“Pressure will make water run up a hill” while playing basketball as I was younger one of the guys we played with always said this. As he played solid defense on the man he was guarding. When you put pressure on something it will either stand or break! 
In plumbing you want to always make sure your connections are tight before water is released through those pipes. Otherwise they will leak. In the same token when we are under great pressure from life’s difficulties we will either stay strong or break. If we are connected to the source JESUS we can maintain under the pressure. 
There are times when I take a shower at the gym and they turn the water pressure down so that the showers will flow weaker. I can’t stand taking a shower with little water pressure. Pressure can be good depending on how we use it. We are told in 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 
He cares for us so we must throw the pressures of life on him. Mark 4:19 “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” We can get so caught up in the things of this world that we lose sight of the word of God. The pressures of life is not a good type of pressure to be under. As we cast all our cares on him he will take the load and carry it for us. We were not made to carry heavy burdens. God never designed us as pack mules. 
Pack mules carry a load without a lot of swaying and lunging. They are designed for carrying weight upon their backs. When you want to pull a heavy load you would get two mules and use a yoke to join them together. The yoke allows the mules to work together using one another’s strength. When we are under pressure in life it may be that we are yoked to the wrong thing. Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 
The only way to find rest for our weary souls is to stay connected to the Father. He said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” if the pressures of life are weighting you down consider where you are yoked. His way is easy! 
Pressure is to heavy, you are carrying a burden that is not yours!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

Sitting in Paradise Bakery working on my sermon for Sunday and waiting for a friend to join me. I began reading about Elijah and how GOD sent ravens to feed him twice a day. Upon further study about ravens I discovered that ravens are scavengers. They will eat whatever they can whether bread or flesh. They would never bring food to a person. Ravens like all other creatures in creation are subject to God’s direction. Man is the only creature who is not subject to the will of God. We are free moral beings and as such have the choice as whether we will follow God’s direction. Because the ravens were subject to God Elijah was provided for during the famine. This story reminds us that as we trust God he will meet our need during famine in our life. God is faithful irregardless of what people do. I must trust him for all my needs to be met. That does not mean I shouldn’t do my part and follow his direction. 
I started praying daily, “God provide me the contacts, direct my path to whom I should call on in my business and I will do the work.” I discovered he will do as we ask when we are obedient to his word. When we read in Matthew 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” 
The reason God provides for the fowls because they are obedient to his direction. As we ask God for direction he will provide it for us. Being self-employed and pastoring a church are two daunting tasks, but as I seek the Direction of God I will go where he sends me. 
Each day is an adventure! My wife will often ask me in the mornings, “do you have a busy day today?” There are so many times I don’t know how to answer her as I start out not knowing what’s ahead. At the end of the day I am tried as I’ve been led by God to go different places. 
Psalm 37:23-25 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” 
As God is our help he will not fail us in times of need. Psalm says, “The righteous will not be forsaken.” if God said it in his word it will happen even if he has to use a raven. When I think of the raven I’m reminded of the Edgar Allan Poe’s poem I read in high school. 
“And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; 
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, 
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; 
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted- never more.”
My thoughts of a raven was never that of one being used by God to provide. Yet God will use what we least expect to provide our need. Today look for God’s provision, he may use a raven if he has to.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

This past week I had some dead spots in my lawn in my back yard. I went down to the local Home Depot and purchased some seed with fertilizer all in one. I put the seed out in the back yard and began to water it for long periods of time. As I sat watching the water soak into the ground I was reminded of how much we too need to be watered by the word of God. The more we eat the word the more we grow. As with grass if you continue to water it on a daily basis it will grow more and more. In the winter time I never plant winter rye grass so I turn the water off and my lawn goes completely brown. But as soon as it starts to warm up and I turn the water on my lawn it comes back to life. When we stay away from fellowship with the saints through church, or stop studying the word, and stop praying we are like that lawn, we die without nourishment. We are surrounded by negative things daily so we need the fellowship of the saints to encourage us, hearing the word, and worshipping of our Savior each week.
I am self employed and as such if I don’t get out and make contacts I will not grow my business. But when I work the business it starts to grow and support my family. I have discovered the old saying, “a man that won’t work, won’t eat.” Since I like eating I must work. The same can be said of our seeking the Savior. When we seek him we will find him. Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” 
If I want God’s direction he will provide it.The dead areas of my lawn will not grow back without some help. So as I make the effort to tend to my lawn it grows stronger and greener and appears healthy. In a relationship with a spouse or friend or what have you, if you don’t spend time with that person the relationship will die. I often counsel couples in marriage and the thing I point out to them, if you don’t have any fire in your marriage it’s your fault. You must continue to stoke the flames of your marriage to make it exciting. So many times when we get married we discontinue what made it special. Going out on dates, buying little gifts for each other for no other reason than love. These things become something of the past. If my relationship with God has grown stale it’s not his fault it’s mine. I must continue to grow in my love for him. 
God has never left us he is always there we must draw close to him and he draw near to us. Today as we embark upon Spring plant some new seeds, fertilize them, then water them and they will grow in your life!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

