Category: Men of Steel

Because of Jesus

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This is a list of reminders of what we have and who we are because of Jesus:

Below, you’ll find Pastor Craig Groeschel’s personal declarations and many more ideas for Bible verses and truths you can use to renew your mind and fight back against negative thinking.

Pastor Craig’s Daily Declarations

  1. Jesus is first in my life. I exist to serve and glorify Him.
  2. I love my wife and will lay down my life to serve her.
  3. My children will love God and serve Him with their whole hearts. I will nurture, equip, train, and empower them to do more for His kingdom than they can imagine.
  4. I love people and believe the best about others.
  5. I am disciplined. Christ in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me.
  6. I am growing closer to Jesus every day. Because of Christ, my family is closer, my body is stronger, my faith is deeper, my leadership is sharper.
  7. I am anointed, empowered, equipped and called to reach people far from God.
  8. I am creative, innovative, driven, focused, and blessed beyond measure—because the Holy Spirit dwells within me.
  9. I develop leaders. That’s not something I do. It’s who I am.
  10. My words, thoughts, and imaginations are under the power of Christ. I take all thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.
  11. I wake up with purpose, direction, and meaning every day of my life.
  12. Pain is my friend. I rejoice in suffering because Christ suffered for me.
  13. I bring my best and then some. It’s what I bring after I do my best that makes the difference.
  14. The world will be different and better because I served Jesus today.

Because of Jesus …

  1. I am a child of God. (Galatians 3:26)
  2. I am a spiritual contributor, not a spiritual consumer.
  3. I am alive. (Romans 6:11)
  4. I am a faith-filled, life-speaking, fully devoted follower of Christ.
  5. I am Christ’s ambassador. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
  6. I am a masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)
  7. I am content in Christ alone.
  8. I am chosen. (Ephesians 1:4)
  9. I am determined to love God and people with everything I have.
  10. I am a child of God. (John 1:12-13)
  11. I am strengthened by God who upholds me, protects me, and defends me.
  12. I am joyful. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  13. I am gentle. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  14. I am not easily offended and will not hold onto bitterness.
  15. I am patient. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  16. I am faithful. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  17. I am self-controlled. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  18. I am kind. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  19. I am known—even before I was born. (Jeremiah 1:5)
  20. I am steady. (Psalm 91:1)
  21. I am not alone—God is with me.
  22. I am loved. (John 3:16)
  23. I am fierce in confidence and boldness because God is with me.
  24. I am free. (John 8:32)
  25. I am healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
  26. I am unashamed. (Romans 8:1)
  27. I am called and equipped to go after the righteous desires God puts in my heart.
  28. I am strong. (1 John 2:14)
  29. I am fearless. (Isaiah 43:5)
  30. I am secure. (John 10:28-29)
  31. I am not a people-pleaser because I answer to God first and seek to please Him.
  32. I am a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
  33. I am not shaken. (Psalm 62:6)
  34. I am not stuck in worry because Jesus offers a peace this world cannot give.
  35. I am born again. (1 Peter 1:23)
  36. I am more than a conqueror. (Romans 8:37)
  37. I am named by God, not labeled by man.
  38. I am the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)
  39. I am mighty in His power. (Ephesians 6:10)
  40. I am the Church and I exist for the world. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

For Women

  1. I am the daughter of the King of all kings.
  2. Because of Jesus, I lack nothing.
  3. God has given me everything I need to do what He’s called me to do.
  4. I speak encouraging, life-giving words and build others up.
  5. The joy of the Lord is my strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)
  6. I will not compare myself to other women. God made us all beautifully unique.
  7. I will hold myself to God’s standards and measure myself with grace.
  8. I will love and laugh rather than fight and complain.
  9. I refuse to waste my life on meaningless things.
  10. I will act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God. (Micah 6:8)
  11. Through Christ I am strong, gentle, fierce, and compassionate.
  12. I will fight the good fight for what matters most. (2 Timothy 4:7)

For Men

  1. I am the son of the King of all kings.
  2. I lay down my pride and selfishness, giving all glory to the one true God.
  3. I love my family like Christ loved the Church—giving Himself up for her.
  4. I fight for purity, guarding my eyes and heart from tempting situations.
  5. I seek friendships with other godly men to sharpen my perspective. (Proverbs 27:17)
  6. I wait for God to open the right doors and take action when He does.
  7. I’m not defined by my failures or successes.
  8. I finish what I start.
  9. I never give up!
  10. I will act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God. (Micah 6:8)
  11. Through Christ I am strong, gentle, fierce, and compassionate.
  12. I am a warrior! I stand firm, even when the pain is crippling because God is my strength.
  13. I will fight the good fight for what matters most. (2 Timothy 4:7)

[print_link] [email_link] [ from pastor Craig Groeschel ]

How to Study the Bible

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How to Study the Bible
A congregational tool, by Todd Wendorff

The goal of good Bible study is to learn what the Bible is saying and how it applies to your life.

