#Father Groeschel

[brucedinsman]

Replacing Lies with God’s Truth: Insights from Craig Groeschel’s Book “Winning the War in Your Mind” — Courageous Christian Father

Replacing Lies with God’s Truth: Insights from Craig Groeschel’s Book “Winning the War in Your Mind” – In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, many of us battle with negative thoughts, self-doubt, and anxiety. These internal struggles can hinder us from reaching our full potential and experiencing the abundant life that God intends for us. In… Replacing Lies with God’s Truth: Insights from…

[300apftsoldier]

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for your love for us. We know that you are all-powerful and faithful, and that we can trust you with anything and everything. We pray now that you would make your guiding hand known as we pray for this situation of feelings of needing patience and peace of mind. Lord, in this world, especially in these modern times, it is easy to become impatient and lose our sense of peace when things don't go as quickly or smoothly as we'd like, or when a situation turns out opposite of our hopes and intentions. When times of waiting are needed, it is important for us to remember that you are in control and have our best plans already made. We ask you now to help make those plans known as we also pray for the strength, resilience, and fortitude to be successful in maintaining a sense of peace during this time. We know that you will continue to provide guidance and direction in this path, and that you will help bring about the best outcome.

Thank you for being our perfect and gracious Father, for your promises to us, and for always completing the work you begin. We pray this all in your holy name. Amen.

As you continue to seek out Christ, you may enjoy one or all of these YouVersion Bible Plans:

Don’t Give Up - Perseverance for the Trials Ahead

God Where Are You?! With John Bevere (book)

Wait and See: Finding Peace in God’s Pauses and Plans

God Comes Through on Time

To Everything a Time

Daily Power by Craig Groeschel: Fuel for Your Soul

[riearchivistfornow]

Friendship

Teens Xcite 2016.02.20

Friendship

Friendship is part and parcel of your life. It is something that everyone will have. We have made friends since we are young. People will still have friends no matter how old you are.

"Friendship is the hardest thing to explain. It's not something you learn in school, but if you havent learnt the meaning of frienship, you really haven't learned anything." – Muhammad Ali

Friendship is something everyone will have and it is important to us.

Friendship is something that is important in the eyes of God. Friendship itself is God's idea.

"It is not good for man to be alone"

Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

We were not created to be solitary creatures, even though we might like solitude sometimes. We are never meant to be alone.

What is true friendship? John 15:12-17 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

The bottom line of friendship is God, and it is Love because God is Love. Friendship has evolved into something else in the world. If you want to have strong friendships, it is about love.

Jesus tells to lay down your life for the life of a friend. The people around us are important. We need to appreciate and to develop real friendships.

We know many names and many people but we have not invested the time and emotions to get to know each other personally.

Technology has brough us closer, but we still love each other from a distance. There is something worth more than friendship like this.

We build relationships from a distance nowadays.

In this day and age, people are too busy building relationships thumbs-to-thumbs and not face-to-face.

Will you lay down your life for your friends? The word of God says that that is the greatest mark of friendship.

"We are living for "likes" yet we still long for love." – Pastor Craig Groeschel

True friendship is build on love.

Two things as to what friendship really is all about:

1) What you can give

This is very straightforward. It is about having a relationship with the other person, having a spirit of love.

John 15:12-13 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

This is how Jesus tells us to live our lives, and to build friendships. Without the love of Jesus, what is the point of friendship then when He has shown us these?

1 John 3:16-17 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be that person?

If we want to be a friend, we need the spirit of love, to push us to think about what we can give to our friends. How can you 'value-add' into the persons life?

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

A blunt knife cannot cut effectively, that is why iron is used to sharpen it. It is the same with your friends.

It is about what you can give. It isn't only about presents but also about your presence.

What you need in a friendship is the presence of another person. A friend is someone who is there for you. The full extent of love cannot be felt through a text message, a photograph or a video call. You need to learn to be present, because your presence is powerful.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Whatever it is, we need to learn what it means to be present there. We need to contintue acts of love and good works by being present there for someone.

Jesus gave His own time and His effort, giving us His presence.

Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Jesus gave is His very own presence.

"Jesus didn't show His love from heaven, He showed His love here on earth."

Have we been present there for our friends?

There is a difference praying for someone and praying with you.

1 John 3:18-19 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:

It is about what you can give to your friend.

Very often that friendships do not work out is because we constantly think about ourselves, and not about others. The problems with some friendships is that we are in it only for our own terms. Friendship is about what you can give.

