God is very clear in His Word that He is a jealous God. Many people try and argue that this is a form if hypocrisy because He says that jealousy is wrong. When you examine God's jealoisy , however; you realize very quickly that He is talking about a type of jealousy that is a good kind. It is a kind of jealousy that we should be thankful that He displays. It is also a form if jealousy that all if us should be displaying in certain situations.
Bad jealousy is the type where you want something that does not belong to you, but rather belongs to someone else. The good jealousy that God displays is the kind where one is jealous for something that does belong to them but is wrongfully drifting towards someone or something else.
In our relationship with God, He is jealous for our heart. He wants all of our heart, and rightfully so. He loves us more than we can imagine and He knows what is best for us. He is what is best for us and therefore He wants to live in close communion with Him. Unfortunately however, we are often far too easily satisfied. We try to find fulfillment in things other than God. This makes God extremely jealous because something else is competing with Him for our heart. He alone must be what we find our fulfillment in because He alone provides TRUE fulfillment. Sometimes we can also fall into the trap of thinking that we are completely surrendered to God and are finding our fulfillment in Him when in reality we are not.
Often times the reality is that we are half-heartedly pursuing God, while pursuing other things as well and attempting to find fulfillment in those things. Once again, we must never allow ourselves to be far too easily satisfied. We may think that we are fulfilled by the things we are pursuing and enjoying, and we may think that we are fulfilled by the little bit of God that we are devoting our time to pursuing, but the reality is that until we completely surrender ourselves to God and are completely sold out for Him, we will not know true happiness and fulfillment.
God wants so badly to have this type of relationship with Him, but He will not force it. He says in the Bible, "I stand at the door and knock". He created us and therefore knows what is best for us. He wants to provide it, but we must do our part and pursue Him wholeheartedly. I know from my personal life experiences that I have NEVER been disappointed by Him.
Greater fullfilment can even be found in the things that we enjoy doing when we choose to make God the center of them and do them for His glory. When we decide to worship God with our efforts in all things, and surrender all results to Him, it ensures that we are keeping our focus on Him and finding our fulfillment in Him alone. When we do this, not only will our our relationship with God improve, but we will find greater enjoyment in the things that we enjoy doing. This is because our attitude toward them is in line with the attitude God wants us to have, and anytime that happens we are in the right place to experience true joy and fulfillment. We must never find fulfillment in anything or anyone but God.
I don't believe God will ever bless any of our efforts in anything where that thing is competing with Him for our heart. Our heart belongs to God. He is jealous for it. If ever we are pursuing something and itncompetes with God, I just cannot believe that He will allow us to be fully blessed in it. While this is a result if His jealousy, it is also a result of His love. We are so far better off when we are completely surrendered to Him.
If God truly has my heart, then I will be can mpletely surrendered to Him. HE ALONE WILL BE ENOUGH FOR ME. I will work hard at all things, but be surrendered tonwhatnit becomes, letting Him decide, for I long for Him and Him alone.
Deuteronomy 4:15-31
Deuteronomy 5:4-10
Nahum 1:1-15
Exodus 20:1-7
Psalm 104:1-35
Psalm 78:56-64
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Sunday, 9 February 2014
God's Bucket List For Your Life - and helping your kids know God
Romans 13
- God's bucket list for your life is to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love my neighbour as I love myself.
-love does no harm to one's neighbor. It seeks to serve, love, be understanding and peaceful.
-all of God's rules and guidelines are there out of love. They are there to help us manifest a proper relationship with Him. This is why the Bible says that "love sums up the law...". God's Word is not about rules for the sake of rules. The Bible is a book that teaches us about how to have a deeper relationship with God.
-I feel that as Brie and I raise our children that we should set rules and should discipline in a way which keeps these things in mind. It can be very easy to try and teach our kids to simply behave and be good - but if we don't teach them how to have a meaningful relationship with God, then the only thing we are doing is teaching them how to obey rules. We will have missed the mark and not taught them how to live for Christ. We will have raised "moral pagans". It is imperative that we are teaching our children how to have a meaningful relationship with God. When we are teaching them to follow His rules and guidelines we must make sure that they understand that the reason why they are doing this is because these rules and guidelines are given to us by God out of love. He gives them to us so that when we follow them we are pitting yourself in a place which will make us more like Christ. And if we are becoming more like Christ, then we are becoming people who can have a more meaningful and deeper relationship with Him which leads to a life that can be truly lived to its fullest.
