Quote from Watchman Nee – "Those who know God have no need to protect their rights. Because they believe in Him, they learn to rely on Him for the outcome – knowing that whatever His will should be, it will be to their benefit in one way or another".
The greatness of a person is not seen in what they do when everything is going their way and is positive, but what they do after they make a mistake. Every one of us has the natural ability to do wrong things in our life and make mistakes of all kinds. When we make a mistake we have a distinct opportunity to show what we are made of in getting back up and asking for God’s help. The next time you make a mistake think about whether or not you are going to be great and make a positive decision to give all your crap to God or continue to let a trail of mistakes take you to a place that you never wanted to go. So now you can think of a mistake as an opportunity for you to show your greatness in what you decide to do after making a poor decision.
I had an interesting thought the other day when I was driving to work. I had one of those moments when I forgot if I locked my door at my house when I left. It was one of those things where you always lock the door before you leave but one day you think you may not have because it almost has become an automatic response to leaving your house, going to your car and driving away. I thought about my relationship to God and how I can have a similar relationship to him. We get so familiar with our actions in interacting with Him that it can just become an automatic response. I don’t think this is a good thing. We should never get to a place with God where we just have “auto responses” to him. I think that our walk with God should always have a level of intentionality behind it. So, the next time you forget if you locked your door or not remember the importance of spending intentional time with God. He always remembers if you spend time with him!
Going through something is an interesting process. When we say that we are “going through” that obviously means that there is a start and a finish to what is being gone through. The difference is that when we give our hearts and lives to God we surrender the right to look for the exit out of the situation that we are going through and we say “God, you are the one that we trust to teach us what we need to learn as well as getting us through that stretch of life.” The fact is that we will always be “going through” something in life whether it’s physical, emotional or spiritual. The variable is who will we let guide and direct what we do in the middle of that situation? If its God, then we need to stop continuing to look for the reason why and accept the fact that He is trying to teach us something in the middle of our stuff.
One of the hardest things to humanly do is trust. I know that with where I am with my life that I am in a place of having to trust that God has my future in his hands. My truck broke down yesterday and I just felt like I was going crazy. It is hard when everything in the physical realm looks pretty bad but I have God telling me in his Word that He is going to take care of me in every way. I have my wife telling me that God is just allowing things to happen to us so that he can set us up for an even greater miracle. Honestly, that is just hard for me to hear because we have to go through the crap to see what’s on the other side.
I think that the greatest praise that you can give the Lord is what I call “no reason praise”. This is the kind of thanksgiving to God that is really born from nothing or from bad circumstances. I know that because God is great that He has every right to be praised but there are times in life when it feels like we have no reason because of personal circumstances. When we praise God in the middle of the trouble in our lives we do many things. We encourage other people that are watching our lives, we make the devil mad because he wants to steal our praise to God and we put ourselves in a position to be used by God that is beyond our human ability. Let God be the super that combines with your natural and live a life that is supernatural.
Here is a picture of the car my mom and uncle were in when they got in their accident. I looked again at this picture and thought to myself again that life is way too short to worry about things that don't really matter in eternity. I want to challenge you to think about the things that affect your life in a negative way and really evaluate whether they are worth the worry. Think about it.
We have been talking about the power of Proverbs in our small group and the importance of it being a consistent part of your emotional diet in life. It is not a Biblical book that has stories or principles in it that need to be deciphered in some way. It is a book that is based on practical actions in life that matter in your walk with God. Anything you decide to put in you will make up who you are. That is not just food but also emotionally what you decide to make part of your diet. Make the word a part of your emotional diet and see your self stay in great emotional shape.
What motivates you in life? What happens when that motivation is gone? Evaluate your life today and consider what it is that takes you from where you are to where you need to go in life. If its money, then don't ever run out of it. If its someone else, make sure that person never leaves your life. If its Jesus Christ then be ready for anything because He is the master of unlimited motivational potential.
Where there are snotty people there is great coffee. I found this out at a Starbucks that I like to go to every once in a while over by my work. I don’t like to really go in there because it is usually very busy and full of people that are so in love with themselves and their money that if they could legally marry themselves they would. I know that sounds like a rude statement but I noticed something about the quality of coffee and service that you get in this specific Starbucks; it’s impeccable. You are greeted well, your coffee is never wrong and it’s always hot and served quickly. It is the expectation of these people that come in to get coffee that the service will be excellent, the coffee hot and served fast so that they can get on with their day. The Starbucks knows this and does everything in its power to make sure that the people in that store are happy when they walk out. I believe that expectation is a key element in getting the best out of life. When things are not going well we have a tendency to lower our expectations in life so that we are not disappointed. It is always easier to expect less in life than it is to push yourself to expect God to do something special. It has been so hard with my eye condition to expect anything but “pills, ills and bills”. I guess I need to be like snotty people ordering coffee at Starbucks; expect the best and get the best.
