Do Likewise
Luke 6: 37 (MSG) “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier.”
Have you noticed that when you are merciful to someone, even though you may not be seeking it, people look for a way to pay you back?
Kindness
Matt.10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” [with emphasis]
What the world misses is that your character eventually becomes your reputation; because your character will over take your reputation. Who we are on the outside should be the same as who we are on the inside.
The Assurance
Heb.10:23 (AMPC) “So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.”
Jer.29:10 “This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.
Hear No Falsehood
Jer.29:8 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, 9 because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them…”
Do not allow people tell you what is not God’s will. Do not allow people tingle your ears with things that are contrary to what God has said. No matter how nice it sounds, do not listen to them.
Conditioning
Jer.29: 7 “And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
As if the conditions were not tough and confusing enough, God was demanding that they should be nice? These people had captured them and made them slaves.
Hold On!
Jer.29: 11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you…”
As we endure, our character grows and develops. With endurance working hand-in-hand with courage, discipline, and vision, you will see your desires come to pass, in Jesus name.
Endure
2 Tim.4:5 [NIV] “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
A lot of us devote so much energy daily to trying to avoid challenges. We should actually be thanking God for challenges and adversity because they help us develop endurance.
Key Component II
Key Component I
Heb.12:7 [NIV] “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?”
The first bedrock of character is Courage. A burst of courage for fifteen minutes or even a whole day, is good but it is not enough to carry you through. It takes endurance to sustain courage. Read the rest of this entry
Stand!
Isa. 40:8 (NIV) “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
We spend a lot of energy trying to avoid challenges but we actually should be thanking God for them. Challenges and adversity help us to develop endurance and endurance is a powerful weapon to have in your character arsenal. Read the rest of this entry
