Okay, so my muscles might be buried under some flab but I still have muscles! lol!! Where on earth am I going with this blog....muscles, flab??? Here we go...I spent January devouring the book of Romans in The Message translation. It felt like I was reading it for the first time. wow!! I marked up practically the entire book but by the time I got to chapter 15, the Lord dropped my mouth with what Paul was saying in verse 1-2, "Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, 'How can I help?'"
Think about this: every single one of us has a strength(s). That strength is to be used to build up each other, to serve one another, to support each other. Think about how different your world would look if we made that our daily life motto - "How can I help you today?"
When I look back at the life of Jesus - He used His strength and put it to death on a cross so that we could rise up through the power of His strength and live. His strength, through dying, gave us life. Our strengths, through giving, can save a person's life for eternity. What massive impact we can make in our world by the power of one word: Serve. Our strengths are not to be placed on a plaque on a wall and gloat and boast about it, it's to be used to help those who falter, not to be used at our convenience, but to be used at any given moment, whether we are comfortable about it or not. That's where Phil. 4:13 comes in, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"
My challenge is for us to stop looking so inwardly at our lives, how we can better ourselves, tend to our complaints and pity parties, but to start shutting up the flesh side of our lives and start living by the spirit and let our strengths, given to us by God, radically impact the world we live in. As Paul said, "So, reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it, now you do it!" (v.7)
What can I do for you today?
Tracee
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I have a secret....
When I was a little girl, I LOVED secrets. It made me feel like I was someone really special to get in on something that no one else was suppose to know. It's funny what a secret can do to you on the inside....even now. lol!! Such strange creatures we are.
So....guess what? How many of you actually go about your daily lives hanging with God feeling like you don't have much of a clue what He's doing in your life, so you feel a little clueless? Many of us have fallen in that trap but I've got brilliant news...and no, it's not that I saved money switching to Geico. I Corinthians 2 is the reveal of a massive secret. Verses 10-16, "The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit."
This is not a complicated issue here...it's simple, it's black and white - when Christ lives IN you, you have the mind of Christ. His Spirit lives in us which allows us to know what HE IS THINKING and so He lets us in on it, what His plans are, His reveal, His gifts of life. He is not a mind-game player and wants to keep you guessing. He is a God-revealer. What we must do is take what He gives us ONE DAY AT A TIME. Sometimes God will reveal His plans to you and it will be a lay out of the future, but don't forget, there's still the present that must be lived in order for the future to come alive. The key is: live out today as the spirit of God leads you and reveals to you. You HAVE the mind of Christ - His secrets are revealed to you to help you today, to guide and instruct you so that you don't keep making the same mistakes over and over walking around feeling like you have no direction. Use the power of His Word and the power of prayer and I promise you - He will keep revealing one secret after another that will help you walk from your present to your future. And remember - it's okay if you don't know it all, HE DOES and He's got your covered!!!
Now, go tell this secret to somebody else....
Tracee
So....guess what? How many of you actually go about your daily lives hanging with God feeling like you don't have much of a clue what He's doing in your life, so you feel a little clueless? Many of us have fallen in that trap but I've got brilliant news...and no, it's not that I saved money switching to Geico. I Corinthians 2 is the reveal of a massive secret. Verses 10-16, "The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit."
This is not a complicated issue here...it's simple, it's black and white - when Christ lives IN you, you have the mind of Christ. His Spirit lives in us which allows us to know what HE IS THINKING and so He lets us in on it, what His plans are, His reveal, His gifts of life. He is not a mind-game player and wants to keep you guessing. He is a God-revealer. What we must do is take what He gives us ONE DAY AT A TIME. Sometimes God will reveal His plans to you and it will be a lay out of the future, but don't forget, there's still the present that must be lived in order for the future to come alive. The key is: live out today as the spirit of God leads you and reveals to you. You HAVE the mind of Christ - His secrets are revealed to you to help you today, to guide and instruct you so that you don't keep making the same mistakes over and over walking around feeling like you have no direction. Use the power of His Word and the power of prayer and I promise you - He will keep revealing one secret after another that will help you walk from your present to your future. And remember - it's okay if you don't know it all, HE DOES and He's got your covered!!!
Now, go tell this secret to somebody else....
Tracee
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