Success and Failure Blog

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.

The Love of Jesus

Lamentations 3:22-23 … Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Psalm 25:4-6 … Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.  Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

Psalm 33:16-18 … No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Proverbs 8:17 … I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

John 3:16-17 … ”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Titus 3:4-8a  … But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  This is a trustworthy saying.

Ephesians 2:4-9  … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Romans 5:3-8 … Not only so, but we  also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:38-39  … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 4:7-9 … Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a  … Love (God) is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Colossians 3:13-15 … Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.

Ephesians 5:1-2 … Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

1 Peter 1:8-9 … Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 4:8 … Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Ephesians 3:16-21 … I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen!!!

For more “Wisdom” go to nuggetsofwisdom.us

Aaaah!  It is Sunday!  A day of rest!  A day to refuel the soul!  A day to set aside just for you, Father God, to give you glory and praise your Holy Name!

For some of you this day may be Saturday, but I usually spend Sunday as my Sabbath.  This has confused me. It  makes sense  that since Father God spent 6 days creating and spent the 7th day resting that Saturday would be the Sabbath, but most of us spend our Sabbath on Sunday since that is the day we go to church.  Some weeks I have more convictions of this than others so I wind up celebrating my Sabbath on Saturday but still attending church on Sunday.   In doing this I feel I really prepare my heart for worship. But where did the Sunday Sabbath come from if the Bible is really clear on the 7th day?

I once was a member of a small group that had this discussion.  The big issue was how many people worked weekends and could not get to church on Sunday?  So is it okay for people who need to work weekends to spend their Sabbath, their day of rest, their day of isolating themselves to the Lord, the day of praise to the Lord, another day?

I guess in retrospect if you spend your 6 days of work Saturday through Thursday or Sunday-Friday, or whatever your schedule might be then your Sabbath would be the day or one of the days you actually do not have to go to work.  That would be the day you set aside for rest.

Some denominations are very set on what the Bible says about the Sabbath.  Going by our calendar, etc.  But although our calendar was derived from a former does it make it exactly the calendar that God used and did God use a calendar?  He has always existed, He is older than all the grains of sand, He has always been there and will always be, His day is a thousand years.  So what type of calendar did He or would He use?

In conclusion, I believe that each of us has our own personal relationship with our Lord.  We need to rest in Him and His Word each and every day to be drawn closer to Him and have the ability to hear His will in our lives.  But we also need to have our Sabbath, where we do no work in order to glorify His Holy Name and His Word.

Draw near to the Lord today and everyday.  Set aside your Sabbath.  Speak to the Lord of your habits, needs, desires, and the Sabbath.   Allow His Holy Spririt to guide and lead you and listen for God’s Words of Wisdom.

I would love to hear from you and what God leads you to do!

I love you, Father God!  You are my King of Kings, my rock and fortress, without you life would be impossible and with you life is amazing!  All glory and honor to you, Abba Father!  Praise be your Holy Name!

“Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes but morning comes. Keep hope alive. Don’t you surrender!  Suffering breeds faith. In the end faith will not disappoint.”   –Jesse Jackson, American civil rights activist,minister

As you read the quote by Rev. Jesse Jackson keep these verses in mind from James 1:2-4,  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Let us take care, in times of trial, that patience, and not passion, is set to work in us: whatever is said or done, let patience have the saying and doing of it. When the work of patience is complete, it will furnish all that is necessary for our Christian race and warfare. We should not pray so much for the removal of affliction, as for wisdom to make a right use of it. Here is something in answer to every discouraging turn of the mind, when we go to God under a sense of our own weakness and folly. If, after all, any should say, This may be the case with some, but I fear I shall not succeed, the promise is, To any that asketh, it shall be given. No condition of life is such as to hinder rejoicing in God.

(bible verse notes taken from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible).

The following is a poem that I came across many years ago. Its seems just as appropriate today as it did back then. See if you remember hearing it, as well.

Don’t Quit by Edgar A. Lewis

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

More bible commentary on James Chapter 1 can be found at Matthew Henry’s Commentary