Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30
Outside Rockefeller Center in New York there is a bronze statue depicting Atlas. The strongest there is, having the whole world on his back. If you look close he is straining with all he’s got. Head down, knees buckling. Frozen at that moment you can sense he is almost going to crumble for the burden is too much.
Have you ever felt you have the whole world on your back? Feel like you can’t get a grip and its getting too much to handle? With no “Calgon, take me away” to be found. It makes you weary, discouraged and disheartened. We can stare ahead believing we aren’t going to make it.
Across from Rockefeller Center is a church. Inside the church, there also, is a sculpture. It is of Jesus and the whole world is in His hand. Effortlessly, He holds His creation. With all its turmoil and crisis that sin has brought it. He is still sovereign, in control.
See that Earth, that world, as the one you are dealing with.
What you must do is transfer your world from your back (Atlas) to His (Jesus) hand. Jesus is speaking to you right now just as He was to them 2000 years ago.
He says, “Come to me”. Just as Atlas is just outside the church so are we. You are 1 plea, 1 request, 1 cry out to Him who can take it off your back into His hand.
Cast all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you – 1 Peter 5:7
Intentionally,today……and every day….roll it off your back into His hands and find rest
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Matthew 7:24-27
Life will be interrupted. We need to be prepared. We need to have a strong faith in God through an intimate personal relationship with Jesus.
A good friend from church has had a couple of major interruptions. First, a few months ago she was diagnosed with brain cancer. She went through her radiation treatments and chemo up at the hospital at Duke.
And all the while she would post, on Face Book, scripture and praising God.
She diligently endured through weeks of treatment to finally come home. A few weeks later she found her husband faced down outside in driveway, deceased.
And the next day she again posted her encouraging scripture and praise to the Heavenly Father.
Though, obviously heartbroken, she stands because of the foundation she stands on.
God doesn’t call us to understand, but He commands us to faith.
You can’t just turn on a switch when life is interrupted with unexpected difficulties and have a strong faith. It has to be cultivated by your relationship with Him.
Jesus didn’t say “if” the storm comes, He said “when”. He also said that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
We live in a world that offers so much security in products and services. We can’t build walls so high that nothing we don’t want can’t get in. We live in a sin corrupted world that has brought on devastation.
And God gave us a solution to deal with it. Himself.
Intentionally,today……and every day….Cultivate your relationship with your creator.
Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.” – Matthew 9:17
Jesus was explaining to His disciples that their minds would have to be willing to hear a new message. Rigid religious traditional ways of the religious establishment was keeping individuals from growing in their relationship with God.
As He is speaking to those disciples 2,000 years ago, He is speaking to us disciples today.
About 15 years ago God was really growing me in my walk. With that, I thought I knew a whole lot more than I actually did.
I was asked to come to a large men’s Bible study about that time. It was held at a large church every Monday night. There were close to 200 men who went. After the first part where we all met in the sanctuary we went to classrooms. There we met with a group of about 12 men. You received a pamphlet after every Monday for homework assignment to be done for the next Monday. My first homework assignment I thought the questions were pretty cut and dry. The next Monday there were about 7 or 8 guys before me that were giving their answers. They were all different than mine. At first I am thinking they got it wrong. Then I listened. And they were all right. And mine though, weren’t wrong.
Our perspectives can be different depending on how spiritually mature we were and where we were in life. They were sensitive to parts that I didn’t pick up. I saw it in a different light. It’s just as you see four different slants on the same event in different gospels.
For 3 years I went to this Bible study fellowship until one night, after a session, God told me that I was done. The season for that was over.
What was the purpose of that “season”?
I needed to get unstuck.
Unstuck to where my limited knowledge was needed to be expanded.
I learned a very important lesson. Just because I see something one way doesn’t mean someone else is wrong. I also learned that I surely had a long way to go and certainly didn’t know as much as I thought.
God used this as one step of preparing me for ministry. To be effective where God wanted to use me I had to be open to other’s where they were in their walk and how they got there. Jesus ministered to so many different types of people. Each one He showed them love and, unlike the religious leaders of time, respect and compassion. And so doing they were open to receive the truth.
