I was going through some of my old e-mail devotionals from TGIF (Today God is First), and I found four that I wanted to share with someone. Here's another one of them...
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Godly Rewards
by Os Hillman, February 24, 2007
You have said, "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape." - Malachi 3:14-15
Have you ever felt that serving God had little reward and the ungodly seemed actually to be more blessed than you? This is what the people of God felt. God heard their cry and responded through the prophet Malachi to explain God's view on this matter.
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. "They will be Mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I take up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not" (Malachi 3:16-18).
Notice that after the people complained about this, they began to talk to each other, and the Lord listened and heard. God had been taking note of those who were serving Him and honoring Him. There is a day coming in which God will honor His "treasured possessions." We will see that there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked on that day when "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall" (Mal. 4:2). What a beautiful picture of what we will feel like on that day.
God rewards faithful obedience. It often requires patience, suffering, and perseverance. Be of good cheer; He will reward you if you faint not.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Seeing Through God's Eyes
I was going through some of my old e-mail devotionals from TGIF (Today God is First), and I found four that I wanted to share with someone. Here's another one of them...
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Seeing Through God's Eyes
by Os Hillman, February 20, 2007
They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. - 2 Samuel 1:12
How would you respond if you heard something bad happened to someone who had been trying to cut off your head for several years? King Saul had been seeking to kill David for many years before Saul was thrust into battle against the Amalekites. In this final battle, a sword killed Saul. When the news reached David, instead of rejoicing that his enemy was no longer a problem for him, he responded in a totally different manner. He mourned. Imagine that; he mourned for the one who sought to kill him.
This is a sign of one who can look past an individual who is the source of pain and consider how God views him. God looks on that individual and sees his needs and knows why he responds the way he does. When we begin to see people as God does, we'll no longer look at them as enemies, but as souls in need of grace. This is how Jesus could give of His life for us. He saw our great need, not what we did to Him. When someone wrongs you, do you seek to retaliate, or do you pray to understand the need behind the offender's actions? For several years a person was a source of constant pain and retaliation toward me. There was nothing I could do to change it. God allowed me to go beyond the person's actions to understand what was the source of his need. When I gained that understanding, God gave me a picture of this person inside a prison cell and in bondage. This bondage made him respond to life in this way. I was able to pray for him and genuinely love him in spite of the fact that he persecuted me. This is the kind of love Jesus wants us to have when He tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us.
I believe God does a special work of grace in those who go beyond the realm of normal response to persecution. He brings us to a level of grace we never thought possible. Describing how God worked in Joseph's life, Francis Frangipane reveals what happens when we tap into this grace:
God made him fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God's heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them. [Francis Frangipane, Place of Immunity (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Arrow Publications, 1996), 93]
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Seeing Through God's Eyes
by Os Hillman, February 20, 2007
They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. - 2 Samuel 1:12
How would you respond if you heard something bad happened to someone who had been trying to cut off your head for several years? King Saul had been seeking to kill David for many years before Saul was thrust into battle against the Amalekites. In this final battle, a sword killed Saul. When the news reached David, instead of rejoicing that his enemy was no longer a problem for him, he responded in a totally different manner. He mourned. Imagine that; he mourned for the one who sought to kill him.
This is a sign of one who can look past an individual who is the source of pain and consider how God views him. God looks on that individual and sees his needs and knows why he responds the way he does. When we begin to see people as God does, we'll no longer look at them as enemies, but as souls in need of grace. This is how Jesus could give of His life for us. He saw our great need, not what we did to Him. When someone wrongs you, do you seek to retaliate, or do you pray to understand the need behind the offender's actions? For several years a person was a source of constant pain and retaliation toward me. There was nothing I could do to change it. God allowed me to go beyond the person's actions to understand what was the source of his need. When I gained that understanding, God gave me a picture of this person inside a prison cell and in bondage. This bondage made him respond to life in this way. I was able to pray for him and genuinely love him in spite of the fact that he persecuted me. This is the kind of love Jesus wants us to have when He tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us.
I believe God does a special work of grace in those who go beyond the realm of normal response to persecution. He brings us to a level of grace we never thought possible. Describing how God worked in Joseph's life, Francis Frangipane reveals what happens when we tap into this grace:
God made him fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God's heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them. [Francis Frangipane, Place of Immunity (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Arrow Publications, 1996), 93]
Friday, March 02, 2007
Spiritual Warfare
I was going through some of my old e-mail devotionals from TGIF (Today God is First), and I found four that I wanted to share with someone. Here's one of them...
