Category: Encouragement
Bishop TD Jakes – Spellbreaker
Happy Tuesday! Strive for a Touchdown!
Song for today: Good Morning by Mandisa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ovNZTpVcU
“Find away to Leap, Jump, Run thru life’s Distractions, Negativity, Failure even when You lose some costly yards today keep in mind there are 364 more days in the year so tomorrow present’s another Oppurtunity, Chance for a Successful touchdown.”
“PLEASE know if/when You step on the field of life PLEASE be prepared to get Hit *HARD*, MisTreated(Talked About), DisLiked(Hated On)based upon the objective is to keep You from scoring & winning the CHAMPIONSHIP.” -Lamar Walter
Happy Tuesday!
LaShawnda
“Make Me Happy!” – Crosswalk The Devotional – Sept. 12, 2011
True love finds its beginnings when two human beings make a free will commitment to a good, the greatest good being God.
Make Me Happy!
Sarah Jennings, Crosswalk.com Family Editor
We love, because he first loved us.
1 John 4: 19
I have a confession. I’m a Bachelor addict. You know, the ABC reality show where they set one man up with 25 potential matches? Yes, I keep up with it.
Honestly, this show was cathartic for me during my crazy dating days. It reminded me that perhaps I wasn’t the only one struggling with romantic love. And it also provided plenty of object lessons on what not to do in the quest for a spouse.
Sadly, in spite of the show’s goal to offer eligible bachelors a chance at lasting love, very few couples make it to the altar. You can blame the elaborate set or the pressure created by the roses, but I think the reason the couples have little success is because the show is founded on commonly held, yet flawed, beliefs about love.
Like so many of us out here in the real world, love on the Bachelor is usually equated to the giddy, mushy, feelings of infatuation. Time and again, the Bachelor expresses the fairy tale notion that they want to find someone who “completes them” or makes them feel happy. They spend hours interviewing and wooing these women then agonizing over eliminations at the famous rose ceremonies in their efforts to find the one woman who will make them happy forever.
But what happens after the final rose when these giddy feelings of personal “completeness” fade? When flaws and hardships overwhelm their early romance? This is when so-called “love” fades for most couples. And we just can’t figure out what went wrong.
In his book Love & Responsibility, Fr. Wojtyla explains these perplexing relationship failures. He explains that this notion that we’re supposed to find someone to “complete us” is off course. You see, when we date a person with the primary goal of experiencing pleasure – or a sense of “fulfillment” – we’re actually using that person. Sure, we may like the person. But we’re still using them as a means to our end, our pleasure. And using a person is the opposite of loving them.
Not only does using a person fail to nurture true love, but Fr. Wojtyla insists that the “pleasure approach” is impractical because it is very difficult to predict who will bring us the maximum amount of personal pleasure long-term (I think the Bachelors would agree here!). Thus begins the cycle of serial monogamy as we hop from one high to the next.
So how do we find true love if we can’t just look for the person who gives us the biggest high? It’s not that we shouldn’t enjoy our mates. Quite the contrary. But we need to start off on a different foot. Fr. Wojtyla shares that true love finds its beginnings when two human beings make a free will commitment to a good, the greatest good being God. He writes, “Love… is conditioned by the common attitude of people towards the same good, which they choose as their aim, and to which they subordinate themselves.”
Why does this work? In joining another for good, the focus becomes less, “What can you do for me?” (which is self-centered) to “What can we do together to serve God?”
Intersecting Faith & Life: Are you frustrated with your spouse? Do you feel like he or she is not doing enough to make you happy? Pray about ways to resolve your feelings of discontent. If you are both believers, pray about ways you can serve God as a couple.
Further Reading
1 Cor 13
Why Are Today’s Parents So Unhappy? by Albert Mohler
Girlfriends in God – September 12, 2011
When we scratch the itch of temptation, the itch does not diminish. To the contrary, it increases.
September 12, 2011
Don’t Scratch That Itch!
Gwen Smith
Today’s Truth
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (James 1:13-14 NIV).
Friend To Friend
I once woke up with a spider bite that was the size of a quarter. It may as well have been the size of North Carolina for as much as it itched! I was half-tempted to scratch off my arm. That nasty bite was just begging to be scratched. However, I have learned a thing or two in my thirty-something years, and one thing I know for sure: it is best not to scratch this type of itch.
