Do you have a talent?

I was inspired to write this poem today for as I was watching videos that people posted on Facebook, I was in awe of how through their talent shown in the videos, I was touched and uplifted. What a nice way to start your day.

As I was thinking back on the talent God has given me, I now understand it all was dependant on my choice to pursue this special gift. I did not start to write poetry till the mid 1990's. Now I have written over 100 poems and have heard from others how it touched them in one way or another. I believe the talent was always there but I had to agree to use it.

God has also blessed me with an ear for music and once I said to Him, "use me, control my life", He was then able to work on the voice part needed to touch someone that was looking for His special touch.

See a talent is about God and the person He wants to be blessed by it. The person with the talent is just an awesome tool that through God's grace has chosen to use this gift. This gift sometimes is just a spark, that through the pursuit of practice and commitment that it can flower into a blessing for others. Musicians need hours and hours of practice until they can produce the musical sound that can touch the heart in one way or another. A teacher must go through many years of schooling before they can inspire a child.

I pray that each person God has given a special talent to can understand it and be able to say to our Heavenly Father, "thank You for this gift, use me Lord"!

The Use of a Talent

A talent is given
as a special gift,
to touch someone else
and give their souls a lift.

A talent is something,
that was made just for you,
to share with many others
for it may be needed to get them through.

A talent is from God,
customized just for you.
See God has faith
that you will use it too.

So whatever He gave you,
if used by hand or by voice,
God can’t use this talent to bless others
unless you make the choice.

E. P. Shagott
10/23/09

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott

Remembering Their Sacrifice

Please take some time to view this blog posted 10/20/2009 on the White House blog. All too often we forget the sacrifice the men and women have paid for our freedom. I will always remember talking to gentleman last year in an assisted living home and he was recalling returning home from the Vietnam war and how his country turned their back to him. Also another gentleman who is in a home for people with dementia and other mental challenges. He is younger than I am.

Presidential Unit Citation: Blackhorse Regiment

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

Sacrifice

As I passed by a grave site
I heard a voice whisper to me.
Please stop for just a moment
and realize why you are so free.

I was a young soldier
fighting and alone.
I sacrificed all I had
so you could have what we call home.

All I ask is you take time,
to be thankful as can be,
for it was also because of their sacrifice
others gave, just like me.

So now if you’re wondering
if all our work is done?
No for we are now in God’s army of angels,
Still protecting you all one by one.


See God also paid the sacrifice
and He like us pray it was not for naught.
We the soldiers for your freedom
and Christ for your salvation on the Cross.

E. P. Shagott
5/26/09

Good devotional to start your morning

“Grow up into him in all things.”

Ephesians 4:15 (The Message)

14-16 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

Charles Spurgeon states it so well. I truly believe in the statement, "Christ changes lives!" As I read this devotional I recalled my self for so many years using Mr. Spurgeon's saying, "I am safe", and left it at that. Year after year saying I was "a born again Christian", but not fully understanding what that meant. I was a stay at home Christian not wanting to know more or be near other Christians. It was almost like, "I got mine now you get yours!" Read what Charles Spurgeon wrote so many years ago about this.

[Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things, so as to present the same appearance year after year. No up-springing of advanced and refined feeling is manifest in them. They exist but do not “grow up into him in all things.” But should we rest content with being in the “green blade,” when we might advance to “the ear,” and eventually ripen into the “full corn in the ear?” Should we be satisfied to believe in Christ, and to say, “I am safe,” without wishing to know in our own experience more of the fulness which is to be found in him. It should not be so; we should, as good traders in heaven’s market, covet to be enriched in the knowledge of Jesus. It is all very well to keep other men’s vineyards, but we must not neglect our own spiritual growth and ripening. Why should it always be winter time in our hearts? We must have our seed time, it is true, but O for a spring time-yea, a summer season, which shall give promise of an early harvest. If we would ripen in grace, we must live near to Jesus-in his presence-ripened by the sunshine of his smiles. We must hold sweet communion with him. We must leave the distant view of his face and come near, as John did, and pillow our head on his breast; then shall we find ourselves advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in hope-yea, in every precious gift. As the sun rises first on mountain-tops and gilds them with his light, and presents one of the most charming sights to the eye of the traveller; so is it one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark the glow of the Spirit’s light on the head of some saint, who has risen up in spiritual stature, like Saul, above his fellows, till, like a mighty Alp, snow-capped, he reflects first among the chosen, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and bears the sheen of his effulgence high aloft for all to see, and seeing it, to glorify his Father which is in heaven.]

Praise God that I have awakened from my safe sleep, to a new exciting life in Jesus, wanting to experience daily a closer walk with Him!

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott

Good Doctor visit

Today was my three week follow-up, after having my physical for being a new patient. I have been blessed health wise but it was quite some time since I had a complete physical. As the results came back from the blood work I was reading about different items in my body which I never really considered or knew I had.

