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As we follow God’s purpose for our lives we will need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable at times. Change is a natural part of life. To follow God in our life we need to be willing to keep learning and keep growing. Dick Biggs, speaker and author, has a poem about the importance of having the right attitude towards change. Life’s turning points are as sure as the tide Just a matter of when, so why not decide? To embrace these transitions as ways to grow ‘Tis folly to ignore what you already know. Make a vow to adapt to the crises of life There’s no reason to suffer more stress or strife. Quite often change becomes a blessing in time While making you wiser in pursuit of your prime. No change is impossible, no one is exempt You can step out in faith or shrug with contempt. Life comes in cycles, no two are the same To claim nothing’s new is a naïve game. Some change is impractical, some things must endure You need worthwhile values, so profound and pure. Plus a noble purpose to guide you each day And give life meaning as you forge your way. But most things do change, it’s a natural law You can believe this is truth or stand there in awe. It may be uncomfortable, it may cause pain--- Won’t a regretful heart be a greater strain? With every change, there’s an outcome to bear So accept the challenge, for life’s seldom fair. Be willing to risk and you’re bound to find More courage and strength from a positive mind. Be bold, be daring, be receptive to change For most things are better when you rearrange. Get out of the rut, seek a new vitality Move beyond the old to a fresh reality. Ah, life has turning points, they won’t disappear Rise up to greet them and conquer your fear. The choice is simple, it’s as clear as can be: Will I master change or will change master me? When asked to describe significant regrets in their lives, most people focus on actions they did not take rather than on actions that they did. When people do not have a clear passion or purpose it can lead to indecision and a lack of direction. Christians know that we have a clear purpose for our lives. It is guided by God as the ultimate leader. Seek God and let Him direct your life. Know that with God all things are possible! Faith enables us to serve in God pleasing ways. Our purpose is to show God’s love to others.
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I'm going with Jesus all the way I'm going with Jesus all the way You can't stop me, You can't turn me I'm going with Jesus all the way Sometimes I have to fast and pray Sometimes I have to steal away Sometimes I have to cry out help me Lord (OH YES) I know if I hold my peace, the Lord will take care of me. I'm going with Jesus all the way Everybody, just clap your hand (A little louder) Come on, just clap your hand (A little louder) If you love Him, just clap your hand (A little louder) All the save folks, just clap your hand (A little louder) Come on and just clap your hand (A little louder) All the church folks, just clap your hand (A little louder) All the deacons, just clap you hand (A little louder) I'm going, with Jesus I'm going, with Jesus I'm going, with Jesus Pack it up Pack it up , get ready Anybody want to go Pack your bags, come on I'm going sing that man who died for me I'm going, with Jesus I'm going, with Jesus I'm going, with Jesus Trust and never doubt
Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet I will sing of God's mercy Every day every hour He gives me power I will sing and give thanks to Thee For all the dangers, toils & snares That He has brought me out He is my God And I'll serve Him No matter what the test Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet I know God is able To deliver in time of storm I know that He'll keep you Safe from all earthly harm One day when my weary soul is at rest I'm going home to be forever blessed Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet I will sing of God's mercy Every day every hour He gives me power I will sing and give thanks to Thee For all the dangers, toils & snares That He has brought me out He is my God And I'll serve Him No matter what the test Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet Didn’t my God deliver Moses from King Pharoah? And didn’t He cool the fiery furnace For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? When I think of What my God can do, He delivered Daniel I know He will deliver you Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet I will sing of God's mercy Every day every hour He gives me power I will sing And give thanks to Thee For all the dangers, toils & snares That He has brought me out He is my God And I'll serve Him No matter what the test Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet He never failed me, He never failed me yet Trust and never doubt Jesus will surely bring you out Christians know that a result of faith is purpose in our lives. Our purpose is to show God’s love to others so that more people will come to faith in God. German philosopher and theologian, Johann Gottfried Von Herder, has an excellent quote about the importance of inspiration for purpose. “Without inspiration, the best powers of the mind are dormant. There is a tinder in us which needs to be quickened with sparks.” For Christians, God’s love in our lives is that spark and inspiration that burns within us.