There are people around you that God wants to show Himself through you. He doesn’t want you to compromise your core beliefs. Always stand on theological truths of God and the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.
But He does desire for you to allow others to have differences that you can engage conversation about. The Apostle Paul did this to effectively win people to Christ.
When I am with those who are weak, I share in their weaknesses, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessing.
– 1 Corinthians 9:22
Every day we are to speak. Every day we are to listen.
Every day we are to teach. Every day we are to be taught.
Every day we are to take. Every day we are to give.
Intentionally,today……and every day…. Allow the flow of the Good News to and through you
For you are slave to whatever controls you. -2 Peter 2:19
What you feed your mind determines your appetite. – Tom Ziglar
When you are alone and not doing anything your mind will wonder. Where does it wonder to?
You have the freedom to choose what you take in, but you do not have the freedom to choose what the byproduct of that choice is.
A person cannot learn the English language by only being exposed to people speaking Spanish. But that is exactly how some believe – that they will live healthy godly lives by flipping a switch; without mental and spiritual conditioning.
What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you listening to? Whatever it is, it is conditioning your mind. It will create a mindset that will control you. Either godly or worldly.
Remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. – John 8:31b-32
Jesus told them, “I am the truth.” –John 14:6
Intentionally,today……and every day….Feed yourself truth that it will control your mind
Do become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well formed maturity in you. – Romans 12:2THE MESSAGE
Have you been dumbed down?
A man met with a farmer in a third world country. This farmer had these huge powerful elephants that would do so much of the heavy hauling on this farmer’s property.
He was astonished at night to see the elephants on the ground at night. This man’s farm had no fence to hold the elephants in. Each was sitting down next to a small post in the ground. Not one of them was getting up to roam off the property.
The farmer explained that when the elephants were babies they would tie a heavy rope to their leg and tie it off on a post that was secured down into the ground. It wouldn’t take long for the elephant to realize it wasn’t strong enough to pull away from the stake and finally gave up trying. As the elephant got older the farmer would use a thinner and thinner rope until he didn’t need one. The elephant gave up long ago and was conditioned to lay down right next to the post to go to sleep even though it was no longer attached to the rope.
Are you too so conditioned?
Have you also allowed defeat in your past to dictate your present?
Do you allow the status quo of this culture to order your daily steps?
You have been told over 20,000 x’s by the time you are 18 years old no, can’t and don’t. We have been conditioned to be restricted and limited. (Yes, some of the time it was for our own welfare. – don’t touch hot stove)
The advertisement industry is a billion dollar machine to keep you in its parameter’s of what you should do and be and what not. It is shoved down our throats incessantly.
We have a mass commercial culture that anesthetized spontaneity and our own individualistic courage to strive and excel regardless of the odds.
What desires has God put in your heart that you rationalized and justified that the risk was greater than the reward? That those around you have helped you laugh off as foolish and unattainable?
Bring it before God. Get His will on it. Believe that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you – Philippians 4:13
It is the Lord who orders your steps – Psalm 119:133
Today, begin to align with God’s will, and not the culture, in what you can and cannot do.
Get up and walk away from the stake. There is not a rope that has you tied down.
BE free and live the life abundant that God wills for you to live……in HIM.
Intentionally,today……and every day…. be free and roam
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve others. – 1 Peter 4:10
Therefore, whenever we have an opportunity we should do good to everyone – Galatians 6:10
When we get up and get going each day the paths we can follow start as one and head into opposite directions. How we perceive ourselves in relation to God and everyone else will dictate the path we go down.
We have a choice to make.
We can trust God with our needs. Surrendering, and trusting Him, with the weights, worries and concerns of our day. In doing so it will free us up to focus on serving others.
We also must believe that we have gifts that others can benefit from.
When we focus off ourselves we will see gifts being put into action when we have a servant heart.
God has gifted you and blessed you. Will you take what He has
given you and strengthen, build up and excel in it?
For Him. That He may show off through you?
