A Heart That’s Hard To Sink

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - A Heart That's Hard To Sink

It’s hard to sink a heart filled with thankfulness.

But, it’s impossible to sink one that’s thankful to God (Philippians 4:8-9).

Thankfulness lifts and causes the heart to dwell on the object of our thanks, that is, what we’re thankful for or who we’re thankful to.

There is no higher, purer or more secure place for our hearts to dwell than with God.

When God has my heart, nothing can pull it down from there. Nothing can take it out of His hand (Romans 8:35).

So, for whatever I am thankful, I acknowledge God as the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:16-17), and I will give thanks to the Lord, that I might dwell in the secret place of the Most High (Psalm 27:5, 91:1).

Everything God commands us is for good (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Be thankful, to Him.

Always Already There

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Always Already There

Ripples in my heart from John 6:16-21:

Life is wonderful but it can also be hard –not just the certain moments of pain or difficulty but just as much the daily grind.

The tide of life can make me feel like I’m walking in water, moving in place and not getting anywhere.

I often find myself at such times toiling and struggling on my own to get out of that place and to somewhere I think would be better –where the next thing is, maybe where I think I’ll find provision, accomplishment, fulfillment or security.

But whenever Jesus gets in the boat, I’m already where I’m supposed to be.

“I’ll be happy when I get there” is a constant and deadly temptation in our world. Deadly because it blinds me to all I have to enjoy at any given time –even in the midst of difficulty. That blindness renders it (God’s blessings: family, friendships, fellowship, opportunities, etc.) dead, as though it did not exist.

I must therefore be careful to remember that it is not about being happy when I get there, but being completely satisfied with God wherever I am.

Because He is the life: a good Father who constantly unfolds the wonders of His creation before Me, who every second seeks to teach me how to rule and to be as He is –as a faithful husband, a loving parent, a life giving spirit, a wise and skillful creator, a righteous ruler, a good steward and just protector of His creation.

He uses every circumstance to allow me to explore Him, to practice what I learn, to grow in His Spirit, in strength and in wisdom, and He graciously gives me opportunity to have a hand in His works, to do what He does, that I may learn to be as He is. It’s a tremendous thing and it’s often hard. But the difficulty we endure is nothing compared to the outcome.

The point is there is never a need to be afraid about where I am now or anxious to get to the next thing because He is with me and He is the point.

So, whatever the circumstance, wherever I find myself, I should be asking,

How can I enjoy Him?
What is He showing me?
What is He teaching me?
What is there to learn about Him?
How can I use wherever I am and whatever I have to put into practice what I know of Him, to do His will, to glorify Him, to help others enjoy Him?
How can I please Him?

These are the type of questions that lead to soul satisfaction and peace, because in Him is where every good and perfect thing is. (I’m not talking about money but the true riches.)

And, all the answers are readily available when I receive Jesus in the boat.

My aim is to focus on always abiding with Him and the joy that comes with that.

Peace be unto you.

A True Safe Sure Love

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - A True Safe Sure Love

If I’m accepted and loved on the basis of my appearance, then I’m doomed to abandonment –we all are, eventually.

That is why I am so glad that Someone loved me on the basis of who God is rather than who I am.

That Someone loved me on the basis of God’s character which is sure and never changes, and that Someone therefore chooses to love me simply because He (God) is resolved to.

There is nowhere more safe or more certain than that.

Being a recipient of such great a love, I want and strive to love like that.

This love is needed and applies to every relationship in every sphere, but here’s a practical example of how it plays out at home and in my marriage.

My wife will occasionally ask me, “Why do you love me?”

My response is always the same.

“Because you’re mine to love.”

Jesus taught me that.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” -John 15:9

True love requires knowing God.
Knowing God requires knowing Jesus.
Knowing Jesus requires believing what the Holy Spirit revealed about Jesus.
Believing what the Holy Spirit revealed requires receiving what He’s given: Holy Scripture.

