Pausing...

I want to take just a moment and pause.  LORD, I pause because I want to thank You.  Your word says for us to come into Your presence with thanksgiving, and to enter into Your courts with praise. 

Since my awakening, and You’re removing the scales from my eyes, or as some would say, healing of this blind man, You have enabled me to carry a weight far greater than I have ever known to be possible.  You have undergirded me and strengthened me.  You have both shown me love and shown me how to love.  I stand daily in continuous awe of Your wondrous working power in my life, and I glorify You with all of my being!

You have kept doors closed if I was not to walk through them, and you have opened doors I had no way of opening.  You have made a way, when there was no way for me, and you have given me life and life more abundantly. 

I possess no great worldly wealth, nor any great worldly substance.  However what I do possess in portioned just for me.  I sleep well at night not worrying about it and I rise up early to thank You for it.  By Your hand, I am all that I am, and by Your love, I will be what You created me to be.

Because of who You are, I purpose to give You glory in all that I do.  And now I know why the song writer wrote: "I worship You because of who You are!"

Thank You, LORD!

Is Christ trying to come Near to you?

The Advent season is approximately four weeks prior to Christmas Day for western Christianity.  The word "advent" means coming or arrival.  The focus of this season is our celebration of the coming or arrival of Jesus the Christ.  So we celebrate His coming near to us approximately 2000 years ago.

However I pose to you a question.  Is Christ not trying to come near to us even now?  He may be prodding you with a problem.  He may, like Paul, keep a thorn in our side, reminding us His grace is sufficient.  He may even have us very accomplished and successful, but yet there is still a feeling of something more for us to be, and to feel complete.  Nothing fills the void in our life, like Jesus Christ the Anointed One and His Anointing.

Think of the night He was born.  No one paused to check on the pregnant teenager who had slipped into town on a donkey late in the evening.  No, they were too busy with the hustle and bustle of the day.  Shops had to be opened, businesses awakened, and money had to be made.  No there was no time to fee the coming close of our Savior, for the agenda of everyday living had to take place.  Somehow they failed to realize, without Christ, there is no life.

I see the same means taking place yet even in today’s society.  We are about the hustle and bustle of life; the moving up and down and the going to and fro.  We don't have time to notice the Lover of our soul is pressing His way through the canal of eternity, into the realm of time only to be close to us.  Drawing ever so near, calling us ever so quietly.  "Come to Me, you broken one, and I will give you rest.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  Take Me upon you, I will give you rest!"

You see He loves us.  He REALLY LOVES US!  And when you really love someone, you can’t go a moment, a day, or a night without thinking about them.  You awake with them on your mind, and you vision them throughout your sleep.  You simply want to be near them.  And you will do whatever it takes to draw them near unto you, for your soul thirst for them.  This is why He said on the Cross, "I thirst."  It was not because He physically was thirsty, but because He thirsted just to be close to you and me.

What is Christ doing in your life right now?  How is He trying to draw near unto you?  Is He pulling at your heart strings with a situation, person, or thing?  How is He wooing you unto Him?  Whatever is that persistent thing in your life which keeps calling, and calling and calling, run to it, for in it you will find Him.

What defines You?

Scripture Reference: Job 1:20-21 "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Looking at the life of Job, he lived a long time.  He grew up, got married, had children and raised them, buried them, and ended up having more children and raising them also. I find it interesting we judge him and define him over something which took approximately nine months of his life.   Yet via the events of this brief period in his life, most of us define the entire man, Job.

One thing we fail to realize is Job had a real relationship with the LORD.  He was not a part-time Christian.  He was not a once in a while church goer.  He was not a deacon on Sunday morning and sneaking out to the club on Friday and Saturday night.  No Job loved the LORD with all his heart and soul.  How do I know?  Well glad you asked me.  I will prove it in our Scripture reference.

