“Until you believe God is with you and for you, fear and hesitation will characterize your life.”

A thought by Steven Furtick (2010-09-21) from his book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (p. 102). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

I am looking on my other blog, bill’s front porch, at The Lord’s Prayer. It is what Jesus shared with His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to pray.

Now the first request He told them to ask for was to ask that God’s name be hallowed. Now to hallow means that we are to acknowledge who God really is. One way to do that is to start your prayer with praising God.

I am right now sitting on a picnic table outside close to a beautiful Florida lake. I am in the middle of my walking. In my first part of my walking I listened on my iPhone to last Sunday’s message by Brian Moll who is the Pastor of Forefront Church in Manhattan and when that was done I had a time of focused prayer. Now in the first part of my prayer I acknowledge who God was through praising Him.

Some think that praising Him and thanking Him is the same thing but they aren’t. Praising Him is taking a meaningfully focused time to acknowledge who He is. For instance, He is love, He is unchangeable, He is omnipresent (He is everywhere), He is omniscient (He is all knowing), He is omnipotent (He is all powerful). You praise Him for who He is then you thank Him for what He has done. After doing that you really realize that He can handle what is happening in your life so then you ask Him specifically to give you what you need. When you emphasize who He is and what He has done you then come boldly to request of Him.

But until you really realize that He is with you (omnipresent) and He loves you and He has the power (omnipotence) to take care of you then you will live in fear and worry. We live way below the privileges of what God has for us because we don’t really acknowledge who He is.

So what has you worried today?

Comments

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life. It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed. Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life. Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you. You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good. Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“Sometimes we think we’re stuck simply because things are hard.”

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of t...

Just Continue That Thought...

Search This Blog