will revolutionize your life!  And your marriage and your family and your church and your workplace.

And then comes the third level:  Preemptive Forgiveness.

You know offenses are coming.  Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come...”  They are coming, so forgive them now, ahead of time!

“But Doug, that’s impossible.”

Think of it like an emergency bank account.  You know something is going to break, so you put money in the account ahead of time.

So go ahead and put some forgiveness in the account ahead of time, knowing the offenses will come.  You don’t know who.  You don’t know when.  You don’t know why.  Maybe it’s next Christmas when Aunt Mable will make a horrible crack about you.  Maybe it’s five years from now when your brother will swindle you out of your dad’s inheritance.  We’re not asking for trouble ahead of time.  We just know that someone is going to do something that hurts us, small or large or even criminal. 

So send out a preemptive strike of forgiveness!  I forgive you now, whoever you are.

And then, when the time comes, and the devil rears his ugly head and goes on the attack...too late. I already forgave that five years ago.

And that sets you free to go on the attack yourself!  Not the attack of anger or hatred or vengeance.  It’s the attack of love, loving everyone, including enemies, through the power of God in me, the Holy Spirit who empowers me to love and to love and to love and to love.

And it all starts with forgiveness.

So think about it.  What level do you want?

There’s Rookie Forgiveness, where you take the hit, suffer for a while, and then finally forgive.

There’s Instant Forgiveness, where you avoid the hit by forgiving instantly, as soon as you see the offense coming.

And there’s Preemptive Forgiveness, where you go ahead and forgive the offender now, before the offense even happens.

Set yourself free from offense and hatred and anger and bitterness and revenge!

Revolutionize your life with the power of forgiveness.

May God bless you, today.

With Apples of Gold...I’m Doug Apple.

How to Overcome the Flesh

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

“Yeah, but how can I overcome the flesh?

That’s what someone asked me, and it’s a good question.

Different sins can get hold of different people – Christian people – and sometimes they even battle those sins, and lose.

So what’s the answer?  How can you overcome the flesh, and the sin and temptation that go with it?

My advice is don’t try to tackle it head on, but turn your attention elsewhere.

Dealing with the flesh can be like dealing with a toddler.  You can fight all day with a toddler about that thing they are fixated on, but sometimes it’s just better to say, “Hey, how about a popsicle?”  Then they squeal with delight, run to the kitchen, and forget all about that other thing.

In the same way you can battle your flesh all day long.  “Drop that sin.  Drop that sin.  Drop that sin.”  But the flesh wants to hold onto it.

So what do you replace it with?

Instead of fighting the flesh head on, you present yourself to the Lord, and keep presenting yourself to the Lord.  “Lord, here I am.  I’m all Yours.”

Romans 6:13 tells us to present ourselves to God.

Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.

I like the words of the new song “Broken Things” by Matthew West.  It says, “But if it’s true You use broken things, then here I am, Lord, I’m all Yours.”

I recommend doing it everyday.  Lift your hands in surrender to heaven and present yourself as a living sacrifice to God.  “Lord, here I am.  I’m all Yours.  I want to do want You want me to do, say what You want me to say, be what You want me to be.  I want to bear good eternal fruit and I can only do that in You.”

So how do we overcome the flesh?  We keep presenting ourselves to the Lord each and every day, and when our hearts and minds are fixated on Him, it just doesn’t leave any room for the flesh.

May God bless you, today.

Spiritual Growth: Outwardly Inward and Inwardly Outward

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

I asked a young man how his spiritual growth was going.

He said, “I’m reading the Bible a lot, and several devotionals.”

I said, “And how is that impacting you?”

He said, “I’m always looking for personal applications – how I can apply what I learn.”

And that, my friend, is one half of spiritual growth, what I call outwardly inward.

You read the Bible, you hear a sermon, you read your daily devotion, you listen to a teacher, you talk to Christian friends and hold one another accountable.  That is outwardly inward.  It starts outside of you, you receive it, and you allow it inside of you to change your heart and mind.

And then there is inwardly outward.  What is that?

That is when the Holy Spirit inside of you is teaching you and leading you, convicting you and encouraging you and cheering you on...from the inside of you.

In John 7, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be inside of us, and would be like rivers of living water, flowing from the inside out.

Hebrews 10:16 says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”

This is what the Holy Spirit does.  He brings us spiritual growth from the inside out.  It begins inwardly and works outward.

