Want abundant life? Want peace? The Bible says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. I want that! I want life! I want peace! Oh, how I want peace no matter the circumstances!
This morning's sermon was about this very topic, but at one point, I wanted to stand up and demand, "HOW, dear brother? How?" By submitting my wants and desires and how I think things should be to the One who may have different plans for me, but His plans include life and peace, aka, God the Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth!
I have goals and a certain way I think the day should go. As soon as my little plan is thwarted, goals missed, or schedule getting behind, I get irritated. Anyone else ever feel that way? Why is it that while I am in church singing my praises to God, I am so filled with peace that surpasses all understanding and then I leave and that VERY DAY, I can get upset or irritated? What happened to the peace? I think I should ask myself, what happened to my focus. The songs we sing -especially today-help me to praise God, remember that He is for us, so who can be against us?, and get my focus back where it should be, which is giving glory to God or making much of Him.
My chief aim in this world can be summed up in this: (provided by John Piper) God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Therefore, my chief aim is to be satisfied in God and give glory to Him!
To be satisfied in God means to be content whatever the situation. When an irritant arrives, when frustrations surface, when tears come, when joy is renewed, "Lord, what do you want me to learn in this situation? How can I give glory to You, right now?"
Father, help me to remember and ask these questions. In Jesus' precious and holy name, AMEN!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Made to Love Everyone
Good morning, Lord! Thank you for this day! Thank you for teaching me yesterday that what I need to do is be more loving to everyone, especially my family. Matthew 7:21-23 says
21(Z) "Not everyone who(AA) says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will(AB) enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who(AC) does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22(AD) On that day(AE) many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not(AF) prophesy in your name, and cast out demons(AG) in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'23(AH) And then will I declare to them, 'I(AI) never knew you;(AJ) depart from me,(AK)you workers of lawlessness.'
And what is God's will? That we love one another: faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest is love.
And what is love?
4(E) Love is patient and(F) kind; love(G) does not envy or boast; it(H)is not arrogant 5or rude. It(I) does not insist on its own way; it(J) is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6it(K) does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but(L) rejoices with the truth. 7(M) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,(N) endures all things.
8Love never ends.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.
Father, if I DO things for you, but show no love to my family and everyone I meet, my faith is worthless and you will say on that Day, "Get away from me I never knew you." Lord, rather, I would pray that you'd enable me to love. Fill me with your love so I can overflow onto others. I want to be with you in heaven having you say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant." Lord, it is as you say in John 15:5
"...for without Me you can do nothing. "
I don't want to go without you. I pray that I'd seek you and find you and dwell with you and abide in you. Enable me, Father, I pray. In Jesus' name, AMEN!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Best IS Yet to Come!!
The best is yet to come! Come, Lord Jesus, come! I can't wait! I do, however, want to wait till everyone has heard of You. Please bring them to a saving knowledge of You. Help them to see they must make a decision.
Father, make me useful for You. The sermon notes from last Sunday say, "We have Jesus, a huge treasure!, in a weak vessel, aka jars of clay. I always wondered what that meant because there is a band whose name is Jars of Clay. I always thought, "There must be some Biblical meaning to it. But what is it?" Now I know.
2 Corinthians 2:6
6For God, who said,(Q) "Let light shine out of darkness,"(R) has shone in our hearts to give(S) the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7But we have this treasure in(T) jars of clay,(U) to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are(V) afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;9persecuted, but(W) not forsaken;(X) struck down, but not destroyed;
Father, please shine in my heart so I can shine in the world. Make me a new heart and fill it with Your love so I can love others and not be selfish. Bless me to be patient, kind, not rude, not irritable or resentful...
4(E) Love is patient and(F) kind; love(G) does not envy or boast; it(H)is not arrogant 5or rude. It(I) does not insist on its own way; it(J) is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6it(K) does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but(L) rejoices with the truth. 7(M) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,(N) endures all things.
8Love never ends.
Help me to show love in this way. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN!
Friday, July 23, 2010
THIS worked for me!! GREAT advice...try this and you might FEEL VICTORIOUS!!!
What am I focusing on? I heard a good quote the other day about trials. It was from Mr. Positive: Positive Thoughts Daily.
"If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of adice for all humanity, it would be this: expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me." Ann Landers.
So, GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN ME THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD! I will not be defeated! I will look Satan and his plans square in the eye and say, "You are already defeated. Jesus' come quickly."
So, I lift Your name, Father, on high! Oh I love to sing Your praises! I'm so glad your in my life! I'm so glad You came to save us!
Let's put up our dukes, and get right to it! Oh, what's that? I have no foe? He has run away? That’s right. THAT's what I call VICTORY! Praise be to God! Hallelujah!
I can only control MY attitude and MY actions. Let others do as they see fit and I will serve my LORD!
