A Tale of Two Broken Windows

(click to listen)

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

It was like a shotgun of glass in my eyes.  Would it ruin my vision?

It all started on a typical Wednesday when I packed our baby in the car seat and went to pick up a little old lady for church.  It was a winter evening in Illinois and already dark.

As I was driving down the highway, suddenly there was a blast of glass as my driver’s side window exploded.  I don’t recall much about what happened after that.

It turned out that a deer had been streaking across the highway and slammed his head right into my window.  It was like a shotgun of glass to my face and eyes, and the baby was covered in glass but uninjured, thank God.

Someone rushed me to the hospital, and they spent a good amount of time getting the glass out of my eyes.  Just blinking felt like my eyes were full of gravel.

Finally, they sent me home with an appointment to come back in the morning.  My wife was driving me home, and I just sat there in the passenger seat with my head leaning on the window, drained.

And God met me there.

I just felt His grace and presence so sweetly.  I was thinking, “God, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t matter.  Even if I go blind, I’m going to follow You and do whatever You want me to do.”

God’s grace and peace and presence were so powerful in that moment, it was truly like the Bible says in Philippians 4:6, a peace that passes understanding.

Thankfully my eyes healed, and everything turned out fine, but at the moment BEFORE I knew how it would turn out…God met me there, and it was beautiful.

I’m calling this message A Tale of Two Broken Windows, so what’s the other one?

It’s the story of a much cooler car than my little Toyota Tercel.  It’s about a 1966 Chevy Chevelle which my friend Rodney Rowland completely restored.

I mean, that car is a thing of beauty!  He fixed it ALL up.  It was perfect.  And he was taking it to the 2023 Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach, Florida, which if you know anything about car auctions, the vehicles at this event are incredible, I mean millions of dollars of amazing vehicles, all in perfect condition…and very shiny.

They don’t get that way by accident of course.  Rodney had spent countless hours bringing that car from basically a crusty shell to perfection.

April 2023 rolled around and he loaded it up on his trailer and hit the road for Palm Beach.  He submitted this super cool Chevelle to the auction inspectors, and uh-oh.  What did they just say?  The windshield…is broken?  What???

It was perfect when it left Tallahassee, but now it was cracked at exactly the worst moment, right before going on the auction block at this huge, worldwide sale.

Does that mean all that time, all that investment was going down the drain?  Did it mean pulling out of the auction altogether?  What should he do?

This is where the grace of God settled on Rodney in a powerful way.  He felt the peace to just go ahead and put it into the auction, even with the cracked windshield.  He said, “God, I’m going to praise You no matter what happens.  If it sells for a lower dollar amount than I need, so be it.  God, You are my provider and I will praise You either way.”

No, it’s not natural to say such things.  It’s not natural to face maybe losing your vision and saying, “God, it doesn’t matter, I’m following You.”  It’s not natural to face potential financial disappointment and say, “God, it doesn’t matter, I’m praising You.”

It’s not natural.  It is supernatural!  It’s what happens when the Spirit of God gives you His grace and peace and presence.  All the usual values and concerns fade in the presence of God!

I was raised in the Lutheran church, and at the end of every service the pastor would quote the benediction in Numbers 6:24-26, “The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.  The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you His peace.”

That is exactly what happened in this Tale of Two Broken Windows, for both Rodney and me.  We lived it.  We experienced it.  In a time of stress and potential loss, we felt the Lord’s presence, His grace, and His peace.

And God can do this for you, whatever you are facing today.  How?

I like what it says in Isaiah 26:3, and I like the majesty of the old King James, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.”

As we keep our heart and mind turned towards God and His Word, trusting in Him, then He blesses us with His peace and grace and presence, even in the middle of our trials.

ESPECIALLY in the middle of our trials.

And that is how we can have peace, even when the glass is breaking, and say, “God, I’m going to follow You and praise You, no matter what.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Give the Gap

(click to listen)

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

“I will NOT be taken advantage of.”

That’s what we say.

“I will not be made to look like a fool.  If someone’s going to get the short end of the stick, it’s not going to be me.”

No one wants to get the short end of the stick, but in almost every human interaction you could easily say, “Wait a second.  I’m giving more than they are, and I’m getting less.”

The short end of the stick.

It’s hard to imagine Jesus complaining about getting the short end of the stick, which He certainly did when He died for me.  So the example of our Lord is to give, to go the extra mile, and to even find joy in it. 

But how can we do that?  No one wants to feel ripped off or taken advantage of.  It’s demeaning, even humiliating if you think about it too much.

Well I have a plan, a new way to look at it that really flips it on its head.  I call it Give the Gap.  What does that mean?

I’m holding my hand up here in front of my chin.  This is how much I think I am getting.  Now I’m holding my other hand up to my forehead.  This is how much I’m giving, so as you can see, there is a gap between how much I’m giving and how much I’m getting.  

The gap is the problem.  Marriages have been ruined over the gap.  Families have been wrecked; whole wars have been started over that gap.

So what can we do when there’s a gap between how much we are giving versus how much we are getting?

Give the gap.  And here’s an example.

A friend of mine wanted to sell his truck.  A friend of his wanted to buy it.  He told his friend the price, and his friend tried to bargain him down.  That made the first man angry because he told his friend the price and his friend didn’t take his price seriously but wanted a lower price.  There was a gap between their prices.  

I watched as their relationship became seriously damaged over that gap, but it could have been solved if either one of them would have been willing to give the gap.

Both of those men were good Christian men and members of the same church.  They both gave a lot of money to their church and other good causes.  They were givers!  But for whatever reason they didn’t extend their giving ways to this truck deal.  Neither one of them wanted to be taken advantage of, and it damaged their friendship.

It could have been avoided if one of them would have been willing to give the gap, and here’s how it works.

You say you want $5,000 for that old truck, and I only think it is worth $4,000.  Instead of wrecking the friendship, I can go ahead and pay your full price, and that one-thousand-dollar difference?  Instead of feeling cheated, I’m going to GIVE it to you!  I’m going to Give the Gap.

Let’s say you are at work and the boss asks you to do something and you don’t think it is your job.  Yes, you could start a big brouhaha, or instead you could give the gap…the gap between what you think you should give and what they think you should give.  Now instead of it being part of your job, you are giving it as a gift!

