Tag: self-doubt and hopelessness

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The Trouble With Doing Nothing; We Don’t Know When we Are Done

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I have been sharing excerpts from the book, “Signs of Hope: Wasy to survive in an Unfriendly World.” Today’s excerpt encourages us to not only be strong Christian on Sundays, but we need to show others our Christian faith on Mondays through our actions as well. 

The book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” reaches out to those who may be suffering from anxeity, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

The book is on sale right on this site. In the retail stores it is $19.99, but if you order from this site, it will only be, $15.99. The shipping has been cut in half as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

Just click on the “Bookstore,” tab at the top of this page to check it out.

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Chapter 35

 

The Trouble with Doing Nothing Is that I

Never Know When I’m Done

 

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

 

We go to church every Sunday, but are we doing anything about reaching out to people for the Lord on Monday?

When we worship in church, we have our eyes on the Lord and praise Him. We fellowship with other Christians and we feel refreshed.

What about Monday? You have a good attitude while you’re in church, but what is your attitude on Monday.

Let’s look at Paul for a few lines. Paul spent many of his years being beaten, hated, and even put in prison. What do you think his attitude was? Wouldn’t you think he was angry, sad and depressed or at least complained a lot?

There was a time when Paul was in prison, not knowing what the next day might bring. He had already put a plea in to the Roman government to spare his life, but he didn’t know what their decision would be.

Not so fast, my friend! Paul was overflowing with joy! Yes, a man that was on death row was excited to be there. He had a great attitude because he had a “captive” audience. The guards and prisoners had to be there each day and listen to him tell them about Jesus and the salvation He offers. What a golden opportunity for him. The gospel was spread all through the prison! Paul rejoiced for the chance to witness. Plus while he was in prison, he wrote the book of Philippians, where he uses the word “rejoice” over and over. So much for a pity party!

Attitude check here: What is our attitude on Monday when we have a chance to witness to others around us? Remember one very important thing: When we are telling others about Christ, we are not alone! God is with us.

Surprise! As a retired teacher, I still cherish the times when I can have an unannounced quiz. Let’s see how you do:

  1. Can people sense you are a Christian?    ____ Yes    ____ No   
  2. Can people tell you are Christian by the way you respond to trials, pain and hardships?____ Yes    ____ No  
  3. Do you show the gospel of Christ with your attitude?    ____ Yes    ____ No
  4. Would people reach out to you and say, “I want what you have”?    ____ Yes    ____ No   

 

If you said no, or you are not sure about your answer to any of these questions, you failed the test. You will have to take it over and over again until you get 100%!

Stop sweating blood! I am not really saying that you have to be perfect. I’m not able to get 100% myself most days.

Romans 3:23tells us we all have come short of the glory of God. I am not perfect. I come short of the glory of God more often than I would like to admit.

But, let me show you some ways each one of us can improve a great deal on our attitude and daily walk with God.

In Philippians 2:14–15, Paul says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.”

In other words, let your attitude reflect the love of Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to worship God on Sunday, but if you do nothing on Monday, others will never know that you are a Christian. Your attitude is one of the most revealing factors about your personality. If you get angry a lot, or think the world is against you and complain about everything, your attempt at witnessing is falling on deaf ears.

Listen to Paul and try not to complain or walk around with a bad attitude. I have observed many people who just by their actions show the love of Christ for others. I don’t have to ask them if they are a Christian—it just shows.

If we strive to act like that on Monday, we will be doing something. And we’ll know we are done when God no longer brings people into our daily life in need of His touch through us. We’ll feel grateful for what God has done for us and be happy with what we have done for God that day.

To summarize the four quiz questions above: Can people see Christ in you?    Yes or No

If people wanted to know what God was like during Christ’s time, all they had to do was look at Him. If people want to know what Christ is like today, they should be able to look at His followers.

