Translate

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Guidance of God

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

Matthew 5:20‭, ‬38‭-‬38‭, ‬43‭-‬47 NIV

*It is so easy to deal with people you appreciate, and those who appreciate you. It is also easy to classify what you believe is love. However, from the least desirable person to those who appreciate us, we have to exude the love of God. This is done in different ways. Never follow the guidance of humans, but the word of God and His example He sent to us: Jesus. Everyone seems to have advice for everyone else, but unless those words are coming from God, let that person walk in the way God tells them to go. It is our job to speak the word, and not our opinions. The word helps, but opinion deters. Also, God provides wisdom on how to handle things and people correctly. Let people live for God, and cultivate that instead of dictating it. Sometimes we can go by what we've experienced rather than the word.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Focus on Today

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 NKJV

*It is so easy to get caught up in the cares and concerns that you have all week, which distracts us from being focused on the current day. We forget that we must be in tuned to what God is trying to tell us or help us avoid during the current day, and also what is it that He is telling you to do outside of your regular schedule? There is nothing wrong with planning, but when planning overshadows daily guidance and edification then that's when we've missed the boat.

Monday, March 13, 2017

What Does God Call You?

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Philippians 3:13‭-‬16 NIV

*You're not what others call you, and not what they assume. You are who God has called you to be, and what He has put on your life. What man says does not matter...Don't let others define you if you are not trying to live up to their expectations. You are responsible for living up to God's expectations whether others accept it, understand it, or not. Those who are called to encourage you will understand you...Let your light shine in only the way that is predestined for your life...

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Enlightenment

Good morning...Food 4 Thought 4 Believers:

Everyone is different in their own way, and that difference helps fuel who God is molding you to be for different assignments and your overall purpose. Stop trying to change people into who you think they should be, because it's different from you, and view them as God would in order to respect and appreciate their differences designed for their purpose. Now, if God gives you a word for them then that's fine. However, trying to change people to fit your agenda is manipulation at its finest. If they aren't for you, then cool but don't assume or manipulate. Ask God to enlighten you and help you understand....#BelieverChallenge

*New International Version
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people...

Friday, March 10, 2017

Live for God...Not for Others

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

Galatians 5:13‭-‬18 MSG

* It's important to live with the Holy Spirit working with and through us, and not according to someone else's standards. 1. Your life is not your own, and you belong to God. 2. You can't expect to walk in His fullness if you have one foot in the world. 3. You are capable of letting your light shine wherever you go, instead of fitting in and looking for opportunities. Make it a habit to think of God before and while you take action, and not just afterwards. The very actions that are not being guided by Him are the very things that are keeping you from His promises.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Power of Self Control

Moderation is better than muscle, self-control better than political power.

Proverbs 16:32 MSG

*I love the way the MSG version puts this because it is helping us think long term. Receiving or doing certain things gradually is better than immediately using it all as one big force, which may result in using it only once because you've used up the strength of it in one sitting. Having self control is better than  exercising temporary power, that can change at any moment, based on politics and how people feel towards you. God gives us lasting results if we are obedient and falling Him, which outweighs temporary quick fixes or adhering to moments.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Revenge

“Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people. “Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God .

Leviticus 19:18 MSG

*It's easy to treat others how they treat us... Especially when it's negative. We may even have those moments when we want to get back at someone, or let them feel how we felt or "get a taste of their own medicine." However, that's not the Godly way...I'm not saying you shouldn't guard your heart, love from a distance, or as our Min.Trish says, "Be stuck on stupid." However, "Vengeance is mine," as God says. No one can teach anyone a lesson like God. Therefore, let it go so it doesn't block your blessings, and give it to God.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Live for God

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

2 Peter 1:5‭-‬9 MSG

*Continuously work on edifying yourself in God. Life was not simply meant for you to get up, go to work, and rack up birthdays until you die. It was meant for you to discover who God called you to be, and figure out what's missing in the earth that you alone were sent here to fix. So many people are looking for blessings each day that they forget about purpose. If you truly put God first, and work for His namesake then the blessings will automatically follow...