Zondervan Inspire

Counter-Intuitive Power

2008-11-17T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: This is an awesome quote from Ann Spangler’s latest book. I selected today’s picture to illustrate how we are empowered and uplifted by our heavenly Father. When we are grounded in Him, we can soar above all that seeks to bring us down. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

In so many ways, the strength that Christ has portrayed and that God promises is counter-intuitive, a contradiction to the world's idea of strength. It is the power to control our appetites rather than to let them control us. It is the ability to endure rather than to run away. It is the quick instinct to take refuge in God rather than to trust in our own abilities or resources. It is the humility to ask God daily for what we need rather than to work ourselves into a frenzy trying to construct the perfect safety net. It is the ability to keep gazing at God even when trouble and fear assails us. It is the patience to wait rather than to run on ahead. It is the faith to keep praying no matter what. It is the decision to put others first and ourselves last. It is the grace to believe that nothing is impossible because we belong to God. It is the strength to be more than we are because God is more than we imagine. It is the power to run and not grow weary, to walk and not be faint, to ground ourselves in God’s might and his power to help and to save.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

Avoid Drawing Blood

2008-11-16T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: Good advice for us all.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

Author Catherine Johnson wrote a book fifteen years ago titled Lucky in Love. She's a PhD who was determined to figure out what deliriously happy married couples were so deliriously happy about. So she interviewed them — about a hundred couples in all. She found that at some point along the way, every happy couple had come to a critical point in their relationship where they would vociferously disagree but refuse to destroy each other in the process. "When we quarrel (and we will!), we're not going to do the kinds of things that will damage this relationship long-term," Johnson quoted these couples as saying. "When we disagree, we will not draw blood."

The moment I read that phrase, I decided to put it into practice in my work as well as in my marriage. Because I have deep feelings about so many kingdom issues, I have been known to express myself very passionately in meetings. And as you probably know, passion can beget passion. Effective leaders do not fear passion. They welcome it. But from time to time passionate discussions digress into personal attacks, and real people get really hurt. In my view, leaders must head that off before it happens.

From Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs

by Bill Hybels

Any comments or testimonies today?

As the Opportunity Arises

2008-11-15T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: Two excellent examples to follow. I pray we all learn to walk as Jesus did.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

Jesus could only physically be with one person or group of persons as he walked this earth in his human body. How did he love? He simply loved people as the opportunity arose during the normal traffic patterns of his life. If he was in Jerusalem, he loved the people on the streets of Jerusalem. If he was traveling from Judea to Galilee, he loved the people he met along the way. When he was with his disciples, he showed love to them.

My wife, Chaundel, practices this command to love our neighbors better than anyone I know. She finds out that one of our neighbors is in the hospital, and she's immediately there to visit them. She drops what she's doing to go next door and help a neighbor with a practical need. She commits to facing difficult and frightening circumstances with someone on our block. She goes for a walk in the neighborhood and meets a new neighbor also out walking — and the new neighbor is at a Bible study in our home the next week.

From The Relationship Principles of Jesus

by Tom Holladay

Evidence of Changed Lives

2008-11-14T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: I lead a Bible study on Tuesday evenings, and this Tuesday we studied Acts 14 where Paul is stoned and left for dead. After the brothers gathered around him (I’m sure there was some praying and healing going on), Paul gets up and waltzes back into the city where he was just stoned! The very guy who stood supporting those who stoned Stephen for proclaiming Jesus as Lord is now stoned for the same reason. Pretty dramatic change.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

A proud, vindictive, violent, arrogant, self-occupied religious leader named Saul of Tarsus was traveling down the road when suddenly he had a vision of Jesus. As a matter of historical record, he became Paul — a different man with a different name, whose mind, writings, love for people, and self-sacrificial gift of his life to the world were so compelling that human minds are still fascinated by him two thousand years later. People devote their lives to studying what he wrote. How did that life get changed? The evidence of lives changed by Jesus is so abundant that the full story can never be told. It can never be matched. Not by any culture, by any book, by any program, by any hero. I have never heard the story of an accidental, meaningless universe changing a life like that.

From Faith & Doubt

by John Ortberg

Any comments or testimonies today?

God Chooses All of Us

2008-11-13T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: The authors are talking about God choosing everyone in the sense of God wanting everyone to be on His team. Have you ever been the person last to be chosen in gym class to be on a team? I have. No fun. Thankfully God specializes in choosing people that others would leave behind.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

The Old Testament tells of God's "chosen" people, the Jews. It is full of stories of who God chose to do this or that. He chose Abraham to lead his chosen people. He chose David to be his greatest king. He chose prophets like Isaiah to deliver his message.

