Imagine don't doubt

You have to believe and banish doubt. Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs. The problem we have today is we do the exact opposite. We believe our doubts and doubt our beliefs. 

 Instead you need to say, “I’m not going to allow fear to dominate; I’m going to allow faith to dominate. I’m going to trust in God. All things are possible with God.” Then your imagination talks about the good things that can happen and moves you forward.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 1:6‭-‬7 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.6-7.NIV

Dream big

God wants you to dream big. He wants you to use the imagination that he gave you because dreaming big honors God. It shows faith. It shows trust. You should base your dream not on what you think you can do, but on what you believe God can do. Write this down: Let the size of my God determine the size of my goal. God’s dream for my life is bigger than my dream.

God's dream for your life

If you want significance in your life, if you want satisfaction in your life, if you want fulfillment in your life here’s what you need to do: Stop following your dream and start following God’s dream for your life. If you can’t imagine your calling, if you can’t dream God’s dream, you are not living the abundant life. You’re just existing.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
Ephesians 1:18 NIV
https://ephesians.bible/ephesians-1-18

Faith

Hebrews 11 begins by defining faith as the “confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). Faith is a way of seeing. God says whatever you hope for — whatever you think might happen — when you believe that it will actually happen, that’s faith. It’s the evidence, or confidence, of things we cannot yet see. God gave you two ways of seeing. First, you can see through your physical eyes. And second, you can see through the imagination in your mind. You can picture things in your mind, you dream them, you visualize them. When you can’t see something physically you can imagine it in your mind. The Bible says you need to focus on the things that will last — those things that you can’t actually see with your eyes. In order to do that you have to imagine them. Imagination shapes your life and is essential to living by faith.

Imagination

You are most like your Creator when you are being creative. Does that make sense? You are most like your Creator — God — when you are being creative. And God gave you the ability to create with your imagination. When you use your imagination for good and for God, God smiles. 

Keep hungry

  God Hunger John Piper said, “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” We all have a spiritual appetite as part of our makeup as human beings. In fact, this yearning for spiritual fulfilment is a constant in our daily life. The question is, where is our hunger being directed? If we are not hungry for the presence and purposes of God, then you can be sure we are hungry for something else. People chase after many things in response to this hunger: financial security, career success, the praise and affirmation of others, relationships, and more. But only Jesus can impart the abundance of life we crave. The more hungry for God we are, the more alive we are. The revivalist John G. Lake said that the most powerful prayer any Christian can pray is, “God, make me hungry for you.” We are all a product of our spiritual appetite and none of us is greater than our prayer life. There is a healthy restlessness that each of us should embrace – the restlessness that longs for heaven, for a deeper knowledge of God’s presence; the restlessness that marks us out as nothing more than pilgrims, passing through this temporary place and heading for our true destination. Bill Johnson writes, “Never stop looking for His ‘new thing’. The moment we think we have arrived, we will fall. The moment we lose that hunger to travel to find Him, the willingness to wait in line to hear Him, a humility to encounter Him in a package that offends us, we’re in danger of missing His next move. Wise men still travel.” Stay hungry for God!

Thankfulness

  A Deeper Sense Of Thankfulness A spirit of gratitude and thankfulness is surely one of the great keys of the kingdom. The beginning of man’s rebellion against God was the lack of a thankful heart. Do we genuinely desire and long for God, or for other things? The truth of the matter is, if we are not content and grateful for what we have and who we are, then we are not loving God as we should. As Francis Schaeffer put it, we are “coveting against God.” A thankless spirit wants things now. Rather than being impatient, we need to learn to love the journey we are on more than the point of arrival; to learn to embrace trust rather than control. There is a supernatural power in expressing our thanksgiving to God that brings divine multiplication. Murmuring and moaning put our focus on lack. Thanksgiving is aware of abundance. Each day we have is a gift, not a right. Our attitude towards life, towards our God, will determine the quality of the “soil” of our life and whether God can plant seed there that will lead to an abundant harvest of blessing. We can choose unbelief, murmuring and complaining against God, which leads to anger and anxiety. Or we can choose thankfulness, which leads to peace and rest. Entitlement breeds envy, greed and restlessness. Gratitude waters the garden of our heart with wonder, joy and faith. The grass is not greener next door – it’s greener where we water it! Let us unwrap the gift of “today” with the childlike humility and awe that God’s gift deserves. Thankfulness results in a willingness to surrender to God’s will for our lives, because we trust Him to be who He says He is for us – the perfect Father. If we want two good indications of how much we are really trusting God, we should pay attention to our levels of anxiety and anger when things don’t go our way, and to the steadiness of our stream of thanksgiving, whatever the circumstances.