You see, these tragic events came to him one on top of the other.  Not a moment to even catch his breath in between the news of the events happening.  Understandably he arises and rents his clothes and shaves his head.  These are signs of distress and of being loss or not sure which way to turn.  But then something interesting happens.  The bible says he "fell down upon the ground."  Fell down is denoted by the Hebrew word, "Napal" (Ney-pal).  One of its translations is literally "to settle down".  Why is this important? 

You see Job, like most of us, had a series of events hit him which tried to drive him "over the cliff".  As any normal person would, he reacted in distress, grief, and he felt the pain.  However, he quickly found his center, his rock, his grounding place and focused on His LORD and began to worship Him!  In this Job understood that it was the LORD who was in total control and He would never put more on him then he could bare.  Or you may say, "the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD!"

Sometimes others will attempt to define you by a series of events or circumstances in your life.  They will say, "I know Brian, he's like this" or "You know he did this."  But when you have spent time with the LORD, and He is your Rock; when you fully trust in Him, then you will always be able to find your center and come back to Him.

Even if you do flip out for a minute, remember it is the LORD who is in charge, and it is He who holds you in the palm of His hand.

Thank You, LORD, for my relationship with You!

Pour it in them

Recently I traveled home and was privy to spend time with my children.  I got another chance to speak into their lives and another moment just to be close to them. 

During my travels, I was able to see my oldest play in a football game.  As I sat there with my mother, brother, and his wife, my great nephew who was with us, asked me "what were we going to eat."  I, in almost a natural response, without even thinking on it said, "hot-air pudding and pine floats."  Now I know what you are thinking.  What in the world...?  He has lost his mind!

But stay with me here for there is a learning point 43 years in the making here.  My mother quickly started to laugh and said, "I can't believe you remember that!"  You see, our mother would come home every day from work, and being a single parent, we boys would often meet her at the door with, "What's for dinner?"  After a long hard day at work, she barely had time to come in the door and we were ready to pounce on her wanting our belly’s filled.  So everyday her response to us, in an attempt to say "get out of my face", was "hot-air pudding a pine floats!"

The point I make here is I heard this daily.  It was engrafted into my daily life and made to be part of my fiber and make-up.  So naturally when I was posed the question years later, I naturally regurgitated what had been poured into me all of my life.

You see, the bible says, "Train up a child, in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6  It does not say they will not stray but that they will find their selves again.  Our job as parents, is to make sure we pour into our children daily, and then to keep them from killing their selves unto they begin to regurgitate what the LORD tells us to put into them.

One thing I started to do was text and email a "Daddy's Daily Love" to them.  It’s a verse from the bible that will guide them in their life.  It’s one small thing, but who knows, maybe one day they will find their selves doing the same for their children?

Who is your "god" in trouble?

Scripture Reference: Job 1:20-21  "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
We all know the story of how Job, in a matter of moments, went from "having everything" to "losing it all".  Just think of his compounded distress.  The bible says, "While he was yet speaking...While he was yet speaking...While he was yet speaking" (vs. 16, 17, and 18).  This tells us Job did not even have a moment to react and absorb the news of the loss of all his oxen and asses, before a messenger came and told him of the loss of his sheep.  Job, still not having a moment to take in the second loss, finds out he has loss also his camels.  But notwithstanding, before he can absorb the reality of losing all his earthly substance, he is told of the loss of his children.  Such shocking news if just one of these events had taken place, but for them all to happen at the same time?  Just think of how we act when things don’t go "our way".  We moan, groan, whine and complain.  We act out, and most importantly get out of the will of God.  We think we could do a better job of running our own lives and start to do as we choose. Footnote: this is SIN!  When we do this, and not acknowledge God's perfect will and hand over our lives, we then place ourselves as "god" and thereby break the first commandment: "Thou shall have no other gods before Me."

Look back over your life. See where things have not gone your way, and where you decided to take matters into your own hands.  Did you get out of the perfect will of God?  Did He maybe have a bigger blessing for you around the corner?  Or did you get impatient and give up on it, thereby missing out on what He ultimately wanted for you, and in your life?