So when you are looking at your spiritual growth, look for two things.

Are you reading and listening and learning from the Bible and teachers and preachers, and applying what you’ve heard?

AND...is the Holy Spirit speaking inside of you, leading and guiding and teaching you, and raising up the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit inside of you?

Because that is how spiritual growth takes place:  outwardly inward and inwardly outward.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

I Am One of the Triumphs of His Grace

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Maybe you’ve sung it a thousand times.


O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!

The triumphs of His grace.

When I sing that line, my heart cries out with joy:  I am one!

I am one of the triumphs of His grace.

He set me free!  He delivered me from the net of the fowler.

Have you ever heard that illustration?

Psalm 91:3 says, “Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler...”

A fowler catches birds, so imagine the tricks.

Maybe he throws down bird seed and all the birds come out and eat.  Then he drops the net and they are caught!

That’s what the world does, and our sin and our flesh and our selfishness and our pride.  Out goes the tempting seed, and in we rush, right into the stupid place, where the fowler is waiting.

Have you ever been caught in that trap?  A lot of birds die in that trap, and yet here I am, a trophy of His grace.

How many times has the fowler wanted to spring the trap on me...but God.

But God, my Redeemer, saved me from the snares of the fowler.

The fowler sprung the trap, dropped the net, and many birds were caught.  I can see the net coming down.  I can see it starting to snare my feet, and just in time God snatches me out.

He spared my feet from the net of the fowler.

And that’s why I sing the triumphs of His grace, because I am one!

I am one of the triumphs of His grace...all glory and praise and thanks be to God.

May God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

The Jesus Fire

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Do you have The Jesus Fire?

That’s a question I’ve been asking people lately.

“Do you have The Jesus Fire?”

Unfortunately most people are telling me, “No,” or “I don’t know,” or “Not like I used to.”

One man told me, “I guess I just don’t have the fire like you do.”

I told him, “As a believer, you have the same fire as me or any other believer.  It’s the same fire of the Holy Spirit inside all Christians.”

The question is, are you fanning the flame?  Or are you quenching the Spirit?

What do I mean by The Jesus Fire?

I get that from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11, where John said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit...and fire.

So I call it The Jesus Fire, and when I say, “Do you have The Jesus Fire?” I’m basically asking, “Is the Spirit of God rising up in you as a roaring fire?”

If the answer is yes, then hallelujah!  Thank God!

If the answer is no, now what?

Now you need a healthy dose of James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

As Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, you need to go into your room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in the secret place.

You need to say, “Lord, I love You, and I desire to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness!”

You need a healthy dose of Psalm 25:4, “Show my Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths.”

Yes, you can be filled with the roaring Jesus Fire if you want it! 

It just means humbling ourselves before God, coming to Him in surrender and saying, “Not my will, but Your will be done.”

So fan the flame, and let The Jesus Fire rise up in you today!

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Reporting for Duty, Sir

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

In the morning my alarm goes off.  I roll out of bed, get down on a knee, point a finger to heaven and say, “Reporting for duty, Sir.”

I want to hit the ground running for Jesus.  I want to be the guy in 2 Timothy 2:3, “...a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Being a soldier in a huge army simplifies some things.

A soldier doesn’t have to make up things to do each day.  He is TOLD what to do.  He has orders, and his agenda is to obey those orders.

You don’t do whatever you feel like.  You don’t do what everyone else is doing.  You don’t go with the flow or look out for number one.  You do what you are TOLD to do by your commanding officer.

So being a good soldier of Jesus Christ simplifies your schedule.

It also simplifies your education.  So many people today are trying to figure out what they want to do to and what education they need.

But a soldier submits himself to the commander, and the commander orders the training that prepares the soldier for the mission.

And being a soldier means being provided for.  A soldier doesn’t worry about his provisions.  That’s the army’s job.  Food.  Clothing.  Shelter.  Weapons.  All provided for the soldier.

Now I know that being a good soldier of Jesus Christ is not the same as being a soldier in an army.

And yet that is how I approach each day.  I say to Jesus my Commander, “Show me Thy ways, O Lord.  Teach me Thy paths.  What do You want me to do?  How do You want me to do it?  When do You want me to do it?  Lord, I want to do YOUR will every day.  I want to follow You as my Good Shepherd, as my Provider and Leader and Commander.”

