Fantastic Friday #443 - Overwhelm

Overwhelm

¹ Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
    to you our vows will be fulfilled.

² You who answer prayer,
    to you all people will come.
³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
    you forgave our transgressions.
⁴ Blessed are those you choose
    and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
    of your holy temple.   Psalm 65:1-4

How many of you have felt overwhelmed this week?  If you break down the word into two parts and look at the word "whelm" it means to submerge and engulf.  So when you put the word "over" back with it, most of us think of being overly burdened with something.  In this scripture the word overwhelmed by sin can give us a good picture of being submerged and engulfed by sin.  So let's think about your week where you were overwhelmed with something and last week's word of being watchful.  When we are watchful, the burden might not seem so strong because we are spending time with God in prayer.  Now read this verse again, it refers to God as One who answers prayer and forgives our transgressions.  How wonderful it is that God has the Love for us to lift our burdens and think about what happens when we whelm ourselves with God in prayer and thought. I assume that when we whelm ourselves in God, He will Overwhelm the burden dragging us down and we won't feel the negative overwhelming feelings but positive ones.  Overwhelm yourself in God's love.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friiday #442 - Watchful

Watchful

² Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  Colossians 4:2

What do you watch during your time alone?  When we are alone is when we are most vulnerable to what the enemy wants from us.  The enemy wants our attention drawn to him and what he wants.  The enemy wants our thoughts off the Lord and focused solely on ourselves and our own needs.  This is why prayer is so important to be part of our daily lives.  With prayer, we are closer to God as we communicate to Him.  As we are praying we need to be watchful not to let the enemy sneak in and steal our joy, and we also need to remember to be thankful for all God has provided.  Even when we are being attacked daily, it is important to thank God for being there and showing us the way.  Be watchful, thankful and prayerful.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #441 - Well

Well

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13

 Are you well-fed?  Does this make you think of food or can you think of what things other than food you are taking in.  I overheard a woman talking about some commercials and shows in the early evening that were pretty bad and she wondered how this could be on TV.  It made me stop and think about how much bad there is around us on TV, the Internet, and the world and how much we are taking it in.  Are we getting bites of things that make us sometimes want more or are we taking huge gulps and letting ourselves get filled with the wrong things.  Think about how quickly we can be filled with the small bites and gulps of the world, and then think of how quickly we can be filled with the small bites and gulps of God's Word and messages. The problem with the things of this world is they don't digest and just sit there and don't make us well-fed.  With God, if we are regularly digesting the bites and gulps of His Word, we are filled with nutrition that can make us well-fed.  We can be strengthened through Him.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #440 - Compassion

Compassion

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Having a deep sympathy for others and a strong desire to alleviate suffering is not one of my strong suits.  Do you ever find yourself wondering what makes some people have so much compassion, when others seem to have little or none.  Many might not find this applies to you because you are compassionate in some way or have a deep feeling to alleviate suffering in this world.  Whether we have a lot of compassion or a little, we can all learn something from all people.  An easy way to look at this is how much are we really focusing on the people and world around us.  When the news comes on about the wars in the world or starving people in Africa, Asia or even the U.S., do we distract ourselves with something else or just not acknowledge what is going on around the other side of the world. We also might think those people here in the U.S. have more opportunity than the rest of the world, so you might ask yourself what is their problem? The interesting thing about all of this is that we all want to be closer to Jesus or become more like Him.  If you look at Jesus during His ministry on earth, he was full of compassion for all.  Today we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us, and we know that God will comfort us in all our troubles just as the scripture says.  All we need is belief and faith in our Lord and Savior, and we will be comforted.  In turn, by His compassion and recognizing it as true compassion, it should show us how we can give compassion to others because He had compassion on us.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #439 - Storm

Storm

²⁸ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;
    the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,
    and he guided them to their desired haven. Psalm 107:28-30

 
We had a significant storm run through our area and boy it caused some damage.  There have also been storms taking place all around us all week, whether they be storms in our work, school, family or with friends.  The thing we need to remember is what we do with and in these storms. A lot of people's first reaction about storms is fear and concern with what is going to happen to them or their stuff.  Some people face storms head on and attack the storm with a positive attitude and think that they can manage the storm themselves.  Truly how many of us cry out to the Lord as a first response?  Take a moment the next time you anticipate or experience a storm and cry out first to allow Him to still the storm. Have faith that He will make it calm and guide you to your haven. 

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #438- Attitude

Attitude

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:3-5

I umpired a game this week of young 10-12 year old kids and what I saw was something very interesting.  In the beginning, both teams were playing very hard, doing their best and seemed to be having a good time.  As the game progressed, I began to see attitudes, hard feelings, negative speech, and some boys physically acting out.  As the game went on, I addressed these things with kids when I saw or heard them, but something else interesting happened.  None of the kids seemed to be having fun anymore and their negativity that started out as team against team began to seep into their own dugouts.  At the end of the game I called both teams together and spoke to them about their negative attitudes and reminded them that baseball is fun.  Life is kind of the same way.  We can tend to focus on our own selfish ambitions at times and only on what we are doing and lose focus of the good around us.  The enemy has us focus on the bad and not the good, and you could see how the enemy was working even among these 10-12 year old kids.  We should focus daily on how Christ wants us to act, and have the same mindset as the scripture says, so we don't fall into vanity.  Something as simple as a baseball game helped remind me of humility tonight and something I will take into this next week.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #437 - Express

Express

⁸ I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.  Colossians 4:8

What do you think about when you hear the word express?  Maybe it is something fast or something dealing with sharing a feeling or emotion.  Do you think about the word "singular"? When we have a purpose, does it typically have express in front of it, or is it filled with multiple other things.  Do you have a singular purpose in your life that is focused on others or yourself?  Tychicus had a singular purpose to encourage others hearts. What is your express purpose in life?  I would say if we really thought about it, our true express purpose would be to honor God in the way we live our life.  I encourage you to look for and find that express purpose and utilize it to God's glory and not your own.  If you don't have one, find one and if you can't find one pray that God reveals an Express Purpose in your life.  We all have one besides honoring God.

Have a great weekend.