SEEING POTENTIAL IN OTHERS

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“...Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out”
(Ephesians 6:18, The Message)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria
It’s easy to be someone’s friend when they’ve got it all together, when they’re walking in blessing and prosperity. Anybody can believe in people after they’re successful, after they graduate, after they’re promoted, after they get their big break. But, people need our support the most before they get their breakthrough. They need us to look past their faults and failures and see their potential.

Most times, people just need a little “push” of encouragement to keep them moving forward. We should always put ourselves in the other person’s shoes and see things from their perspective. You may have some good advice that could save them a lot of heartache and pain. Don’t keep it to yourself. Pick up the phone. Help them win. Maybe you excelled in a college course that they’re struggling in. Don’t sit back and think, “Too bad. They’ve got to learn it the hard way.” No, you are the hands and feet of Jesus. When you help others rise higher, you are fulfilling His mission. Today, share your love, support and encouragement. Invest life in others, see their potential, and together, you’ll rise higher into the blessing God has for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father God, thank You for giving me influence with the people in my life. Thank You for equipping me to help others rise higher. Reveal to me the potential You have deposited in the people around me and show me ways to help them so we can win at life together. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
— Joel & Victoria Osteen

SOURCE: Joel Osteen

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

Feel often during the day the need for prayer and pray.
Prayer opens the heart, till it is capable of containing God himself.
Ask and seek and your heart will be big enough to receive Him
and keep Him as Your Own.

~Mother Teresa

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

Worry is Like a Rocking Chair

You might be rocking away, and it might feel like you're getting somewhere; but in the end, you are exactly where you started.

With the state of the economy and the unemployment rate, it's easy to worry.

Most of us remember the first time we heard officially on the news that our economy is in a recession. But did you know that the next morning, the birds still woke up and sang? They didn't fall off their branches in unbelief and start flying around here and there worrying, stopping their song.

No, the little birds sang and the big birds sang, and it was like a beautiful symphony.

You might be thinking, "Joel, that's great, birds singing and all; but come on, our economy is in a crisis."

Listen to what Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure to his stature or to the span of his life? And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will he not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore, do not worry and be anxious, saying, "What are we going to eat? Or "What are we going to have to drink? Or, what are we going to have to wear? But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things taken together will be given to you. So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own." (Matthew 6:26-30, Amplified)

Friends, nothing is new under the sun. They might not have had economists back then with the term "recession", but there have been many who've gone before us that worried about what to eat, drink, wear, where to live, where to send their kids, how to pay for this or that; but God lovingly reminds us that He takes care of the flowers in the field and the birds in the air. How much more valuable are we to Him?

Jesus made it so clear about worrying. How many more days to our life will we added by worrying? Are you going to grow taller? Are you going to grow smarter? Are your problems going to disappear? Worrying does us no good! But what does us good is when we magnify God and not our problems. The Bible even says, "Do not fret, it only leads to evil."

So what are we to do? Trust God, and just like the birds, praise Him. Keep that song of praise in your heart. When the praises go up, the blessings come down. His joy is our strength through the hard times. When you spend your time worrying, you're not putting your faith out there.

Worry says, "I'm not going to get a job. I'm never going to get my retirement back."

The garment of praise says, "Father, I thank you for the victories you've already brought me. Thank you for the favor. Thank you that you're turning my situation around."

One thing I've learned is that you can't worry and praise at the same time.

You can't say, "I know You're on the throne, and You're good all the time. You always cause me to triumph. You make a way when there seems to be no way," and then worry and think, "I don't know how this is going to turn around."

Supernatural things will happen when we praise. Supernatural things do not happen when we worry. Worry does nothing but rob your joy.

You might feel like worrying is getting you somewhere, but it does nothing but zap your strength. We need our energy for the battles in life, and we need the knowledge of who God is during these difficulties to keep singing.

Suddenly, God can change your situation around like Paul and Silas when they were in prison. In the midnight hour, they were set free. But was it from them crying, fretting and wringing their hands, being in despair and complaining? No, they were praising God and the prison door went wide open.

No matter what the news report says about how many points the Dow Jones is down, each day, wake up with great faith and keep your joy and praise God.

And don't forget to enlarge your vision. You can't do that when you're worrying. You might have lost a lot in the stock market, but God can cause you to make back everything you lost, plus more. There is no limit to what God can do. But what does limit Him is when we don't believe, and we allow worry to rob our joy and faith.

This is what Scripture says in Jeremiah 33:11, "'…Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before.' says the Lord."

That means when you wake up, praise God. Believe Him for restoration in your retirement and savings. Believe God for restoration in that business you lost. There is nothing too difficult for God to do. Everything that was stolen can be restored in your life. God always gives us double for our trouble, and He likes to outdo Himself. The question is do you believe He will?

Keep your hopes up. Don't let worry have any room in your heart today.

Keep a song in your heart. And when you wake up in the morning and hear the birds singing, let it remind you to praise God during these difficult economic times. He has the whole world in His hands. In fact, He has you in the palm of His Hand. Nothing is a surprise to Him. If you will stay full of hope and praise, God will show Himself strong in your life, and you will not be disappointed!

~~Joel Osteen

SOURCE: Joel Osteen Ministries

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

A religious person is not interested in God; he is more interested in the very source of his being, who he is: “Who am I?” That is the MOST fundamental religious question — not God, not heaven, not hell, but “Who am I?” And if you can find the truth of your own being you will have found all the truth that is necessary to know and is worth knowing. You will have found God and you will have found NIRVANA and you will have found all that the seers, the rishis, the Buddhas, the prophets, down the ages, have been telling you to inquire into.
— Osho

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart."

Buddha

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY - STRENGTH

Philippians 4:13 NIV
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Isaiah 40:29 NIV
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Psalm 119:28 NIV
My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
Psalm 18:32-34 NIV
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Isaiah 41:10 NIV
So do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 
Isaiah 40:31 NIV
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

Love is patient, love is kind, Love does not insist on its own way. Love bears all things, believes all things, Hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
-I Corinthians 13:4-8



Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
-Corinthians 3:16


Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
By Dalai Lama


Your whole idea about yourself is borrowed - borrowed from those who have no idea of who they are themselves.
By Osho


Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.
By Ram Dass


"The spiritual quest begins, for most people, as a search for meaning."
~Marilyn Ferguson ~


"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."
~Joseph Campbell~ 

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

"And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." - Nelson Mandela
"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without" -Buddha
"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness" -Dalai Lama
"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin" - Mother Teresa
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen - Hebrews 11:1" - The Bible