Worship ME Only

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

WORSHIP ME ONLY. Whatever occupies your mind the most becomes your god. Worries, if indulged, develop into idols. Anxiety gains a life of its own, parasitically infesting your mind. Break free from this bondage by affirming your trust in Me and refreshing yourself in My Presence. What goes on in your mind is invisible, undetectable to other people. But I read your thoughts continually, searching for evidence of trust in Me. I rejoice when your mind turns toward Me. Guard your thoughts diligently; good thought-choices will keep you close to Me.

"Jesus Calling - Enjoying Peace In His Presence"

Always Loved, Always Valued

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

We serve a God who loves us more than our work.

Oh, it’s true that God wants us to work to feed our families and to responsibly take care of the world He created. And He expects us to serve the weak, hungry, naked, thirsty, and broken people around us even as we remain alert to those who have not yet responded to the Holy Spirit's tug on their lives.

The reason we exist is to be in fellowship with God.
And yet we serve a God who loves us more than our work.

We must never forget this because there may come a time when our ability to “do for God” is torn from us by health or failure or unforeseen catastrophe. It is in those hours that God wants us to remember that He loves us not for what we do for Him but because of who we are: His children! Once we call on the name of Christ for salvation, nothing—“trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”—will ever again separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 39).

When all we can do or all we have is taken from us, then all He wants us to do is rest in our identity in Him.

From the facebook page,  "Our Daily Bread"

The Seduction Of Satisfaction

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

        “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” 
                                                                                                                  Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Have you ever been tempted to make seemingly small compromises in the short term that had the potential to take you away from God’s best in the long term?

I know this struggle all too well. But I also know that those small compromises build upon one another until they become a big pile of regret.

Temptation of any kind is Satan’s invitation to get our needs met outside the will of God.

One of the subtle ways he does this is to plant the hesitant thought in our mind that God will not meet our needs — that God is not enough. Satan wants us to feel alone and abandoned, so that we turn to his offerings instead. It’s the seduction of satisfaction.

Often the script that plays in our head is, “I need __________ so I can be satisfied.”

It’s what sends the wife on a budget off on a spending spree. She feels the thrill of the sale in the moment. But as she’s hiding the bags from her husband, shame creeps in.

It’s what pulls at the business woman to work harder and longer and refuse to build boundaries in her schedule. Always chasing that next accomplishment or that next compliment but it’s never enough.

It’s what sent me on many eating sprees. The kids were loud, the house was messy, the demands felt beyond my control. So with great justification I’d indulge only to have a bloated stomach and a deflated heart.

This subtle message sold to us by Satan can be exposed when we understand the difference between a need and a want.

All of the examples above were wants — not needs. But oh, how Satan wants to make them one and the same.

When the difference between these two words starts getting skewed, we start compromising. We start justifying. And it sets us up to start getting our needs met outside the will of God. The abyss of discontentment invites us in and threatens to darken and distort everything in our world.

Listen, Satan is a liar. The more we fill ourselves with his distorted desires, the more empty we’ll feel. That’s true with each of the desires mentioned above. The more we overspend, overwork or overeat — the more empty we feel. Remember, Satan wants to separate you from God’s best plans. He wants to separate you from God’s proper provision. He wants to separate you from God’s peace.

God’s provision sustains life. Satan’s temptation drains life.

God’s provision in the short term will reap blessings in the long term. Satan’s temptation in the short term will reap heartache in the long term.

God’s provision satisfies the soul. Satan’s temptation gratifies the flesh.

Oh sweet sister, we must consider these realities when making choices today. We’re all just a few poor choices away from doing things we never thought we would. Especially when our hearts are in a vulnerable place of longing for something that God hasn’t yet provided.

And the time to prevent destruction from temptation is before it ever starts.

We are either holding fast to God’s promise or being lured by a compromise. And isn’t it interesting that the word promise is right there in the midst of that word com(promise)?

God promises, “I will meet all your needs according to the riches of My Glory in Christ Jesus,” (paraphrase, Philippians 4:19). He is everything we need and so perfectly capable of filling in the gaps of our wants as well. We must let truth seep deep into the longings of our soul. Otherwise lies are prone to creep into this place of our desire.

Yes. We must trust God. Embrace truth. Live His promise.

Lysa TerKeurst; Proverbs 31 Ministries

Don't Waste Time On Worry

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

Rather than waste time and energy on worry, let’s use it to build our faith. Why replay fears in our minds when we can choose to remember God’s truth instead? What if we look to His Word to find a specific Scripture verse that addresses our concerns?

We can flip fear with the Word of God. Worrying won’t change our situation, but God’s Word can. When anxious thoughts come, let’s call to mind God’s promises and meditate on His faithfulness. Let’s turn our worries into prayers as we proclaim God’s powerful Word over ourselves and the people we love.

After all, our heavenly Father calls each star by name, and He sees each sparrow when it falls. We can trust Him to take care of us.

- Betsy De Cruz, Proverbs 31 Ministries

Our Soul Was Hand-Designed....

