Thoughts For The Day

THE FOLLOWING ARE THOUGHTS THAT BILL JEYNES HAS SHARED FROM HIS HEART,

BASED ON WHAT THE LORD HAS TAUGHT HIM OVER THE YEARS

We often approach our desire to have greater patience with people in the wrong way and that is a major reason why we often fall short in this area. We ask for greater patience with the person, when what we should do first is ask for God's love and perspective toward this person, and then it will be much easier to have patience.

Birthing a vision from the Lord or having a sense of direction from Him is much like preparing for the birth of a child. One should TAKE ACTION in expectation of the blessed event. One should set aside additional resources, rearrange one's time allotment, set aside a place of rest, a room, and spiritual food. Taking this preparatory action is a step of faith and is absolutely necessary in order to fully enjoy and experience this blessed event.

Few things can destroy a marriage, a family, a friendship & a country faster than a spirit of ENTITLEMENT. We deserve NOTHING. It is only God by His love & grace that brings much blessing and favor. The spirit of entitlement is the antithesis of a heart of love because it focuses on self rather than others, it is the opposite of humility because it emphasizes deservedness, and it takes God & others for granted rather than operating in a spirit of thankfulness.

Too often Christians wait on God too long, when they need to realize that God is waiting on them. At a certain point, Christians need to step out in faith and MOVE AHEAD. A car or bike in motion is easier to steer in the right direction than a virtually motionless one. This truth applies spiritually as well. The time to take action COULD BE NOW!

People would judge each other a lot less if they would seek to ask questions of the person involved, before they assume to answer them.

We will be in the center of God's will far more often if we are concerned more about the desires of God's heart than the desires of our heart. We will also be most likely to have the desires of our heart met if we are more concerned about determining the desires of God's heart.

Let us be wise enough so that we often bathe requests in prayer. Too often we settle for quick showers of prayer, but by bathing a matter in prayer not only do we smell nice spiritually and remove some of the sweat of life, but also we become more relaxed than in the case of a shower and rough edges become softer.

One of the many reasons why humility is so important is because WHEN WE LOSE OUR HUMILITY, WE LOSE OUR COMPASSION.

Increasingly, with American cultural changes going the way that they are, I occasionally hear Christians state that we should "Live & let live," but if we really love people we will realize that this is not the way of love nor the Great Commission and what this leads to is an actual attitude of, to use Paul McCartney's words, "LIVE & LET DIE." We instead can lovingly share the truth!

Whenever we are attempting to fulfill God's call on our lives, we should think in terms of whether the essence of what we are doing is love. "God is Love" and if a call is truly from God, the foundation of that call will be God's Love.

It is certainly understandable that people are greatly concerned about the thousands of lives that are being lost in America's wars over the last decade, but in order to be consistent in our compassion we should also be greatly concerned about the MILLIONS of children who in 98-99% of the cases have without real justification lost their lives via abortion. Lord, give us hearts of love!

As much as some people say that they want peace, true peace only emerges when people first have peace in their hearts. And that comes only when people are at peace with God. (For this reason long-lasting peace on earth will only come when Christ comes again). When people do not have peace in their hearts, the emergence of hot tempers & war is just a matter of time.

Just as there are 4 physical vital signs, there are 4 spiritual vital signs: 1) Heart Rate- Love for God (heart pumping for God) & people; 2) Spiritual Breathing- Reliance on the Holy Spirit (see Jn 20:22); 3) Spiritual Blood Pressure- Do we have peace based on our faith?; & 4) Temperature- How much joy and fire we have for the things of God.

If we are to have a balanced view of the Bible, we should view it not as a long list of prohibitions, but a means of enhancing our level of spiritual intimacy with the Lord. Even our acts of obedience must arise out of our intimate relationship with the Lord or they will not be consistent.

Our prayers are most effective when we exchange our perspective for God's perspective, our uncertainty for His joy, and our bottle of tears for Christ's cleansing blood to cover us.

It has sometimes been said that one needs actions and that words are not enough. However, it is also true that when someone needs to say "sorry," it is actions (such as invitations to restaurants and behaving more sensitively for that day) that are not enough. One needs to say "sorry." And yet many people are too proud to say "sorry." Few words are more powerful than a sincere apology.

