Mindset For Success

You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. - Psalm 118:28-29 (NKJV) Do I give thanks to God when things don't go my way? "If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments. - John 14:15 (Amplified Bible) Is it the desire of my heart to obey God? As we prepare for a new year, we often make decisions to change things in our lives to be more or do more of this or less of that. Often, these resolutions attack only symptoms rather than the root cause of behaviors and, therefore, only last a short period. As transformed followers of Christ, we understand that lasting change in this life is achieved only by addressing the root cause. Am I executing my will or God's will? Am I obedient to God's will? However, God does not want your head; He wants your heart. In other words, He does not want your obedience with a bad attitude or reluctant obedience. He wants y

And coming to her, the angel said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly perplexed at what he said and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and eminent and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." - Luke 1:28-33 (Amplified Bible) Historians speculate that Mary was around 15-16 years of age when she gave birth to Jesus. However, independent of her age, her spiritual maturity is indeed evident. When presented with the news that she would conceive the holy Son of God, Mary responds with pure faith and obedience by saying, "Behold, I am the servant of

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:11-13 (ESV) How tragic that we, on this dark day, have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of "accepting" Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible), and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic that insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him. - AW Tozer  And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. - James 4:8a (Living Bible) The closer we are to God, the more the slightest sin will cause us deep sorrow. - RC Sproul As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts

And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for the One who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6 (NASB) Do I trust the Sovereign God of all creation when His plan is different from my plan or when I cannot understand how it could ever work out for my good and His glory? For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 (Living Bible) Do I know God well enough through the study of His Word to understand and accept that His plan is always best? Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. -