Jesus was crucified on the cross so that we could stop crucifying ourselves for the things we do wrong. He has hung up for our hang ups. That’s good news!
Quote
The key to lasting friendships is to develop a short memory.
The ‘Law of Association’ dictates that the company you keep will either lift you, lower you, or limit you. – You get to choose which it will be!
Giving with strings attached is called bargaining.
“When we have listened for God’s leading for a time, perhaps a long time, a sense of His desire for our lives starts to take shape in our minds. He sometimes leaves us alone with our thoughts, perhaps for years, causing us to trust Him, and Him alone.”
Patrick Morley.
Patrick Morley, The Man In The Mirror, 1997, USA Zondervan, p.223
The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it!
Where the mind goes the person follows, so be sure that your thoughts are on what you want rather than what you don’t want.
Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer, Making Good Habits Breaking Bad Habits, (2013), London: Hodder & Stoughton, p.3
Contentment is not in having everything you want but in wanting everything you have.
Someone once said to a grumbling Christian: “You Christians seem to have a religion that makes you miserable. You are like a man with a headache. He doesn’t want to get rid of his head, but it hurts him to keep it!”
A balanced diet does not mean you have a chocolate bar in each hand!
“People who rush through life get to the end of it quicker!”
John Mason, writer
Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Thou art the Potter,
I am the clay.
Mould me and make me
After Thy will,
While I am waiting
Yielded and still.
A. Pollard (1862-1934)
The one sure way to go broke is to sit around waiting for a break!
We might be products of our past but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. We do have a choice.
A promise is a word that goes forth into unfilled time. It reaches ahead of its speaker and its recipient, to mark the appointment between them in the future.
Source: The New Bible Dictionary
When Martin Luther (1483-1546), the protestant reformer, was asked at Worms to recant all his writings, he responded with these words: “Unless you prove to me by Scripture and plain reason that I am wrong, I cannot recant. My conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. There is nothing else I can do. God help me. Amen.”
“Responsibility is the price of greatness.”
Sir Winston Churchill
Did you hear about the chap who entered his donkey into the Grand National? ‘He’ll never win’, a friend said. ‘I know,’ he replied, ‘but we only ever learn and grow by association.’
“Make the most of every day because tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
Paul J. Meyer
“Fear not that your life will come to an end but that it will never have a beginning.”
John Henry Newman, British theologian.
Many people reach the end of life only to discover, to their regret, that they spent most of it on things that don’t matter.
“Many people may listen, but few actually hear.”
Harvey Mackay
Good Luck is not simply happenchance; good luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.”
attributed to R.E. Shay
Seagull Management: “Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everybody and then fly out again!”
Ken Blanchard
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. And if you invest peanuts in training you get the same results.
MARRIAGE
Accept that mistakes happen. Don’t be like the father whose son graduated from military academy: During the marching out parade the proud dad pointed out, “Everyone is out of step except for Johnny!”
Learning from experience is painful; not learning from experience, more so.
Canny investors watch the tide, not the waves.
“Nothing hurts more than having to pay income tax, unless it’s not having any income to pay tax on!”
J. B. Colbert
“Success often costs more than its worth.”
attributed to E. Wigglesworth
“A full vault is poor compensation for an empty life.”
Nido Quebin (motivational speaker, writer, businessman)
A small fire creates little heat.
If you are waiting around for motivation to come along or turn up, forget it. You stand more chance or hitting the jackpot on the lottery. Motivation isn’t something that turns up but something that is turned up. Let me put it like this: If your ‘get-up-and-go’ has ‘got-up-and-gone’ then get up and go after it and motivation will catch up with you along the way.
R. Ian Seymour
“If opportunity doesn’t knock build a door.”
Milton Berle
“The greatest secret of success in life is for a person to be ready when their opportunity comes.”
– Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), British Prime Minister
OTHER FAITHS
‘It’s the resurrection that sets Christianity apart from all the other religions of the world. Other religions are basically saying they bring you this prophet; this guru or sage who says: ‘This is the way to find God.’ In that sense they’re all the same. But Christianity comes along and says this person is God and he was raised from the dead to prove it.’
