I liked this message from Joel Osteen, and wanted to share it here on the blog.
Your imagination is a wonderful gift that God has given you!
With it, you can envision opportunities and new beginnings long before they become a reality in your life. When you apply your faith this way, your imagination isn't about "day dreams" — it's a tool that helps you deepen your relationship with God.
And when you pursue God and worship Him through your imagination, you plant seeds of hope for the dreams you carry in your heart. Each time you throw aside doubts, or fears about getting your hopes up, you set into motion an awesome, supernatural process.
I know how difficult this can be. It's risky to imagine God doing the incredible or the impossible. If we never dream, we don't have to worry about being disappointed.
But consider this: as powerful as our imaginations can be, God is able to do so much more than you can ever imagine.
Victoria and I want to encourage you today to take a step of faith and to imagine…imagine all the wonderful, supernatural and great things God could do in your life. How bold are you willing to be? How big are you willing to dream?
There's no greater joy than encouraging people to put their trust in Jesus and to expect Him to do great things in their lives. Every day, as a ministry, that's what we're doing all over the world — and it's not because of me and Victoria. It's because of friends like you who "see" the power of hope. Thank you for your support!
Remember, don't be afraid to believe God for BIG things in your life and in the lives of your loved ones.
Victoria and I want you to know that we are believing with you. Together, let's put our faith into motion…and be amazed at what God will do!
Be a Christ Follower.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Thinking Positively
"You cannot Love Life, if you are always thinking Negative Thoughts" Joyce Meyer.
The Best way to become a positive thinker is to ask God for a lot of help and and ask Him often.
When transforming our thoughts from positive to negative, this process can take time. It is a slow process. It is a journey to Freedom. Freeing our thoughts requires time. Because our progress is slow, the devil will try to tell us we are not moving forward at all. His hope is that we will throw in the towel. But God's Word is always at our disposal to Encourage us.
Sometimes, we go through a difficult period of waiting to stretch our faith and learn patience. Whenever we experience this, we must remember that God's timing is perfect. He is never late, and He will keep His promise to bring us into completion.
Many people are afraid to hope, because they have been hurt so much in their life. They live by the philosophy of: "If I don't expect anything good to happen, then I won't be disappointed if it doesn't". Study the Word and trust God to restore you, then the realization that negative thoughts have to GO, will hit home. We need to practice being positive in all kinds of situations. If you are going through a difficult time in life, Expect that God will work things out for your good.
To be delivered from negativity we must not only believe His Word, we must Confess it by not only thinking right thoughts, but speaking them out loud as personal confessions of faith.
The more time we spend meditating on God's Word, the more we will reap from it. God even promises we will receive gifts of virtue and knowledge.
Give God time to help you put your thoughts in line with His.
Be a Christ Follower.
The Best way to become a positive thinker is to ask God for a lot of help and and ask Him often.
When transforming our thoughts from positive to negative, this process can take time. It is a slow process. It is a journey to Freedom. Freeing our thoughts requires time. Because our progress is slow, the devil will try to tell us we are not moving forward at all. His hope is that we will throw in the towel. But God's Word is always at our disposal to Encourage us.
Sometimes, we go through a difficult period of waiting to stretch our faith and learn patience. Whenever we experience this, we must remember that God's timing is perfect. He is never late, and He will keep His promise to bring us into completion.
Many people are afraid to hope, because they have been hurt so much in their life. They live by the philosophy of: "If I don't expect anything good to happen, then I won't be disappointed if it doesn't". Study the Word and trust God to restore you, then the realization that negative thoughts have to GO, will hit home. We need to practice being positive in all kinds of situations. If you are going through a difficult time in life, Expect that God will work things out for your good.
To be delivered from negativity we must not only believe His Word, we must Confess it by not only thinking right thoughts, but speaking them out loud as personal confessions of faith.
The more time we spend meditating on God's Word, the more we will reap from it. God even promises we will receive gifts of virtue and knowledge.
Give God time to help you put your thoughts in line with His.
Be a Christ Follower.
Friday, September 10, 2010
PATIENCE
Hanging in there with Hard-to-Love People. Usually we think of patience as perserverance through the most trying of circumstances. Hurry Up and Wait. To most of us, patience is what we need when our schedules do not align with life. We dig deep for patience when we are in a hurry and get into the express lane at the super market only to discover the customer ahead of us has 20 items instead of 7 and is using a check instead of cash and the check is not ready.
