Fatih

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

I heard a great thought on faith this week. I was listening to the Morning Ministries with Roger Plummer on WYLL 1160AM and heard someone on one of the programs preaching on faith. I didn’t have anything to take notes, so to the best of my memory, here are some of the powerful principles I gleaned on faith this morning.

Faith is not…wishing really hard that something will happen.

Faith is not…accomplishing certain results that others cannot.

Faith is not…just believe until you get it.

Faith is…getting out of the way so God can do His good and perfect will and purpose in our life.

Faith is about God and His way not us and our way. John the Baptist said it this way, “He must increase…I must decrease.” John 3:30-31 (NKJV)

I have thoroughly enjoyed preparing our sermons this year on Getting To Know God. The more you study about how God has revealed Himself the more powerful and awesome He gets. His plans and His ways are far beyond mine. God has so much more for us! He wants to do more in our lives than we could ever imagine. The Apostle Paul states, “By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” Eph 3:20 (NLT)

Increase your faith this week…get out of the way, seek God and His ways, and watch what He will do!

Authentic Self Esteem

And since we are his children, we will share his treasures — for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too.
Romans 8:17a (NLT)

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about building authentic self esteem in children. As parents, we do our best to show our children unconditional love. However, we’re not perfect, and no matter how hard we try there are times we fall short in this difficult task.

In our fallen state we often adopt unhealthy ways of finding our self worth. Most of the time we work to earn the love, respect, attention from others. Somewhere along the way as children we learn we have to perform to be accepted and loved. This continues into adulthood and into our relationship with God. But with God, He is perfect, and His love is unconditional.

God loves you with a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love. Love is patient, love is kind…it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God loves you perfectly.

God loves you because you are his child and He is your perfect Heavenly Father. True self esteem comes from knowing our identity and inherent worth as children of God. God has adopted you into his family. You are a joint heir with Jesus sharing in all of the treasures and promises of God! This week stop trying to perform for God and instead rest and enjoy His love. His love is perfect!