On Sunday, Sept. 11, prayer gatherings coordinated by Cry Out America will take place in all 50 states to not only mark the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but also to intercede for a spiritual awakening in the U.S. To find a prayer gathering near you, go to awakeningamerica.us.
Casting Crowns kick off their 40-city Come to the Well tour on Sept. 22 in El Paso, Texas, to coincide with the release this month of The Well, an inspirational book by frontman and pastor Mark Hall, and Come to The Well, the group’s first new studio project in two years (releasing Oct. 18). The CD single “Courageous” is to be featured in the upcoming Sherwood Pictures film by the same title.
Monet, Picasso and other artists make a fitting backdrop for speaker and author Margaret Feinberg, whose discussions of their creative beauty segue into her six-part DVD Bible study, Pursuing God’s Beauty, based on the Gospel of John.
What would life be like as a missionary in a Muslim country where it’s illegal to tell people about Jesus? Take a look what author Audra Grace Shelby says about her experience, in Behind the Veils of Yemen.
Tired of Sundays being the only day you experience powerful encounters with God? In Power for Life (Sept. 6), prophetic minister and healing evangelist Matt Sorger shares how Christians can have God’s supernatural power in every area of life, Monday through Saturday.
Promising golfer Luke Chisolm (Lucas Black) needs Seven Days in Utopia (opens nationwide Sept. 2) with an eccentric Texas rancher (Robert Duvall) to refine his game—and find a profound
new way of looking at life.
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For as he thinks within himself, so he is. —Proverbs 23:7, NAS
Before it is ever obvious, humility has to begin in your heart. But how is that possible? It is because of a certain attitude. John put it in the practical terms of loving your brother. He said, “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble” (1 John 2:10).
Looking further at the example of Jesus’ humility, we can see that often Jesus approached people in different ways. He had to adjust to the person to whom He was talking, to the people He had to deal with, to the place where He was, and often the situation. His adaptability was obvious because He accepted people as they were. This was part of Jesus’ humility.
Humbling ourselves, therefore, does not mean making people adjust to you; it is making yourself adjust to them. Satan will throw people in your path and put people among you that annoy you and get your goat—people that are foolish, or not very clever, or not very attractive. Remember that you are praying to be more like Jesus. Then you have somebody in front of you that Jesus would adjust to because He humbled Himself. He had to do it all the time.
Just like sheep in a field, we always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. “I would be happy if I were living or working elsewhere,” we say, or, “If only I were married to someone else.” Let me tell you something: happiness in the external is fleeting. As long as you get your comfort and satisfaction because of the way the situation is, then it is only going to last until the situation changes. And it will change. Learn to find your peace internally. Then external changes will not alter it. You can be happy anywhere.
Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … .It is the Lord Christ you are serving. —Colossians 3:23-24
You may assume, because you have obeyed God, that He will fold His hands and say, “That’s wonderful, and just for that, here is what I am going to do for you!” And you expect an immediate reward.
The challenge of unhappy employment is a test from God. So what’s the challenge? Make the best of a bad situation. Don’t always run away to look for another job. Don’t promote yourself to the level of your incompetence. Don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire. Remember that God put you there for a purpose. God could change everything overnight. Remember that this life is not all there is. Many around you don’t have heaven to look forward to, and God doesn’t want any of us to be too happy here below.
Unhappy employment may also help you to appreciate even more the good things in your life. It may be helpful and self-edifying to thank God for things that are positive. Do you have good health? Do you have a home? Do you have loved ones? Do you have friends with whom you can share? Do you have a good relationship with God?
Your relationship with God is more important than your job. Get your joy from the inward anointing. There are some Christians who are happy with their jobs—so happy that they are not very spiritual. They don’t pray; they don’t have intimacy with God. With unhappy employment you may be enjoying a relationship with God that you might not otherwise have simply because you pray more than the person who is content. God loves you and wants your company. He knows what you would be like if you were too comfortable.
The greater the suffering, the greater the anointing and the greater your future. God will do this for you. It may not mean you will become prime minister, but you will reign one day, and, when it comes, it will be worth waiting for. You will treasure that worst situation.
Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).
I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. —Psalm 16:8
I would like to discuss the circumstances of unhappy employment, for various circumstances can lie behind this. For some, a lack of education has meant that they will always be stuck in a certain kind of job.
Some travel considerable distances to get just what work they can find. Then, after they get there, it is really dull. They dread arriving, they look forward to leaving, and they look forward to Fridays and hate Mondays. On top of that they have to work hard and inconvenient hours. In other words, they experience a lack of fulfillment. Sometimes the way they are treated is degrading. And as for a bit of prestige? It is out of the question. No prestige. But that was how it was for Joseph, too.
But there is some compensation in unhappy employment. I don’t refer to being paid a little extra or getting double pay for overtime. I am talking here about a different kind of compensation. The Bible says Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who had taken him to Egypt, but the Lord was with Joseph (Gen. 39:2). I call that a wonderful compensation! Now if I can get this point across, it could change everything and possibly give a person a different perspective. Unhappy employment is not unusual. What is unusual is the fact that the Lord is with you.
One of the greatest things you can ever learn as a Christian is to remember that you have the presence of God. Why does it say the psalmist “set the Lord” before himself? It means that he had to remind himself that the Lord was there. You see, setting the Lord before him didn’t mean that by doing this the Lord managed to get there on time. No, the Lord was already there, because David went on to say, “Because he is on my right hand.” The phrase “I have set the Lord” means that David put himself in a frame of mind to remind himself that the Lord was already there. “I have set the Lord always before me.”
And if you can do this in the toughest moment and in the loneliest moment, then you know He is there. Remind yourself, He is there.
Excerpted from The Thorn in the Flesh (Charisma House, 2004).