Thought of the Day #20: “No Room for Pride”

            I think most Christians would agree that there is no room for pride in any relationship, whether it’s in your relationship with God, your spouse, your children, co-workers, or your neighbors.  As Christians we know God is first but, what’s in our minds isn’t always in agreement with what’s in our hearts.  We know if God is really first or not, that is if we dare admit the truth.

            The definition of pride is “a haughty attitude shown by somebody who believes, often unjustifiably, that he or she is better than others.” (Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)  How does God see pride?  The Bible is clear that pride is not alright with God.  “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.” Proverbs 8:13 (NASB) “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.” Proverbs 15:5 (NKJV)

            When pride is an issue then that means that you are first in all things, it is not Christ.  It means that everything you do is done with your pride, even how you serve the Lord.  As a follower of Christ there is no room for you at that first position in your life.  God is first.  The first four commandments state that God is first and they start with this statement from God, “I am God, your God” Exodus 20:1 (MSG).

            Pride is a heart issue.  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)  “Jesus said, ‘‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” Mathew 22:27-40 (MSG) “Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.” Romans 12:14-16 (MSG)  

            It is important, vitally important to line up our mind with our heart.  Know that God is first at all times in our minds.  Know that God is to also be first in our hearts.

Thank you for reading! Praying that you are all doing well! If you're a Facebook user I have a ministry page: www.Facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries  I also have a blog in Spanish! If you are someone you know would prefer reading these devotionals in Spanish please visit www.MinisterioReflejandolaVerdad.blogspot.com

Thought of the Day #19: "Loving Others"

             In Mark 12:29-31 Jesus teaches that the most important commandments are that we are to love God with all heart, soul, mind and strength.  The second is to love others as we love ourselves.  The top priorities of life are laid out in these two commandments for us: Love God and love others.  It is through our relationship with God, putting Him first in our heart, soul, mind and strength, that we can have a relationship with others.  “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (NIV)  It is important to do both, love God first and then love others.  Notice the verse doesn’t say love God and if you feel like it love others.  It also doesn’t say love God and love the loveable people.  Loving others includes the un-loveable people too.  “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20 (NASB)

            Loving others is not always easy but, it is even harder to not have anyone to love. Sometimes, especially when we are upset, we may desire to cut ourselves off completely from others.  Complete isolation may sound good but, it does not feel good.  Isolation from others will only hurt us.  Living through the up’s and down’s of relationships can either give us a “pep-in-our-step” or give us a stomachache.  Life is funny that way.  It’s like that saying, “you can’t live with them; you can’t live without them.”

            Life in ministry means life with people; People that will love us, support us, encourage us, help us…be good to us.  There are also those we encounter in ministry that hurt us.  As believers in Christ we are purposed to do something to help further increase the Kingdom of God.  Loving others is vital to any ministry.  It doesn’t matter if you are the leader of a ministry or involved as a “layman” in the ministry loving others is a part of it. 

            It is through prayer and studying His Word that we can be successful in our relationships.  If our focus stays on God then our relationships with others will be aligned with Him.  If we lose our focus and settle our focus upon other priorities then our relationships will be affected in negative ways.  This is why loving others is so important, so important in fact that this is why the Lord commanded it.  “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” 1 John 4:21 (NASB)

 

 

Thank You for reading! God bless you!

Thought of the Day #18: "A Newer Better You"

Since its January the health and fitness companies are bombarding TV, radio, internet and most anything in print with their ads claiming that their product is the one that will help you become a newer better you.  Well maybe some of them can actually help but, come on, most of us doubt if their claims are real. You know who, without any doubts, can help us with our health and fitness and everything else? The best part about the price tag for it is that it's FREE!!! It's JESUS! Woo-Woo!  