-look for blog..."Raising Pagan Kids in a Christian Home"...have some great insights
- A relationship with God is not about being good and setting goals and then hoping that if we are good that God will allow us to accomplish our goals. A relationship with God is about loving Him and being surrendered to Him. We are called to work our hardest in all things, but we are called to do so for the glory if God. This means that we work hard to glorify God and are surrendered to Him for all results of our efforts. God calls me to work hard in all things and then be surrendered to Him for all results.
-It is okay to be a "go getter", but it is more blessed to be a "go giver". Both can be done for the glory of God, but when we look at the life Jesus lived it is clear which He most values.
+ Grace is not opposed to effort (which is action), but to earning (which is trying to accomplish only what we want rather than being surrendered)
- God's bucket list for your life is to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love my neighbour as I love myself.
-love does no harm to one's neighbor. It seeks to serve, love, be understanding and peaceful.
-all of God's rules and guidelines are there out of love. They are there to help us manifest a proper relationship with Him. This is why the Bible says that "love sums up the law...". God's Word is not about rules for the sake of rules. The Bible is a book that teaches us about how to have a deeper relationship with God.
-I feel that as Brie and I raise our children that we should set rules and should discipline in a way which keeps these things in mind. It can be very easy to try and teach our kids to simply behave and be good - but if we don't teach them how to have a meaningful relationship with God, then the only thing we are doing is teaching them how to obey rules. We will have missed the mark and not taught them how to live for Christ. We will have raised "moral pagans". It is imperative that we are teaching our children how to have a meaningful relationship with God. When we are teaching them to follow His rules and guidelines we must make sure that they understand that the reason why they are doing this is because these rules and guidelines are given to us by God out of love. He gives them to us so that when we follow them we are pitting yourself in a place which will make us more like Christ. And if we are becoming more like Christ, then we are becoming people who can have a more meaningful and deeper relationship with Him which leads to a life that can be truly lived to its fullest.
-look for blog..."Raising Pagan Kids in a Christian Home"...have some great insights
- A relationship with God is not about being good and setting goals and then hoping that if we are good that God will allow us to accomplish our goals. A relationship with God is about loving Him and being surrendered to Him. We are called to work our hardest in all things, but we are called to do so for the glory if God. This means that we work hard to glorify God and are surrendered to Him for all results of our efforts. God calls me to work hard in all things and then be surrendered to Him for all results.
-It is okay to be a "go getter", but it is more blessed to be a "go giver". Both can be done for the glory of God, but when we look at the life Jesus lived it is clear which He most values.
+ Grace is not opposed to effort (which is action), but to earning (which is trying to accomplish only what we want rather than being surrendered)
Making the most of my time
-If I could see His glory I would give Him all of my time and energy and be completely surrendered to Him. I would not seek to live for my own glory, but His alone. I would be so completely surrendered to Him.
- I must recognize that I am so tiny and insignificant, that to live for my own glory would be incredibly ridiculous. I must seek to live for God's glory because His purposes are meaningful and worth being a part of. To live for myself would be meaningless. It would be a waste of a life. Only God's purposes are truly worth living for.
- it is shameful to think that I would be excited to serve a celebrity and do stuff for them. How much more I should do this for God. I know the God of the universe. This just goes to show how foolish I am. I must take God so much more seriously. I must see Him for what He truly is.
I am to live as if my life has a point, and I am not it. My glory has no meaning, God's glory is the definition of meaningful, and He wants me to be a part of it. My glory is too little a thing to live for. I am too small a thing to live for.