  • “It is through applying the Word that God changes our lives.”
  • “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” – James 1:22 (NLT)

Use the guidelines in this article to study God’s word for yourself. Once you know the passage you want to study simply observe, interpret, and apply. These three steps will get the Word into your life.

  1. Observe the passage by asking the question: What do I see?”
  2. Interpret the passage by asking the question: “What does it mean?”
  3. Apply the passage by asking the question: “What do I do?”

Just answer the questions as you study your passage.

SELECT A PASSAGE
Select 3-10 verses dealing with the same topic. Think about why you want to study this passage.

OBSERVE THE PASSAGE BY ASKING QUESTIONS
All observations are valuable. Write them down. Use the following list of questions as a guide.

  • Who is writing or speaking and to whom?
  • What is the passage about?
  • What are the commands?
  • What are the promises or cause/effect relationships?
  • What are the repeated words and ideas?
  • What problems were the recipients facing?
  • Where does this take place?
  • When does this take place?
  • Why does the speaker or author say/write what he does?
  • What do I learn about God?
  • What do I learn about Jesus?
  • What do I learn about the Holy Spirit?
  • What do I learn about me (or mankind)?

Write out any additional observations or insights from the passage. This may include contrasts, lists, comparisons, etc.

INTERPRET THE PASSAGE
WHAT IS THE “BIG IDEA” OF THE PASSAGE—YOUR THEME?
This can most readily be identified from the commands and the repeated words and ideas in the passage. Often there will be one command in the passage with several motivations.

In one phrase sum up the main thought of the passage. Make sure your theme is large enough in scope to include all the author is saying in the passage. It’s often the biggest point that is being made. It often requires you to step back and look at the passage as a whole.

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS YOU RAISED IN THE OBSERVATION STEP
Put your answers in the form of an outline. Take your main theme and break down the passage into sub points under the theme. These sub points form principles of life and ministry. A principle is defined as a timeless lesson in the way God works or is doing things in the world.

To develop each principle (each point in your outline) you will want to EXPLAIN IT (interpretation), ILLUSTRATE IT (from the Bible or personal examples of how this principle worked out both positively and negatively) and APPLY IT (not every point will have specific application). You may want to do this on a separate sheet of paper.

For example, you may be studying Luke 10:38-42, the passage about Jesus visiting the home of Martha and Mary.

The passage is about choosing what is best for your spiritual life. The author is saying that sitting at the feet of Jesus is best. Now, how does each verse fit into the theme? This is where interpretation comes in.

  • Martha is distracted by busyness. Busyness robs from our spiritual life.
  • Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. Sitting and listening to Jesus is always a priority in our spiritual lives. Jesus says make time to sit and listen.

STEPS TO INTERPRETING THE PASSAGE
To help you interpret the passage, answer like the ones listed below. Use as many or as few as you need to.

  • What are the meanings of the words?
  • What does the immediate context suggest? (preceding and succeeding verses)
  • What does the broader context suggest? (chapter and book)
  • What do other cross references suggest?
  • What is the cultural meaning? (What did it mean to those to whom it was originally addressed?)
  • What do commentaries suggest?

APPLY IT TO YOUR LIFE
This is where you purpose to do what God has taught you through bible study. (James 1:21-25, Matthew 7:24-27). It is through applying the Word that God changes our lives.

Application does not happen by osmosis, but by intent. God enlightens us from the Word, we enact the application with our wills, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to carry out these choices. It is usually best to concentrate on applying one principle at a time. The goal of all application is to glorify God by becoming more like Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:16—”All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for:

  1. TEACHING: What did I learn?
  2. REPROOF: Where do I fall short? Why do I fall short?
  3. CORRECTION: What will I do about it?
  4. TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: How can I make this principle a consistent part of my life?

