Saturday, August 15, 2009

"Live a life of love

When we take stock of our day-to-day actions there's often a big gap between what we say we value, and how we spend our time, money and energy. Couples spend four times as much time watching television as they do talking to each other. Parents spend an average of four hours a day watching TV, one hour shopping, and six minutes playing with their children. And with each day lost, the gap widens.

In the movie City Slickers, actor and comedian Billy Crystal stands before the children in his son's school class and decides to teach them a lesson they are perhaps not ready to learn: "Value this time in your life, kids, because this is the time in your life when you still have choices, and it goes by so quickly. When you're a teenager you think you can do everything, and you do. Your twenties are a blur, your thirties - you raise your family, you make a little money, you think to yourself, 'What happened to my twenties?' Your forties - you grow a little potbelly, you grow another chin, the music starts to get too loud, and one of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother. In your seventies you spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate in soft yogurt and muttering, 'How come the kids don't call?'... Any questions?"

If we sense a growing gap between what we say matters most to us and what we are actually doing with our life, take action. Get radical if we have to, but seize this moment while we still have it. The call to love rarely comes with urgency.


So lets do as Paul says, "Live a life of love." Ephesians 5:2 (NIV)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

When it comes to giant-problems

A champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath." 1 Samuel 17:4 (NKJV) When it comes to giant-problems there are solutions if we look closely!!!!

Problem number (1): Their size can intimidate you. And it doesn't help when everybody around you, including your leader, is running for cover.

Solution 1: This is when you need to recall the victories of your past: Red Sea-sized ones, Jericho Wall-sized ones. How big is your God?


Problem Number (2) Their words can cause you to doubt. "When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were...greatly afraid" (1Sa 17:11 NKJV). Words like, "The tumor's malignant, the company's down-sizing, I don't love you any more, our child is hooked on drugs, the bank is foreclosing."

Solution: How do you handle such words? By turning to the living, life-changing Word of God which transcends all circumstances and trumps all opinions. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isa 40:8 NKJV).


Problem Number(3) A small opening and a well protected giant. It was said Goliath could throw his spear half the length of a football field, so that's probably how far David was from him. Furthermore, Goliath had body armor protecting him from head to toe, except for a small opening between his eyes and his forehead. That's what David aimed for.

Solution 3: When you ask God for a solution, it may come as a small opening rather than the size of half a football field! When He shows it to you, trust Him to get you through it. God's response to you is not designed to increase your sense of comfort, but to build your confidence in Him. That way you'll not only be able to handle this giant, but the ones waiting for you in the future.

You are a giant killer, Have faith in God!!!!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Quick to Listen

'Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak.' JAMES 1:19

Ever think about this, God gave us two ears and one mouth because we need to listen twice as much as we talk. Learning that means being 'quick to listen, slow to speak.' Good listening builds relationships. But good listeners aren't born, they're bred!
So here are a few suggestions to improve your listening:

1) Listen without interrupting. Resist the temptation to jump in and finish the sentence, or hijack the floor. Rein yourself in - just listen.

2) Listen to understand. Try to understand their point of view, feelings, thinking and needs. Good listening is hearing what they actually think, mean or feel, not what you imagine they do. Instead of guessing, ask, 'Am I understanding you correctly? Do you mean...? Are you feeling...?' In other words, don't assume - verify.

3) Listen without judging. Don't rush to conclusions. If what they say doesn't quite add up, keep listening. 'He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him' (Proverbs 18:13 NKJV). When you hear more, it may make sense.

4) Listen without correcting, countering or devaluing. Saying, 'That's not the way it was,' or, 'What did you expect? If you hadn't...' or, 'You're just being too sensitive,' puts people on guard and stops real communication.

5) Validate the speaker. Accept their perceptions and feelings as valid expressions of a valued person. 'If I understand you correctly, you're thinking...feeling...Am I right?' Ask them to help get you on the same page with them. 'Given what you've told me, I can see why you'd feel what you feel,' is very validating and will increase their confidence and willingness to consider the solutions you may offer.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

When walking in the Dark

Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God"
(Isa 50:10 NAS).

Yes, even the godly who "fear the Lord" and who "obey the voice of His servant," will at times walk where there seems to be no light to guide their footsteps and no warm glow to comfort their troubled senses. These are not times of punishment, retribution, or abandonment. No, they're times when God is working out the next important stages of your development, aligning you for greater advancement in His kingdom!

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, men who feared the Lord and obeyed His Word, were ordered to be burned alive for refusing to worship the king's golden image (See Da 3). Listen to their faith confession:
(1) "Our God...is able to deliver us" (v 17). They never doubted God's ability.
(2) "And he will deliver us." They never doubted God's intention.
(3) "But if not...we will not... worship the golden image" (v 18). They never considered an alternative of faithfulness to God.

They had to go through to get through, and they did! You will too.
"Trust in the name of the Lord and rely on (your) God."
He has the last word, not the Devil, circumstances or people.
Like the three Hebrews, you will come out refined as gold tried in the fire.

He has made everything appropriate in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11 NAS

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The roller-coaster ride of life

Some of my kids like roller-coasters and some don't. It seems I don't enjoy them as much as I used to, but I will do it to have fun with them. Something I noticed about all coasters is they go up and down, take all kinds of twist and turns but ultimately arrive back at the station safe, hopefully!!! This is exactly what God does with the issues of our lives. They may go up and down but we will arrive home safe, certainly! Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares, "He has made everything appropriate in its time."

The song says: "I beg your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden." Neither did God, so beware of "rose garden" theology. The Christian life is not an either or experience, where either you're a believer and life is problem-free, or an unbeliever and life is tough. It's a both and experience, bringing times you'll enjoy and times you'll endure. The Bible's heroes experienced both the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat, some, like Elijah, even wishing to die.

Consider the paradoxes of God's Word. Jesus was a "man of sorrows" (Isa 53:3).
Yet He was also "anointed...with the oil of gladness above (His) fellows" (Heb 1:9).

Paul said he was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing...poor, yet making many rich...having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2Co 6:10 NKJV). These were his thoughts when he said, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Php 4:13 NIV).

In Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV) Solomon says, "A merry heart does good, like medicine." In Ecclesiastes 7:3 he says, "Sorrow is better than laughter: for by sadness...the heart is made better." In Ecclesiastes 7:14 (NAS) he writes, "In...prosperity be happy...in...adversity consider - God has made the one as well as the other."

Rejoice! In our both and world, God is still on the throne. He's controlling the mix of joy to sorrow, peace to conflict, loss to gain, want to satisfaction, tragedy to triumph, with our best interests always foremost in His mind.