God's perfect will & permissive will

God has a perfect will - that which cannot be changed.  God has a permissive will, whereby He allows for various things to happen and uses those things to further His Kingdom and His glory.

It is important when looking at God's perfect wil vs his permissive will, that I always seem to honour Him regardless of my circumstances.  A big part of this is accepting whatever He allows, or does not allow in my life.  I must NEVER wrestle against the Lord.  I must never seek my will, but rather, my desire should always be for His will to be done.  I must totally be surrendered to Him.  If I am not content in my circumstances then I am not surrendered.

In regards to His permissive will, I believe it is okay to seek His help and guidance in doing your best to accomplish goals that you have.  However, it is imperative that I do a couple of things when doing this.  First, it is important to seek God to ensure that the thing you are pursuing aligns with His will for your life.  Second, you must accept whatever the results of your pursuit is.

When pursuing goals that are honouring tonthe Lord, it is very important to ensure that I never wrestle against God.  I am definitely not surrendered if I do so.  I should seek His guidance and help when striving to do my best, and striving to accomplish things, but I should never wrestle with God for those things to happen.  It is always way out of line to try and make God do what you want.  It shoes incredible disrespect and shows that you are not surrendered.

While itnis never okay to wrestle with God, it can be okay to wrestle for God.  For instance, it can be okay to wrestle at trying to become more like Him and serve Him better.  This type of wrestling is me partnering with God, relying on His strength, and seeking Him as I work to become more like Him, serve Him, and further His Kingdom.

How to breakaway from the ways of this world

From Andy Stanley "Breakaway" series.

If I don't want to live a boring life thatnfalls into the patterns of this world, I need to do the following....

1. recognize that God is working in every circumstance I find myself in.  I need to therefore be seeking Him for how He wants to use me and be seeking to be a light for Him.
2.  Realize that my beliefs are what lead to my decisions and therefore outcomes in life from those decisions.  I therefore need to allow God to transform the way that I think.
2.  Realize that God always knows best.

3.  Do not follow my heart.  Follow God's wisdom and Word.  My heart will fool me and lead me astay.

4.  God has a purpose for my life.  I need to live in a way which is obedient to Him so as not to miss His plans and purposes for me.

5.  Be honest with why I want to do the things I do.  This will help me make wiser decisions and not justify poor ones.  Don't be foolish by justifying bad decisions which are sinful!

Have a new kid by Friday parenting book notes by Kevin Lehman

1.  Let reality be the teacher.  No need for anger and lectures, let authentic consequences be the teacher.

2.  When you ask them to do something, no need for reminders or hounding.  If they don't do it, then simply provide meaningful, authentic consequence and walk away.

3.  Respond rather than react.  Don't get angry and make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Worshiping God in "spirit and in truth"

John Piper puts this in words that are much easier to understand.  He says that to worship in spirit and in truth is as follows:

1.  Spirit - your spirit is genuinely enamored by the Lord and as such you worship Him with genuine excitement.  As well, the Holy Spirit can come upon you and help you in doing this because the Holy Spirit lives within you.

2.  Truth - when you worship God because you know Him, and know that He is absolutely worthy of all praise.  Your spirit worships Him with genuine excitement because you know the truth of who He is and the fact that He is so worthy!

From John Piper...

God is most glorified when I am fully satisfied in Him.  This should be an absolute focus of my worship, and my worship to God should be non-stop for my entire life.  Everything I ever do I should do to honour God and worship Him.

If my wife was to say to me, "I love you so much and I want to spend this night with you because I am so happy any time I get to be with you and share life with you"...if she was to say this to me I would be so incredibly honoured.  This is the same attitude we should have toward God in order to worship and honour Him.  Just like in this analogy, I get the honour, Brie get's the pleasure, when we worship, we get the pleasure and God get's the honour.

For this reason, if when I worship, there is no emotional response (genuine emotional satisfaction) toward God, then I haven't worshiped Him.  And this is not something you can force.  If I am truly delighting in the Lord, then that genuine emotional response will occur.


