Find a Reason

Find a Reason TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! 1 Chronicles 16:34, AMP. TODAY'S WORD: No matter what is going on in life, we can find a reason to thank God. We choose what we focus on. We can either focus on our problems, or we can focus on our blessings. The question is: do you want more problems, or do you want more blessings? When you thank God, you are focusing on the blessing! One thing I’ve noticed is that when you live with an attitude of constant gratitude, not only do you thank God for what He’s done in your life, you start thanking Him for what He will do in your life. You thank Him for opening doors for you. You thank Him for increasing you. You thank Him for bringing the right people into your life. When you say “Thank You” to God for the things that are coming, it’s really a declaration of your faith in Him. You are saying in essence, “God, I’m so sure of Your goodness, I’m so sure that You’re working in my life that I’m going to thank You right now for what You are going to do tomorrow!” Today, have an attitude of gratitude. Let your faith say, “Thank You.” Praise Him throughout the day with a humble heart and watch what He will do on your behalf! PRAYER FOR TODAY: Father, thank You for another day to praise You. Thank You for all You have done in my life. Help me to see Your hand of blessing as I continually acknowledge and praise Your name in Jesus’ name. Amen. PS...

Make Peace with God

 

by Rick Warren

“At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.” Colossians 1:21-22 (GNT)

You’re never going to make peace with others until you make peace with God, and the only way you’re going to make peace with God is surrender. You were made to live with him as the manager, CEO, and chairman of the board of your life.

Sam Harris, who is a friend of mine, is also a well-known atheist. We had a three-and-a-half-hour debate for Newsweek magazine. One of the last questions they asked was, “Can you be spiritual without believing in a spirit?”

During the discussion on this issue, I said, “Sam, what interests me is not so much that you don’t believe in God but why you don’t believe in God. I don’t have enough faith to not believe in God. It takes far more faith to believe this is all an accident than to believe that there was a design and creator behind it. You can’t prove it, and I can’t prove it, so we’re both living by faith. I believe it by faith. You doubt it by faith.”

I asked Sam, “If you were to believe in God, would you have to change your lifestyle?” When he said, “Yes,” I responded, “So that’s the real issue. The issue is not that you can’t believe in God. It’s that you don’t want to believe in God. The truth is that you just don’t want a boss. You don’t want a sovereign Lord who tells you ‘This is right and this is wrong.’ You want to make it up yourself. You want to be God.”

That is the fundamental issue that causes our war with God: We want to be our own God.

So, how do you make peace with God?

The Bible says in Colossians 1:21-22, “At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.” (GNT).

There’s only one way to make peace with God: by faith. The good news is that Jesus Christ has already done everything you need to make peace with God. All you need to do is surrender and accept it by faith.

“So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Romans 5:11 (NLT).

Talk It Over

• What does it mean to surrender?
• What areas of your life do you still need to surrender to God so that you can have peace?
• What do you think are the effects of surrender that should be evident in your life?