(Click to listen)
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.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Monday, September 17, 2018
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 07, 2018
Love It Anyway
(Click to listen)
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.
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.
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