"To live is Christ, to die is gain"

In everything I do, I must do it in a way which glorifies and worships and honours the Lord.  This means that everything I do must be done with the purpose of representing the Lord well, doing my best to show just how magnificent He truly is.  I will never be able to come close to showing this, but I should always rely on the Lord and His strength to try and get as close as possible in every moment.

When I show Christ to others, that is worship.  I can show Christ by showing how he's blessed me and changed me.  I can show Christ by acting as He would have me act in each situation.  This makes sense.  Anyone is honoured when you try and be like them and emulate them.  When we strive to become more like Christ and act as He would act and have us act in each and every situation, that is worship.

Therefore, I worship the Lord when I am patient with my wife and children and treat them with nothing but love and tenderness, because this is how Christ treats me and in turn wants me to act.  I worship the Lord when I am confident in my job or on the golf course and work my hardest to be the best that I can be with the talents He has blessed me with, because that is how He would act, and have me act.  In general, I worship the Lord when I act as He would act in each situation, because I am honouring Him by obeying Him and showing Him that I understand that He is best and is ways are best.  And simply put, honour comes when you emulate someone else, and God gets worship when we try to emulate Him.

Steps for truly learning from mistakes....Andy Stanley "Starting Over" series

1.  Own it, Rethink it, Release it

2.  Answer the question, what was I thinking?  Don't move on until you really know what the actual answer to that question is.  And allow God to change you by the renewing/changing of your mind (changing the way you think about that situation/topic)

3.  You have to release the past so that the past doesn't control you....there is enough pain in life that why would you drag along pain from the past.  Release the past/forgive and move on.

Apart from God I can do nothing.

http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en/devotionals/we-can-do-nothing


I have often wondered about the verse, "Apart from Christ I can do nothing".  I wondered because you look at non-Christians who accomplish great things in this world.  Things like charity work, or athletic success or business success.  What this verse is actually saying is that you cannot bear true fruit for God without Him.  You may be able to accomplish great things, and these things may seem like they are examples of fruit for God's Kingdom, but they are not examples of true fruit if we do them on our own effort apart from God, for God is saying in this verse (John 15:5) that apart from Him we cannot bear fruit.

This becomes that much more clear when we examine Romans 7:18, John 15:5 and Galatians 5 together.  You recognize the fact that nothing good dwells in my sinful flesh (Romans 7:18).  Galatians 5 outlines all the characteristics of my flesh.  However it also outlines the Fruit of the Spirit which God will manifest through us when we are surrendered to Him.  As you examine the fruit of the Spirit, you realize very quickly that you cannot bear this fruit by your own effort.  You need to surrender to God, ask for His help and strength and then allow Him to supernaturally work through you and bear these fruits.

When you examine these verses together it becomes increasingly clear that Jesus is bang on (as always) that we cannot bear fruit apart from Him.

When I have read this verse in the past I misunderstood it to mean that I can't do anything meaningful by my own effort.  This is not what the verse is saying.  In actuality there is a lot that I can do and accomplish by my own effort.  The fact that non-Christians can accomplish success in this world proves that.  But no one can bear meaningful fruit apart from the Lord.  No one can bear the fruit of the Spirit.

These truths should not serve as permission to go out and try to accomplish things solely by our own efforts.  All our pursuits are always most meaningful when we are doing them to glorify the Lord.  In everything we do we should be working our hardest at it as a means of worshiping and glorifying Him, and then trusting Him to make from our efforts whatever He wants - to bring about the results from our efforts that He sees fit.

It is important to realize that any success I ever have in anything directly relates to the degree that God chooses to bless my efforts.  Also, even though it is possible to accomplish things by my efforts (as explained above), it is important to seek God in everything I do.  This means asking for His help to do my best, asking Him to bless my efforts, seeking Him for how to go about things, dedicating all my effort to Him, etc.

