Exercise for Your Soul

Exercise for Your Soul

Can you think of any other exercise that yields more results than prayer?

• We can converse with the God of the universe. When we bow our heads and utter God’s name, we have an audience with a king more powerful than the leader of any country on earth.
• We’re reminded that we’re not alone. Even after a terrible tragedy or trial, God waits to be with us in prayer. Our trust is stretched and we gradually gain perspective.
• We’re united to God and to other believers. When we pray for a sister, we’re joined with her and with others who have the same desire. Our bond with others is strengthened.
• We grow when we pray. By uniting our wills with God’s, we can see ourselves making progress toward becoming more like him. Our faith is flexed.
• We wee God answer. Friends are healed. Children begin a relationship with Jesus. Patience appears in the face of trials. Jobs are provided. Our spirits expand.
• We learn to wait. When answers are slim, we learn that God is still at work while we wait. Our patience develops.

There is no other exercise that yields more results in our souls than prayer. Want to get your soul in shape? How about bending those knees?

Credit: Moms bible

Posted by Kachi

Grow Down

Grow Down

How honest and direct children are with their needs! If it feels good, they laugh. If it hurts, they cry. If they want it, they ask for it—or just take it.

In Luke 18:17 Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

These words about children actually preceded Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler who couldn’t admit his need for God and Jesus’ interaction with Zacchaeus, who scaled a tree — like a child — to catch a glimpse of Jesus. Jesus set the stage with a truth and then illustrated it both negatively and positively. By contrasting two men’s actions — one who couldn’t admit his needs and one who readily admitted his needs to the point of making himself look like a child — Jesus clearly teaches us how to approach God with our needs.

What do you need? Patience with a potty-training three-year-old? Wisdom with a truth-stretching six-year-old? Compassion with a troubled thirteen-year-old? Jesus reminds us that when we admit our needs with the honesty of a child, he’ll meet them.

Take a moment to pray today:

Dear God, I need _________. Today. Right now. Please provide for this need in a way that I can understand. Like a child, I’m asking, I’m reaching out, I’m standing on tiptoe to watch you work. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

From the Moms bible

Posted by kachi

The Reason We Ask, Seek, and Knock

The Reason We Ask, Seek, and Knock

God answers prayer, but asking prayer is not primarily about answers. Asking prayer, like all other forms of prayer, is about relationship. If you make asking prayer about answers, you're moving into dangerous territory.

When prayer is primarily about answers, our relationship with God becomes results focused. When God says no or works outside of our time schedule, we desperately question why and are tempted to feel inadequate or unloved by God. Be assured that as you grow in the area of asking prayer, the Devil will seek to shift the focus of your prayers from relationship to results.

Christ was well aware of the relational purpose of asking prayer. In the seventh chapter of Matthew when Jesus dared His followers to ask for things – big things – like "elephants" in prayers. He immediately transferred the focus from the asking to the fatherly or paternal relationship that surrounds each request we make.

Jesus was saying that whenever you ask in prayer you open up the familial lines of communication and put yourself in a position to experience relationship with a loving and compassionate Father.

When God answers your prayers in dramatic fashion, you will grow in the knowledge of His power and care for you. When God works on His schedule instead of yours, you will come to know more about His sustaining power. And when God says no and your dreams die or perhaps you lose someone close to you, you will come to know the God of all comfort who weeps with you. If you want to know God as Father, begin to assault the throne of heaven in asking prayer.

Written by Pastor Adam Stadtmiller

Posted by Kachi

Abandon Laziness

Abandon: Laziness

You may or may not remember the “get rich quick” commercials promising little work, lots of pay, and early retirement. The underlying messages were that the best life was to have more money than you could ever need, quit working, and be lazy gallivanting around in a beautiful mansion with everything you ever wanted. (i.e., cars, food, trips) This, however, is not how God designed us to function.

As humans, we’re made for work; work gives us meaning. In fact, work begins with God in the first book of the Bible: Genesis. In the creation story (see Genesis 1), God works for six days and rests on the seventh. This is the example we as people, made in the image of God, are suppose to follow. If we don’t, the Bible has some tough words for us. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “...The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” (NIV)

How do we abandon laziness? We find what it is that we love doing that serves other people. Instead of focusing on what it is that will make us the most money for an "early retirement," we focus on what it is that God has called us to do to give back to the community. If you don’t know what it is that you love to do, then seek out someone who can pray with you and help you find it.

Prayer: 
Our Father, please show us the gifts that you have given us to serve. Help us to understand that You have uniquely purposed us to be a blessing to others. It’s not about money. It’s not about fame. It’s about loving You and loving others through service. May we find joy and pleasure in meaningful work.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Written by Brian Price

Posted by kachi 

Belief before Behaviour

BELIEF BEFORE BEHAVIOR 

People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test. (1 John 3:9-10 MSG)


This is a difficult verse, but it speaks volumes about the priority of heart change over behavioral change. John is telling us that belief is the essential act required before behavior will change. When we believe and are "born of God", the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us and empowers us to live a life that is free of habitual sin. That's not to say that we will never commit individual sins, but that we will not be trapped in a pattern of behavior characterized by long term, blatant sin. 

