“O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe."
Habakkuk 3:2 (TLB) Do you ever wonder how to hear God speak when you pray? One of the best ways is by worshiping him as you pray. Another is by developing a friendship with him. First, let’s look at worshiping God through prayer. Start by thanking him for being part of your life and for being interested in the details of your life. Pray like Habakkuk: “O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe” (Habakkuk 3:2 TLB). When God gives you a vision or a dream, or shows you what he wants you to do, thank him for answering your prayer. That’s part of worshiping God. Second, develop a friendship with him and get to know him. Prayer isn’t a monologue; it’s a dialogue. It’s a conversation with God. God hears you when you pray; he answers you when you ask questions. He wants to talk with you every day. And when you faithfully talk with God throughout the day, it will revolutionize your life. There are three levels of knowing God: recognition, acquaintance, and friendship. At the recognition level, you know God is there, but you don’t really know him personally. At the acquaintance level, you know God a little, but you don’t know him very well. God wants you to live at the friendship level, where you are familiar with each other and talk regularly. God wants to have a continuous conversation with you. As you spend time in prayer, worshiping God and developing a friendship with him, you’ll learn how to hear and recognize his voice.
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“Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
Luke 16:9 (NLT) The best use of your money is using it to get people into heaven. Luke 16:9 is a verse that most people don’t understand. Jesus says, “Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home” (NLT). Jesus is saying that, just like the shrewd manager who made friends he could later count on, you need to use some of your money to make eternal friends that will welcome you into heaven. He’s not saying you can buy your way into heaven—you can’t. Jesus has already paid the price on the cross. He’s not saying you can purchase your salvation—you can’t. Salvation is a free gift by grace. Jesus is telling you to use your money to build friendships that are going to go on and on for eternity. When you use your money to help other people meet Jesus, you make friends for eternity and you gain rewards for eternity. Imagine getting to heaven one day, and a hundred people are standing at the entrance, clapping and cheering and saying, “We’ve been waiting for you! We’re here because you spent money to tell us the Good News. We’re your friends for life—no, for eternity! If it weren’t for the way you used your money, we wouldn’t have heard how to get to heaven.” Are you using any of your money to get people to heaven? Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? When you buy a Bible and give it to someone who doesn’t have one, you’ve stored up treasure in heaven. When you support a program that shares the Good News around the world, you have stored up treasure in heaven. When you help build a church, you have stored up treasure in heaven. That is the highest and best use of your money. You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead by investing your money to help other people meet Jesus. “God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing."
Ephesians 2:10 (NCV) You weren’t put on Earth to live for yourself. You were made for a greater purpose than simply to make money, retire, and die. You were made for a mission, and that mission gives your life meaning. The Bible says, “God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing” (Ephesians 2:10 NCV) In other words, you’re unique. No one else in the whole world—past, present, or future—is like you. God has made you so unique that there are certain things only you can contribute to the world. Those things make up your life mission. Until you know your life mission, you’re just existing. Life may seem good, but you won’t experience the fulfillment you would if you were living out God’s intentions for you. Jesus says in Mark 8:35, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live” (TLB). God is giving you the opportunity to build your life around his mission for you. The only way to do that is by starting with a firm foundation: Jesus Christ. “And no one can ever lay any other real foundation than that one we already have—Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11 TLB). You can choose to build your life on Jesus, the only foundation that will last. Or you can choose to spend your life chasing things that ultimately will fail you. What’s certain is that one day you will stand before God and he’ll ask you: “Did you fulfill the mission that I gave you on this Earth?” On that day, it will be clear whether you spent your life fulfilling God’s mission for you—or you chose to chase lesser things. It’s never too late to start living the life God has planned for you. Start building your foundation on Jesus and pursuing God’s mission for your life today. “Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up."
1 Corinthians 13:7 (GW) If you are a follower of Christ, you must love everybody in the same way that Christ loves you. That means you are to accept them completely, love them unconditionally, forgive them totally, and consider them extremely valuable—whether you like them or not. It’s not an option or a suggestion. It’s a command: “Now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other” (John 13:34 NLT). Loving others in this way will transform your relationships! The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up” (GW). That’s how God loves you. He never stops being patient with you. He never stops believing in you. He never stops hoping for the best in your life. He never gives up on you. And God wants you to love others the same way. Love never stops being patient. Love extends grace. You can offer grace to others. Love never stops believing. Love expresses faith. Love allows you to say, “Even though we’re having a tough time, I will never stop believing in you.” Love never stops hoping. Love expects the best. Are you expecting the best in your primary relationships, or have you settled for less than best? Love never gives up. Love endures the worst. With love, you can say, “You can throw everything at me, but I’m going to keep loving you, no matter what.” If you want to start transforming your relationships today, you might consider praying something similar to below: “Dear God, I admit that I have made a mess in my relationships. They’re complicated and broken, and I’ve often settled for less than best. They need a transformation. I want you to begin by changing me. Deliver me from my fears, because I can see how they make me distant, defensive, and even demanding. Today, and every day from now on, I want to surrender my heart to you. I want to learn to live my life dwelling in and filled with your love. “Help me to accept others, just as you’ve accepted me. Help me to love others unconditionally, just as you have loved me. Help me to forgive others totally, just as you’ve forgiven me. And help me to value others as much as you value me. Help me to extend grace to and express faith in the people around me. Help me to expect the best in others, and when the worst happens, help me to endure it with grace. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.” “The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end."
