July Thoughts

M5 at Muskoka Bible Centre
Our home-away-from-home.

This past month has found me submerged in the beauty and peaceful surroundings at our trailer at Muskoka Bible Centre. While here, I’ve been privileged to sit under the teaching of some godly men and to enjoy some great books. It’s impossible to summarize all that I’ve learned, but I’d like to offer a window into this world of knowledge, encouragement and passionate reminders with which I’ve been blessed…and yes, convicted of on many accounts! I am not the inventor of the following. They are simply my attempt to reiterate what I’ve heard and read.

The quality of the choices you make will determine the quality of your character (and) your soul.
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Be on guard against greed. It’s not about having things. It’s about things having you.
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Every commitment I make, every friendship I enter, every skill that I cultivate or neglect, every promise I honour or break becomes a part of my house (character).
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We are only the ‘light bulbs’ that cannot boast of the electricity that flows through us. We can only be ‘used’ to reflect the light ( of Christ).
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Humility will hurt, but it will heal. God loves us so much that He uses humility to draw us further away from the pride of the flesh and closer to being Christ-like.
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God wrote a book about everything we need to have and know in our lifetime. When not used properly, it can become destructive and chaotic.
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Jesus was God’s ultimate attempt to let us know what we mean to Him.
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The cross is the declaration of God’s love for sinners and His insatiable appetite to redeem them.
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If there is one way that human beings consistently underestimate God’s love, it is perhaps in His loving, longing to forgive.
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Forgiveness is never just a matter of words, there is a cost attached. Someone has to pay the debt. In some ways we will never fully understand [that] an unpayable debt was paid (through Christ’s sacrifice).
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To harbour unforgiveness is an affront to the Gospel we believe in and will hinder our fellowship and communion with God.
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Unforgiveness will destroy a family.
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Hidden grievances and withheld forgiveness is destructive within the Christian community.
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Resolving what lies between us reveals what lies within us.
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Forgiveness is God’s invention for coming to terms with a world in which people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other – Lewis B. Smedes.
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The first question is not how much do you love God? The first question is how much does God love you?
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Be careful you don’t enjoy telling others they’re wrong.
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When we tell others what God expects them to do, we must remember to apply the same expectations to ourselves.
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Examine your heart and see if you are living a hypocritical life.
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“Wounds from a friend can be trusted…” (Proverbs 27:6). A friend who has your best interests at heart may have to give you unpleasant advice at times, but you know it is for your own good. Be that kind of friend. We all need that kind of friend.
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God created us to want to pursue pleasure. Are we seeking the best sources or are we settling for second best?
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If our pleasures reveal who we are, then it can be said the same for God.
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There are many pretenders, but there is only one, true, living, real, actual God.
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Pray urgently. Pray widely. Pray specifically. Pray for salvation for the lost. We need to pray, believing/knowing God gets pleasure from our prayers.
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Pray what you can believe God for! Pray what you can pray with full conviction and faith.  It’s as though God is saying, “Who told you to stop praying?”
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Our prayers are an indication of our soul’s dependence on God. Every day without it is functional atheism.
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Without prayer, we are saying we can make it without God.
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Praying should not be viewed as something we have to do or should do. Praying is something we get to do with the One who said, “Let there be light.”
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And two final thoughts…

God wants to make a pearl out of our lives but as much as we want to have that happen, we don’t want to go through the painful process of becoming what God wants us to be.
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This is your day. This is your opportunity to do the work of God. Don’t miss it. If you do, you don’t get it back. Night is coming. Don’t miss the day.

Be blessed and be a blessing today!