I was formed for God’s family.
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”
EPHESIANS 1:5A (NLT)
How can I start treating other believers like members of my own family?.....BY LIVING IN GOD'S LOVE BOAT 😇
I’m as close to God as I choose to be.
“Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.”
JAMES 4:8A (NLT)
What practical choices will I make today in order to grow closer to God?.
INSIGHTS FROM BOOK :
*Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. JAMES 4:8 (NLT)
*If you want a deeper, more intimate connection with God you must learn to honestly share your feelings with him, trust him when he asks you to do something, learn to care about what he cares about, and desire his friendship more than anything else. I must choose to be honest with God.
*God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty.
*If perfection was a requirement for friendship with God, we would never be able to be his friends. Fortunately, because of God’s grace, Jesus is still the “friend of sinners.”
*Job was allowed to vent his bitterness during his ordeal, and in the end, God defended Job for being honest, and he rebuked Job’s friends for being inauthentic. God told them, “You haven’t been honest either with me or about me — not the way my friend Job has…. My friend Job will now pray for you and I will accept his prayer.”
*Can God handle that kind of frank, intense honesty from you? Absolutely! Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. What may appear as audacity God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable, pious clichés. To be God’s friend, you must be honest to God, sharing your true feeling, not what you think you ought to feel or say.
*It is likely that you need to confess some hidden anger and resentment at God for certain areas of your life where you have felt cheated or disappointed. Until we mature enough to understand that God uses everything for good in our lives, we harbor resentment toward God over our appearance, background, unanswered prayers, past hurts, and other things we would change if we were God. People often blame God for hurts caused by others. This creates what William Backus calls “your hidden rift with God.”
*Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God: Why would I want to be God’s friend if he allowed this? The antidote, of course, is to realize that God always acts in your best interest, even when it is painful and you don’t understand it. But releasing your resentment and revealing your feeling is the first step to healing. As so many people in the Bible did, tell God exactly how you feel.
*To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms — a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued in the Psalms.
*God wants you to worship him — holding back nothing of what you feel.
*Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.
*I must choose to obey God in faith. Every time you trust God’s wisdom and do whatever he says, even when you don’t understand it, you deepen your friendship with God. We don’t normally think of obedience as a characteristic of friendship; that’s reserved for relationships with a parent or the boss or a superior officer, not a friend. However, Jesus made it clear that obedience is a condition of intimacy with God.He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
*We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love him and trust that he knows what is best for us. We want to follow Christ out of gratitude for all he has done for us, and the closer we follow him, the deeper our friendship becomes.
*Because we have been forgiven and set free, we obey out of love — and our obedience brings great joy! Jesus said, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
*Notice that Jesus expects us to do only what he did with the Father. His relationship with his Father is the model for our friendship with him. Jesus did whatever the Father asked him to do — out of love.
*True friendship isn’t passive; it acts.
*When Jesus asks us to love others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives clean, offer forgiveness, and bring others to him, love motivates us to obey immediately.
*We are often challenged to do “great things” for God. Actually, God is more pleased when we do small things for him out of loving obedience. They may be unnoticed by others, but God notices them and considers them acts of worship.
*Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day.
*Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day. Even through such simple acts as telling the truth, being kind, and encouraging others, we bring a smile to God’s face.
*God treasures simple acts of obedience more than our prayers, praise, or offerings. The Bible tells us, “What pleases the LORD more: burnt offerings and sacrifices or obedience to his voice? It is better to obey than to sacrifice.”
*God spoke from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him.”10 What had Jesus been doing for thirty years that gave God so much pleasure? The Bible says nothing about those hidden years except for a single phrase in Luke 2:51: “He went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them” (MSG)
*Thirty years of pleasing God were summed up in two words: “lived obediently”!
*I must choose to value what God values. This is what friends do — they care about what is important to the other person.
*The more you become God’s friend, the more you will care about the things he cares about, grieve over the things he grieves over, and rejoice over the things that bring pleasure to him.
*What does God care about most? The redemption of his people. He wants all his lost children found! That’s the whole reason Jesus came to earth.
*To be a friend of God, you must care about all the people around you whom God cares about. Friends of God tell their friends about God.
*Jacob’s passion for God’s blessing on his life was so intense that he wrestled in the dirt all night with God, saying, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
*The amazing part of that story is that God, who is all powerful, let Jacob win! God isn’t offended when we “wrestle” with him, because wrestling requires personal contact and brings us close to him! It is also a passionate activity, and God loves it when we are passionate with him.
*Paul was another man passionate for friendship with God. Nothing mattered more; it was the first priority, total focus, and ultimate goal of his life. This is the reason God used Paul in such a great way. The Amplified translation expresses the full force of Paul’s passion: “My determined purpose is that I may know Him — that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly.”
