My Heart Is On Fire By Doug Apple - A Short Christian Devotional To Open The Scriptures And Make Your Heart Burn Within You! podcast

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Living together in a group is a strategy many animals use to survive and thrive. And a big part of what makes that living situation successful is listening. In this episode, we explore the collaborative world of the naked mole-rat. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today . To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter . Operation frog sound! Send us your frog sounds for an upcoming episode. We want you to go out, listen for frogs and toads, and record them. Just find someone croaking, and hit record on your phone. It doesn’t matter if there’s background noise. It doesn’t even matter if you’re not sure whether or not you’re hearing an amphibian—if you think you are, we would love to get a recording from you. Please also say your name and where you are in the world, and then email the recording to us at outreach@thresholdpodcast.org…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

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Luke 24:32, "And they said one to another, 'Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?'"

163 episodios

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

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Series en casa•Feed

Luke 24:32, "And they said one to another, 'Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?'"

163 episodios

#Religion #Im On #Doug Apple #Christianity #Podcasting Education

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My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
But You Don't Know My Parents 3:14

hace 1 day3:14

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) Honor your father and mother…but what if your parents aren’t worthy of honor? It’s pretty clear in the Bible that we are to honor our parents. It’s even in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:12 says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” But here is a question I have heard many times. “How can I honor my parents when they are such dishonorable people?” Here’s my answer. You don’t honor them because they are honorable. You honor them because YOU are honorable. We are called to be people of honor. I like First Thessalonians 4:4 which says possess your vessel in honor. Here’s a fun example, and this goes back to 1922, to a book by Emily Post about etiquette in society. She wrote, “If a lady drops her glove, a gentleman should pick it up... offer the glove to her and say: 'I think you dropped this!' The lady replies: 'Thank you.' The gentleman should then lift his hat and turn away." This is telling a man how to behave like a gentleman. One thing a gentleman doesn’t do is stop to figure out if the woman has a track record of being lady-like. Her lady-likeness has nothing to do with it. He behaves like a gentleman, not because she is a lady, but because he is a gentleman. We honor people, not because they are honorable, but because WE are honorable. We possess our vessel in honor. In other words, we get ourselves under control in order to live an honorable life, a life of honoring others because we are honorable. First Peter 2:17 says, “Honor all people.” How can we possibly do that when so many people are not worthy of honor? First of all, everyone is worthy of honor or the Bible wouldn’t say that. They are worthy of honor as people made in the image of God. They are worthy of honor because Jesus died for them. They are worthy of honor because God loves them. So the question isn’t “are they honorable?” The question is, are WE honorable? If we are, then honor flows through us to others. Back to the Ten Commandments. We are told to honor our father and mother. Sure, they were imperfect. Or you may say, “No Doug, my parents actually were perfect…a perfect mess.” The command remains the same, to honor them. And if you can’t motivate yourself to honor them, get this into your head. We don’t honor them because they are so honorable. We honor them because WE are honorable. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

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The Lord Is Nigh Unto All Them That Call Upon Him 3:46

hace 7 días3:46

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him…” Well…I’M calling upon Him! Are you? I am calling upon the Lord every day and this is great news! When I call upon Him, He is near to me. I want the Lord to ALWAYS be near to me because I need Him. I need His presence, His love, His light, His direction, His guidance. I want Him to lead me, to teach me, to mentor me. I want to hear Him say, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” I want Him near to me for more reasons than I can count, so with this in mind, I call upon Him, almost continuously. Looking back at Psalm 145:18, I didn’t give you the whole verse. Here is what the whole things says, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.” So that’s an extra layer, “in truth.” What does it mean to call upon the Lord “in truth”? Well…just be honest. Come to Him as you are. Tell Him all the truth. Don’t try to hide anything, and certainly don’t try to control your image when talking to God. This is calling upon Him in truth. It also means having true ideas about God. Often, we want to fashion God in our image, but if we want to call upon Him in truth, we have to have true thoughts about Him. He is the King. He is the Creator. He is Father God. He is the Lord of all. He is just and holy and righteous. He is also merciful and loving and kind. So, to call upon the Lord in truth, we have to have clear, true ideas about who we are, and about who He is. And the good news is, in spite of the giant gulf between us and Him, He invites us to call upon Him, and He says that when we do, He will be near to us. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Psalm 63:1 says, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land…” Psalm 42 says as the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after Thee. That’s me. Yes, as one of God’s redeemed, His Holy Spirit lives inside of me. I don’t need to cry out to heaven to get Him to come down. He is already here. He is already as near as He can be. The problem is me. As the old song says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.” So, when I call upon the Lord, I’m wanting to connect more closely with Him. I want to fully live out what He has already promised, which is Him abiding in me, and me abiding in Him. I do that by daily calling upon the Lord, and I’m so glad for this promise in Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.” May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
The Character of Caleb 5:32