But this is not the kind of patience addressed in the Bible's fruits list. The word in the list actually means patience with people. It is patience with who people are, and what they do that might bother or even offend us. This kind of patience is sucking in our breath when our husband returns from the store with the wrong kind of cereal when we had specifically written down the name for him. This kind of patience is listening to a lonely friend who drones on and on about her life but shows little interest in ours.
Patience is hanging in there with hard-to-love people sometimes to the point of forgiveness, but always to the point of love.
Patience doesn't mean slapping on a nice smile and ignoring the reality of how we feel. When there is a bright orange stain in the middle of our cream-colored carpet, we can walk around it or cover it with a throw rug, but it is still there. Living as if it is not there won't do much for us or for those around us. Emotions of pain and hurt in response to the offenses of others need to be processed and experienced because we are, by nature, emotional human beings. To deny such feelings is to deny who we are.
The naked truth about patience is that in order to have it, we must ask for it and cooperate with God in its growth in our relationships. We have to allow God to grow this and all the fruits in us. Patience seems to be one of the the tough-to-grow fruits.
What does it look like to cooperate with God in the growth of patience? Sometimes patience might look like saying a prayer for the person who is bugging us. We might be pushed to love someone who is very hard to love because he or she has wounded us. There are occasions when we find patience leading us to forgive a person for a something that hurt us very deeply.
Patience is a spiritual fruit that grows from the soil of our humanity. As we experience unwelcome wounds from people, God can grow his fruit in our hearts and empower us to respond to such hurt with Patience.
Be Patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Be a Christ Follower.
But this is not the kind of patience addressed in the Bible's fruits list. The word in the list actually means patience with people. It is patience with who people are, and what they do that might bother or even offend us. This kind of patience is sucking in our breath when our husband returns from the store with the wrong kind of cereal when we had specifically written down the name for him. This kind of patience is listening to a lonely friend who drones on and on about her life but shows little interest in ours.
Patience is hanging in there with hard-to-love people sometimes to the point of forgiveness, but always to the point of love.
Patience doesn't mean slapping on a nice smile and ignoring the reality of how we feel. When there is a bright orange stain in the middle of our cream-colored carpet, we can walk around it or cover it with a throw rug, but it is still there. Living as if it is not there won't do much for us or for those around us. Emotions of pain and hurt in response to the offenses of others need to be processed and experienced because we are, by nature, emotional human beings. To deny such feelings is to deny who we are.
The naked truth about patience is that in order to have it, we must ask for it and cooperate with God in its growth in our relationships. We have to allow God to grow this and all the fruits in us. Patience seems to be one of the the tough-to-grow fruits.
What does it look like to cooperate with God in the growth of patience? Sometimes patience might look like saying a prayer for the person who is bugging us. We might be pushed to love someone who is very hard to love because he or she has wounded us. There are occasions when we find patience leading us to forgive a person for a something that hurt us very deeply.
Patience is a spiritual fruit that grows from the soil of our humanity. As we experience unwelcome wounds from people, God can grow his fruit in our hearts and empower us to respond to such hurt with Patience.
Be Patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Be a Christ Follower.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Peace
Peace.....Resting in God.
Typically we think of peace as the absence of irritation. A quiet afternoon composed of naptime for the children and a cup of Joe with a good book for us. No phone calls, No early awakenings, and No to-do-list.
Well, the fruit listed in Galations 5 conveys something different than our definition of Peace. It's less about real life lining up according to our desires and more about our desires lining up to real life.
Peace is the result of resting in a relationship with God.
Peace can come in all the busy circumstances of our lives, because peace comes in a relationship with a God who is with us in the Stormiest of times. Peace peeled away is no longer the expectation that we will find it in the absence of irritation and instead embraces the calm that comes from resting in the midst of it.
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Typically we think of peace as the absence of irritation. A quiet afternoon composed of naptime for the children and a cup of Joe with a good book for us. No phone calls, No early awakenings, and No to-do-list.
Well, the fruit listed in Galations 5 conveys something different than our definition of Peace. It's less about real life lining up according to our desires and more about our desires lining up to real life.
