Many people if they were honest with themselves would tell you that they don’t think they are good enough to expect success and joy in their lives. This is Satan’s main weapon he uses very quietly against us. He knows where the image weakness is in each of us and he exploits it if we allow him to. Let me say that again, if we allow him to.

I will give you a few examples of his handy work. You are not smart enough, educated enough, the right color, the right nationality, the right weight, the right age, handicapped in some way, don’t speak right, dress right, act right, inferior, shy, low self-esteem, senior citizen…. I could go on for 5 pages about the ways “we” allow Satan to hold us back.

I can tell you truthfully that whatever is holding you back, there is someone else who has less than you and they still made it.

I believe the first stage of changing the way you think is to recognize and acknowledge the self-images you have been allowing to hold you back. Once you identify them, you have made one of the biggest steps you can. Me, I stutter when I talk and God still saw fit to make me a salesman. I think God has a sense of humor at times in our life because who would put a man that stutters into a sales role where you have to talk. Ha. Satan’s image he tries to sell me every day is one of the failure to speak. Every now and then I will let it get the best of me, but I refuse to let it control me.

I think being honest with yourself about where your weak points are is the first step to making a change in how you respond when Satan tries to give you that image. The images he gives are always of failure and never of success. See, the very last thing Satan wants is for you to walk away from the images he controls you with.

Once you know what the images are, get by yourself and have a conversation with God about starting a new future without being driven by images of failure. If I know God, I believe he will run to show you how to get past those images and start a new future. KT

There are two stories in the bible that all Christians should read. The first story is about Jesus and the disciples in a boat when a storm almost sinks them. The second story happened a short time after that event and also is a story about the disciples in a boat that almost sinks but in this story, Jesus is watching from land.

Reading one of the stories without the other is like reading half of the story. If I spent the needed time on these two stories it would take 10 pages to really dig into it, therefore I will deal with one very important overview point to consider.

The two passages are Mark 4:36-41 and Mark 6:45-51

In the first story Jesus is in the boat with the disciples when a huge storm threatening to sink their boat. Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat and when the disciples do all they know to do to keep from sinking, they go and wake up Jesus and he calms the storm and saves the day. The main point is that Jesus will wait on you to call on him, before getting involved. In that story, the disciples had to go get Jesus before he would get involved.

The second story takes place, I would guess, a few weeks or months later. In this story Jesus is on the mountain praying while the disciples leave in the boat. A storm comes up and the boat is sinking and Jesus is watching them from the mountain, sinking, waiting for them to call on him for help or do what he taught them to do in the first story themselves. Finally at the 4^th watch of the night (probably 2-4am) Jesus realizes that the disciples are going to drown and die if he does not go help them. In the bible account, it says that Jesus was walking on the water where the boat and the disciples were and it says in the King James Version (Mark 6:48) “and he would have passed them by.” The disciples were going to sink, drown and die so Jesus goes near them walking on the water but would have walked right by their boat without helping them unless they called on him for help. What an astounding image of Jesus!

Get that image of the disciples sinking in their boat, afraid of dying and Jesus coming to help them but being prepared to walk right by the boat unless they had called to out to him for help? The story ends well with them calling out to him when he got close to the boat and he of course, saved them again. This is one of the most powerful passages of scripture in the New Testament because it describes how Jesus looks at you and me. He will not come to our rescue uninvited. We have to call on him before he will get involved in our situations. Let me say that again, we have to call on him before he will get involved in our situations.

You have heard people say “God let me get all the way down here to teach me a lesson?” That is simply not true. The truth is that in most cases, the person got all the way down there themselves because they waited until they got to the bottom before they called on God. It is my experience that once you are of a certain age and maturity, God won’t come and get involved in your life uninvited. He waits for you to open the door first.

So in summary, my advice is to call him early and call him often. KT

Salvation in Jesus Christ is a very simple and profound life changing experience. Many churches and religious denominations have complicated it through rituals and ceremonies that are good things to do, but not necessary for salvation to begin in a person’s life.

Salvation begins when you “believe” that Jesus Christ was and is the son of God and that he came to live on this earth and died and rose again to life for our salvation and sits on the throne at the right hand of God. It does not say in the bible that you have to walk down the aisle in church and say some special words to the pastor and then attend a new Christian class and then be baptized. The bible says salvation starts when you believe in your heart. My interpretation is that when the head knowledge moves to heart knowledge is when your salvation starts.

Now, walking the aisle and speaking the words while asking Jesus to come live in your heart, and going to a class and being baptized are all very very good things to do and to be a part of. They however are not the beginning of salvation. The saying of the salvation words has a place and that is to help us pinpoint a time when the private decision to believe in Jesus was publicly voiced. All good things to do. However, the beginning of salvation was when you decided in your heart to believe on faith that Jesus was and is the son of God.

John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.” KT

I bought an old truck on eBay last week site unseen from Tacoma, Washington. It is a 1990 Chevrolet 3500 one ton truck with a 454 and 40k original miles. It is getting shipped and will be here in a week or so. One thing about that truck that struck me about living in the now, was the truck’s interior. The original owner put seat covers on the truck and protected the carpet when it was new and therefore the interior is virtually like it was the day it rolled off the showroom floor.

So the original owner sat on ugly seat covers for 25 years so he could protect the interior for the next buyer. I think that is sweet, but not what I would do. The first thing I am going to do is rip those seat covers off because when the next buyer gets this truck, that interior is going to have been thoroughly used and enjoyed by me. I hope it has holes in the seats because I enjoyed it so much.

I think of the good suit, the good shoes, the fancy china, the best couch, the incredible coat, the great purse, the nicest tie, the books that are unread because it may break the book’s spine, the nice pen that stays in the jewelry box, etc. You get the idea.

Living in the now means that we should use the good stuff and not save it for some day that may never come. Why give unused china to your family after you die. I say, burn the best candles, eat off the good china, wear the best clothes and, completely wear out the best pair of shoes while you are in the living and while you are living in the now.

I have heard too many stories and have had too many friends who have passed on and I have walked into too many funeral homes where people died before they planned to. There is an appointed time for everyone and God is the only who knows the moment and the day it will happen. Thank God he doesn’t let us in on the decision.

Therefore, I believe after you pass away and your family is going through your possessions and things, I think they should be worn out, used up and have been thoroughly enjoyed by you. The point is, don’t wait and don’t put off the good things and don’t save the best for another day that may never come. Use it, clean it and repeat again and again.

Don’t sell your 25 year old truck with interior that has never been used and enjoyed by you. KT