Rick Stedman's Spiritual Tips

A New Day

Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

IT’S QUIET. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming. In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose.

I choose love . . . No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy . . . I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical . . . the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace . . . I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience . . . I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness . . . I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness … Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness . . . Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control . . . I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

— By Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name

Prayer - Dear Heavenly Father, may we continually seek you each day and choose to live out the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. May we show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in all that we do – in our relationship with others, at work, at home, with our neighbors, our friends, and to each person we come in contact with today. Lord, may we choose well today, and give this day to you. We love you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen

Dear Friends,

If you are not on Facebook, I thought I’d post the piece I posted there about the killings in Connecticut.

Love, Pastor Rick

P.S. If you friend me on Facebook or follow me on twitter at PastorRickACC you will get these notes and comments automatically.

“Weeping in Connecticut”

Many Christians are struggling trying to understand why God would allow such an evil event to happen as the massacre of innocent children in Connecticut. Of course, while our hearts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those involved, thoughtful people ask, “Why did God allow this—especially during the Christmas season?”

I have no ultimate answer, except to note that this is not a new issue—a massacre of innocent children is even in the Christmas story itself, though this part is left out of many church pageants. After the visit from the Magi, an enraged Herod ordered the murders of all boys 2 years old and under in Bethlehem and it’s vicinity, and the horrific prophecy of Jeremiah came to pass: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-18)

The fact that religious people, agnostics and even atheists agree that this man’s decision to murder innocent children was simply wrong, points to a moral code within us all, a little vestige of the light of conscience that still survives in a world that has marginalized God.

Maybe the best we can say is that such dark, evil actions, inflicted on such innocent beings, is the very reason Jesus came into this world. And it’s still our best hope: that the light of Christ will overcome such darkness. First in our own hearts, then in our families, then in our neighborhoods, and communities and nations, and then in the whole world. You and I can’t directly prevent someone in Connecticut, Portland or Aurora from committing a crime, but maybe we can touch someone closer to home with love, and help them choose a better path. One half of the people in America claim to be Christians. If everyone of us found someone hurting to love and befriend, might some massacres be avoided? Along with comfort for those in grief, this is my prayer tonight.

1 Peter 5:6-11 – “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Did you think Jesus only cares about things like heaven and hell? About forgiveness and sin? About holiness and wickedness? About truth and lies? About salvation and judgment? Jesus does care about those things. But He also cares about your job, about whether your child makes the sports team, about your children’s college tuition, about your budget now that you are unexpectedly pregnant, about the roof that leaks, about the cranky transmission in the car, and about all the other physical problems and needs we face.

Jesus cares even if the physical problem we face is largely of our own making. He cares if we are having car trouble, even if it was caused by our not having taken the time to change the oil regularly. He cares if we are having financial struggles, even if they were caused by our having run up massive debts on our charge accounts for things we wanted but did not necessarily need. Jesus cares about your physical needs today. ——- Anne Graham Lotz, Just Give Me Jesus

Prayer – Dear God, please help us to always remember how much you care about us and that you are always there for us, whether the trouble that comes is unexpected, or whether it is of our own making. May we trust your timing in all things, and know that you are there with us in good times and bad. We pray for strength to stand firm each day, and to endure the tough times. We love you Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Romans 5:8 – “God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.”

“Can anything make me stop loving you?” God asks. “Watch me speak your language, sleep on your earth, and feel your hurts. Behold the maker of sight and sound as he sneezes, coughs, and blows his nose. You wonder if I understand how you feel? Look into the dancing eyes of the kid in Nazareth; that’s God walking to school. Ponder the toddler at Mary’s table; that’s God spilling his milk.”

“You wonder how long my love will last? Find your answer on a splintered cross, on a craggy hill. That’s me you see up there, your maker, your God, nail-stabbed and bleeding. Covered in spit and sin-soaked.”

“That’s your sin I’m feeling. That’s your death I’m dying. That’s your resurrection I’m living. That’s how much I love you.” —— Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace

Prayer – Dear God, thank you for loving us so much that you took our place on the cross. Thank you for dying our death, and feeling our sin. Thank you for your great love for us that will never end. Thank you Lord. We love and praise your name. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Proverbs 24:16 – “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”

The greatest failure in life is to never try. The only difference between a winner and a loser is that the winner gets up one more time than the loser. As Proverbs 24:16 says, “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” The loser may also be the timid soul who knows neither victory nor defeat because he never enters the race. Remember, a mistake is never a failure, unless you fail to learn by it.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the slave was given only one talent, which he took and buried. His idea of duty, progress and stewardship was to slam on the brakes and throw the transmission into reverse! God considered him a wicked slave. He should have taken the talent entrusted to him and invested it in the Kingdom of God. The fearful person asks, “What do I stand to lose if I do?” A person of faith is someone who asks, “Who do I stand to lose if I don’t?”

Two types of people will never amount to anything: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who won’t do anything unless they are told. In the parable, the slave with one talent had just as much responsibility as the one with five talents. Both were required to be submissive to the master. One took the risk of doing, while the other sought the security of hiding. I understand why people like to have the security of clinging to a tree trunk, but the fruit is always out on the end of the limb.

