Rock of Roseville Local

Love & Respect Class

2010-09-02T22:55:45Z

Is your marriage lacking love and respect in any degree? Join us for Love and Respect. A relationship impacting course taught by Emerson and Sarah Eggerich.

Come find out why Pastor Francis says this is the “best teaching for marriages” he has ever seen. Many say “I wish I would have known this years ago!” Learn about the “Crazy Cycle” resolving conflict, the “Energizing Cycle” meeting each other’s deepest heartfelt needs and end with the “Rewarded Cycle”. This DVD teaching will enhance a thriving marriage or help heal a wounded marriage.

Please choose only one class per weekend during either the 6:30 Saturday evening service or the Sunday 9 am or the 11 am service. We will stream worship from the sanctuary so join us up in the Birch Room for the whole service. Cost is 15.00 per couple and 10.00 for a single and includes one workbook. The class runs 7 weeks, September 18th-19th through November 6th-7th.

If you have participated in one of our abbreviated weekend seminars or 3 week classes you will enjoy the complete teaching.
We will not meet the weekend of 10/16th-17th to allow for the Membership Class

Questions? Email marriage@rockofroseville.com

Living Perfectly Positioned: Eternal Time Travelers

2010-08-25T21:49:37Z

Day 96

Principle: Until you embrace a perspective that transcends your life on earth, you’ll be overwhelmed by the daily grind.

When we completely love and are committed to the Lord, we’re given the opportunity of fully embracing the reality that there is no bad news in God. Yet we will only see this if we train our soul to believe from a broader perspective than the daily grind. We must embrace a perspective that even transcends our lifetime here on Earth. We must have eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) in order to accurately assess if our lives have truly worked for our good.

The Book of Hebrews offers a glimpse into the mindset of heroes of the faith who refused to let their past or present rob their future. Many godly men and women have left the planet having not seen all they hoped for. Yet in spite of this, these fathers and mothers of the faith were fully persuaded that their hopes and dreams would one day be fulfilled.

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland…But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13–14, 16)

You don’t need to receive the promise before you believe. You don’t need your prayers answered before you trust. You don’t need to be fully healed before you seek to heal others. You are complete in Him. (Colossians 2:10) And when you see Him face to face, you will be like Him. (1Corinthians 13:12) Till then, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1Corinthians 15:58b)

Is there something you believe needs to take place in your life before God can use you? What are you waiting for?

Living Perfectly Positioned: The African King

2010-08-25T21:41:28Z

Day 95

Principle: God has an unlimited, protective warranty that covers us in all circumstances, at all times.

There once was a king in Africa. He had a close friend who looked at life from a positive perspective. Whatever was transpiring, his friend would comment, “This is good!”

One day while the two friends were out hunting, the king gave his friend the responsibility of preparing and loading the guns. Yet somehow the friend made a mistake, for when the king fired a gun his thumb was blown off.

Immediately the friend made his characteristic response, “This is good!” The king was furious. He shouted, “No, this is not good,” and immediately sent his friend to jail.

A year passed.

One day the king, while on another hunting expedition, went into a particularly dangerous region and was captured by a tribe of cannibals. The cannibals took him to their village, bound him to a spit, and prepared to make a fire beneath him. Yet just as they were beginning to light the wood, one of the cannibals noticed the king’s missing thumb. A highly superstitious tribe, the cannibals refused to eat someone who was not completely whole. Instead of killing him, they untied the king and sent him away unharmed.

When the king returned home, he remembered how he had lost his thumb, and was saddened as he thought about the friend he had imprisoned.

Filled with remorse, the king went straight to the jail and told his friend what had happened with the cannibals, confessing to him, “You were right, it was good that my thumb was blown off. I am so sorry for putting you in jail for such a long time; it was a bad thing for me to do.”

“No!” The friend once again responded. “This is good!” Startled, the king asked, “What do you mean, this is good? How could it be good that I sent you to jail for a year?”

The friend replied, “If you had not put me in jail, I would have been with you when you were captured by the cannibals, and they would have certainly killed and eaten me.”

The friend’s response to life demonstrates a marvelous principle. The same principle is found in Romans 8:28 when God promises every believer in Jesus Christ, “And we know all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Let’s break this marvelous promise down:

“And we know” — not speculate or presume, but know with absolute certainty

“All things” — not some or even most situations

“Work together for good” — our benefit

“To those who love God” — more than anyone or anything else

“To those who are the called according to His purpose”—not pursuing their own desires or ambitions, but pursuing God’s

To sum up this Biblical equation, “all things work for the good” for people with who meet two qualifications: 1. they love God, and, 2. they are called according to His purpose.