Read the Bible seeking.
Believe Jesus.
Love.

#perfectourlove

True Freedom

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - True Freedom
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The key to true freedom is to be able to enjoy something without needing it (Philippians 4:11-13).

The only thing I need is Jesus (2 Peter 1:2-4).

When I have Him, He said all the other things I need, He will add to me (Luke 12:31).

Therefore, if I have all I need, I should be able to put any and everything else down and be fine without it (1 Timothy 6:6).

If I find myself restless, discontent, or in any way incapacitated without something, that thing is an idol and sin (1 Timothy 6:6-11).

It’s an idol because it’s doing something for me that only God should do (define me, fulfill me, make me secure, etc).

It’s sin because it’s hindering me from loving properly [because it affects me functioning and I have allowed it to incapacitate me in some way] (Matthew 24:12).

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” – 1 John 5:21

*As usual, I’m preaching most so to myself.

Beware Bible Devotions, Sermons, And Being Spoon Fed

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Beware Bible Devotions And Being Spoon Fed

Beware seeking to hear God primarily through devotions, sermons, classes, music or someone’s extra-biblical writings, including mine. Don’t look to be spoon fed.

If you were convinced there were precious things buried in your yard that were worth a fortune, you would not wait for someone else to get it for you. You wouldn’t rest until you got the treasure yourself.

Approach the Word of God that way. Do the work yourself. Dig! Labor, toil, make every effort to get it. You won’t really get anything through preaching, devotions or otherwise, unless you want it like that.

You won’t get anything from someone else that the Spirit won’t give you when you approach the Word open and diligently seek Him.

Rend your heart.
Pray for eyes to see and ears to hear.
Read your Bible.
Believe Jesus.
Receive.

“He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” – Hebrews 11:6

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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52 Weeks of Gratefulness #10 – Beauty In Mississippi

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #10 – Beauty In Mississippi

In Week 10 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness I give thanks for beauty in Mississippi.

One bright Saturday morning, I drive out to Noxubee Refuge to do some reading and studying.

I park on the bank of a quiet little inlet, the water dotted by young bald cypress trees.

A number of people come and go, fishing from the bank.

Then this man walks to the bank with a bucket and two fishing poles. He sits down on the ground and casts. Shortly thereafter a whole gang of young children, four or five of them, come bustling across the road with their fishing poles and start plopping their lures in the water.

The man seemed utterly unbothered. He interacts with them, talks with them, instructing them to be careful.

Then the mother walks past, trailing the children. She sees me in the truck, stops, locks eyes with me and yells, “You want some kids?” She smiles. We laugh and she takes a seat near her husband.

After some time, a young black boy with dreads and camouflage pants walks up to where the family is camped out on the bank. He starts talking to one of the other children, then one-by-one he and each of the kids hug each other, and finally the boy hugs the father and mother.

The boy stands on the bank chatting for a while and then goes back across the road to where his family is fishing.

At some point both families, as different as they seemed, come together on the bank and earnestly behave as though they were one big family.

This is not the picture people tend to paint of Mississippi, but here it was –clear as day and beautiful.

What stays with me, is the expression of the children’s faces. That wasn’t tolerance. That was joy.

The beauty I saw on a bank of the Noxubee Refuge is the beauty I want to call out everywhere and for everyone in our great state.

Yes, we have grave challenges in Mississippi, but there is hope.

These people, just being people, sharing a pastime and the natural beauty of our planet, reminded me of that.

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

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Only Two

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Only Two
Photo Courtesy: Muse by Clio

Do not be deceived.

There are only two camps.

Everyone is in one or the other:

Those who prefer darkness, or
Those who come to the Light.

Jesus is Light.

(John 3:16-21)

Those who prefer darkness:

love their lives to death,

love the world as it is, its pleasures and its value system,

are proud and believe they are capable of governing their own lives and the world,

prefer the world without the government of God, so that they can do what they please, even if those pleasures are an offense to what is good: God, and is harming themselves, others and the earth.

