All About the Process
One thing I realized about God is that He’s all about process. More often than not, God, thousands of years ago, and God in 2016 is a God of process. Sometimes He does things quickly, like the waving of a wand- abracadabra and POOF- it’s done and fast. But when He decides to mold and make our characters, the things we want can take weeks, months or years.
A Seared Conscience
I’ve got one and you’ve got one- a conscience. That thing that jerks us back when we do wrong, and that that gives our hearts peace when we’ve made the right decision...
Pick Up Your Mat
We all have seasons in our lives where some are more challenging than others, but challenges are meant to increase our faith in God, mature us, strengthen us, and make us wiser. God doesn’t intend for us to stay stuck in a season. He’s the only One that’s meant to stay the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But we’re meant to morph and grow as He moves us from season to season. However, it is possible that we can stay stuck in a season for far too long, longer than God intended us, if we choose to.
A Built Up Immunity
There are seasons in life when we’re in the unexplainable, where we’re being pressed, where situation after situation that comes makes us exhausted, and where we can’t understand why we’re being pressed on every side.
Craving Real Friendships
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
~Dale Carnegie
Who do you seek to please?
It’s exhausting to try and please other people and what they think we should do or not do. And even though their advice may come from a good place, we will only find freedom through seeking to please God above all else.
Good Situations Don’t Mean We’re Doing God’s Will and Vice Versa
Just because we’re in a situation that seems good and that seems ok doesn’t mean it is ok. The Scripture is full of examples where people thought they were ok, despite their unholy living.
It’s Actually Being Done for You
There are many moments in life when we will all feel as if the world is against us- losing a job, a break up, someone hurts us, we try to pursue a dream but it doesn’t seems as if we’re making any headway, we get a challenging boss, our church lets us down, family members hurt us, etc. And we all know that life isn’t fair, but often, when it looks like something is being done to us, it’s actually being done for us.
His Presence
God speaks to us continually, and it’s easy to lose sight of that in busyness of everyday life. It’s His nature to communicate with us, and it’s not always through words.
Keep Your Eyes On Your Own Paper
It can be so easy to compare ourselves to others, to be envious of another, and to try and emulate what someone else is doing. If we resolve to look at our own papers, to look at our own lives and not compare ourselves to others, then we won’t have any reason to look at someone else’s paper.
Are You a Leading Actor or the Best Friend?
In the movie industry the leading roles are few. Only one man and one woman can have these spots. How far we go in life is largely dictated by how big or small our thinking is.
Reaction to Action – Reaction to Authority
It can be hard to sit under someone’s authority, especially when we don’t agree with them, but Scripture is clear that authority must be honored and that we must submit it.
Reaction to Action- Reaction to Outcomes
Believe it or not, we have as much access to God as we have the faith receive Him. It can be the most challenging thing in life to make time for God. What is your reaction when the Holy Spirit is prompting you to connect with God? Do you seek God or put Him on the lower end of the list of “things to get to later?”
Reaction to Action- Moving On
When it’s time to move on from a thing God will let you know and confirm it. And sure, God understands your attachment to the old thing. And sure, there might need to be a period of mourning and sulking. But after time has passed, you’ll sense God saying “You have mourned long enough for this thing, and it's time to let it go.”
Reaction to Action- Reaction to Success, By Tony Alany
We can’t always control what actions we are faced with and that includes success, but we can control our reaction to actions. God is far more interested in our reaction to a situation than we think. Tony Alany, the Pastor of Worship at McLean Bible Church in the U.S., unpacks that in life's successes we Christ is all we need, and how humility should be our response to success.
Bathsheba was a mother too
It’s easy to remember Bathsheba by her sin and not by her accomplishments. As humans we tend to remember people by their sinful mistakes, years after they took place.
Friends vs Acquaintances
It’s common to have a lot of people around you in your early 20s, but as you mature in your 20s, you realize that you’d rather have a few quarters around you than lots of pennies.
In Whom Do You Trust: Knowing how to Manage Life's Disappointments – By Rachel Reed
Disappointment can often drive how we make decisions. We don't want to experience this emotion, so we shape our actions to secure reward or our desired outcome.