Sunday, October 09, 2005

Purpose Driven Life chapters 14 and 15

Chapter 15: Formed for God's family

Something to remember: We were formed for God's family

Verse to remember: "See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are" 1 John 3:1

The statement(s) that was the most impactful:Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. What are the benefits of being in God's family? you get an inheritance. What is the inheritance? Eternity with the everlasting Father, We will be completely changed to be like Christ, We will be freed from all pain, death and suffering, we will be rewarded and reassigned positions of service, we will get to share in Christ's glory!!! Cool eh?

Im having a hard time grasping the baptism part. I was dedicated when i was a baby. That SHOWED that i was going to become a child of God by my family and then a couple years later i gave my life to Christ and became a child. but that was an ACT wasnt it? becoming a christian. Why do i need to SHOW my commitment by getting baptized? I dont get it? I wasnt baptised so does that mean that i dont declare my faith? No, i declare it often. so what? I dont understand it...... and he says "If you havent been baptized as an expression of your faith in Christ, do so as soon as possible, as Jesus commanded" I am so confused.

Ill leave you with this one thought before i move on to other things: God is proud of us. and being included in God's family is the highest honor and the greatest privelege you will ever recieve.

Chapter 14: When God seems so distant

Something to remember: God is real, no matter how you feel. That is so true, no matter what you feel about God, he will always be THERE he wont just go away. He is real no matter if you dont think he is.

Verse to remember: For God has said "I will neever leave you, i will never abandon you" Hebrews 13:5

The statement(s) that was the most impactful: Its so easy to worship God when things are going right in our lives but when we are going through rough times its very hard to. Why is that? Because if things are going good, we are happy and we praise God cuz he made those things happen. If we are going through a rough time, we are mad and dont praise God cuz of what has happened.

To mature our friendship with God he will test us with "seeming" seperation. Like if we go through a hard time, he will SEEM far but he is right there. The most common mistake Christians make in worship is seeking an experience rather than seeking God.

Tell God how you feel: that is very important, in every friendship there needs to be communication. If there is no communication there is not a friendship, its empty. So pour your heart out to God.

Focus on who God is- his unchanging nature. Regardless of how you feel, cling to God because he is unchanging. V.Raymond Edman said it well that we should "never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light" in other words, when you are going through rough times, dont think that God isnt there or that you will never get over this because God tels us that he will never leave us or forsake us and he says in James that the testing of our faith develops perserverance. but when we are going through a rough time, we usually forget all that he has told us and we focus on the bad things that are going on in our lives.

Trust God to keep his promises. If it is in his word and if he says he will do it, HE WILL. We must NEVER forget that. Rick says to "not be troubled by trouble" My continuation of that quote would be "do not be troubled by trouble, trust in God"

Remember what God has already done for you. that is so important. When we are going through the rough times we think that God has never done anything good for us. that is SO not true.

Ill leave you with one final thought from chapter 14:
When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him, you worship him in the deepest way!

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