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Believing in Advance

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 “If I spend enough time with God, I will inevitably begin to look at the world with a point of view that more resembles God’s own. What is faith, after all, but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” 

–Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

I need to come into God’s presence daily. Doing so will ensure that I gain a perspective of myself and the world from his vantage point. When I fail to do this, I quickly assume that I am at liberty to live as I please. Apart from God I buy into the ideology of the west that promotes self fulfillment over sacrifice and service. 

Apart from God I self implode and ignore the needs of those around me. The same was true in Paul’s day, which prompted him to say, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”1

Paul follows this with an appeal for Christ’s followers to exercise their spiritual gifts for the sake of the Christian community, as well as the individual serving.

“Lord, give me courage to practice what I intuitively believe, even if it doesn’t make sense at the moment.”

1 Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
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Comments by Rich DuBose. BetterSermons © 2010. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines | View main index

Read more at the source: Believing in Advance

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Inspirational quotes and thoughts.

The Right Thing

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“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

–Benjamin Franklin

Photo: Edwin PP

If you haven’t bitten your tongue lately, then perhaps you’re being too lose with it. If you spend a lot of time around people and like to talk, your “word alert” should be set to high sensitivity.

“It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” –James 3:5-6 (The Message)

Of course, we all make mistakes and say things we wish we hadn’t said, but we don’t have to keep making the same dumb mistakes over and over. By God’s grace our tongues can be “tamed.”

A few years ago I shared something with a friend that I later deeply regretted. I saw the effect it had on several people as it took on its own life and grew beyond its original form. “Like feathers in the wind, our words all fly away, and when they are gone, sometimes we have to pay, I should have known better.”
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Comments by Rich DuBose. BetterSermons © 2010. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines | View main index

Read more at the source: The Right Thing

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Inspirational quotes and thoughts.

Emotionally Charged

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“We are not just rationale people who respond emotionally once in a while. We are emotional people who respond rationally once in a while.”

–Clarence Schilt, Oregon pastor

We are more emotional than we are rationale. Some are more analytical than others, but in the end everything that happens to us impacts us on an emotional level. As I think back over my life, the experiences I most vividly remember are those that touched my emotions. The rationale decisions I made years ago don’t stand out in my mind. That doesn’t mean they weren’t significant, but they were on a level that didn’t seem as personal.

About eighteen years ago I reached a place in my pastoral work where I felt the need to be stretched. I needed to be challenged in new ways. Some would call it a mid-life crisis! After twelve turbulent, at times tearful, months of trying to figure out what to do, Linda and I finally decided that I would take a leave of absence and head to graduate school. Out of that emotional time we made some rationale decisions that altered the course of our lives. Looking back now I can say it was an exciting time.

It’s OK to be emotional. We are wired that way. Ask God to help you better understand and celebrate the emotional aspects of your life today.

Thumbnail photo by Bas van der Pluym
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Comments by Rich DuBose. BetterSermons © 2009. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines | View main index

Read more at the source: Emotionally Charged

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Inspirational quotes and thoughts.

Dangerous Faith

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“What’s dangerous about the world today is not belief in God or unbelief but ruthless certainty.”

–Lisa Miller, Newsweek Magazine

The only thing we should be ruthless about is our passion to love God and the people He calls us to serve. Unfortunately, some see themselves as chosen by God to eradicate all evil (which often means imposing their beliefs and opinions upon others against their will). History is replete with examples of monarchs, dictators and leaders who have tried to force faith. It has always resulted in some form of persecution.

We have only to remember what happened in the Dark Ages when the Church tried to impose their definition of truth upon the people of Europe. You can read about the devastating results in J.A. Wylie’s History of Protestantism.

1 Excerpt from Newsweek, Moderates Storm the Religious Battlefield, p. 89, January 7, 2007
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Comments by Rich DuBose. BetterSermons © 2009. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines | View main index

Read more at the source: Dangerous Faith

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Inspirational quotes and thoughts.

What Money Can’t Buy

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“I hate those people who love to tell you; ‘Money is the root of all that kills.’ They have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas!”

–I Will Buy You A New Life (Everclear)

The reason we need to guard our hearts is because they are where corruption and evil take hold and spoil our lives. Corruption is not an external thing–it’s internal. On one occasion Jesus told His disciples, “From the heart come evil thoughts,murder, adultry, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you.” (Matthew 15: 18-20).

We’re pretty lax when it comes to deciding who, or what gets into our hearts. Too often we allow our senses to be taken captive by sights and sounds that are designed to penetrate our defenses with seeds of corruption. The safest way to resist evil is to invite God’s Spirit to take up residence in our hearts.

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Comments by Rich DuBose. BetterSermons © 2009. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject to usage guidelines | View main index

Read more at the source: What Money Can’t Buy

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Inspirational quotes and thoughts.

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