2) Friendship is about what you can get

"A gift without a recipient is pointless" In a friendship, there should also be us receiving.

If I want to give something, someone has to be there to receive it.

In a friendship, we are called to receive something as well.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

Giving and getting, makes a friendship what it is.

You are there to get.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

A true friendship also gives you help and support. As we develop friendships, we need to ask, what are we getting? You need to be friends with people that helps you to grow. Growing in character, spiritually and values.

Friends should be there to give you advice and to also help you to grow.

A relationship works because you receive and you give.

Proverbs 18:24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 13:20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

Proverbs 27:5-6 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

In life, there will always blindspots. The best ways to grow as a human being is to identify your blindspots and to help you to grow. That is why you need friends to come around you to help you to see around these blindspots.

True friendship is about what you can give and get.

What am I giving? What am I getting?

Make time for one another. There is something powerful in being present.

Develop Godly friendships. Sometimes as you look at your own life, think first about what you can give out of the spirit of love; people will want to be around you.

Make a choice to be a Godly friend and to build Godly friendships. "When two or more are gathered in My name, I am here with you."

[mstexalicious1961]

SOTK

devotion by Bernard Trippett, Jr

Dealing with mess-ups.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” I John‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭ESV.

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” 1 Corinthians 1:30, ESV.

“Failure is an event. Failure is not a person.” -Pastor Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles that Matter Most

We strive to be like Christ daily, but I can say I have yet to find perfection in myself. I have yet to find a perfect day. Even living a surrendered life, we have all yet to see a perfect life. Yet, I continue to find God’s mercy and grace to pull me away from seeking perfection and keep my focus on doing what He called me to do.

Don’t allow a mess-up to make you give up. Don't allow them to make you stuck, even in regret. God isn’t looking for perfect people, but He is looking for people with perfect hearts. Jesus is your perfection. He hasn't changed His mind about you His son. He still called you. The Father turns mess into messages. Thank Him for His goodness and mercy that follows you all the days of your life, and keep going.

Prayer: Father, I give You praise this morning. You are good! Help me never allow a mess-up to make me give up or get me stuck. I allow Your new mercies and great grace to pull me out of a mistake.I’m moving forward. Jesus is my perfection. I choose joy. You will finish the work that you’ve started in me. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Study: Lamentations 3:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:1, Philippians 1:6 & 3:13-14

[coghive]

Debut Of A Rich Mullins Never-Before-Seen Video

An unknown video recording of Rich Mullins has surfaced and is debuting at non-profit website utrmedia.org.  On June 18, 1995, Mullins and his tour-mate Beaker made a surprise appearance for the people of First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City – one of the churches that was damaged in the tragic bombing that took place only eight weeks prior. The 34-minute video shows Rich leading the congregation in some camp-style singalongs as well as sharing five original songs, including his most well-known anthem “Awesome God.” “It’s an incredible joy to share this video and hopefully encourage lives,” stated Jamie Russell, Executive Producer of the Relational Grace Podcast.  “My father was the pastor of First United Methodist Church.  After he passed away in 2020, we began rummaging through old Hi-8 video tapes of sermons.  I was a senior in high school the day Rich came to our church – a day I’ll never forget.  I was elated to find a tape with a handwritten label that just said ‘Rich Mullins.'” Russell and his friend Jared Ranum digitized the footage and are now ready to share it with the world.  “Rich and Beaker came to our church to be a gift and a blessing to our community,” Russell continues. “Now we hope this video is a gift and blessing to all who view it.” https://youtu.be/KLstkdzwsQY One surprise in the video is an introduction from a young Pastor Craig Groeschel, founding pastor of Life.Church, who was then serving as Associate Pastor of First United Methodist Church. This never-before-seen video is debuting now exclusively at UTR Media, a non-profit website that has championed the legacy of Rich Mullins, including being a part of the creative team behind the 2022 tribute album Bellsburg… The Songs of Rich Mullins. On April 19, the 28th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, the video will be publicly available on YouTube. Additional stories and reflections about Rich’s 1995 visit to Oklahoma City will be shared on Episode #100 of the Relational Grace Podcast (publishing on 4/18/23). Read the full article

[jdgo51]

Called to Who (Before Do)

Today's inspiration comes from:

The Power to Change

by Craig Groeschel

Do you ever feel called to more?

"'We live in a culture of more — more promotions, money, square feet, clothes, vacations, followers. But have you noticed how even when you get more, you just want more?

