Universal Life Church Monastery of Massachusetts: November 2015

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

HEALTH: Eating Healthy

Eating healthy is important, but try not to become stressed out if everything you eat is not considered healthy. Balance is key. Sometimes we cannot afford to buy all organic foods and that’s alright. Inorganic foods have nutritional value as well.

I Corinthians 10:31states, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Making the effort to change your eating habits from unhealthy to healthy is wonderful, but be careful not to go to the extreme. God tells us that whatever we eat or drink, do it for his glory. If you are only able to eat inorganic foods, or you eat foods that aren’t very healthy once in awhile, don’t give yourself a hard time. Be thankful for the food, ask God to bless it to your body, and be sure to give God thanks.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Grateful, Always

Let thankfulness rule in your heart. As you thank me for blessings in your life, a marvelous thing happens. It is as if scales fall of your eyes, enabling you to see more and more of my glorious riches. – excerpt from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young Gratefulness changes everything. More than 75 percent of the world’s population lives in areas that we would deem unindustrialized. There are no Starbucks. No indoor plumbing. No mass transit systems. Yet there seems to be an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the little they do have. We need to adopt that philosophy.

According to the above excerpt, when we allow thankfulness to rule in our hearts, the scales of indifference, discontentment and self-indulgence begin to fall off our eyes. We begin to really take stock of all the wonderful blessings in our life—big and small. Running water, grocery stores, friends who love us, the jobs we have, healthy children, the ability to love, all of these things begin to resonate in our hearts. We spend less time worrying about the things we do not have and more time honing in on all that we do.

I often wonder how different things would be if Adam and Eve had adopted this train of thought. They allowed the serpent to plant a seed of discourse in their hearts. This eventually led to their focus shifting from God’s splendid provision to God’s suppression. They seemingly forgot about Eden’s beauty and God’s presence. Instead of rejecting the lies of the serpent or going to God with what they had heard, they simply allowed the seed to become thought which becomes action which lead to their spiritual death.

Seeds of discontentment will sprout roots and bear fruit. As believers, we have to rip those seeds out of our hearts and minds. Being grateful uproots those seeds and forces us to center our attention on things that truly matter. There are riches around us. There are blessings, abundance and joy that journey with us every day. When we avail ourselves to acknowledge their presence, we can begin to see just how blessed we are.
God is a praiseworthy God. We may not have everything we want to have but He does provide us with all that we need. If you find that your thankfulness reservoir is on empty, try beginning your day with thankfulness. Begin your day with prayers that thank God for who He is. Father, I thank you that you hear me and always hear me. I thank you for your love and your grace. Lord, I thank you that you continue to bless me even when I least deserve it. I thank you for the ability to bless others. Help me to be a blessing and to see your blessing, in Jesus’ name amen.
Simple prayers like these open our hearts and allow our souls to be receptive to God’s provision. We want to see more of His glorious riches. Ratnas refers to this as having a right faith.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A Praiseworthy God

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name! 5For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting, His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations. – Psalms 100:4-5
Max Lucado, renowned Christian author says it best:
Next time your day goes south, here is what you do. Steep yourself in the grace of God. Saturate your day in his love. Marinate your mind in his mercy. He has settled your accounts, paid your debt. What a gift he has given you. You’ve won the won the greatest lottery in the history of humanity and you didn’t even pay for the ticket! Your soul is secure, your salvation is guaranteed. What more do you need?

If you could not think of a reason to sing His praises or lavish Him with words of worship and adoration, this ought to get you thinking. Aside from the many blessings God bestows on us, the chief reason He is deserving of praise is because of his son Christ. Because Jesus dared to pay the price, the gift of salvation is ours for eternity. Our soul is secure and our redemption and reconciliation with the Creator of the Universe is guaranteed. Therefore, we should gladly come to God with gratitude, offering sincere thankfulness. We should open our mouths and bless Him and affectionately praise His name.

In case you did not realize it, God is great and is greatly to be praised. His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. Remember those times when you deliberately refused to do the thing He asked of you? Whether it was to apologize, even when you weren’t in the wrong or remain silent, you politely declined to do what God requested—we all have. Still, He never turned his back on us. He never despised us, wrote us off or even became angry with us. His faithfulness and His mercy covered us because we are His children.
Just like we would not discard our children for making mistakes, God does not discard when we do wrong. God’s mercy has no limits. For this reason, He is a praiseworthy God. He hears us when we pray. He moves and brings change when we ask. Why? God delights in our praise. The word of God says that God inhabits the praises of His people. He manifests His presence and power to His people especially when they offer Him sincere worship and praise Him. God is moved by our sacrifice of praise. He is moved by our heart-felt worship. What parent could hear their child crying and not want to do something about it? God is the ultimate parent, who answers when we call. Sikhs enjoy building close relationships with God. As believers, we know that sincere praise and worship help us to strengthen our relationship with our Father.
God is faithful. He is just. He is a praiseworthy God!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Hear it. Do it.

Again He sets a definite day, [a new] Today, [and gives another opportunity of securing that rest] saying through David after so long a time in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts.

Show of hands: how many of us enjoy being told what to do? As I child, I remembered thinking that my parents were brutes. They constantly told me what to do, where to go and how to do things. Many times, I simply refused to do the things they required and I paid the consequence for it. But isn’t that what we do with God? He lovingly implores us to forsake our own wisdom and rely on Him and we do the opposite. He pleads with us to conduct ourselves with patience, kindness, long-suffering, and self-control. Instead, we’re haughty, self-absorbed and insensitive.

As children of the Most High God, it is our responsibility to listen to our Father when He speaks to us. We cannot harden our hearts and turn away from His instructions. Doing so opens doors to calamity, needless pain and confusion. We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing which things we will obey. Selective hearing is not allowed for believers. We cannot obey half of what God says and expect Him to move freely in our lives. Let’s look at what happened with King Saul, King David’s predecessor.

King Saul was instructed to wait seven days for the prophet Samuel to arrive. At that time, the prophet would offer up peace offerings to the Lord to ensure victory against the Philistines. During the seven days, however, the king and his people suffered devastating setbacks. They became afraid and desperate. Even though King Saul was forbidden from performing any offerings before the lord —that was the prophet’s job—he did so. He became impatient, afraid and desperate to prove that he was a king who could lead his people to victory. For refusing to listen and obey God’s instructions, Saul lost his kingdom and his reign came to an end.
We do not get to pick and choose which of God’s instructions we will follow. Remember, doing a good thing at the wrong time or with the wrong motives, is still the wrong thing to do. If we really want God to be Sovereign in our lives and guide us in how to conduct ourselves, we must be open to hear what He is saying. We must be receptive and obedient. The word of God says that we should not be hearers of the word but doers as well. If you hear what God says and refuse to respond to it then you are operating in disobedience and pride. You are setting yourself up for failure, pain and disappointment. Taoists believe in carefully weighing each action before taking it. Before you decide to choose what you’ll hear, make sure you’ve weighed the consequences.