A Water Brooks weblog
Read about Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42.
It’s better to love Him than to serve him.
How can we grow our love for him?
By getting to know him in:
1. Worship ( Ps 95:6, 96:7-9; John 4:23-24) – Mary sat at Jesus’ feet
2. Prayer (Phil. 4:6-7)
3. Meditation in his word (“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Ps 119:105, see also Ps 19:7-11, Ps 104:34) – Mary listened to Jesus words.
4. Continue reading “Love & Service”
One day at a time.
By L. LaRose
Please note that it’s not a gifted person who criticizes or finds fault in someone, but…
1/
…it takes a spiritual person in the spirit of meekness to restore a brother or sister over taken in a fault.
Gal. 6:1-10
2/
…it takes a gracious person to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving others.
Eph. 4:29-32
3/
…it takes a Godly person with contentment to give themselves to wholesome words and the doctrine according to godliness.
I Tim. 6:3-6
4/
…it takes a workman of God to be gentle to all, patient, meek, sanctified, and useful for the Master’s work.
II Tim. 2:14-26
5/
…it takes an innocent heart not hardened by time to lay aside malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil speaking.
I Pet. 2:1-3
Did you ever notice how young children don’t criticize, judge or talk bad about others? they just accept them for who they are. They may ask questions, but they are like this passage “like new born babes”, innocent children without malice, not hypocritical, not envious, or full of evil speaking. These traits come with the hardening of the heart.
Finally, Mat 12:34-37, Jesus said…
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
What is in your heart? Are you on the giving end of criticism? Remember that you will be held accountable for every idle word.
What does the term “Fail Forward” mean. I saw it on the bottom of a document as the sign off, so I decided to look it up on the internet. Here is what I came up with:
Gerry Riskin writes in his blog “The idea is to “fail forward” in such a way that, even when what you try doesn’t work, it puts you in a better position after your move than before it.” (http://www.gerryriskin.com/strategy-16-fail-forward.html)
John Beck, in his blog writes this “… a lack of experience will cause you to make a mistake. If that happens to you, remember to “fail forward.” Don’t beat yourself with the ugly stick and give up. Instead look to the future, learn from the mistake and make your dreams come true.” (http://johnbeck.tv/Articles/failforward.html)
It’s use seems to be in the secular realm of achieving your dreams and desires. How can we apply this to the Christian World View?
Remember in the bible, how that after Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. After His resurrection, Jesus told him to “Feed my sheep.” God doesn’t want us to “throw in the towel” as it were and give up.
So the next time you make a mistake, don’t fear. Learn from it and use it to learn from and keep going. The apostle Paul wrote “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14)
Don’t give up!
Keep going!
Just do it!
For God!
For His Glory.
Sometimes life can be complicated, not knowing if we are coming or going. ‘Bleak’ is what some people think of their life, but God has granted so much grace, mercy and blessing in my life that I can hardly say that life is bleak. There’s a song that goes “Life is what you make it, There you are!… Oh, would you like to swing on a star, Carry moon beams home in a jar, And be better off than you are, Or would you rather be a mule… he kicks up at anything he hears”. (Johnny Burke) Some are just plain negative and doom is all they can see, but in the end, life is what you make it. James writes that a doubting man is like a wave driven of the wind and tossed and will get what he asks for – nothing. (James 1:6-7)
God has better things for us. The apostle Paul said “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” Again he wrote in Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
“Praise God that my “life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) and that my feelings don’t determine my eternal destination. But as for our lifetime on earth, am I living in the promises of God, walking by faith and believing that he can and will sustain me in all of lifes circumstances, trials, joys, failures, temptations.
Herein is the Christian worldview; looking at life and the world with a biblical perspective. “I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Tim. 1:12) He IS able.
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Jude 1:24
“Fail Forward”