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of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Jesus also pointed out that God’s blessing comes from obeying the truth, not just knowing it. He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! Another reason we avoid personal application is that it can be difficult or even painful. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! God’s Word exposes our motives, points out our faults, rebukes our sin, and expects us to change. It’s human nature to resist change, so applying God’s Word is hard work. This is why it is so important to discuss your personal applications with other people. I cannot overstate the value of being a part of a small Bible study discussion group. We always learn from others truths we would never learn on our own. Other people will help you see insights you would miss and help you apply God’s truth in a practical way. The best way to become a “doer of the Word” is to always write out an action step as a result of your reading or studying or reflecting on God’s Word. Develop the habit of writing down exactly what you intend to do. This action step should be personal (involving you), practical (something you can do), and provable (with a deadline to do it). Every application will involve either your relationship to God, your relationship to others, or your personal character. Before reading the next chapter, spend some time thinking about this question: What has God already told you to do in his Word that you haven’t started doing yet? Then write down a few action statements that will help you act on what you know. You might tell a friend who can hold you accountable. As D. L. Moody said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.” DAY TWENTY-FOUR THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE <a href="http://www.mybape.com/bapeairshoes-c-5.html"><strong>bape air shoes</strong></a> Point to Ponder: The truth transforms me. Verse to Remember: “If you continue in ghd limited edition my word, then are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the ghd mk4 straighteners truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32 (KJV) Question to Consider: What has God already told me in his Word that I haven’t started doing yet? 25 Transformed by Trouble For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17 (N l v) It is the fire of suffering that brings forth the gold of godliness. Madame Guyon God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, he depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on our reading the Bible. The reason is obvious: You face circumstances twenty-four hours a day. Jesus warned us that we would have problems in the world.’ No one is immune to pain or insulated from suffering, and no one gets to skate through life problem-free. Life is a series of problems. Every time you solve one, another is waiting to take its place. Not all of them are big, but all are significant in God’s growth process for you. Peter assures us that problems are normal, saying, “Don’t be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you.” God uses problems to draw you closer to himself. The Bible says, “The Lord cheap ghds is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.” Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days-when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great-and you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers. When we’re in pain, we don’t have the energy for superficial prayers. Joni Eareckson Tada notes, “When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.” We learn things about God in suffering that we can’t learn any other way. God could have kept Joseph out of jail, kept Daniel out of the lion’s den, kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit, kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times, and kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace-but he didn’t. He let those problems happen, and every one of those persons was drawn closer to God as a result. Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves. Paul testified to this benefit: “We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us.” You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got. Regardless of the cause, none of your problems could happen without God’s permission. Everything that happens to a child of God is Father filtered, and he intends to use it for good even when Satan and others mean it for bad. Because ghd stockists God is sovereignly in control, accidents are just incidents in God’s good plan for you. Because every day of your life was written on God’s calendar before you were born, everything that happens to you has spiritual significance. Everything! Romans 8:28-29 explains why: “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son.” UNDERSTANDING ROMANS 8:28-29 This is one of the most misquoted and misunderstood passages in the Bible. It doesn’t say, ghd ceramic straighteners “God causes everything to work out the way I want it to.” Obviously ghd iv that’s not true. It also doesn’t say, “God causes everything to work out to have a happy ending on earth.” That is not true either. There are many unhappy endings on earth. We live in a fallen world. Only in heaven is everything done perfectly the way God intends. That is why we are told to pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” To fully understand Romans 8:28-29 you must consider it phrase by phrase. “We know”: Our hope in difficult times is not based on positive thinking, wishful thinking, or natural optimism. It is a certainty based on the truths that God is in complete control of our universe and that he loves us. “that God causes”: There’s a Grand Designer behind everything. Your life is not a result of random chance, fate, or luck. There is a master plan. History is His story. God is pulling the strings. We make mistakes, but God never does. God cannot make a mistake-because he is God. “everything”: God’s plan for your life involves all that happens to you-including your mistakes, your sins, and your hurts. It includes illness, debt, disasters, divorce, and death of loved <a href="http://www.mybape.com/products_all.html"><strong>bape store</strong></a> ones. God can bring good out of the worst evil. He did at Calvary. Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance. “to work together”: Not separately or independently. The events in your life work together in God’s plan. They are not isolated acts, but interdependent parts of the process to make you like Christ. To bake a cake you must use flour, salt, raw eggs, sugar, and oil. Eaten individually, each is pretty distasteful or even bitter. But bake them together and they become delicious. If you will give God all your distasteful, unpleasant experiences, he will blend them together for good. “for the good”: This does not say that everything in life is good. Much of what happens in our world is evil and bad, but God specializes in bringing good out of it. In the official family tree of Jesus Christ, four women are listed: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Tamar seduced her father-in-law to get pregnant. Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was not even Jewish and broke the law by marrying a Jewish man. Bathsheba committed adultery with David, which resulted in her husband’s murder. These were not exactly sterling reputations, but God brought good out of bad, and Jesus came through their lineage. God’s purpose is greater than our problems, our pain, and even our sin. “of those who love God and are called”: This promise is only for God’s children. hair straighteners ghd It is not for everyone. All things work for bad for those living in opposition to God and insist on having their own way. “according to his purpose”: What is that purpose? It is that we “become like his Son.” Everything God allows to happen in your life is permitted for that purpose! Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days. BUILDING CHRISTLIKE CHARACTER We are like jewels, shaped with the hammer and chisel of adversity. If a jeweler’s hammer isn’t strong enough to chip off our rough edges, God will use a sledgehammer. If we’re really stubborn, he uses a jackhammer. He will use whatever it takes. Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber. Paul said, “We know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character.” What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever. The Bible often compares trials to a metal refiner’s fire that burns away the impurities. Peter said, “These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold.” A silversmith was asked, “How do you know when the silver is pure?” He replied, “When I see my reflection in it.” When you’ve been refined by trials, people can see Jesus’ reflection in you. James said, “Under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors." Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems. The Bible says Jesus “learned obedience through suffering” and “was made perfect through suffering.” Why would God exempt us from what he allowed his own Son to experience? Paul said, “We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” RESPONDING TO PROBLEMS AS JESUS WOULD Problems don’t automatically produce what God intends. Many people <a href="http://www.mybape.com/bape2010shoes-c-3.html"><strong>bathing ape</strong></a> become bitter, rather than better, and n ghd stockists ever grow up. You have to respond the way Jesus would. Remember that God’s plan is good. God knows what is best for you and has your best interests at heart. God told Jeremiah, “The plans I have for you fare] plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Joseph understood this truth when he told his brothers who had sold him into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” Hezekiah echoed the same sentiment about his life-threatening illness: “It was for my own good that I had such hard times. Whenever God says no to your request for r ghd products elief, remember, “God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best.’ what happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. It is vital that you stay focused on God’s plan, not your pain or problem. That is how Jesus endured the pain of the cross, and we are urged to follow his example: “Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards.” Corrie ten Boom, who suffered in a Nazi death camp, explained the power of focus: “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest!” Your focus will determine your feelings. The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal. Moses endured a life of problems “because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Paul endured hardship the same way. He said, “Our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!” Don’t give in to short-term thinking. Stay focused on the end result: “If we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later." Rejoice and give thanks. The Bible te leopard print ghds lls us to `give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ” How is this possible? Notice that God tells us to give thanks “in all circumstances” not “for all circumstances.” God doesn’t expect you to be thankful for evil, for sin, for suffering, or for their painful consequences in the world. Instead, God wants you to thank him that he will use your problems to fulfill his purposes. The Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” It doesn’t say, “Rejoice over your pain.” That’s masochism. You rejoice “in the Lord.” No matter what’s happening, you can rejoice in God’s love, care, wisdom, power, and faithfulness. Jesus said, `Be full of joy at that time, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven.” We can also rejoice in knowing that God is going through the pain with us. We do not serve a distant and detached God who spouts encouraging cliches safely from the sideline. Instead, he enters into our suffering. Jesus did it in the Incarnation, and his Spirit does it in us now. God will never leave us on our own. Refuse to give up. Be patient and persistent. The Bible says, “Let the process go on until your endurance is fully developed, and you will find that you have become men of mature character … with no weak spots.’ Character building is a slow process. Whenever we try to avoid or escape the difficulties in life, we short-circuit the process, delay our growth, and actually end up with a worse kind of pain-the worthless type that accompanies denial and avoidance. When you grasp the eternal consequences of your character development, you’ll pray fewer “Comfort me’ prayers (“Help me feel good”) and more “Conform me” prayers (“Use this to make me more like you”). You know you are maturing when you begin to see the hand of God in the random, baffling, and seemingly pointless circumstances of life. If you are facing trouble right now, don’t ask, “Why me?” Instead ask, “What do you want me to learn?” Then trust God and keep on doing what’s right. “You need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.” Don’t give up-grow up! DAY TWENTY-FIVE THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE P ghd limited edition oint to Ponder: There is a purpose behind every problem. Verse to Remember: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV) Question to Consider: What problem in my life has caused the greatest growth in me? 26 Growing through Temptation Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do <a href="http://www.436100.info/view.php?id=112918"><strong>This sort of Low-cost GHD Sale hair dryer the stylish appearance style</strong></a> wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love hi ghd hair straighteners best price m. James 1:12 (LB) My temptations have been my masters in divinity. Martin Luther Every temptation is an opportunity to do good. On the path to spiritual maturity, even temptation becomes a stepping-stone rather than a stumbling block when you realize that it is just as much an occasion to do the right thing as it is to do the wrong thing. Temptation simply provides the choice. W pink hair straighteners hile temptation is Satan’s primary weapon to destroy you, God wants to use it to develop you. Every time you choose to do good instead of sin, you are growing in the character of Christ. To understand this, you must first identify the character qualities of Jesus. One of the most concise descriptions of his character is the fruit of the Spirit: “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.” These nine qualities are an expansion of the Great Commandment and portray a beautiful description of Jesus Christ. Jesus is perfect love, joy, peace, patience, and all the other fruit embodied in a single person. To have the fruit of the Spirit is to be like Christ. How, then, does the Holy Spirit produce these nine fruit in your life? Does he create them instantly? Will you wake up one day and be suddenly filled with these characteristics fully developed? No. Fruit always matures and ripens slowly. This next sentence is one of the most important spiritual truths you will ever learn: God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality! Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity.
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