I know this intimately because this was (and to some degree still is) me.

-But-

Those who come to the light (by conviction and drawing of the Holy Spirit):

sense this life isn’t it,

perceive that the world not only does not satisfy but it’s evil,

grieve the death that’s in them and around them,

hunger and thirst for righteousness -no harm to anyone,

desire better, in terms of virtue and government, for themselves, their loved ones and the world,

confess their ignorance, weakness, fallibility and sin,

recognize their need for God and His government,

sees Jesus as God: everything good, and the answer to their need.

And, thanks be to God for His saving grace, this is who I am (increasingly becoming).

Jesus is calling you. How do I know? Because you’re reading this. All that is needed for you to be saved, to move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, to pass from death to life, is to believe Jesus.

Hear Him with a hunger.

Start with John 1:1.

Believe.

Be saved.

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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Three States Of Marriage Triangle

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Three States Of Marriage Triangle
3 States Of Marriage Triangle

This is something my wife and I cover with couples in counseling in preparation for their wedding day. I’m sharing it in hopes it will be a blessing to someone else.

The Three States Of Marriage Triangle

Marriage is God making two –a husband and a wife, one in Him.

No power is capable of facilitating this union and holding it together other than God’s love.

God is love.

We cannot love without love.

Therefore, everything starts with Him and is done through Him.

“We love because He first loved us.” -1 John 4:19

Love begins with His revelation and then our acceptance of His love for us.

Thereby, we see what love is, what is good, what is true and how it’s done.

We, as a husband or a wife, participate in marriage by being loved by God, modeling ourselves after God, and ministering the love of God to each other.

In a healthy marriage, the husband and wife minister the love of God toward each other, a perpetual process of perfecting –sanctification: that reveals, cleanses and draws.

Through this process they increasingly become One until the distinction between husband and wife is nearly indiscernible except that they’re merely different expressions of the same life-giving whole.

Attending to this process should be a husband’s top priority and occupation.

As a husband, he should be diligent to know the state of his wife and their marriage, careful to cultivate, water and fertilize with the nurture of God’s Love.

A husband should also be vigilant against evil, careful to weed and prune anything hindering their growth.

If it so happens that a husband or wife becomes distant (out of fellowship with God and therefore out of fellowship with the spouse), the marriage becomes anemic.

Our tendency is to look toward our spouse and concentrate on what we’re not getting that we think we should. This only causes more harm and it’s not God’s way.

Consider Jesus. No matter what we did (or did not do that we should have), Jesus was not moved. He focused on the love between Him and the Father and ministered that love to us.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” – John 15:9

God is faithful and His love toward that drifting spouse remains constant. So, we look toward Him. We focus on His love toward us to get what we need and then minister His love toward our spouse.

Love from above. Love from below.

There is no better means or greater power to restore someone to fellowship than God’s love.

Enticements, appeasement, grand expressions, manipulation and coercion only work for a little while, if at all.

But, love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Receive Love.
Give Love.
Trust Love.

And, in the last state where both spouses are distant (out of fellowship with God therefore out of fellowship with each other), the marriage is broken. This condition should be avoided at all cost by personally always drawing near to the Savior, Jesus Christ.

But even in the worst case scenario, God gives a way back to fellowship. Just one needs to look up.

I began by saying marriage is God making two one. And, everything I have said applies to two believers.

Before you say “I do” to each other, make sure you’ve both said, “I do” to Jesus’s proposal.

To have a healthy marriage, it is vital to not be unequally yoked.

#perfectourlove

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How The Bible Comes Alive

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How The Bible Comes Alive

Reading the Bible is good (Romans 10:17).

But, reading the Bible won’t unlock it (Deuteronomy 29:29, John 5:39-40, 1 Corinthians 2:14).

I must acknowledge my dire need (Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 5:3-8, James 4:6).