I heard other people talk about their cholesterol and blood pressure but when I looked at the various makeup in my body I said, "Wow!" Of course when I heard the nurse practitioner talk about medicine to control these two items I said, "Whoa!" Now that I know these are problems let me see what I can do to correct them. What was kind of humorous to me was I was thinking if it took 66+ years to get it like this how long do I have to work at reversing what was done?

As I stated in the beginning of this blog, I was doing my three week followup. My cholesterol check will be in three months. What I started to do as soon as I left the doctors office three weeks ago was read food labels. I knew the main item I had to watch for, with my blood pressure was sodium. Everything I looked at was mainly filled with sodium. If it was low on sodium it was high in fat. But I was determined to solve these medical problems without medicine. After all I have been so blessed that I rarely have to take an aspirin.

The first item of course was to talk to the Lord about this. I thanked Him for bringing me to a new doctor and also for all the previous years of good health. I then asked Him to guide me and the doctor's to keep me healthy so I can continue to do His will in my life.

Next it was off to the store to buy healthy food. Did you ever notice that when you do that your food bill is about a third higher than non-healthy. Fewer items to buy also. No wonder our country lives off of junk food, that's about all you can find. I use to love chicken noodle soup but when I read the label one can has almost 900mg of sodium and that is just for 1 cup. Well, I bought a lot of frozen veggies, celery, and lean meats. I told myself you will like rice cakes. I am back to eating cereal (Quaker oats), just don't make it with water, blah!

So what it all meant was in three weeks, blood pressure was going back down, and I lost a couple more pounds. I know if I stay at it in three months my cholestral will be close or in the normal range. Can I grab a chicken wing now and then, sure but just one or two and more then than now.

Life is all about choices. Just as I asked Christ to take control of my life, it was my choice. Sin is like all the junk food, seems good at the time but you will pay the price sooner or later. Jesus is the healthy food. He gives me what I need, not just what I want.

"Give us this day our daily bread!"

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott

God brings it all to you

Romans 12:3 (The Message)

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

This was a very good morning devotional by Charles Spurgeon. I thought it wonderful to follow a Sunday with. In the bible verse above I love the Message translation for sometimes we can get caught up in, "Hey God, look what I did for you today!" A lot of times it followes with, "Hey God, what about those guys? They are just sitting there!" Then my eyes go to the last part of the sentence in that wonderful verse "not by what we are and what we do for him." It is all about what God is and what He does for us!

As I was reading Mr. Spurgeon's devotional it brought me also to that same conclusion as in Romans 12:3. See someone might be looking at my faith walk and be saying, "Why is he acting so Holy? Why don't I act that way?" Before you read the devotional let me first say for me, "It is not an act, it is God in me!"

“Babes in Christ.”
- 1Corinthians 3:1 My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That's why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned.

[Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian. You are as much bought with blood as he is. You are as much an adopted child of God as any other believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your justification is not a thing of degrees: your little faith has made you clean every whit. You have as much right to the precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers, for your right to covenant mercies lies not in your growth, but in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the measure, but the token of your inheritance in him.]

Sometimes in my spiritual walk with Christ I am asking Him, "Lord, why don't all the believers have this fire in them as I do for you?" Jesus answer is always the same, "What makes you think they don't?" As you read the last part of the devotional please re-read what I have bold-faced to stand out.

[You are as rich as the richest, if not in enjoyment, yet in real possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the faintest ray of light has affinity with the great orb of day. In the family register of glory the small and the great are written with the same pen. You are as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender over you. You are like the smoking flax; a rougher spirit would say, “put out that smoking flax, it fills the room with an offensive odour!” but the smoking flax he will not quench. You are like a bruised reed; and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician would tread upon you or throw you away, but he will never break the bruised reed. Instead of being downcast by reason of what you are, you should triumph in Christ. Am I but little in Israel? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Still in Jesus I am heir of all things. Though “less than nothing I can boast, and vanity confess.” yet, if the root of the matter be in me I will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation.]

In Romans 12:3 above it says it so well for each of us in Christ, "Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace!"

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott

Rock of Ages cleft for me!

"All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do"

From an A. B. Simpson devotional

[The literal translation of this phrase is, all things are stripped and stunned. This is the force of the Greek words. The figure is that of an athlete in the Coliseum who has fought his best in the arena, and has at length fallen at the feet of his adversary, disarmed and broken down in helplessness. There he lies, unable to strike a blow, or lift his arm. He is stripped and stunned, disarmed and disabled, and there is nothing left for him but to lie at the feet of his adversary and throw up his arms for mercy.

Now this is the position that God wants to bring us to, where we shall cease our struggles and our attempts at self-defence or self-improvement, and throw ourselves helplessly upon the mercy of God. This is the sinner's only hope, and when he thus lies at the feet of mercy, Jesus is ready to lift him up and give him that free salvation which is waiting for all.

