Tag Archives: spiritual

Uncategorized

15 Questions!

1 Comment
Questions And Answers!

In the message yesterday, I challenged everyone with the scripture from 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” To help you do this I shared 15 Questions! Several of you have asked for a copy of the questions.  These questions grew out of my reading “Crazy Love!”  by Francis Chan.  Specifically out of chapters 4 and 5.  I hope the questions help you to do some self-examination and that the examination helps you to focus on and grow your love for God, His Church and others!

The Questions:

1.  Have you convinced yourself that attending church is enough?

2.  Are you willing to give money as long as it does not mess with your standard of living?

3.  Do you choose what is popular over what is right when in conflict?

4.  Do you want to be saved from your sin or from the penalty of your sin?

5.  Are you watching others do things for God, but never joining in?

6.  Do you share your faith?

7.  Are you comparing yourself to the world to find spiritual satisfaction?

8.  Do you allow Jesus to have all of your life or do you just give Him a part?

9.  Is there a limit to your service?  (Time, money, energy!)

10.  What do you spend most of your time thinking about:  Life here on earth or life there in Heaven?

11.  Do you allow guilt to move you closer to God or farther away?

12.  Are you more interested in how far you can go and it not be sin?

13.  Do you play it safe and fail to take risks for the Kingdom?

14.  Can you see that there is room for growth and improvement in your life?

15.  Are you willing to take the steps?

Take some time to really think through these questions.  I know that I have a lot of work to do.  I am looking forward to what God can do with me and through me as I work on some of this stuff.  I am praying for you and I ask you to please pray for me.  Remember:  We can do this for God’s glory and everyone’s blessing!

Uncategorized

Please Pray For Me!

3 Comments

For the past several months, God has been teaching me a lot about Himself and the amazing love that He has for me!  It is a very humbling thing when you begin to realize and gain understanding of this most incredible reality!  I have always known that God loves me, but in recent days it has become more than knowing.  The experience of God-loving me has become more powerful and more real than I have ever known it before.  It is absolutely awesome to be loved by Him.  I cannot even come close to coming up with adequate words to try to explain to you what I am talking about – simply amazing!

This is where I need your prayer help/support! I want to love God back!  I don’t just want to say that I love Him back.  I want to really love Him back – with the most incredible, powerful and pure love that I can come up with.  I feel so inadequate.  Pray for me – that I will totally open up my heart and life to receive all that God has for me and that I will stay open, so that His love may flow to and through my life.  It does not matter if you understand what I am talking about – just pray that I will love God back -more and better than I ever have before.

I want to love my wife and children! I love them, but they deserve so much more and I want to be the man of God that can give it to them.  Pray that I will be the loving husband that God created me to be and that I will love my wife as Jesus loved the church!  Pray that I will love my children with the “Father Love” that the Heavenly Father loves me with!

I want to love my congregation! One of the amazing things about God’s love is that even when I mess up – He still loves me.  God’s love for me is not based upon what I do or do not do!  He loves me, simply because He is love!  Pray that I will love the congregation of people who He has blessed me with the opportunity of teaching and leading with a sacrificial and restorative love!

I want to love my family and friends! God has been very good to bless me with an incredible family and some amazing friends.  I have tried to be there for them and tried to love them, but I know that I can and should do better.  Pray that God will help me to love them with a deeper, purer and more unselfish love!

I want to love strangers and enemies! I know that I honor God when I love the un-loveable, so pray that God will help me to love others as He loves me – with an unconditional and unselfish love!

Thanks for reading today and thanks for praying for me! The bottom line:  I want to be a Mark 12:30 Christian and love God with all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my mind!  I do love you and with your prayers and with God’s help – I will love God and you in an even greater way in the days ahead!

Uncategorized

Don’t Give Up!

I had a hard time getting online this morning!  I kept getting an error message and nothing that I tried seemed to work in solving the problem, but I did not give up – I kept on trying.  So many times as we try to live our lives, we will get thrown a curve ball and things will not work out the way that we planned.  I am not talking about the easy stuff like trying to get online.  I am talking about the tough stuff – like life just sometimes being rough and not working out the way we had hoped and planned!

Don’t Give Up! On a good day – life is hard, and on a hard day – life seems impossible!  When times get like this, we are tempted to give in and give up, but don’t you dare do it!  Keep after it!  Here are some steps to make sure that you are doing the right thing!

First, make sure that you are in communication with God. Talk to God about your situation.  He already knows all about it, but loves to hear it from your perspective.  Sometimes, just taking the time to talk it over with Him will lead you to a moment of clarity that helps you to get everything headed in the right direction!

Second, check to make sure that you are not the cause of the problem. We always want to shift the blame, but ultimately – we all bear responsibility for ourselves.  I am responsible for my actions and reactions to life!  It is very easy for us to get out of God’s plan and focused on our very own and very limited agenda.  Make sure that you are where God wants you to be and doing what God created you to do!

Third, enjoy the journey! Life here on this earth is way to short to not enjoy every moment of it.  Don’t let anything or anybody rob you of the special experiences that God has for you in the failures and the victories!

I hope this encourages you today and helps you to get more out of this very special day that God has given you!