Friday, February 28, 2020
Many Hardships
“We must go through many hardships, sufferings, and tribulations to fully enter the kingdom of God.”
~ Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:22, paraphrased and expanded)
If you’re currently going through a rough patch, I have five brief words of advice for you:
1.Focus on the parts of your life that aren’t painful right now. Make a list of good things in your life at the present time. Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s some of your relationships. Maybe it’s your job. Maybe it’s the house you live in. Whatever doesn’t stink in your life right now, write those things down, be thankful for them, and focus your thoughts on them.
2.Your present storm has an expiration date. In nature, every hurricane and tornado eventually passes. None of them hang around permanently. And so it is in the spiritual realm. The clouds will eventually part in your situation. Until then, hang on. Hat tip to Rick Warren who wrote this line to me yesterday in an email: “‘It came to PASS.’ It didn’t come to stay!” Don’t forget that the storm you’re currently in will eventually pass.
3.God is aiming at something specific through your trial. Whenever we look at our lives and say, “It’s not supposed to be this way,” the Lord has another idea. He’s driving at something in your life. Something He wishes to change for His glory and for your good (Romans 8:28). And He’s using the present circumstances to awaken you to it. Prayerfully and thoughtfully, take a personal inventory and discover what that “something” is.
4.Be thankful for people and situations that are making your life hellish right now. Why? Because they are the Lord’s instruments to transform you, to cause you to grow, and to make you stronger. Yes, it’s counterintuitive. But that’s what life in the kingdom of God is – counterintuitive.
5.If you are still alive, it means you haven’t fulfilled your purpose yet. It doesn’t matter if all hell is breaking lose around you, your mission isn’t finished. How do I know that? Because you’re not dead yet. Go find out what that specific mission is and get laser focused on it.
~ Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:22, paraphrased and expanded)
If you’re currently going through a rough patch, I have five brief words of advice for you:
1.Focus on the parts of your life that aren’t painful right now. Make a list of good things in your life at the present time. Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s some of your relationships. Maybe it’s your job. Maybe it’s the house you live in. Whatever doesn’t stink in your life right now, write those things down, be thankful for them, and focus your thoughts on them.
2.Your present storm has an expiration date. In nature, every hurricane and tornado eventually passes. None of them hang around permanently. And so it is in the spiritual realm. The clouds will eventually part in your situation. Until then, hang on. Hat tip to Rick Warren who wrote this line to me yesterday in an email: “‘It came to PASS.’ It didn’t come to stay!” Don’t forget that the storm you’re currently in will eventually pass.
3.God is aiming at something specific through your trial. Whenever we look at our lives and say, “It’s not supposed to be this way,” the Lord has another idea. He’s driving at something in your life. Something He wishes to change for His glory and for your good (Romans 8:28). And He’s using the present circumstances to awaken you to it. Prayerfully and thoughtfully, take a personal inventory and discover what that “something” is.
4.Be thankful for people and situations that are making your life hellish right now. Why? Because they are the Lord’s instruments to transform you, to cause you to grow, and to make you stronger. Yes, it’s counterintuitive. But that’s what life in the kingdom of God is – counterintuitive.
5.If you are still alive, it means you haven’t fulfilled your purpose yet. It doesn’t matter if all hell is breaking lose around you, your mission isn’t finished. How do I know that? Because you’re not dead yet. Go find out what that specific mission is and get laser focused on it.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Competency
My computer guy is coming Monday. He’s competent. It will take him 90 minutes to do what it would take me four days to comprehend—and he’ll do what needs doing without saying any bad words.
William Glasser taught that we all need to believe we are competent. We need to believe we can contribute something, and if we fail, the world will miss our contribution.
Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).
He did NOT mean that if I trust Christ to work through me today, I will be able to build a rocket ship, speak Mandarin, and name all the birds in the Amazon by tomorrow.
He DID mean that whatever comprises my day today, in Him, through Him, and with Him I am competent to live as He intends and envisions. In this, I am a competent contributor.
- Preston Gillham
William Glasser taught that we all need to believe we are competent. We need to believe we can contribute something, and if we fail, the world will miss our contribution.
Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).
He did NOT mean that if I trust Christ to work through me today, I will be able to build a rocket ship, speak Mandarin, and name all the birds in the Amazon by tomorrow.
He DID mean that whatever comprises my day today, in Him, through Him, and with Him I am competent to live as He intends and envisions. In this, I am a competent contributor.
- Preston Gillham
Christ's Life Through Yours
Are You Experiencing Christ's Life Through You? What are you doing with His life during your earthwalk? Are you still trying to milk acceptance and self-esteem out of the world like lost people when you've already got both? Are you still employing the same old methods, such as trying to perform for others to get them to accept you or striving to perform up to your flesh's standards to generate and maintain self-esteem moment by moment?
You are of infinite worth. You are accepted. Not by people, perhaps, but by God! If you're rejected by certain people, welcome to the club. So was Jesus. But He didn't go around with His head down. Why? Because He knew He was accepted.
Do you know that? Or are you prostituting Christ's life by living to get your need for acceptance met? That's sinning, and you are still walking after the flesh, the results of which will be burned up at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There will be no reward, because you will already have had your reward. Self-acceptance. A "righteousness of your own." You are not to strive to get love; we don't live that way now. We live from a posture of knowing that we are loved.
It's time to go to the Lord and repent. You have swallowed the deceiver's lie and wasted many years of Christ's life by striving to get your need for love met through the flesh. You can accept yourself now as the new person you truly are in Him, just as the Father accepts you - perfectly.
Spend some time praising Him for His fantastic, gracious plan whereby He has solved the problem in sweet Jesus. Praise Him, dear relative! Go ahead and weep for joy! It will tickle Him to death. He'll weep for joy with you and hug your neck unabashedly, just as He did when the Prodigal Son came down the road to his father's home. You are totally accepted forever as the new creation you already are.
Dr. Bill Gillham
You are of infinite worth. You are accepted. Not by people, perhaps, but by God! If you're rejected by certain people, welcome to the club. So was Jesus. But He didn't go around with His head down. Why? Because He knew He was accepted.
Do you know that? Or are you prostituting Christ's life by living to get your need for acceptance met? That's sinning, and you are still walking after the flesh, the results of which will be burned up at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There will be no reward, because you will already have had your reward. Self-acceptance. A "righteousness of your own." You are not to strive to get love; we don't live that way now. We live from a posture of knowing that we are loved.
It's time to go to the Lord and repent. You have swallowed the deceiver's lie and wasted many years of Christ's life by striving to get your need for love met through the flesh. You can accept yourself now as the new person you truly are in Him, just as the Father accepts you - perfectly.
Spend some time praising Him for His fantastic, gracious plan whereby He has solved the problem in sweet Jesus. Praise Him, dear relative! Go ahead and weep for joy! It will tickle Him to death. He'll weep for joy with you and hug your neck unabashedly, just as He did when the Prodigal Son came down the road to his father's home. You are totally accepted forever as the new creation you already are.
Dr. Bill Gillham
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Monday, February 10, 2020
Friday, February 7, 2020
Monday, February 3, 2020
Saturday, February 1, 2020
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