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Tuesday
God Doesn't Break Up Families, People Do
Picture this, you have been invited to church during the Easter holiday. You typically don't attend church, but this time you take someone up on their offer. You pick out a couple of nice "Easter outfits" for your children. You select something pretty for yourself and your live-in fiance, partner does the same.
It seems all so nice, the way your family looks, the Easter decorations along the way as you drive to church, and even the people you meet, but something is about to happen in less than an hour from the time you and your family make yourself comfortable on those chairs at the church. There is a feeling that arises in the pit of your stomach -- a heaviness of sorts. You feel hurt, sad, maybe even angry and the tears begin to fall. Something that you heard the speaker say at the church motivates you to want to make some major changes in your life. So you feel moved to walk down the aisle and your family walks behind you to accept Jesus and begin a walk on the straight and narrow.
Now everything seems wonderful since you have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. You have opened yourself to the one true creator of the Universe. But with that, there are problems (lots of them) the ones you detect since your acceptance and the ones you don't have a clue are on their way. No one in the church will encourage your current lifestyle living with someone unmarried. No one will tell you about how Jesus will work on you one day at a time in his time. Rather, they will tell you everything that you are doing wrong and what you need to do to make changes in your life not in God's time, but theirs! Be careful listening to those who are already married, those who are single, and those who are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good. It is very easy to tell another what to do when one has already mastered certain areas of his or her life.
The more people tell you about what you are doing wrong, the more guilty you will feel and the more you will want to make changes that are often rushed and without thought just because you fear what may happen if you don't. I have personally rushed to clean my own life up in what I thought was God's time and I caused many problems for myself and others due to guilt.
I encourage anyone who has given their life to Christ in the midst of your sin to allow God to work on you. Be patient with yourself. Don't start changing your life just because someone tells you -- change is a process, take one day at a time! A man who hasn't been thinking about marrying his live-in girlfriend will not suddenly marry her because someone tells him -- God has to work on his heart and it may happen overnight, days, weeks, months or years from now.
A woman isn't going to just start being a wonderful woman just because someone touched her in church and told her to stop cussing her family. Both Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit work together to help anyone who has opened his or heart, in their time, not other people's time.
You have to be careful listening to people who claim to be working for God telling you to leave your partner and children and do right by God. God doesn't break up families, people do! God doesn't tell you that you are to pack up everything and walk out the door without giving you direction and assistance along the way. He doesn't tell you to abandon children that came into this world before you were saved. He doesn't tell you to drop the woman or man you got saved with and start going out with men and women who are much more mature in Christ than you. Look at the many examples in the Bible of how men destroyed their own families and robbed themselves of the blessings of God by making unwise decisions, because they thought they heard from God or had been too impatient to wait on him.
Please remember, God doesn't break up families, people do!
It seems all so nice, the way your family looks, the Easter decorations along the way as you drive to church, and even the people you meet, but something is about to happen in less than an hour from the time you and your family make yourself comfortable on those chairs at the church. There is a feeling that arises in the pit of your stomach -- a heaviness of sorts. You feel hurt, sad, maybe even angry and the tears begin to fall. Something that you heard the speaker say at the church motivates you to want to make some major changes in your life. So you feel moved to walk down the aisle and your family walks behind you to accept Jesus and begin a walk on the straight and narrow.
* * *
Now everything seems wonderful since you have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. You have opened yourself to the one true creator of the Universe. But with that, there are problems (lots of them) the ones you detect since your acceptance and the ones you don't have a clue are on their way. No one in the church will encourage your current lifestyle living with someone unmarried. No one will tell you about how Jesus will work on you one day at a time in his time. Rather, they will tell you everything that you are doing wrong and what you need to do to make changes in your life not in God's time, but theirs! Be careful listening to those who are already married, those who are single, and those who are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good. It is very easy to tell another what to do when one has already mastered certain areas of his or her life.
The more people tell you about what you are doing wrong, the more guilty you will feel and the more you will want to make changes that are often rushed and without thought just because you fear what may happen if you don't. I have personally rushed to clean my own life up in what I thought was God's time and I caused many problems for myself and others due to guilt.
I encourage anyone who has given their life to Christ in the midst of your sin to allow God to work on you. Be patient with yourself. Don't start changing your life just because someone tells you -- change is a process, take one day at a time! A man who hasn't been thinking about marrying his live-in girlfriend will not suddenly marry her because someone tells him -- God has to work on his heart and it may happen overnight, days, weeks, months or years from now.
