Thursday, 15 February 2007

Great Gratitude Ideas

"Gratitude is a lens for uncovering beauty"


"Practice gratitude where you least expect it to work"


(Both quotations by Steve Pavlina)

Friday, 09 February 2007

Kinder than necessary

I received this thought provoking quote from a friend recently:

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle".

Wednesday, 07 February 2007

Worry and Money

I started a chapter-a-day bible study method last year on the book of Matthew and never got further than Matthew 5.

This January I finally did my study on chapter 6. Once again I was surprised at how an organised study method brought new revelation of scripture.

All of us know the Bible passages that say:
1) You cannot serve both God and money
2) Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you

(Both these passages come from Matthew 6.)

Well, after reading through chapter 6 and especially after having read the part about not being able to serve both God and money I had a few questions…

Like: How do we NOT serve money when we need so much of it just to survive every day?

It was only after having read through about 4-5 different translations that I was able to “make the connection”.

Money is also translated Mammon – an idol for money. So, when you “serve Money” you are serving the Idol, Mammon. But I made an interesting discovery in HOW we serve money….You see, we do it by WORRYING about money. Because if you worry about something, guess where your focus is?

So how did I make the connection between serving money and worrying? Right after we are told to choose to serve either God or money, the bible continues with verse 25: For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

So last night this became my prayer:

Dear God,

You have said in Your Word to not serve Mammon by worrying about the things that we need. You have told us to put Your kingdom first and live right before You. And then You will give us ALL these things that we need (and worry about), because You know that we need them.

Father, help us to trust you and to put Your kingdom first.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen

Just Float

When drowning, it is recommended that we stop struggling to stay afloat and just, well, float… Does it work that way with faith?I am praying for something that I desperately need and can’t do by myself. And we all know what happens when we pray for something we have no control over: we plead, we try to build our faith, we fast, we quote scripture…but mostly, we plead! I’d say it’s like being thrown in the deep end of the ocean of life - we feel like we have to struggle to keep from drowning, when really, we know the only way to stay above water is just to float.

Luke 17:33 says “If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.”

I am a position where only God can make the difference in a specific situation. It is exactly because I am “cornered” that I am finally grasping a lot more about faith than I ever did before. Head knowledge is all good and well, but when it’s crunch time, we need to know how to apply that knowledge. And only in applying it does it become “real”.While I’m praying and learning about faith for my situation, a few people have shared their testimonies on how God supplied the miracles they needed once they let go of the situation and handed it to God. They certainly didn’t know I needed to hear what they had to share!

In most cases, this “handing things over to God” wasn’t an automatic response for them either. They also went through the struggle and the pleading and only then did they surrender the situation to God. From that moment on it was His problem to sort out, not theirs. They did the best they could and left the rest for God. And then miracles happened.

Jesus said: “Humanly speaking, it (your situation) is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”(Mark 10:27)

Can we trust Him when He says that?

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding

Yes!
(2 Corinthians 1:20)

* All Scripture references taken from The New Living Translation