Dream
Friday, July 9, 2010, 08:00 AM
Einstein said, imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination rules the world said the poet. There is tremendous power in your ability to imagine and to stretch your faith, to stretch your imagination. To have a dream of what God can do in your life. It is psychologically and emotionally healthy to have a dream and it is spiritually necessary to have a dream.
Because without a dream for your life, you are not living you just exist. And you don't know where you are going and you have no goal and no real purpose.
So God wants an individual to have a dream, a family to have a dream, a church to have a dream, a vision of what God could do if only we would allow Him to do it in our life.
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( 2.9 / 7 )Optimism
Thursday, July 8, 2010, 09:00 AM
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance[1] of things hoped[2] for, the conviction[3] of things not seen.Every person approaches life with one of two basic attitudes: either optimism or pessimism. The basic difference is this: the optimist looks for the best in every situation; but the pessimist always looks for the worst. Let me illustrate the difference.
A preacher and friend went hunting together on a regular basis. But this year, the preacher had a surprise for his friend. The preacher had bought this incredible dog that could walk on water. So, when the two hunters shot their ducks, the preacher turned to his dog and said, “Fetch.” The dog took out after the ducks, walking on top of the water! And then after he grabbed the ducks, the dog came back to the hunters, walking on top of the water, and dropped the ducks in front of them. The preacher turned to his friend and said, “What do you think about that?” The friend, totally unimpressed, said, “Some dog. Can’t even swim, can it?”
The difference between an optimist and a pessimist is not in the facts but in the way they look at the facts. The optimist looks at a dog walking on water and says, “That is one amazing dog!” The pessimist looks at that same dog and says, “Some dog. Can’t even swim.” The optimist always looks for the best. The pessimist always looks for the worst. As Christians, we should have an attitude like the optimist…think about it.
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( 3 / 6 )Tired and weary?
Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 08:00 AM
Sometimes we are just too tired to have a dream. We are too tired to be creative. That happened to Elijah who wanted to kill himself. He crawled under the juniper bush even after being a highly successful prophet of God and he said, Lord, I am the only one you have left in all of Israel. And I am ready to throw in the towel. Take my life; I am fighting the battle all by myself. Take my life, it is enough, I can't live any longer. The Lord didn't take his life, the Lord put him to sleep and then the Lord sent provision, miraculously for him to eat. And the Lord awakened him through an angel of God and said, Elijah, rise up and eat. After he ate, he went back to sleep. The Lord sent more provision and said rise up and eat and he did. Then he went back to sleep. The answer to fatigue was to eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Two of my favorite things in the order of priority, eat and then sleep! So fatigue can be a dream buster.
Some of you cannot have a dream because you are so tired and weary and under the burden and you are living under such stress that you can't be creative. You can't think ten days down the road much less ten years down the road about where you want to be because you are so weary and tired. And I want to tell you something about that, if you are tired and if you are weary, number one, never make a major decision when you are depressed. Never make a major decision when you are tired, when you are weary, when you are discouraged because you will make a decision based on emotion, and you will make a decision that you will probably later regret. And so never make a decision when you are fatigued.
And number two; never decide to quit when you are tired because we are always tempted when our energy is spent. And we are always tempted to want to find some easy way out and get out from under the pressure, but listen to me, wait until you have rested and refreshed. Then if God leads you to do something else, then do something else. But don't give up when you are weary and tired.
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( 2.9 / 7 )God Will Meet Your Needs
Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 12:57 PM
Many times we need things that we do not want. As hard as it may be for you to believe, growing up I used to need whippings. Now I can never remember a time in my life when my dad said to me, "Son, you need a whipping" and I replied to my dad, "You're absolutely right." As a matter of fact, I always violently disagreed and could think of any number of reasons why my dad should not whip me. But, that is the way life is. So many times we need things that we do not want.But the second reason is, often we want things that we do not need, I have read where Ruth Graham ,Billy Graham's wife, said "If it had not been for God,I would have married the wrong man-three times." You see, Mrs. Graham knew who she wanted, but God knew who she needed. Sometimes we want flattery, but what we need is honesty.
I heard about a woman on her 40th birthday who came to her husband in tears. She said, "Honey, you don't think I look 40 do you?!' He said, "No, I don't. But you used to."
Sometimes we want partiality, when what we really need is fairness. One lawyer reported to his Client in a divorce case, "Mrs. Blake, I have succeeded in making a settlement with your husband that is fair to both of you." She exploded! "Fair to both! I could have done that myself. What do you think I hired a lawyer for?"
Remember that God will not necessarily meet your wants, but he will always meet your needs. You do not have a need that God has not met, or that God will not meet. Now you may be saying, “Well I have a need God has not met." Well one of two things is true. Either it is really a want and not a need, or you are about to get a blessing from God.
God will meet all of your needs. I thank God that Paul said that God would meet our needs not out of his riches, but according to His riches. You see, there is a great difference between meeting someone's needs out of your riches, and according to your riches. Think about it!
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( 3 / 7 )Would You Pass This Test?
Friday, July 2, 2010, 10:00 AM
One of my favorite stories is the one about Lt. John Blanchard who goes to the library and picks up a little book and someone wrote notes in the margin with feminine handwriting. Because he got so much more out of the notes she wrote in the margins, he found the name of the lady in the cover – Miss Hollis Mayhall, New York City, New York. He finds her address. He is then shipped off to war for 3 years.During those 36 months he wrote to her. And she wrote to him. They began to experience feelings of love. He asked her to send him a picture. She wouldn’t. She told him she did not want his love based on her physical appearance.
Finally, the war was over. They agreed to meet at Grand Central Station in New York City. She would wear a red rose in her lapel. He would carry the book.
When he arrived, a beautiful woman in a pale green dress with beautiful long blonde hair said, “Going my way, sailor?” He was going to go but didn’t. Then he saw Hollis Mayhall, a woman well past 40, plump, gray hair tucked under her hat, a red rose on her suit. He thought about going after the girl in the green suit who was walking away. But he remembered the words they shared. He went up and said, “Hi, I’m John Blanchard. You must be Miss Mayhall. Can I take you to dinner?” She said, “I don’t know what this is about but that lady in the green dress said if you should ask me to dinner, she would be in the restaurant across the street waiting for you. She said it is some kind of a test. John and Hollis have celebrated 50 years of marriage.
Love is a choice.
Service is a choice.
What are we supposed to do?
Love and serve.
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