count your blessings

Ephesians 1:3 NLT

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

We really are blessed. Look around and count your blessings rather than loathing or complaining about what you don’t have. That is easy to do, confusing our problems with our blessings.

When we are distracted, we will not see what God is doing. Have you noticed that?

Signs of the Christmas season are all around. The lights and the decorations. The music and the holiday festivities.

All around us are also needs that stand open for us to help with. Can you do something about those? I did not ask if you can fix the problems of the world. I did not ask if you can change all the people who are struggling or the governments that seem to be missing the most important. I asked how can you help?

I assert that one of the best ways to help is to recognize how blessed you are. Count your blessings. Name them. Write them down. Stop and thank God for the blessings. Some of those are people, and tell them how blessed they make you. Thank God for what you do have and not what you don’t.

That recognition will make meeting needs a little easier.

Last Sunday we handed our people at church a small bag with some items to give away this week. It wasn’t much. In each bag was a card that pointed people to some videos and to our church services. My prayer is that each recipient will see or hear or know who God is AND how much God loves them. I cannot wait to hear how those little bags impacted some lives, but we might never know. But God knows.

Recognize your blessings, and then choose to be a blessing to someone this weekend and this Christmas season!

Job 29:13 NLT

I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy.

Psalm 31:19 NLT

How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

We are blessed to be a blessing to others!

NOTE: there will be a work day at our new campus tomorrow, December 11th, beginning just after 8am. Come out and help. Then plan to join us for worship this Sunday at 10:10 and Saturday for our addiction ministry worship at 6pm.

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan. His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God. Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st. The book is Forgotten God . This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into. All of it is within the Holy Spirit. Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people. It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about. And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share. For me C.S. Lewis is one of those. He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class. It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before. He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born. It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian. He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

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