The Devil is happy
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The devil is quite happy to let us claim we are Christians—especially when we don’t act like we are.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
Consult your calendar
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The friend who finds time for me on his calendar is cherished, but the real treasure is the friend who for me does not even consult his calendar.
“A friend loves at all times.” Proverbs 17:17
True North
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The Bible is like a compass, always pointing True North.
“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105
Prudence
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Little things affect little minds.
“A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.” Proverbs 12:16
God’s Financial Provision-Ask Him for Help
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by Rick Warren
You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (MSG)
There is an amazing, incredible and all-encompassing promise in Philippians 4:19 (NIV) regarding provision: “… God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Note the first two words: “God will ….” It doesn’t say, “He might meet your needs,” it says, “He will meet your needs.” It’s written as a fact; God is staking his character and his reputation on it.
Then the Bible says, “God will meet all. …” It doesn’t say, “I’ll meet some of your needs.” It says all.
Now, understand that it doesn’t say, “I’ll meet all your greeds.” There’s a big difference between needs and wants. As a parent, do you give your kids everything they want? I hope you don’t. You don’t do that because you love them. And your heavenly Father loves you. He’s not going to give you everything you want because if he did, you’d be spoiled to death.
He won’t give us everything we want, but he will give us what we need. Then why do you have financial needs? Did God fail? Did he lie? Exaggerate?
No! With every promise, there is a premise; there are conditions and requirements. When God makes a promise, he says, “I’ll do my part and you do your part.” God’s wisdom, his financial principles are clearly laid out for us in his Word. Although the Bible discusses many aspects of financial health, including principles of saving, spending, giving, investing and stewardship, over the next few days we’re going to look at five specific conditions for financial stability.
First, ask for his help - Jesus says, “Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” (John 16:24, NLT) Here’s a good rule: Before you pay for it, pray for it. Give God a chance to provide before you go out and charge it. You probably depend more on your charge card than you do Jesus Christ.
Why does God want me to ask? So he can give.
Why does he want to give? So I can receive.
Why does he want me to receive? So I’ll be full of joy.
Why does he want me to be full of joy? It’s a great advertisement for Jesus Christ. Joyful Christians are a positive testimony.
Tomorrow still comes
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Chinese Proverb: If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow will come. If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow still comes.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” Matthew 6:34
Proud
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I saw a movie recently as I am a big movie fan. The movie was not particuarly important but what one of the main characters said, struck me as very important.
He said: “My mom told me if I knew that today was the last day I was going to be on this earth, would I be proud of the way I had conducted my life?………If not……………do something about it!”
Close to the bone
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by John Fischer
36 men who attended a men’s retreat I spoke at last week in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania are joining us today. Welcome, gentlemen!
At that retreat, I sort of coined a new phrase I’ve never used before at least in this context. I talked about living close to the bone, and by that I mean living in such a way as to have little to hide. Not that we broadcast all of our dirty laundry, but when there are at least some people who know all about our struggles and temptations, then everyone gets the benefit of a more realistic, humble person.
Men especially live under the weight to perform flawlessly as a husband, father, spiritual leader, problem solver and expert on just about everything. And if we can’t pull any of this off, or if failures crop up in any of these areas, we hide them and fake the rest. This may work for a good period of time, but sooner or later, the cover-up breaks down and we are found out usually through something catastrophic like an affair, an addiction, divorce or a nervous breakdown. You can’t live a lie forever.
If our faith is going to have any substance at all, it has to be built on principles that transcend the failures and the weaknesses we all have but seldom admit. And the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is exactly suited for that—something that transcends our failures and weaknesses, allowing us to embrace them and not run from them, while at the same time giving us strength to make progress toward fulfilling our roles as leaders. This is what I mean by living close to the bone, and had more spiritual leaders found out how to do this, there would have been fewer moral breakdowns.
In the new Christmas movie “Everybody’s Fine” starring Robert DeNiro (you’ll have to wait for the DVD; it lasted all of 2 weeks in the theaters), DeNiro plays a newly widowed father who while in the local supermarket stocking up for an expected holiday visit from his three children announces repeatedly when questioned about his family: “Everybody’s fine.” Of course the rest of the movie is the discovery that behind the scenes, everybody is actually far from fine.
In his review of the movie for Christianity Today, Gordon MacDonald links this same charade with what commonly passes for fellowship in most Christian circles. “All it would take is for a few people to say ‘we’re not… I’m not… fine’ and the simple but dazzling grace of our Lord Jesus would start to take over.” There it is. That’s living close to the bone—close to where the grace of God works because, well, nothing else is working out.
Growth
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Growth in wisdom is exactly proportionate to decrease in bitterness.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32
How to be thankful in tough times
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by Rick Warren
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
Don’t worry about anything.
Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There’s no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34, NLT)
Pray about everything.
Next use the time you’ve been worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He’s interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.
Thank God in all things.
Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love — but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They’re never satisfied; it’s never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.
Think about the right things.
If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think; the way you think determines how you feel. And the way you feel determines how you act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you’re thinking about.
This involves a deliberate conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the positive and on God’s word.
Why? Because the root cause of stress is the way I choose to think.
When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give thanks, when we focus on the right things, the Apostle Paul tells us the result is, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.
