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There are times I feel like I have a love/hate affair with Christian radio talk show host Frank Pastore.  Some days he has a wonderful show, very Christ centered, shares the Gospel message and builds up the body of Christ.

Other times, his topics, guest and callers seem to be more befitting an outrageous secular TV show in which you hear the sorted and sinful details of people’s lives.  Those are the days I turn off Frank’s show. 

Today was one of those days.  During the first hour the topic was “what did your parents expose you to that you wished you’d never heard, saw or did.”  You can well imagine in the world we live in today what some of the callers were saying. 

I don’t need to listen to garbage like that and quickly turned off Frank’s radio show.  I wondered just how a topic like that fulfills Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:8? 

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” – Philippians 4:8

This week I’ve been getting back into my normal weekly routine following the Christmas and New Year holidays.  As soon as I return from my morning walk, I turn on the radio to listen to Chuck Swindoll’s Insight for Living as I get ready for work.  His current message is about Abraham and his obedience to God’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac?  Chuck went on to ask, “What is your Isaac that God may require of you?”

I started thinking…what is my Isaac?  What would God require of me to lay down, be willing to sacrifice, in obedience to His command?  Like Abraham, would I be quick to obey?

Is my Isaac my husband Chris?
Our home?
Is it my job?
My health?
Is it a hope or a dream?
Our finances?
Is it the approval and acceptance of man?

Each year it seems like God has taught me to loosen my grip on things and even people.  To hold loosely and be ready to say, “Thy will be done.”  Last year and in recent months, it feels as though God has been deconstructing me by removing people and things that I love from my life.  Testing me to see if I love Him more than the gifts He has given me.  Obviously the test is for me because God already knows how I will respond.

Even if I do okay on one test…I can’t afford to be complacent.  I must realize that there will other tests and trials.  By the grace of God…some I will pass.  However, there will be some tests that will reveal things within my character, attitude or the thoughts and intentions of my heart that are sinful and ugly and need to be dealt with.  Tests may reveal that I’ve let something creep in and take the place of God being first in my life.  How will I respond to those test results? 

One thing that comes to mind is that I don’t need to fear those tests that God may allow in my life.  I can trust Him because He is good all the time.  Unlike me, God is not sinful and His motivation and purpose is always good and come from a pure, undefiled heart.

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” – Luke 10:27

Why is it that it’s so easy to get my focus off of God?

When my focus is on me…I’m prideful.

When my focus is on others…I’m insecure.

When my focus is on things…I’m superficial.

When my focus is on self righteousness…I’m legalistic.

When my focus is on man’s praises…I’m fickle.

When my focus is on what I can see….I’m faithless.

When my focus is on Christ…everyone and everything else falls into its proper perspective.

While I’d love to sit down and write until midnight, the clock is reminding me I’ll be getting up far too soon and don’t have that luxury tonight. 

As we come to the end of another year…my thoughts are turning to what do I want to do different in the New Year?  How do I want to be different a year from now than I am today?

I know that I want to have a closer walk with the Lord and know Him more intimately.  I know that will necessitate regular Bible study and reading of God’s word and time in prayer.  I will need to have an open and teachable heart and be willing to bend and yield my will to God’s will. 

There were a couple of things that happened today that reinforced that desire for a closer walk with the Lord.

Something I pray for my husband and friends is that they will take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and choose to meditate on that which is true, noble, just and pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. 

The Lord has used frequently used those scriptures to help me reign in my thoughts and words, when in my own will I would be going down a wrong path.  Today was one of those days.  Right off the bat, I could have been offended.  I wanted to go one way and complain to the Lord about what someone did wrong.  Instead God challenged me to do as I pray. 

Once I focused my thoughts…and prayed scripture…I was able to focus and move on.  The offense didn’t even matter at that point. 

Later in the day I had an encounter with someone who is an unbeliever.  As they shared about what’s going on in their life, I found myself so grateful that as a Christian I can know right from wrong very clearly in God’s word.  By knowing it and obeying it…God protects me from so much. 

At the Bible study I attend, this Christmas they handed out little boxes that were beautifully wrapped.  The teaching director asked us to pray and see what God would have us give Him for Christmas.  As the days past by and we got closer to Christmas I was thinking more and more…what should I give God for Christmas. 

It was almost as God was saying the words out loud, “Love Me more.” 

Yes Lord…I want to love You more and know You more.  I want a closer walk with Thee Lord Jesus.  Just a closer walk with Thee. 

As I awakened this cool and foggy Christmas morn, my thoughts turn to You Lord Jesus.  May I humbly come before You and give You the gift of thanksgiving.

• Thank You Jesus for submitting Yourself unto the Father’s plan.
• Thank You for choosing to lay aside Your Glory and take on human flesh.
• Thank You for taking my sin upon You on the cross and enduring the Father’s wrath which I deserved. 
• Thank You for living a sinless life and proving that You alone are worthy and able to be our sacrificial Lamb.
• Thank You for setting Your face like flint towards the cross.
• Thank You for not taking the enemy’s bait and choosing the easy way out.
• Thank You that on the cross You cried out the words, “It is finished.”  My sin debt was marked “Paid in Full.”
• Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to dwell within me, refine and grow me.
• Thank You for being faithful when I am faithless and weak.
• Thank You, that even though I will fail You, You will never fail me.
• Thank You for giving me the freedom to choose You.
• Thank You for doing the impossible, removing the blinders from my eyes, enlightening my mind which was once darkened, so that I could see and believe the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
• Thank You for Your patience and waiting for me, at the age of 32, when I bent my knee, confessed with my mouth and believed with my heart that You are Lord.
• Thank You for taking my sin away, sending it as far as the east is from the west and remembering it no more.
• Thank You for giving me the inerrant Word of God so that I might know You and the Father whom You came to reveal.
• Thank You for unbending, unchanging truth contained in the Bible.
• Thank You for sitting at the right hand of the Father where You make intersession for me.
• Thank You for prayer and hearing my prayers.
• Thank You for Your Holy Spirit Who takes my prayers that I can’t even put into words and translates them.
• Thank You for sharing Your heart’s desire that no one would perish, but all would come to eternal life.
• Thank You for Your delay in returning because that’s another day in which people can repent and receive You as Lord.
• Thank You for the opportunity to pray for unsaved family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even enemies.
• Thank You that You are able to work all things together for good.
• Thank You that You are able to weave a beautiful tapestry from my messed up life.
• Thank You for the comfort and assurance that You will soon take Your bride, the church, home to heaven.
• Thank You for the promise that You will one day return and rule and reign forever and ever.
• Thank You that You will cast the enemy into the Lake of Fire and that he will be punished forever and ever without end. 
• Thank You that in pain, sickness, sorrow, and even death, Your saints can have peace, joy and the comfort of Your presence.

Lord Jesus…may I live a life that reflects my thanks to You.  May I be so bold Lord, in the midst of giving thanks, to ask for the salvation for the many people whom You have placed on my heart?  That today would be their day of salvation.  That the angels in heaven would rejoice as many people repent from their sins and turn to You and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.