The most common myth about money is that having more will make me more secure. It won’t. Wealth can be lost instantly through a variety of uncontrollable factors. Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you – your relationship with God.
Prayer lets you speak to God; meditation lets God speak to you. Both are essential to becoming a friend of God.
You cannot keep yourself from talking about what you care about most. Jesus said, “A man’s heart determines his speech.
Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.
Retirement is not the goal of a surrendered life, because it competes with God for the primary attention of our lives.
Point to Ponder: If there were no God, and everything was a result of random chance, there would be no purpose to your life. It all starts with God.
Without God life makes no sense.
As so many people in the Bible did, tell God exactly how you feel.
You cannot make God stop loving you, because his love is based on who he is, not what you do. It is based on his character, not your conduct.
Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving lepers. Nothing was beneath him, because he came to serve. It wasn’t in spite of his greatness that he did these things, but because of it, and he expects us to follow his example.
God’s purpose is not limited by your past.
If you are serious about changing your life, you are going to have to get into the Bible.
God wants your life – all of it. Ninety-five percent is not enough.
Knowing your purpose motivates your life. Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose. On the other hand, passion dissipates when you lack a purpose. Just getting out of bed becomes a major chore. It is usually meaningless work, not overwork, that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy.
When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. You will start living in light of eternity, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance. Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
Gratitude asks, “Why me? Why do I get all that I have?
When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesn’t matter as much anymore. Paul said, “I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.”3.
Can I trust God? Trust is an essential ingredient to surrender. You won’t surrender to God unless you trust him, but you can’t trust him until you know him better. Fear keeps us from surrendering, but love casts out all fear. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier surrender becomes.
Gratitude asks, “Why me? Why do I get all that I have?” David modeled this kind of gratitude when he prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”15 Years later, his son would write, “It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.
Every parent knows that delayed obedience is really disobedience.