When to Turn Away
Today's Scripture:
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.
Psalm 119:37, NIV.
Psalm 119:37, NIV.
Today's Word:
In order to live the life of victory God has promised, you have to be very selective about what you give your time and attention to. You have to recognize which thoughts to ignore, which comments to ignore, and sometimes, which people to ignore. Every “battle” that comes across your path is not a battle that you’re supposed to fight. Many battles are simply distractions to try to lure you off course. If that battle is not between you and your God-given destiny, it’s a battle you should ignore.
Many people get thrown off course because they are always trying to straighten everyone else out or win their approval. But if that’s your focus, you are wasting valuable time and energy that you should be using to pursue your dreams. Turn away from that distraction! You don’t need the approval of everyone around you; you only need God’s approval!
Friend, it’s very freeing when you realize you don’t have to fight every battle. You don’t have to straighten people out. You don’t have to pay somebody back. Instead, focus on what matters, focus on God and His Word so you can live in peace and happiness every day of your life!
Prayer for Today:
Father, thank You for ordering my steps. Thank You for planning good things for me. Help me to discern the things I should ignore. Help me to avoid distractions as I focus my heart and mind on You today in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
***
Generosity Triggers God’s Blessing
God wants you to use your skills to have money to share — with people who can’t work or who are poor for whatever reason. Ephesians 4:28 says, “Use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need” (NLT).
At some point, you have to decide that enough is enough. How do you know when enough is enough? Somebody asked Howard Hughes, “How much do you need?” and he said, “Just a little bit more.” That’s called materialism. Materialism is when you haven’t learned to live within your income. You always have to have a little bit more. Isn’t it interesting how some people are barely surviving on an income they once dreamed of having? God says at some point you have to say, “I’ve got enough.”
Is that when you should stop working? No. You keep working, but you’re now making it to give away and share with other people.
I had to come to this decision when “The Purpose Driven Life” became the best selling book in the world for three years. That brought in tens of millions of dollars. Kay and I could have retired and bought an island in the Pacific and had people serving us drinks with little umbrellas in them. I could have spent the rest of my life working on my tan. But is that the purpose of life? No, it’s not.
So what did I do? I kept working. Why? I’m not working to make money for myself. In fact, I said, “Lord, what do you want me to do with all this money? It’s your money, not mine. God said, “Go read your book.” So I did, and I only had to go to the first line of the book to get what he meant: “It’s not about you.”
When you write a book and the first line is, “It’s not about you,” and it makes tens of millions of dollars, you’ve got to figure, it’s not for you! So we spent the next four years having a lot of fun giving all that money away all around the world. Why did we do it? Because God gave us the skills to have money so we could share it with others.
Give freely and spontaneously; don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle the money that comes in because of your abilities triggers a response from God.
How many of you would like God’s blessing in everything you do? Of course we all would. The trigger that causes God’s blessing is generosity. Why? Because God is generous, and he wants you to learn to be like him. You’re never going to be like Jesus Christ unless you learn generosity and stop being stingy.
God’s given you the ability to honor him, to serve others, to make a living, to be an example, to have money to pass on to others. And I’ve learned from personal experience that the more generous you are, the more God blesses your life.
Talk It Over
14 hours ago
by Rick Warren
“Use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.” (Ephesians 4:28 NLT)
At some point, you have to decide that enough is enough. How do you know when enough is enough? Somebody asked Howard Hughes, “How much do you need?” and he said, “Just a little bit more.” That’s called materialism. Materialism is when you haven’t learned to live within your income. You always have to have a little bit more. Isn’t it interesting how some people are barely surviving on an income they once dreamed of having? God says at some point you have to say, “I’ve got enough.”
Is that when you should stop working? No. You keep working, but you’re now making it to give away and share with other people.
I had to come to this decision when “The Purpose Driven Life” became the best selling book in the world for three years. That brought in tens of millions of dollars. Kay and I could have retired and bought an island in the Pacific and had people serving us drinks with little umbrellas in them. I could have spent the rest of my life working on my tan. But is that the purpose of life? No, it’s not.
So what did I do? I kept working. Why? I’m not working to make money for myself. In fact, I said, “Lord, what do you want me to do with all this money? It’s your money, not mine. God said, “Go read your book.” So I did, and I only had to go to the first line of the book to get what he meant: “It’s not about you.”
When you write a book and the first line is, “It’s not about you,” and it makes tens of millions of dollars, you’ve got to figure, it’s not for you! So we spent the next four years having a lot of fun giving all that money away all around the world. Why did we do it? Because God gave us the skills to have money so we could share it with others.
Give freely and spontaneously; don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle the money that comes in because of your abilities triggers a response from God.
How many of you would like God’s blessing in everything you do? Of course we all would. The trigger that causes God’s blessing is generosity. Why? Because God is generous, and he wants you to learn to be like him. You’re never going to be like Jesus Christ unless you learn generosity and stop being stingy.
God’s given you the ability to honor him, to serve others, to make a living, to be an example, to have money to pass on to others. And I’ve learned from personal experience that the more generous you are, the more God blesses your life.
Talk It Over
- No matter how much or how little money you have, what is it in your life that God wants you to use to bless others?
- What do you need to change about the way you give to others so that you are more like Jesus?
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