Peace is the result of resting in a relationship with God.
Peace can come in all the busy circumstances of our lives, because peace comes in a relationship with a God who is with us in the Stormiest of times. Peace peeled away is no longer the expectation that we will find it in the absence of irritation and instead embraces the calm that comes from resting in the midst of it.
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Joy
The Second Fruit is Joy. The Old Testament describes joy as a quality of life as well as an emotion. The spontaneous songs of worship contained in Psalms illustrate this kind of joy. Joy is something deep that celebrates God's character despite the circumstances.
In the New Testament, joy is often expressed as ecstasy, a feeling of amazement, an uninhibited response to God's grace and presence in our days. The fruit of joy is confidence in God. Joy is confidence in God's grace, despite circumstances, despite what happens. Joy is the ability to hold up because we know we are being held up. Joy is the conviction that God is in control of every detail of our lives even when those details appear to be out of control.
We've watched God working in so many moments of life; good, bad, confusing, sorrowful, challenging, unfathomable; when we are joyful, we are wrapped up by our observations and held in place, knowing clearly that just as God came through before, he will come through again. Joy has a way of buoying us up in the midst of the unpredictable. We're somehow hopeful. Strong. Clear. Confident. We still wonder, worry, and cry. We are fearful, but beneath all these feelings is the comforting thought that we are held in God's hands.
Joy unpeeled reveals to us and to others, what we believe about God. We know He has us, He has our backs!
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
In the New Testament, joy is often expressed as ecstasy, a feeling of amazement, an uninhibited response to God's grace and presence in our days. The fruit of joy is confidence in God. Joy is confidence in God's grace, despite circumstances, despite what happens. Joy is the ability to hold up because we know we are being held up. Joy is the conviction that God is in control of every detail of our lives even when those details appear to be out of control.
We've watched God working in so many moments of life; good, bad, confusing, sorrowful, challenging, unfathomable; when we are joyful, we are wrapped up by our observations and held in place, knowing clearly that just as God came through before, he will come through again. Joy has a way of buoying us up in the midst of the unpredictable. We're somehow hopeful. Strong. Clear. Confident. We still wonder, worry, and cry. We are fearful, but beneath all these feelings is the comforting thought that we are held in God's hands.
Joy unpeeled reveals to us and to others, what we believe about God. We know He has us, He has our backs!
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The First Fruit of the Spirit is Love
Among all the qualities of God's character produced in us by His Spirit, love seems the most natural, second nature, and easiest to both offer and receive. Love. Indeed, seemingly the easiest of all qualities to model in so very many moments. Love is there in all things, except when love is hard. And it can be hard, can't it?
Let's get real (unpeeled) about love. It can be hard to love people. Love means handing over the remote control when we'd rather keep it, getting up just when we're all settled and in a comfy spot, speaking in a balanced tone of voice when we'd rather be screaming, opening our heart to listen to another when we'd rather allow our own feelings to tumble out. Yes, it's hard to love people.
How can we grow this fruit of love in our lives and in the lives of others, in everything?
Love is not about being nice for the sake of niceness it's about being like Jesus. Love is a committed choice to be there in, Everything. When it's hard to love hard-to-love people, the fruit of love helps us in the EVERYTHING moments of life. As God is the source of all the spiritual fruits, He is the source of love. Because He loves us in the "everything" of life, WE can love others. He shows us the way.
In the "everything" moments, love is a choice. God CHOSE to love us, He did not have to. He wanted to love us, so He chose to love us. We choose to love others.
Love is a committment in, Everything. God is committed to loving us, no matter what. Love stays when it wants to go. It accepts when it wants to reject. It does what it doesn't want to do when it doesn't want to do it. It gets above the "Can't stand this person" moments and, squinting, forces itself to look at that someone the way God looks at them, seeing them flawed, but filled with potential. Love is a committment to keep choosing to love, even when you don't feel like it.
Love others as God Loves us.
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Let's get real (unpeeled) about love. It can be hard to love people. Love means handing over the remote control when we'd rather keep it, getting up just when we're all settled and in a comfy spot, speaking in a balanced tone of voice when we'd rather be screaming, opening our heart to listen to another when we'd rather allow our own feelings to tumble out. Yes, it's hard to love people.