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

Our soul was hand-designed to be richly satisfied by the Word of God.

When we go without the nourishment of truth, we often try to fill our spiritual hunger with temporary physical pleasures, thinking they will somehow treat the loneliness inside. These things can’t fill us. They can only numb us.

And numb souls are never growing souls. They wake up one day feeling so very distant from God and wondering how in the world they got there.

Since Satan’s goal is to separate us from the Lord, this is where he wants us to stay. But the minute we turn to God’s Word is the minute the gap between us and God is closed. He is always near. And His Word is fully able to reach those deep places inside us desperate for truth.

- Lysa TerKeurst, Proverbs 31 Ministries

Grace For The Mess

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from me, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31


The wasted years of life. The poor choices of life. God answers the mess of life with one word: grace! Grace. We know the word. The bank gives us a grace period. The seedy politician falls from grace. Grace shares the church parsonage with its cousins: forgiveness, faith, and fellowship. But do we really understand it? We’ve settled for wimpy grace. It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn and fits nicely on a church sign.

Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Softened by grace? God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. Grace comes after you! From insecure to God-secure. From afraid-to-die to ready-to-fly. Grace is the word that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off!

From God’s With You Every Day, by Max Lucado

Believing in God

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians 4:31

Losing someone you love can forever redefine who you are and how you think. 

Several years ago, I stood at the coffin of my baby sister after a medical complication took her from us.

I was devastated. Hopeless. Angry.

This is the reality of deep grief: Even when you love God and believe in His promises, it takes time. It takes wading through an ocean of tears. It takes prayer.

Then one day you take off the blanket of deep grief. You fold it and tuck it away. You no longer hate it or resist it. For underneath it, wondrous things have happened over time. 

Things that could only have come about when divine hope intersects with a broken world.
Finally, you can see years stretching before you once again. You look up, wipe a tear and find it’s still possible to live and love life.

- Lysa TerKeurst, Proverbs 31 Ministries

Let Me Bless You...

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil thinking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

LET ME BLESS YOU with My grace and Peace. Open your heart and mind to receive all that I have for you. Do not be ashamed of your emptiness. Instead, view it as the optimal condition for being filled with My Peace.

It is easy to touch up your outward appearance, to look as if you have it all together. Your attempts to look good can fool most people. But I see straight through you, into the depths of your being. There is no place for pretense in your relationship with Me. Rejoice in the relief of being fully understood. Talk with Me about your struggles and feelings of inadequacy. Little by little, I will transform your weaknesses into strengths. Remember that your relationship with me is saturated in grace. Therefore, nothing that you do or don't do can separate you from My Presence.

"Jesus Calling - Enjoying Peace In His Presence"

Letting Go......

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

When someone approaches us in repentance, our response should be forgiveness. More and more forgiveness. Jesus uses the Greek word aphiémi which means to let go or release. The release doesn’t mean what was done against us was okay.

Forgiveness releases the hold pain has on our life.

Father, forgiveness is bigger than me. Without You I am powerless to release the pain that has taken root in my heart. You forgave me and forgave those who took Your life. To live fully in a right relationship with You, please help me let go and live in the freedom of forgiveness.

Proverbs 31 Ministries - Wendy Pope

God Doesn't Let Go

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

Many Christians think they’re saved, hope they’re saved, but still they doubt, wondering, “Am I really saved?” Our behavior gives us reason to wonder. We’re strong one day, weak the next. Devoted one hour, flagging the next. Believing, then unbelieving.

Conventional wisdom draws a line through the middle of these fluctuations. Perform above this line, and enjoy God’s acceptance. But dip below it, and expect a pink slip from heaven. Salvation then becomes a matter of timing and you just hope you die on an upswing.

Jesus’ language couldn’t be stronger: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages…and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 AMP). God doesn’t let go and He won’t let go of you!

From God is With You Every Day By Max Lucado

A Thought For The New Year by Max Lucado

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

Suppose I were to drop by your house holding a foil-covered saucer. “Hello, friend,” I say. “A few days back Denalyn made a strawberry cake. It was so good. It came out of the oven hot, moist, and sweet. I wish you could have tasted it. Today, as I was eating the last piece, I thought of you. Just before I took the final bite, I put my fork down and thought, I’m taking these crumbs to my friend.”

How would you feel?

Contrast that emotion with the one you feel if I were to knock at your door holding a cake pan with oven mitts. “Denalyn pulled this out of the oven a few minutes ago. It’s still hot. No one has touched it. I got here as fast as I could. I want you to have the first piece. I want you to have the whole cake (although I did bring my fork in case you want to share).”

How would that invitation make you feel? Or, better asked, how does that make you feel? God offers you the whole cake. You do not receive crumbs or leftovers. You have received his best. Why? Because he loves you based on the “Principle of Firsts.”

Since this is the first day of a new year, it’s appropriate to re-visit the theme of “firsts” in the Bible. Open a concordance to the word and prepare yourself for an avalanche of entries. First. Firstborn. Firstbegotten. Firstfruit. Firstling. First-ripe. My concordance contains seven columns of tiny-fonted words and verses. Apparently, “first” is a big theme in scripture and a big thing to God!