Why?

Because that brand of more comes from our sin. While one of the many downsides of our fallen nature is to never be satisfied for long with what we have, God made us for a far more significant kind of more.

If you have ever felt called to more, it’s because you are called to more.

But the right kind of more. God uniquely created you, gave you gifts, set you apart, and called you:

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. — Ephesians 4:1 NLT

When most Christians hear that they are called, they tend to think about do, not who. They wonder what task, ministry, or job God might be calling them to. Or if God has a specific place for them to live. Some worry they might even miss their calling.

A calling is one way to discover our do. But we learn in the Bible that, as with our attempts to change, a calling focuses on who before do.

In Genesis 12:1, God tells Abram,

Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

Verse 4 states, “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” There was no do yet, only who!

In the Ephesians 4 verse, Paul says you have been called to what? A life. “You have been called,” so you should “lead a life worthy of your calling.” And check out 2 Timothy 1:9:

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. — NLT

You are called not just to a life but to a holy life.

A calling focuses on who before do.

Yes, you are also called to a ministry, to a do, but that is secondary. Who comes before do. God has called you to a holy life, to be faithful to Him, to realize nothing else compares to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8) and so to live, first and foremost, for Jesus.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. — Colossians 3:17

What God would have us do and where God would have us go is secondary. Whatever God has you do, you do that for Jesus. Wherever God puts you, you serve Jesus. That’s your calling.

Your calling is more about who you are becoming than what you are doing. Let me repeat — your calling is more about who you are becoming than what you are doing. You are called not only to serve Jesus but also to become more and more like Him. The more is discovered in the becoming.

Another way to say this is you are called first to salvation, then to sanctification, then to serving. Sanctification and serving will then run parallel until Heaven. The two work hand in hand.

Here’s what that looked like for me: In college, I was an absolute mess and as far from God as you can imagine. Then my fraternity got in a lot of trouble. Mostly as a public relations move at first, I decided to start a Bible study.

I began to read the Bible, specifically the Gospels. As I read, I felt drawn to Jesus, so I kept reading. Finally getting to Paul’s letters, I came to a verse in Ephesians that says you are saved by grace, not by works. That spoke to me because I knew I could never be good enough for God. I felt Him inviting me to put my faith in Jesus, and I did. God called me to salvation. I responded.

I was now a Christian, but I had no idea what that really meant. True story: I had a fraternity brother in my fraternity who, unrelated to me, also became a Christian. We decided to celebrate by going out and getting drunk. We just didn’t know any better yet.

I was a Christian, but I was nothing like Christ. Gradually, I came to know Jesus more and what it meant for me to live like Him. With God’s help, I started to not only identify sin but also say no to it.

As I grew in maturity, I would take several steps forward and then a couple back. That ongoing process, which is still happening today, of letting God’s Word, empowered by God’s Spirit, conform me to the image of Christ was God’s calling to sanctification. I was responding.

Before long, I realized I was also called to serve. In fact, after experiencing salvation and beginning to be transformed through God’s sanctification process, I felt compelled to serve. I felt Him calling me to become a pastor. It made no sense to me or to anyone else — as confusing as John Wick becoming a monk or a mongrel becoming a poodle — but His call was undeniable. I knew I had to answer.

Your call to serve will look different from mine. You might volunteer with teenagers, start a ministry, sing in a worship band, edit videos, or teach kids, but the process will be the same. God will call you to salvation, then sanctification, then service. Why? Because who comes before do."'

Excerpted with permission from The Power to Change by Craig Groeschel, copyright Craig Groeschel.

[yhwhrulz]

Today's Daily Encounter Monday, January 30, 2023

The Truth Shall Set You Free

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."1

Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? These words probably took you to the scene of a courtroom where a witness is being sworn in, with one hand raised while the other is placed over a Bible. But where do you think those words came from? Yes, from the Bible itself! The ninth commandment goes far beyond the courtroom. It is part of a set of rules and guidelines given to us by the God of justice. A God who took the time to make laws against murder, stealing, adultery, blasphemy and lying because He cares and wants to protect us from the pain that these sins incur. It is in God's nature to be truthful because HE IS TRUTH! (John 14:6) As followers of the One True God, we are called to tell the truth…and nothing but the truth. There is no such thing as a "little white lie". All lies are hurtful and destructive. Whether we exaggerate stories or twist the truth to impress others; whether we make false advertisements or fib to avoid trouble or because it's convenient at the time, lies poison our relationships. No matter the form of our dishonesty and duplicity, God's will for us is to stop lying and tell the truth.

