reminders of His total sovereign reign over everyone and everything.  When I have EASY circumstances I am not so desperate to be reminded throughout my day, about the sovereignty of Jesus.  I don’t really need a SovereignShepherdJesus, when I have easy circumstances.  “I can handle this.”  Easy has NEVER done anything for my Jesus-dependency. When…

the world around me as Your world, Jesus, because it seems like OUR world — the world of us humans, where things are up to US, and in particular, the world of DAVE, where things are UP TO ME, to make good decisions, avoid regret, or worse — humiliation.  Constant pressure.  Except when Your Spirit…

where I’m a spectator — an enjoyer of everyone just as we are and everything just as it is, not a gladiator like I am in Dave’s world — with the pressure to be better, do better, believe better, achieve, make a difference, establish my own worthiness, feel superior to others.  When I’m living in…

cluelessness-I-know-what’s-best, another way of describing dependency on You instead of me, that comes from fresh conviction of sin — especially the sin of INdependence.  Thank You that fresh conviction enables me to CONFESS and be freshly dead to my flesh and its confidence-it-knows-what’s-best.  Ahhh. — Dave McCarty, GospelFriendships, whose biggest need every day all day,…

Why?  I want others to believe I’m wonderful and DAVE wants to believe it too.  But I’m coming to see that it’s not what I DO that reveals how wonderful or horrible I am, but rather what I THINK.  And nobody knows that but Dave.  And Jesus.  Truth is, I’m NOT a wonderful person.  Oh…

is to EXPOSE my unbelief to me, especially my unbelief in His sovereign reign over every detail of every life.  EXPOSE my INdependency to me — my feeling ALONE, UP TO DAVE.  Ahhhh, so relieving to CONFESS my unbelief.  The pressure I was feeling EVAPORATES.  Jack Miller once told his wife Rose Marie that the…

As I compare myself to others, they seem to have easier lives.  They can eat whatever they want, go wherever they want, breath whatever they want, sleep soundly through the night, don’t need to do all the extracurricular health regimens I need to do, and they feel normal all the time.  They don’t experience the…

I’m shocked.  I just never saw it previously.  I should change my email address to pettydave@sent.com.  I am consumed with petty issues/concerns all day long, every day, especially when I’m all alone, with no audio input, just silence.  Or out in public by myself, observing others.  Jesus has been EXPOSING my flesh to me.  My…

only bothers, irritates, discourages me, when I’m proud/confident-I-know-what’s-best/INdependent/worldly.  Understanding-idolatry has been a human problem, and an unconfessed sin, since the Garden.  My flesh HATES me not understanding Scripture perfectly, HATES me feeling less-than, inadequate, weak, needy, and LOVES me feeling strong, confident, LOVES easy, HATES harrrd, LOVES when I get my way, reach my goal,…

Helps me so much to be reminded that I’m not alone, that Jesus is living His life through me, in total control of every detail, so I can relax and be curious/expectant to see what He does NEXT, in me, others, circumstances.  Ahhh.  Pressure’s off.  But I can’t seem to graduate from needing to be…