Includes...
Here is today's communion meditation.
The Bible has a lot to say about desires. Often desires are thought of as bad but there are both good and evil desires. For example, Jesus said he desired to do God's will. Jesus also said in Mark 11 that whatever we desire when we pray to believe we receive it the moment we pray.
James 1:13-15 shows us the path that evil desires take but I believe that good desires can take us on the opposite of this path. Here is James 1:13-15... When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Notice the progression here... Evil desire conceives and gives birth to sin. When sin is full grown there is a second birth to death.
I think that good desires take the opposite p...
Here is today's communion meditation.
Yesterday my kids were swimming in a circular above ground pool with some friends and they had the idea to create a whirlpool, so they all started running together in the same direction. Eventually it created a strong current spinning around the pool and they could float on their backs around the pool or swim easily with the current.
But then I told them to get the whirlpool turned around and spinning in the other direction. When they tried to stop the whirlpool they attempted to run in the other direction but it looked like they were going in slow motion. The current was still trying to propel them in the other direction. After a lot of struggle they finally got the current stopped and began to turn it around.
Sometimes in our lives through repetition we build some currents in our lives that are trying to carry us in the wrong direction and it can feel very hard and almost impossible to turn things around. But it is impor...
Our goal in the Abundant Life Blueprint is to make other people great and when we set this intention God begins to take us on a path of making us fruitful, multiplying us into others, and increasing us greatly. But all along this path wisdom and knowledge will be needed to know which way to go and what to do.
Colossians 2:2-3 says... My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Isaiah 33:6 says that God will be a rich store of wisdom and knowledge and the fear of the Lord is the key to the treasure. The fear of the Lord is honor, reverence, and awe for the Lord. To fear the Lord is to seek to please and obey him. Hebrews 5:7-10 gives us a great picture of the fear of the Lord. Here is what it says...
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered ...
Our goal in the Abundant Life Blueprint is to make other people great and when we set this intention God begins to take us on a path of making us fruitful, multiplying us into others, and increasing us greatly. But all along this path wisdom and knowledge will be needed to know which way to go and what to do.
Colossians 2:2-3 says... My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
All of the wisdom and knowledge we need are hidden in Christ, and Christ is in you the hope of glory. AHA moments are available to us every day and the key is to learn to rest in our mind. When we are toiling away trying to figure everything out and working the problems from every angle in our mind nothing happens. As soon as we rest and trust that all of the answers are already...
In today's communion meditation we are going go make a few small adjustments to the way we do the other half of prayer. In the examination of our emotions are going to examine our levels of peace and joy separately. Peace is our indicator that we are single minded that God is with us and working for our good. If you take a second to imagine God being with you and working for your good it can make a big difference. Then work on sustaining this when life throws issues at you. Joy is our indicator of living in the present moment aware of God's presence with us. Often when we lack joy it's because we are living in the past or worried about the future. It is explained in more detail in the video/audio.
How do you respond when people wrong you? There are typical 3 ways to respond... Doing something mean back to them, giving them the silent treatment and withdrawing your presence(avoiding them), or doing good for them no matter what they do. In the Abundant Life Bluepr...
Here is today's communion meditation.
Our goal in the Abundant Life Blueprint is to make other people great and one of the keys to greatness is gentleness. In Psalm 18:35 David says God's right hand supported him and his gentleness made him great. First we must understand that God is being gentle with us. Jesus says to take his yoke upon us because he is gentle and it will lead to rest for our souls. Then we must let that gentleness flow through us to others. If we are going to make other people great then we must develop a pattern of gentleness.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 Paul says "We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children. We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us."
Gentleness should be our approach in everything we do but occasionally we are going to encounter some difficult people. In these cases it is important to ...
Here is today's communion meditation.
Psalm 77:11-12 says I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.
One of the greatest ways to gain encouragement and encourage yourself in the Lord is to meditate on all God has done. You can look back at all God has done in your life. You can also use other peoples testimonies or ways God came through for people in the Bible as ways to meditate on all of God's works and mighty deeds.
During this time of the year there might be the temptation for some frustration or discouragement to try to creep in and meditating on God's works and mighty deeds is one of the best ways to combat this. When you combine meditating on God's unfailing steadfast love and his mighty works it is a very powerful combination. Meditate on how much he loves you and that nothing is impossible for him. To meditate means to ponder, think on, mut...
One of my favorite passages is Ephesians 4:11-16 which says...
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The summer is a reminder that our goal in life is to make other people great and to be great means becoming...
Here is today's communion meditation
The other day my kids and I were getting out of the car and entering the house. As we were about to enter into the house one of my daughters stopped right in the middle of the doorway for some reason. As she stood there everybody else was waiting behind her. As this was happening I began to think about how Jesus says he is the door.
There are two main lessons about waiting in the doorway we can take away from this.
Proverbs 8:34 says... Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
Waiting in the doorway can mean seeking after God and waiting for his leading in our lives before we enter into things. This means being humble, teachable, and consistent. In life we often need solutions to problems but the solutions we come up with on our own usually lead to side effects. You may solve one problem but it just leads to another. As we wait daily at God's door he can lead us to "Beautiful So...
Here is today's communion meditation.
In the Abundant Life Blueprint our goal is to make other people great, but if this truly becomes a revelation for you there may be some people who are a thorn in your side. These are people who treat you with contempt and disrespect and they are usually people who are close to you. If you look online at the definition of a thorn in the side it says...someone who is a continual source of annoyance and frustration.
In 2 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul says that because of his surpassingly great revelations he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. Notice Paul had a revelation of greatness. People have wondered for years what this was. Was it a person, a sickness, etc? I am convinced that it was a person who was close to him who was a continual source of annoyance and frustration. They were treating him with contempt and disrespect because of his relationship with God.
Paul pleaded with God to r...
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