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Searching for "gave" in the Quiet Time Archive
Displaying results from "0" to "25". (126 found)

2008-02-29 - Power of Gratitude - Bon Appetit
Satan works to both deceive us and accuse us - People tend to have a deceived or an accused conscience

Too many of us seem to think that God turns away from us when we are doing bad and turns back when we repent
Fathers are much more engaged when their kids are not doing well

God ran to the Lost Son - Luke 15
Gave his only Son when we were not doing well - John 3:16-17
Christ died for the ungodly - Romans 5:6-11

At the point the mind changes - our conscience should be cleared
Sin is serious - that is what the cross is all about
Feel the burden of sin long enough to be convicted and move to repentence

2008-03-28 - Be Still My Soul - Postures
Prayer is not only for our minds and hearts, but our bodies

Types of prayer postures:

Kneeling
  • Elijah - with his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42)
  • Daniel - knelt in prayer three times a day (Daniel 6:10)
  • Peter - knelt in prayer for the life of Tabitha (Acts 9:40)
Standing - Jesus gave instructions and standing in prayer (Mark 11:25)

Prostrate
  • Moses - for 40 days (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25)
  • Daniel - fell prostrate before the angel Gabriel (Daniel 8:17)
  • Jesus - fell on his face in prayer at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36)
Lifting and spreading out hands
  • David - Psalms 28:2, 63:4, 88:9, 119:48, 143:6
  • Ezra - Ezra 9:5
  • Moses - Exodus 9:29
  • Solomon - 1 Kings 8:22
Gazing upward - Jesus looking up to heaven (Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:41, 7:34)

Out loud and silently - Esther 4:1, Hebrews 5:7, James 4:7-9 / 1 Samuel 1:13

If prayers are not offered from a variety of postures then we are not praying as we ought

We can not separate our bodies from our hearts

Author has developed the ability to pray with great concentration and intimacy while running

2008-04-24 - Falling in Love with God - Heaven in Heaven
Earth has nothing I desire besides you - Psalms 73:25

Jesus taught about Heaven and who lives there - GOD

Heaven is full of angels:  Children and churches have angels
We might even entertain angels not even knowing it

From heaven:
  • Father spoke to Jesus - "who he was well pleased" with
  • Father gave him the Holy Spirit in form of a dove
  • Father gave the authority of both Heaven and Earth
  • Jesus wrote the names in the book of life
  • Jesus begging God on our behalf
  • Jesus directs the spreading of the message
  • Jesus saluted the martyr Stephen
  • Jesus sent light to blind Saul


2008-06-06 - Purpose Driven Life - When God Seems Distant
Easy to worship God when things are going great

God matures relationship by times of separation - Job, David, Jesus
God promises to never leave you or forsake you

Sin separates - Friendships are tested by separation and silence

Sometimes distance from God is not because of sin - feelings may be off
It is not a feeling,  God will remove your dependence of feelings
 
Tell God how you feel
God can handle your doubt, fear, anger, grief, confusion, and questions
 
Remember: God is unchanging:
 
Job praised God in these ways:
  • Good and loving - Job 10:12
  • All powerful - Job 42:2; 37:5, 23
  • Every detail of his life - Job 23:10, 31:4
  • He is in control - Job 34:14
  • Has a plan for my life - Job 23:14
  • He will save me - Job 19:25
Trust God to keep his promises
His promises do not change despite circumstances
 
Remember what God has already done for you
Even if God will not do anything else for you (very unlikely) He gave his son

2008-06-09 - Purpose Driven Life - The Value of Time
The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them
Your time is your life
Greatest gift you can give someone is your time
Words alone are worthless - 1 John 3:18
Most desired gift of love is focused attention
Give without loving, but you can not love without giving - God gave everything (John 3:16)
 
Make the most of every opportunity
Other and you are not guaranteed tomorrow
 
Who do you need to spend more time with?
What do you need to cut out of your day?

2008-06-10 - Purpose Driven Life - A Place to Belong
You are called to belong
Relationship with Christ is personal but not private
Your organs are connected to other organs to fulfill a purpose
Organ severed from the body will shrivel and die
 
Christ loved the church and gave his life for it - Ephesians 5:25
 
Church is Christ's bride
Can't say to Christ "I love you but I do not love your wife
 
Why you need a Church Family?
 