When legendary magician, Harry Houdini, came into town to do his show, he often went to the local jail, gathering a crowd of people along the way. To get buzz going about his upcoming performance, he asked the jailer to lock him in a cell. Time after time, jail after jail, town after town, Houdini escaped within minutes. But one jailer had heard that Houdini was coming, and the jailer was ready. When Houdini closed the cell door, the jailer put the key in the lock and secretly turned it in the wrong direction. He then removed the key, and everyone watched as Houdini struggled to escape—by unknowingly locking himself in repeatedly. Finally, in frustration, Houdini admitted he could not escape. The jailer then revealed his deception. Houdini had believed a lie, and the lie had held him captive.2

Regardless of whether we are in a courtroom or if it has just become a part of our act, God's Word is clear on the subject. "Thou shalt not lie"; however He does offer a way to escape - He [Jesus]…is the Way, the Truth, and the Life—"and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

Suggested Prayer: Dear Holy Father, your Word is clear and without error. You gave us these rules out of a great love for your people. I am so grateful for your mercy and your grace by which I am set free to live an abundant life in you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Exodus 20:16.

Craig Groeschel, Winning the War in Your Mind, Zondervan, 2021.

Today's Encounter was written by: Veronica B.

NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon Click on: http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or if you would like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please click on http://www.actsweb.org/decision.php to note this.

Daily Encounter is published at no charge by ACTS International, a non-profit organization, and made possible through the donations of interested friends. Donations can be sent at: http://www.actscom.com

ACTS International P.O. Box 73545 San Clemente, California 92673-0119 U.S.A.

Phone: 949-940-9050 http://www.actsweb.org

Copyright (c) 2016 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following: "Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2016 ACTS International.

[stevedonnellyfaith-blog]

Sacred Song (Post 101) 8-12-15

                        Natalie and I have continued our game of YouTube tag throughout the last several weeks.  It passed the time nicely on our Maryland excursion, but we have also found that it is pretty fun to play on short expeditions as well.  The pop music stations that Natalie prefers become drearily repetitious when we don’t break things up, although it is entertaining to listen to her accompany the artist as a background singer.  Sometimes Nicholas sings along to his music as well, but I probably shouldn’t disclose that.  Playing music on YouTube instead means that I can intertwine songs that I like in between the sandwich ends of inevitable Taylor Swift anthems.

One night last week we carried the game of tune tit-for-tat that we were playing on our phone into the house, across the kitchen and to the breakfast table where my mother was getting ready to serve my father his supper.  Curious and knowing that he likes all things Gaelic, I pulled up a video of a scene from the movie Empire of the Sun in which a young British lad stands at attention and salutes through the barbed wire fence of a Japanese internment camp singing the Welsh lullaby Suo Gan as zeros takeoff into the sun. For me Suo Gan is a particularly haunting song because the melody is the same as the hymn Christ Before Us which I first encountered on my Emmaus weekend nearly two years ago.  Hearing a particular hymn at a peculiarly emotional time can add a spiritual impact to a song for a specific person that it may not have for other people.  Morning Has Broken can similarly bring tears to my eyes, because it was sung at Pam’s funeral service.

As it turned out my father’s love of Gaelic music did not include any special feelings towards the Welsh classic, but we did share some memories about walking into an English church in some town that I could not recall where we arrived just in time for an afternoon rehearsal of the parish boys’ choir.  They were very talented.  The idea of pulling up hymns on YouTube did intrigue my father, surprisingly.  He asked me to play Jesus I Come for him, which, he explained, was the hymn they were playing at the Tremont Baptist Church when he entered there for the first time. My mother had evidently invited him to her church when they were dating.  My father agreed; he would have also probably agreed to try bungee jumping had my mother suggested it and that particular form of stupidity existed anywhere else other than in the Australian outback at the time of their 1960’s courtship. Instead of the Sunday morning’s boredom that my father probably expected, he experienced a powerful intervention by the Holy Spirit into his life through the gateway of a beautiful hymn sung by a talented choir.