Our calling

  Called To Purpose God has called each of us with a specific purpose and given us the grace necessary to fulfil it. Some people speak about the subject of “calling” as though it is very mysterious and difficult to discover. Not so, because the Bible is very clear about our fundamental purpose on earth. Thomas Merton wrote, “Before the Lord wills me to do anything, He first of all wills me to ‘be.’ What I do must depend on what I am.” First and foremost God has predestined us to conform to the image and likeness of His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). “Success isn’t a place to reach, but a state of being,” writes Steve Backlund. Alongside this, God has set in a place a “prosperous” plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and preordained our days (Psalm 139:16). A recent piece of research from medical practitioners indicated that the majority of their patients suffered from a profound lack of purpose in their lives. In other words, apart from continuing to do the expected things – family, work, social life – their lives had no overarching goal; their goals were pretty meaningless. This in turn had an effect on their health and wellbeing. We realize from the Bible, however, that God has given each of us the opportunity to walk in His perfect plan for our life, bringing heaven to earth and living purposefully. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:15-16) “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) This means that our primary calling is rooted in our identity – to become a beloved child of God. Rooted in that place of love and acceptance, we are given the “greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:38) to worship and love God with every breath we breathe. Only then can we begin to fulfil the second great command to love our neighbor as ourselves. If you are searching for your “calling”, focus on the high calling of loving God and enjoying Him forever.

Grace

  Entitled? In the beginning, in the Garden, we were not encumbered by the trap of comparison to others, or by feelings of insignificance, jealousy, envy, vanity or pride. Our focus and attention was fully upon God, our Father, and our glory covering was too thick for us to be aware of our nakedness. We were simply happy to be in a love relationship with our Father and one with another. This freedom is our inheritance in Christ today. But the orphan spirit of Cain still strives to come to the fore, to bring an “offering” better than Abel’s, and is consumed with the murderous thoughts of darkness. Orphans must succeed and prove themselves. Sons and daughters of God, however, stand approved by heaven, enjoying their relationship and working alongside their Father. In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus told a parable about the master of a house who hired a number of workers for his vineyard. Some labored for several hours and others for a much shorter time, but they all got the same reward at the end. The workers who had toiled for longer immediately rose up with a sense of self-entitlement. “How come we didn’t get paid more than those others?” Jesus infers that it wasn’t that the master didn’t pay them a fair day’s wage, rather they had fallen into the trap of comparing what they’d received with what the others had received. Jesus’ simple, profound summary of this episode is, “So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16) The principle of the parable is that the Christian life is all grace from beginning to end. Jesus is the master in the parable, distributing grace generously to all. The workers who felt cheated received just as much grace as anyone else, but they measured it by worldly standards. We live in an upside down kingdom that makes little sense to the worldly wise. The principles of God’s kingdom have nothing to do with the principles of the world we’ve left behind. We must stop bringing all our “old ideas” to the table. There is nothing so wrong as the spirit which argues, “I have done this, therefore I expect something in return.” God is not a celestial vending machine. We cannot manipulate Him. No matter what we do, we can never argue for our entitlement. Rather, in His presence we receive all the reward we could desire and more. His presence is full of joy, peace and satisfaction. Let’s learn the art of thankfulness!

