Tag Archives: attitude

Meet Jesus : Perfect

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Matthew 5: 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 Now this is stiff to face.  A perfect Jesus is here asking us to be perfect.  How in this world can we accomplish such a challenge?  Jesus and the Father are one.  The Father is perfect.  Jesus is perfect.  The conversation exactly before this relates to relationships.  Even working at being even keeled and just and equitable in all our dealings with others in love and graciousness is tougher on perfection than we can match.  But, thanks be unto God, He did it for us.  Jesus was perfect for us to follow.

Greg’s Pressure: Greg liked to think he was strong.  Then the pressure came.  The challenge to do more in less time with less staff was causing him to stay up at night.  Over and over, he would think of reasons the project was late.  Every time, he concluded he just wasn’t the right person for the job.  This night, he decided to read a little and pray.  It was coming down to looking for a new job.  As he read through the gospel of Matthew, the verse on being perfect disturbed him.  Then he thought it through.  The thought wasn’t to do it all according to man’s perfection.  The challenge was to love and greet and meet each situation with the mind of Christ.  Whether the situation was good or bad made no difference.  Just meet it with confidence in Christ.  Love always.  Greet always.  Believe always.  He was the right man because God placed him there.  These were the right staffers.  Immediately he began to review plans and pray for wisdom.  What would he do if it were all in great shape?  Do the right thing.

ACT!  Start now.  Remove an imperfection, an attitude, a glitch in your treatment of someone today.  Don’t worry about everything.  Do work on one thing.

PRAY! Whew! Father, You sure want a lot out of me.  But, Father, You gave a lot.  You gave Your only begotten Son, Jesus.  Jesus gave His life’s blood for me to be perfect with You.  Encourage me, Father, to stand tall to the task and declare, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me fully and completely and perfectly.”

Meet Jesus: Even Ground

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groundMatthew 5: 43″You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

 The Father is consistent in His world creation.  The environment, the rules, the principles, the laws, and whatever else happens is the same for good and evil, just and unjust.  What goes up comes down (gravity).  What goes down comes up (seed time and harvest).  The wages of sin is death.  When it rains, everybody gets wet.  There are certain principles that affect us all.  Acting like Him means being the same with those around us whether we like them and their lifestyle or not.  Sin does not invalidate principles; it invokes them.  Think about it.

ACT!  Is there someone you are treating rudely because they have a lifestyle different than yours?  Do you hold at arms length someone in a homosexual lifestyle but not a gossiper?  Think about it, and make sure you are like your Father.

 PRAY!  Consistent Father, You treat us all the same.  You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The principles of life and death rule over me as much as anyone who hates you.  Thank you for offering that to me when I was outside of Your family.  Help me offer even ground to others that they might see Your goodness and enter also alongside me and Jesus.

Meet Jesus: Dignity Matthew 5:21

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www,examiner.com

www,examiner.com

Matthew 5:  21″You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

 Dignity is a key concept in Christ.  Jesus did not assault the dignity of any human.  There were times He directly challenged people to righteousness.  He had no problem calling people to account for hidden agendas and false fronts.  He did not attack the person as a person.  He never called anyone a fool or an idiot or stupid or any such attack.  That standard stands for us.

 Interesting is the way Jesus looks at one of the ‘ten commandments’.  There is a level beyond the surface to which He takes us.  It is the heart intent that is most important.  It is the beginning of the action in the depth of the heart that Jesus looks to identify.  Lusting leads to adultery.   Anger and contempt leads to murder.  Stop the action at the point of the seed in the heart.  That’s His message.

 ACT!  Look for any bad seeds in your heart.  Take a few moments to sift through your thoughts over the last few days.  If you have a mate, is there another besides your mate that has taken time in your thoughts in the wrong direction?  Have you been unduly angered and contemptuous with someone?  Are you miffed at God over something You think He should have done for you?  Have you railed at a government official?  Now is the time to uproot the seed before it germinates.

 PRAY!  Father, I’ve got to admit.  There are times I am really upset with people acting out of my pattern.  Yes, Father, I have my ways.  Help me to not be so quick to call them right and others wrong.  Help me to see the person separately from the action.  Help me to protect the dignity of each human as precious.  Help me to look at others as Your creation with an intention for good.  Though they may be demonstrating wrongly, help me to look beyond at potential and design.  Let me call out goodness for the lives of others in the midst of pain and problems.  Help me to be like You.

Meet Jesus : Pleasing God Matthew 3:17

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ImageMatthew 3:17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

 When we connect with Jesus we connect with pleasing God.  Jesus pleases the Father.  When we are with Him, we are pleasing the Father.  That is important.  So often in life, we want to please our Father.  When you meet with Jesus, you are in the environment of pleasing Him.  You can’t miss pleasing Him.

