Don’t carelessly place yourself in tempting situations. Avoid them.
Proverbs 14:16 (TEV)
When you’re tempted, keep your vulnerability in mind and work out ways to protect yourself. God warns us to never to get cocky and overconfident about our ability to handle temptation; that’s the recipe for disaster.
In fact, the prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV).
That means we’re good at fooling ourselves. Given the right circumstances, any of us are capable of any sin. We must never let down our guard and think we’re beyond temptation: “Don’t carelessly place yourself in tempting situations. Avoid them” (Proverbs 14:16 TEV).
Remember it’s easier to stay out of temptation than to get out of it. The Bible says, “Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence” (1 Corinthians 10:12 MSG).
One final note from Scripture: “But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT)...Rick Warren
က်မတို႕ရ႕ဲ စိတ္ဝင္စားမႈ႕ အားလံုးကို ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္မွာ ျဖစ္ပ်က္ေနတဲ့ အရာေတြက သိမ္းသြင္းဖို႕အရမ္းလြယ္ကူပါတယ္။ သတင္းေတြဖတ္ျခင္း၊ နားေထာင္ျခင္း၊ ၾကည့္ျမင္ျခင္းမွ၊ စီးပြားေရး၊ နိုင္ငံေရး မ်ားက က်မတို႕ ခႏၶာ၊ စိတ္အားလံုးကို ဖမ္းစား၊ ညိဳ႕ယူနိုင္စြမ္းရွိ ျပီး က်မတို႕ရဲ႕ စိတ္ဝင္စားမႈ႕ အားလံုးဟာ အဲဒီကိုဘဲ ေရာက္သြားတတ္ၾကပါတယ္။ တခါတရံ ထိုစိတ္မ်ားက က်မတို႕ကို စိတ္ဓာတ္ယိုယြင္းပ်က္စီးတတ္ေစပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့ က်မတို႕က ဘုရားသခင္ကိုယ္တိုင္ ေတြးသလိုဘဲ ရုိးရုိးေတြး၊ ျမင့္ျမင့္ၾကံျပီး၊ ဘုရားရဲ႕ နုတ္ကပတ္ေတာ္ မ်ားကို အာဂုံေဆာင္ထားၾကမယ္ဆိုရင္၊ က်မတို႕ စဥ္းစားေတြးေခၚမႈ႕မ်ားက ဤေလာကအရာမ်ားထက္ ပို၍ျမင့္ျမတ္ျပီး၊ ေကာင္းမြန္ေၾကာင္းကို နားလည္လာမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
က်မတို႕ရဲ႕ စိတ္ပင္ပန္းျခင္း၊ ေလာကီ၏ဝန္ ဒုကၡမ်ားကို ေက်ာ္လႊားျပီး က်မတို႕ အသက္ရွင္နိုင္ပါတယ္၊ ဘာေၾကာင့္လည္းဆိုေတာ့ ဘုရားရွင္၏ ဂတိေတာ္ရွိသည့္ အတိုင္း၊ က်မတို႕၏ စိတ္နွလံုးသားမ်ား အားလံုးကို က်မတို႕ စိတ္ဝင္စားျခင္း၊ က်မတို႕၏ အဓိက တရားမ်ားအျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္မယ္ဆိုရင္ေပါ့။ ေငြေၾကးအတြက္ ပူပန္ျခင္းမ်ားကို ဘုရားရွင္၏ ဂတိေတာ္ျဖစ္တဲ့ က်မတို႕ လိုအပ္ေသာ အရာမ်ားအားလံုးျဖည့္စြမ္းနိုင္ေသာ ဘုရားျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ယံုၾကည္ျခင္းအားျဖင့္ေသာ္၎၊ က်မတို႕၏ ေၾကာက္ရြံ႕ ျခင္း၊ ေသျခင္းတရားကို စိုးရြံ႕ ျခင္း၊ မ်ားမွလည္း ဘုရားရွင္၏ ျပည့္စံုေသာ ခ်စ္ျခင္းအားျဖင့္၎ ေက်ာ္လႊားနိုင္မွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဘုရားရွင္၏ အထြတ္အျမတ္၊ အၾကံအစည္မ်ားကို ေရႊးခ်ယ္ျပီး၊ သင္၏လမ္းခရီး၌ ခရစ္ေတာ္ကို လက္ခံပါ။ သင္၏နွလံုးသားတံခါးမ်ားကို ဖြင့္လွစ္ျပီး၊ သင္ေျခလမ္းမ်ားကို ျပဳျပင္၊ ဦးေဆာင္ဖို႕ ဘုရားရွင္ကို လက္ခံလိုက္ပါ။ သင္ဘုရားရွင္ကို လက္ခံျခင္းအားျဖင့္၊ သင္၏ အၾကံအစည္ေတာ္မ်ားနွင့္ ဘဝသည္ ျမင့္သထက္ျမင့္မားလာျပီး ေလာကကို ေအာင္ျမင္နိုင္မွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္လို႕။
You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone . . . . If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 (CEV)
When you’re tempted, reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group. You don’t have to broadcast it to the whole world, but you need at least one person you can honestly share your struggles with.