Tim Keller (http://christianityexplored.org/Groups/276317/Home/CE_ORG/Tough_Questions/Tough_Questions.aspx)
There are 2.2 billion Christians in the world today (a third of the world’s population), and it’s estimated there’s a net increase of 70,000 in the number of new Christians being added to the church every single day worldwide. The church is growing faster than ever before and Christianity is gaining more members than any other religion. Indeed, it is growing three times the rate of the population explosion. More Muslims in Iran have come to know Christ over the past ten years than during the previous thousand years. In Africa, 20,000 people a day are becoming Christians. Some estimate that there may be as many as 100 million Christians in China alone.
Source: Nicky Gumbel, 1997, The Heart of Revival, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, p.49-50
God’s clocks keep perfect time.
“The rungs of a ladder were not meant to rest upon, but only to support you long enough to enable you to reach for something higher.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), English biologist and author
Success depends upon performance not potential!
“Go to every conference, meeting and seminar you can get to. Why? Because some of them are going to be life changing events but you don’t know which ones they are.”
Jim Rohn
To not pray is the same as saying, ‘I can manage by myself, thank you God.’
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20.) – But God very often makes us wait. He wants us to persevere and get serious in prayer so that we never take His mountain-moving answers for granted. – Explore
Explore Bible notes 18/7/2002
Recent research, commissioned by the Church of England and undertaken by ICM, found that four out of five British adults say they believe in the power of prayer – 80% of the UK adult population admits that they would pray in an emergency or when facing a crisis.
https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2013/03/four-out-of-five-believe-in-the-power-of-prayer.aspx (accessed 3/2013)
Jesus says: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). The Bible teaches that it is God who predestines and chooses the elect; it is God who calls those whom He has chosen. We see this in Ephesians chapter 1 (v5, 11) where we read: “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons [and daughters] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will… In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Essentially, the Bible teaches that God predetermines that certain individuals will be saved, and there are a great many Scriptures referring to the elect, believers in Christ being chosen. In fact, the concordance in one of my Bibles gives 281 entries for the words predestination, elect and chosen. Predestination, then, is the biblical doctrine that God in His sovereignty chooses certain individuals to be saved.
God’s election of sinners for salvation is part of his sovereignty over everything (Ephesians 1:11). And whenever we pray, we are acknowledging that God is in control; whenever we pray for someone to be saved, we’re (at least unconsciously) recognising that God is in control of saving people.
But God choosing people can seem to undermine evangelism (God will save those he has chosen anyway), undermine our humility (we’re the chosen ones), and undermine our holiness (we’re saved anyway). Paul helps us with each objection.
First, God uses our evangelism to save his elect (read Acts 18:9-10). Since he has chosen many, our evangelism is the joyful privilege of finding his elect with his gospel, like miners digging for gold in a pit.
Second, election keeps us humble because we were chosen “before the creation of the world” – we’re not saved because we turned out to be cleverer or more deserving. Since he first chose us, we can only ever be humble.
Third, we were chosen “to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4). Saved through Jesus, we’ll want to be like Jesus – holy.
Richard Coekin
Explore Bible notes, 4/10/2016
“Let the problems of yesterday die with the dusk and the opportunities of tomorrow will rise with the dawn.”
Anon
Don’t fix the blame; fix the problem!
The squeakiest wheel needs the most oil.
“On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless thousands who, on the threshold of victory, hesitated and, while hesitating, died!”
Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur
Mark Twain said that the two most important days in a person’s life are the day he is born and the day he finds out why?
“The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purpose, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after. The things that happen do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree of God. God is working out His purposes.
If we are in communion with God and recognise that He is taking us into His purposes, we shall no longer try to find out what his purposes are. As we go on in the Christian life it gets simpler, because we are less inclined to say – ‘Now why did God allow this and that?’ Behind the whole thing lies the compelling of God. ‘There’s divinity that shapes our ends.’ A Christian is one who trusts the wits and the wisdom of God, and not his own wits. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and leisureliness which ought to characterise the children of God.”
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, (2000 edition), Worcester: Oswald Chambers Publications, p.224
Jackie Pullinger (who worked with prostitutes, heroin addicts and gang members in Hong Kong) began a memorable talk by saying, ‘God wants us to have soft hearts and hard feet. The trouble with many of us is that we have hard hearts and soft feet.’
Quoted by Nicky Gumbel in Alpha Questions of Life, 2007 edition, Eastbourne: Kingsway Communications, p.121
Tortoises only make progress when they stick their necks out; the same can often be said about humans!
“I believe that one of the most powerful forces in the world is the will of a man who believes in himself, who dares to aim high, who goes confidently after the things he wants from life.”
