So what does the Christ-honoring, non-materialistic family look like? They invest primarily in the things that will leave this world with them and as a team they are all on this same pursuit. They experience freedom and more time for the things most important because they have limited resources that they own in order not to be owned by them. They experience constant joy because the only source of joy they expect is from the Lord. They do not need to have stuff to impress others because the only person they seek to please is the Lord. They have no compelling love for the shadows of the world because their hearts see the true Substance, the beauty of God’s marvelous light. They have their priorities right: things are to be used and people are to be loved. They are content people following Christ and therefore have a great family because their mutual trust is not in material things which will let us down, but in the One who always delivers.
Randy Smith

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Word for Today, Wed, 28 Jan 2008: Persecution - me?

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#1 · January 28, 2009, 8:41 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

Have you ever wondered why so many people persecuted Jesus? He was not
what they expected Him to be, and moreover, He claimed to come from God,
meaning, in essence, that He is God. That got the apostle Paul- back
when he was known as Saul, pretty upset.

But what about us? Don't we get self absorbed all too easily? Aren't
we also rejecting Jesus every time it is "we" - or "me"? Am I really
meek and lowly in heart? Jesus is the perfect example.

Let's confess that we are not all that we can be - and surrender our
will to God, lest we continually persecute the One who gave Himself on
our behalf.

Dear Lord, I confess my arrogance and selfishness. Please forgive me,
cleanse me of my sin, renew my desire to give myself to You.

Yours in Christ,
Brian

-//-----------------------------------------------------------------
/ MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--/------------------------------------------------------------------

January 28, 2009

BUT IT IS HARDLY CREDIBLE THAT ONE COULD SO PERSECUTE JESUS!

Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?

Acts 26:14
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=ac+26:14&sr=1

Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare
until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus
Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever
we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we
are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that
this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we
stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and
when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been
persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there
could be.

Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or
does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may
teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit
that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one
thing only - a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says, "Learn
of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." All I do ought to be
founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed
determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put
upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for
His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted.

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers //
=============================================================== /===
http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/my_utmost /

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