We must be grounded in God's grace and wisdom enough so that the forces at work in the moment do not cause us to act in way that does not adequately consider the long-term effects of what we do. We constantly need to walk in the reality of God's eternal perspective.

If we want to truly be a disciple of Christ, we need to be willing to pay a price via our commitment. Too many Christians are shopping for churches & the gospel like they shop at garage sales. They are looking to purchase the same product at as low a price as possible. But we won't experience God in His vibrant glory unless we are willing to pay the full price: committing our total being to Him!

Jesus said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes (LUKE 19:42)." And indeed it seems that few US & world leaders have a clue about how to get along with God and how to get along with each other. And you generally need the first, before you can have the second.

God's grace is God offering to make up the difference between the human and the Divine.

Those who have suffered the most for Christ and been through the most in life for His Name are generally among the least likely to be legalistic. Thank God for that!

I realize that many ministers, including myself, state that the Christian life is not like a sprint, but is rather like a marathon. But the longer I live, the more I realize the Christian life is even more like a RELAY, in which we need to effectively & rapidly pass on the gospel to the next generation.

Remember Satan is often the author of a "bad memory." Few wiser things can we do than engage in a time of prayerful reflection and REMEMBER the miracles that God has done & the wonderful promises that He has given to us. And remembering the miracles, it will also inspire us to believe in the fulfillment of God's promises. Amen

Too many times we get bogged down insisting that we know "WHY?", when God wants to instill us with His faith & optimism so that we ask "WHY NOT?"

Our prayer for those reading this is that each one be in the center of God's will and experience His power and move in our lives much like being in the center of the river. The flow of the river is strongest and most focused in the middle of the river and not on the sides near the shore. May we all seek to be in the center in the river in the very heart of God's will.

Few truths exemplify the love of God more than this: that next to Him we are nothing and yet because of His love we are everything to Him. What matchless grace and love is this!

A spirit of unthankful-ness for divine and human acts of kindness and sacrifice (both past & present) sews the seeds of future arrogance.

Let us never fear the end of life, but rather that it would never have any real beginning.

Great is the temptation to despair when one faces a setback & the sun that one has his/her eyes fixed on sets. But the night gives the person of faith opportunity to realize that there are other suns (stars) that God makes available as well, that if we only experienced good times (the light of day), we would not see. In addition, the sun we thought was set for good tends to rise at another time.

How profound it is that God has chosen the moon, a lifeless, pock-marked filled, and barren ball of rock, desert, dust, and clay to reflect the sun's light and be a constant reminder of the light and beauty of the sun. Similarly, God has chosen us though we were lifeless without Christ, pock-marked, and merely clay, to reflect Christ's light and be a constant reminder of His light and beauty.

We know when we are growing in patience when we don't get frustrated at the unnecessary challenges each day brings, because we realize that frequently, according to God's wisdom, they really are necessary in order to shape us into the image of Christ.

Let us be like Abraham & have the ability to believe for the many wonders of God when things are going well & we look to the multitude of stars & also when things are not going well & yet we can see the multitude of grains of sand. Today, let us be convinced of God's ability to fulfill His promises whether our situation has us looking to the stars above or the sand below.

To cease to care is indeed to begin to cease. We should live to love.

We must never sacrifice the eternal at the altar of the temporary.

Democracy works only if the citizens are moral and are not asleep.

Never do stand so "tall" in God's eyes as when we follow Christ's example and reach out in love to someone at the bottom of their lives and remember and care for that person, that almost everyone else has forgotten.

There is an physical irony in life that reflects a spiritual truth. When people think of getting warmer, they think an external entity, the sun, must move closer to us. But one can get warmer faster by moving lower in altitude, closer to earth's molten center. Similarly, we Christians often look to external events to warm us up spiritually, when we need to look to Christ within.

Even during the dark times when we cannot see the sunlight, remember when looking at the moon that the moon reflects the sunlight. Therefore, the moon is a reminder and proof that the sun is still there, even though we cannot see it. And the sun will rise again!

