Live Intentionally..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 Live Intentionally

Dr. Charles Stanley

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Paul was a man who lived life to the full. His goals were to know Christ, abide in His power, fellowship in His suffering, and preach the gospel (Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 1:17). In doing so, he aligned his aspirations with the Lord's, diligently worked to fulfill his calling, and persevered through opposition, persecution, and suffering. He could face the end of his life with confidence since he'd "fought the good fight," "finished the course," and "kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).

We'd all like to be able to say the same at the end of our lives, but that means we have to follow Paul's example. How are you doing at setting goals for your life? Have you thought beyond the immediate and set some long-term objectives? Our culture is so fast-paced that few of us take the time to actually consider where we're going. But you don't want to finish your life and find out you were on a course other than God's, fighting the wrong fight, and struggling to keep the faith.

Why not set aside some time this week to get alone with the Lord. Then ask His help in setting goals that will take you where He wants you to go. Consider every area of your life--personal, relational, financial, and vocational--but make spiritual goals your primary emphasis. Then write them down.

If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. Maybe it's time to get out of your rut and find a new path. God will help you change direction and accomplish new goals that align with His will. Don't settle for the mediocrity of an unplanned life. Start living intentionally.

God’s Great Gift of Love ..... Craig Denison

 God’s Great Gift of Love

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview: 

It’s vital to the Christian life that we as sons and daughters of the most high God allow our affections to be stirred by the loving, powerful nature of our heavenly Father. Too often we feel that God is distant or separated from us. Too often we allow misconceptions or lies to place a rift between us and experiencing God. It’s in reminding ourselves of God’s character that lies are broken and a pathway is laid for us to encounter his tangible love. Open your heart and mind and receive fresh revelation of the goodness of God this week. Allow your affections to be stirred and your heart to be filled with desire to seek the face of your heavenly Father.

Scripture:“We love because he first loved us.” - >1 John 4:19

Devotional: 

You need to experience the love of God. The single most important part of your day is receiving the love of your heavenly Father. Without being loved by God, you can’t fully love him or others. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” You’re called to live your life in response to God's love, because God asks that everything you do be done in love. If what you are doing isn't done in love, it is not pleasing to him, and you can’t live a lifestyle of loving others without being loved by him first.

What's more, God's desire is to completely overwhelm you with his love right now. He doesn't want to love you just so you'll love him back or love those around you. Loving God and others is a natural by-product of receiving God’s love. He loves you just because he loves you.

He longs for you to live a lifestyle of love because he knows that’s the absolute, most fulfilling, purposeful, and peaceful way of life for you. He longs to set you free from the burdens of living for your own gain. He longs to lead you to the path of abundant life. But it all starts with simply receiving his love.

The love of God will guide you, establish you, empower you, and fully delight you. His love will free you, compel you, and sustain you. His love for you is eternal, real, and right now. All you need to do is simply open your heart to him and set aside a little time right now to receive his amazing gift of love.

God desires to be experienced. He is living and active, but so few experience the life and love he wants to bring. Today, after receiving his love, take some time to reflect on how differently you feel and act afterwards. See if you feel a stirring of desire for God and those around you. You see, God intends for us to have his love for those around us. In loving God you receive his love for others. You care about the things the people you love care about. It is the same with God. But it all starts with simply being loved by him. There's no better time than right now, wherever you are, to receive the love of your heavenly Father.        

Guided Prayer:

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you encounter the love of God. Receive the peace, love, and comfort of God. Let all your cares go and take some time to just rest in his presence.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” >Romans 8:37-39

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” >Jeremiah 29:13

2. Ask God to give you revelation on his heart for you and those around you.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” >John 3:16

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” >1 John 4:9-12

3. Ask the Spirit to help you love the people you encounter today with God's heart for them.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” >John 13:34

Know that wherever you go, God is there. You can receive his love at any time. Whenever someone harms you today, whenever you get frustrated or stressed, take a few minutes to simply be loved by your heavenly Father. May his love be the foundation for yours in all that you do today.