1. Identifies you as a genuine believer
 
2. Move you out of self-centered isolation
 
Lab for practicing unselfishness
Learn to care about others
If one part suffers, all suffer - 1 Corinthians 12:16
We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers - 1 John 3:16
 
3. Helps develop spiritual muscle
Isolation breeds deceitfulness
 
4. Body Needs you
 
5. Share in Christ's mission - He works through us
 
6. Church family will help you from backsliding
 
"Mind your own business" - not a Christian phrase
It is your responsibility to help those who need help
 
Difference between a church attender and a church member is commitment

2008-06-13 - Purpose Driven Life - Restoring Broken Fellowship
Relationships are always worth restoring
God has given us the ministry of restoring
God gave everything (his son) for restoring relationships
Does not mean avoiding conflict or appeasement
 
Talk to God before talking to the person
 
God may change your heart or their hear - James 4:1-2
Tell God your frustrations
Most conflict is rooted in unmet needs; some needs can only be meet by God
 
Always take the initiative
 
God expects you to make the first move - Matthew 5:23-24
Abandon your offering at the alter and go make things right first
Acting quickly reduces the spiritual damage
Bitterness is only hurting yourself
 
Sympathize with their feelings
 
Use your ears more than your mouth - Philippians 2:4
Focus on feelings and not facts
Start with sympathy, not solutions
 
Confess your part of the conflict
 
Ask "Am I the problem?" - Matthew 7:5
The way you handle a conflict creates a bigger hurt
 
Attack the problem, not the person
 
How you say it is important as what you say
Cold War - country decided on weapons that should never be used
 
Cooperate as much as possible - Romans 12:18
 
Sometime it cost our pride, self-centerness
 
Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution
 
Reconciliation focuses on the relationship
Takes a lot of effort to restore a relationship

2008-07-13 - Purpose Driven Life - Sharing Your Message (Lessons)

David - "God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course" - Psalms 119:33
Solomon - gave us books of Proverbs filled with practical lessons

Here are some questions to help you remember the lesson God has taught us:

  1. Taught us through failure
  2. Taught us through a lack of money
  3. Taught us through pain and sorrow
  4. Taught us through waiting
  5. Taught us through illness
  6. Taught us through disappointment
  7. Taught us through people (family, friends, church, critics)

 



2008-07-20 - Purpose Driven Life - Lifes 5 Greatest Questions
  1. What will be the center of my life? - Center our lives should be God - 2 Chronicles 14:4
  2. What will be the character of my life? - Keep a firm grasp of your character; keep at it - 1 Timothy 4:16
  3. What will be the contribution of my life? - Meet the needs of God's people produces gratitude - 2 Corinthians 9:12
  4. What will be the communication of my life? - Bring honor to the good news - Philippians 1:27
  5. What will be the community of my life? - Christ loved the church and gave his life for it - Ephesians 5:25


2008-07-24 - 30 Days at the Cross - Freedom of Forgiveness
True forgiveness - made possible by God

Jesus forgave when it was most difficult by:

Facing the truth

Jesus didn't expect life to be fair
He expected God to be fair
He accepted everything from God without question (in the end)
Judas only received kindness from Jesus
Taught forgiving your brother should be limitless - Luke 17:1-5

Feeling the pain

Jesus was totally honest with his feeling both God and man
Greatest test was at the garden of Gethsemane

Freeing his heart

He trusted his Father and focused on him rather than on his own pain
He yielded to God's sense of justice in the most unjust situation

1 Peter 2:23
  • He made no treats
  • He did not retaliate
We must follow Jesus example:
  • He honest and call sin, sin
  • Allow ourselves to feel the pain - fear or anger
  • Surrender to God or be bitter, resent, or even apathy


2008-07-25 - 30 Days at the Cross - Always Remembering

Passover - it meant freedom for the Jews (from Egypt)
Jesus choose Passover to bring freedom to all through his death

It was a new relationship with God and man
God loved mankind but man hurt God with his sin

Jesus: with my life and death, you have a new relationship, now remember this
It will be forgotten in our lives if we don't make plans to remember

In the midst of our activities and pressure of life, we forget:

  • How much he went through for us
  • That we can be forgiven and start over again and again
  • Why we are doing things we are doing

He took bread and gave thanks for this very reason - Luke 22:19

Give thanks and examine yourself - 1 Corinthians 11:28
Don't forget that in Christ there is no condemnation - Romans 8:1



2008-07-29 - 30 Days at the Cross - Denial Without Regret

self-denial - decision to consistently lay down our lives - not a popular topic
No one can follow Jesus without it

