Acknowledge the lord, be guided

I recently finished the devotional “God Wants You to Win!” by world-champion calf roper Jeff Copenhaver. Much of the inspiration of the following thoughts and scriptures are from this book.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26: In a race, everyone runs but only one person gets the prize. So, run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears…

In the late 1980s and early 1990’s I served as a shop and driver’s education teacher in Shepherd, Montana. During that time, I taught a couple of students who eventually competed at the National Finals Rodeo. Years later, my wife and I attended the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, where I was able to cheer on one of my former students even though he had no idea I was even there.

Rodeo is a sport that seems to honor God and country. There are Cowboy Churches across the land. Contestants certainly need God’s protection as much or more than the rest of us. Contestants need to be strong and not get discouraged when tribulations come. The goal is to win just like our goal is to hear “Well done” from our Father in heaven.

Sometimes when things don’t go the way we would like them to we blame God. He is not the problem. The devil wants to devour us, steal from us, kill us, and destroy us. God is for us. He is our friend and He will deliver us from our fears. God has given us power, love, and a sound mind. God works all things together for good for those of us who love Him. We overcome our enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

In order to have a testimony we have to have some tests in our lives. We have to play the cards we are dealt. We need to trust the Lord while working like success depends on our efforts.

We hide the Word of God in our hearts so that we don’t sin against God. We ask God for wisdom and then believe that He will give it to us. We work on meeting people’s needs and not on finding their faults.

Joyce Meyer used to say, “I am not easily offended.” John Bevere stated that offended people are angry, bitter people. We need to be quick to forgive but still maintain healthy boundaries.

One good prayer strategy is to find someone to agree with us. Matthew 18:19 states, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”

Another good life strategy is to pay attention to the small details of our walk with God. We need to love one another and to speak the truth in love. A lot of people love to be right and love themselves instead of loving God and loving one another.

We are not to be those who complain and argue rather we should be those who are thankful and let our light shine for others to see. As we submit our lives to the lordship of Jesus we will see that the best is yet to come. When we get discouraged we need to encourage ourselves in the Lord. We need to cast our cares on Jesus and roll our burdens on the Lord and He will sustain us.

We should be those who trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding. Let’s acknowledge the Lord and allow Him to direct our paths.

May God Bless You Big.

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This is the first in a series of columns by Kevin Barsotti, pastor of Ark Church in Havre.