...Christ Jesus is calling me upward.”

Regret & Dread

By Joyce Meyer - Posted June 07, 2017

Key Scripture: Philippians 3: 13,14

“I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling me upward.”

When making decisions in your life, it’s easy to start asking yourself the question, “Did I make the right decision?” And although some of that can be healthy, it can also quickly get out of balance and lead your heart to a place of regret and dread. When this happens, it’s also easy to start regretting the past and dreading the future, and in fact, both are “thieves of joy.”

Many people stay trapped in the past. There is only one thing that can be done about the past, and that is to forget it. When we make mistakes or bad decisions (which we all do from time to time), the only thing we can do is ask God’s forgiveness and go on. Like Paul, we are all pressing toward the mark of perfection, but none of us have arrived.

I believe Paul enjoyed his life and ministry and this “one aspiration” of his was part of the reason why. Like us, he was pressing toward the mark of perfection, admitting that he had not arrived, but having insight on how to enjoy his life while he was making the trip.

And if regret has us constantly looking backwards in the past, dread has us always fearing forwards concerning the future. I spent a lot of years with regret pulling one arm and dread pulling on the other. The result was that I felt like I was being pulled apart, and I didn’t even know what the problem was.

Dreading things can become a bad habit, an attitude that develops out of lethargy or laziness, or perhaps because of multiple bad decisions. Procrastination and dread often work together. An upcoming task is dreaded, so procrastination says, “Put it off until later.” That sounds good for a few minutes, but the thing is still there to be dreaded until it is finished. It would be far better to do it and be free to go on to other things.

Final Thoughts and Action Items

I have learned from experience that living life one day at a time is something that can be done. God gives me the grace for today, but He does not give me grace for yesterday or tomorrow. When I am trying to live yesterday today, I can easily start to second guess the decisions made and I find myself full of unanswerable questions and regret. When I live tomorrow today, I allow fear of the unknown to creep in and I can easily start walking through life with endless amounts of dread. Ultimately, living in either regret or dread is pressure. And what I’ve discovered over time is to take the pressure off by believing God and trusting His Word.

Action Items

1.    Are you relying on the grace that’s been given to you today? Have you asked God to help you rely on that grace?

2.    Make a mental list of how many times you either think or say things like, “I just regret that decision,” or “I’m really concerned about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

3.    Decide that today is the only day God has given you and commit to do the very best that you can. At the end of your day, ask God to help you change the habit of regret and dread.

THE HEAD AND NOT THE TAIL

By Joseph Prince – Posted June 7, 2017

Deuteronomy 28:13

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath…

One of our church members saw his sales performance hit rock bottom by the middle of the year. As a result, he was ranked 320 out of the 420 financial advisers in his company.

Devastated and on the verge of giving up, he started listening to my messages and claiming God’s promises such as “the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” and “many who are first will be last, and the last first”. (Matthew 19:30)

He committed everything to God because he believed that only God could turn things around for him. And God did just that.

By the end of that year, he was ranked second in his branch and 10th in the whole company! He qualified for a trip for two to Barcelona, Spain, worth about S$20,000. That was not all. For the first time in his 12 years as a financial adviser, he qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table Award. Only the top six per cent of advisers in the entire industry qualify for this international award.

Beloved, when God makes you the head, you will end up on top of your circumstances. Consider the story of Joseph. (Genesis 39) Even when he was a slave, he was the head and not the tail because God prospered everything that he did.

“But Pastor Prince, when I look at my life, there are times when I am up and there are times when I am down. Yet, the Bible says that I will be above only. I don’t understand this.”

What you are going through is only temporal. Keep believing that you are above only and not beneath, even when you have hit rock bottom. It is God who always causes you to triumph in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14) You cannot cause yourself to triumph. Only God can and He has promised in His Word that you will be the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. So believe His Word in spite of your circumstances and expect to see victory!

Thought For The Day

Even when you have hit rock bottom, keep believing God’s promise that you shall be above only and not beneath.

Stay in Sync

By Joel Osteen – Posted June 7, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD determines their steps."
Proverbs 16:9, NIV

TODAY'S WORD:

Have you ever tried something and got the results you wanted and then tried the same thing again and got different results? This happened to Moses in the Bible. They needed water and God told Moses to strike the rock. He struck the rock and water flowed out freely. Another time they needed water again, and God told Moses, “Speak to the rock.” Do you know what Moses did? He went over and struck the rock. He thought, “Hey, it worked last time. It’ll work this time.” But it didn’t. God had a different plan. 

The point is that we have to stay open and make adjustments to stay in tune with God’s plan. You can do the same thing the same way you did last time and get different results. It may not be something major, but like Moses, maybe it’s just something small. Sometimes a small tweak, a small adjustment can make a major difference in the outcome. 

Today, make sure you aren’t doing things just because it’s the way you always did it before. Instead, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit of God inside. Follow His leading and stay in sync with the wonderful plan He has for you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

"Heavenly Father, I submit my mind, will and heart to You. Help me to see clearly what Your plan is for me. Help me to stay close to You always, not living in the past, but pressing forward to the new things You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen."

Anything but Boring

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted June 7, 2017

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
Revelation 21:1a

Recommended Reading: 2 Peter 3:10

When headed to an unknown destination on family vacation, children often complain, “It’s going to be boring!” Then, when the vacation is over and it’s time to return home, they don’t want to leave. It’s hard to blame them—we often have pessimistic views of that which we have not experienced. For that reason, some people think heaven is going to be boring.

Granted, we know few details of what heaven will be like. But we have underlying principles that give us reason to believe it will be anything but boring. First, heaven is going to be “a new earth.” Even in its sin-ravaged condition (Romans 8:20-23), earth as we know it today is not boring. It is beautiful, varied, exotic, and challenging—yet cursed because of sin. If this earth is exciting, God’s “new earth” will be beyond our expectations (Ephesians 3:20). Second, God’s creation, present and future, reflects God Himself—and God is not boring. Nobody who has read the Scriptures and walked with God could accuse Him of boredom.

Are you ready for heaven? Excited about heaven? It will be Eden and more—for all eternity (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:17).

Wisdom opens the eyes both to the glories of heaven and to the hollowness of earth. 
J. A. Motyer