Christian Counselor Directory - Thanksgiving Pause: Weekend Seed Thought

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. Thanksgiving Pause  Thanksgiving celebrations in Christendom have deep historical and spiritual roots. Even as far back as Moses; although Jewish, he was a founder of the faith that was to come in Christ, he directed the people of faith to give thanksgiving offerings as a remembrance of what God had done and was doing for them. Jesus encouraged thankfulness when he was with us in the flesh. The Pre-Roman Church, Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, and Protestants churches have all celebrated and continue to do so in one way or another or in some degree; albeit different days, weeks, and even months when celebrating some kind of thanksgiving. Thinking of our National Holiday in America: In 1619, ship Margaret brought thirty-eight settlers to our shores. They paused from the excitation of finding the New World and established in their charter that an annual day of Thanksgiving to God should be kept. The settlers established a faith driven Thanksgiving tradition two years and 17 days before the faith hungry pilgrims arrived aboard the Mayflower at Plymouth Massachusetts who when arriving also paused and offered thanksgiving to God subsequently establishing a day of Thanksgiving.  This Thursday we will be sharing a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends. A prayer of thankfulness will likely be offered for the food and guests. As people of faith this is what we do. Yet, we could also pause for a few minutes by ourselves and thank God for the many blessings we have received; for even the least of what we have is greater than a vast majority of the citizenry of the world. Yet at the same time prayerfully keeping the less fortunate in mind. It would also be fitting to call a moratorium in regard to our religious differences and political leanings. We could welcome a day where we are only thankful for what we do have and not what we don’t have. And what is collectively right with us and not what is wrong with us. There will be other days to share our religious and political views.  On Thanksgiving Day we could pause and thank God for the life of faith; for the life of faith is a gift and there’s nothing for us to do but be thankful for it. We are members of a worldwide spiritual community that will one day be transformed into an eternal community. We are not a part of this community because we deserve it or earned it. Paul wrote that we have a life of faith by grace, through faith, not from ourselves; it is a gift from God. The Life of faith is a gift which merits a moment by ourselves; to pause and thank God for what He has done for us.   God bless you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Listen to Our Devotional Podcast New Postings Each Week  Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, Bible Studies   Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory

Christian Counselor Directory - Jesus is Heaven to Me: Weekend Seed Thought

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. Jesus is Heaven to Me  As people faith we know there is a Heaven; not what we see when we look up to the clouds or sky or when gazing at the stars but a place far removed from what we can see here on earth. Heaven is a celestial home fit for God, the angels, and the redeemed. St. Augustine called it the Heaven of Heaven created before the atmospheric space and the earth as we know it. Although we know there’s a Heaven we might wonder, what is Heaven like? Is it similar to what we experience on earth? What will we be doing in Heaven? Although there is little certainty what heaven will be like or what we will be doing, there is a veiled understanding what it might be like in Heaven. There is a song by the Lanny Wolf Trio, entitled Jesus Will Be What Makes It Heaven For Me. The people of faith know what it is like to sense the presence of God or Jesus, for they are the same. We mostly sense God’s presence during quiet time; often while reading the Scripture, spiritual books, or praying silently or vocally. This same presence can be felt when we are in church worshiping wth others. Regardless of where, how, or when we experience this heavenly phenomena we know it is real. Heaven is somewhat like this experience in the presence of God. If we love spending time in the presence of God while we are here on earth we are perfect candidates to be with God in his eternal presence without the distractions of daily life. Here’s another thought about Heaven: Regardless of our interpretation of the written Word of God it has been cherished by the people of faith in all ages. Yet, the written Word carries with it some ambiguity in which the Apostle Paul wrote that we see through a glass, darkly but then (speaking of Heaven) we will know even as we are known and shall see God face to face. Paul is saying that the precise meanings of the spiritual life in the written Word are often illusive; yet when we get to Heaven we will look upon the face of the Eternal Word and learn about Him. There will be no written Word of God in Heaven. In the Heaven of Heaven when we look at Jesus we will be looking at the Word of God. It will be somewhat the same experience when we are reading his written Word yet more enlivened when we see something new about the Eternal Word in celestial bliss. Augustine wrote that the Heaven of Heaven reserved for the angels and the redeemed, will be a place where we will have no need to gain the knowledge of the Word of God by reading it. For the angels and the redeemed will always behold his face and read the Word, without any syllabus in time, they understand what the Eternal Will intends. They are always reading and what they read will never pass away.  Listen to Our Devotional Podcast New Postings Each Week  Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, Bible Studies   Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory

Imperfect Faith from Seed Thoughts

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. Imperfect Faith Faith involves knowledge. For example, we are called to faith through some method of preaching or teaching. We are also sustained in our faith because of what we learn about God and ourselves. Both spiritual regeneration and renewal require spiritual knowledge. We might be emotionally moved to lay hold of what God offers us, but we would be hard pressed to move one inch toward God if we didn’t know the path to God and all of His benefits. Such is the Scripture in which we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Faith cannot exist without knowledge. Paul calls this spiritual knowledge the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Faith involves knowledge. Read more here ...    Listen to Our Devotional Podcast Several New Postings Each Week   Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, and Bible Studies   Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory

Christian Counselor Directory - Spiritual Maturity is not Perfection from Seed Thoughts

