“When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions. Wait for hope to appear.” (Lamentations 3:28-29 MSG)

The concept of waiting on God is a spiritual habit. It is the single greatest antidote to anxiety and tension. It’s a spiritual discipline that you must learn to do or you will be under stress your entire life.

This is what it means to wait on God: you sit down and shut up. Find a place to be quiet and sit still in silence. Don’t read anything. Don’t pray. Just take some deep breaths, sit before God and say, “God, I’m just going to wait on you.” It’s amazing what a calming ability this has on your heart and mind. “Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. … They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 NLT).

God wants to talk to you. If you aren’t hearing him, it’s because you aren’t making time in your schedule to listen to him. You’re too busy listening to your iPod, playing with your iPad, watching television, playing video games or talking on your cell phone. You might be overworking.

If you want to hear God, you need to sit in silence. Turn off all the electronics and remove yourself from all the distractions. Find a comfortable place and sit there. Tell God you’re waiting to hear from him and then listen. Be quiet.

This is what Jesus told the disciples to do: “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (Matthew 6:6-7 MSG). That’s the power of a quiet time.

So here is my challenge to you: Every day for the next seven days, I want you to spend 10 minutes in silence before God. Tell God you’re there to wait on him, and then just sit there. You can read a little bit and talk to God in prayer, but the majority of your time needs to be spent in silence before God. You’ll be amazed at the new strength you will find.

“The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience – to wait for him to save us” (Lamentations 3:25-26 TEV). Wait in patience and wait for God to save you. When your world falls apart, you want to put it back together instantly, but that won’t happen. It didn’t fall apart instantly, and it’s going to take time to put things back together. But wait in patience, because God’s timing is perfect.

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Churchin Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times Best Seller The Purpose Driven Life, as well as The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.
]]> http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/when-things-fall-apart-get-alone-and-wait-on-god-by-rick-warren/feed/ 0 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/the-lamentations-before-the-holy-sepulcherchanted-by-fairuz/ http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/the-lamentations-before-the-holy-sepulcherchanted-by-fairuz/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:02:15 +0000 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/?p=298 ]]> Ai Geneai Pasai–Every Generation-3rd Stasis-with Greek & English translations

Kali Anastasi to all–

Passion Week contained several memorable events. Jesus cleansed the Temple for the second time (Luke 19:45-46), then disputed with the Pharisees regarding His authority. Then He gave His Olivet Discourse on the end times and taught many things, including the signs of His second coming. Jesus ate His Last Supper with His disciples in the upper room (Luke 22:7-38), then went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray as He waited for His hour to come. It was here that Jesus, having been betrayed by Judas, was arrested and taken to several sham trials before the chief priests, Pontius Pilate, and Herod (Luke 22:54-23:25).

Following the trials, Jesus was scourged at the hands of the Roman soldiers, then was forced to carry His own instrument of execution (the Cross) through the streets of Jerusalem along what is known as the Via Dolorosa (way of sorrows). Jesus was then crucified at Golgotha on the day before the Sabbath, was buried and remained in the tomb until Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, and then gloriously resurrected.

It is referred to as Passion Week because in that time, Jesus Christ truly revealed His passion for us in the suffering He willingly went through on our behalf. What should our attitude be during Passion Week? We should be passionate in our worship of Jesus and in our proclamation of His Gospel! As He suffered for us, so should we be willing to suffer for the cause of following Him and proclaiming the message of His death and resurrection.

Recommended Resource: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas.

Thank you Julia for sharing (from Rick Warren’s Got Questions).  To all our friends, have a wonderful & glorious Easter!

