2022-05-20
Psalm 119:105 NKJV
The author of the Psalms highlights two important things that Bible reading does for us: 1) It shows us our spiritual condition. In Bible times, roads were unpaved and dusty, so when guests went into a house, they took time to wash the sand, dirt, and grime from their feet. That’s what Bible reading does. It gives us time to pause, reflect, and shed some of the messiness of everyday life. David said, ‘How can a young man [and an older one] cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word’ (v.9 NKJV).
2) It shows us the direction we need to go. Your word is… a light to my path.’ When we’re facing an important decision and don’t know which way to go, God will guide us through His Word. David, who loved God’s Word and meditated on it constantly, prayed, ‘Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness’ (Psalm 143:10 NKJV). Many of the mistakes we make could be prevented if we stopped long enough to seek God’s guidance. He knows what lies ahead. We don’t. So ‘commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass’ (Psalm 37:5 NKJV).
We need to cultivate a taste for God’s Word. The psalmist said, ‘I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love’ (Psalm 119:47 NKJV). ‘Your word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it’ (v.140 NKJV). Today, let’s ask God to give us a love for His Word.
Titus 1-3; Matt 10:32-42; Ps 75; Pro 11:23
2022-04-25
1 Samuel 18:9 NLT
One of the truest tests of leadership is how you respond to somebody else’s success. Do you rejoice, or secretly resent them? Do you feel like their blessing somehow came at your expense? King Saul sent David out to fight Goliath. When he succeeded and the Israelites began to sing David’s praises, Saul couldn’t handle it. “From that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”
Leaders who lack confidence are a danger to themselves, their followers, and the groups they lead. That’s because leadership doesn’t camouflage your flaws; it puts them on display. Whatever negative baggage you’re carrying grows heavier when you attempt to lead others. Insecure leaders generally have four common traits:
(1) They don’t provide security for others. To be a good leader, you must make your followers feel good about themselves. Honor them. Reward them. Promote them.
(2) They take more than they give. Insecure leaders are on a continual search for validation, acknowledgment, and love. And because of that, their focus is on obtaining personal security, not instilling it in others.
(3) They continually limit their best people. Insecure leaders don’t see their best people as coworkers; they see them as potential competitors who might rise up through the ranks and threaten their position. Such leaders generally find ways to take the credit for work that was done by others.
(4) They continually limit their organization. When followers are undermined and go unrecognized, they become disheartened and eventually stop performing to their potential. When that occurs, the whole organization suffers.
Today, examine your leadership style and see if any of these shoes fit you.
Soul food: Dan 1-2; Matt 1:18-25; Ps 127; Pro 10:15
2022-04-23
Ephesians 5:31 NLT
When our children are young, we’re so busy providing them with things like love, protection, discipline, training, and authority that it feels like these responsibilities will go on forever. But they don’t. When our children reach their late teens and early twenties, we must open the door for them to the world outside.
If you’re going through this right now and feeling anxious, try to realize that you’re in one of the most challenging and difficult parts of parenting. Your tendency to hold tightly to the reins of control in order to keep your children from making mistakes is natural. But your children are more likely to make good choices if they aren’t compelled to rebel in order to achieve their freedom. The simple truth is that responsibility and maturity flourish best in an atmosphere of freedom. “As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother.'”
The secret of success is in granting your child autonomy at the right time, in the right amount, and with the right attitude. Your goal should be to allow independence little by little through the years, as your children are able to manage new responsibility. The final release, then, should represent a small step in the direction of freedom instead of a tumble into anarchy.
In the final analysis, we all learn by trial and error. You did, and try as you may to avoid it, your children will, too. “So what should I do?” you ask. Pray for them daily, release them into God’s care, and let them know that you will always love them and be there for them.
Soul food: 1 Cor 15-16; Matt 1:1-17; Ps 103:13-22; Pro 10:14
2022-04-18
Colossians 3:13 CEV
Building a successful relationship calls for focusing on the other person’s strengths instead of their weaknesses. Concerning marriage, Benjamin Franklin said, “Keep your eyes wide open beforehand and half shut afterwards.” It’s a mistake to rush into a lifetime relationship without taking time to get to know the other person. Without due diligence on the front end, you are sure to have problems on the back end. But an important relationship principle lies in learning to forgive and forget.
American politician Edward Wallace Hoch is attributed with saying, “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us, to talk about the rest of us.” Forgetting can be harder when the offense is great. Small offenses can usually be forgiven quickly; big ones involve a healing process. But until you decide to forgive and forget, the process can’t even start.
Paul writes: “Be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other… forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything… It is what ties everything… together” (vv. 12-14 CEV). One author puts it this way: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” In other words, when it comes to facing facts you can’t change, pray for grace and learn to live with them.
Why do we need to forgive and forget? Because God says so! You are not designed to carry the physical and mental stress that comes with harboring resentment. Added to which, “You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out” (Galatians 6:1 MSG).
Soul food: 1 Cor 1-3; Luke 24:13-24; Ps 56; Pro 10:8-9
2022-04-09
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
When we’ve been hurt, it’s natural that we’d try to put up barriers to protect ourselves. But we need to be careful that our protective shell doesn’t turn into a ‘heart of stone’ that’s resistant, unmoved, and doesn’t even let God in.
Author Kristen Armstrong writes: ‘The only thing more painful, and with… more serious ramifications than a broken heart, is a frozen one…. Paul warns us [about] allowing our hearts to harden. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:18 NIV). A soft heart is not weak or naive. To the contrary, wisdom, experience, and faith make for a strong heart, weathered by compassion and seasoned with mercy. A hardened heart is not protected, it’s merely encased in injury.’
A hardened heart makes us immune to God’s promptings. We lose compassion for the needs He’s trying to show us. We miss opportunities to make a difference in the lives of those around us because our hardened hearts won’t allow us to be moved by feelings of sympathy. We can’t empathise with those who are hurting. God softens our hearts with love.
He might allow us to go through a season of testing, and while we may see it as nothing but a struggle, He sees it as an opportunity to break through the heart of stone and replace it with one that’s pliant, tender, and ready to respond to Him. Kristen continues: ‘[God] wants to give you a heart of flesh. With His love you can emerge from a painful season of loss with a heart that is yielding, porous, and ready to receive the gifts He has… for you.’
Lev 15 -17; Luke 22:54-62; Ps 25:1-7; Pro 10:1