So my alarm goes off.  I roll out of bed, get down on a knee, bow my head, point a finger to heaven and say, “Reporting for duty, Sir.”

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

My Eyes Are Ever Toward the Lord

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

My eyes are ever toward the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord.

That’s my own personal mix of Psalm 25:15 and Psalm 27:4.

Add to that the message of Psalm 101:3, I will set before my eyes no vile thing.

What a contrast! 

We can ever turn our eyes toward the Lord to behold the beauty of the Lord, or we can set before our eyes vile things.

And when we set before our eyes vile things, it BLINDS us to the beauty of the Lord.

You say, “Man, I’m TRYING to see the beauty of the Lord, but I’m not seeing it.”

Maybe it’s because you are setting before your eyes vile things, and it’s blinding you to the beauty of the Lord.

You say, “What is the beauty of the Lord, anyway?  It’s not like we can look into heaven and see it.”

You can look into your HEART and see it...if Jesus is there.

If God is in your heart, you can easily see His beauty in the work He is doing sovereignly in your life.

You can see His beauty in His creation.  You can see His beauty in His concepts like love and peace and joy, righteousness and justice and holiness.

Imagine going to a theater and watching a vile movie.  It’s vile, but it’s exciting and bold and loud.  You’re on the edge of your seat, captivated.

Then you walk out of the theater, and there’s a little flower springing up through the cracks of the sidewalk.  It’s beautiful and amazing.  Miraculous!  Uncreatable by any mere mortal. 

But we are blinded to it by the vile, bold and brassy.  We wonder where the beauty of the Lord is while we walk right over it.

Make a vow today.  I will set before my eyes no vile thing.

Instead, my eyes are ever toward the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

What Then?

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Second Corinthians 2:11 says we are not unaware of the devil’s devices.

Whenever I read that I think, “Oh yes we are.”

Jesus called Satan “the father of lies,” so if you ever fell for the lies of a man, how quickly will you fall for the schemes of the master deceiver?

He’s as smooth as a snake, but here is one way to smoke him out. 

Ask the question, “What then?”

For example, you had a terrible week and you just need some relief.  Then someone invites you to a place where the alcohol is flowing.  There’s your relief!

But what then?  You get drunk and forget your problems, but what then?  Get drunk again and forget again?  But what then?

See?  Asking “what then” pokes holes in Satan’s stupid, gassy temptations.  They cannot hold up to the What Then line of questioning.

So you’re having problems in your marriage.  Meanwhile, this other person really understands  you.  They get you.  They even like you!  You’d rather go spend time with them than go home to your unhappy mate.  The game is afoot.

But what then?  So you spend time with them.  What then?  Are you going to bust up your family, break your vows, squander friendships and shipwreck your integrity?  And for what?

But when God leads you, and you follow His ways, the What Then question brings fulfilling answers!

If you are having marriage problems, maybe you get some marital counseling.  What then?  Then you learn and grow together and solve some problems.  What then?  Then you are building a home and family on deeper love and respect.  When then?  Then you grow old together, fully respected by family and friends, with a deep and lasting family legacy which can be replicated by generations to come!

So yes, the devil has his devices, but we do not need to be unaware.

And one way to unmask him is to ask this simple question.

What then?

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Wisdom Preserves You

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Wisdom preserves you.

If you want to save yourself, if you want to preserve yourself, get some wisdom!

Proverbs 4 says, “Get wisdom...she will preserve you.”  (NKJV)

One great example is your teeth.

What are three obvious things that wisdom says will preserve your teeth?

Well, it’s wise to brush your teeth.

It’s wise to floss your teeth.

And it’s wise to go to the dentist for regular cleanings and checkups.

Follow this wisdom and your teeth will be preserved.

And yet I know so many people who chuck this wisdom out the window.  And what is going to happen?  Their teeth are not going to be preserved.

Think of tobacco products.  Wisdom says, “Don’t use tobacco products and you will be preserved.”

Now I’m thinking of the woman my age who has been smoking, I guess, since high school, and when I saw her Facebook picture I was aghast!  She almost looked old enough to be my mother, because all that smoking was sucking the life out of her.

Wisdom, though, would have preserved her.

My dad had a bad motorcycle accident when I was in high school.  His wisdom in wearing a helmet preserved his life.  But his wisdom in not riding motorcycles since then preserved him from all such accidents.