It would be like opening a bag of chips with the naive intention of eating only one (yeah, right!) I knew that if I started scratching my bug bite, it would be nearly impossible to stop. I would regret having ever started.
Super-itchy bug bites are a lot like temptations. Temptations are itchy! The call on us with urgent voices that scream, “Scratch me! Scratch me!” Yet, in all reality, a little scratch will not satisfy temptation’s itch at all…it will just make matters worse. When we scratch the itch of temptation, the itch does not diminish. To the contrary, it increases.
The Bible teaches us that when we resist temptation, our faith is then mobilized and the muscles of our character are strengthened. Let’s look at what that looked like for a guy named Joseph. (For the full account, pause here and read Genesis 39.)
Joseph was a man of integrity who did right in the eyes of the Lord, but he definitely faced some temptation! He was seduced by temptation in the form of his master’s wife, Mrs. Potiphar. You see, Mrs. Potiphar wanted her husband’s right-hand man to sleep with her, and she pursued him with aggression. Hers was a hand-delivered invitation for Joseph to sin that had itchy written all over it. But he flat-out refused. His heart was determined to honor God.
“My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her (Genesis 39:9-10).
Temptation chased Joseph relentlessly. Oh, how he must have longed for the itching to stop! To give in would be sinful. To give in was simply not an option for this young man of character. So on the day that Potiphar’s wife caught him by the cloak and begged again for Joseph to sleep with her, Joseph ran out of the house. He ran from that tempting situation as fast as his legs would carry him.
God was honored in Joseph’s response.
He ran from temptation.
We would be wise to do the same.
What do you need to run from today? Have you determined in your heart to honor God in everything? Temptation comes in all shapes and sizes. It might be calling your name from your pantry – or from your computer – or from a bottle – or from another cubicle in your office. What temptations do you face today? Name them and run the other way! Don’t scratch that itch! Determine in your heart that you will choose the path that brings honor to God, and call on Him for strength.
I realize that dealing with temptation is not easy. When that nasty spider bit my arm, I struggled not to scratch the bite. I had to re-direct my thinking to persevere through the temptation. When we come face to face with temptations, God’s strength is always available to us. We need God’s strength. Ours will fail us. Friend, when we resist temptation, we get to experience the peace and protection of God, our faith is mobilized and the muscles of our character are strengthened.
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, I need You so much. I constantly find myself being dragged away and enticed by temptation. Please give me strength to run the other way, and give me the wisdom to run to Your arms. I want to be a woman of godly character. Help me be that woman!
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Contemplate the following questions: What have you been dragged away and enticed by in the past? How did you respond? How have you grown from those experiences?
Though our sovereign God allows trials to enter our lives, He does not ever tempt us. (James 1) Tuck that truth in your heart today, and the next time you experience a temptation – great or small – recognize that the enemy is behind the allure. Then tell him to get behind you and pray that Jesus will re-direct your thinking.
Read and memorize Psalm 105:4: “Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.”
More From The Girlfriends
I wish my temptations were always as simple as the itch of a pesky little bug bite! But, of course, they are not. Each of us will encounter some real whoppers in our lives. James chapter one tells us that when we persevere through trials and temptations, one rewards is maturity. That really encourages me! I hope it encourages you as well.
NEED ENCOURAGEMENT? Allow this song to lift your heart to God’s. Turn your speakers up, click over to my Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/GwenSmithMusic and listen to TAKE MY HEART CAPTIVE.
If this devotion resonated with you and if you would like to learn more about how your brokenness can be reworked into a picture of God’s beauty, don’t miss Gwen’s book Broken Into Beautiful. Every step of transformation begins with the heart of God. Broken into Beautiful will take you there. To orderBroken Into Beautiful, go to Amazonor, for a signed copy, visit Gwen’s website: www.gwensmith.net.
LOVE MUSIC? Check out Gwen’s new CD, Uncluttered. The songs of Uncluttered are purposed to sweep you away from life-noise and to focus your heart and mind on the one thing that matters: your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, NC 28106
info@girlfriendsingod.com
www.girlfriendsingod.com
Click here to learn more about hosting a Girlfriends in God conference in your area or having one of the GiGs speak at your next women’s event.