It's really 100% due to God's power! For any person to take any credit for the love, grace & power that God provides is like a hose from a gas pump taking the credit for being primarily responsible for enabling a car to go 480 miles on a tank of gas. That would be plain ridiculous. It is equally ridiculous to attribute to oneself the amazing things that God does. Hallelujah, God reigns on high!

To understand ourselves and humanity as a whole, we must first come to intimately know God. This is because humans were made in God's image and also because God knows the best plan for humans. In addition, by first focusing on knowing God, we will view people differently, because we will see in each person the potential to become like Christ.

Psalm 127:1: "Unless the Lord builds the house..." in 1173 construction started on The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Less than 25% the way through the construction, it was obvious something was wrong with the foundation and it leaned. My prayer is that when any person undertakes something, it will be built on the Lord. Also, if we build & it starts to lean we will realize we need to build on GOD's foundation & begin again.

There is so much to becoming more like Christ. We should recall that Christ is both fully God and fully human. So that we are called to become like Christ in both His divinity and His humanity. Our prayer should be that both Christ's divinity and His humanity will shine as a light through each of us onto a needy world!

God wants us to treasure every moment & embrace the joys of youthfulness at whatever age youth is granted to us. For it is often those things that we take for granted the most when we are young or middle-aged, that we cherish the most in our memories when we are older.

Sometimes we act as if we initiate praise and prayer. And although there is a sense in which we do, both praise and prayer are responses on our part to God. PRAISE is our response to who God is and PRAYER is our response to God's ability and availability.

When was the last time you received the love and forgiveness of Christ in as real a way as the day that you were saved? He love is as available today as it ever was! Allow God's love to refresh, rejuvenate, and resurrect you even today!

Many people assess God's faithfulness by the NUMBER of doors that open. This is a mistake and can often lead to unnecessary discouragement. Though we may have to wait for a bit, God is more likely to show His faithfulness by the number of RIGHT doors that open.

We really don't have the time nor the patience for tearing down the ministry of a SINCERE & COMMITTED PERSON OF GOD! Should we do this, we oppose the work of God! My wife & I are but two people and think it is much more productive to use the limited energy God has given we as humans to BUILD UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

The truest indication of strength is tenderness. This is true in marriage, friendship, and across a variety of relationships. No greater example of this is there than God Himself who created the universe and yet reaches out every day to tenderly touch our lives & minister His love to us. How wonderful to have a God so powerful & yet strong in the truest sense so that His perfect love touches us!

There are many who desire to experience constant communion with God. A major first step to entering into this is essentially to, in a balanced and positive way, become obsessed with God.

All true ministry proceeds out of communion- and intimacy- with- God.

We often think that if we just hit unbelievers with the truth they will come to Christ. But Jesus declares," All men will know that you are my disciples IF you LOVE one another," not IF you say the TRUTH. Most people respond to Christ best if they are first loved & THEN hear the truth. Unbelievers often don't respond to truth because they are spiritually blind. It takes Christ's love to remove the blinders.

I have found that one of the best prayers we can ever make to God is to tell Him that we are determined to allow each blessing and trial we encounter to draw us closer to God. When we pray this, God will likely give us plenty of both & it is also true that sometimes we won't succeed in this. Nevertheless, such a focus will tend to direct us closer to God much more than would otherwise the case.

Fear not" is one of the most frequently used phrases in all of Scripture. And why not, human beings are natural cowards without God (or in some cases foolishness) to fill them. What this means is sacred & beautiful. Realizing our tendency to be cowards without God is a huge first step to being courageous in God, by relying on Him. He is the source of our courage!

Our willingness to encourage and compliment is a measure of security and the extent to which we are God-focused & other- focused. Our propensity to make fun of others is a measure of insecurity and the extent to which we are flesh-focused and self-focused.

Every facet of a pro-life issue, whether the specific topic be abortion, crime, euthanasia, international conflict, and so forth, is based on GOD'S LOVING desire & our loving desire to preserve life. Therefore, any attempt to speak a pro-life message must be based on love & bathed in love, or we have failed to convey the right message before we have even started.

Revival must come out of a spirit of forgiveness, not out of anger or bitterness. The main distinguishing element of Christianity is that forgiveness is offered through Christ. If we cannot be living examples of that by forgiving those who have wronged us & asking God to forgive the sins of our nation, revival will not spread.

