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Relying on God

One of the greatest life principles I have ever learned is:

            Nothing can enter my life without first coming through His hands.

God’s hand is always on the control center of our lives provided we are fully surrendered to Him.

No individual in the Bible who ever fully followed Jesus was ever decreased, but was enlarged.

For each of us it important to understand God’s enlargement process in order to live the enlarged life.  We should always remember that God has an “exact moment” for our season of enlargement.

• Where is your lack today, your area of barrenness?
• As you sing forth God’s praises and worship Him, increase and enlargement will come to you.
• Get ready for God to enlarge our spheres of influence and usefulness.

As we move into the enlarged life, God strips off the chains, bondage and restraints; He equips us, arms us, makes us ready and strengthens our hand.  He makes us loose, pliable, maneuverable and ready.

Psalm 18:20-24

²⁰GOD made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
²¹Now I’m alert to GOD’s ways;
I don’t take God for granted.
²²Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
²³I feel put back together,
and I’m watching my step.
²⁴GOD rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

I’m ready for another weekend, as we learn more about His Kingdom and how to live it!

Are you ready?

Let Your Light Shine!

With your Bible, read Matthew 5:14-16.

In the study of life, one thing is most certain – without light there is no life.  Light is necessary for photosynthesis to occur.

When Jesus commanded us to “Let our light shine” He was telling us what we are meant to be – light – and what we are meant to do – shine.

A changed life must become in turn a life-changer.  Light is a symbol of radiance, openness, and joy.

Everything that is purely itself fulfills its purpose.   It is the nature and purpose of light to shine.

The only answer to darkness is light.  Light and darkness do not mix, for light is a positive energy while darkness is simply the absence of light.

While light can pierce the darkness, darkness cannot penetrate light since light always dominates.  When light hits darkness, the darkness is pushed back at the speed of 186,000 miles per second.

The mission of Jesus is to conform Believers to His image and to empower them with His light so they can perform good works that will draw others to His light.

We empower Jesus in our lives as we do these good works.

There is a chemical element called selenium, which is normally a non-conductor of electricity.  No electricity can pass through it.

However, when light falls on it immediately it becomes a conductor, electricity flows through it.  And the amount of electricity that can flow through a selenium cell is exactly proportional to the amount of light that falls on it.

• No light, no electricity.
• A little light, a little electricity.
• Great light, great electricity.

Thus we see how God’s light gets into the world.

An unsaved person is like selenium – a non-conductor.  None of God’s wisdom, love, and might pass into the world.  Let a ray of God’s light fall on a human heart and immediately the person becomes a conductor of God’s power to the world around him.

When our light shines God is magnified to those around us.  So, Let Your Light Shine!

The Adventure of Becoming Who I Am!

You are never more a man (or woman) than when you embrace an adventure beyond your control, or when you walk into a battle you aren’t sure of winning.

We should see every adventure of our life as an opportunity for initiation.  What are You teaching me, God?  What are You asking me to do or to let go of?  What in my heart are You speaking to?

Oswald Chambers said, “Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.”

Originality and creativity are essential to identity and calling. 

The adventure begins and our real strength is released when we no longer rely on formulas.  God is an immensely creative person and He wants His children to live that way to.

God wants us to know that our battles are personal to Him and He will design personal and unique strategies for each battle.

The theme of our story is how we become human.  What does it mean to become human, be a real man, a real woman?  What must we deal with in order to become ourselves, to grow up?

We can’t be human without God.  Human life is a great gift; every part of it is designed by God and therefore means something.  Every part of it is blessed by God and therefore is to be enjoyed.

We can refuse to participate in God, act as if He isn’t our designer, provider and covenant presence.  But when we refuse, we’re less; our essential humanity is less, our lives are diminished and impoverished.

God-thirst is the most powerful drive in us, stronger than all the drives of sex, power, security and fame put together. 

To be God-chosen is to be God-anointed, God-assigned and God-defined. Once you know who you are, you acquire a God-dominated imagination.  You practice the presence of God and His presence captivates your thinking about your responses to life.