How can we grow this fruit of love in our lives and in the lives of others, in everything?
Love is not about being nice for the sake of niceness it's about being like Jesus. Love is a committed choice to be there in, Everything. When it's hard to love hard-to-love people, the fruit of love helps us in the EVERYTHING moments of life. As God is the source of all the spiritual fruits, He is the source of love. Because He loves us in the "everything" of life, WE can love others. He shows us the way.
In the "everything" moments, love is a choice. God CHOSE to love us, He did not have to. He wanted to love us, so He chose to love us. We choose to love others.
Love is a committment in, Everything. God is committed to loving us, no matter what. Love stays when it wants to go. It accepts when it wants to reject. It does what it doesn't want to do when it doesn't want to do it. It gets above the "Can't stand this person" moments and, squinting, forces itself to look at that someone the way God looks at them, seeing them flawed, but filled with potential. Love is a committment to keep choosing to love, even when you don't feel like it.
Love others as God Loves us.
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Our Spiritual Growth is up to God.
When we receive the seed of Hope into the soil of our lives and begin a connected relationship with God, He lives inside of us. We get His spiritual DNA. Like a twenty four hour a day gardener, God tills the soil of our lives until we begin to frow qualities that resemble his nature. By His interest and effort in us, grow into holy orchards.
By our own efforts, based on our own natures, we'll grow fruit of the flesh. It might be nice, but it won't look like Jesus. It won't be peeled fruit. Our best efforts won't grow godliness, because the fruit of the Spirit comes forth only from godly seeds. We can't make ourselves look like God. Only God can do that. Only God can reproduce his nature in us.
We do have a role, however in our growth. Just as we cannot grow spiritual fruit without God, God cannot grow spiritual fruit in us without us. Our job in spiritual growth is to cooperate with the Gardener. Here is what cooperation with the Master Gardener looks like in our lives. First, we are receptive. A seed can't get into hard, clay packed soil. Our job includes staying soft so that we can receive the seeds God wants to plant in our lives. Being receptive can be a challenge at times. When times of resistance arise, we can pray, call a friend, or simply remind ourselves that God is not out to get us with His fruit.
Second, we endure pruning. Part of the growing process involves cutting off what is diseased or no longer necessary or even what is taking nutrients that are needed elsewhere. The third way we cooperate is we stay connected. We can't grow spiritually if we detach from the source of our growth. When we stop hanging out with others who care about growing, we'll probably stop growing too. A leaf doesn't continue growing once it is pulled from a branch. When we let week after week slip by without attending church service, or a study group, or even spending some time opening ourselves to God in prayer, we will shrink rathter than grow.
Ready to get growing? It is up to God to grow His fruit in our lives, but it's up to us to cooperate with Him.
Be a Christ Follower
By our own efforts, based on our own natures, we'll grow fruit of the flesh. It might be nice, but it won't look like Jesus. It won't be peeled fruit. Our best efforts won't grow godliness, because the fruit of the Spirit comes forth only from godly seeds. We can't make ourselves look like God. Only God can do that. Only God can reproduce his nature in us.
We do have a role, however in our growth. Just as we cannot grow spiritual fruit without God, God cannot grow spiritual fruit in us without us. Our job in spiritual growth is to cooperate with the Gardener. Here is what cooperation with the Master Gardener looks like in our lives. First, we are receptive. A seed can't get into hard, clay packed soil. Our job includes staying soft so that we can receive the seeds God wants to plant in our lives. Being receptive can be a challenge at times. When times of resistance arise, we can pray, call a friend, or simply remind ourselves that God is not out to get us with His fruit.
Second, we endure pruning. Part of the growing process involves cutting off what is diseased or no longer necessary or even what is taking nutrients that are needed elsewhere. The third way we cooperate is we stay connected. We can't grow spiritually if we detach from the source of our growth. When we stop hanging out with others who care about growing, we'll probably stop growing too. A leaf doesn't continue growing once it is pulled from a branch. When we let week after week slip by without attending church service, or a study group, or even spending some time opening ourselves to God in prayer, we will shrink rathter than grow.
Ready to get growing? It is up to God to grow His fruit in our lives, but it's up to us to cooperate with Him.
Be a Christ Follower
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