Love, Live & Laugh. Quality time with Jesus Christ

Make a Decision

By Joyce Meyer - Posted June 06, 2017

I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings the curses; therefor choose life, that you and your descendants may live.
— Deuteronomy 30:19 (AMPC)

I’m going to start with a question that may seem tough to ask at the beginning of a study, but I believe it goes to the core of how you are living your life: Are you living your life with quantity in mind or with quality in mind?

No matter who you are, whether you are a CEO of a business or a committed stay-at-home mom, we all have the same amount of time available to us—the quantity is the very same. 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. So why do some appear to enjoy it more? Over my life, I’ve come to realize that it’s all about making the choice to enjoy it, the “choosing life” as Deuteronomy says. And that life is choosing to walk in the life and promises Christ died to give us.

As believers, you and I have available to us the quality of that life through Christ. His life is not filled with fear, stress, worry, anxiety or depression. God is not impatient, and He is in no hurry. He takes time to enjoy His creation, the words of His hands. And because Christ lives inside of us, we have access to approach life in the same way.

However, does that sound like your life today? Do you find yourself rushing through the quantity of your life while sacrificing the quality of it? We must all come to the place where we make the decision to not only enjoy our work and accomplishments, but also enjoy the road in getting there. 

Final Thoughts and Action Items

We will never enjoy life unless we make a quality decision to do so. Satan is an expert at stealing, and our joy is one of his favorite targets. Nehemiah 8:10 tell us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. In John 10:10 we are told that “the thief” comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have and enjoy life.

Satan is the thief, and one of the things he seeks to steal is our joy. If he can steal our joy from us, we will be weak, and when we are weak, the enemy takes advantage of us. Weak believers are no threat to him and his works of destruction.

To live as God intends for us to live, the first thing we must do is truly believe that it is God’s will for us to experience continual joy. That doesn’t mean we’ll never face opposition or hardship, but instead, that we will face it with Christ on our side and ultimately, be able to rely on his joy as our strength to go through it. But again, we must make the decision enter and rely upon that joy.

Action Items

1.    What decisions are you making today? Are you making those decisions with quality in mind or quantity?

2.    Are you actively relying on the joy of the Lord to be your strength? Or are you trying to do it in your own strength?

3.    Decide to rest in God’s joy. Make the decision today to look for quality over quantity, knowing that when you rely on Christ, you’ll accomplish everything you need to and in God’s timing.

Remember What He Has Done

By Joel Osteen – Posted June 6, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

"Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered..."
Psalm 105:5, ESV

TODAY'S WORD:

Anything can become routine if we let it. Anything can feel mundane after a while. 
Not long ago, I was talking to a professional baseball player. He has been in the big leagues about fifteen years. His life seems so exciting, far from routine, far from ordinary. He said, “No, Joel, it’s not what you think. We travel all the time. We’re always on the road, in hotels, eating out and away from our family.” 

The truth is that I’m sure he was excited about it all when he first started. There are probably things in your life that you were once excited about. When God opened the door and gave you that new job, that promotion, you were so excited. You called your friends. You knew it was God’s favor. Well, don’t let the passion wear off just because you’ve had it five years! When you met that person and fell in love you were on cloud nine. You knew it was God’s goodness. Don’t take it for granted. Remember what God has done! Stir up the joy in your heart. Stir up praise. Thank Him for His faithfulness and let your attitude of gratitude pave the way to live the life of blessing He has for you!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father God, right now I take time to remember and acknowledge Your goodness in my life. I praise You because You are good. Thank You for loving me, thank You for setting me free. Thank You for pouring out Your blessings on me and leading me into everlasting life in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SEE YOUR ENEMIES FLEE BECAUSE OF JESUS

By Joseph Prince – Posted June 6, 2017.

Deuteronomy 28:7

“The Lord will cause enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

Some people think that Jesus and the devil are always confronting and fighting each other. But when I read my Bible, I don’t see fights between the two. What I see is the devil having to flee whenever he encounters Jesus!

Consider the demoniac from the country of the Gadarenes in Luke 8:26–39. The demons in the man begged Jesus not to torment them or send them into the abyss, but to permit them to enter a herd of swine nearby.

You see, neither the devil nor his demons can stand before Jesus. They may be able to torment people for a while, but when Jesus comes on the scene, they know that that is the end of their stay. They will have to flee! All it took was just one word from Jesus, and the entire legion of demons had to come out of the man and flee into the swine.

As a child of God, you exude a spiritual fragrance which evil spirits can detect and which causes them to tremble. It is the life of Jesus inside you. And He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) That is why no curse, spell, accusation, scandal or destruction planned against you can succeed. Your enemies may come against you one way, but the Lord will confuse them and cause them to flee before you seven ways!

Jesus paid with His life to give you this victory over your enemies. After His arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, the Jews and Gentiles were united for the first time with one common objective: Torture Jesus and have Him killed. King Herod of the Jews and Pontius Pilate of the Romans were long-time enemies, but because of Jesus, they became friends. (Luke 23:12)

My friend, Jesus’ enemies were united and had “victory” over Him. But because He triumphed over them through the cross and rose again, today, your enemies will be scattered and you will have victory over them!

Thought For The Day

Your enemies may come against you one way, but the Lord will confuse them and cause them to flee before you seven ways!

Heavenly Destination

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted June 6, 2017

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:28

Recommended Reading: John 3:16-17

It’s not new, but the age of Internet video has allowed us to witness it: the tears-of-joy moment when a foster child receives the gift of adoption from his or her foster parents. To be in foster care is to be in limbo. But when a foster child and foster parents are united as a family, the foster child has a permanent home.

The same thing happens in the Christian life. When we are united by faith with Jesus Christ, we are adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15-17). We become “joint heirs with Christ”; we inherit the promise of heaven and eternal life. Because God raised Jesus from the dead to reign in heaven forever, so we inherit the same future because we are co-heirs with Christ of God’s promises. And those promises are founded on the most well-known verses in the Bible: John 3:16-17. Here is the promise: All who believe in Christ will not perish but will live eternally in heaven. How secure is that promise? Jesus said nobody can snatch those who are His out of His hand (John 10:28).

Have you believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior? If so, then you are destined to spend eternity with Him in the glory of heaven.

He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.
Matthew Henry