Day 16

What matters most

Notes:

Life is about love .. It runs counter to our self centred nature ..given a lifetime to learn it ...paticularly have to love others in God's family ...our greatest witness ...your love for each other will prove you are my disciples

Best use of life is love ..relationships are the priority ..bankrupt without love

10 commandments ...Al. About relationships ..4 re God and 6 with people ..love the Lord your God, love your neighbour as yourself

Busyness is the enemy of relationships

Love will last forever ..it is eternal ..love should be your legacy

Mother Teressa ...it's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters

Wisdom is knowing relationships is what life is about

We will be evaluated on our love ..the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love

Best expression of love is time ..importance of things measured by how much time you spend on it

Your time is your life ...love is spelt ...TIME ...how much we give of ourselves ..love demands focused attention ... Means giving up... Yielding my preferences ...comfort ...goals ... Security ...money ...energy..or time

The best time to love is now

Thoughts

Work seems to monopolize my life ... Can I give more? Can I squeeze more time and energy from my life? I just keep thinking ... Will do more for others when I don't have to provide for the family? Or is bringing up the family and providing for them the right priority now?

Day 15

Formed for God's family

God wants a family ..he wanted to have many children to share in his glory Heb 2:10 .. He allows us to be called his children John 3:1

Children of God through faith ... Rich and glorious inheritance

Be with God forever, be like Christ, freed from pain,death,suffering, positions of service, share Christ's glory

Retirement is a short term goal, should be living in the light of eternity!

Baptism ..declares your faith, symbolises death to old life and new life on God's family .. A physical picture of a spiritual truth

Anyone who does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother .. Honour and privilege

Thoughts

Can be hard to treat all Christians as your family .. A challenge

Day 14

When God seems distant 

Notes:

God is real no matter how you feel .. Deepest level of worship is thanking God in spite of pain, thanking during a trial or suffering, loving when distant

Friendships often tested by separation and silence ... God has not promised that you will always feel his presence ...I will never leave you ... A test of faith ..continue to love, trust, obey and worship

We often seek an experience of God rTher than seeking him ..seek a feeling ..need to wean off these dependencies ...more concerned about whether you trust rather than feel his presence

Tell God how you feel ... David was honest with God

Focus on God and his unchanging nature V Raymond Edman ... Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light

Trust God to keep his promises ... Rely on these not on emotions ... But still I trust in him ..Job

Remember what God has already done for you Christ suffered and died for us, that alone is enough

Thoughts

Job and David are so inspirational here, they trusted despite circumstances, holding on to God's promises and trusting him

Day 13

Worship that pleases God

Notes:

God does not want part of your life ...all of your soul, mind and strength ... Full devotion ... Not bits of your life

God is pleased when our worship is accurate ... We cannot create our own comfortable or politically correct image of God ... And worship it

True worshipers will worship in spirit ... Our spirit ... Worship is our spirit responding to God's spirit

Heartless praise is worthless ..the Lord looks at the heart ..engages our emotions ... Does not want showmanship, phoniness or pretence ... Honest real love ... God pleasing worship is deeply emotional and doctrinal

Real worship is when our spirit responds to God ... Not music tone, sentimentality, introspective songs that focus on our feelings

Gary Thomas ...scared pathways ... 9 ways people draw near to God.... We need to be authentic ..God wants people who are simply and honestly themselves in worship

God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful ..love the Lord your God with all your mind ..if worship is mindless it is meaningless ..engage your mind

Be specific not general what are you praising ...thanking for?

God is pleased when our worship is practical .... Sacrifices of worship, thanksgiving, praise, humility, repentance, offerings, prayer, serving others, sharing with those in need ...worship costs our self centeredness

David ... I will not offer to the Lord sacrifices that have cost me nothing ...when you get out of bed to worship when you are tired, when you help others when you are worn out, you are offering worship 

Notes:

Helpful to see worship in different ways ... God wants sacrifice and practical, thought out worship .. Not going through the motions and warm fuzzy songs and limp prayers.

