Includes...
Isaiah 53:10-12 says, "Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Jesus was given a portion among the great and will divide the spoils among the strong. And we are in him, which means this is also a promise for us. In him we also have a portion among the great. God is great and he is our portion.
Today's communion is a time of...
Lately we have been discussing the importance of repetition. It is through repetition that things finally click.
When things click we understand things we didn't before, and we make connections that we couldn't see before. When things click it is like a whole new world and set of possibilities open up to us that we didn't know existed before.
When things click everything becomes easier and things fall into place.
In sports athletes train and train the same things over and over to get to the place where things click and they can perform automatically without having to think about it, which is what unlocks higher levels of performance.
The same is true of our relationship with God, we must discipline ourselves to practice the fundamentals of connecting with him and following his leading each day. When we do this consistently it leads us to a place where things click and we truly understand that he is with us, he loves, us and he wants good...
One of the most powerful things I have learned about walking by faith is... changing the tense in which we speak.
When we believe we receive from God the moment we pray it's time to change the tense. If we truly believed we received then it is done. And we can start speaking about it like it has already happened. It is simply a matter of time until we see the result. It just needs to be worked out.
As an example, there were times when my kids were sick and I would say... They had a fever or they were sick. The truth might have been that 3 seconds ago they were sick but grace flows in the present moment and that is already the past.
Every time I have done this things turned around very quickly. There have even been times when I forgot and as soon as I remembered things turned. By speaking of it in the past tense we are leaving the issues in the past. When we change the tense an immediate sense of peace often comes on the...
The other night I was reading through Isaiah 41 and it's full of amazing promises that are very comforting.
On today's video we read through the whole chapter, but here are verses 8-13...
8 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11 “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do...
Proverbs 11:24-26 MSG says...
The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. 25 The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped. 26 Curses on those who drive a hard bargain! Blessings on all who play fair and square!
When we are generous we are typically motivated by love and externally focused which makes us more prosperous and our world expands. But, when we are stingy or withhold it is usually motivated by taking care of ourselves rather than trusting in God's unfailing love for us and it leads to being internally focused and our world getting smaller and smaller.
A great question to ask is... Am I being generous or stingy with my money, time, resources, kind words and praise, and affection.
In today's communion it is a time to thank God that he loved us so much that he gave and was generous. And we are asking for his help to grow in our generosity.
I...
Something I believe to be true is that there are levels love. There are higher and higher levels of light and love that most people don’t know about. As we move to higher levels of love it purifies our hearts, makes us more present and secure. The result is that we become more externally focused and less focused on ourselves.
A simple way to start growing our love can happen in our heart in every interaction with God and other people. As we are talking or interacting with others take note of the thoughts and intentions of your heart. Are we thinking about how much we love the person or are we bitter, complaining, etc.
The thoughts and intentions of our heart will always be conveyed in the words we choose, our tone, our actions, and mannerisms.
In today's communion we are thanking God that he is love and there are always higher and higher levels in him. And we are asking for his help to grow the love he put within us to the next level. His love is also...
For the last several months I have been doing a new workout that takes about 20 minutes( more on this to come soon) and in this workout I do the same exact thing everyday. For many this might sound boring but it has actually been a lot of fun to see the consistent progress. And if you bring energy, presence, and focus each day it is not boring at all. In each section of the weight lifting I have a rep goal, for example it might be 4-8 reps. In this case I select a weight that allows me to do 4-8 reps with medium effort.
My goal is to keep practicing that weight every single day until 8 reps can be done easily for multiple days in a row, then its time to increase the weight and start over again. After several months of doing this my weights have increased steadily and the other day I went back and tried some of the weights I started with. Those weights now felt very easy, because I had moved to a higher level.
When we move to a higher level in anything lower...
Here is this week's Yearly Cycle Update
The eight days of Hanukkah are coming soon, starting on Nov 29th. Hanukkah, known as the feast of dedication and also the festival of lights, is a time when God wants to see a higher level of dedication to our gift. It is a time to firm up our commitment to what he has called us to do. To commit means that we go all in and don’t look back. The number 8 is symbolic of new beginnings, and Hanukkah as an 8-day feast is when we firm up our commitment to what God is calling us to do and embark on a new beginning.
Hanukkah is not technically mentioned in the Bible, but some Jewish scholars say it is hinted at. The feast is a remembrance of when the Jewish people revolted and took back control of the temple. When they restored the temple, there was only enough olive oil to light the lamps for one night, but God performed a miracle and made the light last for eight nights.
The miracle of Hanukkah is a...
The other day someone told me about a doctors appointment they had to prepare for a procedure. After doing a breathing test the doctor said many people don't breathe deeply so their lungs are not fully activated and much of their lung capacity is dormant or unused.
This goes along with the old principle.... Use it or lose it.
Something I believe to be true about our physical bodies is that we have genes waiting to be activated for good things. Many people talk about having genes for diseases or other bad things that are activated by our lifestyle and environment but I believe God also built good things into our genes that are dormant and waiting to be activated.
In our physical bodies this principle is definitely true, if we don't use our lungs, muscles, etc then things go dormant and atrophy. And on the other end of the spectrum when we make the most of what God has given us we have much more capacity than we thought.
But, this principle also applies...
There is a fine line between faith and presumption. Faith is how we receive everything from God but presumption can get us into trouble. In Numbers 14 after the spies came back from the promised land with an evil report and complained, God said they were going to spend 40 years in the wilderness. Then in Numbers 14:44-45 the people in their presumption decided to try to take the promised land on their own without God. They went up to the highest point in the hill country, but they were beaten down.
This concept of faith and presumption seems to be linked to the phrase, " the highest point."
When Jesus was tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4) Satan took him up to the highest point of the temple and asked Jesus to throw himself down in order to test God.
But true faith doesn't test God, it rests in the promises. Jesus didn't need to test the promise out to see if God would do what he said.
It is also interesting that the...
Sign up to receive Yearly Cycle Updates delivered to your inbox.