Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (p. 98). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Let’s look for a moment at finding your God-designed task.   OK? Max says, “It matches your passions and enlists your gifts and talents. Want to blow the cloud cover off your gray day? Accept God’s direction.” After some examples he says, “‘The Lord has assigned to each his task’ (1 Corinthians 3:5 niv). What is yours? What is your unique call, assignment, mission? A trio of questions might help: “ In what directions has God taken you? Tally up the experiences unique to you. ‘Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to’ (Ephesians 5:17 tlb). In what culture were you raised? To what lifestyles have you been exposed? Your past is a signpost to your future. Ask Moses. His Egyptian childhood experiences prepared him to stand bef...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (p. 70). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) How do you handle tough days?   They can really be difficult, can’t they?   Last Friday was Good Friday.   That was a very tough day for Jesus. Max says, “During the Friday of suffering, Jesus spoke thirteen times. Ten of those remarks were to or about God. Nearly 80 percent of his comments were heaven gilded. Jesus talked to or thought about God all day long. “The next time you fight through a season of Fridays, do the math. Does God consume 80 percent of your thoughts? He wants to. You can endure change by pondering his permanence. Survive rejection by meditating on his acceptance. When health fails you or problems disturb you, take a break from them! ‘Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground… look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s w...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Every Day Deserves a Chance: Wake Up to the Gift of 24 Hours (p. 90). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Too many times we visualize God sitting down with his back to us, not really caring.   But the key is not where he is turned but where we are turned. Max says, “When his patriarchs trusted, God blessed. When Peter preached or Paul wrote or Thomas believed, God smiled. But he never ran. “That verb was reserved for the story of the Prodigal Son. ‘But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him’ (Luke 15:20 nkjv). “God runs when he sees the son coming home from the pig trough. When the addict steps out of the alley. When the teen walks away from the party. When the ladder-climbing executive pushes back from the desk, the spiritist turns from idols, the materialist from stuff, the atheist from d...