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Some good reads that have been doing a work in me:
"What Matters Most" by Doug Field
I tend to spread myself thin. I love to be a part of all things and say yes to everything but I watch as some things suffer because I said yes to something else. Saying yes to one thing means you are saying no to something else, is it worth it? I'm a work in progress but thankful that it's being worked in me. Instead of spreading myself wide to doing many things mediocre, I want to do a few things well and allow room for the priorities in life.
"In the end, busyness makes us look important but cripples our relationships. Busyness feeds our egos but ultimately starves our souls. Busyness fills our calendars but fractures our families. And busyness props up our image but shrinks our hearts."
"You need to learn to say no to many good thing and wonderful people so you'll have space to say yes to God, yes to the important people in your life, yes to priorities - yes to what matters most."
"during my busyness I didn't intentionally stop loving God and spending time with Him, but my passion and love for God was definitely taking a backseat to my passion and love for the church and the activities of the church culture."
"Busyness is the enemy of depth...many ministry people are busy because they're trying to become everything to everyone; instead, they become nothing to no one."
"When you're spiritually empty, your heart for God shrinks"
"I sacrificed my intimacy with God for the idols of busyness, achievement, and making people happy."
"To change, you must declare war on busyness."
"Counterfeit Gods" by Tim Keller
A fresh convicting perspective of what things have taken a place of idols in our lives.
"What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give... We never imagine that getting our heart's deepest desires might be the worst things that can ever happen to us...it's because our hearts fashion these desires into idols...If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
"A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" by Eugene Peterson
"Pilgrim tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is a way, Jesus Christ. "
"Songs of Ascents, Psalm 120-134 were likely sung, possibly in sequence, by Hebrew pilgrimage as they went up to Jerusalem to the great worship festivals...Jerusalem was the highest city in Palestine, and so all who traveled there spent much of their time ascending...between the time we leave home and arrive at our destination...between the time we leave the works of the law and arrive at justification by faith."
"Lies Women Believe" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
I ventured into this book wanting to better equip and understand women's issues as I love meeting and pouring into people. To have a good base and truths for understanding issues and lies and what truths scripturally to counter those lies better. I knew that I would come away with truths to carry for life, but this book surfaced so much and worked so much more out of me than I expected. Made me raw like from the use of sand paper, but the truths were the sweetest balm to heal any wound.
"Satan deceived Eve through a clever combination of outright lies, half-truths, and falsehoods disguised as truths. He began by planting seeds of doubt in her mind about what God had actually said...causing her to make decisions based on what she could see and on what her emotions and her reason told her to be right, even when it was contrary to what God had already said."
"Satan has used deception to win our affections, influence, our choices, and destroy our lives...every problem we have in this world is the fruit of deception - the result of believing something that simply isn't true."
"Regardless of the immediate source, anytime we receive input that is not consistent with the Word of God we can be sure Satan is trying to deceive and destroy us."
The progressions from deception to bondage - Listen to a Lie...Dwell on the Lie...Believe the Lie...Act on the Lie.
"what we believe inevitably is what we will act on...when we act on the lies we have believed, we begin to establish patterns in our lives that ultimately lead to bondage."
Moving from bondage to freedom - (1) Identify the area(s) of bondage or sinful behavior. (2) Identify the lie(s) at the root of that bondage or behavior. (3) Replace the lie(s) with the Truth.
"The Truth has the power to over every lie. The Truth has the power to set us free. The Truth has the power to sanctify us."
Here are some powerful truths - soak these in:
God is good (Psalm 119:68). God loves me and wants me to have His best (Romans 8:32, 38-39). I am complete and accepted in Christ (Eph 1:4-6). God is enough (Psalm 23:1). God can be trusted (Isaiah 28:16). God doesn't make any mistakes (Isaiah 46:10). God's grace is sufficient for me (2 Cor 12:9). The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover all my sins (1 John 1:7). The cross of Christ is sufficient to conquer my sinful flesh (Rom 6:6-7). My past does not have to plague me (1 Cor 6:9-11). God's Word is sufficient to lead me, teach me, and heal me (Psalm 19:7; 107:20; 119:105). Through the power of His Holy Spirit, God will enable me to do anything He commands me to do (1 Thes 5:24). I am responsible before God for my behavior, responses, and choices (Ezek 18:19-22). I will reap whatever I sow (Gal 6:7-8). The pathway to true joy is to relinquish control (Matt 16:25; Luke 1:38; 1 Peter 5:7). The greatest freedom I can experience is found through submissions to God-ordained authority (Eph 5:21). Personal holiness is more important than temporal happiness (Eph 5:2-27). God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself than about solving my problems (Rom 8:29). It is impossible to be godly without suffering (1 Peter 5:10). My suffering will not last forever (2 Cor 4:17-18). It's not about me; it's all about Him (Colossians 1:16-18).
Gospel of Luke
I'm going through the New Testament this semester for a Bible class at church and I loved reading all four gospels right after each other and really was drawn to the gospel account by Luke. His chronological order and detail and the perspectives from different people shed light into the life of Christ. Go through all the gospels and see what one most draws you to the life and work of Christ...or at least read Luke.
Posted in: on Monday, November 29, 2010 at