Extended Reading: John 17

Are Your Scars Lying to You? ..... TESSA AFSHAR

 Are Your Scars Lying to You?

TESSA AFSHAR

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

When I was in grade school, I had an unfortunate run-in with a pane of glass during a game of hide-and-seek. As a result, I had a gash across my nose and another on my chin that left permanent scars. Scars I cannot hide. Every time I look in a mirror, those scars, now faded with the passage of decades, still tell their story.

And they lie.

Those scars tell me that bad things can happen any time they want, and they leave their mark. They tell me that evil has access to me, and I cannot stop it. They tell me that I can’t protect myself from pain. They claim that God will not shield me from the sorrows of this world. Sometimes they whisper that I will never be truly beautiful.

All of us have scars. Some are external, like the scars on my face. As soon as you enter the room, people look at you and know you are one of the wounded. You can’t hide it.

I imagine the eunuch from the book of Acts felt something like this (Acts 8:26-39). As a high official in the royal court of a queen, he had wealth and position. But that did not make up for the fact that his body was scarred beyond repair. As soon as he entered a room, everyone knew he was different. Wounded. Less than. He could not hide the secrets of his body.

As a eunuch, he wasn’t even allowed into the temple to worship. The one place that should have welcomed him turned him away because of his scarred body.

But scars aren’t only external. Some of the worst ones hide in the unseen places of our hearts. Scars from cruel words spoken to us or kind words withheld. Scars from lack, loss, divorce, addiction. Scars from love betrayed and promises broken. Scars from being loved only for what you can do.

You walk into a room, and no one can see those scars. But they are there.

And they tell their own story. They lie.

They tell you that God will not shield you from harm. They say you must protect yourself. They say God is always displeased and disappointed with you. They whisper others are better than you, more worthy, more lovable, and you are never good enough.

Scars tell their own stories. And if you aren’t careful, you will believe their lies.

Unless you listen to a different story.

The story told by other scars.

The scars on Christ’s hands and feet and side, the scars from the thorns on his brow and the whip upon his back. These swallow up the scars of our old wounds because they tell a story of love without boundaries. Of new beginnings. Of a God who gives us worth and welcomes us. Of a Bridegroom who pursues us. Of a hand that shields us against evil.

These scars empower us to say no to the stories that our scars tell. We can choose to believe a new story — the one fulfilled on the cross. The more time we spend in the presence of that story, and the less time we bestow on the lies our scars whisper, the more stability we develop in our inmost being.

Like the eunuch, you and I are scarred. Philip showed the eunuch that the scars others held against him were nullified by God’s grace. They held no power. Their stories were silenced.

Now it’s your turn. Silence the lies of your scars. Listen instead to the story told by the scars of Jesus.

Lord, You know the scars I try so hard to hide. You know the lies they whisper to my heart every hour of the day — about You and about me. Help me to listen to Your true story. Help me remember that by Your wounds, I am healed. Help me neutralize every lie, by the power of Your blood. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Isaiah 49:16, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” (ESV)

How to Not Be Anxious (Philippians 4:6-7)..... By: Kia Stephens

 How to Not Be Anxious (Philippians 4:6-7)

By: Kia Stephens

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

I could feel it inside me. Tension in my upper back, shortness of breath, and knots in my stomach all alerted me to the presence of anxiety. It was 3:00 AM and I lay in bed, eyes wide open as I stared up at the ceiling.

My mind was flooded with an endless series of “what if’s” drifting from one area of my life to the next. I tried praying but it only seemed to anchor my thoughts further into panic. I let my mind aimlessly drift through social media images but that, too, proved to be ineffective. Then, in a ninth-hour-effort I turned to the well-known anecdotal verse for anxiety: Philippians 4:6-7.

It reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I read it once, but it didn’t seem to impact my present reality one bit, so I read it again and again. I reasoned repetition might somehow bring about my ability to follow this command from the apostle Paul.

Reciting these words did serve to fixate my mind on something other than my worry, but it simultaneously left me with questions for Paul. What about extremely unfair and difficult circumstances? What if your life is in danger? How are you not supposed to be anxious in every situation?

After all, Paul did not say, “Try not to be anxious… just do your best to not be overcome with anxiety.” No, he gave a straightforward and loophole-less command. Paul was not entertaining sob stories or reasons why there should be a caveat to what he wrote. He simply said, “Do not be anxious.” Maybe you too have been left with some unanswered questions pertaining to Paul’s command.

The word anxiety means to be pulled apart in many directions, leaving a person divided and distracted. Life’s circumstances have a way of doing this to all of us and anxiety seems like a natural response. Here in Philippians, however, Paul is saying we can make a conscious decision not to be this way. He is saying we can choose to do something when anxious thoughts occur.

Although he left us with no easy outs, he did tell us what we should replace our anxiety with. Instead of being anxious, in every situation we are to pray, petition and thankfully present our request to God. Although difficult to do, when we feel anxiety in our body, we are to rephrase our anxious thoughts as prayers and petitions with thanksgiving.

If my anxious thought is, “I am worried about the loss of income.” I could choose to cast that anxious thought on God by praying, “God, thank You for being a provider and more than capable of meeting my every need. I believe that you are able to direct me to a new source of income for my family and I ask that in the meantime, you would provide for our needs.”

Rephrasing our words so that they are in line with Philippians 4:6-7 is an act of faith. Choosing to pray like this forces us to intentionally place our faith in God, whom we cannot see, rather than our circumstances, which are often overwhelmingly visible.

Although this is difficult to do, as believers we have not been given an option. This is how we have been commanded to deal with anxiety. We govern ourselves in this way knowing that even if God does not answer our prayers in the way we think He should, He still loves us immensely and is intimately concerned about the details of our lives.

What anxious thoughts are robbing you of the experience of God’s peace? Think of what is making you anxious and decide right now to stop and pray, casting that anxiety to the Lord. Give your worries over to Him today and allow his peace to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

What is a Miracle, Really? ..... Guest Post by Angela Hunt, author of When God Happens

 What is a Miracle, Really?

Guest Post by Angela Hunt, author of When God Happens

What are miracles, and why do they matter?

I recently decided to put together a book on miracles with friend and fellow author Bill Myers. When Bill and I put out the call for miracle stories, we received many stories about how God worked to answer prayers. To those who received these blessings, the events felt like miracles; and perhaps they were, because the contemporary definition of miracle is “a divine act by which God reveals himself to people.” By that definition, a beautiful sunrise could be a miracle if it causes the beholder to look up and marvel at the Creator.

The traditional definition of miracle, however, includes a qualification: a miracle is an act in which God transcends the normal order of things, that is, when He bends or breaks the Law of Nature.

A miracle is more than coincidence. A miracle is more than an odd, spooky occurrence. A miracle is more than God’s answering a prayer through the normal course of events.

Because we wanted these stories to speak to skeptics, we searched for stories that fit the more traditional definition of miracle. We wanted true stories told by those who experienced them. We wanted details about what God did, and most importantly, how He revealed Himself to the viewer, and how the experience changed that person’s life.

Mary, a young girl in a small town, experienced a miracle when an angel appeared and told her she would soon bear a child—even though she was a virgin and had never been intimate with a man. That miracle not only affected Mary’s life, but the entire world.

The lame man begging by a pool experienced a miracle when Peter and John stopped and said they didn’t have money to give him, but by the power of Jesus Christ, they could give him the ability to walk. That man’s life changed in that instant, and so did the lives of all who witnessed the event.