The other path we can take, as we get going, is to focus on our burdens and worries. In turn, we will become focused on how we can be served to get what we feel we need. We do this to get the burdens and worries off our backs. We will use all our gifts to satisfy our own needs, at times neglecting others, and hindering God from doing His will through us. The satisfaction is short lived.
Be conscientious as you go about your day – Am I trying to “get mine” at the expense of others? Or am I leaving “mine” up to God and therefore being free to be a blessing and being blessed?
It is part of being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Intentionally,today……and every day…. choose to serve
We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture every rebellious thought and teach them to obey Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:5
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who has called you to Himself through the loving mercy of Christ. – Galatians 6:1
You been duped? Who did it? Is it the entertainment industry? Social media? Your boss, co workers, friends?
The money you make? The nice house you live in?
Who has compromised you into taking up the philosophies of this world? Being politically correct? Not standing for what you believe in? Not standing for your God?
How did we get to be so soft? Justifying the world around us dictating how we should think? What we should believe and what not to believe.
And settling in nicely in the cul-d –sac with your Direct TV
¾ of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into.
– Gary Snyder
God has called each of us to be consecrated from the mediocrity and ungodliness all around us. You are to be light in the darkness. You are to be salt to a dull world. You are to be steadfast and unmovable abounding always with integrity, dignity; standing firm on the core principles of your faith.
Need to wake up and be accounted for. Remember, you are in a spiritual war.
The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and violent are trying to take it by force. – Matthew 11:12
All this time I can’t believe I couldn’t see
Kept in the dark but you were right in front of me
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems
Got to open my eyes to everything
Wake me up inside
Call my name and save from the dark
– Evanescence, Bring Me to Life
Are you a light on top of a hill that all can see?
Are you truly alive?
Are you the same regardless of who the company is?
Intentionally,today……and every day….Stand up for what you believe
The One who created the vast oceans and deepest of abyss thirsts for water.
Thirst – (noun) a desire or need to drink liquid. A strong craving for something.
In the literal, it is a problem that we quickly and easily satisfy. Go to the refrigerator, tap or the convenient store.
But real thirst is something deep inside us. Something that we have to strive for; sacrifice unto, focus on.
Inside each of us is a thirst for the godliness that is within us that keeps getting covered up by the junk of this world. We thirst as we get filled with gallons and gallons of material worldly instant gratifications. We fill up with things, money, status, people, and relationships. And still it is there.
What does your soul thirst?
Forgiveness you are reluctant to give or receive?
A vice to be given up that you just will not part with?
Peace in a relationship?
We owe it to ourselves, and our family, and to our God….to look within. To take time and focus on our spiritual condition. What do you thirst? Find out what is hidden within that needs to come out. – Higher level of integrity? To be physically more healthy? To go on a mission trip?
What is your soul thirsting for?
For each of us it is something different that the Holy Spirit desires. But for all of us our soul craves communion with God.
If the enemy does one thing well he has gotten us to be focused on being busy getting and being in this world. We have lost the truth that we were made by God for God. In that relationship our soul is satisfied; with Whom our spirit was created by and for. But we so much treat God as a passing friend; an acquaintance. Someone to run to in a time of need.
If we intentionally, on a daily basis, meet with God through prayer and reading His Word we begin a habit of internal health. If we read and see Jesus continually in speaking to His Father, so too will our soul be fed and nourished.
And from that central point all of our external relationships and desires become more healthy and complete. From inside our outside becomes clean, fresh and blessed. From within we will find our true callings and satisfactions of our works and plays of life. We receive clarity and His wisdom on our mission and purpose that we can accurately strive toward with the gifts God has given us.
It will give us replenishment and fulfillment emotionally, psychologically as well as spiritually and physically. It makes us complete. Complete to live the abundant life that God has desired for us that the enemy tries to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
It isn’t the external world around us that brings turbulence, lack and vitriol; it is our internal neglect.
We have to be conscientious to feed and nourish our spirit for the world teaches us to take care of our outside that will make us happy and complete.