hace 5 weeks5:32

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) The Character of Caleb. It’s easy to study the life of Caleb because there’s not that much about him in the Bible, but what IS there is very inspiring. He shows up in Numbers chapter 13 when God tells Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan. Moses has to pick one man from each tribe, and that man must be a leader. Different Bible translations use different words, like “chief” and “ruler” and “prince.” Whichever word you choose, the evidence is clear: Caleb was a chief man of the tribe of Judah. So, the 12 spies went into the land of Canaan and brought back a report to Moses. They all agreed that it was a bountiful land, but 10 of the 12 spies said they should NOT go into the land because it was well-defended, even by giants. This negative report spread fear throughout the people of Israel. But not Caleb. Numbers 13:30 says that Caleb “quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.’” This is the first time we have Caleb speaking in the Bible, and it is a bold and wonderful speech. He is loaded with faith and courage, like David was with Goliath. I was inspired, but the people of Israel were not. Their fear and lack of faith made them cry out against Joshua and Caleb. Then Numbers 14 says that Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in anguish and tried to speak to the people, saying things like, “the Lord is with us” and “if the Lord delights in us” and “do not rebel against the Lord.” But the Israelites were so afraid, they rebelled against God’s leadership, so God said this in Numbers 14, “because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” This is the Lord God Himself, calling Caleb by name! God knows everything. He knows our heart and our thoughts, and He said that Caleb followed Him fully, wholeheartedly. “Lord, I want to follow You wholeheartedly, with faith and courage and boldness like Caleb.” Then we skip ahead 40 long years, to Numbers chapter 34, and God is talking about the leaders who will lead Israel into the Promised Land. And who is the leader of the tribe of Judah? The same man from 40 years ago: Caleb. He’s first on the list! Now let’s jump over to Joshua chapter 14. The Promised Land was going to be divided among the tribes of Israel “by lot.” Basically, God was going to distribute the land among the tribes by a type of drawing or lottery. Except one man was exempted from the lottery. Caleb. You see, something very interesting happened right after they spied out the land. Caleb had received a promise from Moses. Moses told Caleb, “Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord.” So, on the day of distribution, Caleb reminded Joshua of that promise, and Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. In Joshua 14 we have more great words from the mouth of Caleb. He said, “The Lord has kept me alive these 45 years, and now here I am, 85 years old. I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent us out. Now therefore, give me this mountain.” Here is Caleb with that same strength and faith and courage at the age of 85 as when he was 40, still trusting in God and ready to go forward and take action. I am so inspired by the character of Caleb. He was a man of faith. He trusted God and His word. He had courage to obey God when it looked hard if not impossible. He followed God fully. He didn’t give up. He was a hard worker. He was still ready to work, even at 85. And God blessed him for his faith and courage and perseverance. “Lord, I want to follow You wholeheartedly, working hard with faith and courage and boldness like Caleb, even into my old age.” Amen. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
That Thou Givest Them They Gather 3:02

hace 7 weeks3:02

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) I heard an acrostic for the word “poor” and I can’t get it out of my mind. It said the letters P-O-O-R stand for Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. In other words, if you want to be poor, just keep passing up on the opportunities that come your way. Sometimes people are looking for provisions to be handed to them, but what is handed to them instead is an opportunity, and they miss it. I see people come to this fork in the road. A good opportunity comes their way, and they have a decision to make: take the opportunity or not? Many times, I see people pass over the opportunity, and then later they wonder why they are still stuck, or they are lacking what they need. Sometimes I see Christians crying out to God to provide for them, and then they wonder why He doesn’t…but what they didn’t see was that He gave them an opportunity. They were blind to the opportunity because they were only looking for provision to be handed to them. In Luke 12:24 Jesus says, “Consider the ravens.” He said God feeds the ravens, and we are more valuable to Him than ravens. But get this. He doesn’t drop the food in the raven’s mouth! The raven has to go out every day and GATHER his food. God gives him the opportunity to eat, but He doesn’t hand feed the birds. So if we are expecting God to hand feed us, we are missing the point. I like what Psalm 104 verse 28 says in the old King James, “That thou givest them they gather…” In other words, when God supplies it, they go and gather it up. Nehemiah knew this lesson when he was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 2:20 he said that God would grant them success, but guess what. They had to rise up and actually build the walls with their own hands. He was basically saying, “God will provide; therefore we will arise and build.” Yes, God says He will provide for us, but that usually means He is going to provide the opportunities for us rather than just handing it to us. So, if you don’t want to be poor, don’t Pass Over Opportunities Repeatedly. And remember our part in the equation found in Psalm 104 verse 28, “That thou givest them…THEY GATHER.” May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
A Servant, A Soldier, A Son 4:01

