Following God, reading His Word and hearing His voice, will keep your life on a razors edge. He will keep you trusting Him. He will keep you leaning on Him. He is going to give you assignments that require you to give up your security blanket and come out of your comfort zone. The faith lifestyle requires a full commitment. It requires a giving of everything to Jesus.
The gospel of Mark is the action gospel of the New Testament. It is fast moving gospel filled with the doings of Jesus. Four key ideas permeate this gospel. The ideas are housed in the words, Ministry, Miracles, Opposition and Passion. The following is an outline of the gospel using these four words.
Josh McDowell told this great story. An executive hirer, a “headhunter” who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told me, “When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he’s all relaxed. Then, when I think I’ve got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, “What’s your purpose in life?” It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question. “Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, ‘What’s your purpose in life, Bob?’ And he said, without blinking an eye, ‘To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’ For the first time in my career I was speechless.” What about you? Do you know what your place is in God? Do you know how to find it?
People identify with the noise of inferiority, with the noise of insecurity, with the noise of a lack of self-esteem. But, you don’t have to have that identity because God has carved one out especially for you. You have a choice about the voice in your head. You can choose to go with what God’s Word says about you.
Dreams played an important part in the lives of God’s people. Of the 116 references to dreams listed in Young’s Concordance, 52 come in Genesis during the early patriarchal period and 29 in the Book of Daniel 1. Are you open to the Lord speaking to you in this way?
Gideon felt inadequate, he felt insecure. He lacked confidence. His self-esteem was pretty low. If you will allow Him, God will never leave you in that low state. Inside noise puts you into the pit. Insecurity will leave you there to waste away your days. But, Jesus is here to lift you out of the pit and establish your goings.
While on vacation, Bethany was speeding down a California freeway with three teenage friends. One of them, Jody, said she had dreamed the night before that they were in a serious wreck and that she, the only one with a fastened seat belt on, had survived. Hearing that, everyone fastened their seat belts. Later, their car swerved into the grass median and rolled. The investigating officer looked at the car and said, “If you hadn’t had your seat belts on, the outcome would have been a lot different.” Where did Jody’s dream come from? 1. In this weeks podcast, we will take a look at some of the other ways God communicates through His use of dreams and visions.
Are you saved by grace or just a Christian performer? The story is told in Spain of a father and his teenage son who had a relationship that had become strained. So the son ran away from home. His father, however, began a journey in search of his rebellious son. Finally, in Madrid, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in the newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you. Your father.” The next day at noon in front of the newspaper office 800 “Pacos” showed up. They were all seeking acceptance from their fathers. A whole world of people are hungering for this basic idea of approval and acceptance. People have tried to acquire it though through an avenue other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have tried to attain it through performance thinking. Does it work? Are you accepted in the courts of heaven because of what you do?
BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — A Washington coach who was told by district officials to stop leading prayers after games went ahead with a prayer at the 50-yard line after a weekend game.
The Kitsap Sun reports Bremerton High assistant coach Joe Kennedy knelt as his players left the field and prayed on Friday. Players from the other team and others joined him.
It’s unclear what the district will do. Messages left the district’s attorney as well as district officials were not immediately returned Sunday.
Superintendent Aaron Leavell has said Kennedy’s long-standing practice runs counter to the constitutional mandate for separation of church and state. He said in a statement before the game that staff must refrain from religious expression while on duty.
Kennedy’s law firm, Texas-based firm Liberty Institute, says the district has no right to ban the coach from personally praying. They say he didn’t encourage or discourage students from participating.
Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/
Many times people seek guidance from the Lord in ways He did not intend. It’s always best to stay with God’s Word in these areas. For in the pages of the Bible, the Lord Himself gave us clear instruction about how to be led by the Spirit of God. In fact, He detailed for us the number one way He will lead us in the affairs of life.
You will find that the moving of God in your life, that is the particular way that God leads you, directs, and uses you has a very definite pattern and that pattern is different from person to person. Over a period of time, through the use of a journal, you can learn how He deals with you. It will help you with the issue of obedience and gifts of the Spirit at work in your life.