Last night all decked out in her princess dress, Hannah comes in the kitchen, grabs my hand and says, “I dance with you daddy!”  You talk about an invitation.  It has amazed me the love that a father can have for his child.  I love my children more than anything else in life.   When I heard those words, I dropped what I was doing and danced with Hannah.  What dad wouldn’t?  There is something in the heart of a child that longs for the love and affection of their father.  Hannah and I danced until I was tired (because she never gets tired).  It was a great joy to take her by the hands and spin her around, hop, jig and even dance like Barney, the big purple dinosaur.  Hannah enjoyed it immensely and so did I.

In the heart of every person is the need for the love and affection from our Heavenly Father.  He has captivated us by His love.  We must respond.  He invites us to dance with Him.  I have written it before, but the book of Zephaniah records that God dances over us with love.  His heart is longing for you…He desires your companionship.  God’s love for you is more than your mind can comprehend.

Today we began our 21 day fast.  Is it just me or is your head screaming, “CAFFEINE”?  Our prayer focus this week is on ourselves.  Our needs and our consecration to God.  As we begin this fast, I believe it is healthy to do some introspection.  Some good old soul-searching.  Here is a spiritual health test that I have clung to for years.  I am not sure who wrote it but I believe it is a good way to search your heart.

• Am I honest with God and myself?
• Do I love God’s Word?
• Am I praying faithfully?
• Am I looking for opportunities to share Jesus’ love with others?
• Do I hate sin?
• Am I obeying the greatest commandment: to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and strength?
• Am I looking for Christ’s concern?

See any areas you can work on.  Make these a priority during these 21 days.  Hang in there only 20 days to go:)

The other day I entered the ebay world.  I have never caught onto the craze for ebay, but it was the only place that I could find some out of print books.  Adam Clarke’s Commentaries.  I have been longing for a set of these books for several years.  It is by far my favorite commentary.  So, when I found them on ebay, I was elated. 

I waited until the day of the end of the auction, thinking I could definitely win.  Before I left Oklahoma, I made my bid and was the high bidder for quite some time.  That is until about 5 minutes before the auction ended.  When we were on the road, we called my mother-in-law to get an update on the auction.  I was confident I would win.  In fact, I believed it was the Lord’s will.  But in the last 5 minutes I lost by only a couple of dollars.

I was heartbroken to say the least.  No, I was devastated.  I felt like I had lost the Super Bowl in overtime.  I almost sank into depression.  Okay, maybe I am being a little melo-dramatic, but I was upset that I lost. 

Defeat is painful.  It is never easy to deal with life when it is wrapped up as defeat.  Failed marriages, wayward children, constant failures to sin, hurts and bruises from our past.  The agony of defeat is sometimes more than we can bear.  There is however, the thrill of winning.  The fact is that we are made more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us.  We are able to experience victory through Him.  In spite of our defeats or disappointments, God has made us victorious through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Book: Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight

Summary: Every woman longs for change in some area of her life. Unfortunately, fear, fatigue, adversity, heartbreak, past failures, and even the choices of other people get in the way and make lasting change seem out of reach. Having been there herself, Karen Linamen knows exactly how to take readers from where they are to where they want to be.

In Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight, she examines 52 powerful actions readers can apply to any change they long to embrace. Her insights apply to career, finances, personal health and fitness, relationships, faith—in fact, every facet of a woman’s life.

Blending laugh-out-loud humor and sage advice, Linamen shows readers the link between dissatisfaction and transformation, how to remodel habits, the little-known truth about procrastination, how to generate the energy they need to pursue the life they desire, how to benefit from options and resources they never dreamed they had, and much, much more!

Author Bio:

Karen Linamen is a popular speaker and the celebrated author of ten books for women, including Due to Rising Energy Costs the Light at the End of the Tunnel Has Been Turned Off  and Just Hand Over the Chocolate and No One Will Get Hurt. She has been featured on more than one hundred radio programs, including FamilyLife Today.  Publishers Weekly describes her as “funny, forthright and unforgettable.” Linamen lives with her family in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Visit her website at www.karenlinamen.com.

You can find the book at christianbook.com.

We left New Years Day for Sonya’s parents in Oklahoma.  It was good to see them and spend a little down time in the country.  Josh and I took some time to go hiking in the Chickasaw National Park.  We hiked Bison Trail but didn’t see any Bison.  We did, however, see a herd of deer.  It was a beautiful hike in the hills.  God’s creation never ceases to amaze me.  People who think that all of this happened by accident are in denial. 

We are back home and now it is time to finish up for Sunday.  We are looking forward to the first Sunday of 2009 tomorrow.  We begin our Momentum series by talking about Ezra and the rebuilding of the temple.  Don’t miss it!  Also, tomorrow night is our youth baked potato supper and slave auction.  Come out and support our youth group, who are raising money for the Acquire the Fire Conference.

Our new series begins this Sunday with our theme for the year 2009.  MOMENTUM.  I believe God wants us to follow the momentum and build His church.  Come Sunday and let’s see how we can join together to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God.

Also our 21 day fast begins Monday January 5th.  Join us in this Daniel Fast (Fruits and Vegetables only) as we seek the Lord for ourselves, the church and this nation.  You can find a prayer sheet here.

Happy New Year To All!  A  new year means new possibilities and new beginnings.  It is like starting on a clean slate.  Many begin the year with resolutions.  Most people begin the year on a diet.  While yet others have made some decisions in life that will begin to be fulfilled in this new year.  Whatever the case, I think the turning of  the calendar is often a welcome sight.

May God richly bless your endeavors and we pray for a prosperous new year for you all. 

Last night after church, we went to a fellowship with some of our church family.  We had a great time!  But as our tradition is in the Cheney household, we like to sleep through the new year.  So, we left a little early got home and went to bed.  We were asleep before midnight. 

The difference between Rogers and Nederland is pretty large when it comes to the New Year.  Although it is illegal to set off fireworks in both places, Rogers actually observes the law (or should I say enforces it).  When we would sleep through the new year in Nederland, we always woke up at midnight because of all the fireworks and people yelling.  Last night, we didn’t hear a thing.  No fireworks, no gunshots, not a peep.  Besides the fact we didn’t know when it struck midnight, it was a nice uninterrupted snooze.  No matter how you celebrated, we hope your night was a good one.  Ours was, and we are all refreshed.  We are leaving for Oklahoma in just a little while to go see Sonya’s parents.  Have a great day!

As I was coming up in ministry, I was taught rather legalistically, that you had to spend at least an hour a day in prayer.  Not 59 minutes, but at least an hour.  To fall short by one minute would mean that you were ineffective and risked the possibility of hell.  I am not making this stuff up, but I was taught that Jesus asked His disciples, “Could you not tarry with me for one hour?”  If Jesus asked that question, then we must tarry at least one hour.

For years I watched the clock to make sure I made it.  When I pastored my first church, I worked a full time job with alot of overtime, prepared three sermons a week, visitied the sick, cleaned the church, mowed the church yard, did the bulletins and anything else that needed to be done.  I often did not meet my target goal of one hour.  I would arise at 5:00 some mornings to “get my hour in” before I went to work.  Because I would stay up to midnight preparing sermons, I would fall asleep in prayer at the altar and then hang my head in shame at how my flesh got the best of me.  This went on for years.

After I went full-time in ministry, I still had the bondage of this one hour a day rule.  I felt like a failure, ashamed that I could not pray long enough.  It didn’t matter if you prayed throughout the day.  You at least had to pray for one hour at one time.  I lived with guilt and shame, as most do, when they are bound by legalism.  It wasn’t until about a year ago that I finally got set free of this addictive garbage.  I realized that God enjoys time with us, whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the more prayer the better, but if we are praying out of legalism, there is a skewed relationship with God.  We treat God as an abusive Father who demands perfection in our prayer life.  We then pray out of fear of failure, rather than praying out of our desire for Him.  We fall into the trapping of trying to please God rather than communing with God.  God is a loving Father who desires to know us and lavish us with His love and we must seek Him out of a desire to know Him more.  God is a God who is a gracious Father not a God who cannot be pleased.

Our prayer lives should be growing and ongoing, but not bound to a time or ritual.  I no longer watch the clock.  I no longer fear falling short.  I pray in the mornings as long as I can or feel led.  I pray during the day, when I am in my car, or while I’m working.  I now have more freedom in prayer and my relationship with God is relishing His love and grace.