Jesus, however, tells us that now God chooses all of us. "Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). We've always liked the stories in the New Testament of who Jesus chooses to talk to. It often is not the "choosable" people. In John 4, for example, Jesus talks to a woman who has three strikes against her: she is a woman, she is a Samaritan, and she is an adulterer. She could have been stoned for her sin, and yet this is who Jesus talks to about salvation.

From The Seven Desires of Every Heart

by Mark & Debra Laaser

The Source of All Strength

2008-11-12T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: When things are going well, it’s so easy to forget that God is our refuge and strength. Perhaps that’s why the Scriptures encourage fasting in conjunction with prayer. Both expose our weakness and need, and point us to the source of all strength. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

The Hebrew Scriptures make it clear that God is the source of all strength. His power is so great that no power in heaven or on earth can compete with it. Moreover, his love impels him to use his power on behalf of his people, to save those who hope in him.

Ultimately, Jesus is presented as the strongest of all men, the One who through his death and resurrection has overpowered Satan, ultimately freeing us from the devastating consequences of sin.

Remember that God's Word is powerful, living and active, able to accomplish far more than we can even ask or imagine. Let it transform your understanding of how God wants to reveal his strength in you and for you.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

Love Is at the Core

2008-11-11T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: It sounds so simple, but it’s impossible to do without divine help. The good news: I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

To please God, we do not have to spend years in theological training. Neither do we have to master some thick rule book that covers each and every situation. What we have to do is remember, every moment of every day, to treat others as we would like to be treated. As the apostle Paul put it, "Love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10). Love is at the core of what a godly life requires.

If we Christians would, through the grace of God, conscientiously obey this one sentence, we would have covered the essence of God's desire for us. What a difference this would make! It would help us grasp that God's greater blessing for each of us is built on a foundation of selfless love. As Jesus said in his sermon, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:43–45).

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have

by Jim Cymbala

Any comments or testimonies today?

Everyone Knows Two Things

2008-11-10T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: I’m finding Faith & Doubt by John Ortberg to be an intriguing work, not like his usual fare, but geared more toward those who are searching for answers. He gently addresses questions many have about Christianity all the while presenting it as both reasonable and appealing.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

Every human being knows two things: There is a way we ought to behave. We do not invent this code; we only discover it. We might be fuzzy on the details of it sometimes, but we have a general idea of what it is. We also know that we don't live up to this standard. We all fall short. We need forgiveness. We need grace. We need to get fixed.

Every time people argue, they are implying that the universe is not an accident, that there is a moral order built into the way things are, because it was put there by Somebody, and that Somebody is God. The good news is that he is a gracious God. That's part of why I believe in God.

From Faith & Doubt

by John Ortberg

Any comments or testimonies today?

The Source of All We Hate

2008-11-09T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: Normally I like to stick with positive inspirations, but sometimes you just have to speak the truth in love. We all suffer from the toxic effects of sin. We’ll all do well when we depend on the Holy Spirit to help us overcome it.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

The word sin has lost its meaning in our culture. Wonderful tasting foods are marketed as "sinfully delicious." Sin is sexy, exciting, fun, and thrilling, and greatly misperceived as "something fun and enjoyable that God doesn't want me to do." We rarely think of sin as the source of all we hate in life ... of all that steals, kills, and destroys.

Sin at the core is choosing my will and ways, despite what God declares about his will and ways that lead to love and life. Basically, when I don't trust that his ways will get me the life that satisfies, I choose my will and ways — that's sin. To most, it feels like no big deal because it's the way of the world. To God ... it feels like adultery.

From Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

by John Burke

The Greatest Example

2008-11-08T06:00:00-05:00

From the Editor: No, this is not a picture of the garden of Gethsemane. I’m sure most of you have figured that out already. But it’s a beautiful garden with a path that shows the way. Kind of like how Jesus shows us the way.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

One moment stands above all others in history as the greatest example of loving God with all one's soul. It took place on the night before Jesus died, as he talked to his Father in the garden of Gethsemane. Knowing that the next day he would face the physical, emotional, and spiritual torture of the cross, Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Jesus set aside anything he may have desired and determined to do only what the Father directed.

How do you set your soul to make such a radical decision? Jesus shows the way. You set the direction of your soul by talking to God. The power to follow Jesus' example is found in being able to pray the prayer that Jesus prayed: "Not my will, Lord, but yours be done."

From The Relationship Principles of Jesus

by Tom Holladay