Chronic complainers are almost impossible to help. You can never satisfy them but they won’t let you stop trying, so you end up feeling trapped. Once you get a reputation as a chronic complainer, people avoid you like the plague, and you end up feeling lonely and unappreciated. And chances are you·11 never really understand why! Attitudes don’t just happen-you choose them. Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always· (Php 4:4 NKJV). Joylessness is something many church folks are prone to indulge in, and it’s usually not the kind of problem that gets you tossed out of the choir or removed from the church board. The psalmist writes, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps 118:24 NKJV). Notice that he doesn’t say, “Yesterday was God’s day, how happy I was then.” Or, “Tomorrow will be God”s day, I’ll endure until then.” No, this day is a gift from God! Complaining is often self-centered; it’s about what you like and don’t like. It is self-focused. Real joy is a choice. It comes to those who devote themselves to something greater than their own happiness. There are decisions you get to make every day, like what you eat, the clothes you wear-and the attitude you project. Paul was in prison with no hope of release when he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” His circumstances didn’t dictate his joy, his focus did! And the same goes for you. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God”s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (l Th 5:16-18 NLT). So today choose joy!
RECALL GOD’S LOVINGKINDNESS TO YOU
Sunday February 9, 2020
“Your lovingkindness is before my eyes.” Ps 26:3 NKJV
The story’s told of a little boy who was asked, “Do you say your prayers every night?” He replied, “No, some nights I don’t need anything!” We smile, but the point is painfully obvious. If the only time your husband or wife communicated with you was when they were in trouble or had a need they couldn’t meet, how long do you think your relationship would last? There must be a balance between your praises and your petitions. You say, “If the Lord is big enough to create and run the universe, I doubt He’s bothered when somebody as insignificant as me fails to say thanks: Not so! When Jesus healed ten lepers and only one returned to give thanks, He asked, “Where are the other nine?” (Lk 17:17 NI\/). If God dealt with you solely on the basis of His righteousness and your proclivity for unrighteousness, you’d be sunk! But He doesn’t. He says, “I have loved you… with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself (Jer 31:3 NLT). Realizing this, the psalmist wrote, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live· (Ps 63:3-4 NKJV). Again he writes: “I will…praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my sour (Ps 138:2-3 NKJV). Someone quipped, ‘God doesn’t mind getting invoiced as long as He gets thanked!” So, take a moment and recall God’s lovingkindness to you.
TRUST GOD’S TIMING (1)
Christmas Day -Wednesday December 23, 2019
“When the right time came, God sent his Son.” Gal 4:4 NLT
God doesn’t consult us to make sure His plans line up with our timetable.God sets the schedule; sometimes we have to run to keep up, and other times we have to slow down in order to get in step with Him. Mary planned to marry Joseph, then have a child, but God had a different plan. The child had to be without inherited sin, so He needed a perfect father; therefore, the Holy Spirit was called on to do the job. Humanly speaking, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Mary became pregnant before she got married, and Joseph wasn’t the father. Besides being ostracized, the law said she could be stoned to death. How did she respond? Amazingly,: hen Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word'” (Lk 1:38 NKJV). God has a set plan, and He is always working toward it. The trouble is, we are only working with limited information, so we become impatient and upset when He doesn’t answer our prayers when we think He should, or in the way we think He should. It’s said that George Muller, evangelist and founder of the Ashley Down Orphanage in Bristol, England, once waited on the dock for a special chair to be delivered; he had a bad back and needed the chair for his ocean voyage. When departure time came and it still hadn’t arrived, his friends offered to buy him one. But Muller said, “Either God will provide or He will give me the grace to do without: Then, just like a Hollywood ending, the chair arrived right on time! Trust God- He knows what He’s doing!
YOUR JOY WILL RETURN
rs hard when you work all day then come home to an empty house and sleep with your arms wrapped around a pillow, wishing you had someone to hold. No amount of makeup can hide that kind of loneliness. It’s the pain of having so much to share and nobody to share it with. But God knows your plight, and He cares. It’s why He made Eve for Adam, found Boaz for Ruth, and Rebekah for Isaac. It’s why His Word deals with real-life issues like sexual frustration, loneliness, failure, and lack of self
worth. Natural voids and thirsts exist within all of us, and how we fill them determines our ability to survive and find happiness. If you’re struggling on your own to face the challenges of life, you need to know that you’re not alone! ‘The God of all comfort” is with you (2Co 1:3). No one understands like Jesus. His family rejected Him, His disciples forsook Him, and the world crucified Him. That’s why the Bible says He’s “touched with the feeling of our infirmities· and was ‘in all points tempted as we are· (Heb 4:15 NKJV). He knows when you feel like nothing you do is ever good enough. He knows that as well as being a parent, you’re a person. He knows, He understands, and He invites you to come to Him. The season you’re in right now won’t last forever. A new one is coming, with new energy, new relationships, new experiences, and new joy. Until then remember: ·weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ Your joy will return!
