Forgiveness is the core ingredient to every successful relationship ~ Joyce Meyer

But one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. 
—Philippians 3:13
 
Forgiveness is the core ingredient to every successful relationship. So many people carry exceptions to their offer of love. "I love you, but you really hurt my feelings yesterday." Or "I love you, but I'm too tired, too busy, too distracted, too annoyed, too angry, too unhappy to be nice to you right now."

True love simply says, "I love you!" No exceptions! The apostle Paul pointed out in Philippians 3:11-14 that to attain the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts us out from among the dead, even while we are here in body, we must continue to forget the past and press on for the goal to win the prize to which Jesus is calling us. We are to forget what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead.

Women seem more prone to carrying grudges and remembering offenses for days, and some even remain bitter for years. Jesus called us to a higher prize that requires us to both receive forgiveness and give it to others. The Lord's prayer calls us to pray for forgiveness as we forgive others: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." (Matthew 6:12 KJV)

There's nothing in my flesh that wants to forgive Dave when I think he is wrong. But God wants me to respond with love and say no to my flesh and yes to Him, even though I don't feel like it. Years ago, as I began doing what God said to do, I honestly came to the point where I wanted what God wanted. I don't even know how or when that happened. A supernatural change takes place in us as we obey God out of respect for His Word.  

When the battles raged with pain and cruelty ~ Bob Hoekstra

More on David Confessing the Lord as His God

For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me…I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long…in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God…Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be not far from me! (Psalm 38:4, 6, 15 and21)

When the battles raged with pain and cruelty, David drew upon God's grace by humbly confessing the Lord as his God. "I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side…But as for me…I say, 'You are my God'"(Psalm 31:13-14). Then David added, "My times are in Your hand"(Psalm 31:15). He knew that all of his times were in the hand of his sovereign God. David demonstrated this dependence upon the Lord in all types of situations (not only during the agonizing betrayals that he faced).

When David experienced times of personal sin and failure, he turned to the Lord, his God. "For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like aheavy burden they are too heavy for me." The guilt of David's sins overwhelmed him like mighty flood waters and crushed him like a massive weight. "I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I gomourning all the day long." This left David distressed, greatly pressed down, and continually grieving. Thus, with a broken and humble repentance, he confessed the Lord as his God. "In You, O LORD, Ihope; You will hear, O Lord my God…Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be not far from me!"


In other times, David confessed the Lord as his God. When he was sick and near to death, he turned to the Lord, confessing Him as his God."O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You have healed me. O LORD, You have brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit" (Psalm 30:2-3).

When David was humbly aware of his lack of innate goodness, he also confessed the Lord as his remedy. "Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the LORD, 'You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You'" (Psalm 16:1-2). On the other hand, when David was joyously abounding in the goodness of the Lord, he also confessed the Lord as his God. "Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughtswhich are toward us cannot be recounted to You in order" (Psalm 40:5).

Dear Lord, You are my God as well! Yet, I know that in many situations, I have not confessed You as my God. Lord, teach me to confess You as my God in every circumstance—when I have sinned, when I am sick, when I am abased, when I am abounding. Wherever I am, whatever comes my way, may I see You as my God, lovingly and powerfully handling my times, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Least Most: The Most Trusted ~ Michael James Stone

-excerpt from "Utmost with the Least Most"
by Michael James Stone

"The Most Trusted"


"Trust in the Lord with all thy Heart
Lean not into thine own Understanding.


In all thy ways acknowledge Him
and He shall direct thy path."  (Proverbs 3:5,6)


There is a short cut to maturity and walking with God I tell everyone about. I also tell them all of their problems can be solved and all of their answers will come from this one short cut.

It will make their life and it will break it. I can tell you, you will never fully be able to live it, but if you do memorize scriptures this should be your first one.
It is one you will never stop using.

Trust in the Lord...,

Who do you trust?

Today, right now, try it. It will ruin your day, or make it a miraculous experience, Say it out loud so everyone can hear it, most especially you. Trust in the Lord.    Trust in the Lord.     Trust in the Lord.

When today the rent is due, who are you going to call? Ghost busters? or are you going to say out loud to yourself for yourself....Trust in the Lord.

When today your son or daughter is told they got arrested for drugs or breaking the law and they need "bail" money to get free which is your first course of action today? Trust in the Lord, even if silently to yourself for yourself.

Today you will run into challenges of life and reminders of living that will determine for you, from God, who you trust.

I can tell you, you don't Trust in the Lord.
You don't trust the Lord like you trust in the world.

Trust is the World for all your worries.
Don't fret you will get by.
In all your life invest in security
and you will never have to worry till you die.