Isaiah 54:10 (GNT) If you don’t feel loved by God, you’ll struggle to show love to others. Loving people is easy when you understand and remember the way God loves you. Every day, you need to remind yourself what God thinks about you—not what the world thinks or what you think about yourself. Here are four things God thinks about you to help you remember why and how to love others: You’re completely accepted. You may have spent much of your life trying to earn acceptance from your parents, peers, those you respect, those you envy, and even total strangers. But you need to realize God has already settled this issue of acceptance: “Jesus . . . made us acceptable to God” (Titus 3:7 CEV). What Jesus did on the cross made you completely acceptable to God—no matter what you’ve done or will do. You’re unconditionally loved. God doesn’t say, “I love you if . . .” or “I love you because . . .” He says, “I love you—period!” You can’t make God stop loving you, because his love isn’t based on what you do but on who he is. Isaiah 54:10 says, “The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end” (GNT). You’re totally forgiven. Because Jesus died on the cross and gave his life as payment for your sins, you are totally forgiven when you accept God’s gift of forgiveness. Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). God doesn’t rehearse your sins; he releases them. You’re extremely valuable. The value of something is created by two things: who the owner is and what somebody’s willing to pay for it. You are a child of God and “have been bought and paid for by Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:23 TLB). Jesus Christ paid for you with his life. That’s how valuable you are. When you remember that you are accepted, loved, forgiven, and valuable to the Creator of the universe, you will be better equipped to show love to others. “To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace . . . Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.”
Romans 8:6, 8 (GNT) Learning to manage your emotions is the key to peace of mind. In other words, you need to learn to deal with what you feel! Here are four important reasons why you need to manage your emotions: Emotions are often unreliable. Your gut is often wrong. Your intuition is often flawed. Your emotions often lead you down a blind alley. You can’t depend on everything you feel! Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (NIV). You don’t have to accept everything you feel, because not everything you feel is right or authentic or will lead you in the right direction. You don’t want to be manipulated. If you don’t control your emotions, they will control you, and you will be manipulated by your moods. And if you’re always guided by your feelings, other people will take advantage of you. Worst of all, negative emotions are Satan’s favorite tool. He will use fear, resentment, and worry to wreak havoc in your life. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (NIV). You want to please God. God cannot rule your life if emotions rule your life. If you make your decisions based on how you feel, then you’ve made your feelings your god, and then God can’t be God in your life. Romans 8 says, “To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace . . . Those who obey their human nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:6, 8 GNT). You want to succeed in life. Study after study has shown that your emotional quotient is far more important than your IQ when it comes to success. How many people do you know who ruined their reputation because of something said in anger? Or missed a job opportunity because of their lack of self-control? The Bible says in Proverbs 5:23, “[People] get lost and die because of their foolishness and lack of self-control” (CEV). When you choose to follow Jesus, that decision includes your emotions. Jesus wants to be Lord of how you feel, not just what you think and do. He wants to be Lord of your emotions. The Bible says, “From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God’s will and not by human desires” (1 Peter 4:2 GNT). “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what."
Psalm 119:112 (CEV) People who learn how to fight the battle in their minds live more effective lives. If you want to learn to manage your mind, you have to be delivered from destructive thoughts. That isn’t easy because you are in a battle with three enemies trying to control your thoughts. The first enemy is your old nature. Paul said in Romans 7:23, “There is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (NLT). Do you ever find yourself doing things you don’t really want to do? That’s the battle in your mind between your old, sinful nature and your good intentions. The second enemy is Satan. Satan cannot force you to do anything, but he can make suggestions. Those suggestions are incredibly powerful. He is constantly planting negative thoughts in your mind. He’ll use other people or what you watch on TV, or he’ll just throw a thought in your mind. The third enemy is the world’s value system. Modern society rarely encourages self-discipline. Advertisements tell you, “You deserve a break today. Have it your way. We do it all for you.” The Bible says in 1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (NIV). With enemies like that, no wonder people struggle with discouragement, despair, and failure! So, how do you fight this battle? Look at what 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says: “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV). You have a choice. Your mind has to listen to you. God didn’t give you just a mind. He gave you a will too! The Bible says, “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what” (Psalm 119:112 CEV). The best time to win the battle with temptation is before it begins. “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed. But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold."
