X The Self Movement by Heather Clark

 

The world around us has fallen into this “you” movement. Publicizing and promoting the words me, myself, and I through radio, television, and social media. As Christians we have to be careful not to fall into this movement, but to move for God. The question is… do you want more of you or more of God? You can’t be both full of yourself and full of God; they conflict each other. The flesh has different desires than that of the spirit. The Bible says in Luke 9:23 that we are to DENY OURSELF if we want to follow Jesus.

You see God doesn’t want us I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T. Hopefully you caught the song I was referencing, but God wants us dependent on him. In fact, God didn’t create us to be independent, hence why he made Adam a helper (Eve). I’m guilty of falling into this trap; not wanting others to win, because selfishly I want to win. It’s human nature, but I end up hitting a wall every time. Why? Because the devil can pick off the loan sheep. You best believe the devil wants us to be all about “self”. We’re easy prey that way. To him that’s what we are – prey, that he wants to kill every single day. This is why we must be cautious with what we’re filling our minds. I’m in the business of helping others win, because I now know that when I help them win, I win. The fulfillment in self gain is short-lived; fulfillment in helping others win is eternal.

As humans we think we have control and we like thinking this. While we are lulled into a sense of security, the flat-out truth is we don’t have it! In fact, the only security we will ever have is God. God is needed. Whether you’re for you or for God, you can’t stop His plan. God doesn’t need us, but we absolutely need Him. I urge you to live to fight the battle that has already been won. Every day brings forth an opportunity, an opportunity to win! Don’t get caught up in the false comfort of living just for you.

God did not create us to stay in our comfort zones, to stay hidden, or to keep quiet. He created us to go, to go change the world, to save lives, and to speak up. Yes, life gets tough, it has challenges, and sometimes it may even leave you wondering if God loves you. He does (JN 3:16) and when we fall in love with God, we will fall in love with our life and the journey. The best choice we could ever make is to live for God and DIE to SELFIE.

Are you wearing Jesus? - Debbie McGrath

Galatians 3:27 says: "All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."  We wear Jesus! And those who don't believe in Jesus note what we do! People make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind.  When we are gracious, they assume Christ is gracious. No wonder Paul says in Colossians 4:5, "Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of opportunity."

When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor him.  When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others have overlooked, you honor God's children.  When you speak kind words to others, you honor Christ. Do your best! You can't control the attitudes of others-but you can manage yours!

THE ROOT OF SELF IS PRIDE

By: Diana Bortis 

  We all have special talents and gifts that God has blessed us with. For me, one of those gifts is creativity and I am so honored that the Master of art and design gave me a tiny, microscopic snippet of that. He blessed me with this gift and I soon found that my pride got in the way of using it for His glory. A few months ago I took the plank out of my own eye to realize I was using my precious gift for my own recognition, attention, approval, favoritism, and my own selfish pride. It's so sad to say but I was so wrapped up in my own awesomeness and self greatness that I felt God was further from me than ever in my life. Deuteronomy 8:14 says, "Your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God."  Praise the Lord this lesson God was teaching me only lasted a few weeks and not months, or years. But for some it does last that long, maybe even a lifetime. In a world full of self-seeking attention, acceptance, selfies, followers, and all about me, me, me its so easy to slip into the pool of pride and some don't even realize they are in it. Pride leads to so many insecurities, broken friendships, family issues, letting go of that one grudge, and so many other problems but at the end of the day are all those things worth losing over our own pride?  The best news is that breaking the chains of pride is much closer than most think. 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Having the true love of God in your heart defeats pride. Pride gets pushed to the side and trampled when you seek Jesus and when you give God the recognition, attention, favoritism, honor. Gods' love and faithfulness will never leave your side. I pray to always have the true love of God in my heart and instead of seeking honor, preference, approval, attention, (the list goes on and on) from people. I want to seek them from God and give that attention to The One who deserves them ALL.     Lay pride down at the cross and see how God will work in your life!  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  James 4:10  

God intends to get work done through YOU!... by Heather Clark

What's motivating and driving you everyday? Many of us don't know. We're living our day to day lives stuck on auto-pilot. We're letting other things control us. Why? I believe it's because most of us have lost hope, lost ourselves, and don't believe we have any power to do anything different. This is why most of us just coast. We don't stand out or blend in we're just there. If this is you let me ask you this... Do you think you were born to be unhappy, in constant sorrow, coasting, then just to die? No! No one was born with that destiny, however that will be the destiny of most. Most of us will let having too much fun and other circumstances stop us and get in the way of our true destiny.

Everyone is born with the ability to make an impact. We all contribute to society in some way. There are billions and billions of people on earth, but there's not another you. Isn't that crazy?! Only you can do what you were put here to do. So now the question is do you know what you were born to do? Our sole purpose is to help others with our gift. The gift that was given to us by God. Trust me when I say you have something that someone else needs and vice versa. Figure out what that is and go share it. This doesn't mean your life will be all rainbows and butterflies from here on out, but it does mean it will be worth it.

