I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Fight for Gratefulness
Cynicism can feel like the easy way out when we're presented with an idea or a situation we don't agree with. The more cynical we become, the more we judge others for their actions. And, if we’re not careful, we can grow arrogant and bitter.
The antidote to this way of thinking is not to be right about everything. Rather, the way to heal from a cynical heart is through gratitude and thanksgiving.
When you are grateful, you take the focus off yourself and put it on God. When you give thanks for something, you no longer judge something for what it isn’t; you appreciate what it is.
In this passage, Paul encouraged all believers in the church of Thessalonica to be continually grateful for who God is and what He has done. He told them always to be joyful. How is that possible? For Paul, because of God’s amazing grace, there’s always something to be joyful about.
As we are more grateful and joyful, we will be more closely connected to the heart and will of God. We will connect with God more deeply, and continual prayer will be possible. When we’re too focused on ourselves, we have no capacity to be in communion with God.
So, fight for gratefulness today. Press into God, even if you're struggling. Let others know that you're counting on Him to show up!
Luke 10
“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into ...
God Is With You
The prophet Isaiah wrote the words of Isaiah 7:14 nearly 600 years before Jesus was born. At the time of this writing, the Israelites were doing all the right religious things, but weren’t practicing justice as God commands. Like many prophets during Isaiah’s time, this was a warning against that injustice. But among that warning was a glimmer of hope that God would set things right.
Here, the prophet Isaiah is giving the people of Israel a reason to hope because of God’s good promise—the promise that He will provide a sign and He will show up for us. Because that’s what Immanuel means: God with us.
But what does “God with us” mean for us today?
It means we can share in that hope by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting in Him. We can trust that from Christ’s birth to His current reign in Heaven—Jesus is God with us.
He’s with us in our pain when we lose a loved one.
He’s with us in our anger when we see injustice and don’t know where to turn.
He’s with us ...
