God is good...all the time!!! All the time...God is good!!!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
How to Stay Motivated When You’re Fatigued
Like an open city with no defenses is the man with no check on his feelings. Proverbs 25:28 (NAB)
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It’s not unusual for people to become disillusioned, discouraged, and fatigued about halfway into a difficult challenge. When I start to feel the fatigue, I look to Proverbs 25 and remember that my feelings are not a reliable measure of how things are going.
We’re to trust wholeheartedly in God and put no faith in our own perceptions (based on Proverbs 3:5 NJB).
Our feelings come from a variety of sources – past, present, and future. But feelings often lie; they’re not always a reflection of reality. Plus, life is complex and we must often live with mixed feelings: “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief” (Proverbs 14:13 NIV).
People often compare life to a roller coaster of hills and valleys, but actually life is more like two rails on a railroad track. One rail represents the good and positive in your life; the other represents the bad and painful in your life.
You’ll always have both at the same time! There will always be something good and something bad happening in your life. We can’t expect everything to be good for one month and then everything to be bad the next month. There’s always a mixture of both, a blending of both bitter and sweet.
However, we can choose the focus: “When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow” (Romans 12:15 NLT).
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.
*** *** *** ***
It’s not unusual for people to become disillusioned, discouraged, and fatigued about halfway into a difficult challenge. When I start to feel the fatigue, I look to Proverbs 25 and remember that my feelings are not a reliable measure of how things are going.
We’re to trust wholeheartedly in God and put no faith in our own perceptions (based on Proverbs 3:5 NJB).
Our feelings come from a variety of sources – past, present, and future. But feelings often lie; they’re not always a reflection of reality. Plus, life is complex and we must often live with mixed feelings: “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief” (Proverbs 14:13 NIV).
People often compare life to a roller coaster of hills and valleys, but actually life is more like two rails on a railroad track. One rail represents the good and positive in your life; the other represents the bad and painful in your life.
You’ll always have both at the same time! There will always be something good and something bad happening in your life. We can’t expect everything to be good for one month and then everything to be bad the next month. There’s always a mixture of both, a blending of both bitter and sweet.
However, we can choose the focus: “When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow” (Romans 12:15 NLT).
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Grace
Ephesians 2:8 (New Living Translation)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:8 (The Message)
The Message (MSG), Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson, [The Message at Navpress] [NavPress]
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
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