There’s an old hymn that talks about leaning on the everlasting arms – I love that song.

I ‘m not afraid to tell you that I can’t do all this on my own. You know, life. I can’t do life without some help. A lot of help!

As a father, one thing I love is holding my little girl’s hand as I walk her up the steps. That little hand in mine is precious. She trusts me. When I’m holding her hand she knows she won’t fall. Daddy can catch her. She doesn’t mind holding my hand – she seems to like it.

One day I was driving in the car with one of my children(I’ll leave it gender neutral so they won’t know who I’m talking about), as we were going along in silence I found myself unsure of what to say. I didn’t like the quiet. I wanted to communicate. I wanted a free flow of love and joy between us. I got more uncomfortable as the time passed. As far as parental communication goes I was failing the test. The next day when I was in prayer the Lord spoke to me, “You thought you were alone. I would have told you what to say, if you had asked.”

I had been driving all that time and never thought to ask God to help me. I felt so stupid. Self-sufficiency is stupid when the person next to you has the answer. God was with me. I wasn’t with Him.

Leaning on someone else requires trust. I needed God’s help. He wanted to help me. But if I won’t lean on Him He can’t help me.

Lean on the Lord. Put some weight against Him. He’ll support you. He’s right there with you. He won’t force you. But if you begin to rely on Him you’ll be blessed. That’s the beginning of the faith walk. A joyful journey where showers of blessings come on you. Mostly His love.

The Lord bless you today as you simply lean on Him.

Love ya
Joe

You know the Bible says that God is at work in you “to will and to act according to His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

He’s actually trying to adjust your desires. He’s trying to fix and heal and focus your heart so that you desire the right things. God’s ultimate desire is that your heart desires the right things so that He can lead you by the desires of your heart.

I see our heart acting like a compass, it points in a certain direction. You follow in the direction that your heart is pointing.

Years ago I saw some movie where these guys were in this warship and they were trying to navigate by the compass. But their calculations were not coming up accurately. So the captain went and opened the lid on the compass and found that someone had placed a magnet next to the compass so the needle would always be pointing toward that magnet. So the ship was totally off-course.

It’s often so easy for desires or distractions to come up and suddenly we set our hearts on these things and begin to pursue them only to find out later that we are totally off-course and we wonder how did this ever happen? You may be married but that other woman looks soooo fine. That is a distraction! You may be dissatisfied with something and then set your heart on a wrong desire. Don’t do it. You’ll end up where you do not want to be.

The enemy is after the cleanness of your heart. He would like to dirty that thing up so that you can never really get to the core of what God is trying to get you focused on. Get alone with God. Ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to heal you. Ask Him to put His desires into your heart. The devil will lose His grip on you.

More later…
Joe

I had a very interesting experience several years ago that I’d like to share with you.

I was working as a telemarketing manager at Tyndale House Publishers in Carol Stream, IL. One day I was feeling anxious, actually it had been for several days. I was just anxious. I wasn’t sure what I was anxious about but I was short with people and just generally not happy.

I remember walking into my office and sitting in my chair when I sensed the Lord asking me a question. “What do you want?” Well I didn’t quite know how to respond but I sensed He wanted an answer. He was going after my heart and the source of my anxiety.

He asked again, “What do you want?” I said, “I don’t know, Lord.” He said, “Do you want a raise?” “No.” (Sure I’d love a raise but that wasn’t going to meet the need I was feeling in my heart.) “Do you want a promotion?” “No, that’s not it.” “Do you want a new car?” Again his voice sounded as if he was really pressing me for an answer. “No.” “Do you want a new house?” “NO! That’s not it!” Then He said, “Well what do you want?”

I remember sinking back in my chair saying, “Lord, I guess all I really want is You.”

When I said that, I felt all the anxiety lift off of me. I felt so satisfied. I felt pure. I felt unencumbered. What a relief.

You know the most amazing thing about this is that over the next year and a half after this little visit from the Lord He gave me everything He asked me about. He gave me a raise, a promotion, a new car and a new house. God is good. He really does want to be #1 in our lives.
Make Him #1 not for the raise but just because He’s God.

See ya
Joe

Being productive. It doesn’t happen much online unless you are a content provider.

Receiving input(reading web-pages & blogs) is important as long as it results in some change. You could spend all day online reading one blog after another but if there are no results all you’ve done is lost precious time.

Well, for some, time is not worth much so they don’t really care if it is wasted.

