"He cannot give back what you do not give up."

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2013-09-24) from his book, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Kindle Location 536). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I hear so many people talk about their rights. I have my rights. They don’t have a right to do that to me. But the truth is God wants us to give Him all our rights but He then gives them back to us as privileges. If we would get what we rightly deserve then we would never have anything. But for what our sins did to Him He takes what we give Him and He gives us back grace. We don’t have any rights for what our sins did to Him.

What about your relationships? I don’t deserve how they treat me. I am their parent/child/ spouse. I should be respected. But the truth is God gave them to you to minister to their needs not for them to minister to you and your needs. Give them to God and then God can use you to be what they need you to be and then watch what will happen.

What about your life, your dreams, your plans? How is that going? Why don’t you give them to God and then see what happens. Let Him take how He created you and use you to your fullest potential. See how the stress comes down and the effectiveness comes up.

What about your finances? Let Him have control and see what happens. Here is what Mark says, “The truth of the matter is that you can’t really say mine about anything! Nothing belongs to you — not your house, not your car, not your clothes. Every material thing you own is the by-product of the time, talent, and treasure God has given you. When you kneel at the foot of the cross, the possessive pronoun is eliminated from your vocabulary.”

And you don’t truly have it until you give it to Him so He can give it back to you.

So what are you holding on to?

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...

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

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. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident. In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose. In other words you are not an accident. I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth. In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man. And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ” Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like? Like that characteristic is a curse or something. Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God. Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...

Just Continue That Thought...

Search This Blog