It’s important to remember, however, that not everyone has the same level of giftedness…

We should seek to live up to our potential and not look for excuses, but not everybody’s potential is the same. The Lord hasn’t equally distributed gifts, talents or intelligence. But He has equally distributed Himself. ——- Neil Anderson, Living Free in Christ

Prayer – Dear Lord, help us to rise up when we fall, to know that we just need to keep going, and that you are there to help us. May we step out in faith and run the race that is marked out for us. We pray for strength each day to keep going and we pray for your wisdom and guidance each day. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Matthew 5:14-16 - “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

We must be so completely hidden away in Christ that the world will no longer see us, but the Christ who lives in us. How can we approach men with a divine message when the old man is all they can see in us?

Like the shoe salesman who always wore the same goods that he sold and always exhibited them to all to whom he tried to sell, so we must always exhibit Christ to those to whom we testify of Christ; and this we can never do until we get to the place where we are willing to acknowledge that we are nothing and He is all. He must actually be our all in our daily conscious experience, or we can never show a dying world how sufficient he is for all their need. We must be able to show the goods we advertise.

This we not only can do, but will do from the moment we so yield that Christ can really live his life in us and thus become our character in daily living, and our power in daily service.

This is the life “hid with Christ in God.” This is the life in which we are literally nothing and He is all. This is the life through which the world can see Him who reveals the Father. —– J.E. Conant

Prayer - May our lights shine brightly before men so that others can really see Christ in us. May we be a light to our family, our friends, our neighbors and to our community. May our lives be yielded to Christ so that He can live in us. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Isaiah 28:16 – “ So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.’ ”

Matthew 7:24-29 – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I live in earthquake country. And the church I serve in Berkeley, California, is next to the campus of the University of California which sits astride the Hayward fault, itself connected to the gigantic San Andreas Fault that stretches from Mexico to Alaska and directly under the city of San Francisco.
“Earthquake specialists have pointed up several important facts about home construction in earthquake terrain: A wood structure is ideally suited for the stresses of horizontal land movement, which is the terror of an earthquake, provided that the wood structure is bolted to its foundation…The nonbolted home moves a few inches away from its foundation, and that move away from the foundation causes the collapse of the structure…A safe house is that house which relates as much of the house as possible to its foundation. It not only rests upon a rock; it is built into the rock.”

I have often thought the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as our city’s boldest structure in that it’s great south pier rests directly upon the fault zone of the San Andreas Fault. That bridge is an amazing structure of both flexibility and strength. It is built to sway some twenty feet at the center of its one-mile suspension span. The secret to its durability is its flexibility, which enables the sway, but that is not all. By design, every part of the bridge—its concrete roadway, its steel railings, its cross beams—is inevitably related from one welded join to the other up through the vast cable system to two great towers and two great land anchor piers. The towers bear most of the weight, and they are deeply imbedded into the rock foundation beneath the sea. This is its secret! Flexibility and foundation. In the Christian life, it is the forgiveness of the gospel that grants us our flexibility; and it is the Lord of the gospel who is our foundation. There is no other. —— Earl Palmer, The Enormous Exception

Prayer – Dear Heavenly Father, may we always look to you to be our foundation in life. May we build our lives on you—our Rock, our Fortress, our Deliverer. During the earthquakes in our life, may our home, our hearts, our lives be built solidly inYou, so that we will be flexible and have strength to stand firm in You. We love you Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Psalm 121:1-3 – “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber.”

He was a strong man facing an enemy beyond his strength. His young wife had become gravely ill, then suddenly passed away, leaving the big man alone with a wide-eyed, flaxen-haired girl, not quite five years old. The service in the village chapel was simple, and heavy with grief. After the burial at the small cemetery, the man’s neighbors gathered around him. “Please, bring your little girl and stay with us for several days,” someone said. “You shouldn’t go back home just yet.” Broken-hearted though he was, the man answered, “Thank you, friends, for the kind offer. But we need to go back home–where she was. My baby and I must face this.”

So they returned, the big man and his little girl, to what now seemed an empty, lifeless house. The man brought his daughter’s little bed into his room, so they could face the first dark night together. As the minutes slipped by that night, the young girl was having a dreadful time trying to sleep…and so was her father. What could pierce a man’s heart deeper than a child sobbing for a mother who would never come back? Long into the night the little one continued to weep. The big man reached down into her bed and tried to comfort her as best he could. After a while, the little girl managed to stop crying–but only out of sorrow for her father. Thinking his daughter was asleep, the father looked up and said brokenly, “I trust You, Father, but…it’s as dark as midnight!”