Wisdom in wearing a helmet will obviously preserve you if you have an accident, and wisdom in choosing a car over a motorcycle means you will never, ever be harmed on your motorcycle.

Wisdom preserves you, so get wisdom! 

You ate that questionable food and ended up writhing in the bathroom.

Wisdom preserves you!

In your health.  In your marriage.  In your family.  In your career.  In your business.  In your church.  In all things, keep working to grow in wisdom, because one thing is clear.

Wisdom preserves you.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Turn Thee Unto Me

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Here is a simple prayer you can pray anytime, for anyone, starting with yourself.

Four simple words:  turn Thee unto me.

Turn Thee unto me.

Yes, that’s the old King James English, and it’s pretty simple.  It’s a simple prayer saying, “Lord, please turn towards me.”

And when the Lord turns toward us...well imagine a shepherd surrounded by sheep.  Then imagine the shepherd turning his attention specifically to one particular sheep.  He kneels down.  He cares for the sheep.  He loves on the sheep.  He checks on the sheep.

A sheep never feels more loved and secure and KNOWN than when the shepherd turns toward that particular sheep.

And that’s what this prayer encapsulates.  “Lord, turn Thee unto me.”

It’s asking for God’s specific attention, for His specific favor and care and love and mercy.  It’s asking for His guidance and wisdom and light.

It all comes when the Shepherd turns Thee unto me.

So you can pray this for yourself, just like David did in Psalm 25:16.

Or you can pray it for others, anyone and everyone!

“Lord, turn Thee unto my brother.”  “Lord, turn Thee unto my sister.”  Lord, turn Thee unto my boss and my coworkers and my pastor and my church.”  “Lord, turn Thee unto our president and our senators and congressmen.”

It’s a powerful prayer, and it doesn’t require a bunch of words, because there is an eternity full of power in this one simple prayer.

“Turn Thee unto me.”

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

A Robe of Light

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

He covers Himself with light, as with a garment.

He’s wearing a robe of...not white...but LIGHT.

A robe of light.

Psalm 104 says it, and let that sink in for a minute.

The Lord our God wraps Himself in light.

I don’t know if you’ve ever studied the properties of light, but they are amazing.

And if you think God created light when He created the sun, moon and stars, think again.

In Genesis 1:3, on Day One, God said, “Let there be light.”

Then He didn’t create the traditional sources of light until DAY FOUR.

It’s impossible to imagine this, because when it comes to light, all we know is light that comes from a light source.

But when God wraps Himself with light as with a garment, it’s not because a spotlight is on Him.  It’s not because He is wearing a garment full of light bulbs like some crazy Vegas show.

He is wrapped in pure, total, original light.  The kind of light that came before the sun, moon and stars!

And it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen, or even can see!

First Timothy 6:16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light.

And remember that light includes gamma rays and X-rays and radio waves and microwaves.  It’s shooting out photons of energy, and no wonder “no man can approach!”

So when Psalm 104:1 says God is clothed in majesty, don’t think of purple robes and shiny baubles, but think of this.

God robes Himself in light.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Start at the End and Work Backwards

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

The ink is going to run.

If you don’t think of that, you’re going to make a bad newspaper ad like the one I’m looking at.

The words are white, surrounded by color.  I’m sure it looked good on the computer screen, but they didn’t think about the end result, so the ink bled into the small, white letters making them impossible to read.

When you design a sign, don’t start on your computer screen.  Go out and stand where the sign will be posted.  Start at the end and work backwards.

One local church spent the money and posted a beautiful billboard; but I guess they didn’t go look at the site.  The billboard was surrounded by trees, but what did they do?  They made the billboard green, too! 

This is great advice in so many areas of life:  start at the end and work backwards.

I want to grow old and live out my days with the wife of my youth.  I knew that the day we married, so looking at that end helps me make wise decisions today.

Parenting – wow.  My end was that I wanted my children to grow up and be self-sustaining adults, contributing to society, and having their own relationship with Jesus; so I made my parenting decisions with those end results in mind.

And our own lives.  How do we decide what to do each day?  What do we value?  What gets our time and attention and resources?

Start at the end and work backwards, and the end I’m thinking of is the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10 says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

So how are you planning your life?

Start at the end and work backwards.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

How to Read Medieval Art

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)
 
How to Read Medieval Art.

