Positive God Talk

There is such a thing a positive God talk. Ever heard of that?

Positive God talk is conversation with others about the greatness of God and how important He is to your life and family.  It’s talk about what God has done, how he has touched your life and opened your eyes to things that have always been there, but you have not seen. Positive God talk is contagious, people want to hear it. Neither is it conditional. Even when things are going wrong for us, God is still good.

In Luke 24:14 shows us two men walking on a road who were engaged in positive God talk about Jesus. They talked about the crucifixion and believed Jesus to be a prophet with a mighty word. They talked of his persecution, miracles  and many other events. They were excited and their conversation was filled with positive God talk.

When God has moved in your life, it’s a good idea to fill your mind and heart with positive God talk. Talk about  the wonderful things he has done in your life. Talk about the confidence he inspires. Talk of the strength he gives.  Even when life tests us, we still should have positive God talk.

The bible calls positive God talk witnessing. It’s recognizing God’s hand in our affairs and pointing it out to those who want to know. You can feel the excitement in a room when people begin to tell of the wondrous ways God has blessed them, including sometimes causing them to fail to save them. That’s when you hear someone say, “It wasn’t nothing, but the Lord!”

“It wasn’t nothing, but the Lord, chile!”, “It wasn’t nothing, but the Lord.”

That’s positive God talk.

The Greatest

Luke 22:26-27 

Muhammad Ali promoted himself as the “Greatest” in fact, he said he could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” He was a great champion, but he is probably loved and respected because of his willingness to champion the less fortunate around the world. Whether in America, where he was stripped of his title for refusing to fight the innocent or overseas where he spoke for the rights of the little people,  Ali was a champion of the less fortunate.

He was a great boxer, but what probably made him the “Greatest” was his service to mankind.

In verse 226-27 Jesus’ disciples debated among themselves about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. They wanted to be in positions of power. Jesus told them that the one that would truly be the greatest would be the one who served most.

That’s true even today. 

Those that we revere as the greatest are those who served most. Whether its in your family or the church, the ones you remember as the greatest in your opinion, were usually the ones who served others most and themselves less.

Betrayed by a Friend?

   Have you ever been betrayed by a person you thought was your friend? That’s a hard pill to swallow. We trust our friends with our confidential information, fears, weaknesses and sometimes we tell them our intimate thoughts. It really hurts when a person misuses that trust and reveals your secrets or acts against you.
 

That’s what Jesus referred to in Luke 22:21. At the Last supper he said someone eating with Him would betray him. Someone in his inner circle would turn Him in to the authorities. 

   Everyone at the table asked, “Lord is it I?” including Judas, who knew the answer to the question.

   As believers we must be careful not to betray our Lord. We do that when we claim to be His followers, but live just the opposite. When we try to sleep with the hounds and run with the rabbits we betray him. When we run with devil all week and then sit among the Saints on Sunday, He says, “Someone who is praising me with their lips and shouting hallelujah, is betraying me right now?”

  Every one is the church asks the question, “Lord is it I?”

  Only Judas knows the answer.

Choosing to Suffer

To suffer is to endure hardship, deprivation, pain or loss. Suffering connotes sacrifice, struggle and even death. Yet, even with its gloomy forecast we willingly endure suffering if there is hope that our suffering will lead to a positive end.

A mother faces nine months of suffering buoyed by the joyful thought of bringing new life.
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Our people suffered as slaves, but they always hoped that the children would be free.

Athletes endure the pain of training encouraged by the hope of victory!

In Luke 22 Jesus told his disciples that his suffering was about to begin. It would be painful, humiliating and deadly, but its end would usher in a new day.

Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and even certain members of our families have lived out the scene, deciding to suffer to bring about a better end.

Verses 14-15 show us Jesus preparing to suffer the cross so that all believers could get the crown of life. He was was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity..

 

And with His stripes we are healed.

Sleep on it!

Sometimes God shows you some things about your family, your job, your friends or even about your future. Sometimes we don’t like what we see and wish we didn’t know. So what do you do with it?  Sometimes we sleep on it and get up the next day and go about our business and put it in God’s hands.

In Daniel 8 God showed Daniel many things that were troubling. He saw the future and it bothered him. He saw trouble ahead. He also saw victory down the road, but not before a lot of suffering.  At verses 26-27, the last verses of the chapter, Daniel was so sick about what he knew was coming that he fainted.  However, the same verse says, “afterward” he arose and went about “the king’s business” and kept what he felt and knew to himself, astonished, still not understanding, but trusting God.

This verse could very well be for you. If you have been shown some things that are about to happen and you have tried your best, but failed to give warnings or prevent them.  Don’t worry yourself.  Put it in God’s hands, then get a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow arise and refreshed and ready to do the King’s business.

We have a Pope!

  The Catholic Church named Jorge Bergoglio as its 266^th Pope this week. His record of service demonstrates a passion for the poor and to live the simple life of a man dedicated to God’s service.

   That impresses me.

   When it is all said and done the pope is a pastor. He just happens to pastor more than a billion people. As a pastor his interests are focused primarily on building the kingdom of God.

   Sometimes pastors forget that become absorbed in the accumulation of creature comforts, wealth and fame. Pastors who wear flashy jewelry, live in luxury mansions, and drive expensive automobiles soon become distant from the passion that drives them to save the people on behalf of the Lord.

   The new Pope has lived a  sober and austere lifestyle. He travels on the underground, the bus, when he traveled to Rome he flew economy class.

    He probably won’t see much of that anymore. He won’t get to ride the bus or fly economy class because he is the Pope, but all of his life is interest has been with the poor and downtrodden.

    At 76 years of age he’s probably not going to change, because his address and title has changed.

    When Jesus began his ministry he announced a life of poverty where even “foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man hath no place to lay his head.”

    In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

    To the extent that he remembers the poor and reaches out to the disenfranchised in the name of our Lord, I welcome the Pope and pray God’s blessings upon him.

The New Pope emerges



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