When hurricanes hit in America, people expect someone to come rescue them, and most of the time they do.
As the power go outs, we wait for a few hours to see if it will come back on. When we get laid off we expect to draw unemployment payments to support us because we put money (and trust) into an account to help us when we are unemployed.

When no one shows or the money runs out, what do we do?

MOM, or DAD, is the usual place we turn to. After that is friends, accquaintances, social programs, church etc. Lately we need bailouts so we can bail out of one thing.... Trust in the Lord.

I lived in Alaska ten years. Many times I lived in remote areas we call "the bush". You learn very quickly in winter to survive or die if you are hurt in a remote area. So you pull from deep inside yourself some ability or resource you did not know you have, and most of the time, miracle stories are told.

Oddly, your greatest inner resource is staring at you waiting for you to realize all the ways He provides for you. He is called God and He will use every means possible to help you if you first recognize this one fact:

Trust in the Lord.

You see, or maybe you don't. God sends the Mom or Dad to help. God directs the hearts of people to care for your need. God inspires the government and social agencies to care for the disaster planning. It is God, it is the Lord, behind all that seeks to help another person beside themselves.

Our nature is to get what we want and need and to ignore the other guy. It's starts as a baby and never stops. Put two hungry babies together and one bottle and watch what happens. One goes without. It's almost funny to watch sometimes, but tragic in many ways because THAT IS our nature.

I need, so me first. I trust in my ability to get what I need first, then I will help others.

Trust in the Lord is a remarkable anchor. It makes you choose to do things that if God is telling you to do them, make no sense at all.

Why in the world would a person give up a promising career in sports to go be a missionary and die when he could have made millions and sent the money instead? Jim Elliot Trusted in the Lord.

Why would a person smile when the doctor comes in...again...and says Michael, you won't live past 30 yrs old. He trusted in the Lord, he is writing to you now.

Why would a thousand stories be told of people who chose to do the ridiculous when God told them to to something that made no sense at all?

Because they Trust in the Lord. They will even tell you they did and still try to.

The Most Trusted way to ensure you will survive is ..., Trust in the Lord.

No offense, but it is also the only scripture you will be relearning and relearning all your life. But if you do it today, if you say it out loud every time you fear, every time you worry, every time you feel a need to panic,  you just found a short cut to all the bible really has to say to you.

God has a simple solution for you today where you are, as you are.

"Trust in the Lord with all thy Heart

Lean not into thine own Understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him

and He shall direct thy path."  (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Trust I say, 

In the Lord.

Leadership: Should ministry and marketplace leaders be partners? (85-3) ~ Barry Werner

Should ministry and marketplace leaders be partners? (85-3)

September 2nd, 2009 in 1 Samuel, Authority, Healthy Alliances, Leadership Principles, Old Testament,Relationships | leave a response

A large portion of my working life was spent working in the film industry creating films that delivered a godly message. Sometimes it is uncomfortable being a ministry leader among marketplace leaders. The life of Samuel gives some insight to those living in this situation. Read 1 Samuel 9:1-15:31.

God has a role for the ministry leader (priest) and the marketplace leader (king). In order to be effective the priest (ministry leader) must settle the issue of personal security while the king (marketplace leader) must settle their position before God concerning personal submission. Ministry leaders will fail in their role if they feel intimidated and marketplace leaders will fail if they feel independent of God or the ministry leaders He appoints.

Samuel anointed Saul king over Israel. Saul became Samuel’s king and Saul could be very intimidating. Some lessons godly leaders can learn from Samuel as he handled his ministry leadership role:

• Even though God was appointing Saul as King, Samuel never considered Saul to be a celebrity. He never placed his security or emotional health in a man but only in God.
• Although Samuel had been the visible leader of Israel, at God’s command, he gave away his status by publicly honoring Saul. According to 9:21-24, Samuel gave Saul a special place at the table and a reserved meal so no one could question whom they were to follow. This took great personal security in his relationship with God.
• Samuel didn’t feel competition or envy over this new king. Samuel knew that both he and Saul would serve as complementary leaders as they partnered to serve God.
• Samuel did not resist helping Saul to develop into the spiritual leader God had called him to be. See 10:6-9.
• Samuel faithfully brought God’s word to Saul. He prepared Saul to receive his spiritual gifts by explaining what would happen and when to look for it.
• While Samuel affirmed the king, he also understood his own role in Israel and in the king’s life. Samuel never allowed Saul’s position or success to intimidate him. Samuel confronted Saul’s disobedience and continued to clarify their roles.
• Even after confronting Saul’s disobedience, Samuel was able to provide direction for the king and affirm his work on the battlefield. He did not shrink back from playing his role as a ministry leader in Saul’s life.
• Samuel hurt for the king when he failed. Samuel grieved when God rejected the disobedient Saul. The king’s failure broke Samuel’s heart.
• Samuel continually provided the big-picture perspective to Saul and consistently reminded him of his roots and God’s mission. See 15:12-23.
• Samuel fulfilled his role as ministry leader by using a combination of grace and truth when dealing with Saul. Samuel spoke the truth in love, never out of spite or superiority.