hace 11 weeks4:01

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) “For Thine is the kingdom.” That’s what it says near the end of The Lord’s Prayer. I pray through The Lord’s Prayer most days and when I come to this part I expound on it. “Lord, the kingdom is Yours. Everything belongs to You, and I belong to You in your kingdom.” A kingdom implies a king, and Revelation 19:16 says that Jesus is the King of Kings. Psalm 47 says God is the King of all the earth. He reigns over the nations and sits on His holy throne. Isaiah said, “My eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” And what was Isaiah’s response when He saw the King? It was great humility and repentance. He said, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Isaiah also responded with a great desire to serve the King. In Isaiah 6:8 he said, “Here am I! Send me.” This is a proper response to a king, an offer to serve. So that’s what I do when I come to “for Thine is the kingdom.” I say, “Lord, You are the king. I am your servant. I am here to serve as You wish. I’m at your beck and call. I want to do what is my duty to do.” So I am a servant of the King, but I am also a soldier of the King. Second Timothy 2:3-4 says, “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with civilian affairs, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” I am a soldier of the King. When I roll out of bed each morning I take a knee, point to heaven and say, “Reporting for duty, Sir.” One of the things I like about being a soldier is that I don’t have to come up with my own commands. A soldier doesn’t wake up and say, “What should I do for the army today?” No. He is a soldier under command. He does what he is told. A soldier also doesn’t have to worry about his provisions, his gear, his lodging, his health care, his training. That’s all provided as long as he is a soldier under command. So when I pray, “for Thine is the kingdom,” I’m praying, “Lord, I am Your servant and I am Your soldier.” But there’s more. I’m not just a servant and I’m not just a soldier. As a Christian I am also a son! I am a CHILD of the King! Galatians 4 says that Jesus came to redeem us so that we can be adopted as sons. We become sons and daughters of the King! It says we become heirs of the King through Christ. First John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” God is the King, and as believers we are the King’s Kids! So when I pray, “for Thine is the kingdom” at the end of the Lord’s prayer, I’m saying, “Lord, You are the King. It’s Your kingdom, and I am Your servant. I want to do all that is my duty to do. And I am a soldier under command. And I am a son, so happy to be a child of the King, and that You love me and provide for me and lead me, not just as a servant and not just as a soldier, but also as a son. Thank You, Father.” For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Making Crooked Places Straight and Rough Ways Smooth 3:44

hace 11 weeks3:44

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) I finally fixed our shower doors. I don’t know why I waited so long. At first they just started closing a little roughly. It finally got to where one of the doors wouldn’t move at all without making the loudest screech and feeling like it was going to fall off and shatter. But hey, you really only need one of the doors to work, so I still didn’t do anything. Finally one morning I woke up and thought, “I really need to fix those shower doors.” I bought new wheels that the doors hang on for basically pennies and within just a few minutes both doors were working like they were brand new. It was so satisfying to feel how smooth they operated. Why had I waited so long? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do think this is our calling in the world, to make things run more smoothly. I love this imagery in the book of Luke, chapter 3 verse 5, “…the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth.” I think this is what God does through His Holy Spirit inside of us. He begins His good work in us, straightening the crooked things and smoothing the rough things. A big word for this is sanctification. I just finished memorizing the book of First Thessalonians, and sanctification shows up repeatedly. It says, “for this is the will of God, your sanctification.” It says, “…may…God…sanctify you completely,” and then it says, “He will surely do it.” God sanctifies His people from the inside out. He takes our crooked places and makes them straight, and our rough ways and makes them smooth. And then we, in turn, have a sanctifying effect on everything around us. We go out into the world and we take crooked places and make them straight and we make rough ways smooth. Have you ever heard someone say this, “He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good”? I think that’s the opposite of the truth. The more heavenly minded someone is, the more earthly good they will be because of this sanctifying effect. A Christian who is truly connected to God is going to be improving the world all around him. Everyone should be happier when a godly person comes in and begins taking crooked places and making them straight and rough ways and making them smooth…because people like straight and smooth! My mom was a master seamstress. She could work wonders with needle and thread. Now we take it for granted today because of our store-bought, factory-made clothing, but have you ever tried to take two pieces of cloth and sew them together and make a nice, smooth seam? It’s much easier to make it bunchy than smooth and nice. And it’s easier in life to make things bunchy. We make our relationships bunchy. Our budget gets bunchy. Things get bunchy at work, at home, in the community, but there is good news. God wants to take bunchy things and make them straight! First, He does that inside of us as we submit to His leadership. And then, through us, He does this work in the world around us, using us to fulfill His plan to take crooked things and make them straight, and rough ways and make them smooth. And yes, I believe that includes fixing those shower doors. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
The Unlimited Supply 4:33

