Gift finding trumps gap finding.
Finding where people excel trumps finding where people fall short.
Expecting more of others trumps expecting less of others.
People will always live up (or down) to your expectations of them.
People flock to gift finders, but they run away from gap finders.
Expect more.
Believe more.
See more.
Let gifts trump gaps.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
A Hard Word
Have you ever heard the Master say a hard word?—if you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything. Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to, but do not hear. … Our Lord has a perfect understanding that when once His word is heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. The terrible heartbreak is that some of us prevent its bearing fruit in actual life. …
Beware of allowing anything to soften a hard word of Jesus. It is a terrible thing to see how we keep Jesus Christ waiting. … We twist His words and debate about their meaning, we discuss His teachings and expound His Gospel, and all the time we leave Him absolutely alone because at the center of our heart there is the gnawing grip of one of His hard sayings that keeps us sorrowful, and He waits until we come and lay it all down.
All the time in between has been utterly wasted as far as Jesus Christ is concerned, no matter how active we have been, or how much we have been a blessing to others, because none of it has sprung from devotion to Him but from devotion to an idea….
Not a question of saying, “Lord, I will do it,” but of doing it. There must be the reckless committal of everything to Him with no regard for the consequences.
From God’s Workmanship (emphasis added)
Jesus, when you speak a word to my heart—no matter how hard it seems—may I quickly obey what You have spoken. May I never waste time trying to figure it out, water it down, or soften a hard word, but may I be recklessly obedient to You.
You’ve probably heard that phrase before: Choose your battles wisely. Its origins may come from these verses of Scripture—
Fight the good fight of faith…. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge. (1 Timothy 6: 12, 20)
We are all in a spiritual battle. So what does it mean to fight the good fight of faith?
The word good means things that are beautiful, excellent, and praiseworthy. In other words, good is what is God-glorifying. And faith means that it’s not about my opinion or my advancement.
The bottom line: Don’t fight unless God’s Word or God’s character is being maligned.
Paul said, “Turn away from godless chatter and opposing ideas.” The King James Version describes these as vain and profane ideas. These sorts of battles are un-winnable and therefore unworthy of your time and effort.
We need to put on our armor and fight, but the fight must be the good fight of faith. Don’t take the bait of those who just want to quibble over obscure and irrelevant opinions. But when the attack comes against God’s honor or seeks to diminish His glory, it’s time to storm the battlefield!
May God give us the wisdom to know the difference.
I was so honored to be a part of the Veterans Day memorial service in Cedar Springs yesterday. A small crowd braved the cold, windy weather to show their support for our veterans.
Pastor Craig Carter served as the master of ceremonies, Pastor Mary Ivanov offered the invocation, Col. Tom Noreen shared some important things for us to remember about our veterans, the Kent County Honor Guard was on hand for the 3-volley salute, Ethan Sommer brilliantly played taps, and I got to offer the closing prayer of blessing on our veterans and their families.
Even though Veterans Day 2012 has past, please continue to find ways all throughout the year to show your gratitude to our past and current military personnel for their service to our country.
Thank you Harrison for snapping these pictures while your fingertips were freezing!
I am reminded again that my stressful feelings come because things are not going according to my plans. This can only mean one thing: Somehow I have let myself believe that I am in control of all my circumstances!
But I am not in control.
God alone is in control. He tells me not to be anxious, not to worry about tomorrow, but to come to Him to find rest.
Why, oh why, don’t I do this?!?
Enough! It’s time to once and for all give my concerns to the only One who can handle them.
“‘Come unto Me,’ says Jesus, ‘and I will give you rest.’ Do Jesus Christ’s words apply to me? Does He really know my circumstances? Fretting is sinful if you are a child of God. Get back to God and tell Him with shame that you have been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for Him. Ask Him to forgive you and say, ‘Lord, I take Thee into my calculation as the biggest factor now!’” —Oswald Chambers
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
If you’ve ever been to a doctor’s office, you have probably experienced the patellar reflex test. It might be better known as the “knee-jerk reaction.” This is when the doctor taps your knee just below the kneecap to test your body’s involuntary response. How you respond (or don’t respond) tells the doctor a lot about your nervous system’s health.
Did you know that we have a spiritual patellar reflex too?