It is through the lessons of life that the Lord works in us and stretches us in ways only "The Potter" can. "But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand." Isaiah 64:8 (NASB)  The Lord is the only one that knows exactly what we need, when we'll need it and what provisions are needed in order to help with our self-improvement.  He is the one that knows what will make us stronger, tougher, wiser, more patient, kind or loving too! Jesus is all about helping us grow Spiritually, emotionally...anything that will help us improve ourselves so that we may be the righteous ones He so desires us to be.  "May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God." Philippians 1:11 (NLV)

 

 

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Devotional #43: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"

Through prayer I ask the Lord to point out to me "the good, the bad and the ugly" moments of the previous year. What was good throughout the year is what we all tend to want to remember and it is what we tend to store in our minds as loving, eventful or sweet memories. But now, the bad and the ugly things that happened to us is what we want to forget. Thing is, it is from the bad and even the ugly that we can learn a lot from. We learn from the good too and like I said we cherish those more but, if we stop and ask the Lord to help us learn from the bad and the ugly too the lessons we get are profound.

It is through these lessons of life that the Lord stretches us in ways only "The Potter" can. He is the one that knows what we need to learn from these experiences and why. He is the one that knows what will make us stronger, tougher, wiser, more patient, kind or loving. We grow from the good moments but we also grow from the bad and the ugly moments too. These are our “teachable life moments.”

What “teachable life moments” have you learned from 2013? Sometimes it takes longer than other times to really get and understand why we went through the things we did. Fact is, my fellow believers in Christ, sometimes we may never know why we had to go through what we did until we are in heaven. But, we don't necessarily need to know the "why" in order to learn the lessons.

I pray that we all learn the lessons the Lord is trying so desperately to teach us as we live on in this New Year. I pray that we all pay closer attention to what is going on around us so that we can better understand why these things are going on around us. Life is full of bad and ugly moments. Instead of wallowing in pity-parties we need to instead pray and ask the Lord to help us not only survive but know how He wants us to live life to the fullest despite how hard these bad and ugly moments are. We should want and desire to live, fully and wholeheartedly so that we can enjoy every moment He gives to us.

The people around us, the non-believers, are constantly observing how we choose to respond to life's good, bad and ugly moments. It is through our response to these moments that they determine if God is really there for you and if He would want to be there for them too. We are reflecting Him out to the world. This is how we either attract people to Him or not. If our responses are good no matter how bad or ugly our circumstances are then their curiosity may be peaked, and if it is they may want to personally know Him too.

Do we believe that we can have the strength to endure life's hardships? Philippians 4:12b-13, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (NIV)

Do we really get that God is with us in all things? "...Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Mathew 6:33-34 (MSG) 

Rejoice my friends! Enjoy 2014! "Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice! Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon]. Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God." Philippians 4:4-9 (AMP)

God bless you my dear friends! Thank you for reading my first devotional of 2014!

 

 

Thought of the Day: #2 "Don't Take it for Granted"

Thought of the day: 
I was sitting in my room with my laptap on my lap trying to get some work done. I had the a/c on, my fan on, feeling nice and cool. It's a warm day today and was thankful that I was comfortable. Then out of nowhere the power went out! Everything turned off in one quick "whoosh!" No a/c. No fans. No wi-fi either. I checked to see what was going on. Bill was paid so that's not it. Everything checked out fine, so, this was one of those things that was out of my control. Ok. "So," I wondered, "what can I do now? With no electricity, what can be done?" Then it hit! Funny how conviction works that way.

How spoiled are we? We depend so much on electricity and the latest gadgets of the day! So much of our days are filled with things we use that need electricity. It's so normal to have the central air/heat readily available. We walk into a room that's dark and the first thing you do is turn on the light. You're hungry, you walk over to the refrigerator and get something to eat. We have it pretty good don't we? But yet...

We dare to complain. We take so much for granted in our lives that we don't even realize we are taking them for granted. It's not until we lose it, even if it's for a brief period of time, that we realize just how much we depend on these things and value them.