Whatever situation you find yourself into today, God is saying, "Be still, and know that I am God."  He wants you to rest in Him, and praise Him any way.  For when the praises go up, the blessing comes down.  And let's face it; one blessing from God is enough to change your entire life!

What do you remember?

For all the things God does do, there is one thing He refuses to do.  He refuses to keep a list of my wrongs.  So what good comes from us remembering our sins?  And at what point does it become harmful to remember our sins?

The Bible uses several images to depict God's forgiveness of our sins.  "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12  "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.: Isaiah 1:18  "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered."  Psalm 32:1

We are presumptuous not when we marvel at His grace, but when we reject it.  If we accept His grace and fully understand that He cast them into the sea of forgetfullness, (Micah 7:19) then we will see the enemy's trick when he comes to us, accusing us of our past!  Yes, we have all been accused and have done the accusing; so we have all been a devil.  But know we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities... (Ephesians 6:12)

The next time someone comes to you bringing up your past, remember that the LORD has forgiven you of your sins and it as if they never happened to Him.  You therefore have no condemnation in Christ Jesus!  And if you find yourself accusing someone of their past, pause and remember, the LORD forgave you and commands us to forgive as He has forgiven us!  Anything short of this is in direct disobedience to the LORD.  Knowing where disobedience takes us, we don't want to go there.

What more does it take?

After a nation of chosen ones had stripped Him naked and ripped His incarnated flesh, He still died for them.  And even today, after billions have chosen to prostitute themselves before the pimps of power, fame, and wealth, He still waits for them.  It is inexplicable.  It doesn't have a drop of logic nor a thread of rationality.  And yet, it is that very irrationality that gives the gospel it greatest defense.  For only God could love like this.

God became earth's mockery to save His children.  How absurd to think that such nobility would go to such poverty to share a treasure with such thankless souls.  But He did.  In fact, the only thing more absurd than the gift is our stubborn unwillingness to receive it.

Each of us know how the LORD has been pulling at our hearts; tugging at the very fibers of our soul, calling us softly towards His love.  It may be a mother's voice, still heard long after she's gone.  Or it may be a continuous thorn in our side which keeps us on our knees.  Or it may be just a random act of kindness, blessing, or love from someone whom you never thought would stick around, that God uses to softly woo you into His presence.

The question is when are you going to listen to HIM?  What more does He have to do so you will know, "He loves you?"

My Devotion!

1. Take my life and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
   *Take my moments and my days,
   Let them flow in endless praise.
2. 
   
   Take my hands and let them move
   At the impulse of Thy love.
   Take my feet and let them be
   Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. 
   
   Take my voice and let me sing,
   Always, only for my King.
   Take my lips and let them be
   Filled with messages from Thee.
4. 
   
   Take my silver and my gold,
   Not a mite would I withhold.
   Take my intellect and use
   Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. 
   
   Take my will and make it Thine,
   It shall be no longer mine.
   Take my heart, it is Thine own,
   It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. 
   
7. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
   At Thy feet its treasure store.
   Take myself and I will be
   Ever, only, all for Thee.

No Other God's....

Now I already know I will loose a few people on this one, but I laid down my life to serve Christ.  I also love you all enough to state the truth, even if some don't want to hear it.

As we all know the Texas State Fair's icon, "Big Tex" went up in flames a few days ago.  The fire started in his neck, quickly consumed his head and body, and left only a skeleton frame and his hands.  Most people were shocked and dismayed.  And it was the talk of nearly everyone around.

Let's look at the day and days prior.  The day before people were invited to come wish "Big Tex" a "Happy 60th Birthday" and they came by the bus loads to partake in a celebration of the Fair's Icon.  Some even took off a day of work to make sure they were there.  They went to sleep early to be well rested, and researched all the sites to find the best discounts for entrance into the Fair that day.  Plans were to take a good amount of money, forget about our troubles and just go celebrate "Big Tex" in all his glory!

