Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 104). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This season of the year has so much potential to bring pain.   We didn’t get invited to that party.   We didn’t get that gift that they know we really wanted.   We don’t have enough money to get home for Christmas.   So many things that can bring us pain but it all comes down to what we are reaching out to for our happiness. John says, “A soul centered in God always knows it has a heavenly Father who will hold its pain, its fear, its anxiety. This is spiritual life: to place the soul each moment in the presence and care of God. ‘My soul cleaves to you, your right hand upholds me.’ It is much harder than it sounds to keep our souls centered on God. We hold on tightly, but often to the wrong things. But staying centered on God — his word, his ways — is the ...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I think that is an important thought for us to realize on this Thanksgiving Day.   I like how John puts it, “God planted eternity in our hearts so that we would not stop seeking life beyond ourselves.”   That is why the act of giving thanks no matter your situation is so necessary in handling life.   Our soul wants you to understand that this is not the end, we have a future. We are going to spend time with one set of our kids today.   Now I don’t think that Margaret will remember all the pain that had happened when Brett was born or our daughter in-law, Marissa will think about the pain when Ashlyn and Addison were each born.   Yes there was great pain in the moment, terrible pain but as John says, “What starts in pain, ends in joy.”   I know t...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 105). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) John says, “One is sin. Sin cannot coexist with a soul centered on God. If I choose to live in bitterness, or to indulge lust, or to deceive my wife, I am choosing to keep God out of my thoughts.” And then he says, “The other disconnect is what might be called the ‘troublesome thought.’ This soul-enemy is actually much more pervasive. It’s not necessarily a sin. It’s simply a way of thinking that does not take God into account. The troublesome thought begins with any normal concern you might have. For example, you open your quarterly statement from your 401K and notice that instead of gaining, your fund lost a few hundred dollars. Certainly reason to be concerned, but then you begin a succession of thoughts that practically consume you: Will I have enough to retire? What if...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 101). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We are one month away from Christmas.   Talk about a time that we need to keep our soul centered on God.    This is not usually a time that we are patient but a time that we can be in a total rush.   And that is so true in the church. I used to be a Youth and Music Pastor.   I usually during this season would be working toward a major Christmas concert in my music area and working toward a major activity for Christmas Eve in my youth area.   What that meant was I got sick between Christmas and New Year’s. So I also think it is important for us to put Christ into our Christmas as Christians.   We had a fun time Thanksgiving night last year.   We went shopping.   It was a mess but it was a great time to get deals and we did....

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 92). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We hear a lot about the need for positive self-talk.   But John shows the need for soul talk and he shares, “you will see in the Psalms and elsewhere people speaking to their souls because when you speak to the soul, it naturally turns to prayer because in the soul God is always present.” I like what John said earlier that “Habits eat willpower for breakfast.”   We need more than will power, we need God’s power in so many areas of our like and that comes through prayer.   John says, “The next time you blow something — when you’re frightened, when you’re dissatisfied — instead of mindless self-talk, speak to your soul: ‘Why are you afraid, O my soul?’ At first it might seem a little silly, but remember, you are the keeper of your soul. Only you.” He c...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 91). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It is so easy to live in a state of denial isn’t it?   Such as… …I can eat a dozen Cinnamon Rolls from Winchell’s and it won’t affect my weight. …I can have an affair but it won’t hurt my marriage. …I can let my temper fly and it won’t hurt my relationships. …I can have an attitude at work and get away with it. …I can spend, spend, spend and I won’t get into debt. …I can never go to church or never read my Bible and it won’t hurt my relationship with Christ. But no matter how much you believe those statements your denial of the law of consequences will be huge and damaging. Now there is also a positive side to this law of consequences.   If I live by or use the law of consequences for my good then it will have a positive effect in my life.   S...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 77). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here we see the importance of focus and how it can make such a difference in our behavior and how we handle life. John tells of an experiment with 450 students at UCLA.   “Researchers divided them into two groups and asked one group to remember some trivial memory: ten books you had been assigned to read in high school. They asked the other group to try to remember the Ten Commandments. The students in the ten books memory group engaged in typical widespread cheating. The students in the Ten Commandments group did not cheat at all. Merely the act of trying to remember the Ten Commandments made them think, ‘I was made for something better.’ This despite the fact that not a single student in the Ten Comm...