But you can give your life meaning by getting things done. So what are you supposed to get done today? Have you even thought about it? Have you made a list?

I love this verse:
Proverbs 17:24 NIV
A discerning man keeps wisdom in view,
but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

I think so many of us are so easily distracted that if we don’t have a to-do list that is based on what we really want to do then our time gets eaten up and we never get to where we really want to go. (how’s that for a run-on sentence?)

Today, look at (or create then look at) your to-do list. Is it leading you where you want to go?
If so, dive in, get something done! Clean your room. Clean out that drawer. It won’t take that long.

Remember Napoleon said the reason he won so many battles was because he understood the value of 5 minutes.

Do you know that in 5 minutes you could get a wet rag and clean up behind the toilet. You could call your mom. You could write a list of what you want to accomplish. You could kneel down and pray. You could write a note of love or encouragement to someone close to you. You could call someone and invite them to dinner.

There is so much you could do but if you don’t do it it won’t get done.

The wonderful thing about getting things done is that it makes us feel better. Your conscience is wired to affirm you if you do right. So do right, you’ll feel better.

I’ve got some fun, some interesting, some challenging topics coming up so I hope you stop back within the next few days.

See ya
Joe

God has got a plan for you. He has a destiny for you to fulfill. He wants to maximize who you are. He wants the gifts that He has placed inside of you to reach their full potential.

I believe real life is where all of our needs are met and we can focus on others. This keeps us from being self-focused. As we’re others and outward-focused we’re drawing from the giftings on the inside of us and actually God Himself on the inside of us and giving that out to others. As givers we’re much more satisfied than if we’re on the take.

An interesting illustration of this was something my dad taught me when I was young, about being nervous in front of an audience. You see, I had a problem with that: when I was in fifth grade me and three of my buddies had to get up in front of class and give a presentation on something(I don’t remember the topic just the hell that ensued).

When it came my turn to speak I got nervous, my mind went blank, everybody was staring at me then I realized that the right side of my upper lip was quivering violently and I don’t mean a slight unnoticable quiver, I’m talking at least a 1/2 inch or more back and forth. I looked at my buddy next to me and he had this look of fear on his face like something was tragically wrong with me – I can’t remember if I started to cry or what happened. I don’t know how we got out of that situation. What a terrible childhood memory, yet it has a pleasant ending:

My dad told me, he said, “If you ever get nervous when you are talking in front of an audience you are being selfish. You are more concerned about yourself than the people you are supposed to be helping.”

As I pondered his words I realized that he was right. I started thinking about what the people needed and how what I was telling them was going to help them. I got my thinking turned around all the way to the point where now I am more comfortable in front of an audience than in an audience. When I had several opportunities to teach at Living Word (where we attended for training) I spoke in front of thousands of people without getting nervous at all. When you’re focused on giving you’re not nervous about getting. People can tell when you’re there for yourself or there for them.

So real life is giving not taking(and it can keep your lip from quivering violently).

I hope this helps you.
Joe

Its gonna be great day. I can tell it. Every time I get a clear word from the Lord it pulls everything together, brings focus, confidence etc. I love it.

Keep listening to Him for what He’s trying to speak to you today.
It may come from a scripture, it may come from something in this blog, something someone says or something He speaks directly to your heart.
He loves you. He wants you to hear Him. He loves being near you.

Some of you may have taken this thing about hearing God’s voice and taken off with it. Others may feel like its elusive to you. Don’t lose hope! As you can see from previous posts that the things of God are precious, not common. They are for those who press in to Him to get to know Him, who seek Him out. Like it says about wisdom in Proverbs 2: “who search for it as for hidden treasure.”

God seems to like to play hide and seek. First He hides himself, then He hides riches in secret places. He lays clues for us to point us to the treasure.

Nature itself is not God but it is a clue, a signpost, a pointer to the fact that He exists and wants us to pursue Him. You know how when you watch a beautiful sunset or look at a mountain range or examine closely the wings on a butterfly or contemplate the life of a flower? There’s something about nature that points you to its creator.

One day Nancy & I were watching a segment on TV about the beauty of nature and I heard the Lord speak to me: “Receive the courting of the Lord!” As I pondered what He was saying I realized that like a man tries to woo a woman with flowers or gifts so that her heart is turned toward him; so the Lord was saying, “All nature is my attempt to draw you to myself. Turn your heart toward me.”

God wants to be pursued. He doesn’t want casual relationships with people. He wants fervent, white-hot relationships full of passion, compassion, love, purpose, integrity and commitment.

