March 2019 – Page 2 – Thoughts for the Day

March 26, 2019

Rest in Faith and Trust God With Your Whole Life!

Yesterday morning I woke up looking for answers regarding several challenges that are part of my life at this time. Hebrews 11:1 declares, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I was looking for evidence that things were working out in a specific area and when I got up nothing had changed overnight on that issue. Tomorrow I go for a series of health tests and I am anticipating God’s healing touch will be shown on the results.

In conversation with my Heavenly Father I was reminded of what transpired in the life of Abraham when he was told by God to go and sacrifice his son (Genesis 22). You might want to read the chapter. I did! Talk about living in the midst of a challenge. Isaac was born a miracle in fulfilment of God’s promise. What does God think He is doing?

Take a look at what Abraham says to his servants in verse five, “Genesis 22:5, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Then note how he responds to his son when Isaac asks, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”(verse 7). Abraham says, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (verse 8).

What was Abraham doing in the midst of his challenge, expressing faith, even when he could see no answer on his immediate radar screen. In the course of our conversation God then went on to reveal some very personal insights about my life, which I am not prepared to share at this time. I am still processing a number of things.

As the day progressed, in small, uneventful steps, what I was looking to see happen overnight came to fulfilment on the first of the challenges I mentioned. God was faithful as I simply waited for the pieces to be revealed, just as Abraham waited on God as told in Genesis 22. I wait in faith on the health test results in the coming days, knowing God will work all things out for good, in reference to what is yet to be.

I encourage you to rest in faith and trust God with your whole life!

March 25, 2019

Are You Doing What You Love and Passionately Living Your Destiny?

I pulled a book off the shelf the other day that I had not visited in a while. It was Dean Del Sesto’s book, Shift Your Thinking: 200 Ways To Improve Your Life. I opened to the place where my bookmark had been left. The title of the next reading was, “It May Be Wrong To Put the Cart Before The Horse, But It’s Never Wrong To Put The Heart Before The Course.”

God’s timing is always perfect. I needed to hear again what Dean shared in this segment of the book. The following paragraph caught me attention and I hope it will yours.

“The value of doing what we love is manyfold: We usually do better, we always strive to improve, we rarely get burned out, and we generally rise to the top. And those who do what they are passionate about sleep better and wake up differently than those caught in the drudge; they define themselves as rich, regardless of how much money, accolades, and notoriety they attain.”

What do you do? Can you define it in terms of results that connect to your passion? When you can, it will make a difference in how you perceive yourself and your mission and destiny on this earth. If it does not excite you, keep working on greater clarification and understanding, or chose something else that does.

It was an exciting day for me when I came to the realization, “I invite people to say YES to the relationship with God through His Son Jesus, so they can SEE the difference living fully committed to His universal principles can make in their lives.” This resonates with me in describing who I am and what I am about. It even connects to “my personal life Scripture verse” I was given when I was 16 years old.

What about you, how committed are you to working through the process that brings you to the place Dean Del Sesto was writing about? Are you doing what you love and passionately living your destiny?

March 24, 2019

God’s Word: a Creator’s Manual to Navigate Your Life’s Journey!

Yesterday I was giving some consideration as to the foundation upon which we build our lives. What role does faith play in this process? For me, having made the decision more than 50 years ago to say YES to the relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus and fully commit my life to Him, where does God’s Word fit into this relationship?

I ask what might seem to be an obvious question, because I am not so sure it has an obvious answer for some people. The start of our relationship begins before we even acknowledge its beginning, because of God’s love for us (Romans 5:8). Our conscious connection starts to take place as we recognize God is reaching out to us and offering to provide what it is we cannot do for ourselves.

When we make the choice to say yes and begin reciprocating His love we learn the significance of what Jesus provided for us through His death on the Cross of Calvary, which impacts who we are in relationship with the Heavenly Father. Spiritual growth happens as a result.

What I wonder about is why it takes us so long to take the pattern of faith and practice from His Word which brought us into relationship and apply it across all areas of life. It was never God’s intention for us to compartmentalize our life into that which we include Him in and that which we segregate Him from.

Alignment of our life to be in perfect selfless love (holiness) is part of His will for our relationship with Him. The Scriptures are not a law book demanding compliance, but the Creator’s Manual to Navigate Your Life’s Journey in relationship to Him!

March 23, 2019

What are your dreams, goals, desires, wants, needs and intentions? There may be some people who will look at this question and have no idea what these words even mean and be totally unable to respond to it. Others have no identifiable recognition of these things in their life and cannot imagine how to respond. Then there are those who will perceive this question as overtly materialistic, lacking any sense of spiritual humility and understanding. The potential for positive and negative responses is likely unlimited.

It would be to your advantage to know and clearly understand the differences in these words. I will not give you the answer here. I encourage you to look them up. A question often asked goes something like this, “What do you want for . . . (your birthday, Christmas, etc.).” What is your intention when you respond to that question? Do you express something from your dreams, goals, desires, wants, or needs? Is there a difference?

Does your response reflect a lack of belief, so that doubt gets in the way of really expressing what it is you want? Oh, I really didn’t want . . . anyway!

This line of thinking spills over into what we think, believe, say and intend in terms of prayer. What do we ask for, or leave off our request list, because we are convinced we will not get it anyway? Where does this place us in regards to our confidence in God’s Word, as it applies to our life?

The Psalmist declared, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1).What does that actually mean? Is the word, “want” really the proper English translation of what God is saying to us? How does this line up with what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19? There he declared, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

I will be addressing these issues in greater detail in my message at Grace Church of the Nazarene in Shelburne, Ontario on March 24, 2019. You can join the service live over the internet at 10:30 a.m. EDT at www.SayYEStotheRelationship.com, or just the message portion of the service on Face Book Live at approximately 11:00 to 11:05 a.m. EDT. What do you really desire in your life? Find out more about this important question your answer. Come and be part of the journey with us.

March 22, 2019

What Destination Is Your Focus Driving You?

I read an interesting email yesterday in which the annual global survey for 2019 placed the U.S. at 19^th overall in terms of happiness… its worst rank in the history of the annual report. Canada dropped to the ninth position.

The World Happiness Report of 2019, developed by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, focuses on how community harmony is shaped by “technologies, social norms, conflicts, and government policies.”

The email sent out by Crux makes an interesting suggestion as to what may be happening. The article concludes with this statement, “There are studies that link more time spent using digital media to a decrease in happiness. Think about it… The more time young people spend online, the fewer chances they have for the kind of face-to-face interactions that older generations experienced when they were young. The report also notes that young people are spending less time at church, reading books, and even sleeping.”

I am not sure whether what is cited in this email is the reason, or perhaps the symptom of something else, which is causing the trends which are taking place in North America. When something, whatever it might be, including technology, replaces what are staple, universal basic actions in how humanity was created to behave, live and thrive, there will always be negative consequences. This is true in every area of life, including the spiritual realm. As Earl Nightingale wrote many years ago, “We get what we think about most of the time.” What destination is your focus driving you? Is that where you really want to be?