That’s the name of the new book I picked up at the library.

How to Read Medieval Art.

So you mean there are hidden messages and clues in the art, like a mystery?  I’m in!  Give me that book.

Then I read something very interesting in the foreword, which was written by Thomas P. Campbell, the director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It’s also known as The Met in New York City, it’s the largest art museum in the United States, and it’s among the most visited art museums in the world.

In the foreword he points out that much of medieval art is based on biblical themes.  Now listen to this.  He wrote, “To modern readers and museum visitors, the narratives of the Judeo-Christian tradition may be as unfamiliar as those of Egyptian gods.”

Wow.

So here we are, with more Christian publishing, more Bibles, more books, more media, more websites, more preaching, and probably more churches and evangelism than ever.

And yet medieval art with biblical themes requires special explanation, similar to what we need to understand long-defunct, ancient Egyptian gods.

Can that be true?

It may be – partly because a chunk of the people hanging around at The Met are probably not prone to be in church this Sunday.

But even among church-going Christians, studies show a plunge in biblical literacy, especially among younger people.

Well, we can’t change the world, but we can make sure that in our homes and families, and in our churches, we are providing the education and teaching and biblical training that’s needed.

If we don’t, the truths of God are going to seem as mysterious to coming generations as some ancient Egyptian god.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

How is Your Family Dynasty?

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Have you heard of the dynasty of King Jeroboam?

No, because it never happened.

Oh, it should have happened.  The dynasty of Jeroboam was foretold by the prophet.

In First Kings 11:38, it was Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh, who told Jeroboam that God was going to make him king, and that God would give him a family dynasty...IF he would listen to the Lord’s commands and do what was right in God’s eyes.

And you know what?  That’s what I want to do!  It’s my heart’s desire and my prayer.  “Lord, I want to listen to Your commands.  I want to walk in Your ways.  I want to follow You, Good Shepherd, every day!”

And that, my friend, is how you build your family dynasty.

You establish your family dynasty on the foundation of God and His ways. 

Look around and see.  Families that put God in the center and walk in His ways – those are strong families.  They aren’t riddled and pockmarked with divorce, adultery, abuse and neglect. 

So how are you doing with your family dynasty? 

The good news is that, even if your family is a garbage heap up until now, you can change that starting today.  Start following God, walk in His ways and you will immediately begin to see the foundation start to firm up beneath you.

But poor Jeroboam.  He decided to ignore the prophet.

Some of the saddest words in the Bible are found in 1 Kings 12:28.  After seeking advice, Jeroboam made two golden calves.

He took the promise of the prophet and chucked it. 

No dynasty for Jeroboam.

But we can build a rich family dynasty!...when we seek the Lord with all of our heart and desire to walk in His ways.

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Are You Drinking the Kool-Aid or the Living Water?

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

Are you drinking the Kool-Aid or the living water?

I mean, where are you getting your values?  On what foundation are you building your life?

Are you plugged into TV all day?  Is your favorite news channel like an IV pumping Kool-Aid into your veins?

Is it soap operas?  And you know that show you’re binging on is basically a soap opera, right?  That’s why you can’t stop watching.

But all these things impart values and morals.  Our books.  Our novels.  The people filling our news feeds.  The click bait.

We keep going back to the same sources and drinking the artificial...but colorful!...Kool-Aid.

Meanwhile, we have an amazing source of living water – the Holy Spirit of God who lives inside every Christian believer.  (John 7:38-39)

Living water – it’s a spiritual spring, teeming with life! 

It’s the Spirit of God inside of us, flowing within us...but we have to tap into it.  We seek God in prayer and praise and Bible study, and we tap into His living water.  We draw near to Him, and He draws near to us.  (James 4:8)

Then He shows us things, ways to live, attitudes to adopt; and when we do, He establishes our lives on a firm foundation.

In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus said that when we hear His teachings and do them, we are building our lives on a solid foundation.

Sometimes people accuse fired up Christians of drinking the Kool-Aid.  On the contrary.  The world is sucking down the Kool-Aid like a maniacal third grader.  And even Christians can fall for the cartoonish colors, shovels of sugar and short-lived satisfaction. 

So stop with the Kool-Aid.

Instead, let us run to the living water, clean and refreshing and satisfying! 

God bless you, today.

I’m Doug Apple.