However a lot of the same people can't make it to church on Sunday.  Don't have to work on Sunday.  Cant get to bed early for they are out on Saturday night.  And lets face it, no research is done in our bible to find out what the God who made heaven and earth wants to say to those He truly loves! 

"But I, the LORD, am a jealous God....Tho shall have NO OTHER god's before ME!"  Somehow I can hear God saying, "OK so you wont listen to my Word, the I will show you who really is God!  The very next day, "Big Tex" was no more.

And why were the hands left?  "The LORD is known by His justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.  Selah"  Psalm 9:16 (NIV)  "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening." Isaiah 1:15 (NIV).  You see, man will not cease to work with his hands and try to be "God-like".  They are already talking about rebuilding "Big Tex" and most say they want him the same exact way he was.  And have you noticed in our country how we "pray" and nothing seems to happen?  We may want Gods help, but we want it our way.  This will never come together.

For me, I give myself FULLY to YOU, LORD.  I stand on YOUR side.  Let me ever have a thirst for YOU, and teach me Thy ways, even if YOU must break me again, until I become completely YOURS!

Desiring you to know the TRUTH for the TRUTH will set you free!

What IF....?

What if God decided He was too tired from partying, or just too lazy to get up, or wanted to sleep in because He didnt properly prepare, or gave the excuse that He had nothing to wear, or maybe you dont really like Him to come because He's "different", or any other excuse that we use NOT to get up and attend church, He then used that same excuse not to assist us in our daily lives.

He says "I am the God of all days, even the ones you complain about; for I gave you live and food, and even the ability to complain about the day you have been afforded the length of life to even see.  I am the God who placed my hand in between you and the car wreck.  I am the God who protected you while you were drunk and high out of your mind.  I am the God who stood between you and that diseased partner you slept with.  I am the God of ALL things.  And you were created to worship me!"

Maybe you should get up now and go to the "House" and worship HIM!  I am on my way!

Turn to the ONE GOD!

Scripture Reference: Daniel 3

We are all familiar with the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: The three Hebrew slaves who were thrown into the fire for not bowing to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image which he had made.  We know these three Hebrew slaves made up in their mind to serve the one and only true God and to follow His commandments and ordinances only.  We know that God delivered them from such a hot furnace and not even a hair on their heads, a stitch on their coats was singed.  We know King Nebuchadnezzar ma de a decree saying no one was able to speak ill of the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  It is a wonderful story of faith and of how God will deliver us if we put our total faith and trust in Him.

What is important also to note is though the King was amazed and found new reference for the LORD of lords, he simply “placed their God on the shelf with all his other gods”.  In other words, he simply added God to the collection of gods he already had. 

Has our God proven Himself to you in some way?  Maybe it was by sustaining you.  Maybe it was in placing His hand between you and the car in the accident.  It may have been His covering you so you would not get that disease you should have received from the person you slept with who was not your spouse.  Maybe it was a miraculous feet, like the one of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Or maybe it was simply allowing you to survive to this point in your life.  You know the very one you continue to complain about day after day! 

God says, “How much love do I have to show you, before you turn to me fully?  How many times must you walk around this mountain, before entering the Promised Land?  When will I become the head of your life so I can give you the life I had planned for you?”  He is waiting on you to make Him the only God of your life.  To start adhering to all His commandments and to turn from what the world is telling you is ok, thereby making it “another god on the shelf.” 

If you don’t know His commandments they are found in the Bible.  Exodus 20 is a good start, but not the only ones.  We must learn to stop running, breaking, marrying, and divorcing, lying, cheating, arguing, and hating.  NONE of this is ok, and NONE of this can be accepted in any form to a Holy God. 