The Pressure’s Off

   The pressure to live well isn’t on me or you. Jesus did it all and He lives in us. Grace works as we yield to Him, living in and through us. Religion says, Do … achieve … earn your validation … justify your very existence … the pressure is on you to perform... Jesus says, Done … accepted … validated … justified … the pressure’s off! The daily lot of those driven by religion is striving, anxiety and, ultimately, exhaustion and burn out. The inheritance of the child of God led by Christ’s grace is freedom, joy and peace. Those who fall back on self-reliance and their own resourcefulness to navigate life, who have taken on the principles of the world, unwittingly or otherwise, will know the daily pressure to perform and be dogged by a constant sense of failing to reach an acceptable standard. For those who are dead to self, humbled and dependent, the pressure is off. Yet we so easily succumb to the trap of trying to resume control of our lives. Author Larry Crabb expresses it well: “We need to yield control over what happens in our lives and trust God to do whatever He thinks best … until we develop a taste for God we prefer a better life of blessings from God over a better hope of intimacy with Him … we prefer control over trust … you were saved by grace and you’ll grow by grace … the law imposed the intolerable pressure to live perfectly in order to live well. You now stand in the Law of Liberty. Stand tall. Live as free men and women.” When praying and reflecting upon His ministry in John 17, Jesus said to His Father “You have given me…” twelve times. Jesus’ humble dependence upon His Father is stunning and freeing at the same time. It reminds us that all we receive, we receive only by God’s grace. We live to play a role in God’s story, not He in ours. He is God, we are not. He is central, we are peripheral. It’s all about Him, not about us. There is freedom in this truth. The pressure is off!

Grace... undeserved favour

  Grace, Up Close And Personal Did we get into God’s kingdom by virtue of our own good works or merely through Jesus? The extent to which we understand our part in this process, I believe, determines the extent to which we will extend grace and mercy, both to ourselves and to those stuck in sin. The more we credit ourselves with inherent goodness, the less grace and mercy has a role to play! But the degree to which we become uninhibited receptors of God’s grace is the degree to which we can and will extend that grace to others. Pope Francis said, “The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.” In other words, when God looks at a person, He first sees someone whom He loves and wants unconditionally, before He is remotely concerned with their sin. Through the cross of Calvary God endorses, loves and invites every one of His children to heaven, before tripping over their sin, however vile it may be. But even this does not adequately capture Francis’ deeper insight – the priority of the person. This personalist with which God deals with us is one of the most radical aspects of the Christian faith. In every way that matters to God, human beings are completely equal and completely loved. They can’t be reduced to ethical object lessons. Their dignity runs deeper than their failures. They matter more than any cause. They are the cause. Grace is the empowering presence of God to do what only He can do. Grace doesn’t excuse sin – it empowers righteousness. Grace is unmerited favor. Let’s ask ourselves this question: “How much unmerited favor can I afford to pay out today? How deep are my reserves?” If we feel low on grace, we need only to return to the Source and ask to be refilled.

Orphan spirit

  Inside-Out We live in a world dominated by an orphan spirit. It teaches people to be defensive, self-reliant, self-sufficient. It militates against the vulnerability and dependence called for by Father God as we take on His kingdom values. We have been trained by an orphan world that says we must prove ourselves capable. This is a religious lie. We are not built for independence. In fact, the moment we decide to kill our independence, admit our own incapability, give up and look to the Father, is the moment of our greatest victory. Resolutions and commitments to change our behavior won’t work. Allowing God to change our heart – and the subsequent outworking of that change affecting our behavior – will transform us. Striving is the counterfeit of yielding. Religion attempts to transform us from the outside-in and does not work. The kingdom operates from the inside-out, and it does work, bringing about spiritual transformation. In order to give up our self-reliance and yield to God’s work in our life we need to learn humility. The orphan spirit is rooted in pride and control. It is offended by the prospect of making ourselves vulnerable. Yet, humble people cannot be humiliated or offended, because their self-focus has vanished, swallowed up by their love for God, themselves and others. Perfectionism and control tend to produce only shame and fear. But when we are justified by Christ’s perfection through faith in the finished work of the cross, He becomes our perfection. Suddenly, we are enough. We measure up. Slowly, our self-criticism and our judgment of others falls away, because we realize that everyone is significant. Let’s get rid of our pride, because God resists the proud. Let’s choose to go low and God will lift us up. Let’s embrace the inside-out working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and look towards the glory that God desires to bring through His grace.

