What thoughts run your life? What do you think about in those idle moments? Are you nursing old hurts and disappointments? Do you spend your time focused on what your spouse, your children, or others do wrong? Do you feel like you’re a victim of thoughts that run rampant in your head? Is it possible that your thoughts have a bigger impact on your life than you know? Could wrong thoughts, actually be running your life and stealing your peace and joy in the process?
What does your spending reveal about your heart? It’s easy to look at the lives of idolaters like the grandmother we’ll talk about today and see how their idolatry corrupted their hearts. But idolatry didn’t end with the Old Testament. And it isn’t exclusive to pagan people. The New Testament constantly warns believers about the idolatry in our own hearts.
And one revealer can be our spending. If we’re willing to pay $4 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, $25 to go to the movies, or $80 or $100 for a pair of tennis shoes, but give grudgingly or not at all to the work of God, what does it say about our hearts and what we truly worship?
We’ll also look at:
How God protected the Messianic line of David and kept His covenant promise to him.
The value of godly counsel in the life of a leader.
And how God was able to use a brilliant and eloquent man who was willing to humble himself and receive truth from a couple of tentmakers.
What’s going on in your heart and mind? Is there peace and trust? Or worry and anxiety? Is there forgiveness and grace? Or anger and bitterness? What can we do when anxiety or other negative emotions threaten to have their way?
Even if you haven’t followed along lately, I hope you’ll take the time to read this post. Our thinking is so important and learning to think biblically makes all the difference in our emotional condition.
The future, it’s full of promise, but often mixed with uncertainty. Should I marry this person? Does he or she really love me? Is this the right job? Could my spouse be cheating on me?
The temptation to want to know what the future holds can be huge. But what does God say about knowing the future or seeking information about things He has not revealed?
And what about your heart? Do you have a wise heart? Are you teachable? Do you listen to godly counsel? Or do you first make up your own mind and then look for justification to believe and do what you want? What does it mean, “What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies”? Find out more in today’s Proverbs reading.
God has a lot to say about generosity. In today’s post, we’ll talk about a woman whose faith and generosity were commended by Jesus and talked about for over two thousand years. We’ll, also, look at others who had the wrong heart attitude about giving.
In our Old Testament reading, we’ll look at one of the most interesting stories in the book of Numbers where God used a talking donkey to get his point across to a greedy, ungodly man.
The Parable of the Sower may be the most important parable that Jesus taught. This is what He said about it, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
As you read it, you might ask yourself, “Do the cares of this world like worry and anxiety, the need to get ahead or something else weigh me down? Have I drifted away from my relationship with God? Or worse, am I hard-hearted toward Him?
In today’s post, we’ll see how the Parable of the Sower can help us better answer those questions and show us where we need God’s help to grow and change. Perhaps, even to understand and receive the gospel for the first time.
Remember. Repent. Repeat. If “red-hot love” has turned to “not tonight, honey” and passion has given way to bills, soccer games, and to-do lists … if you seem to have lost that loving feeling … what do those simple instructions have to do with regaining the feelings of love and romance you once had?
And on what are the greatest feelings in the world dependent? How can we have them no matter what our circumstances and whether or not other people act right or not?
Welcome to Mondays @ Soul Survival. Each week I feature a book that I consider a valuable resource. This week’s selection is The Heart of Anger: Practical Help for the Prevention and Cure of Anger in Children by Lou Priolo. ...