So I searched his request, queued up the hymn, hit play and passed him his favorite sacred music on the little midget screen of the IPhone5 that I most often use for scrolling Facebook.  Although the music didn’t sound special to me, it caught my 78 year old father like fly-paper.  He sat transfixed at the breakfast table totally oblivious to me and to the usual bustle of my family interacting about our kitchen at dinner time.  The kids could have been having chicken fights and he would not have noticed.  As far as I could tell, my father was 650 miles and 60 years eastward sitting in a pew in a famous New England church with the girl he loved, encountering awesome beauty of Jesus Christ sung about him by angelic voices.  I wished that he could stay there for longer than the odd five minutes of the hymn.  I envied him. For a time he was through the looking glass or had tumbled through the fur coats of the magic wardrobe that I often hope to find but rarely do.

You would think that it would be easier to have that type of heavenly experience than it usually turns out to be.  I had hoped for a trip back through the years to simpler times on the family excursion we took to a Cleveland Indians game last Friday night.  Nicholas, Natalie, Stephen and I made the trip, but it didn’t turn out quite as I had planned.  First of all I was very tired, having worked some early and long days on Monday through Thursday completing a project that we had begun almost a month before.  Things were also progressing well with our house purchase.  It seemed like a good chance for some family-style rest and relaxation. Also the Tribe was having a dollar hot dog night promotion with a fireworks show as a nightcap.  Our plan seemed all in order.

 Like a good father, I had wielded the proposed trip as a motivating sledgehammer thought the preceding week.  Stephen, for instance, because of his illness, habitually complains about small or imagined injuries like blackouts and falling out of bed on a near continual basis.  The last week he had added mysterious arm stiffness to his list of hypochondriac symptoms.  Whenever I offered to delay our trip until he felt better, his maladies made an immediate improvement.  Stephen is gravitationally attracted towards quality meat products at entirely too reasonable a price-point.  He is not above taste testing gas station sushi so dollar hot dog night is right up his alley.

Natalie was also on her best behavior throughout the week.  She was quite excited on Friday night when I arrived home from the boomerang ride of my Youngstown round trip.  That is when the threads of my carefully woven plan began to unravel. I had arrived home early and, unfortunately, exhausted, hoping to catch a quick cat-nap before H hour. Unbeknownst to me, Nicholas had committed me to driving over to my brother’s house to pick up Abby’s car for which my father was paying to have a stereo installed as a birthday present. I stayed awake for the mini-excursion that set us off our Cleveland bound time schedule by about an hour. We would be significantly late.  Strike one.

Still, we were a happy bunch as we drove towards the RTA Station on Shaker Blvd (RTA is Cleveland’s BART.)  Natalie and I sat together.  Nicholas and Stephen sat separately as Stephen had acquired a case of oppressive halitosis that he attributed to dry mouth from his medication.  Natalie and I talked quietly until our train came to a kerchunking halt at an interchange station for us.  Natalie, Nicholas and I assembled in column formation in the aisle. I looked over to Stephen to see why he was not following.  I could see that he had adopted a posture to arise, but was stuck in place.  He was frozen and I could tell that he was experiencing a focal seizure, the malady that he had been reporting to the disbelieving me for the last several weeks.  I had watched Pam have hundreds of focal and full seizures during the period of time between her two brain surgeries.  Like my dad’s trip back to Boston, I was transported to another place and time as I watched my son struggle to stand, a time that I had hoped never to visit again. Father Groeschel would describe that location as a point on the pathway inclining up a hill called Calvary.

Because he finally stood after a few dozen seconds and showed no ill effects, we decided to proceed to the game despite the scare.  I think I am glad we proceeded; it was an excellent and terrible outing all at once.  We got there late, but the seats were the best that I have ever bought – that’s what happens when Nicholas goes to the box office with my credit card.  Interestingly we discovered that Natalie despises hot dogs, but will eat three in close succession when she is starving and Nicholas is buying American sausages like he is feeding Slimer from the movie Ghost Busters. Stephen had another focal seizure with a similarly quick recovery when one of the Indians unexpectedly knocked a hanging curve into the bleachers to tie the game late.  It was an Indians game, though, so they lost in the ninth inning on a home run to a Twins outfielder that is old enough to have been in high school while I was in college. Happy that Stephen had made it through the game without a more significant medical incident we headed home without waiting for the fireworks.

So it is Tuesday, as I write this.  I am in the ER with Stephen to get his condition checked out.  He seems to be OK, but without a local doctor, the ER seemed the quickest alternative to get blood work, a CAT scan and access to medical specialists without the bureaucracy of referrals.  Frankly, I don’t care to be in another hospital, ever, but I realize that this is a necessary trip.  I would feel better if Father Luke from St John Vianny in Walnut Creek would happen in soon to anoint Stephen and pray with us, but I think we are out of his jurisdiction.  John Muir was tough to revisit for Nicholas’ treatment, anyway, but it was also seemed as comfortable as an old shoe, albeit with the possibility of a chance meeting transporting me back to a good or bad place in another lifetime.  