The Bible has much to say about giving, like it is better to give than to receive, and “give and it will be given unto you,” God loves a cheerful giver, and even, “go the extra mile.”

Hebrews 13:16 says to do good and share, “for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Philippians 2 says we are to have the same attitude of Jesus who, though He was God, humbled Himself to becoming a human, a servant, even dying as a criminal on a cross.  

So when we see a gap between what we are giving and what we are getting, we can simply convert that gap into a gift!  Our attitude switches from, “I’m getting cheated,” to, “I freely give this as a gift, knowing that God wants me to give, and that when I do give, I will receive back and even more, as Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”

No one wants to be taken advantage of, but everyone is called to give, so when you start to see a gap between what you are getting and what you are giving, instead of getting mad…Give the Gap.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

The Bathtub Drain

(click to listen)

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

Have you looked down your bathtub drain lately?

It’s probably just a black hole, and as long as the water drains you don’t even think about it.

But you know what?  A lot of things had to be done just right for that drain to work.

Think of a typical ranch house here in Florida built on a concrete slab.  An architect designs the house and creates a blueprint.  Then every person that works on the house works off the blueprint.

One thing on the blueprint is the plumbing.  Before they pour the concrete slab, a plumber has to install all the pipes in the exact right places, including that bathtub drain.

That drain has to be in the perfect spot.  He can’t just eyeball it.  He can’t just say, “This feels right.”  He has to put the drainpipe EXACTLY where the blueprint says to put it.

Why?  Because they are going to pour concrete around it.  It will literally be set in stone.  Yes, it can be moved.  I was part of a drain moving operation at a church one time, and it involved jackhammers and sweat and grumbling.  No one in their right mind would choose to put the drain in the wrong place so that they could move it later.  It would be what we call in the south “ig-nernt.”

That bathtub drainpipe has to be in the exact right spot because one day a guy is going to walk in carrying a bathtub.  He’s going to set it down, look down that drain hole, and he’d better see nothing but a black hole, perfectly lined up.  

Can you imagine how well the plumber has to do his job for the bathtub drain to be perfectly lined up?  It’s a marvel!  But that’s what the blueprint is for.

The plumber doesn’t go in and try to figure it out on his own.  He doesn’t ask his buddy, “Hey, does this look good?”  He has to follow the blueprint. 

And now listen.  We have a blueprint for life.  Life on this planet was created by the Architect, with a capital A, and He has a blueprint for how everything goes together.  If we follow the blueprint, our life works properly, and if we ignore the blueprint, it doesn’t work right.

Jesus used a construction analogy at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven.  He basically said that if we follow His blueprint, His teachings, then we are like a wise man who builds his house well.  But if we don’t follow God’s blueprint, we are like a man who builds his house foolishly.

For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to forgive.  Our blueprint for life is to “forgive men their trespasses.”  Forgiveness works!  It’s in the blueprint!  But what if we don’t feel like forgiving?  What if we have a hundred reasons to not forgive?

The plumber might have a hundred reasons to put the bathtub drainpipe somewhere else, but he MUST put it where the blueprint says to put it or it won’t work.  He will have missed the mark.

What is another word for “missing the mark?”  Sin.  

In the original language, the word sin comes from the Greek and Hebrew words which mean “to miss the mark.”  To sin is literally to miss the mark.  It’s putting the pipe anywhere but where the blueprint says to put it.

If we don’t forgive, we are missing the mark, ignoring the blueprint, and building our life poorly.  This applies to everything God told us to do.  His words are the blueprint.

What if you don’t like words like sin and obedience.  Well, think of it in terms of Jesus’s construction analogy.  Sin is missing the mark, which is not following the blueprint, which is putting the pipes wherever you feel like. 

Obedience is hitting the mark, following the blueprint, putting the pipes right where the blueprint says to put them.

For some reason we think of obedience to God as optional, but we sure don’t want the plumber thinking of the blueprint as optional when he’s building our house.

Why not?  Because we want it built well, not poorly.

And the same is true for our life.  We want it built well not poorly, and for that, we have to follow the blueprint of the architect, with a capital A.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

By the Power Vested in Me

(click to listen)

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

“And God I forgive everyone for everything, past…present…and future…”

That’s my daily prayer.  I pray through the Lord’s Prayer and when I come to the part about “…as we forgive those…” I stop and say, “God, right now, I forgive everyone for everything, past, present, and future.  I preemptively forgive everyone for everything they might do or say, so that I’m free to love them like You want me to love them, with the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through me.”

Yes, we know we are supposed to forgive people, but it doesn’t end there.  The big goal is to love people.  Forgiveness gets all the offenses out of the equation which sets us free to love people.

I often say this.  I forgive people so that I’m free to love people the way God wants me to love them, to want God’s best for them, and to even rejoice over them!

My friend said, “Well, I’m not going to rejoice over the man that just murdered my daughter.”  No, his daughter wasn’t murdered.  He was just making a point.  And I get the point.  But nonetheless, Jesus told us to love our neighbor, and our enemy.

I’m not sure you can properly love someone you haven’t forgiven.  And what’s this idea of rejoicing over them?  

The Bible talks about God rejoicing over His people.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, “He will rejoice over you with gladness…He will rejoice over you with singing.”

That was a prophetic word for the future, because at the moment God’s people were rebellious and disobedient.  God was certainly not rejoicing over their sin, and we don’t rejoice over other people’s sin.  So what are we rejoicing over?

We rejoice over the potential in people!  God really does have beautiful plans and possibilities for people who will turn their lives over to Him, and for that, we rejoice over them!  And we love them toward their destiny in God.

And yet it is so hard to love people, right?  For the most part it seems impossible to love everyone.  So how can we do it?

“By the power vested in me…”

I love that little phrase.  You often hear it at weddings.  “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Well we, as Christian believers, have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and listen to what Second Timothy 1:7 says about that Spirit.  It says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

By the power vested in me, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of power and love and a sound mind, I can love everyone God brings into my path.  

Galatians 5:22 says “…the fruit of the Spirit is love…”

God has given us a spirit of love!  And of power.  He’s given us the power to love!

And to clear room for that power to work, we have to get all offenses off the table and out of the equation by forgiving everyone for everything…past…present…and future.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

(click to listen)

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

“You must have a lot of faith to believe in God like you do.”  

Actually, I don’t think I have all that much faith.  Think of it like this.