But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling, spring within them, giving them eternal life. – John 4:14
Your external conditions will fluctuate with different seasons of life. But internally you were made to be complete and whole always. Giving you peace and faith in the midst of changing tides of life.
I encourage you to read and pray every day. Read from the gospels. Read about Jesus. Allow your soul to be fed.
Make a deep close relationship with your God part of your lifestyle. And thirst no more.
Intentionally,today……and every day….nourish your soul
If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it.
-James 1:5 Living Bible
I was sitting in the terminal at the airport.
Woman is fiddling in her pocketbook looking for something.
Phone on her lap.
Coffee at her feet.
I could see it coming.Not that I can do anything about it.
Her phone began to slide down and gravity gave it momentum.
Over the side and kerplunk.
Coffee, as any liquid, travels outward.
Chain reaction. Domino effect.
Messy.
Quick and easy conveniences.Busyness.
Leads to spilled coffee.
Messy circumstances.
And there is no doubt, for that woman, and probably for each of us, the same will play out again.Maybe next time she will be able to catch the phone first.And accidently kick over the coffee instead!And at times keep it from happening.
Are there areas in life you are juggling and trying to avoid the messy circumstance?
Why didn’t the woman put her phone in her pocketbook, grab her coffee and go find a big flat surface to put everything down and then look through her bag?Because – Who wants to go through all of that?!Time consuming and inconvenient!
But, might be just what we need to do to keep from spilling our coffee.
Where are you taking shortcuts that are bringing undesirable results?Spilled coffee?Messy circumstances?Disheveled?Misplaced?Grief?
The problem isn’t proficiency but in our MO.Modus Operandi.The distinct patterns, methods, which we carry out procedures.
It is learning through wisdom.Not through us trying to juggle better.It is learning to juggle less and how.
We think a certain way.
God knows THE way.
The Way is His way.It is allowing The Teacher to teach you.It is surrendering each day that which you are trying to juggle.It is confessingyour inadequacy and acknowledging God’s ability.
In so doing you are allowing God’s wisdom to give you insight.
Call upon Me and I will answer you.And I will show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.
–Jeremiah 33:3
Intentionally,today……and every day…. Ask. Receive. Be teachable. Be taught.
I don’t play golf anymore. Too frustrating for me. I would hit a nice clean shot – right distance and straight. Problem was -I didn’t know how I did it, and surely wasn’t able to duplicate it.
So I approach each shot with the hope that I will hit it good but without any sure way of knowing. And I would hit some doozies. I would have some fun, some good shots; but mostly hit and pray in frustration as I watched, in bewilderment, the ball flying every direction instead of where it needed to go.
So – I played golf. But didn’t know howto play golf.
It would take time to listen and practice.
Same with life.
Living – yes. Knowing how to live – ???
Are you teachable?
Do you have the right teacher?
With golf I didn’t have the desire and willingness to take the time to take lessons; to listen, watch and learn. Therefore, I never learned how to golf. And therefore, I don’t play anymore.
Unfortunately, some of us do that with life.
You can’t afford not to make the time to listen and learn.
When you read the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – you read Jesus continually teaching the people how to live. How to live abundantly. How to live wisely. How to live loving, sharing, blessing, giving, serving. To live the way God intended for you to live is a learning process. Proverbs is invaluable book of wise and prudent direction for us to live godly, righteously fulfilled.
Unfortunately, we take our cue from the world’s ways. Jesus would tell the people that the world teaches you to live for self. Live to accumulate. Live to spend. Live to “get yours.”
And we too often rely on our feelings. We allow others to dictate our words, actions and decisions.
But God says in dying to self you will truly live. Dying to all the expectations of others and surrendering and trusting in God you will truly Live fulfilled, satisfied with peace in your heart and mind.
And this way every time you approach a shot, your day, you’ll know where and why it should go. Will you have some errant shots? Well, yes. However you will be able to make adjustments. In humility receiving grace and moving on. It’s peace and fulfillment.
Intentionally,today……and every day….Listen, learn and truly….LIVE
True Life Abundant 