May not be the answer you expect

  Surprising Answers 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 We don’t know exactly what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was, but it was so bad that he cried out to God, over and over, for deliverance and for it to be removed. We might expect God to do a miracle and answer by taking it away. Certainly many times in Scripture we see examples of times when God answered prayers by doing miraculous works on behalf of his people. This is not what happened with Paul’s “thorn.” We know that something happens every time we pray. God always hears. He loves his children. He is all-powerful. So, what did God do in this case? What was the answer to Paul’s heartfelt prayer? Are you ready? Here it is. God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). No thorns being removed. No immediate deliverance and spontaneous songs of praise for an undeniable miracle. Instead, God promises grace. God offers Paul power to make it through the torment of his thorn in the flesh. The thorn will stay, but so will grace. In this moment God says, “Let my presence and power be enough for you.” Paul’s prayers were answered, but in a way very different than he expected. He wanted the thorn gone. God said, “No.” The Lord of creation knew that what Paul needed was power in weakness and grace in the pain of life. Something happens every time you pray. It may be all that you hoped for and more. Or it may be different than you want—but exactly what you need. As we walk through life, praying with our eyes and lives wide open, praying for people and with people, praying for small things and big things, we can be assured that something good will happen every time we pray. Commit before God to seek and accept his answer for every prayer you make.

Pray with honesty

As I began praying the psalms and letting these ancient songs pray for me, honesty began to feel natural. Rather than being irreverent, my truthful prayers felt God-honoring. Instead of creating a sense of guilt, they freed me to pour out my heart and discover new depths of grace. At its core, prayer is an honest conversation with the God who is absolute truth. When our prayers lack honesty, they lack power. Praying with an open heart means recognizing that God already sees everything. Even what we wish was hidden. This frees us to express ourselves with intentional transparency because we know that God is sovereign and omniscient. He knows everything about us and he still loves us.

Three Lessons About Speaking to God

   John 14:9-14 When Jesus teaches about prayer in John 14, we should tune in and prepare to learn. His words are bold and epic. The promises seem almost too big to believe. Jesus says things such as, we will do the kind of works he has been doing, we will do greater things than what he had done, and we could ask for anything in his name and he would do it. This sounds like a blank check and an absolute promise. But when we look closer, we learn that God is inviting us to speak, listen, and trust his wisdom. What is Jesus teaching us about speaking to the God who is always listening? God invites us to ask. Since God is listening, he is ever ready to hear our prayers and receive our requests. But God is not a Santa Claus who waits for our list of the presents we want once a year. We are to ask with humility and wisdom. God wants to hear our desires and passions, but he delights when these are being shaped and formed by his presence in our lives and his will for the world around us. We are to do this in the name of Jesus. For so many of us, this means that we tag the words “In the name of Jesus” on the end of our prayer. But when Jesus calls us to pray in his name, he is calling us to pray as he would pray. Ambassadors do not say whatever they want and place the weight of a country behind their words. Instead, they are to faithfully represent the name and will of their country. In the same way, when we pray in the name of Jesus, we are declaring that our prayer is consistent with the heart of Jesus and the will of the Father. Our requests and the fruit of our prayers are meant to bring glory to the Father. When we pray, we should always be asking the question, would this bring praise and honor to the God who saved me? Will this prayer, if answered in the affirmative, lift up God and glorify his holy name? Before praying today, think about the requests you are going to bring to God. How can you offer your petitions to God in a way that is humble, Christlike, and God-honoring?

Hearing from God

You can develop a holy habit of hearing the voice of the Shepherd if you will be serious and intentional about this part of your spiritual life: Sit, kneel, stand, lie down, or take a walk in a quiet setting. Find a posture and a place that help you seek God. Remove distractions. Wait on the Lord and keep your heart open. Invite God to speak. Declare to him that you want to be ready to follow where he leads. Commit to do all you can, with his power leading you, to follow him. Identify the source. If you feel that you hear something, ask yourself, “Where is this coming from?” If you suspect it is coming from your own mind or from the enemy, set this message aside. But if you think what you are hearing is from the Lord, move to the next step. Test it against Scripture. The Holy Spirit of God will never lead a child of God to act in a way that is against what is revealed in the Bible. Take note of God’s peace. God is Sovereign Lord over all things, and when he is present, his peace is nearby. Get wisdom in community. Ask for confirmation and wisdom from godly men and women and invite them into a process of praying for and with you. Submit and obey. This may be a call to repentance, a direction for an important life decision, or a direction toward serving, giving, or reaching out to someone. Learn to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd. As time passes, you will discover that you are hearing his voice with increasing clarity and confidence. Follow this step-by-step process as you seek to hear the voice of your loving Shepherd in your prayer time today.

