A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

Thoughts this morning. . . Thinking on how have I changed since coming to God? This is probably a question best answered by others, but these are my thoughts as to how I have been changed in the last 15 years. I hate sin.  Before coming to God, I knew that lying was not right. . . I knew that stealing was wrong. . . but I found ways to justify sin in spite of knowing right from wrong.  Now God hates sin, and I love God.  When I sin, I sin against Him.  I disrespect Him.  I hurt Him.  It drives a wedge between between God and I.  I hate sin because of the effect it has on my relationship with God.  This relationship is the most important.  This relationship is more important than the rules of right and wrong.  The relationship precedes the rules of right and wrong. . . I am not trying to apply the rules of right and wrong on the outside, but my hunger to be holy, and righteous comes from my heart. . . I loved my grandpa...

Jackie​, and I just love our dogs so much. You can tell the season is changing. All summer long our dogs were on the floor for most of the nights in front of a fan, seeking coolness. . . now with the recent change of cooler evenings, they are snuggled as close as possible to us. . . both gaining and providing warmth. . . Thinking of it, there are great advantages to being a member of a pack. . . to having friends, and family around us for mutual warmth. . . support and companionship. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. (10) For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. (11) Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? (12) And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. I have known several in my live who by choice lived very alon...

The past few days, my heart has been burdened, and I have been waking up and praying in the wee hours of the night, and throughout the day. . . It is not always that I devote myself to such passionate prayer with purpose. I do speak with God, much of the day, every day, but more in the manner of conversationally speaking to my beloved best friend, rather than in focused and fevered intercessory prayer. I find fault in myself for not devoting more time to intercession. The needs are huge. There is an overflowing need in our world for God to act. . . heal, restore, reveal Himself. . . No shortage of topics for us to pray for. . . It dawns upon me, that it is not lack of discipline and strength of will within me, but lack of hunger. . . lack of heart. For now I have found a purpose, I find no lack of intercessory energy and dedication. The dramatic on camera murder today well illustrates this. A day never goes by when there are not many murders, but the drama of this one,...

Thoughts this morning. . . Thinking on how have I changed since coming to God? This is probably a question best answered by others, but these are my thoughts as to how I have been changed in the last 15 years. 1. I hate sin. Before coming to God, I knew that lying was not right. . . I knew that stealing was wrong. . . but I found ways to justify sin in spite of knowing right from wrong. Now God hates sin, and I love God. When I sin, I sin against Him. I disrespect Him. I hurt Him. It drives a wedge between between God and I. I hate sin because of the effect it has on my relationship with God. This relationship is the most important. This relationship is more important than the rules of right and wrong. The relationship precedes the rules of right and wrong. . . I am not trying to apply the rules of right and wrong on the outside, but my hunger to be holy, and righteous comes from my heart. . . I loved my grandpa. I imagine my grandpa’s face as God’s face, and when ...

Psalms 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. I have been a designer for 29 years. Every day I begin with a blank sheet of paper, and create a new mechanism to perform a task more efficiently, faster, or more accurately for my customer. . .I am quite good at what I do, but in those roughly 56,840 hours which I have spent designing chucks, I have never designed one which could not be improved upon. There is always something which can be lightened, strengthened, made easier to use or machine or assemble. Every year a new model of car comes out. . . higher fuel economy, less pollution, more features, longer lasting. . . easier to maintain. . .safer. . . This process never ends, and never will end. We will never come to the end of the process of improving everything around us. I feel confident in saying that there is nothing in existence, which could not be made better. . . with one lone excep...

Over the years, it had almost come to be an expectation. . . get a little money, and something was almost certain to break. . . Income tax refund check came in the mail one day, the next day the water heater would spring a leak, or I would have a car problem. . . or a tooth ache. . . It always happened, and I would curse my bad luck. Until one day it dawned upon me, that the water heater springing a leak, the day after the tax refund check came in the mail, was a blessing, and not a curse. What if the water heater had gone bad a week or a month before the refund check came, and I therefore didn’t have the money to fix it. I had this discussion last night with the fellows in the jail. One man was having trouble believing, and I shared some of the many blessings in my life, which were exactly in the same vein as above. . . time and time and time and time again the car would break down, or something else would go wrong in the best possible time and the best location. Coming bac...

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: Yesterday my grandson was over. He brought a stack of books for us to look at together. I ignored the Star Wars books, and instead chose a large rather comprehensive nature book with him. It really was quite advanced, going into depth about the different taxonomic ranks: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. I always like to ask my grandchildren questions which make them think. Mikah likes facts. . . facts are comfortable. . . there is security in facts, but facts in of themselves are useless. If thoughts are sentences, then facts might be seen as the nouns. Nouns alone without verbs, adverbs, adjectives, articles, and prepositions do not convey much information. A toddler begins with nouns. . . mama. . . papa. . .cookie. . .dog. . . water. . . A young learner loves facts and he is proud when asked...