Job 23:8-10 (NLT) God has promised repeatedly, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5 GNT). Yet God has not promised that you will always feel his presence. In fact, God acknowledges that sometimes he hides his face (see Isaiah 45:15). There are times when he appears to be missing-in-action in your life. This is a normal part of the testing and maturing of your friendship with God. Every Christian goes through it at least once. It is painful and confusing, but it is absolutely vital for the development of your faith. This knowledge gave Job hope when he could not feel God’s presence in his life. He said, “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed. But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold” (Job 23:8-10 NLT). When God seems distant, you may feel that he is angry with you or is disciplining you for some sin. In fact, sin does disconnect you from intimate fellowship with God. You grieve God’s Spirit and diminish your fellowship with him by disobedience, conflict with others, busyness, friendship with the world, and other sins (see Psalm 51; Ephesians 4:29-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Jeremiah 2:32; 1 Corinthians 8:12; James 4:4). But often this feeling of abandonment or separation from God has nothing to do with sin. It is a test of faith, one all believers must face: Will you continue to love, trust, obey, and worship God, even when you have no sense of his presence or visible evidence of his work in your life? The most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience rather than seeking God. They look for a feeling, and if that feeling happens, they conclude that they have worshiped. But God often removes feelings so you won’t depend on them. Instead, he wants to draw you into a deeper relationship with him. “Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won’t he also surely give us everything else?”
Romans 8:32 (TLB) If you want a cure for stress, look to God to meet your needs. The major cause of stress in your life is worry. You worry because you wonder if you will have what you need when you need it. But any time you expect people or things to meet your needs instead of God, you’re going to be frustrated and disappointed, because nobody on earth can meet all your needs. Only God can do that. Some people find their security in their job, and when they lose their job, they lose their peace of mind. Others put their security in their marriage. Then their spouse dies or they go through a divorce, and they ask, “Who am I? What is my identity?” Or maybe you put your security in your money. But there are a lot of ways to lose your money. I recommend that you never put your security in anything that can be taken away from you. You can lose your job, your health, your reputation, your spouse, and so many other things. But you cannot lose your relationship with Christ. When you put your security in that promise, you can trust God to meet all your needs. Romans 8:32 says, “Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won’t he also surely give us everything else?” (TLB) If God loved you enough to send Jesus Christ to die on the cross, don’t you think he loves you enough to take care of every other need in your life? Yes! Of course he does. Every time you start to get stressed, pause and say, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1 ESV). God’s going to provide. He’s going to take care of you. Instead of stressing out, look to him to meet all your needs. “Happy is the person whom God corrects! Do not resent it when he rebukes you."
Job 5:17 (GNT) If you’re running from what God has called you to do, there is something you should know: God is calling you back to him. He knows that the longer you run, the worse life will get for you. And he wants to get your attention before it’s too late. Even though God is patient, he won’t let you ignore his call forever. God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you far too much to let you stay that way. One day he’s going to get your attention. The prophet Jonah found this out the hard way as he was running from God: “The storm was getting worse all the time” (Jonah 1:11 GNT). The more Jonah ran, the worse the storm got. Jonah’s running had consequences. It’s the same way for you. When you run from God, eventually you’ll find yourself surrounded by storms. Sometimes those are the storms of God’s correction. But when God corrects you, it’s not negative. It’s because he loves you! Loving parents discipline their children because they love them and want to see them change their behavior for their own good. God is the same way. The Bible says: “Happy is the person whom God corrects! Do not resent it when he rebukes you” (Job 5:17 GNT). As the storm got more intense, Jonah’s shipmates asked a question many people ask when troubles build: “What should we do . . . to stop the storm?” (Jonah 1:11 GNT) The answer is always the same. You must completely surrender your life to God. When you surrender, peace comes. Jonah did this. He responded, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm” (Jonah 1:12 GNT). It was Jonah’s first unselfish act—and his first step toward a fresh start. He admitted he was the cause of the storm, and he surrendered to God’s will. If you’ve been running from God’s plan for your life and now you’re facing a storm, surrender to God. You can do this with confidence because God is for you, and he’s calling you back to him. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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