Wisdom Of Life

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."   (Philippians 4:6) =>  When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age, I shall be the same, and even to your graying years I shall bear you! I have done it, and I shall carry you; and I shall bear you, and I shall deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4). =>  When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “not one of us lives for himself and not one of us dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9). =>  When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you w

"I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts." (Psalm 119:45) An essential element of joy is freedom. None of us would be happy if we were not free from what we hate and free for what we love.  And where do we will find the true freedom are? Psalm 119:45 says that, “?I shall walk in freedom, for I have sought your precepts.”   The Word of God frees us from smallness of mind (1 Kings 4:29) and from threatening confinements (Psalm 18:19).  Also Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The freedom he has in mind is freedom from the slavery of sin (verse 34). Or, to put it positively, it is freedom for holiness.  The promises of God’s grace provide the power that makes the demands of God’s holiness an experience of freedom rather than fear. Peter described the freeing power of God’s promises like this: “Through [his precious and very great promises] you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the c

"Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." Matthew 7:17–18  I was adopted at birth and was abused in my past, which, needless to say, left me feelings of rejection, betrayal, shame, guilt, and fear. Obviously, I had accumulated baggage over the years, but when I became a Christian, I had no idea I needed to deal with it. I embraced my new life with passion and enthusiasm, choosing to forget those things that were behind me, and pressing forward to those things that were ahead (see Phil. 3:13). I was not trying to deny my past, rather I sincerely believed that because I was in Christ, I was a new creation—the old had gone and the new had come (see 2 Cor. 5:17). What I did not realize was that this scripture spoke of my new spiritual condition, not about the condition of my soul. The damage and weaknesses that were in my soul realm before I became a Christian ling

"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men."   (Psalm 33:13) Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light than when he is spoken of as stooping from his throne, and coming down from heaven to attend to the wants and to behold the woes of mankind. We love him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were full of iniquity, would not destroy those cities until he had made a personal visitation of them. We cannot help pouring out our heart in affection for our Lord who inclines his ear from the highest glory, and puts it to the lip of the dying sinner, whose failing heart longs after reconciliation. How can we but love him when we know that he numbers the very hairs of our heads, marks our path, and orders our ways? Specially is this great truth brought near to our heart, when we recollect how attentive he is, not merely to the temporal interests of his creatures, but to their spiritual concerns. Though leagues of distance lie between the fi

"A tree planted by a river derives its strength and nourishment from the river and produces abundant fruit."  (see Jeremiah 17:7-8) So often we tend to overlook the simple truths of life and forget that the profound is usually revealed in the simple, we can act  out what we are not, an apple can only reproduce apples, because that’s what it is at its core, if we have an issue with anger, then no matter how kind and demure we try to act, eventually a challenging situation will arise and we’ll blow! As long as that anger goes unchecked and unhealed in our souls, we will continue to produce the fruit of anger. The same holds true for fear, jealousy, depression, low self-esteem, and so much more. Many of us miss out on the abundant life that Jesus has for us because we haven’t taken an honest look at our spiritual core and recognized that our souls need some work, and forced to examine the fruit of our own life, realized that we lacked any real deep joy and was only happy w

"Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  James 1:4 NIV Be patient with God and with yourself, one of life’s frustrations is that God’s timetable is rarely the same as ours. We are often in a hurry, but on the contrary God isn’t. You may feel frustrated with the seemingly slow progress you’re making in life.  Remember that God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time. He will use your entire lifetime to prepare you for your role in eternity.  The Bible is filled with examples of how God uses a long process to develop character, especially in leaders. He took 80 years to prepare Moses, including 40 in the wilderness. For 14,600 days Moses kept waiting and wondering, “Is it time yet?” But God kept saying, “Not yet.”  Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process. James advised, “Don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you be

He said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:46–47) The Word of God is not a trifle; it is a matter of life and death. If you treat the Scriptures as a trifle or as empty words, you forfeit life.  Even our physical life depends on God’s Word, because by his Word we were created (Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3) and “He upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).  Our spiritual life begins by the Word of God: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18). “You have been born again . . . through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).  Not only do we begin to live by God’s Word, but we also go on living by God’s Word: “Man shall not live