Last night I was working in the yard, pulling weeds and picking up sticks.  Suddenly it dawned on me that I was really thirsty.  Thankfully I had prepared a nice cup of ice water before I went out to work.  So I went and took a big drink and it was so refreshing!

How much faith did it take to drink that water?  Not much because I have had many great experiences of drinking cool, refreshing water when I was thirsty!

That pretty much describes my faith in God.  In the early days I would read something in the Bible or hear something from another Christian and I would try to put it into practice.  I would also hear things from the Holy Spirit, and I would put those things into practice.

It didn’t even take all that much faith in those early days because I would hear something and try it.  

For example, I read in the Bible that we are to forgive people, so I started forgiving people.  It didn’t take a New York minute to realize, “Hey, this is refreshing!”

So how much faith did it take the next time I needed to forgive?  Hardly any!  I had already tasted and seen that forgiveness is a great way to live.

The other day we had a bunch of grandchildren at the house.  They were running around and playing, and then my wife pulled out a beautiful, fresh watermelon.  The kids stopped in their tracks and flocked to the watermelon.  Why?  Because they had already tasted and seen that cool watermelon on a hot Florida day is wonderful!

See, it doesn’t take all that much faith to trust an experience you’ve already had a good experience with.  And that describes my walk with God. 

Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…”

I HAVE tasted, and I HAVE seen that the Lord is good, over and over!

So while it may look on the outside like, “Gee, that Doug Apple has a lot of faith,” I would say no, not really.  I have just tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and after that it doesn’t take much faith to keep walking with Him, knowing that even more good things are on the way!

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

One Tip for Teachers

(click to listen)

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

“I’ll walk you to your car.  I need to ask you something.”

That’s what the man said as he caught me leaving the church one day.

He said, “They’ve asked me to teach a class in a few weeks, and I was wanting to get your advice.”

I’ve been teaching adult Sunday school classes and Bible studies for over 30 years, so I should know a thing or two, right?

He said, “What is one piece of advice you would give me as I prepare for this class?”

Well, how would YOU answer that?

There are many good answers, of course, but here’s what I said.

Like the Old Testament prophets, stand in the presence of God, then deliver His message to the people.

Instead of thinking of creative ways to teach a Bible lesson, get alone with God, sanctify yourself to Him, set yourself apart for Him.

This means get alone with God.  Have regular quiet time with just you and God and the Bible.  Ask Him to lead you and show you things while you read the Scriptures.

And part of sanctifying yourself to God is setting aside some things of this world.

“What things?  You mean, like, sin?”

Of course, sin.  You should repent of all sin and come clean with God whether you’re a Bible teacher or not.  That’s a given.

To really press in and seek God and sanctify yourself to Him, it means denying yourself some things.  It means setting them aside to clear out time and space in your life for more of God.

Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, we must first deny ourselves.  

You can deny yourself watching TV.  You can deny yourself social media.  Deny yourself secular music or books or whatever.  And you can pray and ask God, “Lord, how can I sanctify myself for You?”

The point is to pull ourselves a little more away from our “usual” in order to seek God more diligently, knowing that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, as it says in Hebrews 11:6.

Jesus said go into your room, shut your door, pray to your Father.  In other words, get alone, shut out distractions, talk to God.

If you want to be a better Bible teacher or preacher, that is one tip.  Instead of trying to be more creative or witty or modern, my one tip for you would be to get alone with God and His Word, diligently seek Him, sanctify yourself to Him and see where He will lead.  

Then you will be able to come out of your time with Him with a calling, with an anointing, and what the old timers called an “unction” to speak God’s words to God’s people in the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through you.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

 

Read as Though You Believe

(Click to listen)

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

“She put the Bible there on my nightstand…right next to my ashtray.”

Bibles and ashtrays.  I knew this story was going to be good!

I was talking with Mike Sharman and I asked him the simple question, “How did you come to faith in Christ?”

It didn’t come until he was deep into life, married, making money and advancing professionally.

His wife had become a Christian, and he had attended a Bible study with her, but spent most of the time finding things to argue about, so he quit going.

But his wife had taken that one simple step, putting a Bible on his nightstand, and there it sat, like an ancient treasure chest just waiting to be opened.

Then came the night he was lying in bed, his wife fast asleep, and he heard a voice, a resonating voice.  It simply said, “I exist.”  He wasn’t sure what he’d heard, or even if he was dreaming, but he heard it a second time, then a third time, and he quickly came to the decision that it was God.

Well.  Now what?  Mike was open at this point, and ready for what might come next.

What came next was the voice saying, “Pick up that book,” and he knew what “book” was being referred to:  the Bible on his nightstand.

The voice said, “Pick up that book.  Begin at page one.  Read as though you believe.”

Well Mike had picked up “that book” before, but here was the key, the instruction to “read as though you believe.”

In other words, God was saying, “Set aside your bias.  Put away any anti-Bible or anti-Christian bigotry you may have and simply read the Bible ‘as though you believe,’ and see what happens.”

And he did.

And the rest is history.

And Mike Sharman has been following Jesus and making a difference in the world and in the Kingdom of God for many years now.

So what about you?  Perhaps this is God’s word to you today.

Pick up that book.  Begin at page one.  Read as though you believe.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Each Man's Life Touches So Many Others

(click to listen)

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

“I don’t think God cares if I go or not.”

That’s what one woman told me.  She was trying to decide whether she should make a certain trip or not.  I said, “Well…pray about it.”

She said, “I don’t think God cares if I go or not.”

I said, “It’s not that He’s going to zap you for making the wrong decision.  I just mean that He might give you some wisdom about the decision.”

I realize not everyone thinks like that.  I just really want God’s wisdom in everything.

Someone told me, “You’re the kind of guy who probably stands in front of his closet and says, ‘God, what should I wear today?’”  I said, “No…but some people SHOULD do that.”

I got to thinking, “Why DO I think this way?  Why do I want God’s wisdom so much?

First let me say that I don’t just sit around and do nothing until I get hit by lightning from heaven.

But my thinking is rooted in Romans 12:2 where it talks about discerning God’s will…His good and acceptable, pleasing, and perfect will.  I want that.  I want to live within God’s will, His parameters, His guidelines.  I want to build my life on a solid foundation, with good life-construction principles.

