Quiet Times Search
Search Quiet Times via a keyword or stringSearching for "lose" in the Quiet Time Archive
Displaying results from "0" to "25". (193 found)
| 2008-03-08 - Power of Gratitude - Is This All There Is? Most of the physical pursuits of life (Ecclesiastes) are substitutes for what we really need - a relationship with God "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" - Philippians 3:7-11 The answer - to be totally immersed in my relationship with God through Christ To know God in such a way and at such a level that all else pales into comparision When this level is reached, nothing else will matter:
"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" - Philippians 1:21 Thankful books Do it just before going to bed every night God is too good for us not express gratitude Ideas: come up with 7 areas of gratitude and incorporate one area into your prayers each day
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| 2008-03-09 - Be Still My Soul - Early Morning Time Jesus went to God early in the morning Excuses:
How does spending the early morning with God help build a closer relationship with him?
Hard time getting our of bed?
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| 2008-03-10 - Be Still My Soul - Quiet Time Jesus deeply valued his time alone with God Jesus sought out quiet time Jesus found a quite place Jesus urged alertness How long? until a sense of peace and closeness with God How much time in prayer and study? mix it up; our relationship should not become stale "Remain in me, and I will remain in you" - John 15:4-8 |
| 2008-03-13 - Be Still My Soul - Times of Fasting What is fasting? - voluntary abstinence from food in order to draw near to God Fasting - frequently practiced by those who have walked closely with God:
Jesus warned about the mere appearance of fasting - Matthew 6:16-18 Advice
A "world fast" is an idea to remove yourself from movies, sports, television, newpaper, other outside info Reason to fast:
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| 2008-03-15 - Be Still My Soul - Exciting Personal Bible Study What happen to the days when you could not wait to learn more from God's word? When was the last time you regretted having to close your Bible and go on to other activities? Excuses:
The only way to a deep, growing relationship with God - which includes feeding on His word. Some are not put forth the effort required to dig deeper; have become lazy Some are satisfied with what they already know and are content being spoon-fed. "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" (Hebrews 5:11-6:3) We need to train ourselves (1 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 5:14) "This the one I esteem he who ... trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2) |
| 2008-03-18 - Be Still My Soul - How to Study God intends for every disciple of His to delight in His Word - Psalms 119:18 Ways to study:
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| 2008-03-23 - Be Still My Soul - Pour Out Your Heart We can to one of a few things in challenging times:
Pour out your hearts - Psalms 62:8 I pour out my complaint before him - Psalms 142:2 How can we be close to someone if we have not poured out our hearts God is all-knowing but unless we tell him our feelings we will never draw close Everyone has feelings; it may be difficult at first Jesus: offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears - Hebrews 5:7 Suggestions:
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| 2008-03-25 - Be Still My Soul - Personal Moses enjoyed a relationship with God that few have ever known He was face to face - It was because Moses wanted that way When Moses was heading to the promised land God said he would not go with him - Exodus 33:2 Moses was appalled, recoils in horror It was not enough to be forgiven It was not enough to be successful Moses wanted to know more of God - Now show me your glory (Exodus 33:18) How would I react? Would I be fine with the promised land without God? We can sing, strive to be committed, give money, work hard to share our faith, and even pray Must be more focused on closeness to God more than on the success of our ministry 2 Corinthians 3 - in Jesus we can have a greater relationship with God than what Moses had the opportunity to have |
| 2008-03-26 - Be Still My Soul - Pointed We can not be close to God in prayer if we deal only in generalities Abraham - Genesis 18 - prayed to save the city if there were 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even 10 righteous people Our lack of specific praying reveals a distance in our relationship with God
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| 2008-03-27 - Be Still My Soul - Persistence We "should always pray and not give up" - Luke 18:1 Disciples who are not close to God are simply not being perisistent Examples of persistent prayers:
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| 2008-04-01 - Falling in Love with God - How Bad It Can Get A mission of Satan is undermine my relationship with our Father Must ask all the time: How are God and I doing? Typical doing questions:
Relationship questions:
When we drift 1. Combative - Psalms 55:20-21 Presedes sin / sensual gratification
3. Hopeless - Job 3:11-13 Hopelessness is godlessness |
| 2008-04-18 - Falling in Love with God - Intimate Communication What will God have to do to reach us? Where theology, structure, and programs are powerless, a relationship is able I must do everything to stay close to God John 1:18, Jesus is -
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| 2008-04-19 - Falling in Love with God - Intimacy Dictionary definition of Intimacy:
"Quiet Times" OR "our time with God" assumes there is formal meeting / impersonal only Do we treat friends or co-workers this way? God desires to know who we are at the deepest level |
| 2008-04-26 - Falling in Love with God - Suffering Not content to wait for heaven - groaning is never spiritual Expectations on earth - we are frequently disappointed Only expectations that exceed our imagination - are satisfied from heaven Revelation 1:9 - John was a champion in the suffering; patient endurance that are ours in Jesus We can lose our love for God because we are surprised by suffering Only place for comfort in our relationship with god Paul was in conflict between the Earth and being in heaven - 1 Philippians 1:23-25 Since we have not reached the resting place (heaven for us), we don't 'as we see fit' - Deuteronomy 12:8-10 |
