Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
Revelation 22:12-14 (NIV)
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The measure of a Christian is not in the things of the world which we give up, but in the things of God which we take hold of. It’s what we do that counts, not what we avoid. A willing sinner will be shaped into the very nature of God Himself, a right-living but unwilling Christian is utterly lost in the darkness of their own pride.
Unka Glen (unkaglen.tumblr.com)
(Source: merelyanillusion024)
When your Christian friends don’t act very Christian
One of the toughest things we deal with in our Christian faith is when our Christian friends, the people we fellowship with, end up taking a major left turn in their lifestyle. Here’s an example sent in recently:I have a friend that has been one of my closest for years and we’re into a lot of the same things. But recently, she’s been changing. Popularity and “fun” are her biggest concerns. She started drinking and experimenting with drugs and has gotten way too physical with a few guys. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but this totally isn’t her. Also, her attitude has changed. She’s defensive and self centered most of the time. How do I love her through this when I don’t even enjoy being around her anymore?Here’s another similar story:
My best friend and I are both juniors in high school. She runs to boys for comfort, and now it’s gone too far. She told me how she had sex with this guy, and she’s not ashamed. I don’t know how to be a friend to her right now. She doesn’t respond well to confrontation, and I would hate to betray her trust and tell a mentor or something. What’s the right thing to do? How can she love the Lord and do this? How can I be a Godly friend to her when I kinda feel like she betrayed me?On one hand you feel like you set out to walk a difficult path, and you did the smart thing and gathered good believers around you, but when one of those traveling companions leaves the path, it seems all that tougher to walk. Thus, we feel WE are the victim of this behavior.
The truth of course is that our friends don’t owe it to us to live their lives any certain way, and for that matter, it’s pretty tough to witness to someone effectively when we’re feeling resentful of them. Some of the pushback and defensiveness you experience might be a reaction to YOUR feelings of betrayal, and maybe a bit of anger you may be feeling.
The bad news is, the further you go in your walk, the fewer companions you’ll have. The good news is, those companions will be more and more amazing.
But as amazing as any of these companions will be, we have to remember to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on JESUS… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb. 12). The more we grow, the more we learn to rely on God himself.
(Source: sodakswag)
Lord, in a sea of uncertainty, we’ve turned to the advice of amateurs, and clung to it, made an idol of it, and ended up lost. We’ve trusted in ourselves, enchanted by our own ‘wisdom’, arrogantly disrespecting others, and reaping a fool’s empty harvest. We’ve felt certain, and yet we were certainly wrong. In a sea of uncertainty, there is only you, God. And you had your hand out to rescue us all along.
Unka Glen (unkaglen.tumblr.com)
It’s Not Always Best to Face Your Problem
You’re charging into a new year with at least one major problem (probably several) eating away at your nerves.
What do you do?
It’s better to face your problems than to run from them. Everyone knows that.
But for those of us starting out 2012 believing the supernatural favor of God is working to our advantage for His glory,
Might I suggest…there’s a third, and infinitely better, option:
Make the Spirit-led decision to elevate above your problem before you deal with it at all. Whatever you have to deal with today, first determine to access the perspective shaped by the promises & presence of Christ.
Now you’re ready to deal with your issue from the highest level-the very altitude and airspace of God. Your doubts and worries won’t loom so large from up there.
If you stand toe to toe with your issue, addiction, deficit, fear, or temptation, you’ll be intimidated by what you see & shut down before you get the chance to fight.
But if you get up above the issue, and refuse to wrestle around with it in the mud of self-centered thinking and faithless strategy, everything about your approach will change.
I love how, in the book of Revelation, in the midst of unbearable persecution and mind boggling uncertainty, Jesus gave John a simple first step:
“Come up here…”
-Revelation 4:1
See, Jesus knew something about John that is just as pertinent to you and me:
If we get up where Jesus is, we’ll see what He sees.
When we see what He sees, we’ll know what He knows…
And we’ll be empowered to do whatever He calls us to do.
When we take our seats in heavenly places with Christ by focusing on Him, surrendering to Him, and trusting in Him, it positions us to descend on our problems with a divine confidence.
Lots of times, our main problem isn’t our problem. Our biggest problem is our perspective on our problem.
Get up above the domain of hand to hand combat today. You’re not strong enough to take much ground grappling like that.
Instead, take it to the Lord in prayer. And launch an aerial assault on the devil that will blow him back 10,000 miles away from the plans God has for you.
Only God can turn a mess into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph, a victim into a victory.
(Source: simplyheavenlyfood)