Friday, July 16, 2010
God is always trying to get at our hearts, not just our behavior.
Sermon Notes: Man made rules are not God given rules.
The Jewish leaders had many rules for what could and couldn't be done on the Sabbath. God said, "Keep the Sabbath Holy." What does it mean to keep the Sabbath Holy? God said, "Six days you shall labor and work. On the seventh day, you shall rest."
Jesus never sinned. We know this. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. We know this. Therefore, what does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy?
Exodus 20:8-11 (King James Version)
8(J) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9(K) Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the(L) seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the(M) sojourner who is within your gates. 11For(N) in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Oh, so we are to keep the Sabbath, by keeping it holy, set a part from the rest of the days. Work 6 days, not the seventh. God blessed the seventh day. We are not even to require work from anyone else on those days.
Does that mean I shouldn't go out to eat because I am requiring someone to work? No. The server decides when he/she can work or is under the boss' control of when she/he can work. No one who is under my control is to work. Done. "Kids, no work!" :)
Here is a good final thought on the subject (after studying the Word via the below web address):
The purpose of the Sabbath is to get man to pause-to step out of the rat race for a moment and to find a little time for God, for family, for friends, for brothers. It is not a time to sit in the dark because you don't want to turn on a light on the Sabbath. It is not a day to be cold because you don't want to light a fire in the fireplace. It is not a day to be alone because you won't go to a restaurant with brethren for fellowship.
But it is God's day. It is a day when you have all the time in the world. You have time for reading the Bible, time for prayer, time for fellowship, time for your children, time for thought, time for yourself, and, above all, time for God.
What is the intent of my actions on the Sabbath? God is always trying to get at our hearts, not just our behavior.
Thank You, Father, for time with You to study Your Word. Speak to my heart today. May I have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart ready to do Your will. In Jesus' name, AMEN!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Do you Philippians 4:8? (Think about things that are true?)
Good morning, Lord! Thank You for Steve. Thank You for his caring. Thank You that when we sing Your praises, our attitudes also elevate.
The Bible says we will be like the angels, neither married nor given to marriage in heaven. Will we also be like the angels in that we will constantly be singing praises to You? If so, why not start now? Why not start now either way? I love to sing Your praises!
Sara Kern's status was from Chris Tomlins song "How Can I Keep From Singing Your Praise? I am loved by the King and it makes my heart want to sing…" She wrote one line from the song, someone added another line and pretty soon a whole bunch of people were "singing" on facebook!
I wrote down a few days ago, that when I'm in a trial, I need to do three things: 1) sing praise music, 2) look at/add to my thankful list, and 3) remember who my enemy is and fight there, ie: pray! I feel like I am closer to heaven when I sing Your praises.
Oh! I was reading the sermon notes from this past Sunday. One of the points was that "Challenges in life are not necessarily a result of sin. (Some, of couse, are.) Some challenges are so God's work can be displayed in my life. Think of Paul's thorn in the flesh. Three times he asked God to remove it and God said no. Paul prayed to have Christ's power manifested in his life by asking God "perfect your power in me through this weakness." We are to pray that God would use our weaknesses to glorify His name.
So! Father, I pray that Your power would be manifested in my life and Your power displayed by using my weakness to glorify Your name. Father, glorify Your name by using this weakness. I don't know how You are going to do it, but that is not for me to know. All I need to know is that You are going to use it.
Progress! I have identified the statement that is not true with I have been repeating to myself!
Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I was not thinking on what is true. I was building up a false generalizing statement. I will now choose to replace that statement with, "What I have has been given to me from the Lord. It is not mine. Let my will die; God's will be done."
Things are not important anyway.
GREAT! What a break through today! Really, is that all that counselors do? They try to pinpoint the wrong thinking that is underlying and then replace it with the truth? Hmm…maybe I can help other people, too. Steve is great at this. It comes very easily and naturally to him. Thank You, Lord!
Bless this day and make me a blessing, Lord! Give me wisdom and direction! In Jesus' name, AMEN Y AMEN!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
This really knocked my socks off!!
Sunday night I had a revelation. Side note: do most revelations come by way of knowledge that is not new, but, like this, I've heard it said before but it didn't register or mean much until this exact moment?? I wonder...
Knowledge I "Knew": Jesus said,
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
So, when Steve and I are both in heaven, we will no longer be married or acting like we are married. This really knocked the socks off of me! In fact, Jesus says there are many rooms in His Father's mansion…We may not even be in the same vicinity! That means that our marriage is really such a short time. I only have so much time to love, respect, honor, and be with him. I want to make the most of it! Really, we only have so long to do that in ALL of our relationships here on earth.
What a change in perspective! What a difference it makes in how I view my circumstances!
May I never forget this and keep it in the forefront of my mind. Praise God!
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