Sometimes in life you have to endure some pain for the overall good. Let me put this in perspective. Jesus! He knew what he had to do and what had to be done. He had to be crucified in order to save us all and he allowed it, because of his love for us. He endured the pain so that we may have everlasting life. This is exactly why you have to remind yourself that it's not about you, when we suffer and go through things we don't understand. No one knows better for you than God, and he intends to get work done through you.

For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord," plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

A Word to Women of the World by Anne Graham Lotz

January 22, 2017

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  Proverbs 9:10

My oldest granddaughter, Ruth Bell, just turned fifteen. She is spectacularly beautiful, with a sweet, strong spirit. One of the birthday traditions in our family is that each of us gives the one who is being celebrated a Bible verse. The verse can be one of blessing, challenge, instruction, promise, or exhortation.  My selection of the verse I felt led to choose for Bell this year was affected by what I saw on news reports the day after the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States.

Various news outlets played video and audio reports of hundreds of thousands of women all over the world marching in protest of President Trump. It was an incredible sight to see women flooding the streets, not only in Washington, but also in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, London and dozens of other major cities. They were peaceful, vulgar, at times obscene…marching for what? They claimed to represent all women, yet a common denominator seemed missing, unless it was fear of President Trump and the possibility that he may interfere with their right to easily accessible abortion for anyone and everyone, at any time, and for any reason.

When I opened my Bible the morning following the march of women, this is what I read in my previously scheduled devotions for the day: Proverbs 9:13-15, 18:  The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.  She sits at the door of her house, (wives, mothers, soccer moms) on a seat at the highest point of the city (in the workplace, in leadership positions), calling out to those who pass by…But little do they know…that her guests are in the depths of the grave.  

My heart aches for many of the women I saw marching…women who have joined a “movement” that is deceptive and in the end, will be destructive and lead them to a spiritual and moral “grave.”[1] I pray earnestly for them to turn to the one, true, living God, who is the only One who can give them the deep, permanent peace, love, hope, and security we all long for.

With these sights and sounds still fresh on my mind, the verse that I have chosen for our beloved Bell is one I share with you, too: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:30

My prayer for beloved Bell…and for the women of the world…is that as she fears God and seeks to grow in her personal knowledge of Him, she would become a woman of great wisdom and understanding who shuns evil and serves Him faithfully.[2]

Abilities over Appearance... by Heather Clark

Today we're often judged on our appearance rather than our abilities. When will we say enough? I'm fed up with this whole surface over soul. T.V. commercials, radio, magazines, friends, and even partners too, all say and promote this be you, but be perfect too... And even worse in the midst of trying to embody the right amount of athleticism, beauty, brains, and popularity; we lose ourselves.

I mean after we have a face full of make up, the hair color for that month, and the body that's in style, do we even know who we are anymore? A society caught up in looks... for what? Can someone answer that for me? Why are looks so important and more important than being real, having a heart, and even great character? Being so caught up in my looks should've killed me. It robbed me of my identity. I became so disconnected with who I actually was at my core. Quit societys' standards and its definition of normal. Stop trying to be perfect in every way.

Perfection is unattainable. You lose more than you ever gain. You lose who God created you to be, and if we could reach perfection he would've never sent us Jesus. If you follow the world and define yourself by its standards, you will never be good enough. You will always come up short. All the security, worth, and confidence you will ever need is found in God. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be pretty, however we shouldn't focus so much on that, that we lose who we are. There's a balance with everything. Join me in quitting societys' standards that are forever changing, and instead focus on being drop dead gorgeous on the inside. Inner beauty, that beauty lasts forever.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. - 1 Peter  3:3-4

New Year, New You... by Heather Clark

We hear it every year, new year, new me…We set these goals to be faster, lose weight, become successful, and so forth. My question is always why… why do we wait for a new year to finally decide the changes we want to make and see happen in our lives? Is pointing out our flaws really a good way to start our year?

I personally don’t believe New Years day should be different than any other day. Don’t get offended with me, as I don’t mean to steal your joy or excitement for the New Year! I love holidays as much as everyone else, in fact any reason to get together with friends and laugh I’m all for. But how often do we set our New Year’s resolutions and then fail after a couple months? It happens all the time because without a serious mental breakthrough they will never work. You see it’s more than just saying and writing on your calendar your goals. We have to address the underlying issue.

For example, if you’re into double cheeseburgers on the regular basis and you want to quit fast food going into the New Year… you have to figure out why it is you order the cheeseburgers in the first place and go from there. I guess what I’m saying is; is that we should turn away from old resolutions and focus on going into the New Year with a new mindset or attitude that will allow us to make better choices. Stop being so harsh on ourselves and writing these long-to-do lists of what needs to change, and start doing things that feel right for us and our lives.

This year lets not get so caught up in all our bad that we forget all the areas in which we’re good. New Year resolutions are not meant to focus on our flaws but rather to keep improving. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and remember this life is a gift from God!

2017 here we go!