| 2008-05-06 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Emotions and Spirituality Emotions are God-given and a blessing Some refuse to get open and honest with their true feeling - from pride and fear In times of crisis, we usually get past our emotional blockage and express ourselves much better Negative emotions are not to be trusted Unless you allow others to break into your closed system of reasoning, the illogical will continue to seem perfectly logical Satan can use emotions in a damaging way - need to allow others to gain perspective Emotions are needed and seen in Jesus:
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| 2008-05-19 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Sentimentality Can easily become sentimental when talking about salvation:
All have sin and have fallen short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23 Being "broader" than the Bible puts you on the wrong road God will be the judge and he has given us the basis of his judgement - John 12:48 Extremes:
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| 2008-05-25 - Purpose Driven Life - Made to Last Forever This life is preparation for the next - realizing this will help you live differently
God has planted eternity in the human heart - Ecclesiastes 3:11 The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears The most damging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking This world is not our home - Hebrews 13:14 |
| 2008-06-04 - Purpose Driven Life - Developing Your Friendship with God You are as close as you choose to be to God Must work to develop your friendship Must choose to be honest ...about your faults and feelings No one in the Bible was perfect:
We may harbor resentment toward God He wants you to hold back nothing about how you feel Choose to obey John 15:14 - You are my friends if you do what I command We are not equals - We obey obey God because we love him True friendship isn't passive; it acts "Great things for God" - Great things come once in a lifetime; small things come everyday Must choose to value what God values What does God value the most? His lost children Must desire a friendship with God more than anything Longing, yearning, thirsting, hungering - that was David Nothing matters more NO: What is it worth to you? NO: What cost is too much? Problems are wake-up calls for you come back to him |
| 2008-06-14 - Purpose Driven Life - Protecting Your Church It is your job to protect the unity of the church Supreme model for unity is the Trinity Jesus' final moment was thinking and praying about the church's unity Make every effort to keep the unity - Ephesians 4:3 Focus on what we have in common We share the same life, salvation, and same future Conflict - focused on "disputable matters" Be realistic in your expectations People become disillusioned with church Should not be surprised - made up of sinners, including ourselves - 1 Corinthians 1:10 Reconciliation - not running away - road to stronger character and deeper fellowship If the church must be perfect to satisfy you, that same perfection will exclude you Choose to encourage rather than criticize It is always easier to stand on the sidelines than get involved Judge another believer:
Satan is the accuser of our brothers Other Christians are not the real enemy Any time spent for comparing and criticizing should be used for building others up Refuse to listen to gossip People who gossip to you will also gossip about you Great wounds usually come from other sheep, not wolves Practice God's method for conflict resolution Go to the person you are having issues with - Matthew 18 Takes a man of courage to speak the truth in love Support your pastor and leaders - Hebrews 13:17 No perfect leaders They are accountable but so are you You will give an account on how you obeyed your leaders |
| 2008-06-18 - Purpose Driven Life - Transformed by Trouble God has a purpose behind every problem God uses problems to draw you closer to himself God had the ability to kept:
... but he didn't Problem force us to look to God and depend on him Romans 8:28-29 (NLT) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.
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| 2008-06-21 - Purpose Driven Life - Overcoming Temptation Refuse to be intimidated You will never outgrow temptation Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you Paul says, "WHEN you are tempted..." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 Jesus was tempted, but never sinned - Hebrews 4:15 The closer you grown to God, the more Satan will try to tempt you Recognize your pattern of temptation Know what exactly what trips you up - Stay alert, Satan waits til you are napping - Matthew 26:41
Plan carefully what you do... - Proverbs 4:26-27 Request God's Help Call on God in times of trouble - Psalms 50:15 Jesus is sympathetic; he understands our weakness - Hebrews 4:15 We can be embarrassed to ask God for help after failing over and over again, but let us have confidence when approaching - Hebrews 4:16 |
| 2008-06-26 - Purpose Driven Life - No Excuse for Not Serving The Bible warns against living only for ourselves - Romans 2:8 Trying to save our life; we will lose it - Mark 8:35 What excuse have you been using to not serve?
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| 2008-07-03 - Purpose Driven Life - Thinking Like a Servant (part 1) Service starts in the mind Servants think more about others than about themselves Not thinking less of ourselves, thinking of ourselves less Self-denial is the core of servanthood Servants think like stewards, not owners Remember the God owns it all
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| 2008-07-14 - Purpose Driven Life - Sharing Your Message (Godly Passions) God passionately loves some things and passionately hates things other thing The closer you are to God - you will share these view Jesus - Man's heart determines his speech - Matthew 12:34 David - Zeal for God's work burn within him - Psalms 69:9 Jeremiah - Cannot keep silent - Jeremiah 20:9 Are defend the defenseless, those who can not speak for themselves Should not expect everyone to have the exact same passion as you It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good - Galatians 4:18 |
| 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:
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!" |