I don't know about you, my dear friend, but the next time I go to switch on the light or enjoy the comfort of the coolness of the a/c I will try my hardest to not take it for granted and be thankful instead.

Philippians 4:12, "I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little."

God bless you my dear friend!

Thought of the Day: Stand Firm

My dear friends my thought of the day: "Stand firm," Eph. 6:14. We are to stand firm on what? On something solid. "Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” 2 Timothy 2:18-20. Some live firmly in what they posess instead of on the firm foundation of God's Truths. We need to choose one or the other; choose God or choose money. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:23-25. Money comes and goes but the Lord is constant. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! So let's all "stand firm" on the solid foundation of God's Truths!

Thank you my dear friends for reading this blog! You're in my prayers. If you're on Facebook come and check out the ministry page at www.Facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries.com 

If you or someone you know would prefer to read these postings in Spanish please visit www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

Devotional #42: “The Never-Ending To-Do List"

Hello my dear friends! It's amazing how quickly time flies! We're already towards the end of October and it feels like we just rang in 2013! In just about 68 days we will be ringing in 2014! WOW! Do you feel like me? Do you stop and think about how quickly time passes by? Do you wonder, like I do, if we're spending the time that the Lord is giving to us adequately? Are we doing what God wants us to do with the time that He's giving us or are we doing what we want to do? Are we just doing what needs to be done and not realizing that time is quickly fading away and the "to-do" lists will always be never-ending but, our time with God, our spouses, our children and other loved one's is fading too?  Did I just get too deep?  

This is what concerns me when I look at the calendar and look at how much time has passed and how much time is left before the end of the year. I'm not just concerned about living for God instead of "self." I'm concerned for you too, my dear friend. There are so many of you that are dear, sweet, wonderful people that are just living for today...getting things done, very important things done but, not enjoying what's going on around you because you're so busy. Please know that I'm sharing this from my heart. I was just like you, living for the right now. Busy getting done what needed to get done and being so busy that I didn't enjoy life anymore.  

Life became this big "to-do" list. Life became redundant. I remember thanking God for the day but wishing it was done…well, because I was tired of being so tired…I was tired of working so hard at trying to keep up with the “to-do” list that I started to resent the never-ending “to-do” list. I started to resent those around me that seemed to be better at accomplishing everything on their “to-do” lists while I seemed to always be behind with mine. 

Oh, my dear friends, it wasn’t until the Lord convicted me about this resentment that was growing quickly in my heart like a cancer!  My heart was growing cold towards Him, my loved ones and even towards myself. I was headed towards a very dangerous place. A place that many have gone to and have never returned. This place is called “abandonment.”  It is the place in the heart that is cold and harsh.  It is where those that have given up go to.  It is in “abandonment” that they dare to do the unthinkable.  

They abandon their spouses, loved ones, their lives as they know it with the belief that they can start anew again.  What they don’t know is that this place of abandon has been set up by the devil himself. It is a trap that is set like a spider that slowly, quietly, patiently weaves its web. Once what’s caught in the web is felt the spider attacks and kills its prey.  This is what the devil does in the place of “abandonment.”  He kills the joy of God, spouse, children…life as we know it. Ephesians 6:12, “^For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (NIV)

No, my dear friends, let’s not take time for granted. Let’s not allow the never-ending “to-do” list keep us from living this beautiful life God has given to us. Yes, it is very important to be responsible for those we so deeply care for.  Yes, it is very important to be responsible with our work, schools, churches and communities.  But, nothing is more important than our relationship with God.  Nothing on our “to-do” list can compare to the joy of laughter from our children.  Let’s live life the way God intended it.  Let’s live and enjoy every minute we get. Let’s enjoy God’s joy and hope. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)

 

Thank you for reading! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a devotional! Hope you have all been well. My dear friends you are all in my prayers. God bless you and yours.  For more of my writing check out my other posts on the blog or you can check out my “Thought of the Day” on the ministry’s Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries.com

 

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com