THOUGHT STARTER: Are your decisions in life made on the basis of who you were trying to please? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodiesa living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by …
Continue reading “65618 If You Don’t Want to, You Aren’t Going to”
THOUGHT STARTER: Do you know that everyone can finish the race of life as a winner? “In a race, everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes …
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.(Ephesians 2:10) Have you ever wondered why you were born now and not 500 or 1000 years ago? Why did God place you into a particular family, culture, and …
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.(James 1:17) Given a choice between good and best, almost everyone would choose best. But what is “best”? According to society, the best is whatever helps me the most quickly in my current situation. It produces favorable circumstances and accomplishes …
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.(Ecclesiastes 3:1, NIV) We live in a culture that demands instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it now! But God is never in a hurry. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The LORD is good to those whose hope …
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”(Isaiah 43:19, NIV) You’ve probably heard it said that the definition of lunacy is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. …
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the …
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.(Philippians 3:13–14) Experiences from our past …
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.(Galatians 5:25) God wants to guide you on your life journey, but do you know how to discern his direction? How do you separate what God is saying to you from all the other distracting messages around …
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.(Matthew 7:7, NIV) God wants us to involve him in the pursuit of our desires. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reveals a simple but profound three-step process to help us: ask, seek, …