“One evening, after yet another of his magnificent concerts, world renowned pianist Van Cliburn was approached by an admirer who had been in the audience.
Obviously touched by the performance, the emotional fan grasped Cliburn’s hand and said:
‘I would give my life to be able to play the piano like that.”
The pianist smiled and replied, “I DID”
Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Have a great day!!
Here’s a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose
Driven Life, A highly recommended book.
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now
having cancer and him having ‘wealth’ from the book sales. This is an
absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
‘Purpose Driven Life ‘ author and pastor of Saddleback Church in
California
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were
not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body–
but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions
of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act – the dress rehearsal. God
wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life
isn’t going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just
coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character
than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than
He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of
life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys – you go through a dark
time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don’t believe
that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it’s kind of
like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something
good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something
bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something
good you can thank God for..
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness,
which is my problem, my issues, my pain.’ But one of the easiest ways to
get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and
others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for
her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened
her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a
testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million
copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with
before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego
or for you to live a life of ease..
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety
and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide
what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from
the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace
Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the
sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since
I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be
able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or
am I going to be driven by God’s purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God,
if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to know You more and
love You better. God didn’t put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do
list. He’s more interested in what I am than what I do.
That’s why we’re called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD..
“My ability to communicate is limitless, living and transforming, and it will always be tuned to Papa’s (Father God’s) goodness and love. And you will hear and see me in the Bible in fresh ways. Just don’t look for rules and principles; look for RELATIONSHIP–a way of coming to be with us.” ‘The Shack, by William P Young’
This is part of a very moving conversation between Sarayu, the Holy Spirit, and Mack, the deeply hurt and seeking character in the very moving book, The Shack.
Where do you see RELATIONSHIP in the BIBLE?
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 9:16 “It does not , therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercey.”
John 15:9-14 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
When I read scriptures looking for RELATIONSHIP and not RULES, I see and feel such healing. Healing from my past, from the lies of Satan, from my imagination of future outcomes that do not and will not come to pass, and from the perception that I need to accomplish something to experience HIS love.
Jesus urges us to, “Come to Him” in Matthew 11. What does he desire? RELATIONSHIP!!!
Where do you see RELATIONSHIP in scriptures? Share the scripture by commenting or emailing me…
May the Love of Christ and His relationship with you be renewed and fresh today!!
Get a copy of “The Shack” and read it, this picture will bless you once you read the book!
Matthew 7:7-12
“7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
9“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Bonhoeffer has many great quotes in the book “Cost of Discipleship.” This quote is from chapter 18.
“The disciples are taught to pray, and so they learn that the only way to reach others is by praying to God. Judgement and forgiveness are always in the hands of God. He closes and the opens. But the disciples must ask, they must seek and knock, and then God will hear them. They have to learn that their anxiety and concern for others must drive them to intercession.”
“The promise Christ gives to their prayer is the doughtiest (boldest) weapon in their armoury.”
Do you know someone that needs a touch from the Master? Pray for him/her..ask, seek, knock…God will hear you!!!
God Bless!!
Here are some great quotes that have so much meaning and can impact our perspective on life if we will just let them….
“Any sacrifice that we make in our quest for freedom, will be holy consumed and blessed by God.” Beth Moore.
“I am a pencil in the hand of a writing God sending a love letter to the world” Mother Theresa
“If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.” Don Herold
“Don’t treat the disease, treat the patient.” Unknown
“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” John Lubbock
“Discipleship means adherence to Jesus Christ alone, and immediately.” Bonhoeffer
“Do not be afraid of tomorrow; for God is already there.” Author Unknown
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” Leo Buscaglia
“Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.” Author Unknown
PLEASE READ THIS ONE AND HEAR THE MESSAGE!
“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” Vincent Van Gogh
God Bless and have a great week!!!!
Here are the pics from day 2. We are uploading all of our pictures to my blog in case something happens to our PC while we are on our trip. God Bless!!!
“Don’t you know you’re in great danger, little fishes?” croaked the frog.
“No!” cried he fishes, much frightened.
“Don’t you know that fishes can’t live without water?” teased the cruel frog. “You’d better find some water quickly, or die.”
The little fishes swam to their mother in great distress.
“Oh, Mother, Mother! The frog says if we don’t find some water quickly we’ll die! Mother, what’s water?”
“I don’t know,” confessed the mother fish, who was an agnostic. “I never heard anything about water. Let’s go and ask the otter.”
“Water, my dears?” Laughed the otter. “Why, you live in water! That ’s what you breathe!”
We live in God….That’s what we breathe!!!!
“As a sponge is in the ocean and the ocean is in a sponge….so we are in God and HE IS IN US!!!!
God Bless!
On Thursday night, I will be going to Great Banquet 131!
On Sunday, I will be speaking to the guests about “priorities.”
Please pray for Father God to anoint this weekend and pray for healing and salvation for those hurting and lost.
This parable is so powerful…..some choose to dine with the Father….others choose a life without Him….
Luke 14: 15-24
”15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22” ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ “
Have a great weekend and God Bless!!!!
Do you enjoy daily quiet time?
I enjoy spending time every morning studying God’s word and applying His truths to my life.
2 years ago, I felt led to write a devotional. 2 years later, I have published a 35 day devotional
The purpose of “In This Communion” is to help establish a daily encounter with Father God. By carving out intentional time with Father God, a daily conversation with the almighty can be established. Reading the bible, studying the meaning of scriptures, meditating on God’s word and journaling vivid thoughts and ideas require investing specific energy to learn more about our current journey with Jesus. This book has been written to meet many needs:
1. Allow those craving a relationship with Jesus to feast at His table
2. Open blind eyes and allow them to see Jesus at Savior, Lord and Friend.
3. Heal the lame and reconcile broken relationships.
4. Welcome the broken and weary to rest in the Love of Christ.
Books are on sales on Ebay (search by “In This Communion”) for $10.00 + $2.99 S&H
My prayer is that people spend intentional time with Father God.
If you have any questions, please leave your comment or email me at cjkdennis@bellsouth.net
God Bless
I have been working on something for the last 2 years that is a dream come true!!
In 2006, I began writing with the dream of completing a book.
Today, I want to announce my brand new book, “IN THIS COMMUNION.” This 35 day devotional focuses on 5 crucial areas of our christian walk. (The Holy Spirit, mind renewal, prayer, temptations and evangelism)
The purpose of “In This Communion” is to help establish a daily encounter with Father God. By carving out intentional time with Father God, a daily conversation with the almighty can be established. Reading the bible, studying the meaning of scriptures, meditating on God’s word and journaling vivid thoughts and ideas require investing specific energy to learn more about our current journey with Jesus.
This book has been written to meet many needs:
1. Allow those craving a relationship with Jesus to feast at His table
2. Open blind eyes and allow them to see Jesus at Savior, Lord and Friend.
3. Heal the lame and reconcile broken relationships.
4. Welcome the broken and weary to rest in the Love of Christ.
This book is the fulfillment of a dream and an answer to God’s calling. This journey was inspired and completed to fulfill the scriptures found in Isaiah and Luke.
Luke 4:18-1918“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Our daily walk with Christ should be something that we crave. This time should be something so personal and so cherished, that we can not live without. We are called to delight in Him. When we delight in Christ’s presence and teachings, he promises to provide us with the desires of our heart!
Psalm 37:4“4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
The purpose of “In This Communion” is simply to “commune” with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Books will be on sale for $10.00 this week. A portion of every book sold will go toward the 2BC Building Fund and Pathway of Hope.
You may contact me via email at cjkdennis@bellsouth.net
