Christ Alone
Psalm 63:3-5 “for your love and kindness are better to me than life itself. How I praise you! I will bless you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. At last I shall be fully satisfied; I will praise you with great joy.” (LB)
You need to know that your praise does not make God bigger. Your praise does not make God stronger. God is God all by Himself with or without your praise. The truth is that praise is a privilege. And every time you allow entitlement to steal from your praise, it reduces God in your life and the influence of God in your life. Read the rest of this entry
Stand Guard!
John 12:4-6 “But Judas Iscariot… the one who would betray him—said, “That perfume was worth a fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor, but he was in charge of the disciples’ funds and often dipped into them for his own use!” (LB)
We will kick off with our final point from yesterday. Isaiah 64:6 “We are unfit to worship you; each of our good deeds is merely a filthy rag. We dry up like leaves; our sins are storm winds sweeping us away.” (CEV). Self-righteousness is the sister of entitlement, and all our self-righteousness counts for nothing before God. Read the rest of this entry
Entitled?
Philippians 2:5-7 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (NKJV)
Entitlement is a belief that I am inherently deserving of certain privileges or special treatment. In other words, with entitlement, you feel that you deserve something. Some say I deserve to have children. After all, children are a blessing from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward. I deserve to have children. Read the rest of this entry
Check Up
Luke 17:10 “Now apply this situation to yourselves. When you’ve done everything I’m telling you to do, just say, “We’re servants, unworthy of extra consideration or thanks; we’re just doing our duty” (The Voice, emphasis added).
Over the next few days, we are going to be looking at Entitlement. We often need reorientation in such fundamental things. One of the many problems that has existed for centuries is entitlement. How is it a problem in our time particularly with children and with adults alike? Read the rest of this entry
Look & Live
John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”
The eighth example of God leveraging and using innovative energy to transform impossible situations into a testimony for His people is Exodus 17:9-13 (please read). You may or may not really understand what this is all about. But as we go on you will understand it. Read the rest of this entry
Helped By God!
Revelation 12:14&16 “But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly… But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.” (NKJV)
Psalm 68:19 “Praise the Lord! Every day he helps us with the loads we must carry. He is the God who saves us.” (ERV, emphasis added). The Voice Translation puts it this way, “Blessed be the Lord who carries our heavy loads every day, the True God who is our salvation.” Read the rest of this entry
Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer!
Deuteronomy 8:3 “He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that the Lord says.” (GNT, emphasis added).
The fourth example of God leveraging and using innovative energy to transform impossible situations into a testimony for His people is Exodus 17:2-6 (please read). Here God’s people did not have water. They were in the wilderness, thirsty and there was no water. Read the rest of this entry
Impossibility Specialist
2 Kings 3:16-18 “…This is what the Lord says: This dry valley will be filled with pools of water! You will see neither wind nor rain, says the Lord, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves and your cattle… But this is only a simple thing for the Lord…”
Exodus 14:15 “The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out for help? Tell the people to move forward.” (GNT, emphasis added). If you find yourself in a situation where the way forward and the way backward seem blocked, the only way is to go forward! Move forward! Read the rest of this entry
By Wind
Psalm 114:3,5&7 “The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way! The water of the Jordan River turned away. What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way? What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord…”
Exodus 13:21-22 “The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. Read the rest of this entry
Innovative Advantage
Psalm 78:13-15 “For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls! In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire. He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water, as from a gushing spring.”
When we look at the things that God did from the parting of the Red Sea to the parting of Jordan, those things can be expressed in one word, “impossible”. Remember, Read the rest of this entry