hace 30 weeks4:33

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You can read the whole text here: https://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) Are you keeping your eyes on aging family members and calculating what you will get when they die? Are you ready to fight with other people to get what you think should be yours? Why are you doing that? So many family divisions have happened over stuff. People value the money and the things more than they value the family relationships. It’s greed. It’s a lack of faith. It’s storing up treasures in the wrong place. It’s putting stuff before people, which is ultimately putting stuff before God. In Matthew 19 we read about the rich young ruler. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me,” but the rich young ruler chose not to follow Jesus. Why? Matthew 19:22 says it was because “he had great possessions.” It makes me wonder, “How great were they, really? Great enough to literally turn your back on Jesus so you could focus on your stuff?” You know, it wasn’t long until that man died and then what happened to all his stuff? Did his kids fight over it? Or maybe he didn’t have any kids because having kids would have taken away from his wealth. Now I’m thinking of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. He had no children, and when he died, the servants came in laughing and grabbing the spoils, not even caring that he was dead. In Luke 12 we read about brothers who were in a big fight over their inheritance. It was so divisive that one of them came and presented his case to Jesus. I don’t know what he thought Jesus was going to say, but Jesus certainly didn’t give him the answer he wanted. In Luke 12:15 we read what Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then he told the parable of the rich fool who horded up stuff for himself, only to die and someone else got it. God called the man a fool, and Jesus said that’s what everyone is who “lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” In the very next verse Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?” Jesus concluded by saying that our heavenly Father knows what we need, and that when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be provided. God has an unlimited supply! Pastor Adrian Rogers said, “Which would you rather have, a storehouse full of bread, or a Father who is a really prolific baker?” Our Father is a prolific baker! He will provide for us daily as we seek Him first. And seeking Him first means loving people. That means putting people before stuff. It means putting our family relationships ahead of the family spoils. Let them have the stuff! What are you going to do without? God says that as we seek Him, we will NOT go without anything that we need. When we realize that God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, we can relax! We can let the other guy have some! We can let the rest of the family have the spoils without us blowing up the family just to get our share. God is our provider, and that sets us free to love others and let them have the stuff instead of fighting them for it. So if you have your eyes fixed on those aging family members and the potential riches you might grab onto, stop it. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Set your eyes on things above, not on things on the earth. We don’t have to scratch and claw and bite and fight with the family. We love them! And then we trust in God to supply what we need, and the great news is… He has an unlimited supply! May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Disappointed With God 6:36