This, too, is the greatest need of the Christian seeking a deeper and higher life, to come to a full realization of his nothingness and helplessness, and to lie down, stripped and stunned at the feet of Jesus.]

Hebrews 4:13 (The Message)

12-13 God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it—no matter what.

I love this verse in the Message translation. It basically states, "It is God's way or no way!" My friends that is how it was meant to be from day one. Why do we even as Christians still want to put our self first? Sometimes we don't even give our Creator the #2 spot in our lives. I can tell you for a fact being one of them for a long time, it was "if I need you God, I'll let You know!" Our pastor has always told us, "God chose us long before we chose Him."

In A. B. Simpson's devotional above he states that God wants us to be in a position of being stripped, stunned, disarmed, disabled, helpless for this is when all we have left is God. I agree for I was there. As I once heard or read, "when you are lying on the ground, all you can do is look up!"

Now again the human being is trying everything in his/her power to not get to this point. Yet Mr. Simpson states that's where we should be for this is where Jesus can work with us and we are ready to be worked with. He is the potter we are the clay!

I truly believe for some it doesn't have to be like this but this sinful world we live in makes it easy to get into that point of helplessness. Loveless relationships, addiction dependency, greed, selfishness and lack of God's knowledge that will bring us at the feet of Jesus saying, "Help me oh Lord for I can not do anything without You!"

As those words flowed my heart to my lips I heard His reply, as is found in Joshua 1:5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

How could I not now fully understand as it states in Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

We really need nothing else. Why worry about what is happening in the stock market? Why worry about what our government is or isn't doing? What we all should be worrying about is how can I bring my family, friends, and all the non-believers to know and feel as we do once we understand about His loving Grace.

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott

Get thee, behind me, Satan

This is a devotional by A. B. Simpson.

Albert Benjamin Simpson was born December 15, 1843, in Bayview, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Albert was an answer to the prayer of his mother. She had lost her firstborn son when he was just a toddler. In prayer then she asked the Lord to send her another son, and asked that he would be a minister or missionary "if the Lord so wills, and he lives to grow up, and is so inclined." A missionary brother baptized him shortly after his birth and dedicated him to the ministry.

Albert’s parents exercised a great influence upon him in his younger years. His mother, being a reader and very poetic cultivated in him a love for books. His father was the industrious, religious, and capable disciplinarian. He made sure that Albert grew up learning the catechism of the Presbyterian Church.

Despite his rigorous religious training, no one ever shared with young Albert the way of salvation. By the age of ten, he had some secret yearning to become a minister. Since he was not saved this was a difficult decision. After a period of time he made a decision that that is what he would become. As he grew into his teens this desire stayed with him. Eventually he requested permission of his father to enter the ministry, telling him he would get his education at his own cost without any expense to his family. His father granted him permission for this.

To learn more about A. B. Simpson and to read his full bio go to http://www.churchinwestland.org/id270.htm

This is from his “Days of Heaven Upon Earth Devotionals"

Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Satan, get away from me! You're in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God." (CEV)

[When your old self comes back, if you listen to it, fear it, believe it, it will have the same influence upon you as if it were not dead; it will control you and destroy you.

But if you will ignore it and say: "You are not I, but Satan trying to make me believe that the old self is not dead; I refuse you, I treat you as a demon power outside of me, I detach myself from you"; if you treat it as a wife would her divorced husband, saying: "You are nothing to me, you have no power over me, I have renounced you, in the name of Jesus I bid you hence,"--lo! the evil thing will disappear, the shadow will vanish, the wand of faith will lay the troubled spirit, and send it back to the abyss, and you will find that Christ is there instead, with His risen life, to back up your confidence and seal your victory.

Satan can stand anything better than neglect. If you ignore him he gets disgusted and disappears. Jesus used to turn His back upon him and say, "Get thee behind Me, Satan." So let us refuse him, and we shall find that he will be compelled to act according to our faith.]

I love reading these devotionals from men of God from years past. What always comes to mind is how true they are today. The reason is the same as for the Bible that they all quote from. It is God’s Word to us;
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth

Satan is as real today as he was when Jesus walked the earth. How many times in our lives trouble is right there speaking to us saying, “Go ahead, try it”, “Go ahead, do it”, “Go ahead, take it”, “Go ahead, say it!” That is when you grab your instruction manual that God has made available to each of us and tell Satan, “It is written” and quote Matthew 16:23. Tell Satan, “Get out of here, you are not wanted here!”

Trouble will always be there but do not focus on it but focus on the love of Jesus. Lift up your troubles to Him. I truly believe it all comes down to giving permission to God to get involved in our daily lives. He wants too, He’s waiting too! I like that title of A. B. Simpson’s devotional, Days of Heaven Upon Earth. We do not have to wait until we get to Heaven to enjoy the Father’s blessings, we can enjoy them now, right now! Remember in the Lord’s Prayer; “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!” If you read a few verses prior to Matthew 16:23 and go to verse 19 Jesus says, ” I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven…”

From God’s heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott