[S] Luke 6:12-13 --
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:
[O] Building up a leadership of people to lead others is one of the most critical factors in parking in His ministry abundantly because without these leaders the ministry will not scale up to reach the world. There are many models on how to reach the world but they all start with a good seed of leadership. No wonder Jesus went off to the mountain to pray all night talking with God before choosing the twelve of them. These twelve at first look seemed unfit to carry out such a daunting task (and some failed miserably) but in the end we know that these chosen by and through prayer did just that of turning the world upside down.
[A] In a position to raise and train small group leadership, I am more than challenged to follow His footsteps. Why is that I am not praying more in this area? I need to cut out the distractions and get down to business.
[P] Dear Father, I come to You now as a wake-up call to seek Your direction and guidance in raising up small groups leaders in our church. I do not want to rely on my own (or other people's) thoughts and feelings but to spend the quantity of time with You so my heart will be totally immersed in Your Spirit to be led by Him. Thank You for choosing a prodigal like me to be used for ministry. In Jesus' name. Amen.
From my Life devotional journaling and more (Read Today's Passage)
Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
Showing posts with label His Ways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label His Ways. Show all posts
Friday, September 23, 2011
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wisdom From Above
[S] James 3:16-17 --
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
[O] Observing the inverse of this cause and effect statement, disorder and evil things are caused by jealousy and selfish ambitions; and purity, peacefulness, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, fruitfulness, unwavering, and honesty are the results of wisdom from above. So when I look around me I should be able to tell where they originate from: jealousy and selfish ambition or wisdom from above. I hate to admit it but I see more of disorderliness and evil things around me and so I can conclude the world around me is more driven by jealousy and selfish ambition. Verse 17 gives the way to counter that momentum by seeking the wisdom from above in order to fill my own heart with the resulting factors listed there. Seeking this wisdom requires discipline on my part to daily exercise gleaning from his Word through His Spirit. This type of skill is learned by continuously striving to gain more just like many skills in life which are not earned overnight.
[A] Many times I try to seek orderliness from the chaos around me by applying the right structure as well as eliminating the messiness at the same time. This passage, however, outlines that God's principle is not to clean up the messiness but to first gain His wisdom from above because the outcome from that will naturally be the orderliness in His ways. My take away is the solution to many of my problems I face is at a dimension higher than where the problems are at. His ways are higher than my ways, says the Lord in Isaiah 55:9.
[P] Dear God, please continue to remind me to seek Your ways from above instead of trying to apply my meager "fixes" for the problems I face in life. I want to have the fruits from the wisdom from above as mentioned in verse 17 around me because of my basic attitude of wanting to seek Your ways. In Jesus' name. Amen.
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
[O] Observing the inverse of this cause and effect statement, disorder and evil things are caused by jealousy and selfish ambitions; and purity, peacefulness, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, fruitfulness, unwavering, and honesty are the results of wisdom from above. So when I look around me I should be able to tell where they originate from: jealousy and selfish ambition or wisdom from above. I hate to admit it but I see more of disorderliness and evil things around me and so I can conclude the world around me is more driven by jealousy and selfish ambition. Verse 17 gives the way to counter that momentum by seeking the wisdom from above in order to fill my own heart with the resulting factors listed there. Seeking this wisdom requires discipline on my part to daily exercise gleaning from his Word through His Spirit. This type of skill is learned by continuously striving to gain more just like many skills in life which are not earned overnight.
[A] Many times I try to seek orderliness from the chaos around me by applying the right structure as well as eliminating the messiness at the same time. This passage, however, outlines that God's principle is not to clean up the messiness but to first gain His wisdom from above because the outcome from that will naturally be the orderliness in His ways. My take away is the solution to many of my problems I face is at a dimension higher than where the problems are at. His ways are higher than my ways, says the Lord in Isaiah 55:9.
[P] Dear God, please continue to remind me to seek Your ways from above instead of trying to apply my meager "fixes" for the problems I face in life. I want to have the fruits from the wisdom from above as mentioned in verse 17 around me because of my basic attitude of wanting to seek Your ways. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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