Friday, May 31, 2019
An Age Of Instant Gratification
We live in
an age of instant gratification. None of us is immune. We want instant answers
to prayers. We want instant works by God. We want instant tangible physical
power from God. We definitely don't want to wait on God to do things in His
time. We definitely don't want to perspire to get what we want. We live and
want excess. We live and want to be pampered. We want a parent to look out for
our every need. It is time to grow up. Being grown up means we hold off on what
we want. Being grown up means we don't get what we want and we then go on and
do the job anyway. Being grown up means we sacrifice. Teaching a child to
sacrifice is one of the greatest lessons any parent can teach because there is
no progress in a person's life without sacrifice. No person, society, church,
organization, or social entity can endure without sacrifice.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
The Power Of Facing Reality
When we
acknowledge the physical nature of our life then we are not fooling ourselves
into thinking we have no problems. When we acknowledge the physical nature of
our life then we are also not letting our physical problems overwhelm us.
Acknowledgment of your circumstances is not denial. When you acknowledge your
circumstances you then cause yourself to recognize the circumstances exist.
When you acknowledge an obstacle you face then you take from the obstacle the
power of the obstacle to controlling your life. Great obstacles in our life can
generate fear within us. The fear generated by obstacles keeps us from
believing, hoping, trusting, and seeing a path into our future. Too often, the fear
generated by an obstacle keeps us imprisoned in denial because we do not want
to face the fear or face the obstacle. However, the fear generated by an
obstacle loses its power if you acknowledge the obstacle. When you acknowledge
the existence of an obstacle, great power comes to you because you have faced
reality. When you face reality and there is an obstacle, you can also find in
reality a being much larger and much more powerful than any obstacle. The being
much larger than any obstacle, in reality, is the being of love and power we
call God.
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
In Times Of Uncertainty
There are
going to be times in your life when you are uncertain. There are many times in
life when we are not sure which way to turn. One way we know to turn is in the
direction of Jesus because He will never forsake us or leave us. In times of
our uncertainty, we need to listen to His voice inside of us, especially if we
are not sure what to do. Keeping us unsure is a way Satan has of getting to us.
However, the prophet Isaiah talks about the voice of God and how God can lead
us. Isaiah says… Isaiah 30:21 whether you turn to the right or to the left,
your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in
it." You are to listen to this voice, the actual voice of God inside of
you when you are uncertain. Too often the world is so full of noise we cannot
hear God's voice even when He might be yelling at us. When we are listening to
His voice we can always find a way to do His will. He can find a way to make
His will become manifest in any circumstance.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Going Back To The Way Things Were
You may want
to go back. You may want to go back to an earlier time when things were better,
or easier, or grander than the way things are now. However, you are changed
every day. You get better or worse every day. You are not who you were before.
You are different. If you could go back, if you could go back and stand where
you stood before, things would not be like they were then because you have
changed. Our walk through life is determined not by how much we look back, but
how much we look forward. Indeed, we can learn from the past by looking back,
but we can learn from looking back only if we look back to learn. Yearning to
return to where we were can use up too much of our soul. Yearning to go back to
another time takes too much of the time God gives us to glorify Him. We tend to
forget the darkness of the past. We tend to remember only the best and forget
the worst. You do not want to really go back because if you went back, you
would have to live through the dark times a second time which God does not want
you to have to do.
Monday, May 27, 2019
Gave All He Had
I once heard the story of a rice farmer who saved an entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm, he felt the quake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the old shoreline, like some prodigious animal crouching back for a leap. He knew that the leap would be a tidal wave. In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low fields that would soon be flooded. They must run quickly to his hilltop or they would all die. His rice barns were dry as tinder. So with a torch, he set fire to his barns and soon the fire goon started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed to help him. Then from their safe perch, they saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left. In a flash, they knew not only who had saved them but what their salvation had cost their benefactor. They later erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, "He gave us all he had, and gave gladly." I think the same words could be said of our heavenly Father and the gift of his only begotten Son!
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