Today things turned out well with no bad news in either Stephen’s scans or labs.  I drove him home later after discharge thankful that he is relatively healthy.  We stopped on the way back at Arby’s and at one of the parishes that we might eventually choose as our own to visit Jesus in Adoration.  On the road again towards Streetsboro, I reconsidered again why all this inconvenience might have happened knowing that Stephen’s actual health remains largely the same.  Sure it was good to get him checked out, discover a good hospital and get assigned a family doctor for a follow-up visit, but why was I put through this dry run of worry and fear for the umpteenth time.  Was God holding me back a grade for some lesson that I should have learned one, two or three years ago?  

Then I remembered the conversation that I overheard among the doctors at the nursing station from my perch by the door of Stephen’s transient ER suite.  They were preparing to inform a patient and family that multiple unexplained lumps had been discovered throughout the lungs in some other poor patient’s scan. Thoughtfully, I removed the mini rosary that I had received at Emmaus from its place on my dashboard and prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet for another family that got bad news while Stephen and I received our discharge paperwork.

[tabernacleheart]

A person who is not prepared for their Calvary is a person who will not leave life well.

Father Benedict Groeschel

[faithsnippets]

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew‬ ‭6:33‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

“We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” (1 John‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

“Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.” Proverbs‬ ‭16:20‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

God is a Good Father and the God of relationships. He insists upon being first in our lives. Intimacy is His love language. However, He is a polite Father, and He loves when we trust and seek Him in everything. So when it comes to needing divine direction the Bible helps us shed some truth, to know if opportunities are really from God:

1. God Never Contradicts His Word. God will not lead you toward an opportunity that contradicts what He clearly says in his Word. Nor will He open a door that would require personal compromise or disobedience in order for you to enter. Humans are prone to sin and we have an excellent way of turning a clear mandate of God's completely around. We justify it by our circumstances, but that’s not how God works. If there is a compromise in any way or we have to bend Scripture to justify our "open door", then it is likely not a door that God is opening for us. Anything that contradicts His Word a temptation.

2. God Confirms His Will Through His Word and His People. He will often confirm or establish a matter by "two or three witnesses" whether it is verses from Scripture, advice from a pastor or well-respected person who is grounded in God’s Word, or a non-compromising circumstance that continues to present itself.

3. God’s Answer Requires More of Him to Accomplish. God won’t alienate us from Himself or make us believe we no longer need Him. Therefore, if you find yourself saying "I can do this, but only with God's help and leading", from my personal experience, it's likely something God is calling you to do. Many times, an "open door" from God is one that allows our faith to be stretched and strengthened. After all, God's objective for us is to grow in faith and Christ-likeness.

4. Leverage Your Faith. Take action on your opportunity and ask God for His confirmation. Through His Word and godly counsel there’s peace available in the decision and you can have the assurance that you aren't just choosing a door at random, but you're carefully walking through the ones He wants you to enter.

“Doubt is not necessarily the end of real faith but often the beginning.” -Craig Groeschel

Bible Plan: Faith for Open Doors, Day 4, by Janelle Keith

[hertrueworth]

✍🏻- @qaradesigns ⇠ follow our lettering design team! . “The devil doesn’t need to destroy you if he can DISTRACT you. It may be a fight to focus, but it is worth the fight.” - Craig Groeschel. . 🤍 Prayer 🤍 . Heavenly Father, Your Word says that when we draw near to You, You will draw near to us. So, I draw near to You today. I seek Your face, Your truth and Your word for my life. I want to know You more, hear You more and obey You more. In Jesus’ name, amen. — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/37nMGgY

[s-o-a-p-ing]

2 THESSALONIANS S.O.A.P.

CHAPTER 2

Tuesday, 9/1/20

SCRIPTURE:

Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. - 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4

OBSERVATION:

It sure may seem like "...the day of the Lord has already begun..." - but there HAVE been darker times in our past, if not MY immediate past... not to belittle what's going on now...