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Spiritual Warfare
by Os Hillman, February 26, 2007
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.... - Ephesians 6:12
Have you ever heard someone say, "I will never do business with another Christian"? I hear this comment quite often in my dealings with Christian workplace believers. This comment represents the battle that rages against us by the enemy of our soul to destroy the witness and effectiveness of Christian workplace believers. We must realize that we are in a war - a war for the souls of men, a war to discredit all that a Christian stands for, a war that is designed to divide Christian against Christian.
Satan's ploy in the life of Christian workplace believers is to do several things to make them ineffective as soldiers in the workplace. First, he wants to discredit them by allowing them to fail other people in their professional services. This often shows up in failing to perform what they committed to do or performing in an unsatisfactory way. Sometimes, this is a result of a downright failure of the workplace believer to perform with excellence. In other cases, it may be a misunderstanding in the midst of the service that causes strife and division instigated by the enemy.
The result in both cases is the same: a division among Christians and even non-Christians, further resulting in a damaged witness for Christ. The apostle Peter admonishes us to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (1 Pet. 2:12).
There are times when each of us is thrust into situations out of our control. Sometimes this results in our inability to pay a bill on time, or to deliver a service. Defeating satan in these battles requires extra communication with those with whom we are dealing. If the motive of your heart is to do right, then God will give you favor in order to work through these difficult spots. Ask God today to show you where the enemy is seeking to make you ineffective.
We wage a spiritual war that is not flesh and blood. We must fight this war with spiritual weapons applied to practical daily living.
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Spiritual Warfare
by Os Hillman, February 26, 2007
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.... - Ephesians 6:12
Have you ever heard someone say, "I will never do business with another Christian"? I hear this comment quite often in my dealings with Christian workplace believers. This comment represents the battle that rages against us by the enemy of our soul to destroy the witness and effectiveness of Christian workplace believers. We must realize that we are in a war - a war for the souls of men, a war to discredit all that a Christian stands for, a war that is designed to divide Christian against Christian.
Satan's ploy in the life of Christian workplace believers is to do several things to make them ineffective as soldiers in the workplace. First, he wants to discredit them by allowing them to fail other people in their professional services. This often shows up in failing to perform what they committed to do or performing in an unsatisfactory way. Sometimes, this is a result of a downright failure of the workplace believer to perform with excellence. In other cases, it may be a misunderstanding in the midst of the service that causes strife and division instigated by the enemy.
The result in both cases is the same: a division among Christians and even non-Christians, further resulting in a damaged witness for Christ. The apostle Peter admonishes us to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (1 Pet. 2:12).
There are times when each of us is thrust into situations out of our control. Sometimes this results in our inability to pay a bill on time, or to deliver a service. Defeating satan in these battles requires extra communication with those with whom we are dealing. If the motive of your heart is to do right, then God will give you favor in order to work through these difficult spots. Ask God today to show you where the enemy is seeking to make you ineffective.
We wage a spiritual war that is not flesh and blood. We must fight this war with spiritual weapons applied to practical daily living.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Spiritual Strongholds
I was going through some of my old e-mail devotionals from TGIF (Today God is First), and I found four that I wanted to share with someone. Here's one of them...
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Spiritual Strongholds
by Os Hillman, February 16, 2007
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. - 2 Corinthians 10:4
One of the great discoveries I made in later years in my walk with God has to do with living in victory over generational strongholds. The Bible speaks of punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations. (See Exodus 20:5.) The only way out of living under the curses of generational strongholds is to acknowledge them before the Father and repent of their reign in our lives. This breaks the curse's future effects.
A stronghold is a fortress of thoughts that controls and influences our attitudes. They color how we view certain situations, circumstances, or people. When these thoughts and activities become habitual, we allow a spiritual fortress to be built around us. We become so used to responding to the "voice" of that spirit, that its abode in us is secure. All of this happens on a subconscious level.
As a businessman, I discovered that I had been influenced by a generational stronghold of insecurity and fear that was manifested in control. This subconscious fear motivated me to become a workaholic, to seek recognition through activities, to control others' behavior to avoid failure, and to have a relationship with God that was activity-based instead of relationally-based. One day God brought about a number of catastrophic events that forced me to look at what was behind these events. I found that the influence of these strongholds was at the core of these symptoms. The Bible speaks of this war on our souls.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3,5-6).
The steps to freedom for me came when someone shared that these were sins that I was harboring, and in order to walk free of their influence, I needed to repent of them. It was through the power of the cross that I no longer needed to be subjugated by their presence. Once I took this step, I began to walk free of their influences. Besides salvation, this became the most important discovery in my entire Christian walk. My relationship to Christ changed immediately. I began to hear God's voice. I began to trust Christ in areas I never thought possible. I could truly experience the love of Christ for the first time.
This knowledge helped me in business as well. One day I was in the middle of a contract negotiation with another Christian businessman. A lawyer had jumped in the middle of the negotiation. My friend began to surface many old feelings that were a source of pain from his past. When I perceived that a stronghold of insecurity and fear was at the core of his response, I interrupted his argumentative discussion with me and said with a very forceful tone, "I am no longer going to listen to the spirit of insecurity that is speaking through you right now! If you don't refrain from this, I am going to leave!" My friend was taken back. He looked at me quite startled. After a few moments, he agreed with my diagnosis. We talked through what he was feeling and completed our negotiation without further incident.
What are the true motivations of your heart? Have you ever looked deeply at these motivations? You might find that these subconscious motivations may be preventing you from experiencing the fullness of Christ in your life. Ask Him to reveal these and then repent of their influences.
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Spiritual Strongholds
by Os Hillman, February 16, 2007
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. - 2 Corinthians 10:4
One of the great discoveries I made in later years in my walk with God has to do with living in victory over generational strongholds. The Bible speaks of punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations. (See Exodus 20:5.) The only way out of living under the curses of generational strongholds is to acknowledge them before the Father and repent of their reign in our lives. This breaks the curse's future effects.
A stronghold is a fortress of thoughts that controls and influences our attitudes. They color how we view certain situations, circumstances, or people. When these thoughts and activities become habitual, we allow a spiritual fortress to be built around us. We become so used to responding to the "voice" of that spirit, that its abode in us is secure. All of this happens on a subconscious level.
As a businessman, I discovered that I had been influenced by a generational stronghold of insecurity and fear that was manifested in control. This subconscious fear motivated me to become a workaholic, to seek recognition through activities, to control others' behavior to avoid failure, and to have a relationship with God that was activity-based instead of relationally-based. One day God brought about a number of catastrophic events that forced me to look at what was behind these events. I found that the influence of these strongholds was at the core of these symptoms. The Bible speaks of this war on our souls.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:3,5-6).
The steps to freedom for me came when someone shared that these were sins that I was harboring, and in order to walk free of their influence, I needed to repent of them. It was through the power of the cross that I no longer needed to be subjugated by their presence. Once I took this step, I began to walk free of their influences. Besides salvation, this became the most important discovery in my entire Christian walk. My relationship to Christ changed immediately. I began to hear God's voice. I began to trust Christ in areas I never thought possible. I could truly experience the love of Christ for the first time.
This knowledge helped me in business as well. One day I was in the middle of a contract negotiation with another Christian businessman. A lawyer had jumped in the middle of the negotiation. My friend began to surface many old feelings that were a source of pain from his past. When I perceived that a stronghold of insecurity and fear was at the core of his response, I interrupted his argumentative discussion with me and said with a very forceful tone, "I am no longer going to listen to the spirit of insecurity that is speaking through you right now! If you don't refrain from this, I am going to leave!" My friend was taken back. He looked at me quite startled. After a few moments, he agreed with my diagnosis. We talked through what he was feeling and completed our negotiation without further incident.
What are the true motivations of your heart? Have you ever looked deeply at these motivations? You might find that these subconscious motivations may be preventing you from experiencing the fullness of Christ in your life. Ask Him to reveal these and then repent of their influences.
Friday, December 29, 2006
And oh yeah, Merry Christmas too!!!
Oh yeah, Christmas and New Year's! Tee, oops!
A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. I don't make a big deal about New Year's Eve or New Year's Day; to me, as long as I can remember, the period between Christmas Day and my birthday has always felt like the start of my year. I take the time to reflect on the year past, what I did, what I didn't do, what I succeed at, what I failed at, and where I can improve. What I haven't done in the past is make New Year's resolutions, and I've figured out why - I have a problem with staying committed to vague goals.