The Bible says, “You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone . . . . If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 CEV).
Let me be clear: If you’re losing the battle against a persistent bad habit, an addiction, or a temptation, and you’re stuck in a repeating cycle of good intention–failure–guilt, you will not get better on your own! You need the help of other people.
Some temptations are only overcome with the help of a partner who prays for you, encourages you, and holds you accountable.
God’s plan for your growth and freedom includes other Christians. Authentic, honest fellowship is the antidote to your lonely struggle against those sins that won’t budge. God says it is the only way you’re going to break free: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16, NIV).
Do you really want to be healed of that persistent temptation that keeps defeating you over and over? God’s solution is plain: Don’t repress it; confess it! Don’t conceal it; reveal it. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.
Hiding your hurt only intensifies it. Problems grow in the dark and become bigger and bigger, but when exposed to the light of truth, they shrink. You’re only as sick as your secrets. So take off your mask, stop pretending you’re perfect, and walk into freedom...Rick Warren
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 (NIV)
After we’ve humbled ourselves and submitted to God, we’re then told to defy the Devil. We don’t passively resign ourselves to his attacks. We’re to fight back.
The New Testament often describes the Christian life as a spiritual battle against evil forces, using war terms such as fight, conquer, strive, and overcome. Christians are often compared to soldiers serving in enemy territory.
How can we resist the Devil? Paul tells us, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17 NLT).
The first step is to accept God’s salvation. You won’t be able to say no to the Devil unless you’ve said yes to Christ. Without Christ we’re defenseless against the Devil, but with “the helmet of salvation” our minds are protected by God. Remember this: If you are a believer, Satan cannot force you to do anything. He can only suggest.
Second, you must use the Word of God as your weapon against Satan. Jesus modeled this when he was tempted in the wilderness. Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus countered by quoting Scripture.
He didn’t argue with Satan. He didn’t say, “I’m not hungry,” when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need. He simply quoted Scripture from memory. We must do the same. There is power in God’s Word, and Satan fears it.
Don’t ever try to argue with the Devil. He’s better at arguing than you are, having had thousands of years to practice. You can’t bluff Satan with logic or your opinion, but you can use the weapon that makes him tremble – the truth of God.
This is why memorizing Scripture is absolutely essential to defeating temptation. You have quick access to it whenever you’re tempted. Like Jesus, you have the truth stored in your heart, ready to be remembered.
If you don’t have any Bible verses memorized, you’ve got no bullets in your gun! I challenge you to memorize one verse a week for the rest of your life. Imagine how much stronger you’ll be....Rick Warren
Run from anything that gives you the evil thoughts . . . but stay close to anything that makes you want to do right.
2 Timothy 2:22 (LB)
Have you ever watched a food advertisement on television and suddenly felt you were hungry? Have you ever heard someone cough and immediately felt the need to clear your throat? Ever watched someone release a big yawn and felt the urge to yawn yourself?
That is the power of suggestion. We naturally move toward whatever we focus our attention on. The more you think about something, the stronger it takes hold of you.
That is why repeating “I must stop eating too much . . . or stop smoking . . . or stop lusting” is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps you focused on what you don’t want. It’s like announcing, “I’m never going to do what my mom did.” You are setting yourself up to repeat it.
Most diets don’t work because they keep you thinking about food all the time, guaranteeing that you’ll be hungry. In the same way, a speaker who keeps repeating to herself, “Don’t be nervous!” sets herself up to be nervous! Instead she should focus on anything except her feelings – on God, on the importance of her speech, or on the needs of those listening.
Temptation begins by capturing your attention. What gets your attention arouses your emotions. Then your emotions activate your behavior, and you act on what you felt. The more you focus on “I don’t want to do this,” the stronger it draws you into its web.