If you presently qualify for this wonderful promise from God, then rejoice and be diligent to train your soul to continuously trust in this warranty for life!

If, on the other hand, you do not qualify for God’s full coverage plan, there is still time to change your mind. “This is good!”

Do you have any doubt that ALL THINGS work together for GOOD? If so, why?
Do you love God above all else? If not, what idols need to be destroyed?

Living Perfectly Positioned: It’s Party Time

2010-08-25T17:47:03Z

Day 94

Principle: Jesus doesn’t want to shut down your party. He wants to invite you to His.

When will we stop blaming God for our lives, and begin to bless Him for the magnificent, daily opportunities He’s given each of us. When Jesus truly becomes our Lord, life becomes lovely. Every moment, every breath, becomes part of life’s great adventure. As each thought is reigned in, each bows before a faultless God. (Philippians 4:8)

Now is the time to surrender our hearts to Jesus as Lord! Now is the time to remove every excuse for not loving the life He’s given us!

The psalmist wrote, “All my springs are in You.” (Psalm 87:7) The fresh water of life we are each thirsting for can only be found flowing from the throne of God. (Revelation 22:1) The contaminated streams of this world will never satisfy. Jesus said, “…the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) The kingdom of God is within me, if I will but look. Either I have the kingdom of God in me or I do not have it at all.

Jesus doesn’t want to shut down my party. He wants to invite me to His. He has promised each of us, “If you believe in Me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.” (John 7:38, NLT) Even in the final verses of God’s Word, He calls us to receive His abundant life, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let each one who hears them say, ‘Come.’ Let the thirsty ones come—anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge.” (Revelation 22:17, NLT)

Only Jesus can quench the thirst He created in us.

What excuses keep you from loving the life God has given you?

Living Perfectly Positioned: The Purpose of Prayer

2010-08-25T13:49:42Z

Day 93

Principle: Hope’s shelf life is only for today. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

I am not waiting for God to answer my prayers. The purpose of prayer is not to get answers, but to get to know God! I am not waiting for God to heal my body. Every external miracle will eventually leave me dissatisfied if it does not turn my attention back to God. This is a great seduction. Only one out of the ten lepers Jesus healed came back to thank Him. (Luke 17:17–18) Each external desire will immediately be followed by another request: “If this or that would just happen, then I can be fulfilled.” I used to be obsessed with what I did not have; I battled depression over what was not happening in my life. I will never go back to that mindset again. I was wasting both my time and God’s.

I once met a Christian man who had been the director of a psychiatric hospital for 25 years. I asked him what had surprised him most about people who are mentally ill. He said, “The fact that every patient I ever met was completely and utterly consumed with Self. It was Self in the morning, Self at noon, and Self at night.” Focusing on Self is not the solution, it is at the very heart of the problem.

Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost For His Highest, “Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources—I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result.”

Don’t look to God to coddle you. Let Him comfort you. Don’t ask Him to answer your prayers. Ask Him to teach you to pray. Don’t live waiting for tomorrow to begin. Live hoping today will never end.

List out people you want to pray for consistently and pray for them.

Living Perfectly Positioned: Stop Blaming God For Your Life

2010-08-18T18:54:14Z

Day 92

Principle: If you are rarely content, then your discontentment is ultimately with God.

Something is terribly wrong when we wish we had a different life, when we don’t look forward to getting up in the morning, when we think our best days are behind us, and that past mistakes have disqualified us from having a great future. If we are rarely or never content, then we are not in love with the life God has intended for us. It is not that each of us grew up experiencing only bad things. What many of us experienced was the absence of good things. Before it is too late, you need to begin to live the wonderful life God purposefully designed for you.

Even if our external life changed, we would not necessarily respond differently to life. Initially we might, but in the end we would all revert back to what we really believe. Our belief about life will always surpass our experience of life. We don’t need to see more miracles; we need to respond properly to the ones surrounding us every day.