 

 … Do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

1 Peter 3:15–16

 

Further Adventures

Take inventory of your life. What direction are you going? Do you feel you are doing what God has in mind for you? Are you comfortable with where you are now as far as showing God’s love to others? If not, get into the Word. Pray for God’s guidance and take action on whatever He tells you. Doing nothing leaves you stagnant and ineffective for God.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny how we feel strong about our belief in God, but weak when it comes to sharing it?

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I’m Not Lost-Just getting Directions from the Bible

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I have a new excerpt from the book “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.” The excerpt is about six blind men and what they “saw.”

The book “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” reaches out to those who may be suffering from anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

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You can order the book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, by clicking on the “Bookstore,” tab at the top of this page.

The price for the book is $19.99 in the bookstores, but on this site it is only $15.99. The shipping has been cut in half as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

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Chapter 33

 

I’m Not Lost—Just Getting Directions from the Bible

 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

John 11:25–26 (emphasis mine)

 

Six blind men were told to feel an elephant and tell what they thought it was.

The first blind man felt the elephant’s ears and thought it was a fan.

The second blind man felt the elephant’s side and thought it was a wall.

The third blind man felt the elephant’s trunk and thought it was a rope.

The fourth blind man felt the elephant’s leg and thought it was a tree.

The fifth blind man felt the elephant’s tusk and thought it was a spear.

The sixth blind man felt the elephant’s tail and thought it was a snake.

 

This is how many people approach religious doctrine. All can look in the same book—the Bible—and see something different, often based on preconceived notions. Or, very much like the blind men, each sees only a portion of what’s in God’s Word and draws his own conclusions, usually erroneous, about the whole. The danger, of course, is that they come away basing their entire theology on one isolated Scripture instead of seeing the entirety of the written Word of God.

There are people in the church who feel the elephant and come away with a different idea of how their faith is to be expressed. They read the Bible and pick out sections they think pertain to them and follow that thought to the point of forming a new church. That is OK within a certain framework. Different church groups have different worship styles, different ways of governing themselves, and other differences.

But they all need to have one goal: To let people know that the only true way to heaven is to accept Jesus into your heart. He is the only way to God there is. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

You will never find a perfect church. Each church will have its negative aspects. If you aren’t going to church because you are looking for the perfect church, you will be looking forever.

 

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

Matthew 15:7–9

 

Further Adventures

Try to stick to what the Bible says, and not what others say the Bible says. People can twist the wording of the Bible to mean what they think they want it to mean. The words will never change. People change.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny how so many of the church members of today argue over what the right doctrine is, and yet they are all walking in the same direction?

 

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Going to Church Doesn’t Make you a Christian

 I invite you to sign-up for my RSS feed to this site. You then will receive a notice each time I post. It also helps this site move up the Google Search Rankings. If you haven’t already signed up please do it now. You just lick on the icon right after the title.

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I have another excerpt for you today, from my book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.”  It tells us that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. It’s what you do while you are there that does.

The book reaches out to those who may be suffering from anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, self-doubt, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

The book is on sale right now at this site. It sells for $19.99 in the retail stores, but on this site it is only $15.99, and the shipping has been cut in half as well. A total savings of over $6.00.

Just click on the “Bookstore,” tab at the top of this page and check it out.

___________________________________________________________

Chapter 32

 

Going to Church Doesn’t Make You a Christian Any More than

Going to McDonalds Makes You a Hamburger

 

In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.

1 Corinthians 11:18–19

 

So many people go to church and criticize what is going on there. They think they have the perfect plan to reach out to others. They may be right in some ways, but we must never think that our ways are the only ways. God knows those who are truly members of the body of Christ and He wants those He has gifted for the task do the true leading of the church.

I have been going to church for many years. Does that make me a Christian? Some people think attending church is all you need to do to make it to heaven. The answer is, of course not.

I have seen churchgoers come to church Sunday after Sunday and then go home, tell filthy jokes to their friends, use profanity on a regular basis, and be bigoted about minority groups. Jesus would not do these things if He were on earth today. He accepted everyone—even those on the fringes of mainstream society. He would be gentle and frown on those who used language not acceptable by God’s standard.

