This thought was inspired by God through the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. If you ever need a book to read, i highly suggest it!
God says to love your neighbor as yourself. So the problem with having a bad self image and the reason why self image problems cause selfishness is this: if you don't love yourself, then how can you know what it is to love others? If you don't value how God made you, how can you learn to value others and teach them how to value themselves enough to love others as well? Do you love yourself in a healthy way? Then if yes. Good. Now go love others. If no: God loves you. Just because. You don't have to earn it. He loves you. Remind yourself that daily. Pray that you would love yourself as well as loving others daily. In the way that God loves you.
Satan is a liar. Your are created in the image of God. God gives faith, love, and the holy spirit without limit.
January 27, 2010
January 21, 2010
Fearless Missions
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
" 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."a]">[a]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
These Verses gold the key to how missionaries can go the dangerous, nearly-death places to serve and tell about Jesus. They realize that their power is worthless and that God's is the mightiest. Greater than any danger. They rest assured that they will be hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, Because God is with them. They may become perplexed, but their God has all the answers and will restore their joy and peace and assurance. They may be physically and spiritually persecuted, but their God will never abandon them. Never will he leave them or forsake them. I can go anywhere and rest assured that my God will be with me. they may be struck down, but they will never be completely destroyed. Because God has already secured their life in heaven. They realize that their costly investment in the present will save them from a bankrupt eternity. Therefore if death knocks at their door (or they knock at his), they will not be afraid. Because Jesus died and rose again and will raise them up one day as well. They fight to the death for the lives of others because they know that if they themselves die physically, they'll have an eternity secured in heaven. They realize that if they do not die to themselves daily, they risk someone else's eternity with Christ. Therefor they go to crazy dangerous places, fearless, for the name of the Lord. They are the messengers. Clay bearing treasure.
" 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."a]">[a]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
These Verses gold the key to how missionaries can go the dangerous, nearly-death places to serve and tell about Jesus. They realize that their power is worthless and that God's is the mightiest. Greater than any danger. They rest assured that they will be hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, Because God is with them. They may become perplexed, but their God has all the answers and will restore their joy and peace and assurance. They may be physically and spiritually persecuted, but their God will never abandon them. Never will he leave them or forsake them. I can go anywhere and rest assured that my God will be with me. they may be struck down, but they will never be completely destroyed. Because God has already secured their life in heaven. They realize that their costly investment in the present will save them from a bankrupt eternity. Therefore if death knocks at their door (or they knock at his), they will not be afraid. Because Jesus died and rose again and will raise them up one day as well. They fight to the death for the lives of others because they know that if they themselves die physically, they'll have an eternity secured in heaven. They realize that if they do not die to themselves daily, they risk someone else's eternity with Christ. Therefor they go to crazy dangerous places, fearless, for the name of the Lord. They are the messengers. Clay bearing treasure.
Why Does God Allow Suffering?... 2
God sometimes allows suffering because we wouldn't submit. And he loves us too much to let us harden the wrong way.
Jeremiah 18:1-17
The Potter and the Clay
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9 And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, 10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
11 “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”
12 But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”
13 So this is what the Lord says:
“Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,
even among the pagan nations?
My virgin daughter Israel
has done something terrible!
14 Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon?
Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
15 But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me;
they burn incense to worthless idols.
They have stumbled off the ancient highways
and walk in muddy paths.
16 Therefore, their land will become desolate,
a monument to their stupidity.
All who pass by will be astonished
and will shake their heads in amazement.
17 I will scatter my people before their enemies
as the east wind scatters dust.
And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them
and refuse to notice their distress.”
God reminded Jeremiah and the people that he could and would shape them as he liked. The note in my mom's life application bible says this:
"As the potter molded or shaped a clay pot on the potter's wheel, defects often appeared. The potter had power over the clay, to permit the defects to remain or reshape the pot. Likewise, God had power to reshape the nation to conform to his purposes. Our strategy should not be to become mindless and passive- one aspect of clay- but to be willing and receptive to God's impact on us. As we yield to God, he begins reshaping us into valuable vessels."
So out of his love for us, he destroys our pride by destroying what we cling to. The suffering sometimes is because we (either literally or with our actions) told God not to waste His breath- that we were going to do whatever we wanted despite what He said. I love the word it uses in the NLT. It says "stupid". I don't normally use that word, but it makes perfect bold sense here. We look at the people of Judah and can easily say "Look how stupid they are. God told them to repent, but they told him to not waste his breath. They declared themselves a lost cause towards God so that they could do what they wanted." We say that, then we realize all the times we have forgotten God, or not wanted to pray to him, or not felt up to reading today. And we realize how much we have forgotten his power and worth. He is our potter and He loves us. So if he has to destroy us before our hearts harden, he will do so. Judah must soon repent, or the clay will harden the wrong way. Suffering brings us back to Him.
Jeremiah 18:1-17
The Potter and the Clay
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9 And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, 10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
11 “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”
12 But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”
13 So this is what the Lord says:
“Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,
even among the pagan nations?
My virgin daughter Israel
has done something terrible!
14 Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon?
Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
15 But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me;
they burn incense to worthless idols.
They have stumbled off the ancient highways
and walk in muddy paths.
16 Therefore, their land will become desolate,
a monument to their stupidity.
All who pass by will be astonished
and will shake their heads in amazement.
17 I will scatter my people before their enemies
as the east wind scatters dust.
And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them
and refuse to notice their distress.”
God reminded Jeremiah and the people that he could and would shape them as he liked. The note in my mom's life application bible says this:
"As the potter molded or shaped a clay pot on the potter's wheel, defects often appeared. The potter had power over the clay, to permit the defects to remain or reshape the pot. Likewise, God had power to reshape the nation to conform to his purposes. Our strategy should not be to become mindless and passive- one aspect of clay- but to be willing and receptive to God's impact on us. As we yield to God, he begins reshaping us into valuable vessels."
So out of his love for us, he destroys our pride by destroying what we cling to. The suffering sometimes is because we (either literally or with our actions) told God not to waste His breath- that we were going to do whatever we wanted despite what He said. I love the word it uses in the NLT. It says "stupid". I don't normally use that word, but it makes perfect bold sense here. We look at the people of Judah and can easily say "Look how stupid they are. God told them to repent, but they told him to not waste his breath. They declared themselves a lost cause towards God so that they could do what they wanted." We say that, then we realize all the times we have forgotten God, or not wanted to pray to him, or not felt up to reading today. And we realize how much we have forgotten his power and worth. He is our potter and He loves us. So if he has to destroy us before our hearts harden, he will do so. Judah must soon repent, or the clay will harden the wrong way. Suffering brings us back to Him.
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