Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

works

Stress

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In the beginning, we were created for and lived in perfect peace and harmony with God. Then we gave it all away for a stupid grab for an inconceivable “more”, something better than community with God. It was of course something which did not exist because dwelling in the presence of our Creator is the greatest form of happiness, fulfillment, and joy we can ever know.

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Still, we reached for something else. We were deceived to believe there was more we could desire than God Himself. From this one horrible mistake, stress was born. From that moment, stress has become a favorite tool of Satan to continue to keep us from God.

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Stealing Time

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I learned (again) the hard way Satan is a master at stealing time. It’s amazing and more than a bit discouraging how you can be having a great day serving God only to see it fizzle into hours doing things of no Kingdom value. Without a consistent and diligent focus on how we spend our days, too many of them can be stolen away before we know it.

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While pondering that thought, it occurred to me maybe Satan isn’t so much a master at stealing time as we are at giving it away.God has put the gift of time at our disposal. Every breath we breathe is an endowment from Him. What God has given to us cannot be stolen. Satan has no power to do that. But as agents of freewill, it is within our authority to give away what God has granted to us.

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Are You Wasting Time?

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One of the greatest gifts God has given us is time. Time is life. There is no living without it. Originally we were created to live outside of time, but our rebellion against God led to us being bound by the limits of time as we now know it (Genesis 2:16-17). We will all die (Hebrews 9:27), and so we must all maximize the time we have been given to further the mission of Christ and to build the Kingdom of God.

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This is why each of us was created, and it is the will of God for each of our lives. The trouble is, few live as if time were indeed limited. We dream of somedays and plan for next year. Rarely do we focus on what is most important right here and right now.  Knowing the clock is ticking, I have to ask, why are you wasting time?

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Are You Doing Enough?

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A question I often ask myself is, “Am I doing enough?” I’m not talking about earning our way to Heaven by trying to do enough good things (impossible, by the way). But having been given such a great gift from God, we have the responsibility to respond. He has lavished so much upon us it is inconceivable to then go through our lives wanting to give nothing in return.

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We can’t pay back God, but we certainly can demonstrate our gratefulness through our obedient actions. With that in mind, ask yourself, “Are you doing enough?” What is our honest answer to that question?

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Act on What You Know

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grace vs. works,grace and works,take action,francis chan,James 1:22,Luke 9:49-50,God's kingdom,hearers onlyimage © tashatuvango – Fotolia

I love to learn. There is rarely a moment of the day when I don’t have a book in my hand or at least within arm’s reach. We have access to so much information in our world that you could literally spend your entire lifetime gaining valuable knowledge. While that’s great – and even enjoyable to those like me – it never amounts to anything if we don’t apply what we learn and do something useful with all of that information. This is perhaps no more prevalent than in our churches today. We have so many opportunities to learn more about Jesus, but unless we move out of the building and put into action what we have learned, it won’t account for anything when we meet God.

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