Shame eats away at the core of who we are.
God has plucked you out of eternity, positioned you in time, and given you gifts and talents to serve him in this generation. Your race is now. This is your time in history.
When someone is trapped in a burning building, you don’t try to work out what caused the fire and then decide whether the people inside get your sympathy. When people are in danger of burning up, you rush to save them. Especially if you remember how much it hurts to be burned.
Shame is the fear of being unworthy, and it adversely affects our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. It greatly hinders our ability to receive God’s unconditional love – and share it with others.
It’s been said that we are shaped by our thoughts. If this is true, can you imagine where one healthy thought can lead each day?
The oppressed do not see too much difference between those who would keep them down and those who do nothing to help. There is no in-between.
No matter what circumstances we might face in life, it is possible for us to overcome in the midst of them by taking hold of God’s thoughts.
Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.
God’s image is only fully reflected in both man and woman. When we denigrate a woman, we are in fact diminishing part of the image of God. When we exclude women, we exclude part of God. When we put women down, we tarnish the image of God.
If God created us to do good works of eternal significance, he would not create us ill-prepared for those tasks.
Each of us is God’s workmanship, not the workmanship of anyone else.
Many start the race with high energy and vibrant passion, but when they do not move ahead as quickly as they think they should, they lose their zeal and commitment.
You and I face a huge question: Do we trust God to do in his own timing what only he can do?
A key to becoming shame-free is choosing to change your perspective, because when you do, you can begin to change your posture.
Just as life will upend you, so will love.
That’s why the old saying goes that failing to forgive is like ingesting poison and expecting the other person to die.
When winds of storms come – and we know they will – we will ride the storms on his wings. When the challenges, trials, and obstacles come, he will catapult us to the next level of faith.
I choose to remind myself that you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I.
Each of these individuals had at one time believed it was impossible for them to make a difference in a global problem. But they’ve discovered that together, with each of them carrying their own unique batons, they are unstoppable in carrying out God’s plan. That sounds far too complex to be real, doesn’t it? It sounds impossible. Fantastic! Impossible is God’s starting point.
Fear is just a feeling that will pass. It is not reality. Christ at work in you and through you is reality. When you learn to see areas of fear as places where trust is about to grow, fear gives way to courage.