It's always a good idea to reach out to others in tenderness & love, even if you feel they don't need that love at that particular time. One thing I have learned over the years. Most of the greatest needs are never expressed. They may need that love more than you think.

Statistically speaking, Christianity thrives where big government does not. People tend to look to either God or government to solve their problems. Research indicates that in those nations in which gov't production is a high percentage of GNP, the pct. of Christians is low & where the gov't production pct. is low, the pct. of Christians is high.

God's grace is deeper than can fathom. The closer we get to God, the more we realize that the ways of God are saturated with God's grace! His promises, His warnings, His truths, and His commandments are filled with abundant grace! The sooner we realize that even the more difficult aspects of the obedience He requires are filled with His grace, the more fully we will experience the abundance of life that He promises.

People often make fun of people who emphasize accuracy (e.g., who state that it is 7.2 miles to their home). But my experience is that most people who insist on being accurate tend to be accurate in other ways that really count, i.e., people who emphasize accuracy tend not to lie. Hooray for accurate people! Amen.

Each generation & each society labels a certain action as what people consider THE sin for that time period. However, God does not look upon wrong doing as humans do. Scripturally speaking, God's list is often quite different than ours. We must remember that God's chief concern is with accepting or rejecting Christ. And if people receive Christ, the Holy Spirit will work on the rest.

We often have a misunderstanding of our spiritual strengths. We make the mistake of treating our strengths and weaknesses as separate entities. In reality, our weaknesses are often the flip side of our strengths. That is, our weaknesses are often exaggerated and unbalanced expressions of traits that can also be strengths. For this reason many people have a hard time identifying their weaknesses.

Materialism is so deleterious because it causes people to put things before other people. Moreover, it is also harmful because the result is that those other people get hurt. As a result of their pain, those hurting people also sometimes feel they can "trust" things more than people and so they also put things before people. Ouch!

One of the spiritual disciplines that I cherish the most & has been a major part of my life is that while I'm awake I try to pray for my wife & children every hour on the hour. Lord be with them. They are created by you & made in your image. I love them!

It is nearly as important to know what gifts we don't possess as to know know the gifts that we do have. Knowing both of these truths makes us more focused in fulfilling God's purposes for our lives and makes it less likely that we will stray from God's primary calls for us. It also increases the likelihood that we will humbly appreciate God's gifts in others and cooperate with them.

(especially for pastors less than 2 years at their church): Listen first both to God & your people, then lead. Most people will follow only if they believe you have first listened. If you state, "I am here to be your leader," few will.

Allow yourself time to heal. In the Bible God allowed a longer period for mourning the passing of a beloved leader than we commonly have today. In modern day society we are in such a rush to get over the unpleasant circumstances & trials.

One of the best ways to ensure that God will open doors of opportunity is to not seek those open doors, but to seek God and become like Him. As much as God enjoys opening up doors for His children, His concern is that we be like Christ.

Praise affects us at deeper levels than we realize. We praise the traits we admire. When we praise we not only express that admiration, but in proclaiming that fact we tend to become more like the one we are praising. That is just one advantage of praise.

It is through the Body of Christ that God often manifests different aspects of His character. This is one reason why it is so important to be open to the various people in the Body. The extent to which we are open-minded enough to ac

Generally speaking, we can only love a person insofar as we know him/her. Similarly, we can love God to the extent that we know God. With the first thought in mind, how comforting it is to know that the God who knows us best also love



COUNSELING

Bill Jeynes, Hyelee Jeynes, and Chris Ullman are available by e-mail for whatever counseling needs you may have. Bill Jeynes started to function as a counselor in 1979. Bill received a B.A. in Psychology and took many counseling courses en route to his M.Div. and doctoral degrees. Bill and Hyelee has worked together in family counseling for over 20 years and have counseled thousands of people over the years. Chris Ullman is the Executive Vice President of God's Love Ministries and is a professor at Christian Life College in Mount Prospect, Illinois. He has also engaged in Christian counseling for many years. If you desire to receive counseling from either of these individuals, please send an e-mail request to: whjharvard@post.harvard.edu.