Note to God

No one ever intends to become a Pharisee. This Pharisee didn’t wake up one day and think, “In my pursuit of God, I’d like to get as far away from him as possible, so I’m going to build rules into my life that ruin my heart for him.” He just slid into it, step by step, rule by rule, condemnation of others by condemnation of others. We can slide there too—maybe you already have. Jesus’ simple story about the Pharisee and the tax collector serves to encourage us to break out of the discouragement of a do-it-yourself life. In this story, Jesus pointed to the signs of do-it-yourself religion. These can serve as warning signs for all of us, showing us that we are moving from depending on God to doing it ourselves:    • You become confident in yourself. The feeling begins to creep into the back of your mind that God is fortunate to have you as a follower.  • You become condemning of others. Whenever you quickly and easily fall into the trap of condemning others, you give ev...

We can demand almost everything, but you cannot demand the most important things. You can’t demand yourself to be happy. You can’t demand that you are never going to get sick, that you will never die. You cannot demand a relationship to work. You may have tried, but you can’t demand that someone love you.

Do you want to be great? Do u want greatness in relationships and in work? Jesus teaches, to be greatest, you must be the servant of all.

Hubert Van Zeller: How to find God Perseverance is confined not by satisfaction but by dissatisfaction. If we were satisfied that we had found what we wanted, we would stop wanting.

Google CEO said: all aspects of life are like balls: family, relationships, health, work. But work is a plastic ball, the rest are glass balls. Work can bounce back up like plastic ball, but the rest, once dropped, cannot bounce up. 

Jacques Phillip, on Prayer: - even if u cant offer God anything in yr prayer, even if you're distracted and you don't get anything, it's ok. You have given our lord a special gift, which is the time of 30 mins each morning and evening to God.  Which is precious to him. Because time cannot be returned. 

1. We need prestige as a bait, as a fisherman's hook.  2. To serve with the spirit of Christian service, and first among our peers 3. Not too much about success, but about warmth with the success.  4. Work is borne of love, it is a manifestation of love, and a means of love. 

Suppose you’re sitting on a bus holding a book that has the words Kingdom of God in the title. The person sitting across from you sees the book and says, “The kingdom of God—I’ve always wanted to know what the kingdom of God is.” What would you say? One answer—one you’d be able to share before the bus comes to its next stop—is, “God’s kingdom is where God is recognized as King.” In the prayer Jesus taught us, we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). God’s kingdom is where God’s will is done. How does this truth from the Bible fit with our patterns of communication?  In any conversation, someone is wearing the crown—it could be you, trying desperately to get your way, or it could be the other person. The truth is, it’s often both who are striving to gain control. The only path to a change of heart is to take off the fake and paltry crown you’ve fashioned for yourself. Your heart changes whenever and wherever you recognize that God is the only rightful wearer o...

Push yourself in the area of those little things that constitute the fabric of your day. Often we do not achieve the goals we aim at because we are not interiorly convinced of the need for the divine grace which makes our small efforts effective

Patience involves the often difficult art of waiting. We have thousands of opportunities to practice patience. Here are a few examples to jog your thinking: • 1  When you are ready before your spouse and children are ready, you don’t get in the car and circle the neighborhood and honking for your family to be ready 2. When your kids are engaged in a project and struggling, you don’t jump in and say, “Let me do it for you!” even though with every fiber of your being you want to get it done faster. You help them to do it. Love is patient.  3. When other people are talking, you don’t finish their sentences for them. I confess that I often fail at this opportunity to express patience. You know what they’re going to say, so you just say it for them—you’re moving the conversation along. But maybe, just maybe, they wanted to be able to say it themselves—or maybe the thought was quite different from the one you thought they were thinking. Love is patient.

True fellowship cannot be forced or scheduled; it must be chosen and accepted. Find someone who is making the attempt to follow Jesus in his or her life, someone you would actually enjoy being with. Take the risk to talk to them about a doubt you’re facing, a struggle you’re having, a joy you’re experiencing. Now you’re fellowshipping!

You may think that allowing your mind to wander even briefly to a temptation toward adultery will not affect your marriage. Jesus says it will. You may think that the feelings of anger you’re nursing are not affecting your relationships. Jesus says, “Yes, they are.” What’s happening in your heart is serious business. You may think that the self-pity you heap on yourself every day isn’t affecting your relationships. But it is. When we hear Jesus say, “Cut it off,” we sometimes feel we don’t know how. “I can’t change my heart,” we say to ourselves. “I’d love to do that, but I can’t change the way I feel.” You’re right; you cannot change the way you feel. But you can change the circumstances that are causing the way you feel. And then the feelings will change. What you’ve allowed into your heart is serious business, and it’s going to affect your life. Take your heart seriously, and be willing to act radically.