Today seek His face and ask Him how you have failed, and to help you find the strength to return unto Him.  He will then heal your land, (2 Chron 7:14) or He will then heal your lying tongue, your fornicating spirit, your divorcing desire and so much more.  And you will find a God who gives us joy in sorrow, sunshine during rain, peace in chaos, and love in hate. 

Won’t you turn totally to Him, today?

Love is the Ultimate Force!

Scripture Reference : John 3:16 “For God so LOVED the World that He GAVE His only begotten Son..”

There is no force more potent than love.  Take away love and your world is a tomb.  Your life echoes emptiness without love.  With it, your life will vibrate with warmth and meaning.  Even during hardship, love will shine through.

As you look back upon the events in your life you will find that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love.

If you have it, you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter what else you have. Therefore, search for love.  Once you have learned to love, you will have learned to live.

Love is the most important ingredient to your success.

What Road do you "EN-VISION"? How Bad do YOU want it?

Scripture Reference: Proverbs 29:18 “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”

Wanting something isn't sufficient enough to get it.  You have to ask yourself,
"What am I willing to do or give up to get the things I want?"  The problem is how to bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and where you want to be.

With a definite step by step plan you cannot fail, because each step carries you along to the next step, like a track.  All you need is the plan, the road map,
and the courage to press on to your destination.

It is hard to get lost on a straight road.

A New look at "Giving Thanks"

Scripture Reference: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good and His Love endures forever! Psalm 136:1 (NLT)

As I headed to work the other day, I noticed a city crew installing Christmas lights in the trees around a shopping strip.  The day prior I had gone into a store to look at an item and they were moving their Halloween items to a new area.  One other shopper commented to the store employee about the store making more room for more Halloween items to be brought out.  But the response from the store employee was shocking, “No, we have to make room for the Christmas items so we can put them out this afternoon.”  This on October 6^th.  Is it just me or did we forget something?

Look at the order of procession here.  First the devil has “his day”.  Then we want to skip right over to the “getting presents” of Christmas and we forgot a number of items here.  We as sinful humans follow this pattern quite often.  This is how we run our Spiritual lives also.  We have our “day of evil”, or our sin, and then we go right to wanting a gift from the LORD.  Do you see how the natural and the Spiritual run parallel? 

Stay with me here.  Allow me to point out another item, which we do both naturally and spiritually.  We skip over Thanksgiving.  The Bible is clear and teaches us over and over again, to “Give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good and His Love endures forever!”  But yet we minimize the time we spend being “Thankful” (as in our one day out of the year where we step back to “Give Thanks”) and want to rush right to getting our presents or what we can get from God; depending if we are speaking of the natural or the Spiritual.  We have all said it, even during Thanksgiving Day, “I can’t wait until Christmas gets here.”  We forget our sin, our day, or days of evil against Him, and we look for a hand-out or blessing from the LORD. 

I am going to leave it to you to “evaluate your own life, properly”.  No one can rightly judge another for the bible is clear, “man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart (of a man)” 2 Samuel 16:7.  My prayer is with careful consideration, earnest prayer on our part, and a diligent seeking of the LORD’s face, not His hand (presents), we will become more in-tune with the heart of God.  This year let’s approach this “holiday season” with a grateful heart, giving thanks unto the LORD for He is good and His Love endures forever.  Allow Him to show us our weakness and sin, and teach us to be more dependent upon Him for His LOVE.  After all His love is the Greatest Gift He gave and continues to give us each and every day! 

Confront Fear and it disappears!

Scripture Reference  2 Timothy 1:7 “ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

One of the greatest surprises you'll experience, is when you discover that you can do what you were afraid you couldn't do.  Your obstacles will melt away,
if instead of cowering before them, you make up your mind to walk boldly through them.

Do the thing you fear and fear disappears.  Confront your fears, list them, get to know them and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead.
When you face the things that scare you, you open the door to freedom.

The only thing you have to fear, is fear itself.

