♥ My Spiritual Blog
Kind Hearts
by PRRussell on Mar.09, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Kind Hearts
Love suffers long and is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4 NKJV
What is your kindness quotient? When was the last time you did something kind for someone in your family – e.g., got a blanket, cleaned off the table, prepared the coffee – without being asked?
Think about your school or workplace. Which person is the most overlooked or avoided? A shy student? A grumpy employee? Maybe he doesn’t speak the language. Maybe she doesn’t fit in. Are you kind to this person?
Kind hearts are quietly kind. They let the car cut into traffic and the young mom with three kids move up in the checkout line. They pick up the neighbor’s trash can that rolled into the street. And they are especially kind at church. They understand that perhaps the neediest person they’ll meet all week is the one standing in the foyer or sitting on the row behind them in worship. Paul writes: “When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers”(Gal. 6:10).
“A Love Worth Giving” by Max Lucado
Sole Provider, Sole Comforter
by PRRussell on Mar.05, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Sole Provider, Sole Comforter
Come to Me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
As long as Jesus is one of many options, He is no option.
As long as you can carry your burdens alone, you don’t need a burden bearer. As long as your situation brings you no grief, you will receive no comfort. And as long as you can take Him or leave Him, you might as well leave Him, because He won’t be taken half-heartedly.
But when you mourn, when you get to the point of sorrow for your sins, when you admit that you have no other options but to cast all your cares on Him, and when there is truly no other name that you can call, then cast all your cares on Him, for He is waiting in the midst of the storm.
“The Applause of Heaven” by Max Lucado
Live a Holy Life
by PRRussell on Mar.03, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Live a Holy Life
You should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
You want to make a difference in your world? Live a holy life:
Be faithful to your spouse.
Be the one at the office who refuses to cheat.
Be the neighbor who acts neighborly.
Be the employee who does the work and doesn’t complain.
Pay your bills.
Do your part and enjoy life.
Don’t speak one message and live another.
People are watching the way we act more than they are listening to what we say.
“A Gentle Thunder” by Max Lucado
Come and See
by PRRussell on Feb.26, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Come and See
Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.” John 1:46
Nathanael’s question still lingers, even two thousand years later…. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see.
Come and see the changed lives:
the alcoholic now dry,
the embittered now joyful,
the shamed now forgiven….
marriages rebuilt, the orphans embraced,
the imprisoned inspired…..
Come and see the pierced hand of God touch the most common heart, wipe the tear from the wrinkled face, and forgive the ugliest sin.
Come and see, He avoids no seeker. He ignores no probe. He fears no search. Come and see.
“A Gentle Thunder” By Max Lucado
To See God
by PRRussell on Feb.25, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
To See God
“Anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for Me” Matthew 25:40
When Francis of Asissi turned his back on wealth to seek God in simplicity, he stripped naked and walked out of the city. He soon encountered a leper on the side of the road. He passed him, then stopped and went back and embraced the diseased man. Francis then coninued on his journey. After a few steps he turned to look again at the leper, but no one was there.
For the rest of his life, he believed the leper was Jesus Christ. He may have been right.
Jesus lives in the forgotten. He has taken up residence in the ignored. He has made a mansion amid the ill. If we want to see God, we must go among the broken and beaten and there we will see Him.
“And the Angels Were Silent” by Max Lucado
A Cut Above
by PRRussell on Feb.24, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
A Cut Above
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 NIV
The word holy means “to seperate.” The ancestry of the term can be traced back to an anceint word which means “to cut.” To be holy, then, is to be a cut above the norm, superior, extraordinary… The Holy One dwells on a different level from tthe rest of us. What frightens us does not frighten Him. What troubles us down not trouble Him.
I’m more of a landlubber than a sailor, but I’ve puttered around in a bass boat enough to know the secret for finding land in a storm…. You don’t aim at another boat. You certainly don’t stare at the waves. You set your sights on an object unaffected by the wind—a light on the shore—and go straight toward it….
When you set your sights on our God, you focus on One “a cut above” any storm life may bring…. You find peace.
“The Great House of God” by Max Lucado
God’s Help is Near
by PRRussell on Feb.23, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
God’s Help Is Near
Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the belief that God is real and that God is good…. It is a choice to believe that the One who made it all hasn’t left it all and that He still sends light into the shadows and responds to gestures of faith….
Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.
God says that the more hopeless your circumstances, the more likely, your salvation. The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers. The darker the room, the greater the need for light.
God’s help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it.
“He Still Moves Stones” by Max Lucado
Don’t Forget
by PRRussell on Feb.22, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Don’t Forget
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself….encourage you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
2 Thessalonians 2:16
Are you still in love with Jesus? Before you remember anything, remember Him. If you forget anything, don’t forget Him.
Oh, but how quickly we forget. So much happens through the years. So many changes within. So many alterations without. And, somewhere, back there, we leave Him. We don’t turn away from Him…. we just don’t take Him with us. Assignments come. Promotions come. Budgets are made. Kids are born, and the Christ….. the Christ is forgotten.
Has it been a while since you stared at the heavens in speechless amazement? Has it been a while since you realized God’s divinity and your carnality?
If it has, then you need to know something. He is still there. He hasn’t left.
“Six Hours One Friday” by Max Lucado
Freedom to Choose
by PRRussell on Feb.17, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Freedom to Choose
We are people who have faith and are saved. Hebrews 10:39
God honors us with the freedom to choose where we spend eternity. And what an honor it is! In so many areas of life we have no choice. Think about it. You didn’t choose your gender. You didn’t choose your siblings. You didn’t choose your race or place of birth.
Sometimes our lack of choices anger us. “It’s not fair,” we say. It’s not fair that I was born in poverty or that I sing so poorly or that I run so slowly. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next.
“He Chose the Nails” by Max Lucado
Love Isn’t Easy
by PRRussell on Feb.10, 2010, under ♥ My Spiritual Blog
Love Isn’t Easy
Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. Matthew 5:44
Love isn’t easy. Not for you. Not for me. Not even for Jesus. Want proof? Listen to His frustrration: “You people have no faith. How long must I stay with you? How long must I put up with you? ” (Mark 9:19)
How long must I put up with you?
“Long enough to be called crazy by My brothers and a liar by My neighbors. Long enough to be run out of town and My Temple…..”
How long? “Until the rooster sings and the sweat stings and the mallet rings and a hillside of demons smirk at a dying God.”
How long? “Long enough for every sin to so soak My sinless soul that heaven will turn in horror until My swollen lips pronounce the final transaction: “It is finished.”
How long? “Until it kills Me.”
“A Love Worth Giving” by Max Lucado