If you want to get to know Him, He’s awesome. If anyone was ever “awesome” He defines the word.

When we begin to pursue him we find out that there are obstacles in the way. As we press through those obstacles we come closer to the life of God; the love of God. We find we are transformed by pursuing Him. Our lives change because we have set Him as the object of our desire and measure all else as less than Him. He continues to hold out the hope to us of the glory and beauty and great reward of finding Him.

He promises that if we seek Him we will find Him.
I wrote a song years ago called
“If You Seek Him”
(copyright 1988 Joe Barlow)

Here’s the lyrics: (You can also listen by clicking here)

We are not to hide from the Lord
But we are to seek His holy face
He has many wond’rous things in store
All for those who seek His holy face.

Don’t you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you (repeat)

For there is joy in the Lord
For those who seek His face
There is peace in the Lord
And there is no disgrace
There is love in the Lord
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts

Don’t you know that…

There is a kind and gentle Friend
For those who seek His face
And your life will never end
If you seek His face
The Holy Spirit He will send
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts

Don’t you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you

Don’t you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you

Bye for now
Joe

When I was 17, still in the Catholic Church and devout, there came a day when a revelation seemed to light upon me. “I think I’d make a great pastor.” Although the thought came with peace, the ramifications of what that means in the Catholic church (no wife, no kids) soon weighed heavy upon me. I still had peace though that if God was calling me then He had a way of fulfilling the dream that would satisfy me.

In my continued pursuit of God I left the Catholic church in 1981 not out of spite, I just found something that was filling my hunger in a pure way, Praise Fellowship Church under Pastor Van Gale. He taught like no priest I’d ever heard. The word made sense and was full of life-application.

In 1999 I had a very vivid dream. This dream pointed clearly to me being the next pastor at our church. I had been the worship leader there for over a decade at this point and my heart was still set on being a pastor.

There was difficulty at our church and in 2001 the Lord spoke clearly to me, “In order for me to do the next work I want to do in you, you must cut yourself completely free.” We had to leave our beloved church home, not knowing what God had in store. We home-churched for 5 months, listening closely for His directions.

My wife kept praying that God would get us the best training available. We were willing to go anywhere in the world, literally. After 5 months God brought us to Living Word under Pastor Winston. He took us under his wing trained us up and after 4 years sent us back to our old church to pastor there. God had fulfilled the dream he gave me. I’m now walking in the promised land for my life. It has been a great blessing to be here and I believe the fruit of our work here will be abundant and global. I have a heart to reach whole nations for Him.

All of the path that He’s taken me on has been filled with both great challenges and miraculous blessings. I’m not making my own way, I’m letting Him make it for me. But I’ve had to keep the dream He gave me in my heart and listen for His next steps all along the way.

Of course, like anyone, I’ve missed multiple opportunities where He wanted to bless me but I didn’t cooperate with Him. Some of those dreams are dead, some still gasping for air. Its as I cooperate with Him that He’s able to accomplish things through me.

I believe I’m blessed like this because I decided to give it all up into His hands and surrender completely to Him. Every time I’ve tried to come up with my own agenda and pursue it, regardless of His opinion, I’ve found dissatisfaction and great frustration. Hopefully I won’t come up with anymore “brilliant” ideas that I “must” do.

He gives me great ideas, but His always come with heart-peace. I love the Lord and love working with Him.
See you next time
Love ya
Joe

Blogging is Fun & (hopefully) Effective
Well folks, I’ve been blogging for two weeks now and feel like this just fits me. Writing is easy for me, so this hasn’t been a chore. I believe as long as I keep listening, I’ll never run out of things to say. I’ve been amazed at who has stopped by to read. Thanks to those of you who have left comments, I really appreciate the interaction and the encouragement.

In just these few short days since I started this we have had over 1000 hits and they are from people all over the globe. Not just Illinois, not just the U.S. but many different countries are in the list of who has stopped by this blog. God bless you all for coming. Pray for me and this blog that God would give me the right words to say and that many people would stop and read and be fed by God’s word and His love.

Simple Stuff
I’m excited about today. We’re getting new carpeting put in the offices at our church. The old stuff was in terrible condition. The new stuff is nice, it’s better quality than what’s there and I found it at a great deal $7/yd. The other stuff I was going to get was $13/yd. God is faithful, he leads us into victory even in the mundane areas of our lives.