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."    Hebrews 12:2 NKJV Does the example of Jesus contradict the principle of Christian Hedonism?  Namely, that love is the way of joy and that one should choose it for that very reason, lest one be found begrudging obedience to the Almighty or chafing under the privilege of being a channel of grace or belittling the promised reward. Hebrews 12:2 seems to say fairly clearly that Jesus did not contradict this principle.  The greatest labor of love that ever happened was possible because Jesus pursued the greatest imaginable joy, namely, the joy of being exalted to God’s right hand in the assembly of a redeemed people: “ who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross !”   In saying this, the writer means to give Jesus as another example, along with the saints of Hebr

“Even though you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident; it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold.”  (1 Peter 1:6-7 Phillips)   Life is not a series of random, freak accidents. Life is not totally unplanned. Life is not without meaning. God knows what’s going on. He’s weaving the tapestry of your life, and it has light and dark threads — happy and sad times — to give richness and texture and color to your life. Nothing can come into the life of a child of God without God’s permission. Everything is Father‑filtered. Don’t misunderstand, and I am not saying that everything that happens to you in life is God’s perfect will, that’s just not true. There are a lot of things that are not God’s will. If you go out and sin, that’s not God’s will. If somebody sins against you, that’s not God’s perfect will. But God does have a permissive will. If I go out and I overeat, I pay the consequences. If I go o

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV) We may understand that a daily quiet time is necessary for our spiritual growth and be motivated to do it, but how do we go for having one of its, instead of that we have to start it with the proper attitudes. In God’s eyes, is far more important why to do something  than what to do something. On one occasion God told Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV) . It is quite possible to do the right thing but with the wrong attitude. When we come to meet with God in a quiet time, we should have these proper attitudes: =>  Expectancy:  Come before God with anticipation and eagerness. Expect to have a good time of fellowship with him and receive a blessing from our time together. That was what David expected: “You, God,

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."  (Matthew 3:2 NIV) The opening message of John the Baptist, who served as a herald for Jesus, was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This call to repentance was an urgent appeal to sinners. No one who refuses to repent can ever enter the kingdom of God. Repentance is a prerequisite, a necessary condition for salvation. In Scripture,  repentance  means "to undergo a change of one's mind." This change of mind is not a mere switching of minor opinions, but of the entire direction of one's life. It involves a radical turning  from sin and  to  Christ.  Repentance is not the cause of new birth or regeneration; it is the result or fruit of regeneration. Though repentance begins with regeneration, it is an attitude and action that must be repeated throughout the Christian life. As we continue to sin, we are called upon to repent as we are convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit.  Th

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 NIV) We worship God when we give him our lives every time we pray. Jesus teaches that when we pray, we should commit ourselves to God’s will.  God has a specific will for your life. The Bible says in Romans 12:2 that his will is good and perfect and it fits you. Part of connecting with God is saying, “God, what is your will for me today? I want to do your will.”  In Heaven, God’s will is done perfectly. The problem on Earth is God’s will is not always done. That’s why we’re to pray, “Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” We’re saying, “God, I want to submit to you. I want to do what you want me to do.” You can pray “Your will be done” in three different ways. You can say it in resentment: “Your will be done, but I don’t like it.” You can say it in resignation: “Your will be done, because I can’t help it.” Or you can say it in anticipation: “Your will be done, because I know it is the best

“I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”  (Galatians 1:10 NLT) In life, you only have to please one person. And that is your Creator. You only have to please the Lord, the one who made you and has a purpose for your life. That simplifies life enormously! You only need one person’s approval: God’s .  Jesus said it like this in John 5:30:  “I don’t try to please myself, but I try to please the One who sent me” (NCV). He said, “I’m living for an audience of one.”   You may have never realized this, but people pleasing is a form of idolatry. The first commandment in the Ten Commandments is, “Don’t have any gods before me.” Anything you put before God becomes a god. So a boat could be a god. A career could be a god. A girlfriend could be a god. Golf could be a god. Anything that becomes number one in your life that isn’t God becomes your god.  The second commandment is, “Don’t make any idols.” Anythin

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,  (Ephesians 6:14a NIV) In integrity matters, the Bible says that we’re in a war “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world.” (Ephesians 6;:12)  And we can’t battle those spiritual forces that threaten to derail our lives if we’re not living with integrity. Essentially, we’re committed to taking the truth of God’s Word and applying it to all areas of our lives, such as our moral, financial, relational, and sexual lives.  It’s why Paul tells us that we need to put on the Belt of Truth before we go into the spiritual battles that are all around us, and he says,  “So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist”  (Ephesians 6:14a GNT).  As we know that the Belt of Truth holds up everything. Without truth, your life will fall apart, and spiritual darkness will take over.  We put on our Belt of Truth by living with integrity. Integrity comes from the word “integer,”