Copyright 2003 by Todd Wendorff [ from Christianity Today online ]

Calling God Father

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One of the most well-known statements of the Christian faith is the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with the words “Our Father which art in heaven.” This is part of the universal treasury of Christendom. When I hear Christians in a private gathering praying individually, almost every single person begins their prayer by addressing God as Father. There’s nothing more common among us than to address God as our Father. So central is this to our Christian experience that in the nineteenth century, there were some who said the basic essence of the whole Christian religion can be reduced to two points: the universal brotherhood of man and the universal fatherhood of God. In that context I am afraid we have missed one of the most radical teachings of Jesus.

A few years ago, a German scholar was doing research in New Testament literature and discovered that in the entire history of Judaism, in all existing books of the Old Testament and all existing books of extra-biblical Jewish writings dating from the beginning of Judaism until the tenth century A.D. in Italy, there is not a single reference of a Jewish person addressing God directly in the first person as Father. There were appropriate forms of address that were used by Jewish people in the Old Testament, and the children were trained to address God in proper phrases of respect. All these titles were memorized, and the term Father was not among them.

The first Jewish rabbi to call God “Father” directly was Jesus of Nazareth. It was a radical departure from tradition, and in fact, in every recorded prayer we have from the lips of Jesus save one, he calls God “Father.” It was for that reason that many of Jesus’ enemies sought to destroy him; he assumed to have this intimate, personal relationship with the sovereign God of heaven and the creator of all things, and he dared to speak in such intimate terms with God. What’s even more radical is that Jesus says to his people, “When you pray, you say, ‘Our Father.'” He has given to us the right and privilege to come into the presence of the majesty of God and address him as Father because indeed he is our Father. He has adopted us into his family and made us coheirs with his only begotten Son (Romans 8:17).

[print_link] [email_link] [ This is from R.C. Sproul, through Bible Gateway ]

Renewing Your Mind

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Only God Can Change a Mindrenew-your-mind

Paul wrote to the church at Rome for people to “be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” (Romans 12:2) He doesn’t say “transform yourselves by renewing your minds.” Only God can change a mind. This explains why Paul wrote to Timothy that God has “not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) When God is present in a mind, it begins to flow with a new kind of thought. But there is a role for us to play. We can, by choice and by our actions, invite God to be present in our mind. Or we can close the door to him. It all depends on what kind of mind we want to cultivate. So let’s walk through three options.

1. Maybe your goal is debauchery, lechery, and depravity. It’s not hard to cultivate a mind like this. You can do it. Just be careful about what you do and don’t put into your mind. The moods that will dominate your life are resentment, anxiety, unsatisfied desire. The key to maintaining this inner life is found in Psalm 10:4, “In their pride the wicked do not seek him; In all their thoughts there is no room for God.” It’s not hard to cultivate this kind of mind. All you have to do is avoid contact with anything that would disrupt this flow of thoughts. Avoid Scripture, avoid wise and honest people who know you deeply, avoid honest self-examination, avoid contact with people in need who might move you to compassion. Mostly you have to make sure that in your thoughts there is no room for God.

2. If your goal is to have a mediocre spiritual life, you can do a half-and-half deal. The Bible talks about this. One writer speaks of a condition called “double-mindedness.” In the Jewish tradition it is called the yetzer hara, the wayward heart. Jesus himself refers to a church suffering from what he called “lukewarmness”; it is neither cold nor at the boiling point. It doesn’t experience any change of properties. This condition enables you to get the worst of all worlds: you experience a kind of chronic, low-level, hidden debauchery so you’re frustrated by all the fun you think that major-league debauchery professionals are having. Yet you get just enough spiritual-religious input so you have chronic, low-level guilt about the amount of depravity you are maintaining. How do you pursue this goal? Get sporadic spiritual input. Go to church sometimes. Read the Bible once in a while — but without clarity about how you want it to shape your mind. Pray sporadically — when you’re in trouble. But then mostly fill your mind with the things that everybody else in our culture fills their minds with. Just keep spiritual channel-surfing.

There is a third alternative.

3. Make your mind the dwelling place of God. The goal here is to have a mind in which the glorious Father of Jesus is always present and gradually crowds out every distorted belief, every destructive feeling, every misguided intention. You will know your mind is increasingly “set on God” when the moods that dominate your inner life are love, joy, and peace — the three primary components of the fruit of the Spirit. God is never more than a thought away. To make my mind a home for Jesus, I deliberately fill my mind with the kinds of things God says are important. Paul puts it like this: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV)

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[ This is from Bible Gateway, an e-mail devotion from October 6, 2016 ]