Thursday, October 31, 2013

Jesus?

And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
(Exodus 33:15 ESV)

Do you ever become more passionate about completing the task and accomplishing the mission than about knowing and experiencing Jesus? Maybe you worry more about checking off your Christian list of things to do than to feel the presence of God? Moses realized that the Promised Land (and really any blessing from God) meant absolutely nothing without God’s presence. Moses only wanted the Promised Land if it was the byproduct of knowing and following God. The big danger for many of us is that having a great ministry or succeeding can be more important than, experiencing, and following Jesus.

Moses understood that the only thing that set him and the Hebrew people apart was the presence of God. Whether you are doing life and ministry in Atlanta, New Brunswick, Burlington, Mexico, Haiti or Indonesia, the only thing that sets you and the people you are ministering to apart is the presence of God. In fact, we can have the most talented people, abundant resources, cutting edge strategy, and even be doing all the right things and without God’s presence it just won’t matter. It is only as God leads us and works through us that we can become the aroma of Jesus to the world around us (2 Corinthians 4). It is only as we know, experience, and follow Jesus that we can make an eternal difference where God has placed us.

Do you really want to know and experience Jesus more than anything?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Hump Day

Good morning!

"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences."

Proverbs 18:21

Some of us do love to talk! In doing so, we can become careless with words. "Sharing" can slip into gossip. Anger can flare into harsh words. What if you considered every word you spoke as if it were a coin? Would you spend recklessly, never considering the consequences? Or would you invest each coin (word) wisely, making sure your words would bring healing and love? The choice is yours … and the consequences could ripple into eternity, for better or worse, life or death.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Friday

Friday exhale!

"An open rebuke is better than hidden love! . . . As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend."

Proverbs 27:5, 17

Do you have a friend who can point out your shortcomings, and you can take it? Several verses in Proverbs mention the wisdom of being open to rebuke. Yet how many of us welcome such correction? How many of us are willing to rebuke a friend when it's needed? It takes wisdom, tact, and humility to give the kind of feedback that "sharpens" another. Moreover, it takes humility to receive a rebuke without getting defensive. Yet, no matter how difficult it is to give or receive correction, it's the mark of both wisdom and love to do so.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Thursday

ood morning to you!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."

Psalm 118:1 (and 118:29)

This verse brackets the beginning and end of Psalm 118, encapsulating the psalmist's personal experiences of God's goodness and faithful love in his life. Between the brackets he mentions not just high points of his life, when God clearly delivered him, but also a few low spots as well. He has been punished severely (verse 18), and is still waiting to be saved, still looking for success (verse 25). Yet, his overall experience is gratitude. Though your life may not yet be perfect, when you focus on God's grace in your life, it will color every other experience, past and present.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Monday 10/21

A great monday to trust God.

"He made heaven and earth,
  the sea, and everything in them.
  He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed
  and food to the hungry.
The LORD frees the prisoners.
  The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down.
  The LORD loves the godly."

Psalm 146:6–8

Encouragement for Today

What oppresses you, imprisons you, weighs you down? Your own problems, other people's problems, an emotional or physical issue, injustice? These verses remind us that God not only created all that exists, he also faithfully keeps his promise and takes care of everything he created. He does not turn a blind eye to our problems; he actively works to free us from oppression. In these verses, God takes all the action. The only characteristic of the people in this passage, besides their neediness, is that they are godly. They trust God, and God acts on their behalf.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Thursday

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,' says the LORD. 'I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.'"

Jeremiah 29:11–14

View In Context

Encouragement for Today

Do you believe deep down that God has good plans for you? Sometimes life throws some pretty hard curveballs, and it's tempting to believe that God is unaware of our plight. Certainly the exiled Israelites to whom God was speaking must have felt that way. Here God assures us that his plans are for our good. But these good plans are bound up in our relationship with him. Finding him, we connect with his good plan. If it feels as if God is nowhere to be seen, seek him wholeheartedly. When you find him, you'll find your future hope as well.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Lord I trust you

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. … Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer."

2 Corinthians 1:3–4, 6

God doesn't always reveal why he lets us suffer, but here he gives us clues as to how he redeems it. When we suffer, he comforts us (if we allow him to). Then, when we encounter someone who is going through something similar, we can offer our own empathy from having gone through a similar trial. That in itself is often a comfort to the other person. If we can share specific instances of God's comfort, that further encourages the other person. In this process, our sense of God's purpose for our pain further strengthens us.

Friday, October 11, 2013

A good one

A good friday read I found:

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Here are ten signs it’s time to let go:

Someone expects you to be someone you’re not. – Don’t change who you are for anyone else.  It’s wiser to lose someone over being who you are, than to keep them by being someone you’re not.  Because it’s easier to mend a broken heart, than it is to piece together a shattered identity.  It’s easier to fill an empty space in your life where someone else used to be, than it is to fill the empty space inside yourself where YOU used to be.
A person’s actions don’t match their words. – Everybody deserves somebody who helps them look forward to tomorrow.  If someone has the opposite effect on you, because they are consistently inconsistent and their actions don’t match up with their words, it’s time to let them go.  It’s always better to be alone than to be in bad company.  True friendship is a promise made in the heart – silent, unwritten, unbreakable by distance, and unchangeable by time.  Don’t listen to what people say; watch what they do.  Your true friends will slowly reveal themselves over time.
You catch yourself forcing someone to love you. – Let us keep in mind that we can’t force anyone to love us.  We shouldn’t beg someone to stay when they want to leave.  That’s what love is all about – freedom.  However, the end of love is not the end of life.  It should be the beginning of an understanding that love sometimes leaves for a reason, but never leaves without a lesson.  If someone truly loves you, they will never give you a reason to doubt it.  Anyone can come into your life and say how much they love you, but it takes someone really special to stay in your life and prove how much they love you.  Sometimes it takes awhile to find the right person, but the right person is always worth the wait.  Read The Road Less Traveled.
An intimate relationship is based strictly on physical attraction. – Being beautiful is more than how many people you can get to look at you, or how others perceive you at a single glance.  It’s about what you live for.  It’s about what defines you.  It’s about the depth of your heart, and what makes you unique.  It’s about being who you are and living out your life honestly.  It’s about those little quirks that make you, you.  People who are only attracted to you because of your pretty face or nice body won’t stay by your side forever.  But the people who can see how beautiful your heart is will never leave you.
Someone continuously breaks your trust. – Love means giving someone the chance to hurt you, but trusting them not to.  When you completely trust a person, without any doubt, you’ll automatically get one of two results - a FRIEND for life or a LESSON for life.  Either way there’s a positive outcome.  Either you confirm the fact that this person cares about you, or you get the opportunity to weed them out of your life and make room for those who do.  In the end you’ll discover who’s fake, who’s true, and who would risk it all for you.  And trust me, some people will totally surprise you.
Someone continuously overlooks your worth. – Know your worth!  When you give yourself to someone who doesn’t respect you, you surrender pieces of your soul that you’ll never get back.  There comes a point when you have to let go and stop chasing some people.  If someone wants you in their life, they’ll find a way to put you there.  Sometimes you just need to let go and accept the fact that they don’t care for you the way you care for them.  Let them leave your life quietly.  Letting go is oftentimes easier than holding on.  We think it’s too hard to let go, until we actually do.  Then we ask ourselves, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?”
You are never given a chance to speak your mind. – Sometimes an argument saves a relationship, whereas silence breaks it.  Speak up for your heart so that you won’t have regrets.  Life is not about making others happy.  Life is about being honest and sharing your happiness with others.
You are frequently forced to sacrifice your happiness. – If you allow people to make more withdrawals than deposits in your life, you will be out of balance and in the negative before you know it.  Know when to close the account.  It’s always better to be alone with dignity than in a relationship that constantly requires you to sacrifice your happiness and self-respect.  Read Stumbling on Happiness.
You truly dislike your current situation, routine, job, etc. – It’s better to be a failure at something you love than to succeed at doing something you hate.  Don’t let someone who gave up on their dreams talk you out of going after yours.  The best thing you can do in life is follow your heart.  Take risks.  Don’t just make the safe and easy choices because you’re afraid of what might happen.  If you do, nothing will ever happen.  Chances must be taken, mistakes must be made, and lessons must be learned.  It might be an uphill climb, but when you reach that mountaintop it will be worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears you put into it.
You catch yourself obsessing over, and living in, the past. – Eventually you will overcome the heartache, and forget the reasons you cried, and who caused the pain.  Eventually you will realize that the secret to happiness and freedom is not about control or revenge, but in letting things unfold naturally, and learning from your experiences over the course of time.  After all, what matters most is not the first, but the final chapter of your life, which unveils the details of how well you wrote your story.  So let go of the past, set yourself free, and open your mind to the possibility of new relationships and priceless experiences.  Read The Power of Now.
And the one thing you should never let go of is hope.  Remember what you deserve and keep pushing forward.  Someday all the pieces will come together.  Unimaginably good things will transpire in your life, even if everything doesn’t turn out exactly the way you had anticipated.  And you will look back at the times that have passed, smile, and ask yourself, “How did I get through all of that?”

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Check this out★★★★

Thursday wisdom:

"Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish."

Proverbs 18:13

How easy it is to offer advice or respond to someone's need before we've thoroughly listened to all the person has to say. And how often do we jump to conclusions and spout off our opinions before we know all the facts? Even worse is gossiping about another person when it's most likely we don't know the full story of his or her situation. This proverb reminds us to make sure we have the full story before we respond in any way, lest we expose our own foolishness.

Monday, October 7, 2013

This encourages me

"But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do."

Psalm 73:28

The psalmist affirms it is good to be near God. Note that it's a choice: "I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter." When you choose to dwell in God, you can see all the wonderful things he does (rather than focus on the evil around you). Then you will want to tell everyone about God's goodness!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

This will put the wind under your wings

You aren't alone!

"So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family."

Ephesians 2:19

When Paul wrote this, Gentiles were definitely "outsiders" to Jews, who considered themselves the (only) holy people of God. The good news of the new Kingdom in which Jesus reigns is that there are no outsiders anymore. United in mutual faith in Jesus, all who believe share a new identity: members of God's family. No believer is ever alone again. Not only are we united with Christ and a new child of God the Father, but we now belong to a huge family of brothers and sisters who believe likewise. What a comfort!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Hump day

Good hump.day!

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith."

Galatians 6:9, 10

While our culture encourages us to look to our own interests, these verses refocus us on doing good to others. They also acknowledge that sometimes we will get weary, and that the rewards are not always immediate. Here's where we need to take the long-term perspective. Just as farmers must plow, plant, water, and cultivate the land so that a harvest can come at the right time, so we continue to do whatever good we can in the course of our everyday lives, trusting that a harvest will come in due time.