Health Hazard
Forgiveness isn’t optional in the Christian life – Regardless of what’s done to us, our responsibility is always to forgive.
Health Hazard
“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you… forgive him.” —Luke 17:3 (NKJV)
Forgiveness isn’t optional in the Christian life. Regardless of what’s done to us, our responsibility is always to forgive.
Even as we read this, there’s something deep within our soul that wants to resist. “I understand God wants me to forgive people, and for the most part I do. But surely He doesn’t expect me to forgive so-and-so.”
If we’re completely honest, some things just seem too far over the line to be forgiven. And yet, God consistently calls us to forgive, no matter what. Why is that? Why doesn’t God categorize certain things as being unforgivable, the way we tend to?
Part of the reason is because He understands we do a lot of damage to ourselves when we don’t forgive. When we adopt an unforgiving attitude, it inevitably turns into bitterness and resentment. Someone once remarked, “Bitterness in the believer is like a bullet in the body.”
There’s a lot of truth to that. It becomes poisonous to our spiritual system, and forgiveness is the only way to flush it out and be free from it.
The Lord’s command to forgive is also a warning against not forgiving. He loves us dearly, and wants only what’s best for us. And what’s best for us is a heart that’s free and clear of the bitterness that corrodes our soul.
So if you haven’t forgiven someone for something he or she has done to you, forgive the person today. Regardless of the circumstances. Remember, if you fail to forgive, you’re hurting yourself. Anything short of forgiveness is hazardous to your spiritual health.
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:13 (NKJV)
small group time:::
THINK ABOUT IT… What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today?
Move Over Mean Girl
Here’s three practical things you can do to keep your mean girl from coming out.
Yesterday we were driving back from the joy called Spring Break. All total we logged over 20 hours in the car since last Friday. It was family bonding at it’s finest.
So, this is what I hear from the backseat:
Ashley: “Mom, Brooke just licked my hash brown! Ewwwwww!”
Me: “Brooke, why would you lick your sister’s hash brown for heaven’s sake?”
Brooke: “Because my arm hurts.”
Me: “Oh. Well that just makes complete sense.”
There may have been 127 other instances where the soundtrack of my life was, “Mom…she poked me and she is on my side and she just spilled her drink and she took my ipod.”
And I may have wanted to jump in the back seat and remove every shred of candy from little tweenager people’s hands and dump it out the window. But I really didn’t want my mean girl or my mean mommy to come out on the Easter holiday y’all.
So.
Do you ever struggle with the mean girl trying to come out? Or the mean mommy? Or the mean sister? Or the mean wife?
How is it I can be marching along to the sweetest tune and then veer off so suddenly into bad-attitude-ville?
I wish there was one simple fix it plan where if we follow three steps all mean tendencies would vanish as quick as the Easter candy from a whiny child’s fingers. But that’s not reality. If all we needed to follow was a plan, we’d have no need to follow Jesus.
And ultimately isn’t that what life is supposed to show us- that we need to follow Jesus? So what does Jesus say about this?
He says we must do three things. But these aren’t three easy steps. They are three attitude shifts of the heart.
He says we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him, (Matthew 16:24).
Deny myself… I have to deny myself the momentary satisfaction of the quick comeback, the rude response, and the full out yelling. Over-sugared children can elicit craziness in a mama. Not that I have any sort of personal experience with these. No, not at all.
And if you believe that I’ve got some Easter candy off on the side of the road somewhere I could sell you.
Deny myself. It’s hard. But it is the way with Jesus.
Then I must take up my cross… My cross. Stop the blaming and finger pointing and wishing everyone else would change… and see my sinful reaction as a negative contribution to the problem at hand.
I must take my issues to His cross and see my sin for what it is- sin. And I must be disgusted enough by my sin to truly want to do something about it.
Take up my cross. It’s hard. But it is the way with Jesus.
Finally, I must follow Him… Really follow Him. Follow who He is and how He is. I must close my mouth, pause long enough to let Him interrupt my eruption, and let His Spirit redirect me.
