Sweet Release
Written by FAVORED1 on February 6, 2009 – 9:08 am -
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
“Sweet Release”
*************
Good Morning Beloved,
Happy Friday!
…. this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Release some stuff… set it down..and … breathe…. My mother sent this message to me by Pastor Rick Warren. It touched me and I wanted to share. I love the balance in the body of Christ. I never want anyone to get God’s Word twisted. Every promise God made is true and will surely come to pass, and yet we live in a fallen world where bad stuff happens. My mission is to encourage folks (myself included
) not to lose hope during trying times, and to not forget God when “our ship comes in”
.
… that dearly Beloved, is Good News!
U Blessed
Have A Fabulous Day!
Regina
***
Rick Warren, ‘Purpose Driven Life ‘ author and
Pastor of Saddleback Church in California
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body– but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act – the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into an other one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys – you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don’t believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it’s kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness,’which is my problem, my issues, my pain.’ Depression sets in and you start feeling sorry for yourself. Then no one measures up to you and you are not accepting. But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. Helping others, accepting others as they are, not trying to change them or questions their motives, or criticize them. LET THEM BE WHO THEY ARE! If you cannot accept that, then you should not be around them. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.. God didn’t put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He’s more interested in what I am than what I do. My morals, my character, my attitude. That’s why we’re called human beings, not human doings. (But don’t get me wrong, doing for others is the right thing to do, too.)
“Total Praise”, Richard Smallwood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv9-WlymKg0
“The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”, CeCe Winans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1YPUx3oNZs
“Come Ye Disconsolate”, Ted & Sheri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3gQHFY1ro
“Set Me Free”, Myron Butler and Levi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBCpYqyu7p8
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Tags: lay aside, life's purpose, weight
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