No More Dying to Do

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9)

Death. It's not a popular topic--even among believers. In fact, a great many are just plain scared of it. Oh yes, they talk about having eternal life. Yet when the devil tries to threaten their earthly survival with sickness or calamity, they panic.

Why? Because they haven't learned to look at death through God's eyes. Even though their spirit has been made immortal, they haven't renewed their minds to include that truth. If they had, when the devil tried to push their panic button, they'd just laugh and say, "You can't scare me, devil. I've done all the dying I'm ever going to do!"

Can We Really Know God's Will?

The Hem  Devotional -  

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."
(Romans 12:2 NIV). 

Praise the Lord !

As you can probably imagine, I get dozens of emails each week from Christians from across the globe. I've noticed that most of these messages have a certain theme- What is God's will for my life?

People don't come out and say that of course. They ask questions like:

What can I do to save my marriage?
How do I bring my children back to Christ? 
Why hasn't God given me a new job yet?

But, what they really want to know is, "What is God's will for me in this situation? What does He really want me to do?"

The Essence of Faith

Romans 12 : 3, For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. NKJV

The Bible tells us that God is no respecter of persons. He has given every man, woman, boy, and girl a measure of faith. It is up to us, as individuals, where we will place that faith, and this is done through the freewill. Romans 1 tells us that all know or have the ability to know that there is a God who created them. Yet some choose to repress that truth in unrighteousness and therefore have chosen to believe a lie.

Today, I want to share with you some thoughts about the "Essence of Faith." James teaches us in his epistle that it's not enough to only believe in God; we must add obedient action to our faith in order for it to stand or to be complete. Jesus tells us in John 15, that if we love Him, then we are to demonstrate that love by obeying His commandments and honoring Him through our actions. By so doing, we will bear fruit that will show others our faith in Christ.

Stuck

Written by Debbie West

Take today’s next step: Take the 35 Day Challenge and get unstuck.

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13)

When my niece Caroline was almost two years old, I took her to the mall to run an errand for her mom. While we were there, we went to the indoor playground. It was a closed-in area for preschoolers. I sat among parents who watched their children crawl through and climb over the pint-sized obstacle course.

At one point I realized that I couldn’t see Caroline, so I stood and began walking toward the other end of the play area. I hadn’t taken two steps when I heard a child’s loud cry. Sure enough, it was Caroline. Another dad was holding her, scanning the play area to find the parent. I reached out and took her from him. “She stuck her head in one of the shoe cubbies and couldn’t get out,” he told me. “I don’t think she’s hurt but it scared her.”

How to Hear from God Regularly

Whitney Hopler, Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer

Editor's note: This article was adapted from Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, copyright 2012, 1999, 1993, and 1984 by Dallas Willard. Published by Formatio, a division of InterVarsity Press, Downer’s Grove, Ill., www.ivpress.com.

God is constantly speaking to people. But too often, they miss out on hearing God’s messages because they seek His guidance only occasionally – usually when they’re going through a crisis or facing a major decision. Then, with a dire need to hear from God, people become confused and frustrated when they don’t clearly hear what they should do.

It doesn’t have to be that way. God wants everyone to hear His messages clearly, and it’s possible to do so. The key is to forget about formulas and gimmicks for hearing from God, and to focus instead on developing the kind of relationship with God that will empower you to hear God speaking regularly. The closer you get to God, the more you can enjoy ongoing conversations with Him, and the more God will use those conversations to transform you into the person He wants you to become.

Here’s how you can hear from God regularly:

The Way to Live with the Mind of Christ

by Joyce Meyer

One of the greatest revelations of my life is: I can choose my thoughts and think things on purpose. In other words, I don’t have to just think about whatever falls into my mind. This was a life-changing revelation for me because as Proverbs 23:7 (AMP) says, “As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.” I like to say it like this: Where the mind goes, the man follows.

Now God is concerned about the hidden man of the heart, which is our inner life. Our inner life is what we think about. And like the scripture above says, the way we think determines how we live and who we are. That’s why we need to think about what we’re thinking about.
It’s so important for us to understand this because if we don’t learn how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:4-5), we won’t live the life Jesus died to give us – a life of peace with God, peace with ourselves, great relationships, real joy and the ability to become all God has created us to be. It comes down to choosing to believe what God says (the truth) more than we believe our feelings, what other people say or our circumstances.

Reaching the Promised Land

JOYCE MEYER

 

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Is your attitude causing you to journey in the wilderness longer than you should?

If you are facing a struggle in your life, perhaps the problem isn’t what you think it is. Many times, we focus on another person or a situation and we think that’s what is causing us to be unhappy. But the real issue might be that you have a bad attitude.

It may seem like your problem is your spouse, your children, a co-worker, the traffic, the economy, your church ... but actually, you might be wandering around in the wilderness, unable to find your promised land because your attitude stinks.