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The Faithwalker's Journal — A Split Heart - Tuesday February 09, 2010
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 NIVAfter a person becomes a Christian and comes under the lordship of Christ, there is not only a transfer of authority but a transfer of love. When Jesus talks about denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and dying to ourselves in Matthew 16 and other places, what’s He referring to? He’s saying, “Listen, inside each of us is a deep, deep, deep, deep love of self.” We may have pop psychology that tells us differently, but I guarantee you that you love yourself. Jesus is saying, “You’ve got to be broken of that selfish self-love, and learn to love Me.” What is the Great Commandment? “’And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’. The second is this:’ Love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Mark 12:30-31 NIV). Years ago when I was first challenged to die to my self-love and love Christ with all my heart, I got to thinking about some of the things that I loved. Someone helped me with an illustration: this person drew out a heart—my heart. It looked like a pie cut in wedges. Jesus said we should love God with all our heart, but I realized that my heart was split into many pieces. I did love Jesus—He definitely had a portion, but I didn’t love Him with my whole heart. In the next day or so, I’ll tell you about my car, girlfriend, money, sports, and music. Stay tuned!
Tom Short
Faithwalkers East 2008
One Year Reading Plan: Exodus 29:1-30:10; Matthew 26:14-46; Psalms 31:19-24; Proverbs 8:14-26
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Daily Bible Verse (ESV) — Psalm 5:11-12
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.The Faithwalker's Journal — How Much Do You Want It? - Monday February 08, 2010
And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land…but I found no one. Ezekiel 22:30Leadership is not a matter of gift or calling or personality or natural ability. Leadership is not a gift, not at its root. At its source, leadership is first and always a matter of charac-ter. And because it is a question of character, this kind of Biblical character can be trained. We can see growth and change in our character, or God wouldn’t ask us to grow and change. In the book Dedication and Leadership, author Douglas Hyde (a former Communist leader) tells the story of a young man named Jim who was hoping to become a Communist leader. He desperately wanted it. Hyde relates how Jim “was almost pathetically anxious to be turned into a leader.” Yet as Hyde looked at Jim, he thought that he had never seen anyone who looked less the part: “He was just about the most unprepossessing man I had ever seen. Jim was very short, very fat, with a flabby white face, a cast to one eye, and to make matters worse, a most distressing stutter.” All he had was desire. In the early months of Jim’s training, Douglas Hyde sug-gested that he begin to tutor a few others in Marxist ideology. Jim exclaimed, “W-w-what, m-m-me?!” Yet at the end of his life, Jim became a recognized leader in the Communist Party, a national leader in the Trade Unions, and grew to national stature across Great Britain when England was strongly influenced by the Communist Party. Never forget that leaders are made, not born. And they are made by developing character.
Rick Whitney
Vintage Faith Church
One Year Reading Plan: Exodus 28:1-43; Matthew 25:31-26:13; Psalms 31:9-18; Proverbs 8:12-13
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