How to do that?  That same verse, Romans 12:2, talks about being transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Let me just share with you all of Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, in the NIV since that’s where I first memorized it:  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

I want God’s will for my life, my family, my work, everything.  How can I get it?  According to Romans 12:1 and 2, I offer my body as a living sacrifice to God.

Here’s something I do each morning when I roll out of bed.  I take a knee, point a finger toward heaven and say, “Reporting for duty, Sir.”  That is me offering up my body once again as a living sacrifice. “Lord, I’m all Yours.  I’m all in.”

Then I seek to follow Him, and not the ways of the world, and in the process He is renewing my mind.  And through all of this, it says, I will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.

Then I got to thinking, “Why is Romans 12: 1 and 2 so foundational in my life.”

And I got to thinking about the Christian Campus House at Eastern Illinois University.  When my wife and I were dating we decided to go there and take their discipleship class.  The head of that ministry was Roger Songer and he had us memorize Romans 12:1-2 among others.

Out of all the Bible, why do I operate out of Romans 12:1-2 so often?  It’s because Roger Songer emphasized it in his discipleship class.

So here I am, decades later, taking a knee each morning, offering up my body as a living sacrifice to God.  My heart is more passionate for God’s will than ever before, and I hope I’m having a positive, Godly, spirit-refreshing influence on everyone I come in contact with.  And some of the credit for any good I’ve done has to go back to Roger Songer and his influence in those influential days.

It reminds me of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  George Bailey wished he had never been born and his wish was granted.  Clarence the angel then showed George what the world would look like if he had never been born, and it was quite a bit worse.

Finally, Clarence said to George, “Strange, isn’t it?  Each man’s life touches so many other lives.  When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

Yes, each of our lives touches so many others, and that’s why our decisions are so important.  We don’t know how the future will be changed by our decisions.

This is why I want God’s will so much.  I don’t know the future, and I don’t know the best thing to do.  But God does, and that’s why I daily offer myself up to Him as a living sacrifice and seek His wisdom.

Maybe you don’t think God cares whether you go on that trip or not, but I still say, “Pray about it,” because your decisions are making a difference in every life you come in contact with.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Lord, I Believe, Help My Unbelief

(click to listen)

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

Your faith is not in your faith.  Your faith is in God.

Your faith is not in your prayers.

Your faith is not in your purity.

Your faith is not in your pastor.

Your faith is in God, and He is trustworthy.

Your beliefs and knowledge about God are probably not 100% trustworthy, but God is trustworthy.

We just don’t know enough, believe enough, obey enough, and follow closely enough to put our faith in any of that.  What that leaves is putting our faith in God.

I say this because many times we put a thermometer into our faith and see if it measures up.  And especially other people will put THEIR thermometer into your faith, and wow, you REALLY don’t measure up.  And that hurts.  And it’s frustrating.  

And God isn’t doing what you thought He would do, and why?  It must be because of your lack of faith, some people will say.  But then you don’t know how to build up your faith, and it is hard to build up your faith when it’s weak.  Now you don’t even have enough faith to build up your faith.

There was a man like this in the Bible.  He carried a great burden.  He stepped out in faith.  God didn’t come through like the man thought He would, and it all became so overwhelming it left him in tears, crying out to God.

We find the story in Mark chapter nine.  This man had a son, and the son did the craziest things, even from a young age.  He would throw himself into a fire, or into water.  He would fall on the ground and foam at the mouth, basically seizures.  It was horrifying for the father to watch.

Then the father heard about this “Jesus movement” and decided to see what Jesus could do for his son.  He took him to find Jesus, and he found Jesus’s disciples, but not Jesus.

But the disciples were good enough, right?  In Mark six Jesus gave them supernatural power and they went out and healed people and cast out unclean spirits.

So, the man brought his son to the disciples, and guess what.  They couldn’t heal the boy.  I imagine they tried, used different approaches, but nothing worked.

Then the scribes got involved and the arguing began and the crowd swelled around them and it was a whole “thing.”  And the father was there with his son, and all he really wanted was for his son to be healed, but all he got was disappointment.  He must have been thinking, “Why did I even bother?  This is worse, not better, and now my son is a spectacle.”

Then Jesus showed up, with Peter, James, and John, and started to get to the bottom of things.  He finally said, “Bring the boy to me.”

But when the boy was approaching Jesus, the Bible says that “immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.”

Any parent whose child has had seizures is feeling this father’s pain right now.  And worse, it was happening in front of a big crowd, and in front of Jesus and His disciples, the very people he thought would help his child and didn’t.

Do you think this man’s faith level is very high right now?  Maybe it was when he first decided to come to Jesus, but at this point everything seems worse, not better.

Finally, the father said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Now I know some people who would say, “Uh oh, that man said the I-word.  He said IF.  God doesn’t have to do anything for you when you dare to say the word if.  How much lower can your faith go than when you say to the Lord of the universe IF?”

Jesus’s simple response was, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Many people find this verse encouraging, and many find it discouraging.  And some people use it as a weapon to club other peoples’ faith.  “See? IF you believed, your child would be healed.  Your prodigal would be saved.  Your marriage would be restored.  So apparently you don’t believe because good things aren’t happening for you.”

Well guess what.  The father himself heard Jesus’s words, and he hit rock bottom.  He knew he had nowhere else to go but to Jesus, but when he brought his son to Jesus, he wasn’t healed anyway.  His faith was not rewarded.  It was actually brought to a new low.

Mark 9:24 says, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’”

I’ve heard some people say that his prayer was wrong.  That you should never show any signs of unbelief in your prayers, or you should not expect anything from God.

But remember, your faith is not in your faith.  Your faith is not in yourself at all.  Your faith is in God, so if you say, “Lord, help my unbelief,” that is actually a prayer of faith!

Because people who don’t have faith, you know what they pray?  They don’t.

So, if you are praying to God, you do have faith!  And if you are asking God to help you in your areas of unbelief…that is a prayer of faith!  You are putting your trust in God that He will help you in those areas, that He will help your unbelief.

In the end Jesus did heal the child, and I don’t know what happened to that family after that, but this father’s words echo down through the centuries, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

He was at the end of his rope.  He had stepped out on faith and even that didn’t work.  He took his child to the men of God, and they couldn’t help.  

It seemed to come down to this:  did the father believe?  Or did he believe enough?

