Don’t Be a Half-Hearted Christian

By Greg Laurie

We all will leave a legacy of sorts—either a positive one or a negative one. Our lives eventually will come to an end, and each of us will leave a legacy. The truth will come out—the good things we did, the bad things we did, what we really stood for.

We may live long, productive lives and, like Caleb of the Old Testament, be able to look back after 85 years and say that we finished well.

Caleb, Joshua and the Israelites had come into the Promised Land after 40 years of wilderness wandering. Caleb had been promised a portion of the land, and he asked for what he had been assured of earlier. He said to Joshua:

“Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’” (Joshua 14:6–9 NLT)

Notice an important phrase: “You wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.” It simply means that Caleb wasn’t a halfhearted person.

Read more at: https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/334450-dont-be-a-half-hearted-christian.html

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Creative Questioning

“But the people of Berea were more open minded than those in Thessalonica, and gladly listened to the message. They searched the Scriptures day by day to check up on Paul and Silas’ statements to see if they were really so.” Acts 17:11 (TLB)(NLT)

Albert Einstein, who discovered the theory of relativity, asked, “What would a light wave look like to someone keeping pace with it?”

Bill Bowerman, inventor of Nike shoes, questioned, “What happens if I pour rubber into my waffle iron?”

Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, reasoned, “Why can’t there be reliable overnight mail service?”

Godfrey Hounsfield, inventor of the CAT scanner, asked, “Why can’t we see in three dimensions what is inside a human body without cutting it open?”

And Masaru Ibuka, honorary chairman of the Sony Corporation who came up with the idea for the Sony Walkman, queried, “Why don’t we remove the recording function and speaker and put headphones in the recorder?”

Asking the right questions is one of the fundamental keys for opening the mind to new ideas, some of which have made profound changes for mankind. However, whenever people come up with new ideas, they need courage to overcome the criticisms of negative people who seem to feel that their calling in life is to discourage creative thinkers and productive change.

For instance, shoe makers called Nike’s idea for waffle shoes stupid. Godfrey Hounsfield’s CAT scan idea was seen as “impractical.” Masaru Ibuka was asked if he was crazy when he proposed the idea for the Sony walkman and Fred Smith wrote a paper at Yale suggesting the idea for Federal Express—and got a “C” grade!

We, too, like the Christians in Berea, need to question doctrines we are taught to make sure they are biblical and not just outmoded traditions of man that can “kill” the church, and be constantly open to and actively seeking better ways of doing things for improving the quality of life for ourselves and others. And, most of all, we need to be open to what God is doing, or wanting to do, in our own life, in our church, in our community, and in our nation—and get in on his plans.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me not to accept everything I hear, but to test it to see if it is true. And help me to be open to change where change is needed and where I need to change, and help me to be a change agent for you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Comment: http://www.actsweb.org/daily.php?id=1133

Hearing The Shepherd

and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it; when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21 WEB

A shepherd herding sheep down a path does not have to interact that much, he just follows behind them watching. His presence is there, but he does not have to say anything. However if they come to a fork in the road, or a path leading off to the side, then the sheep may become confused and try and follow it. That is when the shepherd will have to correct them and bring them back on course.

The Lord is our Shepherd. In this verse, you are walking on the path of life, and if you begin to leave it and turn to the right or to the left, then you will hear the word of the Lord behind you saying: ‘This is the way, walk in it.’

Many times we have prayed: ‘Should we do this?’ and just gotten silence. Over the years, there seems a pattern developing that if we are making the right decision, we often hear silence.

It is the times when we would have chosen the other path that He answers back in some way, a verse, a dream, a song, an impression. His word comes as a correction to our course, or encouragement when we are down, when we need it the most.

These days when we have to make a decision, we pray along these lines: ‘Father we want Your will to be done in our lives, and unless You tell us clearly No, then we are going to go forward with this.’ The times when we were about to make the wrong decision, instructions came to keep us on the path.

Prayer: Heavenly Father I pray for Your guidance. I want Your will to be done in my life. I choose You today and I want to stay on Your path. Help me make the right decisions. Walk with me, talk with me, guide me into all that You have for me, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

Comment: https://www.refreshinghope.org/blogs/1/1463

Following Jesus and Jesus Alone

by raymcdonald

Have any of us ever wished we could tell the future? Are any of us the type of person who would like to know what is coming next? I mean – if we could know the day and time of something in our life – would we appreciate that knowledge or would it freak us out?

What if we could know when we were going to die? What if we could know what will happen next week in our life? What if we had an idea about how we would be treated because of whom we followed?

Dear Christian readers – listen to God when God says – the world will hate us because we follow Him. Jesus tried to warn His disciples – His followers – about what was coming – about the hate that we would face in the world we live in today. In the midst of some of His warnings – we find today’s passage -“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Read more of this post

10 Signs You’re a Titus 2 Woman

http://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/10-signs-you-re-a-titus-2-woman.html?p=1

3 True Obstacles To True Rest

http://michaelkelley.co/2017/06/3-true-obstacles-to-true-rest/

Why a Lot of Professing Christians Never Attend Church

“Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”—unless, of course, the Lord reveals to you that you are the church, as one lady said to me. Or, that you are smarter than the preacher, the deacons are trying to run the church, or no one in the congregation will speak to you. Hebrews 10:25, sort of.

When you don’t want to do something, you shouldn’t have to have an excuse.

If you do not want to go to church, for instance, if you can skip church for a whole year and never miss it, you should “man up” and admit, “I’m not a Christian and don’t believe all that Bible stuff. Church is for people who take the Lord seriously. Not me. So, I don’t go.”

Hmm. That felt ‘mean,’ didn’t it? But it’s dead on accurate.

Please read on.

https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/310666-lot-professing-christians-never-attend-church-joe-mckeever.html