Priority determines capacity. When I get my priorities straight it allows life to be more enjoyable. It is not necessarily a case of not getting to do the things I enjoy, it is just making sure that the most important aspects of my life come first. A good visual of this is trying to fit big rocks into a jar if pebbles. The rocks represent the important priorities in life, while the pebbles represent the things that we simply enjoy doing. When the pebbles take priority and go into the jar first, then they take up too much space and you can't fit in all the rocks. If you put the rocks in first however, then when you put the pebbles in they will find space around the rocks and you can then fit both the rocks and the pebbles into the jar. Priority definitely determines capacity. If you prioritize correctly, then you should be able to fit everything into your day/life that you need to.
When you try and rush things in life, in order to fit everything in, then it greatly hurts intimacy. Therefore when it comes to my relationship with God, as well as Brie and my kids, I must never rush. I never want to hurt intimacy in these relationships.
By putting the "God rock" into the jar of my life first, it helps me maintain proper priority in all areas of my life. After all, why wouldn't I do this. God says in Matthew 6:33 that He knows everything that I need and therefore I am to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness", and that when I do that He will provide for me everything else that I need. It is amazing that God knows what I need and promises to give it to me when I seek Him first, so of course He must come first in my life.
I believe that this means that I should spend the first minutes of my day with the Lord. It is a way to put Him first and set my day off right. It makes sure that God remains the center if my life in general, and therefore all that will arise in that day.
A good saying from Martin Luther is "Pray and let God worry". God wants to never be anxious about anything.
You will make better decisions if you live realizing that your days are numbered.
Investing small amounts of time on things that matter will have a positive cumulative value. At the same time, neglecting spending time on things that matter also have a negative cumulative value. And no one installment of time really matters. It is cumulative value over time that matters. For instance, spending time with my family once will not have a positive impact on my life. It is spending time with them on a consistent basis that will matter. At the same time, if I consistently neglect spending time with my family that will have a negative effect over time on my relationship with them.
Often times it can be very easy to fill our time with random things. For instance, surfing the internet in a leisurely manner, watching t.v., watching movies, etc.. It is important to realize that when you take these things and add up the time youbsoend on them theubhabe no value. There is no benefit to them. Therefore, it is important that we spend those random amounts of time on things which will have a positive cumulative value when we add them all up.
Ephesians 5:15, 16, 17 teaches these principles. It instructs us on the importance of making the most of every opportunity and using our time strategically.
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks in depth about how meaningless life is apart from God. It talks about how life does not always make sense. An example if this is when someone is faithful to God and bad things still happen. The good news though is that no matter what happens in life, God still wants us to trust Him and be faithful to Him. And He will use all things for His glory. Therefore, with these truths in mind, it makes it increasingly clear how important it is to live surrendered to God following His will for your life. It is important tonseek His will, discovering that which he chooses to reveal to you, and then live to tally surrendered to Him. Everything else in this life is meaningless apart from Him. Everyone lives, works hard, gains stuff and then dies leaving all that stuff to someone else who didn't earn it. Living life surrendered to God is the only way to find true fulfillment.
Do not waste your life "chasing the wind". Do not waste your life chasing after things that really don't have any eternal value. It is so important to keep your priorities straight. God has given me a wife and children to love and impact for God's glory. I must not miss the mark. I must not miss out on investing in their lives for God's glory, for this is a way that I can have an impact for God's Kingdom for generations to come. I must be in prayer for my kids and their kids and all future generations. I know things like my job can have eternal value, and it is important for me to pursue hard in these things, but I must never do so at the expense of my family. This is the most important investment God has given me for His Kingdom. The moral if much if this is to make sure that I am setting my priorities straight so that my time is spent serving God and seeking how I can be better surrendered to Him so that my life is spent furthering His Kingdom.
- I must recognize that I am so tiny and insignificant, that to live for my own glory would be incredibly ridiculous. I must seek to live for God's glory because His purposes are meaningful and worth being a part of. To live for myself would be meaningless. It would be a waste of a life. Only God's purposes are truly worth living for.
- it is shameful to think that I would be excited to serve a celebrity and do stuff for them. How much more I should do this for God. I know the God of the universe. This just goes to show how foolish I am. I must take God so much more seriously. I must see Him for what He truly is.
