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 devil wants us to doubt God’s ways when they seem gray and to disobey when it’s clearly black and white.
Steven Furtick
What it means to believe in God and be born again.
One of the most powerful messages I’ve ever heard, this is from Pastor Steven Furtick
Some of you have been trying to fix your relationship with God by doing more, trying harder. “I promise I’ll do better, I’ll really do better this time. I’ll really really really really do better this time, God.” You need to be born again.
The most famous verse in all of the Bible is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him will not die and have eternal life.” Interesting to think about the fact that while that is the most popular verse in the Bible, it it is also the most dangerous verse. Jesus would have no need to say this to Nicodemus if believe simply meant to agree with and to understand. Nicodemus had that down, he had 5,300 verses of Scripture memorized. Nicodemus had it going on in the daylight. But to believe might mean something different than you think it means. […]
The word believe has been so stripped, the phrase born again has been so stripped of meaning in our society. I want to breathe some fresh wind back into that term again.
To believe: to trust entirely in Jesus with your future plans and your eternal destiny.
To believe: to cast all of your cares on Him.
To believe: to rely confidently in Him for the hope of your salvation.
To believe: to trust ONLY in Him for your salvation.
If you still try to get there by doing more, by adding things, by going further, doing better, making promises, you haven’t got it yet.
If you’re still struggling with patterns of sin that emerge in your life over and over again and when your back’s against the wall, you’re searching deep down in your heart, receive the grace of God today. You can be born again. You must be born again. This same Jesus died and was brutally murdered on a cross, He was torn to shreds on your behalf. The Bible says, that the punishment that was yours was placed upon Him, that God placed on His body the punishment of us all. And that now, we can believe in trust and start all over and be born again.
If you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian life.
Steven Furtick (Sun Stand Still)
(Source: light-unshakable)
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.
The scariest possibility for your life isn’t getting God’s will wrong. It’s getting God’s will right but barely coming to know God in the process.
Pastor Steven Furtick