Ignoring a temptation is far more effective than fighting it. Once your mind is on something else, the temptation loses its power. So when temptation calls you on the phone, don’t argue with it, just hang up!
Sometimes this means physically leaving a tempting situation. This is one time it is okay to run away. Get up and turn off the television set. Walk away from a group that is gossiping. Leave the theater in the middle of the movie. To avoid being stung, stay away from the bees.
Do whatever is necessary to turn your attention to something else.
Spiritually, your mind is your most vulnerable organ. To reduce temptation, keep your mind occupied with God’s Word and other good thoughts. You defeat bad thoughts by thinking of something better. This is the principle of replacement. You overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Satan can’t get your attention when your mind is preoccupied with something else. That’s why the Bible repeatedly tells us to keep our minds focused: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1 NIV).
“Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable” (Philippians 4:8 TEV).
If you’re serious about defeating temptation you must manage your mind and monitor your media intake. The wisest man who ever lived warned, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23 TEV)...Rick Warren
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 (NIV)
There is always a way out.
You may sometimes feel that a temptation is too overpowering for you to bear, but that’s a lie from Satan. God has promised never to allow more on you than he puts within you to handle it. He will not permit any temptation that you could not overcome. However, you must do your part too by practicing biblical methods for defeating temptation.
First and foremost, you want to refocus your attention on something besides the temptation. It may surprise you that nowhere in the Bible are we told to “resist temptation.” We’re told to “resist the devil,” and that is very different (James 4:7).
The Bible says we’re to refocus our attention because trying to resist a thought simply doesn’t work. It only intensifies our focus on the wrong thing and strengthens its allure. Let me explain:
Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it.
Whatever you resist, persists.
This is especially true with temptation. You don’t defeat temptation by fighting the feeling of it. The more you fight a feeling, the more it consumes and controls you. You strengthen it every time you think it.
Since temptation always begins with a thought, the quickest way to neutralize its allure is to turn your attention to something else. Don’t fight the thought, just change the channel of your mind and get interested in another idea. This is the first step in defeating temptation.
The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you. That’s why Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.” (Job 31:1 NLT).
And David prayed, “Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless” (Psalm 119:3a TEV)....Rick Warren
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4 (NIV)
Being a pastor is one of the toughest jobs on the planet; but John, the disciple of love, says it can also be the most joyful: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4 NIV).
Spiritual leaders must correctly teach God’s Word, confront false teaching before it spreads, proclaim the gospel to non-believers, pray for all people (including you and your family), and train and appoint leaders; and they must do this all while serving as an example of what it looks like when you’re maturing as a Jesus-one (see 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus).
Accordingly, the Apostle Paul says we should respect our spiritual leaders, overwhelming them with appreciation: “Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5:13 NIV).
Disguised as the generic writer of Hebrews, Paul also says, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Hebrews 13:17 NIV).
You can make a big deal about obeying and submitting, but keep in mind that our overarching objective is to become one with Christ, who is one with the Father. In other words, we want our hearts and minds to line up with God’s heart and mind. We submit to God’s heart and mind, and we show our love for him when we obey him.
If a spiritual leader is walking toward oneness with Jesus, who is already at one with the Father, then it’s perfectly reasonable for us to move toward that same oneness with Jesus, meaning we swing into alignment behind our pastor.
From this angle, you can see the enormous responsibility a pastor has to keep in line with God and to encourage you to keep in line.
We live in the nasty now-and-now, so it’s all too easy, even for spiritual leaders, to slip into arguments over who gets to sit at God’s right hand when we all should be outdoing one another in heartfelt, humble service to each other (Matthews 20:20-28).
Pray for your spiritual leaders today, that they continue to walk in the truth, and let them know in some way that you want to bring them joy by walking in the truth with them (3 John 1:4 NIV)...Jon Walker
“As holy people . . . be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.”
Colossians 3:12 (GWT)
In real fellowship people experience sympathy. Sympathy is not giving advice or offering quick, cosmetic help; sympathy is entering in and sharing the pain of others.
Sympathy says, “I understand what you’re going through, and what you feel is neither strange nor crazy.” Today, some call this “empathy” but the Bible word is “sympathy.” It says, “As holy people . . . be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient” (Colossians 3:12 GWT).
| Every time you understand and affirm someone’s feelings, you build fellowship. |
Every time you understand and affirm someone’s feelings, you build fellowship. The problem is that we’re often in such a hurry to fix things that we don’t have time to sympathize with people. Or we’re preoccupied with our own hurts. Self-pity dries up sympathy for others.
