What is the Source of your Influence?

The influence we exert in the world is created by our relationship to Jesus Christ #ThoughtsfortheQuietHour

Relationships

Relationships

          Relationships are the most valuable thing we have on this earth. Let’s look at just a few of the relationships that will truly make one rich.

 

Relationship with the Lord

    Jesus died so that you and I could have a relationship with God. Christ had to die so that our sin would be atoned for and that righteousness would be credited to our account, so that we could abide (not just come temporarily) the presence of God—in fellowship, in communion with Him, in intimate relationship.

     First and foremost, cultivate your relationship with the Lord. Spend time in the secret place, set aside time alone with the Lord. It is in seeking Him by reading His Word and prayer that we come to know Him the best. When our first priority is the Lord and He is our focus, then everything else in life just seems to fall into place (Matt. 6:33).

    Our relationship with the Lord is largely dependent on our action; however. We will not stay close to the Lord if we only spend time with Him once a week. In close relationship you have ever had, you have invested quality as well as quantity time in. It is no different with the Lord. If you are going to be in communion with Him, then He needs to be your priority each day. You won’t be perfect in your walk, but you can be diligent.

    

Marriage

     If you are married, then invest in your marriage. Love your spouse and show it by serving them through loving actions. Husbands, sacrificially love your wives. Wives, honor and respect your husbands. Husbands, be sensitive to your wives and listen. Wives, be encouraging and get behind your husband’s God-given calling and vision. Don’t every stop making time to spend together and deepen your relationship.

 

Family Devotions

     When a family comes together to study God’s Word and worship as a family, a strong bond will be built. It may be awkward for many at first, but when consistently done, it can be the single most important investment in your family because God is the focus and where God is honored and placed first, He blesses. He must be worshiped not only in truth (the right thing) but in spirit (the heart attitude, motivation).

 

Close Friends

       Close friends are a great blessing! My grandfather said in the beginning that people where a lot closer when he grew up. In my own life, I have been blessed with close friends. Two families in particular are very close to mine and one is practically family! We spend time together for hours and it feels like minutes. We are ourselves, there are no walls up to guard how we look. We play games. We pray together. We discuss politics, school, work, ministry, the Bible, practical living, encouragements and struggles. All I can say is that my greatest blessing aside from my relationship with the Lord and my family, is my close friends.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Prov 17:17 (KJV)

 

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Prov 18:24 (KJV)

 

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Prov 27:6 (KJV)

 

Homeschool your Family

    Homeschooling your children is actually a Biblical mandate. What I mean is that God has commanded that parents teach their children. Whether you allow others to teach your children or not, parents are responsible before God for the education that they receive. When parents take this charge seriously, it is a blessing to them and definitely to their children.

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deut 6:7 (KJV)

 

        Homeschooling is not easy. However, it is very rewarding. If you check out studies that have been done on homeschoolers, they tend to be more diligent, self-sufficient, and mature than their peers. I’m not saying that homeschooling gives you perfect kids, but when your children are monitored by their parents through years of education and daily life, they develop accountability and maturity in ways that public schools just fail to do with shifting them around year after year and largely just making them sit through lectures.

        I was homeschooled growing up and can testify that it wasn’t always easy. But looking back with college ending and in my high school years, I know that I had a solid foundation and excellent education given to me that few get today. I began to understand this when my Biblical worldview began to clash with the more worldly view of my friends at church in high school. My desire was for truth and Biblical support and personal responsibility in politics, philosophy, etc…many of my friends simply went with whatever they felt like or thought should be true. I am not trying to say I am perfect, but I quickly realized that they had no standard for life and many had no purpose in addition. I had been given an education rooted and grounded in the Word of God and I was set on a course with a perfect standard (God’s Word) and the encouragement of faithful saints throughout history (missionary biographies, Biblically-based curriculum, and godly mentors and teachers).

Resource for Further Study: Upgrade: 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child  by Kevin Swanson

 

Disciple Others

    Teach the commands of Jesus Christ to others. Develop close relationships with them (men with men & women with women, Titus 2). Discipleship is involves teaching, but it also must be bound together by a relationship between student and teacher. Jesus has commanded that every mature Believer make disciples:

  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matt 28:19-20 (KJV)

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb 5:12-14 (KJV)

Treating Women with Purity

Scripture:

      “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;  The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.” 1Timothy 5:1-2 KJV

     This verse contains a lot in it. But the convicting part for me is where it says, “Treat . . .  older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” I know that I do not always treat my mother and sister the right way and you probably don’t either, but the point I want to make is: are we not only treating women, younger or older, as we would our family; but in the right way?

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Your notes on the subject

Thought 270: Found. . . .and named Angel from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 270

Found….and named Angel

   One day as I was going to get the mail, I found a stray cat. Now I strongly dislike cats, but this one was different. I brought it back to the house and fed it and played with it.  Shortly after doing all that I named it Angel.

     My Grandmother came over that day and saw how well me and my sister were getting along with the cat (which was still outside) and said that if Dad didn’t let us keep it that she would take it.  Well, Dad said no (we already had several pets) and a few days passed where I went outside and called “Here kitty, kitty” or “Angel” and the cat would come running from somewhere in the woods to me. In short, we never did get to keep the cat, but my Grandmother did take her. And the bond that used to have existed between myself and that cat is gone today when I visit: she avoids me and won’t come when I call her. Isn’t that how we are with God sometimes? We are following Him for a while, answering His every call, but then we get fed and placed in the comfortable indoors becoming cocky and prideful instead of humble and grateful.

   Are you still found . . . and named Angel and running to your lover at His every call? Or are you into Yourself and living in your found home?

Thought 233: God Orchastrates in the Affairs of Men from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 233

God Orchestrates in the Affairs of Men

      I don’t want to steal any phrases when I say this, because many have said similar things, but how does a man or woman know that their spouse is the “One”? Is it some subconscious evolutionary drive? Is it some animal like instinct and desire that is simply there for the furtherance of the human race? Is just because that person is ‘pleasing to our eye’? NO! God is the one who told them that who was the one. How do some men grow up always having a “crush” on their future bride and no one else? The answer is, God. God, brought Eve to Adam—God “set it up.”  Waiting on the Lord is the best option, and Isaiah 30:19-26 promises that HE will direct us.

Just because God is sovereign does not mean that we don’t have a free will. Our choices can be against God’s will.

        Now, people take different approaches to pre-marriage relationships. Some will foolishly flaunt themselves around and just date anyone that there heart desires. Others, which I believe choose the better way, decide to save even their first kiss and moments alone together till their wedding day. Only God can give a couple the power to do such things; on the other hand, anybody can ask someone out and follow-their-heart. I purpose that you choose the Biblical way. God has been teaching me what His Word says about romance and He has a lot to say! As God has been lining up conversations for me to share some of His Word on this topic, few appear to have a change of heart. Only two of the many young men I’ve shared with on this issue have appeared to change their view.

      Take heart! You were born at the exact moment that God had ordained and predestined you to enter into this world of wonder! God loves you; and if you haven’t ever received your letter of admittance into heaven because of Jesus Sacrifice (and no work of your own), I pray that you fall on your knees right now, tossing aside this wretched book and cry out to God to save your soul from the encompassing flames of Hell.

⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. ¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.    Romans 10:9-13 KJV

 

GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND ORCHASTRATES THE

LIVES OF MEN AND WOMEN.

…

FOR HIS GLORY

Thought 216: Faster, Faster, 'Cram-it-all-in' from Ryan's devotional book series Thougths

Thought 216

Faster, Faster, ‘Cram-it-all-in’

     Have you ever found yourself in the mindset of having to go faster and cram more in? Sometimes I don’t feel like I am ever going to accomplish this book and then I sit down, be still, and write and God has helped me to finish five or seven devotions in an hour! At times, it even feels like my personal ministry is too much for my schedule; but I have discovered that God never asks us to do more than we can do–He will make a way. But we do have the responsibility to choose what we spend our time doing. If we choose to sit and read or play video games instead of getting done what we need to or  don’t set aside a day for the Lord, we will find ourselves worn out, depressed, discouraged, doubting, tempted, and battling against the Devil more than we would be if we were living as we should. 

     We cannot run around in busyness forever; if we try, we will fail and wither away. Only running the race that God has ordained us to run will bring peace and joy. Yet, many times the way to go fast with the Lord is to go slow. As we sit and listen to what the Lord has to say, whether literally sitting and communing, reading the Scripture and allowing God to reveal truths to us, or reading great Christian books that encourage us to live for God, grow, and examine ourselves, sitting before the Lord has to be a part of our time budget.

        You can lay your head down, dear Christians, without wandering where you will go if you die, but O the horror for the unbeliever! He does not have that assurance. Christians, if we can lay down are heads assured of our relationship with Christ, why do we get up and run around living like we don’t have Christ with us? The Lord has ordained that we live this way:

LIVE QUIET AND PEACEABLE LIVES (1 Thess. 4:11, 1 Tim. 2:2)

Thought 203: Learning? from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 203

Learning?

       Throughout our lives the Lord wants us to grow. The Holy Spirit has many things that He wants to teach us and review over and over again with us. But we have to listen to grow. It’s just like when you were a kid and your Mother told you not to touch the stove, but you did—without listening obediently we won’t grow. Not all of the Holy Spirit’s lessons for us will be profound, but they will get through each day of life.

          Read John 14:1-17:26  slowly and meditate on it. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and make your heart receptive before you begin.

Thougt 190: Are you crazed by "love" from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

                                                                Thought 190

Are you crazed by “love”

What is “love"? It is that gushy, bubbly, suspenseful feeling that you get when you are around someone that you are attracted to…right? Wrong. You see, in our culture, and in past times, men and women have accepted this common lie. Even Solomon and David seem to have been ensnared,  just look at all those wives; many men have fallen prey to a pretty face or a “hot” body. But the book of Proverbs teaches us differently…

God’s Word applies to every area of our lives, but sometimes we have to do a lot of prayer, Bible reading, and study before we know what to do. God does not always just tell us what to do, but rest assured that His Word is TRUE and HE wants you to have a personal relationship with Him.

Examine your soul, motives, and your past…pray about, and do some Bible study, on how God wants you to approach romance, whether you are married or single. I believe the Lord’s Word has something fresh for all of us—it may be a reminder or something new.