The Providence of God
Did you know that the most amazing miracles recorded in Scripture are not the ones that you are most familiar with?
To me, the greatest miracles of God can be summed up by Romans 8:28 –
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
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Around the Next Corner
There may be some different variations of that same sentiment, but the motivating force is the same every time, no matter how it’s said.
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The Danger We Don’t See
The Danger We Don’t See
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love adventure. What I love about adventure isn’t necessarily the risks that usually accompany it, but simply the unknown.
It’s the unknown that makes an adventure. It’s in the unknown that risk lies.
A little bit of risk is fun. Too much risk is terrifying and no fun.
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Follow Me
A Bible verse that comes to my mind very often is the teaching of Jesus, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23).
I’ve learned that it’s more of a state of mind than a physical reality in my life, but even as a state of mind, it’s still a real teaching of Jesus, so as such, how can I apply it?
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Back to the Jungle
As of this past Thursday night, The Park Church of Christ, my old church from Tulsa, was in the process of purchasing airline tickets to Honduras.
If it’s God’s will, and all goes according to plan, Rex and I will join four other men from my old church to go on a mission trip on June 11-18.
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Busy Busy Busy
Somehow, every day on my calendar, for seemingly the entire summer, has become filled with obligations.
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Repentance Again
As I have contemplated repentance, I’ve constantly been asking myself, “How can I repent more?” What I mean is, how can I be more like Jesus and less like Wes?
Repentance by its very nature implies that there must be change. And not just any change, there must be dramatic change; Change from wrong to right.
Sometimes the required change is an external change. I’m physically doing something that I shouldn’t and I need to stop doing that thing and do a good thing instead.
Sometimes the required change is an internal change. This will be a change that entails changing the way that I think about a particular subject. When these internal changes are made in the mind, the inevitable result is a change in heart.
I’ve thought a lot about what hinders us, and me specifically, from true repentance. One thing that I’ve identified is simply a lack of change in the patterns of my life and the patterns of my thinking.
If I don’t change what I physically do, repentance is hard, and maybe impossible. If I don’t reconsider the way that I think, repentance is equally hard, and again, maybe impossible.
I’m not sure who said it first, but I’ve heard in many settings, this saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Not to be too nitpicky, but I don’t care for the saying as it is commonly phrased. I would instead say, “If you want to make yourself insane, simply do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.”
Insanity is the result. It’s a good saying, however you like it best, because it’s so easy to identify with personally. We’ve all done the same things time and time again. We’ve all been surprised when the results didn’t change, even though there was no reason for them to change.
The same is true of true repentance. If there is no fruit of true repentance in your life, in other words, real, noticeable differences, there’s a good chance that you haven’t changed anything.
You want change. You greatly desire change. You don’t like the current state of things in your life. But have you made any changes?
Start small and big changes will follow. Following Jesus doesn’t look like a life of making big decisions; Following Jesus is made up of small details. Following Jesus is considering all things and then making the next right decision. And then the next right decision. And then the next right decision.
And we won’t always get it right, but that’s where grace comes in. That’s when His blood comes and continually washes us. But don’t allow a wrong decision to lead to another. Dust yourself off and make the next right decision.
Repentance isn’t all about rule following. It’s about glorifying God by constantly and continually turning to Him. Don’t get stuck! Make a change.
Much Love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
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The Same Mistakes
How do people make the same mistakes repeatedly? I think there are many possible answers to this question, but I’ll only discuss one in this article for the sake of brevity.
First, why do I even ask this question? I ask it, because here I sit in my office, writing this article, with a terrible sunburn on my face, neck, forearms and calves.
Is this my first sunburn? I wish I could say it was. I’ve had so many sunburns in my life that I can’t begin to guess how many I’ve had.
So, what do we call a person who makes the same mistake over and over again? A fool? A slow learner?
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True Repentance
In our text this week, one of the things we’ll touch on is the nature of true repentance.
It’s a very interesting thing to observe that in the scriptures we see people who feel regret after they have sinned, weep after they have sinned, feel convicted when confronted about their sin and even confess that they have sinned, and all without ever repenting of their sin.
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Proofs
What is the first time that you can remember praying? Something that is now very interesting to me, when looking back on my childhood, is that before going to church and before giving my life to Jesus, I used to pray.
I remember walking through the woods, walking through fields, and talking to God. I was ignorant to who God was, but you could not have convinced me that He didn’t exist. I am not unique in this experience, in fact, I believe that long before we come to faith in God, He speaks to us.
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