As I work my hardest at everything I do, I also need to do so in ways that are God honouring and glorify Him.  For instance I should be confident, loving, patient, etc..  It is also important to check your motives.  Everything we do should be for the glory of God.  There is a verse in the Bible which speaks about how our deeds are like filthy menstrual rags if they are done out of selfish ambition.  We were made to worship the Lord, so everything we do must be for His glory alone.  I have had this wrong in so many areas if my life.  I need to stop doing things to bring glory to myself.  And when I do that it helps take away stress because I am striving g to perform for an audience of One, and He does not want me concerned about results, but rather the process of worshipping Him.



-talk next about how this relates to doing my best in teaching, sports, etc....He has blessed me with abilities and I have to work my hardest as if depends on me...I have to actually do it confidently because Christ gives us Spirit of courage.  These circumstances are not what "apart from Me" is speaking about.  The fact that I have messed up in the past by being nervous proves that I have to do it...

Let the Lord work through you naturally.  You still work hard but let Him work through you naturally

Is my obedience and service and worship about the genuine fruit of Christ's presence and power?  I must be always examining myself and checking my motives.

Won't be fruit
Therefore there are some things which you can do by self but fruit is not beared when doing on own effort

If it isn't about Him in us then it won't be worship.  If it is not about pleasing Him alone then it is not worship.

Surrender to God, don't focus on yourself

Narcissus was a person from greek mythology.  We get the term narcissist from his name.  You can look up his story, but he was so consumed with his own beauty that when he saw his reflection in a pool, he fell in love with it and drowned.  It is so important for us to stay focused on the Lord, not ourselves.  When we focus on our own wants and desires, we too drown.  We drown out God's full influence in our lives.  When we are not fully surrendered, we prevent against being able to have God's fullest and best.  Do not be like Narcissus.  Don't be in love with yourself.  Don't look at the world as your playground.  Don't look at it as a place that is meant for you to do what you want and serve yourself.  "We are not our own, we were bought for a price" by Jesus.  We exist to glorify Him, and when we focus on ourselves, not only are we not glorifying Him, we are preventing ourselves from being in a mindset that allows us to be surrendered.  We must never allow ourselves to be a distraction from God.

-Don't justify being a narcissist.  Don't say things like, "I'm just thankful for what God has done in me and allowed me to accomplish and I am going to admire those things".  No, you can be thankful, and you can praise Him for it....you should do those things...but don't cheapen what God has done in your life by worshiping yourself.  Don't cheapen what He has done by allowing yourself to be focused on you.  Be thankful and worship Him by seeking to use what He has blessed you with to further His Kingdom.  One of the ways we can do that is by having a humble attitude and recognize that everything He's done in us is from Him.

-Don't be in love with me, be in love with God.  Don't be in love with God's gifts to me, be in love with Him the person, thankful for His presence.  We have this backwards when we are thinking more about the blessings He's given us rather than how we can be a blessing and further His Kingdom.  Look at the things God has done as further motivation to worship Him and focus on Him.  Don't allow yourself to focus on the blessings in a way which cause you to think about yourself (i.e.  look what I did, that was so cool that I was a part of that, I can't wait to share what I accomplished, I want people to talk to me about what I was a part of, etc.)

-It's been said that we are far too easily pleased.  We can have so much from God, and yet we settle.  He wants to give us so much more.

I have always had a hard time completely understanding what the verse 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  God has been revealing to me through Chuck Swindoll what Paul meant by these verses.  It is that divine strength comes when human weakness is evident.  When we are weak, Christ moves and shows up when we need Him, making His power that much note clear and obvious in our lives.  For these reasons we can "boast in our weaknesses" because it is cool when God shows up.

When I know that I can't do something, or am struggling to do it, I can rely on God and His strength alone to get me through.  When I am in a position of weakness and need to rely on God's strength to do something, His strength is that much more evident in my weakness.  The important thing to realize though is that I need to always surrender myself to Him and His strength.  There will never be a time where I should be relying on myself to accomplish anything.  He has blessed me with talents and abilities, and I should work to develop them, but regardless of how competent I become in something, I need to be surrendering all of my efforts to His power and strength, because I am always weak, and He is always strong.  Anything I ever accomplish is always directly related to how He chooses to bless my efforts.  This is the case for things I am naturally good at, or things I am not good at.  His strength and sovereignty is what determines outcomes.  I just need to get out of my own way and surrender to Him.