There are different levels of fellowship, and each is appropriate at different times:
· The simplest levels of fellowship are the fellowship of sharing and the fellowship of studying God’s Word together.
· A deeper level is the fellowship of serving, as when we minister together on mission trips or mercy projects.
· The deepest, most intense level is the fellowship of suffering (Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 10:33–34). This is where we enter into each other’s pain and grief and carry each other’s burdens. The Christians who understand this level best are those around the world who are being persecuted, despised, and often martyred for their faith.
The Bible teaches us to “share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NLT).
It is in the times of deep crisis, grief, and doubt that we need each other most. When circumstances crush us to the point that our faith falters, that’s when we need believing friends the most.
We need a small group of friends to have faith in God for us and to pull us through. In a small group, the body of Christ is real and tangible even when God seems distant.
This is what Job desperately needed during his suffering. He cried out, “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14 NIV).....Rick Warren
When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won’t give up in despair.
2 Corinthians 2:7 (CEV)
In real fellowship people experience mercy. Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren’t rubbed in but rubbed out. Fellowship happens when mercy wins over justice.
We all need mercy, because we all stumble and fall and require help getting back on track. We need to offer mercy to each other and be willing to receive it from each other.
You can’t have fellowship without forgiveness because bitterness and resentment always destroy fellowship. Sometimes we hurt each other intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, but either way, it takes massive amounts of mercy and grace to create and maintain fellowship.
The Bible says, “You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13 NLT).
The mercy God shows to us is the motivation for us to show mercy to others. Whenever you’re hurt by someone, you have a choice to make: Will I use my energy and emotions for retaliation or for resolution?
You can’t do both.
Many people are reluctant to show mercy because they don’t understand the difference between trust and forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past. Trust has to do with future behavior.
Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not a person asks for it. Trust must be rebuilt over time.
Trust requires a track record. If someone hurts you repeatedly, you are commanded by God to forgive them instantly, but you are not expected to trust them immediately, and you are not expected to continue allowing them to hurt you. They must prove they have changed over time. The best place to restore trust is within the supportive context of a small group that offers both encouragement and accountability....Rick Warren
I mean that I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.
Romans 1:12 (NCV)
In authentic Christian fellowship people should experience a mutual dependency. This mutuality is the art of giving and receiving; it’s depending on each other.
The Bible says, “The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part” (1 Corinthians 12:25 MSG).
Mutuality is the heart of fellowship: building reciprocal relationships, sharing responsibilities, and helping each other. Paul said, “I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you” (Romans 1:12 NCV).
All of us are more consistent in our faith when others walk with us and encourage us. The Bible commands mutual accountability, mutual encouragement, mutual serving, and mutual honoring.
Over fifty times in the New Testament we’re commanded to do different tasks for “one another” and “each other.” The Bible says, “Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19 NIV).
You are not responsible for everyone in the body of Christ, but you are responsible to them. God expects you do whatever you can to help them....Rick Warren
But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:7–8 (NCV)
In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.
Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It’s genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing.
It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.
Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation.
People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.
It’s only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. . . . If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves” (1 John 1:7–8 NCV).
The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.
Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.
Why would anyone take such a risk?