Christians have a variety of different jobs, but all of us are in the salvation business. We can seek to know the Gospel message well and to share this with others. God is not asking us to be anyone but ourselves. Our own personal story of how God has affected our lives can make a difference because it has God’s power behind it. Christian author Lysa TerKeurst provides a simple prayer to start each day with. “God, I want to see You. God, I want to hear You. God, I want to know You. So that I can follow hard after You. Please help me recognize Your presence in my day today.” Each day we can offer God our willingness. Even if you feel that you are not in a position for God to use you, simply be willing to follow and listen to Him. God can use who you are and the gifts He has given you to make a difference in the lives of others. Be obedient to God’s will and watch Him accomplish amazing things through your life! You may not even know the full impact of the actions you take and the words you speak, but God is using them for good! Faith in God changes our whole perspective on life. Author John Maxwell notes what the result of fear is compared to the result of faith.  Fear can stop us in our tracks and can lead to inactivity. Faith on the other hand leads to confidence and action to help others. Consider the following situation. Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left on the log? This might seem like an easy question with an answer of one. The real answer is that we do not know at this point because there is a difference between deciding and doing. When God calls us to take action in our lives we need to move from thinking about to doing it. In Genesis 12 God calls Abram to action. The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. Genesis 12:1. Abram responded in faith and went. Pastor Charles Swindoll provides a great explanation of this and how it can relate to our lives. “All Abraham knew was that God wanted him to move. He didn’t have a clue about the final destination. Nothing about the weather or the crime rate in the area. No information about the neighborhood he’d live in or the problems he would have to face. Nothing. He knew only that God had told him to go. If you’re waiting on God to fill in all the shading in your picture, you will never take the first step in obeying His will. You must be prepared to trust His plan, knowing it will be full of surprises.” When God prompts us to do His will, like Abraham, we can respond in faith. We will not have all the details, but we can trust that God will be with us as our guide. Several years ago Pastor Max Lucado had a sermon series on trusting in God and how God works on the behalf of Christians. In each sermon he had the congregation repeat several sentences with him. The sentences provide assurance of God’s direction and are a call to action. These days are Glory Days. With God as my helper, I will be all He wants me to be, do all He wants me to do, and receive all He wants me to receive. My past is past, My future is bright, God’s promises are true and His word is sure. These days are Glory Days. With faith in God all is possible! God can move us from fear to faith. We can act with confidence knowing that God is on our side! God's majesty and power can be seen in the intricacies of His creation. The average human body has about 30 trillion cells. Each cell is designed with a purpose and God took great care in making humans. As small and detailed as each cell is, also think about the size of the universe. The sun if it were hollow could hold over 1 million earths. The sun is one of over 100 billion stars in our galaxy. The galaxy also contains more than stars. It contains nebulae-which consist of the same stuff as stars but spread out over a much larger region of space. The Rosette Nebula is estimated to be more massive than 10,000 suns. The detail, size, and scope of creation is beyond our understanding! God created all this and spoke it into existence. Psalm 33:9a states, For He spoke, and it came to be. Truly awe-inspiring! God’s creation was designed to give glory to God. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1. Christians know that we as well are designed to give God glory. We can strive to live out God’s love in our lives because of the great love we have received. God will provide us direction and encouragement as we try to make the most of each day by serving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. We can rely on the power and strength of God through our whole life. When we keep God’s Word in our hearts and minds throughout the day it changes everything. Believing in God as our Lord and Savior can affect all aspects of our lives. God knows everything about us and cares about us. He wants to help and guide us. What are core values that everyone should aspire to live out? To answer this question, I came up with what I call, “The three G’s.” The first “G” is for God. Faith in God is the most important. Because of His love we have eternal life in heaven and can show this love to others. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16. God’s love can affect everything that a Christian does. This is the basis for all things and gives power and meaning to the next two “g’s.”
The second “g” is for a growth mindset. This is a belief that your basic qualities and abilities are things you can cultivate through effort. In other words, you can learn and improve through hard work and perseverance. God has given all of us wonderful bodies and minds that are capable of learning new things and improving. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14. The final “g” is for grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Hebrews 12:1-2a describes this perfectly. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. It is all about Jesus. God’s love can fuel our passion to assist others and help us stay committed to His Word for our lives. Christians know that the long-term goal is life everlasting in heaven. We want as many people as possible to persevere in the faith to join us in heaven. President Jimmy Carter summarizes this view well. “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something…My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.” Reference: Stohlmann, M. (2020). The second best time to plant a tree. Seattle, WA; KDP. If you have ever been excited for an event, a trip, or spending time with a person or people, you imagine what it will be like. We can have great excitement and anticipation for what is waiting for us in heaven. Imagining what heaven might be like can grow our relationship with God as we seek to better known His love and His Word in the Bible. Pastor Randy Alcorn provides a description of what heaven might be like based on his study of Bible verses about heaven. “People smiling and joyful, not angry, depressed, and empty. If you’re not in a particularly beautiful place, close your eyes and envision the most beautiful place you’ve ever been—complete with palm trees, raging rivers, jagged mountains, waterfalls, or snowdrifts. Think of friends or family members who loved Jesus and are with him now. Picture them with you, walking together in this place. All of you have powerful bodies, stronger than those of Olympic decathletes. You are laughing, playing, talking, and reminiscing. You reach up to a tree to pick an apple or orange. You take a bite. It’s so sweet that it’s startling. You’ve never tasted anything so good. Now you see someone coming toward you. It’s Jesus, with a big smile on his face. You fall to your knees in worship. He pulls you up and embraces you. At last, you’re with the person you were made for, in the place you were made to be. Everywhere you go, there will be new people and places to enjoy, new things to discover. What’s that you smell? A feast. A party’s ahead, and you’re invited. There’s exploration and work to be done—you can’t wait to get started.” The greatest story of your life will just be beginning when your time on earth is complete. In response to God’s great love we can strive to follow God’s will and to show His wonderful love to others. The world’s greatest future is promised to all who believe in God as their Savior! The ending of the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Last Battle, provides a great outlook on what awaits us in heaven. Following this are the words of 1 Peter 1:3-9, which are excellent to read and meditate on often to keep a heavenly perspective in our thoughts and words. “And for us this is the end of all the stories and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all the adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning Chapter 1 of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.” Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9. We can keep heaven in mind as we go about our day to faithfully serve God and to give glory to Him so that more people can share in the wonderful inheritance in heaven. This is an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Let God’s great love and your great future guide your life! Heaven is real! God’s promises are true! The greatest future awaits!