I am to live as if my life has a point, and I am not it. My glory has no meaning, God's glory is the definition of meaningful, and He wants me to be a part of it. My glory is too little a thing to live for. I am too small a thing to live for.
Priority determines capacity. When I get my priorities straight it allows life to be more enjoyable. It is not necessarily a case of not getting to do the things I enjoy, it is just making sure that the most important aspects of my life come first. A good visual of this is trying to fit big rocks into a jar if pebbles. The rocks represent the important priorities in life, while the pebbles represent the things that we simply enjoy doing. When the pebbles take priority and go into the jar first, then they take up too much space and you can't fit in all the rocks. If you put the rocks in first however, then when you put the pebbles in they will find space around the rocks and you can then fit both the rocks and the pebbles into the jar. Priority definitely determines capacity. If you prioritize correctly, then you should be able to fit everything into your day/life that you need to.
When you try and rush things in life, in order to fit everything in, then it greatly hurts intimacy. Therefore when it comes to my relationship with God, as well as Brie and my kids, I must never rush. I never want to hurt intimacy in these relationships.
By putting the "God rock" into the jar of my life first, it helps me maintain proper priority in all areas of my life. After all, why wouldn't I do this. God says in Matthew 6:33 that He knows everything that I need and therefore I am to "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness", and that when I do that He will provide for me everything else that I need. It is amazing that God knows what I need and promises to give it to me when I seek Him first, so of course He must come first in my life.
I believe that this means that I should spend the first minutes of my day with the Lord. It is a way to put Him first and set my day off right. It makes sure that God remains the center if my life in general, and therefore all that will arise in that day.
A good saying from Martin Luther is "Pray and let God worry". God wants to never be anxious about anything.
You will make better decisions if you live realizing that your days are numbered.
Investing small amounts of time on things that matter will have a positive cumulative value. At the same time, neglecting spending time on things that matter also have a negative cumulative value. And no one installment of time really matters. It is cumulative value over time that matters. For instance, spending time with my family once will not have a positive impact on my life. It is spending time with them on a consistent basis that will matter. At the same time, if I consistently neglect spending time with my family that will have a negative effect over time on my relationship with them.
Often times it can be very easy to fill our time with random things. For instance, surfing the internet in a leisurely manner, watching t.v., watching movies, etc.. It is important to realize that when you take these things and add up the time youbsoend on them theubhabe no value. There is no benefit to them. Therefore, it is important that we spend those random amounts of time on things which will have a positive cumulative value when we add them all up.
Ephesians 5:15, 16, 17 teaches these principles. It instructs us on the importance of making the most of every opportunity and using our time strategically.
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks in depth about how meaningless life is apart from God. It talks about how life does not always make sense. An example if this is when someone is faithful to God and bad things still happen. The good news though is that no matter what happens in life, God still wants us to trust Him and be faithful to Him. And He will use all things for His glory. Therefore, with these truths in mind, it makes it increasingly clear how important it is to live surrendered to God following His will for your life. It is important tonseek His will, discovering that which he chooses to reveal to you, and then live to tally surrendered to Him. Everything else in this life is meaningless apart from Him. Everyone lives, works hard, gains stuff and then dies leaving all that stuff to someone else who didn't earn it. Living life surrendered to God is the only way to find true fulfillment.
Do not waste your life "chasing the wind". Do not waste your life chasing after things that really don't have any eternal value. It is so important to keep your priorities straight. God has given me a wife and children to love and impact for God's glory. I must not miss the mark. I must not miss out on investing in their lives for God's glory, for this is a way that I can have an impact for God's Kingdom for generations to come. I must be in prayer for my kids and their kids and all future generations. I know things like my job can have eternal value, and it is important for me to pursue hard in these things, but I must never do so at the expense of my family. This is the most important investment God has given me for His Kingdom. The moral if much if this is to make sure that I am setting my priorities straight so that my time is spent serving God and seeking how I can be better surrendered to Him so that my life is spent furthering His Kingdom.