Because it’s the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (James 5:16 MSG).....Rick Warren
တေန႕တာအတြက္ က်မ္းခ်က္။ ။ အကၽြန္ုပ္တို႕ ေခါင္းေပၚမွာ သူတပါးကို စီးေစေတာ္မူျပီ။ မီး၌၎ ေရ၌၎ သြားရေသာ္လည္း၊ ေက်းဇူးေတာ္ေၾကာင့္ ၾကြယ္ဝျခင္းသို႕ေရာက္ၾကပါ၏။
(ဆာလံက်မ္း။ ။ ၆၆ း ၁၂)
က်မတို႕ အသက္တာမွာ ဒုကၡဆင္းရဲ၊ ေသာက၊ အခက္အခဲ ေျမာက္ျမားစြာၾကံဳေတြ႕ရမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ တခါတရံ လက္ေလွ်ာ့ခ်င္ေလာက္ေသာ အျဖစ္အပ်က္မ်ားစြာတို႕ ၾကံဳဆံုၾကရမွာပါ။ ဒါေတြကို ဘဝရဲ႕ စိန္ေခၚျခင္းလို႕မွတ္ယူ ယံုမက၊ ထာဝရ ဘုရားသခင္ဟာ ထိုအတိုက္အခံ မ်ားၾကားထဲက က်မတို႕ကို အေကာင္းဆံုး အသက္တာ၊ ၾကြယ္ဝေသာ ေကာင္းၾကီးမဂၤလာမ်ား ေပးသနားမယ္ဆိုတာကို အေမ့ဖို႕လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ဘုရားသခင္ဟာ က်မတို႕ အသက္တာမွာ က်မတို႕လိုအပ္ေသာ အရာမ်ားအားလံုး ရရွိေနဖို႕ အျမဲဘဲ ဂရုစိုက္ေနပါတယ္။ က်မတို႕ဟာ ေယရႈခရစ္ေတာ္ ၾကြဆင္းလာျခင္းေၾကာင့္ ၾကြယ္ဝေသာ ေကာင္းၾကီးမ်ားခံရျပီးျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ က်မတို႕ စိတ္နွလံုးတံခါးကိုဖြင့္၍ ဘုရားသခင္၏ ေကာင္းၾကီးမ်ားကို ခ်ီးမြမ္းၾကပါစို႕။ ထာဝရဘုရား၏ ဂတိေတာ္မ်ားကို ယံုၾကည္ျခင္းအားျဖင့္ လက္ခံယူၾကပါစို႕။ က်မတို႕ ခ်ီးမြမ္းသံမ်ားသည္ ဘုရားရွင္ က်မတို႕နွလံုးသားထဲ ဝင္ေရာက္လာဖို႕ နွလံုးသား တံခါးဖြင့္ျခင္းျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းနွင့္ က်မတို႕ကို ဘုရားရွင္က ၾကြယ္ဝျခင္းဆုေက်းဇူး ရရွိေစျခင္းေၾကာင္းကို ဆင္ျခင္ေအာင္းေမ့ၾကပါစို႕လို႕။။ ။။
တေန႕တာအတြက္ ဆုေတာင္းခ်က္။ ။
ေကာင္းကင္ဘံု၌ ရွိေတာ္မူေသာ္ အဖထာဝရျမတ္စြာေသာ ဘုရား၊ က်မသည္ရုိေသစြာျဖင့္ ကိုယ္ေတာ့္ထံပါးခ်ဥ္းကပ္ပါ၏၊ က်မရွိသမွ်ေသာ အျပစ္၊ အဆိုးဟူသမွ်နွင့္ အရာအားလံုးကို ကိုယ္ေတာ့္ေရွ႕ေမွာက္တြင္ခ်ေပးလွ်က္၊ ရွိသည့္အတုိင္း ကိုယ့္ေတာ့္ေရွ႕ေမွာက္တြင္ေရာက္လာ ခ်ဥ္းကပ္ပါ၏။ ၾကြယ္ဝေသာ အသက္တာ၊ နွင့္ အေကာင္းဆံုးေသာ လမ္းျပပို႕ေဆာင္မႈ႕မ်ားအတြက္ ကိုယ္ေတာ္ရွင္ဘုရားအား ေက်းဇူးေတာ္ ခ်ီးမြမ္းပါ၏။ ကိုယ္ေတာ္ရွင္ဘုရား နားေညာင္းေတာ္မူ၍ ခြန္အားေပးေတာ္မူပါဘုရား၊
အာမင္။
How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony!
Psalms 133:1 (TEV)
God intends for us to experience life together. The Bible calls this shared experience fellowship.
Today, however, the word has lost most of its biblical meaning. Fellowship now usually refers to casual conversation, socializing, food, and fun.
The question, “Where do you fellowship?” means “Where do you attend church?” “Stay after for fellowship” usually means “Wait for refreshments.”
Real fellowship is so much more than just showing up at services. It is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comforting, and all the other “one another” commands found in the New Testament.
When it comes to fellowship, size matters: smaller is better. You can worship with a crowd, but you can’t fellowship with one.
Once a group becomes larger than about ten people, someone stops participating—usually the quietest person—and a few people will dominate the group.
Jesus ministered in the context of a small group of disciples. He could have chosen more, but he knew twelve is about the maximum size you can have in a small group if everyone is to participate.
The body of Christ, like your own body, is really a collection of many small cells. The life of the body of Christ, like your body, is contained in the cells.