This speaks to our relationship with our kids, too. We should be concentrating our efforts towards a change of heart, rather than just trying to modify their behavior. When your child asks why you have a certain rule for your family that other families don't have, you should be willing to explain it in a way that demonstrates the way your heart for God directs your behavior. It is easy to say, "Because I said so!" but that doesn't engage your child's heart, it just asks for a certain behavior. 

Heart change drives behavioral change

Written by parenting and design

Posted by kachi 

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Sufficiency and excess

SUFFICIENCY AND EXCESS 

Paul used the example of manna to make the point that God will provide just what each person needs, and no more. No one in Moses' time could keep extra manna around because it would rot, become worm-infested, and demonstrate a lack of trust in God. Like manna, grace cannot be stored up for the future. That would lessen our dependence on God for our "daily bread." 

Similarly, when we try to store up our material possessions and ignore others who have little or nothing, we are violating God's call for us to use what we need and share the rest. God blesses us with what He knows we need and asks us to use the extra "plenty" to supply those who don't have enough. 

The way we handle our money is a gauge of our affections. Generous giving demonstrates to our children that we see our resources as God's rather than our own. 

Be a model of generosity, trust, and dependence on God.

Written by parenting and design 

 Posted by kachi 

7 Suggestions when God is silent

Elijah had been used of God to hold back rain from the people for over three years, because of their sins. Obviously, he was not well liked as a preacher. I can imagine the stress he experienced during those years.

Consider 1 Kings 18:1:

"After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

According to a couple New Testament passages, this "After a long time" was actually three and a half years. The famine was three and a half years long. For three and a half years, the people apparently continued to sin, Elijah continued to hold on by faith, but God said nothing. God was apparently inactive...not speaking...even to His great servant Elijah during this time.

Have you ever been there? Has the silence of God in your life ever been eerily strong?

Imagine you had been faithfully serving...God is using you...you are in constant communication with Him...and then suddenly...everything is quiet. You have to wait.

The separation must have seemed unbearable. Elijah is not liked and unpopular. He's an outcast from the people and the One he trusted most was seemingly absent.

God would soon do a miracle through Elijah...one he couldn't even imagine...certainly not script, but during this period all Elijah could do was wait.

If you have been follower of Christ very long, you have had periods where it seems God is nowhere to be found. We often call them periods of spiritual dryness. Sometimes I refer to it as being in a spiritual funk.

What should we do during the times of silence, before the miracles of God come through for us?

If you are like me, you can figure out how to celebrate a miracle. You don't need much help doing that. The tough part of life is figuring out what to do during the years of silence...during the years when miracles are seemingly nowhere to be found.

What do we do during the spiritually dry periods of life when we don't hear clearly the voice of God?

Here are 7 suggestions for those times:

Don't ignore the silence... - Some of the biggest moves God has made in my life have come after a period of spiritual dryness...when it seemed like God was doing nothing in my life. Stay very close to God and watch for Him to eventually display His power. He will in the fullness of time.

Confront known sin in your life - This wasn't the problem of silence for Elijah, but the problem for the Israelites was that they were chasing after other gods and living lives in total disobedience to God. Sin may not be the reason you don't sense closeness to God right now, but if you have known sin in your life it will affect your intimacy with God.

Go back to what you know - Get back to the basics of the faith that saved you. You'll do it 100's of times in your life, but you must remind yourselves of the basis of faith...which is the very character and promises of God. God is in control. He really is...even when it doesn't seem that He is anywhere to be found.

Make a decision...Choose sides - You can't adequately serve God and the world. (Consider Joshua 24:15) Something happens in life, often sin, busyness, boredom, or a tragedy...but if we are normal, we have periods where we grow away from our close relationship with God. God hasn't moved, but if you've shifted in your obedience, get back securely on the right side.

Trust More...Not less - Times of silence may be filled with fear, but ironically, these times require more faith. Times come in our spiritual life when our enthusiasm isn't as real as when we began our walk with God. That's not an indication to quit...it may be that God is using that time for something bigger than you could have imagined...but whatever is next will most likely require a deeper level of trust.

Listen and Watch Closely - Some day God is going to make His plans known to you. Don't miss them. He may come to your personally, through His Word, circumstances or another person. You'll need to be in a position to know that God is moving. (Read THIS POST if you need help discerning God's will.)

Get ready to receive - God will break the silence some day...and when He does it WILL be good. If you mope around in your sorrows, you'll be less prepared to receive the good things to come. Not because of your circumstances, but because of your faith, clothe yourself in joy as you wait for God to bless you after the period of silence.

Written by Ron Edmondson

Posted by Kachi