“To be made new in the attitude of your minds;"   Ephesians 4:23 (NIV) To renew our thoughts and attitudes we need to change, change requires new thinking, and in order to change,  we have to learn the truth and begin making good choices, and then we also need change the way we think.  And t he implication of this change  determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act. Changing the way you act, and the way you feel, always begin by the way you think.  For instance, you can say,  “I need to love my husband more,” but that isn't going to work, if you can't fight your way into a feeling, and so change the way you think, and the way you feel about your husband, which surely will then change the way you act. The Bible says, “ Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes”  (Ephesians 4:23 NLT).  The battle for sin, the battle to deal with those defects in your life that you don't like, originated from our own minds. So If you want t

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." (Psalm 27:4) God is not unresponsive to the contrite longing of the soul. He comes and lifts the load of sin and fills our heart with gladness and gratitude. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11–12) .  But our joy does not just rise from the backward glance in gratitude. It also rises from the forward glance in hope: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5–6).   In the end, the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts, but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presen

“All of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.” (1 Peter 3:8 NIV) We’re never going to live in harmony with our wife, our husband, our friends, or anybody else without empathy. You can’t have a team without being aware of what’s happening in each other’s lives. That’s why when people work together in an office, they may do work together, but they’re not a team unless they know what’s going on in each other’s lives.  Empathy is going so important,  it meets two of our deepest needs: the fundamental need to be understood and a deep need to have our feelings validated.  If we’re going to build a team of friends or at work or in our small group, we have to build empathy into the structure. So how do we become an empathetic person? 1. Slow down.  Because our culture teaches us to move fast, we end up relationally skimming. That means we’re hitting the high points and missing all kinds of

“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” (Proverbs 4:23 GNT) God is far more interested in changing our mind than changing our circumstances, work on us first, otherwise we want God to take away instantly all of the problems, pain, sorrow, suffering, sickness, and sadness, that why transformation won’t happen in our life, until we consider to renew our mind, and begin to change our thoughts, that why so important for us to learn how to manage our mind? There are three reasons: O ur thoughts control our life. Proverbs 4:23 says,  “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts”  (GNT). The power of your thoughts has tremendous ability to shape your life for good or for bad. T he mind is the battleground for sin. All temptation happens in the mind, one of the reasons why we get mentally fatigued, there’s a battle in our brain 24 hours a day, debilitating because it’s intense, and it’s intense because our mind is our greatest asset, and Satan

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. .” (Romans 11:36 NIV) It’s not about us, It’s not about profit or politics or anything else. It’s all about God. We may know that the first sentence of  The Purpose Driven Life  is “It’s not about us.” What we may not remember is that the title of the first chapter is “It’s All About God.” Those two go together. The reason it’s not about us is because it’s all about God.  Until we understand that, life is never going to make sense. Until we understand that, We are not going to make sense, the goal of our life is not pleasure, it’s not possessions, it’s not prestige, it’s not politics, it’s not power, and it’s not popularity. It’s not anything that the world values. The goal of our life is the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 8:6 says ,  “ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things cam

"Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given."  John 1:16 We now consider the most important characteristic in the training of the disciple of Jesus Christ. That is the quality of living the Christian life with grace.  We use the word “ grace ” to describe many things in life: A well-coordinated athlete or dancer Good manners and being considerate of others Beautiful , well-chosen words Consideration and care of other people Various expressions of kindness and mercy To show grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who doesn’t deserve it and can never earn it. Receiving God’s acceptance by grace always stands in sharp contrast to earning it on the basis of works. Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver.  Also, grace is absolutely and totally free. You

" Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.  "  (1 Peter 5:7) Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee.”  it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer. So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?  The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief an

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"   (Romans 8:35) There are three things notice in Romans 8:35. 1. Christ is loving us now. A wife might say of her deceased husband: Nothing will separate me from his love. She might mean that the memory of his love will be sweet and powerful all her life. But that is not what Paul means here. NIn Romans 8:34 it says plainly, “Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The reason Paul can say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is because Christ is alive and is still loving us now.  He is at the right hand of God and is therefore ruling for us. And he is interceding for us, which means he is seeing to it that his finished work of redemption does in fact save us hour by hour and bring us safe to eternal joy. His love is not a memory.

“ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ” (Mark 11:24 NIV) Faith is not believing God can do something. Faith is not hoping he will do something. Faith is thanking God in advance.  Jesus said,  “ For this reason I tell you: when you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.”   ( Mark 11:24 GNB).  You say, “ Wait a minute ! I’ve got to thank God in advance before I get it in order to get it?” Yes. If you thank God after you’ve got it, that’s gratitude . When you thank him in advance, that’s called faith .  If I handed you a check right now for a thousand dollars, would you wait until you cashed it to thank me? No! You’d thank me right now. But it really wouldn’t be yours until you actually cashed it, because that check is really a promise. When I give you that check, you go, “Thank you, Rick,” believing that I was credible and that I had enough mon

" As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”  He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not."  (Romans 4:17 NIV) There is enormous power in your words. If you’re going to become a woman or man of faith, you have to change the way you talk. You have to announce it in order to experience it.  Sometimes speaking in faith appears totally foolish, arrogant, and totally out of touch with reality to people who don’t understand faith. Abraham knew about this. God came to Abram one day and said, “ Abram, I’m going to change your name from Abram to Abraham.” Abraham means “the father of a great nation.”  (see Genesis  17:5)    There was only one problem: Abraham was 99 years old, and he had no kids. He was probably ruthlessly ridiculed for his name. But God says that we don’t live in the world of human reality. We live in the world of spiritual reality, and we see it not as it

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."  (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV ) Let us test ourself, what is in our mindset? Do we begin all of our acts depend on God, and his rights, and his goals, or do we begin with ourself, and our rights, and wishes? And when we look at the death of Christ, what imagine is in our minds,  does our joy really come from translating this awesome divine work into a boost for self-esteem,  or  we are drawn up out of ourself and filled with wonder and reverence and worship that here in the death of Jesus is the deepest, clearest declaration of the infinite esteem of God for his glory and for his Son? Here is a great objective foundation for the full assurance of hope: the forgiveness of sins is grounded, finally, not in my finite worth or work, but in the infinite worth of the righteousness of God, God's unswerving allegiance

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. (Psalm 115:3 NIV) This verse teaches that whenever God acts, he acts in a way that pleases him. God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. He is never backed into a corner where his only recourse is to do something he hates to do. He does whatever he pleases. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does.  This should lead us to bow before God and praise his sovereign freedom, that in some sense at least he always acts in freedom, according to his own “good pleasure,” following the dictates of his own delights.  God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.  Even at the one point in history where he did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, “not spare his own Son” (see Romans 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased him. Paul says t

“ Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT) Faith is visualizing the future. It’s believing it before you see it. Hebrews 11:1 says,  “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (NLT, second edition).  A lot of people say, “I’ll believe it when I see it!” God says the exact opposite is true: “You will see it when you first believe it.” There are many things in life that have to be believed before they can be seen.  In the 1960s, the Russians sent the first cosmonaut into outer space. He circled the earth, and when he came back down, he did a press conference and said, “I searched the heavens, and I looked for God, and I did not see him anywhere. Therefore, there is no God.” The Communists, which was an atheistic regime, said, “We now have scientific proof that there is no God.” About six months later, John Glenn went

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness."  (Hebrews 3:13 NIV) A church family will help keep you from backsliding.  None of us are immune to temptation. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin. God knows this, so he has assigned us as individuals the responsibility of keeping each other on track. The Bible says, “Encourage one another daily … so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13 NIV). “Mind your own business” is not a Christian phrase!  We are called and commanded to be involved in each other’s lives. If you know someone who is wavering spiritually right now, it is your responsibility to go after him and bring him back into the fellowship.  James tells us, “If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back” (James 5:19 MSG).  A local church also provides the spiritual protect

"It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus ." (Philippians 1:7-8 ) I’ve discovered that if people are not on my heart, they’re on my nerves. If you don’t have your kids in your heart, they get on your nerves. If you don’t have your husband in your heart, he gets on your nerves.  The reason so many marriages are crumbling is that mates are reacting to each other from their minds rather than their hearts. When your wife says, “I feel depressed,” listen to her; it’s legitimate. When your husband says, “I don’t feel this is the right thing for us to do, and I think we ought to do it this other way,” listen to him.  Heart love begins with understanding why others feel the way they do. Ask questions, and then listen. Hear the hurt, look for the problems, and