hace 39 weeks6:36

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Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) “I’ve spent a good portion of my life disappointed with God.” That’s what he said, and it got me thinking. Am I disappointed with God? Have I been disappointed with God? Was I ever disappointed with God? I can’t think of a time when I was ever disappointed with God. Oh sure, there have been a thousand times when things didn’t go the way I wanted them to go, but that didn’t make me disappointed with God. Why not? I guess it is because I always just figured that if things didn’t go the way I expected, it’s because I didn’t really know how things are supposed to work. For example, there was the time as a baby Christian when I concluded that I didn’t have to lock up my bicycle anymore because God was going to protect me from theft. Then I came home one day and found that my bicycle was gone! Of course, I was disappointed, but I wasn’t disappointed with God. I was just disappointed with the situation. I thought things worked in a way that they actually don’t work. I just recalibrated my thinking and moved forward in my walk with God. A more serious example is when I was a Christian radio DJ, on the air daily, playing Christian music and ministry live on the radio, taking requests, talking to people, encouraging people in the faith, etc. I also had a wife at home, and an increasing number of mouths to feed. And being a little Christian radio DJ is not a great way to provide for a big family. There’s an old joke in the radio industry: what do a DJ and a large pizza have in common? They can aaaaaaalmost feed a family of four. I was praying things like, “God, I believe You have called me to this radio station, and yet I’m not making enough money. I thought You were going to provide for my needs as I do Your will.” Meanwhile, the owner of the station wanted me to get into advertising sales to help support both the station and myself. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to focus on the on-air ministry as a live DJ. Yes, that led to some frustrating days where I was expecting God to provide more money, meanwhile I was turning down my boss’s encouragement to get into sales. Then I finally realized, “Well, I guess this isn’t how this is going to work. God isn’t going to suddenly drop in money from heaven. But meanwhile, I do have this opportunity.” So in the summer of 1992, with our fourth child on the way, I went off the air as a live DJ and began working in sales. And that turned out to be a positive change in every way, for that whole ministry as well as for my family. Disappointment with God never took root in me. I just figured, hey, that’s not how this works. Let’s move on. And I would say, yes, God provided. I saw it over and over. But He provided through open doors and opportunities that came our way over and over and over again, thank You, God! Have you ever been learning something new, and it was frustrating, and at times you wanted to quit? I remember when I was first learning graphic design, using a computer program called CorelDraw. I didn’t go to school for this. I was already raising my own family, but the opportunity came. I suddenly found myself editing a small newspaper, and I didn’t know what I was doing! I was sitting at Kinko’s in Carbondale, Illinois late one night, because they had a computer with CorelDraw on it, and I had to get this newspaper edited before the deadline. There was a certain ad that I needed to change, but I couldn’t change it. Every time I clicked it, the whole thing highlighted and moved, but I couldn’t click just the text to change it. I was going out of my mind! It was late at night. There was no Google to ask. The Kinko’s worker didn’t know anything about it. Back then you couldn’t even right click for a context menu. Plus I was so tired by then. Finally. FINALLY I realized that the text inside the ad had been GROUPED TOGETHER. I had never heard of things being grouped together. I didn’t know you could group things together. Did I become disappointed with the CorelDraw corporation? No. I was just frustrated because I didn’t know how it was supposed to work. And I think that is how people end up feeling disappointed with God. It’s not that God is disappointing. It’s that we don’t know how it’s supposed to work, so we burden our relationship with God with all these expectations, and then when our expectations aren’t met, we feel disappointed with God. Some people walk away from God altogether for this. What if I would have walked away from graphic design just because I didn’t know about grouping? That would have been dumb, right? When things don’t work the way we expect, we don’t quit. We figure out how they are supposed to work! The same is true in our walk with God. Of course it’s hard to figure out. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” In Job 11 it says, “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven…their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.” Psalm 147 says God’s understanding is infinite! If we don’t even know how everything works in our favorite computer app, what makes us think we understand the workings of the infinite God? There’s no room for disappointment. We don’t get disappointed. We just realize, “Hey, I guess that’s not how this thing works. God, please teach me and show me and lead me. Your ways are higher than my ways, so I put my faith and hope and trust in You. Please help me to hear and to follow You every step of the way for the rest of my days…in Jesus’ name…” Amen. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
I Will Walk at Liberty for I Seek Thy Precepts 4:24

hace 47 weeks4:24

4:24

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) How can you have more freedom by living with more restrictions? It sounds counterintuitive. It sounds like nonsense. We want to be free to do whatever we want, whenever we want. The more limits, the less freedom, right? It’s a one-to-one ratio. Yet we find a different concept in the Bible. Psalm 119:45 says, “I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts.” The precepts are God’s commands, His laws, His principles, His boundaries, His guidelines. It’s God’s blueprint for how to live. It says we can have liberty and freedom as we seek to live within His boundaries. But there is something inside of us that doesn’t want boundaries. Tell a man not to cross a line and some part of him is itching to do it. And God lets us cross the line. We have the free will to crisscross His boundaries all day long. But there are consequences for crossing God’s boundaries, and one of the big ones is: less freedom. “No, Doug. That sounds like MORE freedom.” I know that’s what it looks like. I’m trying to live within God’s boundaries, and let’s say someone else isn’t. They can do things I won’t do. They can say things I won’t say. They can ingest things I won’t ingest, watch things I won’t watch, listen to things I won’t listen to, do things with their body I won’t do. They sound way more free than I do, right? And that’s what makes this Bible verse sound absurd, “I will walk at liberty for I seek Thy precepts.” Now let’s look at what Jesus said in John chapter eight. In verse 34 He said that whoever sins is a slave of sin. Sin is anything outside God’s boundaries. We are all free to exercise our freedom INSIDE God’s boundaries, but as soon as we step OUTSIDE of His boundaries we are now in a territory called sin. And Jesus said that whoever steps into that territory of sin becomes a slave of sin. And being a slave is the opposite of being free. That’s why Psalm 119:45 says, “I will walk at liberty for I seek Thy precepts.” When we seek His precepts, we are seeking to know God’s boundaries. Where are the lines? I want to know where the lines are so I can stay in freedom and out of sin so I don’t become a slave of sin. Now when we think of slavery, we think of being forced to do things we don’t want to do. Sin, on the other hand, is often what we DO want to do, so how is that slavery? It’s slavery because listen: sin always traps you in circumstances you don’t want to be in. I’ll say it again. Sin always traps you in circumstances you don’t want to be in. That’s the slavery. So yeah, you might think of a sin and how much you want to do it. That’s called temptation. It’s the treat inside the trap. It’s the bait hiding the hook. God said don’t do it, but you WANT to do it, and you want to be free to do it, and God seems like a killjoy when He says, “Don’t.” You can go ahead and do it, but if you sin, you’re going to find that there’s always WAY more to it than the thrill on the surface. Sin ALWAYS traps you in circumstances you don’t want to be in. That’s why God gives us boundaries. He wants us to be free, and His words help us to live free. Psalm 119:103 says, “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Verse 44 says, “So shall I keep Thy law continually for ever and ever.” And verse 45 says, “And I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts.” May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Be the Big Stroller Wheel 3:18