Some of the most effective leadership partnerships are between marketplace leaders and ministry leaders. Determine at least one more way that Samuel worked in partnership with Saul.

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Tags: Ministry Leader, Partnership, Submission

« Are you the real leader or just the person in charge? (85-2)

What are you doing to improve your communication skills? (85-4)

Walking in close fellowship with God ~ Bob Coy

ENOCH?S EXAMPLE

Enoch lived 365 years . . . walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him. -Genesis 5:23-24 (NLT)

The Bible is interesting to say the least.


 It goes into great detail about certain things like the Old Testament sacrifices. Yet at the same time, it makes some amazing statements in passing without offering much detail.



We see a great example of this as we look at the life of Enoch.

We're simply told, "God took him."



What? God took him? What does that mean? Did this happen with a flash of lightning? Did God reach down with His hand and pluck Him up? Or was there a fiery chariot involved? Help us out! Give us some details!



As much as we want to know more details here, we just aren't given any. Why? Because God knows how Enoch was taken isn't important. What matters is why Enoch was taken.


 That's a detail we do have at our disposal. He "walked in close fellowship with God." 


It's as if Enoch had something so tight and personal with God that He decided, "I may as well go ahead and bring Enoch home right now."



Does that mean God is going to personally pluck up every person who has a close walk with Him? Of course not. But it does demonstrate an important principle: God moves in the lives of those who are walking with Him.



Sometimes we wonder why God isn't moving more in our circumstances. 


But how closely are we walking with Him? Are we putting ourselves in the position to hear Him speak or see how He wants to move?

We need to follow Enoch's example by walking in close fellowship with God. When we do, we'll see God move in mighty and miraculous ways.

Discuss, Dig, Decide

Discuss your walk with God. How would you describe your walk with God right now? On a scale of one to ten, ten being perfect and one being awful, how would you rate your walk with God?

Dig into the life of Enoch. Read about him in Genesis 5. Why do you think God described Enoch this way? What do you know of Enoch’s life? How does Proverbs 22:1 relate to this man’s life?

Decide as a group how each of you want to be remembered after God takes you home. Share with the group what words you want to describe your life here on earth. Take time to pray for your own walk and witness, and encourage each other to live out your faith as Enoch did.

This day is made for Him ~ Jon Courson

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Colossians 1:16
 
This, gang, is the secret of life. Jesus is not the created one, He is the Creator.

‘This is the day the Lord hath made,’ we sing.

What does that mean? It means this day is made for Him, and the only way it will work is if I live for Him because, in so doing, I will be fulfilling the only reason it was created.

‘I don’t like that,’ you might say. ‘I don’t like the implications or the restriction.’

And the Lord would say to you, ‘Tough. That’s the way life works. And when you live your life to know Me, you’ll find your life working. But if you don’t, you’re sure to crash ...’

I could say, ‘I’d like to see the valley tonight. So I’ll just rev up my Montero, drive up a mountain, hit the accelerator, and fly over the valley. It’ll be great!’ But the fact is, my Montero was not made to fly.

So too, people say, ‘I’m going to fly high and live for myself.’ But they crash because they weren’t made for any other purpose than to glorify God. That’s why they exist. All things were made by and for Jesus. And that includes us.

No one told us on the day we accepted Jesus ~ Mark Balmer

Living by the Spirit

Posted:

Based on “Under HIS Influence-The Overflowing Lifestyle” 
by Pastor Mark Balmer;

9/5-6/09, Message #MB388; 


Daily Devotional #6 - 


“Living by the Spirit”

Preparing the Soil (Introduction):


So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  (Galatians 5:16-17)

Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth):  Living by the Spirit is much easier said than done!




 Walking contrary to the nature of our flesh is no easy matter.  Like every other human being, we like the way our flesh feels when it gets its way.  We want everyone to like us, and we don’t like making waves.

No one told us on the day we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord that Christianity would be difficult and that we would have to be different from the world.




Yet somewhere between “the milk” and “the meat,” we have to decide if our Christianity is a convenience or a commitment.  So often the Father tests our resolve by placing situations into our lives that force us to choose between our flesh and His Spirit. 


 I faced such a dilemma a few months ago.