Jesus' struggle in Gethsemane was fought and won in prayer - Matthew 26:36-46
Without self-denial there would be no cross and no salvation:

  • Forgave his tormentors - Luke 23:34
  • Ministered to a criminal - Luke 23:34
  • Provided for his mother - John 19:27

Any limitation we put on self-denial will surely limit our usefulness to him



2008-08-08 - 30 Days at the Cross - Problems or Possibilities
Suffering is a problem for us:
  • We don't like it
  • Trouble figuring it out
  • Try hard to avoid it

We spend too much time asking questions:
  • Why is God doing this to me?
  • Is this from God or Satan?
  • Why does he allow me to suffer like this?
It is the response that matters, Jesus' response was:
  • Jesus, through suffering, was made perfect - Matthew 26:36-46
  • Our Lord sympathizes with our weakness - Hebrews 2:18
  • He was without sin during his sufferings- Hebrews 4:15
  • He forgave during his sufferings - Luke 23:34
  • Accepted God's will for His life
We should not be concerned on why but how we will respond

We should:
  • Consider it a pure joy - James 1:2
  • Know it is for our maturity - James 1:3-4
  • Know it is an opportunity to prove our faith - 1 Peter 1:6
Look for the lesson, make sure your suffering counts for someone
The issue is how you respond and how you will respond in the future

2008-08-11 - 30 Days at the Cross - Seeing It Through
It is not hard to start something but it takes character to finish

What did it take for Jesus to reach his goal? Nothing less than a relationship with the Father and death

With dull disciples - could have become impatient
Exhausted after a long journey - could have become selfish
He never gave in

How did he stay so determined to overcome?
Offered prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears - Hebrews 5:7

Jesus shed tears for:
  • the lost
  • the people he met and healed
  • his disciples to stay faithful
  • his family who thought he was crazy
  • the children
Knowing that God heard his cries, he found victory over discouragement, anxiety, doubt, and loneliness
We are aware of our ineffectiveness, we focus on what we should be doing but neglect our relationship with God

2008-08-17 - 30 Days at the Cross - Do not Come Down!
Jesus was tempted with the words, "save yourself, come down from the cross
If they understood the eternal significance of the moment, they would have cried "No, Jesus! Do not come down!"

Jesus was tempted:
  • Simply save himself and let everyone fend for themselves
  • Come down in hope that they would believe
  • Settle on improving their lives but not saving them
What kept him up there?
  • Jesus also loved the world that he gave his only life - Love
  • He cared deeply for others
  • He knew he could bring salvation to many

Our mission is the same (Luke 9:23) - must deny self and lose our life for others
We must quit looking for some new,easy approach and decide to love

The world is screaming out: "Save yourself! Come down from the cross!"
Jesus cries: "Do not come down!"

2008-09-08 - Teach Us To Pray - Reasoning with God

Reasoning with God in prayer is an expression of great faith
The Canaanite woman was one of two times Jesus said someone had "great faith" - Matthew 15:21-28

Persistent widow reasoned with the unjust judge - Luke 18:1-8

We cannot change the eternal purposes of God but we can change his mind on how his purposes will be accomplished

Abraham was a man who reasoned with God - his Son being sacrificed - Genesis 18:23-33

Moses was too - God decided to destroy the disobedient Israelites and start a new nation
Moses gave specifc reasons for not destroying them and God heard him and changed his mind
He prayed with great humility - Numbers 12:3

True humility is the key to the prayer of reason - not telling God what to do
Expressing our outlook and giving reasons to back up our thinking



2008-09-17 - Teach Us To Pray - The Harvest Is Plentiful
Jesus promises a great harvest but the worker are few (Matthew 9:35-38):
  • Even when there was a large crows of disciples - Luke 6:17
  • Even when the is a entire town gathered - John 4:2
God controls the harvest
Fruitfulness limited primarily by one thing - God himself

Gratitude control the harvest
Luke 9 - The charge was to preach the kingdom and heal the sick
They gave to everyone who had need - Acts 2:43-47
Salvation wasn't just a doctrine rather a reality in their lives
Jesus spent much of his time meeting physical needs, feeding, comforting, healing, serving
As a result, people spread the word even more
Reflects the power of meeting needs and our heart as a worker

To acquire this heart, we need to pray:
  • For the strength to live this way
  • For the trust needed to believe
  • For the supplies necessary to meet every need
  • For the godliness to live as the Bible directs


