Living & Learning: Changing Focus

2008/11/10

Changing Focus

The best way to encourage myself is to encourage other people. Often I am tempted to feel sorry for myself and well become ... a loner! :( Yes, have a poor me, I am all alone in this world pity party. (the only way one can have one of those is by making sure one is alone, right?) Often in the past it was not only a temptation, but that is what I have done. God convicted me of this, so I now know that is not the answer to anything , but only lies from Satan. First of all how can I say that I have noone when I have Jesus. He is a friend that is always there. So I have to say thanks be to God Himself, I no longer have reason to have this poor me attitude! I still go through times of discouragement, but God showed me a great solution to this problem! When these times come, find ways to encourage others. There is plenty of work to be done and many out there who need a friend a "cheerleader" to cheer them on as they run this race. God has a way of providing the right friend at the right time.
God blessed us this weekend with some good fellowship and great encouragement. I found a simple note in our mailbox at church, that just really lifted me up, and meant so much! It made me see again that I need to do much more to cheer others on too! It doesn't take much and I can't say that I don't have enough time for these little things.
I am sure I will go through more struggles and so will anyone who reads this, but I want to keep my eyes on Jesus, and serve Him in these times in more ways then ever!

Someone at church shared about this very same thing and it just really confirmed what God is saying!

(However, Jesus alone is our ultimate comforter!)

3 comments:

Margaret said...: Hi Nancy,
Thank you for the birthday e-card. It was so special that you remembered. Having a pity party is so easy to do but they are not even fun. So why is it that we have them so often? I have noticed that when I start with that down feeling in the morning when I'm still in bed I just get out of bed to start the day and that's where it ends. (Most of the time) The longer I stay in bed the worse my negative feeling get. So I get up, have my time with God and from there on I 'm serving my family and the focus is off me. Thqank you for your post....; 11/10/2008
Anonymous said...: A little encouragement can go a long way! The lady that is leading our ladies' Bible study has us each pick a name out of a basket. We are to encourage that person once or twice during the week. I know it's been an encouragement to me & it's giving me an opportunity to learn how to encourage others.

I haven't picked up the book "Seeking Him" I want to see if my library has it before I buy it. I will go ahead and buy it.; 11/10/2008
Tina said...: Thanks for your post. This is something I have been struggling with lately and I need to get the focus off of me feeling sorry for myself to becoming an encouragement to others.; 11/16/2008

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Life saving Verses

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,—Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 6:23

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,—John 1:12

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.—John 3:16-17

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.—Ephesians 2:8-9

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”—Romans 10:9-13

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.—1 Peter 1:8-9

Saved By Grace

All of us are born sinful. People might do good things but we are not born good....because to be good would mean to be perfect, never breaking God's commands, always doing God's will. So first we have to acknowledge that we have all sinned. Then we can cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and repentance. God has paid the price of sin through Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. If we believe in Jesus, confess our sins and turn from it, He will forgive us.The bible says to seek God and search for Him with your whole heart. If we do this and ask Him to fill us with the holy Spirit, He will and that gives us a new life. This is what it means to be born again. There is no other gift as great as the gift of the holy Spirit! We then will want the things of God. We will love God and He will become the most important thing.This does not mean now you will be perfect. This just means that God will teach you and show you day by day what he wants or does not want you to do. It will not make life easy, and there will still be temptations and mistakes. So we just have to continually pray and ask for His guidance.When a baby is born they need time to grow and learn . It does not happen all at once. The same thing when we are born again, we will grow each day, and become more like Jesus. God will show us bit by bit. Only God is able to do all this in our lives. .It is not the things we do that make us Christian, it is faith. We can not make ourselves Christians no matter how hard we try. By faith though he will bring us to Himself and we will want to live the way God wants us to and the things we are doing will often show that we are Christians. God will make us a light in the dark because of what he has done in our lives.

2008/11/10

Changing Focus

3 comments:

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