Rich DeVos, co-founder of Amway Corporation
We can’t do everything but, friends, we must not to nothing!
S CCESS can’t be spelt without U.
Success is a matter of choice not chance!
Some people stop to think but others stop thinking.
Time is like money: You can spend it any way you want but you only get to spend it once and there are no refunds. Make sure you spend yours wisely.
Winning is having the ability to hang on after others have given up and let go.
Papa whale gave this wise advice to his son: “Remember, when you spout off are you are most prone to being harpooned.”
“Work is a consequence of the creation, not the fall, and is intended by God as a means to a partnership with him, the service of others and self-fulfilment.”
John Stott
John Stott, I Believe in Preaching , p.312
“Well done is better than well said!”
Benjamin Franklin
We don’t even know for sure what will happen in the next five minutes, let alone a year or more from now. God wants us to trust Him and to lean and rely on Him for absolutely everything. That doesn’t mean we do nothing while God does everything for us, but it does mean that we trust Him more than we trust ourselves or anyone or anything else.
Joyce Meyer
If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.
Dale Carnegie
When it comes to God’s plan for our lives, often how God works, is He speaks to us through His Word (the Bible) and provides us with guidance for the next few steps in front of us. That’s all God’s plan really is. It’s a series of next steps we take in obedience to God.
Psalm 119:105 says that God’s Word is a lamp to guide our feet and a light to our path. This verse wasn’t talking about the type of lamp you have in your bedroom that lights up the whole room. Rather, this verse was referring to what would essentially be a small candle. It wouldn’t provide a lot of light—only enough to see what was straight in front of you. It would be like going into a pitch-black room with a tiny flashlight—you’re only going to see a few steps ahead.
When it comes to God’s plan for us, as individuals, God isn’t going to give us the full blueprint for our lives. If He did, we wouldn’t need to live by faith and trust Him! Rather, God wants to speak to us through His Word and the trusted Christ-followers in our lives to help us with the next thing—one step at a time.
YouVersion, ‘God’s Plan For Your Life' day 1 of 6, - Switch
“Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise physician prescribes, because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust in his skill, and thank him for his prescription.”
John Newton (1725-1807) Church minister and hymnist
Mother Teresa said, “A day lived without doing something good for others is a day not worth living.”
“Have faith in your faith and doubt your doubts.”
Dr Robert H. Schuller (US pastor, writer and television presenter)
When we pray the model prayer Jesus taught us we say: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When we pray this with faith, we are praying for God’s power and authority and lordship (His kingdom) to break into this world; we are praying for things to be done here as they are in heaven. And when we pray with faith and in the power of the Spirit for healing, it’s like we are reminding God of this, we’re saying: “Lord, you commanded us to pray for things here as they are in heaven, where there is no sickness or disease, so we pray in the name of Jesus for (?)” This is actually a great way to pray for healing.
The nicest thing we can do for our Heavenly Father is to be kind to one of his children.
St. Teresa of Avila
Wise leaders lead from their strengths, they follow what’s known as the 70-25-5 principle: Give 70 percent of your time to your areas of developing your strengths. Effective leaders who maximise their potential spend the majority of their time on what they do well, rather than spending it on what they do not do so well. Give 25 percent of your time to new things; areas that you want to improve. If you want progress and get better you have to keep updating, changing and improving. Dedicate 25 percent of your time to new things that are connected to your areas of strength and you will excel in leading. Give 5 percent of your time to the areas of your weakness. No one can completely eradicate working in their areas of weakness. The key to effective leadership is to delegate to others who are gifted in the areas that you are not particularly good at. That way you free yourself up to focus on the areas of your God-given strengths, and where you are most productive. – John Maxwell
Cited in The UCB Word For Today, 20/7/2015
Why does God allow evil and suffering? This is a valid and frequently asked question, and the only honest response is that no one knows for certain; because no one has all the answers. ‘Like the bailiff who said, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” And the man answered, “Sir, if I knew the whole truth and nothing but the truth I would be God!” That much is true. But we are not God, are we, and so none of us has all the answers.’
Rick Warren
Rick Warren, God’s Power To Change Your Life, 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, p.186
In ‘The Cross of Christ’, John Stott wrote: “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing around his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerable thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of this.”