hace 49 weeks3:18

3:18

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) Yay, it’s time to go to the festival! Thankfully you have an umbrella stroller for the baby. Just unfold it, strap him in, and off you go. Watch out for rocks, though. And uneven sidewalks. And sticks. In fact, just watch out for everything, because the wheels on an umbrella stroller are so janky that even a pebble can potentially block the wheel. On the other end of the stroller spectrum is the jogging stroller. You can actually run with a jogging stroller and its big wheels will easily roll over all the little obstacles, giving baby a smooth ride. This is a good illustration for life, because as you know, life is full of little obstacles that can stop you in your tracks. But listen: they don’t have to. You can approach life as a little janky hard plastic stroller wheel, or you can approach life as a big shock absorbing jogging stroller wheel. When little hard wheels hit an obstacle there is a noticeable lurch. It can even stop you in your tracks. And that’s how some people are with little offenses. They take the hit. It stops them in their tracks. It gets them off course. They get upset. They get angry. How dare you! But some people have learned how to be the big stroller wheel. When little offenses come their way, they roll right over them, hardly even noticing. There is no lurch. They aren’t stopped in their tracks. They don’t get knocked off course. They don’t get upset. They don’t angry. They don’t scream, “How dare you!” They just keep going because, like a big stroller wheel, they had the ability to glide right over all the little offenses. You can tell the little stroller wheels because they are prickly about everything. All the little offenses stop them. And they have to stop and talk about them, over and over. “I’ll never forget what so and so did to me.” It’s so much better to be the big stroller wheel and just roll past offenses. You have things to do, places to go, missions to accomplish. You can’t be stopped by every little offense, so like a big stroller wheel, just smoothly roll right over them. Proverbs 19:11 says a wise man is slow to anger and overlooks offenses. That’s the big stroller wheel! It just rolls over offenses and keeps going. If you want to make your life so much better, get rid of the umbrella stroller attitude. Stop getting hung up on every little offense. It’s not worth it, and babies get dumped in the process. Instead, be the big stroller wheel. Be the wise person from Proverbs 19:11 who knows when to overlook an offense and just keep rolling. You’ll get farther. You’ll go faster. And no babies will be harmed in the process. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
The Construction Principles of the Carpenter 4:24

hace 50 weeks4:24

4:24

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) “The bathtub has arrived!” A huge man waddles in carrying a heavy bathtub. It’s a new house. The walls are up. The smell of sawdust is in the air. And it’s time to install the bathtub. The man sets it down in the only place it can go, touching the walls on three sides. Then he looks down the drain and says, “Uh oh.” Uh oh. That is something you never want to hear. You don’t want to hear it from your dentist. You don’t want to hear it from your potty-training toddler. And you sure don’t want to hear it from your plumber. What happened was, he set the bathtub down, looked down the drain hole, and what did he see? He should have seen nothing but a black hole, but instead he saw the floor. No hole. No drain. What he didn’t know was that a few weeks earlier, when his assistant was installing the tub drain pipe, he didn’t follow the blueprint. He installed the drain where he THOUGHT it should go. He followed his gut, not the blueprint. That’s a disaster, right? But we do that daily with the blueprint of life. What is the blueprint of life? Jesus talks about the blueprint of life at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven. He actually gives us a construction analogy. He said, “Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house…” There’s your construction analogy. He compares building our life to building a house. And he compares His teachings to the house’s blueprint. A blueprint tells you how to build a house, and God’s word tells you how to build your life. A blueprint is drawn up by an architect. The architect is the designer. In life we have an architect with a capital A. It’s the Lord God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. And we have a blueprint with a capital B. It’s the Word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible. But we often don’t treat the Bible like a blueprint. We treat it like an optional book of wisdom that we don’t really have to pay all that much attention to. And we pay a price for it. To the degree that we follow God’s blueprint is the degree to which we build our life well. And to the degree that we don’t follow God’s blueprint is the degree to which we build our life poorly. A good architect thinks of all the details ahead of time. He fits everything together perfectly, but the builder has to follow the blueprint or things WON’T fit together perfectly. In fact, if the builder messes up just a few things, that building project will become a royal disaster very quickly. The same is true for our life. If we follow God’s Word fairly well, but we decide that we know better in just a few things, it’s not going to work. Some people say, “Oh, I don’t want to be all LEGALISTIC.” But imagine this. You’re spending a half a million dollars to build your new dream home, and your architect has cooked up a beautiful blueprint. Do you want the builder to be legalistic about following your blueprint? Of course you do! This is your home and you want it done right. And when it comes to our life, don’t we want to build well? Don’t we want a good life that is solid and holds up under the pressure of the elements? Jesus told us how to do that. “Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” We can build our life well if we build according to the Blueprint with a capital B, drawn up by the Architect with a capital A. And this is what I call The Construction Principles of the Carpenter. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Take Heed How You Hear 3:54