Things at church are going well. I started pastoring back on September 11th of 2005. Again, it hasn’t been a burden. I feel like God has just been working on me all these years to get me ready to be in the place where I’m at. Yeah, there is a huge amount of responsibility but it hasn’t weighed me down.

My kids are so excited to be back at Praise Fellowship, they love it there. My wife is really focused on our newest child, JuliAnna. Nancy & I are also taking a prayer class together at Living Word in Forest Park. Before going to the first class last week I asked the Lord, “Is this really what you want me to do?” He spoke in my heart, “How many members do you want in your congregation?”

Closing
Folks, God is good. You can live every moment of your life with Him. Enjoy Him. Enjoy the ride. Have a great day.
Love ya
Joe

There’s a song I love, its by my nieces, the BarlowGirls, its called “I Need You To Love Me”; there’s also a book by Jesse DuPlantis called “Wanting A God You Can Talk To”. I have no interest in “religion”. When people call it the “opiate of the masses”, I agree. “Religion:” trying to work to please God. Or trying to gain your salvation, eternal life, heaven or whatever grand reward by trying to be good enough is not for me. Yes, I love the Lord. Yes, I have dedicated my whole life to Him. Yes, I work to serve Him everyday. But I’m not doing this for some grand reward. I’m doing this because I love Him.

When I was 11 years old and I gave my life to the Lord it wasn’t because I was afraid that my sin would send me to hell, although it would have. I didn’t even know that much about sin. I didn’t get saved because I wanted “fire-insurance”. I gave my life to the Lord because I love Him. His love and His goodness drew me, drew my heart right into Himself. It wasn’t until I was 19 that I found out that I got to go heaven too.

Now I’m not opposed to people getting saved to escape hell. Do it! Don’t remain in captivity to sin and the devil. But if your salvation was only a rescue you need to move to the point where you get to know Him, love Him and have a deep intimate relationship with Him. This is the greatest commandment that Jesus talked about in Matthew 22:36-40. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.

How are you going to fall in love with someone who never talks to you? That would be kind of like falling in love with a rock. No response, no communication. Yes, God speaks to us through His written word. But His written word also clearly shows us that part of God’s common method is to talk to His children directly.

Jesus said, before He left that it was better for us that He leave. If He didn’t leave the Holy Spirit couldn’t come. He said, He(the Holy Spirit) is with you(since He was in Jesus) but He will be in you(when we receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit). I’m so glad I have the Holy Spirit in me. He is here to be my communication with God. I love Him. He talks with me, encourages me, instructs me, guides me. I hear a word coming from Him right now:

Son, continue to share my love. Continue to shine the light on the path of those who are lost and can’t seem to find their way. I am the way, Son. Just bring them to me. Point them to my love. I will draw them in. I love you Son.

Thank you Lord. I appreciate you using me in this. Lord, I pray for every person who reads this, Lord, minister to them. Reveal yourself to them. Prove to them whether or not what I’m saying is true. Let there be testimonies that you actually showed up and did something substantial in their life or relationship with you. I love you Lord.

Although conversations with God are awesome, blessed, enjoyable, enlightening, encouraging, strengthening, instructive and directive there is a standard required.

Since there are so many voices out there that would want to have preeminence in your life and would desire that they be your god, a standard is required.

Since there are times when things happen to us that impact us emotionally and hearing God’s voice can get clouded by what we want to hear, there is a standard required.

For me the standard is the Word of God, the Bible. For me it holds higher authority than any thing, word or impression that I might receive as I endeavor to hear the voice of God.

I spend much time reading the word of God. I have spent countless hours at church listening to excellent preaching and teaching from the scriptures. I’ve listened to tons of teaching tapes of various teachers expounding on the Bible. Getting to know the word of God has helped to put a filter in place in my mind and heart. (Another part of the filter is peace. If what I hear does not bring peace then it is not from God. James 3:17, Philippians 4:7)

When listening for God to speak, I know that He will never say something to me that does not line up with the Word of God. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. (2Timothy 3:16) It has proven faithful in my life more times than I can count.

So I hold to the standard, the Word of God. If something doesn’t line up with it I reject it.

So as you endeavor to listen to the Lord make sure you have His filter in place. If you don’t have the filter in place then I don’t recommend you try hearing Him speak. You’re safer to not even pursue it.

What this is really all about is pursuing Him. God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth and my good friend the Holy Spirit. If you seek Him, you will find Him.

God bless you
I hope this is helping
Joe