And when he realized that his son’s lack of healing might be due to his lack of belief, it almost drove him mad.  It drove him to tears.  He lost his composure and just cried out to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

And that is a prayer that you and I can legitimately pray today.  Of course, your faith isn’t perfect.  Of course, it’s not 100%, but that doesn’t matter.  

God is what matters, and we are free to cry out in whatever faith we have, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

 

Archippus Take Heed

(click to listen)

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

And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

That’s an encouragement…and a warning.

It was for Archippus in the Bible, in Colossians 4:17, but it’s for us, too.

Take heed to the ministry with you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.

Are you fulfilling the ministry you have received in the Lord?  Are your answering the call, doing what God wants you to do, what He has gifted you to do, and told you to do?

“Take heed,” was the message to Archippus.  That means “give this serious attention.”  It means, “make sure it’s done to avoid bad results.”

I don’t want bad results, so I’m determined to “take heed” and seek to do what God wants me to do.  

Philippians 3:12 says, “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

If you are a Christian, then at some point Jesus “took hold” of you, and you have a ministry to fulfill, a vital role in the Body of Christ.  Whatever it is, do like Philippians 3:12 says.  Press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you.

Do like Colossians 4:17 says, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

What happens, though, is that we can lose our focus.  There are so many distractions, so many bells and whistles, so many trinkets and sparkly things.  We are easily drawn away from God’s calling toward something else, like Demas.

Demas was on mission with Paul, but something drew him away.  In Second Timothy 4:10 Paul wrote, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

I want to cry out, “Demas!  What was it?  What was so shiny and attractive?  What drew you off course?  You were dead in like five minutes and standing before your Maker.  Was it worth it, forsaking your mission for a minute’s worth of worldly pleasure?”

Jesus called His various disciples with these words, “Follow Me.”  And they followed Him.

Well there was one man to whom Jesus said, “Follow Me,” and He didn’t.  We call him the rich, young ruler, but his name isn’t recorded.  Whatever fame he had at the time is long gone.

Mark 10:21 says that Jesus “loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.'”

But he couldn’t do it.  Verse 22 says he was sad, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

I want to cry out, “Dude.  Rich, young whatever.  What was so great about your stuff?  Was it really that great?  You passed on the chance to follow Jesus and for what?  Some stuff?  Really?

And yet we all get hit with similar temptations, and it’s all garbage.  Better to have the attitude of Paul in Philippians 3:8 where he counts the trinkets of this world as garbage.  He counted everything else as loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.

So what to do?  Don’t be led astray by the sparkly trinkets of this world.

Instead, press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you.

And like Paul said to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

 

If You Don't Like the Word Obedience

(click to listen)

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

The word “obedience” sounds harsh to some people.

They think of abusive parents, or schoolteachers with paddles, or military drill instructors.

We can be leery of obeying anyone because we are free Americans and we bow the knee to no one.  Plus, if we put ourselves under anyone’s authority, they might take advantage of us.

There is truth to all of that, but what about when it comes to obeying God?

Well…some people put obeying God into the same category.  They don’t like the word obedience, period, even when talking about God.

So today I want to put obedience into a different light.  Actually, I’m not doing it.  Jesus did it, in the Sermon on the Mount.

At the end of that famous sermon, He talked about obedience in a completely different way, by putting it into construction terms.

Now think about construction.  When you are building a building, there are certain principles you have to follow, or your building will be garbage.

The very first principle you have to keep in mind is gravity.  All construction principles revolve around gravity.  If you don’t build it right, gravity will pull it down.

The second principle is the elements, including rain and wind.  If you don’t build right, rain and wind will destroy it.  And with rain comes erosion.

The third element is going to be critters.  Whether it's termites and wood bees, rats and snakes, raccoons and bears, if you don’t build it right, other creatures are for sure going to move in and destroy it.

Now back to obedience.  When you pay a builder to build a building for you, do you want him to be strictly obedient to good construction principles? 

Of course you do.  You don’t pay your hard-earned money for someone to build poorly.  You want it right.  You want it well built.

Now back to Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  At the end He said, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them (that’s obedience, by the way), I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock (in other words, using solid construction principles).

Then in Matthew 7:26 He said, “But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them (that’s disobedience), will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (in other words, using bad construction principles).

If the word obedience gives you the willies, then think of it in terms of construction.  How do you want to build your life?  Do you want to build it well, with the best life-building principles?  Then build your life using God’s construction principles in the Bible.

I have found that it works.  To the degree that I do what Jesus said, I see my life being built well.  And to the degree that I see people NOT doing what Jesus said, I see their lives being built poorly, often with one dramatic calamity after another…so much drama.

So if you don’t like the word obedience, even when it comes to obeying God, try casting it in a different light.  The results will be the same, and the illustration comes from Jesus Himself.

Do what God says and your life will be built well and strong and stable and enduring.

Don’t do what God says and your life will be built using sloppy construction principles which leads to wreckage and drama and calamity and failure every time.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

 

Christians in Cars

(Click to listen)

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

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.”

But what if your neighbor is driving his car too close behind your car, like he would push you off the road if he could.  Do you love him now?

Jesus said, “Love your enemy.”

What if your enemy isn’t someone trying to kill you.  They’re just trying to pass you on the highway.  What do you do when someone who has been tailgating you now tries to pass you?

No, you don’t speed up!  You’re a Christian, and a Christian is supposed to love people.  So when they try to pass you, you love them and want them to pass you quickly and safely, so you certainly shouldn’t speed up.  More likely you should slow down a little so they can pass you safely.

We’re talking about Christians in Cars today.

Jesus said, “Love one another.”

But if your “one another” just dinged your car in the church parking lot…your new car!...do you love them now?

Romans 12:10 says, “Honor one another above yourselves.”

So you’re in the grocery store parking lot, and look, there’s a great parking spot!  And there’s a person behind you also looking for a good spot.  Would you ever, on your best day, honor that person above yourself and actually let them have the good parking spot and take the worse spot for yourself?

We’re talking about Christians in Cars, and Christians in Cars should behave differently.  Lovingly.  Kindly.  Graciously.  Humbly.

Second Corinthians 13:11 says, “…encourage one another…”

When someone else’s driving isn’t up to your standards, will they feel encouraged by you?  Or will they feel embarrassed, or called out, or honked at?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever honked at someone simply because their driving was annoying you.

Galatians 5:13 says, “…serve one another humbly in love.”

