A Very Good Word! This morning in my devotion time – these two verses really impacted me!  11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:10-11

Get Away From That Stuff! Verse 11 begins by telling us to “flee from these things, you man of God!”  We have to make a choice in this life – Who or what are we going to pursue?  When it says to flee from these things, it is talking about the wasted arguments for dominance, pursuit of riches and personal satisfaction that is talked about in the earlier verses.  We can pursue self or God.  Pursue self and you will lose yourself!  Pursue God and you will find yourself and so much more!

How To Pursue God! If you want to pursue God, then you must chase after the stuff of God!  We have been given a list to get us started!  (righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.) Impressive list!  Think about how your life would change if these were the things that you put your energy into pursuing!

It’s Not Easy! We can’t pursue God without a fight and our fight is not with Him, but with the world and often times ourselves!  We need to “take hold of our eternal life” and appreciate it for all of the amazing gift that it is!

We Can Do This! Nobody ever said that the Christian life would be easy, but it can be full of blessing – if we will take the time to live in surrender to Jesus.

Stressed! I talk with a lot of people who seem to really be stressed.  People have stress and struggle coming from just about every angle.  I am not sure that there is a sure-fire way to avoid stress, but I do know that we can avoid staying stressed.  Just because you are stressed, it does not mean that you have to camp out there.  In fact, one of the best ways to get unstressed is to take a break from your stress.

A Break From Stress! To take a break from your stress, you have to figure out where the stress is coming from.  What is causing stress in your life?  Now that you know what it is or where it is coming from – just step away from it and take a break.  It may be five minutes or it could be a few days.  The time is not really the issue.  What you do during this break is what really matters!

Game Plan! Two things need to happen during your break!  You need to talk and you need to listen!  Talk to God and tell Him what is going on.  He already knows, but it will make you feel better to get it out.  Next – Listen!  Really listen for God’s voice and direction!  You will know that you are hearing Him, when you feel your stress disappearing and being replaced with peace.

Give it a try – go ahead and take a break!

I hate days like today! They start out good and you feel like you are on your way to a great day and then you have an encounter with a person that just seems to really mess everything up.  Have you ever noticed that the people who seem to mess up your day the most are the people who you care about and love the most?

Today was one of those days! I was having a great day.  Just trucking along, doing what I do, serving the Lord, enjoying the journey and then “BAM!”  Out of nowhere, it hits like a ton of bricks!  A person walks into my life, drops a hand grenade and walks out.  It had absolutely nothing to do with me.  This person was just unhappy and needed to share the misery! “Thanks for the blessing!”

Here are a few things that the Spirit is teaching me, now that I have had a little time to digest it.

People are just people! Profound and deep – right!  Reality is that people are people and people will let you down.  It is just a fact of life that people will fall short of your expectations.  The truth is:  I fall short of my own expectations!

Everyone is imperfect! I am not sure why is shakes us up when people let us down.  I know that people are imperfect.  I know this because I am a “people” and I am imperfect.  I guess when I become perfect, then I can expect others to be perfect.  Until then, we will just have to learn to make it the best that we can.

Intention is never enough! Most of the time we have the best of intentions, but we come up short in the fulfillment and follow through department.  Remember:  “Intentions make good paving material for the road to hell!”

We need a Savior! Imperfect people need a perfect Savior!  I need a Savior!  Jesus is my Savior and my friend.  He gives me forgiveness that I do not deserve and restoration that I cannot earn!  Jesus fills me and fulfills me.  I can always count on Him!  Now, I am already feeling a little better.  How about you?