Saturday, 25 January 2014
I gotta get my act together and be the husband, father and Christian God calls me to be.
I just finished watching a video by a man who just recently died from cancer. He was a Christian man and left this video as a message to his less than 1 year old daughter so that she could see how much he loved her, but most importantly how much he loved Christ Jesus. God has been teaching me a lot lately, and this video added to it. It really spoke to me and convicted me. The video allowed me to see a man who was living his life as if every moment was his last. He was making the most if every opportunity to love his family and to love Christ because his days were short. I am ashamed of myself because I know that I should be living this way but I have not. God has called me to live this way, and I have not put the effort in. In every moment that I live, I should be loving my wife, daughter and unborn child in the way that I would if that moment was my last here on earth. Instead, I am a selfish individual who is always thinking about himself. I am always thinking about what I want to do, what I want to accomplish, what I feel like, rather than how I can best serve my family, love them, and make the most of every opportunity with them. I am not guaranteed tomorrow, yet I live as if it's a certainty. I must realize that I may not be around tomorrow, and when I really stop and think of this I am ashamed of myself. I am ashamed because I have not served my family in a way which I am proud of. I would have many regrets if I died today. I would regret all the times that I have worked out rather than play with Aivry. I would regret all the times that I sat and watched a game rather than doing something with her and Brie. I would regret the fact that I have so often allowed myself to be distracted rather than being the man that God has called me to be, stepping up, serving them and making the most of every opportunity to love them as Christ loves me - which is the way that Christ calls me to love them. Even little things like changing a diaper, or getting Aivry dressed, or making a meal - I have been so lazy and allowed Brie to do so much of these things. I know she loves doing them, but by allowing her to do it all the time, I have missed out on so many opportunities to enjoy meaningful moments with them. I have missed out on opportunities to show them love.
This has got to stop. And now. I must allow God to change me "by the renewing of my mind". I need to stop thinking about me, and thinking about them. It's crazy, because I know when I start doing this I will be incredibly blessed and feel so much more fulfilled in life. Proof of this was when Brie was on bed rest recently. I was in a position where I had to serve my family and do things which I so often allowed Brie to do. I was so blessed by serving my family. I felt so fulfilled taking care of them rather than being lazy. I know that this will be the case as I stop allowing myself to be distracted, and rather start making the most of every opportunity to love and serve God and my family - making the most of every opportunity as if it were my last.
I believe that this is what it means to "live in light of eternity". I need to live every day as if I knew I was dying tomorrow. This way, when God does call me home, I can have as few regrets as possible, for I know that I am leaving behind a legacy of positive memories for my family. This is also the way that Brie and I can best model for Aivry how to live for Christ and realize the constant blessings involved in doing so.
In every situation that I am in, I must approach it in the way that I would if I were to die tomorrow. This way I am approaching things in a way which will better please Jesus, but at the same time, in a way that will best bless the family he has entrusted to me.
And this means everything....time with God, family, work, hobbies, friends, etc.. I must do it with an attitude of how would God have me do this if I were to die tomorrow?
I am excited to do this, for I can only imagine how incredibly blessed I will be, as well as my family, as a result of changing my attitude so as to make the most of every opportunity. I am confident in these blessings because I believe that this is how God calls us to live. I am saddened to think of that which I have missed out on as a result of not living this way sooner, but am excited for what I will experience, by the grace of God, as a result of living every moment as if it's my last. My life can only be more blessed. God calls us to live in light of eternity, and He will never lead us astray.
This has got to stop. And now. I must allow God to change me "by the renewing of my mind". I need to stop thinking about me, and thinking about them. It's crazy, because I know when I start doing this I will be incredibly blessed and feel so much more fulfilled in life. Proof of this was when Brie was on bed rest recently. I was in a position where I had to serve my family and do things which I so often allowed Brie to do. I was so blessed by serving my family. I felt so fulfilled taking care of them rather than being lazy. I know that this will be the case as I stop allowing myself to be distracted, and rather start making the most of every opportunity to love and serve God and my family - making the most of every opportunity as if it were my last.