Jesus told the story of a rich man who died and was sent to hell. While there, he saw father Abraham in the distance and begged him to send someone to his five brothers to warn them of a similar fate. “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he [the rich man in hell] said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he [Abraham] said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29–31)

If His contemporaries refused to believe the miracles of Jesus, why would anyone choose to believe our miracles? Such is the human condition. Unless someone experiences a dramatic inner transformation, his inner un-wholeness will taint his view of life. God has already done enough around me. Now I need to let Him complete His work in me.

What miracles have you overlooked?

Living Perfectly Positioned: I Love My Life

2010-08-18T18:48:52Z

Day 91

Principle: If I do not love the life God has given me, I have somewhere lost touch with the God who saved me.

I am training my soul embrace every second of my God-intended life. All days are equal. There is no best day in Heaven. Since before time began, a perfect God has flawlessly crafted every molecule, moment, and memory.

The Father has heard and answered the prayers of Jesus. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) God loves and favors each of us equally. He exercises His justice with absolute equity.

In John 12:25, Jesus challenges our shallow understanding of life. “He who loves his life [Greek—is attached to his life] will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world [Greek—loves his life less] will keep it for eternal life.” If we are attached to our dream for our life, it will slip through our fingers. If, on the other hand, we embrace God’s plan, whether we ever fully understand it or not, we will begin to live the pleasures of eternal life right now.

In this world, everyone experiences a measure of pleasure; everyone wins something! The devil is happy to give us the pleasures of Connecticut and Vermont Avenues, as long as he retains the pleasures of Boardwalk and Park Place. If you have ever played the board game MONOPOLY®, you know Connecticut Avenue and Vermont Avenue are virtually worthless. By obtaining these properties you have won nothing of real value. Similarly, counterfeit intimacy—which I call religion—is a shallow substitute for a personal relationship with a God who is madly in love with us. You have peace, but not lasting peace. It is joy, just not real joy. It is pleasure, without eternity.

“Religion is the Opium of the People.” Karl Marx was right—but for the wrong reasons. Religion does drug people into a fog of lifeless rituals. But Marx never understood the distinction between religion and relationship. If he had pushed beyond the meaningless ceremony and encountered the person of Jesus Christ, he would have found something far more dynamic and life changing than communism will ever be.

Religion has little to offer the world except a system of conscience-soothing routines. But the world doesn’t need cosmetic surgery; it needs a heart transplant. Only the power of Jesus Christ can perform that operation. Transformation must begin inside. A relationship with God Himself changes the heart first, and the rest follows naturally.

Real pleasure comes from real relationship, and you will never experience real pleasure until you get to know the only true God there is: the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t wait until you get to Heaven to experience the pleasures of knowing Him. You can enjoy His presence and His pleasure today in worship, in prayer, by washing your soul with God’s Word, and by learning to be relationally connected with His family here on earth.

Are you growing in your relationship with Jesus, or merely stuck in religious traditions?

Living Perfectly Positioned: Terrible God

2010-08-18T18:40:57Z

Day 90

Principle: The more I live, the more I realize there’s no crisis I can fix.

I would be a lousy God. I know this is true based on how I treat my friends when they are in trouble. I tend to want to bail them out of every crisis they encounter. Being God, I would spoil the whole planet. Not only do I not know what is best for me, I rarely know what is best for others.

In the movie Bruce Almighty, the title character is frustrated by how God is running his life. Bruce’s adamant complaint leads to a sovereign test. God allows him to become God for a season and grants Bruce the ability to decide how to answer the prayers of an entire planet. Completely overwhelmed by the multiplied millions of requests pouring in, Bruce finally says, “Yes!” to everyone’s prayers, no matter how selfish or shortsighted they may be. Only then does he realize that what he thought would help actually hurts—badly. Chaos ensues as every self- centered motive in the hearts of men is revealed.

The more I live, the more I realize there is no crisis I can fix. I will always need God. Though it is a natural human desire to meet someone else’s need, the complexity of doing that is beyond my comprehension. God is infinitely more interested in fixing us than in fixing our problems. As a matter of fact, He is often the author of our problems. We’re saying, “God, stop the problem!” He’s saying, “Stop the whining and begin to understand what I am allowing.”

When Jesus faced the greatest trials of His life, He didn’t try and manipulate His Father in Heaven to lighten His load. Instead, Christ’s pain only further revealed His true purpose in life. “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:27)

We were born for trouble, created for a fight. It is only through trouble that our soul is formed, shaped, and molded into the image of an untroubled God. I love the overstated expressions “don’t give me any good news, it only weakens me” and “if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room.”

