Friday January 8

Change of Attitude

Scripture: Matthew 22: 37-40 ;1 Corinthians 13

For many of us we must undertake a change in attitude if we are going to be the best servant of God that we can be. We live in a world where our attitude is often defined by our immediate environment and social norms. We are taught to either like or dislike people by the way they look, or talk or dress. This immediate dislike is formed by our attitude toward others. We allow our definition of beauty, intelligence and value to be defined by the attitude gained in our early life. While sometimes these attitudes may be appropriate, too often we fail to take advantages of opportunities to serve God because we fail to change our attitudes when we are wrong. The first step is really understanding the true meaning of love to others and then to recognize that our attitudes are often based on misinformation. We must take the time to really get to know and value others and accept that we are more alike than different. The Good Samaritan did not allow social attitudes to get in the way of showing love and kindness.

Thought for the day:  Do not allow your attitude to get in the way of you serving God

Thursday 7

Keep It Simple Stupid

I like the acronym “KISS” . The other day I was reminded of this by a friend who responded to me by email with these simple scriptures and  the word Love. Of the many emails that I receive daily, it was the one that I really enjoyed and understood. No fancy words, just the scriptures noted below.

Numbers 6:24-26

New International Version

²⁴ “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’

Ephesians 3:20

New International Version

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Love Ya!!!!!

Wednesday January 6

The Power of Persistence

Scripture: Romans 5:4 And endurance produces character, and character produces hope

Paul J Myer said “90% of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.”  I have found that one of the secrets of teaching and learning is persistence.  Another quote from Paul J. Myer is that to accomplished real change there must be repetition, repetition and more repetition.  According to my Lead Like Jesus class, Christ practiced this by teaching the same message over and over to make his point. The method may have changed but the message remained constant.  Business use this same concept in advertising.  The first time that one sees an ad they hardly pay attention to it but each additional time that one sees the advertisement, we begin to remember it until which time we can sing the song  or hum the tune. Finally we may go out and purchase the product.  All because of the persistence of the advertisement.  We must be persistent in our spiritual desires and let nothing get in the way.  Pray without ceasing is not just a saying but the key to a closer walk with God.

Thought for the Day:  If you stop you will never reach your destination.

Tuesday January 5

Making a Change

Scripture:

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the

wise seeks knowledge.” PROVERBS 18:15

This time of year means that everyone is seeking some type of  change in their lives. This goes from losing weight to change in employment or other life changing events. Usually in order for real change to occur one must have a change in mindset which is most often driven by an acceptance of new knowledge that should be based on an acceptable source. Along with the knowledge is the acceptance that change is necessary. One must be willing to actively seek the knowledge that can lead to a change in life style. Often times change does not occur as one may be skeptical of the resources and thus unwilling to follow the suggested recommendations which leads to no meaningful change. I strongly suggest that we continually seek the wisdom of God when formulating our desire for real change.

Thought for today:  Lean not to our human understanding but depend on the wisdom that we can receive by listening to God for he will never lead us astray.

Monday January 4

Encouragement

Scripture 

Acts: 4:36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 9: 26-27 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

Barnabas was a member and one of the leaders in the Early Church. It is believed that his birth name was Joseph but he became known as Barnabas because he was an encourager so much so that his name was changed to Barnabas which means “encourager”.  In fact it is noted that he actually vouched for Paul to the others in the Church.

In today’s environment we can easily find criticisms but seldom do we find encouragement.  It is so important that we set an example like Barnabas and look for opportunities to encourage  others to be the best that they can be. When we find that time  that we must  criticize we should sandwich it in between encouragement.

Thought for today:  Great coaches encourage while still teaching.