I believe that this is what it means to "live in light of eternity". I need to live every day as if I knew I was dying tomorrow. This way, when God does call me home, I can have as few regrets as possible, for I know that I am leaving behind a legacy of positive memories for my family. This is also the way that Brie and I can best model for Aivry how to live for Christ and realize the constant blessings involved in doing so.
In every situation that I am in, I must approach it in the way that I would if I were to die tomorrow. This way I am approaching things in a way which will better please Jesus, but at the same time, in a way that will best bless the family he has entrusted to me.
And this means everything....time with God, family, work, hobbies, friends, etc.. I must do it with an attitude of how would God have me do this if I were to die tomorrow?
I am excited to do this, for I can only imagine how incredibly blessed I will be, as well as my family, as a result of changing my attitude so as to make the most of every opportunity. I am confident in these blessings because I believe that this is how God calls us to live. I am saddened to think of that which I have missed out on as a result of not living this way sooner, but am excited for what I will experience, by the grace of God, as a result of living every moment as if it's my last. My life can only be more blessed. God calls us to live in light of eternity, and He will never lead us astray.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Work as Worship
Pursue excellence for God's glory
Spend my time striving to serve those who will never be able to pay me back. Do this for God's glory and store up treasures in heaven in doing so. I must be using the gifts and opportunities God has blessed me with to serve him and others.
What if people judged a relationship with God by how they saw me work? Am I reflecting Him well?
My focus in work needs to be about serving God, and a big part of this is done through serving others. I must not be looking for what I can get out of things, but rather using my talents and circumstances to glorify the Lord. I must be responsible with the talents He has blesses me with, as well as the circumstances.
Having these attitudes will make work so much more fulfilling because I am finding pleasure in God rather than earthly rewards.
Serving those who will never be able to pay you back is what Jesus did. I must always do the same. That is what God has created me to do.
Matthew 6:33 states that when we focus on pleasing God in all things then "all these things will be added unto you". In other words, we are called to ensure that our only focus is to please the God at all times and in all things. When we make that our only focus, He will add everything else we need to us. What an amazing truth this is. We can make our ficus on pleasing and honoring God and then rest knowing that all things will work out for us because God will take care of everything else in our lives. There is tremendous peace in that.
This relates to work and all other pursuits. When we focus on honoring God, and that is our only focus, we can then allow Him to take care of everything else (i.e. results, money, approval, how others view us, success, etc.). I get so pumped to think that this is what God calls us to. He calls us to do everything in a way which will lead to greater peace, securitu , happiness and blessing.
In work, hobbies and anything else we must make sure that we use work as a means of worshipping God. It is extremely important that we never get this backward and start worshipping these things themselves. When our thoughts are continually on these things and our identity becomes rooted in them, we have croosed the line where we have started to worship them. They have become idols and have drawn out attention away from God. We must worship God with these things. Honoring Him with them must always be the focus.
Spend my time striving to serve those who will never be able to pay me back. Do this for God's glory and store up treasures in heaven in doing so. I must be using the gifts and opportunities God has blessed me with to serve him and others.
What if people judged a relationship with God by how they saw me work? Am I reflecting Him well?
My focus in work needs to be about serving God, and a big part of this is done through serving others. I must not be looking for what I can get out of things, but rather using my talents and circumstances to glorify the Lord. I must be responsible with the talents He has blesses me with, as well as the circumstances.
Having these attitudes will make work so much more fulfilling because I am finding pleasure in God rather than earthly rewards.
Serving those who will never be able to pay you back is what Jesus did. I must always do the same. That is what God has created me to do.
Matthew 6:33 states that when we focus on pleasing God in all things then "all these things will be added unto you". In other words, we are called to ensure that our only focus is to please the God at all times and in all things. When we make that our only focus, He will add everything else we need to us. What an amazing truth this is. We can make our ficus on pleasing and honoring God and then rest knowing that all things will work out for us because God will take care of everything else in our lives. There is tremendous peace in that.