For this reason, every Christian needs to be involved in a small group within their church, whether is it a home fellowship group, a Sunday school class, or a Bible study. This is where real community takes place, not in the big gatherings.
If you think of your church as a ship, the small groups are the lifeboats attached to it. God has made an incredible promise about small groups of believers: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20 NASB)....Rick Warren
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:10 (NIV)
Respect means we see one another through our Father’s eyes; as eternal beings, chosen by God “for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him” as “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:9 MSG; Romans 8:17 NIV).
Our objective-in-Jesus is to consistently remember we’ll be sharing heaven with those in our small groups and congregations, even those we have difficulty respecting now. And God, in his wisdom, “put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity” (1 Corinthians 12:24 NLT).
We often miss this, but one of the simplest ways to show respect is to simply listen. We offer our presence and open our ears, listening to the hidden hurts and heartaches, the deepest dreams and desires of one another.
The truth is, the God of the universe listens to our prayers, which does serious damage to any argument that we’re too busy. Busier than God?
Jesus listened to those around him and he listens to us, which destroys any argument that our mission is too important to listen. Or, is our mission, or even our daily tasks, more important than Jesus?
Our objective-in-Jesus is to respect others enough to let them get the whole story out before we rush in to give an answer, or jump in to fix things, or just plain react to what we think instead of what is true (1 Corinthians 1:10). If you flip the coin, you know all you need sometimes is for someone to hear what’s on your heart.
Respect means we trust others, instead of assuming they’ll do it wrong, or that they won’t do it as well (Philippians 2:3).
In the
"Don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance." (
2 Peter 3:17, CEV)
Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone.
One of the events in the summer Olympics is the pentathlon. It is composed of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, horseback riding, running, and swimming. The pentathlete's goal is to succeed in all five areas, not just one or two.
Your life is a pentathlon of five purposes, which you must keep in balance. These purposes were practiced by the first Christians in Acts 2, explained by Paul in Ephesians 4, and modeled by Jesus in John 17, but they are summarized in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus.
These two statements sum up what this daily devotional is all about - God's five purposes for your life:
1. "Love God with all your heart": You were planned for God's pleasure, so your purpose is to love God through worship.
2. "Love your neighbor as yourself": You were shaped for serving, so your purpose is to show love for others through ministry.
3. "Go and make disciples": You were made for a mission, so your purpose is to share God's message through evangelism.
4. "baptize them into …": You were formed for God's family, so your purpose is to identify with his church through fellowship.
5. "teach them to do all things …": You were created to become like Christ, so your purpose is to grow to maturity through discipleship.
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will make you a great Christian.
Point to ponder: Balance is critical if you're going to fulfill the five purposes of your life.
Verse: "Don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance." (2 Peter 3:17, CEV)
What will you do about it: Take a survey of your life. Are you fulfilling all five of your purposes? What do you need to do to find balance in those five areas?
Prayer: Ask God to balance you. Ask him to shift your priorities and rearrange your life so that you're fulfilling your whole purpose...Rick Warren
Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
Philippians 3:17 (NIV)
For us to mature, we need models and mentors.
Many people make the mistake of thinking all they need to grow spiritually is God’s Word and prayer. But the truth is, we need people to help us grow.
Christlike character is built through relationships, not in isolation. There are many things God wants you to learn about life that you’ll never learn on your own. You’ll only learn them in community.
We always grow faster and stronger with living, breathing examples who can model for us what a purpose driven life looks like. We need more than explanations, we need examples.
Paul realized the power of a pattern when he advised, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you” (Philippians 3:17 NIV). To grow, we need to see principles in practice. We need to see what beliefs looks like when they are translated as behavior in everyday situations.
When Paul would travel to a city to start a church, he would begin by simply living among the people. He was a “living Bible,” echoing the life of Jesus, where “the word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 NKJV).
After Paul left a city, he would write back, “Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9 NLT).
Who are your models for following Christ? Who are you watching and learning from?
Here’s a tougher question: Are you an example for anyone else? In elementary school, you probably enjoyed “Show and Tell.” As believers, we’re often better at “telling” than “showing.”
In today’s culture, the world desperately needs people who can show us how to love our spouse and make a marriage last, how to relate to our kids, how to do business with integrity, how to handle conflict in the way Jesus would. These are lessons we learn by watching others.
