GOSPEL :: FAMILY :: MISSION
I love my wife. I love her a lot. We would have massive issues if I didn’t. But think about this. If you came over to our home and you experienced our relationship in a more up-close and personal way and what you experienced was not, me actively loving my wife but instead you could see that there were some major issues in our marriage, what would you think?
Every relationship, has seasons of relational dysfunction that need to be dealt with. Key phrase, dealt with, not ignored. And the same is true of my relationship with God. There are seasons where the fruit (behavior, affections and thoughts) of my life prove that my love for the Lord is lacking. When my behavior doesn’t match my words there’s something unsettled inside of me.
Think about the crazy acts of generosity you’ve witnessed in other Christians. How often have you been the recipient of someone else’s sacrificial generosity? How have you been blessed or even challenged by someone else’s generosity? I believe that God wants us to be examples of generosity because he has been so generous to us through the cross of Christ.
How do you pray at all times and on every occasion? How do you stay alert and be persistent in your prayer life? How do you pray for believers everywhere? The key to having this kind of prayer life is the Holy Spirit.
Things that need power don’t operate at their fullest potential when they aren’t connected to a power source. What happens when something is disconnected from a power source? In a house, the lights go off and you live in darkness. On a construction site, production ceases. A car’s engine stops running when the battery is dead. The same is true with people.
One author says that, “the love that motivates us is the power that drives us.” When the love within us is corrupted then the power that drives us will produce corruption. When what we love is rotten then the fruit of our lives will be rotten.
How do you stop worrying? That seems like the million dollar question. We know what we worry about. We usually worry about earthly things. We worry about food and drink and clothing. We worry about physical needs.
It’s crazy to think that the eyes of our hearts could be blinded by darkness instead of enlightened by the hope of our calling in Christ Jesus. The central issue here is an issue of hope.
Sometimes I pray for the wrong reasons or I pray to false images of who God is. It seems difficult to keep up a steady rhythm of prayer sometimes. I start praying and I get distracted. I make a decision to spend some time in prayer and I fall asleep. I spend time in prayer and sometimes it feels dull and lifeless. Sometimes I don’t know what to pray about and sometimes I don’t know what to say. What I need is to be set free by what God’s Word says.
If we are honest, it is all too easy to find ourselves praying for the wrong reasons or praying to false images of who God is. It seems difficult to keep up a steady rhythm of prayer sometimes. Maybe we start praying and get distracted or even fall asleep. Or it feels dull and lifeless. Or you just don’t know what to say.
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