The formula is very clear: We need to develop four habits to be a strong Christian after we have accepted Jesus into our hearts.

1. Read the Bible

2. Pray

3. Tithe (give back to God)

4. Fellowship with other believers

 

1.         Read the Bible. I don’t mean scanning it for a certain verse. I don’t mean reading only the chapter the message or lesson is about. And I don’t mean reading it only when there is a crisis. I mean we need to continue to read God’s Word—every day.

I realize this may be a tough task, with all of the hustle and bustle in today’s busy world. But most of us find time to read the newspaper. (There are much more exciting stories in the Bible—and they are all true.) We should be able to read a few verses in the Bible daily to get draw closer to God. It’s all a matter of priorities.

It’s so much easier for me to remain close to God when I’m consistently reading the Bible. I’ve read it through a couple of times already and every time I read it again, I find things I hadn’t seen before. 

Joining a Bible study group (Bible Study Fellowship1) has been great for me. The rewards are more than I can explain. I love sharing the verses we’re assigned to read each week. Imagine ten to twelve men/women all commenting on the same verses. The different insights help me understand what the words really mean. I enjoy the time, and I know that I have to study each week if I want to take part in the discussion. I need the commitment to study each night. It helps me to stay on task.

 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

 

2.         Pray. This is the close encounter with God that we need every day. I can’t emphasize this more strongly than to say that prayer works! Some people say, “I prayed for weeks, and nothing happened.” God hears those prayers. He is listening, but we must remember that God answers prayers on His timetable and not on ours. God may decide that what we’re praying for is not what He wants for us. He will answer our prayers in a way that will help us understand why He moved in the direction He did. We may see that it was good that things worked out the way they did. God loves us, and He wants the best for us. When we pray, He listens, and then He helps us out in a way that He feels is best for us.

When I prayed for God to help me write this book several years ago is just one example of how He answers our prayers.

 

Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him.

Psalm 4:3

 

3.         Tithe. I’m the first to admit that I was very slow in getting around to tithing to God. I know that I need to give more to my church. I give every time there is an offering, but I am talking about a full commitment of giving 10% of your earnings to God each month. This is a difficult commitment for many people—me included.

God has blessed me a great deal, and I want to show Him how much I care for Him by giving back some of the money He has provided for me. (It’s all His anyway!)

I have had some very good times through tithing. When I was first married and we had some little rug rats running around the house, I tithed. It was tough because we weren’t making a lot of money back then. The amazing part of those times was that the bills still got paid and we still had money for clothes. We often got a check in the mail that we weren’t expecting. It might be a rebate or refund that we forgot was coming.

There were also times when a note with the bill said, “You may skip paying this month.” It was the timing that was wonderful. It seemed that every time we received a check, it was in the month that was very tight for us. God provided for us. He feeds even the little sparrows, doesn’t He?

 

Be sure to set aside a tenth of all your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.

Deuteronomy 14:22–23

 

4.         Fellowship. I feel this is the most important part of being a Christian. There was a time (before March 21st, 2001) that I didn’t think I needed to go to church to grow as a Christian. I felt that some of the so-called Christians in church weren’t Christians anyway. (You know what? That is true, but it’s not the point to me anymore.)  

The point is that me, myself, and I—all three of us—need to be in church to continue to grow! It doesn’t matter if some of the members are not acting like Christians. What does matter is how I act and the state of my relationship with God. I can’t think of a better place to grow as a Christian. The lessons I learn from what I hear in the sermons are very valuable and can teach me how to cope during the next week.

 

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25

 

Further Adventures

Becoming a fully developed (mature) Christian takes a lot of work and effort. Try to build each one of the four aspects into your walk with God. It may take a while, but you will feel the love of God in you grow as you add each one.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe anything the Bible says?