Defective Tuner?

God will supply every need... Phil 4:19

Is this really true?

"Why not just give up on God.  He either doesn't love you or can't act."

Bereavement, betrayal, loss or failure can open us up to be tempted to give up on God.  All of us have experienced one or even all of these situations.  If these experiences result in my seeking God's strength and provision then I will gradually become more loving, faith-filled, and compassionate.  But, if I throw up my hands and bitterly give up on God's love and ability to provide, I will become more and more cynical, despairing, difficult to live with and isolated.  Jesus' prayer that we be one with Him and His Father, is a prayer that God is constantly working to answer.  This priority is infinitely more important than our comfort and pleasure in this world.   Two voices are speaking - one is a lie.  Which voice do we tune our ears to hear?  Is our tuner defective?

"May we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that, at the proper time, we can be exalted because He cares for us."

Disagreeable Mess or Opportunity

Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

1 Peter 1

Our natural life in this world will have many troubles, disappointments and hurts.  But, Jesus has promised that he has overcome the world.  By His Spirit and power, I can respond to painful situations with grace and have hope in the face of darkness.

It is so easy for me to respond to disagreeable circumstances in my Self-power.  Then I manifest things like impatience, irritation, and depression.  Yet, disagreeable circumstances are the only time when I can genuinely show Jesus' presence and life within me.  It is only then that His strength can work through me to do and respond in ways that are not natural to man or to me.  Misunderstanding, rejection, hurt, loss, disappointment and so on can become wonderful opportunities to respond in the spirit of Jesus.

The grace to respond in the power of Christ depends on the presence of His Spirit in my spirit and my ability to humbly acknowledge the truth of His Word.

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We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life.  -- My Utmost for His Highest

That life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

—2co 4:10

The Ultimate Life Coach

If someone believes they can not change their personality, they have believed a lie.  We can and should change.  The rise in popularity of the concept of life coaches has demonstrated the power of coaching to help people change their lives.  The ultimate life coach is Christ.  We can actually experience His personal coaching and the resulting life transformation.

Neil Cole with Church Multiplication Associates has put forth the concept of Life Transformation Groups.  This is a group of two to four people of the same gender who meet for an hour every week or two.  The group determines the time, the place and the conversation.  The conversation is encouraged to center around each individual's response to the group's agreed Scripture reading and agreed character conversation questions.

The group is kept small so that there is time for each person to be part of the conversation and part of the resulting potential for transformation.  The small size of the group also helps encourage more in-depth sharing.   When the group gets to the size of four members, it is ready to split into two groups of two.

A group does not need a trained leader since each one in the group will know how the group functions after a couple of meetings.  The basic format of the meeting is to start with some known questions that encourage discussion about how each person is responding to life challenges and to God's voice into his life through the Scripture reading.  Along with the questions and discussion, each group is encouraged to pray for the needs in the group and for specific people who are not yet believers

This type of group has two basic requirements.  Each person should be desiring a more intimate relationship with Christ and they should be committed to the meetings, questions and Scripture reading as agreed to by the group of two or three.

These groups can help accelerate the transformation of each individual because of the in-depth sharing, the daily hearing of God's voice through Scripture reading and the power of the Holy Spirit to work in this smallest of churches.

Would you like to experience incredible change to your thinking, relationships and response to life?  Would you be committed to having Christ as your ultimate life coach?

Please send me an email (gerald.boyd@gmail.com) and let's discuss the next step.