You must trust God in everything. He will always show you the way in every situation. He will give you the tools to be who He created you to be. Learn to trust Him.
This often is an overlooked aspect of generosity. If you live life with a spirit of generosity, then you have the right and obligation to accept generosity from others.
Don’t forget to accept generosity from others. Many times, people who have learned to give have a difficult time with allowing others to do nice things for them. It is perfectly ok to accept someone else’s generosity, as long as you continue to do good for other people. In fact, it is an obligation, because by accepting someone else’s generosity you are helping them to develop this critical trait. …
I remember when I was really young, probably my early teens, I read an ad in a magazine about being able to do or be anything I wanted. So, like many other people, I decided to give it a shot. Guess what? It didn’t work. I was out about twenty dollars, but even worse, my wallet was open. I pursued these programs, buying new ones as they came out. After all, once a publisher or distributor of “self-help” programs sells you one, you are then on their mailing list and you begin to receive catalogs describing how good things can be, if you only spend a little more money. Like most people, I spent a ton of money, but got nowhere. …
A discussion of generosity always comes back to spending money and material things. So, I am going to discuss those things now. It is important to note, however, that there are infinitely many ways to be generous and spread good. We will discuss these in a minute. “For the love of money is the root of all evil which: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”lxxiiIt is what you do with money that determines how God views it. A hundred dollars that is used to feed a poor family has a different value than a hundred dollars used to feed a drug habit. Money simply makes you more of what you already were before you had the money. If, before you had an abundance of money, you were generous, then an abundance of money will make you generous in abundance. If you were greedy, before having an abundance of money, then an abundance of money will make you greedier. Money shows where your heart really is. If you want to find out what type of person you are, then take a look at where you spend your money. …
For non believers, the name of Jesus many times causes negative emotions. These emotions take many different forms. It confuses them. It embarrasses them. It makes them angry. It makes them want to change the subject. It makes them want to argue. But why?
If you go to a friend and bring up the subject of god (lower case) then people are ok but when you bring up the name of Jesus people have a problem.
When Jesus started His mission here on Earth people began to realize that He was making many amazing and hard to believe statements about who He was, why He was here and what was happening. How could a simple carpenter from Nazareth be saying such things?
So what were some of these statements that He made:
He was making claims that would make Him equal to God.
Today we will begin looking at the claims Jesus made and decide if they were true. The truth isn’t about what you want to believe but what is real.I We live in a world were people believe in many different things and in many cases those things are not real.
So what about Jesus? Who did He claim to be? Are those claims true?
Let’s start at the beginning. He claimed to be God. Many different belief systems believe in a “god” or a spirit of the universe who created and is in charge of the world.Muslims, Jews, and Hindus all believe in a God that knows them personally and takes an active role in this planet’s affairs.
Believing in Jesus takes it one step further. God became man through Jesus. This is what makes being a Christian far different then the other belief systems. Jesus Christ is not a first and last name. In Greek the name Jesus means “the lord saves” and Christ mean “anointed one” which points towards a King and/or a priest.
The Old Testament promised His coming and the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus Christ is God. The references throughout the scripture could only apply to God.
These are so many scriptures in both the Old and New Testament referring to Jesus and how it had to be Him. The characteristics Jesus had can only be true of God.
Jesus is self-existent. (Existing independently of any cause, as God. –Dictionary.com) John 1:2 (NIV): 2 He was with God in the beginning.
Jesus is omnipresent. (Present everywhere at the same time.) Matthew 18:20 (NIV): For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Jesus is omniscient. (Having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding.) John 6:64 (NIV): 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
Jesus is omnipotent. (Almighty or infinite in power.) Matthew 8:26-27 (NIV): 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Jesus’ first followers were Jews who had very strong religious beliefs and only believed in one true God. Some of theses early believers included:
Paul who was named Saul a Jewish Rabbi. Before Jesus changed his name to Paul, he was a violent persecutor of the early church. (See Acts 8:3)
Peter a Jewish fisherman, who Jesus called at the beginning of His Earthly ministry. (See Matthew 16:16)
Martha who was a personal friend of Jesus. (See John 11:27)
Stephen who was the first Christian to be stoned to death for his belief. (See Acts 7:59)
Thomas who first doubted that Jesus had rome from the grave. (See John 20:25-28)
Jesus made some bold claims about who He was. He also did some amazing things in the presence of many witnesses:
Jesus himself claimed to be eternal.
He claimed to be equal with God.
Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.
Jesus was in direct conflict with the Jewish leaders.
As Jesus said and did these things, the religious leaders of the day became increasingly angry.and hostile towards Him. They sought to kill him several times before His actual trial. There were several attempts at stoning Him and in one instance they tried to throw Him off a cliff. Why were they so angry?
They understood the claims that He was making and the things He was doing. It drove them crazy. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed that He had the ability to forgive sins. He healed sickness. He performed numerous miracles. During His trial He made claims that further infuriated the authorities. They never stopped to consider if His claims were true.
Jesus was put on trial for who He claimed to be, not for anything he may have done. During the trial Jesus confessed to being God (Matthew 27:41-43). You must decide if that claim is true.
Jesus is the only one who has and can offer eternal life. 1 John 5:11-12 (NIV) says “11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Will you accept His Offer?
Next time was Jesus crazy? Was He lying? Or is He God? There are no other choices.
Michael @R2W
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As I previously discussed about what success is and is not, I think it is appropriate to have the same discussion about failure, before I move on. If you are to experience any success in life, then it is almost certain that you will experience setbacks along the way. In fact, the more success you have, the more “failure” you will encounter before, during and after that success. Remember this and keep it in front of you continually. Print it in big letters and keep it in front of you. Refer to it often. …
You may even reach a point, where you begin to reason that you don’t have to give so much or that you have been giving long enough and deserve something. If you allow yourself to adopt that pattern of thinking and begin to ease up on your giving, then all of your previous generosity would have been in vain. Don’t ever stop planting seeds of generosity and giving. I know from experience that: “The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the later.”lxix …
Now that we know what success is not, how do we define what it is? Maybe what you always thought was true has now been turned upside down. That’s okay. That’s more than okay; you are now at the starting point of an incredible journey. One that may even take you places that you never dreamed you would go. You may even see some old childhood dreams re-emerge. One thing is for sure, if you stay on the path you have now begun, and work at it continually, you will have real success. Most of all have fun! Dale Carnegie once said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” …
You might be wondering where to begin. I know when I first started working towards this goal myself, I felt overwhelmed. There is a lot to learn, organize and train for. The key though is to begin. It will get easier as you move forward. For now, don’t let yourself become overwhelmed. That is the surest way to fail. This is one area where you don’t want to fail. There are people counting on you. …
It wasn’t too long ago that preppers; those people who we thought were hiding out in some mountain hut were the topic of many jokes. Little did we know, they were right all along.
They weren’t living in the wilderness, surviving on wild berries and earthworms (which are edible if you were wondering). They were our neighbors. They were the people who fixed the leaking pipes in our bathrooms, represented us in court cases, fixed our cars, made our pizzas and prescribed medications when needed. Yes, preppers were everywhere. They still are! …
They weren’t living in the wilderness, surviving on wild berries and