When you hit someone else’s car in a parking lot, what do you do?  Leave as fast as you can and hope no one saw you?  Or do you serve them humbly, in love, leaving them a nice, humble note with your phone number?

Ephesians 4:31 says, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you…”

How do you feel about that person who doesn’t know how to drive in a roundabout?

What about that person who just refuses to turn right on red?

Then there’s the person in the left turn lane who won’t pull out into the intersection so they can make it through.

Now there’s the person honking at you, because they think YOUR driving is bad!  Are you still putting away all wrath and anger and evil speaking?  Or does it come leaking out of you while you’re being honked at?

Ephesians 4:32 says, “…be kind to one another, tenderhearted…”

How do you feel towards the police officers?  How about the officer who just pulled you over?  Are you feeling kind and tenderhearted?

If we really love people, including police officers, how should we conduct ourselves on the highways?

“But Doug, that officer pulled me over and he was wrong.  I didn’t break any laws.”

When someone wrongs us, as Christians, what are we supposed to do?

Ephesians 4:32 goes on to say, “…forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Yes, the world is full of bad drivers, distracted drivers, even foolish drivers.  Like the comedian Tim Hawkins said, “That girl almost hit me.  She was so distracted, fiddling with her phone…I about spilled my cereal.”

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and, “by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”

That’s not just true for Christians in church.  It’s also true, especially true, for Christians in Cars.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

All Temptation Leads to Bad Construction

(click to listen)

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

“I’m tempted to…”

Stop right there.

If you are tempted to do something, stop.

Temptation is bait on a hook.  It’s a lure seeking to get you off track for a short term benefit.

It’s ALWAYS a short term benefit that sacrifices long term good.

The problem is…that short term benefit can seem SO GOOD.  That’s the temptation.

The fish looks at the worm, and even though it looks strange, dangling in the water with a hook in it and a line reaching to the sky, still, it looks so yummy!

Years ago there was a country song that said, “How can it be wrong when it feels so right?”

That’s the problem with temptation.  Listen.  Temptation ALWAYS includes a cloud of deception.  If you let temptation linger, you enter the cloud of deception.  You will only see the short term benefit and you will be blind to what you’re really going to get.

Jesus put it in construction terms.  If we live within God’s principles, we are building our life on a solid foundation.  But when we don’t live within God’s principles, we are building on sand.  Yes, you can build on sand all day long.  Some people do.  But sand makes a terrible foundation.  It’s affected by wind and rain and critters. 

But rock.  I mean, look at the pyramids.  In fact, there are huge structures made of massive stones throughout the world that have been standing strong for thousands of years.

What does that mean?

It means they did not compromise the construction.

Look.  You are building a life.  You are building a legacy.  You are building an eternity.

Your marriage.  Your family.  Your work.  Your integrity.

Build these on rock – live within God’s principles – and the construction will be solid.

But watch out for temptation.  It will try to get you to cut corners, to compromise.  It will come with little lies, like, “It won’t matter,” and, “What’s the difference?”

The difference is that when you give in to temptation, you are compromising your construction, and compromised construction ALWAYS FAILS.

I like this word they used when talking about the Titanic a hundred years ago:  it FOUNDERED.  It failed. It sank.  It was ruinous.  It was a disaster.

That’s what temptation leads to.  Your ship will founder.

All temptation leads to bad construction.

But as Jesus said in Matthew 7:24 and 25, “Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not…for it was founded on the rock.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

The Night the Jesus Girl Called Her Drug Dealer

(click to listen)

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

Cindy’s fiancé died in a workplace accident.

She was a dedicated Christian, but the loss was immense.

Her family was worried about her and how she would cope.

In her B.C. life, Before Christ, she relied on cocaine.

Now that life was in the past.

Or was it?

One night the pain was so great, she picked up the phone and called her former drug dealer.

He said, “Wait a minute.  I thought you were some kind of ‘Jesus Girl’ now.  I’m not selling to you.”

She said, “Look, I’ve got cash.  You’ve got drugs.  This is how it works.”

He said, “Did you know that your dad threatened anyone who ever sold you drugs again?”

She did not know that.

Then he said, “Cindy, what you need to do right now is get down on your knees and ask God to help you.”

She said, “You’re a drug dealer.  What are you doing, telling me to pray?”

She hung up the phone, more determined than ever, and walked out the door to go find some drugs wherever she could.

What she didn’t know was that God was working behind the scenes.

Earlier that evening, Cindy’s friend was across town, praying.

Then her friend felt like God was telling her to do something kind of weird.

In her prayer time, God told her that she needed to go spend the night with Cindy.

So she packed up her pajamas, her sleeping bag and a pillow and headed over there.

Right when Cindy was walking out the door, determined to hit the street and find some drugs, there was her friend, walking up the sidewalk, ready to spend the night, not even knowing that Cindy was right on the verge of a great fall.

God sent a friend to help Cindy right at her time of great need.

Who is God sending you to today?

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

*This testimony is included in a GriefShare video, and you can find out more about GriefShare here:  https://www.griefshare.org/

How I Memorize Scripture

(click to listen)

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

“I can’t memorize!”

I hear that all the time, and I get it.  Memorizing is work.

But memorizing is like anything else.  The more you do it, the better you get.

And memorizing Scripture is different than memorizing some random school assignment you despised.  Jesus said His Words are Spirit and Life.  God’s Word makes wise the simple.  It’s a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.  It’s food for your soul.

As the comedian said about Pop Tarts, so I say about God’s Word:  how do I get that goodness in me?

By memorizing.

And if you say you can’t memorize, remember that even tiny children with their teeny little brains can memorize.  You can do it!

As one old timer used to say, “Don’t ask me if I CAN.  Ask me if I WILL.”  It’s not a question of if you can.  It’s a question of if you will.

So how do I personally do it?  How do I memorize Scripture?

One new verse per weekday.

I memorize verses in a row, whole chapters, whole books, not cherry-picked, not random verses here and there.

I don’t memorize verse numbers.  Some people are amazing at that, but for me that would be an impediment.  My goal is not to be able to quote chapter and verse to you, but to get God’s Word inside me.

So I add one new verse per weekday, and I also review each weekday.

My friend Dr. Edith Davis wrote a book about The Micro-Spiral Method.  You start small, and then keep circling around in bigger and bigger review cycles, always reviewing to help establish the words deep into your memory.