After a long discussion with the Lord, we decided I had a trust issue.

I learned that I needed to trust Him more than my feelings and vain imaginations!

Thankfully, like me, we are all still learning and growing.   Each of us, no matter how long we have walked with God, continues to grow in Christ.  Even Paul, the writer of most of the New Testament, said that he was continuously fighting his flesh (Romans 7:21-23). Our flesh will always war with our Spirit, and sometimes we will fail to overcome, but God is faithful to forgive and restore. 




It’s those victorious moments of obedience that inspire us to continue to pursue the Kingdom. Sure, people may call us names and laugh at us, but nothing compares to the applause of God!  No words in our vocabulary can express the joy that comes with pleasing the Father. 

Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): 


If we can manage to prioritize our relationships with Him, and trust His Word over the desires of our flesh, then obedience follows.  When we bless those that curse us, do good to them that intend to do us evil, and pray for those that hate us, we stay within God’s “safety zone” of peace.  But if we follow our soul into anger, unforgiveness, hatred, and distrust, then disaster awaits.

 Remember, the only road to victory is the path of loving obedience.

So let us resolve to take hold of Jesus today and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, embrace His character of honor, integrity, and love. And just like our brother Paul we will proclaim,




“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Cultivating (Additional Reading): Ephesians 5:18-21

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Twitter Proverbs from Rick Warren

1. 
   
   A preacher's greatest tool is MEMORIZED Scripture. If it's stored in your mind,the Spirit can remind you when you need it.about 2 hours ago from web
2. Do u realize that the common denominator in all your bad relationships is u? I can help this wkend: http://bit.ly/38sfdiabout 9 hours ago from web
3. Chuck Smith & I have pastored side by side in OC for 30 yrs.God blessed both.Both married a Kay! http://twitpic.com/hgl84about 14 hours ago from web
4. In a broken world,some things can't be fixed,But u can reconcile a relationship without resolving all differences.Rom12:18about 15 hours ago from web
5. Another proof of our fallen nature is our uncanny ability to clearly see the faults of everyone except ourselves. Rom2:1-39:51 PM Sep 11th from web
6. It's easy 2know what God is REALLY like-just take a long look at Jesus."He's the visible image of the invisible God'Col1:159:36 PM Sep 11th from web
7. A proof of fallen nature is our abillty 2lie 2ourselves &believe it!To"rationalize"is 2 tell yourself Rational Lies.Jer17:99:24 PM Sep 11th from web
8. I've waited on God 7 years to write it.2:48 PM Sep 11th from web
9. Since U follow me,U HEAR IT 1ST! Nov17 I release the followup to Purpose Driven Life-"THE HOPE YOU NEED" on Lord's Prayer!2:47 PM Sep 11th from web
10. MY HOPE:-"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"2Cor5:2110:41 AM Sep 11th from web
11. 4 TESTS OF YOUR FAITH:HEB11 A major change-v8, A delayed promise-v9-10, An impossible problem-v11-12, A senseless loss-v173:43 PM Sep 10th from web
12. If u follow the crowd you'll be lost in it. Your choice:Cool or Christlike?"They loved praise of men more than God"Jn12:431:35 PM Sep 10th from web
13. Kept #theNINES on all day.I'm SO proud of u dear friends! All of u hit home runs! "YOU are my joy." Ph4:1 I can die happy!5:06 PM Sep 9th from web
14. "You have rejected me, but my anger is gone; I will heal you and love you without limit." Hosea 14:4 (CEV)4:51 PM Sep 9th from web
15. For me,the miracle of Communion isnt a transformation of bread&juice but a transformation in me when I obey in faith&love4:50 PM Sep 9th from web
16. Max Garrott' '62 book:Jesus' way:1 I do it & u watch 2 I do it & u help 3 U do it & I help 4 U do it & I'm out of here!8:11 AM Sep 9th from web
17. S.H.A.R.E weekly w a new believer:STUDY the Word together;HELP w a need;ASSIGN homework;REVIEW verses;ENCOURAGE w prayer7:57 AM Sep 9th from web
18. In the presence of a psychiatrist, I can only be a sick man; In the presence of a Christian brother, I can dare to be a sinner." -Bonhoeffer11:06 PM Sep 8th from web
19. U cant defeat a sin Uwont admit.My hurdle to holiness is a desire to look good.What do u pretend isnt your problem? Ps19:122:05 PM Sep 8th from web
20. http://twitpic.com/gyr7y - Next Gen is hungry 4 PURPOSE!Seeing huge crowds @ universities like Harvard &Cambridge.Oxford gave me this:6:41 AM Sep 8th from TwitPic