God’s people are meant to be a light and blessing to the world. Even the darkest, most entrenched parts of society can be overcome by faith as small as mustard seed. All God needed to overturn pervasive culture in the book of Acts was 120 common, ordinary people who were willing to let their hearts be overcome by the Holy Spirit. In this passionate exhortation, Pastor Carter reminds Christians that we are called to live for the benefit of others.
How many of us feel disappointed in ourselves or like a disappointment to our friends, family or even God? Often, we say terrible things about ourselves that we would never say to another person.
Feeling as if we should have accomplished more, traveled to more places or made different choices in our past can become a terrible weight on the soul. Even if we do achieve our greatest dreams, they almost always feel hollow once they’re in our hands. We fall prey to the enemy’s lies rather than trusting what God says.
As Christians, we are constantly in combat with a world that is out of touch with God and uses religion to offer wealth, status and power. Through the act of washing the disciples feet, Jesus showed a way of thinking that would change our lives forever. This way of servanthood led Jesus to the cross and is considered greatness with God. If we are willing to yield our lives and become servants like Jesus we can have true power and impact the world around us for eternity.
Words matter. Scripture says “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). But how we say words is just as important as what we say. Our facial expressions, tones, and even our silence speak volumes! How do we control these reactions? We have to look at our heart, as from it come our reactions to situations in our homes, work, and relationships. If we invite God to search our hearts and help us control the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts, he will help us. We can be God-strengthened to be surrounded by chaos but not let it control our hearts and words.
Many in churches across America are setting their hearts on false hopes—seeking to bypass holy to get to happy. If we are willing to see life as God sees it, real change can happen in our lives. God takes those struggling vessels with honest hearts on a journey they will never regret. We will make mistakes along the way, but a cry of “Abba, Father” will rise from our heart as we look to God’s promises with hope for change.
Leaving God out of our decision making is dangerous and leads to difficulties that could have been avoided.
Are you at your wits end? Do you find it hard to go on one more day? God knows what we need better than we know what we need. When we’re in charge of our own prayer requests we may be scripting our demise. Things go really bad when God lets us be god to our self. God answers like a father, not a Genie. Most of our prayer requests are telling god how we want Him to answer us, since God is our Father He does what’s right and best for us.
Many Christians allow their failures to dash their God-given hopes and dreams. The chasm between our reality and God's promises seems insurmountable. Pastor Gary Wilkerson exhorts us to combat discouragement through knowing the “why” behind the “what” to which God has called us. Our past hurts and failures don’t have to derail us from what God wants for us today.
Today, many Christians are living lives they don't enjoy. Their passion has dwindled and they've become complacent, believing their problems will never change. Pastor Gary Wilkerson shares that if we ignore the need's we have, we will never get better. But God is good! He has a purpose and plan for our lives that is above all that we can ask or think. Through God's strength, we can face life head on and live an abundant life that overflows for the benefit of others.
C.S. Lewis once said, “forgiveness is a lovely idea until you have to forgive someone.” When we choose to forgive we are not changing the past, we are changing the future.