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.
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Friday 4 September 2015
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.
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.
Wednesday 2 September 2015
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.
Tuesday 1 September 2015
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)