*The truth is — you are as close to God as you choose to be
*Intimate friendship with God is a choice, not an accident. You must intentionally seek it. Do you really want it — more than anything? What is it worth to you? Is it worth giving up other things? Is it worth the effort of developing the habits and skills required?
*That was the problem of the Christians in Ephesus — they had left their first love.
*They did all the right things, but out of duty, not love.
*If you have just been going through the motions spiritually, don’t be surprised when God allows pain in your life.
*Pain is the fuel of passion — it energizes us with an intensity to change that we don’t normally possess.
*C. S. Lewis said, “Pain is God’s megaphone.”
*It is God’s way of arousing us from spiritual lethargy. Your problems are not punishment; they are wake-up calls from a loving God. God is not mad at you; he’s mad about you, and he will do whatever it takes to bring you back into fellowship with him
*But there is an easier way to reignite your passion for God: Start asking God to give it to you, and keep on asking until you have it.
*Pray this throughout your day: “Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately.”
*God told the captives in Babylon, “When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.”
*There is nothing — absolutely nothing — more important than developing a friendship with God. It’s a relationship that will last forever.
*Paul told Timothy, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life — they don’t know God.”
*Have you been missing out on the most important thing in life? You can do something about it starting now. Remember, it’s your choice. You are as close to God as you choose to be.
Author Jon Walker writes this: 'I'm sitting in a fast-food restaurant observing a young girl celebrating an early Christmas with her mother. Her presents are spread out across the booth and she just said, "I miss you, Mommy." "I miss you too, Baby," her mother says. Beyond the booth...a woman casually, but carefully watches them. Using my journalist's eye, I put it all together. The watching woman is a social worker supervising a structured visit for a mother and child who are doing their best to celebrate Christmas...a few minutes later foster parents arrive and take the little girl home. The mother leaves alone. There's a darker side to Christmas we rarely acknowledge. We create this fantasy that seldom matches reality, even in the best of homes...many Christmas memories are full of tension, not tinsel...the holidays are just another excuse for Mommy to get drunk, or Daddy to be with his new family...yet another reminder that the one we love is far away or perhaps never coming back...The suicide rate is extraordinarily high in December...depression as common as "Joy to the World"...more people hurt at Christmas than we initially imagine. For those tired of the hollow hope...of Christmas, the good news is, God is with us. Jesus came to earth to "bring...good news...for all the people."'
Jon Walker continues: 'Regardless of your situation, Christmas is the best gift you'll ever get, because: (1) it's the costliest you'll ever receive because it cost Jesus his life; (2) it's the only gift that lasts forever; (3) it's one you can enjoy for the rest of your life.'
Point to Ponder : Living on purpose is the path to peace
Verse to Remember : "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their Purpose Firm and put their trust in you" Isaiah 26:3 (TEV)
Question To Consider : What would my family and friends say is my driving force of my life? What do I want to be?
Point to Ponder : I am not an accident.
Verse to Remember : "I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born." Isaiah 44:2 (CEV)
Question To Consider : I know that God uniquely created me. What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept.
Things that Stood Out From The Book : *Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. It doesn't matter whether your parents were good, bad, or indifferent. God knew that those two individuals possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom "YOU" He had in mind. They had the DNA God wanted to make you.
Answer : My family background was a bit dysfunctional. I grew up in a family of 6 Brothers and 5 Sisters and I had trauma of my dad coming home drunk. He was lovely sober but drunk he was not. He was like a Mr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. There use to be a film we use to say he was like. ..... So Lord please help me to see what you see. I use to look in the mirror and like what I saw but now all I can see is my failures. A song started to play in my head there as i wrote that, it is by Big Daddy Weave called "Redeemed". Boy that song is amazing. The tears are rolling down my face its like I was guided to hear these lyrics
"Redeemed"
Seems like all I could see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight that's already been won"
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, I'm redeemed
All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, "Child lift up your head"
I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet
I am redeemed, You set me free.
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
Because I don't have to be the old man inside of me
'Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I've got a new name, a new life, I'm not the same
And a hope that will carry me home
I am redeemed, You set me free.
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, 'cause I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, yeah, I'm not who I used to be
Oh, God, I'm not who I used to be
Jesus, oh I'm not who I used to be.
'Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed
Thank God, redeemed
This morning this stood out from the USB WFTD......"Some of us have deleted from our Bibles and thoughts those Scriptures that command us to "WAIT ON GOD".
"But I pray every morning " You say. That's good, but do you take time to listen?
So I open my devotional "Jesus Calling" and I read todays message and had to laugh. By listening I received a message I really needed to hear!!!!
Found this photo on this link December 26th LIFE IS LONG—IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT “It’s not at all that we have too...