Is it possible, with all these references, to reduce them to a single message? I think so.

God went first. We love because he first loved us (I John. 4:19).

God made the first move. God took the first step. God placed the first call. We did nothing and do nothing that wasn’t and isn’t prompted by God. He went first. He not only went first, he gave his firstborn son. The Bible calls Jesus “the firstborn among the brethren” (Romans 8:29). In the great, expansive, innumerable family of God, there is a firstborn: Jesus Christ. What did God do with his firstborn Son? He sent him as a sacrifice. He didn’t redeem us with apostles, angels, prophets or preachers. He gave the best gift.

Jesus is not only the firstborn, he is the firstfruit. “But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:20 NKJV). First-fruit is an agricultural term used to describe the initial harvest. The farmer would take the best portion of his harvest to market and tell the customer, “Taste and enjoy. There is more to come.” Jesus is the firstfruit of God’s eternal harvest. He will do with his children what he did with Jesus: he will call us out of the grave. How do we know? Jesus is the firstfruit.

In addition, God gives us the “firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom.8:23). Love, joy, peace, patience…all the fruits of the Spirit are ours because God gives, not leftovers but firstfruits. These are foretastes, samplings of the full harvest that awaits us in heaven.

God gives us firstborn Son and the firstfruit of the Spirit. We have received his best. Let’s follow his lead.

Go first to God with your problems.

Don’t take your problems to the bar. Don’t numb your fears with narcotics. Don’t hide from or deny the existence of struggles. No, go first to Christ. Jesus tells us, rather bluntly, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25 NKJV).

He then gives two commands: “look at the birds” (vs. 26) and “consider the lilies” (vs. 28). If God cares for the birds and the grass, won’t he care for us? For that reason, he commands: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Mathew 6:33). Would you like a word of advice that will save a thousand headaches and heartaches in 2017? The moment a problem surfaces is the moment you take it to God. Take it to him first.

Honor God with the firstfruits of your income.

In the thirteenth chapter of Exodus, God unveiled a beautiful, yet challenging principle. “Consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is mine” (Exodus 13:2).

The firstborn lamb belongs to God. The firstborn donkey belongs to God. The firstborn child belongs to God. This was true, not just with flocks and family, but with harvest and salary. “The first of your firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19).

If a farmer has an apple tree that bears ten baskets of apples, he sets aside the first basket as holy, belonging to God. “All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, it is the Lord’s, it is holy to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:30).

Nine-tenths of the farmer’s harvest was common. But the first tenth, or the tithe, was holy. It was unique; set apart for a special purpose. Our relationship with God is built on firsts. He loved us first. We love him first. No crumbs. No leftovers. No Sirree.

Let this be the year that you excel in this grace of giving. And, one more, let’s

Gather on the first day of the week with God’s people.

Let six days be used for work and acquisition. But set one aside for spiritual and physical restoration. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Under the older covenant, this day was Saturday. As Christians, we set aside Sunday, though many Christians still observe a Saturday Sabbath. The day of the observance matters less than the message of the observance: God wants us to worship and to rest. He designates the first day of every week as holy. This was the practice of the New Testament Christians (see Acts 20:7).

Would you like God to bless your six days? Then give him the first day. Make it your aim to gather with God’s people in God’s house for corporate worship.

Why?

God has something to say to you. He may say it through a hymn, through a friend, through a prayer, or through a passage.

God has something to say through you. The story is told of a west Texas rancher who attended the same church for decades. Even in his later years, when he was half blind and hard of hearing, he sat on the front row. One day a young man asked him: “You can hardly hear and scarcely see; why do you keep coming to church?” The old rancher replied, “I don’t come for me; I come for you.”

What if your church attendance is less about what you receive and more about who you can encourage?

I want to be crystal clear: we are under the new covenant, not the old. We are saved by grace, not by works. No tithe or attendance will ever add one iota to the finished work of Christ on the cross. These disciplines are part of God’s plan to keep us from drifting. “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1 ESV).

Most people who grow cold in their faith do so incrementally, gradually, inch by inch over a period of time. These disciplines of the firstfruits recalibrate us day by day, week by week. I hope you will consider them.

I have a feeling that someone is groaning inside. “Max, my life is already burdened. So many obligations. So much work. And now you talk to me about firstfruits and first days of the week. I can’t take another load.”

If those are your thoughts, I must have underemphasized the promise of Jesus. He said, “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).

If you find this message to be burdensome, I must have failed to share God’s promise from Malachi 3:10-11: “Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams” (Malachi 3:10 MSG).

If this teaching on firsts weighs you down, I must have forgotten to tell you about this verse. “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV).

When God’s people put God first, God’s blessings began to flow.

God gave you his firstborn Son. Jesus is the firstfruit of the resurrection. The Holy Spirit gives you the firstfruits of heaven.

Let’s make this the year that we respond in kind.

Max Lucado's New Year's Day Message - First Things First.