2008-10-01 - Man of Prayer - Father (part 2)

Addressing God as the Father seems pretty normal - not the case in Jesus' day

Sometimes David prayed:

  • O God
  • O Lord
  • O my God
  • O my Lord

...but nowhere will you find David addressing the living god as "Father"
Gabriel was sent to respond personally to Daniel's great prayer in Daniel 9 - yet he did not address God as Father

Patriarchs, the prophets, and the priests of Israel were all men of prayer - never addressed their prayers to God as "Father"
Jesus gave believers the right to become children of God

We begin our time in prayer with a father-child relationship



2008-10-13 - Man of Prayer - YHWH-shalom
Means "the Lord is peace"

Gideon had a powerful encounter with the angel of the Lord - Gave the name at the alter - Judges 6:24

Hebrew word shalom = welling being, contentment, harmony, fulfillment, and wholeness.
It communicates a total state of well-being which comes from a proper relationship with God

The blessing of God brings the peace of God
He is the source of your peace - Ephesians 2:14
Peace is the result of God's Spirit working in your life - Galatians 5:22



2008-11-19 - Raising Awesome Kids - Husband and Father
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her - Ephesians 5:25-6:4

Our relationship with our father is, in many ways, the defining relationship in all of our lives
Our response to authority and our self-confidence comes from our father

Responsibility of training children squarely upon the father
Fathers...bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord - Ephesians 6:4



2009-01-24 - Jesus with People - Feeling the Pain

Luke 7:11-17 - He said, "Don't cry", Jesus chose to be vulnerable to everyone's pain:

  • His heart ached for a woman whom he had never meet
  • Immediately felt her pain
  • Was not oblivious to other's pain
  • He gave her reason to rejoice - through his death

Jesus compassion knows no bounds
How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ - Ephesians 3:18

Are you praying to stretch the capacity of your heart to feel deeply with many others?

Is your lack of openness (rooted in fear of the sin of pride) blocking your passion and compassion?



2009-01-28 - Jesus with People - Full of Grace and Truth

John 8:10-11 - When they were going to throw stones - Jesus just didn't say no
He said - one who is deserving of the same fate, go ahead

Jesus called what it is was - sin:

  1. Not a fault
  2. Not a cultural problem
  3. Not a weakness

Was she being used by the Pharisees? Yes
Was she the product of a culture that oppressed women? Yes
Was she probably from a "bad" home? Yes

Sin enslaved us - John 8:31-34
Respect and love were the last things she expected
Jesus gave her freedom to change and was willing to forgive

 Sometimes we think repentance is more difficult than it is - Jesus called for immediately
We like to stall - think about it a while, talk about it

Is it hard for me to confront others in their sin?
Do I accept or resist others when they confront me with your sin?
What sin do I find difficult to leave behind me?



2009-02-04 - Jesus with People - Perceiving Potential

John 1:42

Usually when you meet someone, you introduce yourself - Jesus knew Peter and changed his name!

Peter saw himself Jesus saw Peter
As a fisheran As a fisher of men
Ordinary Life Life of preaching the life-changing gospel
Holding a smelly fish net Holding the keys of the kingdom
No impact beyond the Sea of Galilee Turning the world upside down

Jesus looked at people differently than they look at themself

Others saw Peter Jesus saw Peter
Volatility Passion
Subbornness Determination
Simon Peter

Jesus knew he would fail but he never gave up on Peter.

What name might Jesus give you?



2009-02-10 - Jesus with People - Heart Determined to Preach
Jesus did not avoid his persecutors; he confronted them.
  • He challenged their traditions and hypocrisy
  • He warned his disciples to beware of the "yeast" of the Pharisees - Luke 12:1
  • He challenged people to obey what he taught - Matthew 23:1-3
  • He spoke in parables were surely was going to offend - Matthew 15:12
  • He gave them answers to trick questions that left them silent - Matthew 21:23-27
Why was Jesus so confrontational? He hated their sin

2009-02-15 - Jesus with People - Widows Financial Sacrifice
Mark 12:41-44

Without ever speaking to her, he made her gift he biblical standard for financial sacrifice

She gave all she had to live on - Luke 21:4
Being a widow at that time, she likely had no income
Probably hungry and surely without financial hope
He faith in God was evident in her action

Bible does not tell us what happened to her - we can know that GOd took care of her needs - Matthew 6:25-26



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