You may think you can’t do it, but just start small and keep reviewing and adding a little more, reviewing and adding a little more, and you will be amazed at how much you can actually accomplish over time.

Back in 2008 I said to myself, “The years are going to go by, one way or another.  What will I wish I had done?  I will wish I had memorized more of God’s Word.”

I started with the book of Ephesians, adding one verse per weekday.  The days and months went by, as they would anyway, and pretty soon I had the whole book of Ephesians memorized.  Amazing!

Then I did the book of Colossians the same way.

Then I decided to bite off a bigger chunk of the Bible:  the book of John.

On December first, 2009 I started with John chapter one, verse one.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

I kept the same plan, adding one new verse per weekday, taking off weekends and vacations, and maintained a review cycle to keep bringing it back to my brain.

On February 28, 2013 I finished memorizing the book of John.  It took me 3 years and 3 months, but guess what?  Those 3 years and 3 months would have gone by anyway, but in this case I had done something a normal person thinks they can’t, or won’t…memorized the entire book of John!

And I’m not that smart.  No, I can’t sit here and quote the entire book of John to you, but I bet some people can, and maybe you would be one of them, if you would just make the decision to start.

Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)

I want to let God’s Word sink deep into my ears.  (Luke 9:44)

I want to abide in Jesus’s words.  (John 8:31)

I want to hear Jesus’s sayings and do them, like a man building his house on a rock. (Matthew 7:24)

I want to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly! (Colossians 3:16)

My delight is in the law of the Lord! (Psalm 1:2)

I want to take heed according to His Word! (Psalm 119:9)

And one huge way I do that is by memorizing Scripture – one verse per weekday.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Jim Dandy Billy Goat

(click to listen)

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

“Don’t say holy cow.”

“No, not holy mackerel, either.”

“And definitely not holy cra….you know what.”

“Look,” I told my grandsons, “Holy is a word.  It has a meaning.  A serious meaning.  To say it any other way is to say it in vain, which means to water it down.”

“What does it mean?  Well, I think of holy as being separated, like separated from sin.  God is separated from sin and He wants us to be separated from sin, to be holy, to be righteous, to not sin.”

“Plus, when you say, ‘holy…whatever,’ that’s not what you really mean anyway.  You mean something else, like, ‘I’m shocked,’ or ‘That’s amazing,’ or ‘What a surprise.’  So why not just say what you mean instead of using the word holy in vain?”

One grandson said, “Because it’s more fun!”

I said, “When you say it, does anyone laugh?  Does anyone even smile?  Do you even smile?  It must not be that fun.”

“And if you want to have fun, then make up your own exclamation.”

Then I told them about former Florida State Seminoles football coach Bobby Bowden and how he used to say, “Dadgummit.”

Then I told them about my dad, their great-grandfather.

I never heard my dad say a single bad word.  Ever.  

I remember one time when I was a young teenager, and Dad was at home, off work, and a call came in from work.  You could tell it was something stressful, some kind of problem he had to solve.  It was the kind of moment where a mom shushes all the kids or scuttles them out of the room.  Dad needs space to solve this problem

I was listening closely.  What was going on?  What would Dad say?

Here’s what he said.  This is the exclamation that came out of his mouth.  He said, “Jim dandy billy goat.”

Ha ha, okay, that’s about the extent of my dad’s blue language.  Jim dandy billy goat.

So if you must exclaim something, and you don’t want to say the words you actually mean, please don’t fall into the age-old traps of cursing or blue language or taking the Lord’s name in vain.  Don’t even take the word “holy” in vain because it’s a real word with a serious meaning and we don’t want to water it down.

Instead, come up with some fun words of your very own.

Or you could just say it like my dad said it, “Jim dandy billy goat.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

My Bucket List

(click to listen)

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

“Doug, what’s on your bucket list?  What do you want to do before you kick the bucket?  Before you die?  Before your life is over, kaput, fini, muerto?”

All right, well, it’s a short list.  In fact, my bucket list can be summed up in one painting by Yongsung Kim, one of my favorites.

It’s a wintry scene in the country.  It’s a cold but sunny day and a man is out for a walk.

In the painting he has stopped walking and is looking up to the sky, as if he’s pondering the weather, or something greater.

The man is painted to look like Jesus, in His robe and sandals, with a walking stick.

And behind him is a sheep, one solitary sheep.

They aren’t moving.  They are just standing there, Jesus looking up to the sky, and the sheep looking up to Jesus.

The sheep isn’t running off on his own.  The sheep isn’t pushing the shepherd to hurry up.  The sheep is just watching the shepherd, waiting for him to move.

The shepherd has led him to this place, and the shepherd will lead him to the next place, wherever that might be.

And that, my friend, is my bucket list in its entirety.

I want to closely follow the Good Shepherd wherever He leads.

As the song says, “Where He leads me I will follow.”

“But Doug, don’t you want to travel?  Aren’t there things you want to see before you die?”

You know…Jesus never went to Rome.  Isn’t that interesting?  It was the greatest empire the world had ever seen, with the greatest sights and greatest achievements.  People still flock to Rome today!  And yet Jesus never went.  Rome offered many advantages, so why didn’t Jesus go?

Jesus answers that question in John 5:19.  Verily, verily, I say unto you.  The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner.

In John 12:49 Jesus said that He didn’t even speak on His own, “but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.”  Then He said in verse 50, “…whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

Back to this painting by Yongsung Kim.  He titled the painting Heavenward, and it looks like Jesus is looking heavenward, like He’s looking toward the Heavenly Father, watching, listening, tuning in.

And there is the sheep, looking at the shepherd, and waiting.  The sheep isn’t going anywhere without the shepherd’s leading.

And that’s my bucket list, to keep my eyes on the Good Shepherd and to follow Him wherever He leads.

“But Doug, then you’re going to die and that’s the end and you will have missed out.”

Well, I’m already looking way past the death of this mortal body.  I’m already looking heavenward, toward eternity with God, and I’m not waiting until then to walk with Him.  I’m walking with Him now, and when the day comes I will walk right out of this body and into eternity with Him where that relationship will continue in whatever new and exciting ways He has planned.

Walking with God.  Following the Good Shepherd.  Listening for His voice.  Watching for Him to move.  That’s my bucket list, and I’m already doing it.

