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Ministry Happens

April 19, 2013

When we don’t pace ourselves, we tend to miss divine appointments right and left. In fact, they seem like human interruptions. We get so consumed with trying to get where we think God wants us to go that we put on spiritual blinders and miss the Goose trails He wants to take us down. The key is slowing down your pace, taking off your sandals, and experiencing God right here, right now.

…Spiritual maturity has less to do with long-range visions than it does with moment-by-moment sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And it is our moment-by-moment sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that turns life into an everyday adventure.

Excerpted from Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson

Daily Reflection: How can you slow down and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit today?

A Divine Calling

April 18, 2013

If we ever wonder if we have what it takes to live in victory, we have only to look at the life of our Savior. Jesus walked by the Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who lives in us…We have the same Spirit, the same authority, and the same power.

Our problem is that we don’t know it, or we know it and don’t appropriate it, or we don’t believe it’s for today. Our faith is small. It moves sandcastles, not mountains.

Just before Jesus ascended, He said:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I commanded you; and lo, I am [ … ]

Keep Wonder in Your Worship

April 17, 2013

Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth…Don’t let your worship decline to the performance of mere duty…Don’t let the scenery and poetry and music of your relationship with God shrivel up and die. You have capacities for joy that you can scarcely imagine. They were made for the enjoyment of God. He can awaken them no matter how long they have lain asleep. Pray for His quickening power. Open your eyes to his glory. It is all around you: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1 ESV).

Excerpted from Desiring God by John Piper

Daily Reflection: How does the Lord “quicken” your desire to worship Him?

Waiting and Hope

April 16, 2013

“Gardens are about waiting and about hope as much as they are about anything.

You wait for spring to come and for roses to bud out and for the earth to green up again. You wait for seeds to germinate and irises to spread. You wait for the dogwoods to turn white and pink and for the maple to go golden in the fall. And all the while you hold a vision of some new thing in your head, of what the garden will be someday.

You cannot hurry it along, not any of it. Spring comes when it comes; roses bloom when they will; the garden grows at its own sweet pace. What it teaches you is to wait, to be patient, and to pay attention.

Some morning the sun will rise, and something you have always dreamed of [ … ]

Draw Near to the Lord

April 15, 2013

The book of James gives us a short course in how to defeat Satan. It says that in relation to Satan, we are to be like the kind of magnet that repels another magnet. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). More to our point here, James says that in relation to God, we are to be like the kind of magnet that attracts Him. “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (verse 8). The Lord is always there, right next to us, waiting for us to draw near to Him so that He can respond in just the same way.

Oh, I beg you, my friend, draw near to the Lover of your soul. He so wants you to know Him as intimately as He already knows you. Hear His voice [ … ]

Dare to Live Extraordinarily

April 12, 2013

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT

These words paint a picture of an unimaginable and extraordinary existence, one far beyond what any mere mortal has known or experienced. You may have heard these words before and related them only to heaven’s glory. But in actuality, they were penned for the here and now! For the writer, the apostle Paul, continues, “But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit” (verse 10, NLT).

There’s One Person above all others who desires an extraordinary life for you. He is a Father who delights, like any good father, in the achievements and happiness of His children. His name is God! And nothing will please Him more than [ … ]

Lost in Him

April 11, 2013

The progression toward oneness with God leaves you absent of yourself. Lost in Him.

As you move more fully into what God sees and what He desires, you’ll no longer be concerned with what you lack or how you’ve failed. As you walk with Him day by day, you will come to see yourself through His truths.

Afraid that you can’t get past your past?

Getting lost in intimacy with God will assure your heart that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Fearful that you can’t overcome a sinful habit?

Intimacy with God will bring you to believe that your “old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no [ … ]

Generosity

April 10, 2013

The famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger noted that the single most important indicator of a person’s mental health was generosity. “Generous people are rarely mentally ill,” he wrote.  I think the early social reformer Dorothea Dix understood that concept. She’d survived a difficult childhood and was a successful teacher by the time she was fifteen opening a school for girls when young ladies rarely attended school. By the time she was twenty, she had a bestselling book, the first of many. Yet she often had serious bouts with a lung illness and terrible fatigue, some of which appeared to be related to great sadness and loneliness.

When she began working on behalf of the mentally ill later in her life, her health dramatically improved.  Where she’d stayed home from church for fear of catching a cold on the Boston streets or [ … ]

Stand Up

April 9, 2013

Sometimes we do stand up for what we believe. We tell someone it’s wrong to use God’s name as a cuss word, or we ask our unbelieving friends what they think happens after they die. But more often than not, it seems we just sink deeper into our chair, change the subject, leave the room, or just tell our conscience to take a hike. Our convictions are a private matter, we rationalize (that is, rational lies). It’s important not to make waves or come across as if we’re better than somebody else.

When we make decisions to obey God—even when it costs us something—and to live out our faith in our day-to-day life, it will be hard, but it will be good. And it will be good because God loves to bless us when we are faithful to stand for [ … ]

Apple of His Eye

April 5, 2013

Psalm 17:8 finds the psalmist pleading, “Keep me as the apple of your eye.” The apple of the eye is the tiny reflection of yourself that you can see in another person’s pupil. To see it, you have to be close. Intimate. To see yourself as God does, you have to get lost in His intimacy.

Excerpted from Get Lost by Dannah Gresh

Daily Reflection: Do you see yourself as God does?