ICCF,
Today begins our 21 day prayer and fasting until 6pm daily. Stay hydrated with water and fruit juices.
As you go through the day remember to pray for wisdom and guidance; for protection and provision. I’ll be praying for for you- please pray for me. I love you. PT
You are called to belong, not just believe!
“You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” Ephesians 2:19b (LB)
We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves. The Bible says we are put together, joined together, built together, members together; heirs together, fitted together, and held together and will be caught up together. You’re not on your own anymore.
While your relationship to Christ is personal, God never intends it to be private. In God’s family you are connected to every other believer, and we will belong to each other for eternity. The Bible says, “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NIV)
The Christian life is more than just commitment to Christ; it includes a commitment to other Christians. The Christians in Macedonia understood this. Paul said, “First, they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God’s will, they gave themselves to us as well.” 2 Corinthians 8:5 (TEV)
You become a Christian by committing yourself to Christ, but you become a church member by committing yourself to a specific group of believers. The first decision brings salvation; the second brings fellowship.
Pastor Tilton
You are as close to God as you choose to be!
“Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.” James 4:8 (NLT)
Like any friendship, you must work at developing your friendship with God. It won’t happen by accident. It takes desire, time, and energy.
The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty—about your faults and your feelings. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty. Every time you trust God’s wisdom and do whatever he says – even when you don’t understand it – you deepen your friendship with God.
We don’t normally think of obedience as a characteristic of friendship – that’s reserved for relationships with a parent or the boss or a superior officer – not a friend. However, Jesus made it clear that obedience is a condition of intimacy with God. He said, “… You are my friends, if you obey me.” John 15:14 (CEV)
There is nothing—absolutely nothing—more important than developing a friendship with God. Paul told Timothy, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God.” 1 Timothy 6:21a (LB)
Have you been missing out on the most important thing in life? You can do something about it starting now. Remember, it’s your choice. You are as close to God as you choose to be.
Pastor Tilton
The way you see your life shapes your life!
The way you view life is your life metaphor. It’s your description of how life works and what you expect from it; it influences your life more than you realize and determines your expectations, values, relationships, goals, and priorities. To fulfill the purposes God has for you, you will have to base your view on the biblical metaphors of life. These are: Life is a test, and life is a trust.
Life is a test – God continually tests people’s character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Character is both developed and revealed, and all of life is a test. When you understand that life is a test, you realize that every day is important. God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them.
Life is a trust – We are to be stewards of whatever God gives us. All we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands. If you treat everything as a trust, God promises three rewards in eternity: affirmation, promotion, and celebration.
“Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones.” Luke 16:10a (NLT)
Pastor Tilton
You are not an accident!
Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. God never does anything accidentally, and he never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything he creates.
“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.” Ephesians 1:4a (Msg)
Why did God bother to go to all the trouble of creating a universe for us? Because he is a God of love. This kind of love is difficult to fathom, but it’s fundamentally reliable. You were created as a special object of God’s love! God made you so he could love you. This is a truth to build your life on!
Pastor Tilton
It’s not about you!
“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, …everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Colossians 1:16 (Msg)
“It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.” Job 12:10 (TEV)
You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not using him for your own purpose. Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.
The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life’s purpose: Ask God.
Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, “In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preempting the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: ‘Without God life makes no sense.’ Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God’s light.”
You may have felt in the dark about your purpose in life. Congratulations, you’re about to walk into the light.
Pastor Tilton
As we begin our 40 day journey for spiritual growth,I would like to encourage you to be faithful in your daily readings, participation in a small group and attendance at weekly Sunday service. If you haven’t joined a small group yet, there are at least three opportunities available. Sign up this week on Sunday.
May God bless you to discover your real reason for being so you can live a purpose driven life.