SUCCESS ON GOD’S TERMS
Saturday June 22, 2019
“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.” Dt 29:9 NIV
Two men were talking and one said, “Do you know the secret of success'” The other replied, ‘No, what is it?’ The first man said, “I can’t tell you.’ His friend asked, “Why?” The first guy said, “Because it’s a secret!” success, as God defines it, is not a secret. He repeatedly says in His Word that He wants us to be successful in life. But as our faces differ, so does God’s plan of success for each of us differ. Success is simply discovering God’s will for your life and doing it. Consider high definition television (HDTV). This technology makes possible an additional hundred lines of resolution on a screen so that the picture is virtually lifelike. The industry calls it ·super clarity.’
Whether you stand ten feet away or two feet away, the picture looks perfectly clear-no fuzzy lines, no distortions, no shadows. What would a successful life look like in high definition? In order to find that level of clarity, you need to dig into God’s Word and find out what He thinks about success. ‘Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.” When God created man, one of the first things He told him to do was “be fruitful and multiply’ (Ge 1:22). In the book of Job we read the words, ‘Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly” (Job 8:7 NKJV). But God-ordained success comes with a caveat, and it’s non-negotiable: God will bless you-in order to make you a blessing to others.
ASK GOD FOR A DREAM (2)
If you’ve already fulfilled the dream God gave you, ask Him for another one. A bigger one. The Bible says, ·Joseph dreamed another dream: And the second was bigger than the first. In t11e first dream he saw sheaves of wheat on the ground bowing down to him, but in the second dream he saw stars in the heavens bowing down to him. Ask God to lift your sigl1ts and cause you to aim higher. But a note of caution: Before God will give you another dream, He will wait to see what you do with the first one He gave you. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zee 4:10 NLn. Great endings usually start with humble beginnings. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1Pe 5:5·6 NKJV). If your dream is to prosper financially, it’s in harmony with God’s promises (See DI 8:18; Isa 48:17; 2Co 9:8; 3Jn v. 2). But there are three scriptural conditions you must meet in order for your dream to be fulfilled: (11 You must be willing to honor God with your present income (See Mal 3:8-10). (2) You must be willing to share what you have and meet the needs of others (See Pr 11:25). (3) You must practice fiscal discipline rather than squandering what God gives you on reckless spending and impulse buying (See Pr 21:20). When you meet His conditions, God promises to bless you and fulfill the dream He has given you for your life.
SET YOUR MIND (1)
Thursday December 6, 2018
“Those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Ro 8:5 NIV
To become the person God wants you to be, you must “set your mind” on the right things. You say, “If only my circumstances were different: Your circumstances don’t determine the quality of your life; how you think about them does. Poet Frederick Lang bridge wrote, “Two men looked out through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw the stars.” Both men were in identical circumstances, but their perspectives were entirely different. One looked for beauty and found it; the other focused on ugliness and found it. It works like this: Your circumstances in life produce certain emotions. So how do you change your emotional response when you feel powerless over people and circumstances? By changing how you think about them! True change always begins in your mind. The Bible says, ‘As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Pr 23:7). The way you think inevitably reflects the way you live. So to become the best version of yourself, t11e person God wants you to be-t11ink great thoughts’ People who live great lives are people who habitually think great thoughts. You say, “But I can·t help thinking the way I do.” Then “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Ro 12:2 NLT). God’s Word will l1elp you to think with faith instead of fear, assurance instead of anxiety, and joy instead of negativity. Once you “set your mind on what the Spirit desires, your life will begin to change for the better.
THERE’S GOING TO BE A GREAT FAMILY REUNION
Saturday December 1, 2018
“There will be one huge family reunion with the Master, So reassure one another with these words.” 1Th 4:18 MSG
In the movie Heaven Is for Real, Colton Burpo was only four years old when he survived an emergency appendectomy. Over the next few months, lie talked of his visit to heaven. He described exactly what his parents were doing during t11e surgery, and told stories of people he had met in heaven-people he had never met on earth or been told about. He told his mother, “You had a baby die in your tummy, didn”t you?”” His parents had never mentioned the miscarriage; he was too young to process it. His mother asked, “Who told you I had a baby die in my tummy,· He replied, “”She did, Mommy. She said she died in your tummy: Then he added, “lt”s okay, Mommy. She”s okay. God adopted her:· His mother said, “Don’t you mean Jesus adopted her?” He replied, “No, Mommy, His Dad did!” His mother’s eyes lit up and she asked, “What was her name? What was the little girl’s name?”” Four-year-old Colton said, “She doesn·t have a name. You guys didn”t name her: And he had one more memory. He shared it before he went out to play: ‘-Yeah, she said she can·t wait for you and Daddy to get to heaven: And right now someone in heaven is
saying the same thing about you, looking forward to the day when God·s family is back
together. And shouldn”t we be doing the same? The Bible says, ‘Then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.”
TREASURE GOD’S WORD (1)
GOD’S LEADINGS
