Kolawole, Thanks for you comment. I'm glad you are focused on honoring God with all of your life. God is amazing and worthy of all honor and praise we can offer him. God bless you and your family. Tim

Hey Sarah, Thanks for your comment and your prayers. I pray for God's anointing on you as you lead the Bible study and for God's blessings on all who attend. I pray they have ears to clearly hear God speaking words of life and love. May you all be filled with passion for God and His will in your lives. Tim

Dawn, Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I'm glad to hear you are focusing on honoring God in your life, and I know God is pleased with your decision. Living a life that honors God is a daily path that is challenging but so worth all the effort. My prayer is that you will grow in your desire and ability to honor God. God bless you and your family. Tim

Thank you for sharing this link. God bless.

Lorraine, thanks for your comments. It's always good to know God is using something we say or do to encourage or inspire others in their walk with God. It encourages me to read the comments people share on here. May our gracious and amazing LORD bless you and keep you and your family in His tender loving care. :)

Thanks for your comment, Gail. You are right, working the 12 Steps is hard and most addicted people try as hard as they can to avoid them. But, in my experience, the people who work them, completely, have the best chance at living a fulfilling life free of drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, the people who fight against the steps seem to be the one's who are constantly making bad and even, dangerous, decisions. There are no absolutes, working the steps doesn't guarantee sobriety just like refusing to work the steps doesn't mean you will continue to use drugs and alcohol. Working the 12 Steps does help the odds.

I believe the key, for me, is to wake up each day and begin my conversation and daily walk with God in humility and a willingness to follow wherever He leads. I tend to get into trouble when I set the agenda for the day. God's plan is always better than Tim's plan.

Tino, Thanks for joining the conversation and sharing your thoughts. Finding that balance between reverence and familiarity is definitely part of the challenge of living a Christian life. Even though God never changes--as the Bible tells us--I think the way reveals himself to us does change. It is a dynamic relationship that I believe God "tweaks" from time to time according to our needs and His purpose in our lives. Some days we need to completely humble ourselves before the Sovereign LORD of all. On other days we need the encouragement of a loving Father. God is still the Almighty God to whom, the Bible says, "every knee will bow and every tongue confess," but, he is also the all-compassionate Abba ("Daddy") that loved each us so much He sent Jesus to the cross to pay the ransom for our sin. In fact, He reveals himself to us in many more ways than this according to His purpose and our need. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. God has used them to encourage and inspire me today. May our LORD bless you and your family with His richest blessings. Tim

Charles, I will join with you in prayer for grace to be committed, focused, patient, and to have faith in God. I believe your prayer requests demonstrate how strong your faith already is. As I was praying for you I thought about Solomon when he prayed for wisdom to be used by God. God gave him the opportunity to ask for anything with the assurance that God would honor his request. Instead of requesting wealth or fame or other selfish requests he asked for wisdom to rule in a way that honored God. God granted his request for wisdom and also gave him the wealth and fame also. I believe God is pleased with your desire to honor Him and will surely grant your requests. I believe God will also bless you in other ways because of your humble desire to place him first and honor him above all else. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this blog. May God's richest blessings be yours as you seek to serve him with your whole heart.

Sheldon, Thanks for taking the time to comment and becoming part of the discussion about honoring God. I have heard a similar comment, "if you are not moving forward then you are moving backward." I believe both are true, living requires movement. Honoring God is like that in many ways but I also know it is impossible to limit a relationship with God to these simple concepts. Our relationship with God is dynamic--God is multidimensional and He made us to be multidimensional. I believe our growth (or lack of growth) occurs in many areas of life at the same time. But, in all parts of life, we must strive to draw closer and be more like Jesus. I praise the LORD for your desire to grow in your relationship with God. May our LORD continue to bless you and your family as you seek to honor Him in your life.

Richard, You are welcome. It is a blessing to me to hear your feedback. God bless you as you live a life that honors God.

Thanks for sharing. I pray we will all receive God's grace to help us live a life of obedience. God bless you.

Charles, That one hit me hard also. I know I have failed to honor God in this, many times. Being aware of the problem help a lot but it still takes effort. Thanks for sharing your comments.

Thanks for sharing. I don't know why I didn't reply to this comment earlier since usually try to reply right away so there is a kind of discussion going on (which very often encourages me). Anyway, I completely understand what you are saying. My understanding of God's amazing grace in relation to my legalistic tendency has completely revolutionized my spiritual life. Even though I fail many times I am able to continue my forward progress toward deeper intimacy with God. Gradually, I can see the struggles with temptation and legalism being replaced with the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22-23) as the Holy Spirit molds me and forms me into the "Tim" God wants me to be. Much like a sculptor chips away all the excess marble till what is left is the sculpture as he saw it in his mind. I am thankful the Holy Spirit is still working on me and that He sees more fruit that He can harvest in my life. Praise the LORD, for He is good. Thanks, again, for sharing.

Thanks for sharing, Kim. God's grace never fails to amaze me. For example, it's amazing to me how God uses my thoughts and struggles to deliver a message to another one of His children, in this case, you. This reminds me of the many people who have benefited from the struggles on Paul in the above passage. It not only amazes me when I see God working through my words but it humbles me and encourages me. It allows me to experience God's amazing grace again through your comment. Thank you for sharing. Isn't God wonderful? Praise the LORD.

Your girls are precious. I especially liked the squeals of joy for the bubbles. Enjoy them at that age, my daughter has gone to college now and I miss my precious little girl...but, I'm blessed with an amazing young woman. They are just so anxious to grow up. I pray for God's blessings for you, Jim, and your girls.