And I can’t think of anything more exciting or fulfilling or everlasting.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

 

How to Make Yourself Good Soil

(click to listen)

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

Three losers and one winner, and I want to be the winner!

But how?

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said four people heard the Word, but only one of them “got it.”

I want to be one who gets it!

He described the first three as being soil where the seed of the Word couldn’t really take root.  There were different excuses and reasons, but the end result was the same:  no fruit.  No growth.  No blessing.

Then in Mark 4:8 Jesus said, “But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Then He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Man, I want to be one who hears, don’t you?

But how?

I want to be that good soil, the best soil I can be, but how?

So instead of wondering or thinking about it, I decided to pray about it.  

I just said, “Father, how can I make myself good soil?”

And immediately an answer came to me:  “humility.”

Humility will make you good soil.

In Luke 18 Jesus talked about two men who went up to the temple to pray.  One was proud.  Yes, he thanked God, but listen to how he did it.  He said, “God, I’m so thankful that I’m not like other people” ha ha ha.

With soil like that, it’s no wonder the seed just bounces off of it like glass.  

But the second man stood at a distance.  He wouldn’t even look up when he prayed.  And he cried, “Oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Now THAT is good soil.  God can bear good fruit in soil like that.

Humility is the key to making yourself good soil, and the only way to bear good fruit is to make yourself good soil.

In Matthew 19 we read of the rich young ruler, and wow, who wouldn’t want to be those three things, rich, young, and in charge!  It’s like the old country song, “Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.”

But…he was not good soil.  The very literal Jesus, standing right there, planted the good seed of the Word directly into the rich young ruler and what happened?  

Tink, tink, tink.  

Like a seed bouncing across glass, the Word of the Lord was of no effect, because why?  Because he was lacking humility.  He was lacking need and want and hunger and desire.

So when Jesus speaks to me, through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit, through other parts in the body of Christ, will I be ready?  Will I be good soil?

Yes, I will, I must, there’s no other way that works.

So I humble myself before God.  I say, “Lord, You are the only way.  You only know how this thing is gonna work.  You only know what I really need to be doing, what to think, what to say, how to behave.  Lord, I bow to You.  I submit to You.  I surrender to You.  You are the Potter, I am the clay.  You are the Shepherd, I am the sheep.  You are the King!  And I am your humble servant, just wanting to do what is my duty to do.  God I need You in every way.”

Humility.  It’s the key to making yourself good soil, and becoming good soil is the only way to bear an abundance of good fruit for this life, and for the next.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Four Keys for Living Close to God

(click to listen)

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

Can you name even one person who lives close enough to God to hear what He is saying?

That’s a provocative question, and it comes from Jeremiah 23:18 in The Living Bible.

God was talking about the false prophets in Jerusalem, and He said, “Can you name even one of these prophets who lives close enough to God to hear what He is saying?  Has even one of them cared enough to listen?”

The answer was no, and the result was going to be judgment on Jerusalem.

Now the question comes down to us today.  Can you name even one person who lives close enough to God to hear what He is saying?

That got me thinking about this.  What does it even mean to “live close to God”?

What would be the keys to living close to God?  Here’s what I came up with.

Number one:  repentance.

God is holy and our sin keeps us away from Him, so we need to repent and be forgiven in order to live closer to God.

That means we are sorry for our sins, we ask God to forgive us, and we walk away from our sins and toward God.

Number two:  draw near to God.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  It’s really quite simple.  I teach what I call The Matthew 6:6 Principle, which is “get alone, shut out distractions, and talk to God.”

So the first two keys for living close to God are repent and draw near to God.

Number three is:  listen for Him to communicate.

Romans 8:16 says His Spirit bears witness with our spirit.  John 14:26 says the Holy Spirit will teach us all things.

The problem is not God speaking.  The problem is what we read in Jeremiah 23:18, does anyone even care enough to listen?

I like the advice given to the prophet Samuel when he was boy.  Just say to God, “Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.”

Of course we can’t make God speak to us on command.  He is the Shepherd, we are the sheep.  He is the Potter, we are the clay.  WAITING on the Lord is a key to listening.

Here are three catalysts for hearing from God:

--His scripture

--His people

--His creation.

So what we do is read the Bible and listen for the Holy Spirit inside of us to speak to us through something we read.

We listen to God’s people, our fellow members in the body of Christ, and as we listen to them, we listen for the Holy Spirit inside of us to speak to us through something they say.

And we observe God’s creation, His wonderful world and universe, and we listen for the Holy Spirit inside of us to bring revelation to us as we marvel at God’s creation.

So far we have three keys for living close to God:  repent of sin, draw near to God, and listen for Him to communicate.

And the last key is this:  do what He says.

I have found that most leaders, including God, are not keen to communicate new things if we haven’t done the previous things.

So there you go, four keys to living close to God:

--repent of sin

--draw near to God

--listen for Him to communicate

--do what He says.

Then when someone says, “Can you name even one person who lives close enough to God to hear what He is saying?” you can answer with this, “I’m trying!”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Are You Thinking to Yourself, “There’s Got to Be More”?

(click to listen)

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

I remember going out on Friday nights with high expectations.

“It’s going to be the best time ever!”

There were high expectations of fun, of making memories, laughter, good times, great music, and stories to tell.

But at some point I started thinking thoughts like, “It’s never really all that.”  Even in the best-case scenario I began thinking thoughts like, “There’s got to be more.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but those thoughts were laying the foundation inside me for something huge.

What it did was finally put me in a place where I was willing to respond to God, willing to move in His direction and find out more.

So do you find yourself thinking thoughts like, “There’s got to be more”?

If so, what’s happening is that your heart and mind are getting ready for a change.  You are going seek out something new, and I want to recommend this to you:  seek God.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Jesus said, “Come to Me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

He said, “I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.”

Isaiah 42:3 indicates that even if your light is barely burning at all, He will not put it out.  Instead, He will come along and fan it into a flame, giving light and warmth and fire to your life!

Isaiah 1:18 says that though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

This is what Jesus will do in your life…when you come to the place of dissatisfaction with this world and a place of hunger for something more.

Your motto used to be “eat, drink and be merry,” but Romans 14:17 says the Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but instead it’s about something vastly more substantial:  righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Have you been thinking these thoughts lately, thoughts like, “There’s got to be more”?

Well I’m telling you there IS more, WAY more, and you can begin finding it by simply saying, “Heavenly Father, please show me the way.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.