The race each one of us runs is totally unique to each… It’s not a sprint, it’s more of a long marathon. I can’t run your race, and neither can you run mine. Sometimes I look at the race God has given some, and marvel at how they can endure under all the struggles and challenges put in front of them. But for all of us, God instructs and disciplines …He educates and exhorts…He loves and showers each one of us with grace and mercy… so at the end, we will all reach our finish line victorious.
Ecclesiastes 2: 11″ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
My husband and I have been talking about down-sizing. This big house has served its purpose well, but we no longer need all this square-footage. But with a large house comes a lot of stuff to fill it. And now there has come a time in my life, when I look around at all the accumulation and say “Enough!” More stuff will not bring me true happiness. Rather, I need to be gleaning, purging, and giving things away rather than gathering more.
Mark 6:45 ” Immediately Jesus made His Disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to Bethsaida…”
The Lord calls us to do something, and we are compelled, and driven by the strong hand of the Lord to do it. While we focus on the end result, God is more interested in the process. What we see as just preparation or readying…He sees as the goal itself. For God’s purpose is the process – the moment by moment obedience on our part to reach the goal He has in mind for us in the end.
Proverbs 15:1 ” A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
The moment after angry words have been lobbed our way, we have two choices to make…either return fire with a mean and unkind volley of words ourselves, or take on the attitude of a servant and defuse the situation with kindness instead. The first choice is so easy to do and more of a knee-jerk reaction to hostility. While the second is much harder, and requires us to stay in control of both our emotions and tongue.
I John 5: 14-15 ” This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we ask of Him.”
Boldness in prayer – It comes from having a close communion with your Heavenly Father…of knowing His heart and desiring His best for your life. That’s what asking according to His Will is all about…it’s requesting the Lord’s good pleasure in your life, rather than any whim that comes to mind. So when we pray God’s Will into our life, we know that He not only hears the request, but will answer with the very best for us.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 ” As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
All we have to do is take a moment to look around us to understand just how little we know. Modern technology may have taken us far from what our Great-Grandparents knew…but yet, we still only grasp a small fragment of the wonder that is God. We humans think we’ve made such great strides…but still remain baffled by simple acts of nature. The Mighty Creator of the Universe – God – is just too great and wonderful to be understood by our tiny minds.
Romans 15:4 ” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
If there’s anything that would prompt you to be reading your Bible everyday, it would be this verse. The Holy Bible is God-breathed and inspired…His love letter to you. By reading His Word you’ll find comfort, encouragement, and exhortation… You’ll also find practical application for life concerns. But you must first open the book.
Psalm 9:1 ” I will praise You, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.”
When was the last time you did just that?… When was the last time you told someone what the Lord’s been doing in your life? It encourages all those around you when you testify to the mighty deeds and miracles God has done in and through you. We all need to hear and be inspired by each other’s victories and thanksgivings. So, don’t keep them to yourself…tell someone today what God’s been up to in your life.
Acts 20:35 ” In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘ It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “
The Apostle Paul was trying to show all of us that giving to the poor and down-trodden is what our Savior desires. But unfortunately, this goes against all our self-absorbed, self-centered emotions… We’d much rather be on the receiving end of gifts than handing them out. Jesus however wanted us to look at giving from a completely different standpoint…not from what we might be losing, but from what we’d be gaining. To be blessed, is to have God present and involved in every area of our life…it’s being a person who lives “Coram Deo” – Before the face of God.
II Timothy 2:16 ” Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.”
The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to stay away from profane worldly babbling…and that warning could be for us today. Being around coarse, sacrilegious conversation day after day in the work place can desensitize us to what is right. Constantly being bombarded by godless musical lyrics, questionable TV shows, and violent movies can cause us to become apathetic… allowing us to compromise in more and more areas of our lives…each taking us farther and farther away from God.
Safetypinlove 