Not only do we need models to grow, we need mentors. Mentors are people who’ve followed Christ longer than we have and are able to share their life lessons. You’ve heard that it’s wise to learn from experience, but it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others. Life is too short to learn everything by experience! And some painful experiences can be avoided if you’re smart enough to learn from mentors in your church family.
Ask yourself this: “What’s been the greatest positive influence on my life?” Most likely it was not a sermon, seminar, or small group lesson. It was somebody who shaped your life through a personal relationship.
Can you see God’s wisdom in creating the church, a family full of mentors and models for our benefit?
That’s why being connected to a small group is so crucial to spiritual growth. It’s a regular opportunity to learn from each other.
Today, spend a few moments getting intentional about this. Write down the names of people in your church and small group that you’d like to learn from. Then identify what you’d specifically like to learn from them. Remember, they don’t have to be perfect to be a model or mentor.
To grow spiritually, you must also be willing to be a model or mentor to others. That may scare you but all it takes is being one step ahead.
People don’t expect you to be perfect – they already know you aren’t. What they want you to be is honest! So let them see your struggles, not just your successes. We usually grow as much from others’ weaknesses as we do from their strengths....Rick Warren.While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate.
Acts 10:17 (NIV)
He recoils, saying, “Surely not, Lord! . . . I have never eaten anything impure or unclean” (Acts 10:14 NIV). A heavenly voice says, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15 NIV).
Peter’s perplexed, but at the same time, God is working his plan. Across town is a centurion seeking the one true God. He is a Gentile; he is, in a figurative sense, food forbidden. But God says to look for a man named Peter; and Peter, still wondering what the vision meant, sees three men from Cornelius approaching on the street below.
The Holy Spirit says to Peter, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them” (Acts 10:19-20 NIV). Peter follows the men to Cornelius’ house and finds a crowd already waiting to hear the good news of Jesus, the Christ.
Cornelius tells Peter that, four days before, God promised to send a messenger. In that instant, Peter knew he was the messenger and that the vision meant the gospel is for all people, even Gentiles.
And as Peter began to tell Cornelius’ crowd how to make peace with God, the Holy Spirit descended upon them all, even those who were Gentile.
Oswald Chambers described God as the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to such divine appointments.
You’ve seen how God did this in the lives of Peter and Cornelius; will you watch now for how God engineers divine encounters in the life you can no longer call your own?....Jon Walker
"Don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance."
(2 Peter 3:17, CEV)
Blessed are the balanced; they shall outlast everyone.
One of the events in the summer Olympics is the pentathlon. It is composed of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, horseback riding, running, and swimming. The pentathlete's goal is to succeed in all five areas, not just one or two.
Your life is a pentathlon of five purposes, which you must keep in balance. These purposes were practiced by the first Christians in Acts 2, explained by Paul in Ephesians 4, and modeled by Jesus in John 17, but they are summarized in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus.
These two statements sum up what this daily devotional is all about - God's five purposes for your life:
1. "Love God with all your heart": You were planned for God's pleasure, so your purpose is to love God through worship.
2. "Love your neighbor as yourself": You were shaped for serving, so your purpose is to show love for others through ministry.
3. "Go and make disciples": You were made for a mission, so your purpose is to share God's message through evangelism.
4. "baptize them into …": You were formed for God's family, so your purpose is to identify with his church through fellowship.
5. "teach them to do all things …": You were created to become like Christ, so your purpose is to grow to maturity through discipleship.
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will make you a great Christian.
Point to ponder: Balance is critical if you're going to fulfill the five purposes of your life.
Verse: "Don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance." (2 Peter 3:17, CEV)
What will you do about it: Take a survey of your life. Are you fulfilling all five of your purposes? What do you need to do to find balance in those five areas?
Prayer: Ask God to balance you. Ask him to shift your priorities and rearrange your life so that you're fulfilling your whole purpose.....Rivk Warren
Since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.
Galatians 4:7 (NLT)
The moment you were spiritually born into God’s family, you were given some astounding birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance!
The New Testament gives great emphasis to our rich “inheritance.” It tells us, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV). As children of God we get to share in the family fortune. Here on earth we are given the riches of his grace, kindness, patience, glory, wisdom, power, and mercy.
But in eternity we will inherit even more.
Paul said, “I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people” (Ephesians 1:18 NLT). What exactly does that inheritance include?
· First, we will get to be with God forever.
· Second, we will completely change to be like Christ.
· Third, we will be freed from all pain, death, and suffering.
