Expect to have tough days as you continue to get better at listening to and following Jesus. Those tough times, however, will be worth the faith effort.
God’s Word says as much in Galatians 6:7-9. “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his flesh, from his flesh will repeat destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Yes, planting is hard work, but keep in mind that a harvest will follow. Listen to John’s words, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way love is made complete among us so that we have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him.” (1 John 4:16b-17)
The more we allow the Spirit to exchange us with Jesus, the greater our hope will be, and the greater the harvest of peace, joy and meaning in life will come. Keep sowing truth into your life through the Spirit’s power; and life, both now and forever, will be experienced.
Set Free No“WW”w

Yesterday at Service I offered one of our pastor’s children a donut. They gave me a great answer, “I can’t. My daddy’s not here.”
After talking with their dad I realized what had happened. He told me he was trying to teach his child to be selective in what they ate. This particular child eats anything and everything. He had the same challenge, which in the end caused his weight to skyrocket. He didn’t want this for his child so he was teaching them how to use a biblical filter at an early age.
His solution? His child, for a season, had to clear what they ate through him. Some might call this being a little controlling. I call it great parenting. He sees a potential dangerous mindset developing (i.e. a future drug of choice) and is saving his child from a lot of heartache later by giving them the biblical tools to think through a situation now.
This father is teaching his child from a very early age how to listen to and follow Jesus everyday everywhere. This is how Jesus lived. If He cleared everything He did through His Dad, shouldn’t we? We’d save ourselves a lot of heartache if we only did.
Set F“R”ee Nowww

What do you see? Hopefully you see a water source. Water? Yup, water. “Okay, Chris, you must be having a bad day because your eyesight is all out of whack. It’s a desert scene, not an oasis.”
No, my eyesight is 20/20 when I’m looking at this scene through faith eyes. God took the Israelites by way of a desert on their way home to the Promised Land. There were no gushing water sources to quench their thirst from the hot dry desert sun. No standing fields of grain to satisfy their hunger as they walked along the sandy paths.
The Israelites saw nothing but sand and sun and then turned to their drug of choice – whining and wanting to go back to slavery. What happens when you look at life through your own eyes? You end up taking your drugs of choice as well.
What if you started looking at life through your Savior’s eyes and not yours? This opens up the possibilities that your God would quench your thirst by providing water from a good sized boulder and your hunger by turning morning dew into manna.
This is the essence of living with a biblical worldview. We look at life through the filter of God’s Word, which reveals who God is and what He can He do. These become life’s possibilities … if we are willing to listen to and follow Him everyday everywhere, including our desert days.
God is asking His children to look at life through His eyes and then believe what He can do. And maybe, just maybe, we might exercise the truth and experience the victory – peace, contentment, fulfillment, love – He has for us in that situation.
Decide today to view life through faith eyes. Victory is around the corner when you do.
S“E”t Fre“E” Nowww

I read the following in a book on preparing soldiers for battle. “You don’t have to like it; you just have to do it.” In order to survive war, soldiers have to be willing to do the difficult and distasteful, even when it they don’t want to.
Believe it or not, believers are soldiers and must develop that same mentality. The Spirit, through the pen of Paul, wrote that we are to “endure hardships like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Timothy 2:3) If we want to experience daily victory over our enemy, we exercise the truth by faith, even if it doesn’t make sense or seems difficult to us.
Doing the easy thing, going with the flow, is what led us down the path to defeat. Doing the difficult thing takes faith. It’s faith in your God that listening to and following Jesus will bring the sweet taste of victory. What difficult faith step is your God asking you to take today?
Set Fre“E” Nowww

“My box is leaking!” is what I heard someone say the other day. I kept on listening as I was intrigued as to what it meant.
This person was looking for fulfillment in life and was doing activities they thought would bring it. They described the process as putting water into a box. Each time they checked something off their to-do list, they were pouring water into the box hoping to feel fulfilled. Yet, no matter how much water they put into the box, it never filled. They kept pouring water in, but they were only left feeling empty and frustrated.
They saw the problem only after examining their box. It had sprung a good sized leak! The water was going out almost as fast as they were putting it in. Fulfillment, a major need for every human being, was always out of this person’s reach.
This is what is meant by the phrase, “Is it working for you?” Our drugs of choice, in this case accomplishing tasks, will never satisfy. This person, once they examined the leak, realized the hole was caused by their avoidance of what Jesus had asked them to do.
Jesus was asking for their daily schedule. He wanted to pick what got done and in what order it got done. As this person began listening to and following Jesus, the water started rising with each task Jesus had them do, resulting in immediate fulfillment.
Want to know something funny? Some of the tasks being done now were the same as the ones they were doing before! The difference was that they were now listening to and following Jesus rather than themselves.
Is your way of thinking and living working? If not, it’s time to ask the Spirit of God to show you where your leak is. And oh by the way, the Spirit can use a good friend in a Bible Impact Group to help you see the leaks a whole lot faster!
Set Free No“WWW”