What do you do at times when you pray and God seems so far away? It seems your prayers don’t seem to make a difference. Matthew 21:22 “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” and Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Those times when we feel far away from him we must believe his word and stand on it no matter what. I’m reminded of all the instances God has brought me out of. Some of the worst situations in my life. In my flesh I my feel weary at times that’s why I cannot live in my flesh I must let my spirit man be in control. It’s hard to believe when you can’t possibly see a solution to your problems, but believe we must! Jesus told Thomas and the rest of his disciples in John 20:29 “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
It’s easy too believe when you see how things will work out. He is talking about us when he says, “blessed are they,” 
So when things aren’t working out the way we think and life is just hard, that is when we press in and stay connected to the source. As a pastor I constantly must stay connected to the source as people can and will let you down. I was talking with a couple of my contemporaries who like me started from nothing with their churches and I discovered we all must trust completely in God and not in ourselves or anyone else. As a child I read the scripture “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” 
As an adult I have had to believe this on many occasions when I can’t get something done I have to believe I can do all things through Christ and not myself. I have been challenged as never before in maintaining our life in today’s economy. I have had to realize things have significantly changed. Our nation, our church, our lifestyle and everything that we have held onto in the past. 
Even in this economy with gas prices continuing to soar and our incomes lessening I must as Mark 11:24 says, I must pray, then believe that I will receive”. God will do what he says. He never lies so we must trust his word. If I could encourage you with on thing today, that would be no matter how the situation looks hold on to his word. That is the rock we must stand firm on. Be blessed today!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

A few weeks ago I wrote about patience and the problem with the department of motor vehicle, another place that will test your patience is a car dealership. I hate going to buy a car because of the games they play with you. Fortunately I didn’t have to go through the entire procedure. I didn’t like their deal so I left and decided not to trade my car in. 
I love playing the game of golf. It’s a game that can be real frustrating as it is more mental than physical. For those of you who don’t get golf, you must hit the ball to try and score with as low a score as possible. It is very challenging as you are mainly competing with your own self to improve your game. I, like many others over think how I’m going to play a hole and will at times take my eye off the ball and mis-hit it either by side swiping or hitting the ground before the ball. This causes the flight of the ball to arc in the wrong direction, which can add strokes to your game. A perfect swing results in excellent placement of the ball on a hole which can lead to a very favorable outcome.  
I learned to play golf from my dad who tried teaching me as a teenager. However I lacked the patience to learn the game from him. As I’ve grown older I try to remember the lessons he taught me and apply them to my game as well as life. My dad was tough as a teacher he would lose his cool when I made a mistake but wanted the best for me. It took me many years to understand that my dad loved me very much but his communication skills we’re limited. In golf as in life we set out to reach the goal of making it to the hole with as little distractions as possible. Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” 
To the point about patience, it is a race we must continue to run and not grow weary. In life, ministry, jobs, school or what have you there are times we grow weary and want to drop out of the race. I feel like that at times when I’m playing golf when I hit a bad shot, I just want to quit! Yet I continue and often times I will correct what I’m doing. This is true of life. We think this is taking way to long! But as we allow God to work whatever he needs to work out of us through patience we finally make it. God never gives up on us, so we must never give up the fight. 
That scripture says, “Seeing we are surrounded with so many witnesses,” people are watching how we handle situations. Are we Christ-like in our behavior? He goes on to say, “Let us lay aside every weight and sin”, which derails us from our destiny. Patience is not fun! But it is necessary for the journey we are on. To play golf you must develop patience in your game or frustration will set in. I love playing and fellow shipping with my brothers every week we play together. It’s a joy I look forward to each week. Today as you travel to work or wherever you are headed enjoy the journey, don’t get sidetracked by distractions. Be patient in traffic and praise God! This is the day that the Lord has made!

