PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 28 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

This is the final day of Progress. We hope that it has been an amazing journey. We hope that God has used this study to challenge you to become the person that He has designed you to be. For this final day of reflection I want to encourage you to really solidify the decisions you have made. 2010 can be the year that you make significant changes. This can be the year that God moves in and through you in miraculous ways. This can be the year that God surprises you with His healing power. This can be the year that you experience more success than ever before. This can be the year that you progress in the faith more than ever before!

  PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 27 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

REFLECTING

ON THE

JOURNEY 

 PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 26 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

EXPERIENCE 

THE

REWARDS

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 25 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

[CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY]

Yesterday we ended with this:

What if we don’t step out in faith? What if we don’t live out the purpose for which God designed us? What if we just play it safe? God wants to give you certain things- maybe it’s to plant a church, to start a bible study, to go on a mission trip, to start a coffee shop, to reach out to a homeless community, or write a book. I don’t know what God is giving you and what you must go after. But over the last few weeks, if God has been stirring a dream in your heart, at some point you must GO! At some point, you have to step out of your comfort and safety and . . . 

    PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 24 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

   PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 23 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE) 

  PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 22 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE) 

 PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 21 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  Day 7

Blessings on you and your dreams as you finish up this week’s theme from the life of Nehemiah.  Take some time to meditate on these verses from Isaiah 40 that summarize the great work of God in our lives when we learn to trust Him for our strength.  These verses are written out of Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible and give some fresh meaning into these pretty familiar words.  Meditate on God’s Word today as you lay your dreams before Him!

[Show as slideshow]

 PROGRESS:  Living for today but planning for tomorrow 

Day 20 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  6/7

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

-I Peter 5:8-9

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 19 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  Day 5

Today is day 5 of the Nehemiah Effect, and my prayer is that your dreams are starting to take shape, that your faith is being strengthened and that your will is becoming more resolute as you trust God to see what only He can do in and through your life.  So far we’ve learned that trusting Him means abiding (John 15) and letting God move our hearts.  With hearts moved, we must pray for Him to kindle the fire and provide the resources, and through it all we pray, pray and pray some more.  A big part of our prayer is making sure that our dreams are BIG — so big that they must rest in God’s hands to complete.  Too many Christians live in the do-able, and God calls us to the impossible; dream BIG!  At this point we must take inventory of our lives and the circumstances to which God calls us and as we prepare for the task at hand we surround ourselves with Godly wall builders who will labor along side us.  These are the first five principles of the Nehemiah Effect that have played out in chapters 1-3, and I hope that you are starting to see them developed in your own life and dreams.

 PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 18 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  Day 4

Day four of the Nehemiah Effect is underway.  I hope you’re ready for another great day as we lay our dreams out before God and ask Him to work mightily in and through us for His glory!  As Nehemiah surrendered His dreams to God’s control, God did an amazing work in his life and in the lives of those who participated in the incredible feat of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.  Let’s keep building our “walls” in the pattern of Nehemiah that we might experience the same effects he did.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 17 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  Day 3

My prayer for you today:

Gracious Father, grant me and my brothers and sisters a great sense of your awesomeness to do amazing works through us, as we walk in faith with you.  May we all grow in your grace, trust in your power, serve with your strength, speak with your words and bring great honor and glory to your name.  As we apply the principles of Nehemiah to our lives may we become more and more of the children you want us to become.  In the name of your Son who makes our lives worth living — Amen.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 15 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Nehemiah Effect:  Day 1

“For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven…” Nehemiah 1:4

When I read the Bible I am truly struck by some amazing men and women who did things totally off the charts for God.  By most standards, most of these men and women were “ordinary” people, set apart by their extreme faith in God and their willingness to tackle great tasks.  David brought down a giant, Noah built an ENORMOUS boat, Esther saved a nation, Jael swung the course of a battle, Joshua conquered a land, Mary brought God’s Son into the world and Joseph fed the world.  When God’s children trust Him — He produces.  The result is that lives are changed and often, the very course of history is altered.

As you finish up this week examining your past and trying to see it the way God does, take some time to memorize this amazing promise out of 2 Corinthians one.  May God bless you as you learn to live and apply the Joseph Mindset in your life.

  PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow 

Day 13 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

-2 Corinthians 1:3-4

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 12 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 5

As you start to finish up this section on past pain, we hope you are starting to find God at work with your history of hurt.  Please don’t hear us minimizing any of your painful experiences or trying to trivialize the hurt you’ve endured.  But do hear us proclaiming the redemptive message of Christ and that through Him, your pain — no matter how deep or how hurtful — can be used for your good and His glory.  God can and will fulfill His grand purpose in your life as you learn to surrender everything — especially the pain of the past! — to His care.  Don’t give up.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 11 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 4

I hope your not tired of the story of Joseph yet, because I can’t get enough of it right now!  As we continue to surrender our pain to God to let Him do what only He can do with it, let’s take one more look at Joseph during the 13 years of his slavery/prison term.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 10 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 3

What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment.  And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new.  Right now.  ~Author Unknown

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 9 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 2

The past is our definition.  We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.  ~Wendell Berry

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 8 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 1

In The House of Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne writes these words:  “The past lies upon the present like a giant’s dead body.”

Many of us can relate to the feeling that our past is hovering above us, crashing down around us, lurking in the dark shadows waiting to pounce us, or just attaching itself to our legs and dragging us down each and every day.  Mignon McLaughlin — in The Neurotic’s Notebook — said it like this:  “The past is strapped to our backs.  We do not have to see it; we can always feel it.”  Indeed, we do always feel the past and naturally, it has an incredibly profound impact on how we live in the present and what we’ll do for God in the future.  As we continue in this 28 day journey of becoming the people God wants us to be, dealing with our past is an important subject.

 PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow 

Day 7 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I WILL CONTINUE WITH ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PROGRESS and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

-Philippians 1:25-26

 PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow 

Day 6 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I WILL CONTINUE WITH ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PROGRESS and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

-Philippians 1:25-26

PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow

Day 5 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Day 4 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

-Jimmy Carter

PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow

Day 2 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

Today we are going to discover some vital life lessons from the book of Haggai. This book will give us powerful insight into becoming the people God has designed us to be. It is only as we uncover the treasures within the Scriptures, that we will be able to progress in the faith. Listen to the word of the LORD.

Haggai 1:3-4

Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house [God's house] remains a ruin?"

Matthew 6:31-33

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” 

part 1 of 28

PROGRESS

Living for today but planning for tomorrow

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I WILL CONTINUE WITH ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PROGRESS and joy in the faith, ²⁶so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

-Philippians 1:25-26

Happy New Year

from your friends at Tenth Dot Ministries!

Isaiah 43:18-19a

Forget the former things; 
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!