This relates to work and all other pursuits. When we focus on honoring God, and that is our only focus, we can then allow Him to take care of everything else (i.e. results, money, approval, how others view us, success, etc.). I get so pumped to think that this is what God calls us to. He calls us to do everything in a way which will lead to greater peace, securitu , happiness and blessing.
In work, hobbies and anything else we must make sure that we use work as a means of worshipping God. It is extremely important that we never get this backward and start worshipping these things themselves. When our thoughts are continually on these things and our identity becomes rooted in them, we have croosed the line where we have started to worship them. They have become idols and have drawn out attention away from God. We must worship God with these things. Honoring Him with them must always be the focus.
Thursday, 19 September 2013
How I believe God has created us to be confident.
I have often struggled with the idea of being confident. I believe that this has stemmed from the fact that I have never been sure if exactly how God calls me to be so. I have been concerned that if I am confident in ways which are not in line with God's ways that I may fall into a trap of trying to do things my way, pursuing only the things that to want to pursue, and dishonoring Him in the process. I am very thankful because I feel like tonight God used Tony Dungy's book "Uncommon" (chapter 12 - Powerful Thoughts) to gain a clearer picture of how and why God calls me to be confident.
To start, the self-fulfilling prophecy does seem to have merit. When you look at how humans usually achieve success, it does seem that it usually occurs when we do our part through believing that we can accomplish the task at hand. And the opposite also holds true in that it seems that humans who doubt their ability to achieve the task at hand get in their own way and struggle to accomplish it. If you examine human studies, and human history in general, these facts consistently hold true. When examining these facts, it appears very evident that this is how God created us. His Word is clear that He calls us to always do our best in everything for His glory (Colossians 3:23), and human research shows that it appears that the way He created us to do this is to truly believe that we can/will accomplish the task at hand. This involves confidence through belief and visualization. The people who are successful at sport and other endeavors are the ones who do these things, therefore I believe that it is wise to conclude that this is how God created us to be in order to do our best in everything that we do - again, all for His glory alone, not our own.
With this said, that does not mean we are to simply pursue any and all endeavors that we want and say that it will happen if we truly believe and see ourselves accomplishing it. Their is common sense involved too. It is important to only pursue those things which are righteous, and hopefully one has sought God for whether or not that is something that He has called you to and/or given you His blessing to pursue. At the same time it is also important to surrender all goals and dreams to the Lord. It is important to believe, expect and visualize success in order to be successful, however; it is also important to surrender all results to God and surrender those results to Him for His glory.
God calls us to believe and see ourselves accomplishing the tasks we pursue, for this is how He created us to do our best in things. It is important however to make sure that we are doing them for His glory alone, and that we are surrendering to Him the results, and accepting and thankful for these results realizing that we exist for His glory and that His ways are always best.
To start, the self-fulfilling prophecy does seem to have merit. When you look at how humans usually achieve success, it does seem that it usually occurs when we do our part through believing that we can accomplish the task at hand. And the opposite also holds true in that it seems that humans who doubt their ability to achieve the task at hand get in their own way and struggle to accomplish it. If you examine human studies, and human history in general, these facts consistently hold true. When examining these facts, it appears very evident that this is how God created us. His Word is clear that He calls us to always do our best in everything for His glory (Colossians 3:23), and human research shows that it appears that the way He created us to do this is to truly believe that we can/will accomplish the task at hand. This involves confidence through belief and visualization. The people who are successful at sport and other endeavors are the ones who do these things, therefore I believe that it is wise to conclude that this is how God created us to be in order to do our best in everything that we do - again, all for His glory alone, not our own.
With this said, that does not mean we are to simply pursue any and all endeavors that we want and say that it will happen if we truly believe and see ourselves accomplishing it. Their is common sense involved too. It is important to only pursue those things which are righteous, and hopefully one has sought God for whether or not that is something that He has called you to and/or given you His blessing to pursue. At the same time it is also important to surrender all goals and dreams to the Lord. It is important to believe, expect and visualize success in order to be successful, however; it is also important to surrender all results to God and surrender those results to Him for His glory.