Remove your troubles and you eliminate your purpose in life: to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” (Romans 8:29) Defining your purpose in life reduces frustration. Being created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) was the beginning of your purpose. Finishing that work is now your destiny; it is where God is taking us. Your purpose is part of the reason why God is taking you there. Anything that keeps you from fulfilling God’s ultimate purpose—being conformed to His image—must be disregarded and treated as a distraction. Tragically, most people live and die distracted.

As I look back over my life, my consistent appeals for God to make my life easier have not fallen on deaf ears due to indifference. The all-knowing, all-caring God has merely dismissed my fleeting appeals as narrow-minded, showing a lack of foresight and long-term planning. He has refused to bow to my ignorance, but has instead held fast to His wisdom. He knows the easy life would destroy my potential; therefore, He makes my life purposefully difficult.

Only by pressing the olive is the oil poured out; only by crushing the flower is the true fragrance released. Only as Paul was “pressed out of measure… insomuch that we despaired even of life” (2Corinthians 1:8, KJV) did the “sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18) come forth from his life.

Reflect on a time when taking control made the situation worse.
How can you better acknowledge God as the author and perfecter of your faith? (Hebrews 12:2)

Life At The Rock, August 2010

2010-08-16T21:26:05Z

We would like to invite you to read the August edition of Life At The Rock. A periodical on what’s been going on here at the Rock of Roseville. Download it here (PDF).

Living Perfectly Positioned: Calling All Fruit Inspectors

2010-08-11T18:38:59Z

Day 89

Principle: Without a dramatic change of heart, you cannot claim to be “Born again.”

I know I am a fully surrendered Christian when my desires have changed into God’s desires. If we claim to be a Christian and have not had a dramatic change of heart, we must accept the obvious: we need to be born again. Jesus said, “…a tree is known by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33) If we have been born again in the past, but our lives demonstrate little fruit, the ball is still in our court. Apparently, we must be born again—-again.

According to Christian pollster George Barna, more and more people are confessing they are born again but fewer are living differently. Born again Christians are defined by Barna as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and it is still important in their life today. They also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven, because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as born again.

In his report on the state of Christianity in America Barna writes, “The worst thing would be for millions of people to accept Christ as their Savior, and then live the remainder of their life as if nothing had changed other than their eternal destiny. The challenge to faith communities, at this point, is to help people realize that you cannot be a follower of Christ by taking the free gift of salvation and then continuing to pursue the same life trajectory as before making that decision. Embracing Christ as your Savior is not the end of the story. It’s the very beginning point of a transformed life that centers on constant worship of God, serving other people, investing personal resources in the values of God, deepening their relationship with God every day, and creating families that place God at the center of their shared experience.”

When we receive God’s Spirit, only then do we begin to see with God’s eyes, and to feel with His heart. Until Jesus is Lord of our lives, all we will ever be able to become is religious—going through the motions of performing for God, but not knowing Him. We miss what life is all about. We miss having a deep, personal relationship with our Creator. “…the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Joshua 33:11)

Jesus Christ’s warning 2,000 years ago remains as potent as ever, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21–23)

Knowing God is not an option, it is a necessity. If we are truly born again, our desire to draw close to God will grow in allowing Him to take His rightful place as the Lord of our lives. God has done everything He can to invite us into intimacy with Him. “Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you…” (Song 1:4a) True relationship leads to intimacy with God, which in turn always leads to becoming more like His perfect Son, Jesus.

How do you live differently than before you became a Christian?

Living Perfectly Positioned: Response is Everything

2010-08-11T18:30:31Z

Day 88

Principle: How I respond to events in my life is infinitely more important than what has happened to me.

No aspect of our lives has ever been an oversight to God. “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…” (Psalms 139:15) God has never made one mistake concerning our fragile lives. “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made…and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalms 139:14) There has never been a recall of even one human being; all of us have been given infinite potential by a gracious God.

If we refuse to accept God’s plan for our lives, we consign ourselves to a brave new world of perpetual unfulfillment. Waiting for a better life is like staring at your dinner, hoping to improve its taste. God’s will is that we would come to the place where we love the life He has given us, instead of wishing for what does not exist and would not satisfy us even if it did. There is no faster way to get to where your heart really wants to be than through the will of God. Accepting and embracing the will of God is the Express Train to Fulfillment.