John Stott, Through The Bible Through The Year, Abingdon: Candle Books (2006), p.269
The lives of great Christian leaders teach us that those who follow a God-sized calling need God-sized courage. Abraham left his home to journey to a place he wasn’t even sure existed. Moses overcame his speech impediment to lead the people of Israel to freedom. Joshua faced doubters who feared the Promised Land was too difficult to conquer. Gideon led an army of only three hundred to defeat an army of thousands. Daniel and Esther displayed tremendous courage in the face of death. Nehemiah overcame fierce opposition to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days. Jesus faced the cross and triumphed over death. Paul penned parts of the New Testament while nurturing wounds in prison; and nearly every apostle preached the gospel until being martyred.
Brad Lomenick
Brad Lomenick, The Catalyst Leader, day 3 of a 3-day devotional on YouVersion Bible app
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
Henry Ford (1863-1947), founder of the Ford Motor Company
Indeed, Paul warns us: “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eats and drinks without discerning the body of the Lord eats and drink judgment on themselves” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29 NIV). Commentators have made several suggestions as to what Paul actually meant by ‘unworthy manner’. It may be a warning against rushing into the ceremony without thinking of its meaning; or to forget the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf; or to come to Communion with un-confessed sin, or even to allow the sacrament to become a cold, lifeless, formal ritual… just going through the motions!
“We must govern the clock, not let the clock govern us.”
Golda Meir (1898-1978), Prime Minister of Israel
There is a school of thought that suggests circumcision was replaced by baptism in the New Testament but baptism is not a replacement so much as an advancement; an advancement in the grace of God so that Jews could be initiated into the Christian faith. You see, without the New Covenant sign of baptism there would have been no turning point for Old Covenant people and… ‘One might hesitatingly suggest that the fact that women could receive baptism as well and as easily as men has something to do with it – now there is a gospel liberty for women which the Old Covenant did not bestow.’
Many in our society think Christianity is irrelevant and the church insignificant but at a recent Christian conference one the main speakers, Krish Kandiah, reminded us of some things…
- Do you know who provides half of the parent and toddler support groups in the United Kingdom? – Is it Sure Start? – No, it’s the church actually!
- Do you know who provides the biggest network of debt counselling across the United Kingdom with 190 drop in centres helping over 19,000 people last year alone? – Is it Martin-money-saving-expert-Lewis? – No, it’s the church actually!
- Do you know who will feed 100,000 hungry people this year in the UK? – Is it the Red Cross? – No, it’s the church actually!
- Do you know who brought hospitals, schools, universities and democracy into our country? – Was it the Vikings? – No, it’s the church actually!
- Who invented Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur football clubs? – Was it the Football Association? – No, it’s the church actually!
- When the doctors, the police and the social workers move out of an area and go and live somewhere safe, who is it that moves in? – Is it Richard Dawkins and the militant atheists? – No, it’s the church actually!
- Who is it that is the hope of the world? – Is it the United Nations? – No, it’s the church actually!
Krish Kandiah, (day 1) Spring Harvest Minehead, Week 2, 2012
Many of the world’s greatest thinkers believe that God not only exists, but that He created the universe and its inhabitants. So the next time someone tells you that only simple, uneducated people believe in God – don’t buy it. Dr Robert Jastrow, founder and director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, writes in his blockbuster book, God and the Astronomers: ‘The astronomical evidence supports the Biblical view of the origin of the world…The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and Biblical accounts of Genesis are the same…Science has proved that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment… What cause produced this effect? Who or what put the matter or energy into the universe? Science cannot answer these questions… and for the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance… is about to conquer the highest peak, and as he pulls himself over the final rock he’s greeted by a band of theologians who’ve been sitting there for centuries.’
Source: The UCB Word For Today devotional, 2/10/2016
God is depending in you. I read this challenging comment recently: “God is depending on you. That may come as a bit of a surprise but God is waiting for you and depending on you to do his work. He is depending on you to be generous with your time and abilities and money for others. He is depending on you to give of your time and resources in order to help the person in need. He is depending on you to spend time with the sick and the lonely. He is depending on you to use your money so that others may come to know Christ. And He is depending on you to use your abilities in the ministry of your local congregation. God is depending on you to show hospitality and demonstrate His love to others.”
Anon
Forgiveness is the FREE gospel offer. Repentance is the COSTLY gospel demand.
“The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth.”
Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell (1865-1940), English physician and missionary
A Christian does not live by explanations but by promises. A parcel delivery company used to have a slogan written on their delivery vehicles saying, “A promise means nothing until it is delivered.” That’s true, unless the promise is from God! God always keeps his promises, his covenants; He is always as good as His word… and God has given us many promises in the Scriptures. Here are just a few of them:
- Commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3)
- Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
- Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
- For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
- I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. (…) Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. (Isaiah 43:1, 46:4)
- Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
- Jesus promised: And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention.
Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God.
Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution.
Stop repeating the past and start creating the future.
Stop playing it safe and start taking risks.
Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey.
Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can.
Live like today is the first day and last day of your life.
Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God.
Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails.
Don’t let fear dictate your decisions. Take a flying leap of faith.
Quit holding out. Quit holding back.
Go all in with God. Go all out for God.
Mark Batterson
Source: Mark Batterson, All In, 2013, Michigan USA, Zondervan, p.85-86
Prayer is not just monologue. It is dialogue. God speaks to us as we pray. Samuel said, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). But we all too often say, ‘Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking!’
‘The Symptoms of Inner Peace’
- A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fear based on past experience.
- An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
- A loss of interest in judging self.
- A loss of interest in judging others.
- A loss of interest in conflict.
- A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
- A loss of ability to worry (this is a very serious symptom).
- Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
- Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
- Frequent attacks of smiling through the eyes of the heart.
- Increasing susceptibility to love, extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
- An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than to make then happen.
Jeff Rockwell
The rich young ruler wasn’t lost because he had money; he was lost because money had him. (See Luke 18:22-23.)
“The measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.”
John Henry Jowett
“Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered. Have we by the Spirit the unspeakable certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of times when God does not seem to answer prayer? “Everyone that asketh receiveth.” We say – ‘But…, but….’ God answers prayer in the best way, not sometimes, but every time, although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow.”
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, (2000 edition), Worcester: Oswald Chambers Publications, p.153
It is often said, ‘God hates the sin but loves the sinner’. But that is not quite true because God hates sinners and will judge them for what they have done. The statement should be, ‘God hates the sin but loves the repentant-sinner.’ – Psalm 11v5 (NIV) tells us: “The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.”
You have to be clean on the inside. Rick Warren says: “God uses all kinds of people. He uses shy people. He uses outgoing people. He uses people from all different races, ages, stages of life, and backgrounds. He uses men and women. God will use plain vessels, and he’ll use ornate vessels. He’ll use big vessels and small vessels. But there is one thing that God will not use: He will not use a dirty vessel. You have to be clean on the inside.
How do you do that? How do you purify yourself? You do it through a simple word: confession. Augustine said, “The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works.” The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing” (GNT).
The word confess in Greek is the word homologeo. Homo means “same,” and logeo means “to speak.” So homologeo literally means “to speak the same about my sin that God does.” It means you agree with him: “God, you’re right. It wasn’t a faux pas. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a sin. It was wrong.” It doesn’t mean you try to bargain with God (“I’ll never do it again”). It doesn’t mean you try to bribe God (“I promise to read my Bible every day if you’ll forgive me”).
You just admit it.
That may seem too simple to you. You may say, “All I’ve got to do is admit it, and God will forgive me?” Yes! It’s called grace!
Here’s what I suggest you do if you really want to be used by God: Take time this week to sit down with a pen and a pad of paper, and say, “God, what’s wrong in my life? Show me. I’m going to write it down, and I’m going to admit it. I’m going to confess it to you.” Then, when God gives you an idea, write it down.
The first time I did this, I thought I was going to write a book! And I’ve done this many times since. Make a list, and then write 1 John 1:9 over it and say, “God, I admit these to you. These are wrong. I don’t want them in my life.” Ask God to cleanse your life. God will forgive you!”
Source: Rick Warren, Daily Hope: ‘You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Used By God’ (accessed 29/09/2018)
Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, led a team of over 2,000 scientists who collaborated to determine the three billion letters in the human genome – our own DNA instruction book. He said, ‘I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that.’
Francis Collins, The Language of God, Simon & Schuster UK, (2007), p.67
“You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eye. It is the swing in your gait, the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasts are fighters. They have fortitude. They have staying quality. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With enthusiasm there is accomplishment. Without it there are only abilities.” – Henry Ford (1863-1947), founder of the Ford Motor Company
If you think you’ve blown God’s plan for your life, rest in this… You, my beautiful friend, are not that powerful!
They told me I’m too optimistic, I told them my blood type is Be Positive!
When you are robbed by worry it is always an inside job.