Inspired to pray

Three distinct things that should inspire us to pray.
1. He carries us. Idols have no life, they must be carried, and they are actually a burden to those who believe in them and must tote them around. In stark contrast, our God carries us in our times of pain, loneliness, and brokenness. We have all had moments of loss, sorrow, sickness, and pain. In those times we rightly say things like, “If God had not carried me, I would have never made it.”
2. He sustains us. These are the times we keep walking on our own two feet, but the power and presence of our Creator helps us endure the challenges and weather the storms. In these moments we don’t need to be carried, but we absolutely need to be infused with his divine power and aware of his intimate presence. This empowers us to walk on and keep following him.
3. He rescues us. Because he made us and loves us, there are times when God simply delivers us from ourselves or the actions and harm others might bring upon us. I am convinced that on the other side of this life, we will see the countless ways God has intervened on our behalf, often without us having any idea. Of course, the greatest rescue is when Jesus died on the cross and bore our sins, shame, and the judgment we deserved. If we live each day with a deeply biblical and personal conviction that our Creator carries us, sustains us, and rescues us, we will be compelled to communicate with him. Prayers of praise will flow from our hearts and lips. Cries for help will be frequent, because we will know he loves to deliver us. Confession of our need and brokenness will be uttered. When our eyes are open to see the love and care of our Creator, prayer comes naturally and freely.

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:4 NIV
https://isaiah.bible/isaiah-46-4

Praying with eyes open

Praying with eyes wide open can become a lifestyle. This means shifting our thinking about prayer and at times literally keeping our eyes open when we pray. By making this small shift, we discover we can pray at all times and in all places.

There are many and varied postures for prayer taught and modeled in the Bible. Closing our eyes is not one of them.

Pray continually...the presence of God

One Bible passage that troubled me for years and caused me to struggle is a seemingly simple two-word exhortation: “Pray continually” (1 Thess. 5:17). I wanted to obey God’s call and follow his teaching . . . but how? How was I to pray without ceasing? How could I stay aware of God every moment and communicate my love with every breath? How could anyone measure up to this spiritual expectation? After years of struggling with this passage, the Holy Spirit breathed a simple truth of understanding into my soul that changed everything. When the veil was lifted and I saw the real meaning of this passage, joy descended and prayers were expressed with a new freedom and passion. Here is what God taught me: It is not that we have to pray continually; it is that we get to pray continually! This is a paradigm shift of heavenly proportions. It changed everything for me, and I hope it is just as transformational for you. It is not that you and I have to pray every moment of every day. God will not be disappointed with you if you don’t pray all the time. The wonder and joy is that the Maker of heaven and earth invites you and me to commune with him at all times and in all places. When we are ready to communicate with the God of eternity, his eyes, ears, and arms are always wide open. Prayer, in its simplest form, is about being in the presence of the God who made us and loves us. It is about relationship. When we learn to pray with our eyes wide open, we will discover in new and greater ways that we are not alone. We sense more deeply and intimately that God is with us in the depths of pain, depression, sadness, and fear. He is also present at the heights of ecstasy, joy, and delight.

Gifts of the Spirit

When we create the hunger for things that are righteous in the sight of God,  and our purpose for seeking those righteous things is to help grow the church of God spiritually and numerically, then the Lord will grant our desires. It's a remarkable thing to possess the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you have a heart for serving people, you would be absolutely delighted when the Lord uses you to bring joy to people who come your way.  There are 9 spiritual gifts readily available for any child of God who is thirsty, hungry and desires for them. How do you feel when you see sick people? Do you pray for them? Do you desire to have the wisdom and knowledge of the Bible so you can help your church grow? If you see yourself hunger after righteousness then it's time to seek the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given to those who fervently ask the Lord.