And, I must be open to Jesus’s ability to meet that need (Mark 9:24, Hebrews 11:6).

Then, when I seek Jesus through reading the Bible, He will give Himself because that’s what He’s eager to do (Luke 12:32).

And, if I accept what He gives, He will give more (Luke 8:18, 2 Corinthians 3:18).

He will give more and more until my cup runs over (Luke 6:38),
and from my belly begins to flow rivers of living water (John 4:13-14, 7:37-39).

Come to Jesus and be healed (Matthew 11:28, John 7:37).

But, He is of no help to us if we’re well (Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17, Luke 18:9-14).

Pray to experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to be given ears to hear and eyes to see your desperate need for God (Deuteronomy 29:4, Matthew 16:17, John 16:8).

And then, the Bible will come alive (Hebrews 4:12).

Jesus’s Proposal

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Jesus's Proposal
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So, I say I’m Christian, but have I actually accepted Jesus’s proposal?

Jesus is making this proposal to you, to accept that:

the life you’re living is really death (Ephesians 2:1),

the world you live in is ruled by darkness because we chose to obey Satan (Genesis 3:1-7, Romans 6:16, Luke 4:5-6, 1 John 5:19),

your whole life is harming and being harmed because of your separation from God (Matthew 18:7-9, Luke 17:1),

there is nothing good apart from God (James 1:17),

God loves us (John 3:16, 1 John 3:1),

God is so loving, all-knowing, powerful and wise, that before the foundation of the world He provided us a way of escape (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8),

God’s Kingdom is on the move, His Kingdom is at hand to save us from the death we’re dying now, the coming death of God’s wrath against sin and to save us from Hell (John 3:36, Romans 1:18-19, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 20:11-15) ,

God does what is impossible for us to do: God provided The Way to save us from destruction AND restore us to fellowship with Him, reestablishing the perfection required to dwell in His presence (John 1:12-13, Ephesians 2:13, 1 John 3:1),

Jesus is The Way (John 14:6),

Jesus is God, begotten of the Father by the Spirit through a woman (Galatians 4:4),

Jesus came in the flesh, indwelt by the fullness of God, died as the atonement for our sins and rose from the dead with new life that He makes available to us (John 1:14, Romans 8:11, 1 John 4:2),

Jesus is sent by God to be King, to deliver us from the power of darkness and convey us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, that we may have life through the knowledge of God (Isaiah 9:6, John 18:37, Colossians 1:13),

Jesus offers new life (John 3:3, 10:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17),

Jesus requires that we give up our old life: our identity, our possessions and our pursuits (Luke 14:33),

Jesus requires that we give up our right to rule our own life, to accept Him for who He is –our Master and God, and to submit to Him with total obedience (Luke 6:46, Matthew 7:21, John 14:15, John 15:10),

Jesus requires that we denounce the world and abandon any affections for anything in it. You must give up your previous lover (James 4:4, 1 John 2:15),

Jesus requires that we use everything we have and everything we are to advance His cause, to further His interests and not our own (Luke 14:25-33, Luke 16:10-13),

Jesus offers God (John 17:1-4).

Do you accept His proposal?

When we marry, we don’t know all there is to know about the person we’re marrying or what that person will become, but we see enough worth and believe we know enough about them to navigate the unknown.

I have seen enough of Jesus to trust Him (or at least try). He has proven to me to be exceedingly worthy. I know enough to trust Him to navigate the unknown.

I have not attained, but I press and make it my aim to say “I do” to the Lord, every day.

I commend Jesus to you.

Repent (be convicted of sin –admit falling short of the standard of His love and change direction in pursuit of it), hear Jesus (if you don’t hear, humble yourself, pray and ask God to give you hearing and get in His Word), believe Him and be saved.

Beware taking Jesus’s name (Christian) without taking Jesus. We will not have Jesus until we accept His actual proposal and begin to give Him everything. We will not experience Jesus until we obey Him (John 14:21).