hace 51 weeks3:54

3:54

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) Jesus said something that sounds almost cruel. He said, “Whoever has, to him more will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” That sounds like the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. So let’s look at this verse more closely. It’s Luke 8:18 and it says, “Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” This can be a hard verse to understand, but the key is in the beginning when Jesus said, “Take heed how you hear.” The words “take heed” are a warning. It’s saying watch out, be careful how you listen. Are you being careful how you listen? You can’t just open up your brain and dump everything in! You have to listen with an ear toward wisdom. Proverbs 2:2 says, “incline your ear to wisdom.” The NIV says: tune your ear to wisdom. On your radio you “tune in” to a radio station. When listening we need to tune in for wisdom and truth. Be careful how you listen. Take heed how you hear. So what did Jesus mean when He said, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him”? It all starts with this tiny bit of wisdom to listen carefully. You have to be smart enough to know that not everything is true. Not everything is wise. Not everything is godly. Not everything is helpful. You have to be smart enough to know that some things you shouldn’t listen to at all. There is poison. There are lies. There is foolishness. There is evil. You have to be careful how you hear. If you start there, then when you listen you will be tuning in for wisdom and truth. And when you tune in to hear wisdom and truth specifically, you will hear it! This is what Jesus meant when He said, “To him who has, more will be given.” When you listen for wisdom and truth, you will hear it, and you will learn, and you will grow. More will be given to you. And the wiser you grow, the more wise you will be in discerning what you hear. It has an exponential effect. But what about the poor guy who apparently doesn’t have anything, and even what he seems to have is taken away from him? That’s the guy who DOESN’T take heed how he hears. He isn’t careful about what he listens to. He listens to any old thing and lets it take root in his brain. It can SEEM like he has wisdom and truth because he has a lot of DATA. But if he isn’t careful about it, he is letting in a host of foolishness and ignorance and even lies. Steve Taylor wrote a song that said, “He’s so open minded that his brains leaked out.” If he keeps letting all this in, eventually even what wisdom he SEEMED to have will be gone. Any wisdom he seemed to have will be washed away in a flood of information. Proverbs 1:5 says a wise man will hear and increase learning. The only way that happens is if you listen with a discerning ear. If you are careful about what you listen to. If you take heed how you hear. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Food Glorious Food 3:48