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

2 Peter 1:6 “and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, “(ESV)
Last week my girls were home from school on spring break when my nine year old decided she wanted some bacon. She has been learning to cook from her mom. She thought not only would she cook a few pieces for herself but she would also cook some for her older sister who is almost thirteen. After eating her own three pieces she saw the other pieces sitting there and she thought, “it’s just getting cold I may as well polish them off.” When I arrived home my older daughter was complaining that there no bacon cooked for her. I asked my younger daughter how many pieces she had eaten and she replied, five. To my reply, “You can no longer cook if your mother or I are not around.” 
Self control is very difficult for a nine year old.  It’s equally hard for an adult if we live in our flesh. The word of God tells us we need knowledge of the word to control our flesh with steadfastness or Endurance. The more we practice staying away from certain things it helps to build will power. How many of us (I’m speaking of me) love foods that are not good for us? Donuts for instance are a real favorite for me, especially some “Crispy Cremes” my God! The problem for me is I can’t eat one and be satisfied, I can eat an entire dozen. So I must stay away from foods such as this. After a while the effects of not eating such a food I lose my desire for them. Now that doesn’t mean I cannot go back to eating them because I can! Of course we all know what happens, our obsession with such things becomes uncontrollable. 

I read a story in the New York Times regarding an experiment they conducted with some children.  In the late nineteen-sixties, Carolyn Weisz, a four-year-old with long brown hair, was invited into a “game room” at the Bing Nursery School, on the campus of Stanford University. The room was little more than a large closet, containing a desk and a chair. Carolyn was asked to sit down in the chair and pick a treat from a tray of marshmallows, cookies, and pretzel sticks. Carolyn chose the marshmallow. Although she’s now forty-four, Carolyn still has a weakness for those air-puffed balls of corn syrup and gelatine. “I know I shouldn’t like them,” she says. “But they’re just so delicious!” A researcher then made Carolyn an offer: she could either eat one marshmallow right away or, if she was willing to wait while he stepped out for a few minutes, she could have two marshmallows when he returned. He said that if she rang a bell on the desk while he was away he would come running back, and she could eat one marshmallow but would forfeit the second. Then he left the room.
Although Carolyn has no direct memory of the experiment, and the scientists would not release any information about the subjects, she strongly suspects that she was able to delay gratification. “I’ve always been really good at waiting,” Carolyn told me. “If you give me a challenge or a task, then I’m going to find a way to do it, even if it means not eating my favorite food.” Her mother, Karen Sortino, is still more certain: “Even as a young kid, Carolyn was very patient. I’m sure she would have waited.” But her brother Craig, who also took part in the experiment, displayed less fortitude. Craig, a year older than Carolyn, still remembers the torment of trying to wait. “At a certain point, it must have occurred to me that I was all by myself,” he recalls. “And so I just started taking all the candy.” According to Craig, he was also tested with little plastic toys—he could have a second one if he held out—and he broke into the desk, where he figured there would be additional toys. “I took everything I could,” he says. “I cleaned them out. After that, I noticed the teachers encouraged me to not go into the experiment room anymore.”
Footage of these experiments, which were conducted over several years, is poignant, as the kids struggle to delay gratification for just a little bit longer. Some cover their eyes with their hands or turn around so that they can’t see the tray. Others start kicking the desk, or tug on their pigtails, or stroke the marshmallow as if it were a tiny stuffed animal. One child, a boy with neatly parted hair, looks carefully around the room to make sure that nobody can see him. Then he picks up an Oreo, delicately twists it apart, and licks off the white cream filling before returning the cookie to the tray, a satisfied look on his face.

Most of the children were like Craig. They struggled to resist the treat and held out for an average of less than three minutes. “A few kids ate the marshmallow right away,” Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor of psychology in charge of the experiment, remembers. “They didn’t even bother ringing the bell. Other kids would stare directly at the marshmallow and then ring the bell thirty seconds later.” About thirty per cent of the children, however, were like Carolyn. They successfully delayed gratification until the researcher returned, some fifteen minutes later. These kids wrestled with temptation but found a way to resist.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