Hearing her dad’s prayer, the little girl began to cry again. “I thought you were asleep, baby,” he said. “Papa, I did try. I was sorry for you. I did try. But–I couldn’t go to sleep. Papa, did you ever know it could be so dark? Why Papa? I can’t even see you, it’s so dark.” Then, through her tears, the little girl whispered, “But you love me even if it’s dark–don’t you, Papa? You love me even if I don’t see you, don’t you, Papa?” For an answer, the big man reached across with his massive hands, lifted his little girl out of her bed, brought her over onto his chest, and held her, until at last she fell asleep.
When she was finally quiet, he began to pray. He took his little daughter’s cry to him, and passed it up to God. “Father, it’s dark as midnight. I can’t see You at all. But You love me, even when it’s dark and I can’t see, don’t You?” From that blackest of hours, the Lord touched him with new strength, enabling him to carry on. He knew that God went on loving him, even in the dark.
—– Ron Mehl, God Works the Night Shift

Hebrews 13:5b-6a - “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’ ”

Prayer – Dear Heavenly Father, help us to know that you are always with us, even when it is dark, that you do not slumber, but forever hold us in Your loving arms. May we rest in you and know that you will never leave us or forsake us, that you are always here for us and we need not be afraid. We love you and praise you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

Mark 9:23 - “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

The most fantastic things happen to people who believe. No less of an authority than Jesus Christ himself says you do not have to be defeated. You can overcome illness, you can overcome weakness, you can overcome sin, you can overcome heartbreak, you can overcome failure. There is nothing or no situation you cannot overcome if you will believe.

Belief can change what appears to be an impossible situation. Belief unlocks the door to power beyond our own imagination. All things are possible—only believe….

All things are possible if you believe in God. Believing in the New Testament means receiving Jesus Christ into your life as Savior and Lord. Everything good starts with a decision to believe Jesus Christ and invite him to come into your heart.

You want an unbeatable life? Believe in Jesus.
You want to be a child of God? Believe in Jesus.
You want to overcome defeat? Believe in Jesus.
You want to have a better life Believe in Jesus.
You want to beat defeating selfishness? Believe in Jesus.
You want to eventually win? Believe and totally dedicate yourself to Jesus.

God has a plan for your life. Finding and following God’s plan for your life is the soundest, surest way to self-confidence. There is no greater feeling than to be in right relationship with God. IF you are not in right relationship, you can be—starting now.

Believe wholeheartedly in God—and for you life will become unbeatable. Make this the dominating thought of your mind—God and I together are undefeatable.

—— Dale Galloway, Rebuild Your Life

Prayer – Dear God, may our hearts and lives be forever changed because of our faith in You. We know that all things are possible when we believe, and we trust our lives into Your hands. We want a right relationship with you. We pray for those who do not believe, or who have strayed that they would come to know You or return to You and ask you to come into their heart and guide them. God, we love you and we give you our hearts and our lives.

1 John 5:14-15 – “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

Everything about the Christian life is based on faith. You love by faith just as you received Christ by faith, just as you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith, and just as you walk by faith.

But if the fruit of the Spirit is love, you may logically ask, “Isn’t it not enough to be filled with the Spirit?” That’s true from God’s point of view, but it will not always be true in your actual experience.

Many Christians have loved with God’s love without consciously or specifically claiming it by faith. Yet, without being aware of the fact, they were indeed loving by faith; therefore, they did not find it necessary to claim God’s love by faith as a specific act. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Clearly, then, there is no demonstration of God’s love where there is no faith.

How then do we love by faith in a practical way? It works like this: We know God has commanded us to love. We also know He promised in 1 John 5:14-15 that if we ask according to His command (His will), then we receive His love by faith according to His promise, knowing His promises are always true. Let me illustrate how this happens.

In one case, I was having trouble loving a fellow staff member. I wanted to love him, and I knew that I was commanded to do so. But because of certain areas of inconsistency and personality differences, I found it difficult. Then the Lord reminded me of 1 Peter 5:7, “Let him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” (TLB). So I decided to give the problem to Him and love this man by faith—to act lovingly toward him regardless of my feelings, depending on God’s love and strength within.

An hour later, I received a letter from that very man, who had no possible way of knowing what I had just decided. In fact, his letter had been written the day before. The Lord has foreseen the change in me. This friend and I met together that afternoon and had the most wonderful time of prayer and fellowship we had ever experienced together….

I encourage you to make a list of everyone whom you do not like and begin today to love them by faith. Include those people who have hurt you in the past. Pray for them. Ask for eyes to see them as Christ sees them. Act lovingly toward them no matter how you feel. We don’t love people because they deserve to be loved—we love them because Christ commands it and empowers us to do so. your relationships will change as God’s love in you overflows to others. Further, you will be a channel of God’s own life and power into the needy world, and loving by faith, you will please your loving Master. The greatest force in the world is love!
———- Bill Bright, Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper – Promise 7: A Man and His World

Prayer – Dear God, may we have confidence in approaching you, and know that you hear our prayers. May we be filled with love for others, even those who are difficult or have hurt us. Even though it sometimes difficult give us the strength, regardless of our feelings to love as you commanded. May we see others as you see them, and may our relationships change because we have obeyed your commands and reached out to others. Lord, we love you, please guide us today. In Jesus Name, Amen.