The most personal, most significant, most human thing we ever do is to believe in and trust in God.

And I’ll leave you with this…your thumbprint is God’s way of reminding you of how unique and special you truly are!

Perseverance in the Kingdom

It is a law of life – perseverance always outlasts persecution.

Perseverance is probably the single most common quality of high achievers.  The longer you persevere in any endeavor, the greater the probability that something will happen in your favor.

Success in life comes through industry – dedication, commitment, patience, self-discipline, and hard work that brings positive results.

Every living thing on planet earth is designed to grow.

Humans and animals have within them an inborn need to grow and develop their full potential.

Paul said, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me…  We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Jesus gave us the principle of success in perseverance when He said, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.

Ask

Seek

Knock

The Father gives good things to those who keep asking Him.

Jesus created our humanity and knows its tendency to give up quickly, to become inconsistent and lackadaisical.

God rewards persistence! God slowly yields the good things of the kingdom and the world to those who struggle.

• Abraham waited a hundred years before he received Isaac, the child of promise.
• David was hunted as a criminal for 17 years before becoming king of Israel.
• Joseph persevered through 13 years of struggles until he became second in command in Egypt.

God’s kingdom can only function in our lives to the extent we operate in faith.

Perseverance in the kingdom is dependent upon the degree to which we allow His life to dominate us.

God is my Cup of Tea!

Life is often made more interesting by the questions it prompts.

Questions like –           

• What is my purpose?
  
• Why am I here?
  
• What is my place?
  
• Where do I belong?
  
• What should I be doing?

Then there is the ultimate question of – Is there a God?  And if there is, what does He expect of me?

Since we are created for a specific purpose, we cannot adopt an attitude of neutrality toward the God who made us without being morally irresponsible.

God is not optional – He is an imperative.  Only by the Spirit of God acting on our human spirit can we ever be enabled to behave as God intended us to behave. Our behavior is intended by God to be a pure expression of His divine nature.

The moment you come to realize that only God can make a man whole, you are left with no option but to find God, to know God, and to let God be God in you and through you.

It takes God to be a man, and wholeness is the consequence of God’s capacity to reproduce Himself in you.

When you act in strict obedience to the “truth” of God’s Word, the “truth” behaves, and the end effect is wholeness.

The Christian life is not so much what we do to please God but the yielding of our lives to Him so that He can, through the indwelling Christ, do through us His will.

All of Him is in me – all of Him in me is available to me and through me to the world around me.

Think about this through the analogy of a cup of hot water and a tea bag. The water is not the tea and the tea is not the water.  They are two separate items.

When the tea bag is placed in the water, a remarkable thing takes place – the water changes color and nature.  It becomes indwelt by a new and dominant nature.

The nature of the tea saturates the water until it becomes tea – not water.  For the water to exist now is for tea to exist.

The water could say – it is no longer I that exist, but tea that lives in me.

As a Christian, I am just a cup of water, which, when heated by the Holy Spirit and mixed with faith and indwelt by the Savior, becomes a new creation.

If You Missed this Weekend at TheChurch on Strayer

Several years ago a pilot was practicing high speed maneuvers in a jet fighter.

She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent – then flew straight into the ground.  She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.

In our high speed, fast-paced world today, many people have no clue whether they are flying upside down or right-side up.

For those who believe in God, there must be a belief in practice that there is a right-side up.

As people who live in God’s light, it often appears to the world that we are living upside down.

In the Kingdom of God –

          Up is down,
          Greatness is serving,
          Getting is giving,
          Promotion is humility,
          Leaders are servants,
          Strength is weakness,
          Life is death,
          Authority is surrender.

Nothing is more important to your life than knowing, experiencing, and living the laws of His Kingdom.

It is His joy to help us create our life in His Kingdom on earth.

In essence we become trainees or apprentices to proclaim to the world – the Kingdom of God is here and now.

The whole creation is awaiting the demonstration of Kingdom living.