This past week I was asked by my nine year old daughter to accompany her third grade class on a field trip. To be honest this was not how I wanted to spend my Friday. But as a father we make sacrifices for our children. And besides my nine year old is not going to be that age forever. I must enjoy moments in her life while I can, one day I will blink and she will have grown up and living on her on in California or someplace. (my oldest daughter is doing this). 
When I arrived at the school the teacher of her class gave me a clipboard and assigned me a group of seven children that I’d be chaperoning. Not only that, but on the clipboard were instructions and some questions I had to take my group and answer while in the aquarium. I felt like I was back in school again. There were also some movie passes because we were taking the classes to see the movie “The Lorax” after the aquarium. Again this was not my ideal way of spending my day. Because this field trip was for her entire third grade there were five classes on this field trip. So I got to ride the bus with 40-50 third graders from her school to the aquarium at Arizona Mills mall. Let me just say I prefer quiet to noise. These children were being children on the bus talking louder than the other so that they could be heard. Riding the bus was not the most comfortable ride I’ve had. The busses are made for school children not grown adults.  
Upon arriving at the aquarium we lined the children up and went into the aquarium where we were given instructions and directions. Most of the children had on orange shirts from their school so while taking my group through I had to constantly look for them to make sure I had everyone with me. Plus I had to ask them these questions as we passed the mammals in the aquarium and write down their answers. After leaving the aquarium we escorted our groups to the food court where they ate their sack lunches they had brought. 
After lunch we proceeded to the theatre where we sat all the children. Our passes allowed us to get snack packs for each child of popcorn, gummy bears, and a soda. We were dismissed to take our groups to go to the bathroom and get their refreshments. More fun! We finally got back to our seats and watched the movie which was cute. 
Afterwards was probably the toughest part of the day. The trip back to the school. These children were excited having spent a day away from doing school work. 
My day was good even though I wouldn’t have planned it that way. It reminds me of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “I die daily.” it is putting off our old man and dying to what we want in order to do what Christ wants. 
I want my way always but I can’t always have my own way. I have to crucify my flesh. Even though I wanted to spend my day doing what I usually do on Fridays which is playing golf with my brothers, I realized how important this was to my little girl and did what she wanted. 
Sometimes it’s just not about us! We must make sacrifices daily whether while driving on a crowded street, we allow someone in to traffic. Or allowing someone else to have their way in other areas of our lives. My nine year old appreciated having her dad with her and sharing the day together. God loves when we sacrifice our time and spend it with him as well. Today let’s give him our lives to do as he wishes.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.

Thanks to all you who have commented on my blog and how it has been an encouragement to you each week. It is my true pleasure to write my experiences each week and how we all can relate. This past week I have been thinking about the scripture in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ” This verse tells us no matter what happens each day God has purpose in our lives. In that he has purpose, he is in control over everything that happens in our lives. God is Omnipotent which means he knows all and sees all. He never fails. Things may not work out the way we plan from time to time but they always have a way of working out. The bible tells us, “They work together for the good to them that love the Lord,” My purpose and God’s purpose are two different things. He has more than me in mind when doing things. I tend to focus on me. As we all do. As a young man I received the call of God on my life which I rejected. I tried to flee from my call by moving to Colledge, Az to work for the Arizona State Prison. This turned out to be the plan of God as all distractions of the big city were no longer there and I could clearly here God’s call on my life. I accepted the call in a small church in Colledge, informing the pastor what God had shown me. He started to train me in the ministry. I spent many years trying to find where I fit in that call because it wasn’t like others I had seen in the ministry. I wanted to quit many times but God wouldn’t allow me to. 
His ways are not our ways and I had to accept this, even though it was very difficult. My story is not unique or unlike so many of us. We all want to give up when things seem like they won’t come together. Then There is the story of Vanetta Flowers, From the time Vanetta Flowers was a little girl, her dream was to compete in the Olympic Games. She had always been an incredibly fast runner. By the age of 22, she was a world-class athlete ready to try out for the Olympics. She competed in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. But her efforts were not quite good enough. She missed making the team by a fraction of a second. Instead of giving up, she decided to put in four more years of grueling training, getting up early, running, lifting weights, working out, eating properly. In the year 2000, her big moment came. At the age of 26 and in the best shape of her life, she tried out for the long jump. She knew this would be her last chance to make the Olympic team. But in spite of her training and all of her talent, she still didn’t make it. She was so devastated. It looked like 17 years of training had gone down the drain. Every voice said, “It’s over. You must have heard God wrong because it’s definitely not going to happen now.” But one day, her husband saw a sign in the gym that said, “Continue your Olympic dream by trying out for the bobsled team.” There were two requirements: you had to be a good sprinter and a good long jumper – the two things that she had worked on for over 17 years. She didn’t even know what the bobsled was, but her husband talked her in to trying out. Long story short, she not only made the Olympic team, but in 2002, she became the first African-American woman to ever win a Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics.
It looked as if her dreams were shattered and that she would never accomplish her goals but she had perseverance. We too must be persistent in our dream and never give up! God has a way of working it together for good.

Samuel King, Senior Pastor
Christlike Life Church, Laveen, AZ.