“As she stood behind Jesus at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” Luke 7:38 (NIV)

There are some powerful lessons about worship and about the transformation that happens in the life of a worshiper in Luke 7. The sinful woman in this story exhibited four traits we need to take note of:

1. She worshiped boldly. This woman took a risk coming to the Pharisee’s house. She could have been thrown out or stoned, but she came boldly. She marched right into the house, into the dining room, into Jesus’ presence. Why would she do that? She was looking for forgiveness. She was looking for hope and acceptance. She was looking for some kind of change in her life. She was not there just to pay homage to some holy guy.
2. She worshiped humbly. She wept in Jesus’ presence, wetting his feet with her tears. Then, in her deep sorrow, she got down on her knees, showing her submission to God, and dried his feet with her hair.
3. She worshiped honestly. Many biblical scholars believe the sinful woman must have been a prostitute because she brought an expensive jar of perfume with her. This jar of perfume had significance – it represented her life; it represented her background; it was one of the tools of the trade. When she came to Jesus with that jar and poured it on his feet, it was her confession. She was honestly telling Jesus who she was.
4. She worshiped extravagantly. She showed Jesus extravagant worship by using a jar of perfume that probably cost her an entire year’s wages. And she didn’t just dab on a couple of drops. Luke 7:38 says she poured the perfume on his feet. Why? This was her opportunity to come clean, to meet God, worship him and be transformed. It was her chance to start over.

You don’t have to clean up your act before you can worship God. Worship him and he’ll clean up your act. You don’t repent and confess in order to earn forgiveness. You change your ways because you’ve been forgiven.

Romans 12 says that we offer ourselves to the Lord in worship so that he can transform us. It’s the worship that comes first. That’s what we see in this woman’s life.

Thank you Julia for sharing–from Rick Warrens’s Daily Hope.

Read The Way of the Worshiper by Buddy Owens — This book is not about music. It’s not even about going to church. It’s about living your life as an offering of worship to God. It’s about tapping into the source of power to live the Christian life. And it’s about discovering the secret to friendship with God.
]]> http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/worship-comes-before-transformation-by-buddy-owens/feed/ 0 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/face-reality-then-choose-faith-by-rick-warren/ http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/face-reality-then-choose-faith-by-rick-warren/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:57:54 +0000 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/?p=278 Continue reading →]]> “The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?“

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly a terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.” Matthew 8:23-24 (NLT)

Today’s devotional is by Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Relationship Principles of Jesus.’

If you are going to deal with worry and anxiety, the first thing you have to do is face reality.

In Matthew 8, we see the reality of the situation that Jesus and the disciples faced. What they went through shows us the reality of what we have to face when life doesn’t go the way we plan.

1. They faced a sudden storm. This is a picture for us of unexpected problems. We often don’t know what direction a problem is going to come from or where we will be when it hits.
   If you build your life around the belief that you’ll be okay this year as long as nothing goes wrong, you’re going to lose. Because something will always go wrong.
2. They faced waves. Waves in our life are overwhelming circumstances. For the disciples, the waves in the midst of the storm were higher than their boat. They had overwhelming circumstances. And the same thing happens to us. A storm hits our life and the circumstances of it leave us wondering, “How am I going to face that?”
3. They had a boat. This is a picture for us of inadequate resources. The boat wasn’t big enough to hold the waves that were coming. We face the same situation.
   If only we had all the money in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. If only we had all the time in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. That’s just reality, and saying anything else is a lie.
4. Jesus was asleep in the boat. Here were the disciples in the midst of a storm and almost ready to drown, and Jesus, the one they knew could make a difference, was asleep.
   This is a picture of how many of us feel when we are facing a genuine problem in life. We don’t know what to do or where to turn, and we know God knows what we’re going through. The worse it gets, the more we wonder, “God, where are you in all of this? Why don’t you do something to change the situation?”
   The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?

Anxiety wears you out and it shortens your life, but if you have no other answers, you are going to keep worrying. Many people think the answer to worry is to somehow pretend that there is nothing to worry about. But the only way to deal with worry effectively is to face reality and then choose to face reality with faith.

My comment to Warren’s devotional:  Interestingly enough, 2 nites ago I had a dream w/my spouse & myself high up in a boat during extremely bad weather (unexpected problems) watching an acquaintance below swimming back & forth, fighting the waves (overwhelming circumstances).  This is all I remember, this one picture frame, & it lingered in the back of my mind–I didn’t think Rick Warren’s devotional from that same day would bring the interpretation my mind sought–which is to say, I face my reality daily, but I must consciously do this, with faith.

