TPDL Day #9 - What Makes God Smile?

Our first purpose in life is to please God. How much pleasure is God getting out of my life? The best way for me to understand this lesson is to think about my own children. When do they please me? I am pleased when my children are trusting, loving, thankful, obedient, amiable, and gracious.

I am pleased when my children trust that I know what is best and that I will be here to take care of them. The other night my daughter came down to my room because she was having a nightmare. I let her lay in the bed next to me and I assured her that I would not let anything get her. After about five minutes, she was asleep and I did not here another peep out of her until the morning.

I am pleased when my children are loving. I find great enjoyment when I come home from work and my children will drop whatever they are doing and come running to the door with hugs and kisses. They missed me while I was away and want to spend time with me.

I am pleased when my children are thankful and gracious for what they have been given. When you do something for someone else, there is nothing worse than to feel unappreciated. However, when you are thanked, appreciated and shown gratitude it is a tremendous sensation.

When my children are obedient I am pleased. I find great pleasure it the few times that my children actually do what I ask the first time without complaining or making excuses.

I find pleasure and contentment when my children play amiably. In order to get along and play amiably with other people, we sometimes have to put their feelings first. It cannot always be about what you want to do and when you want to do it.

Try to look to the parallels of what others do to please you. When you realize the things that allow you to have pleasure, you can then understand the types of things that bring pleasure to God.

TPDL Day #10 - The Heart of Worship

The heart of worship is surrender. Surrender is a hard concept to wrap our arms around. We are taught and believe that surrender means to lose or give up. Our culture reinforces in us the concept that losing is not an option. No one wants to be a loser. We try to teach our children that everyone is a winner. Never give up or quit until you have accomplished your goal.

The Webster dictionary meaning of surrender is "to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand."

I would recommend that you see Mel Gibson’s movie, "The Passion of The Christ." This movie exemplifies the heart of surrender. Throughout all of the brutality of the movie, Jesus never raised his voice or hand in retaliation. I did not hear anyone in the audience yell out, "Fight back, you coward." Yet, how many times do we hear a story or see someone taking a beating, and think or say why do they not fight back (stand up for themselves).

Jesus got it! Dying on the cross was not what Jesus wanted to do. Look at his struggles in the garden. However, he trusted that God had a plan and purpose for this and he surrendered to God’s power and control.

We must surrender (yield to His power) our possessions, decisions, goals, and lives to God. We must realize that God can handle them better than we can. Realizing this truth is not enough. We have to let Him handle it by turning it over (surrendering) to him.

We need to allow God into the kitchen to prepare the meal of our life. We cannot be looking over his shoulder and commenting on the fact that he is not following our recipe while preparing the meal. We must give him free reign of the kitchen and just come to the table ready to eat.

If you yield to God’s power and control daily, I promise that you will be amazed at what He cooks up.

TPDL Day #11 - Becoming Best Friends with God

Do you know anyone who talks just to hear his or her own voice? They tend to ramble on about topics that are not really relevant. They seem to be all over the map when they speak.
Have you ever been in a one-sided conversation with someone? They are very overbearing. They will not let anyone get involved in the conversation. They cut others off in mid-sentence. They do not listen while others are talking. While their mouth is closed they are just thinking about the next thing they are going to say.

Would you consider this communication? I would answer this question, "No."

However, this is the way many of us conduct our prayer life or our communication with God.

We are able to talk to God through prayer. Yet often times, we can go days without speaking to Him. Our prayers are continually focused on ourselves. We rarely ask what it is that He wants or needs.

He is able to speak to use through His word. However, most of us have not read the whole Bible and do not spend time studying what it says.

Nike has the slogan, "Just Do It." But in order to "Just Do It," you have to "START." If you do not have consistent, open communication with God, START. If you currently do not read and study your Bible on a consistent basis, START.