In life there are no shortcuts, only detours. Even if we momentarily transition into being pleased by life’s circumstances, it will be short-lived. May we each accept the obvious: God is trying to change us, not change the world around us. In life, if we cannot appreciate what we have, we will never be pleased with what is ahead. If we cannot grow where we are, we will never bear fruit elsewhere.

Even those born with catastrophic physical deformities can be a catalyst for compassion, generosity and joy. Traumatic difficulties are not a roadblock to personal fulfillment. Seen from God’s perspective, they can even become the doorway to a transformed life.

The primary reason people do not love the life God has given them is because they do not know and trust God. When we don’t trust God, inevitably, we begin to play God ourselves. Judas thought he knew better than God the Son, as did King Saul, King Solomon, and most of the kings of Israel and Judah. Don’t spend a lifetime envying others, when God is the only Person worthy of our worship.

Our misunderstanding of life should never tempt us into thinking God has lost His underlying sense of purpose for us. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5, NLT) The more I know me, the less I trust me; the more I know God, the more I trust Him. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” (Psalms 118:8) That’s when the joy comes. Only by completely trusting God can we become joyful. “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.” (Psalms 5:11) Jesus went one step further when He challenged each of us to the core. “Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it goodbye, you can’t be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33, The Message)

Kiss goodbye—what you can’t keep! Kiss hello—what you can’t lose!

Reflect on Psalm 139 and being “fearfully and wonderfully made.” List characteristics you appreciate about how God created you.
How do you depend on your understanding (sight) when you should be trusting in God (faith)?

Living Perfectly Positioned: Great Paradoxes

2010-08-11T18:25:11Z

Day 87

Principle: The doorway to your destiny is through your weaknesses.

Most people miss one of the great paradoxes of life; mistakenly believing the doorway to their successes will be through their strengths. Not so! Our strengths are far more dangerous than our weaknesses, providing the easiest access to failure. It is our weakness that holds the key to unlock the grace of God. The Apostle Peter once wrote, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1Peter 5:5b) If pride is intrinsically resistible, then humility must be, by its very nature, irresistible. Humility is learning to fully embrace and delight in our weakness. It is that captivating quality of Jesus that releases the irresistible grace of God.

People’s desires are not God’s desires. They’ll do anything to change the way they look—to change the shell—when God wants to transform the pearl. Cosmetic surgery will never make someone whole. Wholeness must be internal. In this age of genetic engineering, stem cell research, and designer children, we continue to substitute the Creator’s flawless intent for our flawed perceptions.

Dream God’s vision for your life, not a temporary one. It is pointless to complain about your job; instead, begin crying out to God for a new heart. We don’t need a new life; we need to appreciate the one God has given us. The problem is, most people don’t appreciate what they have. More often than not, we would gladly give up our own lives for the life of another. But in doing so we fail to realize we would be exchanging the life we have been given, that has been especially designed for us, for the life specifically designed for another. This is one of the key ways God uses celebrities: they show the world you can have everything in the physical world and still be unfulfilled. Embrace the life God has given you, not the life you think you should have.

Like Lucifer of old, who attempted to re-create the Universe in his own likeness saying, “I will ascend…I will be like the Most High…” (Isaiah 14:14) we have lost almost complete sight of what we have been given. Our inner longing to become Designer-Creators has evolved, in essence, out of godless self-promotion; attempting to birth children fashioned in our own image, even in the likeness of the shallow qualities that impress us but bore Heaven.

I remember reading about an elderly American woman who died of starvation alone in her apartment because she didn’t have any money. Yet when the police examined her belongings, they found over $100,000 in cash buried inside the mattress she died on. The woman had stashed it away and then forgot about it. Our heavenly Father has buried amazing gifts deep inside each of us, yet how many of us have tragically lost sight of them?

Do we know what the God who shows no partiality (Acts 10:34) has equally dispensed to each of us? Do we love the life He has given us, or are we obsessed with what we don’t have? The perfect promise in 2Peter 1:3 should be a pledge written on our hearts: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” Every challenge in life is designed to reveal our weakness and God’s strength and to make us realize not just how desperately we need Him, but how absolutely sufficient His grace is in each of our lives. God has given us everything we need to love the life He has given us. Batteries are included!

What is something you consider weakness that, when surrendered to God, could be your greatest strength?