However, this year, I do have a few things that I want to get done this year, so this weekend I plan to pray about it and seriously map out how I'm going to accomplish them in 2007. Specific plans and specific results to indicate when I've reached my end goals, with milestones of progress in between. Then, I'll put things in The Lord's hands to let His will be done, and try not to sabotage myself by being a control freak and trying to force. I won't share all of my plans and goals with you, but I will tell you six of them which are really continuations of my personal growth during 2006.
- Learn to RELAX a bit more every day and take a couple of REAL vacations this year (The first by April, the second by October).
- Strike a better balance between my EXTREMELY competitive nature and letting God take control of things.
- Communicate with people better, ask for help when I need it, learn to be more socialable, and expand my circle of friends and acquaintances.
- Be involved in a sport or a sports league every month of the year to expend some of my competitive energies.
- Learn to take "baby steps"; not everything is an all-or-nothing sitation.
- FINISH THE JOB!!!
Anyways, everyone...I'm not sure when I'm going to blog again, but hopefully I'll see you around town or on Sunday morning. Take care of yourselves! Stay safe!
--Chris
P.S. I'm running the Kindergarten New Year's Eve Party at church Sunday night. It promises to be, simply put, the most AWESOME New Year's Eve Party ever, EVER!!! I really missed my calling...I should have been a club promoter/hype man.
It's my Birthday!!! YAY!?!
It's been a while since I've blogged, so what the heck...
So, today is my 27th birthday. I don't really know what to say about this one. I'm working during the day, and I'm going to someone else's birthday party (actually, a combo party for two people, neither of which is me) tonight, followed by a trip to the gym, so today is pretty much a write-off. Tomorrow, I'm planning to spend most of the afternoon with a buddy for a dim-sum lunch followed by a movie and some serious video gamage (Gamage? Who says that? Oh wait ... me.). No complaints at all from me...I don't like a lot of attention on my birthday; I like to keep things low key.
All in all, my 26th year on this planet has been a very good one. I've been learning to trust God more in my everyday life, and while I don't always understand what's in store or even what's going on, I can see how my past personal, spirtual, and professional successes and failures prepared me to properly handle the blessings that I'm experiencing now. In fact, I even see my trials as blessings, because I know that The Lord is using them to make me and mold me into the man he wants me to be. It's pretty exciting when I think about it!
Take care of yourselves! Stay safe!
--Chris
P.S. In case you're wondering what my birthday haul has been so far:
So, today is my 27th birthday. I don't really know what to say about this one. I'm working during the day, and I'm going to someone else's birthday party (actually, a combo party for two people, neither of which is me) tonight, followed by a trip to the gym, so today is pretty much a write-off. Tomorrow, I'm planning to spend most of the afternoon with a buddy for a dim-sum lunch followed by a movie and some serious video gamage (Gamage? Who says that? Oh wait ... me.). No complaints at all from me...I don't like a lot of attention on my birthday; I like to keep things low key.
All in all, my 26th year on this planet has been a very good one. I've been learning to trust God more in my everyday life, and while I don't always understand what's in store or even what's going on, I can see how my past personal, spirtual, and professional successes and failures prepared me to properly handle the blessings that I'm experiencing now. In fact, I even see my trials as blessings, because I know that The Lord is using them to make me and mold me into the man he wants me to be. It's pretty exciting when I think about it!
Take care of yourselves! Stay safe!
--Chris
P.S. In case you're wondering what my birthday haul has been so far:
- $200 cash total
- $70 in movie and mall gift cards
- Tickets to about 7 or 8 Raptors games in a pack (a Christmas/Birthday combo)
- Well-wishes from my co-workers and from a few friends, acquaintances, and family
Monday, October 16, 2006
Monday, August 07, 2006
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About Me
- Chris Rodney
- "He's just a common man ... working hard with his hands!" If you caught that reference, then you probably are about my age (mid-twenties), and like some of the things that I like. What can I say, I'm 27, gainfully employed, financially stable, with a car (stick-shift OF COURSE), and still live with my mom. Seriously though, I'm a devout Christian, and no matter how adverse my circumstances might seem, I am confident that God's got my back, and is molding me into the man He wants me to be. I refuse to get down about things, love to laugh and make others laugh, and always look at things from that bright, optimistic and sometimes quirky perspective. As for my work, work for one of Canada's largest IT/Telecommunications firms, and look at any entrepreneurial opportunities that come my way. I'm building my empire brick-by-brick, but right now, I'm just resting and recouperating from a few challenging years.