Put yourself in anothers place

Scripture Reference: Luke 6:31 “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

The world is primarily constituted on the basis of harmony.  Everything works in cooperation with something else.  Personal relationships are the fertile soil
from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.

Put yourself in another's place.  Only then will you know why they think and do certain things.  Once you understand how quickly people will grant your requests
when those requests appeal to their self-interest, you can have practically anything you go after.  It's through cooperation not conflict, that you'll achieve your greatest success.

How do you See and THINK?

Scripture Reference: Ephesians 1:17-18 “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints"

You cannot always control your circumstances.  But, you can control your thoughts.  There is nothing either good or bad, only your thinking makes it so. 

Things turn out best for those people who can make the best out of the way things turn out.  It's not the situation; it's your response to the situation.  The reality in your life may result from many outside factors, none of which you can control.  Your attitude, however, reflects the ways in which you deal with what is happening to you.
Life at any time can become difficult.  Life at any time can become easy.
It all depends upon how you adjust yourself to life.  What you see in your mind is what you'll get out of life.

Do you see your situation as an opportunity, or an obstacle?

Time to Grow!

Scripture Reference: Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

When reading the bible we need to slow down and pay close attention.  God meticulously planned exactly every Word He wanted to give us and say to us.  We often get caught up in the busyness of life, and of course are distracted by the chaos around us (which is a trick of our adversary to take our focus off of HIM).

But careful dissection of the Word will lead you into a new and deeper understanding of revelation in Him.  Look at this Scripture closely.  Most would say, “Lord, help me to trust in You more.”  However, He is trying to pull a deeper meaning out to us here.

The Scripture actually tells us, “Blessed is the man…whose hope IS THE LORD!”  It is one thing to trust God, but is your hope in Him too?  Do you see the chaos and confusion in your life, but are unmoved?  To do this, we must be able to see beyond our troubles, fears, worries, and doubts, and put our entire HOPE in Him. 

Do you truly trust Him?  Then why not put your total Hope in Him, knowing HE will NEVER let you down?  What would or could happen if you not only trust Him, but also made your Hope Him? 

What do you see?

Scripture Reference: 2 Kings 6:16-17. Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”
¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.How do you see things?  Are you looking all around you at your natural circumstances?  Is all you see doom, destruction, chaos, confusion, division, and strife?  When we look into the world and out into our daily lives, it is easy to see only the bad.  The news reports are bleak at best; the internet spreads gossip, tragedy and loss like wildfire.  Everywhere you turn we are either looking or seeing things go from bad to worse.  We even thrive and live to see the demise of others.  Why do you think reality TV shows are so popular, or think upon the last time you past an auto accident and how everyone slows and stops just to see the injured parties?  Looking through our natural eyes, this would be all we see, all the time.
One thing I have learned from daily reading and meditating upon the Word of God, is there are many more things going on around us; things God is doing, which go unnoticed by the natural eye for we are not educated in the ways of the LORD, nor do we take time to seek His face.  Do not be deceived, our God is very much alive and well and all around us. At the times it seems the bleakest, God is at His strongest.  He desires we turn our hearts and minds towards Him.  By daily reading and studying of His Word, we begin to see all around us He has placed His army of Angels ready to fight for us, to help us, to strengthen us and to give us grace.  He promises in His Word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and to be “with us even until the end of time”.
If you are at a point in your life, and all you can see is doom, destruction, chaos, confusion, division, strife and you feel there is no hope left, I share this with you.  God must TRULY love you, for He is simply trying to get your attention and saying, “Hey, I have EVERYTHING you need right here!  Simply come to Me, you weary one, and I will give you rest! Learn of me and you will see” (Matthew 11:28)
He desires to give you ALL that He has, and if you will simply come to Him, He will show you, there are more on His and your side than there are of all you see happening in your life and the world today.
Today, LORD, I pray we learn to run to YOU, and begin to study YOUR Word and ways, so we see more of You, and less of ourselves!