God calls us to believe and see ourselves accomplishing the tasks we pursue, for this is how He created us to do our best in things. It is important however to make sure that we are doing them for His glory alone, and that we are surrendering to Him the results, and accepting and thankful for these results realizing that we exist for His glory and that His ways are always best.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Don't let satan deceive you - the ways he makes you think evil thoughts are actually you.
The following are ideas from John Eldrige's "Wild at Heart" (chapter 9). I have often felt extremely frustrated and disgusted at myself when sinful thoughts or ideas have come into my mind. This chapter has helped me gain a new understanding of how Satan works to try and get us frustrated and down on ourselves. He does this to try and handicap us in our attempt to live our lives for the Lord. He wants us to get down on ourselves, think that we are not worthy and that we are worthless failures who cannot accomplish anything for the Kingdom of God. He does this to people who have chosen to live for Jesus. When people are not a threat to Satan, the message he sends them is, "You are doing fine in your walk". However, for those who are doing work to further the Kingdom of God, the devil will send all kinds of messages to deceive and frustrate you into believing that you are worthless and a failure. For this reason it is so important to be in constant communication with God, seeking Him and continually building upon your relationship with Him. This way, it will help you stay in tune with the messages which are from Him, and those which are not from Him.
An example of how Satan works is through sinful thoughts. He will constantly throw sinful thoughts at people striving to live for God. He places these thoughts into your head in an attempt to make you believe that these thoughts are your own. The truth is they are not your's. This would be the same as if someone told you a lie about yourself. You would be an absolute fool to believe that the lie is true simply because someone said it. Well the same is true when Satan does this. The truth is that the Bible teaches that when a person accepts Christ, He "puts a new heart and a new spirit in you". Because Christ lives in you sinful thoughts and actions are not of you. God would not allow that to be a part of the person He dwells within. Those thoughts are from the sinful nature and most often are the result of Satan putting them in your mind. Satan will do anything to frustrate you, your walk and the work that you are doing for God's Kingdom.
I must be aware of the fact that these attacks are always present in the life of a Christian, and I must not allow them to frustrate me. They are not true, they are not from me, they are to be resisted and ignored. I must rely on God's strength to ignore and resist and I must do this with the confident attitude of a warrior.
This is not to say that I don't have specific areas of weakness in my life, but even with these Satan will attack those weaknesses with sinful thoughts. I am at war, and always will be. But I want to relish in relying on God's strength to be a warrior for Him, and fight against the devil's schemes.
I am so thankful for the peace of knowing that these sinful thoughts are not of me and that they should therefore be dismissed and ignored. The only attention they deserve is to remind myself how sinful they are, and of the fact that I am so thankful that they are not of me and that there is no truth to them.
An example of how Satan works is through sinful thoughts. He will constantly throw sinful thoughts at people striving to live for God. He places these thoughts into your head in an attempt to make you believe that these thoughts are your own. The truth is they are not your's. This would be the same as if someone told you a lie about yourself. You would be an absolute fool to believe that the lie is true simply because someone said it. Well the same is true when Satan does this. The truth is that the Bible teaches that when a person accepts Christ, He "puts a new heart and a new spirit in you". Because Christ lives in you sinful thoughts and actions are not of you. God would not allow that to be a part of the person He dwells within. Those thoughts are from the sinful nature and most often are the result of Satan putting them in your mind. Satan will do anything to frustrate you, your walk and the work that you are doing for God's Kingdom.
I must be aware of the fact that these attacks are always present in the life of a Christian, and I must not allow them to frustrate me. They are not true, they are not from me, they are to be resisted and ignored. I must rely on God's strength to ignore and resist and I must do this with the confident attitude of a warrior.
This is not to say that I don't have specific areas of weakness in my life, but even with these Satan will attack those weaknesses with sinful thoughts. I am at war, and always will be. But I want to relish in relying on God's strength to be a warrior for Him, and fight against the devil's schemes.
I am so thankful for the peace of knowing that these sinful thoughts are not of me and that they should therefore be dismissed and ignored. The only attention they deserve is to remind myself how sinful they are, and of the fact that I am so thankful that they are not of me and that there is no truth to them.
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