The fact that the outcomes are always directly related to how He chooses to bless my efforts is another form of recognizing that I am weak and He is strong.  For instance, I can be the best in teh world at something, but God can always make the results of my efforts less than favourable.  I must never look at the results of my efforts being solely dependent upon myself.  I must humbly recognize that God always has the final say in all results and circumstances.  I should have confidence in my abilities, for this is a way that I can work to perform my best.  If I am not confident, I will not perform as well as I will if I am confident; however, I need to always ensure that I am fully aware of the fact that God is in complete control, and it is important that I always humbly fear Him and place myself in a position of weakness, recognizing that I am weak, but HE IS ALWAYS STRONG!

-If I do a sermon on this, have main points with a paragraph explanation for each.  Read the explanation, and use that as prompt to then go and expand/explain.

Keeping the peace with parents at school

I have found that when I stand up to parents and tell them when I think they have treated me poorly, that usually nothing good happens.  It usually just makes the situation more toxic and awkward.

God teaches me to pursue peace.  "Love your enemies and pray for them".  "A harsh word stirs up anger, but a gentle word turns away wrath.". I believe what God is telling me to do in these situations with parents is to turn the other cheek, and actively pursue peace.  Forgive them for how I feel I have been wronged and actively pursue what is needed to make them feel more at peace with the situation so that they are no longer frustrated, angry at me, etc..  Don't be prideful and make it about yourself.  Focus on making it about representing God well.

God is working, look to be used

God is at all times working in this world to further His Kingdom and I need to be looking for how incan be part of that.  I need to always be listening to the Holy Spirit's prompting for how God is working and how He wants to use me in that work.  What incredible joy there is in that.

I don't teach for my glory

I have been realising that sometimes I am so focused on making parents of my students like me that I forget that I am teaching for God's glory, not my own.  God created these children and soninmist teach and care for them as his prized possessions.  I need not teach so that parents will appreciate me.  I need to simply teach as God would have me and let Him take care of what people think of me.  I teach for His glory alone.

Raising Effective Children Series (by Chip Ingram)

It is important that our kids do not feel like we are always down on them.  We need to develop relationships with them that they cherish, value and enjoy.  This increases the likihood that they will choose to follow the ways that you value - the ways of Christ Jesus.

Look them on the eye when you talk to your kids.  Give them your full attention.

Have dinner together

Plan fun activities together.  Get family time scheduled on the calendar.

Model for your children Christ-likeness.

When raising your kids, it is important to know what the foal is.  The goal needs to be to raise them to be like Christ.  When you have the goal in mind it helps tkndirect your steps.

When I am weak, then I am strong

I have always had a hard time completely understanding what the verse 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  God has been revealing to me through Chuck Swindoll what Paul meant by these verses.  It is that divine strength comes when human weakness is evident.  When we are weak, Christ moves and shows up when we need Him, making His power that much note clear and obvious in our lives.  For these reasons we can "boast in our weaknesses" because it is cool when God shows up.

When I know that I can't do something, or am struggling to do it, I can rely on God and His strength alone to get me through.  When I am in a position of weakness and need to rely on God's strength to do something, His strength is that much more evident in my weakness.  The important thing to realize though is that I need to always surrender myself to Him and His strength.  There will never be a time where I should be relying on myself to accomplish anything.  He has blessed me with talents and abilities, and I should work to develop them, but regardless of how competent I become in something, I need to be surrendering all of my efforts to His power and strength, because I am always weak, and He is always strong.  Anything I ever accomplish is always directly related to how He chooses to bless my efforts.  This is the case for things I am naturally good at, or things I am not good at.  His strength and sovereignty is what determines outcomes.  I just need to get out of my own way and surrender to Him.

