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

When I was about 11 yrs old my brother Vince came home from college. At the dinner table he proceeded to tell my dad that he needed to be “born-again”. That didn’t go over too well with my dad, a devout Catholic. He believed that when he was water-baptized as an infant that he got born-again. Vince contended that each person had to make the decision from their own heart. I continued listening to this conversation for the next three hours. Everybody else had scattered early on, but for me there was something Vince was saying that was drawing me. I knew I wanted what he had.

Vince then continued to teach me about the Lord. Two years later I saw Vince at the dining room table writing in a steno notebook. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was talking to God. The interesting thing was, he said that God was talking back to him. I looked at his journal and asked, “Can I do that?” He said, “Sure, just get a notebook and pen, get off by yourself, pray and ask the Lord to speak to you.” He said, “I usually start off by writing ‘My Son…’ then let the Lord fill in the rest.”

I was so excited and full of faith. I knew if Vince could do it then I could too. I ran down into the basement where my bedroom was and started praying and asking the Lord to speak to me. I started writing and was so blessed by what I was getting. It was like I just knew the words to write. If it was anything like a voice it was more like a whisper that you have to tune into. It was more like a knowing than a voice.

I came running back up the stairs and showed it to Vince. I said, “Is this it?” He read what I had written, he said, “That’s it, you heard from God.” What a great sense of satisfaction I had. I was so glad to know that God loved me and wanted to talk to me. Vince told me, “God is always speaking, we’re just not always listening.”

I made it a practice everyday to get up, pray, read my Bible, then spend time listening to the Lord and write down what He said. He was (and is) amazingly faithful to speak to me and give me words of encouragement, direction, correction, vision, warning etc.

I really love the Lord.
I hope through these simple writings you can come to know Him better.
Love ya
Joe

I want to share with you more about hearing the Lord’s voice and how to live your whole life under his immediate direction.
To start out you need to hear how I first heard the Lord’s voice, it’s an amazing story, but it really happened to me in 3rd grade. Here goes…

One morning in third grade as I was getting ready to go to school (St. Vincent’s in Akron, Ohio) I reached up into the front hall closet to get my hat. As I was doing that I heard this on the inside of me, “There’s going to be a new boy at school today. I want you to take care of him for me.”

I simply agreed and knew that I had a job to do. So half-way through the morning when the school principal walked in to our class with a new boy under her right arm I was not even surprised. She said , “Children, I want you to meet Tony, he’s going to be joining your class.”

As soon as I had an opportunity, at recess, I went right up to Tony, introduced myself then introduced to him to all my friends. When we were playing games on the playground I made sure that Tony was in all the games. Pretty soon everybody wanted Tony on their team. Tony became the hero of the day.

The interesting thing was Tony at first glance could easily have fallen into the category of one who is easily made fun of; but because I had heard God’s voice and obeyed by taking care of his child Tony wasn’t made fun of, he was the hero.

Thank God for God!

In the Bible, the prophet Samuel as a young boy heard the voice of the Lord for the first time.

If God has never introduced himself to you maybe you need to start the conversation. Ask Jesus to be your Lord, give your life to Him. This is important because there are a lot of voices out there. You want to make sure you get hooked up with the right one. Jesus Christ is the only light, all others are imitation.

I’ll share more about this tomorrow,
God bless your day!
Joe

This may be a day late, but here we are, the day after Mother’s Day.
Yesterday at church I played a song that my brother wrote for my parents back in 1977. He gave it to them as an anniversary present. I’ve played this at a ton of weddings and other occasions; it never fails to bless.

Parent’s Song by Vince Barlow c. 1977

You brought me to this world
You gave my life to me
You let me laugh you let me cry
And be what I would be
But I let the time pass
Never thanking you
For the things that you do

From a child to a man
You helped me through the years
Sharing in my heartaches
And wiping away my tears
With all the things we’ve done
And all that we’ve been through
I hardly ever said “I love you.”

So thank you for the happy times
Thank you for the tears
Thank you for the love you gave
And calming all my fears
And thank you for the strength you gave
Beside me everyday
I love you, what else can I say?

But then the time comes
And the laughter dies away
The sound of running footsteps
Is many miles away
But your teachings lead us
Along that rocky road
Your love it lightens up the load

So thank you for the happy times
Thank you for the tears
Thank you for the love you gave
And calming all my fears
And thank you for the strength you gave
Beside me everyday
I love you, what else can I say?

Well, maybe you need to make a phone call or write a letter about now.
Have a great day. Tell somebody you love them.
See you later
Joe

You know there are a lot of people out there who are hurting. For one reason or another, so many have lost their way and they just turn inward and stop looking out. These people need help. Are you willing to help? Just look around you. Think of the people that you know. Do you know their needs? Stop and think of the neediest person you know. Can you think of three things that they need? Now, can you give them one of those needs? Try it. When you become a giver you enter the realm of the wealthiest people on the earth – no matter how much you have. You had enough to give.

The Bible says that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Reach out and help someone. Find a need and fill it.
Have a great day – every day that you give something is a great day.
See ya
Joe