APPLICATION:

"Don't be so easily shaken or alarmed... Don't be fooled..."Keep my eyes on Jesus, my head and heart in the Word, my hands on His mission for my life, and the Holy Spirit close by... Like Craig Groeschel said at Sunday's Passion online gathering: Talk to my FRIENDS; Talk to God; Talk back to my feelings and align them with God's truth

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father - always constant and unchanging, steadying in this tumultuous time as always - I confess to giving in to anger and anxiety and beliefs that things are as they seem - both in the world at large and in my own immediate life -  forgetting You are in control despite what "everyone else" says and does - Keep me focused on Your Son, through the power and presence of Your Holy Spirit, and the tasks put before me to live as He taught for Your and His glory first and only... In His Name...  

-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.  - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

For Him - and for y'all...

g

<))><

[jmjprayforus]

“In the formation of His apostles, Jesus Christ constantly taught them the necessity of trust…

He told them to...have faith and hope, and believe that the Father would look after them... that trust in God would outlast the evil and would lead to realities that do not pass away…

The ultimate message of Jesus Christ is to trust in God and His ability to bring good out of evil.”

- Fr. Benedict Groeschel

[craigtowens]

World-Changing Prayer

The prayer Jesus taught us to pray is a communal prayer—as well as a personal prayer. He says we pray to “OUR Father” and tells us to pray “give US today OUR daily bread” and “forgive US” and “lead US not into temptation.”

Craig Groeschel wrote in Dangerous Prayers, “If God said yes to every prayer you prayed in the last seven days, how would the world be different?” If I’m only praying me/myself/I prayers, those aren’t world-changing prayers!

After telling us to put on all the armor of God, Paul concludes his thoughts on spiritual warfare by saying, “PRAY at all times—on every occasion, in every season—in the Spirit, with all manner of prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding ON BEHALF OF ALL THE SAINTS (God’s consecrated people)” (Ephesians 6:18 AMP).

Is this how I’m praying? I want to be able to say “yes, that sounds like my world-changing, others-empowering prayer!”

[mstexalicious1961]

SOTK

devotion by Bernard Trippett, Jr

Don't allow mess-ups to make you give up.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” I John‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭ESV.

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” 1 Corinthians 1:30, ESV.

“Failure is an event. Failure is not a person.” -Pastor Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles that Matter Most

We strive to be like Christ daily, but I can say I have yet to find perfection in myself. I have yet to find a perfect day. Even living a surrendered life, we have all yet to see a perfect life. Yet, I continue to find God’s mercy and grace to pull me away from seeking perfection and keep my focus on doing what He called me to do.

Don’t allow a mess-up to make you give up. God isn’t looking for perfect people, but He is looking for people with perfect hearts. Jesus is your perfection. He still called all of you. Thank Him for His goodness and mercy that follows you all the days of your life, and keep going.

Prayer: Father, I give You praise this morning. You are good! Help me never allow a mess-up to make me give up or get me stuck. I allow Your new mercies and great grace to pull me out of a mistake. I’m moving forward. Jesus is my perfection. You will finish the work that you’ve started in me. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Study: Lamentations 3:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:1, Philippians 1:6 & 3:13-14

[arcticdementor]

Douthat has a good piece this morning about how there are times when conspiracy theorists are actually closer to the truth than their critics.

…

In early 2002, shortly after the Boston trial of Father Geoghan blew open the Catholic sex scandal nationwide, I received a tip from a priest that Cardinal Ted McCarrick of DC had a history of sexually abusing seminarians. The priest said a group of prominent lay Catholics who knew this about him flew to Rome at their own expense, trying to prevent McCarrick from being named as Washington archbishop, which would have made him a cardinal. They met with an unnamed Vatican official to tell them what they knew about McCarrick, but it made no difference. McCarrick got his red hat.

The priest gave me the names of two men who had been on that trip, both of them well-known in their professions. I called the first one, who said yes, he had been on that trip, but didn’t want to talk about it. The second one told me that “if that were true, I wouldn’t tell you about it for the same reason Noah’s sons covered their father in his drunkenness.” Translation: yes, it’s true, but I’m not going to talk about it to protect the Church.

I didn’t know what to do next. But then I was called into my editor’s office. He wanted to know what I was working on (I hadn’t told anybody, because I hadn’t made any progress on the story). He told me that he had received a phone call from a very well known public conservative (I’m not going to name him here) who identified himself as a friend of Cardinal McCarrick, and said that the cardinal was aware that Rod Dreher was going to report a story that was true, but not criminal, and that would be very embarrassing to the cardinal. The caller asked my editor to kill the story.

