Breakfast For Your Soul

Friday, February 6, 2009

Hebrews 12:1

“Sweet Release”

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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

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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

Lawn Mower -Psalm 91:7 88 of 109   In John 16:33, Jesus says: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Trouble may be mowing down everything around us, but in Jesus, we can stand and not be cut down. July 20, 2008

Character Builder -2 Peter 1:5–7 81 of 109   Building Christian character can be a strain sometimes, but it is necessary to “keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 1:8 NIV May 25, 2008

Thursday, October 2, 2008

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

(Hebrews 12:1)

After coming home from a rehearsal, I was amazed at how good I felt.  I was amazed because the folks conducting the rehearsal– saved and wonderful as they are– showed little mercy to us! It is a rather large production, and we are moving at breakneck speed. Everyone starts out with an exercise routine lead by very young, energetic, and enthusiastic teenagers.  They do not seem to notice that most of us are…shall we say.. a little over 21, with a little more to love around our hips .  They did forewarn us at the beginning, so we knew what was coming, but knowing it’s coming and actually being in the midst of it …. two entirely different things.  I have hurt in places I can’t name…. don’t even know what it’s called…didn’t know it existed!  LOL!… but I am so enjoying this experience.  Do I like pain?  HA!   No… I’m the biggest chicken there is when it comes to pain, but the discomfort I feel is not as great as the benefits I am gaining.  I FEEL better.  I have so much more energy, my clothes are fitting looser, and I don’t feel as tired as I did before.  Spiritually, I feel as though weight (pun intended) has been lifted off of me.  What affects your spirit, affects your physical body and vice versa.  Jesus has invited us to “cast all of our care to Him, because He cares for us”.  We are admonished to “lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us” (Hebrews 12:1).  Casting and laying aside seem easy.. on paper.  When we are in the middle of actually doing it, that is when it becomes difficult.  Change is difficult.  Funny how easy it is to fall into patterns of behavior that do not benefit us at best, and can be deadly to us at worst.  Going places we know we shouldn’t be going.  It could be an old friend or relative’s house that we know is an area of weakness for us.  Change.  Reverse course.  It may be uncomfortable … for a season.  But the power, peace and favor gained will more than make up for it in the end.

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Cartoonist’s Comment:

Satan’s lies can seem scary, but they are no match for the truth of God, found in His Word.