The fact that the outcomes are always directly related to how He chooses to bless my efforts is another form of recognizing that I am weak and He is strong.  For instance, I can be the best in teh world at something, but God can always make the results of my efforts less than favourable.  I must never look at the results of my efforts being solely dependent upon myself.  I must humbly recognize that God always has the final say in all results and circumstances.  I should have confidence in my abilities, for this is a way that I can work to perform my best.  If I am not confident, I will not perform as well as I will if I am confident; however, I need to always ensure that I am fully aware of the fact that God is in complete control, and it is important that I always humbly fear Him and place myself in a position of weakness, recognizing that I am weak, but HE IS ALWAYS STRONG!

Surrender and Obedience

The following stems from Dr. Tony Evans in his small group study "Destiny".

It is important to always be aligning ourselves with Christ in obedience.  When we align ourselves in these ways, it positions us to be used by the Lord and to be guided by Him more smoothly due to the fact that I am not getting in the way.  

A couple really good analogies from Dr. Tony Evans are as follows.  When a father takes his young child in his lap and let's them steer the golf cart, the father is controlling the pedal and the brake.  He is also holding a couple fingers at the bottom of the wheel.  This so that the child can still experience driving, have fun, but be kept safe and get to the destination.  As Christians we need to position ourselves in our Father's lap.  We need to enjoy doing our best, but surrender to His overall guidance, protection and wisdom.  We must allow Himsurrendered where He wants me, otherwise I will most certainly crash and definitely not end up where is best.  

Another great analogy from Dr. Evans has to do with how we as Christians can be far too easily pleased, and how we often feel like we know what is best.  We are like the daughter who asks her daddy for a nickel, but all he has is a twenty.  He wants to give her the great gift of the twenty dollar bill, but she gets cranky and upset because she had her eyes set on the nickel.  She doesn't understand the fact that the twenty is many times greater a gift than the nickel.  It is so important to remained surrendered and allow God to lead us where He wants us.  He has "plans to prosper is, five us a hope and a future".  We must not be so ignorant and set our sights on the nickels we think we want in life, but rather wait patiently on the Lord and surrender to Him and allow Him to lead us to the place of good and prosperity that He has for us.  Stop thinking you know what is best for you.  Stop thinking you would be happy with your goals and dreams (unless For is leading you to them).  Allow God to lead you to where He wants you.  That leads to the greatest joy.

Fear of death cannot be of God

Since the Holy Spirit lives within me, any fear if death cannot be of Him and must be of Satan.  God has given us a "Spirit of courage".  The Holy Spirit that lives inside of me is one if courage, and so any fears are not of God.  He wouldn't lead me to be fearful because it goes against His character.  I must allow His character, that which lives inside me to come through.  I must see all fear as from the evil one, speak against it, and pursue the confidence that is living within me through Christ.

Consider it joy to face persecution

Acts 5:41-42

These verses show apostles who had just been brutally tortured and flogged.  Yet they went right back to preaching for Jesus.  They were excited to have been considered worthy by God to suffer for His name.  I must have this same attitude and be bold and confident in preaching for Him.

A Spirit of Power

2 Timothy 1:6-9

This verse says very clearly that God has given us a Spirit of "power, love and self-discipline".  This is the Holy Spirit living inside me.  Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is living inside me, I must work to have the same qualities as that of the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit is within me, working and interceding on my behalf to help me become these ways.

I not only can be these ways, I must be these ways, for this are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit.

A time for everything - Ecclesiastes

God is sovereign.  Part of His sovereignty is the fact that He uses each and every situation for His glory and purposes.  Even bad situations He will use.  This is incredibly comforting and gives tremendous confidence and peace to those of us who place our trust in Him.  "What Satan meant for evil, God uses for good."

The world is cursed by sin.  This is a devastating reality.  The good thing however is that God has overcome the curse of sin.  Therefore we can live in complete confidence knowing that He lives within us, is completely sovereign and will use every situation to further His Kingdom, and at the same time, He has great plans for us and wants to bless us.

It is important to accept God's timing and purposes in every season of life.  If I don't do this I will be a very bitter person.  It is imperative that I live thankful and surrendered to the Lord at all times.

How foolish of me to think that I know what is best for me.  How ignorant of me.  I must be surrendered to the one who created me and died for me.

Savor the gift of every moment in life.  Enjoy it.   We have Christ!  Enjoy life being surrendered to Him.