Living Perfectly Positioned: No Limitations

2010-08-04T18:14:26Z

Day 86

Principle: Trials are meant to bring out the best in me.

My wife and I once had lunch with a 24-year-old Christian lady in New Zealand named Debbie Ward. Aside from a strikingly joyful countenance, what made Debbie unique was the fact that that she was born with no lower half of her body: no feet, no legs, nothing below her waist. At the time we met Debbie she had been traveling around her nation speaking to groups of young people. She told us she began each talk by saying, “Don’t feel sorry for me! I love my life!”

She was so confident and wise in her convictions you couldn’t help but realize she indeed had been blessed with something special from God. Half a body had not limited her from having twice the character of most people. She loved her life; not just any life, but the one God gave her. In the same way Jesus gave Stephen a standing ovation in Heaven, (Acts 7:56) I believe this precious young lady will receive one too. Every time she confessed, “I love my life,” she became the tallest person in the room.

Trials are meant to bring out the best in us, not the worst. They throw the pass beyond our reach, but not beyond God’s intent and grace. He is the one who makes up the difference when we are weak and insufficient.

Oswald Chambers writes, “God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome.” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, August 2nd) The discouragements of yesterday don’t disqualify you, the setbacks of today can’t sabotage you, and the failures of tomorrow won’t finish you. You were created to overcome.

What is something you view as a setback that could actually be your moment to shine and chance to overcome?

Living Perfectly Positioned: Overcome Grief With Joy!

2010-08-04T18:08:06Z

Day 85

Principle: The choice of being overcome by joy or despair is mine alone.

The emotions of life are many and complex. One moment we are being overcome, and the next we are overcoming. As the Psalmist once wrote in the depths of despair, “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. My sight is blurred because of my tears. My body and soul are withering away. I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.” (Psalms 31:9–10, NLT)

How ironic that, just two verses prior, he had written, “I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.” (Psalms 31:7, NLT) It seems the choice of being over- come by joy or despair is ever before us. If there were nothing to overcome, as in the Garden of Eden prior to the Fall, then we would have no reason to fight for joy. Like ripened fruit, it would just fall from the trees of life.But such is not the case.

Choosing fruit from the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil each day remains in our court. Though what happens in life may seem to be completely out of our control, how we view life is always our choice. I can choose to see my life from God’s expansive, life-giving point of view, or be limited by the myopic narrowness of fear, unbelief and ignorance which can only lead to emotions of panic, despair and anger.

For many of us, this is how we face our challenges. We are unable or unwilling to defeat the emotional onslaught seeking to destroy our lives; or we can look up, past the distracting struggles that keep us stuck in the past, bound in the present, and lacking hope for our future. May we resign ourselves in advance that what- ever comes our way, we are choosing to remain “…steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1Corinthians 15:58)

Do you ever find yourself overcome one moment and overcoming the next?

Living Perfectly Positioned: Polar Twins

2010-08-04T18:00:58Z

Day 84

Principle: Nothing can ever happen to me to make me pessimistic.

A father had twin boys who were polar opposites. One was an optimist, believing everything would turn out great. The other was a pessimist, convinced that things always ended poorly.

One day, the father decided to do an experiment and placed each of the young boys in separate rooms. He put the pessimist in a room packed with every imaginable fun toy. He left the optimist in a room with just a giant bag of horse manure.

An hour later, the dad returned to the pessimist’s room only to find the boy had not even touched the toys and was sitting idly in a corner. Dumbfounded, the father asked his son why he wasn’t playing. Shrugging his shoulders, the boy replied, “Well, if I start playing with them I’ll probably get bored or hurt myself, so I figured why even start?” Stunned at the pessimistic son’s response, the father left the room shaking his head in disbelief.

Entering the other son’s room, the father was shocked to find the optimistic twin completely immersed in the giant bag of manure. He was literally swimming in it; thrashing around as if searching for a ten-carat diamond. The father asked, “What are you doing?” His son looked up and grinned, “There’s just gotta be a pony in here somewhere!”

Long ago, I settled in my heart to live as an optimist. I want to live life enthusiastically, wading through disappointments and delights alike.

Paul the Apostle, also an optimist, once wrote, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” (2Corinthians 2:14) May my heart be that place.

What would your life look like if you viewed it through the optimistic eyes of God?
What promises of God do you cling to for a heavenly perspective?