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. Spitual Maturity is not Perfection  As the people of faith, we should find comfort that the goal is spiritual maturity and not perfection or anything near it. In the book of Mathew, Jesus makes this point when he speaks about spiritual maturity, in that, some will bear a hundred-fold, some sixty, and some thirty. This verse speaks to different levels of spiritual maturity and that even the thirty-fold are persons of faith and sincerity.  And to those who might seem to think they are spiritually mature; less we are lifted up with our inflated perception of spiritual progress, or enamored by what seems to be the spiritual maturity of others, we should know that even the hundred-fold Christian mentioned in Mathew, in whom there is scarcely one in a thousand, are all wanting because even the best of us are stained with imperfection. Yet, we are called to strive to be the best we can be although never close to living up to our own standards in thought and action.  As people of faith we might live recklessly for a while, but God loves us too much for us to go on like that forever. God will not leave his people alone. God will check in on us. He will not allow us to live life unchecked. At first we might deny that anything is wrong. But it catches up to us; sometimes it takes days, weeks, months, or years. We eventually feel guilty. We feel regret. Our hearts and conscience is pricked. We feel ashamed. This is how it has been for the people of faith of every age, as far back as Adam and Eve who thought they could do their own thing in the garden. They failed. Yet God went searching for them.  Although they were dismissed from the garden they were far from lost. After the fall they grew in grace and faith. As time went on they taught their children how to worship, evidenced in the pure worship of their son Abel, whom Cain slew. They also had thankful hearts when God blessed them with another son in whom they acknowledged that he was a blessing from the hand of God. And the Scripture notes that after the birth of Seth men began to call on the name of the Lord. This means that public worship was introduced among the people of faith who were living at the time. All of this was after Adam and Eve fell in the garden. By their example we should take heart that we will also grow in grace and faith if we are sincere, even if we have been wayward or failed miserably. For we are convinced it is not the beginning of a person that counts the most but the latter because Scripture confirms that even the thirty-fold who persevere and bear fruit can rejoice that they are safe and redeemed in the end.    Listen to Our Devotional Podcast New Postings Monday - Thursday    Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, and Bible Studies   Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory

Christian Counselor Directory - One Day at a Time: from Seed Thoughts

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. One Day at a Time! Most of the time our problems are transitory or we think they are worse than they are. These kinds of problems go away as quickly as they came. But sometimes there are challenges and difficulties that not only look bleak, but are bleak. And they stay with us for a while. When we are going through this kind of trouble, it is best to take it one day at a time.  Taking it a day at a time doesn’t mean we should neglect to plan for tomorrow’s challenges and responsibilities or fail to do everything we can to relieve our problems with a look toward the future. It means we should not worry about tomorrow’s troubles and contingencies to the point that we have strangled the life out of everything remaining that is not part of the problem or challenge. In the English language the word worry comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning to choke or strangle. Evidently this cultural group knew something about worry.  Jesus encouraged us to deal with our problems one day at a time. In Mathew 6:4 Jesus taught us that we should not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take worry for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is evil. In this verse, evil is connected to worry and simply means that if we worry too much beyond the present it is unhealthy and unproductive. We will fail to live well in the present. It will paralyze us. And we will be of little good, to ourselves and to others. It is also unhealthy because it’s extremely stressful. The medical profession often remind us, that stress contributes to emotional and physical illness.  It is not easy to handle our problems one day at time. But we must try. If we do, God will give us strength of heart and peace of mind about what is happening to us.  We should remember when God instructs us to do something he gives us the strength and peace of mind to do it. And He only ask us to do what we are capable of doing. When we have enduring problems and challenges we should do what we can the day we have them, and when tomorrow comes we do the same. And for the people of faith we look to God for help to face up to our problems in life, all the while, committing our future and all outcomes to God.  Listen to Our Devotional Podcast Monday - Thursday Each Week      Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, and Bible Studies  Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory

Christian Counselor Directory - Knowing that God will take care of us: from Seed Thoughts

Seed Thought for this Week Sent weekly to over 100,000 Christian families and growing. Knowing That God Will Take Care of Us God led Abraham in various directions with no guarantees other than an inward assurance that God would take care of him. Abraham’s life was not dissimilar to ours. Abraham was familiar with anxiety, fear, uncertainty, disappointments, and near death experiences. Abraham also suffered the emotional pain of a somewhat dysfunctional and challenging family life; the separation of children, unreasonable and uncomfortable familial interactions, and sibling rivalry. It should not be surprising to the people of faith, when these kinds of challenges, in one was or another, are a part of our lives or at least threaten to be a part of our lives.  Through all of his challenging experiences Abraham found comfort and confidence because he had an inward assurance that God would take care of him.  We can have this same assurance that God will take care of us. The Book of Hebrews defines our common faith as the substance (or inward assurance) of things hoped for but the evidence of things not seen. The essence of faith is having an inward assurance that everything will be okay with us, no matter how bad it looks.  We should cast our care upon God because he cares for us. This is a particular promise offered to the people of faith. And if for whatever reason, help is deferred for a time, or even to the end of our life, we look for a City Who’s Builder and Maker is God, as Scripture confirms Abraham did. Knowing that eternal assurance is of greater assurance than all things in life, and that we are only here for a while. And although our life may be mostly pleasant, when we face any hardship or challenge we will endure it with patience and confidence because we are convinced that God will take care of us, now and to the end.  Listen to Our Podcast Monday - Thursday Each Week      Resource for Personal Devotions, Discussion Groups, and Bible Studies  Nine Fruits of the Vine and Five Little Foxes Seed Thoughts Sponsored by: Christian Counselor Directory