God has prepared amazing things for those that love Him that we cannot begin to imagine. The greatest future awaits us in heaven. There will be endless days of rejoicing! The beauty of heaven and dwelling in God’s presence will be simply amazing! A song written by Mrs. A.S. Bridgewater in 1920 captures the anticipation of the beauty of heaven. How Beautiful Heaven Must Be! We read of a place that’s called Heaven, It’s made for the pure and the free; These truths in God’s Word He hath given, How beautiful Heaven must be. How beautiful Heaven must be, Sweet home of the happy and free; Fair haven of rest for the weary, How beautiful Heaven must be. In Heaven no drooping nor pining, No wishing for elsewhere to be; God’s light is forever there shining, How beautiful Heaven must be. Don Piper, author of the book 90 minute in heaven, details in the book the view of heaven he experienced and how it impacted his life. Don Piper was in a car accident and declared dead at the scene. After ninety minutes of a glimpse into heaven he came back to his body on earth and survived the car accident. Piper describes the view of God’s light in heaven he experienced. “Heaven’s light and texture defy earthly eyes or explanation. Warm, radiant light engulfed me. As I looked around, I could hardly grasp the vivid, dazzling colors. Every hue and tone surpassed anything I had ever seen.” It is hard to explain how wonderful heaven will be. Based on our earthly experiences there is nothing that will compare. Song writer Albert Brumley captures this wonderfully in his poem, “I couldn’t begin to tell you.” If I had all the words of our language to use at a moment’s command If I had all the beautiful pictures of nature, the sea, and the land If I spoke in a voice never ending, speaking only of loveliness I couldn’t begin to tell you how beautiful Heaven is. If I mixed all the glorious sunsets with the fathomless mysteries of Mars If I mixed all the beauty of spring time with the gleam of the moon and the stars If I added the love of all mothers and the thrill of a baby’s kiss I couldn’t, no I couldn’t, begin to tell you how beautiful Heaven is. References:
Stohlmann, M. (2020). The world's greatest future. Seattle, WA:KDP. Christians know that death is not final. We will see all Christians again in heaven. In our time on earth we can leave a legacy that lives on in the lives of others about the importance of faith in God. Because of God’s love and power we can all make a difference in the lives of others. God can use us to show His love to others.
Dr. Phineas Gurley was pastor of the church which Abraham Lincoln attended while President. He preached the funeral sermon for the president in the White House East Room. Gurley described how many people admired Lincoln for his integrity, kindness, patience, forgiving nature, and self-sacrificing leadership. Lincoln had concern for the poor, weak, suffering, and oppressed based on his faith in God that let him know that all humans are important to God. President Lincoln’s faith in God as his Lord and Savior is what Pastor Gurley wanted people to remember about the president and for all others to have this great faith in God. The following is part of the message that Pastor Gurley shared at Lincoln’s funeral. “But more sublime than any or all of these, more holy and influential, more beautiful, and strong, and sustaining, was his abiding confidence in God and in the final triumph of truth and righteousness through Him and for His sake. This was his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret alike of his strength, his patience, and his success… By this he speaks to his successor in office, and charges him to ‘have faith in God.’..By this he speaks to all who occupy positions of influence and authority in these sad and troublous times, and he charges them all to ‘have faith in God.’ By this he speaks to this great people as they sit in sackcloth to-day, and weep for him with a bitter wailing, and refuse to be comforted, and he charges them to ‘have faith in God.’ And by this he will speak through the ages and to all rulers and peoples in every land, and his message to them will be, ‘Cling to Liberty and right; battle for them; bleed for them; die for them, if need be; and have confidence in God.’" Have faith in God. President Lincoln and Dr. Gurley both knew this is more important than anything else. If this message would be taken to heart by all in the world, think about what a difference it would make. There would be far more encouragement and support and far less anger and sadness. Faith in God can lead to a heavenly perspective where we know that death is not the end, but the beginning of something so beautiful that we cannot begin to imagine it. Christians know where our true home is. A prominent citizen in a town was dying. As he lay in his lovely home, the best doctors surrounding him, he whispered, with a note of despair, “I’m leaving home, I’m leaving home.” Across town there lay a solitary figure in surroundings bare. Her modest home contained only the most threadbare of life’s essentials. In her eye was a gleam of hope and joy. Before she died she was heard to say with content, “I’m going home, I’m going home.” Let your eternal heavenly home impact your earthly perspective. Keep your thoughts on heaven and God’s love and in this earthly life God can use you so that more people are given the free gift of heaven. Reference: Stohlmann, M. (2020). The world's greatest future. Seattle, WA:KDP. |
Micah StohlmannChristian, author, and professor of mathematics education. Archives
February 2021
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