Day 12

Developing you friendship with God

Notes:

You are as close to God as you choose to be

Be honest ... God does not expect perfection ... Wants frankness .. Many argued Abraham, David, Job, Moses, etc

God defended Job for being honest ...

 Honesty is important  .. What appears to be audacity, God sees as authenticity .. Wants true feelings, not what we ought to feel and say

Bitterness is a barrier to God .... Why did he allow this ...... God acts in our best interests

Psalms ... Worship manual full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, passions, thanksgiving, praise and statements of faith .. David ... I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles ... Expressing doubt can be first step to intimacy 

Choose to obey God in faith .. Every time you trust God's wisdom, you deepen your friendship

Friends in a court ... Special privileges, but obey commands ..out of love and trust

We can be challenged to do great things for God, but God is more pleased with small things of loving obedience .. Unnoticed by others ..simple acts of prayer, praise, offerings .. Jesus did 30 years of living obediently!

Choose to value what God values .. Friends care about what is important to the other, grieves and rejoices

Desire friendship more than anything else ... David had passion ..Jacob wrestled with God .... God wants passion

You are as close to God as you choose to be ...in Ephesus they had left their first love ... Was duty not love that motivated them

CS Lwis ...pain is God's megaphone .. Problems are not punishments ..wake up calls from a loving God .. Not mad at you, but mad about you

Thoughts:

Still got to get my head around suffering and a loving God ... Is it all for my own good? Perhaps I need to wrestle and question God?p

Day 11

Becoming best friends with God

Notes:

God yearns to be our friend .. As it was in the beginning ...intimate friendship with God ... No rituals or religion ... A loving relationship

Jesus ... I gave called you friends ... Close and trusted relationship ... How?

 ... Does not want an appointment in your schedule ... Included in every action, thought, conversation, problem ... Continuous, open ended conversation ... Praying without ceasing ... Everything you do can be spending time with God

Brother Lawrence practicing the presence of God .. Changing your attitude to what you do .. A skill and a habit ..must train your mind to remember God ... A continual awareness of the reality that God is always present

Continual meditation ... Simply focused thinking ...like worry, you think about it over and over

Prayer lets you speak to God and meditation lets God speak to you

Thoughts:

Get the book Brother Lawrence wrote

Try and work on constant prayer

Day 10

The heart of worship

The heart of worship is surrender .. A natural response to God's amazing love .. Not from fear or duty, but from love ... It is true worship ....giving yourself completely to God ... Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about

The act of surrender has many names ..... Consecration, making Jesus Lord, taking up your cross, dying to self, yielding to the spirit ... Needs to be all

3 barriers ... Fear, pride and confusion

Can I trust God? ... Love casts out all fear .. The more you realise how much God loves you the easier surrender becomes

... Jesus on the cross ... I'd rather die than live without you ... Free will surrender(offering) is what he wants

Admitting our limitations ... Pride ..the desire to have control is cause of so much stress in our lives! ... We accept our humanity intellectually, but not emotionally

Surrendering ... Not passive resignation, fatalism, accepting of status quo ...not giving up rational thinking .. Not repressing your personality 

CS Lewis: the more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become

Surrendering is obeying even if it does not make sense ... Fully surrendered life is trust

You are surrendered when you don't react to criticism or rush to defend yourself, it shows in your relationships .. You don't edge others out, don't demand your rights, you are not self serving

In the garden ... If it fulfills your purpose, that's what I want too

Blessings of surrender .. Peace, freedom, power of God in your life

William Booth .. The greatness of a man's power is in the measure of his surrender

The best way to live ... We all surrender to something ... Money, resentment, pride, lusts, ego ... We are designed to worship God .. Not idols .. Wisest moments are when you say yes to God ..you can't fulfill God's purposes while focusing on your own plans ... Nothing under Gpd's control can be out of control

There is a moment of surrender, but also daily practice of surrender... Problem of a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the alter!

Surrender will often mean doing the opposite of what you feel like doing!

Thoughts:

More challenge ... Need God's spirit to guide and support with this surrendering