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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

Working for God

With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

1 Corinthians 15:58

*This is a great reminder of how any work that is done for God, even if you're working a job under man, is never in vain. If we work our jobs like we are  working them for God, we will exceed in everything we do. No matter the task, God should be our #1 focus. God is the one who will guide us to and through every assignment. You just need to make sure it's what God sent to you. He will also reveal what you should learn from every task, and how that information will be applied to the next level.

Change for God

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Hebrews 10:35‭-‬36 NIV

*Don't throw away who God created you to be to fit in with society. Who you are, the part that doesn't go against the word, is necessary for your calling and will aid in helping you recognize and handle your blessings. Don't change because human say you should, and don't try to change others..Allow God to do the guidance and changing. You know what He told you to work on vs what needs to be altered.