Monday Morning Perspective

I know it's not true for everyone, but I love Mondays!!  Monday mornings are a great reflection time for me on the past week and especially on Sunday.  God always shows up and usually it takes the quietness and stillness of Monday morning to grasp it all.
We closed out 1John 3yesterday and also got a little glimpse of what may come in the fall if we dive into Genesis.  I love how the whole Word goes together from Genesis to Revelation and even as Eddie pointed out John 3:16 and 1John 3:16.  His Word really will blow our minds and keep us wanting more and more if we will just dig deep enough.
Have to say my favorite part from yesterday was "where love abounds".  It was a challenge to remember not to always trust our hearts and follow our hearts as so many will say because our hearts are inconsistent at times and our hearts will condemn us.  I love the fact that God knows our hearts so well.  He knows our motives and desires.  He knows if we serve out of selfish ambition or for public praise and approval.  And knowing us so well  there is still no condemnation in Christ.  He loves us and forgives us and redeems us.  This is so good to remember especially when others are questioning our motives and they think they know us but they don't truly know our hearts.  They are judging from what they are seeing with fleshly eyes on our outside. That's why it's so important to focus on being God pleasers and not people pleasers. Trust Him with our hearts!!
Love 2 final statements Eddie made...
We cannot be right with Him and not be right with others and
Quit beating yourself up because you mess up.
Happy Monday Everyone!!!

Monday Morning Perspective

As we continued through 1John yesterday, we keyed in on verses 4-10 of chapter 3.   Although it was a message on sin, it was encouraging as we saw that we can have victory thanks to the cross.  I loved the visual Eddie gave of thinking of our sin as the garbage in our life and just as a garbage truck comes and hauls away our trash never to be dealt with again, Jesus hauls off our sin as far as the east is from the west.  How encouraging is that?!  I'm so glad that he pointed out the fact that even though we still sin, it should be less often and we should be much less comfortable in it as we grow more and more in our relationship with Christ.  No true follower of Christ is comfortable in their sin.  We may lapse into it where an unbeliever may leap into it but we are never ok with it.  Because of our conversion we have the power of the Spirit within us and with that superior power we can walk in  victory over sin.  Realizing that as believers when we sin that we break God's heart, we should be motivated by our love for Him to repent quickly when we do.

Monday Morning Perspective

As we continued through 1John yesterday we were encouraged as we looked at the love of God.  We looked at our position.  We are God's children.  That means so much to me because I know how I feel about my own children and for God to see me that way is more than remarkable.  We talked about our potential and how our best days are ahead of us.  We will be with Him, we will see Him, and we will be like Him.  We closed with our practice and a question...what motivates you in the Christian life?  Hopefully the answer to that for all of us is love.
Looking forward already to next sunday.  So exciting to be a part of a church that I just can't wait to get back to starting on monday morning.  Have a super week!  Allow God to do something through you this week that only He can do. Nothing is better than that!!