Destiny Reinforcers

I was half awake and half asleep when I got this revelation..."the closer I move toward God's destiny for me the more the enemy will throw deeply painful roadblocks my way--especially from people I love." As I more fully awoke I began to test this premise by analyzing it as compared to the experience of a few close friends. One, who shall remain unnamed, has made great strides in focusing his ministry toward God's destiny (and many have noticed). Yet the enemy has done his favorite trick...to take those that we love and use them to painfully hurt us...satan's purpose is simply to get us to move away from our destiny. This principle has been true in my own life too. As we have moved more and more to become the house of prayer and to lead others that direction satan has worked overtime to get us to quit. To be a normal church. To quit all this praying. Yet, his attacks only reinforce our determination to pursue God's destiny.

Do you think it's biblical? Remember when Peter tried to rebuke Jesus from going to the cross...and Jesus said those painfully powerful words--"Get behind me satan. You have in mind the things of man not the things of God!" Or when Paul was being sent by the Spirit to Jerusalem and then to Rome--and several key believers (and even a prophet) sought to dissuade him from going this direction. Even though God's destiny was that direction.

What about you? As you pursue God's clear destiny for you do you see the enemy at work? Simply ask God to use satan's attacks to reinforce your pursuit of God's destiny for you!

Tozer on A BIG GOD

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. --Psalm 34:3

I am positively sure after many years of observation and prayer that the basis of all of our trouble today, in religious circles, is that our God is too small.

When he says magnify the Lord, he doesn't mean that you are to make God big, but you are to see Him big. When we take a telescope and look at a star, we don't make the star bigger, we only see it big. Likewise you cannot make God bigger, but you are only to see Him bigger....

My brethren, God calls us to magnify Him, to see Him big. A meeting is not big because a lot of people are present. A meeting is big because a number of people see a big God in the meeting. And the bigger God is seen, the greater the meeting. A friend of mine has a little saying, 'I would rather have a big, little meeting than a little, big meeting.' There are a lot of big meetings that are little because the God in them is a small God. And there are a lot of little meetings that are big because God is big in the midst of them....

That is the first thing--magnify God. Your ministry will be little, and you will live and die little unless you have a bigger God. Success and the Christian, 36-37,40

What A Refreshing Way To Leave A Legacy

I'm on a prayer retreat and God keeps speaking to me about what's most important to His Heart...LOVE!

As I sit and ponder the amazing legacy my mom has left on earth and in heaven one word rings out clear and loud--LOVE! Mom was not a loud person, but she loved clearly and consistently day in and day out! As I think about her life...year after year and decade after decade--she loved! Some were close to her like family and others were new friends she made wherever she went. Since we know every word of God is true and has been tested to be so--we can rejoice in the enduring legacy of love:

LOVE NEVER FAILS! 1 Cor. 13:8

When we love we always win...and the influence of the love shared has eternal impact! What a great honor to look back on mom's almost 74 years on earth and summarize her life with one simple word--LOVE! Mom expressed her love through sharing, serving, talking, caring and most of all by giving Jesus and His word to all who would listen.

This simple woman with no college degree has left a tidal wave of impact through daily loving those God brought to her.

Wow...what a refreshing way to leave a legacy!

Words...Word

Have you ever read a Christian biography that ravished your soul? I cannot over emphasize how encouraging Christian biographies can be! My favorites include HEAVENLY MAN (about Brother Yun), THE LIFE OF A.W. TOZER: IN PURSUIT OF GOD (by Snyder)and DESTINED FOR A MISSION: The Life Journey of Herman Neusch by Kathy Glover. And a new favorite is GEORGE WHITEFIELD by Dallimore. I am reading it for the second time!!! Did I say that Christian biographies can be SO encouraging?


Here's the line that has literally changed my life: "Finally comes his unique practice of 'praying over every line and word' in both English and Greek, feasting his mind and his heart upon it till its essential meaning has become a part of his very person."

Wow...try that...praying over the Word...every line and word! It will become a part of your very person!

25 Reasons I Am Thankful For our Wreck 25 Years Ago

1. I understand pain is God’s megaphone to wake a sleeping world
2. I know the grueling struggle of persevering in suffering
3. I see that God shapes character through our patient endurance
4. I am glad that God sets the limits to every trial
5. I am thankful that with each trial God provides the grace to overcome
6. I perceive that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us
7. I experienced the love & prayers of family & friends at unprecedented levels
8. I have been comforted by God in my affliction
9. I can now comfort others in any affliction with the comfort I received
10. I have a marriage that was forged in the depths of pain and founded on Christ
11. I have a best friend in Mary Anne that was formed in the early days
12. I have a theology of suffering
13. I don’t see God and hardship as antithetical
14. I love God more because of the wreck
15. I rejoice looking back because I have been changed by the affliction
16. I have experienced real loss, grief and now know God better because of it
17. I saw and heard amazing miracles associated with the wreck
18. I have the joy of sharing the miracles God did and thus encourage others
19. I know God’s love does not disappoint, even when it looks like it will
20. I have scars that show I have suffered and healed
21. I offer the scars as a reminder we are all wounded healers
22. I see what could have been used for evil has been turned for good
23. I know God gives and takes away
24. I know God makes all things work together for my good
25. I would do it again…it’s been worth all the pain

Loved

When you stop and think of the innumerable things that try to set the agenda for our day it is indeed a miracle when we live to love. Isn't that why were created...to love and be loved? FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON (John 3:16) and WE LOVE BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US (1 John 4:19)...these simple texts are explaining that we have been loved infinitely by God!

A basic psychological theory of self-esteem (stick with me here) is called the LOOKING GLASS SELF THEORY. It states that each individual sees themselves as a reflection of how the most important person in their life sees them. Do you see how this works in our favor? God now sees all believers in His Son (2 Cor. 5:21) and that will never change. Is He the most important person in your life?

Celebrate...

*God love for you is constant--even on your worst day
*Nothing you do can change the way He feels about you
*Embracing His amazing love will free you to be who HE made you to be

And the best part is we get to live a life for the ONE AGENDA--Loving God! We exist now and forever for love.

We have been loved fully...we are loved fully...we will be loved fully!

Now and forever...focus on loving God and receiving His constant love for you.

It makes life!