2021-02-26
Philippians 2:4 NKJV
When it comes to the truth, you should be unbending. But when it comes to relationships, you must learn to be flexible. If you always need to be “right” and make the other person “wrong,” you’ll never enjoy stable, long-lasting relationships.
One author writes: “We will not last together because we were never wrong. We will last because when we were wrong, we found the invincible will to correct the wrong and the grace to endure whatever it took to survive it together. Our families are never perfect, but that doesn’t mean we cannot find a way to make it across the tumultuous seas onto the shores of love and life. Coming from backgrounds with different traditions and conflicting ideas, we bring baggage and unrealistic expectations to our relationships whether we are conscious of it or not.”
So what should you do? He continues: “Create in yourself an openness to change and an understanding that much correction will be needed for what you will face together. Make this attitude your charter for how you will operate as a couple. Always be willing to recalibrate your relationship to ensure that decisions made at one stage of life now fit the growth and maturity of the present.”
Do you know what the biggest problem in our relationships is? Selfishness! We want to have things our own way. But that’s not the scriptural way. The Bible says, “Let each of you look out not only for his [or her] own interests, but also for the interests of others.” When you live with that kind of mind-set, you’ll enjoy rich, rewarding relationships.
Soul food: Gen 25:19-27:46; Matt 18:21-35; Ps 61; Prov 6:16-19
2021-02-25
Proverbs 20:5 NLT
The founder of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, said: “Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity…Every time we’ve moved ahead in IBM it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put his head on the block, and try something new.”
Many of us have good ideas that never go anywhere. At some point, you must reduce your list to the best idea for you. This isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. Start with obvious ideas that can’t work because of budgets, timing, or lack of resources. Next, pool ideas that may be good, but don’t solve your particular problem. Timing is everything, and some great ideas are just ahead of their time. So keep an “idea file” and pull some of them out again next year.
But here’s a flashing red light: When your circle of advisors help you generate good ideas yet never see you acting on them, they will lose interest and you will end up on your own. The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26 KJV). So commit yourself to a life of creativity, original thinking, and action! If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. The classic advertisement for Apple Computer says it best: “Think different!”
Don’t take yourself too seriously! If an idea doesn’t work, don’t fall apart. Tick it off your list and move on to the next one. At some point you may discover that your good idea – is actually a God idea. When that happens, it changes everything!
Soul food: Gen 24:1-25:18; Matt 18:10-20; Ps 58; Prov 6:12-15
2021-02-24
Proverbs 24:6 NIV
Solomon said, “Strategic planning is the key to warfare; to win, you need a lot of good counsel” (v. 6 TM).
There are wise and experienced people around who are willing to help you, so get together with them periodically and brainstorm. Make sure everyone involved knows there are no limits, boundaries, or even budget constraints. The purpose is to get everything out on the table. You never know what your next big idea is, so don’t limit yourself to what you think is possible or affordable right now. Keep a list of the ideas you generate, and number them. That will help when you go back to review them, as well as give you some sense of how many ideas are being created.
Another suggestion is to hang poster board on the walls and have people randomly write or draw their ideas on it. It keeps people moving, ideas pumping, and momentum marching forward. And this is a forum where criticism isn’t allowed. Remember, if someone gives you an idea and you call it stupid or unworkable, chances are, it will be the last one you get from them. And who knows, their idea may have been the big one that solves the problem, opens the door, and gives you a future strategy.
Another word of advice: Limit your brainstorming sessions to an hour or so. Alfred Hitchcock famously quipped, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder!” It’s better to have shorter sessions, respect people’s time, thank them for their input, then ruminate on what you’ve discussed and get together again later.
Soul food: Gen 20-23; Matt 18:1-9; Ps 53; Prov 6:9-11
2021-02-23
Romans 9:1 AMPC
Paul writes: “My conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me.” Note that when the Holy Spirit speaks to your conscience, two things happen. First, He illuminates your heart with the truth. Second, He prompts you about what to do. Some things may be “right” for others and be “wrong” for you. Why? Because God has a particular plan for your life and He doesn’t want you to be negatively influenced, or even derailed.
Read the following Scriptures and consider them prayerfully: “Therefore I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:16 AMPC). “Holding fast to faith (that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence) and having a good (clear) conscience. By rejecting and thrusting from them [their conscience], some individuals have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19 AMPC). “They must possess the mystic secret of the faith [Christian truth as hidden from ungodly men] with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9 AMPC). “For we are convinced that we have a good (clear) conscience, that we want to walk uprightly and live a noble life, acting honorably and in complete honesty in all things” (Hebrews 13:18 AMPC).
As a redeemed child of God, when you sin willfully and don’t repent, you lose your sense of peace and joy and become uncomfortable in your own skin. So the word for you today is – keep your conscience clear.
Soul food: Gen 17-19; Matt 17:14-27; Ps 40:9-17; Prov 6:6-8
2021-02-22
Psalm 30:5 NKJV
Pain is an inevitable part of life and growth; a beneficial part! Stop and consider some of its benefits:
(1) It lets you know when there’s something wrong in your body that needs to be made right.
(2) It forces you to acknowledge a condition you didn’t know about; one that could potentially claim your life.
(3) It makes you rearrange your priorities and your schedule and seek help.
(4) It makes you willing to submit to treatment you may not enjoy, believing that it will make you whole.
Are you getting the idea? Strange as it may seem, the more you dread and resist the pain, the more you increase the effect it has on you. What we resist persists, and the more pain is resisted, the stronger it becomes.
When a pregnant woman goes into labor, the advice she generally gets from her medical team is to “relax.” They know the more she fights the pain, the stronger it will become and the longer the delivery process will take. So when you are experiencing pain, don’t fight it. Walk through it and allow it to accomplish its purpose.
The Bible says: “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know…when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4 NLT).
So the word for you today is – learn to endure this season of pain, knowing that God has promised you joy on the other side of it!
Soul food: Gen 13-16; Matt 17:1-13; Ps 40:1-8; Prov 6:1-5
2021-02-21
Philippians 3:13-14 AMPC
We all have a “past.” It’s filled with hurts others have done to us, mistakes that got us into trouble, and things we’re so ashamed of we wouldn’t dare talk openly about them. What to do? There are only two things you can do with your past: focus on it, or forget it and move on.
If you need forgiveness, ask God for it, receive it by faith, learn from your mistakes, and try to do better next time. Paul wrote: “One thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward” (vv. 13-14 AMPC). Note the words “my one aspiration.” Before Paul met Christ, he routinely imprisoned and executed Christians and shut down churches. And what’s more, he got paid for it! Maybe that’ll make you feel a little better about your past. Now, however, Paul had only one aspiration: “straining forward to what lies ahead.”
When you fail by sinning, you compound your failure by obsessing over it and wallowing in guilt. Why? Because God has provided forgiveness for you! So whether you sinned twenty years or twenty minutes ago, there’s nothing you can do about it except to ask God for forgiveness, receive it, put it behind you, and move on. You must let go of yesterday’s mistakes in order to grasp today’s blessings. When you learn to do that, you will enjoy life the way God intended.
Soul food: 1 Sam 3:1-11; Acts 9:1-9