· Fourth, we will be rewarded and reassigned positions of service.
· Fifth, we will get to share in Christ’s glory.
What an inheritance! You are far richer than you realize.
The Bible says, “God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (1 Peter 1:4 NLT).
This means that your eternal inheritance is priceless, pure, permanent, and protected. No one can take it from you; it can’t be destroyed by war, a poor economy, or a natural disaster.
God is the One who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory.
Hebrews 2:10 (NCV)
God wants a family, and he created you to be a part of it. This is one of God’s purposes for your life, which he planned before you were born.
The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him, and reign with him forever. It says, “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5 NLT).
Because God is love, he treasures relationships. His very nature is relational, and he identifies himself in family terms: Father, Son, and Spirit. The Trinity is God’s relationship to himself. It’s the perfect pattern for relational harmony, and we should study its implications.
God has always existed in loving relationship to himself, so he has never been lonely. He didn’t need a family—he desired one, so he devised a plan to create us, bring us into his family, and share with us all he has.
This gives God great pleasure. The Bible says, “It was a happy day for him when he gave us our new lives through the truth of his Word, and we became, as it were, the first children in his new family” (James 1:18 LB).
When we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family. The family of God includes all believers in the past, the present, and the future....Rick Warren
“Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.”
(2 John 1:6, NCV)
Life is all about love.
Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like him, so love is the foundation of every command he has given us: “The whole Law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love others as you love yourself.” (Galatians 5:14, LB)
Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. That’s why we’re given a lifetime to learn it.
Of course, God wants us to love everyone, but he is particularly concerned that we learn to love others in his family.
Why does God insist that we give special love and attention to other believers?
Because God wants his family to be known for its love more than anything else. Jesus said our love for each other – not our doctrinal belief – is our greatest witness to the world.
He said, “Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35, LB)
In heaven we will enjoy God’s family forever, but first we have some tough work to do here on earth to prepare ourselves for an eternity of loving. God trains us by giving us “family responsibilities,” and the foremost of these is to practice loving each other.
The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.
Point to ponder: Life is all about love – especially for those in God’s family.
Verse: “Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.” (2 John 1:6, NCV)
What will you do about it: Practice being loving. Find a way to secretly serve someone in your church today. Don’t tell anyone about it except God.
Prayer: Ask God to help you make relationships your first priority....Rick Warren
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Colossians 1:18 (NIV)
If our love for one another is not energized by Jesus, we’re doomed to slide from the promise of “All You Need Is Love” into the push and shove of “I, Me, Mine.” Our love can’t stop at “let’s just get along” because the deep and ancient God-love emerges, not from compromise, but from sacrifice.
And the first step of sacrifice is submission – not submission to one another, although that will often be required – but an uncompromising submission to the head of all us “one anothers”: Jesus, our Lord, our brother, and our King.
Jesus is the “head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Colossians 1:18 NIV).
The ancient wisdom demands there be only one ruling mind – a mind that was there from the beginning, firstborn among the “one anothers.” This one ruling mind now operates within, providing us with a wisdom that passes all human understanding and connecting us to a deep, fathomless, supernatural love.
Submit to the head of our body, and he’ll show you how to love others with a deep Jesus-love. It is his power and his strength that will energize you to love even those, especially those, you find impossible to love.....Jon Walker
"What is your life?"
(James 4:14b, NIV)
How you define life determines your destiny. The way you view life is your life metaphor. It's your description of how life works and what you expect from it.
It influences your life more than you realize and determines your expectations, values, relationships, goals, and priorities.
To fulfill the purposes God has for you, you will have to base your view on the biblical metaphors of life. These are: Life is a test, and life is a trust.
Life is a test - God continually tests people's character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Character is both developed and revealed, and all of life is a test.
When you understand that life is a test, you realize that every day is important. God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them.
Life is a trust - We are to be stewards of whatever God gives us. All we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands. The more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.
If you treat everything as a trust, God promises three rewards in eternity: affirmation, promotion, and celebration.
If your life metaphor doesn't line up with God's, ask him to give you a new perspective - his.
Point to ponder: Life is a test and a trust.
Verse: "What is your life?" (James 4:14b, NIV)
What will you do about it: No matter what trials or tests face you today, thank God that he is using those things to build your character.
Prayer: Ask God to keep you mindful that every day is significant. Ask him to help you pass each test and be a good steward of what he's entrusted to you......Rick Warren