Consider this verse—
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)
How you respond spiritually to stressful things says a lot about your spiritual knee-jerk reflex.
We see this spiritual knee-jerk reflex in the well-known story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Some of the guys who were jealous of Daniel trick the king into passing a law that forbids everyone from praying to anyone other than the king. Look at Daniel’s spiritual knee-jerk reflex:
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
This is because hitting his knees in prayer was a spiritual habit for Daniel. Check out this key phrase: he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. The verb tense here is one that means unbroken continuity. In other words, Daniel always prayed, so when anxious times came his spiritual knee-jerk reflex was to do what he always did: Pray, giving thanks to God.
It’s this lifestyle that prompted me to coin the word givingthanksgiving. Giving thanks shouldn’t just be on Thanksgiving Day. It should be a regular activity. And if it is, hitting our knees in prayer will become our spiritual knee-jerk reflex as well.
I want to do better at living this way. I want to pass the spiritual knee-jerk reflex test just like Daniel did. How about you?
Check out the other message in this two-part series series here.
►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like this exclusive video in which I take my supporters behind the scenes of my thought process in designing my confrontation flowchart. ◀︎◀︎
A scene from our Veterans Day memorial in 2011
I think every day in the United States of America should be Veterans Day, as we have too many special people to thank in just one day! But it is fitting and proper for us to at least have one day where we honor those who have put themselves in harm’s way to preserve our freedom.
In Cedar Springs, a special Veterans Day memorial will be held at noon on Monday, November 12, in the Veterans Memorial Park. I hope you can make the time in your schedule to join me at this memorial service.
The Cedar Springs Post has all of the details listed on its website.
May God bless our veterans and their families for the sacrifices they have made for us.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
The Bible
The revelation of God’s will has been brought down to us in words. The Bible is not a book containing communications from God, it is God’s revelation of Himself, in the interests of grace; God’s giving of Himself in the limitation of words.
The Bible is not a faery romance to beguile us for awhile from the sordid realties of life, it is the Divine complement of the laws of Nature, of Conscience and of Humanity, it introduces us to a new universe of revelation facts not known to unregenerate commonsense. The only Exegete of these facts is the Holy Spirit, and in the degree of our reception, recognition, and reliance on the Holy Spirit will be our understanding. …
The Bible does not simply explain to us the greatest number of facts, it is the only ground of understanding of all the facts, that is, it puts into the hand of the Spirit-born the key to the explanation of all mysteries. …
The Bible tests all experience, all truth, all authority, by our Lord Himself and our relationship to Him personally….
From God’s Workmanship
Quite simply: The only authoritative Source we need to understand all the facts of life is the Bible.
Are you reading it? Every day? If not, make it a habit to live on and live through. It is God’s Word to you!
Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching, and families are already making their travel plans, and meal plans, and football-watching plans, and Black Friday shopping plans. Whew! That’s a lot to pack into one weekend!
So what if we don’t try to pack it into just one weekend?
What if we made sure that Thanksgiving was not just a day, but every day was a day of giving thanks?
What if giving thanks was more than just Thanksgiving?
That’s what we’ll be exploring and learning about from God’s Word over the next two Sundays. I hope you will be able to join me for this eye-opening, heart-challenging two-part series called givingthanksgiving.
And if you can’t join us in person, I challenge you to take some time to answer the question for yourself: What if giving thanks was more than just Thanksgiving? If this were true, how much sweeter your life would be!
If you missed either of the messages in this series, check them out here:
The dictionary defines contentment as—
Satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.
Does that describe you? Sadly, it’s describing fewer and fewer of us today. But saddest of all: Very few Christians describe themselves as being content!
The Bible says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. … If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:6, 8)
Both godliness and contentment are choices we must make.
I choose to be godly, and I choose to be content.
The default—the natural course for us—is selfishness. The pull toward my gain and my pleasure is strong. So I must exert great energy to pursue godliness; I must make the conscious decision to be content.
Give us this day our daily bread should be the prayer request in the morning (Matthew 6:11).
Thank You, God, for providing food and clothing for today should be the prayer of thanks in the evening.
Today if you have more than food and clothing, how much more blessed you are!
Choose godliness. Choose contentment. And watch and see how God provides great gain for you!