Pleasing God may mean doing tough work.  While working through some conflict mediation, we came to the point of closing in prayer.  It had been a tough night.  Everyone had spent emotional energy to embrace peace.  It was the right thing to do.  It is greatly pleasing to God to do everything that leads to peace and building each other.  That does not make it easy.  But it is pleasing.  The scripture came to mind as we prayed from Zephaniah 3.  God joys over us with singing.  That word joy means to jump up and dance and pirouette. What a picture of God singing and jumping and spinning over us with joy!  Doing the hard thing is pleasing to Him.

ACT!  Take one item you are unsure about in your relationship with God.  Examine it.  Is Jesus involved in it?  If you were doing it or being involved in it would you invite Jesus to be a part?

PRAY!  Father, help me to please You.  Help me to meet with Jesus when I plan an activity.  I can always be sure it will be pleasing  to You when I meet with Him to do it.  Help me keep that focus, Father.

Meet Jesus: Life Giver Matthew 1:2

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Matthew 1: 2: Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

 Jesus comes from the line of Abraham.  Abraham was a giver of life.  Abraham turned faith into a lineage of ability and more life.  Abraham was an investor in the future.  His sights were always set forward.

Meeting Jesus means meeting the future.  He is future focused.  He intends to begat.  He intends to birth new life, new dreams, new ways, and new opportunities for you.

ACT! Take that dream of yours.  Think of who else could be involved.  Give them the opportunity to be a part.

PRAY! Gracious Father of Life, Jesus challenges me to be like You.  You are a Father.  Abraham got his ways from You, the Father of fathers.  Teach me to birth newness through others

Powerful Healing: Unshakeable

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Psalm 16:8 I am always aware of the Lord’s presence;   He is near, and nothing can shake me GNT

Near To Me In Healing:

How powerful is healing?  A friend described his last three weeks of healing journey.  He had a violent condition that resulted in waking several times a night choking and gasping for air.  The doctors had prescribed major medicines, inhalers, etc… As he said, “I have quarts of medicine.”

Then we prayed in his home one evening.

That night he slept.  Every night since then he has slept.  All the symptoms are gone.  The doctor is puzzled.  His friends are puzzled.  They are so puzzled they are opening up and talking to him about issues in their life that need prayer.

That is God being close to us.  He is so near, others want to touch Him through us.

Near to Me in Healing:

How powerful is healing?  M came to CAREVI in Matamoros years ago.  It was before Raul and I began working with Dr. Carillo and the team.  M is on the leadership team.  There are many stories to tell.  He and his family are a blessing to watch.  They are busy expanding the kingdom.  M ministers the gospel from the point and testimony of his new life, healed and whole.  Once he was addicted and trapped.  Through scripture and prayer and counsel and love, that is past and he is healed.  When visiting this summer, he showed me an outline he made of Los Siete Secretos de Los Padres (the Seven Secrets of Effective Fathers).  He is teaching 17 men. 10 are in the congregation and 7 in the community.  I gave him the book three years ago.  He has devoured and put the truths to work for his family and others.  That is healing.

When Are You Unshakeable?

Another friend and I talked over lunch.  The press of painful events in my life is enormous these days.  Six family deaths, job change, deep betrayals by trusted friends, near death accidents, and more than I want to mention all occurred in an eight week period.  Wow.  My wife and I should be rattled and locked up under drugs somewhere.  Yet, we pursue peace and continue to live and reach others.  How so?  Why are we not shaken beyond the calm?

Easy.  Prior to the onslaught and while it was happening, I was in a period of reading from Genesis to the Revelation.  In the same eight weeks, in prayer, I felt strongly impressed to make that prayer and reading journey.  That was before the onslaught. That was during the onslaught.  The effect is still flowing.  The words of God can create unshakeable health in us.

These friends to whom I point are living in strong circumstances.  One lives in a war zone city in Mexico.  The other works in law enforcement.  They are bright lights of Jesus in dark circumstances.  They have chosen to allow God’s healing in them to reach others.  They chose to be near to God when others run away.

When Are You Unshakeable?

When you are near to God, you build the unshakeable force of health and healing.

In the scripture

In prayer

In healing

In comfort.

In peace

In living

In pain

In problems

When you allow Him room to show through you to others in all your experiences, you build the unshakeable force of health and healing.

For Tomorrow, Be Healed

Another friend called to cancel an appointment.  It happens often.  He plans to be sick tomorrow morning.  Yes, he plans to be sick.  He is sick now and plans for it to continue for a while.  Hmmm

Yesterday, I worked helping some friends move. They are new friends and coworkers.  We started at 8:30am and I finished at 7pm.  Many finished along the way and the friends were still going when I left.  It was a long day of carting and carrying boxes and chairs and desks.  Sleep was sweet.  This is being written in the early morning hours.  I am up and ready for a new day.  No time to plan for sickness.  I went to bed early and planned for a good healthy day.

He is near for healing.

He is near for peace.

He is near for strength.

He is near, now and here.

 

Pray:

Father, I’d like my time to be with you now and here.

Fill me with Your presence.

Heal me.

Peace me.

Joy me.

Estoy aqui.  I am here.