I was stunned. How did McCarrick find out? I told my editor what I was working on, and he simply asked me to keep him informed. Back at my desk, I called the priest who tipped me off. “McCarrick knows,” I said. I asked him how that was possible. I had told no one else. I’m quite sure that neither of the two potential sources I called tipped him off, because it would not have been in their interest. So how did he know?

The priest was shocked. “The only person I told,” he said, “was my spiritual director, Father Benedict Groeschel.”

…

This was a useful lesson to learn, both as a journalist and, well, as a life lesson in how the world works. It happened over and over and over again as I wrote about the scandal. A progressive Catholic journalist and I once shared war stories about covering the scandal, and agreed that the ideological convictions of both the Catholic Right and the Catholic Left prevented people from identifying malefactors who happened to share their ideology. Beyond that, most Catholics simply could not grasp the idea that the institutional Church was in fact honeycombed with networks of perverts. I interviewed a seminarian who told me that his own parents considered him to be a liar when he told them about the homosexual decadence at his former seminary. They found it easier to believe that their son was a lying fantasist than to believe that his seminary was a gay whorehouse.

…

I hardly need to go into detail here about what we discovered over the ensuing years about the networked corruption in the Church. For me, one of the great lessons is that in any institution, corrupt men will take advantage of it, especially if they can work beneath a canopy of presumed innocence. It can happen in a police force. It can happen in the military. This is not just a church thing, not by any means.

Some conspiratorial types like to believe that the media knew all about McCarrick, but refused to report it. That’s not really true. Yes, the stories about McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians were known to some other journalists, but nobody could nail them down. There’s a good reason we have libel laws, and professional journalistic ethics. It’s a very big deal to claim that a man — especially a cardinal — is sexually abusing others. Strong claims like that — claims that could destroy a man’s life — require strong evidence. Off-the-record stories, and the absence of documentation, are not enough. It could have been the case that McCarrick was the target of a conspiracy of liars determined to take him down. Not only would it be morally wrong to accuse McCarrick publicly on the basis of what amounts to hearsay, but any individual or publication that did so could be sued for libel, and could conceivably be destroyed. The only way McCarrick was ever going to be outed is through court documents, and through on the record interviews with victims and others in a position to know what he did. I was dying to tell the truth about McCarrick, but I could not do so without more solid information.

But what to make of this story that follows?

…

The Times had this story six years earlier, but didn’t publish it. Why not? There are people who assume that the media would never, ever sit on a story that could make the Catholic Church look bad. I am convinced that’s exactly what the Times did in 2012, even though it had hard evidence that McCarrick was guilty. In truth, I have no idea why the Times suppressed the story its own freelancer had, but I’m telling you, do not ever assume that the ideological orientation of a media outlet can reliably predict what they’re willing to report, and refuse to report. Loyalties are complex.

…

These days, it is impossible to find a clear line between realism and cynicism, between a valid critical disposition and sheer paranoia. If we ever do get the true, reasonably complete story behind McCarrick’s rise, it will likely expose the nexus of power, sex, and money in the Catholic hierarchy, with unpredictable results. Similarly, if we ever get the true, reasonably complete story of who Jeffrey Epstein was and how he did what he did, we are likely going to see the nexus of power, sex, and money among the international elites, with unpredictable results.

The world is not ordered as we wish it were. It’s not even disordered as we wish it were. I’m thinking this morning of something a faithful Catholic layman told me in the spring of 2002, about the abuse scandal. He was a close friend of Cardinal Bernard Law, and active in the Archdiocese of Boston. This man — a very intelligent, morally upright gentleman — had direct knowledge of widespread homosexual corruption in the seminary at the time. He told me that he informed his dear friend the cardinal about all of it … and that the cardinal had done nothing. I asked the man how he reconciled his love and respect for the cardinal with the fact that Law had allowed this kind of corruption to flourish unaddressed.

The man sat across from me, unable to speak. The cognitive dissonance left him paralyzed. He could not accept that the world was ordered in such a way that his dear friend the cardinal could be guilty of such gross negligence. I used to be pretty naive, the kind of person who believed that good men (like my interlocutor) almost always wanted to know the truth, and to fight for justice. What I couldn’t have truly grasped until that extraordinary conversation was how the mind will protect itself from having to face something intolerable. That man was not asked to believe a conspiracy theory; he was asked to put two and two together — facts that he did not dispute. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He literally could not summon the will to face the terrible truth about his friend the cardinal, and the truth about the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

What’s so frightening to me today, thinking about that, is how every one of us is susceptible to that same paralysis.