Fast forward two thousand years. Cheri and Cody Clemmons’s lives were changed when they stopped to help accident victims on Highway Six in Texas. Unable to reach a man in a burning car, Cheri cried out for God’s help, and two strangers appeared to pull the man from the wreckage. Cheri’s and Cody’s lives were forever changed, and so was the survivor’s.

Dennis Hensley’s life changed the day the doctor told him his unborn daughter had died…and later, as his wife endured labor, the baby began to breathe.

Steve Taitt’s life changed the day he asked God for a sign…and the sign appeared in a newspaper classified ad.

Why are miracles important? Because they testify to the truth that God rules over His creation, and all things are under His control.  Because He is all-powerful and the author of thousands of miracles, we can confidently place our lives in His hands.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

Have you been placing limitations on what you think God can do? Ask God to restore your trust in His power and ability to intervene in your circumstance.

Further Reading:

Luke 1:26-38
Acts 3:1-10

A Prayer for When You Are Angry..... By: Maggie Meadows Cooper

 A Prayer for When You Are Angry

By: Maggie Meadows Cooper

"I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart..." - Ezekiel 11:19

Anger. It's an easy subject to discuss because we've all been there. I'm generally a pretty laid-back gal, so I don't get "angry" very often. I prefer to say that I'm "irritated" or "agitated”... something more Southern and ladylike. But my friends who know me well will call me on it. Sometimes I'm just flat out mad.

Jonah was a man who knew something about being angry. He ran from God in disobedience, but the Lord saved him out of the belly of a whale and gave him a second chance. He took that chance and went to tell the people of Nineveh that their sin was going to bring the wrath of God. They listened, repented, and God "changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened" (Jonah 3:10).

But instead of being thankful for the lives that were saved, Jonah was angry! He wanted judgment brought on others, in spite of the fact that he was just saved. "The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” (Jonah 4:4)

Jonah wanted mercy and grace for himself, but was unwilling to give it to others. It has to go both ways. Here are three things to consider the next time we are angry:

1. We need to self-reflect.

2 Corinthians 13:5 says we need to examine ourselves. That's not a fun thing to hear. Or to do. But it is necessary. Paul said, "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"--and I am the worst of them all." (1 Timothy 1:15)

When we see our own depravity...when we take ownership of our own mistakes...when we can truly realize the depth of our own sin and humble ourselves...we can give mercy and show grace to others...the way Jesus does for us.

2. We need to consider the other person's circumstances.

People say things and do things without thinking sometimes because they are blinded by their current circumstances. Take time to see things from the other person's perspective and put their needs above your own. It's much easier said than done...I know from experience. But it is something to aspire to.

"Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3

3. We need to decide what we are going to do with our anger.

Anger in itself is not a bad thing. There are times to get angry. Jesus did (Matthew 21). God does too. It's what we do with it that is concerning. We basically have two choices. We can let it take control of our hearts and lead us into captivity, or we can find freedom through forgiveness. That's pretty much it. This is a visual I use to think about:

Freedom

↑

Forgiveness

↑

Prayers for the Lord’s Strength/Peace

↑

Realization of Our Own Depravity

↑

Anger

↑

Irritation/Hurtful Event

↓

Anger

↓

Resentment

↓

Bitterness

↓

Unforgiveness

↓

Captivity

Many times, anger starts with a minor irritation that makes us mad. But sometimes it is a serious offense that leads to anger. Either way, the question is, which direction will you let your anger take you?

Satan would like nothing more than for you to be eaten up with resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness, until you find yourself in a place you can't escape from. A wise friend once told me that Satan drives us and the Lord guides us. Choose the one you want leading you, my sweet friends.

Dear Lord,

Take my stony, stubborn heart and turn it into a tender, responsive heart that seeks you and your will above all else. Forgive me for any bitterness I harbor in my heart and help me to find release and peace in you alone. I thank you for your grace, mercy, and the work you are doing in my life.

In Your Mighty Name,
Amen