Yes, my children need to be corrrected but I can let the consequences scream so I don’t have to. Only a calm mama can think of rational, reasonable consequences that instruct.
Follow who He is and how He is. It’s hard. But it is the way with Jesus.
It’s amazing how quickly my mean girl vanishes when I deny myself, admit my sin, and choose to let Jesus interrupt me.
Just don’t be licking my hash brown if your arm starts hurting. Okay? I have to draw the line somewhere you know.
When My Mean Girl Wants to Come Out
September 1, 2011
When My Mean Girl Wants to Come Out
Lysa TerKeurst
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11 (NIV)
Do you ever have days where someone tries to rip the joy right out of your life?
I do.
And it’s really hard. It’s a battle. The good girl part of my brain says, “Be nice. Honor Jesus with your actions. Your response is your responsibility. Self control, Lysa, self control.”
But the mean girl part of my brain says, “How dare they act that way! I’ll show you!”
One part of me says fold your hands in prayer.
But another part of me says throw your hands in the air and pitch a good old fashioned hissy fit.
Issues.
I have them. Maybe most of us girls do. Especially that one special week a month.
But God.
I love how those two words interrupt me. Redirect me. Remind me. Comfort me. Battle the mean girl in me. And cause me to pause.
Pause. Just for a minute, pause. And it’s in that pause where we give the Holy Spirit room to interrupt the mean girl response just dying to come out and bloody the situation.
The Holy Spirit says, “Lysa stop and think. It might feel good in the minute to scream, retaliate, pitch a fit and flood the situation with scary emotions. But it won’t feel good in the long run. It will feel awful in the long run. You’ll feel the sting of regret. Come on Lysa… be rare. Be a girl who looks ahead and determines to do what’s best in the long run.”
Yes, it stinks that this other person is determined to steal our joy.
It really does.
But in reality, my joy can only be stolen if I let it be stolen.
In John 15:10-12 Jesus says, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
Several things struck me as I read this verse. Each interaction I have with others I’m faced with the choice to either remain in God’s love or retreat from God’s love. I can’t control how this other person is acting towards me. But I can control how I act and react. If I chose to remain in God’s love and react to this other person kindly, it affects my joy. Jesus interjects His joy right into the heart of a kind person. If I make the choice to be kind, instead of my joy being depleted, it will be completed.
So back off mean girl part of my brain. The Jesus girl in me is taking over. And holding on to every ounce of joy that’s rightfully mine. Circumstances can steal stuff from me. But not my joy.
Dear Lord, this sounds so good in this moment. But it will not be easy when I have an interaction today with “that person”… the one who makes my mean girl want to come out. Will You help me remember these truths? Will You help me remember this person can not steal my joy? And help me remember if I react kindly my joy can be completed rather than depleted. And that’s what I want. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Click here to visit Lysa’s blog for a list of three practical things we can do to keep our mean girl from coming out today.
Lysa is speaking in over 40 cities this year and she’d love to meet you! To check for a city near you, click here.
Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst. This book contains three chapters all about what to do when our mean girl wants to come out. Learn how to conquer your anger, envy, and stress today!
Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl DVD and Participant’s Guide — Contains six sessions lasting 15-20 minutes each on one DVD and a Participant’s Guide for only $24.99! Perfect for your Bible study group or as a neighborhood Book Club.
Application Steps:
If you know you will be interacting with someone who has a habit of trying to steal your joy, plan how you can remain calm and kind. Also, plan how you can limit the time you spend interacting with them.
Keep these three thoughts in your mind:
This person can only steal my joy if I let them.
I can’t control this person, but I can control how I act and react.
If I make the choice to be kind, instead of my joy being depleted, it will be completed.
For a list of three practical things we can do to keep our mean girl from coming out today, click here.
Reflections:
What situations in my life might get better if I apply what I’m learning in this devotional today? Do I want frustration or joy to be my reality today? What would it be like to live with Jesus’ complete joy in my heart?
Power Verses:
John 15:10, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (NIV)
John 15:11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (NIV)
John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (NIV)
© 2011 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved.
Application of life
Honestly assess if God is enough in your life. Do you find yourself needing or wanting more? Remind yourself that God knows you inside and out. He loves you no matter what and He always will.
Power Verse
Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.” (NIV 1984)