Success and Failure Blog

The down side of God’s love?? I’m not that Hot!! when we first started going to church I was skeptical at least. some of the “touchy feely” things mentioned just seemed cheesy.. and all the “nice” people seemed fake (and I don’t doubt some were) then…. there were a few people that, in my mind, seemed to be hitting on me.. my reaction was almost impulsive in my head I was thinking “doesn’t this person know I’m married do they not see my wife and kids right here”?? what made it even more odd was that some of these people were men.. they just seemed too interested in me and in and not the cheesy churchy way….come to find out these people were interested and they were genuinely loving. these people had the love of God in them and it just flowed out in their every day conversations and actions. kinda broke my heart when I finally figured this out I thought my gym membership was finally paying off.

Now it’s even more odd.. the people that are drawn to me in conversation from followers to atheists. The way I connect with children is nothing short of supernatural. people from my past recognize the peace and love in my daily life and wonder. people I meet know that I’m different from most others and the conversation eventually turns to my faith. I wish I could say I was hot or an excellent speaker or super charismatic…. But when I stand before the mirror, I have to give the glory to God…because I’m just not that hot

Often I hear people say they are waiting for what God wants them to do, sometimes this is needed, but sometimes I feel this is an excuse inaction. What are you waiting for? If You’ve read the same bible as I you know we are called to act in faith, yes many times the Spirit or an angel tells the person what to do or what to say. Then there are times when people act according to what they know about God and what God wants, and incredible things happen, read 1 Samuel 14. Johnathan doesn’t wait for a sign or a message he knows he is acting on God’s behalf and God will have his back.

If someone was about to get hit by a car would you pull them out of the way or pray about it? That sounds extreme, but what we can apply to the big cases we can apply to the small cases. it would be impulsive for most of us to pull that person out of harms way. so maybe we can train ourselves to make our acts of love and kindness impulsive, our acts of serving and giving. no second thoughts, no need to pray about it, knowing we are acting on behalf of our God, just acting. Read James 4:17. Many times we need to pray for guidance on what is right or good to do. but many times we know the answer….we’re just stalling.

A Mandate from God is Serving Others

As Christians, we are called on by God to the role of serving others — and not only in the area of finances. We are to serve others with every opportunity we can find, and to always be looking for opportunities to do so. And next to witnessing to the testimony of the Gospel, it is a primary function as children of God as well as loving God with all of our hearts and souls and minds.

When we think of serving others, we often think of getting involved in charities or giving money to homeless people on the side of the street. However, serving is so much more than that. It is not something we do once in a while. It is a way of life.

Always have the thought of service to others in your heart, every waking moment of every day. There are all kinds of unexpected ways to go about this. You may not even realize you are doing it at times. For example, getting up before your children and making them breakfast and fixing their lunchboxes for school is serving. Making dinner for your family or buying groceries for your housebound grandmother is serving.

We are serving when we allow someone to get in front of us in traffic or let someone with fewer items get in front of us in line at the grocery store. Even picking up something that an old person dropped and handing it to them or retrieving a ball from a roof for a child are all ways of serving others as God intended, if done with the right motives.

However, be careful. If we serve because it makes us feel better, than no reward will be set aside for us. It is for a selfish reason … that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Matthew 6:2.

Do it out of a heartfelt desire for, and love of, God. We are to serve for his pleasure, not ours.

The whole point of serving others is to think of the needs of others before we think of our own. As parents, we are used to doing that with our children, but we often forget to do it in other parts of our daily lives. We may become short-tempered with strangers, act selfishly in public, and decide that we deserve something more than someone else and grab that sweater out from under the reaching hands of someone else at a department store sale.

When tempted to be selfish, just remember how much God gave to us. It should be all we need to soften our hearts and serve as we were meant to as we serve God by serving others.

God did not make you to be average! Everything you need to succeed already exists in you.  Believe in God’s word and receive the blessings that God is offering to you.  As a matter of fact, God has already bestowed these gifts on every person that is united with Christ…

Ephesians 1:3 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-14 goes on to explain what some of those spiritual gifts are. Our relationship with God, as His children, is the biggest and most important of the blessings.  In addition, God has a plan for our lives, and because we are His “heirs,” we are guaranteed a future inheritance. The moment we trusted Christ we inherited a great deal of spiritual riches and blessings, all of which were purchased for us by Christ.

God has endowed us with the Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our hearts and gives us experiential glimpses of God’s kingdom. The Holy Spirit enables us to experience God’s love in this life (Rom.5:5)  The Holy Spirit also enables us to build and enjoy healthy love relationships in this life (1Thess.4:9). But sometimes we can forget that we have the rights of sons and daughters and instead live as orphans. We have incredible riches in Christ, but we often act like we’re poor. We Christians know that the ultimate purpose and meaning of our lives is to bring praise and glory to God.

What might look different in your life if you were living out of a rich experience of our spiritual adoption in Christ?

Take a look at Romans 8:15-17: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

How does being made sons and daughters free us from fear?

So it is up to us as Christians to act on what we already possess.  We should believe, live and act as though we are blessed, because we really already are!  As Tye Tribbett would say, “We’ve got the V ICTORY!” and we should live our lives for the glory of God.

Click here to see the video of Tye Tribbett on tbn

John 4:23 NIV Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

To summarize, these verses should lead us to:

• Understand that the chief purpose for God’s blessing us is to bring glory to Himself by making us holy and blameless in love.
• Praise and thank God as we meditate on our many spiritual blessings.
• Live in such a way as to bring God the greatest glory possible
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Booker T. Washington has left us the following words to consider.  “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”  As Christians in a material world we often forget that our success is not measured by the wealth we obtain or how important our job title is.  Many people waste their lives chasing worldly success and public acknowledgment. Matthew lets us know that these accolades are only temporary (Matthew 6:19).  It is not your possessions or your “public profile” that defines who you are, it’s what you give during your lifetime. 

As practicing Christians we must give our lives to Christ, our best effort to the Gospel, and our hearts to heaven.  If we do this everything else will fall into place.  As it says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” True Christianity is not concerned with what one may be able to gain, but how much one is able to sacrifice. In the long run, if we shamefully deny Christ to gain the pleasures of this sinful world, then He will reject us as well to his Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:33)