Just Continue That Thought...

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 (pp. 101-102). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. I have been holding for the past few months on to the fact that God is good.  Oh I know and believe that He is great but His goodness makes Him more personable to me.  Do you really realize that as a committed Christ-follower everything that happens to you must first go through God’s goodness?  His greatness changes all the bad that is targeted for you by the evil one, He changes it for your good.  He has to because He is good.  That is who He is.  You say, “But it is bad for me.”   No it’s not, it’s good for you.  It has to be good for you because He is good.  And that fact changes our perspective on all of our life.  So is His goodness real to you?

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. 123). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. Are you defeated?  Do you feel like a failure?  Do you realize that God has not turned His back on you?  He hasn’t quit.  He is still at it.  He is still faithful in His love for you, His belief in you, His availability to you. Just reach out to Him and grab hold of His faith in you, of His faithfulness, of His being involved in making a difference in your life.  His faithfulness can make something out of your failure.  It just might be an opportunity for a miracle.  So what are you going to do?

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). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. Have you ever thought about the fact that if you didn’t have confidence in the ability for a certain chair to hold you, then you would hesitate to sit in that chair?   I mean, you might fall.  What if you had that fear about every chair then your fear would make it difficult for you to ever sit down? That would be a very frustrating way to live.  I am at Starbucks right now and I’m sitting in a chair.  I sat down with no hesitancy, no fear because I knew it would hold me up.  I have sat in hundreds of Starbucks’ chairs and not once has one let me down.  I believed that this chair could be trusted and I was right. I believe in a greater measure that GOD can be trusted with my life.  HE has never let me down even when life has thrown some unexpected things in my path.  I was confident because I trus

A thought by Seth Godin (2011-03-01) from his book, Poke the Box (Kindle Location 220). AmazonEncore. Kindle Edition . In other words if you are afraid to fail then you will never do anything.  Failure is a part of the process of success and learning and doing. There are many people who are still single because they are afraid of marrying the wrong person. There are many couples who have no children because they are afraid of the pain of a miscarriage. There was a time that I moved out of the secure job that I had as a staff minister.  I had been a part of music almost all of my life, had a lot of success.  I also had great days as a Youth Minister and then as the Associate Minister in charge of the Adult ministry for a large church.  But I remember the day that I sensed there was something more and I moved with my family to Austin, Texas to start a new church.  The truth is I didn’t know what I was doing.  I had only preached five times and I knew I was in trouble b

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) from his book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 106). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. I read a chapter in the book of Psalms every day and I found a verse that really spoke to me this week.  The New Century Version says verse 7 of Psalm 112 this way, “ They won't be afraid of bad news; their hearts are steady because they trust the Lord .”  The story behind how you handle bad news goes a long way to prove you have faith.  How you handle bad news shows that your faith makes a difference more than how much you go to church.  Now feelings go a long way to show your lack of faith but your actions goes a long way to show your faith.  Are there stories in your life that shows you putting your trust in God through difficult times?  Now remembering those stories and retelling them during a difficult time also strengthens your faith.  It shows where God has taken care of you in your past.  And will help you dur

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) from hid book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 80). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Back when I was a Minister of Youth and Music in a church in Phoenix, Arizona I had with a group of friends season tickets to Arizona State University football games.  The football coach at that time was a very negative coach.  He used fear as his motivator.  It seemed his team was always looking over their shoulder wondering if they were doing it wrong so they were just a half a step behind. And that is the way it is when the church uses guilt to motivate.  It seems they are always living in fear and looking over their shoulder wondering what they are doing wrong.  But that is not the motivation of the New Testament.  Through Christ’s death on the cross we have been forgiven of our load of guilt.  That is why He came. We no longer live by rules but by a relationship which is fueled by love.  We serve Him out of love not o

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) from his book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 80). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Kyle tells the story of a man who came into a bank to finalize a business transaction and he had jeans on.  The teller let him know that the person he needed to see wasn’t there and he would need to come back the next day.  The man then asked the teller if she would validate his parking and she said she couldn’t because bank policy said that you hadn’t technically completed a financial transaction.  The man, whose name was John emphasize that it wasn’t his fault that the man wasn't in but the teller wouldn’t budge. So John whose last name was Akers decided to make a financial transaction.  John who was at the time the chairman of IBM decided to close his account and he withdrew one-and-a-half millions dollars.  And he then asked if the teller was then able to validate the parking ticket. That is when rules become more