Thanks Julia for sharing with us once again!
]]> http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/face-reality-then-choose-faith-by-rick-warren/feed/ 0 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/the-principle-of-motivation-nurture-your-enthusiasm-by-rick-warren/ http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/the-principle-of-motivation-nurture-your-enthusiasm-by-rick-warren/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:18:59 +0000 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/?p=275 Continue reading →]]>

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:11-12 (NIV)

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing great is ever accomplished in life without enthusiasm.” You have to have a passion to see something great happen. That’s why you need to nurture your enthusiasm if you want to change.

If you say, “Well, I kind of, sort of, maybe want to change” it isn’t going to happen. If you say, “Well, I’d like to change in my spare time” it isn’t going to happen. But if you are passionate about your goal it will become reality.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to lose your enthusiasm. So how do you maintain it? Speaking from personal experience, it takes more than positive thinking or psycho cybernetics. It takes God in your life.

The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words. The word en which means “in” and the word theos which is Greek for “God.” To be enthusiastic means to be “in God.” When you get in God, you have enthusiasm deep in your heart.

The Apostle Paul tells us how to be enthusiastic in Romans 12:11-12, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

“Joyful in hope” – even when things go wrong, hang on to your hope in God and it will give you joy.

“Patient in affliction” – Remain patient because you know God will use whatever you’re going through for good.

“Faithful in prayer” – When tough times come, you have a choice: you can either pray continually or you can panic. You can either be on your knees giving it to God, or you can give up.
]]> http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/the-principle-of-motivation-nurture-your-enthusiasm-by-rick-warren/feed/ 0 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/what-did-jesus-mean-when-he-said-%e2%80%9ctake-up-your-cross-and-follow-me%e2%80%9d-matthew-1624-mark-834-luke-923/ http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/what-did-jesus-mean-when-he-said-%e2%80%9ctake-up-your-cross-and-follow-me%e2%80%9d-matthew-1624-mark-834-luke-923/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:03:22 +0000 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/?p=271 Continue reading →]]> Let’s begin with what Jesus didn’t mean. Many people interpret “cross” as some burden they must carry in their lives: a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying pride, they say, “That’s my cross I have to carry.” Such an interpretation is not what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

When Jesus carried His cross up Golgotha to be crucified, no one was thinking of the cross as symbolic of a burden to carry. To a person in the first-century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop.

Two thousand years later, Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love. But in Jesus’ day, the cross represented nothing but torturous death. Because the Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion, bearing a cross meant carrying their own execution device while facing ridicule along the way to death.

Therefore, “Take up your cross and follow Me” means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called “dying to self.” It’s a call to absolute surrender. After each time Jesus commanded cross bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25). Although the call is tough, the reward is matchless.

Wherever Jesus went, He drew crowds. Although these multitudes often followed Him as Messiah, their view of who the Messiah really was—and what He would do—was distorted. They thought the Christ would usher in the restored kingdom. They believed He would free them from the oppressive rule of their Roman occupiers. Even Christ’s own inner circle of disciples thought the kingdom was coming soon (Luke 19:11). When Jesus began teaching that He was going to die at the hands of the Jewish leaders and their Gentile overlords (Luke 9:22), His popularity sank. Many of the shocked followers rejected Him. Truly, they were not able to put to death their own ideas, plans, and desires, and exchange them for His.

Following Jesus is easy when life runs smoothly; our true commitment to Him is revealed during trials. Jesus assured us that trials will come to His followers (John 16:33). Discipleship demands sacrifice, and Jesus never hid that cost.

In Luke 9:57-62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them further, their commitment was half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None was willing to take up his cross and crucify upon it his own interests.

Therefore, Jesus appeared to dissuade them. How different from the typical Gospel presentation! How many people would respond to an altar call that went, “Come follow Jesus, and you may face the loss of friends, family, reputation, career, and possibly even your life”? The number of false converts would likely decrease! Such a call is what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

If you wonder if you are ready to take up your cross, consider these questions:
• Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing some of your closest friends?
• Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family?
• Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means the loss of your reputation?
• Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job?
• Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life?

In some places of the world, these consequences are reality. But notice the questions are phrased, “Are you willing?” Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean all these things will happen to you, but are you willing take up your cross? If there comes a point in your life where you are faced with a choice—Jesus or the comforts of this life—which will you choose?

Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple (Luke 14:27). The reward is worth the price. Jesus followed His call of death to self (“Take up your cross and follow Me”) with the gift of life in Christ: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25-26).

Recommended Resource: True Discipleship: The Art of Following Jesus by John Koessler.
Thanks Julia for sharing from gotquestions.org

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

If you want to have lasting change in your life, you need to refocus your mind.

Specifically, you need to change your thought patterns from focusing on what you don’t want — to focusing on what you do want. And this is why: Because what ever you focus on is what you move toward.

Today’s verse gives us the blueprint to change our thought patterns –

• “Do not conform …” How often do we let other people shape our lives? God doesn’t want you to be like someone else; he wants you to be the person he made you to be. So don’t copy, don’t conform, don’t try to be like anybody else.

• “… any longer …” There are a lot of things you start off doing by copying others but then they turn into a habit.

• “… the pattern of this world.” Pattern means the model of everything you’ve learned in life. If you want to change, you have to change your pattern or model of living that you learned in your life. You need to replace the old, unhealthy pattern with a new one modeled after the life of Christ.

• “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Transformed is the same as the word we use for metamorphosis, the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. In the same way, God wants to transform you into a completely new person by renewing your mind.

How does this happen? The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:22-24, “Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; be made new in the attitude of your minds; and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (NIV).

This means you are going to have to do some putting off and you are going to have to do some putting on. And the putting off has to happen before the putting on. It’s just like trying on clothes in a department store. Before you can try on the new stuff, you have to take off the old stuff.

You’re going to have to let go of the old attitudes, the old thought patterns, the old images that you’ve been living with so you can put on the new garments God has for you to be renewed in a changed mind.

Thanks Julia once more for sharing Rick Warren’s Daily Hope
]]> http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/changing-your-life-will-take-concentration/feed/ 0 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/day-36-made-for-a-mission/ http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/day-36-made-for-a-mission/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:12:03 +0000 blueprintforliving http://blueprintforliving.wordpress.com/?p=266 Continue reading →]]> Rick Warren shares with us his father’s mission.  He was a minister for over 50 years, serving small, rural churches.  Jimmy Warren was a simple preacher, but he was a man with a mission.  His favorite activity was taking teams of volunteers overseas to build church buildings for small congregations.  In his lifetime, Rick’s dad built over 150 churches around the world.

In 1999, he died of cancer.  In the final week of his life, the disease kept him awake in a semi-conscious state nearly 24hrs a day.  As he dreamed, he’d talk out loud about what he was dreaming.  Sitting by his bedside, Rick Warren learned a lot about his dad just listening to his dreams.  He relived one church building project after another.

One night near the end, his dad became very active and tried to get out of bed.  Even though he was too weak, he persisted until Rick’s wife asked him what he was trying to do. He replied, “Got to save one more for Jesus!” repeating the phrase over & over.

During the next hour, he said the phrase probably a 100 times.  “Got to save one more for Jesus!”  As Rick sat by the bed with tears flowing down his cheeks, he bowed his head to thank God for his dad’s faith.  At that moment, his dad reached out & placed his frail hand on Rick’ head & said, as if commissioning him, “Save one more for Jesus!  Save one more for Jesus!”

Rick Warren tells us he intends for that to be the theme of the rest of his life.  He invites us to consider it as a focus for our lives, too, because nothing will make a greater difference for eternity.

We are the messengers of God’s love & purposes to the world.  Nothing else we do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God. “God uses us to persuade men & women to drop their differences & enter into God’s work of making things right between them.  We’re speaking for Christ himself now:  Become Friends with God”.

Jesus calls us not only to come to him, but to go for him.  There are people on this planet whom only you will be able to reach, because of where you live and what God has made you to be.  If just one person will be in heaven because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity.  Start looking around and ask “God, who have you put in my life for me to tell about Jesus?”

Question to Consider:  What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? Rick Warren’s story of his dad is very moving.  In this chapter, I realise that fulfilling our mission on earth isn’t just tacking it on to all the other things I want to do with my life—its my first & sole responsibility.