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The Feast of Trumpets is coming up on September 6th. Trumpets is a reminder to be taking action because God has some good works for us to walk in. But Jesus said it wasn't him that did the work, it was the father in him. The same father lives in us and when we are willing and obedient God begins to work through us. An amazing thing happens when we take action, it becomes like food for us. I don't know how to fully explain this but I know it is true through experience.
Here are the words of Jesus from John 4:33-35.
So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?” 34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.
What do you know to do today? Start taking action trusting that God is working in you and you...
Nothing is impossible for God, including the ability to protect you and keep you from all evil, which is part of what Jesus said to pray for in the Lord's prayer. Consider the 10 plagues of Egypt... The plagues impacted the people of Egypt, but not the land of Goshen where God's people were. God created a separation and supernaturally protected his people.
Here are some scriptures to meditate on today.
The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121:7-8
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3
One of the biggest keys to walking in these promises is staying positioned and focused on the light. We can do this through forgiveness, gratitude, and focusing on whatever is lovely, just, true, pure, and of good report. The more you focus on all that is wrong and evil the more...
Proverbs 19:23 says... The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
There are three parts to this verse... the fear of the Lord, contentment, and protection.
First it starts with fearing the Lord, which is awe, reverence, honor, respect, and submitting to him. To fear him is to seek to do what is pleasing to him. This is step one and then we must learn to be content in all circumstances. We must learn to find our contentment in God being with us rather than from external things or circumstances. When this is the case we can rest in our soul because God will never leave us or forsake us.
Then God can have us untouched by trouble. Jesus said we would have trouble in this world but to be of good cheer because he has overcome the world. Nothing is impossible for him and he always causes us to triumph. The Bible is filled with examples of God protecting his people. Think of the 10 plagues of Egypt. The...
In the Amplified Bible hope is defined as the confident expectation of good and in the dictionary hope is defined as the feeling of trust. Confidence is one of the highest levels of trust. It is the state where all doubt has been removed and we move from believing to knowing.
God is supposed to be the source of our confidence and expectation, but often they are misplaced onto ourselves or other people. God is the only one who will never let us down. If we put our confidence in ourselves and put really high expectations on ourselves, we will let ourselves down over and over again, which will lead to a disappointment and frustration, because we weren't meant to be the source. The same is also true of putting expectations on other people. What if you had zero expectations of yourself and other people but total confidence and expectation in God and what Jesus has done for us? This is a very freeing way to live, because he is the only one who will never...
In Deuteronomy 4:20 God said...But as for you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are. God has released us from darkness(also known as the iron smelting furnace) and transferred us into the light, the kingdom of his dear son. In Psalm 118 it says God brought them out of a hard pressed place into a spacious place.
God has done this for us and part of our role is to do the same for others.
Jude 22-25 says... Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and...
We are in the 40 Days of Teshuva, which is a time to turn, repent, and make adjustments. One of the biggest areas to make adjustments in is our marriages. Our goal is to be a blessing to our spouse. Down below are 8 ways to do this. With all of these there are two big keys... What you do and HOW you do it. The goal is to do these cheerfully because God loves a cheerful giver. In today's video there is a communion meditation asking for God's help to grow in these 8 things. If you are not married these same 8 things can be applied to any relationship.
The other day we were studying science with my kids and discussing how an object can be 'In motion," or "At rest." But there are examples of things that can be both in motion and at rest at the same time. Imagine laying on a raft and floating down a river. You can be totally at rest but in motion at the same time because the current is moving you. In Christ, we have the amazing opportunity to be both in motion and at rest. We can be both highly productive while totally at rest in our soul.
How do we do this? Take high levels of action on the things that you know to do, but do so trusting and relying on God's strength and power to make it happen. For the world it is usually one or the other. For example, we all know people who are "in motion," all the time. They never sit still and they work, work, work but they are wearing themselves out in the process. We also all know people who are "at rest,' all the time, meaning they take no action.
We want to have...
Simple plans that are put into motion are usually much better than elaborate plans full of unknowns. I have found then when planning it is better to stick with things I know to do. It can be easy to fall into the trap of planning and planning but never taking action.
The key is to put the plan into motion. There are some aspects of our plans that we can never figure out by sitting down and making a plan. We only understand it while in motion. It is better to make a very short simple plan of things that you know to do and get started than to waste a bunch of time planning things that will probably never happen and not taking any action.
You can figure things out as you go. Yes, you should plan, but the plan should be more about getting clear on the destination. Then keep it simple and focus more on executing, because there are some problems that can never be solved until you get moving and are in the middle of it. Learning to live this way...
We have the amazing opportunity to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive grace and mercy from God in our time of need. This is a time of year where there may be some pressure, and we can boldly pray asking God for help. To be bold is to stand up and be confident, but it is also balanced with the humility of knowing we need help.
One of the keys to prayer is boldness or confidence in God. The confidence of knowing we can approach him freely because of Jesus and the confidence that he wants to help and nothing is impossible for him. Whenever you need help come to God with boldness asking for his help. I was once down on my face praying and lamenting with a lack of boldness. Immediately after praying I opened my Bible while still down on the ground to Joshua 7:10 where God tells Joshua... Stand Up! What are you doing with your face on the ground?
From that point on I almost always pray standing up, and aim to do so with boldness and confidence. Yes,...
Our goal in the Abundant Life Blueprint is to make other people great, and part of making others great is launching people out. Our goal should be to make others greater than ourselves. Even Jesus said, if you believe in me you will do what I do and even greater. Many people don't believe this, but it is what he said.
People always need another level to progress to and if you are a leader in any way the goal should be to make others great by launching them out. In any organization there will be some people that God created to stay with you and be a team(these people also need another level), while some will be looking for the opportunity to launch out and do their own unique thing. In these cases the goal is to mentor, disciple, and help them get started. Leaders often view this as competition, but in reality it may take both of you to the next level and it may open the opportunity to partner with them in new ways.
In today's communion we are asking...
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