Category: God

3 Ways to Let Your Light Shine

Have you ever seen Tomorrowland? I recently watched this movie and there is a scene near the end of the movie where Hugh Laurie’s character gives a passionate speech. I won’t retell the entire speech, but it caught my attention because it was about being comfortable where we are. We can see signs all around us that are begging for us to step up and make the world better. Instead we don’t to anything because we don’t want to change. You can watch the speech here.

This got me to thinking specifically about my relationship with God, and then I thought broader to Christians as a whole and our place in the world.

Everyday I have the chance to impact someone’s life for the better. Each time I wake up and step out the door , I can show someone the love of God. I’ll admit that I don’t always do that. There are days where I just go about my business and get done what I need to for the day.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The recent mass shooting in Las Vegas is front and center in the news right now. It is sad that it takes a tragedy as horrific as this to get people to open up and want to love one another. As Christians we should be leading the way in living lives that “Glorify our Father in heaven”. Our lives should shine brightest in the darkest of times. The love that we show should be what will draw others to Christ. Here is how we can let our light shine:

Be bold.

There is a reason that a candle stands out in a dark room. It draws your eyes towards it and it helps you to see what is around you. Being bold is not fighting on social media to defend your faith, or arguing with neighbors and friends about the “Christian thing” to do. Let your lifestyle shine and it will draw people in.

Be humble.

Matthew 5:16 says that our good works are seen but they are seen so that God can get the glory. It’s hard to point someone to the God of love, if I take credit for all the good in my life. I would be bragging on myself and I’m not that great that I can, nor should I do that. We have to give God  first place in  our lives. In times of tragedy, it can be easy to say what we are doing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help, but it is better to put action to my words instead of just talking

It’s a matter of heart.

I truly believe that only God can change someone’s heart. Change them to see the value in life, including their own. It doesn’t matter the type of tragedy, what is important is that if we will let our lights shine then God will continue to get the glory. It is His love that fuels our lights. His love is what powers us day by day to live better lives and impact the hearts of those that we come in contact with everyday.

You[ctt template=”8″ link=”lbp5B” via=”no” ]Your life will shine better than anything that comes out of your mouth[/ctt]

Let’s not let another tragedy come without giving God the chance to shine through us. What can you do to be an example of God’s love today?

3 Ways to Know If Our Prayers are Selfish

Building my Faith
I need Faith

30 Days of Prayer

Are my prayers selfish? This is not a question that most of us ask ourselves or even think about. My church has recently been participating in a 30 days of prayer journey together. For one month, we are challenged to pray for 30 minutes a day for 30 days for others. We receive a daily devotional each day that helps to give us a focus for that time of prayer.

We’re just over the half way point in the 30 Days of Prayer journey when I’m writing this, but it didn’t take me long to realize that there have been many times where my prayers were selfish. At this point I’ve already prayed for: people who do not know Christ, family members, the body of Christ, and those that are persecuted and killed because of their faith.

Are My Prayers Selfish

So, how do we know if we have selfish prayers? Here are three ways to tell if our prayers are selfish.

1. You do all the talking.

Prayer at its core is communicating with God. It’s having a conversation with God. In this case we are talking to God, who is all knowing and all powerful. Yet it amazes me that when I’m having my prayer time, how much of the time I spend doing all the talking and not listening. Prayer is just as much talking as it is listening.

James 5:16(KJV)
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

This is the scripture that started our 30 Days of Prayer focus. We as Christians are instructed to pray for one another. Prayer for others can bring healing.

2. You Are Distracted.

I can say from my own experience, that there have been times where I have sat down to pray and as soon as I get started, I have a random thought about something I need to do later. Which leads to another thought and another. Before I know it, I’ve spent my prayer time not focused and thinking about everything else in my day instead of God.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”95W8C” via=”no” ]Distracted prayers are not answered prayers[/ctt]

Most people can relate to what it’s like to have a conversation with a person who is distracted. We all can tell when we are talking to a someone who is not focused on us. Most of us probably wouldn’t stand for that, so why do we treat God the same way. We want God to answer our prayers and accept our distracted time with Him.

3. You Pray ONLY for Your Desires.

How many times have we gone to God in prayer, only to have it turn into a time of running down the list of things that we want or need? Tied with the previous two points, this type of prayer says that we’re too selfish to think of anything or anyone other than ourselves when it comes to prayer. The relationships that God places in our lives are for a purpose and our purpose in that relationship most importantly is to pray.

Our prayers become all about us and what we want. We shouldn’t treat God like a genie, where we just want our wishes granted. God wants to be in a relationship with us. He desires to be a part of our everyday life. This week let’s focus on praying for others.

Romans 12:1-2(MSG)
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 Things Christians Need to Know About Relationships

Aim for higher

 

Sometimes as a Christian I want to hold myself to a higher standard than other people around me. More accurately I like to think that I am holding myself to a higher standard than what I think other people are holding themselves to. Just because I have a different standard does not make their standards less than mine. We’re just different.

Being different is fine. It is like when my wife and I go look at homes in different neighborhoods, yes we are those people who will just drive through random neighborhoods to look at the different homes. (Don’t judge us…you do it too) So when we drive through these neighborhoods, we don’t like to see cookie-cutter homes. Houses that look exactly the same on the outside are boring. We like houses that are different. Different makes it a home. All that to say, that just because someone is different or has different standards does not make them better or worse, they are just different.

As a Christian, we can feel like we’re “right” when it comes to a lot of things. I’m not going to go into detail because we all can come up with a list of things and issues that we are “right” about. Or we know someone whose like this. You’re probably thinking of someone at this moment. So as a Christian how can we be “right” and not have a high and mighty attitude towards others? Here are 3 tips on how to do this.

1.  Listen Before Responding 

Yes we believe what God says is right. His word is true. How we apply or implicate that into our lives is not always right. This is what the Bible says:

James 1:19(KJV)
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

While we believe that we’re right. In talking to those around us, we need to do more listening and less with having our rebuttal ready. If you listen long enough people will tell you all you need to know. You’ll learn what’s on their heart and the things that are a struggle for them.  Then God will show you how to respond to them in a way that will be a blessing and help them.

2. It’s about the relationship.

Having relationships, whether it’s family, friend, or co-worker can expose you to hurts. Some of the people that can hurt us the most aren’t complete strangers, they are the people closest to us. We want to continue to develop our relationship with God, because God can help us with other relationships. The relationships that God gives aren’t  for the purpose of us determining whose “right” all the time. It’s about being there to support one another. Through that support you learn to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger(wrath).

3. How & When

Sometimes our attitudes carry through to how we say things. While it may be great for us to be “right” it doesn’t edify someone if we talk to them like they are undeserving of God’s grace. There is always the “how” and “when.” We should be asking God for when to have conversations. After a long work day might not be the time to tell your spouse that you believe God told you to tell them that they’re raising the children wrong. Just as important as “when” is “how.” If we will listen, God will tell us “how” to bring up those tough conversations. We just have to listen.By beginning to implement these three things, I believe that our relationships with family, friends, and those we come into contact with on a daily basis will get better. I challenge you to start to be swift to listen and slow to speak this week.