hace 1 year3:48

3:48

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) I was talking to an evolutionist, the kind that believes that everything evolved from nothing after a big bang. I said, “Just look at food, for example. You think it just evolved on this big rock hurtling through space after a big bang?” “Well, it took billions of years,” he said. “Always with the billions of years,” I said. “Incredible complexity rising from simplicity after starting with nothing, just given enough zeros on the calendar.” I said, “Look at this banana.” “I’m looking,” he said. “Look at this astounding bright yellow color. It’s magnificent! It’s beautiful to the eyes! I’m so glad it evolved into something beautiful.” But wait. There’s more! When you pick up a banana, it’s smooth to the touch. When you peel a banana, it’s ready to eat! No special preparations needed. And when you eat a banana, it tastes good! You’re saying that by some miracle of evolution a banana evolved so that when we eat it, it tastes good? Okay, not everyone likes bananas, but get this. Bananas are the biggest selling item at Walmart. Let that sink in. So they taste good, but here’s where it really gets deep. Bananas are good for you! I’ve read that bananas have actually helped keep much of the world alive. To say something is “good for you” sounds trite, but look at what it takes for something to be good for you. It takes a miracle! You can eat this thing, your body receives it gladly, it goes into your stomach, your stomach perfectly knows how to handle it, and your body turns it into all the vital things that bananas provide for us. So you would have to say that the human body evolved perfectly to have eyes to see an attractive banana, have hands to get that banana, have taste buds to enjoy that banana, a stomach to digest that banana, and then at the micro level all the things the body does after that at an increasingly smaller level to keep us alive and well. And that’s just the banana. We could talk about apples and oranges (by the way, Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined, just sayin’). We could talk about potatoes and peanuts and on and on and on. We live in a world exploding with food glorious food! If you don’t like this or that, there’s plenty more! All this bounty and no one to thank…except the processes of evolution times billions of years. I don’t think so. I want to give credit where credit is due. I thank our Creator God for His abundant creation, so astounding in every little detail: food that looks good and tastes good and is good for us. And our bodies that know what to do with it. So yes, I bow my head to pray before a meal. I do it at home, and I do it in public. I’m just so thankful, and so impressed and amazed at how it all works together, and God did it! Isn’t He wonderful? He gave us food glorious food! Thank You, Heavenly Father, for Your wonderful work in creating food for us to enjoy. Amen. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
The Highway of Holiness 4:31

hace 1 year4:31

4:31

Read the blog here: http://dougapple.blogspot.com/ +++++++ I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire. (Luke 24:32) A highway is a road built up to make travel easier. That’s what the footnote in my Bible says under Isaiah chapter 35 verse 8. That verse is talking about a highway, so the footnote tells us what a highway is. It’s a road built up to make travel easier. You aren’t going through the mud on a highway. You aren’t going through the briars and the thorns. My grandma called it “the thicket.” A highway makes travel easy. It’s a piece of cake traveling on a highway, so smooth and level and wide. It’s a pleasure. It’s a joy! On the other hand, traveling OFF the highway is NOT smooth. It IS muddy. There ARE thorns and thickets. You have to slow down and stop and keep getting your bearings. “Where am I now?” You ask that question a lot when you get off the “hard road” as Grandma called it. “Where am I?” So a highway is a road built up to make travel easier, and Isaiah 35:8 is talking about a highway. This highway has a name. It’s called The Way of Holiness. Sometimes we get weird with this word “holy” and “holiness,” but it’s not weird at all. It’s a road built up to make travel easier. What??? That doesn’t sound very doctrinal and theological. Well what is holiness? It’s a purity, a moral purity in the presence of God. We get weird about the word purity, too, but put it in the highway context. Do you want your highway to be pure, to be as free as possible from bumps and cracks and potholes? We want the highway department to make the highway as smooth as possible. Well on the highway of life, it is holiness, it is purity that makes the road as smooth as possible. If you want to travel fast and light, the Highway of Holiness is the way to go. Isaiah 35:8 says that the unclean, the evil-minded will not travel on the way of holiness. Of course they won’t, and they suffer for it. To the degree that you are not living a holy life, that is the degree to which you are driving off the road. No wonder it’s bumpy and scratchy and leaves you wondering, “Where am I?” You’re off the road. Traveling on the Highway of Holiness means living within God’s parameters. Highways have boundaries. When you drive within the boundaries, it’s a smooth ride. When you think, “I’ll be free! I’ll drive wherever I please!” you’re asking for a really bad ride. And if you’re paying attention, you see that it’s true. Sin brings bumps in the road. Big sins bring big bumps in the road. Living a life of sin is just full of obstacles. It’s not a highway at all, or even a road. It’s like driving into a thicket and thinking you’re going somewhere. You aren’t. My grandma is looking at your car in the thicket and asking, “What are you doing?” The highway is a road built up to make travel easier. Isaiah 35:8 talks about the Highway of Holiness, and when we steer our life within God’s holy boundaries, wonderful things happen. Isaiah says there are no lions or ravenous beasts on that highway. It’s a smooth and clear path for the redeemed. On the Highway of Holiness there is singing and everlasting joy! Sorrow and mourning will flee away, and the people will be filled with joy and gladness. How can that be? Because the Creator, God the Father Himself, is ever present on the Highway of Holiness! He is there, full of life and love and joy and peace. His mercy is forever. He loves us and has created a highway for us to live on, a highway that’s built up to make travel easier. It’s the Highway of Holiness, and when we live within its boundaries, we will find that traveling through this life has never been better. Amen. May God bless you today. I’m Doug Apple.…

My Heart Is On Fire by Doug Apple - a short Christian devotional to open the Scriptures and make your heart burn within you!

1
Why Is Home Depot on Lockdown? 6:14

hace 1 year6:14