A woman isn't going to just start being a wonderful woman just because someone touched her in church and told her to stop cussing her family. Both Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit work together to help anyone who has opened his or heart, in their time, not other people's time.
You have to be careful listening to people who claim to be working for God telling you to leave your partner and children and do right by God. God doesn't break up families, people do! God doesn't tell you that you are to pack up everything and walk out the door without giving you direction and assistance along the way. He doesn't tell you to abandon children that came into this world before you were saved. He doesn't tell you to drop the woman or man you got saved with and start going out with men and women who are much more mature in Christ than you. Look at the many examples in the Bible of how men destroyed their own families and robbed themselves of the blessings of God by making unwise decisions, because they thought they heard from God or had been too impatient to wait on him.
Please remember, God doesn't break up families, people do!
Friday
Just Because They Do It, Doesn't Make It Right
The pastor may do "it," his wife may do "it" and everyone else is doing "it," but just because everyone is doing "it," doesn't make "it" okay.
Whatever the "it" is, get deep into God's word and you will find that what the majority is doing, isn't what the minority is doing -- those who are acting according to God's will.
Whatever the "it" is, get deep into God's word and you will find that what the majority is doing, isn't what the minority is doing -- those who are acting according to God's will.
Thursday
Is Your Friend a Distraction to God's Will?
God will remove you from any situation or from anyone who is mentally and/or enslaving (distracting) you from what it is that he wants you to do.This usually happens when you are avidly looking for a relationship with God or when you already have a personal relationship, but want to learn more about God.
People who don't seek God and enjoy being comfortable where they are in life, will remain there, unless someone has been persistently praying for them, then they might change in time as you did. However, if these people are hampering you in your walk, it will only be a matter of time that they will become distant (because they see your growth.) Jealousy, anger and discomfort about your life improvements will gradually push them out of your life. Some believers make the mistake of going back to their old ways of life just to suit others who aren't interested in walking with God. By doing this, one only makes his relationship with God more difficult. He or she is in and out of the flesh, the church, someone's bed, crack house, hospital or whatever else that keeps beckoning him or her to "Come back...I need you...It's not the same without you...What am I going to do?"
Only people who are serious about serving the Lord will want to grow with you.
People who don't seek God and enjoy being comfortable where they are in life, will remain there, unless someone has been persistently praying for them, then they might change in time as you did. However, if these people are hampering you in your walk, it will only be a matter of time that they will become distant (because they see your growth.) Jealousy, anger and discomfort about your life improvements will gradually push them out of your life. Some believers make the mistake of going back to their old ways of life just to suit others who aren't interested in walking with God. By doing this, one only makes his relationship with God more difficult. He or she is in and out of the flesh, the church, someone's bed, crack house, hospital or whatever else that keeps beckoning him or her to "Come back...I need you...It's not the same without you...What am I going to do?"
Only people who are serious about serving the Lord will want to grow with you.
Why doesn't God answer my prayers?
God does answers prayers; however, every prayer isn't always a good prayer. For example, prayers concerning material wealth may start off a blessing but end up a curse. Think about how many people win the lottery and wish they hadn't because every one now wants a piece of their pie! So God may have answered your prayer with silence. He may be allowing you to get your personal life or finances in order before he allows you to receive yet another person, place or thing in your life.
I can think of a time in my life where I was feeling angry as if nothing was going right and I felt that God wasn't listening. Then one day the Holy Spirit reminded me that God did answer my prayers. It may not have been in the way I anticipated they be answered, but they were including those he remained silent about. It was a good thing too, because if he had done what I thought he should have, I would have been in some serious trouble in both my personal and professional life.
The best prayers are those which praise God and thank him (since he already knows the desires of our heart anyway.) This doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for things, but what we should be concentrating on is a relationship with him and not necessarily on what he will do for us. Amen?
I can think of a time in my life where I was feeling angry as if nothing was going right and I felt that God wasn't listening. Then one day the Holy Spirit reminded me that God did answer my prayers. It may not have been in the way I anticipated they be answered, but they were including those he remained silent about. It was a good thing too, because if he had done what I thought he should have, I would have been in some serious trouble in both my personal and professional life.
The best prayers are those which praise God and thank him (since he already knows the desires of our heart anyway.) This doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for things, but what we should be concentrating on is a relationship with him and not necessarily on what he will do for us. Amen?
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